fore-runner or harbinger of death that cry from the Rod hath a voice and that voice is Gods voice he speaks in it and it is not an ordinary voice but a crying voice the word it whispers the loud crying of the word is but a whispering in comparison of the voice of God in the Rod it cryeth hear the Rod and who hath appointed it Mind it if a Judgement be upon a City is there any evil in a City and he hath not wrought it it cryeth to the whole City louder then Jonah did repent repent for you may perish and come to the tribunal within less then 40. daies or hours So every disease in a family cryeth to the family cryeth to the person prepare make ready that we need not such a message as the Prophet Isaiah brought to Hezek the voice of God in the Rod cryeth prepare make ready for he is coming here is a blow that the Tabernacle of Clay is ready to tumble and then soul where wilt thou appear if thou be not ready Or else Thirdly by cry it may be meant as Chrysost Theophyl Jer. Hilary Aret. and others understand it of the last trump of the arch-Angel Arise ye dead and come to Judgement this will be such a cry Brethren as will make all the world ring of it indeed that will pierce to the bottom of the deep to make it give up its dead to the bowels of the earth to make it give up its dead Then shall all arise the dead in Christ shall rise first Well this cry goeth before or accompanyeth this coming of the Bride-groom Fourthly Then he cometh For the heavens now must contain him until the Consummation of all things and then he will come to judge quick and dead he that shall come will come though he seem long to the people of God he that shall come will come then mockers shall know where the promise of his coming is they shall know their Judgement lingers not nor damnation slumbereth not He will come soon enough for all too soon for many poor creatures the Lord grant none of us be found in our sinful condition Fifthly The time is at midnight The Jews have a tradition that the coming of Christ to Judgement will be at midnight and hereupon the Primitive Christians it should seem did use to watch all night the Eve of the Pass-over expecting his coming as Jerom reports saith Beza but to be wise above what is reason you see whether it leads men in the dark for what is more directly against our Saviour his own words Of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels in heaven but my father only At midnight with respect to the solemnity of the marriage that is to say later then usually and therefore unexpected when all was silent nocte intempestâ when deep sleep useth to seize upon men The man of the house at midnight his eyes are sealed up with sleep and when he least dreameth of the thief then he cometh and surprizeth him So the Lord Jesus like a thief in the night when men usually are least aware most uncomposed and unfit for his coming for the most part The rest of his actions in this Parable will come in under the other part which is the Church for you have in the general First the subject of this comparison the Kingdom of heaven and what that is I shall not need here to speak much of it hath various expressions in Scripture It is not I conceive here taken for the Kingdom of glory for there are no foolish Virgins members of that Kingdom No nor the Kingdom of grace which is within the Saints for the same reason Nor yet for the Administrations of the Kingdom as sometimes it is taken But it is taken here for the visible Church of Jesus Christ wherein some are wise some are foolish Some hold out some fall short of heaven and the glory of God and some are crowned enduring to the end and thus much for the opening of that expression Second thing in general to be noted is the time Then shall the Kingdom of heaven be likened compared or shall be like then when even when the Son of man shall come Brethren to solemnize the marriage with such as he hath here espoused to himself then when we come to appear before him all together it shall most evidently appear to be so But in a sort it is so in every mans particular Judgement at his death or dissolution there is a Specimen given to the truth of this parable and this appears from the connexion of this Chapter with the former the last ver of the former Chapter he speaks of cutting in sunder that evil servant that presuming upon the Masters delay should beat his fellow-servants and eat and drink with the drunken he shall cut him in sunder and give him his portion with hypocrites where is weeping and gnashing of teeth for ever Then shall the Kingdom of heaven be likened to ten Virgins And though then the spirits of many just men be already made perfect and many hypocrites already in the everlasting chains of darkness yet because they have been members of the visible Church in a sort all such may come under such a consideration at the great and terrible day of his appearing when the sheep shall be set upon his right hand and the goates on his left hand as you have it in the latter end of this 25. Chapter Now for the Church visible compared to ten Virgins There are two sorts brethren in a visible Church such as are Saints indeed and do enjoy the Lord Jesus and have that Kingdom of God even righteousness peace and joy in the Holy-Ghost within them and such as are only so nomine tenus they go for such with men who cannot search the heart ought not to judge the heart immediately but tenderly and alway with the greatest favour to judge of men Now such is this Kingdom of heaven here mentioned And therefore we will consider what is said of them two waies cast it two waies haply it may appear the more clearly and distinctly to our understanding First We will consider what in the parable is common to them both to Hypocrites and Formal Professors with real Saints who possess and enjoy Jesus Christ Secondly We will consider what is peculiar to either of them and set contraria juxta se they wil give light each to other and this briefly First then for the things wherein they agree or which are common to Saints indeed with Saints in appearance only or seeming and real Saints They are all of them called Virgins not in commendation of virginity as Jerom did childishly conceive as Calvin noteth But to Virgins they are compared either only because in the marriage solemnity the Virgins used to go forth to meet the Bridegroom and bring him to his Chamber So here they must go forth to meet the Lord Jesus Or else
your husband if you believe in him But I will not stand any longer upon this Doctrine I had now thought to have gone on with what is spoken concerning Jesus Christ according to the first proposal of a method But it may happily be as well if not better to many understandings to take things as they lye in the Text and therefore I shall so do Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened to ten virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom For the Adverb of Time Then I shall happily speak somewhat afterward The Kingdom of Heaven that is to say the visible Church I might inâ—ist upon it and shew you that the Church visible is a Kingdom and that Christ is the head of this Church the King of the Saints and not onely ruleth the Saints which really believe by his word and spirit which abide and dwell in them but also he ruleth his Church visible by his word and spirit and Ordinances all the Administrations of the Kingdom But that Kingdom hath been lately spoken to by a brother therefore I will wave that I might also speak something to the heavenliness of the Kingdom the Kingdom of Heaven and shew you how it is heavenly in its Original in divine Laws Institutions and many other ways But you had it held forth largely by a better hand therefore I will not trouble you again with these things so soon It shall be likened to ten virgins There is another Note which floweth clearly I think from the words and that is this The visible Church for the matter is made up of visible Saints that this is so will appear from the very Text it self First It shall be compared to ten virgins he saith not to a mixed multitude or to 10 women five wherof are virgins and 5 harlots or strumpets but to 10 virgins and what that word doth import I believe you remember since the words were opened to you such are turned from Idols to the living God as he speaks of the conversion of the Thessalonians according to the judgement of Charity for else so far as a professed subjection to Jesus Christ and renouncing them reacheth he spake according to a judgement of verity for that they did profess and so escaping the pollutions of the world forsaking gross and loose courses and professedly subject themselves to the rule of the government of Jesus Christ To such the Church visible is here compared and the most the Lord speaks of his relation to his people it is after the manner of men under such similitudes as we can conceive of and as we may be led by as by a clew into the understanding of the deep mysteries of faith and salvation But if any will think or say this is not a sure bottom to build such a truth or point upon because the virgins here are not considered as virgins but as persons accompanying the Bride going forth to meet the Bridegroom I shall first say That as they are not onely considered as virgins so neither is the consideration of their virginity to be waved for as in the similitude usually they were those virgins which did accompany the Bride so I suppose in the Apodosis now of the comparison we are to look for somewhat which may answer that virginity And you finde it in Scripture to be answered by those things I have proposed that is to say their forsaking Idolatry turning to the true God and their renouncing their former prophane conversation And then secondly I say this is not the only bottom in the Text whereupon it is builded For in the second place besides that they are called Virgins or compared to virgins they are also said to take their Lamps and surely if we must expound what is meant by the Lamps we can understand and nothing less by it then a visibility of Saintship But if this will not carry it neither methinketh the Third should be undenyable they went forth to meet the Bride-groom that is to say they went forth from home and forlook their fathers house and mothers they set upon their journey heavenward Zion-ward to meet Jesus Christ who is the Bridegroom who will ere long come to take the Bride unto himself There are many Scriptures will speak fully to the proof of this Some prophesies there are as that in the Prophet Isaiah there he speaks of a high-way shal be cast up and the unclean shal not pass over it Again none uncircumcised in heart or flesh shall enter into his Sanctuary this applyed not only to the times of their returning from Babylon but to the Gospel-times What can it speak less then this Brethren that no visible unclean creature shall ever enter into the Church of Christ It should consist of visible Saints This is plain by the tares and the wheat which while in the blade are are so like they hardly discernable in those Countries as Jerom saith And so by the Apostles wherefore else do they call them holy to the Saints which are at Corinth at Ephesus c but either they were all such visibly and in the judgement of charity or else ought to have been such Mistake not I say not that none should be a member of a Church but he that is a real Saint and shall be saved for then there could be no Church wherein we could walk or administer or receive any ordinance de fide because we know not who are such nor cannot know as I conceive nor have any rule to make an infallible judgement of any man but only probably to conclude concerning the state and conditions of men that which is invisible to us it is true its visible to God and that which is visible to him is invisible to us But visible Saints surely they ought to be Now for the further opening of this what I mean by visible Saints and Saint-ship I shall endeavour to lay it down in these particulars as plainly as I can to your understandings First Then it is requisite to Saint-ship that there be a separation to God from the world that is holiness whether in things or in persons when they are separated to God for any special use of his they are called holy Common and unclean are convertible tearms as you have in it in the Acts and as appears by the sanctifying of the Vineyards and Orchards when the Lord had had the first-fruits of them then they themselves and others had the free use of them the word in the original is they polluted or prophaned them the common use of them is distinguished thereby from the holy use whereby they were separated before from them to the Lord whether persons separated to themselves to the Lord acti agimus the Lord turns them and they are turned or whether they be altogether passive as in the first work of God we all are if it be a separation to God this is a Holiness a Saint-ship he
that had no wedding garment upon him yet came to the Feast Sure he went no further then the externals you see he is cast out into utter darkness Now this may be called the Marriage or the Feast because here below they are necessary for us as signs of that spiritual communion the Lord seeth it good we have these royal dainties thus represented to us by visible sensible things because of our weakness and to magnifie his own condescending Grace to us to make that mysterie of salvation by a crucified Christ which all the reason in the world cannot fathom and that which neither eye hath seen nor ear heard yet in a sort visible to the eye and to be perceived by the ear that we might even in this sacramental sense even touch and taste and handle as I may say the word of life 2. As they are seals and pledges of this spiritual communion being seals of the Covenant of Grace whereof Jesus Christ is the sum and substance it sealeth it up to a believers Faith and so stands us in great stead And 3. It is a means of our spiritual communion the Conduit-pipe that runs wine the dishes that hold the dainties though but gold as Kings and Princes use to be served up in such State yet it is not them we feed upon they are but the means the vehicula and therefore because they have such a respect to our spiritual communion with Jesus Christ they may be so called But secondly the internal communion with Jesus Christ is that indeed which is the Feast the Marriage-feast even here below to eat and drink the flesh and blood of the Son of God which giveth life and maintains life this is the Feast Eat and drink yea drink abundantly saith the Lord I shall be satisfied abundantly with the goodness of thy house abundantly satisfied watered inebriated with the fatness of thy house what is that not meerly with the Ordinances no but with Christin them beholding his might and glory in the Ordinances the mighty prevailing of the Spirit of Christ against our unbelief to quiet all our doubtings O it is this to see the good of the chosen of the Lord those choice inward refreshings which the poor believers have from the presence and powerful workings of Christ in them to the joy of faith and to strengthen against corruption to strengthen for action for suffering his will this is that they cry out after even after the living God to enjoy him And all this is but the Kingdom of God below this is but the first course as I may say of this feast For secondly The Kingdom of glory as well as the Kingdom of grace which is that now I am to speak to this is a feast a Marriage here called that is to say a Marriage-feast for what is the Kingdom of grace here below but a foretaste of heaven as Grotius upon Matth. 22. saith As in the Marriage-feast at Cana of Galilee contrary to the usual manner our Saviour kept his best wine last so it is here as by and by we shall see here the wine the spirits indeed But a little to prove this by a Scripture or two that it may appear plain ye that have continued with me in my temptation I appoint to you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me that ye may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom So many shall come from the East and from the West and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven sit down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their table jesture Joh. 12. 2. they that sit at the Table are Guests But now eating and drinking in Scripture many times do signifie a feasting and so it is here to be taken and let it be noted by way of further proof that the Jews did not ordinarily drink wine except at their feasts and then they did drink abundantly if the observation of some be true as Piscator in his Schol. upon Math. 26. 29. cited by Mr. Brinsly but whether so or no sure we are they did use to drink more liberally then eat the fat and drink the sweet when it was a good day or a merry day to them for his heart was merry his heart was good and the sadness of the heart was called the evil of the heart in the Hebrew often insomuch that the ordinary word in the Hebrew for a feast is a drinking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So in Ahashuerus his feast is called and Labans feast is called a drinking and it appears by the abundance of wine our Saviour made at the Marriage-feast at Cana of Galilee Therefore you shall find that the feast which Christ maketh is a feast of wines on the Lees well refined come and buy wine and milk without money and without price And so for this Kingdom of heaven this Marriage-feast at the height is called a drinking of new wine with them in the Kindgom of the Father that is to say the Kingdom of glory called his Fathers Kingdom because at that day that is to say at the day of the resurrection he will give up his dispensatory Kingdom to his Father that God may be all in all And for other reasons but I must not stay upon that Well here he will drink new wine with them which is nothing else but a periphrasis of this feast this Marriage-feast in heaven The cup of blessing the cup of consolation the cup of health or salvation is the feast of Christ here below but this now must be drunk new in the Kingdom of his Father there will be a new feast of wine a feast of new wine And so much for the proof of this Now we must understand Brethren that this feast in heaven is not any corporal thing I hope it is needless to tell any of you this the heathens dream of an Elysian-field and the Mahometans of their carnal delights after death those are poor husks that will not satisfie a soul of a child of God here they are sordid and infinitely below a heaven-born spirit no it must be somewhat of as high a nature as the spring from whence they come Why you may judge what it is in the General Brethren though particularly we know not what we shall be What is the Kingdom of heaven here below but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy-Ghost the sweet and spiritual communion with Jesus Christ the fellowship of his death and sufferings life and resurrection whereby we are in part changed into his Image that a man liveth upon will change him ordinarily therefore the King you know would have the children in Dan. fed with a portion of his meat generous-spirited wine will beget more and better spirits then course and cold c. So here by this communion we are changed in part though alas in how little a part But now in heaven Brethren the same communion
away their time in the world spending their strength for that which profiteth not labouring for the meat which perisheth which will not endure to eternal life you see the world was that which kept them from coming to the Feast in the Gospel one could not have while another could not have while a man cannot have two treasures except he had two hearts two contrary treasures earth and heaven both and where the treasure is there will the heart be also therefore Brethren while men are so altogether taken up with the world they cannot but neglect the main thing and so are found unready â—et worldlings hear this word and tremble if any others be likely to be found unready you are the men Even the people of God themselves if they be unready in part it is the world likely will put them out of order off the hinges take heed saith our Saviour your hearts be not at any time overcharged with the cares of this world because there is no time but that day may overtake you and then you will be taken unawares therefore much more a man that is drowned and buried in the world he will be sure to be unready Secondly Such as do but dally with God and Religion and the things of eternity they spend themselves and their strength to feed a formality to put forth broad and pleasant leaves and there is all but for faith and repentance and the great works of a Christian they scarse ever meddle with them at all they go to the creature here with the foolish Virgins go to the opinions of others to the graces of others to their flattering parasite Preachers to be seared and daubed up such as these are likely to be found unready none in more danger then a formal professor Thirdly Such as fail in the midst of their Christian course as you see these Virgins did usually such are hardly recovered again for you see how they wandered up and down from mountain to hill from creature to creature and come not to Jesus Christ So in the Gospel when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man c. Such are like to the Laodiceans spised out of the mouth of God which none returneth to again the Dog returneth to the vomit but not a man our time is fruitful in experiences of this kind you see the door is here shut against those Virgins which failed I mean it of a total Apostacy not partial declinings such the Saints themselves had the wise Virgins but the other lost all true saving grace they had none their form their profession it went out and then they were in darkness could not expect the coming of their Lord with their Lamps burning So much for the opening of it The door is shut the meaning of this is no more but that an entrance into heaven is denyed unto them that are not ready there is no mansion made ready for them that are not made ready for these mansions the Lord Jesus he is the door into the Church the Kingdom of grace and into the Kingdom of glory as you have beard they that enter must enter in by Jesus Christ have access by him now he will shut the door that is to say shut up his bowels and tender mercies for ever though they have been opened to poor sinners here upon earth then they shall be shut up he will have no more compassion on them but when they cry and call shut out their prayers they have clapt the door of their hearts and lockt them against him and now will he shut up his heart and lock it against them for ever Time was when the Jews might have found Jesus Christ but now saith he ye shall seek me and shall not find me but shall dye in your sins Indeed Brethren the door may be shut against a man here on earth after Gods waiting upon a people to be gracious to them he sware in his wrath they should never enter into his rest which was a type of heaven And so those that were invited to the feast they shall not taste of my dainties saith the King for they are not worthy If men refuse and reject the Gospel either professedly or in practise no marvel if the Lord turn the key of heaven gates upon them and they be shut out without any more hope for ever For the Arguments to confirm this a little First Because this feast in heaven admitteth no Guests without a wedding garment without holiness no entrance into heaven no man shall see the Lord except the Lord Jesus have known them and they have known him which is life eternal for so the Apostle puts them together we know that we know him or rather are known of him else Brethren there is no entrance he knoweth no man will acknowledge none then but with a wedding-garment here in the administrations of the Kingdom of grace a person may creep into the feast withont the wedding-garment indeed for the word preached it is for all but the distinguishing Ordinances men may be admitted to haply though they have no wedding-garment as you have it in that place of Matthew but he shall not abide there but shall be cast out he will bind him hand and foot and cast him out though he â—eaveth the admittance of them into the visible Church and visible communion in his ordinances to us who can judge but according to appearance and by the rules of charity yet himself cometh and vieweth the guests and who are fit to be owned as the guests of heaven that shall have entrance there he whose eyes are a flame of fire or like it piercing into the inwards of our souls to see what our spirits are cloathed with And if he takes it so ill of them that creep into the Communion of his Saints and Ordinances here below without a wedding-garment Surely then he will never admit any to this feast of new wine to eternity without such a wedding-garment Secondly Another Argument or Consideration to make this out may be this they that are unready shall not enter the door shall be shut upon them because they have neglected despised the Lord Jesus who is the door and hath the key of David and openeth and shutteth therefore now they shall be rejected the door hath stood open all the day long all the day long hath he stretched out his hands to a rebellious and gain-saying people he would have gathered them and they would not therefore now he will not now he will despise them as they have despised him and there is all the reason that can be that they that would have none of Christ by whom alone there is access to the Father and to this glory that he should have none of them neither they have resisted the motions of his Spirit the Holy-Ghost offering to convince them and now he will resist them clap the door against them Thirdly Because
just in the very harbour this is the saddest of all the rest many a storm they have ridden out they have indured many a wave and to split themselves in the very harbour within sight of the land as a man miscarrying just at the gate of the City of Refuge O how high must such mens hopes have been and how low will their hearts sink now when so â—adly disappointed hope so disappointed maketh ashamed confoundeth the soul as Esau his hopes were at the highest when he came with his Venison to his â—ather this will kill the heart O Brethren above all others hypocrites will be cloathed with the deepest confusion because they have been men of the fairest hopes for heaven Therefore it is said he went away sorrowful for it must needs be so for he was a man of more light then others and surely had a conviction that Jesus was the Messiah that it would be advantagious to have him and therefore coming so near to him and yet put back he went away sorrowful another man would have made nothing of such a repulse hypocrites have great enlightnings and they have had a taste of the heavenly gift as I may say as Israel had a bunch of grapes to taste the sweetness of Canaan and encourage them to go in to possess it O this when God turned them back into the wilderness for their rebellion that they should perish there was a great aggravation of their misery if they had never come so near it and never tasted of it they had not known what they had lost what they had deprived themselves of So here surely Brethren hypocrites have many a taste they have some glimmerings of heavens light and glory somewhat they have to draw them on to the very borders therefore for them to be turned off here and shut out O sure it will much aggravate their misery Ah wretch that I was to come so near take so much pains for heaven and yet that I should miss it will be the doleful ditty of hypocrites to eternity Thirdly It may teach all young beginners that are now as I may say starting in the race that is set before us that you look to it Brethren you be so furnished as to be able to run so as to obtain you are now launching into the deep O look to it there be not a privy leak somewhere though it be but small yet it may make a shift to sink you even at the very haven of heaven Ah dear friends it will be worth your pains to look into the truth of your condition though it cost you many an hour many a hot and cold fit yet give it not over be sure of this one thing that you be bottomed on Jesus Christ and have his Spirit to dwell in you his fear put in you according to the Covenant of grace and then you shall never depart from him you shall never fall short If once you be but in him you shall enter in with him the reason why these foolish Virgins entred not they were not in Christ they had nothing but their own account their own profession and what they could rap and rend and get from the creature alas this was nothing though it might carry them thus far it would not make way for their entrance into glory therefore let me beg of you to make this one thing necessary sure neglect this and all is nothing Fourthly It may teach all of us even such as have not only begun but gone far taken much pains for heaven to tremble and fear lest for want of a little more we fall short Ah dear friends if we would offer violence to heaven it must be while we are here when the door is shut it is too late therefore now let us press and spare no pains and look to these two things 1. That what we do we do it in Christ and for Christ else what do we differ in our work from the glistering Sinners among the heathens And 2. That our hearts be changed and made better and growing liker heaven every day then other else they will nothing avail us at all we shall be shut out notwithstanding all our prayers preaching gifts performances priviledges nothing but an interest in Christ and an heart sanctified by him will give entrance into heaven but so much for this Doctrine Another Note I will take up from the Virgins crying to God now when they saw the Gate of heaven shut against them That the hearts of sinners are full of self-confidence and presumption That they could have an heart to cry to Jesus Christ to open the door to them when it was shut it is strange presumption and boldness indeed for they had not one word to say for themselves why they should have entrance but only Lord Lord open c. in respect of any pleadings of Faith or the Covenant of Grace they were dumb not a word of this but if they had any thing to say it was such as those in Mat. 7. had to say for themselves he had preached in their streets and they had eat and drunk in his presence so here Lord Lord open to us why we had Lamps burning until a little before thy appearing we walked in fellowship with them that are truly admitted now into thy presence we have endeavoured to get some oyl to renew our Lamps though alas they found none but however they would have heaven this is very strong impudence and confident presumption that is in the hearts of Sinners the Lord Jesus turns them off and they will not be turned oâ—f now they will offer violence to the kingdom of heaven when it is too late Whence ariseth this Haply out of the ignorance whereupon heaven is to be had upon what conditions or else out of the presence of their eternal misery now they see they are sinking to hell they begin to cry out for opening of heaven Gate to them now the Gate is shut upon them they never cried before but I will not insist upon this Only a word or two of Application First then it is no marvel brethren if sinners are so full of boldness and presumption now let us tell them that we will set life and death before them as you have had it set before you many a time every Sabbath every opportunity almost alas they care not for it they hang out a flag of defiance against God they have made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell and this they make account shall stand let the Lord say what he will though he tell them he will break that Covenant he disanulleth it in the day he heareth it for both they and death are under his command and therefore he may disanull their Covenant he is Soveraign over them all yet they believe it not they rage and are confident for when the very overflowing scourge cometh upon them they are so confident to go and cry to God
when they see the very gate of mercy shut against them O say sinners here we shall have peace though we walk after the imaginations of our own hearts to add drunkenness to thirst thoâ—gh God have told such men His anger shall smoke against that man yet they are confident nothing will drive them to seek a Christ to make their peace with him to accept of deliverance and no marvel for when they see the mouth of hell opened for them and the belly of hell moved for them and the gates of heaven shut against them and they have no Christ to appear in yet they have the face and boldness as to cry Lord Lord open to us Secondly It may teach us to have an holy jealousie and an holy pitty over poor creatures that can be and are upon their death-beds so confident so presumptuous they can come to God without a Christ having all their life long trampled his precious blood under their feet rested in their formalities and yet can cry out then to God to open to them as if thy were the only Saints upon earth and were the only men of faith Ah brethren so they may do and yet be but foolish Virgins how have they carried it in their lives they would never be perswaded to call upon God morning and evening to pray in closet in family to make sure of Christ and yet now they will not stick to appear and cry for heaven without him O this presumption will not prosper though believing alway prosper you may have the Gate of heaven shut upon you your souls shut out for ever and yet in your extremity have a Lord Lord in your mouths therefore look to it betimes before hand but enough of this The third Note of Doctrine is this Though men will not come to Christ for Grace yet they will come to him for Glory While Jesus Christ is dispensing the Grace of the Kingdom they neglect him and his Grace they are busied about somewhat else but when he is to dispense the Glory of his Kingdom then every one will come to him Luke 14. 18. They cannot come but now they will come This is clear in the present case These foolish Virgins they would not come to Christ for Grace for you see how many times they were beaten off from the Creature and yet they fastned again when their Lamps failed which were sparks of their own kindling or else some common work at most then they went to the wise Virgins not to Christ when they repulsed them sent them away empty they went to them that sold they would by no means come to Jesus Christ not a word of that and yet now the Glory of the Kingdom is to be dispensed you see n ow they cry Lord Lord open to us if they had taken this course before and cryed Lord Lord when their Lamps were gone out O Lord now we see our own sparks dye before they reach heaven O pardon this our Hypocrisie and O give us of thine oyl thou art the Olive-tree pour out of thy oyl into our vessels as they went to the wise Virgins and this in truth of heart they had had oyl they had been ready and entred with Christ no but they would not and see now when the Gate was shut upon them now they cry Lord Lord open to us they would not come to him for the wedding Garment but they would be beholding to him to let them in to the Feast without one though heaven would have held them but a little while if they had entred in that condition So the Jews They would not come to Christ that they might have life that they might have the life of Grace and then the life of Glory but they would come to him to have the life of Glory Ye shall seek me and ye shall not find me but shall die in your sins This is Esau's case prophane Esau he would not keep his birth-right when he had it nor seek it again when he had lost it but the blessing he would have without the birth-right he could part with the birth-right for a mess of pottage for his lust rather then extreme hunger as some think but the blessing he could seek it with tears The grounds of this are such as these First Because it is a principle indelebly written in nature to will happiness the end in general that is to say happiness is not that which cometh under deliberation and matter of choice at all but only the means that tend to that end no man living can possibly prevail with himself to be willing to be miserable it is as natural as for the fire to fly upward or the stone to decline downward A Balaam would die the death of the rigteous he would go to heaven when all is done notwithstanding his Sorceries and Enchantments against Jacob and Divinations against Israel A man would think such a wretch as he that would have cursed Israel fain if God would have hearkened to him a deadly enemy he was to them that he should scarce have desired to come where they should be As I have heard of some whose spleen hath been so great against the people of God that if they came to heaven they would never come thither such are worse then Balaam yet he would die the death of the righteous Secondly Because of the woful ataxie and disorder that is in all our souls whereby we are in all things preposterous in all things that are supernatural in things purely natural and civil we do not expect the end without the means none but fools and mad men do it A man would live and have his health this he desireth therefore he will eat you cannot perswade him to starve himself with hunger he will take physick though never so loathsom never so bitter to him what ever it cost him skin for skin and all he hath he will give for his life this is the highest end he hath in these things but now in spirituals there is nothing but confusion the end we do confusedly aim at we would have it doubtless there is not the veriest unbeliever that heareth this this day but would have heaven and you cannot with all the arguments you can bring make him willing to perish in an everlasting separation from God if he understand any thing what he saith yet he would have this without the means without this union and fellowship with the Lord Jesus whereby he may be made meet for it 3. Because of mens unbelief and unacquaintance with the mysterie of salvation the mysterie of free Grace in Jesus Christ they do not believe that a man must come to Christ for Grace or else they can have no Glory from him That he is the way the truth and the life they think he will save them upon any terms he came to be a Saviour of sinners and sinners they are and a Saviour he is and therefore let Ministers say what
that is our nature as soon as we are born yet alas the Lord Jesus would not have such as we to perish but rather then it should be so he himself would become our Physitian O here is rich grace Secondly In that the Lord Jesus like a Son of righteousness indeed doth not stay until the poor sinner the patient do send for him do come to him but he is the first in the motion you know Physitians of eminency and worth do not use to go up and down to bespeak their patients to proclaim it up and down who hath any work for them no they are too hi 〈…〉 that if any will have to do with them let them find the 〈…〉 out let them waite upon them Mountebanks use to do so they must hang out a bush else it will not be known that they profess they can do any thing pardon the comparison for our Saviour compareth his coming to the coming of a Thief and if a Mountebank be no better yet the comparison is tollerable by that of our Saviour himself I say he will rather come to sinners then that they shall misc 〈…〉 he came to seek and to save that which was lost for alas the lost creature never will seek him but wander and loseth it self more and more therefore we are compared to wandring sheep we all like sheep have gone astray yea the very Saints themselves when once they have been found yet will lose themselves again as David I have gone astray like a lost sheep seek thy servant else we should never find the way to Christ again dogs and such kind of creatures if lost will find the way home again but a sheep will not so when we are utterly lost Repent for the Kingdom of God is come unto you saith our Saviour O repent and turn for the Gospel and the grace of the Gospel is come to you the Kingdom of heaven goeth a begging as I may say cometh and knocketh at this door and that door at this family and that to see if they will give entertainment to Jesus Christ whether they will be healed this day is Salvation come to thine house saith the Lord to Zacheus it came to him before he came to Christ though he did indeed run a little for curiosity sake before Christ to see his person yea our Saviour inviteth himselâ— to him he invited himself to come to his house so did not the Lord Jesus come to seek Paul and where did he find him but in blood up to the ears even the blood of the Saints may we not set to our seals to the truth of this That he is found of such as never sought him may we not say truly that alas our own souls and our own families were poor dark ignorant hard-hearted creatures that never thought of Jesus Christ until he first came and brought healing to us the Son doth not stay until he be called up but he riseth of his own accord upon the world Brethren the Lord Jesus this day though by the mouth of a Babe and uncircumcised creature in heart and lips doth invite you all is ready and then he cals this is a part of the message I have from Christ this day and it is a sweet one to invite every poor wounded Sinner ev 〈…〉 poor diseased creature to come to Jesus Christ for healing and O that I could bespeak you as he himself would bespeak you were he upon earth with such a melting heart and sence of your condition O why will ye die is the expostulation of the Lord Jesus why will you die of your wounds of your plague-sores here is balm for you here is healing for you if you will but accept of it O do not slight it do not run away from the Physitian Hath the Lord Jesus been at all this pains to procure a medicine and shall we cast it away and slight it Thirdly Here is the riches of the Grace of God toward poor Sinners that though we cannot tell our Physitian what we ail yet he knoweth our diseases and from him it is that we are convinced of our condition in this respect Physitians are not able to see into the inward parts into the veins the arteries the liver the heart but they judge according to outward symptoms or according to the Patients relation of his disease and how often do they miscarry and mistake but here is such a Physitian he so heals as that he knoweth all our diseases he needs not feel our pulse to see how they beat he can tell where there is a poor burthened soul or a sin-guilty soul knoweth all the guilt and taâ—es notice of it first and from his own notice of it takes occasion to heal it I have seen his ways though he was walking on in the stubborness of his heart though he were smitten he saw not his own ways how froward they were nor his own heart how hard it was but saith the Lord I have seen his wayes and I will heal him Alas how long might Paul have been before he had known his disease except the Lord Jesus had opened it to him come and convinced him of it and so in the case of David and Peter Fourthly Yet further consider the riches of Grace Sinners herein to you herein held forth in that notwithstanding all our unkind dealing with him yet he giveth not over the work would not an able Physitian take it ill that his Patient should go away from him and run to a cheating Mountebank and prefer him before him were not this enough to lose a Physitian Alas do we not all do so He stretched on t his hands all the day long to a gainsaying and rebellious people one runs to one thing another to another The Prodigal to his husks rather then to his Father and the poor woman to her Physitian of no 〈…〉 lue rather then to Christ if Sinners can make a shift to lick over their sores with a good tongue a smooth tongue crying peace peace where there is no peace a sad condition when Conscience is quieted upon mistaken grounds if they can quiet it with a little duty they are well if they can skin over their wounds they are well enough they will stick any where rather then come to Jesus Christ and yet for all this he is ready to heal them O how do Persons beside themselves abuse their Physitian many times fly in their face and so do Sinners now the Lord Jesus cometh with his cordials in one hand his purgatives in the other hand ready to purge to cleanse to heal us and we fly in his face use him most unkindly and yet for all this he is not overcome giveth us not over until he hath healed us of this and all the rest of the distempers of our souls O how do you think the Lord Jesus can endure to be kicked in the very bowels to have his blood trampled under foot
is in this case though a mans gifts and grace rise never so high and over-flow at his lips at his actions to make others also fruitful and to grow yet if there be not a continual supply from the Fountain would it subsist would it not languish therefore this is the comfort that he is an Author of it I the Lord hast thou not heard hast thou not known that I the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth faint not neither am weary and therefore though you faint and languish yet I faint not saith the Lord I will renew your strength therefore and ye shall run and not be weary though now you cannot lift up your heads therefore this is the first reason It must needs be perfect every good and every perfect gift cometh from the Father of lights if any be more perfect then another sure they are the gifts of his grace but this is but the first The second Reason may be an auxiliary to the first The Lord will perfect the work of grace he beginneth and therefore there is such an increase as the Apostle calls it the increase of God now why is this because he hath appointed a measure of a fulness of stature to be attained by us before we be made meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light a child while a child is scarce able to mannage an inheritance he knoweth not what it meaneth and so for a weak Christian and therefore mark you what our Saviour saith ye must be converted and become as little children else you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God he saw some pride and swelling and ambition of their spirits well faith our Saviour this must be fetched out of you one way or other either by love or by the rod or both before you will be fit to enter into glory O how heavenly and sweet do the Saints generally grow before the Lord takes them Brethren if so glorious a building as the temple of God be intended will every rough stone a rough-hewn-Christian be fit to lay in that building O no surely those knotty pieces shall be plained and smoothed and pollished before they be laid in that glorious Temple in heaven remember it I say Brethren there is a meetness for heaven and though haply many of us care not for it we would not be too meet for it lest we be taken to it before we be willing to part with the world never fear that while thou hast such a heart it is well if thou be not so far from it that thou never come thither thou needest not fear coming thither too soon But there are two causes which seem to call for a word here to open them First what will you say then to persons that it may be no sooner are converted but they dye what time have they to grow in grace and to come to this meetness of the inheritance of the Saints Remember what was said before that growth is not alway in all of the same pace What if God will create one Adam in perfect stature the first day and the rest grow to it by degrees why may it not be so what if some grow as the Lâ—â—lies shoot up quickly much in a night and others are longer about it if all must grow and come to this fittness before he take them and so if the Lord be a whole year turning water into wine in his ordinary way of providence which is wonderful and at another time though not so often do it in a moment who shall say to him what dost thou this is as perfect wine as fit to be drunk as rich and full of spirits as the other so the thief upon the Cross he made a large progess in a short time for I tell you to believe in the Lord Jesus and confess him and at such a time as that was was no small power of grace when himself was under the agonies of death and Christ under disgrace and the shame of the Cross and crucifying and dying yea under the displeasure of his Father crying out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me when he was forsaken of his Father in a sort and forsaken of all men yeâ— and of his own Disciples also none of them then durst openly â—cknowledge him and crucifying at that time Peter had denyed him they all fled from him before though some of them stood and looked on yet if they had been put to it at that time it is a question what they would have done therefore our Saviour in tenderness towards them would have them be let go as you have it when himself was taken now at such a time as this when heaven and earth looked black upon our blessed Saviour to own him to despise the shame of the Cross at the first dash and to reprove his fellow that was crucified with him it was a great measure of faith I le tell you Brethren it is like he that wrought that in him had wrought a like measure of love when he told him he should this day be with him in Paradise what such a wretch as I that all my life time have lived so wickedly and now am dying under my guilt and in one day at the last moment to be translated into a glorious Kingdom O this could not but surely much enlarge his heart in love to the Lord Jesus and that is the perfection of the Law and so we see some Christians that grow more in a moneth in a year or two then many do in many years some are foolish children that stick long in the place of breaking forth some make haste and run much in a little time and therefore this hinders not but all should grow to their measure appointed of God before they come to heaven And for the children of Believers how can they come to this pitch you will say how can they grow â—o such a height of growth for answer First It is worth the noting that even they who deny them the priviledges of the Covenant of grace which are visible and outward in the Church of God yet dare not profess whatever they think to the contrary but that they are saved or may be saved and profess tender thoughts of them they are not such duri patres infantum as to exclude them out of the Kingdom it was the Disciples fault you know and so it may be good mens now to hinder them from coming to Christ they thought they were but troublesom guests to him they were capable of little and therefore forbad them but they got a rebuke for their labour what saith our Saviour is it not clear enough even from the old Scripture for there were no other then written and they had means to know that they did belong to Christ and the Kingdom else he would not have reproved them Do you not know to such belongs the Kingdom of God you might have known and ought to
word an allegory a continued metaphor and a Parable much what of the same nature Sometimes they hold out a truth more clearly and sometimes more darkly if the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only be given or laid down the truth is concluded more obscurely and lies hid under the broad leaves of the similitude As of the Sower that went forth to Sow which you know the Disciples understood not untill our Saviour had opened it to them saith he to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom but to them it is not given therefore he speaks to them in Parables in such a manner delivering them as that thereby the truth is more shadowed though it be clear when it is explained that seeing they might see and not perceive It is a Judgement to a people to have teaching in such a manner as darkens the truth so as they cannot understand Now he explaineth it to the Disciples and sheweth them what is meant by the several sorts of ground which received the Seed the same Seed but none brought forth except one to perfection Now say his Disciples speakest thou plainly and speakest no Parables so saith he I have spoken to you in Parables or Proverbs but now I will shew you plainly of the father Now this being delivered to his Disciples privately as you have it Chap. 24. for they came privately to him to ask him the sign of his coming and when the destruction of Jerusalem should be which he had immediately before prophecyed of he continueth his speech to them throughout that Chapter and continueth it in this thererefore he speaks somewhat more plainly and clearly not only laying down the proposition but the reddition He not not only speaks of the ten Virgins but tells them what it is that is compared to them even the Kingdom of Heaven It is a field more large then ordinary and therefore that we lose not our affections in it and be not out of breath before we get over it I shall endeavour to speak with more brevity to the things therein couched which are doctrinal and practical though me thinks the great variety that is in it should prevent a nauscating of it For the cohaerence of the words you see they are a continnation of our Saviours Sermon to his Disciples occasioned by their request that he would tell them when those things should be Jerusalem should be so ruined as not a stone should be left upon a stone and what should be the sign of his comming and of the end of the world Haply they might think they would not be much separated in time and thererore they wraâ—t them up in one question to our Saviour He answers them in this Chapter somewhat to the one and somewhat to the other I cannot stand at large upon this I should detain you too long from the Text. But he tels them whatever sign were given them yet the day and hour of his coming no man did know And therefore it lay upon them to watch lest it should find him in a secure condition as in the daies of Noah c. And therefore exhorts them all to watch We know not when the thief will come be ready for him alwaies watch for he will come in an hour ye think not And then sheweth them the happy estate of a servant a faithful and wise servant whom his Master hath set as a Ruler over his houshold to give them meat in due season Which seemeth specially to concern the condition of the Disciples which were to be set over the house of God which is the Church of Christ and to break the bread of life to his people happy is that Servant whom his master when he cometh shall find so doing in the simplicity of his soul When my Saviour cometh would ye have him find me idle saith Calvin oportet episcopum concionantem mori Oh to be spent for Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 Master spare thy self was the envious mans counsel when he whispers that into Ministers ears and can lull us asleep with such a requiem he knoweth what he hath to do while they slept he sowed tares Surely brethren we have been very sleepy else there would not have been so many tares sown And he showeth them the sad condition of them if they presume upon the delay of his coming and eat and drink with the drunken and beat their fellow servants bite and devour one another Ah dear friends if Jesus Christ should now come would he not find many of us thus doing But now as he had quickened them up to watch for his appearing to be doing their work so now he inculcates the same not only upon them but upon all in the words of the Text as appears v. 13. by the application of it watch therefore for ye know not the day nor the hour wherein the son of man cometh For the scope of it which I think meet first to hint to you I conceive it to be this To stir up all that profess Jesus Christ and that have their hope not in this world but in the world to come to look to their state and condition that they be sure to be ready and prepared for him that they make sure of such a viaticum as will carry them through life and death and to persevere that they may be crowned and when they have such a state to continue watching and waiting for his appearing but the main is perseverance that they be sure to have such a work of grace wrought upon them not to rest without such I say as will hold least they fall short of the glory of God This is the general scope which being understood we must know that every particular is not to be squeezed too sore least it give blood in stead of milk And yet some interpretation of the main things we may with sobrietie as the Lord shall enable expound Our Saviour is a President expounding the Parable of the sower shewing us what is meant by the seed falling by the high-way side the stony ground the thorny and the good ground And so in that of the tares telling us who is the sower and what is the seed the good seed and the Tares and the Reapers the Angels the harvest the end of the world and the field c. And therefore by that little measure we have received of the same spirit we may humbly adventure to speak somewhat to the main things in this parable Herein is held forth to us the relation and mutual deportment of Jesus Christ to his Church and his Church to him both in this life which is the way and at death and Judgement which is the end and therefore that which concerneth him and that which concerneth the Church towards him being even as the warp and wafe of the parable we will consider them a little apart and run each of them apart to their end as far as the Lord enables
sitâ—ing or standing may sometimes but presently awake aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus But then the sleep is a deeper security when the eyes are altogether closed and a man is fast though some sleep faster then others do some set themselves to sleep they give themselves to it others are overtaken with it it seizeth upon them like an armed man sometimes and herein they agree the Saints and hypocrites formal and powerful professors of Christ they all slumbered and slept they were all it seemeth overcharged with the cares of this world or somewhat or other that their watch was down and they were surprized And alas Brethren if the day of the Lord Jesus should come upon us almost any day would it not find us sleeping or if not sleeping yet slumbering at least but of this more afterwards Sixthly They all arose saith the text when the cry came at midnight It was high time then to awake as souldiers that watch for an enemy they fall asleep set some to watch suddenly there is an out-cry an alarum O how quickly are they raised If the last trumpet be the cry it shall raise all both hypocrites as well as Saints only the dead in Christ shall rise first be awakened out of the sleep of death If the cry be the Ministry of the word by some smart visitation it will rouze them all let hypocrites be as secure of their condition as they will they shall have a time of awakening Seventhly and lastly They trimmed their Lamps Some say only the wise Virgins trimmed their Lamps for the foolish had only dead Lamps such as gave no light shining before men but why then are they said to be extinguished or to be gone out Beloved the words of the Text carry it for all they all arose and trimmed their Lamps the copulative joines both sentences together and therefore the universal reacheth the latter part as well as the former except there were some limitation It should seem Brethren that hypocrites may make as fair a shew and deceive themselves or being deceived by their own hearts even very long to the very last they thought now to arise with Sampson and shake themselves when they have been sleeping upon the lap of their Dalilah but alas their Lamps were out they trimmed them and stirr'd them up to see if they would burn any longer but they were gone out or going out as some render it A sad thing Brethren for us to deceive your selves even to the very last cast until there be no remedy O what treacherous hearts have we Eighthly They agree also in the number here in the Parable five were wise and five were foolish for this we must remember what was premised that every particular is not to be squeezed and prest too sore nor can we conclude from hence an equal number of real Saints or painted hypocrites in the Church no more then where there are Chap. 13. three evil sorts of ground and but one good we can cònclude that there are three to one unsound professors who receive the word to one honest and good heart which bringeth forth fruit to perfection there may be more there may be less our Saviour in the general tells us many are called but few are chosen he might therefore here haply have some respect to the number of Virgins which might accompany the Bride which some say were five because the number consists of the first equal and the first unequal number even two and three because in a marriage a superiour and inferiour male and female are joyned together but that is a nicity however this we may take up from it in the general that there are some which are not what they profess some are foolish and some are wise in the Church Now I come to speak somewhat to that which is distinguishing in the Parable between formal and real professors of Jesus Christ in this Kingdom First then in the general the one are foolish and the other are wise all are not wise that are within the Church there are some fools Why but is it folly then for any man to prosess Christ No it is not folly simply considered in it self but a duty to confess him and hold him out before men but to stick here is folly as we shall see more hereafter blessed be the Lord that there are some wise though there be many foolish some that will not be put off with forms nor shadows but must have the substance the bread of life and not husks they will not satisfie them O that we were every one of us such Brethren Secondly The foolish they took no oyl in their vessels though their Lamps burned afterward were extinguished when they should stand them in stead to enter with the Bridegroom they had no oyl What is meant here by oyl and what by vessels for the first some say one thing some another some as the Papists say good works is the oyl which is the life of faith without which it is dead which is as if a man should call the flame of a Lamp the oyl that feeds it therefore Brethren according to the Scripture expression elsewhere by oyl I understand the saving grace of the spirit of Jesus Christ true justifying faith repentance never to be repented of and love out of a pure heart unfeigned faith unfeigned repentance unfeigned love and indeed all the graces of the spirit These are they that feed the flame in the Lamps of the Saints whatever hypocrites have which maketh a flame and their Lamps do burn by it of which more afterward because I would not stay you too long in the opening of it this they wanted they cared not to make sure of this to have this true saving grace so they had but as much as would make a blaze among men that they might be seen to have Lamps burning and shining as well as others the rest they cared not for Secondly For the vessels some say the Lamps they had no oyl in them but me thinks the Text distinguisheth between the Lamps and the vessels they took no oyl with their Lamps he doth not say in them but with them and the next verse the wise took oyl in their vessels with their Lamps 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is of a large extent but it signifieth somewhat believed the Lamp It is likely they had some vessels they carried about with them full of oyl that when the Lamp needed they supplyed it still else it would go out so here the vessel may be meant the heart brethren a truly contrite heart is the vessel into which the Lord pours the oyl of his grace and spirit and hence there is a continual supply like the oyl in the Cruse it fails not Now this the foolish they cared not for but they had somewhat at present that would make their Lamps burn for holding out they forecast not for that therefore provided no oyl in their vessels no
thy name cast out devils whose name but the name of Jesus Christ Again who is it that passeth the doom and Sentence upon poor souls but Jesus Christ who shall judge both quick and dead he saith I know you not in this place depart from me for I know you not I never knew you in that place of Matthew Again in the winding up of all in the Application we have an explication of this part of the parable Watch therefore for ye know not the day nâ—r hour wherein Son of man cometh and who is this Son of man that cometh so uncertainly but the Bridegroom for whom the Virgins watched a while but he not coming the time they thou ht they fell asleep and were found unready therefore watch and who is the son of man but the Lord Jesus You know he often calls himself so in the Gospel I suppose this is the most solid and near proof of the Doctrine Which is fetched out of the parable yet a parallel place or two more I will add to it in that place of John where he answereth his Disciples who seemed to envy at it that all the people followed Christ and not their Master O saith he he that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom but the friend of the Bridegroom standeth and heareth his voice and rejoyceth I am not the Bridegroom saith he but onely his friend for I have not the Bride she is not mine but his I have onely prepared a people for Christ being a voice crying prepare ye the Lord his way make his paths straight but he is the Bride-groom who hath the Bride that is to say Jesus Christ for the comparison is between him and the Lord Jesus onely so he giveth the honor to Jesus Christ and is willing to be Out-shone by him as the morning-star by the Son when it ariseth appeareth not any more But one more and that is of Matthew when again the Disciples of John being in a mourning condition as it should seem for their Master now in the Paw of that Lyon that crafty Fox Herod they had cause to mourn and fast if by any means they might prevail for his deliverance as the Church afterward made continua supplication for Peter Now they saw not the Disciples of Christ to fast and mourn and therefore they had a little emulation at them and were quarrellous and complaining to our Saviour Why do we and the Parisees fast often but thy Desciples fast not Our Saviour again answers How can the children of the Bride Chamber mourn while the Bridegroom is with them but the days are coming when he shall be taken from them and then shall they mourn Is it sit or convenient for them to mourn while he is with them for that is meant by they cannot the impossibility set forth interrogatively for the Affirmative interrogation hath the force of a strong Negation Can they that is in no wise they cannot mourn the meaning is it is not suitable it is not convenient so Nazianzen It is reasonable that they should now mourn You all know who are meant by the children of the Bride-Chamber even the Disciples and the Bridegroom is Jesus Christ who yet a little while was with them and ere long should be taken away from them and then should be a time of mourning to them But I will not here stay you longer the rest of the Scriptures we shall consider in the opening of the Point to you The Bridegroom being a relative must have a Correlate and that is the Bride And therefore first we will speak a little to that who this Bride is for it seemeth not to be intimated in the Text but the Bridegroom to stand alone And then a word or two to the person and quality of the Bridegroom For the Bride the Text seemeth not to shew her to our view for here only the kingdom of God the Church visible is compared to ten virgins some wise some foolish and this may seem hardly to be the Bride for the foolish you see they are disowned and Jesus Christ certainly espouseth none to be his Bride but he communicateth of himself to them who is the wisdom of the Father and hath all treasures of wisdom and knowledge in him and therefore his spouse can not be the foolish virgins they have no fellowship with him in his wisdom And for the wise though it be said they entered with him in to the marriage yet they are here spoken of but as virgins which are companions to the Queen as it is in the 45. Psal v. 14. which in weddings it seemeth did accompany the Bâ—ide to bring her to the Bridgr but these were not the spouse and therefore it may seem there is nothing here intimated of the Bride which is the correlate of the Bridegroom We answer In propriety of speech indeed the Bride is the Queen and the Virgins her companions they are not one and the same but in these tropical speeches they may be one and the same and are so doubtless for herein we must know that the Church and people of God admits of notions of divers relations unto divers conditions As in another Parable where the Communications of Christ to his people are set forth by a Marriage Feast as afterward we shall shew you here you know the King prepareth a feast for his Son that is to say for Jesus Christ a marriage feast it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a marriage it self though by that be meant a marriage feast now many guests were invited and they make this and that excuse at last he retcheth them in from the high-way sides and heals the poor scattered contemned Gentiles brought in when the Jews refused here is the communication of himself to them as a Church visible for so it must be understood because there was one there without a wedding garment It seemeth there was a custom to put on their best apparel somewhat suitable to the occasion Well the rest they had such a garment But if this be but a marriage feast for Christ and the Bride What are those Guests then that are invited to it It should seem they are not the Bride her self Why truly here the Answer is the same in this Tropical speech they are one and the same though here they be not considered as such And so in our Text the real believers aand Saints in truth are set forth by the wise virgins and all such have Christ and Christ hath them as the Bride onely here they are considered indeed according to the comparison as the virgins her companions which go forth to meet the Bridegroom Yet indeed and in truth they are the Bride her self And he said in that place of the Revelations Blessed are they who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb and so called as to come to it but if they were not the spouse had not an interest in the Bridegroom as such truly there would be no
world between the Sheep of Christ and dogs and swine Is it nothing to have the body and blood of Jesus Christ openly prostituted to such as though indeed they have the name of Christians yet their lives to every one that knoweth them deny that they have any thing to do with Christ No purging out the old Leven and therefore no likelihood to be a new lump O that we were sensible what a guilt is contracted every where by this means Alas Let the people of God take the greatest pains with their hearts to draw near to such an ordinance as the Lords Supper and they shall have cause to pray with Nehemiah The Lord spare us according to the multitude of tender mercies And with Hezekiah The Lord be merciful to every one that hath prepared his heart to seek the Lord though he be not prepared according to the preparation of the Sanctuary but when without any care it shal be promiscuously given to Drunkards Swearers openly prophane wicked wretches to the bane of their souls to the provoking God to bring wasting judgements upon the place and people where such things are done Surely it is time to look about us O! that we who can do no more but mourn for these things had such a sense of the dishonour of the Lord Jesus and abuse of his love and grace upon our hearts as to mourn And O that such of us as have power in our hands to command a Reformation in this kind the Lord would perswade the heart that there is such a power Hezekiah and Jâ—siah not only commanded the true worship to be set up and turned the people from their Idols to the trne God but they commanded the purifying the Temple a type of the Church of Christ and purifying of the Priests and People that they should not pollute the Ordinances of God And this example of theirs is commended and surely it was done as they were types of Christ except they were types of Christ as they were Magistrates and if so it would follow we should have no Magistrates at all For Christ the substance being come the thing typified what should we do with the shadows any more 2. Then on the other hand they are to be blamed also who are stricter then the Lord Jesus would have them in their admissions to Christs fellowship and communion All visible Saints he would have admitted to communion and fellowship with his people in their several societies that is to say they seeking to joyn themselves to them Now here indeed there is a difference of apprehensions and I purpose not to enter into disquisition of such things at this time and in this place Mens charity may do something indeed to moderate them but it s not that which is to be the judge but the Scriptures what rules are there laid down according to which we ought to own persons as belonging to Christ his visible kingdom that is to say such as profess and contradict not their profession But surely it is blame-worthy if that upon niceties and trifles in comparison we shall dis-own such as truly fear the Lord so far as we can judge of them And truly Brethren I desire to speak it with a spirit of tenderness to them they are injurious in this respect who do deny Infants of Believers any room in the bosom of the Church for they are holy they are external Saints and separated to God and it is apparent that once they were members of the Church of Christ aâ—d by vertue of a Covenant of grace I will be thy God and the God of thy seed which he that denyeth any more to be comprehended in then a temporal blessing when God saith he will be their God I would pity them and pray for them that they might come to themselves again for then sure they would judge otherwise Now if they were such once members of that Church with which we are one now for so saith the Apostle plainly the Gentiles are made one with the Commonwealth of Israel we are graffed in among the branches how cometh it to pass they should be all cast off and cut off from the Olive and not a syllable of it mentioning any such thing in Scriptures no account given to the world of it and that it should be in such a time when the fulness of grace was revealed in Jesus Christ for grace came by him and now there should be less grace come by him and narrower priviledges to the Church will hardly be understood I think The third Doctrinal from the words will be this In the visible Church there are some good some bad Ordinarily they were not all wise virgins that the kingdom of heaven is compared to but five wise five foolish All within the visible Church are not wise to salvation Five of them were wise five were foolish The proportion of the wise to the foolish five to five in the Parable is not concluding that there are as many good as bad in the Church there may possibly be a visible Church where there are none bad but I doubt there is none such found there were but twelve Disciples and one was a Devil and all the parables whereour Saviour holdeth out the nature and state of the visible Church to us is we find there is a mixture So in the Parable of the Sower there are four sorts of ground to which the kingdom of heaven is compared and but one of them brought forth fruit to perfection the stony Ground it was quickly scorched from the sandy ground springs up quickly and withers as soon the thorny ground holds out longer and endures happily the scorching of the Sun the Persecution and yet is choakt when all is done And so the Parable of the tares sown in the field they grow up with the Corn and it seemeth by the ancient report even Jerom are so like it while in the blade that they can be hardly discerned from it but there they grow and partake of the juice of the earth and fatness of the soyl and are green and flourish and yet at last are singled out for fire And so the Barn-floor there is wheat and there is Chaff lying together until he whose fan is in his hand shall throughly purge it and then the separation being made Woe to the Chaff but at present c. And so the draw-net though it gather together somewhat naught which is to be cast away yet while under water it is hidden And so the Apostle All are not Israel that are of Israel Some are Israel that are of Israel but all are not Some are of Israel though they be not the Israel of God that shall inherit the heavenly Canaan I hope it is needless to waste more time in heaping up of Scriptures to make it good The ground may be because the Church here below the visible Church which admitteth of members hath not an infallible spirit to discern the
deep hypocrisie that is in mens hearts or if they had do I think they were to use it but serve Gods holy ends in following Christ his example who suffered a Devil though a white one he was indeed in the likenes of an Angel of light yet he did suffer him in his family until it broke out into scandal There is much in this one reason 1. What deep hypocrisie may lurk in the hearts of men under a plausible profession so that men can suspect nothing many times as you see Ananias and Saphira Simon Magus and others Judas carried it so cunningly and seemed so zealous and full of charity O why was this waste c. when the Spirit of Christ went with his spirit and saw his fetches and deep ends he said it because he had the bag and was a thief the more he had to row in the more bold he might make with it and it would the less be mist but his paint was so exact and so near the life that the Disciples took him to be as real as themselves any of them rather suspecting themselves then him his heart was too deep for them to fathom Because 2. They had not such an infallible spirit given nor have any of the Churches now such a spirit given whereby to know the secrets of mens heart nor do I find that the Apostles had such a spirit given them now and then indeed they had some secret things and actions revealed to them but not that incommunicable property of God to search the heart I the Lord search the heart and try the reins Peter indeed had that private action and falshood of Ananias revealed to him and from thence he concluded Sathan had filled his heart in that he lyed against the Holy ghost but what is this to the searching of the heart and this that was revealed was but for an act now and then in Acts 10. He knew not that there were men sent for him from Cornelius until the Spirit of God told him and revealed it to him so that he had not that knowledge which he had of secret things not made known in an ordinary way by sense he had it not habitually but by several acts Or if they had such a spirit which none can prove they did not act by it in admitting persons for then such as those would never have been admitted Yea 3. If the Church had such a spirit it is very likely she were not to act by it in admission For our Saviour himself though he knew whom he â—ad chosen and knew from the beginning who should betray him yet he did admit him that he knew would prove a Devil and therefore he acted therein according to his humanity and to leave us a pattern that though we may suspect happily such or such a person and not savour them according to that discerning which God hath given us of the spirits of men yet if not scandalous not to reject them making such a profession of Christ as according to charity and Scripture-rules we ought to hope well of And methinks there is somewhat in that Parable of the tares though while in the blade they were scarce discernable from the wheat yet it seemeth by the Parable that now they were come to such a growth as they did discern them therefore came with that Question whether they should pluck them up and yet he would not have if so they were not thorns and thistles and such as would altogether choak the Corn though they might hinder it if only Hypocrites though discovered if they can be discovered without prophaness and scandal they are not to be pluckt up from among the good Corn and hence it is that there are good and bad in the visible Church though the bad seem to be good all are Virgins but all are not wise virgins For the Application of this We may hence take notice of the great indulgence of God and the largeness of his grace and the riches of his patience and long-suffering to poor Creatures in that he takes many as his own within the verge and comprehension of this his Covenant that never really partake of the saving benefits of the Covenant So you know it was with Israel though they were as the sand of the sea yet a remnant should be saved All are not Israel that are of Israel that is true and yet they are of Israel though they be not Israel that is as true Now that the Lord should admit of such to be of Israel that never were nor are like to be Israel this is largeness of bounty Alas how many wild Olives are graffed in among the branches which remain and partake of the fatness of the Olive the priviledges and ordinances and gifts of God bestowed on his Church for edification and yet shall be cast out as branches broken off dryed and withered shall be taken away as barren and unprofitable and burn for ever if thou continue not in this goodness thou shalt be cut off It is not the manner of men to plant such in their vine yards as they know will bring forth nothing but leaves no fruits but sowr the grapes of Sodom and yet this the manner of God to such as shall be cast out into utter darkness yet should be admitted to be the children of the kingdom 2. That he owneth many as separated to himself in such a way before they come to own him and though they dwell under his shadow and shine and in droppings and dew of heaven yet a long time bring forth nothing do nothing but abuse his grace and this riches of his goodness and yet at last notwithstanding all he should go on to separate them to a nearer holiness to himself seize upon their hearts put another principle and seed into them whereby they should be fruitful for the time to come Ordinary experience teacheth us this how many years many a poor formal Professor hath walkt under the means of grace and passed for a Saint and yet hath been in the gall of bitterness but the Lord out of his infinit mercy and rich grace hath healed him afterward It is no question it is the case of some that that very grace which they have so long hypocritically pretended to and abused was that at last which seized upon them Why but you will say this is no priviledge nor mercy to be members of Christ his visible Church if we therein enjoy not Christ and for our Children to be owned as those separated to Christ and yet though Children of the kingdom and be cast out for none are like to sink so low into hell as those which are cast out of the kingdom such as so often abuse mercies and Gospel-grace tendered to them I answer It is true the name of the Lord our God is great and fearful as in that place of Deuteronomy And the nearer a people have been drawn to Christ within the
compass of this Covenant of Grace and afterward perish the deeper will they sâ—nk those will burn with a witness that are cut off from the Vine the visible Church of the Olive as unprofitable dead and barren branches Yet it is a priviledge and a great act of grace to be of the Olive Is it nothing to be one of Gods houshold or family to be under his provision his protection and guidance in a special manner to be in the state of separation to God of old and sealed up therein to God by Circumcision It was profitable much every way the Apostle said Yea I will say more That the greater force a thing hath to aggravate the condemnation of poor Creatures the greater the mercy is Shall we say the Preaching of the Gospel is not a mercy because this is the condemnation indeed that light is come into the world The second use may be to help the people of God over a stumbling block which may be an offence to them happily in some Churches of Christ either such as themselves walk with or others It may be there are some in such or such a Church whose spirits thou canst not savour thou hast them in suspition and therefore thou canst not be free to have fellowship with them Or if thou be in Fellowship thou art ready to withdraw upon such an account First be sure to take heed of making breaches in thy love It thinketh no evil hopeth all things that are hopeable And dost thou know how much smoke there may be with some fire how much corruption and ashes there may be and yet some fire Therefore take heed of judging the state and Condition of men where they are not in the course of their lives prophane and scandalous 2. Much more take heed of that dividing and separating upon such an occasion as this for did not our Saviour walk with his disciples though he knew Judas a devil and doubtless it was more a grief to him then it can be to us the less holiness the less evil will grieve and a man is more tender there must needs be all tenderness where there is no sin to harden it O then let us arm our selves with the same minde There were great abuses in the Church of Corinth and yet he stirreth not them up to division but love rather Why but you will say when they become scandalous what should we do then Why then the Church ought to deal with them judiciously to enquire into them admonish them censure and cast them out if the other preparative means with waiting upon God in them will not do it That is clear in the incestuous person and again If any that is called a brother be a drunkard or a rayler c. with such a one no not to eat it is clear whether they might so withdraw from him before the Church had censured him under tryal I think not for then he was to be as a heathen in respect of communion and yet not accounted an enemy but esteemed as a brother now truly if the Church be so over-run with this hem 〈…〉 k for want of weeding like the slothful mans vineyard over-grown with thorns and thistles Through the sloth of the Church and officers the ordinance of excommunication so neglected that now they are grown so corrupt as there is no way lefâ— according to the rule of Christ to purge them what other means is left in such a case but withdrawing I do not understand 3. It may teach us notwithstanding the sad condition of such as continuing members of the visible Church yet remain in an unregenerate state happily we all look upon our selves to be members of the Church of Christ but have we this grace in our hearts this oyl in our Lamps we have a name and profession but can we say that Christ is in us the hope of glory If not brethren our condition is sad indeed we are a people that happily the world can lay nothing to our charge we may put the best side outward like painted sepulchers but what is within what is within but rottenness remember that though men cannot judge your hearts but hope the best of you brethren yet there is one which searcheth the heart and judgeth the heart and of you according to your hearts though his Disciples cannot finde out Judas yet our Saviour would finde him out at last hâ—s eys are like a flaming fire Let your hypocrisie be as deep as it may it shall not be hid from the light nor from the scorching heat thereof Yea consider seriously brethren that those things you glory most in and pillar up your selves with they will be your ruine if you remain in this condition and that is the Ordinances you have the Covenant preached and sealed to you from time to time and communion with the Saints you think this is enough you cannot miscarry the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord you trust in lying words for they will deceive you may you not be children of the Kingdom and yet cast out yet will not this be the thing which will sink you that you have been children of the kingdom and yet fall short of the kingdom You come to the feast for theâ—e is a wedding feast the Gospel and the Ordinances are whereof see pag. 106. which you are to understand all the administrations of the grace in the Kingdom the Gospel-Ordinances this is the feast of fat things the fat things of heaven you may be admitted to this feast to all the Ordinances not a dish upon the table but you may eat of it But alas brethren if you be yet in the gall of bitterâ—â—ss though you go for sweet Christians all turns to gall and poyson to your souls It is impossible for such a man or such a woman ever to come worthily to partake of the Ordinances a child of God hath much ado with his heart to bring it into frame to get the spirit fixed to sing and give praise to prepare his heart and much pains many times and the work done but in a little part yet there is mercy to accept where we do our best there is habitual preparation there are the graces of the spirit and there is Christ put on by faith for righteousness and holiness but the graces are not so lovely so stirred up and much ado to blow away the ashes and they flye about our ears sometimes that we even lose our selves in the work But yet God will be mercifull and cover our shortness if we reach but this the sense of our unpreparation and be â—uâ—bled for it But now thou that art a hypocrite and an unregenerate man thou canst never be prepared to come to hear to receive the Supper and so they prove the savour of death to death thou hast no promise thou canst build upon but that they will be thy bane Alas poor soul how many times hast thou
Yet methinks this should so much the more have quickned their spirits But alas brethren we are even so prone to sleep that if the spirit of the Lord do not watch with us continually to keep us awake we shall sleep if it be on the top of a Mast Little dream men And this is the case of us all as you see in Ionas O that this were much upon us that God would humble us for this the very inclination of our hearts to slumber and sleep and laziness whereby he is robbed of his glory and our souls much of our comfort and the profit we might gain as will afterward appear A little further to amplifie this Use Surely brethren It is matter of great mourning to look upon the sad effects of mens sleeping among us look without us look within us look into the Church look into our Families look into our own hearts and do you not finde brethren that generally there hath been a sleeping O the Lord reprove us for it and shame us out of it as he did his own Disciples Is not the Church of Christ the Vineyard of the Lover-run with Weeds with Nettles and Hemlocks and poysonous weeds which do even kil the good plants When was the face of this field the Church of Christ in England and Ireland so over-grown with such weeds when was there such a face of things It is true it is not long since the Wilde-Boars of the Wood did wast and such as would have pluckt and rooted it up and laid it waste had not the Lord wounded them but now how doth it swarm with little Foxes that spoyl the Vines which have tender grapes and is there much difference between plucking up a Corn field by the roots and letting it be over-grown with weeds unto chaoking How cometh this to pass Surely brethren the reason is because we have slept While men slept the enemy did this Magistrates who are the keepers of the Lord his Vineyard they have slept surely the good Lord pardon it and open their eys they have not kept the Vineyard but exposed it to the evil man to do what he would in it they have drunk in that unsound principle many of them that they have nothing to do about the Church and Kingdom of Christ and this like a poyson of Poppy or Opium hath laid them fast asleep as to this if God had not watched over his Vineyard better then men that have the charge of it what had become of it before this Were it not a sad thing think you for a nursing father to have no more care of his Charge then to let any one who would come into the Nursery go in and out and bring what poyson he would with him and give it when or to whom he pleased would this be a discharge of his duty this is a sad nursing Well sure I am Magistrates are Nursing fathers and ought to be so and if it be not their duty as much to hinder the poysoning as to further the feeding of the Church I do not understand Well they have slept they have not kept the Vineyards of the Lord. For Ministers they have slept also surely they have not been so diligent they have not seen afar off when the evil hath been coming and given warning of it O how did Paul warn the people day and night with tears for he knew that after his departure grievous Wolves would come in where hath there been almost such a spirit as this of Paul doubtless brethren there have been some who have stood in the watch-Tower and have seen these things and have blown the Trumpet O but there hath not been that tenderness of doing of it it hath not been done in that lively manner as it should be it may be if there had been more mourning in secret then for these things if they would not hear it might have been otherwise And have not the people of God been to blame are not they the remembrancers of God as well as his Ministers yea that make mention of the Lord or are his remembrancers and have not they slept while men slept the enemy hath done this Indeed we are apt to eye the miscarriages of others and impute the sad condition of the Churches to this person and that person to the male administration of Magistracy and Ministry and surely they are not excusable before the Lord but all this while we forget to smite upon our thighs and cry out Ah what have we done that the Vineyard of the Lord Iesus is thus overgrown with weeds have we not given the Lord rest he would have us give him no rest we have let him alone that is to say we have not even wearyed him with our complaints our sighs and tears and groans and prayers of faith whence doth deliverance come usually but from the prayers of such as are Princes with God it may be sometimes we pray a little and sometimes are affected with it but we fall asleep again and give the Lord rest hath not he the hearts of Magistrates in his hands and cannot he turn them as the Rivers of water whithersoever he will and so the hearts of Ministers can he not giue them such a spirit as day and night to warn the people with tears O surely if we did speak less to men then sometimes we do happily and more to God it might do better But then the Prayers of Faith are wanting we are ready to despond our hands hang down when our hopes are not lively and therefore no marvel if iniquity abound and prevail surely brethren there is a general sleeping among us The sad effects in our own Families what sad work is there many times and all for want of watching Parents asleep Masters asleep act not their Faith in Prayer for their in a relations it may be and therefore they miscarry many of them manner But to come nearer Alas brethren in our own souls what a strang temper are we in many times not fit for any thing O how doth Corruption grow upon us as pride and passion and Earthliness and what is the reason we sleep but though we sleep Satan never sleepeth O how doth he watch such an opportunity to water his plants in our hearts when we are asleep alas can we tell how often brethren we have lost our frame of heart when the Lord hath humbled and melted and enlarged our souls Our Wine is quickly turned into water again and we know not how we lost it Surely brethren we were asleep and then what sad Lamentings there are after the Lord again till we come to our selves Well the Lord make us sensible of it both for our own souls and for the Churches of Christ If the Lord Iesus should come to us brethren as he did to his Disciples now and reprove us and ask us what are ye all asleep could ye not watch with me one little while How comes it
now the time of our working and Gods waiting is at an end God hath long waited to be gracious to us but now there is an end of waiting he seeth it would do no good as long as sinners could for sorrow or pain or death hold their vanities keep their sins their sweet morsels they would never spit them out therefore now he will wait no more though men were unready when Christ cometh yet if he would stay a while longer wait a year longer O if it might be but a Sabbath but a day what new creatures would men become they will promise fair No no the time of waiting is done he will not stay a jot they have had warning enough the cry hath past before him often enough Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye forth to meet him but you have not taken the warning now when he cometh and receiveth his own which were ready for him no more waiting the door is shut Though here in the Kingdom of grace God may be intreated to spare a barren tree or Vineyard a year or two longer yet when the time of waiting is at an end and he seeth nothing will do he will down with them by the roots into the fire with them so it is no time for us to work then to think of puting on Christ then if we would gather Manna it must be upon the six daies there was none to be found upon the seventh If we understand this of the day of the resurrection from the dead then it is clear as the tree falleth so it lyoth either hell-ward or heaven-ward But if of the time of death truly Brethren how ever this may sometimes through the exceeding riches of his grace be a time of repentance and faith to some yet ordinarily it is not so Alas they have enough to do to bear the weakness upon them they can mind little else or if they do return it is but feignedly for the most part with Judas and usually when a sinner hath so long trampled under foot the blood of Jesus Christ the Lord giveth them up to hardness of heart that they shall never repent or believe seeing they shall see and not perceive c. least they should be converted and he should heal them as it is there in the Revelations Let him that is filthy be filthy still let him that is an hypocrite be an hypocrite still this is fearful indeed So much for the Arguments For the Application Then Brethren What have we all of us to bless the Lord for that yet the door is not shut against us as we may hope indeed if God have sealed up any heart under hardness because of its long resisting the Holy-Ghost woful is his condition but doth he not breath now and then and stir and strive that is a good sign he hath not done with thee yet his waiting and striving time is not over he hath not given thee over yet c. What have we to bless the Lord for what are our lives Brethren good to us for in any respect besides but that we might work out our salvation make sure of God and Christ and heaven get our wedding-garment on put on the Lord Jesus for righteousness and holiness that our nakedness may not appear for heaven will not bear the nakedness of a sinner now though sinners have neglected this opportunity alas how many of us have we are exceeding busie making provision for our lusts our pride our luxury our backs our bellies provision for our wives our children but none for our poor souls and yet notwithstanding this he waiteth the door standeth open If you had many of you been cut off a year or a moneth ago and the grave had shut her mouth upon you would you not have found heaven shut against you and hell opening her mouth wide for to swallow you up Yea Brethren if this day he should come Ah I fear I fear Brethren as secure as many of us are now and sure of our conditions we should find the gate clapt against our souls O therefore Brethren bless the Lord admire his patience and long-suffering that yet draweth out our day of grace that yet holdeth his bowels open his arms open to receive us This is the first Secondly Then it may serve to lay before us the doleful condition of poor trifling creatures trifling professors that notwithstanding all the ado they make with their Lamps trimming of them and going up and down to buy they are found unready the door is clapt against them the Lord grant that none of your poor souls may ever see that woful day Brethren you will then know to your bitterness and sorrow what it is to sin away a day of grace an opportunity while the door stood open to receive you Ah surely there will nothing wound poor sinners more then this the time was I might have been happy I might have had heaven the bowels of the Lord Jesus stood open to me as well as to others but now alas it is past did it make the Lord Jesus weep for Jerusalem and was not her condition sad then and will it not make your hearts bleed O sure it cannot be but every such thought to Esau prophane Esau poor Esau when the blessing was gone he sought it with tears every thought sure of this time was I might have had the blessing but wretch that I was I sinned it away I despised it preferred a mess of pottage before it and therefore now there is no recovery of it Every thought sure in hell that heaven gate did stand open to you sinners you had as fair offers of grace and as long a season and opportunity to close with Christ as others but now they are gone will fetch blood from your very hearts and souls O the condition is sad and doleful Thirdly It shall be a word of Exhortation to us all that we would lay these things to heart It may be we have not so much minded them If this be true Brethren What need had we to look to it that we be found ready to enter which is an Exhortation I have already prest upon you there is a promise left of entering a threatning also that some shall not enter even as many as are not ready you see it here by the wise Virgins who enter and the foolish against whom the door is shut and the Apostle to the Hebrews Take heed lest any of you fall short through unbelief as those fell short the Apostle maketh that use of it to warn the Hebrews though Disciples in profession and many of them doubtless in reality such so here from this example I desire Brethren both mine own and your hearts may be quickned to look about us lest when all comes to all we have the gate of heaven clapt upon us 1. Then you that are yet in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity have yet your filthy garments upon you your rotten
think it is for carnal end for your corn and wine and oyl that you howl upon your beds you little think when you pray and seek after God it is for ends meerly that you might spend these things upon your lusts that you may appear to be some body be esteemed among men be of esteem among the Saints Well Brethren carry it as covertly as you can so that your own souls are juggled into a delusion it may be yet be not deceived God is not mocked men are apt to be deceived and think that their secrets of sinning their bread eaten in secret their morsels under the tongue shall never be discovered but the Lord seeth all this he knoweth you throughly he searcheth the hearts and tryeth the reins of the sons of men Secondly because he knoweth you therefore he doth not know you he approveth not of you it may be men do approve of you your praise may be among the Churches among the Saints but yet your praise may not be of God he loveth you not savours you not with that favour that he bears to his people indeed some love Jesus Christ had to the young man in the Gospel that was but near to the Kingdom of God he doth not disallow of a form and profession it hath its use the leaves of the trees of righteousness they may be for healing to others an holy profession and walking to the appearance of others may win others to Christ and yet a man may perish when all is done and a profession may serve as a Motive to quicken up themselves to look to the power if the power of godliness be not good and necessary why do men take up a form and if it be good why rest they in a form and neglect it but if there be no more he will not know such a man he doth not know him Thirdly What ever you dream of now he will pronounce that sentence upon you at that day O that dreadful sentence that he knoweth you not he never knew you Ah dear friends if the Lord would but single out any one of us and tell us we are the men what agonies would it put us into Ah Brethren this will make sinners ears tingle to hear this word from the Lord Jesus O let fearfulness surprize the hypocrites yea I tell you this will make your hearts to bleed and your heart-strings crack within you this will pierce you through with the sorrows of hell Ah dear friends if the voice of his Messengers discoursing of righteousness temperance and Judgement to come be so great as to make a Foelix a great man a stout hearted sinner tremble that was not converted O what will it be when the sentence is pronounced against them from the Lord himself for while you hear Preachers though it be terrible when the conscience is opened yet there is a Cordial at hand but when once pronounced by the Lord Jesus there is no more remedy if one word from the Lord Jesus when the Souldiers came upon him and he asked them whom they sought I am he saith he this struck them to the ground souldiers in such Garrisons in Countries kept by the sword they were won by use to to be men of stoutest spirits that would dare sometimes the very Devil himself and yet one word from Jesus Christ's mouth struck them to the ground O Brethren surely this word of sentence will speak men not to the ground but to the lowermost pit It will speak them dumb forthwith that they have nothing to say for themselves It will speak them into confusion and amazement it will speak them into the flames of hell in a moment O this roaring of the Lyon of the tribe of Judah who may abide If the Law was so terrible in the giving what will it be in the execution You read how the Mountains shook Moses himself trembled but the sentence of the Law is nothing to the sentence of the Gospel as this condemnation of hypocrites will be it is to men that have in appearance owned Christ followed him done much in his name and yet he will profess he never knew them they pretended acquaintance with him now but he will never own them You then Brethren that have only a semblance of holiness you seem to have somewhat and have nothing then shall be taken from you that which you seemed to have then your vizard will be pluckt off you pretend to be friends of Christ and of his people to be his Father Brethren and Mother but now will he profess he knoweth you not you that preach in the name of Jesus Christ and do not preach for his name for his glory but for your own he will not own you he will say to you he knoweth you not you rest in this your form this you are ready to plead and not stay your selves upon him he will not know you O but we do lean upon the Lord so you say but mark that of the Prophet you lean upon the Lord and say the Lord is among us and yet they build up Sion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity the heads thereof judge for reward and the Priests teach for hire that is to say their tongues may be hired to say any thing pass any judgement right or wrong and yet lean upon the Lord say you lean upon the Lord and yet will be drunk swear lye cheat over-reach be filthy and unclean allow your â—elves in c 〈…〉 mplative wickedness be sure the Lord will not know such You that regard any iniquity never so little never so secret in your hearts believe it the Lord will not own you he will not know you he will not here own you much less will he when it cometh â—o the judgement It may be thou mayest soar a higher pitch in respect of parts and gifts and confidence and pretend to live higher then other men as many men of higher dispensations they say now do but yet as the Eagle when at the highest pitch hath a learing eye after her prey below so have they such a learing eye a lingering heart after their iniquity and their mouths water at it but for shame O surely Jesus Christ will never own such fear and tremble at this word as many as it concerneth O how will such souls be filled with amazement when they made no other reckoning but to come to heaven if any men in the Countrey should be saved a man would have thought they should have been the men they have done much suffered much wrought wonders c. and yet when all comes to all the heart was never right with God and therefore the heart-searching Judge will never own them never care for them become of them what will he will never know their souls Secondly then it may be for a searching word to poor creatures O be not deceived God is not mocked he knoweth a Balaam to be a Balaam
refuse it the desire accomplished is a tree of life as hope deferred is a sickness of heart but now where a man could scarce act hope as it is the case of some poor creatures O when the Lord shall against their hope own them and that to eternity it will be unspeakably sweet this will fill them with fulness of joy and glory for evermore But so much for this Time and Text. FINIS CHRIST the Sun of Righteousness hath healing in his wings for sinners MAL. 4. 2. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and grow up as Calves of the stall MAlachy is the proper name of this Prophet it signifieth an Angel or Messenger only with the addition of ' as is usual when common names are made proper He is not so called as if he were an Angel incarnate as some have imagined nor yeâ— as if he had his revelation by Angels But haply the name might be put on him without 〈…〉 foreknowledge of what the Lord would call him unto haply 〈…〉 Prophetical Spirit it might appear that God would make h 〈…〉 Messenger But however such an one â—e was and 〈…〉 mporarie with Nehemiah because he exhor 〈…〉 to the building of the Temple as Haggai and 〈…〉 those corruptions among the Jews 〈…〉 the last sheweth to have been among 〈…〉 over the Jews as marriage with 〈…〉 ng the tythes Chap. 3. 8. Depravation of Divine worship Chap. 1. 13. and 2. 8. And that this is the last of the Prophets they themselves acknowledge therefore he admonisheth them that they should take heed to the Law of Moses keep that they might expect no more Prophets until the great Prophet the Lord Jesus come and John his fore-runner God did in Babylon cause Visions to perish from among them in anger There is none to tell when this calamity shall end said they in the Psalmist and now again he causeth it to cease from them that their expectations of the Messiah that great Prophet and of Elias his fore-runner might be raised and that by the want of Prophecy they might be the more ready to receive Christ that great Prophet and to praise him when he should be revealed the Law and Prophets Prophecy until John Zech. and Elizab. and Simeon and the Baptist were so immediately before him that they rather shewed him pointed at him come than prophesied of his coming After he had reproved those corruptions among them as you hear he threatneth spiritual Judgements on them he tells them their expectations would be frustrated they looked for the day of the Lord as if that would heal all their troubles No saith the Prophet it shall be such a day as you dream not of they looked for peace but behold trouble for light but behold darkness they looked for a day of shadowing from the displeasure of the Lord but behold saith he the day of the Lord shall burn like an Oven What day this is is very much questioned some would have it to be the day of the last Judgement only and suitably they understand the rising of the Sun of righteousness to be his last appearing that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illustrious appearing But this seemeth not to be the All if it be intended here but this seemeth not to be a time for growing up as Calves now is the time of perfection in glory Nor yet secondly do I take it only of the day of their calamiâ—y when they suffered so much under the Grecians Kings of Syria and Egypt the Seleucidae and Lagidae the two leggs of that Image in Dan. as some understand it though this also might partly be meant But this day I understand to be the time of Christ's appearing and manifestation to Israel which to some would be a day of grace and rejoycing indeed to others a day of gloomyness according to that in this third Chapter The Angel of the Covenant shall suddenly come into the Temple but who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like the Refiners fire and like Fullers Soap And alas the most of them would be found but dross and stubble which must be purged away they could not abide the fire So when they rejected the Lord Jesus how fearful a day came on them who could abide it At the destruction of Jerusalem 1100000. slain beside near 100000. taken captive This day burned like an Oven O! a devouring fire it was so fearful a thing it s to have a day of grace a day of Christ come on a people and yet they sleight it and reject it Greatest love rejected turns into greatest displeasure flaming love into flaming wrath heat of affection into a burning of an oven a furnace Hear and tremble Brethren at this we who now have a day of Christ and a day of grace lest we find it in the end such a day as this so terrible to us But now lest those mourners in Zion that did wait for the consolation of Israel did fear the name of the Lord were tender and did tremble at this his word should be discouraged he opens here a creek to let them in to hide themselves provideth a shadow a skreen to set between them and this consuming fire in the words of my Text But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness saith the Lord arise with healing in his wings Ye that tremble at my word shall not be scorched nor this smell of the fire pass on you as it was with the three children The day of the Lord shall be a wounding to others but it shall be a healing to you they shall be cast into a burning oven as stubble or hay but ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall So that the words are nothing else as I conceive but a Covenant of grace tempered into a cordial for poor drooping Spirits which might now be ready to faint to hear how terrible a day this day of the Lord would be which they had expected promising themselves so much happiness in it and their expectations should not be frustrated he would not make them ashamed of their hope But unto you that fear my name c. Here is Christ promised who is the Covenant the substance of it the mediator the surety of it and with him all things else Synâ—â—hdochi understood in these few things here implyed and expressed as light and healing and liberty and growth going on from strength to strength growing fat and flourishing prosperping into a Kingdom yea an everlasting Kingdom The Text then you see being the summ of the Covenant of grace must needs be a bundle of promises made to such as fear the Lord. I may not stand to open each of them until I come to speak particularly to them lest I hold you too long in the porch and we not be able to view any
in the stalls do grow much more then if at random they run up and down none grow so much as they and therefore this is used to set forth the greatness of the growth Secondly in fatness and sweetness they grow very much a stalled-Oxe is fatted very fat which is much sweeter and better then another so they grow not only in quantity but quality as we shall see hereafter Thirdly the speediness of the growth haply is in this comparison they grow faster then other creatures of the like kind when they are put into the stall and therefore they are said to grow as the Lilly not only in beauty which was greater then Solomon himself in all his glory had but in speediness for they say this flower groweth much and discernably in one night and though it be true sudden growths are the more suspicious yet God can and sometimes doth work them even with truth as in the Miracle he quickly turned water into wine which he doth every year though in greater time by the operation of the Sun In a word then the Holy-Ghost useth this simile to them being rude and weak of understanding that they might the better understand it and have the greater assurance of it that it should be so therefore he propoundeth it so cross saith Calvin But this as well as the other we must look upon as a Concomitant yea an effect of the appearing of the Sun of righteousness to us his arising upon the soul that is the grand promise all things else are promised and given for him and with him to us and this among the rest the going forth out of the prison was one and this growing is another of the genuine and sweet effects of the rising of the Sun of righteousness upon them that fear him so that take it in this connexion and then the note is this That soul or people that are under the influences of Christ of the Sun of righteousness are in a growing condition they shall grow there is not a soul that hath union and fellowship with the Lord Jesus but he shall grow ye shall grow up as c. For the proof of the point we need not so mâ—ch there is a notable place there in the Psalmist they that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God the righteous shall flourish like a Palm-tree and grow like a Cedar in Lebanon Here you have growth promised and flourishing and to whom it is promised and whence it cometh and the comparisons whereby it is set forth in these two verses growth is promised they that are planted they shall grow and flourish a tree flourisheth not except it grow after it is planted when it is planted alas it is little and â—â—ender haply but a â—eed then it groweth up 2. The persons to whom promised they are such as are planted in the house of the Lord that is to say the Temple which was a Type of Christ and the Church of Christ so that they must be in him as afterward we shall speak they shall flourish in the Courts of Gods house by Communion with him in his Ordinances 3. The comparison as a Palm-tree which the Naturalists say though cut down to the ground yet springs up again groweth up again If a tree be out down is there any hope it should grow up again in that of Job Yet this tree will grow again if the Church to take it oâ—f the whole body for so we may as well as of single persons if they be cut down to the very ground so wasted as that there is scarce any visible as in Eliah's daies he thought he was alone the Church then seemed to be all withered or grown over with nettles and brambles to have no plants of righteousness in it but yet then it shall grow again and when persecution rageth and cuts it down to the very ground yet he maketh it grow again or of particular persons though they be brought to such exigencies sometimes as to say their hope is perished from the Lord and their faith seemeth to be extinguisht with the violence of temptation yet they shall grow again and increase But the Palm-tree it groweth upward against the weight that oppresseth it it will not be kept down but groweth through all persecution affliction yea sins and falls as afterward we shall have occasion to mention a little more fully And like Cedars grow tall and strong and abide as the Cedar is not subject to rottenness nor decy with age But for further proof take that in the Psalmist who passing through the valley of Bacah make it a well c. they go from strength to strength from army to army or from strength to strength passing through a solitary valley abounding with Mulberry-trees which they say grow in dry and barren places and so there is much difficulty in the passage for drought and other necessities yet they dig up fountains they make it a Well a Cistern they search the Scriptures fetch up somewhat of consolation from thence and notwithstanding all the difficulties yet they go from strength to strength walk towards Sion all this was typical And so the Apostle whom beholding as in a glass we are changed into his image from glory to glory every degree of grace hath its glory but we are changed from glory to glory from a spark into a coal from a coal glowing to a flame What else is the meaning of those Parables of the Mustard-seed it is the least of seeds or less then others then many others the Cypressfeed is so small as can scarce be discerned and yet a great tree groweth of it but this is small and yet a great tree ariseth from it Tremel writes strange things of the Musâ—ard-feed-tree in those Countries this it is true is meant of the Kingdom of God without us the administration of the Kingdom the Word of God how it grows but that is not all the Kingdom of God within us within the Saints where it cometh with power doth also spread it self more and more as Leven also hid in the midst of the meal by degrees spreadeth it self further and further So then you see the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is so that persons under the influence of Christ the Sun of righteousness that have communion and fellowship with him they grow in grace And so the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more to the perfect day or as the morning light as some read it that you know groweth from one degree to another until the perâ—ect day The next thing will be then to open the nature of this Spiritual growth that we may understand what we speak of and then we shall a little further confirm it and apply it And the opening of it I shall deliver in several propositions as distinctly as I can for the right understanding of
love in drawing thee bringing thee to come to him and will he now change his mind It is true if he were as man he might repent but the Lord is not as man O what comfort is here what encouragement is this Secondly He will not cast them out of his Church that is his Kingdom his Family his School his Vineyard he will not cast them out for if there be this coming to Jesus Christ there is faith and by that faith as we are made one with Jesus Christ so also with all his members so saith the Apostle we are members one of another ye are come saith the Apostle to Mount-Sion and to the assembly of the first-born that is to say you are gathered into the flock of Christ and out of this ye shall not be cast it may come to pass that through the ignorance of men they may be cast out of the visible Church or Churches of Christ and have little fellowship and communion with them and it cannot but be a burthen to a gracious spirit and oh that the Lord would so clear up his mind that we might not thus by mis-apprehension be a burden each to other but here is the comfort if we thus come to Jesus we are of the invisible Church and he that knoweth the heart knoweth his own image there his own hand-writing there every spark of his own kindling there and cannot be deceived and therefore there is no fear he will not cast away out of this Church the assembly of the first-born not out of this his family will a Parent cast out his child that he hath begotten in his own image because of some deformity it may be and imperfection that it doth not resemble the father in or because of its weakness in those parts which it hath even grace for grace we have from the Lord Jesus though weak and imperfect and will he cast out surely no. Thirdly He will not cast out that is to say he will not send away empty cast them out of his presence when they come to him neither at our first coming no nor our after-coming unto him Not at our first coming where is the soul that can say that he did thus come to Jesus Christ and was refused was sent away it may be thou camest full full of thy self not with such an empty hand to take him it may be thou camest with a false heart and then well might he cast thee cut for he knoweth how the heart stands towards him it may be thou wast troubled only with the smart of sin and not the filthiness the putrifaction of the wound and loathsom nature of it and wouldst have Christ only to have served thy turn and then wouldst have turned thy back upon him alas he knoweth this and therefore he resisteth the proud a man of a Pharisaical spirit a man of a Laodicean temper that is rich and needeth nothing cometh to Christ for a complement thou comest to him whole not sick nor wounded if thou didst and with such a heart as we have said I cannot believe that the Lord Jesus would have cast thee out no more then I can believe that be can lie who is truth it self O who would not venture upon this Jesus Christ be his condition never so sad he will not refuse if we come to him we perish for our not coming Secondly Even in our after-comings to him he will not cast out tell me when didst thou ever come before the Lord with a heart sensible of thy want of him with a renewing of the acts of self-denyal being nothing in thy self that thou weâ—test away empty did ever any hungering soul come to this Ordinance where we have the most royal dainties that ever it self affords in some degree even the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus the strong wines of consolation and didst thou go away empty surely no he that cometh full goeth away empty but he that cometh empty goeth away filled with some refreshing Haply thou mayst be put to it to wait a little while for it but have it thou shalt If either the Lord Jesus wanted a fulness of mercy there were not room enough in his heart for us all it were something or if he wanted propensity and bowels it were something if he were not a merciful pittiful high-Priest or if he did not know our meanings by our very looks or if he did not know our hearts where they are upright it were something indeed there were some ground to be discouraged but who can suppose any of these O that we could more strongly close with these with what confidence should we then come to him and how full a recompence of reward should we find even in the first fruits here â—f there were no more Fourthly He will not cast them out of heaven for every child of God as I may say hath one foot in heaven already as an unbeliever hath one foot in hell already where our hope is there our hearts are O that I could â—ay they are there they should be there there is our Anchor in heaven there the Lord Jesus is our head is who hath taken possession for us and went to prepare a place for us and therefore the works of grace in the soul are called things that have salvation he will not cast them out no by no means two negatives do deny more veâ—emently some shall be cast out at the last day yea the Kingdoms children Members of the Church and such as have lived under the Ordinances as the Jews did strangers others any that hear and believe and obey the Lord Jesus shall be received in Now Brethren our hearts are so vain we can scarce settle upon it to think of the woful condition that will be to be cast out from the Lord Jesus but no man that cometh to Christ shall be cast out O then it is not greatness shall enter in nor riches nor beauty nor learning nor gifts nor any of all these but meerly the coming unto Jesus Christ he will never cast out such a soul You have seen already what it is to come to Jesus Christ in many particulars and what is necessarily presupposed and such he will not cast out no in no wise or sort whatsoever but alas the difficulty is to perswade poor creatures of this that are upon the turning pin many can say Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean but the willingness of Christ to accept of poor sinners is that we many times doubt very much of and it is not the tongue of men nor Angels that can perswade a man to this and well it is for us that it is so for then the Faith of poor creatures would consist in the wisdom of men and not in the power of God only let me lay before your hearts and my own a few considerations from Scripture which if the Lord be pleased to breath in them may be a support