Lord way in the whole abilitie of it that God in all things may rule in it it doth not give God place in some things onely and say God shall rule in mine eye but not in my hand God shall rule in my hand but not in my tongue God shall rule in my tongue but not in my heart but the soule giveth way to Christ in all things whatsoever Simile A great man that is to entertaine his Prince and Soveraigne doth not put him into a corner of his house but hee giveth him all the roome and shifts out all his servants and puts out every one both friend and foe every place he sheweth him and giveth him all the keyes and lets him dispose of all things So a soule that is prepared for the Lord Iesus doth not crowd him into a corner and say I must have one corner for a covetous heart another corner for a proud heart no no but a prepared heart giveth up all to God it reserveth no privie corner in this kind but ability faculty and whatsoever it is the soule giveth up all to God that he may dispose of all A sinfull soule that is prepared is not perfectly able of it selfe thus to over-rule his heart but as it is with a man when he gives up his house for the entertainment of the King doe what he can there will be some base fellowes peeping in but he is not pleased with it it is against his mind that they should so doe and he would with all his heart have his Majesty use some meanes for the restraining of them so it is with a soule prepared for the Lord it resignes all unto him hand eye and tongue and heart and practice but yet there will bee some base lusts and sinfull corruptions there will be hypocrisie and pride and selfe-love peeping into his heart but it is against the mind of a prepared sinner it is his mind that God should root out all those and order all to his owne glory And this is the third passage so that the soule which hath broken the league with all corruptions and reserveth it selfe for Christ the soule that is willing to give way to Christ and let him overthrow all whatsoever opposeth him and do whatsoever pleaseth him that soule I say which doth not thrust Christ into a corner but gives up all unto him that soule is prepared for the Lord Iesus Christ The next thing to be considered for the opening of the point 2. Reason why the heart must be so prepared for Christ is the reason why Christ requires this preparation of the heart and this will cut the throat of abundance of carnall conceits and imaginations Men thinke that Christ will come suddenly from heaven into their hearts at a beck they think that Lord have mercy upon me will fecth him No no Christ will have the soule prepared before he wil come take possession of it and the reason is because it cannot stand with the all-soveraigne holinesse of Christ to come there It 's so in common sense there cannot be two Kings in one Throne Non capit regnum duos there cannot be two Suns in one Firmament there cannot be two Gods in one heart we cannot serve God and Mammon Some would have their soules divided and have God to be King and raigne therein to day and their sinnes and lusts to morrow or else they will have Christ raigne in one corner of their hearts and their sinnes and lusts in another but God will have all or none at all in this case either no God or one God in thy heart Our Saviour Christ Math. 12.29 disputeth How can one enter into a strong mans house and spoile his goods unlesse he first bind the strong man and then spoile his goods The strong man is sinne and Satan and the house is the heart now Christ cannot goe into the heart and exercise authority there untill he hath wrought a separation betweene the soule and these and hath throwne out this god and then the God of heaven and earth takes possession of the heart First sin and Satan must be throwne out of the soule before the Lord will take possession He that takes possession of a house if there bee any in the house besides himselfe it is not good in law if there be any take possession of the heart and beare sway there Christ will beare no rule for it cannot stand with the holinesse of Christ to have any competitor to have another beare rule with himselfe and Christ himselfe plainly determines this Matth. 6.24 Yee cannot serve God and Mammon You thinke you may have the Divell rule in you one fit and God another but you cannot serve God and Mammon one Master must be renounced before another can be received This is the argument You cannot have two Gods in the heart therefore the soule must bee severed from sinne and Satan and the lusts of the flesh before it can bee prepared for the Lord Iesus Christ before he will come in and take place in it The Use of the point is threefold Vse 1 Those reproved who thinke to have mercy and heaven all on the sudden The truth being granted and the doctrine cleered the first Use is a Use of reproofe Wee may here discover and also condemne the fond dreames and vaine imaginations of many poore sinfull ignorant creatures who have invented a new way a backe doore to carry themselves to heaven more than ever the Word revealed and it is this Men thinke that they may have Christ and mercy at command and that they may catch at and obtaine blessednesse and happinesse at unawares and on the sudden and yet notwithstanding live in sinne and continue in sinne and approve of sinne and addict themselves thereunto and then when sicknesse comes if they can but say Lord have mercy on me they must goe to heaven all on the sudden Be perswaded at length to see the folly and sottishnesse of this conceit this is not the way which the Word reveales Christ by it makes no such agreement with us unlesse a poore sinner thinke that Christ will carry him to heaven with his uncleannesse and abominable sinnes when as he hath said that no uncleane thing shall enter into the kingdome of heaven No no if the harbenger goeth not before the King will not come where there goeth no preparation before there can bee no receiving of Christ He that will receive Christ and benefit by him and comfort and salvation from him must receive him at those termes wherupon he hath offered himselfe or else he shall never receive him 2 Cor. 6.17 the text there saith Come out from among them and bee separate saith the Lord and touch no uncleane thing and I will receive you Marke here the agreement that God maketh thou must first come out from among them yea come out from thy sinnes thou must come out of thy lusts and corruptions before the Lord will
them and make them fitting to receive his Majesty and therefore sweep your hearts and clense those roomes clense every sinke brush downe every cobweb and make roome for Christ for if thy heart bee prepard and divorced from all corruptions then Christ will come into thy soule and take possession of it Remove therefore all corruptions out of thy heart And when thou hast swept every corner of thy house doe not leave the dust behind the doore for that is a fluts tricke doe not remove sinne out of thy tongue and out of thy eye and out of thy hand and leave it in thy heart No no out with all let every chamber be dressed up let every part and faculty be right disposed that the Lord may come and dwell in thy soule The second motive that may stirre us up to prepare for the Lord Iesus 2. Christ is most worthy for whom we should prepare is his transcendent worthinesse in regard of which all preparation may seeme too little You are not to entertaine an ordinary person it is not a man it is not a King it is not a Monarch but it is a King of Kings that will come into your soules to comfort them yea his holy and blessed Spirit will remaine with you for ever Therefore doe all that possibly may be done to prepare for his comming and for the entertainement and welcomming of him when he comes In Psal 24.7 David calleth upon his owne soule and other of Gods people for so the words are to be expounded there he saith Lift up your heads O yee Gates and be yee lift up yee everlasting doores and the King of glory shall come in As who should say Be enlarged love joy hope set open give way for the Lord is comming But who is the Lord It is the Lord of hostes the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battell ver 8. And with that he knockes againe Lift up your heads O yee Gates and be yee lift up yee everlasting doores for the King of glory shall come in ver 9. As if he should say What shall the Lord knocke shall the King of glory stand Open suddenly and make all preparation Did David doe thus Why doe you so then Christ knockes by promises hee knockes by judgements hee knockes by threats yea hee speakes this day unto your soules and labours this day to make way for himselfe make therefore all preparation let nothing be wanting that when he comes he may take possession of your soules Particulars and bee a God unto you for ever There will come a great deale of benefit by this meanes unto your soules And this also may encourage us The Lord commeth into our soules not to trouble and charge us no hee commeth to bring everlasting salvation and happinesse to our soules Looke what Christ said to Zacheus Luk. 19.5 8 9. when hee went up into a Sycamore tree to see him Make haste and come downe Zacheus saith he for I must abide with thee in thy house Zacheus made no cavilling but made haste and came downe and received him joyfully And marke what Christ saith unto him This day salvation is come into thine house So likewise it shall be with you when Christ commeth salvation commeth with him when he commeth everlasting happinesse and salvation commeth when Christ commeth goe home and witnesse against all your carnall neighbours that they that refuse Christ and doe not make preparation for him refuse salvation and everlasting happinesse that is offered unto them Amos 4.12 when the Lord had sent a great plague and a heavie judgement upon Ierusalem he saith Thus will I doe unto thee Oh Israel and because I will doe this unto thee prepare to meet thy God O Israel I will doe thus unto thee O Israel that is I will send mildewes plagues and pestilence and famine I will draw you out with hookes and your posteritie with fish-hookes And what followeth Prepare to meet thy God O Israel If God come against us to plague us we must prepare to meet him Reason now with your owne soules upon strong grounds to your everlasting comfort Should the Lord come in judgement to torment us should the Lord come to scourge and punish us if wee must then prepare to meet him then what preparation ought we to make for his comming when hee shall not come thus in judgement to condemne us but in his mercy to save us in his goodnesse to enrich us in his compassion to comfort us then now if ever prepare to meet thy God O Israel Let every heart perswade it selfe of this particular and reason and consider with your owne soules in this case Is Christ so gracious and so mercifull doth he send downe from heaven unto us and say he will come if any man keepe my Commandements I stand at the doore and knocke Rev. 3.20 if any man will open my Father and I will come in and sup and dwell with him Why where is the heart in the meane time And if ever now prepare to meete the Lord. But if neither the judgements of God will perswade us nor the mercies of God allure us yet let the complaints and moanes of Christ Iesus prevaile with you to prepare for him Consider our Saviour Christ hath taken a great journey from heaven to earth to save us miserable wretched and sinfull creatures conceive you saw those streames of bloud trickling downe his cheekes conceive you saw him upon the crosse with his hands thrust thorow with nailes and his side pierced with a speare enduring the wrath of God for our sinnes and behold now hee standeth at the doore and saith with the Church Lam. 1.12 It is nothing to you have you no regard O yee that passe by behold and see if there bee any sorrow like unto my sorrow c. Imagine you heard Christ say I have suffered these and these things for you these hands of mine were nailed this side of mine was pierced this heart of mine was melted with anguish of spirit Imagine you saw Christ standing and knocking at the doore of your hearts as indeed hee doth and say Hoe all you within there hoe all you proud hearts hoe all you covetous and malicious hearts have you no regard of a poore Saviour have you no regard of a crucified Saviour hee that died for you even the bitter death upon the crosse for you and now laboureth to doe good unto you Would not this move you to prepare your your hearts for him and to let him in Nay marke what Christ saith to the Church Cant. 5.2 Open to me my sister my love my dove my undefiled for my head is filled with dew and my lockes with the drops of the night As if hee should say I have had an ill journey a bad way and unkind entertainment and therefore come away my love my dove my undefiled and open unto me So hee saith to every one of our soules This day I have travelled
And that other place in Luke 3.5.6 can admit of no other sense Every valley shall be filled and every mountaine and hill shall be brought low And all flesh shall see the salvation of God These words cannot be literally understood for there was no mountaines to be removed nor no vallies to bee filled up for Christ was no temporall King but the meaning is a removeall of all those mountains and impediments that stood betweene Christ and the soule Thus you see the Temple prepared is nothing but the heart truely broken and humbled Secondly let us see what it is to come into this Temple And Christs comming to it As the way and the Temple was so the comming into this Temple is to be spiritually understood and that is when the Lord Iesus Christ comes to take possession of him but consider this he comes like a King and therefore hee hath Iohn Baptist to make way for him The comming of a King discovers it selfe in two things first the King taketh the Soveraigne command of the place where he is and if there be any guests there they must be gone and resigne up all the house to him so the Lord Iesus comes to take soveraigne possession of the soule Secondly the King brings all his provision with him so the Lord Christ brings all provision for the soule with him So then the meaning is this When Iohn Baptist by the power of the word hath wrovght upon the soule and made it humble and low and willing to be at the Lords dispose when the broken heart seeks for a Saviour then the Lord comes suddenly and like a King You humble soules consider this he will take possession of those humble broken hearts of yours and he will bring his owne provision with him he cares for nothing but a vessell emptied and a heart thus fitted and prepared he will bring provision enough of comfort of vocation of adoption of sanctification and the like In this part of the verse thus opened wee have two doctrines first that the Lord Iesus Christ will not delay to come into the heart that is truely humbled and broken Who is the Lord Christ What is the Temple The heart truely humbled And when comes he Suddenly this is the ground of the doctrine The second is the Lord Iesus takes possession of the soule humbled and provides for it as his owne he comes like a King as I said before This is the ground of the second point which discovers the nature of the implantation the first discouers the appurtenances of it Doct. Christ delays not to come into an humbled heart For the first The Lord Iesus will not delay to come into the heart truely humbled as I may say he layeth all other workes aside as if he did looke for none but this how he may come home to the heart truely humbled The Lord will not come at a proud worldly minded man No the Lord leaves all yea heaven and all the world and onely lookes after and loues to live with the humble broken heart For proofe of the point This is the reason why the Scripture doth not content it selfe to shew the marvellous delight that God hath in such a spirit See how plenteous the Scripture is to shew how ready the Lord is to call in at the heart of the humbled soule and to rise and lie and rest to eat and drink and sleep with the humble heart nay when he is come he wil not away againe as wee may see in that example of the lost son Luke 15.20 Hee said I will arise and goe to my father and say Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am not worthy to bee called thy son make me as one of thy hired servants As soone as ever he resolved of the worke marke how the father behaues himselfe towards him though he were base and beggarly in his condition He might have said Let thy Harlots and thy Queanes helpe thee But he saw him a far off and ran to meet him and fell upon his neck and kissed him Though he were a wretched creature yet now he because the father saw him humble he remembers not that he had been with Harlots all was forgotten the father saw him afarre off before the child could spie him he pittied him before he could confesse his sin he was more ready to meet him than he was to come and he kissed him before he could receiue any acknowledgement from him This is the marvellous enlargement of the Lord to receive an humble broken heart And when he had kissed him Luk 15.21 22 the lost child said Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to bee called thy son But the father said to his servants Bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring upon his hand and so forth as if he had said It is no matter what thou hast bin now thou art come home and hast humbled thy selfe I am glad of it Thus he passeth by all the former misdemenours And so it is in the same Chapter ver 4.5.6 If a man have an hundred sheep and lose one will he not leaue the ninety nine and seek that which was lost And when hee hath found it hee layeth it on his shoulders rejoycing And when he comes home he calleth together his friends and saith Rejoyce with me for I have found my lost sheep The meaning is this The lost sheep is the lost sinner that is wandred from the Lord Iesus Christ The soule that after all the mercies and favours that God hath shewed to allure him he goes away from God and then one drops in a ditch and another is lost in the wildernesse or Forrest yet hee leaues all to seeke the lost sheepe and leaveth not seeking till he findeth it and if he hath found it he reioyceth For the Lord will leave all to seeke a poore lost sinner and the more need thou hast and the more lost thou art in thy selfe the more labour will the Lord take to find thee out and though thou canst not goe the Lord will carry thee upon his shoulders and when thou art come home hee rejoyceth exceedingly This shewes the marvellous bounty of the Lord to poore sinners it is the scope of the Parable concerning the Pearle Matth. 13.45.46 The kingdome of heaven is like unto a wise Merchant man who having found one Pearle of great Price went and sold all that he had to buy it The pearle is nothing else but that rich mercy of God in his son Christ and Christ in the promise is the Pearle and the Merchant-man is every Christian man that wants mercy and comfort to releive him for he saith What is all the world to me if my soule wants mercy Well he knowes where the Pearle is What 's the price of it Sell all Selling of all is nothing but this when a man is content to part with sin and all
hearts the Lord Christs baile will be taken for more debts then you owe nay the Father desires no better surety as hee himselfe saith Mat. 3.13 This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased hee doth not say with whom I am well pleased but in whom that is in him and all that come to God the father in his name Thus the Lord Iesus Christ doth and so a sinner is freed from that wrath of the Almighty Secondly the power of Satan is crushed so that he shall never more bee able to bee Lord and Ruler over the soule truely humbled but wheresoever the Lord Iesus Christ comes Satan gives way to the supreame authority of the Lord Christ and the Lord Iesus makes all to vanish and no more to appeare or have any thing to doe in the heart as hee himselfe saith in Rev. 1.18 I have the keys of Hel and of death You know that he that hath the keyes doth all he opens and shuts he lets in and puts out whom he will so the Lord Christ hath the supreame command over hell and death and he can unlocke hell gates and bring out from the gates of death any poore sinner that is wronged by Satan and therefore when the Lord Iesus Christ arose he led captivity captive as a valiant triumphant Conquerour leades a company of poore captives Now then Christ having conquered hell and death wheresoever he comes Sathan gives way and dares not meddle there any more Therefore Christ saith in Luke 10.11 I saw Sathan fall downe from heaven like lightning that is when the Scepter of Christ was set up in the Gospel then the Devill that cruell tyrant fel down on a sudden and was faine to give way and not to lay claime to the heart Thus sinne is shaken off and comes to bee casheered from that soule for whom Christ hath undertaken Sin as it were challengeth prescription to the soule but Christ having taken possession he satisfieth all quarrels and beares all the charges of whatsoever sinne makes against the soule and when sin saith I have had a possession of his soule from his very birth to this day and why should I goe out now then the Lord Iesus saith the issue is out and thus sin challengeth a right to the heart but Christ saith it is forgiven And therefore though sin be never so violent yet the Lord Iesus saith that soule is mine and was created by mee for my owne glory and howsoever sinne hath crept in yet now depart I am come to take possession of it Rom. 8.3 there the Apostle saith What the Law could not doe in that it was weake through the flesh God sending his owne Sonne in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh The phrase that fits our purpose is this the Lord Christ condemned sinne The judgement of Mr Calvin is this To condemne sinne in the flesh is nothing else but thus as it is with a man that is in law when the cause goes against a man and hee is cast in that he laid claime to we use to say hee is condemned Sinne layeth a kind of claime to the soule of a poore sinner and claimeth a kind of right upon these grounds Every sonne of Adam is a child of disobedience and so the child of wrath But that man is a child of Adam and therefore the child of disobedience and consequently death and damnation is due to that man and hereupon hee is mine Now Christ answers all these pleas of sinne and makes sin fall off from the cause and saith It is true that those that are charged with the sinne of Adam and are under the power of that corruption which they receive from Adam they are the children of disobedience and so no wonder though they are subject to wrath He grants all this but yet saith hee They for whom the sinne of Adam hath bin satisfied and from whom the guilt of it removed and they for whom Christ hath conquered sinne they ought not to be condemned for they are delivered from this wrath but such is this humble soule for whom I have undertaken Is the sinne of Adam imputed I have satisfied for it doth the sinne of Adam prevaile against him by my death I have overcome sinne and hell and hee shall haue the benefit of my victorie Now sinne falls off from the claime and loseth the day If the first Adam hath sinned against God the second Adam hath suffered if the first Adam hath polluted the sonnes of men the Lord Iesus by the power of quickning hath subdued the power of corruption so that neither the guilt of sinne can be imputed nor the power of sinne prevaile against the poore sinner for whom Christ undertaketh So then it is plaine that the Lord Iesus undertakes for the soule and provides for it as in all the three particulars this is the first particular of the possession Reas 2 Secondly Christ doth dispose of the soule for his best advantage This is one specialty that a man will dispose all his occasions for his owne convenience for his owne behoofe so farre as may be for his owne benenefit and comfort So when the Lord Iesus Christ comes to take possession he will have the rule and command of the heart But when Satan that strong man armed keepes the house and sinne rules in the soule in a mans naturall condition and that the soule is at their managing and at their framing and teaching it either lyes barren and fallow or else brings forth nothing but thornes and thistles as in Ier. 4.3 Breake up the fallow grounds of your hearts and sow not among thornes for the soule naturally being ruled by sinne is overspread with thornes and is altogether corrupt and detestable and Satan and sinne rule in the heart and affections so that now the whole frame of the soule bringeth out fruits of darknesse to Satan And hence it is that the Apostle saith Rom. 6.20 When yee were the servants of sin yee were free from righteousnesse that is when yee were under the power of sinne yee did not worke for God yee did all to satisfie your owne lusts the drunkard is free from the power of sobriety and the thiefe is free from the power of justice and so the graces of Gods Spirit rule not in a man But now when the Lord hath by the power of his grace bound the strong man and cast him out by contrition and humiliation then hee takes the soule and it is in the hands of the Lord Iesus Christ and hee disposeth of it so as may bee for the comfort of the soule and for the furtherance of the glory of his rich grace In Matth. 20.15 when the servants began to quarrell because they had but every man a penny the Master said Is it not lawfull for me to do what I will with mine owne so when the Lord hath cast out corruption and saith This heart and this hand and this tongue
Though there is malice neere to pursue thee yet there is mercy neere to comfort thee and God will dwell in thee though it may bee thy neighbours will not dwell by thee Psal 51.17 The sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise There the Prophet David saith that the Lord preferres this Sacrifice before others What though men distast thee if the Lord accept and regard thee What if men refuse and despise thee if the Lord love thee and delight in thee Therefore all you broken-hearted sinners take this word of comfort goe on and goe cheerily and the God of heaven bee with you Though you bee poore in the world and live in a smoakie cottage yet the Lord will dwell with you in that poore cottage and in that poore family of yours and hee will revive that poore heart of yours Where the King is the Court must be prepared for and when the Lord Iesus Christ comes to dwell in the heart of a poore sinner he will comfort him He that sitteth in heaven and hath ten thousand thousand of Angels to minister unto him hath but two Thrones the highest heavens and the lowest heart What a consolation is this to thee Goe your way therefore and cheere up your hearts with this and say I thanke God I have now an humble and broken heart I hope comfort is comming THE PREPARING OF THE HEART FOR TO RECEIVE CHRIST Luke 1.17 To make ready a people prepared for the Lord. BEfore the soule of a man can share in the merits of Christ Iesus and receive benefit thereby and comfort therefrom before it can bee made partaker of those spirituall benefits which God hath promised to bestow upon his owne two things are required first there must be a preparation of the soule to receive and entertaine the Lord Iesus Christ and secondly there must be an implantation of the soule into Christ and then being thus ingrafted into Christ it hath a title to all those good things which he hath purchased for his Elect. For the conclusion of Saint Iohn is peremptory in this kind Iohn 3.36 He that hath the Sonne saith he hath life and he that hath not the Sonne hath not life As if hee should say There is no hope of receiving any good from the stocke unlesse the graft bee implanted into the stocke before the foule be cut off from the rebellion of Adam it cannot be implanted into Christ and unlesse it bee ingrafted into Christ it can have no comfort from him But if we can once get into Christ we shall have the participation of all spiritual things which he hath prepared for his chosen But it is impossible for flesh and bloud thus to enter into Christ and be implanted into him and therefore that wee maybe implanted into him we must be prepared First there must be a preparation of the soule to be in Christ before it can bee made partaker of Christ and his benefits This preparation is the fitting of a sinner for his being in Christ The Lord Christ being to come in person and to take upon him the ministery of the Gospell he sent Iohn the Baptist as his Harbinger to prepare his wayes and therefore he was indued with all gifts this way He had the spirit of thunder hee was indued with the spirit and power of Elias to make the way plaine for the Lord Christ Iesus and in that spirit hee came and preached to ungodly men and taught them repentance he came to levell mountaines and make crookked things straight to turne the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisedome of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. This was Saint Iohns taske to prepare mens hearts for the receiving and entertaining of Christ when he should come The point of Doctrine to bee observed from hence is this Doct. That the soule of a poore sinner must be prepared for Christ The heart must first be prepared for Christ before he can have any heart to entertaine him This is the maine scope of the Text the maine drift of Iohn Baptist his ministery The hearts of men were not fitted for Christ and therefore he was sent before Christ Iesus to make way for him and to make peoples hearts fit to receive Christ that when the Lord Iesus came he might take place in his and worke effectually in the soules of his to their everlasting peace For the proofe of the Doctrine it is that which was prophesied before Mal. 3.1 for this Prophet was the last of the Prophets for Iohn the Baptists was a kind of intermingled ministerie it was neither Propheticall nor Apostolicall properly Marke what Malachy speakes there of him Mal. 3.1 Behold saith he I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you seeke shall suddenly come to his Temple It is plaine to bee observed that Iohn the Baptist is there prophesied of The Iewes sought for a Messias and for comfort through Christ now Iohn the Baptist was to make way for Christ and when the way was prepared then the Lord would stay no longer Mal. 3.1 but would suddenly come into his Temple saith the Text that is into the soules of his children that were willing to receive him upon such termes as hee offered himselfe And as this was prophesied of Iohn the Baptist so it was also performed by the ministerie of Iohn Luke 3.4 The voyce of one crying in the wildernesse Prepare yee the way of the Lord make his paths straite That which Malachy foretold of Iohn is done he comes according to the Prophecie and fulfills what God intended hee should doe and what he was sent for to doe Simile Kings when they goe to any place send messengers and harbingers before them to make all things ready for their entertainement when they come Now Christ is a great King Christ is at King spiritually not temporally to be considered but he is a spirituall King and rules in the hearts of all those that belong to his election of grace and for his enemies if they will not bee ruled by his golden rod with his iron rod hee will breake them in pieces Now as with great Kings there must bee a preparation that all things may bee ready to receive them so it must be with our Saviour Christ he never commeth into the soule of any unawares or on the sudden but he sends his messengers before him his Ministers to prepare them for the receiving of him to humble mens soules to make mountaines low to make crooked things straite to pull downe every thing that exalts it selfe against God and when the heart is thus fitted and prepared then Christ sends his Spirit to take possession of it and rule in it and be a direction of it in the way of life and happinesse And the preparation for him is spirituall That this preparation is spiritually to
heart Thou hast cause to be ravished with admiration and to say Whence is it that not onely the mother of my Saviour but even my Saviour himselfe should come to me What to visit mee that opposed him and to visit me that have preferred my base lusts before the bloud of the Lord Iesus Christ Whence comes this It was that which Solomon tooke notice of in the first of Kings c. 8. v. 28. for when he had built the Temple and the Lord had engaged himselfe by promise to come and dwell in the same he said Is it true that the Lord will come to dwell upon the earth Behold the heaven of heavens is not able to containe him much lesse this House that I have made As it was in the materiall Temple so much more in the spirituall Temple for thy heart is his Temple Therefore thou maist reason thus with thy selfe and say Is it true will the Lord dwell upon the earth the heaven of heavens cannot containe him and shall this earth-then mud wall this earthly Tabernacle and this sinfull wretched heart Oh that the Lord should come to dwell in such a soul this is a mirrour of mercy Doe you humble soules as the Centurion did when Christ was come into his house I am not worthy saith he that thou shouldest come under my roofe but speake the word onely and my servant shall be whole So say thou Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under the roofe of this sinful wretched heart only send thy Angels to visit me and thy word to comfort me but for to come in thy owne person from heaven to such a poore creature as I am the Angels must come from heaven to wonder at this mercy and to magnifie the Lord for it therfore as you haue received Christ walke worthy of him and be thankfull to the Lord for the same Vse 5 The last use of this Doctrine is for exhortation You see the meanes that God appointed for the conveyance of grace They that would haue Christ dwell in them must be willing to be humbled and mercy to you nay that Christ himselfe may take possession of you and it is the way and meanes that will never deceiue you Would you have Christ to dwell in you then be humbled and bee not wanting to your selues and then Christ will never bee wanting to you labour to get this humiliation and Christ will come immediately into your soules Have a heart but rightly disposed and without all question Christ will come to comfort and refresh thee upon all occasions You see the way to get a Saviour to come and dwell in you then walk in that way and give no rest to thine eyes or any quiet to thy heart before thou hast gotten this frame of heart Take heed of all distempers doe not thinke the time long and say I haue waited long and many a yeere and I have looked many a wishly long look and yet I cannot heare of the Lord Iesus to visit this poore perplexed heart of mine If the Lord seeme to delay in the performance of his promise say as David did Ah when wilt thou comfort me Psal 119.82 Nay lay the blame where the blame is and consider thy owne sturdinesse and vilenesse it is thy owne fault why Christ comes not thou wilt not open and therefore Christ is not come thou dost not prepare for him and for this cause it is that thou dost not enjoy the company of such a blessed Saviour at St. Peter saith 2 Pet. 3. â— The Lord is noâ— slacke as some men count slacknesse but the Lord takes the beâ—… season and is long suffering towards us When the season is wee shall have it for it is not his slacknesse The time is not long doe not thinke so hee hath not forgotten to be gracious to a poore humbled soule but lâ—oke into thy owne heart and way and see thy owne folly there Hast thou pâ—epared often and waited long and yet thou hearest no newes of a Christ and of mercy Ah goe to thine owne heart and say Surely I am in fault the wound is in my self others have received a Christ and he would have come into my heart too for ought know Nay he is as willing to come to thee as to any but thy owne hasty heart shuts the doore against him therefore be a based kindly and the Lord will come and not tarry Did you ever account of the comming of â—hrists presence to you Was the presence of Christ ever worth the having and would you not have him to come into your hearts that will bring grace and glory and mercy when he comes as Lâ—ke 19.9 when Christ was come inâ—o the house of Zacheus he said This daâ— is salvation come to thy house So that when Christ comes mercy and all comfort comes Is not Christ and salvation by him worth the having If ever you hope for Christ whip out all buyers and sellers out of the Temple and then you shall heare newes of a Saviour to take possession of you I have spoken of the meanes how to get an humble heart now let me giue you two motiues to provoke you to it Motiues 1 First consider what an vnreasonable thing it is that thou shouldest rather keepe out the Lord Iesus Christ than cast out a company of base lusts It will stick one day hard upon that mans heart when he shall see the marvellous excellency of that redemption which Christ hath wrought and the beauty of that grace which Christ workes in the hearts of his and the glory and happinesse which hee hath prepared for and will bestow upon his servants when I say in the houre of death or in the day of judgement he shall see himselfe utterly deprived of this grace in Christ he will then gnaw his owne flesh that hee hath lost heaven and happinesse it may be for one base lust The covetous man will say If I had cast away the world I might haue had Christ and mercy and the Adulterer will say If I would have cast away my base lusts and corruptions Christ would haue dwelt in my heart and would have purged my heart and the proud hipocrite will say If I had laid away my owne vanity and my owne pride the Lord would haue taken possession of my soule and hee would have brought glory and salvation and comfort Ah woe to me that ever I was borne that I would not part with base lusts and with wealth but that I was content rather to part with Christ Iesus than to forgoe these corruptions What an unreasonable thing is this he will curse himselfe one day for it 2 As it is unreasonable so in the second place what an vncomfortable thing will it bee Ah think of it in time for the time will come at the great day of account when we shall need a Saviour and crave his presence and be forced to desire Christ to come to us What a cut to our
not worthy of mee He that prizeth any thing more in love or delights in any thing more with joy than in Christ is not worthy of Christ So then whosoever bestowes love or joy upon any carnall contents more than upon Christ his love and joy is not brought from Heaven it is a false love that will fade and will not bring him that comfort which hee lookes to receive from it This love is called the spirituall love 2 Tim. 1.7 For God hath not given us the spirit of feare but of power of love and of a sound mind wee have not received the spirit of bondage that is in preparation but the spirit of love that is in vocation It is called spirituall love because the Spirit of God in the promise kindles it and joy goes with it as you shall heare anon and it is that affection also in the example of Zacheus Luke 19.6 hee had a moneths mind to see Christ and as the learned well interpret it he had a blind desire but well set on by Christ and therefore see how hee labours to preventall opportunities and occasions he runnes before the croude and gets up into a tree and when hee was there Christ saw him and said Come downe quickly for I must dine at thy house Here was the voyce of Christ and the kindnesse of Christ too and this kindled the fire and wrought love and ioy for these two goe together and therefore the Text saith Hee came downe and received him joyfully This seemes to me to be the reason and meaning why sometimes in the phrase of Scripture love is put for beleeving as in Ioh. 3.18 19. Hee that beleeveth is not condemned but hee that beleeveth not is condemned already because he beleeveth not in the name of the onely begotten Sonne of God And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darknesse more than light The Text saith He that beleeveth not or he that receiveth not for they are both one hee proves this that a man not beleeving shall be damned why for this is the great condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darknesse more than light because he will not love Christ and will not receive him he receives darknesse and loves darknesse more than Christ intimating the neere combination betweene these two and the working and acting of them There are many other places that speake of love and ioy but none that fits this place of vocation Now to make this good there are two things necessarie to bee propounded and handled First to shew the reason of the order of Gods worke why after hope and desire there comes this love and ioy Secondly the ground of this love and what it is in the promise that will kindle and strike fire upon these two affections and bring them home to the Lord this being cleared it will then appeare how the Spirit of God in the promise doth kindle this love and ioy First for the former What is the reason of the order of Gods worke Why after hope and desire God workes love and joy in the soule why comes love and ioy next after hope and desire I answer There are but two affections and there need no more God being perfectly wise hath appointed it whereby the soule should send to meet with any good that is absent if the good be absent then the understanding saith that is a good to be desired and very comfortable oh that I had it then it sends out hope and that waits for that good and stayes till it can see it and if that good come not then desire hath another proper worke it goes up and downe wandering and seeking and suing for Iesus Christ and this desire goes from place to place from East to West from North to South saith When shall I and how may I come to the sight of Iesus Christ As the Spouse in the Canticles sought to the watch-men to enquire after Christ so desire wanders up and downe For so I told you it is the wandering of the heart and it never ceaseth going and enquiring if it can gaine any intelligence of Iesus Christ It goes to prayer to see if it can speake with Christ there and from thence it goes to the Word to see if that will reveale Christ and to conference if that will mention it and saith See you the Lord Iesus Christ The hungrie soule comes to the Church to see if it can heare any newes of Christ And thus it continues till at last the Lord Iesus Christ is pleased to come himselfe after the soule hath hungred for him and sought for him as Marie said Oh if you can tell me where my Lord is So the soule goes from one place to another from Prayer to the Word and from the Sacrament to Fasting and asketh of the ordinances Where is my Saviour and saith If you know where hee is tell me of him that I may be possessed of him After this the Lord Iesus Christ is pleased to come himselfe into the view of the heart which longeth thus after him and saith as the Prophet Behold thy King commeth So he saith Oh thou poore broken-hearted sinner here is thy Saviour hee is come downe from Heaven this day to speake peace and comfort to thee and thou that hast so long time prayed to thee he saith Here I am and all my merits are now become thine and to thee that doest thus hunger and desire Christ hee is now come to comfort thee Now when the Lord Iesus Christ is come within thy view and thy desire hath met with him then there comes the other two affections he is come within sight and now there are other affections stirred up and sent out by the Spirit of the Lord to give entertainment to Christ Iesus Love leads him into the soule and tels the will of him and saith Loe here is Iesus Christ the Messiah that hath ordered these great things for his Saints and people and Ioy is the attendant to wait upon him when he is come Suffer me to expresse my selfe thus in this manner because I would shew the guise of the frame of the heart in this worke It is with a poore humbled sinner Simile as it is with a malefactour or traitor who is pursued with a Pursuivant that hath laid wait for him as farre as the Sea and at last hee is resolved to yeeld and come in He hath offended his Soveraigne and hee is driven to a stand he cannot procure a pardon nor hee cannot escape therefore hee is content to come in and yeeld his necke to the blocke that as he hath offended so he may receive his punishment accordingly Now as hee is going he heares an inckling that there is some hope of a pardon and thereupon the poore man begins to reioyce in hope that he may be pardoned and then heareth other newes which saith if hee will but bee humbled before his Maiestie
love Christ I say neither thou nor I can doe it by any power or vertue in our selues nay I say thou art as able to save thy owne soule and to redeeme thy selfe without Christ as thou art able to love Christ unlesse he by the power of his spiritenable thee to doe it Nay you that make nothing of it to loue Christ marke what I say If a man might have happinesse in hand and heaven laid downe upon the nayle if he could love the Lord Iesus of himselfe I say if he had no more but nature he would never goe to heaven nor never bee happy Nay it will cost more than so it will cost time and paines and many teares and prayers you must have the Father come downe from heaven to teach you and you must goe to another schoole than ever you were at yet before you can learne it and unlesse the Father make you able to loue Christ you can never doe it It is true if it were nothing but pratling and professing and yet to stand in open opposition to the power of grace and the spirit this cannot bee for to welcome a Saviour to receive Christ answerable to the worth of him a man cannot doe it by the meere power of nature it is the worke of the Lord as the Apostle Saint Iohn saith 1 Ioh. 1.5 God is light and in him is no darknesse and Ephes 5.8 You were darknesse God is nothing but holines and you are nothing but darknesse Now you know darknesse can oppose light and wickednesse can oppose holinesse but never give way to it nor receive it This is thy nature and condition thou hast an ignorant darke heart of thine owne but the Lord is altogether holines and light and thou canst not receive it nor wilt thou receiue him As 2 Thess 2.10 they would not receive the truth of God in the loue of it the truth of God makes love to thy carnall heart and would plucke thee from thy base lusts and corruptions and would woo and winne thy soule that it might take place in thy heart the world will not receive it Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners but the world would not receive him so farre were they from seeking to a Saviour that they would not receiue him though he came to offer himselfe to them thou hast a heart that hatest Iesus Christ and cannot loue him and thou hast a heart that can oppose him and his grace but canst not take contentment in that grace and rich mercy of his if thou hast not grace and mercy thou hast but what thou wouldst haue and therefore it is just thou shouldest never haue it The second cause Saints Iove not as they might and should because they rely not on the promise why I presse this instruction is this To shew the disorderly proceedings of many poore Saints that labour extremely to worke their owne soules and to bring their hearts to love Christ that they even fall out with themselues and curse their base hearts that can loue the world and cannot loue Iesus Christ they labour much and would bring their hearts to loue him but they cannot doe it because they goe to worke the contrary way they would bring loue to the promise and not receive love from the promise as if a man should bring water to the sea or light to the sunne It is as if he would have a sun of his owne and yet there is but one sunne of righteousnesse that can kindle this loue of Iesus Christ to carry it selfe worthy of him Therefore be wise herein and thinke not to bring love to the promise but come to the promise for it and goe to the sea for water and looke up to the sunne of Gods loue and be under the beames of Gods mercy and looke not down into that dead frozen heart of thine own for if thou wouldst never so faine thou canst not receive one sparkle of this love from thy owne abilities See his love therein and bee thereby drawne to love him againe and see the fulnesse of those pleasures at his right hand which endure for ever Ioh. 16.14 the Lord Christ saith He shall send the Spirit the Comforter and he shall take of mine that is take of Christs All spirituall graces are Christs therefore goe thou thy way and tell the Lord thus much saying In truth Lord I have not a heart to love thee it is thine owne worke and thou hast sayd that thy spirit shall take of thine and give it to thy servants that thy servants may also give thee of thine owne againe that love and that delight is thine to give that wee may giue thee of thine owne as David spoke of the building of the Temple Thus much of the use of instruction Vse 2. Comfort to them that love Christ In the second place here is a strong consolation to sustaine and refresh the hearts of those that have received this gracious worke though they haue some small weaknesses it skills not be the worke sound it is enough thy soule may bee comforted that the Lord hath enlarged himselfe to thee in this gracious worke I say it is a ground of admirable sweet refreshing of soule to any that finde this gracious love unto Christ A man by nature cannot have this therefore hast thou this by grace Goe thy way as he that hath found a treasury and make much of it and say and know thou hast something more than all carnall wretches can have and thou hast more than all the cunning close-hearted hypocrites under heaven can have let them pretend and fain and flatter what they will Me thinks this should wonderfully refresh the hope of you poore ones for though many times other things goe not well with you yet this is enough to cheare up your hearts for ever You know a childe will loue his father though hee can doe little for him he is a child and therefore though he can doe little for his father yet if he love his father hee is contented so they that haue little meanes and small sufficiencies towards any servants of God and it may be their understandings are not so deepe as others be and their tongues runne not so glib as such and such and they cannot talke so freely of the things of grace and salvation and thou hast meaner parts and canst not enlarge thy self in holy duties and holy services though this is commendable where it is and thou canst not dispute for a Saviour and perform such duties as others can doe yet thou canst loue Iesus Christ and reioyce in him Methinkes there is many a poore soule would say I blesse the name of the Lord that 's all that I haue the Lord knowes that all the friends I have and parts and meanes and abilities in the world they are but as dung and drosse in comparison of Christ Oh it were the comfort of my soule if I might be euer with him Goe thy
way and the God of heaven goe with thee this is a worke of God that will never leaue thee and it is a badge and a proper livery that the Lord Iesus gives onely to his Saints never a meere professor under heauen ever wore it nay there was never any hipocrite under heauen to whom God did intend it but onely those whom he hath effectually called and whom hee will save therefore though thou wantest all thou hast all to comfort thee in the want of all and thou maist say I can say little for Christ my tongue falters and my memory is weake yet the Lord knowes I loue the Lord Iesus 1 Ioh. 4.7 it is the incouragement that the Apostle gives saying Love one another for love commeth of God and every one that loveth is borne of God Indeed he presseth it in regard of the love to the brethren but the arguments serve for our purpose for if the loue of the brethren come from God then the loue of God is a more speciall worke of God Therefore can you plead thus with your hearts and say The time was Lord that this wretched sinfull carnall heart of mine could find no relish in the promises of grace and I could not bring this base heart to love the Lord Iesus Christ and the promise was wearisome to me but now I thanke God I can doe that which before I could not doe I thanke God that the promise of life and the light of Gods countenance is more to me now than all the contentments of the world surely I loue the Lord Iesus Christ And is not this of God Yes I warrant theee it is not of thy selfe thou hast beene taught from heaven it was not the schoole of the flesh and the world that taught thee this lecture it is from heaven and the Spirit of the Father hath over-shadowed thee in his promise and hath kindled this sparkle of loue in thee and thou hast that which is sound and true therefore bee comforted and reioyce in it thou canst say more than any man under heaven can say that hath not this sound love in his heart And likewise blessednesse And as this is a ground of comfort so also it is a ground of blessednesse Rom. 8.28 All things worke for the bâ—st to those that loue God Me-thinkes the Apostle speakes of such a love as is wrought by the Spirit of the Father in our vocation they worke for the best to those that are called according to his purpose he minded well towards them and called them from the love of the world And therefore since nothing can harme thee goe thy way and let nothing dismay thee nor discourage thee nay goe away ever cheered I charge you David desired no more but what God was wont to doe to his children that loved his name Doe to mee saith the Text as thou usest to doe to those that loue and feare thy Name Psal 119.132 I know thou lovest them that love thee and wilt save and glorifie them in the end I desire no more but this Doe as thou usest to doe to those that love thy Name Be quieted with thy childs part thy lot is fallen into a marvellous faire ground David a King desired no more and if thou hast so much as hee had it is enough Ob. Oh but some will say this is all the difficulty if a man had this love which came from God effectually calling him it were enough and a man might have comfort in it but there is a great deale of false love and false ioy in the world therefore how shall I know whether mine be any otherwise than theirs that I may not bee deceived as they are How may I know if this be of the right stamp For if it be right love God will owne it Answ Notes of true love to Christ Now for the answer to this question let every man put his love vpon the triall and wee will say no more then that which we have ground for from the doctrine delivered Therefore examine thy loue and thy joy thus Whether dost thou welcome Christ and grace according to the worth of them Now marke this if I prove I love God then there will be joy there too for they both grow upon one root onely this joy hath a little more of the sweetnesse of Gods love in it Now whether we welcome Christ according to the worth of it it will appeare by these five particulars First observe the roote and rise from whence thy love came 1. Triall consider this and weigh it sadly for it is of great difficulty yet it is never failing and it is the narrowest search that I know of therefore looke well to it if it come from the right mint it is currant You know it is the priviledge of Kings and Princes Simile that all the coine that comes from his Mint and is coined with his stamp is warrantable but if there bee any other Mint the King will not allow of it but rather punish him that did it lust so it is with this love it is the priviledge of the Lord Iesus Christ the Sonne of Gods love to mint and to coine love that may bee currant love indeed that hee may take for good payment Therefore doth thy love come from the Spirit of the Father then it is onely fit to close with a Saviour with the Father and the Spirit and so consequently the Father allowes it Great men must bee entertained answerable to their persons Another for such a man to have poore and leane diet it is not meet for him the greatest delicates that can be doe beseeme such men of place So this leane and earthly and naturall love that growes onely out of thy owne parts and abilities or whatsoever it is it is but leane love and poore provision and suites not with God the Father nor Iesus Christ Base love and base things for base men and meane love for meane things and naturall love for naturall things but would you entertaine the Father from heaven and a spirituall Saviour then you must let your love be spirituall to welcome a blessed Saviour This besuits him Simile and otherwise he will not be entertained As it is with flowers the flowers that are of speciall planting as Ieremy speaks of the Iewes and the flowers that are inoculated by the hand of the cunning Gardiner as the Provice Rose or the like there is much care and paines about them but your ordinary hedge row Roses there is no care taken for them Iust so it is with the worke of Gods grace and all other common graces in the world there is a provice love and joy that is a love that comes from the planting and a joy that comes from the inoculating of the spirit This provice love and joy is wrought by the Spirit of God and this makes a sweet savour in the nostrils of Almighty God and of the Lord Iesus Christ and the Lord
the soule more ready and fit to receive the evidence of Gods love to be exprest to the soule which thou canst not have so exprest to thee except thou have this godly sorrow 1 Joh. 1.9 If wee confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse he speaks there of them that now had faith yet shewes that before the Lord would seale to the man that hath faith the assurance of the pardon of his sinnes hee will make him humble and cry and sorrow for them and as to live comfortably so sorrowfully too as 1 King 8.38 2 Chron. 6.36 If the people returne to thee in the land of their captivitie and pray unto thee saying We have sinned we have done amisse and have dealt wickedly then heare thou in heaven c. When the Lord seeth their hearts humbled for their sinnes and sorrowfull for them then hee seales up the pardon of them So then the way to have this assurance is to have this frame of spirit here spoken of Thirdly this godly sorrow ought to bee continually in such as have this love of Christ that so our hearts may be carried with a more deadly hatred of sinne These are the benefits of godly sorrow and if a man sorrow not for sinne he will not sorrow for the wrong and dishonour done to God by other sinfull men as David Psal 119.136 Rivers of waters runne downe mine eyes because they keepe not thy law EZech. 9.4 The Lord sayd to the Angel Goe and set a marke upon the foreheads of all the men that sigh and that cry for all the abhominations that be done in the midst thereof Now how can a man mourn for the abhominations of others when he hath not the heart to mourne for it in his owne soule Ob. But some will say Must we never rejoyce in the Lord Ans I answer Yes I say sorrow daily for thy sinnes and yet daily rejoyce in thy Saviour and the more thy heart is broken for the one the more thou wilt be comforted by the other Thou that makest no matter of being sensible of the body of death that hangs upon thee and hast no care to bee sensible of thy owne failings take heed that the Lord give thee not up for ever to thy owne basenesse to be rushed headlong into some vile scandalous courses and so thou perish for ever as wee finde by experience many by this meanes have growne the most profane creatures that ever lived And this is the damnable heresie of the Familists The fourth sort is the vain-glorious hypocrite and hee is marvellous zealous for God and his truth in outward appearance That God may bee honoured and his Gospel advanced it is admirable what he will do he will hazzard himselfe his life his estate and all nay be content not to live if he may but leave a little vaine breath after him Wee know what vaine-glory doth amongst the Papists who that they may be canonized for Saints will endure any thing and suffer death it selfe this vain-glory is above life and all Simile As some great Courtiers will doe by a man that they meane to make a booty of they make him their onely favorite and expresse a great deale of kindnesse to him that hee may helpe them to more honour and glory So this wretch doth lift up the Gospel that the Gospel may advance him and fill his sailes full of winde therefore he will doe great matters for this end that hee may receive glory from it Even as the Stage-player that sets up a great stage that he may be above the people Another so it is with a vain-glorious wretch prayer is a good stage and fasting and hearing and preaching are very fine stages for him upon which he acts his part that others may see him that glory may come to him and not that the glory and grace of Christ may bee extolled hee would lift up himselfe to heaven and cast downe Christ to hell Such an one was Saul when Samuel gave him the left hand and would not go with him into the Citie 1 Sam. 15.30 He said I have sinned yet honour me I pray thee before the people and turne again with me that I may worship the Lord thy God Walke with me and then the people will say Oh what good friends they bee surely hee is a good man the Prophet goes with him It is a great honour to those that are wise because they are willing to joyne side with those that are holy and gracious so Saul will honour Samuel that Samuel may honour him and that he may stand upon his shoulders as it were that the people may say See how inward they are and what a good man hee is the Prophet goes on with him but the turne and the issue of the hypocrite is this it is meerly for himselfe which will appeare thus If once the winde begin to turne and the gale of honour grow somewhat cold and other men are a little lifted up so that he may not bee in the fore-front or if his profession will not carry him out with honour but his credit is laid in the dust and hee sees hee cannot get honour his heart dies in him and he saith It is as good to leave off all and if he cannot get glory from the Gospel either hee will grow desperately wicked and oppose the Gospell and joyne side with the wicked and helpe them or else he will flagge and die in a base carnall course and come to nothing and that 's the best of him This hath been the bane of many men who when they have missed of the glory that they lookt for from the Gospel they have become persecuters These men deal with Christ as the Inne-keeper doth with his guests If a man will pay the Ordinarie Simile he is welcome but if once his money faile hee turnes him out of doores so if Christ will pay his Ordinary and if hee may have credit and honour so as men may say he hath good parts and that he fasts more than the world knowes I say if the Gospel will give him this Ordinary it is welcome and he is carried on cheerfully but if Christ and the Gospel will not give him that which hee would have hee turnes his backe upon it The Lord Jesus convince your hearts of it I take this to be the state of a great many but a gracious heart is of another straine or temper Happely God hath given a man parts and gifts and credit and yet if the Lord withdraw himselfe a good soule saith as John did Joh. 3.40 Hee must encrease I must decrease so a good heart saith If another man deserve and have more than I yet let this proud heart licke the dust and never lift up it selfe if the Lord Jesus may encrease and have his honour and glory let me be trodden in the dust this is a heart worth gold
When a man entertaines the King he is content though the King put him out of his owne house to bee his servant for the while and if his Majesty may be contented he cares not so it is with a gracious humble heart if the Lord will blast a mans parts and comforts and take all from him and give him Christ naked and onely that honour that is in him hee is contented This heart is right and hee will say It is Gods will to take away these parts honours credit c. and if the Lord Jesus say I will not assist nor comfort thy soule he lyes downe and saith not a word but this Let the Lord be honoured though I be as the dung in the streets whatsoever become of me though I be damned so the Lords glory may be advanced I am content Suppose this should be which indeed cannot be that a man were left destitute of al comfort friends and meanes and all that he hath loved heretofore and in stead of honour were to have shame and imprisonment for liberty and want and dishonour in stead of friends the soule saith It is Gods will to doe so and to take away honour and parts who must order the businesse but he onely Doth it please the Lord Jesus to doe so blessed bee his name for it I shall now be contented let me lye at his feet though I goe downe to hell let me wait on him and let him doe what he will Now all you that are of any of these sorts to you is the Word of the Lord spoken this day and I beseech you in the name of Christ take it in love and as spoken out of indignation to your sinnes to you I say the Minister and the Word saith The Lord bee mercifull to you you are haters of the Lord Jesus there is none of the love of God in the hearts of any of this generation to this day Now do not goe away and say Let the Minister say what he will for hee must say something to hold out the houre What wilt thou shew thy selfe to bee a most notorious wrangling hypocrite Conscience speake is not thy heart met withall as in all the former particulars Conscience saith so and the Lord saith so Oh be perswaded therefore and yeeld the bucklers and say Now I see it is not in truth all that I have done is wrong and false Oh that I could once at last fall upon the right way The Lord perswade your hearts to conceive of it and to say I am still a hater of Christ I am yet an enemy Do I yet live to be saved by Christ and do I hate him think of thy sin and consider thy sorrow 1. Thinke thus much with thy selfe This sinne of all other is most unconceivable and not to bee named much lesse to bee practised and retained Oh that ever any wretch that hath received so much from Christ should still hate him Good Lord that ever there should bee such a wretch upon the earth and yet Lord I am the man I am hee that have approved of the practises of the wicked thou art an open enemy to the Lord Jesus and therefore thinke what thou hast done all this while Rom. 1.19 20. That which may be known of God is manifest in the creatures But in the meane time thinke but what thy sinne is that thou hast not onely the creatures to preach to thee but the Lord Jesus who came downe from heaven It is a wonder that ever he came for such wretches as we are hee hath torne his bowels in pieces for thee and entreated thee to bathe thy soule in his death and bee saved for ever Luke 19.42 yea hee hath wept over thee and said Oh that thou hadst knowne even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace yet thou regardest not Oh thou poore ignorant profane carnall wretch nay the blood of Christ and his teares and the offer of his mercies and his spirit speake to thee and intreat thee to beleeve in him and live for ever and yet thou continuest an infidell You know the spirit of love hath met you in your Churches and in your houses and walked with you in your journeies and said Now open the Lord Jesus calls tenders mercy and you have snubbed it Good Lord is it possible that the blood of Jesus Christ should speake to us and that a company of wretched creatures should trample upon that blood and grieve that spirit rather then forsake their lusts and corruptions You children tell your fathers of this and you wives your husbands and say Is it possible that we have done this and yet live still it is a wonder Therefore reason thus with your selves and say If a heathen shall be condemned that had but trees preaching to him and his conscience open then what shall become of me that have had Christ and his blood to preach to me what will become of me what sin is mine it is a scarlet sin it hath in it all abominations 2. Secondly thinke of thy sorrow how will the Lord Jesus be revenged on thee Doest thou say Oh he is mercifull and will forgive all What wil the Lord suffer his sonne to be trampled upon will God the Father suffer this thinke what will be the end of it Oh thy judgement is intolerable and unrecoverable continuing as thou art Consider the heavinesse of thy plagues 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be had in execration or bee accursed or bee made Maranatha that is All the curses of heaven and earth and all the curses of the world to the highest straine of cursing as if he should say All you Churches on earth and all you Angels in heaven curse ye that man and all ye Divels in hell torment that man nay let him be accursed for ever and then blessed Redeemer take this man into thy owne hands and let him be accursed for ever As in Jude 14. And Enoch also the seventh from Adam prohecied of these saying Behold the Lord commeth with tenne thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him You thinke it is nothing to speake against the Lord Jesus thousands of Angels shall minister to him and ten thousands shall goe before him and say The Lord is comming to execute judgement upon all that work wickednesse and upon those that have spoken against him So that when the Church of Christ and the Angels in heaven and the Divels in hell have conspired to torment a man then also the Lord Jesus will come to torment him Oh that my heart could bleed and if it were possible breake in sunder for the misery in which you are in that day the Lord Jesus will say to such as hee
to a poore cottage and enlighten a blind minde and a sottish spirit in this manner Oh this is love Oh love him againe for it he deserves it Thirdly Christ seeks thy love here is the admimiration of mercy that our Saviour that hath been rejected by a company of sinfull creatures should seeke their love for shame refuse him not but let him have love before he goe Had the Lord received us when we had come unto him and humbled our hearts before him with deepe importunity and had he heard us when we had cryed unto him nay when we had spent all our daies and all our strength in begging and craving one good looke from heaven and at the day of our departure taken compassion upon us it had beene an infinite mercy but when the Lord Jesus Christ shall seeke to us by his messengers as all the Ministers are his messengers to accept of his love this is beyond all expression I say if he had onely sent a love letter from heaven and said that he was willing to match with us and had left us to finde out the way and the means it had beene beyond all wonder but that the Lord Jesus Christ should come and wait upon us and seek our love it is the wonder of mercies When a company of base lusts and sinfull desires have found acceptance with us and the doore hath been open upon all occasions to talke with them though the Lord Jesus Christ hath often come and said Oh muse upon my name and not upon the world and these lusts and we would not heare him when I say you and your adulteresses have beene upon the bed of dalliance and Christ hath beene at the doore and could get no audience nor acceptance yet after all this he hath not onely call'd but seriously besought us to be reconciled to him that is to love him and to be beloved of him and blessed by him for ever these are the tearmes of his love What shall I answer the Lord will the Lord seek our love then returne him this answer and say Shall he seeke love and not have it shall he crave it and I not give it Oh God forbid Can the Lord Jesus Christ be in love with me In truth Lord I am out of love with my selfe by reason of my base heart and filthy thoughts I have abused thy Majesty from time to time by following my base lusts adulteries and abominations I have not only loved the world but filled my selfe therewith and thus my adulterous heart hath gone away from thee to them But will the Lord Jesus love such a wretch as I am Yes he will for the Lord saith Hosea 14.5 I will heale their backe-sliding I will love them freely He lookes for no portion no he will take thee with all thy wants Is not the Lord worthy of thy love he desires no more and sure hee deserves no lesse Deut. 10.12 when the Lord had recorded all his kindnesse towards the children of Israel mark how he inferres this saying And now Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to feare the Lord thy God to walk in all his wayes and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule So I say to thee after all the sinfull abominations of thy heart and all thy sinfull practices committed what is it that the Lord doth require of thee when all thy sinnes are pardoned onely that thou love the Lord thy God with all thy heart Let me therefore tell you what to doe get you home and every one in secret labour to deale honestly and truely with your owne hearts and make up a match in this manner and say Is it possible that the Lord should looke so low that the great Prince should send for the poore peasant that Majesty should stoope to meannesse and heaven to earth and God to man Hath the Lord offered mercy to me and doth he require nothing of me but to love him again call upon your owne hearts I charge you and say thus Lord if all the sight of mine eyes were love and all the speeches of my tongue were love it were all too little to love thee Oh let me love thee dearely O Lord my strength Say you had a faire offer and that a poore Minister of God did wish you well bee not coy and squeamish the Lord may have better than you every day lye downe therefore and admire at the mercy of the Lord that should take a company of poore dead dogges I say be sure that you bee not coy and squeamish say as the Prophet did Lift up your heads yee gates and bee yee lift up yee everlasting doores and the King of glory shall come in Psal 24. Now the hindrances are removed and the promises are brought home wee will come to see if the match bee liked of Meanes 3. Lastly it is our skill and cunning to draw these two together Yee see what wee have said the hindrances are removed and the promises are brought home now if wee can but affect a Saviour hee is our owne hee that will not now be beloved of the Lord JESUS CHRIST let him bee ever accursed There are two particulars considerable to fasten these two together First Two meanes to bring our hearts and the promises together labour to give attendance daily to the promise of grace and Christ drive all other suiters away from the soule let nothing come betweene the promise and it and forbid all other banes that is let the promise conferre daily with thy heart and bee expressing and telling of that good that is in Christ daily to thy heart Simile You know if all things bee done and agreed upon betweene the parents of two parties to be marrried and there wants nothing but the fixing of their affections one upon another the onely way to draw their affections to one another is to keepe company together and daily to meete and see one another so let thy soule daily keepe company with the promise and let not thy heart onely see the promise once in a weeke but daily shut out all others besides and keepe company onely with that and see what beauty and strength and grace there is in the same and say Oh wretch that I am if I had had either wit or grace I might have been made happy long agoe Thus keepe company with the promise that thy soule and it may dwell together Secondly labour by undeniable reason as to discover so to conclude the unconceivable good that will come to thy soule by this many men will promise that such and such things shall be done if the match may but go forward and doe not onely talke of it but make it good too so doe thou by undeniable arguments make good to thy owne soule the unconceivable good that will come to thy soule nay God hath pawned his truth to thee for it As it was
except it be humbled and broken so those knotty proud hearts of yours must be planed and hewed before you will rest upon God for mercy or yeeld obedience to him How farre God breaketh and humbleth we will shew afterward 2. Those reproved who dislike brokennesse of heart in others 2. This may fall heavie upon the brave Spirits and boone Gallants of the world that are not able to see and approve this brokennesse of heart in others they count it a womanish and weake kinde of disposition and make a mocke of this humility of heart and when God hath wounded and humbled a poore sinner they tread upon him and follow him with desperate disgraces reproaches and discouragements I need not mention their language in this case I wish wee were freed from them What say they And are you one of these broken hearts and tender consciences Take heed how you sinne for if you doe you must weepe out your eyes and mope out your dayes in a corner even for ever Good Lord is it possible that ever there should rest such inhumane desperate divellish prophannesse in the heart of any man upon earth Let mee presse a passage or two to this end that such as are guiltie of this sinne may take notice of it as there are too many of them in this age This argues a man almost forsaken of God and I had almost said reserved to everlasting destruction There is no greater token that God never purposeth any good to that man Consider that place in Psal 69.23 24 25 26 27 28. The holy Prophet makes many fearful imprecations as though he would pluck justice from heaven Let their eyes be darkened that they see not and make their loynes continually to shake Poure out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathfull anger take hold upon them Oh what a strange passage is this that a man that was inward with God should rend the heavens to pull downe vengeance thence for such men Who are all these Surely they were some Divels incarnate and no men that Gods Prophet would pray against Let their habitation bee desolate and no man to dwell in their tents Why what 's the matter For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten and they talke to the griefe of those whom thou hast wounded Lord saith he adde iniquitie to their iniquity and let them not come into thy righteousnesse You that are guilty of this consider it Me-thinkes it might make the soule of a sinful man to shake at the hearing of it When God hath wounded the heart and awakened the conscience and the Lord hath spoken bitter things to his heart wilt thou grieve those that God hath smitten It is an argument of a man whom God hath devoted to destruction Were a mans eyes opened and his conscience awakened it would make him tremble Thou that hast bin an enemy to the Saints of God and because the Saints of God cry mightily and dare not doe as they have done to joyne with thee in thy wicked courses wilt thou I say reproach them and lay more burthen upon them and say What you have had Sermons enow Now you are wounded and you must mourne and you must be holy The God of heaven hath spoken this by his holy Prophet David who knew those wicked wretches Though I know none such it may be for the while yet no question there be such in the Congregation He that now makes a mocke of contrition shall breake for ever and he that will not now be broken shall have the wrath of God to burne in his heart for ever in hell The Lord in mercy breake the hearts of such men and make them to say Good Lord is this the brand of a reprobate and what shall my name be blotted out of the booke of life I have persecuted such and such a man and such a woman the Lord grieved him and I grieved him too His was the sorrow but mine was the sin and shall bee my shame for ever for ought I know Another passage is Deu. 25.17 18 19. When the people of Israel came from Egypt Amalek tooke advantage against them when they were weake Remember saith the Text what Amalek did unto thee by the way when you came forth of Egypt How hee smote thee when thou wert faint and weary Therefore it shall be when the Lord thy God shall give thee rest from all thine enemies that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven And 1 Sam. 15.2.3 seventy yeares after the Lord remembred that For the Text saith I remember what Amalek did to Israel how hee laid wait for him in the way when he came out of Egypt Now therefore goe and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have both infants and sucklings and oxen and the like What this Amalek did even so doe these wicked men When a poore soule is humbled and will forsake his sinnes and his wicked wayes and he groweth faint and feeble-hearted and wonderfull heavie burthened wilt thou now turne Amalek Wilt thou kill him that is now burthened under the heavie wrath of God and wilt thou now raile upon him Curse Amalek I will remember him saith God Take heed lest God remember thee and root out thee and thy posteritie from under heaven Nay the Lord himselfe and all the Saints doe rejoyce in the ruine and destruction of an ungodly wretch as in the example of Doeg Psalme 52.3 4 5. Thou lovest evill more than good and lying rather then to speake righteousnesse Selah Thou lovest all devouring words O thou false tongue God shall likewise destroy thee for ever hee shall take thee away and plucke thee out of thy dwelling place Selah Thou lovest grieving words Well God will serve thee in thy kind and when thou art in hell the righteous shall rejoyce over thee and say Lord this is he that grieved the hearts of such as were humbled this is he that had a proud herrt and scorned to be humbled and therefore shall everlastingly de damned The Divels themselves will rejoyce in thy torments and say What are you become like to us This is the man that scorned to bee humbled and to have his heart broken what is hee come downe to hell now The hearts of the damned shall be enlarged to glory in thy confusion Indeed if a poore soule feele any weight of sin upon him then all the Towne is up in armes against him Oh see your sinne and goe and breake your hearts for this sinne Dislike not in others what yourselves are bound to be and to doe This of the first Use 2. Vse 2 To get comfort begin in sorrow It is a word of direction and instruction how to get this grace at the hands of God goe Gods way and goe the ready way If ever thou wilt receive grace from God doe that which God doth as Hosea 2.14 Behold I will allure her and bring her into the wildernesse and speake comfortably
I have taken up armes against Almightie God If I had but gone to the top of Hell it had beene infinite mercy and if I had been in a dungeon all my dayes and had another world to live and lived it all in miserie it had beene infinite mercie for the Lord to send downe Christ to looke upon me a poore wretch in the dungeon and to speake to me out of the gates of hell and to tell me of this mercie oh it had beene an infinite mercie but to send a Sonne to save me it is incomparable I could not conceive to doe so much evill against him as he hath done good to me oh the breadth of that mercy beyond all limits oh the length of that mercie beyond all time oh the depth of that mercie below a mans miserie oh the height of that mercy above the height of mine understanding If mine hands were all of love that I could worke nothing but love and if mine eyes were able to see nothing but love and my mind thinke of nothing but love and if I had a thousand bodies it were all too little to love that God that hath unmeasurably loved mee a poore sinfull hel-hound Psal 18.1 I will love thee dearely O Lord my strength Oh have I gotten the Lord Iesus Christ to bee my comfort my buckler my shield If I have any good he gives it and if any good bee continued it is he that doth it and if I have any comfort in it it is hee that blesseth it to me therefore I will love thee dearely Oh Lord my strength Thus the point is cleare and stands upon his right bottome Now I come to the Application of it that wee may reape some good and comfort to our owne soules And the use of the point is fourefold for Instruction for Consolation Nature breeds no love to Christ for Reprehension for Exhortation Vse 1. First for Instruction which I desire a little to commend to you because it is seasonable Is it so that the Spirit of the Father kindles this love in the heart truly humbled and enlightned c then conclude this undeniably That there is no power in nature or in a naturall heart I say there is no sufficiencie in the power of nature to bee carried to any love towards Christ we have not this before God gives it nay wee cannot move our selves in love to God before the Lord let in the sparkes of love into our soules True it is we find it by wofull experience it is in our power to love the world and to delight in base lusts and being but naturall men it cannot be but that we should love our selves and the things of this world there is enough of these wilde fires and of this base worldly lust in every naturall soule to expresse it selfe but to love the Lord Iesus Christ and to have a heart inlarged towards him it is a worke of grace that growes not in our hearts I say there is not one sparke of holy love and of this holy fire of love in our hearts at any time neither can we buy or borrow it at the hands of any under heaven further than the Spirit of the Lord is pleased to kindle it and to inflame this grace of love to the Lord Iesus and further than the Lord by the power of his merits is pleased to feed this in our soules It is an unconceiveable misery that any man should bee so farre deluded as to thinke that he can do it by his owne strength and power Saint Paul expresseth it in discovering the vilenesse of himselfe by nature and the freenesse of Gods grace 1 Tim. 1.13 14. I was before a blasphemer and a persecutor but I obtained mercy I wronged Iesus Christ and was malicious against him and opposed against his children Paul could doe this of himselfe so thou canst be malicious against the Lord and against the power of his grace and truth this a naturall man can doe but for him to love the Lord Iesus Christ and to beleeve in him how came Saint Paul by that Why the grace of God was exceeding abundant towards mee with faith and love which is in Iesus Christ As if he had said it was abundant grace that over-powred my unfaithfull heart and made me beleeve and it was abundant grace that over-powred my injurious heart and made me love Christ But how was this it was by the grace of Christ from Christ this faith was wrought and in Christ this love was kindled As if hee had said I thought to cast off the Lord and his grace I was a persecuter and a villaine indeed but that I should beleeve the Lord and love him this was from Christ it was in grace and not in Paul The ball must first fall to the ground before it can rebound backe againe so the Lord Iesus must first dart in his love into the soule before the soule can rebound in love and joy to him againe wee must receive from grace before wee can rebound backe any love to God as 1 Tim. 1.7 God hath not given us the spirit of bondage but of power of love and of a sound minde See what the Lord spake in some case of the Iewes Iohn 5.40 42. speaking home to their hearts hee saith I know you that yee have not the love of God in you Verse 40. he saith Yee will not come to mee and in the 42. verse I know you that yee have not the love of God in you As if hee had said I know it you know it not your selves and though you thinke you have this love to mee yet you are deceived you know not what you are nor what you know but I know and it is as true of every corrupt heart under heaven the love of God cannot bee in the heart of any naturall man whatsoever The reason why I presse this point so much is this it is for these two ends you shall see a double benefit by it Carnall men conceive no difficulty to love Christ First this confutes and overthrowes the conceits of a company of carnal Gospellers that say they fast not nor pray not nor professe not so much as such and such but for the truth of their love to Christ they defie all the world they find no difficulty in the matter and they make no doubt therof and therefore if any Christian man or any faithfull Minister of God shall begin to challenge them with the want of love to Christ and grace they will answer What not loue the Lord Iesus it is pitty that euer that man should live they have loved him and will loue him for ever and all the world shall not perswade them to the contrary Oh poore deluded creatures it is an undoubted argument that thou never hadst the loue of God in thee because thou thinkest it such an easie matter to love him Many men make nothing of it they make it but an holy-day taske and say Who cannot
Sam. 23.17 When Saul had made a cunning search for David and he was fled Jonathan comes to him and chears him saying I know that my father shall not prevaile against thee but that thou shalt be King over Israel and I shall be next thee Jonathan was Sauls Sonne and he might have said I am my fathers heire and why may not I bee his successor in the kingdome but he loved David and rejoiced in his good and therefore he said Thou shalt be King over Israel and I shall bee next unto thee As if hee should say I am more glad that the Crowne shall be set upon thy head than if it were set upon mine owne for my soule is thereby comforted and refreshed So it is with a good heart that loves Jesus Christ and his grace and his Gospel in truth the happinesse glory and the honour of the Lord Jesus is the greatest good that can befall him wherefore he saith If the Lord may be honoured though I am disgraced I care not it is enough to me if may stand to behold and see it Ioh. 3.26.29 When the Lord Christ began to set forth the frame and glory of the Gospel and to baptize the Disciples of John came to their Master and said Rabbi he that was with thee beyond Jordan to whom thou barest witnesse behold the same baptizeth and all men come to him they began to be troubled because the Lord Jesus baptized and the praise went from them as if they had said There is one come that carrieth the hearts of all men after him Now mark what John answered He that hath the Bride is the Bride-groome as if he should say The Lord Christ is the Bride-groome and I am onely the friend of the Bride-groome all my care was to prepare hearts for him and hath he now gotten those hearts and hath he prosperitie then have I enough if I heare that the case goes well with him I have enough let the Lord have the praise that is due to him and let me have whatsoever is due to me 2 Sam. 19.30 when Mephibosheth had been wrongfully accused to David and David had taken away the inheritance from him and was returned in safety so that he saw the Kings face againe David began to comfort him saying Thou and Siba divide the land but marke how he replies Yea saith he let him take all for as much as my Lord the King is come againe in peace It matters not for the inheritance and for my selfe and my life I passe not fith the King is returned in peace it is enough that I enjoy thy presence which is better to me than goods life and liberty So it is with a kinde-loving heart when hee is not able to indure to see Christs honour and glory lye in the dust but if his praise be advanced then he is glad this is a good and loving heart indeed which saith Lord I have enough that Christ is mine and that his honour and glory is magnified Let the world take all if I may have Christ and see him praised and magnified Labour to bring thy soule to this pitch a minister in his place and the master in his place and every Christian in his place let it be all our care not onely to honour God our selves but let it be our comfort if God may be better honoured by others than by our selves This is our basenesse of spirit we can bee content to lift up Christ upon our shoulders that we may lift up our selves by it this too much prevailes amongst all men But be content to lye in the dust that the Lord may be praised though thou be disgraced And though every mans heart goe opposite against thee yet let this content thee if the Lord Jesus may thrive and prosper yea if any of Gods people thrive and prosper more than thou let that be thy onely joy 5. Triall More more it desires union with Christ Lastly it is the nature of sound love to covet a neere union with the thing that is loved and to have a kinde of impatiency and to be restlesse till it doe attaine the greatest measure thereof This flowes directly from the nature of love especially of this love to Christ who is the greatest good love is of a linking and glewing nature will carry the soule with some kind of strength earnestness to injoy full possession and fellowship of the thing that is loved it cannot have enough of it and it is not satisfied with it upon any occasion As it is in reason with a childe Simile happely when the father entertaines him at the table hee gives him a little sweet-meat as some Conserve or the like which is so sweet that he can tast nothing but that and his minde is still upon it that he may receive more of it the father commends this and that and praiseth a third and extols a fourth dish but yet the childe cryes More of this because hee felt the sweetenesse of it So it is with a soule that truly loves Christ when it hath tasted how good the Lord is and hath had a good looke from heaven it covets union not so much with any thing as with that riches honours profits seeme as irksome as may be in regard of that the soul desires nothing so much as this and craves more of Christ more of that mercy and holinesse and grace and love that is in him let the wicked talke what they will of the world if he have that he hath enough Psal 73.25 when David had been doating upon the world and the vanities of it see what he sayth Whom have I in heaven but thee and whom on earth in comparison of thee and then see what followes hee bids adieu to the world and sayth in the last verse It is good for me to draw neere unto God as if he had said Let the ambitious belly-gods have their pleasure drinke and swill and goe downe to hell But oh let mee have that mercy and that good which God hath provided for and will bestow upon those that love him You shall observe it Joh. 20.15 16 17. Mary was a marvellous loving woman and therefore when Christ said to her Woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou she supposing him to be the Gardiner saith unto him Sir if thou hast borne him hence tell me where thou hast laid him I will take him away She would be content to have the dead body of her Saviour rather than none at all But when the Lord Jesus had revealed himselfe to her in the 16 verse shee said Rabboni and when she saw it was he she flies upon him and with marvellous violence embraceth him for so the text is to be conceived though hee forbad her to touch him because hee was not yet ascended saying Doe I once possesse thee againe I will never part with thee any more thus she held him by the feet till he checked her because shee
office Why should the want of temporalls disturbe our joy in this God of salvation Reteine comfort in God whatever thou wantest Jam. 1.9 Use 1. Of exhortation To reteine our comfort as the Prophet here doth As all true-hearted Christians should stirre up themselves to rejoyce in God and the sure mercies of David while the meanes of grace and of worldly comfort do continue so especially the brother of low degree should rejoyce because he is exalted in spirituall things as high as any and hath equall share in the God of salvation In deepe povertie in falling from a great estate in deare yeares in desolation by warre if it should come in all troubles and afflictions still we have a ground of joy while God is in heaven and can have recourse to the Christian heart at pleasure Hold thine owne remember thy evidences make use of thy provisions now is a time and occasion to say as the Prophet Although the Fig-tree blossome not Psal 46.1 5. c. and as the Psalmist God is our refuge and strength a very present helpe in trouble therefore will we not feare though the earth bee removed c. Although the stone cut my reines my spleene paine me or other diseases torment me although I be put beside my meanes turned out to the wide world my wife and children set to begging my selfe shut up in prison and wait for the day of execution although I meet with a peevish and pestilent adversary at the law be defamed know not how presently to cleare mine innocencie but goe for an evill doer c. Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation None of all this can drive away the great Comforter from me but rather he will solace me the more for these discomforts in the world Christ is left still and the love of God and the kingdome of heaven to receive me out of the most miserable shipwracke And the same God that now admits me a guest at his table to eate of his sweet and fat things will one day make me sit downe with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdome of heaven O my brethren were not we our owne foes and stood in our owne light what comfortable lives should we lead even in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death Were it not for passion Psal 23.4 impatience covetousnesse doting on the fine things of the world love of credit and reputation among worldlings living too much the life of sense formalitie in holy duties securitie in putting away the evill day and other corruption certainly we should joy in our God all the day long whatever the yeare be or can bring forth we might doe what we are commanded Phil. 4.4 Rejoyce in the Lord alwaies and againe I say Rejoyce No dearth or other evill should take us unprovided It is our owne fault that we totter or stagger at any time Faith hope patience contentment and other graces with the comforts of Gods holy Spirit will set us as unmoveable as a rock in the sea amidst the greatest waves and stormes whatsoever Reproofe to them that grow uncomfortable for crosses Use 2. Of Reprehension It is utterly a fault in Christians if they bee melancholy and dejected because of crosse yeares bad harvest losse in that or any other kinde casualties calamities or other evils that come by the hand of God or man as if you had no hope in God but onely in this present life or in the things of this life or as if God were not sufficient for your comfort and blessednesse without these temporalls or had tied himselfe to meanes as you are tied to the use of them or as if you must needs gaine so much at least save your selves harmlesse otherwise God and you will bee friends no longer I know that in arguing you will not stand to these inferences as truths and will deny the adoption of Gods children to depend on outward comforts But he that whines pines sighes is cast downe by the want of them perhaps because he is something abridged of his former plenty what doth hee but say in effect that outward prosperitie is one signe of the childe of God Consider and beware It is a diabolicall straine to call our adoption into question for present want of comforts for the body If thou be the Sonne of God Matth. 4.3 command that these stones be made bread We dishonour God torment our own hearts teare our owne flesh shorten our daies hazzard our part in heaven or at least make our way thither more unpleasant than we need to doe Use 3. Of Instruction Wee see by this doctrine Make this sure God is the God of my salvaâ—ion what is the maine thing which we had most need to doe even in our greatest peace and prosperitie namely to doe the same as the Prophet here had done make this sure to our hearts that the Lord is the God of our salvation and every particular Christian to his owne heart in particular he is the God of my salvation therefore I will rejoyce in him although these and these evils should come strange grievous tedious yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Quest This were worth the having but how should I get it I would doe any thing for it Answ Tracke the foot-steps of this Prophet throughout this prophesie It is not for every profane or sensuall liver to say he will rejoyce in God c. Such are sent to weepe and howle for the misery that shall come upon them and woe unto you that laugh now yee shall weepe and Jam. 5.1 Luke 6.25 Amos 6.1 woe to them that are at ease in Sion onely the righteous are called to rejoyce in the Lord and they that are upright in heart to shout for joy and bee glad Psal 32.11 Therefore First look to the main and be sure your peace be made with God Meanes to rejoyce in evill times None but beleevers can rejoyce in God when great trials come none else are righteous none else have a faith to live by Hab. 2.4 The just shall live by his faith He that deceives himselfe in his faith deceives himself also in his joy Fancie presumption and self-love will leave a man in the suds when he hath most need of comfort well it may uphold him while the fig-tree blossomes c. but in the defect of these it faileth too and makes him as pensive as before he was jocund Secondly after the sorrowes of conversion at the beginning be sure also to be duely affected with feare and sorrow when God is shewing his terrible workes in the land such as pestilence dearth drought divisions of Reuben c. The wise of heart will consider and lay it to heart and by renewing his repentance take off the controversie so farre as it concerns himselfe if it cannot be done for others So did this Prophet