bread and give it to Doggs But how well is the world mended with this poor creature Now the Lord doth not hint that hee was not sent to her but hee calls her beleever Now hee doth not tell her shee should not have childrens bread but now hee bids her take what shee would Once it may bee poor soul Jesus Christ said this to thy conscience Thou art a Rebel deserving no mercy at another time it may bee hee said this Thou art a filthy person and not yet prepared for mercy I but at last Christ will no more mention guilt or filth but hee will say to thee Rebel There is a pardon And to thee polluted sinnet There is purging and cleansing yea hee will say to thee poor soul There is Mercy All Mercy Any Mercy what thou wantest what thou wilt there it is c. As it is in this expression here to this Woman of Canaan I will open this too in two or three steps Bee it unto thee even as thou wilt First How fully doth the Lord spenk to this Woman Psal 81.10 Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Woman take to the full as much as thou wilt As if our Lord Christ should say Woman Thou art a poor Woman of Canaan and art in want and I have a rich Treasure it is unsearchable go to the Mine take what thou wilt Woman I see thou art a poor hungry soul and I am Manna and bread from Heaven come to mee and take as much as thou wilt Woman thou hast made but one Petition but I see more in thy heart take what thou wilt My Beloved the Lord Jesus Christ hee gives like himself very largely to poor creatures Hee satisfies their souls even to the full David at last could sing such a song as this is Psal 103.3 Bless the Lord Oh my soul who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases c. You that lye hungring at the gate of Christ and cry bread Lord a Morsel Lord yea a Câ—umb Lord Christ will say There is a whole Loaf bee it to thee as thou wilt It was the speech of a dying Saint that lived long full of sorrow I am now as full of joy as my heart can hold See Zach. 9.12 Turn yee to the strong hold yee prisoners of hope even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee Good now minde it poor soul it may bee Jesus Christ may shut thee up in prison yet there thou wilt bee a prisoner of hope I but what shall you have at last Hee will render double unto thee All the Lords children at last they shall have double So it was with Joseph hee had hard usage at first cast into prison c. but at last hee is out and Governour of all the Land At last Christ will deal with you all as hee dealt with Joseph The Lord Jesus will deal with a bountiful hand full heaped up running over That is the first thing But then Secondly Bee it unto thee EVEN AS thou wilt It relates to the Manner eminently as well as to the Matter As thou wilt that is in such a manner as thou wilt When David came up to Araunah to have the threshing-floor and cattel for a sacrifice hee would have them so and so And Araunah said to him Do what seemeth good unto thee 2 Sam. 24.22 And there is very much in that The Lords people have their hearts many times set upon the manner of their mercy Deal bountifully with thy servant as thou usest to do unto those that love thy Name saith David in Psal 119.132 The poor soul that lies at the feet of Christ would have mercy and have such mercy as his Lambs have that lye in his bosome Thomas hee would have a sign from the Lord and hee would have such a sign John 20.25 and in vers 27. Christ condescends to him but a little to open this One while the soul will have Love I and it must bee immediate Love Let him kiss mee with the kisses of his mouth Cant. 1.2 It was a very elegant and holy allusion of Bernard and therefore I shall mention it There is the kiss of the foot of Christ and of the hand and of the mouth of Christ i. e. There are several sorts of kinde expressions now the Spouse specifieth what kinde of Love-expression shee would have as sometimes the soul doth and may do shee would have not the kiss of the feet but of the mouth and Christ gave it her as shee intimates vers 4. Minde it then One while thy soul will have immediate Love-Tokens and the Lord will give you as you will Another while the soul cries out as David in Psal 35.3 Say thou unto my soul thou art my salvation c. The childe will have bread and it will have it upon the Mothers lap Another while the soul is ready to say Shew mee a token for good that those that hate mee may see it and bee ashamed Psal 86.17 18. Oh my Beloved what infinite love is it in Jesus Christ that hee should condescend so low as to give us not onely what wee will but as wee will That expression is very full in Psal 145.19 Hee will fulfil the desire of them that fear him The soul hath what hee will and just as hee will have it his whole desire And so Jesus Christ will do and therefore bear up your hearts you that come to Christ hee may deal harshly with you at first but hee will let it bee as you will at last Thirdly and lastly Bee it unto thee Christ is very positive very peremptory hee speaks as one resolved to do The Lord Jesus doth not say I will think of it or I will take it into consideration and it may bee it shall bee so but hee is positive Bee it unto thee even as thou wilt Two things there are that I eye in this expression Bee it unto thee First It is a Commanding word Secondly It is a Creating word First It is a Commanding word Bee it unto thee The Lord doth as it were command and say Woman I have commanded that it shall bee so In Psal 42.8 Saith the Psalmist there The Lord will command his loving-kindness in the day time and in the night his song shall bee with mee The poor soul while it is in the world it must deal with means as well as with grace and the soul is ready to say will the means give out Just as the poor petitioner that deals with a Lord but hee deals likewise with some of the Officers though the Lord grant his request yet hee doubts whether hee shall get it our of the Officers hand why saith hee I have commanded it Remember and rejoyce in this hint O poor heart who hopest Christ is free but doubtest what means may do Possibly thou hast said this I have good hope the Lord will speak kindly to mee but will the Ordinances give it out too why
all doth depend upon Jesus Christ Now my Beloved That the Lord may fulfil temporal Promises hee will upon the faithful coming of his servants sometimes give them temporal mercies Wee shall now come to the Use There are but two Uses that I would make of this Point First of all therefore Let this serve for a word of Conviction And Secondly For a word of Instruction First It serves for a word of Conviction To convince the folly and the mistake of many poor creatures who think and say that going to Jesus Christ may bee good for the soul but they cannot tell what it is for the body Repentance Faith real Conversion to the Lord Jesus may save our souls but they cannot see what it will do for their bodies This kinde of Dutch-divinity is every where to minde Mammon and body best and most and to think Religion is not for any profit or purpose in those particulars But see here this folly and know that Religion is good for all things Length of daies are in Christs right hand and in his left riches and honour Oh souls learn to see going to Jesus Christ is good not onely for our souls but for our bodies You shall go to the Lord Jesus Christ and have the mercies of Heaven and the mercies of Earth too Can the Son of Jesse give you Olive yards and Vine-yards c. Was the speech of Saul 1 Sam. 22.7 So say the men of the world Do you think to get any thing by being godly Yes if the Lord please you may get for body as well as for soul by going to Jesus Christ The world is mightily mistaken that think godliness is good for nothing but salvation it is good for this present world too But then Secondly Let it serve for an Use of Instruction To teach us all whither to go in all cases whether spiritual or corporal why to go to the Lord Jesus Whatever thy case bee away to Christ going to Christ is good for soul and for body What is your condition Say some I am a poor man and I have a little estate and a great charge I hope beleeving in Jesus Christ will save my soul but what shall become of my Family go to Jesus Christ hee can give corporal as well as spiritual mercies Saith another I am sick c. little do wee know what may bee expected from Christ even in corporal cases You have a fine speech in Proverbs 3.16 Length of daies are in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour Shee is a tree of Life and shee is health to the Navel and the Flesh chap. 4.22 This is spoke of Wisdome what Wisdome why it is spoken of Essential Wisdome Jesus Christ why what of Christ it is said Length of daies are in his right hand Eternity of Life is a right-hand-mercy for Jesus Christ to give I but how shall I live here why In his left hand are riches and honour You go to Jesus Christ and say Lord I have a dead soul dead in trespasses and sins Lord Length of daies are with thee But thy body is sick why go to Christ hee can cure bodies too and is this onely for your selves No but for others too you may go to the Lord Jesus not onely for a morsel of bread for thy poor soul but for some cure for thy childe Object But may I go to the Lord Jesus will the Lord Christ accept mee who come to him upon a carnal account Answ For answer That Jesus that hath the mercy of God to pitty souls hath the pitty of a man to pitty bodies and humane compassions will prevail with him for bodily pitty Object I but will the soul say Is there then any hope that I may prevail with the Lord for my sick childe Answ My Beloved I told you in the beginning That the Prayers and Faith of the Parent will much prevail with Christ for the good of the childe In Gen. 17. Abraham goes to the Lord and hee praies for Ishmael Oh that Ishmael might live in thy sight That is that hee might bee the childe of the Promise Hee was a Son of the Flesh but not an Heir of the Promise but yet mark what follows though Ishmael should not bee the childe of the Promise yet the Lord doth there assure Abraham of this that Ishmael shall bee blessed Isaac is the childe of the promised seed yet Ishmael shall bee blessed too Many a time doth the Lord hear the prayers of his servants even for an Ishmael i. e. for a childe yea a carnal childe and this is certain even bad children have many corporal mercies for their Parents sakes and wee may expect it Object But wee have known many a Parent that have gone in Faith to Jesus Christ for a poor childe that never have prevailed How then can you build us up in this Truth when wee see the contrary Answ I answer If thou goest to the Lord and prayest for a childe and dost not prevail God deals no worse with thee than hee dealt with thy betters David who was a man after Gods own heart went to God for a childe and hee prayed hard but yet the Lord did not hear him You have the story in 2 Sam. 12.16 David besought God for the childe and fasted c. And if it bee so with you yet are you as well in this respect as David was But more fully to answer the Objection I pray mark it that in that place there are two things might satisfie David and so any in the like case First It was not good for David that the childe should live I make that appear thus what was the childe that David did desire might live you know the story it was the base-begotten childe which hee got upon Bathsheba Certainly it was not good for David that the childe should live had the childe lived it would have been his Fathers shame c. When thou goest to God to begg the life of thy childe if thy childe do not live what is the reason hee may live to bee thy shame Some have begged of God the life of a childe what ever came of it God hath given it as a curse and the childes life hath been a monument of their shame and a perpetual heart-breaking to the Parents all their daies As a good Woman once sadly said So that is one thing it may bee for good to the Parent that God should not hear prayers for a childes life and then that may satisfie us if hee do not But then Secondly Though the Lord did not hear David for the life of the childe I perswade mee Hee did hear David for the soul of the childe I shall give you this account of it Saith David in v. 23. I shall go to him but hee shall not return to mee Whither is that not so much I shall go to him in my body to the grave but in my soul to God And my Beloved that this is intended
18.8 and it bears upon this Notion that I now hint It is said of Babylon That all her plagues shall come upon her in one day c. In one day why the intirest of Pride and Honour Idolatry and Persecution that so many ages were winding up to a height can this bee destroyed in so little time shall this bee done in one day Yes For strong in the Lord God who judgeth her A great God is never confined to any time Oh my Beloved bear up your hearts in the Lord Jesus Christ time can no way prescribe him hee can do what hee will and when hee will But there is one general point that I shall take up from the place and end this discourse And the general Point is this Doct. That faithful coming unto Jesus Christ doth sometimes prevail even in Corporal Cases This woman of Canaan came to Christ and shee came in Faith Here is a faithful commer to the Lord Jesus and shee prevails for her own soul I and shee prevails for her Daughters body shee prevails eminently for her own spiritual concernments I and shee prevails also for her Daughters corporal concernments That Faith prevails alwaies in spiritual concernments that wee have often opened and my Beloved it is a mercy that if it do not alwaies prevail for our body yet that it doth for our souls But God hath provided and doth so order it that sometimes it shall prevail for body and soul too Indeed going to Christ is good for every thing and they who truly go to the Lord Jesus shall one day have cause to sing the song of David Bless the Lord Oh my soul who forgiveth all thy sins and healeth all thy diseases You that go to Jesus Christ you shall have cause to say Blessed bee God I have soul-mercy and bodily-mercy too If you look thorow the whole story of the Life of Christ you shall see this truth The whole history of the Gospel gives us instances that faithful coming to Christ did sometimes prevail with him for corporal-mercies as well as for spiritual mercies A double instance I shall give First An Instance of prevailing for our selves Secondly An Instance of prevailing for others First An Instance of prevailing for our selves saith the Leper in Matth. 8.2 Lord if thou wilt thou canst make mee clean And that of the blinde man Barthomeus in Luk. 18.41 saith Christ What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee and hee said Lord That I may receive my sight and his sight was restored to him Many a time the Lord Christ was prevailed withall for corporal mercies But secondly As many did prevail for themselves so they did often prevail for others As in Matth. 15.30 It is there said Great multitudes came to him having with them those that were lame blinde dumb maimed and many others and cast them down at Jesus feet and hee healed them c. The Lord did many corporal kindnesses for others The like to this you have in Matth. 9.1 2. They brought to him one sick of the Palsie and Jesus seeing their Faith healed him But now here is one Objection against this Object But you will say This was true of the times wherein Christ lived Christ when hee was upon Earth healed Simon Peters wifes Mother of a feavour and such a ones Daughter and such a ones Son but now hee is in Heaven such things are not to beee expected so some do think Answ For Answer First If wee speak of his miraculous way of healing then it may bee said that miraculous way of healing diseases was a mercy more eminently put forth in those daies of Christs being in the flesh But if you speak of the thing it self healing diseases curing of bodies I doubt not but wee may expect the same mercy from Jesus Christ now that they did then And the Reason is Because there is the same ground for Christ to shew corporal kindnesses now which was then Where the ground of a thing is perpetual moral and eternally the same in all ages the same things may bee done upon the same ground But c. I finde in the Gospel a double ground why Christ did heal corporal diseases The first ground was his pitty and sympathy And secondly To fulfil Prophecie and Promise Upon these two grounds did Christ heal either upon the grounds of pitty and compassion as a man or else upon the ground of Prophecie or Promise For the first ground you have it in Matth. 14.14 It is said Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them and hee healed their sick Compassion did move Christ and therefore hee healed them Now observe Jesus Christ now in Heaven hath the same compassions that hee had here on Earth and that is founded upon his keeping or retaining of his humane nature still If Christ had not now in Heaven our humane nature hee would not have had this compassion for you shall finde that the compassion that was in Christ it was not built upon his God-head but upon his humane Nature And therefore in Heb. 2.16 17. It is said Christ took not on him the nature of Angels but hee took on him the seed of Abraham Why so that hee might bee a merciful and faithful High Priest c. Hee did therefore take Mans Nature that hee might have compassion Now this Jesus retains for ever and hee hath the same compassions now hee is in Heaven that hee had when hee was upon the Earth The second ground is that which I finde in Isa 53.4 compared with Matth. 8.17 I pray minde it for it is good to know what is the ground of Faith In Isa 53. Saith the Prophet there Surely hee hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows c. This was prophesied of Jesus Christ that hee should not onely have compassion on our spiritual infirmities our sins but our corporal and this was the ground why hee did heal diseases in the time of his flesh Matth. 8.17 It is said Hee healed all that were sick that it might bee fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet saying Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses Here was the ground why Christ did heal then because it was prophesied hee should bear our sicknesses Now this Prophecie is an eternal truth And if in the time of his flesh hee did shew corporal kindnesses that that Prophecie might bee fulfilled hee will now do the same that the same Prophecie might bee fulfilled Even in these daies wee may expect that our Lord Jesus Christ upon our faithful coming to him should shew corporal kindness to us and ours as well as spiritual One Scripture I shall add for the Truth of it and that is in James 5.14 Is any man sick among you Let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him c. and the prayer of Faith shall save the sick c. Here observe that faithful prayer shall prevail for