in wait of the Jews and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you but having shewed you and taught you publickly and from house to house testifying to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ and now behold I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City saying that bonds and afflictions abide me but none of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self so that I might finish my course with joy and the Ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testifie the Gospel of the grace of God and now behold I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of Heaven shall see my face no more Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God Take heed therefore unto your selves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood for know this that after my departure grievous Wolves shall enter not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build you and to give you an inheritance among all those that are sanctified I have coveted no mans silver or gold or apparel Yea your selves know these hands have ministred to my necessities and to those that were with me I have shewed you all things how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak remembring the word of our Lord Jesus how he said It is more blessed to give than to receive And when be had thus spoken he kneeled down and prayed with them all and they all wept sore and fell upon Pauls neek and kissed him sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake that tâ—â—â—â—hould see his face no more and they accompanied him unto the Ship BEloved I have read unto you the words of a departing Minister to his Hearers The case being my own I thought I could not pitch upon a more fit place to take my Farewel withal I shall not stand to open all these words only speak a word or two at parting as Paul did to the Ephesians and I shall only hold forth something to you by way of Analysis of it and thereby you may judge of the Analogy of it In this parting speech of Pauls you have two parts 1. Pauls carriage to them 2. Their carriage to him First Pauls behaviour towards them that was very pious as you may read from verse 17. to verse 37. Secondly The peoples behaviour towards their departing Minister which you have in the two last Verses Wherein is observable 1. Their Love 2. Their Sorrow First their Love expressed by kissing him and accompanying him unto the Ship Secondly Their Sorrow expressed by their weeping they could not part with such a Minister with dry eyes but saith the Text They all wept sorely sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake that they should see his face no more They wept and they all wept and they wept sorely a sore weeping when this Minister and this People parted From whence note this That there is occasion and matter of great sorrow when people lose a godly Minister Paul was not the first Minister that ever parted 〈◊〉 People nor the Ephesians the first People that ever lamented at th◠〈◊〉 of a faithful Minister See how the people lamented Samuel 1 Sam. 25.1 And Samuel died and all Israel were gathered together and lamented Samuel O that brave that powerful preaching Samuel is gone How did Elisha lament Elias catching hold of his garments and cried out My Father my Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof Christ himself when he saw the children of Israel scattered abroad upon the Mountains as Sheep without a Shepherd how did his bowels yern towards them But to name no more take St. Stephen Acts 8.2 when Stephen was departed dead and gone devout men carried Stephen to his grave and made great lamentations over him they could but lament to think that that noble couragious and heart-daunting Minister should never preach more before them When Christ was put to death how did his followers lament him Is it not a lamentable sight to behold a poor weather-beaten rotten Ship without mast or tackling in a tempest Good Lord what will become of the Ship and Mariners Is it not a sad sight to see a flock of Sheep invironed with a band of Wolves and no Shepherd to protect them Thus it is with the people when their Minister is gone Ministers themselves have wept and lamented when they have thought of departing from their own people and that for these two causes First Because they knew they would corrupt themselves Secondly Because they knew they would suffer others to corrupt them First Because they knew they would corrupt themselves Moses he knew this Deut. 13.29 he is there leaving the world and the people thereof Call unto me the Elders of your Tribes that I may speak a word in their audience and call Heaven and Earth to record against them for I am sure that upon my departure you will utterly be corrupted and turned from the way that I have commanded you for behold I being yet alive with you this day you are rebellious against God how much more then after my death I assure you it is cause of lamentation to think on this Thus it was with Joash while Jehojardah that good Minister lived with him and instructed him in the way that he should walk he kept to the worship of God but after Jehojadah died he turned Idolater and persecuted the sons of Jehojadah 2 Chron. 24.21 Secondly They knew that after their departure they would suffer others to corrupt them This was that that made Paul use these words to the Ephesians v. 29. For I know that after my departure gâ—â—â—â—â—s Wolves shall enter not sparing the flock And therefore well may you â—â—â—urn when a faithful Minister is taken from you I shall say no more only a word or two to Pauls speech wherein you have First Paul speaking to God for them Secondly Paul Speaking from God to them First He spake to them from God and then prayed to God for them I shall divide his speech to them from God into these two parts First He spake something by way of Vindication of himself Secondly He spake something by way of Exhortation to them First You may observe in Paul's Farewel-speech something by way of vindication
first the Kingdom of God c. Two questions were propounded and answered 1. What is it earnestly to enquire after and seriously to pursue the Kingdom of God and his righteousness In this question three things included the Object the Act the Order 1. The Object The Kingdom of God the Kingdom of Heaven and its Righteousness The Kingdom of Heaven that is the Kingdom of Grace and the Kingdom of Glory the Kingdom of Grace as the means to the Kingdom of Glory The righteousness of this Kingdom that is Sanctification sincere holiness in heart and life which is the beginning or the way to and a sign or pledge of our interest in the Kingdom of Glory 2. The Act Seek i.e. Bestir your utmost thoughts about your utmost time care diligence upon these things 3. Seek i.e. Set your choicest affections upon these things 3. Seek i.e. Strive and labour go forth in utmost endeavours for obtaining of these things 3. The Order Seek first Seek it first in respect of time begin with God Remember thy Creature in the dayes of thy Youth Seek it first with the greatest care accuratest diligence industry with the greatest seriousness The Kingdom of God is the most necessary thing indeed that one thing necessary It is the most excellent thing eternal all other things are temporal get this and you get all you get above the terrors of the World The best way to have the things of the World sanctified is this Seek first the Kingdom of God c. 2. How is this a remedy against distracting cares and fears Answ 1. It is a remedy by diversion 2. Present things seem little compared with eternal things Vse 1. This reproves those that observe not our Saviours direction 1. Those that are drowned in earthly things give them Onions and Garlick take the Kingdom of Heaven and Righteousness thereof who will Let me have my part in Paris what care I for Paradise 2. Others that are for the Kingdom of God but not for the Righteousness of that Kingdom they are for the end but they do not care for the way they would have fruit but they will not climb the Tree 3. Others that could wish they had a portion in it but in a slight and perfunctory way If Heaven could be obtained with a few prayers this they 'd do but further they will not goe 2. Is this such an excellent way to cure our carnal fears and cares What advantage hath a Child of God above all other men in the world both in this life and that to come In this life under a watchful providence not a hair of his head shall perish but chiefly the priviledges of an everlasting Kingdom he hath a Bird in the bush and in hand too choice enjoyments in the hand and in hope much more but much more above and this hope of his shall not make him ashamed The vision of his appointed comforts is for an appointed time and it will come will come said I Faith looks our and sees it coming already let but Faith look to Heaven and he sees his Judge coming Which brings me to The Eighteenth Sermon Rev. 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me THe Observation from the words was this The Lord Jesus will certainly and speedily come to Judgment when he shall give reward equal to every man These two questions were answered In what sense Christ comes quickly Answ In Gods account with whom a thousand years are but as one day In our account Faith sees him coming though Sense cannot Faith makes future things present it is the Prespective of the Soul Believers receive part of their reward at death and that is quickly 2. Why doth Christ defer his coming at all Answ 1. To stop the mouths of the wicked they will not have one word to reply they had time and space to repent 2. Out of his dear love he bears to his Elect There is many of his Elect not yet born and though born not new-born Now these must be born and new-born and brought all in and when that time is come then He will come Vse 1. Will Christ come quickly and with a reward then certainly remember this Athiest 'T is no vain thing to serve our Lord Jesus What profit is it if we serve him c. What profit Infinite profit there is a reward coming 2. By way of Exhortation Will Christ come Oh then 1. Prepare for his coming Labour to be prepared by his spiritual coming in thy heart that is the way to be prepared for his last coming get thy understanding enlightened in the saying knowledge of Christ thy will subdued and brought into subjection unto Christ thy affections renewed spiritualized thy conversation such as becomes the Gospel of Christ 2. You that have made all things ready for his coming look out after his coming The Table is spread the Trencher laid the Dinner ready the Guest not come Oh! when will He come I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ come Lord Jesus come quickly every Saint will eccho to Come quickly to every Believer it shall be a most welcome coming he shall come with a reward of absolution and pardon of all sin of vindication and clearing up of all names Believer's bodies shall not only have a Resurrection but their good names It shall be a reward of Coronation all their Crowns of Thorns shall be turned into Crowns of Glory 3. Is Christ coming Will he come This should bear up Believer's hearts in and under the sufferings they fear or feel Christ comes quickly therefore fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer This gives us advance into The Nineteenth Sermon Rev. 2.10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold the Devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tryed and you shall have tribulation ten dayes Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of life WHence observe 1. The people of God must suffer Through tribulation through many tribulations they must enter into the Kingdome of God from a Cross into Heaven Think it not strange no not of the fiery trial thou shalt suffer 2. Whatever sufferings the people of God either are or may be in they have no just cause ground or reason of fear i.e. of disponding distrusting distracting fear The Arguments of this point are in the Text. 1. The Consideration of who it is that brings the people of God into suffering it is God God is the Disposer but who is the great Executioner the Devil whom God hates more than thou canst The Devil shall cast c. 2. It is the Devil in a chain the Devil hath two sorts of chains 1. A chain of darkness in which he is kept to the day of Judgment 2. A chain of providence he is restrained in that c. 3. The Quality of the suffering should keep them from fearing He shall cast some of you into Prison not into Hell
Hearts hear what the Text saith A New Command I give unto you c. Wherein First you have the Command A New Command I give unto you It is not left to our discretion but we are bound to it by vertue of a Command A New Command I give unto you Secondly This Command is enforced by Gods own example as I have loved you It is called a new Command but Love is an old Command this Law is written in the Nature of Man It is engraven in every mans heart by Nature and it is an old Command because found among Gods antient Statutes the antient Records of his Law I but 't is a new Command too because pressed by a new Example of Christ As I have loved you so do ye love one another Doct. Christians ought to make Conscience of this duty of loving one another Confident I am We shall never see Religion thrive in the World until we see this Grace of Love flourish in the heart of Christians Nor the illustration of this proposition I shall do these two things First shew you the truth of this Love Secondly the extent of this Love First Truth of this Love If you love one another saith Christ see you do it purely not dissembling but from the heart 1 John 3.18 My little Children let us not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth dissembling love is like painted fire that will never warm we must not be like the Bee that hath honey in her mouth but withal hath a sting in her tail we must not pretend to love to have honey in the mouth but withal have the sting of malice in the heart no said the Apostle Let us love in deed and in truth Secondly Extent of our Love this Fountain of Love must run in three streams 1. We must love all men love their persons although we must not love their sins we have all the same make the same lump and mould and therefore must love there is a natural Love that every creature bears to his own species and kind 2. Our love must especially stream out to the Saints of God the houshold of Faith It is with our love as it is with our fire you keep fire all the day upon the Hearth but upon special occasions you draw it out larger so our Love must always burn to all I but to the Saints you must draw out the fire inlarge your affections we must love as God loves he doth especially love the Saints love every creature with a common love but especially the New Creature and indeed there is that in every true Saint that may excite and allure our Love What are the Graces of the Spirit but so many pearls to adorn the Bride of Christ What is holiness in the heart 〈◊〉 the imbroidery and curious Workmanship of the Holy Ghost here is enough to entice and draw out our Love and Beloved if we love the Saints for their Graces then we love all the Saints And here I beseech you consider these six pariculars First We ought to love the Saints in what condition soever they are although they be poor in the world low in their condition for commonly so it is They that have the lowest hearts have the lowest condition too I read of the King of the Moors that he was offended at the Christians because of their poverty and truly when wicked men do fleece the Saints it is no wonder if they be poor methinks grace in a poor man is like a Pearl that lies in the dust or like a cloath of Gold that is hid under Rags you must love the Gold that is the Grace notwithstanding the Rags The poorest Saint alive hath the Angels riches the poorest Believer is a Member of Christ and shall we not love him we love the picture of a friend although it be hung in a mean frame we must love a rich Christ in a poor man Secondly We are to love the people of God although they have many weak infirmities shew me the man that is perfect and let him throw the first stone even the best Saints like the Starrs they have their twinkling they have their blemishes and their failings in some there 's too much pride in others too much censoriousness in others too much rash anger and passion but we must love the Grace that is in them notwithstanding the infirmities that are in them you love Gold though in the oar and mixed with much impurity a Saint on earth is like a Diamond that hath its flaw like to the Rose that is sweet and perfumed but yet hath its pricks The best Saints have some mixture and infirmity and we must love them for the good that is in them this is our great fault we are apt to over-look all the good and so take notice of the stain and blemishes in them as those that see a little stain in a piece of Scarlet despise the cloath for the stains sake so do we But God doth not do so by us he is pleased to over-look many sad failings he seeth the Faith and winks at the failings of his people you that cannot love a Brother because you see an imperfection in him would you have God do so by you would you have him damn you for every blemish of sin Thirdly We must love the Children of God though weak in parts all are not born Politicians But though the Saints of God have not always so good intellectuals as others yet if they have good Vitals and the life of Faith in them love them for that Grace you do not despise your Children because they are weak but you love them because they are your Children Oh! do not despise a Saint because he is of low parts but love him as he is a Child of your Heavenly Fathers Fourthly We are to love the Saints of God though in some lesser things they differ from us if they keep the foundations of Religion and hold the Head Christ yet we are to bear other things one Christian hath more light than another and shall we un-saint all that cannot come up to our light It s great wisdom to separate between the precious and the vile O what a blessed place will Heaven be because there our light shall be clear and our love shall be perfect And that is the fourth Fifthly Love the Saints of God when reviled and persecuted a bleeding Saint should be the object of our love Onisiphorus saith Paul was not ashamed of my chain a sign he loved Christs Graces in Paul Christ Jesus loveth no Saints more than his persecuted Saints his Martyrs have the highest Thrones reserved in Heaven for them we must love to see Christs Livery upon a man though sprinkled with bloud he that is ashamed of a persecuted Saint will never suffer for a crucified Jesus Sixthly We must love the Saints of God though their Graces may eclipse and out-shine our Graces Beloved in the sweetest fruits worms are apt
are very precious dust in Gods account precious dust The Lord locks up these Jewels in the Grave as in a Cabinet The bodies of the Saints lie mellowing and ripening in the Grave till the blessed time of the Resurrection Oh! how precious is the Dust of a Believer though the world mind it not yet it is precious unto God The Husbandman he hath some Corn in his Barn and he hath other Corn in the Ground why the Corn that is in the ground is as precious to him as that is in the Barn the bodies of the Saints in the Grave are Gods Corn in the ground but the Lord makes very precious account of this Corn The bodies of the Saints shall be more glorious and blessed then ever they were at the Resurrection Tâ—rtullian calls them Angelical bodies in regard of that beauty and lustre that shall be upon them As it is with your silks when they are died of a purple or scarlet colour they are made more bright and illustrious then they were before thus it is with the bodies of the Saints they shall be dyed of a better colour at the Resurrection they shall be made like a glorious body Phil. 3.20 thus it shall be well with the righteous their bodies shall not perish 2. It will be well with the Righteous at death as to their souls too Oh it will be a blessed time methinks it is with a Saint at the time of death just as it was with Saint Paul in his voyage to Rome we read that the Ship did break but though there were so many broken pieces yet he got safe to shore so though the Ship of the Believers body break by death yet it is safe with the passenger his soul that gets safe to the Heavenly harbour Let me tell you the day of a Believers death it is the birth-day of his blessednesse it is his Ascention day to Heaven the day of his death it is his marriage-day with Jesus Christ Faith doth but contract us here in this life is but the contract but at death the Nuptials shall be solemnized in Glory they shall see God face to face it will be Heaven enough to have a sight of God saith Austin when the Saints shall enter into joy here joy enters into them but then they shall enter into it they shall drink of these pure Rivers that run from the Everlasting Fountain And thus you see it will be well with the Righteous how ever things go though trouble come though death come yet it will go well with the Righteous And Oh let those that are the people of God comfort themselves in these words Oh what an encouragement is this to all you that hear me to begin to be Righteous this Text may tempt us all to be Godly Say unto the Righteous it shall be well with him when things are never so ill with him yet it is well with him We would be glad to have things go well with our Relations and in our Estates why when the Righteous things go well with us thy person is sealed thou art Heir of all Gods Promises thou art Christs favorite thou hast Heaven in reversion and is it not now well with thee If you would have Happiness you must espouse Holiness Say unto the Righteous it shall be well with them and thus much of the first Proposition the Godly mans comfort in life and death it is well with him But now if all this will not prevail with you to make you leave your fins and become Righteous I must passe in a few words to the next branch of the Text to scare men out of their sin to affright men out of their wickednesse Wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him This my Beloved is the dark fide of the cloud It may cause in every wicked man that hears me a trembling at the heart Wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him The Proposition that doth resist out of these words is this Doct. When things seem to be well with the wicked men it shall be ill with them at last though they have more then heart can wish yet it shall be ill with them at last Eccles 8.13 It shall not be well with the wicked nor shall he prolong his daies which are as a shadow because he fears not God it shall not be well with the wicked the God of truth hath pronounced this It is as true as God is true it shall not be well with the wicked Now that I may a little clear this to you I shall demonstrate this to you in these four particulars 1. It is ill with the wicked in this life 2. It is ill with them at death 3. It is ill with them at the day of Judgement 4. It is ill with them after Judgement it shall be ill with the wicked It is ill with the wicked in this life a wicked man that hears me will hardly think so when he hath the affluence and confluence of outward comforts when he eats the fat and drinks the sweet he will hardly believe the Minister that shall tell him it shall be ill with him but it is so For is it not ill with that man that hath a curse yea the curse of God entailed upon him can that man thrive that lives under the curse of God Flouds of bloud and wrath hang over the head of a wicked man he is heir to all the Plagues written in the Book of God All Gods curses are the sinners Portion and if he die in his sin he is sure to have his Portion paid him Wo unto the wicked every bit of bread he hath he hath it with a curse its like poison'd bread given to a dog every drop of Wine he drinks he swallows down a curse with it wo unto the wicked there is a curse in his Cup and a curse upon his Table God saith wo unto him we read of Belshazar Dan. 5.4 5. that he did take the Wine and commanded to bring the Gold and Silver vessels out of the Temple and then they brought the Golden vessels that were taken out of the Temple out of the house of God that was at Jerusalem and the King and his Princes and his Wives and Concubines drank in them Belshazar was very jovial in the midst of his Cups he was merry but wo unto the wicked for in the same hour came forth the finger of a mans hand and reach'd over the Candlestick upon the plaister of the Wall of the Kings Pallace and the Kings countenance changed and he was troubled there was a hand and a woe written on the wall let a sinner live till he come to an hundred years of age yet he is cursed Isa 65.20 his gray hairs they have a curse upon them 2. 'T is ill with the wicked not onely in this life but 't is ill with him at his hour of death and that in these two respects 1. Death puts an end unto all his comforts 2.
they may see God face to face and be for ever with the Lord which they cannot do till they dye therefore blessed by God that the righteous must perish If a man should always live on earth always be young rich and healthful it would be unwelcome news for while we are in the body we are absent from the Lord and subject to sin and therefore when Peter asked Christ what should be done with John Christ tells him If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee from henceforth there went a report abroad that John should not dye Now the Apostle himself was much displeased with this report and looked upon it as a great affliction that he should not dye and therefore he himself confutes it But yet Jesus said he said not that he should not dye as if he had said God forbid that I should not dye Before I come to Application of this point give me leave to speak somthing to the second point and so I shall apply them both together The second Doctrine is this That the perishing of a righteous man is nothing but a gathering him to God Christ and the blessed society of Saints and Angels in Heaven This is contained in the second expression merciful men are taken away the word in the Hebrew is Colliguntur they are gathered it is evegetical of the former they did not perish but they are gathered to God and Christ there is a great deal of excellency and a Magazine of sweetness in this expression They are gathered It implies two things First That the righteous are in a scattered condition while they are in this world and that three ways 1. They are scattered among the wicked and ungodly of the world as sheep among wolves as lambs among Lyons rent and torn in pieces forced to wander up and down in Sheep skins and Goats skins 2. The righteous are scattered in the world one from another and that two ways 1. They are scattered by their different habirations for the godly are forced one from another as Lot from Abraham 2. They are scattered one from another by the cruel persecution of wicked men and therefore you read Acts 8. that at that time when there was a persecution against the Church at Jerusalem that they were all scattered abroad 3. The godly are scattered in this life from the glorious presence of God in Heaven indeed they are never scattered from the gracious presence of God but sometimes they are scattered from the comfortable presence of God as long as we live in the world we shall be scattered from the glorious presence of God for while we are in the body we are absent from the Lord. Secondly This implies a bringing of Gods people out of this scattered condition it is a gathering of the Righteous out of this world into another from a sinful persecuted world into a sinless glorious world from diversity of dwellings on earth to dwell altogether in one Heaven it is a gathering out of the reach of Men and Devils and a gathering them not only to the gracious but to the glorious presence of God and Christ and to the souls of just men made perfect and to the general assembly of the first born and to the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem where they shall live together never to be scattered again To understand this the better let me offer three things to you shewing you that the Godly are gathered to God three ways in this life at death and at the day of Judgment First The Righteous are gathered to God in this life and that is at their first conversion for by nature we are Aliens and strangers to God scattered from any union or communion with God not only scattered from the glorious but from the gracious presence of God God made men at first to enjoy communion with himself but Adam lost this by sin and now we are all Cains and vagabonds scattered from the love of God and from union and communion with God but when God converts any of the Elect he gathers them home to himself for conversion is nothing but Gods gathering them to himself in the second Adam that were scattered from him in the first Adam the first Adam was a Root of scattering a Root of separation from God but the second Adam was a Root of union and conjunction Christ is the head and the Elect are all gathered together in him that he might gather together in one all things in Christ so that conversion is nothing but a gathering of the Elect of God to Christ by faith and a gathering to one another by love and charity Secondly Gods people are gathered at death here they are gathered to Christ by Grace but at death they are gathered to Christ in glory here they are gathered to God by hope but at death by fruition here Christ is gathered to us he comes down and dwells with us but at death we shall be gathered to him we shall go up and be joyned with him There 's a great deal of difference between esse cum Christo and esse in Christo esse cum Christo to be one with Christ is a Christians great security but esse in Christo to be one in Christ it is a Christians great felicity in this life we are gathered to God by Faith but at death by vision Lastly We shall be gathered to God at the day of judgment it is called the day of the gathering of the Saints together a day when all the Saints that are have been or shall be shall be gathered together 2 Thes 2.1 I beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him at the great day At the day of Judgment we shall all be gathered together and shall all be taken up to Heaven I mean all the righteous and be ever with the Lord and so much for the opening of the Doctrine But here it may be objected Are not the unrighteous gathered by death as well as the righteous I answer it is true the unrighteous are scattered in this life and gathered by death as well as the righteous but with a great deal of difference First the wicked are scattered in this life but they are scattered from God but the Godly are scattered for God and for a good conscience many times as they at Jerusalem were scattered The godly are scattered from the glorious presence of God in Heaven but the wicked are scattered from the gracious presence of God on earth Again the scattering of the wicked is a curse to them and it is threatned as a curse Lev. 26.32 I will scatter you among the Heathen and draw out my sword after you and where-ever the wicked come in what part soever of the world the wicked are scattered they bring the curse of God with them and they bring the judgments of God on Towns and Cities where they are as plague famine and
take up for to hide themselves as under a covert to beat down the Gospel-warrants and commands to suffer for the Faith delivered 1. The motion that a Christian hath of indifferencie of things that they are but toyes and trifles that they may be done or not done It is not my work to tell you what is indifferent or name any thing in particular As I remember in the Book of Martyrs the usual Argument was Why cannot you worship the Idol why cannot you bow down as well as others it is a small matter cannot you shew your outward reverence and keep your heart to your self Indeed if there were any thing that is indifferent a Christian hath a marvellous latitude in point of Doctrine in point of Worship I would caution you therefore The term of indifferent I suppose it is devised as a Pillar to rest the Conscience on which otherwise would startle and look with a broad face upon them Things that come under this notion had need well to be weighed and considered If they tell you plainly they came out of Rome and had the Plague of Popery upon them they came from Hell were hatched there and the curse of God is upon them no body will entertain them They must pretend they came from the Church from the Apostles descending from the Scriptures and hence they are entertained with the freedom and willingness as that most Christians take no notice but fall down under them and so the very power and life of Religion and holy practice is eaten out The Devil hath three wayes whereby he makes men seek after him First Commonly he doth cover holiness with other names Secondly He perswades that sins are but little Thirdly That they may repent hereafter The first is suitable to my purpose That vertue or grace is covered with other names therefore if a man be holy he is called precise if zealous he is said to be rash and if it be really a sin it shall come under the name of indifferency a toy a trifle and things of that nature therefore you had need be cautious for it is not so much what name the sin has what title it goes under as what it is really As to things of Doctrine and Worship I know there is no medium every man must give an account to the Lord what he does therefore I do not tell you what is indifferent and what not but search the Scripture take heed what you receive for indifferent The second thing Christians will say is I hope without danger I may comply with them considering I bear them as my burthens This is very like the young man in the Gospel he came to Christ and would have him come up to his terms and when Christ told him Yet he lacked one thning Goâ—â—ell all c. he went away sorrowful So many Christians they would follow Christ but they cannot because there is not such security in it but they will go away sorrowful Thou Hyvocrite Art thou willing to forsake all for Christ yet canst not leave life liberty and some of these small things Will you wound the name of Christ and pretend to be sorrowful for it I conclude â—hy pretence shall not excuse thee for so was Pilate loth to crucifie Christ and as a means and expedient he calls for water and washes his hands saying I am innocent from the blood of this just man But do you think God excused Pilate no more will he you Whatever is brought to you is either forbidden or commanded by God If forbidden by God why do you meddle with it If commanded of the Lord why are you burdened with it why do you it heartily for the Lord loves one that is chearful in his service Neither man nor God is pleased with such A third thing which satisfies many is That they may follow in some things the opinions of wise men holy men and good men That they may do as they do I shall say but these two words First Many men are reputed good wise and honest that are not so A man may be accounted an honest man that yet may be covetous he may be accounted a very good man yet be really corrupt in heart and in his lusts therefore 't is good to try men I dare not trust mine own heart unlesse God give strength of grace and assistance every moment lest I should betray the truth of Christ upon some advantage when the Devil would set abroach an evil opinion or practice it 's his comon way to tunn it up in some clean Vessel Men of civil honesty and goodness You read the old Prophet drew the young one in though expresly forbidden by God himself When you do not fear a young Christian it may be the example of an old Minister shall draw you therefore it 's good to mind who you follow Secondly Grant they are all good and reall they are men fearing God as there are some yet God will not let his people know all his mind There are some that would but cannot know all his mind and will the Lord is free and voluntary he reveales things necessary to salvation but for other things he withholds But what is your rule Call no man Master you are to follow no man further than he follows Christ And indeed for a man to follow the examples of others wherein they sin and do not know it it is just like the case of holy Noah who was a gracious man and knew not the strength of the Grape he was drunk with his own Vineyard But what 's the fruit of it his Son Cham saw his nakedness and discovered it If good and holy men taste of the intoxicated Wine that is too strong for them and know it not will you sip after them unless you will discover your nakedness and proclain it from Generation to Generation and make your selves Chams not sons of the Prophet Therefore I know not what warrant you have to follow such examples The fourth things is this Christians usually do no good by standing out Answ Whether we get good or do good or no we are to do our duty The Lord will honour you for suffering for the Truth 2 Thes 1.2 3 4 5. And by suffering you shall confirm the Saints and bear testimony you shall witness against all false Doctrines and false Worship before the whole world By your humility and Patience when you suffer not as evil-doers but as those that suffer for the Word of Righteousness the Word of Truth for holding fast the Lord Jesus and his Faith that is more precious than Heaven and Earth than any created thing this will make your name as a sweet savour to all Generations when those that Apostatize Persecute and oppose Jesus Christ their memories shall be left as a curse to the people of God Rich Treasure in Earthen Vessels A Sermon Preached Jan. 1. 1662. at the Funeral of that Reverend and faithful Servant of Jesus Christ Mr. James Nalton late Minister
to look after a better Would any man be content to dye a Drunkard I ask you that are Drunkards I do believe you will answer no why then do you live in Drunkenness How know you that God will spare you when you are drunk until you are sober again We may read of many that have dyed in their drunken fits God doth not always send his Herauld to warn thee before he sends his Serjeant to arrest thee How knowest thou but Death may strike thee on a sudden What will then become of thy Soul Oh Beloved I beseech you live not in that you are unwilling to dye in Balaam was not such a Wretch but he could cry our Good Lord let me dye the death of the righteous Thirdly Lay up for suffering times there are few of you I believe are so bad husbands but will lay up for a rainy day I mean against a time of sickness comes wherein you will be unable to work are you thus careful to maintain your bodies and will you be careless of your souls O be careful to provide for stormy weather you have winter garments for your bodies to preserve them from cold oh let patience be your winter garment to preserve keep your selves warm in afflictions I know that he that will live godlily in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution and that through tribulations and sufferings we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven shall I not then provide for them But you may say What doth persecution attend all the godly A man may escape them as well as suffer them Put case afflictions should not come thou wilt be never the worse for being provided for them for he that is fit to dye is fit to live that man that is fit to suffer afflictions is fit to live without them It was Paul's Exhortation to the Ephesians 6.10 Finaly my Brethren put on the whole Armour of God that ye may be able to withstand the wiles of the Devil And it is wisdom in a man to provide for a misery before it comes There is mention made of a Nation the Spartans I think that useth to chuse their King as we do our Lord Mayor every year whilst they are in their annual Government they lived in all abundance of state have all the fulness their hearts can wish but when their year is over all their pomp glory is over too they banisht into some obscure remote place for ever where they spent the remainder of their lives in great want and misery One King knowing this being called to rule over this Nation made such use of his time wherein he reigned as King that by his provident living he heaped up so much treasure and sent it before him to the place where he knew he should be sent as maintained him all his life time Thus it is God hath appointed to every one a time to live in and that bur a short time too and in that time he hath appointed afflictions to attend us if we will live godlily in Christ Jesus it is not wisdom in us then to provide for them Take heed then to avoid sufferings you do not commit sin to commit sin to avoid suffering is as if a man should run our of the mouth of a barking Dog into the mouth of a devouring Lyon What is the wrath of man to the wrath of God Man can but destroy the body and no more but God can destroy both body and soul into Hell fire to all eternity Fourthly My fourth word of Counsel and Direction is this Be serious in serious things when you come to perform serious things do them seriously I do not know that ever I saw a man fall asleep while he was telling of Money for if he should how could he tell whether it were right or no Yet alas too too many sleep when they should be taking Truth not only by natural sleep but also by spiritual sleep they are so careless in receiving the Word they hear and so lazy withal that rather then they will try the Word they hear they will take all for truth the Minister tells them Beloved I believe you will scarce put so much confidence in a man as to receive a summ of Money without teâ—ling it because he saith it is right and yet will you receive all that your Minister tells you is truth for truth without trying it You must not be sluggish in your working for God but put forth your selves to the uttermost You must make the Kingdom of Heaven suffer violence and take it by force But then Fifthly The fifth Direction which I shall give you is about hearing the Word how you must behave your selves when you hear I take it for granted you will hear I hope you will for brown bread is better than none and a little is better than none at all yet I intreat you take these two words of Direction First Try the Word you hear by the Truth Secondly Try your selves by the Word First Try the Word you hear by the Truth if it be not consonate to that believe it not let who will preach it Paul exhorteth the Galathians so to do Chap. 1.8 9 But though we 〈◊〉 an Angel from Heaven preach any other Doctrine unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed How Paul accursed sure you speak too high what if an Angel must he be accursed sure you will call in your words again Nay instead thereof he repeats them over again As we said before â—o I say again If any one preach any other Gospel than that which you have received let him be accursed If any man pretend a Revelation from Heaven and cannot bring Scripture for what he saith do not believe one syllable Take the noble Beraeans for your Example they would not believe Pauls Doctrine until they had searched to see whether it were so or no. But then as you are to try the Word you hear by the Truth so try your selves by the Word You hear as a Truth that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Now try your selves by this Truth and see whether or no you walk after the Flesh or after the Spirit I have likewise two Directions about the preaching of the Word First Do not you receive the Word for the persons sake that brings it I am apt to think that many of you will receive a Truth of one mans bringing which you would not receive of anothers and thus ye receive the Word of God with respect of persons which you ought not But first receive the Word for its own sake and secondly receive the Person for the Words sake 1 Thess 5.12 13. We beseech you Brethren to know them which aâ—e over you to admonish you and labour among you in the Lord and to esteem of them very highly in love for their works sake Sixthly My Direction in the
the Pen. Hence it was that the Ministry of the Scribes and Pharisees was not to be rejected but to be esteemed so long as they sailed not in the substance thereof and hence the Apostle rejoyceth that Christ was preached of the false Apostles Phil. 1.15 16 17 18. though out of envy take heed therefore and beware of a total separation from disserting of and forsaking Church-assemblies and yet I conceive it is a very rare thing for unconverted Ministers to convert some For what saith the Lord by the Prophet Zephaniah Zeph. 3.1 2 3 4. Ob saith the Lord to Jerusalem that hath such Prophets and such Priests woe to such a City to such a Country to such a Parish And what saith Christ himself in Mat. 15.14 Let them alone oft-times it falls out so that it made Archbishop Abbot speak in a Lecture of his and profess that his heart did even bleed within him to think of the precious Souls of many people who had such Ministers that if they had not been in the Ministry they would not have been fit Hogherds for Swine And yet we must remember not to tye the efficacy of the Word and Sacraments to the goodness or badness of a Ministers person Sixthly Take heed and beware of being leavened with prejudice against all Ministers because of the Vileness and monster-like unbeseeming Carriage of some Ministers It hath been granted over and over that some Ministers evil licentious Carriage and Conversations are notorious the Lord knows too many Ministers have Esau's hands with Jacob's voyce what then must this redound to the general disgrace of all Ministers because some Professors of the Law live lawless must therefore all be censured and cuodemned for the lawless Livers because Judas was a Devil and a Son of Perdition will you therefore say that all the Disciples of Christ were naught Perhaps you do know some Sir Johns some blind Seers some blind Watchmen who know nor Heavens way some blind Droans or secondly some that carry themselves insolently as Jer. 20.1 2. Pasher did or thirdly some that are too too like that evil servant in the Gospel as Luk. 12.45 or perhaps you know Fourthly Some apostarizing Demas's who embrace this present world and revolt from their principles and profession as 2 Tim. 4.10 Or perhaps you know filthy some aspiring and climbing Diotrephes as 3 John 9. perhaps you know some such as these I have instanced what then is there any Profession as it were but it haâ—h a certain seum whâ— then in the face of some who thorow grace are free from these miscarriages take heed and beware of being leavened with prejudice against all Ministers because of the vileness and miscarriage of some Seventhly Be earnest with the Lord for a godly faithful Ministry whose labour and pains among the people the Lord useth to bless The Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest Patron of all Livings as a reverend man now in Heaven once said He can present whom he will to a parish and he can restore whom he will to their people as Acts 12.5 6 7. as he did Peter out of Prison by the peoples prayers and thus when Paul was in prison at Rome observe how he writes to Philemon in v. 22. of his Epistle and thus when the Author of the Hebrews was restrained from preaching observe what an Exhortation he useth Heb. 13.12.18 Oh pray therefore pray for godly faithful Ministers their pains their labours the Lord useth to bless among a people as Mal. 26. we read that the Lord blessed the labours of Levi so that he was an instrument in the Lords hands to turn wicked men from their iniquities and v. 5. so it was said of Barnabas that by his Ministry much people were added to the Lord Acts 11.24 And if we would have godly faithful Ministers as we must pray for them so we must first repent us of our sins Jer. 3.14 15. repent we must for our sins and particularly our contempt of the Ordinances and worship of God Secondly We must prize the Gospel more than we have done the Gospel loves to come and stay where it is welcome Of all the 7 Churches of Asia the Church of Philadelphia was the best that Church used the word best and that Church enjoyed the word longest Be earnest with the Lord for godly faithful Ministers whose pains and labours among the people the Lord useth to bless and prosper 7. Be earnest with the Lord that the refining work of a National-Reformation a City a Country a Family-Reformation a Personal-Reformation may begin at the refining and purging of Ministers None will deny but that there is a great need of a Reformation there is none of you but will confess that the Seed of Leaven had need sometimes to be winnowed out from amongst us as 2 Chron. 29.48 Hezekiah began at the Priests and Levites Hezekiah began his reformation at them and thus at our first reformation the Protestants did then affirm that there could never be any good reformation unless they begun at the Court of Rome and it is very observable that when the Prophet speaks of the Lord Christs coming as a refining fire and as Fullars soap this also is prophesied of refining the Sons of Levi Mal. 2.2 when he shall purifie the Sons of Levi when he shall purge them as Gold and Silver as it was in Judah in the reign of that good King Hezekiah 2 Chron. 29.34 The Priests were too few there and as it was in Judah then whether it be not so in England now I affirm not but leave you to judge But a Ministers soundness in Dectrine and holiness of Life and Conversation should lay a great obligation on a people duly conscienciously to practice every command to duty And this may suffice for the second Doctrine Come we now to the third Doctrine deducable to be handled from this Text and that is That in the due practise of commanded duties Gods People may may warrantably and confidently expect much of the gracious presence of the God of peace even in the worst of times These things think on saith the Apostle v. 8. These things do saith the Apostle in the Text and what then The God of Peace shall be with you In the due practice of commanded duries Gods people may confidently expect much of the gracious presence of the God of peace in the worst of times then take counsel from this Doctrine that you may have the gracious presence of the God of peace with you and if this Pulpit were my death-bed I should give such counsel as this following to you First Crown the Prince of Peace the Lord Jesus Christ in your hearts and lives I say Crown the Prince of Peace the Lord Jesus Christ in your hearts and lives receive him as your Lord and King set a Crown on his head here in your hearts and lives and he will crown you with peace in this life and set a crown of Glory a crown
may not forget but keep in our memories the words of Christ First consider That all the promises and counsels which Jesus Christ hath made known to us are not only for the present but for the future use Isa 22.23 Hearken and hear for the time to come We should hear as if we were to hear no more The Cordial which hath sometime revived us must not be lain aside lest for want of it another time we faint quite away The reason why they were ready to faint under afflictions Heb. 12.5 was because they had forgotten the Exhortation which speaketh to them as to Sons For this cause Jesus Christ often bids his Disciples remember the word he had spoken to them and knowing their frailty promises his Spirit Joh. 14.26 and that says he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall bring to his remembrance Secondly consider Not to remember the words of Christ is a sad sign of our dis-esteem of Jesus Christ We usually remember Precepts Counsels and Sayings according to the authority which the person hath with us from whence they come It is a very great dishonour to Jesus Christ when he shall cast his words behind our backs Did we honour Jesus Christ as our King Lord and Law-giver we should be more careful to remember what he hath spoken to us We often blame our Heads as if the fault lay only there that we do not remember the words of Christ when indeed the fault lies most in the Hearts that we have not more and esteem of Christ there Thirdly The time will come when we shall dearly repent every Truth forgotten that we did not endeavour to seal instruction upon our Hearts First When God shall with-hold instruction from us because we have refused it the time may come when as Amâ—s 8.12 Men shall run to and fro and seek the Word of the Lord and shall not find it and then we shall see the worth of the Word that now we prize not Secondly When God shall call us to account for all Sermons and Instructions we have received as he will certainly do though we forget yet he will remember and he will ask how we have kept and improved the Word he hath spoken to us To help us in keeping or remembring the words of Christ First Let our hearts be affected with the worth and excellency of the Word that it is more precious than Gold or Silver and then we shall keep it as choyce Treasure That which a man prizeth he will keep in safe custody and have often in his eyes as David sayes of the Word Psal 119.97 O how I love thy Law it is my meditation all the day long If a man account the Word as his Treasure he will not forget it as Jerem. 2.32 Can a Maid forget her Ornaments or a Bride her Attires This they forget not Yet because we account the Word as excellent and necessary as these therefore it follows Yet my people have forgotten me dayes without number Secondly Apply every word of Christ to your own Soul though men will not keep what is anothers yet usually they keep what is their own while men carve away the Word to others as if it concern'd not them it is no marvel if they keep it not but if we accounted every word as spoken to us and our portion we should hear and keep it Men remember the news which concerns themselves We should hear Christ speaking as Job 5.27 Hear thou this know it for thy good Thirdly Meditate often upon what you have received as Mary pondered the sayings which she heard in her heart The way to keep any thing safe is to have a constant eye upon it Meditation is the Souls serious retiring into it self to take a view of all that of God that is laid up within it self Fourthly Hasten to do all that you have heard and learned Psal 119.16 It is said by David I made haste and prolonged not the time to keep his Commandements A man will not easily forget his Trade for if we daily obey commands and believe promises we cannot easily forget the commands and promises given to us which last direction leads me to the second Exhortation Secondly It may exhort us to keep the words of Christ with an Evangelical and Practical keeping Keep the Word as a man keeps his Rule or the Souldier keeps his Weapon let not the Word depart from thee and do not thou depart from it by forsaking the appointments and commands of Christ First Consider That if we do not keep the words of Christ by obeying and a suitable walking we do but in vain pretend love to Jesus Christ as they that had no more of Christ but to call him Lord Mat. 7.21 Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven c. So not every one that sayes he loves me but he that doth my Word he is my friend Secondly Consider What a sin it is to pretend love to Christ and not so truly to love Him as to keep his Words 't is Hypocrisie they be Christs false friends an open enemy is less dangerous than they Ezek. 33.31 They hear my words but they will not do them their heart goes after convetousness They be false to themselves and delude their own souls with a bare profession and hearing Jam. 1.22 Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only deceiving your own souls Thirdly Consider What judgment they incurr and who can tell how great it is 'T is called a beating with many stripes when the least stripe from that hand can break the loyns Luke 12.47 He that knoweth his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stâ—ipes Fourthly Consider This is the clearest evidence of our interest in Christ of his love to us That we keep his Commandements By this we know that we love him as our Christ when we do not only love him as a Jesus a Saviour but obey him as a Lord and follow his Law When God shall write his Law in our hearts is not this an evidence that Christ is ours Fifthly Great and many are the encouragements which he hath promised to them that keep his words There be many blessings in the Word but they only have the blessings for theirs who keep his Word James 1.15 Whoso looketh into the perfect Law of Liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the Word this man shall be blessed in his deed he shall ask what ye will and have it Job 15.7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you ask what you will and it shall be done unto you That we may do the words of Christ First Let it be the aim and intention of our Souls when we come to hear to turn hearing into doing Say as Paul did Acts 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have me to do and Cornelius Acts 10.33 Now therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things
northey fell to their old sinning again and were worse than before and believed nothing Well Gods time is the best therefore let not us pry too much into the Ark. Fourthly you must not meddle with the Ark unless you have a lawful call to meddle with it this was the sin of Vzzi 2 Sam. 6.6 7. the Ark was in danâ—er of falling and he good man meaning no hurt to keep up the Ark took hold of it but for so doing he destroyed himself and made a breach and hindred the carrying home of the Ark at that time We have had a great deal of disorder heretofore and an abundance of Well-minded people usurped upon the Ministerial Offices they were afraid the Ark was falling and therefore they touched the Ark they laid hold on the Ark but their touching the Ark hath undone the Ark and themselves too O take heed of touching the Ark. Fifthly If ever you would preserve the Ark then keep the Covenant of the Ark keep the Law which the Ark preserves The Ark was a place wherein the Law was kept the two Tables keep the Law and God will keep the Ark but if you break the Law you will forfeit the Ark The Ark was called the Ark of the Covenant keep Covenant with God and God will preserve the Ark but if you break the Covenant of the Ark the Covenant made in Baptism and that Covenant often renewed in the Sacrament if you break Covenant God will take away the Ark. The Farewel a Sermons of John Gaspine Minister of the Gospel Preached at Ashpriors in the County of Somerset the two last Lords days before Bartholomew-day 1662. Luke 12.32 Fear not little Flock for it is the Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom IN this Chapter we have the sum of a precious Sermon which our Saviour makes to his Disciples in the presence of the multitude In which we have 1. Several cautions in the first twenty verses of that Chapter 2. Some exhortations from thence to the end of it The Cautions are these First to beware of Hypocrisie in the three first verses Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisie and the motive wherewith he backs this caution is this That all things should be opened and made known hereafter how closely soever they may be carryed and how secretly soever their sins may be committed here Men may think to varnish over the fowlest of their actions by a fair and plausible pretences and so to hide their iniquities from the eyes of God and men but they are much mistaken for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed nor hid that shall not be known ver 2. Secondly He warns them to beware of timerousness and fearfulness in publishing his Gospel from the beginning of the 4 to the 12. Verse I say unto you my friends be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that they have no more that they can do but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear Fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell I say unto you Fear him Thirdly He cautions them to beware of covetousness and this caution of his was occasioned by one that desired Christ to speak to his Brother to divide the inheritance with him verse 13. Upon this Christ takes occasion to caution them against covetousness verse 15. And he said unto them take heed and beware of covetousness And that he might set out the folly of this sin of covetousness he doth elegantly set it forth by a Parable of a rich man who was coveting after more and more of the world and was casting plodding and contriving how to pull down his barns and to build greater and how to encrease his Estate in the world when God said unto him Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee and whose then will these things be which thou hast provided from ver 15. to 20. Having given them these cautions he proceeds to give them several exhortations as to seeking after the Kingdom of God to giving of alms to watchfulness against the coming of Christ to Judgment and several other duties which I shall not now insist upon The Text contains that exhortation of Christ wherein he exhorts them to undauntedness and resolution in the ways of God Fear not little Flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you a Kingdom The words may be divided into these two parts First Here is an Exhortation Secondly The reason of this Exhortation First An Exhortation Fear not little Flock In the which here is 1. A very loving compellation in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 little Flock 2. The Exhortation it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fear not In the reason of the Exhortation viz. For it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom we have these things considerable First Here is your Donor your Father Secondly Here is the Donum or gift it self which God will bestow upon his people and that is the Kingdom which is meant the Kingdom of Heaven Thirdly The persons on whom God will bestow this Kingdom and that is You you my little flock Fourthly The manner of God's bestowing the Kingdom of Heaven upon his little Flock and that is by gift It is your Father's good pleasure to give c. Fifthly and lastly The motive that prevails with God to give the Kingdom of Heaven to his people and that is his own good pleasure It is your Father's good pleasure c. So that you see every word hath its weight Here is very much profitable matter contained in a few words and many useful and profitable observations may be observed from it as Doct. First That Christ's Flock is but a little Flock a very little Flock Fear not little Flock Here be two diminutive words in Original First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies little and then the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which also signifieth a little â—sock Christ's Flock is a little Flock very little in comparison to the rest of the World the number of those that truly fear God that are sincere Christians and that are by a true and lively faith really engrafted into Jesus Christ is very small in comparison of the profane the hypocrites the unconverted and unsanctified that are only Christians by an external profession that have only a form of godliness but deny the power of it The way to Heaven is narrow and the gate strait and there are but few that finde it Mat. 7.13 14. There may be many that make fair pretences to Religion and Holiness in a time of prosperity but there are but few that will stick to Christ and his holy ways in discouraging times there may be many that are rotten professors but few that are sound in the Faith 2. Doct. That God is a believers Father or that every sincere Christian is a Child of God and hath God for his Father It is saith Christ to
his Disciples your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom 3. Doct. That every true Believer is interessed in the Kingdom of Heaven the great God will bestow the Kingdom of Heaven upon Believers 4. Dâ—ct That the Kingdom of Heaven is the free gift of God It is the Fathers good pleasure to give you a Kingdom The Kingdom of Heaven comes not to a Believer by his own merits nor by his own deservings but by God's free gift the free grace of God is the great motive it is God's good pleasure so to do The Saints cannot merit heaven by their holiest actions though they walk never so closely with God no no the Kingdom of heaven is God's free gift unto Believers 5. Doct. Lastly That the consideration of a Believers interest in the Kingdom of heaven should make him chearful and couragious in the practice of holiness and keep him from being dismayed and discouraged at all the afflictions and tribulations that he meets withall in the world this Doctrine is gathered from the Exhortation in the Text and the reason of it taken together the Exhortation viz. Fear not little Flock the reason of the Exhortation viz. For it is your Fathers â—ood pleasure to give you the Kingdom intimating that this one consideration that God will bestow the Kingdom of Glory upon his people hereafter should make them with all willingness and chearfulness to wade through all the calamities and incumbrances of this frail life A Believers heavenly interest should make him rejoyce in the midst of all his tryals and tribulations that he meets with from the hands of men here on earth I shall â—huse out the second and last of these observations to go on upon not having time and liberty to insist on them all that observation then which I shall first of all insist upon is this viz. Doct. That God is a Believers Father or that every true and sincere Christian hath God for his Father and is a child of God It is your Fathers good pleasure Before I come to the confirmation of this Truth I shall shew how many ways a people or person may have God to be their Father and they may be his Children First A people or person may have God for their Father by Creation as God is the great Creator of the World and they are his Creatures in this general sence God is a Father to all the Men and Women in the World to this refers that Scripture Mal. 3.10 saith the Prophet there Have we not all one Father Hath not one God created us but it is a more peculiar son-ship that belongs to Believers they have God for their Father in a more special and peculiar manner than this is Secondly A people or person may be the children of God and God may be their Father by profession Thus God was a Father to the Jewish Nation of old because they among all the Nations of the World did profess to own the Lord for their God and to serve and worship him and in this respect God doth profess himself to be a Father to Israel Jer. 3 9. I am a Father to Israel saith God Ephraim is my first-born And thus God is a Father to all those that do profess his Name But if this be all the claim that we can lay to God as our Father that he is so to us and that we are his children only by an external profession this will not entitle us to the Kingdom that eternal inheritance that God hath laid up for his people in the life to come it is therefore yet in a more peculiar manner that Believers have God for their Father Thirdly A person may have God for his Father by adoption and regeneration and thus true Believers and only such are the children of God and God is their Father 1 John 12.13 To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God These are the sons of God the strictest and most peculiar sons that shall be made partakers of all the priviledges of the children of God viz. those that receive Christ into their hearts by faith and such as are truly regenerate and born again these are the true and genuine children of the most High the heirs of God and coheirs of Jesus Christ as the expression is Rom. 8. these are the children of whom it was spoken 2 Cor. 6. last I will be a Father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty Having thus shewn unto you the several respects in which we may have God for our Father I shall come to the confirmation of it and shall prove that Believers have God for their Father in this special and peculiar manner there are abundance of Scripture-proofs for this in which Jesus Christ speaking to his Disciples calleth God their Father Mat. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that they seeing your good works may glorifie your Father which is in Heaven And ver 48. Be ye perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Mat. 6.8 Your Father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask them Mat. 18.14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven these little ones should perish Joh. 20.17 Go tell my brethren saith Christ that I ascend to my Father and to your Father to my God and to your God By these and other Scriptures we may see that God is set forth to Believers under the relation of a Father to them And as God is called in Scripture a Believers Father so they are called sons Gal. 4.6 Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ Again 1 Joh. 3.2 Now we are the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be when we shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Gal. 3.16 The Apostle speaking to the unbelieving Galatians saith We are all the Children of God by Faith which is in Christ Jesus I shall no longer insist on the confirmation of this Doctrine but shall come to the application of it Vse Is it so that all true believers are the children of God and have God for their heavenly Father then the first use may be of comfort and consolation to the godly in that they are so nearly related to the great God believers by virtue of their son-ship having God for their heavenly Father have abundant ground of comfort and consolation upon these several accounts First They are under his fatherly care and providence fathers take care for their children to provide them things necessary as meat drink and apparel ab iisdem
God clave to him and he to his God Oh Christian live upon the Comforter himself in the want of other comforts If thou canst not say that God is thy God it is thy sin but if thou canst say he is thy God and yet not content it is thy shame for if God an All-sufficient God will not suffice thee will not content thee sure nothing will II. Secondly You shall be with God after your troubles This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise said Christ to the present Thief as if he should have said I am with thee bearing the Cross and thou shalt be anon with me wearing the Crown and therefore be satisfied a parallel Scripture to this you have in Rom. 8.17 If we suffer with him we shall reign with him said Paul who will not now willingly act a sufferers part a while when he remembers what a blessed Exit his sufferings shall have at last Daniel was brought out of the Dungeon and immediately preferr'd at Court Joseph of a slave became the chief man of the Kingdom Ah what a Banquer did God provide for Paul and Silas in Prison and Jacob being banished from his Fathers House what a comfortable Vision saw he at Bethel better provision sure than if he had been sitting at home at his plentiful Table But albeit the Lord treats not all his Children as he did these yet are they all sure of his comfort Glory shall be the end of their sufferings and Heaven their habitation for evermore they have Christs Certificate under his own hand Rom. 1. If you suffer with me ye shall raign wiâ—h me Oh that so much of Heaven were Revealed and Unvailed to you as to see something of those Eternal Joyes which they that be dead in the Lord have received for a few momentary sufferings in their life-time Hungry Lazarus feasting lame Mephibosheth dancing and all the Colledge of Martyrs and Confessors striking up their Harps and Chanting forth that Epiphanema of praise Rev. 7.10 Salvation salvation unto our God which sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever Oh who would not rejoyce in their sufferings with such Musick in their ears and such a sight as this in their eye Let this then beget contentment it 's in with such at present but good news will be next Gods Rod like Jonathans Rod hath Honey nay Heaven at the end Look up Christians and see that the Cloud while dropping on you is rowling over you stand but in the shower a while and fair weather will be next even an everlasting Sun-shine of glory When you have suffered a while saith Peter 1 Pet. 5.10 the Lord will make you perfect that is your sufferings are not a killing you but a perfecting you Poets tells us that the Hill of Olimpus is so high that on the top of it is alway a Calm Beloved it 's hard climbing up the Rocky and Rugged Hill of the Cross but when you are once come up to the Top you shall be in a Calm and say as Peter did on the Mount It 's good to be here good to get Heaven at any rate And this is the second Argument to work Contentment under the Cross God will not only Come to you in your troubles but you shall Go to God after your troubles God will make your afflictions to be Inlets into glory and your Cross a Ladder to climb up to Heaven and therefore fear not afflictions they are not such Bugbears as the flesh fancieth them to be Which seriously thought on would be enough to make thy soul ambitious of suffering saying as one did once I am afflicted till I be afflicted A Child that 's going home will never complain of bad way O Christian thou art going home to Heaven in a way of suffering every affliction every Cross sets thee one step forward to thy Fathers house and wilt thou complain of bad way one beam of Gods face in Heaven will dry up all thy tears hence saith the holy Prophet Rev. 21. There shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for all these things are passed away Thus have I given you two helping Considerations to melt your wills into obedience to Gods will and to run the Race that is set before you with patience therefore I shall be at the pains to help you a little further Consider 1. The Cross is necessary and must be born 2. Your Cross is easie and may be born I. First I say it 's necessary God hath laid it on and who can take it off As Balaam said God hath blessed and I cannot reverse it So may I say God hath crossed and thou canst not repeal it and therefore let it be born bravey I. Now it is unavoidable necessary upon a double account 1. In regard of the Precept 2. In regard of the Means First You have a Precept for it Luke 9.35 He that will be my Disciple let him take up his Cross and follow me Secondly It 's necessary as a Means to the obtaining the End Christ the Captain of our Salvation was made perfect through sufferings and so must we Heb. 2.10 Ought not Christ first to have suffered and then to have entred into his rest saith Luke 24.26 yes he ought and so ought Christians For through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven An hot burning Furnance was a pleasant path in which the three Children walkt to their Caelestial Country while Belshazars Coaches like a Sedan conveyed quickly into the dwellings of Furies and habitation of Devils A fiery Chariot hoysed up Elijah to Heaven where as a Feather-bed ushered Dives down to Hell Therefore be not afraid of suffering for God for he can give an happy issue when he pleaseth II. Again as the Cross is Necessary and must be born So it is Easie and may be born And that 1. Absolutely 2. Comparatively First Absolutely and in it self Hence said Christ Take my Yoke upon you for my Yoke is easie and my Burden is light Never then call that Cross heavy which Christ hath called easie and light Art thou pained with the Gout or Colleick that 's a light burthen and the Boyes of Spain bore so much and more without complaining that their Cross was heavy for I read that they would at their Altars endure whipping and scourging till their very Entrails saw the light through their torn flesh without crying These Children rejoyced in their sufferings like men and this was their glory but you that are men you weep in your sufferings like Children surely this is your shame Again are you sick this is a light burthen and so light that the least childe in the Town can bear it In a word whatever thy Cross be if it be Christs Cross it is a light one and therefore not to be complained of Take my Yoke upon you saith he for my Yoke is easie and my Burden is light And indeed there is no burden
it is to be ashamed to sigh over our sins and groan over our iniquities I how few out of tenderness do mouru for sin but as if it were indifferent to us whether we have our sins purdoned or the grace that we beg to be granted and if we do beg to be pardoned where are the souls that desire to be purged If thou shouldst let us have our wills Oh then we should think thou wert a good God whereas it is thy great Love that thou dost deny us our wills we poor wretche we are up and down as the things of this world do come into us and go from us if God give us great things then we think our selves in Paradise and if God take from us then we fall out with God himself Oh! how ill do we take it at thy hands if thou dost not give us what we would or take from us what we would The doctrine of self-denial is a meer riddle to us we would fain spend the strength of our youth in following the lust of the eye and gratifie our sensual affections and when we come to die it may be we would have a Lord have mercy upon us in our mouths and think it strange if God should not give us what we ask O Lord convince us now that we may be willing to be crucified to the world and to die to sin Lord we may flatter with our selves but our hearts do but abuse us while we think there is such contentment in the enjoying of this world what is this when we come to die Alas if we were not besotted content is sooner gained by self-denial than by pleasing our selves Can we think we shall be at ease till we come to God Is it like to be well with us while our wayes are contrary to the wayes of God are not thy waies the waies of peace Oh! how can we be at rest when our waies are contrary to thine Oh! un-lust us we had better part from our idols here that that they should part us from God hereafter Lord if there were no other hell this is damnation to be a sinne for this is the nature of sin to separate us from God Oh help us to account the reproaches of Christ better than the honors of the Cross of Christ better than the Crown of the world O shew us the sinfulness of sin and the emptiness of the world that we may take thy Counsel and mind thy Glory and be ruled by thy Will Oh how happy would it be with us if our souls were brought into such a frame We are Lord as yet great strangers to the life of God Oh! let us know what it is to live with thee and to thee and with thee that we may say For us to live in Christ and to die is gain and that we may say Whom have we in Heaven but thee O Lord We depend upon thee let thy goodness be seen do not put us off with the means of grace but give us grace it self And seeing thou art pleased to make use of such a poor thing as the preaching of the Gospel is and seeing this is the means to bring our souls to eternal life Oh let it be so to us that we may repent from sin and believe in the righteousness of the Gospel Oh Lord thou knowest all our frailties and all our necessities find out them that are dead in sins and quicken them find out the hard hearts and soften them find out the proud hearts and humble them find out the formalists and bring them to the power of godliness and pour in wine and oyl into the wounds of the wounded in spirit and let the administration of the Gospel be in the demonstration of the Spirit that as the truth is delivered to us we may be delivered to the truth that while we touch the hem of thy garment Vertue may come out from thee Thou hast said that mercy pleaseth thee we are sure it will pleasure us Oh let us not loose our time but do thou teach us to profit and supply our wants for the sake of our dear Lord to whom with Thee and thy Spirit be given more Glory from now unto eternity Nr. G. N. his Prayer TO thee O Lord Jesus we commend our selves To thee who judgeth rightly thy poor Servant resigneth and commiteth this Congregation The Lord pardon unto me wherein I have been wanting unto them The Lord pardon unto them wherein they have been wanting in the hearing of thy Word that we may not part with sin in our hearts Unto thee who judgest uprightly I commend them The Bishop of Souls take care of them Preserve them from the love of the World teach them to wait on thee and to receive from thee whatevor any one or Family may stand in need of Provide them a Pastor according unto thine own will only in the mean time give us that Anointing shall lead us out of our own wells and waies that we may walk in the waies of Christ Jesus The Lord Jesus say now amongst them I am your Shepheard you shall not want Say to them as thou didst to thy Disciples Let not your hearts be troubled you beleeve in the Father beleeve also in me So far as we are able we put thy Name upon them we name the Name of the Lord Jesus over them The Lord Jesus bless them teach them to follow Holiness Peace and a Heavenly Conversation The Lord make them usefull to each other The Lord Jesus be a blessing to them and me and all ours The God of Peace and Consolation fill them with blessings according as thou seest every one stand in need of To thee O Lord we commend then do thou receive them that under thy counsel they may be preserved blameless until the day Jesus where we may all meet crowned with Glory Amen FINIS Mr. GEORGE THORNE of Weymouth HIS FAREWEL-SERMON PSAL. 37.34 Wait on the Lord and keep his Way NOt knowing whether ever I shal speak to you more from this place being willing to leave a word in season I shall recommend to you what in answer to prayer I have recived of the Lord for the directing me in my course in this gloomy dark day being well assured that as many of us as work by this rule and fall by this compass how ever we may be scatered by the tewpestuous storms we meet with here in the Sea of this World shall shortly arrive at and meet in our desired Port the Haven of Eternal Rest and Happiness What therefore the Lord hath said to me and that with a strong hand that say I unto you in the Name of the Lord Wait on the Lord and keep his VVay The scope of this Psalm is to direct the People of God and to encourage them to keep on in the course of Godliness at such times as when the Wicked prosper flourish and grow great and the godly are afflicted trouble persecuted and oppressed And there are two
abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lye even as it hath been taught you ye shall abide in him Though they corrupt and pervert this Text that make use of it to the disannulling of all Ministerial teaching for if John had meant so to what purpose did he write this Epistle yet when God depriveth us of this help this Scripture affords support and comfort to the Saints that by the Spirit in them they shall be enabled to understand what he teacheth in the Word so as to abide in the Lord and in his Way as they have been taught Having then the Spirit for your principle and guide let the Word be your Rule and you shall keep the Way of the Lord according to that promise Isaiah 35.8 The wayfaring-men though fools shall not erre therein 3. Let the example of Christ be your pattern that you may keep the Way of the Lord set this Copy alwayes before you He always kept the Way of the Lord as he came down from Heaven to do the Will of his Father John 6.38 so he did alwayes those things that did please him John 8.29 He never departed in the least from the Way of the Lord He knew nâ— sin neither was guile found in his mouth If then you would keep the Way of the Lord learn of him follow him walk even as he walked Indeed in the things that are proper to Christ as God or as Mediator therein he is not to be imitated by us but in the things that he did or suffered as man he left us an example or pattern that we should follow his steps 2 Pet. 2.21 Hence that Exhortation of his Mat. 11.29 Learn of me for I am meâ—k and lowly in heart That then you may be directed as well as encouraged to keep the Way of the Lord look to Jesus and walk as you have him for an example Indeed the Apostle exhorts to walk as you have him for an example Phil. 3.17 But knowing that he could give you but an imperfect Copy he exhorts in that 1 Cor. 11.1 Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ It may be of good use to us to minde the examples of the Apostles and faithful Ministers of the Gospel that have walkt on in the Way of the Lord before us But forasmuch as there in none of them even Peter himself but went awry more or less therefore make the example of Christ your pattern Time will not permit to prosecute this at large I shall only offer some few particulars from the example of Christ to you such as may be most seasonable to further you in keeping the Way of the Lord. 1. It was the work and business of the Lord Jesus Christ to do the Will of his Father to do what pleased him As he came down from Heaven to do his Father's Will as you before heard from John 6.68 so he made it his work and business To this purpose is that Luke 2.49 How is it that ye sought me wist ye not that I must be about my Fathers business with that John 4.34 Jesus saith unto them My meat is to do the Will of him that sent me and to finish his work If then you will keep the Way of the Lord herein be ye followers of Christ let it be your work and business to do the Will of the Lord and to walk in all well-pleasing before him Let the Exhortation be in the words of the Apostle 1 Thes 4.1 Furthermore then we beseech you Brethren and exhort you That as you have received of us how you ought to walk and please God so ye would abound more and more 1. It was the practice of the Lord Jesus Christ to look on all the sufferings that came upon him as coming from the hand of his Father in accomplishment of his Word and therefore quietly to submit to them To this purpose is it that he tells Pilate in John 19.11 Thou couldst have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above He looks beyond Pilate to him that was above So John 18.11 The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it He overlooks the instruments and looks on his sufferings as a Cup put into his hand by his Father And as he observed the hand of his Father in the sufferings that came upon him so he takes notice that they are in accomplishment of Scripture Mat. 26.53 54. Thinkest thou that I could not now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more than twelve Legions of Angels but how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be and he takes notice that the Scripture had foretold that thus it must be and that he must suffer and enter into glory as he clears iâ— in that of Luke 24.25 26. Therefore though he prayed if it be possible as Matthew hath it and if thou be willing let this Cup pass from me as Luke hath it yet he quietly submits to his Father's Will with a Not my will but thine be done And as Mat. 26.42 If this Cup may not pass away except I drink it let thy will be done Thus you see how by looking to the Fathers hand he willingly submits to what sufferings came upon him That you may keep the Way of the Lord in the midst of all the sufferings you are like to meet with herein following the Lord Jesus Christ eying the hand of your gracious Father in all the sufferings that come upon you of what nature soever and by whomsoever inflicted and what ever may be the ends of those by whom you suffer yet that they are all ordered by him in accomplishment of his Word Do ye not believe this I know that ye do believe it by Faith therefore improve it for the quieting of your hearts in all your sufferings This is that the Apostle presseth the Saints unto in the 12th of the Hebrews where he taketh for granted that all kind of sufferings more especially such as come upon us by the contradiction of sinners are fatherly corrections from the Lord and so in accomplishment of the Word of God according unto that Psal 89.30 31. and therefore humbly to be submitted to so Heb. 12.9 10. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live for they verily for a few days chastened as after their pleasure but he for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness Seeing therefore whatsoever befalls you in the way of the Lord is by your Father's ordering in accomplishment of his Word for your profit that ye may be partakers of his Holiness submit your selves to him eye your Fathers hand and end and be quiet 3. It was the practice of Jesus Christ in his state
in white it hath left such a relish upon their souls that they would not lose it for all the dainty morsels of this world they had rather indeed walk with Christ in White than walk with the world in scarlet therefore they must stand upon their terms Prov. 10.32 The lips of the Righteous know what is acceptable The lips are instruments of speech not faculties of knowledge Ay but there is a great deal of commerce and converse between the speech and the understanding and a righteous man will speak nothing with his lips but what he understands therefore he is said to understand The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable to whom The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable to God for they are acquainted with his rule and God hath shown them his Covenant he hath shewed them the pattern of his House and the way of his Worship now because they are pretty well skilled and know what is acceptable to God therefore they will run any hazard undergo any affliction rather than do any thing that will not please God or be hurtful to their own consciences they are afraid of losing their peace and comfort and joy with God therefore they will not let go the ways of God as Job saith Job 26.6 I hold fast my integrity and my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live as if he had said You my friends have reproached me but I am resolved my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live The heart or Conscience is a busie faculty and hath many offices it records what we do and comes as a witness the Conscience is Judge of what we do and accordingly reproves what we do amiss therefore saith Job I 'le take care of this I am more afraid of the reproach of Conscience than of any man whatsoever therefore I will not do any thing that may cause my conscience to reproach me as long as I live This is upon the heart of Gods people they are resolved let men reproach and rail against them as much as they will their hearts shall not reproach them 3. In the third place let it be a word of Caution and Admonition to all at this day to take heed of defiling their garments if you defile your garments Christ will pronounce another sentence he will pronounce a sentence against you he hath threatnings for those who defile their garments in the place of rewards for those who keep them clean they who defile garments shall walk in garments of black in the black of dishonour as Job saith I walk all day mourning without the Sun the Sun of Righteousness shall not shine upon them Oh what bitter and sore things have many tasted for defiling their garments when for favour of men or to please men they have stained their own garments What sad bitter things have been upon them how hath Conscience risen up against them O take heed of the After-claps of Conscience I may say take heed of the Thunder-claps of conscience for they will come upon you one time or other if you defile your garments As they who to please men defile their garments often fall into their displeasure whose favour they sought so oftentimes such fall into displeasure with themselves or to be sure they shall at last there is many a one lives under the dis-favor of his own conscience many a one that his conscience will not give him a good word or a good look whence hath it been they have defiled their garments They who venture to do things displeasing to God shall not long be pleasing to themselves The story speaks of Francis Spira that to please men to save an estate he defiled his garments and he presently fell into rebuke of himself and lived under the rebuke of his conscience a long time Job 8.15 speaking of the hypocrite his hope shall be cut off the word signifies to loath so some translate his hope shall be a loathing to him he shall loath his hope There is a two-fold loathing First a loathing to repentance that is a gracious loathing a loathing our selves for our sins against God And there is a loathing of despair and that is the loathing there meant the Hypocrite shall loath his own hope that is he shall loath it despairingly 'T is an affliction to be loathed by men but 't is a dreadful judgement to be loathed of our selves despairingly this is the suburbs of Hell for this will be the portion of the damned for ever for their vanity for their madness 't is next to the Regions of Hell for their Worm dieth not and than is the Worm of Conscience Oh therefore take heed Conscience may be silent yea it may flatter for a time but when Conscience is provoked it will speak yea thunder There is no such thundering Preacher in the World as Conscience is the thundering of Mount Sinai is not like the thundering of our Conscience Fourthly and lastly let it be for exhortation and encouragement for Christ here makes it an encouragement so let this be an encouragement to keep our garments undefiled the remembrance that we shall walk with him in White in the White of peace and joy in this World who would not walk in this White who would not be among those who keep their garments White in the midst of a defiled and defiling World Let me give you but a three-fold consideration To stir you up to an exceeding exactness and carefulness not to defile your garments seeing there is such a reward promised such a habit of White promised as this White wherein we shall walk with Jesus Christ It is an Angelical happiness so much Heaven is come down upon ye while you have this white 'T is heaven before heaven Matth. 28.3 the Angel that came down to the Sepulchre of Christ his Raiment was white as the light The Martyrs when they had Angelical Apparitious they always appeared to them in white as one upon the Rack thought he felt an Angel supplying him while his enemies tormented him Christ calls the Pharisees whited Sepulchres they are whited but whited Sepulchres that is a woful condition to be whited like a Sepulchre Thus it is with those who defile themselves they are whited Walls and whited Sepulchres They that keep themselves White shall walk in White shall have Angelical Glory Secondly Consider this White or walking in White is such as conquers all the blackness of this World 't is not possible for the World to alter the colour of this White how much dirt soever they put upon it this White will be VVhite still they cannot turn it to be black they cannot take away this peace this joy from us they cannor strip us of this habit they may pull off your fine garments but you cannot be stript of this VVhite Your joy shall no man take from you 2 Cor. 6.20 As sorrowful yet always rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing yet
discovery of the estate of the Church in the burning and yet unconsumed Bush And herein take notice of three things 1. The lowness and weakness of the Church represented by a Bush 2. The cruelty of the Churches enemies signified and represented by Fire 1. The eminency of its preservation though in the Fire yet unconsumed And in this only take notice that the Church is compared to a Bush for two reasons 1. In regard of its deformity and blackness and imcomeliness 2. In regard of its weakness and brittleness The Church is uncomely in regard of sin and weak in regard of suffering and God sees it best that it should be thus with them to humble them and to shew his goodness to accept them and to love them and make them long for their future beauty and hereby God makes them more conformable to their Head hereby he makes them endeavour to look after inward beauty and glory hereby he puts them on a life of faith and takes them off from living by sense and creature-comforts and from being intangled with creature-comforts And hereby he shews how little he regards the beauty and glory of this life which he denies to the best of his people And hereby he shows that there is a better state of appearance and glory approaching and therefore the people of God are not to be censured under their blackness and deformity either in regard of fin or suffering their happiness is not to be judged by its outward appearance because this life is but the obscurity of the Church we see them like the Tents of Kedar but we do not see how like the Curtains of Solomon they shall be 2. The people of God should take heed of expecting that glory of this world which is not promised to them and to set their hearts on heaven And you may see the reason why wicked men stumble so much at the outside of Gods worship because there is no outward bravery and beauty to allure them to the true worship 2. The Church is compared to a Bush in regard of its weakness and brittleness Note that it is not compared to a strong sturdy Oak but to a weak brittle Bush God loves to bring his Church into a low estate and weak condition as it is here compared to a Bush so other-where to a Vine a Dove a Lamb and a Sheep all weak creatures Sometimes the Church is said to be fatherless and destitute and as our Lord Jesus Christ the head of the Church was said to be weak a worm and no man and as the Apostle said suffered through weakness And this makes them to trust in God and puts them to rest on his strength When we are weak then we are strong outward weakness will make us look the more to Christ for spiritual strength the weakness of our state doth shew the spiritual strength God gives to his people for the upholding of them And this weakness of his Church doth exceedingly confound his enemies when so weak a company shall be delivered not only against but by the strength of men and hereby God doth gain to himself the greater glory in their deliverance for remembring them in their weak estate Hereby the people of God are made the more thankful both for their preservation in and deliverance from their powerful adversaries You see here is a large field opened unto me for the discoursing upon the Churches weakness which whether it be more suitable to the Text or to the Times I leave to you to judge 2. Consider the cruelty of their opposition that is set forth and represented by the fire that burned in the Bush Afflictions and especially persecuting ones are in the Scripture frequently set out by fire as The fiery tryal the fire of afflictions This doth not only discover the rage and cruelty of men but also the benefit and utility that comes to the Church by affliction for the afflictions of the Church are not as consuming but trying fire as the fire in the furnace is to Gold it only takes away the dross not like the fire of Hell which hath heat without light but the School of persecution hath light as well as heat the School of affliction is the School of teaching God teacheth his Saints excellent Lessons by the light of that fire But I pass by that I might now insist upon the third thing 3. Consider the eminence of thâ—â—â—â—reservation It was not consumed the Church of God was hot but not altogether and wholly consumed let the fire be never so hot and spreading the Church of God shall have a being if the Church be less in one place it will be greater in another what it looses in one place it gets in another And God will have a Name among his people on earth A man may as well attempt to blow out the light of the Sun with a pair of bellows or batter it with snow-balls as to root the Church out of the world for it is impossible to root Christs Church out of the world And if you take notice of particular Believers it is not consumed in a way of hurting and destroying them and consider their graces are not consumed their welfare is not destroyed this fire cannot burn them up though it burn upon them but as he will mitigate and allay the fire so as that it shall not decrease their strength so he will cleanse his people by the fire so as it shall burn up nothing but their dross and what makes them offensive unto God what may make them hurtful to one another But I pass by these things to the second general Part viz. 2. Moses care to observe Gods admonition That he would turn aside and see this great sight why the Bush was not burnt Moses was an excellent Naturalist and yet here he was posed he could see no reason in nature by all the learning of the Egyptians how this thing should come to pass that a flaming fire should be in a brittle Bush and yet the Bush not consumed And yet I do not conceive as some Jesuitical Expositors upon the place do that Moses did turn aside so much out of curiosity as to understand what it was that God did intend by it and would have him to learn by it And doubtless when Gods works are great our observations should not be small when his providence is eminently lifted up we should not be cast down when the hand of God is upon us we must not shut our eyes I am very far from being a Fanatick and to give credit or be led by unscriptural Revelations but yet let me tell you the times wherein we live are strange times in regard of strange sights and apparitions and I question if there have not been some as wonderful as this in our times but I shall not now mention them though it be a forfeiture of your modesty to give a reason for them yet they do portend some strange things the hand of God
Sacraments it is a little gall imbitters a great deal of honey So where there is a little of this Gall of malice and hatred it imbittereth and spoileth all the honey of your Graces and Duties The Apostle bids us in prayer to lift up pure hands without wrath 1 Tim. 1.2 I will therefore that men pray every where lifting up pure hands without wrath and doubting What the Apostle speaketh of the duty of Prayer I may say of the Lords Supper when you come to see the Body and Blood of the Lord Lift up pure hands without malice bitterness and wrath That is a sad speech of Augustine He that is full of rancor and malice he is a man-slayer Nay the Apostle saith it in the first Epistle of John 3.15 Whosoever hateth his Brother is a murderer and ye know no murderer hath Eternal life abiding in him Do not think this Ordinance will profit you if you do not come in love to the Saints suppose a man drinketh down poison and afterwards taketh down a Cordial surely this Cordial will do him but little good so thou that drinkest down the poison of wrath and maliceÌ„ into thy soul and comest afterward to drink down the Cordial of Christs bloud in the Sacrament why certainly this Cordial will do thee but little good EXHORTATION Therefore to conclude by way of Exhortation I beseech you in the Lord that you would remember this Text this day when you come to the Lords Table read over this Lesson A new Commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you come to the Sacrament in love to Jesus Christ and in love one to another be not full of bitterness but full of bowels the primitive Saints were of one heart you all expect I know one Heaven and will you not be of one heart this I believe is a great reason why the Sacrament hath no more profited many receivers you know if there be a stopping at the stomack the meat taken in will never concoct and nourish why thou that hast wrath and anger and malice at thy heart there is an obstruction as it were at the stomach and therefore it is that the bread of life doth not nourish thy Soul Why Christians are not we all Souldiers under one Regiment under Jesus Christ the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah and Captain of our salvation Are not we all Branches of the same Vine and are we not all Members of the same Body and shall there be a schism or rent in the Body I shall only say this we should do all as the Serpent Naturalists observe the Serpent that before he goes to drink at the waters he casts up his poison so before you come to the Table of the Lords Supper cast up your poison of bitterness wrath and malice and then Christs bloud will be both a Medicine to heal you and a Julip to refresh you Mr. Watson's Afternoon-Sermon Aug. 17. 1662. 2. Cor. 7.1 Having these promises dearly Beloved let us cleanse our selves IT is the Title that I intend now by the help of God to insist upon that sweet Parenthesis in the Text Dearly Beloved wherein you have the Apostle breathing forth his affections unto this people he speaks now as a Pastor and he speaks to them of his spiritual Children Dearly Beloved where you have First the Title Dearly Beloved Secondly the Exhortation to Holiness Let us cleanse our selves Thirdly the means how we should be cleansed and sanctified Having these Promises It is the first of these that I intend the Title that the Apostle gives to his Children Dearly Beloved From hence observe this Doctrine That the affections of a right Gospel-Minister towards his People are very ardent Dearly Beloved there are two things in every Minister of Christ that are much exercised his Head and his Heart his Head with labour and his Heart with Love his Head with labour in the work of the Ministry if done aright it is a work fitter for Angels than for men it is our work to open the Oracles of God even those sacred profound things that the Angels search into and if God did not help us we might soon sink under the weight of such a burden and as a Ministers head is exercised with labour so his Heart is exercised with Love and it is hard to say which of the two exceeds his Labour or his Love Thus is it here in the Text My Dearly Beloved In these words we have St. Paul laying fiege to these Corinthians and labouring to make a happy victory to conquer them with Kindnesse Dearly Beloved St. Pauls heart was the spring of Love his lips were the Pipe the Corinthians were the Cistern into which this spring did run this Holy Apostle was a mirrour and a pattern of Love towards the sinning Corinthians Pauls tears did drop towards the praying Corinthians his Love did burn Holy Paul was a Seraphin his Heart did burn in a flame of affection to his People How many passages do we find scattered in his Epistles he tells his People which sometimes he did write to and sometimes he preached to he looked after their souls more than their silver 2 Cor. 12.14 We seek not yours but you as a tender Nurse cherisheth her child with the Brest so St. Paul gave his People the breast-milk of the Word in 1 Thess 2.7 this man of God did not onely bestow a Sermon upon his People but was willing to impart his very soul to them if it might save theirs 1 Thess 2.8 We were willing to have imparted to you our own souls because you are dear unto us Such was St. Pauls affection to his people that without a complement he loved them more than his life Phil. 2.17 and if I be offered upon the sacriâ—â—ce and service of your Faith I rejoyce with you all that is as if he had said if it be so that my bloud be poured forth as a sacrifice if my death may be any way serviceable unto you if it may help forward the strengthening and confirming of your Faith I am willing to die I rejoyce to do it so full of affection was this Apostle that he could not choose but love his people though the more he did love the less he should be loved In 2 Cor. 15. Oh! how did Paul sweeten all his Sermons with Love 2 Cor. 12. if he reproved fin yet he was angry in love he dipt the Pill in Sugar Gal. 4.9 10 11. How turn ye again to weak and beggarly Elements ye observe days and moneths and years I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed on you labour in vain Brethren I beseech you be as I am See how St. Paul chides their sins and yet at the same time courts their souls no sooner did he lanch the wound but presently he poured in Wine and Oyl into it so did Paul love his People that he would not justly give any offence to the weak Believer 1 Cor. 8.13 If
beautiful and glorious thing it is the Angels glory and shall we be ashamed of that which makes us like the Angels there is a time coming when wicked men would be glad of some of that holiness that now they despise but they shall be as far then from obtaining it as they are now from desiring it 17. Think not the better of sin because it is in fashion think not the better of impiety and ungodliness because most walk in those crooked ways Multitude is a foolish Argument Multitude doth not argue the goodness of a thing the Devils name is Legion that signifieth a multitude Hell-road is this day full of Travellers esteem not the better of sin because most go this way do we think the better of the Plague because it is common the plea of a multitude will not hold at Gods Bar when God shall ask you Why did you prophane my Sabbath why were you drunk why did you break your oath to say then Lord because most men did so will be a poor plea. God will say to you then seeing you have sinned with the multitude you shall now go to Hell with the multitude I beseech you as you tender your souls walk Antipodes to the corruptions of the times if you are living Fish swim against the stream dead Fish swim down the stream Ephes 5.11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them 18. In the business of Religion serve God with all your might Eccles 9.10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no device or work in the Grave whither thou goest This is an argument why we should do al we can for God serve him with all our strength because the Grave is very near and there is no praying no repenting in the Grave our time is but small and therefore our zeal for God should be great David Danced with all his might before the Ark and so should we act vigorously for God in the sphear of Obedience Rom. 12.12 Fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. Take heed of a dull lazy temper in Gods service you must not onely say a prayer or read a prayer but you must pour out your souls in prayer not onely love God but be sick of love to God God in the old Law would have the Coals put to the Incense Levit. 16.13 and why so to typifie that the Heart must be enflamed in the worship of God your prayers must go up with a flame of Devotion I confesse Hell will be taken without storm you may jump into Hell with ease but it is all up-hill to Heaven and therefore you must put forth all your might Mat. 12.11 The violent take Heaven by force Heaven is not taken but by storm do you not see men zealous and very active for the Devil and for their Lusts and shall they take pains for Hell and will not you take pains for Heaven 19. Do all the good you can while you live to others God hath made every Creature useful for us the Sun hath not its light for it self but for us the Fountains run freely and so doth the myrrh drop from the Tree every Creature doth as it were deny its self for us the Beast gives us its labor the Bird gives us its musick the Silk-worm its silk Now hath God made every thing useful for us and shall not we be useful one for another O labor to be helpful to the souls of others and to supply the wants of others Jesus Christ was a publick blessing in the World He went about doing good We are Members of the Body politick nay we are Members of the Body mystical and shall not every Member be helpful for the good of the body That is a dead Member that doth not communicate to the good of the body O labour to be useful to others while you live that so when you dye there may be a miss of you many live so unfruitfully that truly their life is scarce worth a prayer nor their death scarce worth a tear 20. Every day spend some thoughts upon Eternity O Eternity Eternity all of us here are ere long it may be some of us within a few days or hours to lanch forth into the Ocean of Eternity Eternity Eternity is status interminabilis says Boetius no Prospective-glass can see to the end of Eternity Eternity is a summ that can never be numbred a Line that can never be measured Eternity is a condition of everlasting misery or everlasting happiness if you are Godly then shall you be for ever happy you shall be always sunning your selves in the light of Gods countenance if you are wicked you shall be always miserable ever lying in the scalding furnace of the wrath of the Almighty Eternity to the godly is a day that hath no Sun-setting Eternity to the wicked is a night that hath no Sun-rising O I beseech you my brethren every day spend some time upon the thoughts of Eternity The serious thoughts of an Eternal condition would be a great means to promote Holiness 1. The thoughts of Eternity would make us very serious about our Souls O my Soul thou art very shortly to fly into Eternity a condition that can never be reversed or altered how serious would this make us about our Heaven-born souls Zeuxes being once asked why he was so long in drawing of a Picture answered Aeternitate pigno I am now painting for Eternity Oh how frequently would that man pray that thinks he is praying for Eternity Oh how accurately and circumspectly would that man live that thinks upon this moment hangs Eternity The thoughts of Eternity would make us slight and contemn all the things of this World what is the world to him that hath Eternity always in his eye Did we think seriously and solemnly of Eternity we should never over-value the comforts of the world nor over-grieve the crosses of the world 1. We should not over-value the comforts of the World worldly comforts are very sweet but they are very swift they are soon gone the pleasures of the World are but for a season just like Noah's Dove that brought an Olive-branch in her mouth but she had wings and so did presently fly from the Ark so are all outward comforts they bring an Olive-branch but they have wings too with which they flie away 1. The thoughts of Eternity would make us not to over-grieve the crosses and sufferings of the world What are these sufferings to Eternity Our sufferings says the Apostle are but for a while 1 Pet. 5.10 what are all the sufferings we can undergo in the world to Eternity Affliction may be lasting but it is not everlasting Our sufferings here are not worthy to be compared to an Eternal weight of Glory And thus my Beloved I have given you these twenty Directions for your precious souls I beseech you treasure them up as so many Jewels in the Cabinet of your breast Did you carry
you Oh! that I might drop in the Oyl of gladness into every broken heart and rejoyce every troubled spirit Oh here is good news from Heaven Say unto the Righteous it shall be well with him But here is a question must be answered You 'l say to me but how doth this appear that it shall he well with the Righteous for we often see it is the worst with them in this world he is deprived of his comfort many times he loses his very life in that quarrel he is made the very reproach of the world oftentimes how then is it well with the Righteous To this I answer yet still it is well with the Righteous though he meet with trouble in the world and one follows on the neck of another yet it is well with the Righteous as will appear in these three or four particulars 1. The troubles that the Righteous man meets with they turn to good and so it is well with him that is a most famous Scripture in Jer. 24.5 Whom I have sent out of this place unto the land of the Ghaldeans for their good Gods own Israel were transported into Babylon among their enemies but it is for their good saith the Lord. The troubles of the Righteous are a means to purge out their sin I have read a story of one who running at another with a sword to kill him by accident his sword run into an Imposthume and broke the Imposthume thus all the evils and troubles of the Righteous serve but to cure them of the Imposthume of pride to make them more humble when that the body of a Saint is afflicted his soul that revives and flourishes in Grace At Rome there was two Laurel-trees and when one withered the other did flourish so when the body is afflicted yet the soul that Laurel doth revive and flourish God doth distil our of the bitterest drink his Glory and our Salvation saith Jerome that that the world looks on as a punishment God makes a medicine to heal the sore why then it shall be well with the Righteous The rod of God upon a Saint is but only Gods pencil whereby he draweth his Image more lively on the soul God never strikes the strings of his Viol but to make the Musick sweet Then it is well with the Righteous 2. In the midst of all the trouble that doth befall the Righteous yet still it is well with them in regard of those inward heart-revivings that God doth give them We see a godly mans misery but we do not see his comfort we see his prison-gates but we do not hear the musick that is within his Conscience God doth sweeten to his People outward trouble with inward peace it is the Title that is given to God 2 Cor. 7.6 God that comforteth them that are cast down The Bee can gather honey as well from the thistle and from the bitter hearb as from the sweet flower the Child of God can gather joy out of sorrow out of the very carkass sometimes the Lord gives honey when the body is in pain the soul may be at ease as when a mans head akes yet his heart may be well thus it is well with the Righteous God gives him that inward comfort that revives and sweetens his outward pain 3. In the time of trouble and calamity yet still it is well with the Righteous because God doth cover his people in the time of trouble he hides them in the storm God hath a care to hide his Jewels and will not let them be carried away and thus he makes good that Scripture litterally Psal 91.4 He shall cover them with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust no evil shall touch thee God oftentimes verifies this Scripture litterally He makes his Angels to be his peoples life-guard to hide them and defend them when a floud was coming upon the world God provided an Ark to hide Noah when Israel is carried and transported into Babylon God hid Jeremiah and gave him his life for a prey Jer. 39.11 and in this sense the Saints of God are called hidden ones Psal 83.3 Why so not onely because they are hid in Gods decree and hid in Christs wounds but oftentimes God hides them in a time of danger and calamity they are hidden ones he reserved to himself seven thousand that had not bowed the knee to Baal The Prophet knew not where there was one but God knew there were seven thousand In this sense it is well with the righteous in time of publick misery I but you 'l say sometimes it fares yet worse then all this sometimes the righteous they die and perish they are carried away in a Tempest why yet still it is well with the Righteous and that in a two-fold sense 1. Many times God doth take away the Righteous by death and that in great mercy he takes them away that they shall not see the misery that comes upon a Nation Virgil the Heathen Poet saith They are happy that die before their Countrey his meaning was they die before they see the ruine of their Countrey and truly God many times takes away his people in mercy that they may not see the ruine that is coming on a Land you have in Scripture for this 1 King 14.13 He onely of Jeroboam shall come to the Grave in peace because in him there is found some good things towards the Lord God of Israel God puts him in his grave betimes in mercy because he should not see the evil coming upon the Land and there 's a parallel to this 2 King 12. last It is spoken of Josiah I will gather thee unto thy Fathers thou shalt be gathered unto thy Grave in peace and thine eyes shall not see the evil I will bring upon this place Josiah he dyed in Battel how then was it said he went to the Grave in peace We must understand the meaning of it is this Josiah went to his Grave in peace because he was a holy man and he had made his peace with God and so he went to his Grave in peace and because he should not see the evil approaching God gathered him to his Grave in peace Jerom speaking of his friend Nepotian you must observe Jerom lived to see some troubles before he died saith he Oh! how happy is my friend Nepotian that sees not these troubles but is got out of the storm dies and is arrived safe in Heaven Luther died in mercy before the trouble in Germany broke forth and thus you see the Righteous though they die yet it is well with them God takes them away in mercy that they may not see approaching evils 2. Though the Righteous die and are taken away yet it is well with them because death cannot hurt them Death can neither hurt their body nor yet their souls and then it is well with them 1. Death cannot hurt their bodies the body of a Saint it doth not perish though it die the bodies of the Saints
the Worm Conscience the 9 of Mark the 44 verse Where their worm never dieth Oh! how dreadful will it be to have this Worm Melancthon calls the tormenting Conscience A hellish fury Conscience will be just as if a Worm full of poyson were feeding upon the heart of a man Those Sinners that would never hear the voice of Conscience they shall feel the worm of Conscience And then Secondly As there is the Worm to torment so there is the Serpent that is the Devil who is called the Old Serpent Rev. 9. As there is the biting of the Worm so there is the stinging of the Old Serpent First of all The Damned shall be forced to behold the Devil I remember what Anselm saith saith he I had rather endure all the torments of this Life than see the Devil with bodily eyes But now this sight the wicked shall see whether they will or no and not only see but they shall feel the stinging of this Old Serpent the Devil Satan is full of rage against Mankind and will shew no mercy as he puts forth all his subtilty in tempting of man so he puts out all his crue'ty in tormenting of Mankind And this is not all There are two things to set out the Torments of Hell First These Agonies and Hell-convulsions they shall be for ever take that Scripture for proof Rev. 14.11 And the smoak of their Torment ascâ—nded for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night Thus it is in Hell they would dye but they cannot the wicked shall be always dying but never dead The smoak of the Furnace ascends for ever and ever Oh! who can endure thus to be ever upon the wrack this word eâ—â—â— breaks the heart Wicked men now think the Sabbaths long When will the Sabbath be over they think a Sermon long and think a Prayer long but oh how long will it be to lie in Hell for ever and ever after millions of years their Torments are as far from ended as at the first hour they began Secondly Which is another aggravation of Hell torment the damned in Hell have none to pitty them it is some comfort some ease to have our Friends to pity us in our sickness and want I but they have no friends Mercy will not pitty them Mercy is turned into Fury Christ will not pitty them he is no more an Advocate for them The Angels will not pity them but they rejoyce when they see the vengeance they insult and glory when they see the Justice of God executed upon his enemies Oh how sad is this to lie down in the scalding furnace of Gods wrath and none to pity them when they cry out God will laugh at them Oh! hear this all ye that go into sin It will be ill with the wicked Oh! therefore turn from your sins lest God tear you in pieces as a Lion and there be none to help you Now for Application Oh! what an affrighting Word is this to all wicked men that go on desperately to sin and add drunkenness to thirst never such an inundation of wickedness as now men sin as if they would spight God and dare him to punish them men sin so greedily as if they were afraid Hell gates would be shut up ere they come thither Oh! how manfully do many sin they go to Hell strongly in their wickedness Oh! these are in a sad condition Is it not sad at the hour of death and at the day of Judgement and after Judgement with them wicked men live Cursed and they die Damned sinners are the very mark that God will shoot at his standing mark and he never misses this mark you know what the Scripture saith There shall be weeping and there shall be gnashing of teeth And saith Latimer That is sad fare where weeping is the first course and gnashing of teeth is the second course Quest Whence is it that there is this gnashing of teeth Answ First it doth arise from the extremity of Torment the wicked suffer they are not able to bear it and know not how to avoid it Secondly The wicked gnash their teeth in Hell at the Godly to see them in Heaven them whom they persecuted and scoffed and jeered to see them in Heaven and themselves in Hell they are mad at it Luk. 13.18 When they shall see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and they themselves shutâ—ut they shall gnash their teeth at this How may this amaze a wicked man if all the curses in the Bible will make a man miserable he shall be made so The second Vse is this Take heed that none of you here be found amongst the number of the wicked take heed of being of this black Regiment that wears the Devils colours and fight under his Banner the sinner and the furnace shall never be parted Oh! take heed of those sins which will bring you to Hell fire There are saith Bernard fiery sins which bring men to Hell fire What are those fiery sins why the fire of malice the fire of passion and the fire of lust and concupisence and the fire of Revenge these fiery sins bring men to fiery plagues to Hell fire When you are tempted to any wickedness think with your selves O! how can I bear the fierceness of Gods wrath for ever how can I lie in the wine-press of Gods wrath for ever Oh! take heed of those sins that will bring you into this place of Torment I have read a story of a Virgin who being tempted by a young man to commit folly saith she unto him Grant me but one request and I will do what thou desirest what is that saith he Do but hold your finger one hour in this burning Candle no he would not do that Saith she Will not you for my sake hold your finger an hour in the Candle and will you have my soul lie burning in Hell for ever Thus she rebuked the Temptation Doth Satan tempt thee to wickedness hold out this Text as a shield to the Devil to quench his fiery Darts say thus Oh Satan do I embrace thy Temptations I must be under thy Tormenting to all Eternity Oh! therefore labour to be Righteous It shall be well with the Righteous But take heed of sin It shall be ill with the sinner I will conclude all with that saying of Austin When a man hath been vertuous his labour is gone but the pleasure remains when a man hath been wicked the pleasure is gone but the sting remains Mr. Lye's First Sermon August 17 1662. Phil. 4.1 Therefore my Brethren dearly Beloved and longed for my Joy and Crown so stand fast in the Lord my dearly Beloved MY Beloved I do very well remember that upon the 24th of this instant month in 1651. I was then under the sentence of banishment and that very day did I preach my Farewel Sermon to my people from whom I was banished because I would not swear against my King having
sworn to maintain his just Power and Honour and Greatness and now behold a second Trial then I could not forswear my self the God of Heaven keep me that I never may I am apt to think I could do any thing for this loving Congregation onely I cannot sin but since Beloved there is a sentence gone out against us that we that cannot subscribe must not subsist this is the last day that is prefixed to us to Preach I shall now speak to you God assisting me if my passion will give me leave just as if I would speak if I were immediately to die Therefore hearken my Brethren dearly Beloved and longed for my Joy and Crown so stand fast in the Lord my dearly Beloved Paul was now a prisoner at Rome for the Gospel of Christ 't was his second imprisonment and he was not far from being offered up a sacrifice for the Gospel he had preached This Gospel the Philippians had heard him preach and the godly Philippians having heard of his imprisonment they sent so far from Philippi to Rome to visit him and to supply his wants A gracious temper which I hope the Eternal God hath given the Saints in London and for which if for any thing God hath a blessing in store for them Paul is not so much concerned in his own bonds as in the Philippians Estate Epaphroditus tells him that there were Heresies and false doctrines got in amongst them but yet the Philippians stood fast and herein Paul rejoyces writes this Epistle bids them go on stand fast keep their ground and to be sure not to give an inch but to stand fast knowing that at long run their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. I shall without any more ado enter upon the Text in which you have two things considerable A most melting Compellation and a most serious Exhortation 1. A melting Compellation my Brethren dearly Beloved c. 2. A serious Exhortation and in it first the Matter of the Duty stand and stand it out and stand fast Secondly the Manner First So stand so as you have stood stand fast Second In the Lord stand so and stand in the Lord in the Lords strength and in the Lords cause to stand in your own strength would be the ready way to fall and to stand in your own cause for your own fancy would be the ready way to expose your selves to all manner of Temptations Therefore my brethren dearly Beloved in the Lord stand and so stand fast in the Lord my dearly Beloved In the next place by way of Observation from the words and if there be any wicked Catchers here let them know that I shall speak no more then I shall draw from and is the mind of my Text I would not give occasion to be a greater sufferer then I am like to be But for the words First For the Melting Compellation my Brethren my dearly Beloved Paul was an Apostle and an high Officer in the Church of God and he writ unto the Philippians to all the Philippians to the poorest of them and see how he bespeaks himself to them my Brethren from hence take this observation That the highest Officers in the Church of Christ though they are indeed by Office Rulers over them yet by Relation they are no more then Brethren to the meanest Saint Here we have no such Rabbies to whom we must swear because they say we must swear it Paul calls them Brethren and so writes to them Gal. 1.2 and James a Scriptural Officer one of the highest Apostles Christ ever made saith Hearken my beloved Brethren Jam. 2.5 So Peter an Apostle of Christ Wherefore the rather Brethren and John the beloved Disciple Brethren I write no New Commandment c. 1 John 2.7 Well then 1. If this be so that the highest Officer in the Church such as Christ approves of are but Brethren to the meanest Saint then certainly they are but Brethren to their fellow Officers If no more Relation to the Toe in the Body then no more to the Eyes If there be any of a light Spirit would bear Rule that love to have preheminence I would desire them to read two Scriptures the first is Luke 22.26 the second Mat. 26.27 Doth Christ say whosoever will be chief among you let him be one that will Domineer over your Estates over your Persons over your Consciencs doth not Christ say so no but Whosoever will be chief among you let him be your Minister let him be your servant Even as the Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to Minister and to give his life a Ransom for many You have this also Luke 22.25 And he said unto them the Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them i. e. over their slaves over their vassals but ye shall not be so but he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is chief as he that doth serve Sure if Paul be but a Brother to Philip then he is no more to Timothy 2. If the highest Officers in the Church of Christ be but Brethren to the meanest Saint then 't is not for those Brethren to Lord it over their fellow Brethren Lord it over Gods Heritage remember 't is Gods Heritage I hope your Consciences will bear me witness that I have laboured as much as in me lies to be a helper of your joy not to Lord it over your faith 2 Cor. 1.24 to press or cause you to believe this or that because I believe it if this may be allowed then may I turn Papist to morrow Saith Christ to him that would have had him speak to his Brother to divide the inheritance with him Man who made me a Judge over you Luk 12.14 So say I Man who made thee a Tyrant and Lord over thy fellow Brethren 1 Pet. 5.3 Neither as being Lords over Gods Heritage c. 3. If the highest Officers in the Church of Christ be but Brethren and no more then there should be no discord between those Brethren Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity and truly I may comfortably speak that and it is one of the greatest comforts I have in the World I hope we have lived together in love blessed be God Let us not fall out saith Abraham the elder to Lot his younger Cousin for we are Brethren Beloved the discords between Pastor and People have made the best musick in the ears of the Jesuits 4. Are Pastors nay the highest Officers that Jesus Christ hath and doth own in the Church but Brethren Oh! then let those Brethren if they will appear before the Bar of their Father in Heaven with comfort take care of offending the souls of Brethren for at the hand of every Brother God will require the soul of his Brother Ezek. 33.6 His Bloud will I require at the Watchmans hand We that are called by some the Dogs of the Flock what shall we
your affairs that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together not to pluck out one anothers throats no more of that but striving together not against one another but for the faith of the Gospel So 1 Cor. 15.58 Therefore my Brethren be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 'T is our Duty to stand But 2. Wherein must we stand fast I have no new Doctrine to preach now I shall but mind you of what I have formerly spoken when you would not believe I confess I do not begin to be of a new judgement now and should I be continued in the Ministry a mercy I can hardly hope for I should be of the same judgement and preach this Doctrine Stand fast God will certainly bring the people of God in England to his own terms or else fare them well for ever What is that we should be stedfast in I would advise to a stedfastness 1. Of Judgement 2. Of Resolution 3. Of Fatih 4. Of Conscience So stand fast in the Lord in your Judgement in your Resolution in your Faith in your Conscience 1. I would advise you to a stedfastness of Judgement Strange Doctrines are the greatest Fetters that do assault a sound Judgement they are like waves if they do not split they will shake the Ship to purpose therefore your way is to cast Anchor well to stand firm on the Rock of Truth I had almost said all in a word Protestant truth though the market may rise somewhat high yet stand firmly there while strange Doctrines like so many impetuous Waves are beating upon you break themselves in pieces they may but if you stand can never hurt you I am not to begin to warn you against Popery not that I have the lest reflexion on any thing in the World but on the Scriptures I am apt to think the wound of the beast must be healed however do not you spread a plaister for the Beast to heal his wound Be no more children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of Doctrine with every wind of windy Doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness that can cog the die notable Gamesters there are in the world but you must stand steady in judgement you must be firm to your principles I would have you Stars not Meteors for Meteors are carried about with every blast of wind I hope better things of you I shall pray God would make you stedfast in judgement First be sure to get good principles and secondly be sure to stand in those principles that you have got And though I cannot say but some Tares are sown among this Parish yet I bless the Lord for the generality I hope I may say I have an Orthodox Ministry 2. 'T is not enough to stand in judgement but we must be stedfast to our Resolution 1 Cor. 15.58 Be stedfast unmoveable such as stand firm on some basis and foundation that doth not totter and stagger if they find you staggering to be sure the next moment they look upon you as falling Be as they say of one or both of the poles of the heavens though all the world turns the poles are immoveable If I mistake not you may see a great turn in the world and behold at this day the greatest turn that ever was in England but yet you must not move you must not stir be true to your Resolutions but just to your first Love go on in the Lords work let nothing take you off If I have preached any false Doctrine among you witness against me at the day of Judgement but if the things I have preached be true stand to the truth if you do not witness against my Doctrine mine 't is not but rather witness for it remember if you leave it that very Doctrine will witness against you at the day of judgement Oh! the excellent Heroe Queen Hester thus and thus will I do and if I perish I perish You cannot imagine against how many thousand temptations a stedfast resolution will guard you 3. There 's a Stedfastness of Faith too when we so believe as that we do not waver or do not deviate Will you give me leave to propose to you my dear friends though my Congregation I cannot call you that question which our Saviour did unto the Jews whom he hated though I love you The Baptism of John whence was it from Heaven or of men The Doctrines you have heard have they been from Heaven or from men Answer me if from men abhor them man is a false Creature man would make merchandize of your faith and Souls but if from Heaven why then should you not believe them I bless the Lord my Conscience bears me witness I never did so far propose a Doctrine to you I would have you believe without Scripture if the Doctrines have been from God believe them if not abhor them and any of those that shall dare to bring a Doctrine but dare not bring the Authority of the Scripture to warrant them You may not be like those in Jam. 1.6 That wavereth like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed The most godly man may stumble in his way i. e. tread awry but a wavering minded man is never setled concerning this way Blessed be God I am not now on this day that looks as like my dying day as can be in the World to begin to fix upon a Religion fix upon my way I know my way if God will but keep my steps and guide me in that way If God be God I appeal to your Consciences worship him if Baal be God worship him do not stand in disputing and doubting do not say shall I shall I if the ways you have found be the ways of God follow them God hath but one way to Heaven there is but one truth if Baal be God follow Baal do not stand wavering do not consult with flesh and bloud t is an infinite mercy that God will give any of us to leave Relations Estates Congregations any thing for Christ 't is an infinite mercy we do not split upon a Rock Be sure to be either for God or Baal a godly man many times halts in his way but never halts between two opinions 4. Stedfastness of Conscience Indeed the genious of my Ministry hath lain this way and here I could casily lanch out but I must be short I would speak a word in season to those that are weak it becomes you to be stedfast in conscience then have a God-decreeing a Christ-redeeming a Spirit-quickening a Gospel-promising a Heaven-prepared a God infinitely more ready to save him then he can possibly be desirous to be saved by him Be stedfast in Conscience against the guilt the filth of sin against the temptations of Satan c. Let us draw near with full assurancee of Faith you can never believe Gods
you may play fast and loose with man you must not think ever to carry it away by playing fast and loose with God 4. If you should not stand you lose all you have wrought all your prayers tears professions practises sufferings are all gone if you give out at last c 5. While you stand by God God hath promised to stand by you and the truth is I have but one God it is no great matter for all the tiles in Worms There be a thousand Devils but all those Devils are in one chain and the end of that chain is in the hand of one God Oh! God will shew himself strong 2 Cor. 1.6 9. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him Quest But what shall I do to stand Answ 1. If ever you would stand if ever you woul'd be firm standing Christians indeed take heed you be not light and proud Christians a feather will never stand against a whirl wind error and profaneness are most apt to breed in proud hearts The Proud and Blasphemers are put together 2 Tim 2.2 Be but humble Christians that 's the way to be standing ready Christians if ever you would be steady in your stations you must below in your own eyes do not you go and judge And now we shall have another kind of Religion come up as we have had it a great while such a man cannot be an honest man alas he is a Presbyterian he is an Independant he is an Anabaptist c. Now all your great business will be such a man cannot be good an honest man for he doth not Conform on the other side he cannot be an honest man for he doth Conform These are poor things I bless God I lay not the stress of my salvation upon on these It is true I cannot in conscience conform but I do not lay the stress of Salvation on it as I did not lay the stress of my Salvation on my being a Presbyterian I confess I am so and have been it hath been my unhappiness to be always on the sinking side yet I lay not the stress of my Salvation upon it It is my Conscience but it may be I have not so much light as another man and I profess in the presence of God could I conform without sin to my own Conscience I would if I should do any thing against my conscience I should sin and break my peace and conscience and all and never see good day do not then spend the strength of your zeal for your Religion in censuring others That man that is most busie in censuring others is always least employed in examining himself Remember good John Bradford he would not censure Bonner nor Gardner but saith he they called Jo. Bradford the hypocritical Jo. Bradford c. I do not speak this as though I can or did in Conscience approve of those things for which I must suffer that I cannot approve of them but take off people from those things that are so far from the foundation look you but to the main things look into your own hearts examine them and then you need not be much perswaded to look about to others 2. You must take heed you be not loose Christians will you remember one thing from me the God of Heaven grant you never live to see it verified a loose Protestant is one of the fittest persons in the world to make a strict Papist Tell me not of his Protestantism being a drunkard it is because his King or Countrey are Protestants where they live There is no Religion in a loose liver if ungodliness be in the heart it is no difficult thing for error to get into the heart A loose heart can best comply with loose principles see if they will not be of any Religion in the world that 's uppermost let the Turk prevail they would soon be of his Religion 3. Take heed of being a worldly Christian Oh! this is the David that hath slain his ten thousands A worldly heart will be bought and sold upon every turn to serve the Devils turn Come to a worldly heart and but promise him thirty pieces of silver he will betray his Saviour The Temptations of the world are great upon us at this time you that are Husbands and Parents know it the world is a great temptation but if we be overcome by the world and the world not overcome by us we shall never be able to overcome any one Temptation that is offered to us Therefore that 's an admirable support In the world you shall have Tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world I have overcome the world for you and likewise I have overcome the world in you Oh Lord if thou wilt but overcome the love and fear of the world if thou wilt but arm us against the smiles of the world then come what will we shall stand stedfast 4. Take heed you be not Hypocritical Christians i.e. take heed you do not receive the Truth and onely the Truth and not receive the Truth in the love of that Truth Thess 3.10 You have received the Truth but have you received the Truth in the love of that Truth which you have received want of this is that damnable occasion to Popery And with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved c. It is just with God that they should fall into errors whose hearts did never love real Truths better never received the Truth then to receive it and not in the love of it 5. Take heed of being ventrous and God-tempting Christians What is that when do I tempt God I tempt God when I run into a Pest-house and say God will preserve me from the Plague Take heed of running upon temptations to sin whether it be in principles or in practice I could tell you of two Spiritual Pest-houses in England if I had time for principles one and for practice another I do not say that I mean Play-houses on the one hand or Mass-houses on the other hand Certainly Brethren I read of Julian that wicked bloudy Apostate that he sunk into that his Apostacy first by going to hear Libanius preach mistake me not I am not against your going to hear the Ministers of Christ for a man may be a true Minister though he be a bad man all the World can never answer the instance of Judas who was a true Minister though a bad man while I plead for the truth of his Ministry I do not spread a skirt over the wickedness of his life The Scribes and Pharisees set in Moses chair hear them But that which I mainly aim at is this do not you go and run and venture your selves upon temptations you have heard of a superstitions or idolatrous Worship you have a months mind
the censures of a crooked generation A Christians zeal should be like winter fire that burns the hottest when the air is coolest or like the Lilly that looketh beautiful though among thorns so should a child of God though among sinners Fifthly In all conditions choose suffering rather than sinning If ever you would have peace choose suffering rather than sinning he that values peace with God or peace with conscience he must make this his choice Daniel rather chose to be cast to Lions than to lose the peace of his conscience the three Children chose rather to burn in the Furnace than to bow to the Image One said He would rather go to Hell free from sin than to live in Heaven with guilt on his Conscience My brethren let me a little enlarge because sufferings may overtake us for Persecution is the genius of the Gospel therefore let me leave for short Rules with you concerning sufferings See that your Cause be good your Call be clear your Spirit meek and your End right Sufferings cannot bring our peace without either of them but with them all our sufferings shall be peace First Let your Cause be good It s not the Bloud but the Cause that makes a Martyr it is not for every cause a Christian should engage to suffer every cause will no more bear suffering than every little stream will bear a ship nor will Christ let go sweetness to every suffering 1 Pet. 4.15 Let none of you suffer as a Murderer or as a Thief or as an Evil-doer or as a Busie-body in other mens matters To suffer thus is neither Christian-like nor comfortable some suffer rather as Malefactors than as Christs Martyrs Secondly Let your Call be clear It 's not amiss to have a good cause without a Call some may suffer for the cause of God and yet sin in suffering for want of a Call Christ calls not all to suffer to some it is given to others it is not if thy Call be clear thy Peace will be sweet though thy sufferings be never so great But you will say how shall I know when I am called to suffer Answ 1. When Truth suffers by our silence then are we called to suffer 2. When our lives will be the denial of Christ then are we called to deny our lives for Christ 3. When sin and suffering surrounds us that we cannot get out but we must either run through sin or suffering then I may safely conclude That Christ calleth me to suffer and in this cause we may expect the peace and sweetness of his presence Thirdly The third direction for suffering is this Our spirit must be meek so was Christ he went as a Lamb to the slaughter It is possible a man may be right in his cause and yet sinful in his carriage and if so no wonder if Christ be not sweet to us To be fierce and raging and reviling in suffering it is not becoming humanity and therefore much less like Christianity A Christian should be like Christ Act. 5.41 And they departed from the presence of the Council rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name .. It becomes those that are found in the spirit to give blessing for cursing the more of Christs spirit is in our sufferings the more comfort and joy we shall receive from our sufferings Fourthly See that your End in suffering be right If it be self or singularity or schism then Christ cannot be sweet to thee Some have died that their Ends may live Socrates died in the defence of the Truth and to prove that there is but one God but whether he died for Honour Applause or for Gods sake I think it is not hard to determine But let thy Cause be good thy Call clear thy Spirit meek and thy End right and then you shall have peace in all your sufferings that is the fifth thing Choose sufferings rather than sinning Sixthly If you would have peace be much in studying the Scriptures for as God is the God of Peace and Christ the Prince of Peace so the Gospel is the Gospel of Peace which God hath given to thee to lead thee in the ways of peace Great peace have they that love thy Laws Seventhly Take heed of Apostacy either in Doctrine or Principles Though a Believer is freed from Apostacy in the state of grace yet he is not freed from Apostacy in the degrees of grace He may fall sinfully though he cannot fall finally Demas fell by one St. Peter by the other Pray with David Psal 17.5 Hold up my goings in thy paths that c. Eighthly Make the Word of God your rule in all things be sure you have a Scripture warrant for all your practises but especially keep close to Scripture in matters of Gods worship There are endless discourses about the Mode of Gods worship I have no disputing time It is good in difficult cases always to take the surest side for instance if I follow the traditions of man for the worship of God I may but if I keep close to the directions of God in the Scripture I am sure I cannot sin for this is the sure word of Prophecy to which you do well to take heed therefore in such a doubltful case Gods will is that we take the surest side go to the Law and to the Testimony labour to be fruitful and grounded Christians Ninthly Keep up the power of Godliness do not let Religion down into a lifeless formality The righteous shall flourish like a Palm-tree He shall grow like a Cedar in Lebanon those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God Psal 92.12 13. My Brethren it is as much a duty in them that have grace to improve it as for them that have no grace to get it If you sit under the daily means the daily waterings of God and do not grow do you think this will be peace in the latter end surely no my Brethren your fruitfulness under the Gospel is of very great concernment It 's unfruitfulness that makes God lay his Vineyard waste It 's fruitfulness that procures the forwarding of your account in the day of grace Tenthly Observe that excellent rule of the Apostle Phil. 4.8 Finally brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there any praise think on these things And now my Brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of God that is infinitely able to make you wise to salvation with this Benediction which I shall make my Valediction Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ Mr. Calamy's Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. Ash Isaiah 57.1 The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous are
taken away from the evil to come WE are here met this Evening to perform the last office of Love for an eminent and ancient servant of Jesus Christ and excellent Minister of the Gospel Mr. Simeon Ash one who hath formerly performed this office for many other Ministers and now we are met to perform this office for him and it is not long before others will meet to perform the same office for us so frail so brittle and so uncertain is the life of man Now the Text that I have chosen is suitable for this occasion for this Reverend Minister was first a righteous man he was righteous in an Eva gelical sense he was one that was justified and sanctified Secondly he was a merciful man both in active and passive sense he was one that shewed mercy to the distressed Members of Jesus Christ and he was one to whom God shewed mercy this righteous and merciful man is now perished as to his outward condition not as to his everlasting condition but as to his outward bodily condition he is perished and he is taken away the word in the Hebrew is very emphatical merciful men Colliguntur are gathered it is the same word that is used concerning Josiah 2 Kin. 22.10 Thou shalt be gathered to thy Fathers and go to thy grave in peace and shalt not see the evil that I will bring upon this Nation This godly and righteous man is now gathered as ripe Corn into the Barn of Heaven he is taken away from the evil that is to come from beholding that evil that is to come upon this sinful world he is taken away in mercy that he may not be troubled with the troubles that are comming upon many he is taken away from the evil to come And thus you see how suitable the Text is to the occasion there is only one particular that I desire may prove unsuitable for the righteous and merciful man saith the Text perisheth and no man considers nor layes it to heart These words are verba commentantis objurgantis the words of the Prophet bemoaning the spiritual security of the people of Israel chiding and reproving them for their spiritual Lethargy Now I desire that this part may not prove sutable but that all of you may lay to heart the death of this ancient merciful and righteous man The Observations from the words are these six First That the righteous man must perish as well as the unrighteous Secondly That the perishing of a righteous man is nothing but his gathering to God Christ and the blessed company of Saints and Angels Thirdly A righteous man as long as he lives is the preservative of a Nation and the supporter of a Kingdom the Chariots and Horse-men of a Nation Fourthly The death of a righteous man is a warning-piece from Heaven a Beacon set on sire to give notice of evil approaching Fifthly That God doth on purpose take away righteous men that they might not see the evil that is coming on a Nation Sixthly That it is a great and common sin not to consider and lay to heart the death of a righteous man 1. It is a common fin and therefore it is set down in the greatest latitude the righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart that is very few And merciful men are taken away no man considering that is very few 2. It is a great sin and therefore the Prophet Jeremy in the former Chapter calls to all the beasts of the field to devour that is all the Enemies of the Church to destroy the Children of Israel because they drank strong drink filling themselves with merriment and promised themselves happy dayes but did not consider that the righteous were taken away from the evil to come He begin with the first that the righteous perish as well as the unrighteous How is it that the righteous perish not in their soul they cannot perish so nay the truth is they cannot perish properly in their bodies for the bodies of the Saints never totally and finally perish for the very dust of the Saints in the grave is precious in Gods sight and they are asleep in Jesus and by the power of Jesus Christ they shall be raised glorious bodies Nothing perisheth of a righteous man by death totally finally but sin and therefore the meaning of the word is as Musculus and Justin Martyr observe perit perisheth that is not according to the truth of the thing but according to the opinion of the world and the proper language of his expression is this the righteous perisheth that is the righteous must dye and go down to the house of rottenness as well as others and that up upon a fore-fold account First Because the righteous are included within the statute of death as well as the unrighteous statutum est Heb. 9.27 It is appointed for all men ance to dye the righteous as well as the unrighteous it is true Jesus Christ hath taken away the hurt of death but not death it self Jesus Christ hath disarmed death made death like the Viper that fastened upon Pauls hand but did not hurt him he hath made it like the brazen Serpent that hath no sting but a healing power in it Christ hath sanctified death conquered and sweetned death at the present we are all under the statute of death but at last this enemy shall be destroyed 2 Cor. 15. ult 2. The righteous consist of perishing principles as well as the unrighteous the righteous are earthly vessels made of dust I their foundation is in the dust their lives are a vapour as well as the lives of the unrighteous 3. The righteous must dye as well as others because they have a body of sin which they carry about them for there is no man so wise that lives and sins not Eccles 7.10 wherefore there is that which deserves death in a righteous man Lastly and especially The righteous perish upon a peculiar account For if we have hope only in this life saith the Apostle we are of all men most miserable and therefore they must perish to keep them from perishing they must say as Themistocles Perissem nisi periissem they must dye that they may rest from their labour for here is not our rest Mich. 2.10 there remaineth a rest for the people of God there is no rest in this world the word quies wants the plural number 2. The righteous must die that they may have their reward their crown of glory that God hath laid up for them they must first fight the good fight and finish their course and then they shall receive a crown of glory 3. They must dye that they may be free from sin for they shall never put off the body of sin till they put off the body of the flesh 4. They must dye that mortality may be swallowed up of life that corruption may put on incorruption 5. They must dye that they may be perfect in grace Lastly They must dye that
Christ was your Laws and Customs above or below my Word Must your Law be ruled by my Word or my Word by your Dâ—ctrine Did not all Christians hold out this that the Word of Christ was above all authority in the matters of Christ Shall the Members of the Body become greater than the Head Therefore you could not be ignorant in this case your own professing me to be so great in all my Natures and Offices but when you come to practice then you will deny me Shall we be able to answer this We must consider of this that if we would please God it must be through Christ and then we must carry our sâ—lves as directed by Christ Jesus in his Word and nothing can take us off that principle no pretence whatsoever for Christian Religion is such a thing in the nature and substance of it as Jesus Christ is the Author of Therefore if Christ be the Author all that belongs to Christian Religion as to its substance we should account nothing of moment in Religion but only that which we can ascribe to Christ as the Author of it The care of the Church is in the hand of Christ whatsoever providences are let in on the Church to exercise or try the Church all must be born patiently but every Member must worship him God hath made Jesus Christ a Shepherd c. In what he finds fault we must not justifie what he commands we must approve what he calls to be done we must practise what is not his we must not own as his Much may be drawn from this both for instruction and consolation that Christ is the great Shepherd though he die in his Members he shall rise in his Members I may say though he die in his Ministers he shall rise in his Ministers Isa 59.21 As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor cut of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever This is a part of the Covenant that the Word and Spirit of Christ shall be continued among the Members throughout all Ages God will provide his children shall not live without a Spirit neither without his Word God hath engaged himself for both for the one as well as the other that there shall be a super-addition and perpetuating of them and herein we must depend upon the faithfulness of the great Shepherd of the sheep Mr. Venning's Farewel-Sermon Heb. 10. Verse 23. Let us hold fast the Profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised THat Christians are greatly concerned not only to believe and to make Profession of their belief but to hold fast their faith and the Profession of it is that which I have already proved unto you the several Obligations that lie upon Christians hereunto have been in one or two Sermons handling among you the great Obligation here annexed is for he is faithful that hath promised From whence and from other places of Scripture I have deduced several Arguments and propounded them unto you the last of which was this None can promise us better than God can none can threaten us worse than God can and therefore it concerns us to hold fast If any man can do more for you or against you than God can leave God and cleave to that person but seeing that is impossible let it be as impossible for you to leave God Can any body promise you better than Heaven and that God hath promised to them that do believe Can any threaten you with worse than Hell and that God hath threatned to them that do not believe I shall now proceed to touch the remaining Arguments that are behind and give you a few helps with which I shall conclude this discourse at this time I pray God I may not say Preaching too There are several Arguments to be drawn First From the Subject concerned Vs Secondly From the Object the Profession of our Faith And Thirdly From the Act with the Qualifications Hold fast without wavering First From the subject concerned Vs Let us hold fast whatever others do if they let go Faith and God and Heaven and Souls and All yet let us hold fast Whatever the Apostle speaks of or to Believers there is a very great Emphasis in the word we or us as in the first of Tim. 6.8 saith he Having Food and Raiment let us be content Indeed he might have said let every man be content but the Emphasis lies in the us if no body else will be content yet let us for a Christian lies under more Obligations to all manner of vertue than any other man doth If Nature will not be content with little yet let Grace Let us be content So here let us hold fast our Profession It may be others will let it go I but let us hold it fast let us among whom let us upon whom let us in whom such mighty things have been done by God let us hold fast or else it will be an intolerable upbraid and condemnation to us That it will be both see but two Texts of Scripture the first is in Mat. 11.20 21. Then began he that is Christ to upbraid the Cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they repented not Wo unto thee Chorazin wo unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in Sackcloath and Ashes but I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of Judgment than for you And thou Capernaum which art exalted unto Heaven shalt be brought down unto Hell for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained until this day But I say unto thee that it shall be more tollerable for the land of Sodom at the day of judgment than for thee Pray do but mark what an upbraid their is and what ground because mightier works had been done among these than among others Now it seems to be a little excusable that they where these mighty works had not been done did not repent and therefore their punishment shall be more tollerable but it will be more inexcusable for them among whom less mighty works have been done If they do not comply with the design of God their condition will be far more intollerable They that have been lifted up to Heaven as it were that have as it were seen Christ crucified before there eyes for them to Apostatize and turn away from Châ—ist of how much sorer punishment shall they be thought worthy Certainly thâ—se very persons that have great and mighty works done among them upon them too great Convictions and strong Resolutions and yet they shall Apostatize Oh! how will God upbraid
but then secondly A second Argument in the Text shall be drawn from the Object and that is two-fold there is faith and the profession of this faith that is to be held fast and there are Arguments from both First Faith hold fast faith why are we so greatly concerned and so highly obliged to hold fast Faith I will give you this one reason for it it is the most holy Faith There are many things may be called Faith that may not be called most holy Faith there are many faiths that are at least called holy Turkish faith is by them called holy faith the Romish faith is by them called holy faith I but this is the most holy faith there is an expression that Jude hath to commend faith to us in the 20 verse of his Epistle But ye beloved building up your selves on your most holy faith c. Let other pretenders be as holy as they can they can never rise to the holiness of this this is the most holy faith it is so holy in so high a degree as to be beyond compare I but now what is it that may denominate this faith to be the most holy faith why it hath for its Author the most holy God it is the gift of God and the work of God if we take it for the Act of faith and the doctrine of God if we take it for the doctrine of faith There are as the Apostle saith gods many but we know but one most holy God there are that will be called your Holiness in the world but this is the most holy God a God that is glorious in holiness yea whose glory is to be holy There is nothing stamps glory on any subject like holiness what is the difference between the Angels in Heaven and the Angels in Hell but Holiness that is their glory the the holy Angels and that is their shame the sinful Angels and what was it that made Canaan a better land than another was it not the holiness it was the holy Land what was it that made the Temple a better place than another was it not because it was the holy Temple Yea it is the glory of all the Attributes of God that they are holy His Justice would look like severity but that it is holy His Power would look like Tyranny were it not holy His Love would look like fondness were it not holy His Patience would look like a toleration of sin were it not holy therefore it is said the Lord God glorious in holiness Now this most holy God is the Author of this Faith and so it is a most holy faith it being the Word of the most holy God and will you leave and not hold fast this most holy Faith But then besides It may be â—aid to be the most holy faith in this sence too that it is its nature where ever it comes to make the subject in whom it is most holy saith the Apostle you hath God chosen to wit by Faith to be a peculiar people a holy Nation Acts 15.2 it is said He hath purified their hearts by faith and he will give them an â—nheritance among them that are sanctified by faith It may be called the most Holy Faith in these two respects First Considering the operation and effects it hath upon the hearts and lives of them in whom it is it makes them a holy People beyond all the people in the world And then upon this account too as to the uhimate effects of it that it admits us into the most holy places You know the Holy of Holies in the Temple was a Type of Heaven and Jesus Christ is said to enter into the Holy of Holies that is into Heaven Now this doth admit us into the most holy place where the most holy God is saith the Apostle Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the bloud of Jesus Alas in the time of old they could go but into the outward court but now saith he We have all this boldness to enter into the most holy place by the bloud of Jesus Shall we leave such a Faith as this shall we not hold fast the most holy Faith that is from the most holy God that makes the most holy people and that admits us into the most holy place Where do we find such another Faith as this is if you leave this Faith that is so good in it self a Faith that doth so much good to us and which is better that makes us so good for it is much better to be made good than to have good done unto us and beloved what will it avail us if God should do us good all our days if we be not made good if we should have the good of health and wealth and long life and yet not be made good all this while it avails us not now this is the nature of Faith it is good in it self it doth good to us and it makes us good therefore beloved let us not lay it aside until we can find a better and that we shall never do unless we can find any thing more holy than God But secondly The second Branch of the Object is the Profession of our Faith It seems Beloved it is not enough to hold fast our Faith only but the Profession of it why so truly there is this in it the profession of faith is as necessary as the faith it self mark that See this from the mouth of that great Apostle I may say from the mouth of God himself Rom. 10.9 10. That if thou shalt with thy mouth confess thy Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation An unprofessed Faith hath no salvation annexed to it you see the Scripture maketh it as necessary to our salvation to profess our believing as to believe Now beloved if it be necessary to believe and necessary to profess it s then necessary to hold fast Faith and consequently as necessary to hold fast the profession thereof without Faith there is no salvation faith the Scripture and saith this Scripture without the profession of this Faith there is no Salvation now to say I will keep faith I will only part with a little profession it is all one in Scripture as to part with Faith it self for why the Scripture faith If thou believe with thy heart and confess with thy mouth thou shalt be saved so that as long as faith continues profession is to continue or there is no salvation faith without profession will do no more for you than profession without faith therefore observe what the Apostle speaks Heb. 3.13 saith he We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end not else Thirdly A third Argument is drawn from the act with the qualifications let 's hold fast without wavering Now there
Be stedfast and unmoveable knowing that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Mal. 3.13 there is the like instance Your words have been stout against me saith the Lord yet ye say what have we spoken so much against thee this God is always quarrelling with us and laying things to our charge what have we said in the 14 verse Ye said it is in vain to serve God and what prosit is it that we have kept his Ordinances we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts and now we call the proud happy yea they that work wickedness are set up yea they that tempt God are even delivered well now what follows They they that feared the Lord spake often one to another as if they had said let not these things take any thing off the edge of our affections or quench any flame of our love did God take any notice of this now that he had any such friends in the world yes saith he God hearkned and heard and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name and they shall be mine saith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my Jewels and I will spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him there is a time coming the day will declare whether it be serving God or the Devil well then beloved as ever you would hold fast the profession of your Faith take heed of the error of the wicked never think it vain to serve God though you may lose bâ— it for if ye lose for him ye shall never lose by him Thirdly Would you hold fast the Profession of your Faith then lay up the word of Faith in a good and honest heart Luke 8.15 It is said there of the good ground they are they which have heard the Word kept it or hold it fast where do they lay it up now in a good and honest heart so that you must pull out his heart before that you can pull out the Word and will any man suffer his heart to be torn from him you never hold it fast till you lay it up in a good and honest heart if it be only in the hands as a Bible in your hands or in the head it will be gone but if it be in your hearts you will never let it go therefore observe saith he Having heard it they keep it and hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bring forth fruit with patience they had a great deal of sufferings to bring with patience for if they were not under suffering what need were there of patience Well beloved consider a little further as to this the Connection between the verse preceding the Text and the Text saith he Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled with a pure conscience and our bodies washed with pure water Let us hold fast the profession of our faith the purity of the heart is the best preservative of the Faith 1 Tim. 3.9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience a good and honest heart will never part with the mysteries of faith Lastly Would you hold fast the profession of your Faith then look much to and often consider Jesus Christ the Author and finisher of your Faith David had got the faculty of walking with God and how was it saith he I will keep thy loving kindness before mine eyes that I may walk with thee Oh! if we do but keep the loving kindness of God in Jesus Christ before our eyes we shall certainly keep the faith Saith the Apostle having a high Priest over the House of God let us draw near and let us hold fast a high Priest that is Jesus Christ our great high Priest Heb. 3.1 Wherefore holy Brethren he partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle and high Priest of our Profession Christ Jesus Heb. 4.14 Seeing then that ye have a great high Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our Profession Heb. 12.2 Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despised the Shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God! Oh! let us be thinking of and looking to this Jesus You will say what shall we think of him Oh! think of this condescension in the world of that vouchsafement which as was never the like of his how he humbled himself and suffered being God for man Think how he became poor that was rich that we that were poor might become rich think how he became a curse think how he became sin for us think what a good Confession he made before Pontius Pilate even to death and was obedient to the death Think how he conquered death by dying and how he rose again by his Almighty power and ascended into Heaven and ever lives to make intercession for those that come to the Father through him Think how he lived here on earth in a sad condition and joyed in it so that it might be for our good and shall we leave such a Christ as this Oh! can you look upon Christ and leave the Profession of your Faith It cannot be keep Christ before your eyes make him your pattern and you will not you cannot do amiss He that saith he abides in him ought to walk as he walked he walked in obedience all his days and was obedient to the death So must we we must walk in all obedience all our days though we dye for being obedient You see now how many Arguments there are for our holding fast the Profession of our Faith There are many now that might be added but the time is past therefore I shall shut up all in the words of Jude from the 20 ver of this Epistle to the end But you Beloved building up your selves on your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life and of some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flesh Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God and Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power now and for ever Amen Mr. Matthew Newcomen His Farewel-Sermon Preached at Dedham in Essex Aug. 20.1662 Rev. 3. Verse 3. Remember therefore how thou hast received heard and held fast and repent I Began this Scripture the last Lords day in this Congregation I told you then there were three Doctrines obvious in the Text the first was Doct. 1. That it is the Duty of Christians to remember those Truths that they have heard and received Doct. 2.
confess if you will keep your garments clean and undefiled with the mark of the Beast it may be you may come under shrewd temptations yet I entreat you as a dying man as you love your souls and for Gods sake flee from Idolatry notwithstanding your temptations that happen to you he will suppâ—rt you if you flee and withstand the thing you are tempted to 1 Cor. 10. verse 13. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful and will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able to bear but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it Now see what use the Apostle makes of this promise in the next Verse he follows with these words Wherefore my dearly beloved flee from Idolatry Seeing God will uphold us let us withstand any temptations to this end that God may uphold us This is the second Caution Thirdly Take heed of Apostacy of a degenerating back-sliding spirit that you do not fall off from the truth and ground of the wayes of God which ye have known and professed It is is true it may be for standing to your Principles you may lose the love of man I acknowledge it may be so but hear what God saith If any man fall back my soul shall have no pleasure in him If thou goest on mans soul may have no pleasure in thee but if thou fallest back Gods soul will have no pleasure in thee Thou doest by Apostacy declare to all the World that thou hast made trial of the wayes of God and thou dost not find them to be as thou thoughtest they were nay not so good as others Oh take heed of scandalizing the ways of God hear how God complains of those that so do Jeremiah 2. and 10. Go unto the Isles of Chittim and behold and send unto Kedar and take diligent heed and see whether there be such a thing Hath a Nation changed their Gods which are yet no Gods But my people hath changed their glory for that which will not profit Hear O Heavens and be astonished at this for my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed to themselves broken cisterns that will hold no water Whatever it is that would lead thee to Apostacy beware and fly from it especially evil company of which I shall speak more anon let your love to Christ be augmented and love of your selves abased for unless you love Christ very much and your selves very little I cannot hope that you will stand to your Principles Fourthly Beware of Covetousness it is Christs Caution Luke 2. and 15. verse Take heed and beware of Covetousness Here is a Caution with a double Action Take heed and Beware Believe me Brethren it stands us upon so to do for it steals upon us before we be aware of it There is no person will deal more injuriously with a Christian than a Covetous man will He will betray his Life if it were in his hands into Enemies hands for Money as Judas did A Covetous man will injure Christ in his Ordinances he will not come at them for the love he bears to the World will not suffer him truly quoth he I have lost this or that while I was hearing a Sermon I 'le go no more I must stay at home and look after my business I could give you many instances of this but time will not give me leave I shall only touch this one What was it but the love of this World that kept those who were bid to the Marriage Feast of the Great King of Heaven from coming One had bought a piece of Ground and he must needs go see it another had bought Oxen and he must go to prove them a Third had married a Wife and therefore he could not come Of all persons in the World a Covetous man cannot nor will not endure to bear the Cross of Christ Philippians 3. verse 18. For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ whose end is destruction Who are these what manner of persons are they why they are such who make their belly their God whose glory is their shame and who mind earthly things A covetous man he will lye with Ananias and Saphira he will steal with Achaâ— he will murther with Aban he will betray with Judas what will he not do to attain his covetous desire This is the fourth Beware of Covetousness Fifthly You that have not taken warning yet I beseech you take warning now Have a care and avoid evil company Ephesians 5.11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them and be ye separated from them Never go into a wicked mans company if before you go you have not a probability of doing good or getting good Confider with thy self is there any likelyhhood that thou by thy wholesome reproofs maist do him any good if there be then go on if not draw back avoid them flie from them for their steps tend to perdition By wicked company these two things have been effected Good men made Bad. Bad men made Worse Good men have been made bad by wicked company Jehosaphat that good King is an example of this who by the company of wicked Ahab was drawn to fight against those whom God favoured and to help Ahab in his wicked enterprise Bad men have been made worse by evil company Ahab was made worse by the Instigation of his wicked Wife Jezabel Oh can you bear when you are in their company to hear them blaspheme the holy Name of God and not reprove them Truly if you can it is a sign you are not so good as you should be Sixthly My sixth Caution is this Oh have a care of having the least finger on your hand against a Saint it is dangerous to have a thought word or act against the people of God it is dangerous to have a thought amiss of them Psal 62.3 They imagine mischief against a man that is against a Saint therefore they shall all be slain for their bare imagination they shall all be cut off It is dangerous to speak against them How durst thou saith God to Miriam to speak against my servant Moses and immediately he smote her with a leprosie as white as snow it is dangerous to act against them and it is forbidden by God Psal 105.5 Touch not mine Anointed nor do my Prophets no harm Perhaps you would say you would not do them any harm if you thought they were Gods people Oh but take heed lest they prove Gods people and then it were better for you if a Milstone were hung about your neck and you cast into the Sea than to offend the least of them Seventhly Let me beseech you all to take heed of complying with this sinful World whoever doth do not you but
take up that good resolution of Joshuah's As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Though all else forsake God yet will not I yet let not us I beseech you saith he that you would not conform your selves to the fashions and manners of this wicked world Oh take heed of conforming your selves to the conversation of this world but walk harmless and shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation if we will comply with the world I mean to be as most of the world are that is temporizers time-servers preferring the pleasing of Man before the pleasing of God then we must lye in wickedness as all the World doth 1 Joh. 2.16 For all that is in the World is either the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye or the pride of life and these are not of the Father but abideth in the wicked one the Prince of the power of the Air after whom the men of the world walk This is the seventh Take heed of conforming your selves to this World Eightly Take heed of a hasty spirit when you are under sad dispensations when you are under sufferings you are apt to seek and close with relief come it which way it will and on what terms it will Let me beseech you Christians to have a care of such a hasty and impatient spirit Esa 26. verse 18. He that believeth maketh not haste that is he maketh not haste to get out of his afflictions The people of Israel were of hasty spirits and murmured because they were kept so long in the Wilderness for which God slew an innumerable company of them Saul was of a hasty spirit and by it lost his Life and Kingdom Jacob's Mother no sooner told him his Fathers intent but he was resolved to have the first blessing though he cheated his Brother and lyed for it and so told his Father that he was his eldest Son but he himself was afterwards deceived by a lye with having the eldest Daughter given him instead of the younger Take David for your example he waited Gods time the Kingdom was promised to him after Saul's death and when Saul pursued him you know David had him twice in his power and with ease might have destroyed him but he would not Far be it from me saith he that I should touch the Lords Annointed let God smite him by the hands of his Enemies I will not It is far better to be Gods Bondslave than the Devils Freeman Do not use any the least action whatever in any indirect way to deliver thy self but patiently sit down and wait Gods good time which when once come thy deliverance will assuredly come with it Take heed then of a hasty and sullen spirit under afflictions some men when God takes away any comfort from them are of so sullen a spirit there is no pacifying of them God will now this day take something from you which I believe you would willingly keep will you therefore be of so sullen a spirit that because you cannot enjoy all you 'l not injoy any but will rob your selves of all What though you cannot enjoy your Minister any longer will you not make use of the Ordinances of God I beseech you refrain this spirit and let the deprivation of one mercy be a means to make you make better use of those that are left Ninthly My ninth Caution is this Take heed of an ungodly Minister I speak not to any mans person in particular neither can I because I know not as yet who will succeed me but whosoever he be if he be wicked beware of him for if he be ungodly the people will follow him for like Priest like People And I pray God deliver you from such Ministers as for Doctrine do teach the traditions of men and cry Peace Peace when sudden destruction hangs over their heads Such Ministers may please you but believe me they will never profit you but at last you will find that through the Vale of Security you are led to the Pit of Perdition They will tell you you need not be so strict and diligent in your conversations nor Heaven is not so hard and difficult to gain as some would make you believe believe them not but remember that without holiness none shall see God and that neither Fornicaters Adulterers Idolaters Thieves Murtherers Covetous persons Drunkards Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven Tenthly and lastly Take heed you be not found professors of the Gospel only Christ when he was preaching to a throng of people as I am here this day said unto them Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is Hypocrisie Oh that I had no cause to say the leaven of the Pharisees is among you I mean that there are many here that are but bare Professors let me ask you that are only Professors this one question Is Religion good or bad If it be not good what is the reason thou art not ashamed to profess it if it be good what is the reason thou dost but profess it By thy bare professing thou losest the love of Man by no more than professing thou canst never gain the love of God so that on all sides thou art like to be miserable The World will hate thee for being so good and God will hate thee for being no better What a sad thing is it that thou losest thy comforts in this life by professing so much and thy comforts in the life to come by no more than professing Thus you have heard what I have to say by way of Caution I shall now speak to you by way of Counsel The former ten were Negative these shall be Positive First I intreat you all that above all things you would mind the one thing necessary that you would not trouble your selves so much with many things of little concernment but mind the great thing for which you came into the World Oh my friends will you spend your time for that which will not profit you and your money for that which is not Bread Look after Grace labour to get an interest in Christ of which you being unprovided you will be undone for ever it will be better for you you had never been born Oh! gain Christ and then you will be fitted for all times all troubles and all conditions that can happen unto you you will be endued with all wisdom and with all riches if you gain not Christ all that God doth to you and for you will nothing at all avail you Secondly My second Advice and Counsel unto you is this That you would live as you would die live to day as if you must dye to morrow Let me aâ—k you would you be content to dye in the state you are in If my Soul doth not desire to be in a better state when I come to dye than now I am in I may very well sit down satisfied if not then surely it greatly concerns me
2. There must be light to actuate this Object if it were dark we could never see it There must be light both to actuate the eye and object Now this light that actuates the eye and object 't is either the natural light the light of Nature the light of Conscience the light of common Illumination the light of the Word or the light of the Spirit of God By all these Lights we come to look into the Looking-glass our Hearts 3. There must be an Irradiation from the Object i. e. a beaming forth from that Object some Species or Idea's that carries the object to the eye and clearly makes out to the sense what that Object is this beaming is by action from the heart mark it for it may be as necessary truth as was preached among you that look what the Stream is to the Fountain what the Beam to the Sun that the action is to the heart whether the act be manent or transient whether Internal in thought purpose election assection in joy in love in fear Or External in the life in the practice and in the conversation So that look as a puddle Stream always declares a corrupt Fountain so all your humble holy faithful thoughts speak a clear spiritual heart within a holy conversation speaks a holy Affection and a holy Affection declares a heavenly Constitution a new Nature Now for the Vse of this is the heart of a man a Looking-glass 1. See from hence of what concernment the Actions of men are whether internal or external The actions of men are like the streams you may certainly finde the Fountain by them they speak the heart as the Root bears the fruit 'T is of infinite concernment 't is the Fountain of what principles within and conversation without descend but into thy own heart c. 2. This shews the sad condition of all natural poor souls your Hearts are Looking-glasses but they are Looking-glasses in a dungeon of Darkness there be Toads Vipers and Devils there but thou canst not see them that hast no spiritual Light 3. Here is consolation to Gods people Is the Heart of a man a Looking-glass What reason have they to rejoyce in their hearts that are the best Looking-glasses in the world not like our Gallants Looking-glasses that must not bewray their wrinkles spots c. But theirs will represent their Heart Complexion Condition and Nature to them Nay in that Glass may be seen the face of a God Nay further because thy Heart doth answer to another Heart and his to his whatever Grace is in any Believers it is there in thy Heart in semine there 's the seed 4. By way of exhortation Is the Heart a Looking-glass Then keep the Looking-glass very chary make much of it above all keepings keep thy heart and that with all diligence in all places at all times and in all things If any thing under Heaven will keep thee holy it is the keeping of thy Heart There thou mayest see all thy spots defects desperate Hypocrisies Infernal Atheism all the deliques of thy soul How prone to commit as vile â—ins as ever was committed by the vilest of the sons of men Once more keep it clean and keep it close Look into the heart and thou shalt finde it to be a Copy of the Role of Eternity where thou shalt see thy very name written in Letters of Gold or Bloud for we looking into our Hearts may and do know that we are passed from death to life and that upon this ground because we love the brethren And thus I advance to The Fifth Sermon 1 John 3.14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren IN these words five things 1. A supposed Estate in which we are all by nature and that is an Estate of spiritual death 2. A peaceable Recovery or mention of another state and estate of life 3. A real Transition from this state of death to life We are passed c. 4. An inseparable property of all the Regenerate Souls in the World they do not hate but love the brethren 5. A comfortable Conclusion that a Christian may make from that property he may know he may be assured by this that he is passed from death to life because he loves the brethren The Observation this A Christian may know his real Conversion and Transition to Eternal life by this Character among the rest because he loves the brethren This Proposition waâ— slit into these two particulars 1. That every Believer may have an assurance of his Transition from death to life 2. The love of the brethren is one of the great eminent Symptoms of mans Regeneration 1. A Christian may know his real Conversion and Translation to eternal life Such a great and real change is there wrought in every Believer at his Conversion and this wrought by such a great Efficient and Infinite cause the Spirit of God and this cause working by such real and powerful means and instruments the great Word of God and this done notwithstanding the great opposition that is made by a poor sinner against the Word and when wrought it hath such a real and grand effect upon a Believer that 't is impossible but a Believer must needs know this his Transition from death to life Secondly Love to the brethren is the great Symptom of mens Regeneration Love to the brethren not taken solely singly as if this was the onely Character but concomitantly taken with others but beyond and above all others this is the Privie Soul of God on the Soul if he have inflamed it with love he may know he is passed from death to life The Vse is of Confutation of the Papists those grand enemies to Gospel-Truths and Believers peace They abhor this Doctrine of Assurance by it their Purgatory would fall down their Popes Kitchin would grow cold They tell us Believers cannot have assurance in this World No 1. Why hath God commanded us to make our Calling and Election sure and will God command Impossibilities such as cannot be wrought by our or his own power 2. Other Saints have attained this Assurance this New Name and White Stone within them Object That 's by extraordinary Revelation Ans This is not upon proof Was not the assurance of Gods people in Scripture grounded upon general promises Had they many of them either extrinsecal signs or marks to assure them of it did it not spring from Principles common to all Believers Object But suppose they have assurance to day they may lose it to morrow Man is a mutable Creature he may be a childe of God in the morning and a brat of Hell in the evening Answ 'T is true man is a mutable Creature yet is he preserved by an immutable God Man is a weak Creature but yet is preserved by the power of God unto salvation Man as a Creature is no less mutable in Heaven than upon Earth there preserved by God therefore why not
another and if he hath it not from the Spirit of God he will seek it some other way if he hath not comfort from the Spirit of God he will seek some sparks of his own kindling rather than they will sit in darkness without comfort they will light their candle at the Devil's fire And as he delivereth from temptation on the right so he delivereth from temptation on the left hand he that is filled with the comforts of the Holy Ghost what are sufferings to such a man he hath that within will carry him through all danger here is that comfort and that life by Christ which may ease us in our greatest crosses this will make a child of God speak of the sufferings of this world as a light matter Our light affliction which is but for a moment shall work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods because in Heaven they had a better and more enduring substance Heb. 11.35 Some were tortured receiving no deliverance because in Heaven they had a better substance Oh if you would be kept from the snares of the World let your comforts be above the power and danger of temptation from any thing here below 3. By way of Direction How shall we have communion and aâ—t fâ—ith upon the Holy Ghost as your Comforter the Holy Ghost is designed and appointed by God the Father to this Office now you know none love to be slighted in their Office and if we do not act faith upon the Holy Ghost we slight his Office therefore we should have recourse to him in a way of believing as we should act faith upon Christ for the pardon of sin so we should act faith upon the holy Ghost for a sense of that pardon 2. Go often to Jesus Christ and beg him and beseech him to entreat the Father for you Go to God the Father in the name of Christ and beg it upon the account of Christs Prayer and Intercession that he would send the Comforter and you have a good argument to enforce the Petition the very same as the Disciples That Christ would when he went away Pray the Father and he should send you another Comforter Christ tells them that some there were that would kill them and in so doing think they did God good service therefore Christ in compassion to them in the state that he left them in prays the Father that he would send the Comforter So now we must go to God those Ministers that were wont to comfort us are now to be taken from us our Barnabas's sons of consolation their mouths are to be stopped though Ordinances are now to be damned up the Houses of God made places of defilement our Teachers are removed into corners our Troubles encrease and we have none to tell us how long the light of our eyes the comfort of our hearts in respect of outward means are going from us whither shall we go we want Bread for our Souls we want cordials for our Hearts Blessed Saviour pity us and since thou wilt not come to us in thy own presence as thy Embassadors to come to us by thy Spirit do now in Heaven as thou didst on earth Pray the Father for us do not leave us so many Orphans without Father or Mother but send thy Spirit to refresh our Souls See how we are hated and reviled and we must suffer these things now Let us have thy Spirit 3. If you would have communion with the Spirit of Christ in his comforting work Take heed you do not lay up your comforts in the Creature this is to seek for the living among the dead those that rejoyce in the Creature rejoyce in a thing of nought and you that have an interest in God God will not take it at your hands if you seek it any where else no not in Ordinances though God would have you to seek comfort in Ordinances yet he would not have you to seek comfort from Ordinances 4. Set down and be much in duty Psal 63.5 6. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips when I remember thee upon my hed and meditate on thee in the night-watches If you look at the beginning of the Psalm you shall finde that this Psalm was penned when David was deprived of the Ordinances of God Many a man complains that he lives uncomfortably no wonder when he little thinks on Christ 5. Be much in the exercise of grace Then they that walked in the fear of the Lord when they walked in the comfort of the Holy Ghost 6. Take heed of quenching and grieving the Spirit your Comforter by neglecting his motions or by acting any thing against the minde of the Spirit Do not sin against him as your enlightning Spirit that will hinder him as your Comforter I close with a word of comfort to the people of God If it be one of the great works of the Spirit of God here is matter of great comfort to those that stick close to Jesus Christ Sure your comforts will be satisfying comforts and sufficient because they are comforts of the Spirits working The Lord Jesus hath promised to make up the want of his bodily presence by sending his Spirit He was now going from them and tells them That he could not stay and this was sad news to the Disciples who were ready to break their hearts and the best comfort that he could afford them was to tell them That he would send the Comforter If Christ can comfort his people in the absence of himself surely he can comfort them in the want of all other comfort that relate either to soul or body and so in the want of mercies in the want of outward Ordinances he can comfort the soul It is the Spirit of God that can comfort in the use of these and if he will he can do it in the want of them he can comfort us in the wilderness where no water is when he doth deny the means he can comfort us without where he denies us the stream he can make us drink at the Fountain 7. And lastly The people of God find hereby that their comforts are abiding Your liberty your friends ah Ordinances of and Ministers may be taken from you your Ministers may be banished your Ministers may be imprisoned but here is a Comforter that abides for ever And though they may keep your Ministers out of the Pulpit yet they shall not take the Comforter out of your hearts So that when I shall not preach any more to you I shall pray the Father that he would send you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever Mr. Bull of Newington-Green his Farewel Sermon in the After-noon Acts 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are
it not unto me ver 45. Beloved there is a time coming when the great God will reckon with ungodly men for all the injuries and wrongs which they have done to his people as if they were done to himself immediately Oh! consider of this you that are true Believers are you invironed round with adversaries either spiritual or temporal you have God for your defence a God infinite in power which is able to defend you from the hardest assaults of your most potent and politick Enemies his Name is a strong Tower the Righteous fly unto it and are safe Are you encountring with great temptations The Lord being your Father he will protect you and not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able to bear but together with temptation will make way for your escape that you may be able to bear it 1 Cor. 10.30 the Lord knoweth that his Children are liable to many temptations from Satan from the world and from their own corruptions and that they are subject to many afflictions and tribulations from the hands of men and therefore he will be sure to be with them and to be a very present help to them in the time of trouble Thirdly Is God a Believers Heavenly Father then there is a comfort for them that God will pity them and compassionate them in all their afflictions a tender Father pitieth his Children when they are in any calamity as for instance in sickness how will the groans of a Child go near the heart of a loving Parent How do the Agonies of pain in the Child cause grief and sorrow in the Parents heart What means would not a Parent use to procure the health and ease of a Child My life is bound up in the life of the Lad says Jacob concerning Benjamin Oh Absalon my son my son would God I had dyed for thee says David concerning Absalon What sympathyzing and sellow-feeling will a dear and tender Parent have of the miseries of his Children And as a Father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him Psal 103.13 The Lord is very pitiful Jam. 5.11 The pity and compassion of the Lord towards his Children is excellently set forth in that Scripture Jer. 31.20 Is Ephraim my dear son Is he a pleasant Child I speak against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy on him saith the Lord The bowels of the Lord do exceedingly yearn towards his people in all their afflictions and distresses and he is full of pity and compassion towards them Fourthly Is God a Father to all true Believers then here is also for their comfort that God doth and always will love them and take delight in them He loves them with an everlasting love they are his chosen Jewels and he will certainly one day polish them though he suffer them to be among the rubbish of the World for a while They are his pleasant pictures and he delights to be looking on them the eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear him and upon them that hope in his mercy Psal 33.18 God takes pleasure to be viewing the new creature which he hath framed by his own Spirit in the hearts of his people and his own Image which he stamped upon them and herein the love that the Lord beareth his Children infinitely exceeds the Love that earthly Parents bear to theirs in that he loveth them continually Earthly Parents they love their Children but their love may be withdrawn from them again and is often times but the love of God will never be withdrawn from his love whom the Lord loveth he loveth to the end and although his loving countenance may be eclipsed for a time and they may lose the sence of his love to them by their failings sinful infirmities yet the Lord loves them still There is nothing shall be able to separate Believers from the love of God Rom. 8.25 and onward the Apostle Paul putteth the question there saith he Who shall separate us from the love of God Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written For thy sake are we killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter Nay saith he in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us for I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is not all the troubles of the world nor tribulations nor any thing that can render Believers less lovely in the eyes of Christ It is not all the Devils in Hell that can withdraw Gods love from his children although they do endeavour it by enticing them to sin by their temptations and then by accusing them to God for sin yet all this will not rout them out of God's love though the Devil do labour to pick a quarrel between God and his people yet it is not principalities nor powers it is not all the power of Hell that shall be able to withdraw Gods love from them Fifthly Is God a Father to Believers Then they may take this for their comfort that he will continually be mindful of them Parents do remember their Children and are mindful of them so the Lord he remembreth his people and will never forget them Isa 49.15 Can a Woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb yea they may yet I will not forget thee Earthly Parents though it be but rare yet they may and sometimes do forget their children but God he is more tender and mindful of his Children than earthly Parents are of theirs yea they may yet will not I forget thee c. Though Gods people do too often forget him yet he doth never forget them but remember them in all their conditions even in their low estate God is mindful of them Psal 136.23 Who remembred us in our low estate for his mercy endureth for ever Lastly Is God a Father to Believers Then they may take this for their comfort that God will provide an inheritance for them hereafter Fathers provide portions and inheritances for their Children for hereafter so doth God Rom. 8. Now saith the Apostle We are the Sons of God and if sons then heirs heirs of God and coheirs with Jesus Christ How often is the Kingdom of Heaven called an inheritance the inheritance of the Saints or them that are sanctified Acts 20.32 and 26.8 There is an eternal inheritance laid up for the Children of God for hereafter yea the Kingdom of Heaven is their inheritance and it is now preparing for them John 14.2 and they shall have assuredly one day an abundant entrance into their Fathers Kingdom the Children of God
to the hardning of them in their sins Did we seriously consider how great hinderers riches pleasures and worldly prosperity are to grace and holiness we should not be so discontented at our mean and afflicted condition in the World nor so over-desirous of those accommodations which have proved the bane of so many and the hinderers of their salvation peace and plenty honor and prosperity doth very often increase pride and covetousness security and earthly-mindedness when as affliction tribulation want reproach being sanctified by God doth tend to the exercising and increasing of patience humility and a heavenly conversation and upon this consideration the Apostle Paul gloryed in tribulations because it wrought in him the grace of patience Rom. 5.3 and not only so saith he but we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience c. There are many souls now in torments for that pride security worldly-mindedness and other sins which were nourished and fostered up in their prosperity in the world and many souls now in heaven which were helped forward in their way thither by the exercise of those graces which were nourished and encreased by their adversity crosses and calamities here below Be not therefore dismayed and discontented Christian with that condition though it be grievous to thy frail flesh which doth tend to the encreasing of grace and holiness Lastly thou that art a believer heir of heaven art thou in affliction be not dismayed because these things being sanctified by God will tend to the fitting of thy soul for and to the bringing of thee nearer to heaven afflictions and tribulations do tend to the uniting of souls closer to Christ and to the fitting and preparing them more and more for eternal glory and hence it is that God hath ordained that through many tribulations we must enter into glory Acts 14.22 God doth discipline his dear Children by sorrows and troubles here and so fit them for to raign with him hereafter and shall we be dismayed at such a condition that doth tend to the fitting of us for our Heavenly Inheritance and to the bringing of us nearer to Christ and Salvation Oh let not afflictions nor tribulations dismay you that have an interest in the Kingdom of Heaven to support you but let the consideration of your Heavenly interest keep you from fainting at all your afflictions and tribulations that you meet with in your way to Heaven And now beloved hearers give me leave to trespass a little more upon your patience seeing this is like to be the last opportunity that I shall have to speak to you from this place being prohibited to preach unless upon such terms as I confess my conscience dares not submit unto being therefore enforced to lay down my Ministry I thought good to let you know that it is neither out of singularity nor stubbornness in opinion which many it may be may conjecture but because the things required are such as my conscience cannot close withal could I see a sufficient warrant from the Word of God for those Ceremonies and other things that are enjoyned I should readily submit unto them for I can take the great God to witness with my conscience that nothing in the world grieveth me a hundred part so much as to be hindred from the work of the Ministry and to be disabled from serving my great Master Christ in that employment but seeing I cannot finde my warrant thence I dare not go against my conscience and so do evil that good may come thereby Those strict prohibitions recorded Deut. 42. and 12.32 Prov. 30.6 and in other Scriptures wherein we are prohibited to make any addition to Gods own institutions in his worship and the terrible threatnings pronounced against those that shall transgress in this particular hath such impression upon my heart that I dare not give my assent nor consent to any thing in Gods Worship which is not warranted from his word but I think it the lesser evil of the two to expose my self to sufferings in the world rather than to undergo the checks and reproaches of a wounded and grieved conscience Dearly beloved While I had liberty to speak unto you I may say with the Apostle Paul Act. 20.27 I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God but according to that strength and ability that God hath given me have laboured to instruct you and to press home upon you those great and saving truths which are of necessity to be known and practised in order to salvation And as the Apolste Paul writ to the Philippians Phil. 1.8 So may I say to you that God is my record how greatly I have longed after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ your conversation unto God and eternal salvation is that which I have had in my eye for this I have prayed for this I have preached for this I have studied neither is there any thing more joyous to me than to hear of any of my hearers that are walking in the truth and that have set their faces towards Heaven But seeing God is pleased for ends best known to himself to suffer my Mouth together with the Mouths of many others my Dear and Reverend Brethren in the Ministry to be stopped I desire to leave a word or two with each of you which I would have you to look upon as the words of a dying Minister or of a dead Minister in a civil sence and therefore suffer them to take the deeper impression upon your hearts I shall therefore direct a word or two to three sorts of persons First To those that do much rejoyce at this time and that have earnestly looked and longed for it to such who hug themselves and make merry because the troublers of Israel as wicked men account the Ministers of Christ to be which have told them of their sins and reproved them of their carnal sensual unholy lives are not suffered to preach nor to trouble them with the unpleasing Doctrines of repentance conversion mortification of sin and other truths which they dislike to those who look upon the faithful laborious convincing preachers of the Word of God to be their enemies because they have told them the truth and could not sooth them up in their sins and rejoyce as the inbabitants of the earth did rejoyce over the Witnesses and make merry Rev. 11.10 To you I say whosoever you are that none have more need of our labours and of our preaching than you and if you were but acquainted truly with your own state in which you are which is a state of death and wrath without you repent and turn and become new creatures you would be of other minds than now you are and turn your mirth and jollity into mourning Consider that is never the better with any City when the watchmen are removed nor for a traveller when the light is gone which should direct him in his way and it cannot be but sad when
intemperately to the honour of his Idol only in dead Vessels of Gold and Silver But these in doing thus abuse living Vessels living bodies and living souls such Vessels as by Baptism were markt out for God and separated and sealed to his holy service they abuse and prostitute to a Lust to a Whore to the Devil Ah! who can but weep and weep again to see how much of our English Bloud is poyson'd with these beastly Enormities at this day and how many of our otherwise hopeful Gentlemen who might do God and their Country much service and be a great help to the publick good and peculiar blessing to the place where they live do basely and unworthily melt away their youth and Emasculate their spirits in drunken Societies and Effeminate Embraces Alas that so many Noble Births so many sparkling Wits should be prostituted to Satans service and imployed in carrying on Satans cause while they know it not If they had found a Golden Chalice as Augustine observes of Lucinus they would have given it to the Church But God hath given them a Golden Wit a golden Head and golden parts and in these golden Cups and Challices they drink themselves to the Devil both body and soul for evermore Ah deluded and degenerated Gentlemen think with your selves seriously what answer you will make to your Judge at the general Audit-day for taking the Members of Christ and making them members of an Harlot Never see my face more said Joseph unless you bring your brother Benjamin with you Oh friends never think to see Gods face to your comfort in Glory if you carry not holy bodies and holy souls and holy affections with you God tells you his minde in Heb. Follow peace and holiness without which you shall never see the Lord You may go to Heaven without a peny in your purse but you shall never come there without holiness in your heart Heaven is a City where Righteousness dwells and therefore though God in his wonderful patience to poor lost man suffer the Earth to give the ungodly a little house-room a while yet sure I am he will never cumber Heaven with such a crew Before Enoch was translated to Heaven he walkt holily upon Earth else God had never desired his Company so soon as he did And before the Saints departed commenced and took their degree of Glory they kept their Acts and performed the exercises of grace and so must you the Scripture is plain Without Holiness none shall see the Lord. It 's true none goes to Heaven for his Holiness and this shews the Insufficiency of Holiness But it 's as true that none goes to Heaven without holiness and this argues the necessity of holiness And therefore though it be no plea for Heaven yet it will be your best Evidence and will you have your Evidences to seek when you should have them to shew Ah then as you value a portion among the Saints in Light and hope to live in Heaven when you can live no longer upon Earth Be holy as your Father which is in Heaven is holy Caesars money must be known by Caesars Image and Superscription and so must the Christian at the Reckoning day by the Terror of his Conversation Not every one that saith Lord Lord but he that doth the will of the Lord shall be saved saith Christ Your works must be your witnesses and your deeds must declare whose you are and to whom you belong And therefore begin to live that life now which you intend and hope to live for ever and continue not one day longer in that condition in which you would not die and appear at Judgment in Therefore go home and dress your selves not with good Cloaths but with good works and while others are querying what they shall eat and what they shall drink and what they shall put on study you how to live and how to dye and to put on the Lord Jesus Christ making no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof And when others are projecting how to improve a barren piece of ground let your contrivance be how to improve a barren minde and as their care is that their fields should not lye fallow so let it be your study not to let your hearts lye fallow and the rather because you see that this is the will of God even your sanctification that every one of you should possess his Vessel in holiness 1 Thes 4.3 4. Now that this is the will of God will appear upon a two-fold account 1. First from the price with which he hath redeemed us to it 2. And Secondly from the Promise which he hath made to Reward us for it 1. The price he paid down upon the nail was his own blood Tit. 2.14 He gave himself for us that he might Redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people Had man kept his primitive holiness Christ might have kept his life and have spared his pains It was mans lost Righteousness lost Holiness that Christ came to recover But this is a Point that needs pressing rather than proving which I shall undertake to effect by these ensuing obrestations and intreaties I beseech you upon the account of these three Considerations that you would approve your selves a holy Nation a Seed which the Lord hath blessed I beseech you 1. For my sake 2. For your sakes 3. For Christs sake First for my sake who am to come to you as a Petitioner and Messenger from the Lord and the sum of my desires is this I beseech you in Christs stead that you would be reconciled to God I am not courting you for your silver but for your souls and what will you grant me if this be denied me O the Lord make you a willing people in the day of his power God hath sent me to you as Jesse to David with this Present in mine hands and these Breathings in my heart after your Salvation O may they but prove serviceable and successful to your souls and I shall bless God that hath put it into mine heart thus to visit you But if you will not hear nor fear to do no more so wickedly My soul shall weep in secret for you Is it not sad to a tender Physitian to see his Patients to dye under his hands much sadder sure to a poor Minister to see souls drop to Hell one by one under his Pulpit and cannot help them cannot save them this must needs be a heart-sadding sight to one that 's sensible of the worth of souls It costeth the Mother no small pains to bring forth a living Child But ah the bitter Throws of that Minister that travels all the year long nay all his life long with a dead Child a dead-hearted people That spends his strength and like a Candle Swails out his life amongst his Parish and is forced at last to take up the Prophets complaint Who hath believed our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord
of you but when we come again unto you I will have you to be of another manner of temper then now you are Well if all that I have said will not prevail with you I am sorry that nothing would prevail with you but the flames of Hell Oh then you will say Oh that we had but hearkened to the voice of God's Messengers that are sent to us Oh that we had our rousing Ministers to awaken us I have one of Advice to you that are the people of God whose hearts God hath humbled and I shall have done First I advise you that God hath humbled for sin now to look to your selves God will not now lead you you must learn now to go alone If you would keep tender hearts then be afraid of sin as well of the least sins as of the greatest Be afraid of a vain thought and if thou takest heed of a vain thought thou wilt be afraid of telling a lye and if thou takest heed of telling a lye thou wilt be afraid of swearing an Oath Secondly If thou wilt keep tenderness of heart then lye under the best Ministry you can get that there is a difference between some mens Preaching and others is plain by the effectual working of their Preaching upon the hearts of their hearers First Take heed of a blind ignorant Minister If the blind lead the blind they will both fall into the ditch If one that understands not what sin is nor feels not the guilt of sin Preaches Repentance it is ten hundred to one if ever God doth work upon your hearts by his Preaching Secondly Take heed of fly shun avoid an idle drunken Minister If you would ask me what we shall do in such a case I Answer Keep such a one out of your Parish if you can if you cannot then I advise you to take heed how you hear him First Because all such Ministers are no Ministers at all No what and are ordained No because they are not sent from God And let me tell you that men have no power to Ordain such to Preach the Gospal as are not sent by God I do verily believe that God never sent any Minister for to Preach the Doctrine of Salvation but such as God hath endowed with gifts and abilities to speak and if there be any Ministers that have not those qualifications that are fit for a Bishop to have then they are none of Gods Ministers although they are made Ministers by man 1 Tim. 3.1 2 3 4 5 6 7. This is a true saying If a man desire the Office of a Bishop he desireth a good work A Bishop then must be blameless the husband of one wife vigilant sober of good behaviour given to hospitality apt to teach not given to wine no striker not greedy of filthy lucre but patient not a brawler not covetous own that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity For if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the Church of God Not a Novice lest being lifted up with Pride he fall into the condemnation of the Devil Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the Devil Here is all these excellent qualifications that a Minister of the Gospel ought to be endowed with Secondly I say that those Ministers that are not endowed with these qualifications but are ignorant drunken Ministers it is generally observed that people grow more wicked and that their hearts grow harder while they live under such a Ministry Object But how if we are forced to hear such and we can do no others wise if we will not hear them our purses must pay for it Answer To this I answer I wish that every place had an eminent Minister that you might gather up Manna at your own dores But if your Minister be wicked and prophane he is no Minister of Christ and in such a case you must rather hazard your purses than you souls But the Doctrin that he preaches it is good 'T is true it is so if it do not come out of a stinking vessel The water that is drawn out of a sweet Well if it be put into a stinking cask it will smell of the cask But I would not have you to be quarrelsome A Third advice that I shall give you is this Be sure that you ply the company of those that are of a tender heart It is a true saying Birds of a feather will flock together Take heed of being in the company of such as will swear and of living with such as scoff at religion It 's true a tender holy heart may live among wicked company as Lot did in Sodom but let me tell thee there 's danger they 'l tempt thee to be like them Lastly My advice is this Be sure that the Bible be much in your hand you that can read and beg of God to give you an understanding heart When God bids you to be holy think of Heaven Let the Bible be much in your hands and let God see you much in your Closets Mr. G. N. his Farewel-Sermon Rom. 8.38 39. For I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. IF divine Providence shall make this the season of our separation it is good for us to part with each other in the meditation and consideration of that from which those that are Gods shall never be divided that is the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Apostle is very confident of it I am perswaded We shall conclude the Chapter with our present Imployment and therefore shall not stand long discoursing on every particular but first briefly open them unto you and after improve them First We meet with the. Apostles Confidence a strong perswasion from whence we may learn Confidence belongeth unto a Christian yea it is the priviledge of the Gospel Col. 2.2 That their hearts may be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assuring of understanding c. This is what you may daily stand in need of therefore be perswaded to press toward it The Apostle calls to give all diligence to make your calling and Election sure Great diligence it is you give to assure the title of your earthly possession is it not of far greater concernment to assure your Calling and Election unto an everlasting enjoyment of divine Love And that you may do this remember to live 1. Lest unto this present World 2. More in heaven For then will you be more acquainted with the concernments and counsels thereof Do but draw up your hearts out of the cares pleasures and delights of this present world which choak the Word and
grains I conclude this with that saying of St. Ambrose Good Workes are the way to but not the cause of Salvation Therefore when you have done all say you are unprofitable servants I here is no Angel can merit for he chargeth them with folly much less vile and sinful man Therefore count all your own Righteousness but as dung and dogs meat In a word relie not on our own merits put the crown on the head of Free-grace That 's the eighth Ninthly The ninth Error in the Popish Religion is the Doctrine of Purgatory There is say they a middle and infirnal place called Purgatory Now what is this but a subtile artifice and trick to get money for when they especially those that are rich are about to die and make Wills if so be they will give large sums of money the Priests will pray for them that they go not into Purgatory or if they do that they may be quickly delivered out of it How contrary and repugnant is this to Scripture that holds forth no Middlle place The wicked when they die their Souls go immediately to Hell Luke 16.23 The rich man was buried and in hell he lift up his eyes T is true there is a Purgatory in this life and that is the Blood of Christ 1 Joh. 1.17 If we are not purged by this blood while we live we shall never be purged after by fire Wicked men when they dye do not go into a fire of purgation but damnation And on the other hand Believers when they die pass immediately to Heaven Luke 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Christ Jesus was now on the Cross and was instantly to be in Heaven and the penitent Theif was immediately to be with Christ Here is no mention of any such place as Purgatory The antient and Orthodox Fathers were all against Purgatory as Chrysostome Cyprian Austine Fulgentius Tenthly A tenth Error is the Invocation of Angels a praying unto them This is a certain rule that Angel-worship is VVill-worship expresly forbidden in Scripture Col. 2.18 Their distinction of Mediators of Redemption and of Intercession doth not help them Though we pray say they to Angels as Mediators of Intercession yet we pray to Christ as Mediator of Redemption Answ Jesus Christ in Scripture is not only called a Redeemer but also an Advocate and it is a sin to make any our Intercessor but Jesus Christ That it is sinful to pray to Angels is clear from many Scriptures See Rom 5.10 How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed Mark we may not pray to any but them in whom we believe But we cannot believe an Angel therefore we must not pray to an Angel So also in Heb. 10.17 Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the Blood of Iesus He only is to be prayed unto by whom we have entrance into the Holiest but it is by Iesus Christ that we enter into the holiest therefore it is only Iesus Christ that we must pray unto That is the tenth 11ly An eleventh Error is Their VVorshipping of Images they burn Inccense before the Image which is a Divine worship unto the Image Now this is directly contrary to the very letter of the Command Exod. 20.4 5. Image-worship and Idol-worship are terms synonimical God saith of Idols that they speak Vanity Zach. 10.2 And is it not a vain thing to worship those things that are vain and that speak vanitie None can draw the picture of a Spirit who then draw the Picture of him who is the Father of spirits This Opinion of Image-worship hath been condemned and exploded by several Councils and Synods 12ly Another Error in the Popish Religion is They deny Jesus Christ suffered the pains of Hell in his Soul Indeed to give them their due they do aggravate the pains of Christs Body but they deny he felt the Pains and Torments of Hell in his Soul This Opinion doth much lessen the Sufferings of Christ for us the same doth lâ—ssen the Love of Christ to us But it is clear Christ felt the pains of hell in his soul But when we say Christ suffered the Pains of Hell in his Soul we do not mean that he felt horror of conscience as the damned do but we mean he felt that that was equivolent to it he felt the burden and pain of Gods wrath Christ Jesus suffered equivolently the pains of Hell that so he might free us really from the Torments of Hell 13ly And lastly another Error is this The Pope say they hath a power to absolve men from their Oathes Of what sad consequence and how dangerous this may be to Protestant States I leave themselves to judge It hath been often determined by learned Casuists that an Oath once taken the matter of it being lawful persons cannot be absolved from it But no more of this matter I 'le now wind up all in a word or two of application and it shall be in the words of my text VVherefore my beloved flee from Idolatry flee from Popery take heed of that Religion that brings forth so many Monsters And besides these thirteen Errors consider briefly these six or seven Particulars 1. The Popish Religion is an impure filthy Religion they allow of Stewes and Brothel-houses for money nay some of the Popes themselves have been guilty of Sodomy and Simony 2. It is a Superstitious Religion that appears in their Christening of Bels in their using of Salt Spittle and Cross in Baptisme Indeed Paul gloried and rejoyced in the Cross of Christ St. Paul had the Power of the Cross in his heart not the Signe of the Cross in his forehead It is an unspeakable indignity and dishonour to Jesus Christ to use that in his VVorship that he never instituted 3. Popery is upheld by Deceit and Lying How have they belyed both Calvin and Luther They say of Luther that when he dyed the Devils were seen to dance about him and that he dyed with much horror and despaire when as he went severely and sweetly out of the world his last words being those of our blessed Saviours Father into thy hands I commit my Spirit 4. The Popish Religion is an out-side carnal Religion it consists in external things as Whipping Fasting Chringing There 's nothing of Life and Spirit in their Worship it 's but a skeliton and carkass there is nothing of Soul and Spirit in it 5. The Popish Religion is an unedifying religion it doth not build men up in their most holy Faith it doth not carry on the work of Sanctification there is more of Pomp then purity in it 6. It is a cruel Religion it is maintained and propogated by Blood and Cruelty The Pope will have St. Pauls Sword as well as St. Peters Keyes and what he cannot maintain by dint and force of Argument that will he endeavour to maintain by force of Arms. In a word the Romish Church is a Purple VVhore dyed with the Blood of Saints and
Martyrs 7. And lastly the Remish religion is a self-contradicting religion One of their Canons saith a man in some cases may take the Sacrament at the hand of an Heretick another Canon saith he may not A learned and judicious Writer observes above an hundred Contradictions in their Religion Therefore again I press the words of my Text Wherefore my beloved nay let me say my dearly beloved flee from Idolaâ—ry To shut up all let me exhort you to these two or three things First Hold fast the Doctrine of the true Orthodex Protestant Religion the very filings of this gold is precious Keep all the Articles of the Christian Faith if you let one fundamental article of your Faith go you hazard your Salvation When Samson pulled down but on Pillar immediately the whole Fabrick tumbled so if you destroy one Pillar if you let go one Fundamental of Truth you endanger all Secondly Hold forth the profession of the Protestant Religion I say do not only hold fast the Doctrine of the Protestant Religion but hold forth the Profession of the Protestant Religion Be not ashamed to wear Christs Colours Christians remember this one thing those Persons that are ashamed of Christ are a very shame unto Christ The Religion I exhort you to flee from is a novelty that which I press you to stand to is a verity it is consonant to Scripture it is built on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and hath been sealed to by the blood of many Saints and Martyrs Thirdly and lastly do not only hold fast and hold forth but also adorn the Protestant Religion this is holy Pauls Exhortation to Titus Tit. 2.10 Adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour Adorn Religion with a holy Conversation There is nothing hardens Papists so much as the loosness of Protestants Therefore adorn your holy Religion with a holy Conversation Do as Christ did tread in his steps make your Saviour your Pattern Let me assure you I can hardly think they do truly beleeve in Christ that do not really conform unto Christ The Primitive Christians Sanctity did much-what propogate Christianity And this is that beseech you carry home with you Hold fast and hold forth the Protestant Religion and adorn it with a Holy and Bible-Conversation and when you do not hear me Preaching to you yet let me beseech you hear this good Word speaking in you Wherefore my dearly beloved flee from Idolatry Consider what hath been said and the Lord make it advantagious to all your Souls The Prayers of several of these Divines Mr. Calamy's Prayer at Aldermanbury OH most Holy thou ever blessed Lord God thou fillest Heaven and Earth with thy Presence We pray thee fill all our hearts with the Presence of thy Grace and let it appear that thou art in the midst of us with that powerfull assistance of thy Spirit that we may receive a token of thy love from thee at this time It is a singular favour that the doores of thy Sanctuary are open to us and that yet we may meet together in thy Name we pray the continue it to us and sanctifie it to us that every Sabbath may add to our stature in Jesus Christ We confess we have forfeited all our mercies wee have heard much of God and Christ and Heaven with our ears but there is little of God Christ and Heaven in our hearts We confess many of us by hearing Sermons are grown Sermon-proof VVe know how to scoff and mock at Sermons but we know not how to live Sermons It is a miracle of free grace thou hast not taken the Gospel from us ere this time but thou art a merciful God and though we cannot please thee yet Mercy pleaseth thee and we have no argument to bring along with us to beg thy favours but thy Mercy in Jesus Christ We pray thee that thou wilt glorifie thy Soveraignty in being gracious to us and pardon our many and great transgressions Thou makest use of the malice of men for thy Glory Thou killest Goliah with his own Sword O help us to put our trust in thee thou that canst kill and cure by killing Blesse these Nations of England Scotland and Ireland and find out yet a way to save us Pour down thy blessings upon the head and heart of our Sovereign Charles by thy Grace King of Great Britiain thou hast done great things for him let him do Great things for thee Bless him in his Royal Consort in his Royal Relations in his Council Bless the Magistrates and Ministers of this Realm Lord forgive us for we live as if we had been delivered to work wickedness we cannot sin at so cheap a rate as others do we pray thee humble us under our great and grievous sins give us repentance unto Salvation and a lively Faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ Quicken our graces forgive our sins make alive our Souls let us be such as thou wouldst have us to be make us Christians not only by an outward Profession but an inward Conversation that we may live in Heaven while we are on Earth and come to Heaven when we shall leave the Earth To that purpose bless thy Word unto us at this time and give us all grace to make conscience of what we hear and how we hear and all for Jesus Christ his sake to whom with thy blessed Self and Spirit be all Glory and Honour Amen Mr. Nalton's Prayer at Foster-lane ETernal most Mighty and most glorious Lord God thou art God alone and besides thee there is no Saviour or helper our strength stands in thy Name who hast made both Heaven and Earth of our selves we are able to do nothing that is pleasing in thy sight we can pollute thy Name but we cannot honour thy Name we can run away from thee but we cannot run unto thee unless thou dost powerfully draw us by the holy spirit We can grieve thy spirit but we cannot grieve for grieving of thy spirit Oh let thy strength be manifested in our weakness look upon us with the favour thou bearest to thy children Enter not into judgment with thy servants for we cannot answer thee one of a thousand not one thought of a thousand thoughts not one word of a thousand words most of our actions have been reproveable and the best of our services have been unprofitable our omissions commissions and presumptions have been multiplyed intolerably Oh! how often have we take 〈◊〉 Name in vain while we have been confessing our sins how often haâ—â— we run from confessing our sins to the committing of sins and from committing sins to the confessing sin again as if we had but mocked thy sacred Majesty Though we know thy Favour is better than life we have parted with it upon easie terms Oh the pride and stubbornnesse that is in our hearts All the mercies thou hast bestowed upon us have not melted us into tears for our unkindnesse and all those blows that have fallen upon our backs have
and by our lively trust through the Covenant of Grace on our part let there be such a unity between Christ and us that all the powers of Hell may not be able to separate us from thee speak peace to our hearts still our consciences say I have received a sacrifice for you I shall befriend you I will be just and faithful to forgive your sins my Law is sully fulfilled by another though broken by you my Justice is fully satisfied by another though provoked by you my wrath is ceased by the means of another though incensed by you Oh Lord what a cordial would this be canst not thou amongst this great multitude of people espy some that through the Spirit of thy Son would worship thee in thine own way speak peace to every such soul Is there any soul before thee O Lord to whom thou hast given the grace of desire O lord give them grace according to their desire and thou which didst regard us when we were running from thee do not reject us now we are drawing near thee And thou which bidst us believe by the command of thy Word help us to believe by the operation of thy Spirit draw us that we may be able to follow thee thy loving kindness is better than life Some do say Who will shew us any good But Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us and thou wilt glad our hearts more than in the time when Corn or wine or Oil increaseth Let it be fair above head when it is dirty below let us see one contrary in another let us confute an eye of sense with an eye of faith and when we come to see nothing here that can gratifie our senses let us have something to quiet our souls We would fain be at war with sin that we may be at peace with thee though we cannot return as much as we have received yet help us to return as much as we can give us repentance unto life epentance from dead works a mourning fat greater for the remembrance of sin than we have pleasure in the committing of sin those secret distempers in our souls that no eye sees but thine let us cry out Wretched men that we are who should deliver us from this body of sin And as the fear of condemnation doth decrease so set the fear of transgression increase And because O Lord thou hast not made us to bleed with thy greatness O Lord make us to blush with thy goodness let us as truely desire that Heaven would enter into us into a way of holiness here as we desire to enter into Heaven in the way of happiness hereafter Let us see that our kindness to sin is cruelty to our Saviour let net that live quietly one minuite with us that would not let Christ live let us see there is nothing small by which the great God is offended and an immortal soul is damned We are to be in the world but for a while to take a turn or two and be gone Oh that we might make it the business of our life to get into Christ though it be the scorn of men and burdensome to nature yet this is that which will bring us peace at last Let us be what we profess our selves to be let us love Christ and evangelically keep his commandements let us live by faith let us keep thy Commandements let us be above the world in the world above the love of life and above the fear of death let not the smiles of the world allure us nor the frowns thereof affright us from thee but in all these things let us be more than conquerers through Jesus Christ Let us love him much whom we cannot love too much Help us to be above the power of Hell let us ever say My soul it is good for me to draw nigh to God Let us be willing rather to be faved with a few than go to Hell in a crowd let us live as if Eternity were long and life but short let us thrive in holiness and be brought neerer to thy self by every dispensation let us in this our day know the things that concern our peace before they be hid from our eyes and know the time of our visitation and though God suffer long he will strike at last O Lord bow the heavens and come down among us at this time and be with the unworthiest of thy servants and give unto him a door of utterance and to thin great people a door of entrance and let them be all taught of God and let them truly find that the great God is teaching to the heart when that a weak worm is speaking to the ear let all the work be done by theo and let all he praise redound unto thee and let him that is with us be greater than he that is in the world behold us in the Son of thy love smell aswee savor of rest on these our poor prayers speak peace to our consciences rebuke the tempter tread him under our feet shortly raise us up to newness of life let us remember when that which is perfect is rome that which is imperfect shall be done away Hear us and help us through our dear Redeemer let us live for him here and with him hereafter and all for his sake whom not seeing we love in whom believing we rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory to whom with thee and thy Sprit be Glory and Honour now an for ever Amen Mr. Cradocott's Prayer at St. Sepulchres MOst glorious and most gracious Lord God who art God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hast put thine own Name and stamp upon this Day wilt thou be pleased to appear now and prepare and dispose our unprepared and indisposed souls for holy Observation of this thine holy day Will the Lord vouchsafe us the incomes of his spirit and influences of his Grace whereby we may be inabled to offer up spiritual Sacrifice which may be acceptable to Jesus Christ Lord thou requirest praying hearts but thou hast not commanded us to use Prayer-books and if thou wilt give us the Spirit of Prayer we shall not need them Lord give us praying hearts at this time let us find by experience that the Sabbath is a day of Souls opportunity that thine Ordinances are full of marrow that thou hast not said unto thy Children the seed of Jacob seek my face in vain VVe acknowledge we are unworthy to lift up our eyes to heaven we have cause enough to cry out God be merciful to us sinners undeserving ill-deserving men and women we acknowledge our natures are blots of all wickednesses we are by nature enemies to thy Majesty heirs of death children of darkness slaves to sin captives to lust dead to sins and trespasses how are our understandings darkned and our hearts-hardened what are our hearts but a store house of malicious thoughts a brothel house of adultery a palace of pride we are by nature
of wrath will fall upon us O Lord how many ways hast thou used to reclaim us what Arts hath thy blessed Spirit used how many times hast thou approached to our souls and shewed us something of thy glory and the glory of heaven and the terrours of hâ—ll the one to allure us and the other to scare us But Oh! how many times have we grieved thy blessed Spirit who came to seal us and despised thy Son who came from heaven to earth and liv'd a sorrowful life and died a shameful death how often hath he offered us grace and glory if we would how to his Scepter but we have preferred a base lust before that excellency that he hath purchased us Oh how often hast thou condescended so far as to intreat us to be reconciled how easie hast thou been to forgive and how hard have we been to be forgiven VVe confess thou mighâ—est pass an eternal Doom upon us for we are sensible of the dishonour that we have brought upon thy Name Do thou at this time strike upon all these rocks that are in thy presence at this time give us hearts of flesh let our repentance pâ—eprare us for corversion let there be such a through conviction that thy grace and Mercy may be admirable in our eyes VVe intreat thee hear us pardon all our iniquities let us be monuments of thy grace and favour speak peace to our Consciences convey those clear evis dences of thâ—â—â—ve unto us that may inable us to scatter all our fâ—aâ—s that we may rejoice in God and have hope of glory Let the image of thy Son be engraven on all our hearts and let our souls be made subject to him while we are in the world preserve us from the evil of it If thou givest us out ward happiness give us withat inward holiness and if we do suffer help us with patience to bear all knowing we are in our journey and our passage to a better life and let our whole time be spent in a serious Preparation to appear before thy Tribunal and let us consider the unchangableness of that state hereafter Remember thy whole Church make the Name of Christ glorious in the world shed abroâ—d thy light and thy truth heavour back-slidings and love us freely Let thine Ordâ—nances continue among us and let thy blessing descend upon our sovereign Lord the King of England Scot and France and Ireland Defender of the Faith Incline his heart to thy Law make him an instrument of publick good protect his person and give him prosperous affairs Bless his Royal Consort his Relations his privy Counsel let them promote solid Piety and real Godliness Bless the Minister of thy Word and Sacraments Let their labours be precious in thy sight and remember all afflicted ones revive thy Mourners and let thy grace answer all their fears Let thy presence be in the midst of us and help us to hear as our last and let us be raised nearer heaven and make thy word powerful and effectual to all our souls and let thy word subdue our lusts and aâ—l we beg for the sake of Jesus Christ in whose Name and words we sum up our imperfect Prayers Our Father which art in Heaven c. Dr. Jacomb's Prayer at Martins Ludgate BLessed God thou art a God blessed for ever thou givest Mercy to all returning and repenting sinners thou art worthy to be praised by all that draw nigh unto thee Thou hast vouchsafed to us one Sabbath more Oh that we might all of us be in the spirit upon the Lords day that whatever we do we may do it in the strength of God that we may offer spiritual Sacrifices to God this day through our Mediator the Lord Jesus It is a very great condescention that thou shouldst suffer such as we are to come unto thee O Lord we are unclean we are unclean from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot we are overspread with the leprosie of sin all the faculties of our souls are defiled our understandings are darkened our wills are corrupted we have affections but they are carnal we have hearts but they are impure we have consciences but they are seared and as our inward man so our lives are unholy as the fountain is so is the stream besides that our general guilt that we brought into the world we are guilty of innumerable actual transgressions against thy holy Law We think O Lord there are no greater sinners in the world than we our sins are attended with many aggravations We have finned against Prayers against vows and promises we have had as much light shining before us as any in the world have had great is our unbelief Oh that we could lay these things to our hearts We do refuse to come to Christ we go about to establish a righteousness of our own and neglect the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ how are our hearts glewed to the present things of this world Oh! what do we do for thy glory How unreformed are we under all the ways of God that he hath taken to make us a holy people Give us a sight of our sins O Lord we confess sometimes we do make a formal confession but we do not find our hearts melted for sin as they should Oh take away from every one of us this heart of stone give a heart of flesh give us tender hearts make us sensible of all our departing from thee Oh let us look upon him whom we have pierced let us mourn that the Water of penitential sorrow may flow from us we are strangers to our selves we do not see what a hell there is in our nature Oh! how should we put our mouths in the dust and loath our selves if so be there might be hope O Lord convince us of sin give us such a sight of sin as may make us flie to thee give us such a sight of our own guilt that maâ—â— prepare us for the Grace of Godâ— now we are sâ—ung with the fiery Serpents help us to come to Jesus Christ our brazen Serpent give us the holy Spirit to bring us out of the state of nature to let that God that made us Creatures make us new Creatures O Lord we are thine own work but we are dead in trespasses and sins give us grace and speak a word to them that are dead put out thine Almighty Power and draw some sinner to Christ this day and those that have any breathings after thee Oh! thou that gavest them that desire carry on thine own work in them where thou hast begun a good work carry it on let sin as the house of Saul grow weaker and weaker and grace as the house of David grow stronger and stronger Oh! increase our faith O Lord at this time we do not onely stand in need of grace but of a great measure of grace Oh! help us by faith to relie upon God that thou mayest help us at last Bless
meek spirits as Christ did take our flesh let us partake of his Spirit Why dost thou imbitter the brest of the Creature to us but that we should finde the sweetness of the Promises There is as much in the Promises as ever let us live upon God let us cast anchor in Heaven and we shall never sink Shower down thy blessings even the choicest of them upon the head and heart of our dread Sovereign Charles by thy appointment of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith let him see wherein his cheifest interest lies let him count those his best subjects that are Christ's subjects Bless him â—n hâ—s Royal Consort in his Royal Relations the Lords of his Privy Council let them be a terror to eviâ— doers and incouragers of those that do well Bless all thy Ordinances to us make them to be fulness of life to every one before thee we are come this day to partake of them Oh pour in Wine and oyl into our souls let us be a watered garden let this blessed Sacrament be a poyson to our lust and nourishment for our Grace Hear us be our God follow us with mercy crown us with acceptance and all for Christ his sake whom not seeing we love in whom believing we rejoyce to Christ with thee and thy holy Spirit be Glory Honour and Praise now and for ever Amen Mr. Lye 's Prayer at Allhallows Lumber-street O Lord our great God thou canst do all things for thou dost dispose and govern all the wayes and works and words of thy Creature to thâ—ne own praise We thy poor Creatures the workmanship of thy hands the price and purchase of thy Sons blood do desire this morning to fall down and humble our selves at the Throne of thy Grace we desire to lift up an eye of Faith to thee that thou mayest dart an eye of Love to us since thou hast commanded us to come unto thee Oh bless us now we come Let it not be in vain for any of us from the high'st to the low'st from the richest to the poorest that we have sought thy Face this morning Blessed Father pour down a spirit of Prayer a Spirit of preaching a Spirit of Rejoycing a spirit of Practising in the midst of us let us not only be enabled to know what to do but to do what we know Thou that distd cure the eyes of the blind with clay and spittle Oh heel that natural dimness that is in the best of us Thy Rod in the hand of Moses brought water out of the Rock Oh do thou strike upon those rocky hearts that our adamantine hearts being softned may gush out into Rivers of tears Oh drown our sins in the Red sea of our saviours blood help us to smite upon our thigh and to ask our selves what we have been and what we have done and humble us under the omission of any commanded duty and the comission of any for bidden sin sins of thoughts wordes and dieds sins against the Law against the Gospel of youth manhood and old-age sins before under and since conversion sins against prayers vows promises covenants and oaths Oh Lord if thou didst prefer thy Bill against us we could not stand if we were weighed in the balance of the Sanctury we should be found too light but holy Father remember not against us our former sins but rather have mercy upon us according to thy loving kindness cross and blot out our iniquities blot them out so fully and wholly that it may be to us as to Judath in the promise that the sins of Judath should be sought for and not found O bathe our souls in that Fountain that was set open for Judah and Jerusalem though our sins have been as Scarlet let them be as white as Snow though they be red like Crimson let them be like Wool We have read that a flood of sin brought down a deluge of water that they covered the tops of the mountains Oh let thy deluge of mercy cover the tops of the mountains of our sins It is the glory of a God to pardon great sins We desire to turn unto thee with our whole hearts do thou subdue our iniquities let us be not only cleansed but let us have the efficacy of the spirit of Christ to wash us from the guilt of sin because we boast we are not under the Law but under Grace Be gracious to our Soveraign Lord Charles King of England Scotland France and Ireland It is thy promise that Kings shall be Nursing Fathers to thy children grant that under the shadow of his Majesty thy people may be protected that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Oh let thy people possess the Land from Dan to Beersheba Oh give us Scripture-Magistrates and Gospel-Ministers as long as the Sun and Moon endures Let thy VVord be sanctified to us let it not be only as water to get out our spots but as a Refiners fire to purge our dross and take away our tin And holy Father where thou hast begun a good work do thou go on and bring it to perfection let not the light that is in us be like the glimmering light of the evening but as the light of the morning that shineth more and more to the day Let our best wine be kept to the last let the end of our lives be the end of sinning Thou hast cast our lot in the midst of temptations of all sorts thou hast brought many of us through the red Sea but we are in the wilderness with Zeba and Zalmunna and those that dwell at Tyre the children of Ammon Moab and mount Seir and all the forces that Hell can make against us Oh put upon uâ— all the whole Armour of God Now in these days of Errour gird us with the Girdle of Truth Oh now in these days of falsity give us a helmet of Hope Now the Devil darts at us give us the Sheiâ—d of Faith Oh give us the Sword of the Spirit of the word of God that it may enable us to confute the gain-saying of foolish men Oh help us to pray with all manner of prayer constantly fervently faithfully feelingly that we stand and not fall and that not in our strength but in Gods To this end be with us upon this thine own day our Manna falls every day and it is doubled upon the Lords day Oh let us be as thy servant John in the Spirit upon thine own day let God by his Spirit come into our spirits understandings consciences wills memories and affections that all our conversations without and affections within may be obedient to thy Word Enable thy Servant to deliver thy Word faithfully God forbid thy Servant should stand upon so sandy a foundation as the Wisdome of Man one iota of thy Word hath more wisdome in it then all men and Angels have Good Father give thy people a hearing ear it is too much they have played
that a Christian by inherent grace is able to do himself is through Christ I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me 2. Because if there be any acceptance of what a Believer doth with the Father this also is through Christ the gift is accepted not for the gifts sake but for the sake of the Merit of Christ 3. If so be a Believer should glory in his graces there is a possibility of falling but being clad with and resting in the power of Christ there 's an impossibility of miscarrying Thus the Saints of God have their infirmities frailties their multitude of frailties and infirmities yet have they reason to glory in that power of Christ which rests on them on Earth but much more reason if they will look up and see the tongue of Christ engaged for them i. e. interceding for them in Heaven And that lets me into The Third Sermon John 17.15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil I Pray not that thou shouldest not take them out of the world Let them stay there and glory even in their very infirmities But I pray that thou shouldest keep them from the evil In this Scripture you have our Saviors Intercession for his Disciples Preservation and in this his Intercession two things observeable 1. In the Negative part for what Christ doth not pray Not that thou shouldest take them out of the world 2. In the Affirmative part That thou shouldest keep them from the evil of the world For the Negative part wherein you have 1. Something implyed Not that thou shouldest take them out of the world This implyes That God hath the disposal of our continuance in the world else Christ would never address himself to his Father that he would not take them out of the world If so then 1. Live constantly Believer above the flavish fear of Death Times are not in thine Enemies hands no not in the Devils hands but in Gods hands 2. Be patient under the loss of thy dearest Relations God hath taken them who hath the disposal of our continuance 3. Seek to God for a blessing on all those means which at any time are prescribed or used for your preservation 2. There 's something mainly intended I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world and tha't this That God will have his people oftentimes continue in the world though they should meet with much trouble in the world And if so this should teach you for ever how to carry your selves in the midst of a sinful wicked rude God-hating Saint-persecuting World that is 1. Patiently to wait Gods leisure you must stay his time 2. Carry your selves Innocently be sure you in a salt Sea like good fish retain your freshness 3 Carry your selves Wisely you walk among Devils Snares c. walk Wisely And 4. Walk Serviceably continue you must but 't is Gods time how short you know not therefore walk serviceably For the Affirmative part But I pray that thou shouldest keep them from the evil of the World Wherein something Absolutely and something Relatively Take the words Absolutely thence these four Notions That thou shouldest keep them from the evil 1. Sin is an eminent evil the evil of evils 2. That we are utterly unable to keep our selves But 3. God can keep his people in and from the evil of a sinful World 4. That 't is the Godly onely that are kept from the evil that is in the World but Relatively especially I pray c. No great matter of their sufferings but their sins that 's the thing let them be preserved from that Thence observe Preservation from sin is a far greater mercy than exemption from suffering And so then 1. See the folly and madness of those that embrace sin to avoid suffering take a stab in their hearts that they may avoid a scratch upon their finger 2. See the folly of those that desire the removal of their sufferings rather than of their sins take away the Frogs not my hard heart 3. This shews what should be our greatest complaint in the midst of a troublesom world not my sorrows plunderings imprisonments Lord but the scarcities of my soul c. 4. This shews the grand mistake of the nature of true safety Men think safety to be meerly to sleep in a sound skin but 't is not safety to be preserved from danger but from sin True the men of the world yea the best of Saints are too too apt to mistake in this case there 's a heart within them that is very apt to think sometimes sinning to be chosen rather than suffering not in wicked men only but in the best of men for As in water face answereth to face so the heart of man to man Which lets me into The Fourth Sermon Prov. 27.19 As in water face answereth to face so doth the heart of man to man IN this Proverb two things 1. The Proposition and that by a Similitude As in water face answereth to face 2. The Reddition So doth the heart of the man to man Or in the words these two Generals to be observed 1. A Glass 2. An Object to be seen in this Glass 1. A Glass a notable one that 's two-fold a dead Glass Water a living Glass the Heart of a Man 2. The Object to be seen in these Glasses in the dead Glass the face of man is to be seen in the living Glass the heart of man there 's all the Species and Complexions of the Sons nay of the Souls of the Sons of Men to be seen That as by looking into the Water you may discern your own and other mens countenances and that plainly and clearly So by looking into your own hearts if you could have a Casement into the hearts of other men there may you see of what Spiritual Complexion Constitution and Make you are as clearly as a man may see his face in water As in water c. From these words this great Truth that the Heart of every man in the world is a Looking-glass 'T is such a Looking-glass wherein he may see himself his Condition Constitution special Complexion whether it be Morally Spiritually Scripturally Good or Evil. For the right improvement of this Looking-glass three things necessary which are optick Principles but clear to those that have either Physical or Natural Light 1. There must be an Object that must be seen And oh what visible Objects are there in the hearts of men Man is called a little World a Compendium of the whole World The heart of man is the Man The heart of man is like the Ark of Noah which contains all sorts all kindes of clean and unclean Beasts 'T is an Epitomy of Heaven and Hell What is there in the heart of man Who but God can fathom the depth of it There are more Objects in the hearts of men than Stars in Heaven or drops in the Ocean