And to the same effect is that of St. James To him that knoweth to do good Ch. 4.17 and doeth it not to him it is sin that is sin to the purpose sin of no ordinary complexion 2. What is done against light hath not only an inconformity to the Rule but some degree of contempt thereof Wherefore in such cases God looks upon himself as despised Why hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord said he to David when he had knowingly and deliberately sinned 2 Sam. 12.9 3. It argues Corruption to have gotten head and to have grown up to a great measure of strength and maturity it argues such a person to be set upon sin and wholly bent to gratify himself therein whatsoever shall come of it When the light it self shall stand in a man's way and flash in his face and yet he will go on he acts as one so resolved to sin as nothing shall take him off This in the language of the Scipture is to sin presumptuously by which a man under the Law was judged to have reproached the Lord in regard whereof no less punishment was appointed than the utter cutting him off from among his people Numb 15.30 31. And thus far I have only insisted on the consideration of light more generally 'T is light that is refused and contemned and therefore neither the sin nor the punishment of the person so offending can be small 2. 'T is not any kind of light but Gospel light that is so ill treated and this hath yet much more in it than all that hath been hitherto mentioned 1. The light of the Gospel is a clearer light All other light is but darkness to this The Heathens had the light of Nature for their guide but yet they were still in darkness till the Gospel enlightened them for the very Errand of the Gospel to them was to open their eyes Acts 26.18 and to turn them from darkness to light The Jews under the dispensations of the Law had much more light and yet were heavenly things in great part so vail'd and wrapt up in Types and Shadows as their condition to that of Gospel-times seems to have been but as the morning spread upon the Mountains to the noon day-light 2. 'T is a light that presents to our view the most excellent and most desirable things Pardon of sin Acts 10.43 Peace with God Rom. 5.1 Eternal life John 3.36 A kingdom that cannot be shaken Heb. 12.28 An inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1.4 Such things as neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor have entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 3. These excellent things which the light of the Gospel sets before us are such as were by infinite Wisdom and unspeakable Love designed and contrived for us before the foundations of the World were laid The most wise and gracious God did in nothing more discover the unsearchable Treasures of his Wisdom and the Riches of his Grace than in the Contrivance of our Salvation in such a way as in which Mercy and Justice so admirably meet together and Righteousness and Peace kiss each other We cannot therefore refuse or slight these excellent things without a manifest disparagement of the Wisdom and Love of God as if neither the one nor the other were considerable herein and as if after all that God hath done the things so wifely designed and graciously proffer'd were not worth our acceptance 4. The Gospel presseth the entertainment of these excellent things with the most cogent and forcible Arguments 'T is not laid before us as a matter of indifferency whether we will embrace what 's tendered or refuse it We are told and assured that as the acceptance of the things proffered will render us unspeakably blessed and happy to eternity so the refusal of them will certainly make us everlastingly and unconceivably miserable He that believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.16 5. Besides the external tender of these things in the Gospel the Spirit of God usually more or less accompanies the outward Ministration of the Gospel inwardly working together with it treating with us and solliciting the matters of our peace by Enlightnings and Convictions by stirring up good Motions and Affections Purposes and Resolutions which makes our refusal of mercy after all this much more worthy of the severest punishment 6. Add to all this the consideration of the greatness of the Person who at first published the Gospel and made tender of those excellent things to the World himself while here on Earth and also still continues to do it by his Servants The Lord of Life and Glory the Eternal Son of God who is over all God blessed for ever came in person from Heaven out of the Bosome of his Father on this very Errand that he might make reconciliation for sin Dan. 9. â—4 and bring in everlasting righteousness And offer the fruits and benefit of all to Mankind making this general Proclamation Whosoever believeth shall be saved If but an Earthly Prince should send his only Son to the remotest Parts of his Dominions on purpose to make tender of some great thing to one of his meanest Subjects what an indignity and how intolerable an affront would it be if that his tender should be slighted But here the King Eternal sends his only Son from Heaven to offer us Everlasting Life and we entertain him no otherwise than as if he came in a needless Embassy for so much our most unworthy carriage towards him imports if we do not accept of his Tenders This the Scripture insists on as a circumstance that carries in it no small aggravation of the sin of our unbelief If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at first began to be spoken to us by the Lord Heb. 2.2 3. Heb. 12.25 And again If they escaped not who refused him who spake from earth much more shall not we escape if we refuse him who speaketh from heaven Now put all these things together and I see not how you can chuse but conclude That as there is no sin like that which is committed against the light of the Gospel so there is no punishment like unto that which will be inflicted for this sin or That this is the condemnation That light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light And so I proceed to the application of what hath been spoken VSE 1. First then To speak to the more dissolute Professors of the Christian Religion From the Premises we may infer That 't is a most vain and empty Plea which many loose Christians think to help themselves with at the day of their account to God They have had their birth and education where the light of the Gospel shines and under the
Persons of higher Place shall make use of their Power to the wronging and trampling under their feet such as have no power to resist them and when they shall abuse their Abundance to Drunkenness Gluttony and Excess and to the accommodating and furnishing themselves with what may supply and feed their Pride and Vanity they take the ready Course to be despoiled and stripp'd of all those Blessings which they so horribly dishonour God by making them the Instruments of their Sin and turning them into Fewel for their Lusts And so I have done with that Observation In the next place Whereas Manasseh's hiding himself in the Thorns did him no service stood him in no stead at all whereas even in the Thorns where it was not likely that a Prince should have hid himself he was found out seized on bound with Fetters and thence carried to Babylon we may observe That when God will punish Men for their Sins no Means which they can make use of shall secure them from his Judgments This is a Truth that no Man can question who believes and acknowledgeth the Infinite Power and Wisdom of God and the Absolute Dominion and Soveraignty that he hath over all his Creatures 1. He being Infinite in Power can do whatsoever he pleaseth If he will work Isa 43.13 who can let him as he himself speaks Isa 46.10 My Counsel shall stand saith he and I will do all my Pleasure 2. He being Infinite in Wisdom as well as in Power knows how to contrive and order to dispose of and direct over-rule and govern all the Means conducing to their Punishment so as all the Wisdom of Men and Angels shall not be able to devise or contrive any thing that may counterwork his Counsels or hinder the Accomplishment of his Designs 3. He moreover having an Absolute Dominion and Soveraignty over all Creatures and they being all at his Command he can either imploy them as he pleaseth for punishing such as he will punish or forbid them to be helpful to them and restrain them from doing any thing whereby they may be rescued from Punishment Wherefore 1. When God will punish Men when he will have them suffer for their Sins he will sometimes disenable them to make use of any Means whereby they may help themselves When they should run away from Danger they have no Power to do it but stand still as Men confounded and astonished till their Fears overtake them and come upon them when they should act to secure themselves against the Evils which threaten them they cannot find their Hands as the Psalmist speaks Psal 76.5 When they should be casting about and contriving what may be for their Safety and Security they are at their Wits End and cannot make use of their Reason to relieve themselves in their Distresses Their Wisdom faileth them Eccl. 10.3 as Solomon speaks 2. Sometimes again when they contrive and consult for their Safety God blasteth their Counsels and turns them into Foolishness when they make use of Means God makes the very Means which they made use of for their Preservation an occasion of their Ruine As Sisera betaking himself to the House of Heber the Kenite to save his Life Judg. 4.15 16 17. lost it and met with that Destruction there which by running thither he sought to avoid while he flies from the Sword he meets with a Nail that pierced through his Temples If they escape one Judgment they are overtaken by another Thus Sennacherib having escaped the Peril of the Sword abroad 2 Chron. 32.21 is slain at home in the House of Nisroch his God by those that came out of his own Bowels Thus God threatning wicked Men saith it shall be with them Amos 5.19 as if a Man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him or went into the House and laid his Hand on the Wall and a Serpent bit him Much to the same Effect God threatning Moah saith Jer. 48.43 44. Fear and the Pit and the Snare shall be unto thee He that fleeth from the Fear shall fall into the Pit and he that getteth out of the Pit shall be taken in the Snare When once a Man hath by his Sins made himself obnoxious to the Justice of God whither can he flee from his revenging Hand Whithersoever he goes he is sure to meet with an incensed God Whithersoever he withdraws himself he cannot run away from him who is omnipresent Can any hide himself in secret Places saith the Lord Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord Jer. 23.24 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit and whither shall I flee from thy Presence Psal 139.5 8 9 10. saith the Psalmist If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the Wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost Parts of the Sea even there shall thy Hand lead me and thy right Hand shall hold me If a Man be your Enemy and seeks to do you a Mischief you may possibly get you away from him and retire you to some Place or other where he shall not be able to find you or where he may not reach you Though Kings have long Arms as we say and can by themselves and by their Ministers and Instruments reach a great way yet they cannot reach so far but that sometimes such as have offended them makeâ— shift to get them out of their reach But if a Man shall have offended God if he shall by his Provocations have made God his Enemy whither can he betake himself where he may be without the reach of his Justice Surely he must go out of the World that would go away from God And if he should so do yet would he meet with God in the other World and even there would he fall under his Sin-revenging Justice Hence it is that God often speaks of himself as of one that hath such a powerful Arm and such irresistible Might that no created Power can rescue any out of his Hand when he hath determined to make them Instances of his Justice and of his fierce Indignation against Sin by inflicting exemplary Punishments on them Having threatned severely threatned to reckon with the wicked the obstinate and impenitent Sinner that in the height of his carnal Security thinks God to be altogether such an one as himself he at length concludes Consider this ye that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Psal 50.22 Ye are my Witnesses saith the Lord that I am God Yea before the Day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of my Hand Isa 43.12 13. See now that I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my Hand For I lift up my Hand to Heaven and say I live
himself both Soul and Body In short Afflictions are a kind of spiritual Eye-salve whereby our Sight is cleared and we are enabled to see what we saw not before we were afflicted and to see those things more clearly and distinctly which before we saw darkly and confusedly Afflictions help us to see those Sins in our selves which before we discerned not or if we had some obscure and imperfect Sight of them if we had a dark and confused View of them before we were afflicted our Afflictions help us to see them and to discern the Evil and Danger of them more clearly 4. Afflictions put us upon the great and necessary Duties of Humiliation and Prayer Afflictions make us humble our selves for our Sins by which we have brought our Afflictions upon us and they make us earnest Suitors to God in Prayer for the Pardon of our Sins and for the Removal of those our Afflictions which have been the bitter Fruit of our Sins Afflictions have often taught Men to humble themselves and pray who were mere Strangers to those Duties before and never had any Acquaintance with them till God's afflicting Hand was upon them Even the Mariners a Generation of Men that for the most part do not much addict themselves to Devotion will pray and call upon God in a Tempest as we may see Psal 107. where both their Danger and their Carriage therein is thus described Psal 107.25 26 27 28. He commandeth and raiseth the stormy Winds which lift up the Waves they mount up to the Heavens they go down again to the deep their Soul is melted because of Trouble they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken Man and are at their Wits and Then they cry unto the Lord in their Trouble and he bringeth them out of their Distresses So Jonah 1.5 The Mariners being afraid by reason of a mighty Tempest cried every Man unto his God So the Prophet saith of the Jews Isa 26.16 Lord in Trouble have they visited thee they poured out a Prayer when thy Chastning was upon them And this is that which God aims at in afflicting his People I will go and return to my Place Hos 5.15 that is I will withdraw from them saith he till they acknowledg their Offence and seek my Face This here in my Text was the Effect which Affliction took upon Manasseh When he was in Affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers and prayed unto him This Course St. James directs the Afflicted unto Is any among you afflicted let him pray Jam. 5.13 To the like Purpose is the Exhortation of St. Peter to such as are cast down under the afflicting Hand of God 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves under the mighty Hand of God that he may exalt you in due time 5. Afflictions make Men willing to forsake their Sins and induce them to take up Resolutions to forsake them and cast them off The beloved Sins of Men are sweet to them and they are most unwilling to leave them as long as they can enjoy them without Trouble or Molestation as long as they suffer nothing and as they smart not upon the account of their Sins But when they are chastned and afflicted for their Sins this makes Sin bitter to them and makes them resolve to part with it to cast it off and abandon it this makes them bind and oblige themselves by the most solemn and sacred Bonds never to return to it any more This is that which God's People were to do in the time of their Affliction they must resolve upon other Courses they must promise and vow to renounce and forsake those Sins by which they had drawn down the Judgments of God upon them they must return to the Lord and say unto him Asher shall not save us Hos 14.3 we will not ride upon Horses neither will we say any more to the Works of our hands Ye are our Gods These Resolutions their Afflictions should produce and such Resolutions they would produce when their Sufferings being sanctified to them should effectually reduce them and bring them home to God And the like Resolutions did David's Afflictions produce in him as we may gather from the frequent mention there is of the Vows which he then made unto God Thy Vows are upon me O God I will render Praise unto thee Psal 56.12 Thou O God hast heard my Vows Psal 61.5 Prepare Mercy and Truth which may preserve me So will I sing Praise unto thee for ever that I may daily perform my Vows ver 7 8. I will pay thee my Vows which my Lips have uttered and my Mouth hath spoken when I was in Trouble Psal 66.13 14. Now by these his Vows no doubt but he obliged himself to testify his Thankfulness unto God when he should deliver him out of his Troubles not only by offering Sacrifices which were the usual Testifications of Thankfulness in those times but also by a more careful Endeavour to forsake all Sin and to give up himself to God more intirely in a way of constant and universal Obedience without which all their Sacrifices and Oblations had in God's Account signified little The Sum of all that hath been spoken is this Afflictions will work upon Men and prevail with them to return to God from whom they have gone astray when all other Means are ineffectual That 't is not from any natural Property or inherent Virtue in Afflictions themselves that they produce this Effect but from the Grace of God and the Operation of his Spirit accompanying Afflictions and sanctifying them to us That Afflictions sanctified Afflictions contribute towards the reclaiming of Sinners 1. By making them more serious and by causing them to reflect upon themselves and consider 2. By bringing them to the sight of their Sins which they do several ways 3. By acquainting them with the great Evil and Hainousness of Sin and with the Danger thereof 4. By putting the Sinner upon Humiliation and Prayer 5. By making him willing to forsake his Sins and by causing him to take up Resolutions to forsake his Sins and never to return to them any more Now I come to apply what hath been spoken Vse 1. If Afflictions will work upon Men and prevail with them to return to God when all other-Means are ineffectual this may inform us how entremely bad we are what sinful Natures we have how disingenuous we are how much our Hearts are set upon Sin and how fondly in love with it we are 'T is a very bad Child that will be wrought upon and be made better by nothing but the Rod if no Perswasions no wholsom Counsels no Admonitions no Promises no Threatnings will do him any good if he must be beaten and smart soundly or he will miscarry and undo himself This is our natural Temper this is the very Case of us all by Nature nothing but Blows and the Smart of the Rod will
and desperate Condition than which nothing could easily be more sad and rueful but notwithstanding all this God wonderfully appeared for him and rescued him out of his Misery And hence we may observe That there is no Condition so sad so disconsolate and so dismal but that God can afford a Man Relief therein and will do it if he be duly sought unto Jonah upon Prayer was delivered out of the Belly of Hell as he calls it Jonah 〈…〉 dark Prison or rather a Dungeon When the Israelites should by their Sins have so far provoked God as to be made the Objects of his fiercest Indignation and to be punished seven times and seven times and seven times more for their Iniquities yet after all this God promised them Mercy upon their sound Humiliation Lev. 26.40 41 42. and sincere Repentance So again when all the Curses of the Law should have overtaken and seized on that sinful People and when for their monstrous Provocations God should have dispersed them and scattered them amongst the Nations and driven them even to the uttermost Parts of the Earth yet if after all this they should return to the Lord and obey his Voice Deut. 30.2 3 4. he promiseth to turn their Captivity and to gather them out of all Places whither he had scattered them He is graciously pleased to assure them that if any of theirs should be driven out to the uttermost Parts of Heaven from thence would the Lord their God gather them and from thence would he fetch them There are two Branches of this Point 1. He can afford Relief in the most deplorable and desperate Cases for he is all-sufficient Gen. 17.1 He wants neither Wisdom nor Power to compass and work out the Deliverance of his People how forlorn or deplorable soever their Condition may seem to be 1st As for Wisdom He is the only wise God 1 Tim. 1.17 His Vnderstanding is infinite Psal 147.5 He knows how to deliver the Godly 2 Pet. 2.9 2dly His Power is equal to his Wisdom Nothing is impossible with God Luke 1.37 Nothing is too hard for him Gen. 18.14 He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think Eph. 3.20 He is never at a Loss though we be 2. As he can so he will afford Relief in all Cases if he be duly sought unto at least so far as shall be most for his own Glory and our real Benefit and Advantage For 1st The more sad any Man's Condition is the more ready is he to relieve him Psal 103.13 and the greater Compassion hath he for him Like as a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him 2dly The more sad any Man's Condition is the more Glory will redound to God from relieving him Now to apply this in a Word The proper Use of this Point is to incourage us to look up to God and to be humble Petitioners to him for Relief in all our Distresses never despairing of obtaining Succour as long as we have such an one to have recourse unto But to go on with the Text which informs us that God was entreated of him and heard his Supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his Kingdom He was entreated of him not only so as to release him out of Prison and to bring him back again into Jerusalem into his Kingdom but so as to pardon his great and hainous Provocations by which he had drawn that Misery upon himself for that Manasseh was a true Penitent we have all the reason to believe not only in regard that it is said of him that he humbled himself greatly but also that upon his Return to Jerusalem he took away the strange Gods and the Idol out of the House of the Lord and all the Altars that he had built and cast them out of the City and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel These were Fruits and Evidences of the Truth of his Repentance Now whereas such an one as Manasseh obtained the Pardon of his Sins we may observe That the greatest Sinners may find Mercy with God if they duly seek it This great Truth for such it will be deemed by all that are truly sensible of their Sins may be confirmed several ways 1. From Instances of such notorious Sinners as have upon their Repentance obtained the pardon of their Sins Instances whereof are 1. Manasseh here in the Text whose most hainous and abominable Provocations are at large described 2 Kings 21. 2 Chron. 33. 2. The Woman mentioned Luke 7.37 38. and so on to the end of the Chapter This Woman is there said to have been a Sinner that is a notorious and infamous Sinner one that was known to be a lewd and vitious Woman all the Town over insomuch that Simon the Pharisee who had invited Christ to his House took great offence at it that he should suffer a Woman of such ill Report to come near him as we may see ver 39. and yet this lewd and vicious Woman upon her sincere Repentance obtained the forgiveness of her Sins whereof our Saviour assures her ver 48. saying unto her Thy Sins are forgiven thee 3. The Thief on the Cross is another Instance of Mercy obtained at the Hands of God by a great Sinner upon his sound Humiliation and unfeigned Repentance Luke 23.40 41 42 43. 4. Another Instance hereof may be in those who are said to have used curious Arts Act. 19.19 that is who addicted themselves unto Magick and Judicial Astrology Many of these are said to have brought their Books together that is their Books of Magick and Judicial Astrology and to have burned them before all Men thereby testifying the truth of their Repentance upon which without all question they obtained the pardon of those their great and horrible Offences 5. Another Instance may be in those notorious Sinners a black Catalogue whereof we have 1 Cor. 6.9 10. namely Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers Effeminate Abusers of themselves with Mankind Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners Concerning which monstrous and prodigious Offenders the Apostle adds v. 11. And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God The Sum of all is That as bad as they were and as notoriously wicked as they had been they obtained converting pardoning and sanctifying Grace 6. S. Paul may be another Instance hereof who though according to his own acknowledgment he had been a Blasphemer a Persecuter 1 Tim. 1.13 15. an injurious Person and the chief of Sinners yet upon his Repentance he obtained Mercy 7. Another Instance may be in those wicked Jews that crucified the Lord of Life three thousand whereof being converted by St. Peter's Sermon Acts 2.36 41. obtained the forgiveness of that horrid Sin 2. That great Sinners may upon sound and sincere Repentance obtain the pardon and
influences of that light they have lived As soon as they came into the World they were in Baptism dedicated to Christ in that Ordinance they gave their Names to Christ and listed themselves among his Followers and Soldiers and they never afterwards renounced him but made profession of him all their days What reason therefore have they to make any question but that Christ will own them They have not been Heathens or Mahumetans Wherefore though Christ should turn those wretched Infidels into Hell by thousands yet as for themselves being Christians they hope they may well expect more favour from him Should he deal with them as with Heathens as with those who never wore his Livery who never made profession of him who never knew him or heard of his Name This were hard measure and such as they think they need not fear at the hands of so merciful a Saviour Who should go to Heaven if not such as themselves whom should Christ save if not Christians Alas poor Souls You think to plead as those who make account that Christ is much beholding to you for vouchsafing to be called by his Name But forasmuch as professing to know Christ in your Works you deny him forasmuch as while you call him your Saviour you refuse to be ruled by him as your Lord forasmuch as notwithstanding all the love you pretend to have for him and his Gospel your Actions are such as proclaim you to be those who love darkness rather than light and who hate true Christianity the reality and power of that which you make profession of had not Christ been more beholding to you if you had never so much as in external profession owned him If you had never been called by that blessed Name which by your unholy lives you have reproached and profaned Many Heathens were never in a capacity of dishonouring that Name as having never had the knowledge of it and your knowledge of Christ hath been of no other advantage to you than only to enable you knowingly to slight him and trample his precious Blood under your feet Thus you throw dirt in you Saviour's face while you would seem to honour him Quid est aliud sanctum vocabulum sine merito quà m ornamentum in luto saith Salvian in his 4th Book de Gubernatione Dei The sacred Name of Christian without faith and holiness what is it but an Ornament trodden under foot in the mire or a precious Jewel which you have taken and drawn along the Kennel But you debaucht and vicious Persons you wild Ranters rather than sober Christians speak out your inmost thoughts Do you really make account of claiming special interest in Christ and do you in earnest expect to be owned by him With what face can you do it while you continue to be as you are Caesar being at a Banquet where he was but meanly entertained and no way so as was suitable to the dignity of so great a Person when the entertainment was over instead of thanking him who had invited him he only gave him this check in his ear Non put abam me tibi tam familiarem I had not thought that we two had been so familiar And will not Christ thank you much in the like manner for having been called by his Name and for reckoning your self among those that belong to him and have a special interest in him Do you not know how he will at the last day entertain you and in what manner he will declare the sense he hath of your kindness Thou lewd and profligate Person who callest me Lord who numbrest thy self among my Disciples and the most intimare of my Retinue how long have we been so well acquainted Thou â—mmon Swearer thou intemperate and unclean Person thou scoffer at Religion thou nominal Christian but real Enemy to the Gospel and all that sincerely profess it how durst thou make mention of my Name and take my covenant in thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed and castest my words behind thy back Be it known unto thee thou hast been much mistaken in me I own no such Friends or Followers as thou art Depart from me thou worker of iniquity I know thee not Oh most sad and terrible Disappointment when you shall be thus condemned and turned into Hell by him from whom all your Expectations of Salvation were But yet this is not all you shall not only be adjudged to Hell with the Heathen that know not God and all the Families that call not on his Name but you shall be more severely handled in that place of Torment than the very Heathens The Condition of a sober and temperate Heathen shall then be more tolerable than that of a lewd and vicious Christian And is it not a most righteous thing with God that it should be so The Pagan World never had the light that you have been blest with Pagans never had those many gracious Calls and Invitations to Faith and Repentance which you have had Pagans never had the tenders of those glorious things which have in the Gospel been proffer'd you The Terrors of the Law and the torments prepared in Hell for all the people of the World that forget God were never laid open and set before their eyes as they have been before yours Pagans never had experience of those strong Convictions of those inward Motions and Strivings of the Spirit of God with their Souls which you have had And yet after all this you are in many respects much worse than many Heathens And will you still think to plead We are Christians and should Christ deal with us as with Heathens I tell you once more no he will not deal with you as with Heathens As the Aggravations of your Sins have been incomparably greater Matth. 11.22 23 24. so shall your Punishment be It shall be more tolerable in the day of judgment for heathens than for you VSE 2. In the second place I shall speak unto those who know much and are still in the pursuit of more knowledge but make little conscience of practising what they know From what hath been delivered we may also infer how much it concerns these to add conscientious practise to their knowledge and to endeavour that all their Gifts may be seasoned with grace The more knowledge any graceless Person hath the greater without repentance will his future Torments be and the more intolerable his misery You whose Spirits are with much fervour and intention carried out after knowledge and yet possibly so much slight and undervalue Grace as that you grudge to spend one hour in a serious enquiry into your spiritual Estate I beseech you consider what you are a-doing While you are adding Notion to Notion and Conclusion to Conclusion you are but heaping up matter for your more just and heavy Condemnation you are but preparing Whips for your own backs For he that knows his masters will Luke 12.47 and doth it not shall be beaten with many
many such when they lye a dying how 't is with them whether there be any thing that troubles them or lyes heavy upon their Consciences And they will readily answer There is nothing that troubles them nothing that disturbs their peace Ask them if they be willing to die and whether they be not afraid of death Their answer is they are very willing to die and as for death they fear it not Now call you this a dying peaceably and comfortably when men of very bad or careless Lives go out of the World fast asleep in carnal security When they die without any sense of their Spiritual and Everlasting Estate O be not deceived 't is certainly a very sad and fearful thing when a careless or wicked Life without any evidence of after-repentance is shut up in a quiet and undisturbed death How much better grounds of comfortable hopes concerning the Everlasting Estate of such men were there if they died under many fears and troubles from a sound conviction and thorough sence of the sins of their Life 'T is very true you will say if they have been very wicked Men great and notorious Sinners But if the worst that can be said of them is that they have been careless and uncircumspect in their Lives the matter is not much A. Considering the corruption of our Nature our strong proneness to Evil the many Temptations we meet with and the malice and restlesness of Satan ever watching to take hold of all advantages against us to hurry us into Sin 't is impossible but that a man of a careless and uncircumspect Life should have led a very sinful Life and have contracted and heaped up a great deal of guilt and therefore if such a one without discovery of any After-repentance and Humiliation and without any trouble upon account of his Sins go quietly out of the World 't is a sad and uncomfortable thing and though we may not rashly and peremptorily pass our Judgment concerning the Eternal Estate of particular Persons yet have we just cause to fear and all things considered we cannot but greatly fear how it may be with such a one in the other World Sure we are without Repentance whereof there was no evidence or appearance he must everlastingly miscarry So from the Duty of walking circumspectly I come to the Argument by which it is enforced implied in the next words Not as fools but as wise 'T is every man's wisdom to walk circumspectly but his folly to be careless uncircumspect and heedless in the course of his Life Prov. 17.24 Wisdom is before him that hath understanding That is He that hath understanding the man that is truely wise his wisdom is before him to look right on to ponder the path of his feet as Solomon speaks Prov. 4.25 26. to spy out and consider his way to direct and govern his steps And so is this Proverb expounded by that other to the same purpose Prov. 14.8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way that 's the use which he makes of his wisdom he is as to that matter wise for himself in Solomon's Language still Prov. 9.12 But the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth he exerciseth that little reason which he hath about remoter things about any thing else rather than what most nearly concerns him the observing and making choice of his way As if a Man should fix his Eyes on the Hills at a great distance where the Earth and the Heavens seem to meet and in the mean time neglect to heed his way to observe where he treads and what dangers he runs upon as the Philosopher who fell into a Pit whilst his Eyes were taken up with the Contemplation of the Celestial Bodies Thus we see 't is our wisdom to walk circumspectly and 't is so in several respects 1. We hereby shun and avoid the greatest Evils 1. The displeasure of God whose wrath is so terrible that it made the Prophet cry out Hab. 1.6 Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger 2. The sting of an evil and guilty Conscience the Torment whereof is intolerable Prov. 18.14 A wounded spirit who can bear 3. The loss of a man's Soul which nothing can compensate or make up What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world Mat. 16 26 and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul He that walketh circumspectly avoideth these three great and formidable Evils greater than which none can be the displeasure of God the sting of a guilty Conscience and the loss of his Soul 2. On the contrary by walking circumspectly we secure to our selves the greatest the most desireable good things 1. The favour of God for while we are with God in a course of Obedience 2 Chron. 15.2 he is with us 'T is only sin that deprives us of God's favour Now the favour of God is better than life Psal 63.3 What is there in all the World that is comparable to it 2. It secures to us peace of Conscience Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this rule peace be upon them and upon the Israel of God And this also is a thing of invaluable worth Prov. 14.13 A good conscience is a continual feast The comfort of which is so great as none can tell what it is but he that hath had experience of it in himself It passeth knowledge Eph. 4.7 3. By walking Circumspectly we secure to our selves the Everlasting well-being of our Souls which even in Satans valuation of them are more worth than the whole World Mat. 4.9 Psa 50.23 To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God There being these singular advantages of walking circumspectly you need not be much troubled at the Censures of the World They who are strangers to the ways of God and were never acquainted with the Comforts of them may count them little better than Fools that run not with them to the same excess of Riot But this is more than enough to satisfie and quiet you that what they count foolishness the Holy Ghost honours with the Elogy of Wisdom So I have done with the great Duty of circumspect walking together with the reason by which it is enforced I come now to speak of the particular instance in which our circumspection should be exercised Redeeming the time To redeem properly is by laying down a price to purchase again or recover that which another hath gotten possession of So a Captive or a Slave is redeemed out of the hand of an Enemy So a Man redeems his Goods which have been pawned or sold to another Now in this very sence to redeem time that is gone is impossible For time is of that nature that it can never be recovered when once 't is lost All the Gold and Silver all the
redeem time and which the Apostle chiefly aims at in this place as hath been said 3. Time must be redeemed for performance of the duties and offices of love to our Neighbours whether they be such as concern their Souls or their Bodies 1. With relation to their Souls time must be redeemed for teaching instructing counselling advising comforting admonishing and reproving them as there shall be cause for it and as their conditions shall require it 2. With relation to their Bodies time must be redeemed for looking after them providing for them and ministring such reliefs and succours to them as they shall stand in need of But above all time must be redeemed for our own Souls and for the things that refer to our spiritual and everlasting welfare 3. How is the time to be redeemed A. By using our utmost diligence to make the best improvement of it that we can And for our help and furtherance therein it will concern us 1. To be careful that we rightly divide and distribute our time allotting such a proportion of it for attending the duties of our particular Callings so much for necessary refreshings so much for holy duties and so for the rest of those things which necessarily require some part of our time 2. To be ever watchful against all Incroachers upon our time and the principal Thieves of our time which will be every day attempting to steal away some part of it What these Thieves of time are every one best knows who is best acquainted with his own Temptations and the circumstances of his Condition 3. He should daily call himself to an account and enquire how he hath imployed his time and what use he hath made of it And where he finds he hath mispent any part of it he should be humbled for it and resolve to make amends by greater care in husbanding his time for the future And this he should especially be careful to do where through his carelesness he hath misimployed or vainly squandred away that time which should have been spent in the Service of God and in the Duties that more immediatly refer to his Soul and more directly tend to the promoting of the good thereof But you will say If a man should every day thus reckon with himself and call himself to an account concerning the imploying of every part of his time this would be a very irksome and tedious course Who would endure to be so strict and severe to himself as to be accountable to himself for every hour in the day This were an intolerable burthen a yoke too heavy to be born To this I answer 1. That whether we be willing to be accountable to our selves for our time daily or no we must be accountable to God for it for every hour of it And the best way to render our Account to God more easie is to be daily calling our selves to an account He that doth this and doth it as he ought makes even Reckonings between God and his own Soul every day 2. We may not think to get to Heaven so easily as to undergo nothing in our way thither that may be tedious and unacceptable to our corrupt Nature They who may hope to go to Heaven must deny themselves and cross the sinful Inclinations of their Nature they must ever and anon be rigid and severe to themselves they must be willing to take pains Luk. 13.14 â— Pet. 1. â—0 Pail 3.13 14. and to strive to enter in at the strait gate They must give all diligence to make their calling and election sure Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before they must press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God If men dream of getting to Heaven without labour and difficulty without offering some violence to their depraved and sinful Natures they are not likely to come thither Undoubtedly 't is not for nothing that our Saviour hath declared Matth. 7.14 That narrow is the way and strait is the gate that leadeth unto life 'T is a severe passage that we have and deserving to be seriously considered by all slothful Christians that would go to Heaven so as it might cost them nothing If the righteous scarcely be saved 1 Pet. 4.18 where shall the ungodly and sinner appear If the most righteous man after all the care and diligence which he hath used and the pains which he hath taken to secure his Soul be scarce saved at last if all that he could do be but just enough to bring him to Heaven shall any man think to loiter away his time here and wast it as he pleaseth and yet make account to get to Heaven as well as those who have been most careful and sollicitous most diligent and industrious in the use of all good means to prevent the everlasting miscarrying of their Souls Let no man so deceive himself whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap As men have been sollicitous and diligent or careless and slothful about the concernments of their Souls here so must they expect to fare hereafter They that sow to the flesh Gal. 6.7.8 shall of the flesh reap corruption And they that sow to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting But you will say My Condition is such that how careful soever I be about what concerns my Soul I can redeem but a very little time for things of that nature My particular Calling so continually takes me up that I can hardly gain one quarter of an hour in a day from it to be spent upon any thing else I answer 1. This may sometimes be through a man 's own fault Perhaps he takes more upon him and incumbers himself with more business than he ought No man should so intangle himself with the Affairs of this World as to shut out better things Better let part of the World go than indanger the loss of your Soul By so grasping the World as to lose your Soul you would be a sorry gainer in the end 2. But supposing a man's Calling to be such as very little time can be redeemed from it for heavenly things yet he must remember Luke 10.42 that one thing is needful absolutely and indispensably necessary and therefore he must find time for that one great thing whatever else he omitted Earthly things must so far give way to heavenly things as that our Souls and eternal concernments be not neglected 3. But yet however it must be considered That God doth not require the same portion of time from all men Persons whose Condition is low and strait as to outward things and some others also whose time is necessarily and unavoidably taken up with the duties of their particular Calling may satisfy themselves in allowing much less time for spiritual things than others who are less straitned and more at liberty But as for such as have more leisure they may not think that no more is expected of
others of them eat the Bread of idleness and will do it for their hands refuse to labour and they will not have honest Imployment when they may but I say those before spoken of are diligent and industrious they rise betimes in the morning they follow their work closely all the day and go late to bed at night a very commendable thing in them and greatly to be encouraged but yet alas What 's their great end in all this What do they aim at Nothing else but that they may eat a piece of Bread that they may have wherewithal to keep themselves and their Relations alive if any they have Do they mind God in their Employment Are they diligent in their Calling because he commands them so to be And do they in that way of their Employment intend the serving of his Providence And do they seek his Glory in that their low condition of Life Do they humbly and contentedly submit to his Providence in thus disposing of things and in allotting them so slender a portion of the things of this Life and putting them to get their Livelihood in so painful and laborious a way And lastly as low as their condition is do they seek to honour God in it as much as they can If they do so then they do faithfully what they do in their mean condition and they may assure themselves that as their eye is on God so God's Eye is on them he takes notice of their faithfulness and will assuredly reward it But how few are they who look so high as to mind God at all or in the least study to approve themselves to him A fourth instance shall be in Servants Though there were never more complaints of the carelesness and unfaithfulness of Servants and perhaps never more cause for such complaints yet there are those who are diligent and faithful and cannot justly be charged with idleness or unfaithfulness or with any of those other usual faults for which Servants are blamed And yet even amongst these who are the best and most careful to please those whom they serve and who do all they can to give them content how few are there whose eyes are upon their Master in Heaven and whose greatest care it is so to discharge the Duty of their places as to please him Who according to the Apostles injunction before-mentioned do service with singleness of heart as to the Lord and not unto men Who do all the service which they owe to man as unto Christ studying to please him therein and expecting their Wages and Reward from him For the most part even the better sort of Servants look no further than their Masters here on Earth as for God their Master in Heaven 't is scarce in all their thoughts to please him and yet without a care and study to please him they are but men-pleasers Eph. 6.6 as the Apostle calls them and must never expect either reward or acceptance from God 5. Another instance may be in Parents and Children to put them together As for many Parents they are not without natural Love Affection and Tenderness for their Children in their younger years they are willing to take any pains with them they can cheerfully undergo much trouble for them and when they are grown up they are full of careful thoughts about them and so studious of their temporal welfare that they think they can never do enough to promote it And yet 't is possible that very little of all this may be done in obedience to God and with respect to his Authority and Command who as he hath furnished them with natural Affections to put them on to do for their Children so he hath by his command made it their Duty without regard of which command they do these things no otherwise than the brute Beasts feed tender and protect their young by natural Instinct and from that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or inbred Affection which both strongly inclines them to do it and enables them to do it with delight and pleasure That many Parents are led to all that careful and solicitous travel and labour of Love which they undergo for Children by no higher Principles or Inducements is manifest because if the command of God did prevail with them it would also make them conscientiously Industrious in discharging their Duty to their Souls which God hath as strictly enjoined and which he looks after as much yea much more as the Soul is more worth and the everlasting miscarrying thereof of higher consequence than that of their temporal welfare But here how miserably do they neglect them and betray their Souls to Sin Satan and Hell While they neither bestow any pains upon them to instruct them in the Principles of Religion and their Duty to God nor use any effectual means for preventing and restraining Sin in them But neither is this the only evidence of their performing no part of their Duty to them in obedience to God for if they did then would the same command and authority of God also ingage them to reform their own Lives and frame their Conversations according to the Rule then would they not as many of them do allow themselves in sinful ways slighting God's Authority and casting his Word behind their back And what hath been spoken of Parents the same likewise may be said of Children I speak of Children grown up to years of some discretion and able to put a difference between good and evil They obey their Parents some of them I mean though many others are undutiful headstrong and rebellious I say the better sort of Children obey their Parents are unwilling to offend them or incur their displeasure but yet 't is not the command of God that sways them or prevails with them 'T is because they stand in some awe of their Parents but not because they stand in awe of God who hath threatned to punish stubborn and disobedient Children and hath promised to reward such of them as are dutiful tractable and obedient as is implied in the Motive annexed to the Fifth Commandment 'T is because of their dependance on them and in regard they live in expectation of further kindnesses from them but not with respect to God's command who hath said Honour thy father and thy mother and Children obey your parents for this is well-pleasing unto God Alas This consideration that 't is well-pleasing unto God hath not the least influence upon that obedience which many Children yield unto their Parents nor are they at all moved or stirred up to the performance of their Duty to them thereby And so I have shewed in these few instances unto which many more might be added that though men may do many good things yet very little of what they do may upon examination appear to have been done faithfully so far are they from being capable of the Testimony and Commendation given to Gaius to whom the Apostle saith Thou dost faithfully whatsoever thou dost both
God in the exact frame due lineaments right proportions and features strength and beauty of perfect Creatures So the poor strait and indigent condition of some so much the more commends the Bounty and Goodness of God to others and provokes them at least should provoke them to so much the greater love and thankfulness to that God who hath been so bountiful to them and hath been pleased to put such a difference between them and others and this albeit they have deserved at the hands of God no more than those their inferiours who are in the most necessitous condition 2. This difference which God hath put between men affords the Rich opportunities of exercising their Charity Pity and Compassion towards the Poor and gives the Poor occasion of exercising their Faith and Trust in God for supplies of Necessaries Patience Humility Contentment with their mean condition quiet submission to the good pleasure of God in thus dealing with them and thankfulness to God for those helps and assistances which he is pleased to reach forth to them by the hands of those with whom he deposited more of the things of this World on purpose that they might be helpful to those who have less 3. God hath been pleased to put this difference between men in regard of the necessity there is of different Stations and Conditions different Services and Imployments for procuring and carrying on the good and welfare of the Community of Mankind Some must govern and others must be governed or else we shall quickly be ruined and all things will run into confusion Some must labour in the Field others must grinde at the Mill others handle the Distaff some must be imployed in meaner other in higher Services in order whereunto it was fit that men's conditions should be suited to those Imployments in which they are to be serviceable to God and their Generation Now the Application of what hath been spoken follows and this will concern all I shall first speak to the Rich and then to the Poor As for the Rich or those whom God hath been pleased to intrust with a larger portion of Temporal things they may hence be minded of their Duty several ways If the Rich and the Poor meet together in all those respects before mentioned and God be the Maker of them all both as men and as considered under the different Adjuncts of Riches and Poverty then may the Rich hence be cautioned and admonished 1. Not to despise the Poor This is that which men who even wallow in plenty and abound with the good things of this Life are very subject to A poor man is many times a contemptible thing in their eyes and as he hath occasion to come near them he scarce meets with those civilities from them that are due to Mankind And usually none are more faulty this way than such as have the greatest obligation to civility and condescension I mean such as were not long since in a mean condition themselves and have but newly been advanced to an higher Station But these and whosoever else may be blame-worthy in this respect should consider what hath above been discoursed of 1. That the poorest and most forlorn Creature who is most despicable in their eyes hath as noble and excellent a Soul as they have themselves or as the greatest Potentate in the World hath and as for his very Body though cloathed with nasty Rags the exquisite Workmanship thereof is no less admirable than that of his that is cloathed with Scarlet and adorned with Gold and Pearls and whatever Nature or Art could contribute to make it beautiful and lovely 2. That the poorest man in the World is as dear to God as they are and as much under the Care and gracious Providence of God for fine Cloaths and Riches and Honours commend no man to God high and low rich and poor are alike to him for he is no respecter of persons Act 10.34 neither doth he rate or value any man according to these things 'T is grace and holiness that he looks after and accordingly proportions his esteem for men The Lord seeth not as man seeth man looketh upon the outward appearance but the Lord looketh upon the heart 1 Sam. 16.7 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous Psal 34.15 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy Psal 147.11 But as for wicked and ungodly men of what rank or quality soever they may be in this World the Lord hates and abhors them Psal 5.5 3. They should consider that the poorest man in all the World is as capable of being admitted to the blisful Vision and Fruition of God in the World to come is as capable of glory and eternal happiness as the richest As God hath given the same Rational and Immortal Soul to Rich and Poor whereby they are both capable of the sight and enjoyment of God so hath Christ died for both and paid the same invaluable price for the Redemption of both and so he hath commanded his Gospel to be published alike to both and therein the same terms of Salvation to be indifferently propounded to the one and the other There is not one Gospel for the Rich and another for the Poor nor are the terms of peace with God and reconciliation to him more easy and favourable for the one than for the other The Gospel puts no difference between men with reference to those different circumstances as to outward things under which they may be It speaks the same Language to all Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Mark 16.15 16. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Except ye repent ye shall all perish Luke 13.3 Except ye be converted ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven Mat. 18.3 Now if God values the Souls of Rich and Poor alike hath taken the same care of and made the same provision for the Salvation of both if Rich and Poor meet together stand both upon even ground and are upon equal terms as to the matters that are of highest importance and everlasting concernment to the one and the other should any man despise his poor Brother upon the account of these temporal things these poor and worthless trifles that signify as good as nothing 2. The Rich may hence be cautioned Not to count the Poor a grievance or heavy burthen to them I mean the honest sober humble modest and industrious Poor As for wicked loose idle and unprofitable Persons whether they be Poor or Rich they are not only a grievance but the very Pests of the places where they live as exposing them to God's wrath and drawing down his Judgments upon themselves and others 1. While you count the Poor a grievance and think how much happier the World would be if all men were Rich as you are you
be coming on the Nation We read Ezek. 9. that God commanded a Mark to be set upon the Fore-heads of the Men that sighed and cried for all the Abominations that were done in the midst of Jerusalem that the Executioners of his Wrath might pass them by and spare them And 't is also the best Course that we can take for obtaining Mercy for the Land and for averting those Judgments which the Sins thereof cry aloud to Heaven for By the Intercessions of a few thus humbling themselves for their own Sins and mourning for the Sins of others the Wrath of God is sometimes turned away from the Places where they live But however they are sure to deliver their own Souls though they cannot obtain Mercy for others as we may gather from Ezek. 14.14 And this may suffice to have been spoken concerning the Lord's bringing upon Manasseh and his People the Captains of the Host of the King of Assyria What these Captains did and with what Success they managed their Business is express'd in the Words following They took Manasseh in the Thorns and bound him with Fetters and carried him to Babylon They took Manasseh in the Thorns it was as it seems a Place of Thorns or Thickets whither Manasseh in the Dread and Consternation of Spirit under which he was had fled to hide and shelter himself from the Enemy So we read in 1 Sam. 13.6 that the Israelites being greatly distressed by the Philistines that oppressed them did hide themselves in Caves and in Thiekets and in Rocks and in high Places and in Pits Now whereas Manasseh though a King was brought into that Distress that he was constrained to hide himself in the Thorns from his Enemies we may observe That great Men and Persons of high Places and great Dignity may sometimes be reduced to great Extremities and be put to make use of hard Shifts to preserve themselves Sisera the Captain General and Commander in chief of the Army of Jabin King of Canaan Judg. 4.15 16 17. was forced to light off his Chariot and on his Feet to betake himself to the House of Heber the Kenite to save his Life which yet he could not do but lost it there by the Hand of a Woman Zedekiah King of Judah and his Nobles were constrained to dig through a Wall to make way for their Flight in the Night Ezek. 12. Jer. 39. that they might not fall into the Hands of the Chaldees and yet was Zedekiah taken by them and being bound with Fetters saw his Sons slain before his Eyes and then after that lamentable Spectacle the last that ever he saw had his Eyes put out All Ages and even our own times have been full of the like Instances of the Mutability and Uncertainty of all earthly things The Consideration hereof may be useful to us several ways 1. Hence may such as are in Places of Eminency above others or enjoy more of the things of this World than others do learn not to trust in their Riches Honour Power Greatness or whatever else it is in which they excel others All these things are fading and transitory they are inconstant and unstable they have their Turns and Revolutions he that is full to Day may be empty to Morrow he that is now uppermost may e're long be nethermost How high soever any Man be God can bring him low enough before he dies Obad. 4. Although thou exalt thy self as the Eagle and though thou set thy Nest among the Stars yet thence will I bring thee down said the Lord to Edom. Of this sad Change Jeremiah complains and laments over it Lam. 4.5 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the Streets they that were brought up in Scarlet imbrace Dunghills A remarkable Instance we have of the Instability and Uncertainty of these temporal things in Belisarius a great and famous Commander of the Forces of Justinian the Emperor This renowned and victorious General after that he had subdued the Persians overcome the Goths and vanquished the Vandalls and by these his Victories raised himself so high as that he became the Object both of the Fear and Envy of Equals and Inferiours was at length reduced to that Want and Misery that he was constrained to beg by the High-way-side crying out to Travellers that passed by Date Obolum Belisario give a Half-penny to Belisarius Let no Man therefore make Account that he stands so fast and firm but that his Feet may slip and he may take a Fall and the higher he is the more dangerous will his Fall be Neither is there any thing that threatens a Man more with a Fall than carnal Security and a vain Confidence of the Firmness and Stability of his present Station and the Unchangeableness of that prosperous Condition in which he is When David said Psal 30.6 7. In his Prosperity I shall never be moved Lord by thy Favour thou hast made my Mountain to stand strong God did but hide his Face and he was troubled 1 Thess 5.3 When Men shall say Peace and Safety then sudden Destruction cometh upon them as Travail upon a Woman with Child and they shall not escape Rev. 18.7 8. When Mystical Babylon saith I sit as a Queen and am no Widow and shall see no Sorrow Then shall her Plagues come in one Day Death and Mourning and Famine and she shall be utterly burnt with Fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her 2. Hence you may also learn not to insult over those who having formerly been in a better Condition are now brought low their present Condition may be your own you have no absolute Security against being emptied from Vessel to Vessel as they have been or against being subjected to the same Changes which they have undergone The Consideration hereof should beget in you Moderation towards Sufferers and such a compassionate Sense of their Adversities as becomes them who remember that they themselves are still in the Body Heb. 13.3 as the Apostle speaks 3. Seeing the Highest may be brought low and none are exempted from being obnoxious to Changes and Adversities it concerns all to prepare for Changes and to be always in a readiness to entertain them And those whose Condition hath elevated them above the common Sort and set them on high have so much the greater reason to be prepared for Changes because they are most in danger of them they being more exposed to Concussions and Shakings as the tall Oaks and lofty Cedars are more exposed to the Violence of Storms and Tempests than the lower Shrubs are Again it concerns these above others to labour to be prepared for Changes because they are so apt to think themselves to be above the reach of them For this fond Conceit is attended with two great Mischiefs 1. Their fancying themselves above the reach of Changes exposeth them to Changes so much the sooner for the evil Day is so much the nearer unto Men by
before the coming of the Messiah Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and will shake all nations 2. We have a Prediction of his coming And the desire of all nations shall come 3. A Promise of the Glory of the second Temple together with an answer to an objection against it And I will fill this house with glory the silver is mine and the gold is mine 4. An Amplification of that Promise concerning the glory of the second Temple The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the glory of the former 5. An additional Promise of Peace as an Appendix to all other Mercies promised And in this place will I give peace 6. The Ratification or Confirmation of the whole in those last words saith the Lord of Hosts so often mentioned before and with which all that was before promised is at last shut up and sealed To begin with the first of these the Prediction of great concussions and shakings in the World before the coming of the Messiah It is yet a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and will shake all nations By these Metaphorical Expressions according to the usual Language and Style of the Prophets we are to understand great Troubles Commotions Changes and Alterations in the World in which high and low Persons of all Conditions Ranks and Qualities represented by the Heavens and the Earth should take their turns and have their share So God speaking of his terrible Judgments on the World saith Isa 13.13 I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of its place in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts and in the day of his fierce anger But now all the difficulty is what shakings should be here intended Some understand the words of the great things which the Evangelists report to have been done at and upon the Birth of Christ the Miracles wrought by him in his Life the strange and miraculous Providences at his Death and Resurrection and of the shaking of the World afterwards by the preaching of the Gospel whereby Idols were thrown down Heathenish Idolatry and Superstitions were abolished the Christian Religion and the Worship of the true God coming in place thereof These were great and wonderful things but how they should be here by the Prophet intended is not easie to conceive For he seems to speak of such concussions and shakings as should be antecedent to the coming of Christ and go before it not concur with it much less follow after it Thus saith the Lord of Hosts I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all nations and the Desire of all nations shall come that is after God should thus have shaken the World Christ should come And indeed very great and dreadful shakings there were between the time of this Prophecy and the coming of the Messiah in which shakings the people of God the Jewish Nation were not a little concern'd The Persian Empire under which they now were was not only shaken but shaken in pieces dissolved and ruined by the Grecians under the Conduct of Alexander the Great Then presently after Alexander's Death who died in the flower of his Age the Empire which he had but just then acquired and been possessed of was in effect once more rent in pieces and divided amongst his Chieftains and Principal Commanders While this state of things continued the Jews were miserably shaken oppressed and harassed by the Tyranny and Cruelty of Antiochus Epiphanes besides many other grievous pressures and sufferings which during the Government of the Seleucides they underwent After some time the Romans came upon them all and subdued all to themselves in which Revolution the distressed Jews fell under the power of the Romans and were at their Mercy After all these terrible shakings nearer the coming of Christ the Civil Wars under Augustus Caesar caused horrible shakings and convulsions in the Empire after which the Temple of Janus was shut up and a peaceable time ensued all Swords being sheathed and all Arms laid aside throughout the whole Empire and then was Christ the Prince of Peace born in the Forty first or as some will have it in the Forty second year of the Reign of Augustus Caesar Now whereas all these shakings were to go before the coming of Christ which was the greatest Mercy that ever was vouchsafed the World we may observe That great Troubles and Afflictions sometimes go before and make way for great and signal Mercies This is indeed the ordinary and usual method of God's most wise and gracious Providence Thus Joseph is sold to the Midianites carried into Egypt and there again sold to Potiphar falsly accused cast into Prison and laid in Irons that by this Series of long-continued Afflictions way might be made for his Advancement to the highest Honour in Pharaoh's Court and for his being made Ruler over all the Land of Egypt Thus seventy years Captivity and Bondage in Babylon goes before the joyful and triumphant Return of God's people into their own Land of which the Psalmist thus speaks Psal 126.1 2. When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen The Lord hath done great things for them Which Psalm though placed among the Psalms of David yet is by Learned men upon good grounds supposed to have been penned by some other Person after the return from Babylon as also Psal 137. that is to say 460 years at least after that David had been gathered to his Fathers and perhaps much more for we know not how long after the return from Babylon it might be penned Thus the Ten most Cruel and Bloody Persecutions of the Christian Church in the first Ages thereof went before that quiet and tranquillity which the Church enjoyed under Constantine and the succeeding Christian Emperors when to use the expressions of the Prophet God made the peace of his Church as a river and the righteousness thereof as the waves of the sea Thus that wicked Usurpation and Tyranny of Antichrist making havock of the Church which hath been drawn out to so great a length already and yet we know not how much longer it may last goes before that happy estate of the Church and of the World when those joyful Acclamations shall be heard The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ Rev. 11.15 And when they who shall have gotten the victory over the beast and over his image shall sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways thou king of saints Rev. 15.1 2. And to add but one instance more here at home thus
John in a Vision as giving glory to Christ I beheld saith he and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the Lamb clothed in white robes and palms in their hands and cryed with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb Rev. 7.9 10. Now if you ask in what respects and upon what account Christ is the desire of all Nations I answer this is a subject which would take up much time if I should enlarge on it Briefly therefore he is the desire of all Nations because he is the promised seed in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed Gen. 22.18 Because he is the Saviour of all Nations the saviour of the w rld John 4.42 The propitiation for the sins of the whole world 1 John 2.2 There being no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Acts 4.12 In short he it is that satisfieth the Justice of God for Sinners and delivers them from the wrath to come that purchaseth for them pardon of sin peace with God Grace here and Glory hereafter In a word this is he who is of God made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 Now let us all reflect upon our selves and consider whether he who is the desire of all Nations be the desire of our Souls and whether he be in our esteem the chiefest among ten thousand Do we count all things loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Do we intirely love him Do we earnestly long after him Are our Affections towards him such as we can never be satisfied until we can say that he is ours and we are his Could we be content to purchase him at any rate And is there nothing in all the World so dear unto us but that we could freely part with it for his sake O let us never be at rest until we find that our Hearts stand thus affected towards him What say you to this all ye that have the Name of Christ frequently in your Mouths and by an external Profession own him as your Saviour but say of him in your Hearts We will not have this man to reign over us Ye that give him good words but refuse to take his Yoke upon you and submit to his Government who profess you know him love him desire him and give him the chief room in your Hearts but in your works deny him being abominable disobedient and to every good work reprobate Deceive not your selves Christ will never own such as you are Without timely and sincere Repentance the sentence which you must expect from him is Depart from me ye that work iniquity I never knew you Mat. 7.23 Hitherto of the Character of Christ Now as to the Promise of his coming all that I shall therein take notice of is the circumstance of time when he was to come namely while the second Temple should be yet standing for he was by his presence to fill that House with Glory and to make the Glory of the latter House greater than that of the former as we shall presently see And this circumstance of his coming is that which also the Prophet Malachy who prophesied immediately before his coming foretold Behold saith the Messiah himself I send my messenger that is John the Baptist the forerunner of Christ and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek namely the Lord Christ shall suddenly come to his temple Mal. 3.1 even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in This as it confutes the unbelieving and blasphemous Jews and argues the wilful blindness of their minds and the miserable obstinacy and hardness of their hearts in denying the Messiah to be come and still fixing new periods of time for his coming as they find still that he comes not at the times by them assigned him for his coming so it greatly confirms our Faith in Christ as the true Messiah For as all other things prophesied and foretold concerning the Messiah exactly agree to him and none else so doth this remarkable circumstance of the time of his coming Wherefore the Apostle saith When the fulness of time was come God sent his Son into the world made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law Gal. 4.4 5. When the fulness of time was come that is when the time which God had predetermined and foretold was fully come This is that which Jacob prophesied of Gen. 49.10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come Though the Jews had now ever since the Conquest of Judea by Pompey been under the Power of the Romans and by them been deprived of all power to judge determine and punish in Capital Matters yet in other matters they had still a power allowed them so as all Government was not wholly wrested away from them and taken out of their hands But now the time was drawing near when their City and Temple were to be utterly destroyed their Polity Civil State and Commonwealth to be abolished the remainders of them after the fatal slaughters of that miserable people at the destruction of Jerusalem to be dispersed and scattered into several Countreys and not as much as the face or shadow of any Government to be left among them At this signal and critical time when the day of these their Calamities hastened was Christ born The sum of all is this The Messiah was to come while the second Temple was yet standing and while the Scepter was not yet wholly departed from Judah nor a Lawgiver from between his feet while at least somewhat of Civil Power and Government still remain'd among them and so accordingly he came But 't is now above sixteen hundred years since the Temple was destroyed and all Civil Government among them into what quarters of the World soever scattered perfectly abolished In vain therefore do the Jews expect any other Messiah and as for us Christians we have all imaginable evidence that Jesus the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Christ the promised Messiah To him therefore let us betake our selves for the pardon of our Sins and the salvation of our Souls on him let us rest to him let us securely commit the Everlasting Concernments of our Souls Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.1 If an angel from heaven preach any other gospel take upon him to hold forth any other Messiah or to declare any other way of salvation let him be accursed Gal. 1.8 3. Now follows the third Particular A Promise of the glory of the second Temple together with the answer of an objection against it I will fill this house with glory the silver is mine and the gold is mine I will fill this house