singularity and deprive themselves of that liberty and pleasure that others enjoy they will not swear nor drink for company nor run with others into the same excesse of riot It is true indeed this they do not neither dare they do it and this is indeed the main cause why the world hates them But it is better that men should hate us for good then that God should plague us for evil Little doth the graceless world know what the terrors of the Lord are and how sensible a tender conscience is of sin especiall such as have been in the furnace of Soul-affliction Davids heart smote him for the very renting off of Sauls garment when his life it self was in his hand It is neither folly nor precisenesse in any to avoid the least sin that is so hated of God and will be so severely punished of him Let such remember that it was the sin of cursed Cain to hate his brother for good 1 Ioh. 3.12 And last of all Use 3 this serves to discover the wofull estate of those that covet nothing more then to shut their eyes yea and stiflle the checks of their own Consciences that when by the Ministery of the Word they are convinced of their sins and of the miserable estate wherein they stand by reason of sin labour by all means to keep this sorrow of heart from them like a poor condemned creature that stops his ears that he may not hear the Sentence of Condemnation passe against him whereas his onely way were to be humbled for his offence and to beg pardon there cannot be a more certain signe of an obdurate and hard heart then thus to stifle Conscience to hate reproofs that they might go on in a sinfull course without controlement Ps 141.5 Whereas a godly heart can say with David Let the righteous smite me for that is a precious oyle And by their judging of themselves they shall escape the judgement of the Lord 1 Cor. 11.32 That sin that is judged here shall not be judged hereafter Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance THere is one thing more observable in this Text viz. That the Lord having now by those sharp afflictions humbled this people they are brought at last to know and acknowledge that God had not onely set their iniquities before him but even their most secret sins in the light of his countenance Whence we learn Doct. 5 That our most secret sins that are committed are done God looking on The most secret sins are done God looking on Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance It is true Job 22.13 carnal hearts are ready to reason as Eliphaz with Job How doth God know can he judge through the dark Thick clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not These and the like are the carnal thoughts of carnal men Doth God know or is there any knowledge in the Most High Many a wicked and graceless wretch thinks the dark night will cover his sin and hide his abominations where as there is nothing that ever we did but the Lord is privy to it Ps 119.168 Ps 139.4 All my wayes saith David are before thee and There is not a word in my tongue but thou O Lord knowest it altogether And as Job hath it Iob 42.4 There is no thought hid from thee So that all our wayes words and thoughts are knowne to him Many are those glorious titles that are given to God in the Scriptures And amongst the rest this that He is the Searcher of the heart a property no way communicable to any creature for of him onely it is said Heb. 4.13 All things are open and naked before his eyes This is fully cleared by the Prophet David Ps 139.2 Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising thou understandest my thoughts afar off verse 4. There is not a word in my tongue but loe thou knowest it a together And again verse 12. The darknesse hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darknesse and the light are to thee both alike Am I a God at hand saith the Lord Ier. 23.23 24. and not a God afar off Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him Do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord There is no point of Doctrine in all the Scriptures more clear and plain then this That it is God that searcheth the heart sees all things and beholds our most secret thoughts and wayes The Reasons will make it more clear First Reas 1 his Omniscience is a special property of God an attribute of his His Knowledge is infinite hath no bounds nor limits he knows the Nature Reason and Causes of all things Heb. 4.13 All things are naked and open to his eyes or as the word is anatomized before him He is that God that fills heaven and earth with his presence and therefore must needs know and observe all our actions and take notice of our most secret sins Reas 2 Is given by the Prophet Ps 94.9 It is he that made the eye shall he not see It is he that made the ear shall he not hear He teacheth man knowledge shall he not know These were all absurd to think or imagine in God that hath in him perfection of all things Can the work be unknown to the workman or the creature to the Creator Since it is in him that we live and move and have our being Acts 17.27 The Lord at the last day will then lighten things that are hid in darknesse Reas 3 1 Cor. 4.5 Eccl. 12.14 and will make the counsels of the heart manifest and bring every secret thing to Judgement Therefore out of question he knows every secret thing yea he is privy to all those secret thoughts motions windings and turnings in the heart of man and every man at last shall receive judgement accordingly We shall now apply this Use 1 Seeing that our most secret sins are done and committed in the light of his countenance How may this strike terrour in the hearts of all wicked and ungodly men that live in the daily practise of many known sins Can therebe a greater terror to a malefactor then to know that the Judge himself is an eye-witnesse of his villany So what greater terror can there be to the wicked then this to have the Lord himself to behold their doings Many a wicked wretch thinks with himself that the sins he daily commits that no eye sees him nor beholds him could they be perswaded that but the eye of some godly man yea but a childe of five years old did see and beheld them what a terror would this have been unto them O where are our thoughts of the Lords All-seeing Presence whose eye is ever upon us Yea the more cunning and slight men have used in covering and concealing their sins the more doth the Lord abhor them and the greater
Other sheep I have which are not of this Fold them also must I bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one Fold and one Shepheard And the Church is figured by one woman Rev. 12 And this woman hath Christ married to himself which shewes the unity of the Church in all ages Hos 2.19 'T is true this one Church of Christ may have many parts as the Sea hath many Chanells and is called by the name of the Country by the which it runs as the Germ an Sea the Baltique Sea c. so the Church of France the Church of England the Church of Scotland c. yet the Church of God is but one Militant Church upon the face of the whole Earth Reas And the Reason is because it hath but one Head As we account that but one Common-wealth that is under one King and governed by one and the same Lawes and is under one Government So is the Church of Christ one professing one and the same faith hath one and the same hope and Baptised into the same spirit and reserved unto one and the same glorious inheritance is but one This quite overthrows the Church Use 1 of Rome as no true Church of Christ who quite overthrow the Nature of the Church Catholick thus inlarged by God and confine the same to Rome What is Catholick but Universall And to speak in their language The Catholick Roman Church is as much as to say the Universall Church which must needs sound in the ears of any reasonable man to be most absurd Gods Church is not tyed to any one time much lesse to any one place but in respect of time and place is Catholick and Universall Secondly Vse 2 is this so that the Church of God is one and the same from generation to generation This may serve to unite the hearts of believers together in unity and peace The Unity and Onenesse of the Church should teach unity and concord amongst those that professe themselves members of this Church We are all of one house and habitation have one Father one Christ one Spirit one Bread one board one Bread to feed upon one Cup to drink on so should we be of one minde and of one heart Christians should cleave together and hold together If one member suffer all should suffer with it 1 Pet. 4.10 if one member be in honour all should rejoyce at it As every man hath received the gift even so minister the same one to another Those that are of the family of the Devill will do so Drunkards have a league amongst themselves what a shame then is it for Christians that professe themselves of the houshold of God to rent asunder the seamlesse Coat of Christ Surely the sad divisions that are in England this day like the divisions of Ruben cause great thoughts of heart and frustrates all our hopes of our desired peace O what a shame is it that there should be strife and dissention in that family where the Father is the God of peace and the son is the Prince of peace What an excellent Church and house of God was it in the Apostles time when the multitude of believers were of one heart and of one minde Such therefore as make these rents and divisions in the Church as too many do in these daies shew apparently that they are not of Gods houshold See that place of Paul Now I beseech you brethren Rom. 16.17.18 mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have received and avoid them for they are such as serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Ver. 2. Before the mountains were made or ever thou hadst for med the earth or the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God IN this second Verse Moses prevents an objection and removes a doubt that might arise in the minds of the people who might think thus Surely though the Lord did deliver our fore-fathers by his mighty power and defended and protected them in all dangers and straights yet now his power being not put forth for our succour and defence that are their posterity he is not now so able to save and deliver us No saith Moses that cannot be for the Lord is that mighty God from all eternity he is that eternall God and therefore cannot lose any of his power or strength but is now as able every way to save us as our fore fathers of old inasmuch as he doth continue the mighty God from all eternity from generation to generation thou art God Hence we may see what is the corrupt nature of man Doct. 1 In times of distress we are ready to uestion Gods power when we have not that we desire and when it goes not with us as we wish we are ready to question Gods power and to put off the cause from our selves and to lay the same upon God And hence is it that the Lord expostulateth the case with his people thus Es 50.2 Is my hand shortned at all that it cannot redeem or have I not power to deliver Behold at my rehuke I drie up the sea I make Rivers a wildernesse And again Es 59.1 2. Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear But your iniquities have separated betwixt you and your God How did the people provoke the Lord to wrath against them Psal 78.19 20. when they said Can God prepare a table in the Wildernesse can he provide flesh for his people This the Lord was angry at Therefore the Lord was angry and the fire was kindled in Jacob Ver. 21. and wrath came also upon I srael And the reason is given because they believed not in God Ver. 22. and trusted not in his help And whereas God sware unto their fathers that he would give them the Land of Canaan to them their seed after them yet the Holy Ghost saith Heb. 3.19 They could not enter in because of unbeliefe This was the sin of the Prince of Israel that when the Prophet had told him of the great plenty that should be in the gate of Samaria 2 Reg. 7. To morrow this time he doubted of it and concludes against the words of the Prophet that it could not possibly be Though the Lord should open the windowes of heaven Ver. 20. But he saw it with his eyes but did not eat of it for the people trode him to death in the gate of the City Yea the Lord hath severely punished this sin in his own servants themselves that have been guilty of it as we may see in Moses the man of God Num. 20.8 12. that shut him out of the Land of Canaan And the Lord was so highly displeased with Zachary Luke 1.20 otherwise a good man who doubted of the
3.12 That it is faith in the Covenant that God hath made unto us in Christ that gives boldnesse and confidence when we go to God in prayer And one Reason may be taken from that unchangeable nature that is in God Reas 1 and his covenant made with his people Gen. 17. I will be thy God and the God of thy seed after thee by an everlasting Covenant And he will not suffer his truth to fail This doth Moses minde the Lord of in the entrance into his prayer Lord thou hast been our habitation in all generations in the daies of our fore-fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob and as it is in this Text from generation to generation this they plead and that he will be the same to generations to come they rest upon Thus all his promises in Christ are Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 Besides his Word is unchangable as himselfe is Reas 2 yea Heaven and earth hall passe away and perish yet not one jot or tittle of the Word shall faile All the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ firme and faithfull and God will be sure at last to speak peace to his people May not a man rest upon that for the which he hath a word for Thy testimonies saith David are sure Ps 93.5 Ro. 10.8 And the Word is called the Word of Faith which cannot faile This serves to direct the Church of God in generall Vse 1 and every particular member of the same to wait for the Lords salvation in times of danger when they shall be brought into straights as the Church of God at this time then is the time to live by faith and to live upon promises and in prayer to plead his Covenant say Lord thou hast been our habitation in all generations leave us not nor forsake us for thy Name-sake though we have finned and provoked thee to wrath againstus yet own us for thy people and forsake us not O God of our salvation The Lord delights to hear his people wrestle with him in prayer and to get arguments to move the Lord withall It is a signe that we then pray in faith when the soul is lifted up to behold this faithfulnesse that is in God This lets us see upon what ground we must lay all our suits and requests that we put up unto God Use 2 the Covenant he hath made with his people gives boldnesse and confidence in prayer It is true our unfaithfulnesse in keeping Covenant with God is enough to stop our months and make us ashamed when we come unto him But when we come unto him thus Deliver me O Lord Ps 31.1 according to thy righteousnesse and disclaim our own and rest upon his faithfulnesse we may hope to prevail with him And therefore seeing Gods Church and children have such a Rock to flye unto and such a ground to build their suits upon with what boldnesse may they goe unto God and be assured of deliverance Before the Mountains were brought forth Text. c. MOSES here speaking of God and to God mentions his eternity saying That before the Mountains or the Earth or the World were made thou art God Wherein he affirms two things of God 1. That he was the Creator of the earth and the world 2. That he was from eternity long before Or ever thou hadst formed the earth or the world HEnce we learn Doct. 3 Thre was a time when there was no earth or world That there was a time when there was no Mountain Earth or World but God created them all The glorious Heavens and all the host of them the Earth and all the creatures therein the Sun the Moon and the Starrs had all God for their Creator Yet this point is warily to be understood of us for howsoever this work of creation is attributed to the first Person in Trinity we are not to exclude the Son nor the Holy Ghost for the whole Trinity did create the world Let us make man Gen. 1.26 This being a rule in Divinity That the works of God that are without are undivided for that which one doth all do Yet there is this difference in their order of working 1. The Father wills it 2. The Son works it 3. The Holy Ghost finisheth it Now that God Created all things at first it is clear In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth Gen. 1.1 And I am the Lord and there is none other How proves he that but by this work of Creation Es 45.7 I form the light and create darknesse I make peace and create evill I the Lord do all these things And thus again doth he prove his Godhead Ier. 10.12 He hath made the earth and established the world by his wisdome And He spake the word saith the Psalmist and it was done Ps 33.9 He commanded and it stood fast And the Lord did without faintnesse and wearinesse Es 40.28 The everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not nor is weary The visible creatures from the most glorious Angells to the most contemptible worm of the earth do all declare that there is a God and that this God is the Creator of them The visible creatures have in them all the print of an invisible God His power and his wisdome is engraven in them all yea in the smallest creatures doth Gods wisdome and power most of all appear Quest Quest 1 But when was this creation of all things Moses tells us when he saith Ans In the beginning the meaning is Gen. 1.1 In the beginning of Time For before the Creation Time was not but Eternity instead of Time And indeed the thoughts of man are here drowned here is the Ocean that we are not able to fathom what was before the world was And it is not meet that we should search into that for what are we to judge of eternity what hath plants to judge of sense or what have beasts to judge of reason or man to judge of Eternity that is himselfe finite But how did God create all things Quest 2 Not as man bringeth his works to passe by labour and pains no Ans for it is said Ps 33.9 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them He did but speak the Word and it was done the commanded and it was created God did but say Let there be light and there was light and all other creatures had their being at his command Seeing there was a time when there was no Mountain Earth or World Use 1 but that God was the Creator of them all then the heavens that are above us and the earth that is below us and all the creatures that are in the world they may serve to teach us this lesson that there is a God though these teach us not this lesson as the Scriptures teach us yet they are as a Christians Primer to teach us to
hereof Vse 2 that God hath a speciall hand in all our sufferings and still ordereth and disposeth of the same Ro. 8.28 that they shall work for the best to them that love and fear him what a ground of patience may this be unto us under the crosse whensoever the Lord shall be pleased to humble us by any affliction whatsoever that with patience and meeknesse we submit thereunto I was dumb Ps 39.9 and opened not my mouth because it was thy doing saith David And Eli 1 Sam. 3.18 â— Sam. 15.26 It is the Lord let him do what seemeth good to him And Here I am let him do to me as seemeth good to him And this may serve for the just reproofe of those Vse 3 who in times of misery and distresse never look to the hand of God they look upon secondary causes and instruments but over-look God Such do seldome seek to God for delivery Job was of another mind he looks not so much upon the Caldeans and Sabeans that plundered him of his goods and cattle but he looks up unto God and acknowledgeth his hand in all So David when Shimei cursed him It may be the Lord bad him to curse me Vse 4 And last of all this lets us see that when the Lord hath been pleased to come in with any Nationall or personall deliverance where to returne thanks even to him that first smoâ—e us and who it is that hath healed us Thus the Church in all ages when the Lord was pleased to come in with any singular deliverance Exod. 15. 2 Chron. 20. Jud. 5. kept their solemn daies of praise and thanksgiving unto God Thou turnest man to destruction THat is at thy pleasure are our lives and being here we live at thy allowance and appointment when thou wilt thou turnest them to breaking and crushing even to dust Hence observe Doct. 2 That our life and being here is uncertain Our lives are in Gods hand it is in Gods hand and power we live at his appointment at his pleasure he can and doth turn man to destruction to breaking and crushing Thou hast bruised my bones Esay 38. saith Hezechiah Thou hast set me as a mark to shoot at saith Job Thy arrowes stick fast in me saith David If the Lord do but say Return ye sons of Adam we shall return again to the dust and away we must The voice of the Lord is a powerfull voice he did create all things by his voice and by his word and at the same voice and word of his he can turn all things to powder No man though never so great or mighty wise or politique can resist or withstand the commanding and powerfull voice of God but when death is sent and God gives his call they must return again to dust Death knocks with authority at the dore of the rich man and Palace of Princes as at the poor and all must obey and return to the dust from whence they came Moses this Man of God that was a man so familiar with his Maker a man so holy so meek so mercifull who was indeed a compound of vertues who had fed many thousands when they were ready to die with hunger who had refreshed many thousands when they were ready to perish with thirst yet must himselfe at last yeeld to the stroke of death and say to corruption thou art my Father and to the worm thou art my Mother Psal 89.48 What man is there living that shall not see death and shall deliver his soul from the pit One dyeth in his full strength saith Job whose breasts are full of milk Iob 21.23 and bones are full of marrow Another dyeth in the bitternesse of his soul they shall lie down alike in the dust and the wormes shall cover them We stand not at a stay but in the midst of life we are in death the very meat we put into our bellies and the cloaths we put upon our backs all declare unto us that dye we must and return again to the dust And the Reasons are First Reas 1 if we do but consider the matter whereof these bodies of ours are composed which is of the dust of the earth this shewes a necessity of their returning again to dust they are made of a frail brittle and corruptible matter and long they cannot stand Dust thou art Gen. 3.19 and into dust shalt thou return again And as the Prophet saith All flesh is grasse and the glory of man as the flower of grasse As the point of the Marriners needle doth never stand till it attain the North Pole Such an instinct there is in these bodies of ours they still bend themselves downward towards the earth from whence they came And as the nearer the Center the swifter the motion so is man towards his end every day winds off something of the threed of our life and return we must There is a necessity of our returning again to dust Reas 2 if we do but consider the nature of sin the wages whereof is death and indeed there can be no divorce sued out betwixt sin and death Gen. 20. As the Lord said to Abimelech Thou art but a dead man because of his sin And this was Gods own decree at first Gen. 2.17 The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death Now Alam eating of the forbidden fruit brought in death to all his posterity for so saith the Apostle By one man sin entred into the world Ro. 5.12 and death by sin And inasmuch as all have sinned all must die the death Besides Reas 3 there is a necessity that all should die because by death we must enter into life death is the gate of life ordinarily none entred into life but by death death is a guide to bring us into Heaven though a churlish guide yet a sure guide to bring us into blisse Seeing the Lord at his pleasure turns man to destruction Use 1 to breaking and crushing sends long and tedious sicknesse and griefe of body whereby men are much deformed and weakned in their bodies and turned to dust This should teach us patience in times of misery and distresse when the Lord shall seem thus to crush us and break us to powder we should with patience bear his correcting hand be it never so sharp and grievous even to crush us to pieces and to grinde us to powder in regard it is the Lord that doth it Thus David I was dumb and opened not my lips Ps 39.5 because it was thy doing There is no sicknesse or disease lamenesse or blindnesse or any other affliction whereby we come to have our bones crushed and we brought to destruction but all is of the Lord He turneth man to breakings and destruction and it is the want of the knowledge of this that is the cause that men do sometimes murmur against Gods dealings and are not humbled for their sins as they ought to be we consider
consumeth to destruction Many were the provocations of this people that notwithstanding God had given them much experience of his power and goodnesse towards them Psal 78. giving them Manna from Heaven and Water out of the hard Rock Quailes to satisfie their lust and their provocations were many and great yet verse 38. He being full of compassion he for gave their iniquitie and destroyed them not Yea many a time turned he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath But such were their sins and so great were their provocations verse 50. that He made way for his anger and he spared not their souls from death but gave over their lives to the Pestilence Yea verse 59. Gods wrath was so kindled that he abhorred Israel And who can look upon sin but as a fearfull thing and the greatest evill and the wrath of God intolerable when he shall but seriously consider how terribly his wrath hath broke out against sin It was for sin that God threw the Angells down from heaven to hell It was for sin that he drowned the old World Gen. 6. when their wickednesse was so great that it repented the Lord that he had made man and brought that Deluge over all the earth It was for sin that Sodome and Gomorrah was consumed with fire and brimstone from Heaven Gen. 19. That Pharach and the Aegyptians were overwhelmed in the red Sea That the earth swallowed up Corah and his complices Num. 16. That Herod was consumed with worms Acts 12. And how is the wrath of God come upon the Jewes at this day to the utmost sometimes Gods peculiar people now become a curse and reproach to all Nations a scattered and dispersed people upon the face of the earth this day This will sin do and this will Gods wrath and displeasure do when sin hath so far provoked God that it breaks out upon us And what shall we say to all those miseries that this land and Nation hath of late years groaned under as the Sword Famine Pestilence Sicknesses and Diseases Sects Heresies a Kingdome divided a Church rent and torn in pieces by unnaturall Brethren our Israel given to the spoile and Jacob unto robbers O who can say but that England's sin hath brought England's misery and that Gods anger that hath gone out against us hath been wondrous great Yea if we look upon the Saints and Servants of God themselves when by their sins they have provoked Gods anger and kindled his wrath against them how terrible and how fearfull hath he shewed his anger and displeasure against them As we may see in Moses this servant of the Lord that because he did not honour God at the waters of strife was shut out of the Land of Canaan And David who in the pride of heart numbred the people the Lord let him blood in the same veine there dyed of the people for his sin Three-score and ten thou sand men And this wrath of God shall at last most clearly break out and appear when he shall come in a flame of fire 2 Thess 2.9 rendring vengeance to the wicked And if the beams of Gods anger and wrath sends forth such terrible lestruction upon us here what will that wrath of his be when it shall be fully powred out upon his poor creatures in hell for ever Our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12. ult Now this anger and wrath of God must needs consume to destruction Because anger in God is as himselfe is Reas 1 Infinite what then can stand before it the whole world and all creatures therein are but as stubble and chaffe before the fire the very Mountains melt at his presence and in comparison of his greatnesse the whole earth is but as the dust in the ballance a flat nothing in respect of his intinitenesse this made Moses to say Who knowes the power of thy wrath Verse 11. the meaning is that none knowes it or can sufficiently take notice of it to fear as he ought before him Because there is such an antipathy betwixt God and sin Reas 2 that he must needs set himselfe against it and punish it It is so contrary to that pure Nature of God as darknesse to light there is nothing wherein there is the like contrarietie in Nature as there is betwixt God and fin The sinner is no better then a proud Rebell to God seeking to advance Sathan and to set him in Gods Throne wishing in his heart there were no God or that he were such a God as either saw not his fins or were not able to punish him for sin And can any wonder then that his wrath should break out to the destruction of the sinner Let us apply this Seeing the anger of God Use 1 thus once kindled consumeth to destruction O how doth this concern every one of us to dread sin which thus provokes him to wrath against us O the misery of that wretched soul that lies under Gods wrath If all the infirmities that human Nature is subject unto if all the sicknesses and diseases in the world should seize upon one man if all the tortures and torments that all the Tyrants in the world could devise to inflict upon a man to make him miserable and all the creatures in heaven and earth should all of them conspire together to make one poor creature miserable all these were nothing in comparison of the wrath of God who is a consuming fire How terrible hath the terrours of an accusing conscience been to many a poor creature we may see in Judas that was not able to bear them but preferred death before them and others daily that have made away their lives rather then live in those horrours of conscience they have felt in themselves What then is Gods anger and wrath when it shall be poured out to the full upon the soul of a sinner Why then do we not dread sin more which is the only cause of his wrath and who is never angry but at sin Art thou a Drunkard a Swearer a prophane person that livest in the continuall practise of sin Be not deceived saith the Apostle for these things sake commeth the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience An impenitent sinner is like unto a man that goes continually upon a mine of Gun-powder he may fear every step he takes that he shall be blowen up Seeing Gods anger once kindled against sin consumeth to destruction Use 2 we may hence observe the difference betwixt Gods anger towards his own Children and wicked men 'T is true God is many times angry with his own people and of them only it is said Ps 30.5 His anger endureth but a moment which implies that God will be angry with them Thus God was angry with Jehosophat for making affinity with wicked Ahab God was angry with old Eli for his indulgency towards his sons and God was angry with David for numbring the people and so
labour and sweat for a poor life here of so short a continuance how much more should we study and labour for life eternall As Christ saith Labour not for the meat that perisheth John 6. but c. So let us labour for that life that perisheth not and shall not last for seventy or eightie years and then end as this life doth but shall last whilst God himselfe lasts even to all eternity Thirdly and lastly Use 3 seeing the ordinary time of mans life is seventie or eightie years a goodly time to live in the world if we have grace to use it well O if God give a man this goodly time what a great mercy is it if men bestow it well how much glory might we bring to God how much good to his Church and what a measure of heavenly knowledge faith repentance and other graces may a man get in these seventie or eightie years if we are not wanting to our selves But alas who makes this use and benefit of his time Commonly men bestow this time pretious time vainly and unprofitably and little of it is spent in the service of God in doing good to his Church and furnishing their souls with grace against the time of need Did men but learn-one lesson at every one Sermon that they hear how much knowledge might be gained in seventie or eightie years and what a stock of grace might men have in store against the time of sicknesse and when death shall come Yet is their strength but labour and sorrow MOSES having in the former part of this Verse shewed the common rate of our life here in this world and the ordinary stint beyond which few passe Doth here likewise show that as this long life that men 〈◊〉 being compared to eternity is but short and not to be stood upon so it is not free from trouble and sorrow from misery and affliction but that the chiefest part of it even the pride and flower of the strongest man is but labour and sorrow so that the sweetnesse of the longest life is tempered with manifold sorrowes troubles and afflictions we never continue long at one stay but in our chiefest prosperitie our comforts are often blasted and suddainly gone So that in these words we have to observe 1. The misery of mans life even in his best and most flourishing estate it is mixed with labour and sorrow 2. The ground and cause of this which is It is soon cut off and we flie away First in that Moses affirmes that the life of man is ordinarily not only short and shut up within the compasse of seventie years or at the most eightie years but also affirmes that the best and most excellent part of this time is 〈◊〉 â—â—ouble and sorrow Hence we learn Doct. 2 That the misery of man since his fall is exceeding great Misery of man since the fall great Gen. 47.9 because let his life be what it will be yet his very best time is full of labour and sorrow As Jacob said to Pharaoh The dayes of the years of my pilgrimage are few and evil So true is that of Job Job 14.1 Man that is born of a woman is of few dayes and full of trouble The very honey and sweetnesse of this life is mixed with wormwood and gall what day almost passeth over our heads without some crosse or other and cause of grief He that drank deepest of the cup of all worldly prosperity as Solomon took his fill of them yet at last concluded Eccl. 2.13.23 That all was but vanity and vexation of spirit That mans dayâ— are full of sorrows and his travel grief of heart we see our joyes are uncertain our sorrows and grief more sure whilest as Job saith The evils which we fear befall us and the comforts we desire fail us We are still expecting better dayes and times but finde worse In our mirth there is mourning in our joy there is sorrow our false fears beget reall grief though the things we fear never come to passe And as if our present miseries were not enough to make our lives miserable we torment our selves in laying hold of those we have already suffered and fear those that are to come by which means many times we torment our selves before the time In a word there is no age or time of mans life nor estate or condition we are in here but it meets with its severall miseries incident thereunto youth middle age old years all of them have their labour and sorrow daies of vanity full of misery Seeing our life here in this world is so frail and so miserable Use 1 full of labour and sorrow both inward and outward of body and minde this shewes that the greatest part of the world are far from this perswasion of Moses as look not upon this world to be so full of misery for many a man could wish he might ever live here and never die It seemes these men did never yet tast of the misery of sin and of the misery of this life or else they could never yet see what a blessed thing it is to be freed from these miseries and to live eternally in Heaven Secondly seeing our life is so short Vse 2 frail and miserable full of labour and sorrow this should teach us that lesson of the Apostle To use this world as though we used it not seeing it is so full of misery and trouble We see a Mother when she would wean the Child from the breast she laies some bitter thing upon it that so the Child tasting of it might be out of love with it and desire it no more Even so the Lord knowing that we are exceedingly in love with the world with the pleasures and profits of this life lest we should surfeit with these things hath laid many bitter troubles and afflictions upon us and all to wean us from the immoderate love of it This doth David acknowledge from experience O Lord thou hast made my daies as an hand-breadth Surely every man in his best estate is but vanity Ps 39.5 6. And that this might be remembred of us he sets upon it a note of attention Selah and shewes what use himselfe made of it O Lord my hope is in thee He casts off all care of the world and only flies to God and seeks to him for succour Yet is their strength but labour and sorrow Text. WE have yet farther to observe that in asinuch as Moses saith their Strength that is the chiefest and most excellent estate the very flower of their life wherein men do so much glory and rejoyce is but a time of labour and sorrow We are taught Doct. 3 that there is no estate of man in this life No estate but full of labour and forrow so high or so sure and certain or so sweet and comfortable but it is subject to alterations and change subject to misery and trouble For Moses speaks this in generall both of Prince
thoughts throughly imprinted in our hearts they would dam all our pleasures and cause us to thinke more of Death then we doe Could we reckon our days upon our fingers ends as we can other things and withall the great work that God hath sent us into this world to doe and how prodigally we have mispent our time how little we have done and how much is yet to doe when we are ready to drop into our graves could we I say thus number our life and dayes we would never live as we doe so carefull for this life and so carelesse for Heaven We see that those that shoot at Buts they pricke their arrowes sometimes here and sometimes there round about the marke at last they hit the white thus doth Death cast his Darts sometimes a friend is taken away sometimes a kinsman sometimes he comes nearer and takes a Husband wife child at last we our selves are struck with death and away we must Though we see this daily before our eyes and see coarses daily carried upon mens shoulders to the grave◠yet who layes it to heart and considers that the feete of these that carried them may carry us to our long home ere long we passe not away one minute of our life but we have taken one slep more towards the grave to day wee heare that A. B. is dead to morrow we may heare that C. D. is dead shortly you shall here that S S. is dead It is noted for the great commendations of Joseph of Arimathea Jo. 19. who whilst he was in health made his tombe in his garden and why in his garden No doubt to put him in mind continually of his Death and that in the midst of all his delights and pleasures he might think on his latter end Thus it is said of that godly Father St. Jerom that he thought with himselfe that whether he did eat or drink or whatsoever he did he thought he heard that voice Arise yee dead and come vnto Judgement Now that we ought thus to make accompt of every day as our last day let this reason perswade Because of that inevitable necessitie that lies upon all Adams posterity that dye we must Reas 1 as the woman of Tekoah said to David that mourned so excessively for the death of Absalom We must all dye And as the Psalmist hath it Ps 89.48 Ps 49.19 Heb. 9.27 What man liveth and shall not see death and shall hee deliver his Soule from the hand of the grave Againe Man shall enter into the generation of their Fathers and shall not live for ever And It is appointed for all men once to dye The consideration where of may put us in mind of our duty to be in a continuall readinesse for death We ought to make accompt of every day as our last day Reas 2 because we cannot sever our life and death but such as our life hath beene such will our death be for albeit that all must dye and sleep in the dust yet there is a great difference betwixt the godly and the wicked in death They that dye in the Lord are blessed Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord and these at last shall rise againe to life and glory but as for the wicked it is not so with them for they enter by death into everlasting paine where the worme dyeth not and the fire shall never be quenched so that our weale or woe for ever doth depend vpon that short inch of time that is allotted unto us here which also should put us upon this duty to be in a continuall readiness when death comes This serves to instruct us in the necessity of learning this lesson well Vse 1 of the measuring out the length of our time and the numbring of our dayes aright There is a great deale of art and skill to doe this This is the best Arithmetick whē we know how to number our dayes aright the numbring of our acres of land the numbring of our sheep and cattel is nothing to the numbring of our dayes Quest But what is it to number our dayes Answ It consist principally in these things First in Accompting every day as our last day and so to live as if every day we were to dye now what would we do if we were sure to dye ere night if you were sure that this were your last sabbath this were your last Sermon that ever you should heare you would not need to be warned of sleeping you would not willingly have death to take you tardy we would that rather death should take us upon our knees then upon our Ale-bench To number our dayes aright is to dye daily 1 Cor. 15. this was the care of the blessed Apostle I protest by our reioycing which I haue in Christ Iesus our 〈◊〉 I 〈◊〉 dye dayly that is by the continuall thoughts and meditation of death inure our selves by litle and litle whilest we are here of the art of dying well before we come to dye indeed Paul dyed daily because he knew not the day and time when God would call him away by death the more we fit and prepare our selves for death the lesse terrible will death this King of feare be unto us when it cometh Thirdly to number our dayes aright and to be prepared for death is to pluck out the sting of death now the sting of death is sin 1 Cor. 15 56. the sting being taken out death cannot hurt The Philistimes were so wise as to discover wherein the strength of Sampson lay Iud. 16.5 And therein they prevailed it shall be our wisdom to repent us of our sins for therein lyes the strength of death And last of all if we desire to live for ever in the kingdom of glory that we begin it here that we lay a good foundation for the time to come Those virgins that still expected the coming of the Bridgroome and had their lamps stored with oyle hereby merited the name of wise Virgins and entred into the marriage chamber whilst those foolish Virgins that were carelesse of the bridgrooms coming and rested themselves with the bare name of Virgins and with the bearing the Lamps of an outward profession without the oyle of grace in their hearts were for ever shut out This serveth to discover unto us the reason why sin doth so abound Use 2 drunkenesse swearing uncleannesse prophanesse and all other abominations in the lives of men It is because men have not learned this heavenly Arithmetick to number their dayes and to esteeme of every day as their last day This was the reason of that damnable securitie in that rich man Luk. 12.37 That bad his soule to take her fill of all pleasures and delights little thinking that that night his soul should be haled from him And this is the reason why men powre out their hearts to all manner of sins abominations they never consider the shortness uncertaintie of their
Hee that must shortly part with his house and home must away into another Country will be so wise as to turne his lumber into Silver and Gold that he may have somthing to live upon when he is gone Mat. 6.19 Lay not up for your selves treasures on earth saith Christ where moth and rust doth corrupt and where theeves breake thorough and steal But lay up for your selves treasures in heaven c. Christ commends Maries choice that she had chosen the better part Luk. 10. she sat at Christs feete she heard his heavenly doctrine Whilest Martha was busie for the body Mary provided for hâ—r soule what if Martha had let the pott seeth over for that time it had been a very tollerable neglect but now Mary carries the praise the lord knowes we have many Marthas few Maries for almost all be for the world looke after their bodies few for heaven that take care for their pretious Soule Vers 13. Returne O Lord How long let it repent thee concerning thy Servants MOses this man of God having in the former v. prayed unto God that he would teach them by his spirit to make the right use of the shortness and uncertaintie of their life Now he proceeds to make prayer unto God for himselfe and the rest of Gods people for favor and mercy And all the petitions of his prayer are either for Reconciliation to God or else For the fruits of their reconciliation to God In this 13. v. they pray for reconciliation that he would in mercy Returne againe unto them and be pacified againe toward them In the verses following they pray for the fruiâ—s of this reconciliation as 1. For the comfortable feeling of Gods love and favour againe towards them which they had broken off by their sinnes v. 14. 2. They pray for comfort against their miseries and long afflictions vers 15. 3. For defence and protection and the blessing of God upon their labours and endeavours especially in their journey towards the land of Canaan that God would defend them from their enemies and bring them at last into that promised land Returne O Lord. In this first petition and request wee are to note two things 1. What they pray for viz. Reconciliation with God Returne O Lord let it repent thee 2. And for this purpose they use 2. Arguments or Reasons to move the Lord to take pitty on them and to be favorable unto them 1. Taken from the continnance of their afflictions which were both long and tedious and very sharp and grievous How long shall we lie boyling in the furnace of affliction and how long wilt thou be angry with us 2. From their estate and condition we are thy Servants O then bee gratious unto thy Servants be not for ever angry with thy owne Servants but receive us into thy favour be reconciled againe unto us And turne away thy wrath and displeasure from us Returne O Lord q d. Although for our sins thou hast justly turned thy face from us and been angry with us yet be thou in mercy reconciled to us againe shew us thy favour and remove thy heavie hand For as the Lord is said to turne his back and to hide his face when he takes away the tokens of his gracious love and presence from a people even so when he doth manifest the signes of his love and gratious presence unto a people then is he said to returne againe Whence we may observe first of all when Moses and the people of God doe seeke unto God for mercy and reconcilation viz. when they have been well whipped in the school of affliction and humbled and tamed by the Lords corrections upon them for their fins We observe Doct. 1 Men never seek to God forreconciliation till they feel his displeasure That men wil never seek unto God for reconciliation untill such time as the Lord hath truly and thoroughly humbled them and caused them to feel his anger displeasure for sin staborn rebellious and hard hearted sinners will never truly seek unto God till such time as the Lord hath broken their hearts with the apprehension of their miserable estate by reason of sin and that they come to feele Gods terrible anger and displeasure against them for the same The Lord knowes that these hearts of ours are many times so hard that our greatest sins have little effect upon our souls to work that godly sorrow and humiliation as our sins have deserved But when the Lord shal be pleased to bring a sinner to the rack and there lay weight upon weight upon him and to the weight of his sins add the weight of his anger and sore afflictions this dealing of the lord with a poore sinner many times causes such a stream of teares which bathe the soul in the water of true repentance and bring the sinner to a heartie confession of his sins how were Iacobs sons wrought upon by their troubles in Egypt that their sin against their innocent brother selling him for a bondslave should lye hid for many yeares together should now come to conscience Gen. 42.21 We have sinned against our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besoughâ— us and we would not heare him therefore is this trouble come vpon us And thus David when the hand of God lay heavy upon him day and night then and not till then he flyes to God and by humble confession of his sins begs pardon at Gods hand Ps 32.4 5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee neither hid I mine iniquitie for I thought I will confesse against my self my wickednesse Es 26.16 and then thou forgavest the punishment of my sin The scriptures are cleare in this Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured forth their prayers wheâ— thy chastisments were upon them and againe they being bound in affliction Ps 107.10 13 14. and Iron cried unto the Lord in their affliction and distresse Yea this is that which the Lord himselfe speaketh of stubborn and hard hearted siners Hof 5.14 15. I will be unto Ephraim as a lyon and as a young lion to the house of Iudah c. till they acknowledg their offence for in their affliction they will seeke me early So that miserable rebellious and hard hearted sinners will never seeke unto God till such time as he hath exercised them with the sense and apprehension of his terrible anger against sin besides the examples the scriptures afford us are many as Manasses 2 Chron. 33.10 11. the prodigall the jaylor and those cruell Jews Reas 1 Such only are capable of mercy from God when in the sense of their owne misery and apprehension of Gods displeasure they become fit objects of mercy full vessells can hold no liquor and proud and haughtie hearts are not fit for mercy Es 57.15 He will revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contriâ—e ones When our hearts are subdued