forelorn Gentiles as stupid as stocks and stones he raiseth up Children a great posterity to Abraham Those that he imployed in the erecting Sion and establishing the Law that went out from her in the rubbish of the Gentiles he struck off from all humane assistances all strength and power in themselves when he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait there for a power from on high before they ventured to be Witnesses to him and publish his Name not only in the uttermost parts of the Earth but in Jerusalem the City where they were to abide or in any part of Judaea Acts 1.4 8. They were not to speak a word of him in their own strength or in any strength less than a Power from Heaven which was to be given them by the sending the Spirit and this he calls the promise of the Father as signifying his purpose to enlarge his Church as well as build it at the first by himself and his own power 'T is this the promise of the Father our Saviour there pitches their faith upon and 't is this our faith should be established in in all conditions of the Church Now hath God thus rear'd up a Church out of the ashes of mans original Apostacy setled it among the murmuring and ungrateful Israelites that industriously longed for the Garlick and Onions of Aegypt as weary of the greatness of his mercy to them and propagated it to the Idolatrous Gentiles fill'd with all unrighteousness as bad as bad could be as is described Rom. 1.29 30 31 To what purpose was the enlarging the Churches Patent if he did intend the footsteps of her should ever be rooted out of the world He pickt out the weakest poorest persons as the matter of it that he might shew his own honour in preserving it he hath yet supported her all the while she hath carryed the cross of her Lord he hath sent his spirit to frame a succession of new materials for her how fruitless would all this be if he should let Hell waste the Temple erected for Heaven What did he gather and enlarge the Church only to make it a richer conquest and a fatter morsel for the Devil How vain would his former kindness appear if he should let it utterly sink as long as the world endures It cannot be imagin'd with any semblance of reason that God hath taken all this care about the nursing and growth of the Church from small beginnings to let his darling be a prey to the mouth of Lyons and be of no other use than to fatten his enemies 4. In regard of the cost and pains he hath been at about Sion Did the creation of the world ever cost him so much Was there one tear one groan one sigh much less the blood of the Son of God expended in laying the foundation of it When the matter of it was without form and void the beauty of it was not wrought with a washing with blood When God established the clouds above and strengthn'd the foundations of the deep when he gave the sea his decree and appointed the foundations of the earth the Son of God was by him rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth and his delights were among the sons of men Prov. 8.28 29 31. Not bleeding and dying But this he must do he must take humane nature be bruised in his heel by the serpent and be a Sacrifice himself make an atonement for sin before a stone for the building of spiritual Sion could be fram'd and laid What pains have been taken also in the effecting it The birth of the Church was a work of greater power than the fabrick of the world a few words went to the rearing of that in the revolution of six days it was set upon its feet but many a year was God in travel before Sion was brought forth there was an enemy as potent as Hell to deal with in setting it in Adams family after mans Apostacy The corrupt nature that had then got the possession of the world to contest with The world must be drowned to bring it to a second nativity and establishment in Noah The forming the Church of the Jews was not without some pangs of nature what signs and wonders and great terrours were wrought in its bringing forth out of Aegypt and striking off the chains of her Captivity Deut. 4.34 What fire blackness darkness tempest that made a convulsion in the Souls of those that were to be her materials Heb. 12.18 19. And the bringing forth the Gentile Church and enlarging the cords and stakes of Sion was preceded by the darkening the Sun the trembling of the Earth the opening of the Graves the suffering of that which was dearest to God himself No Power was ever employed so signally in the Affairs of any worldly concern as in the settlement of Sion The devouring waves of the Red Sea have been made her Bulwarks and the Sand the Grave of her Enemies hath been a path for her passage The Sun hath forgotten his natural Race to gaze upon her Victories Josh 10.13 Angels have been commissioned to be her Champions and fight her Battels 2 King 19.35 The whole Host of Heaven have been arrayed to fight for Sion on Earth The merciless nature of the fire hath been curb'd to preserve her children when she seemed to be reduced to a small number and the mouths of hunger-starv'd Lions have been bridled for the same purpose Dan. 6.22 The proudest Enemies to her have been vanquisht by Frogs and Lice and Tyrants that would lay their hands upon her have been made to their disgrace a living Banquet for Worms the vilest creatures Act. 12.23 And indeed after the malice of the Devil had usurpt God's right in the Creation and had drawn the chiefest of his sublunary creatures into an Apostacy with himself no less than an Infinite Power could be engaged against the greatest of created Powers if God would not forego his own honour in suffering himself to be deprived of the fruit of his works No less than Infinite Power could erect a Church in the world that God might have the fruit of his Creation he ordered this Power to appear struck down the Gates of Hell sent his Son to rescue his Honour and his Spirit to polish stones for his Temple Every one that is fitted for this Building had Almightiness at work with him before he was form'd Eph. 1.19 20. Every stone was hewed by the Spirit and the Image of God was imprinted by a Divine Efficacy Shall the fruit of so much Power and the mark of his own Image want an establishment God would seem to be careless of the Treasures of his own Nature wherewith he hath endow'd her Shall all this cost and pains be to no purpose Were the Gates of Hell taken down to be set up again more strongly and the chargeable Counsels of God to be puft away by the breath of Satan Doth it consist with his Wisdom to let
witnesses that they shall stand again upon their feet the same persons if politically dead others witnessing the same doctrine if they were corporeally dead and damp all their mirth and triumph and turn their security into fears then shall glory be given to the God of heaven and the Ark of his Testament be seen in his Temple and the power of the Lord be magnified Rev. 11.10 11. When they shall all be gathered together to the battle of the great day of the Lord the place is called Armageddon Rev. 16.14 16 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A cursed troop an army under Gods Anathema when they have the greatest confidence When Jerusalem shall be penn'd up by a seige it shall be a cup of trembling in the hands of her Enemies Zac. 12.2 Fear shall seize upon them in the midst of their confidence The Sun was risen upon Sodom just before the devouring shower of Fire and brimstone With what derision would they have entertained any messenger that should have assured them of such a shower in so clear a day No doubt but the Aegyptian horses went prancing into the Sea and their riders confident of catching their prey when they saw the waters congealed they had not the least suspicion but that the division of the Sea was made in their favour till the Chariot wheels were taken off and the waters ready to roul upon them Exod. 14.23 25. 2. As something on the part of the Churches Enemies forwards the deliverance so there is some regard God hath to the Churches straits Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses 'T is Gods usual method to let the Church be in great distress before he commands deliverance The distress of the Church was great in the concern of this day though it was not sensible the deliverance being known near as soon as the danger The Church is to be in the depths of the Sea before she be fully delivered Psa 68.22 The Jews were to pass through the Sea with affliction before the pride of Assyria should be brought down and the Scepter of Aegypt depart away after that he would strengthen them in the Lord and they should walk up and down in his name Zach. 10.11 12. The sharpest pangs precede deliverance it was so when Christ came in the flesh it will be so at every new rising of Christ in his spirit when things were at a low ebb when the Sun sat in the greatest darkness of Errour Idolatry and prophaness when the Jews the only spot of ground God had was as a wilderness almost barren of any grace when the great predictions of the Prophets were unminded and less understood when Vrim and Thummim had ceased and the Spirit of Prophesy was shut up then Christ comes in the fulness of time to work an universal relief for mankind When the day of vengeance is in the heart of the Redeemer he shall look and find none to help he shall wonder to find none to uphold therefore his own arm shall bring Salvation Isa 53.5 This has alwaies been God's Method With his Son the powers of darkness had their hour and triumph'd when they had laid him in the grave before he was raised by the glory of his Father The Witnesses must be killed by the hand of their Enemies before they stand upon their feet and ascend up into Heaven in the sight of their Adversaries Rev. 11.7 when the Church shall walk in darkness grope for the wall like the blind mourn like Doves look for salvation and it shall seem far off then will the Lord put on a helmet of salvation on his head and the garments of vengeance for clothing and be clad with zeal as a cloak Isa 59.9 10 11 17. The break of day is ushered in by a thicker darkness than that which clouded the night before The sharpest persecution that ever the Church had was in the time of Dioclesian a little before Christianity was to rule his Empire in the exaltation of Constantine Abraham was in hardship out of his Country when he received the promises of the Messiah and Israel in the wilderness when the Oracles of God were delivered to them Confusion of the Church precedes alwaies the Communication of Light 1. The Reasons of the Doctrine are these 1. This makes for God's glory The creature cannot in this condition challenge any share in the honour of the deliverance or pare off so much as a splinter of his glory Had the Israelites been armed and drawn into a strong Battalion and so defeated the Aegyptian Army the Victory would rather have been challeng'd by them than ascrib'd to God but neither the strength of their multitude nor the wisdom of their Guides were able to protect them counsel failed and heads were feeble then did God get himself a name when they were upon the point of a remediless ruine It was manifest the name of the Lord got David the Victory since he encountred unarmed with Goliah who could have crusht him like a Fly had he been in his fingers The time of the Churches depression is the time of God's Exaltation he waits for the extremity to lift up himself When paleness is upon the face of his People when the Cedars of Lebanon hang their heads when the Churches beauty seems a lamentable deformity and Sharon is like a wilderness then will God arise Isa 33.9 10. God never builds up Sion but he ordains all things in a method for his appearance in the greatest glory Psal 102.16 When the Lord shall build up Sion he shall appear in his glory that is when the Church is destitute v. 17. 1. God exalts his power his right hand then becomes glorious in power Exod. 15.6 He loves to appear in his dress as a Creator when there is no fitness in the subject to answer his end but what he bestows upon it When Jerusalem becomes a rejoycing and her People a joy 't is an act of creating power Isa 65.18 For behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing When the creature can give them not the least assistance then will they be sensible of God's unbounded sufficiency and their own necessary dependance God never had too little help from his creature in a deliverance he hath sometimes complain'd of too much and disbanded some of the Churches Forces as in the case of Gideon Judg. 7. As Christ rules in the midst of his Enemies so doth God's Power most visibly in the midst of distresses A Physician 's skill is most conspicuous when the disease is most dangerous and most complicated and Nature at the lowest ebb 'T is more glory to God to quench the fire in its fullest rage than to extinguish it in its first smoke and sparkles God loves the fairest mark to shoot at and will rather down with Goliah than with the ordinary Philistines grapple with the great rather than with a light danger that the Lord may appear to be a man of war Exod. 15.3
only Object of God's hatred while this remains his Holiness cannot but hate us when this is removed his righteousness cannot but love us remission and favour are inseparable and can never be dis-joyned 'T is by this he makes us as a Diadem upon his Head a Bracelet on his Arm it is by this he writes us upon the Palms of his Hands makes us his peculiar Treasure even as the Apple of his Eye which Nature hath so carefully fenced 2. Access to God A Prince may discard a Favourite for some guilt and though he may restore him to his liberty in the Common-wealth yet he may not admit him to the favour of his wonted privacies But a pardoned man hath an access to God to a standing and perpetually settled Grace Rom. 5.1 2. Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access Guilt frights us and makes us loath the very sight of God Pardon encourageth us to come near to him Guilt respects him as a Judge Pardon as a Friend Who can confidently or hopefully call upon an angry and condemning God But who cannot but hopefully call upon a forgiving God Sin is the partition wall between God and us and Pardon is the demolishing of it Forgiveness is never bestowed but the Scepter is held out to invite us to come into God's presence And what can be more desirable than to have not only the favour of but a free access at any time to the Lord of Heaven and Earth and at length an everlasting being with him 3. Peace of Conscience There must needs be fair Weather when Heaven smiles upon us All other things breed disquietness Sin was a Thorn in David's Crown his Throne and Scepter were but miserable comforters while his guilt overwhelmed him The glory of the World is no soveraign Plaister for a wounded Spirit Other enjoyments may please the sense but this only can gratifie the Soul God's Thunder made Moses tremble Heb. 12.21 But the probability of a gracious Pardon would make a damned Soul smile in the midst of tormenting flames How often hath the sense of it raised the hearts of Martyrs and made the Sufferers sing while the Spectators wept Though this I must confess is not always an inseparable concomitant There is much difference between a Pardon and the comfort of it that may pass the Seal of the King without the knowledge of the Malefactor Pardon indeed always gives the jus ad rem a right to peace of Conscience but not always jus in re the possession of it There may be an actual separation between Pardon and actual Peace but not between Pardon and the ground of Peace 4. It sweetens all mercies Other mercies are a ring but pardon is the Diamond in it A justified person may say I have temporal mercies and a pardon too I live in repute in the world and Gods favour too riches increase and my peace with God doth not diminish I have health with a pardon friends with a pardon as Job ch 29.3 6 7. among all other blessings this he counts the chiefest that Gods Candle shin'd upon his head A Prisoner for some capital crime may have all outward accommodations for lodging dyet attendance without a real happiness when he expects to be called to his tryal before a severe judge from whom there is no appeal and that will certainly both pass and cause to be executed a sentence of death upon him So though a man wallows in all outward contents he cannot write himself blessed while the wrath of God hangs over his head and he knows not how soon he may be summon'd before Gods tribunal and hear that terrible voice Go thou cursed What comfort can a man take in Houses Land Health when he considers he owes more than all his estate is worth So what comfort can a man have in any thing in this world when he may hourly expect an arrest from God and a demand of all his debts and he hath not so much as one farthing of his own or any interest in a sufficient surety We may have honour and a curse wealth and a curse Children and a curse health and long life and a curse learning and a curse but we can never have pardon and a curse Our outward things may be gifts but not blessings without a pardon 5. It sweetens all afflictions A frown with a pardon is better than a thousand smiles without it Sin is the sting of crosses and Remission is a taking the sting out of them A sight of Heaven will mitigate a cross on earth The stones about Stephens ears did scarce afflict him when he saw his Saviour open Heaven to entertain him To see death staring us in the face and an angry and offended God above ready to charge all our guilt is a doleful spectacle Look upon my affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins saith the Psalmist Psal 25.18 Sin doth embitter and adds weight to an affliction but the removal of sin doth both lighten it and sweeten it USE 1. An unpardoned man is a miserable man Such a state lays you open to all the miseries on earth and all the torments in Hell The poorest begger with a pardon is higher than the greatest prince without it How can we enjoy a quiet hour if our debt be not remitted since we owe more than we are able to pay You may dye with a forfeited reputation and yet be happy but what happiness if you die with unpardoned guilt 1. There must either be pardon or punishment The law doth oblige either to obedience or suffering the Commands of it must be observed or the penalty indured God will not relax the punishment without a valuable consideration If it be not executed the creature may accuse God of want of wisdom in enacting it or defect of power in maintaining it Therefore there must be an exact observance of the law which no creature after the first deviation is able to do or an undergoing the penalty of it which no Sinner is able to bear There must therefore be a remission of this punishment for the good of the creature and the Satisfaction of the law by a surety for the honour of Gods justice If we have not therefore an interest in the surety the purchaser of remission we must lye under the severity of the law in our persons 2. You can call nothing an act of Gods Love towards you while you remain unpardoned What is there you do enjoy which may not consist with his hatred as well as his Love Have we knowledge So have Devils Have we riches So had Nabal and Cain Have we honour So had Pharaoh and Herod Have we Sermons So had Judas the best that ever were preacht Nothing nothing but a pardon is properly a blessing How can that man take pleasure in any thing he hath when all the threatnings in the book of God are as so many arrows directed
voluptuousness fancy the pleasures in the ways of wisdom here and at God's right hand hereafter This is to deal with our hearts as Paul with his hearers The heads of the Catechism might be taken in order which would both encrease and actuate our knowledge Psal 40.5 to catch them with guile Stake your soul down to some serious and profitable mystery of Religion as the Majesty of God some particular Attribute his condescension in Christ the love of our Redeemer the value of his sufferings the vertue of his blood the end of his ascension the work of the Spirit the excellency of the soul beauty of holiness certainty of death terror of judgment torments of Hell and joys of Heaven Why may not that which was the subject of God's innumerable thoughts be the subject of ours God's thoughts and counsels were concerning Christ the end of his coming his death his precepts of holiness and promises of life and that not only speculatively but with an infinite pleasure in his own glory the creatures good to be accomplished by him Would it not be work enough for our thoughts all the day to travel over the length breadth height and depth of the love of Christ Would the greatness of the journey give us leisure to make any starts out of the way Having settled the Theme for all the day we shall find occasional assistances even from worldly businesses as Scholars who have some Exercise to make find helps in their own course of reading though the Book hath no design'd respect to their proper Theme Thus by imploying our minds about one thing chiefly we shall not only hinder them from vain excursions but make even common objects to be oyl to our good thoughts which otherwise would have been fuel for our bad Such generous liquor would scent our minds and conversations all the day that whatsoever motion came into our hearts would be tinctured with this spirit and savour of our morning thoughts as vessels having been filled with a rich wine communicate a relish of it to the liquors afterward put into them We might also more steadily go about our worldly business if we carry God in our minds as oâ—e foot of the Compass will more regularly move about the Circumference when the other remains firm in the Center 2. Look to the manner of it 1. Let it be intent Transitory thoughts are like the glances of the eye soon on and soon off they make no clear discovery and consequently raise no spritely affections Let it be one principal subject and without flitting from it for if our thoughts be unsteady we shall find but little warmth a burning glass often shifted fires nothing We must look at the things that are not seen as wistly as men do at a mark they shoot at 2 Cor. 4.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 3.18 Such an intent meditation would change us into the image and cast us into the mould of those truths we think of it would make our minds more busie about them all the day as a glaring upon the Sun fills our eyes for some time after with the image of it To this purpose look upon your selves as deeply concern'd in the things you think of Our minds dwell upon that whereof we apprehend an absolute necessity A condemned person would scarce think of any thing but procuring a reprieve and his earnestness for this would bar the door against other intruders 2. Let it be affectionate and practical Meditation should excite a spiritual delight in God as it did in the Psalmist †Psa 104.34 My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. and a divine delight would keep up good thoughts and keep out impertinencies A bare speculation will tire the Soul and without application and pressing upon the will and affections will rather chill than warm devotion 'T is only by this means that we shall have the efficacy of truth in our wills and the sweetness in our affections as well as the notion of it in our understandings The more operative any truth is in this manner upon us the less power will other thoughts have to interrupt and the more disdainfully will the heart look upon them if they dare be impudent Never therefore leave thinking of a spiritual subject till your heart be affected with it If you think of the evil of sin leave not till your heart loath it if of God cease not till it mount up in admirations of him If you think of his Mercy melt for abusing it if of his Soveraignty awe your heart into obedient resolutions if of his Presence double your watch over your self If you meditate on Christ make no end till your hearts love him if of his Death plead the value of it for the justification of your persons and apply the vertue of it for the sanctification of your natures Without this practical stamp upon our affections we shall have light spirits while we have opportunity to converse with the most serious objects We often hear foolish thoughts breathing out themselves in a house of mourning in the midst of Coffins and trophies of death as if men were confident they should never die whereas none are so ridiculous as to assert they shall live for ever By this instance in a Truth so certainly assented to we may judg of the necessity of this direction in truths more doubtfully believed 7. Draw spiritual Inferences from occasional Objects David did but wistly consider the Heavens Psal 8.3 4. and he breaks out in self-abasement and humble admirations of God Glean matter of instruction to your selves and praise to your Maker from every thing you see It will be a degree of restoration to a state of innocency since this was Adam's task in Paradise Dwell not upon any created object only as a Virtuoso to gratifie your rational curiosity but as a Christian call Religion to the feast and make a spiritual improvement No creature can meet our eyes but affords us lessons worthy our thoughts besides the general notices of the power and wisdom of the Creator Thus may the Sheep read us a Lecture of patience the Dove of innocence the Ant and Bee raise blushes in us for our sluggishness and the stupid Oxe Isa 1.3 and dull Ass correct and shame our ungrateful ignorance And since our Saviour did set forth his own excellency in a sensible dress the consideration of those Metaphors by an acute fancy would garnish out divine truths more deliciously and conduct us into a more inward knowledge of the Mysteries of the Gospel He whose eyes are open cannot want an instructer unless he wants a heart Thus may a Tradesman spiritualize the matter he works upon and make his commodities serve in wholsom meditations to his mind and at once enrich both his Soul and his Coffers yea and in part restore the creatures to the happiness of answering a great end of their Creation which Man depriv'd
them of when he subjected them to vanity Such a view of spiritual truths in sensible pictures would clear our knowledge purifie our fancies animate our affections encourage our graces disgrace our vices and both argue and shame us into duty and thus take away all the causes of our wild wandring thoughts at once And a frequent exercise of this method would beget and support a habit of thinking well and weaken if not expel a habit of thinking ill 2. The second sort of directions are for the preventing bad thoughts And to this purpose 1. Exercise frequent humiliations Pride exposeth us to impatient and disquieting thoughts Prov. 30.32 whereas humility clears up a calm and serenity in the Soul 'T is Agur's advice to be humbled particularly for evil thoughts Frequent humiliations will deaden the fire within and make the sparks the fewer The deeper the Plough sinks the more the weeds are killed and the ground fitted for good grain Men do not easily fall into those sins for which they have been deeply humbled Vain conceits love to reside most in jolly hearts but by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better Eccles 7.3 4. There is more of wisdom or wise consideration in a composed and graciously mournful spirit whereas carnal mirth and sports cause the heart to evaporate into lightness and folly The more we are humbled for them the more our hatred of them will be fomented and consequently the more prepared shall we be to give them a repulse upon any bold intrusion 2. Avoid entangling your selves with the world This clay will clog our minds and a dirty happiness will engender but dirty thoughts Lutea faelicitas Aug. de Civ Dei l. 10. Who were so foolish to have inward thoughts that their houses should continue for ever but those that trusted in their riches †Psal 49.6 11. 1 Tim. 6.9 If the world possess our Souls it will breed carking thoughts much business meets with crosses and then it breeds murmuring thoughts and sometimes it is crown'd with success and then it starts proud and self-applauding thoughts Those that will be rich fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts such lusts that make men fools and one part of folly is to have wild and sensless fancies Mists and fogs are in the lower Region near the Earth but reach not that next the Heavens Were we free from earthly affections these gross vapours could not so easily disturb our minds but if the World once settle in our hearts we shall never want the fumes of it to fill our heads And as covetous desires will stuff us with foolish imaginations so they will smother any good thought cast into us as the thorns of worldly cares choak'd the good seed and made it unfruitful Matth. 13.22 As we are to rejoyce in the World as though we rejoyced not so by the same reason we should think of the World as though we thought not Rom. 12.2 A conformity with the World in affection is inconsistent with a change of the frame of the mind 3. Avoid Idleness Serious Callings do naturally compose mens spirits but too much Recreation makes them blaze out in vanity Idle souls as well as idle persons will be ranging As Idleness in a State is both the Mother and Nurse of Faction and in the natural body gives birth and encrease to many diseases by enfeebling the natural heat so it both kindles and foments many light and unprofitable imaginations in the soul which would be sufficiently diverted if the active mind were kept intent upon some stated work So truly may that which was said of the servant Mat. 25 26. Tâ—ou wicked and slothful servant Mat. 13.25 be applied to our nobler part that it will be wicked if once it degenerates into slothfulness in its proper charge As empty minds are the fittest subjects for extravagant fooleries so vacant times are the fittest seasons While we sleep the importunate enemy within as well as the envious adversary without us will have a successful opportunity to sow the tares whereas a constant imployment frustrates the attempt and discourageth the Devil because he sees we are not at leisure Therefore when any sinful motion steps in double thy vigour about thy present business and the foolish impertinent will sneak out of thy heart at this discountenance So true is that in this case which Pharaoh falsly imagined in another that the more we labour the less we shall regard vain words †Exod. 5.9 As Satan is prevented by diligence in our Callings so sometimes the Spirit visits us and fills us with holy affections at such seasons as Christ appeared to Peter and other Disciples when they were a fishing †Joh. 21.3 4. and usually manifested his grace to men when they were engaged in their useful businesses or religious services But these motions as we may observe by the way which come from the Spirit are not to put us out of our way but to assist us in our walking in it and further us both in our attendance on and success in our duties To this end look upon the work of your Callings as the work of God which ought to be done in obedience to Him as He hath set you to be useful in the community Thus a holy exercise of our Callings would sanctifie our minds and by prepossessing them with solid business we should leave little room for any Spider to weave its Cobwebs 4. Awe your hearts with the thoughts of God's Omniscience especially the discovery of it at the last Judgment We are very much Atheists in the concern of this Attribute for though it be notionally believed yet for the most part it is practically deny'd God understands all our thoughts afar off †Psa 139.2 as He knew every creature which lay hid in the Chaos and undigested lump of matter God is in us all * Eph. 4.6 as much in us all as He is above us all yea in every creek and chink and point of our hearts Not an Atom in the spirits of all men in the world but is obvious to that All-seeing Eye which knows every one of those things that come into our minds †Ezek. 11.5 God knows both the order and confusion of them and can better tell their natures one by one than Adam named the creatures Fancy then that you hear the sound of the last Trumpet that you see God's Tribunal set and His Omniscience calling out singly all the secrets of your heart Would not the consideration of this allay the heat of all other imaginations If a foolish thought break in consider What if God who knows this should presently call me to Judgment for this sinful glance Say with the Church Shall not God search this out Is it fit either for God's glory or our interest Psal 44.21 that when he comes to make inquisition in us He should find such a nasty dunghil and swarms of Aegyptian
their office of teaching Since he promised his presence with his ministry to the end of the world he will have a Church to the end of the world to enjoy the benefit of that promise to be taught by them It consisted not with the wisdom or faithfulness of Christ to promise a perpetuity to that if he knew it were to be cut short before the end of the world And this himself also assures the Church of in all its variety of states Revel 2.1 These things saith he that holds the seven Stars in his right hand who walks in the midst of the seven Golden Candlestiâ—k Not only seven Stars at one time or seven Golden Candlesticks in being together but in all the successions of the Church to the consummation of the world And as he describes himself by this title when he speaks of the Church of Ephesus which was the first state of the Church not only assuring her of his holding her Star and walking by her Candlestick but all the rest that were to follow so he doth renew the same expression in part when he speaks of the Church of Sardis which is the rising of the Church from the Apostacy wherein it had been covered in the Thyatirian state Revel 3.1 These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God and the seven Stars The seven spirits of God signifies the gifts for the building and perfecting the Church still in the hand of Christ which should be in a more plentiful way poured out than for some time before as they were in the first reformation He is still therefore as a Prophet walking in the Church in all ages Not only in the first Foundation of it by the Apostles but in the reformation of it after it had been buried in Superstition and Idolatry And at the restauration of the Church in the world there shall be a pure river of water as clear as Christal proceeding from the Throne of God and the Lamb Revel 22.1 i. e. Pure doctrine without any mud and mixtures 2. 'T is his part as a Priest to establish it in the favour of God and look to the reparations of his Temple The Church is his Temple A Temple is the proper seat the proper care of a Priest He is a Priest still upon his Throne Zach. 6.13 and that for ever As he hath therefore some thing to offer so he hath always some for whom he offers who are they but his Church His prayer on earth John 17. was but a model or draught of his intercession in Heaven one part of it is for preservation of them through the truth of God John 17.17 The keeping up the Gospel in the world in order to a sanctification of some is the matter of his intercession which is one part of his Priestly Office And we cannot imagine his plea for his Church to be weaker on his throne it being also a throne of grace than it was for his enemies when he was upon a cross of suffering The compassions annext to his Priesthood remain still Heb. 4.15 If his office be perpetual the qualifications necessary to that office are as durable as the office it self as long as there is any object for their exercise To what purpose are his compassions if he should not pity her for whom they were designed and for whose behoof he was furnisht with them He cannot be faithful to God in his office if he be not merciful and tender to Sion in her distresses He certainly pities her as he would himself were it possible he should be in an infirm condition He must lose his Soul before he can lose his pity and the Church must cease to be his body before she can cease to be the object of his compassions He hath the same sentiments now that he had when he called to Paul from Heaven Act. 9.4 It was not then Why persecutest thou mine but why persecutest thou me Nor is it so now as the relation continues the same so doth the compassion so do his sentiments so do his cares To what purpose doth he as a Priest sit upon a Throne of grace if he did not shew grace to his Sion against the cruel designs of her enemies As God pities us when he remembers our frame Psal 103.13 14. So no question doth Christ when he remembers Sions oppressions as a distressed child is the object of the fathers pitty Add to this That since the death of Christ was one part of his Priestly performance and that the virtue of his sacrifice is as eternal as his Priest-hood what a disparagement would it â—e to him and the virtue of his death if ever the world while it stood should be void of the fruits of it There can be no moment wherein it is not valid to expiate the sins of some men and therefore not a moment wherein the world shall be without a Sion whose sins are expiated by it Should the standar'd of Sion be snatcht away and torn by the powers of darkness what would become of the glory what would become of the virtue of the Redeemers death Would God consecrate him so solemnly by an oath to be a Priest to so little purpose How could it be for ever if the execution of that office should be interrupted by the cessation of a Church as long as the world stands upon its pillars Would it not be an empty title if the end of it were not performed We cannot imagine the falling of Sion but we must question the merit of his death the truth of his exaltation the strength of his intercession the faithfulness of his office and the sincerity and candor of his compassions 3. 'T is his part as a King to establish Sion in being and govern her The Prophets always testified that of his Government there should be no end If the Church should cease for one moment in the world what subjects would he have to govern here Can he be a King without a Kingdom or a governour without subjects to bear a voluntary and sincere witness to his name If he be King in Sion he will also have a Sion to own him and a Sion to rule in not only a conquest of the Serpentine brood and infernal powers was promised but the total and perpetual victory Gen. 3.15 The sted of the woman was to bruise the Serpents head When the head is bruised there is no more wisdom to guide or force to Spirit the arm and the other members of the body It was a promise made not only of Christ to man but of a compleat victory to Christ that he should outwit the Serpents wisdom and utterly discomfit the Serpents power If the conquest were not perfect and perpetual it could not be called a spoiling of principalities and powers as it is Col. 2.15 but an interruption or temporary check whence they might rescue themselves He is therefore said to still the enemy and the avenger * Psal 8.2 I make no scruple
to understand the whole Psalm of Christ since the Apostle hath interpreted part of it of him Heb. 2. i. e. Make them utterly silent not knowing what firm Counsels to take or what successful orders to give And it being his end to destroy the works of the Devil the destroying the works must be the root of the being and preservation of the Church Did Christ then rise as a Conquerour out of the grave and sit down as King upon his throne to let the Devil and the world run away with the fruits of his victory Will he be so injurious to himself as to let his Throne be overturned by his enemies And to let the adversary of Sion repossess himself of that which he hath been so powerfully and successfully stript of Christ being King cannot be chased out of his Kingdom nor wants power to keep it from being utterly wasted To be the governour of Sion was as much in his first Commission as to be her Redeemer * Isa 49.10 He was to feâ—d guide his flock which is often in Scripture put for Ruling Christ as King will never leave beating up the quarters of Hell till he hath utterly routed their force and made the partizans of it his footstool and thereby established Sion beyond the fears of any tottering Therefore when he speaks of the Church of Smyrna which was to have a sore conflict with the Devil and feel the smart of him for 10 days understanding those 10 Ancient persecutions of the Church he assumes a new title for her encouragement Revel 2.8 These things saith the first and the last which was dead and is alive I was the first that listed you and embodied you for the war and I will be the last to bring up the rear I was first in raising you and I will be the last in preserving you Fear not the terror of those persecutions though they be to blood and death I was used so I was dead but I am now alive and I live for my Church to behold her battles to procure her victory and to Crown those that shall fall in the fight against her enemies Christ in encouraging them to suffer for him assures them of the security of a Church the Devil should not wast the whole but cast some of them into prison not all and that for their refining v. 10. The Devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tryed Christ lives still and acts as King for the security of Sion and preserving a Generation to serve him till the time comes that is promised Rev. 22.3 that there shall be no more curse but the Throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and then his Servants shall serve him with a full security from all trouble 3. The Foundation of Sion is sure 'T is founded upon Christ the corner stone Christ is called the Foundation 1 Cor. 3.11 The Apostles are the Foundation Eph. 2.20 Christ is the Foundation personally the Apostles doctrinally Christ meritoriously the Apostles ministerially the Apostles in regard of the publication of the Doctrine Christ in regard of the efficacy of the Doctrine whereby the Church is established 1. The Church is ingrafted in Christ united to him one with him the parts of it are reckoned as his seed * Psal 22.30 A s ed shall serve him it shall be counted to the Lord as a generation As if they had sprung out of his loins as men naturally did from Adam's that as Adam was the Foundation of their corruption so shall Christ be the Foundation of their Restauration They shall be looked upon as the Children of Christ and Christ as their Father and as Father and Children legally counted one The Church is his own body Eph. 5.29 30. In loving and establishing the Church he loves establisheth himself Whatsoever is implanted in nature as a perfection is eminently in God Now since he hath twisted with our natures a care of our own bodies this care must be much more in the nature of Christ because his Church is as nearly united to him as our members to the flesh and the bones and he hath an higher affection to his mystical than we can have to our natural bodies Christ will no less secure and perfect his own body than a man would improve the beauty and strength of his natural body to preserve it from wounds from being mangled or scarrified unless it be for the security of the whole If he did not do it it would be a hatred of his own flesh which never any man in his right wits was ever guilty of The Eternity of Christ is made the Foundation of the Churches Establishment Psal 102.27 28. Thou art the Son and thy years shall have no end The Children of thy servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before thee There could be no strength in the Argument without union and communion with him The Church is settled upon him as a Foundation and therefore is of as long a duration as the Foundation upon which it stands the conjunction is so strait that if one fails the other must especially since as Christ is the head the Church is his fulness Eph. 1.22 23. Sion cannot be compleat but in him and Christ cannot be compleat without her A Foundation is of little use without a Superstructure a building falls not without a discredit to the Foundation upon which it stood Sions compleatness depends upon the strength of Christ and Christs mystical compleatness depends upon the stability of Sion he will not leave himself an imperfect and empty head 2. 'T is founded upon the Covenant Upon that which endures for ever and shall survive the Funeral of the whole world Heaven and Earth shall pass away but the Church is founded upon that which shall not pass away 1 Pet. 1.23 the Word of God c. Not such a word as that whereby he brought forth light in the world and form'd the Stars at the Creation a word that engaged him not to the perpetuating of it * Tarretin Sermons p. 330. This Covenant is more firm than the Pillars of Heaven and the Foundations of the Earth The Stars of Heaven shall dissolve the Sun shall be turned into darkness the Elements shall change their order for confusion But the Church being founded upon an eternal and immutable Covenant shall subsist in the midst of the confusions and flames of the world Isa 54.10 The Mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my Covenant of Peace shall not be removed 'T is more establish'd than the world The Apostle clearly intimates it in his commendation of Abraham's Faith when he tells us He looked for a City which hath foundations by virtue of the promise of a numerous seed Heb. 11.9 10. As if the world had no foundation in comparison of the Church 'T is beyond the skill of Hell to raze up the foundation and therefore impossible for it to beat down
power and he knows his promise Let us therefore first eye the promise which God loves and the Devil fears and then call in his power to back his word 4. Regard not man Too much eye upon him implies too little upon God as if Gods Word were not enough to create and support a confidence without the buttresses of secular strength All dependance on man is either upon a broken reed that cannot support it self or a piercing reed that wounds instead of healing Isa 36.6 'T is a dishonour to God and provokes him to lengthen a misery and retard a deliverance The nearer Sion comes to a final settlement the more God will act by himself either without instruments or in a more signally spiriting Instruments that himself shall be more visible in them than themselves The Highest himself shall establish her If he be the Highest he is fit to be trusted by us if he will do it himself it is fit we should couple none with him The nearer the time comes wherein God will appear himself the more we should depend upon him himself the exercise of faith should be strongest when the promise the object of faith is nearest its Meridian Let us be more careful to keep our faith from sinking and let God alone to keep his Church from sinking Use 2. of Comfort The Churches Patent is singular the greatest worldly Society could never shew the fellow of it The Highest himself shall establish her There is not such a clause in the settlement of any nation Why should we be afraid then of the joynt conspiracy of men or Devils He that hath laid the Foundation can and will preserve the Superstructure not only because he formed it but because he hath promised it When Christ would reveal to John the future condition and conflicts of the Church to the end of the world he appears like a conquerour with all the ensigns of authority and power about him Revel 1.13 14 15 16. He hath eyes like a flame to pierce his enemies Feet like brass to crush them a two edged Sword out of his mouth to pierce them and this while he is in the midst of the seven Candlesticks The several alterations and periods of the Church to the end of the world to preserve and cleanse them 1. Here is comfort in the confusions and troubles of the world The shaking of Heaven and Earth were the harbingers of the appearance of Christ for Redemption and laying the corner stone of Sion Hag. 2.7 The same methods will be used when he shall come to lay the top-stone and compleat all the fruits of Redemption Luke 21.25 26.28 The confusion of the world is the restauration of Sion a storm or rushing mighty wind preceded the plentifull effusion of the Spirit upon the Apostles for the blowing the Gospel into every corner Act. 2.2 Never were the disciples in so hopeless a condition as before the Resurrection of Christ the ground of the Churches stability they then expected to see his face no more What commotions and thunders are described in the Revelation before the new Jerusalem comes down from Heaven God pitch his Tabernacle among men But he suffers not those commotions to be raised in the world by the ministring Angel till the servants of God be sealed in the forehead for their preservation in those confusions which shall be the ruin of their enemies Revel 7.2 3. The ark may shake with the motion of the oxen but it cannot fall Noahs Ark may be tost by the waves that drown the world but not sink and at last rest upon the mountains of Ararat * Gen. 8.4 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the curse of terrors the removal of fears Christ came not to the Disciples but in the fourth Watch of the night and that when the Ship was tossed by the waves and was tugging against a contrary wind Mat. 14.24 25. 'T is no hardship for Sion to be in a Boat beaten by the Sea when Christ walks upon the waters and bids her be of good cheer saying 'T is I be not afraid An Earthquake preceded the deliverance of Paul and Silas out of Prison Acts 16.26 And Lightnings and Voices and Thundrings Earthquake and great Hail shall accompany the opening of the Temple of God in Heaven and the manifestation of the Ark of the Testament in that Temple Rev. 11.19 2. Here is comfort in Persecutions Persecution is yet for a while the Lot of the Church a Sea and a Wilderness are yet the passage to Canaan The first Promise to Abraham of a numerous Seed was with the comparing it to the dust of the Earth Gen. 3.16 Dust that is trampled upon Dust that is removed by a puff of wind But the next was by comparing it to the Stars in Heaven Gen. 15.5 that are bright and fixed and have their orderly motions Before the Introduction of the Philadelphian State of the Church or Brotherly State which it is likely we are not far from the Promise of Glory to them that overcome intimates a Combate and the Promise of Christ's confessing the names of such before his Father implies a time before the Period of the Sardian State wherein the Church is to bear a signal Testimony to the Truths of Christ in the way of a Conflict Rev. 3.5 The glorious State of the Church at the Resurrection of the Witnesses shall be preceded by such a calamity as shall be the terrour of the godly and the triumph of an Enemy devoted to a sudden and unexpected destruction Rev. 11.9 10 11 12. Persecutions make way for Sion's stability Never was she firmer and purer than in the time of the Apostles and those immediately following them when the Witnesses for the Truth to the loss of their blood were as numerous as the Survivors she was then when the flood was cast out against her clothed with the Sun and crowned with a Crown of twelve Stars Rev. 12.1 2. Such troubles now may dim the outward splendour but increase her inward Spirit and refine her to that temper she was in in the Primitive Ages of Christianity Prosperity was never much the Churches Friend Poyson was flung in her dish when she gain'd an earthly felicity and the fondness of great ones Her stability consists not in this but in the graces and spirit of Christianity That which establisht her Head establisheth the Body her Captain ascended not from Mount Oliver till he had suffered on Mount Calvary The Church was never described so glorious in her outward Attire as her greatest Enemy that is clothed in Scarlet and deckt with Gold Rev. 17.4 Sion's glory is internal Psal 45.13 The King's Daughter is all glorious within All those Persecutions that are yet to come upon her shall not demolish her Walls The rigours of her Enemies and the Treasons of her pretended Friends have not yet expelled her out of the Earth she hath not yet sunk though her Masts have been sometimes cut close to the
he did belye himself or else that he were the vilest Villain in the world He will study no excuses and present no pleas to God for his sin If he hath not strength to conquer it he hath a voice to cry against it Prayers are doubled one Messenger goes to Heaven upon the heels of another and so moderation which was in his requests before is turn'd to an unsatisfied importunity So that you see there is not a plenary consent of will but the dissent is habitual and actual if not antecedent or concomitant yet alwaies consequent What then doth the regenerate mans sin arise from It ariseth 1. Either from a strong passion which many times bears down the bars both of grace and reason That is not wholly voluntary which is done by the prevalency of passion which suspends the determination of the understanding and consequently the regular and free motion of the Will Such was the accusation of God in his Prophet which David was guilty of Psal 116.11 I said in my haste all men are liars I said 't is true all men are liars even the Prophet too but it was in my haste And in his haste he accuseth God of the breach of his promises Psal 31.22 I said in my haste I am cut off from before thy Eyes God hath either forgot his promise or changed his resolutions for not one of them will be made good unto me It was a passion in Moses which made him guilty of that act of unbelief that cost him his exclusion from the land of promise Num. 20.8 10 11 12. God commands him to use his Tongue not his Rod on the Rock but the passion the good man was in by the provocation of the people transported him beyond his bounds Peter's heart was not so full of courage as of Loyalty his Zeal was put out of countenance by his fear A strong fit of passion may make a man as good and meek as Moses fling away both the Tables of the Law which otherwise would be as dear to him as the Apple of his Eye 2. From inconsiderateness There cannot be a full consent of Will where a deliberate judgment doth not precede Many a man through an inconsiderate indulging his appetite eats that meat which foments his humors into some dangerous disease Sin creeps upon a good man when the liveliness and activity of his Spirit in former duties is in a slumber but another hath as great inclinations to sin when his understanding is in its strength Peter had the grace of faith but he fell into his sin for want of acting it upon his repentance it is said Luke 22.6 And Peter remembred the words of the Lord. He had forgot Christs words and that made him forget himself and his Master in that act of sin If our Saviour had cast his Eye upon Peter and excited his slumbering grace before the Maid had spoken to him he might have prevented Peter's fall as well as afterwards recovered him If God had sent Nathan with a message to David when his corruption began first to put on its Arms to have shewed him the vileness of his intentions and excited him to a stout resistance he might have prevented the loss of his innocency as well as restor'd him after it had lain in the dust so long David might have kept his standing and dismist those inclinations as he did his inconsiderate design of murdering Nabal and his family upon Abigail's admonition for which he blesseth God 1 Sam. 25.32 33. In short The motion of a regenerate man to sin is violent like a stone upward the motion of an unrenewed man is natural like a stone downwards The Godly are violently pursued but the wicked fottishly infatuated by a temptation * Greenham And certainly when the strength of the passion is abated and the free exercise of reason recovered there will be the exercise of grace again for it is not conceiveable that the habit of grace and repentance should be without the actual exercise of it when the impediments are removed and an occasion presented so that he that doth not recover himself to his former exercise never had this true seed of God infused into him 7 Proposition Though a regenerate man may fall and sin have a temporary dominion yet he recovers out of this state and for the most part returns to his former holiness and an increase of it though not always to his former comforts There are none whose sins are recorded in Scripture but there are some evidences of their repentance for it or the acting the contrary grace Davids sin was gross and his repentance remarkable he was more tender afterwards in point of Blood 2 Sam. 23.16 17. when he desired Water out of the Well of Bethlehem and it was brought him by three valiant men with the Jeopardy of their lives he would not drink it because it was the Blood of the men that ventured their lives to satisfy his curiosity Peters repentance is eminent his affection is hot for the truth of which he could appeal to his masters omnisciency John 21.17 Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee His courage is illustrious in asserting his Masters honour in the face of the greatest dangers in which exercise you find him the Foreman of that Jury of the 12 Apostles before every Assembly Acts 2.3.4.5 c. Though Abraham had discovered a distrust of God in Pharaohs and Abimelechs courts yet his faith afterward in his readiness to sacrifice Isaac was as glorious as his unbelief had been base which gave him the title of the Father of the faithful Noah who was drunk and thereby exposed to the derision of his Son could not so well have curst him had he not abhorred the sin as well as the reproach And Lot whose righteous Soul was vexed with the filthiness of others could not have a less vexation at his own when he came to know of it Those that affirm that mortal sins expel grace yet doubt whether they expel the gifts of the Spirit one end whereof say they is to render the Soul pliable and flexible to the motions of the Spirit * Suarez de Gratia lib. 11 c. 3. num 10 p. 415. If they do not expel the gifts I know not why they should expel the grace which is under the manutenency of the Spirit of God in a particular manner The Spirit lusts against the flesh as well as the flesh against the Spirit and the lusting of the Spirit will prevail as well as the lusting of the flesh and more Gal. 5.17 All natural things that are removed out of their proper place are restless till they are reduc'd to their right station A good man is as Water that though it be turned into a Mass of Ice wholly cold in the ways of God yet still there is a principle in him as there is in Ice to return to his former form figure and activity upon the warm eruptions of