or the transcript it is a peace with the whole Trinity The Father is he with whom it is made the Sonne is he by whom it is made the Spirit seales it and becomes Nuntius pacis the Messenger of that peace to the soule being hee to whom it belongs of office to set the broad seale of the Court to every pardon Eph. 1. 13. Eph. 4. 30. But why then is it called Christ's peace I easily answer 1. Because hee is the meritorious cause of it Eph. 2. 14 15. hee is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken downe the middle wall of partition betweene us having abolished in his flesh the enmity c. v. 16. and that hee might reconcile both to God in one body by the crosse having slaine the enmity thereby And the spirit which conveyeth the newes of this peace to the soule is sometimes called his spirit hee was hee that while hee lived upon tho earth came and preached peace to them that were afarre off and to them that were nigh Eph. 2. 17. and through him wee have an accesse by one spirit unto the father vers 18. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himselfe not imputing their sinne 2 Cor. 5. 19. Wee that preach the Gospell of peace to you as though God did by us beseech you are Ambassadours for Christ and as in Christ's stead wee entreat you to be reconciled to God therefore it is called his peace and it is said to bee laid up in him and from this peace of justification and peace of conscience proceeds A third peace which is the peace of the members each with other a peace which is too sadly broken and too little pursued in our dayes 1 Joh. 1. 3. The Saints have fellowship one with another and their fellowship is with the father and the sonne Jesus Christ and could they walk together except they were agreed And thus I have now though in a discourse something too large shewed you what peace is and what this peace is that is Christ's peace and that is laid up in Christ for the Saints and they may find it in him in the midst of their earthly troubles But yet more particularly In what of Christ is this peace laid up for the Saints 2. How shall they come by it in the day of trouble To each of these give me leave to speak a word or two To the first In what of Christ is this peace laid up I answer in three particulars 1. It is laid up in the bloud of Christ in his bitter death and passion as the meritorious cause This peace Christian is written and sealed with the bloud of the Lambe the immaculate Lambe of God this is cleare in that place I before quoted Eph. 2. 16. Hee reconciled us both unto God in one body by the crosse vers 13. you are made nigh by the bloud of Christ his bloud was the bloud of expiation 2. It is laid up in the word of Christ in his precious promises That is plaine from the very words of the Text These things have I spoken that in mee you might have peace David had peace many a time out of a promise the word of the Lord quickned and comforted him hee had once a trouble that had sunk him had he not found peace here they are his owne words Psal 119. I had perished in my affliction if thy law had not beene my delight The Gospell is therefore call'd the Gospell of peace and the word of Christ is as well the word of peace as the word of truth how many poore soules have found this true by many precious experiences they hove been in spirit-troubles heavinesse hath made their heart to stoop till a good word hath come and made it better 3. It is in the spirit of Christ who is the Nuntius pacis hee that declares and seales up the peace to the soule and is the messenger of peace betwixt God and Christ and the soule that truly believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and believing in him hath life Thus it is in him Now if you aske how the child of God may draw this peace from Christ I answer these three wayes 1. By Meditation of him thus David Psal 104. 34. my meditation of him shall be sweet the soule-feeding upâ—◠〈…〉 of 〈…〉 â—â—on the gracious acts of grace in which the Lord Jesus Christ hath declared the yernings of his love to poor soules shall rather peace a quietment and establishing of spirit in the midst of all its troubles when the poore Christian is in the midst of troubles to sit down and think well yet my sinnes are pardoned yet God and I are at agreement this affliction this crosse comes not to me as a law demand not as a piece of vindicative justice but as a fatherly chastisement this shall administer peace to his soule his meditation of Christ shall be sweet to his soule That 's one way to gaine it 2. By a believing application both of what Christ hath spake and what he hath done Faith is the hand that the soule reacheth out for peace and by which the soule brings in peace to it selfe Rom. 5. 1. Beeing justified by faith wee have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ Those that believe shall bee established and the more a soule believes the more it is established it is from some unbeliefes or other that any soule is disquieted Faith brings in peace it is not the bare knowing of the promise or the bare knowing of what Christ hath done but the chosen with the promise the chosen with Christ in what hee hath done and suffered for the soule that brings in peace to the soule 3. The soule gaines this place by a close walking with Iesus Christ a walking in the spirit Is 32. 17. The work of righteousnesse shall bee peace marke the upright man consider the just man the end of that man is peace the wicked mans conscience is continually throwing out myre and dirt There is no peace to the wicked saith our God Peace indeed is not the wages of a day well spent not a naturall result and fruit of a strict walking but peace is the reward of righteousnesse the reward not of debt but of grace The words of the Psalmist hint thus much to us To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God Psal 50. 23. When a Christian hath ordered his conversation aright the salvation of God must be shewne him I have onely one thing remaining as to the doctrinall part of my discourse that is to shew you what paines what order Christ hath taken for his Saints peace in him while in the world they meet with trouble It may easily be gathered from what I have already spoken in short take it in these three words 1. He hath died upon the crosse that he might doe it Eph. 2. 14 15 16. It cost him his bloud to work out our peace 2. He hath
Mercer inclineth Sort. 3 A third sort of expositors are such as would make this whole book a prophesy of the conversion of the Gentiles they understand it thus I that is Christ raised thee that is the Church of the Gentiles under the Apple-tree out of a low estate say some by the help of some inferiour Magistrate saith M. Cotton But I want an instance of the Metaphor so used to patronize that opinion I have shewed you now the severall opinions which I shall reject for these reasons For the Popish opinion If we understand the sence of the words to be this That the Spouse raised Christ upon the Crosse what shall become of the next words there thy mother brought thee forth Did Christs mother bring him forth there if so either his personall mother or his mysticall and metaphoricall mother for his personall mother in respect of his divine Nature he had none for his humane Nature Mary was his mother But how can we say concerning the Crosse There Christs mother brought him forth If it be understood of Christs mysticall or metaphoricall mother which say some is the Church 1. Besides that I never read the Church called Christs mother though his wife and sister And I doe not like creating senses without we be put to great straights I say besides that it is to me very harsh sense which I scarce understand viz. how the Church is said to have brought forth Christ under the Crosse For holy M. Ainsworth's and learned Mercer's opinions my reason or objection is the same If we doe understand the sense of the words thus I that is thy Spouse raised thee up by earnest prayer under the Apple-tree in thine Ordinances I doe not know how to make sence of the next words There thy mother brought thee forth c. How can we say that Christs mother whether his naturall mother Mary or his metaphoricall mother the Church as some would have it painfully brought forth Christ for so the word is under the tree of free grace of life To me it almost sounds a making of Christ the object of free grace and life who is indeed the subject of it For the third sort I reject their opinion 1. Because I see no reason why we should turne this whole book into a Prophecye 2. And for M. Cottons single opinion I gave my reason against it before I shall now propound my owne opinion and rather seeke for company than follow any 1. I lay it downe for a ground that the words are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking concerning the beleeving soule 2. I take it for granted that the designe of Christs speech to the beleeving soule his Spouse is to mind her of some notable engaging mercy he had bestowed upon her a deliverance 1. Out of some low estate that methinks is plaine both from the word used raised which presupposeth a fallen estate 2. Out of some estate in which it was naturally that me thinks is plainly hinted in those words There thy mother brought thee forth there she brought thee forth that bare thee Now to give you the sence of the words I the Lord Jesus Christ thy husband The words opened thy Redeemer raised thee up exalted thee by the great worke of my redemption under the Apple-tree The Apple-tree is Christ Cant. 2. ver 3. Under my selfe by the use of mine Ordinances which are the fruit of the Apple-tree Christ or I raised thee up under the Apple-tree when thou wert not ingrafted in me but in a state of disunion indeed under the Apple-tree in respect of eternall ordination but not in the Apple-tree by an actuall implantation and union When thou wert in that sad estate I raised thee up by the great worke of my redemption It followes there thy mother brought thee forth c. there where in a lost condition in a state of disunion a stranger to me There under the Tree of forbidden fruit involved in Adams first guilt weltring in bloud c. There she brought thee forth that bare thee So the sence of the words is this Dost thou think much to leane upon me in the wildernesse O my Spouse remember thou wert in a poor lost undone Condition in such an estate thy naturall mother brought thee forth it is true thou wert under an eternall ordination to obtaine Salvation by me but thou wert far from such an vnion there thy mother left thee and could not help thee and then I raised thee I by the great worke of my redemption covenanting coming dying c. for thee raised thee from this misery to eternall life and all the privileges of it and this I did when all other meanes failed There thy mother brought thee forth by the use of my ordinances thou wert raised under the apple-tree so that the designe of the Lord Jesus Christ in the speech Is to shew the beleeving soule what cause she had in all estates to cleave to him more than all the world besides and this he demonstrates 1. By letting her see her miserable estate by nature 1. She had need of raising 2. She was in a state of disunion not united to the apple-tree 2. By letting of her see the hopelesnesse of any remedy from any thing in the world any friend in the world surely the mother is the best friend and yet sayes he this estate she left you in yea she that bare you 3. By letting of her see the Honourable condition that she was now in expressed in that word raised which containes as much as can be spoken even all the fruits and privileges of Redemption 4. By letting of her know the Author of this happinesse and redemption That is I saith he all the world could not I did 5. By letting of her know the meanes were his for so also the words under the apple-tree may be understood I raised thee The soule may say why the word raised me yes it is true but still thou art raised under Christ For Christ is the apple-tree The ordinances are the apples and they also grow out of Christ even as naturally as the Apples growe out of the apple-tree The text being thus opened holds out to us many pretious truths In generall it is the description of a Saint à primo ad ultimum from first to last In particular you have here the Spouse described 1. In her naturall Condition where you are told 1. What she is originally so she is in a state of disunion to Christ in such a condition that she hath need of raising so her mother brought her forth so she brought her forth that bare her 2. What she is then virtually though not implanted into Christ yet within a reach of him under the applee-tree though not implanted in it under an eternail ordination to life though for the present a Child of wrath in a wildernesse yet comming out or to come out 2. She is described in her gratious condition and there we have these
things noted 1. The author of grace unto her I raised thee Jesus Christ the author and finisher of our salvation 2. The meanes of this grace the apples that grow upon Christ the appletree 3. The effect of this grace in her she commeth up out of the wildernesse 4. The instrumentall meanes for the application of meritorious grace that is faith in Jesus Christ she commeth up leaning upon her well-beloved 5. The opinion of others concerning her in this estate of grace 1. She is glorious and creates admiration in some 2. The hidden principle of life in her makes her not to be understood of others all say who is this Here are two great things hinted in the text 1. The misery that the elect are in by nature 2. The happy condition they are in by grace I might handdle the words in order and raise many profitable Doctrines from them But I will only pitch upon 3. which will comprehend all and not handle the text as the words lye in order but according to the order of the things contained in them The 3. I will pitch upon are these 1. That Gods gracious Saints and every one of them though they lye under a gracious ordination to eternall life yet are borne in a lost undone condition 1. They have need of raising 2. they are under not in the apple-tree there their mother brought them forth 2. That it is the Lord Jesus that helpeth his redeemed ones out of this condition I raised thee 3. That by the power of Jesus Christ the Spouse being raised comes up out of every wildernesse leaning upon her Beloved I shall begin with the first Doctrine Doct. 1. That the best of Gods Saints by nature were born in a lost condition in a state of disunion to Jesus Christ there their mother brought them forth there she brought them forth that bare them I say the best though they all of them lye under a saving ordination to eternall life and though many of them may be borne of holy and godly parents yet if you looke upon them as they are by Nature they are in a lost undone condition and had need of a raising Now for the prosecution of this Doctrine I shall 1. prove it by testimony of Scripture 2. I shall open it to you how it comes to passe that they are so borne 3. I shall make application of the Doctrine 1. That they are by Nature in a lost undone condition 1. In respect of finne 2. In respect of punishment Take that pregnant place for it Ephes 2. where the designe of the Apostle is plaine to advance Christ in the hearts of the beleeving Ephesians To this end 1. he discovers what need they had of him that he opens by setting out their sad and wofull condition without him 1. They were dead in trespasses and sins ver 7. 5. 2. They lived according to the Devils wil ruled and acted by him v. 2. 3. They were tainted with the lusts of the flesh and inclined to fulfill the lusts of the flesh and of the mind v. 3. 4. They were Gentiles in the flesh v. 11. 5. They were without Christ 6. Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel 7. Strangers from the Covenant of Promise 8. having no hope 9. Without God in the world ver 12. 10. Afar off irreconciled ver 13 14. 11. To summe up all in a word ver 3. The children of wrath by nature as well as others Children of wrath Active Actively inclined or disposed to nothing but that which will undoubtedly bring downe the wrath of God upon their soules And children of wrath Passive passively being originally so guilty that they deserve and in respect of themselves are liable to the eternall wrath of God And who are these ver 19. They were such as were quickned ver 1. such as v. 19. were now no more strangers and forraigners but fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God They were borne under the Apple-tree but raised up A second place is that knowne place Psal 51. 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sinne did my mother conceive me They are Davids words that man of God that man according to Gods owne heart yet he confesseth he was borne under the Apple-tree there his mother brought him forth he was shapen in iniquity yea in sinne did his mother conceive him I will add but that one place more Ez. 16. Where God setting out the native condition of his Church sets it out by the resemblance of a new borne infant For her parents her father was an Amorite and her mother an Hittite For her owne person In the day wherein she was borne her navell was not cut nor was she washed in water to supple her she was not salted at all nor swadled at all cast out into the open feild to the loathing of her person v. 3. 4. 5. Polluted in her blood v. 6. Yet she was one to whom God had said live v. 6. Whom God had beautified and adorned with speciall graces v. 8. with whom God had made a covenant and she was Gods claime v. 8. v. 9. I passe on to the 2. Question propounded viz. How it comes to passe that all the Saints of God are originally in a lost undone condition The words of the text answer this their mother brought them forth so Adam eat of the tree of forbidden fruit he fell that guilt cleaves to all our natures This the Apostle speaks fully to in the 5 chap. of the Epis to the Romans v. 12. By one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne v. 15. Through the offence of one many were made dead v. 18. By the offence of one Judgment came upon all to Condemnation v. 19. By one mans disobedience many were made sinners Quest But here is the question started How the sinne of Adam should leave a defilement upon all his Children to the end of the world because The father hath eaten sowre grapes shall all the childrens teeth be set an edge My intention is not here to dispute like a sophister concerning those many questions about the propagation of Originall sin Quid quaeris apertam rimam Saith Augustine quum habes apertam Ianuam c. what need we seek for a rift for it to creep in when the Apostle hath shewed us an open door for it to come in with a full body he sayes by one man it came into the world not by imitation of his example as the Pelagians dream So he might have said per diabolum intravit that it entred in by the Devill as well as per unum hominem by one man but it entred propagatione carnali by carnal propagation what could be cleane that was borne of a woman M. Perkins sayes it may be done two wayes 1. Adam being a publique person carrying all us in his loynes and God ordering that what he received he should receive for himselfe and all his posterity hereupon Adam Sinning deprived
whom he justified them he also glorified under Predestination is included Redemption and Sanctification under Justification Now therfore a little to open this mysterie of our Redemption in the Application of it to the soules of them that shall be saved You have seen how there came to be Balme in Gilead and that there is a fulnesse and sufficiency in Christ Now what doth the poore Elect one want that it hath lost in Adam I conceive three things 1. Life 2. Strength 3. Light 1. Life It is a damned Creature in Adam it wants a way of salvation a pardon for its sinnes a righteousnesse to appeare in the sight of God 2. Adam hath left it a weak creature not able to do any thing that is good no not so much as to think a good thought it wants a strength to Act in so as to please God 3. Adam hath left it a comfortlesse creature without any light of Gods countenance shining upon it Now all these are purchased The first of them is necessary to give the first being to a Saint The second is necessary to preserve the Christians being The third ad bene esse for the comfortable being of all Christ is all to the Childe of of God Psalme 27. verse 1. But how doth Christ apply these to the soules of his redeemed ones 1. Saith the Apostle He calls them We say that in effectuall calling which is when God joynes the irresistable power of his Spirit with the outward preaching of the Word God doth these three things 1. Convince the soule of his elect vessell that is a child of wrath by Nature as well as others Ephes 2. 3. what a condition it is in by reason of its Originall and its Actuall sinnes 2. Humble the soule for its sinnes and discover unto the soule the insufficiency of all its owne righteousnesse that it is undone in its sinnes and undone in its righteousnesse and thirdly hee sayes to the soule Yet there is hope looke up to me and live I am as the brazen Serpent onely looke up and thou shalt live And that the soule may be able to look up with a true eye Christ gives faith to the soule to behold him come unto him and to receive him by a true resting and relying upon his Merits for salvation 2. And having thus Called the soule he then justifies it He hath in his Decree justified it from eternity hee hathmeritoriously justified it by his Death upon the Crosse but now hee doth actually and formally justifie it 1. By pardoning its sinnes and acquitting the soule from the obligation it till now lay under to death and forgetting the injury done to himselfe by any of its sinnes 2. By imputing the Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ to the soule by which it appeares the sinner is pardoned not without a satisfaction first given to Justice 3. By accepting graciously the soule thus justified as perfectly righteous for the Lord Jesus Christs sake as if it had never sinned And the worke of true faith in this Justification is to lay hold upon it And thus now Christ applyes the merits of his Death to the soule in conveying life and pardon to it thus hee raiseth it saying to it in its bloud live But this is not all 2. The soule is weake and is not able to live an houre of it selfe Christ therefore in the next place in order to its more perfect raising sanctifies the soule which implyeth two things 1. He gives unto the soule new principles of grace 2. He gives the soule power to act these principles for as except from him we have nothing so without him we can doe nothing Joh. 15. 5. Which power being given the soule from above the soule is raised and becomes strong in the strength of Christ and sets upon works 1. Of Mortification to subdue the strong holds of Satan viz. the remainder of corruption in the soule 2. Of Vivification setting upon such Duties as God hath required of his redeemed ones being exercises of the grace which they have received from the Lord Jesus Christ he gives the soule power to live upon faith to love to desire him to delight in him to do and to suffer for him to be content with him c. Yea and thirdly In his due time he raises the soule to a comfortable life in giving it the sense of his love a perswasion of its Union with the Lord Jesus Christ peace in the inward man shining upon it with the light of his Countenance which is better to it than thousands of Gold and Silver This I say he does in his due time not to all nor continuing it constantly to any but according to his good pleasure thus making knowne to it the Redemption he hath purchased for it and the Justification of its soule which is past in heaven before 4. And lastly in his due time he will yet further raise the soule by taking it to himself and glorifying it with himselfe for ever He will come againe on purpose to raise the soules of his redeemed ones from the dust and to take them up to himself in glory that where he is there they may be also John 16. verse 3. Thus Christ hath meritoriously raised all his redeemed ones and will apply their Redemption with the fruits of it to them in his due time applying life to them by Vocation and Justification strength to them by Sanctification light and comfort to them by shining with the Light of his Countenance upon them and finally giving them Glorification hee shall then perfect his worke of raising us and wee shall live with him in the Highest Heavens for ever I have now done with the Doctrinall part so farre as to shew you 1. That it is Christ that raiseth his Elect ones 1. He is designed 2. He can doe it 3. Hee onely can 4. Hee hath done it meritoriously for all 5. Hee hath done it actually and formally for some and will doe it for the rest And so farre as to shew you the manner how he did it and doth it both in respect of his owne acts in relation to the fitting himselfe for the worke and in respect of his application of it to the soules of his servants If now you aske me the Reasons why and to what end he did it for the reasons of the particular Propositions I have given you them before Now for Reasons in the Generall I shall give you them in two words 1. The moving cause was his owne grace because he would 2. The finall cause was his own glory 1. The moving cause and reason was his owne grace and goodnesse This is the reason of all Gods acts of grace towards the Creature whether Election or Redemption or Vocation or Justification or Sanctification or Glorification the sole cause was in himselfe because he loved us and delighted in us for his owne Names sake c. Isa 43. 25. Deut. 7. 7. Hos 14. 4. His owne will was all the reason he
which is now glorified with our renewing lusts and corruptions I shall conclude this use with a prayer that God would fulfill to all our soules that gracious promise Zach. 12. 10. That he would poure out the spirit of grace and of supplications upon us and make us to look upon him whom we have pierced and doe pierce daily and mourn as a man mournes for his only Son And be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternes for his first-borne I passe on to a second way of Application viz. by way of Instruction Hath Christ and Christ alone raised us 1. Let us hence be instructed How Instruction much the Lord Jesus Christ loved us And here let my soule be drowned in sweetnesse and in sinking cry out O the depth of unfadomable love What tongue what Saint what Angell can speake out this unspeakable love Pray O pray Christians That Christ Eph. 3. 17 18. may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints What is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge Is it love in a friend to passe his word for his friend arrested and ready to be haled to gaole and to take the debt upon himselfe and is it no love in Christ yea is it not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the unspeakable of loves for Jesus Christ when a writ of eternal vengeance was Ready to issue out against you to be your surety and beare the blow off to the breaking of his own armes Was it love in the Roman to personate his friend and upon the Scaffold and after to suffer for him and is it not infinite love for Jesus Christ to take the raggs of your flesh upon him and indeed to dye a death upon the crosse for you for you deare friends for you he was smitten despised rejected of men he dyed to make you live he was content to fall so you might rise Let your thoughts sinke in this ocean and spend your lives in spelling the letters of love that must be joyned in this one word or sentence I Raised thee From hence Secondly be Instructed What a perfect Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ is he leaves nothing for thee to doe but to thanke him hee makes the plaister and layes it on hee trod the Wine-presse alone and there is none with him he hath left thee nothing to do but to believe his last words All is finished he conquered sinne upon the Crosse and death and hell in the grave He will have none to be a sharer with him either in his worke of Merit or Application get but hands he will deliver thee thy pardon ready written granted sealed nay he will help thee with hands too He was made perfect through sufferings Hebr. 2. 10. Heb. 5. 9. Being made perfect hee became the author of salvation to them that obey him 3. From hence againe bee instructed Christian What need thou and every poore soule hath of the Lord Iesus Christ Thou wert fallen and layest as unable to helpe thy selfe as an Infant throwne into an open field Men and Angels were at their wits ends to answer to this question How then can any be saved The Heavens said Salvation was not in them and Earth sayes Salvation is not in us nothing but God-man can doe this great work There is no other name but onely the Name of Iesus by which thou or I or any of the children of men can be saved If thou hast him thou hast enough if thou hast not him it is not all the righteousnesse of Saints and Angels that will make a garment which will not bee too short to cover thy nakednesse O cry Lord give mee Christ Lord give mee Christ or else I dye Thinke not of thy owne merits thy righteousnesse is as a menstruous cloth and as a filthy ragge Christs Righteousnesse is sufficient for thee 4. Let all the redeemed ones of the Lord be instrushed How much they owe and shall for ever owe to him that is become their Saviour It is no slight mercy Sirs to be saved out of everlasting burnings It is a piece of love which as wee can never comprehend so we can never walke up to O let us all say What shall wee render unto the Lord for his mereies wee will take the cup of salvation and praise the Name of the Lord. You would thinke you owed a great deale to him that should exalt you from a Dungeon to a Throne Mephibosheth thought he was mightily honoured to be admitted to eate bread at the Kings Table How much Ah! How much Christians is every of your soules indebted to the Lord Jesus Christ who remembred you in your low estate For his mercy endureth for ever But I passe on further Use 3 From hence may every one try himselfe whether he be raised out of that lost undone condition wherein he was by Nature I have spoke to this in the former Doctrine but because I here meet it so fit again take two Notes of Triall from this Doctrine 1. If you be raised you are raised by Christs merits 2. You are raised according to Christs method 1. If you be raised It is by Christs merits all the Abana and Parphars of thy owne merits would not doe it One drop of that fountaine that was set open for Iudah and Ierusalem for sinne and for uncleanenesse is worth all the waters of thine own Damascus What trusts thou in Christian Is it what thou hast done Alas thou art so far from having any naturall strength as Pelagians and Arminians dreame or any other strength of merits either of thy owne or thy friends which Papists dreame of that if all the Saints in the earth and all the Angels of heaven could unite their forces in one arme and to one act they could as little have lifted thee up out of the pit into which thou wert fallen as thou couldst lift up an house with the palme of thy hand if it were fallen downe It was onely this mighty one this Prince of glory this King of power that could doe it Say therefore as they say that great Papist concluded Tutissimum est Christi merit is confidere it is most safe onely to rest upon him believe it all other trusts are as the bruised Reed of Egypt and as the broken staffe of Assyria which if thou trusteth too they run into thy hand and pierce thee they will cause thee to fall many strides short of heaven when they have carried thee to their furthest their Nil ultra O trust not in them if there be all thy confidence thou art not yet raised 2. If Christ hath raised you it hath been in his method of Application Christ saves none but whom he sanctifies and sanctifies none but whom he justifies and justifieth none but whom he calls Some men are justified they think but they know not which way and
they shall be saved I know not which way too Christian thou wert lost and undone thou wert in Adams loines as well as any thou hadst an adventure in his ship as well as any the ship was wrackt Did the Lord ever call thee Didst thou ever yet find a powerfull worke of Gods spirit joyned with the word upon thy heart Did the Lord ever make thee in any measure to see thy lost condition Did the Lord ever yet bid thee when thou sawest thy selfe lost and wert confounded in thy owne insufficiency looke upon Jesus Christ and live Was sinne ever yet a sting to thy soule if not I doubt yea I am out of doubt Christ was never a true comfort to thee Christ was lift up as the brazen serpent now for whom was that lift up but for those that felt the smart of the fiery serpent and no way else be cured Againe Christ sanctifies before he glorifies he hath ordained us to good works and then to obtaine everlasting life though not for them this is Christs method of raising Dost thou looke to be saved Art thou sanctified Christian Is thy heart changed and thy tongue changed Beleeve it no uncleane thing shall ever enter into the new Jerusalem Christ useth to raise to holinesse before he raiseth to happinesse But I have in the former Doctrine spake so fully to this worke of Examination in relation to this thing of so great a concernment to every soule as nothing can be more that I shall now adde no more but passe on Use 4 This Doctrine may in the fourth place be applyed by way of Exhortation 1. To those that yet have no part at all in the Lord Jesus Christ 2. To those that through free grace have an interest in this Saviour and have been raised by him 1. Is there any poore soule here that is to this day so miserable as that it hath no portion in the Lord Jesus Christ Now I beseech you as an Ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ as in Christs stead I beseech you get an interest in him You have heard he is he whom the Lord hath ordain'd to be the Saviour of the world he is the mighty one upon whom help was laid yea the only mighty one upon whom help could be laid O then above all things looke for a portion in him in whom alone you can be rich Wouldst thou be saved This all desire Glory and happinesse are fine things Omnibus in voto every man would dye the death of the Righteous and have his later end like his Wouldst thou goe to Heaven Christian he is the way Wouldst thou live he is the life yea he and none but he Be assured thou art now a child of wrath and there is but an haires breadth betwixt thee and hell thou art wounded past the cure of the whole Creation loe here is balme in Gilead If thou wilt enquire enquire returne come Were there a poore wretch sicke of an incurable disease to ordinary Physitians and Chirurgians and some rare one should come to the Towne that alone had found out the mystery in the Art of curing that very trouble he should be throng'd with Patients How is it that Christ hath no more practise he that is the great Physitian that all the creatures are Physitians of no value to him Alas the reason is too perspicuous men are sensible of their bodily troubles but their soul-troubles are not felt by them To direct thee a little to him wert thou sicke of such a disease and hadst heard of so rare a Physitian what wouldst thou aske 1. How shall I speake with him 2. What must I give him 3. How must I apply his physicke 4. What Rules of diet or walking c. must I observe 1. Dost thou aske how thou shalt speake with the Lord Jesus Christ to lay open thy soules wounds unto him And where doth he exhibite his balme I answer to thee The word is near thee even in thy mouth it is the word of faith which we preach Behold Christ keeps open shop Wisedome cries and Understanding puts forth her voice she standeth in the top of the high Places by the way in the places of the paths She cries at the gates at the entring in of the doores Unto you O men she cals and her voice is to the sonnes of men O ye simple understand wisedome and ye fooles be of an understanding heart Prov. 8. ver 1 2 3 4 5. The Lord Christ keeps open shop in every place We as the Embassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ intreat you to be reconciled to God Did ever such naturall balme goe on begging The word is neare thee there Christ offers himselfe Dost thou aske what is his price 2. He offers it freely Heare the Market proclamed and the price set Isa 55. 1 2. Hoe every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat wine and milke without money and without price This is the condition bring nothing the way to have thy sacke filled as full as thou canst carry it is to bring it empty Only come and live look up and be healed was there ever so cheap a Market of so rich commodities Christian poore Christian wert thou but sensible of thy soules wants thou wouldst give as many thousand worlds if thou hadst them and they could be given as there are graines of dust upon the face of the earth to have a portion in the Lord Jesus Christ Imagine but what a poore damned wretch would give to have but so much liberty as to cast up a long looke to Heaven what a comfort it would be to them if the light of the Gospell might but shine into hell a few dayes And is mercy offered freely mayest thou be saved if thy owne cursed will were not in the way Ah Christian turne turne why should thy soule dye when there is balme in Gilead and so glorious a Physitian there Dost thou aske how must I apply his bloud 3. I answer only by Faith God so loved the world saith the Apostle that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Nay to speake lower yet on thy part is only required a seeking of Christs face Thus saith the Lord seeke my face and live The truth of it is as the merit was Christs so the Application is his too Faith is required but it is a gift infused it is the gift of God Indeed it is an act too but as so it is Gods gift I meane the strength by which thou must act He is the Author and finisher of our faith saith the Apostle to the Hebrewes O therefore cry cry mightily unto God he will help thee doe this too Goe alone and wrastle with God and take no answer without Christ cry and take no deniall like the blind man that when the Disciples discouraged him and Christ seemed to slight him cryed yet the more earnestly till the Lord said
Mat. 7. 13 14. but then you must not look for the same journies end The Lord give you hearts to consider it and feare to tremble at it 3. And from hence thirdly you may bee instructed that it must bee something more than nature that must make a poore soule beautifull and desirably beautifull in Jesus Christs eyes It must neither bee naturall beauty will doe it nor yet naturall parts no nor natures glory nor the best of nature naturall righteousnesse Matth. 5. 20. It must be something more than flesh and bloud yea something more than flesh and bloud can helpe us with But I passe over this 4. From hence fourthly you may be instructed What an infinit love the Lord Jesus Christ hath loved his Saints with 1 Joh. 3. 1. Behold saith the Apostle with what manner of love the father hath loved you with that you should be call'd the sonnes of God Here hee sayes hearken O Daughter the Daughter of a King is honourable but the daughter of the King of Kings is much more honourable But if I may say it here seemes to be a degree of love beyond it the Kings wife is more honourable than the Kings daughter Behold therefore O yee upright in heart with what manner of love the Lord Jesus Christ hath loved you that hee should desire your beauty not only love you but if uncomely poor wretches make you beautifull according to that Ezech. 16. 13 14. nay not only so but desire your beauty not onely like it but desire it O love infinit love when David sent his servants to let Abigail know that hee desired her beauty marke how she admires at it 1 Sam. 25. 41. shee arose and bowed her selfe on the earth and said Behold let thine handmaid bee a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord Doe you heare this newes O yee daughters of men doe you heare this newes that the King of glory the Lord Jesus Christ that hath no need of you that is infinitly above you hath sent me this day to tell you that hee desires your beauty Rise up O yee Saints bow your selves and say Let us be servants to wash his feet c. Let us bee the doore-keepers of his house his meanest servants No Christians you shall be his sons and daughters Nay hearken O daughters here 's more for you The King desires your beauty Spell this love at leisure and now wash your soules follow after Jesus Christ study it with your most serious thoughts live to it with strictest lives What conversation becommeth the gospell what manner of persons should you be Follow on make haste and rise and follow him singing crying as you goe O the heighth and depth the incomprehensible heighth the unfadomable depth of love wherewith the Lord Jesus Christ hath loved sinners before the beginning of the world c. And lastly 5. Can you learn a lesse result from hence than this that Saints selfe-denying despised Saints are happy creatures Terque quaterque beati blessed againe and againe Surely you have not heard mee all this while but you are preventing me in the words of the Psalmist Happy are the people that are in such a case yea blessed are the people that have the Lord for their God we may say of them O nimium dilectis Deo creatures strangely beloved of their God strangely happy in this that the King should desire their beauty Let the world scorne one let them put out the finger and barke at the moone let them mock puritanisme let the way of holinesse be every where spoken against pro hominum arbitrio let them talke so long as you gaine you dance before the ark though Michal mock out at the window You shall be more beautifull the more vile they think you it is for the Kings sake that hath desired your beauty and scornd theirs for the Kings sake that hath chosen you to obtaine everlasting life through Jesus Christ but hath ordained them to wrath and neglected their beauty One would not think now that these creatures that ravish Christs heart should offend worldlings eyes so much surely Christ should have no judgement if these were the contemptible ones of the earth the unlovely creatures Well well Christians let them mocke on after the way which they call simplicity and foolery moping c. worship thou the God of thy fathers thou shalt have thy pleasures when they shall have torments thou shalt have thy crowne and honour when the pride of their glory shall bee stained and that shall lie in the dust These children of vanity forget what Abraham though something too late to doe him good advised their brother to remember Luk. 16. 25. That in their life time they received good things and those precious Lazarus'es evill things but yet a little while and you shall be comforted and they tormented yet a little while and you shall be honoured and they shall be cursing the wombe that bare them and the paps that gave them suck cursing the honour that ruin'd them the pleasures that damned them the worldly glory which hath made them inglorious for ever yet a little while and instead of their sweet smels they shall have the stinkes of fire and brimstone and instead of their girdles rentings of heart for ever instead of their well-set haire they shall have baldnesse they shall spend more time in rending and tearing their haire than ever they did in curling or powdring it Yet a little while and instead of their stomachers they shall have girdings with sackcloth everlasting burnings instead of their present beauty But blessed shall you bee for you shall shine like the Sun in the firmament of the father for the King hath desired your beauty I have at last done with my first use of Instruction I proceed now to a second and that shall bee of examination Vse 2 Are you willing now to know Christians whether Jesus Christ cares for you yea or no whether you be desirable in his eyes yea or no heaven and hell hang upon this thing Trie whether you have forgotten your owne people and your fathers house The most men and women are afraid of the touchstone and are willing rather to take heaven for granted though they find hell for certaine but this is not safe with you Trie your selves then Christians I will helpe you a little in so good a work 1. If you have forgotten your fathers house you have first seene a great deale of folly and vanity in it Man is a reasonable creature and will never leave any thing but he will see some cause to leave it Did the Lord ever yet convince you throughly not with a Notionall but an heart conviction of the folly of your fathers house Did the Lord ever throughly convince you of your evill wayes the sinnes of your natures the customary sinnes of your lives of your education sinnes and your beloved sinnes Had you ever a through conviction of the vanity
the Apostle told the beleeving Ephesians that they were Children of wrath by nature even as others Eph. 2. 3. Besides that Christ useth not to pay any debts by halves it were as good as nothing for Iesus Christ to pardon a reprobates Originall sin to whom he never intends to pardon all sinne yea Originall sinne doth not only remaine upon elected ones as an offence to God and laying upon them an obligation to death since Christ dyed untill their Iustification but even after Iustification there is a body of death it hath lost its condemning power and its raigning power but it yet cleaves to our flesh as Ivy to the tree so deep an impression it hath upon all our natures But this openeth a way to another question whether originall sin remaines in any of the elect after Justification the affirmative is truth but in regard that my text strikes not directly against the errour I shall passe it by and refer you to those that have defended the truth in it as Zanchi c. and leaving this first use shall proceed to some further application which shall be more Particular 1. By way of Instruction 2. By way of Examination and Tryall 3. By way of Exhortation 4. By way of Consolation Of all these in their order By way of Instruction We may hence learne first what a sad condition the most men of the world are in Ah! Lord how few are they whom thou hast chosen ever to obtaine eternall life and yet these are children of wrath by nature as well as others Poore creatures my heart trembles to thinke of you How many in this Congregation yet lye in a condition low enough and the Lord knowes whether ever to be raised yea or no. If a child should be borne with some naturall weaknesse in its armes or leggs and it should live six or ten or twenty years and yet not be able to use its limbs you would say it would be a very great hazard if ever that child did recover its limbs so as to have the strength and exercise of it it would be almost a miracle It was such a miracle that in the ninth of John when Jesus Christ had restored sight to one that was borne blind the Jewes would not beleeve it possible and ver 32. we find a positive determination upon the question Since the world began it was never heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was borne blind How many poore wretches that are come here into the presence of the Lord that were all borne blind deafe dead and have lived some ten some twenty some thirty yeares some more and all this time have continually had all the meanes that could be applyed to them for recovery and yet are in the same lost undone condition Ah my friends what can you neither stretch out hand nor foot nor tongue nor any member notwithstanding all the meanes of grace astoorded you for quickning Let me tell you it is ten thousand to one if you doe not perish for ever My friends It is a miracle a great miracle of mercy that any one poore wretch considering in what condition it is borne should ever come out of it The Jewes would hardly beleeve the report therefore they say Joh. 9. 19. Is this your sonne that was borne blind how then doth he now see We may say so concerning every one that hath any thing of God in him Was not this poore creature borne blind how doth he now see was not he borne lost How is he now raised but for those that in stead of growing better are growne ten times worse that have hardened their hearts and gone on in riot and wantonnesse and are yet in their bloud it is ten to one if ever the Lord say to them live they are growne to such a shamelesse impudence in wickednesse I dare not say there is no hope But let me sadly say there is small hope that ever the Lord should raise such wretches And if he doth not better ten thousand times better sinner had it been for thy soule that thou hadst never seen the light of the morning nor heard the voice of the Gospell in thine eares This is your condition the Lord awaken you Secondly From hence we may be instructed Whom we have cause to thanke that any of us are this day out of hell Who art thou O man that boasts thou art of good parentage or of a great birth harke in what language my Text speaks thy birth Thou wert borne under the Apple-tree there thy mother brought thee forth there she brought thee forth that bare thee If thy heavenly Father doth no more for thee than thy earthly mother woe to thee that ever thou wert borne What a boasting we have of pedegrees and great descents What a great word it is in the world I was better borne than you My father was such a Gentleman so great so rich c. My mother was of such or such an ancient Family O vanity vanity of vanities Poore creature thy mother brought thee forth under an Apple-tree The very heathen out of a meere rationall principle could scoffe at such brags Genus proavos quae non fecimus ipsi Vix ea nostra voco Tully could retort to the Roman bragging of his descent Domus mea à me incipiet tua verò in te desinet My house shall have its Originall from me my Nobility and worth thy Noble Family shall have an end in thy Basenesse Christian what is thy birth consider it but in a spirituall notion the poorest wretch in the world is borne in as good a condition as thou art and thou in no better an estate towards God than he Suppose a man were borne of some great parentage and had no Lands no estate left him but could only boast of fumos nomina vana Catonum his fathers name and the smoake of his chimney Possibly he hath some gorgeous suit of apparell left him this he weares and glisters in for a while yet a little while and these teare and then he hath not a rag left him nor a penny to buy one to cover his nakednesse how contemptible would such a poore wretch be in every mans eyes And is not this the condition of the most of the great men gallants of the world they glister with an outside a little in the world their names are great their persons admired yet a little while and these weare out the men dye and lye downe in hell Ah! that those that glory would glory in this that God is their Father and Jesus Christ their portion Thus your Houses would have a beginning of Glory from you and their Glory should not end with you 2. Nor is the boasting of those much better that can boast of their Religious Parents I confesse it is the better of the two an heire of Glory being farre more noble than the greatest worldling and in regard that the Election of God runs much in a
line but this will not doe Christian Esau was rejected though he was Isaacs sonne and Ishmael though he was Abrahams sonne Justus non gignit justum gignit hominem Thy righteous father did not beget thee a righteous man but he begat thee a child of flesh corrupt flesh and bloud Thy godly mother brought thee forth under the Apple-tree there thy mother brought thee forth there she brought thee forth that bare thee This was the Jewes great brag that they came forth out of the waters of Judah and were called by the name of Israel and were of the house of Jacob Isa 48. 1. They call'd themselves of the Holy City and this made them stay themselves upon the God of Israel but for all this observe what God sayes to them v. 4 5 6 c. This was that which the Jewes had to boast of to the Lord Jesus Christ Joh. 8. 33. We are Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man how sayest thou you shall be made free They tooke it ill that they being Abrahams seed should be so much as supposed to be in a bad condition But observe how Christ takes away their brag in the 39. Jesus saith unto them if you were Abrahams children that is his spirituall children you would doe the works of Abraham But in plainer English ver 44. Ye are of your Father the Devill and the lusts of your Father you will doe Heare this you that had godly parents and your selves have no goodnesse in you Abrahams faith will carry none to heaven but himselfe your parents faith will want a way of conveyance to doe good to your soules Graft a sweet Peare or Plumme upon a wild or sowre Crab-stocke it will grow and yeeld a pleasant fruit the nature will be changed in the fruit but now take the stone or kernell of that fruit and set it in the earth it shall not come forth a Plum-tree but a Crab-stock againe It is thy case Christian thy parent was a naturall Crabstocke the Lord grafted grace upon him then he brought forth sweet and pleasant fruit worthy of amendment of life But now thou art his kernell come out of the earth thou art not come forth gracious but naturall Thy parents grace was by vertue of an inoculation not by nature Therefore to conclude this use let me mind you of the words of the first Gospell-preacher John the Baptist Mat. 3. ver 8. Bring forth fruit therefore worthy of amendment of life and thinke not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our Father Looke to your condition Christians It is neither your noble nor yet gracious parentage and descent will carry you to heaven think not to say within thy self I had a gracious parent Thirdly from hence we may be instructed what a soul-cheating principle Libertines build on that conclude thus There is no need of Repentance or faith or such holy and strict life if we be elected we shall be saved if not we shall be damned Suppose thou beest elected poore creature yet know thou art borne under the Apple-tree O turne not the grace of thy God into wantonnesse looke to find thy selfe raised or thou shalt never see thy soule saved It is true for the sinnes of those whom the Lord hath chosen by name to everlasting life they are decretally pardoned from all eternity and meritoriously pardoned in the death of Christ but still they remaine as offences to God and keep the soule under a reall obligation unto death till the Lord comes and actually and formally in justification acquits the beleeving soule from hels claime and frees it out of the Devils imprisonment Suppose a condemned man in prison the Prince hath determined to pardon him and some friend of his possibly hath purchased his pardon for him but yet he is in the dungeon in fetters in the Gaolers hand till he be actually set free c. So it is with every Elect Vessell Cheat not thy selfe therefore with such licentious soule-deceiving principles of Libertinisme I have done with the first Use of Instruction I passe on to a second Use 2 How doth it now stand every poore soule in hand to examine his condition whether he be not in this sad condition yet yea or no. Christians the weight of your soules hangs upon this Examination This was your and my condition Try therefore your selves whether you be in the faith or no prove your owne selves know you not that more more than nature is in you Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates I have in this place not long since handled this point so fully that I shall at this time adde very little to what I have already said Only it lying so full in my way give me leave to speake a word or two and the Lord speake it to your hearts I will speake but foure words 1. Therfore know this If none hath done more for you than your mother hath done you are under the Apple-tree still That is plaine in the Text There your mother brought you forth there she brought you forth that bare you What doth our Mother doe for us she conveighes Nature to us from her we derive flesh and bloud and our naturall dispositions if thou beest nothing but Nature thou hast nothing of Grace But some will say this is a note as darke as the other To make it therefore so as to be understood by the meanest capacities we must understand that there are two sorts of Natures A more corrupt or a more refined sort of Nature All short of Grace is Nature 1. If thou hast nothing seen in thee but corrupt filthy nature That thy naturall inclination carries thee out to acts of prophane wickednesse and thou hast not so much as put a bridle upon thy wild spirit but letst it run at randome and carry thee out to drunkennesse wantonnesse lying swearing all manner of ungodlinesse This thou mayest be sure of thou art not raised yet out of thy hellish danger in which thou wert borne Eph. 5. 5. 1 Tim. 1. 9 10. Rev. 21. 8. Rev. 22. 15. 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. But secondly If thou hast no more than bridled and refined Nature I call Bridled Nature a kind of civility which thou pridest in that thou art not so debauched a wretch as others are It consists first of all in a Negative righteousnesse Thou canst say thou art no Papist no Malignant and perhaps as much as the Pharisee Luke 18. v. 11. I thanke thee I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publicane Secondly In a Positive righteousnesse Thou canst say whose Oxe have I taken whose Asse have I taken or whom have I defrauded Thou tythest Mint and Annis and dost no more to others than thou wouldst be content they should doe to thee thou art a good Second-table-man keepest the rule of justice strictly Thus had he done To whom Jesus Christ said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One thing is
painted hand reacheth nothing the hand must be a reall hand that plucketh the Apple-tree There is a great deale of drossy counterfeit faith in the world The Devils have some graines of faith amongst them the Apostle sayes They beloeve and tremble Wicked and prophane wretches have their degrees of faith too they will at least tell you they beleeve that Christ came into the world and dyed they give credence to the story c. But this faith is no true hand it will plucke never an apple of Life 2. As the hand must be true so it must be perfect it must have fingers enough to doe it It must be perfect justifying faith though it reach not the perfection of faith that a justified person may have There are severall acts of faith some will have knowledge to be an act of it others and the most say that knowledge is supposed to faith but Assent is the first and lowest act Many goe hither and no further they goe away not justified but the perfection of that faith which justifies lyeth in a trusting too and a relyance upon the Lord Jesus Christ To this faith are all the promises pronounced Blessed is that man that puts his trust in the Lord And who is he that sits in darknesse and seeth no light Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God I say this is the perfection of that faith which must be de necessitate necessarily required to justification It is not the reflection of faith that is in a justified person Try thy selfe O Christian dost thou truly beleeve then not barely assenting and giving credence to the word of God as a word of truth but being sensible of thy owne vilenesse and the insufficiency that is in thy selfe for any salvation dost thou truly relye upon Jesus Christ and this will be tryed by the third particular necessary to the hand that reacheth 3 The hand that reacheth must be lively It must have a principle of life in it selfe and must act in lively operations The dead hand let it be never so true flesh and bloud it reacheth nothing it hath no internall principle of life in it selfe to carry it out in externall operations of Life so must it be with the souls hands that reach and plucke the Apples of free grace of the Tree of Life mentioned Rev. 22. 1. It must have an internall principle of Life The hypocrites faith hath no internall principle of life in it the soule is not quickned neither hath it any power to act externall operations Viva fides est operosa is a knowne maxime Faith in the Saints is powerfull 2 Thes 1. 11. The worke of faith with power Jam. 2. 17. Faith without works is dead Now it 's lively 1. Internally purging the heart It purifieth the heart 2. Externally it worketh by love it worketh as a loving heart towards God so in acts of love Faith if it be true hath not only a perswading and comforting quality to perswade the soule of God and the faithfulnesse of him that hath promised and to refresh the soule by staying upon God but it hath a quickning quality to enliven the soule and quicken it to an holy close walking with God The same faith that saith to the soule this promise is the truth of God stay thy selfe upon it saith also to the soule this precept is the rule of God walke according to it Now Christian try thy selfe whether thou hast tasted of the fruit of the Apple-tree whether thou hast a portion in Jesus Christ yea or no If thou hast reached to thy soule an Apple of free grace thou hast an hand by which thou didst it it must be a true hand Faith is the hand Hast thou not the painted faith of the hypocrite but the true faith of the Saints called by a distinguishing character The faith of Gods Elect Titus 1. v. 1. Hast thou not a finger only but the perfect hand that faith which truly justifieth thy soule which doth not consist in a bare notion and knowledge nor yet in a bare assent but in a fiduciall cleaving to the Lord Jesus Christ Is it lively as living in respect of the inward principle so lively in respect of the outward operations If so then it may be a true faith and thy hand with which thou hast reacht the fruit of the Apple-tree for the comfort of thy soule may be such a one as will doe it and thy hope may be upon good and justifiable grounds but if not deceive not thy owne soule Christ and you are strangers yet and thou art out of Christ I shall adde but one Note more which shall be yet further for the clearing of this Lastly therefore know Thou canst have no such hand unlesse it be given thee from above The hand of Faith is none of Natures products Alas how many cheat themselves with Faith when the Devill hath indeed as much true faith as they have There is a naturall perswasion and there is a morall perswasion and there is a traditionall perswasion and a diabolicall perswasion all these differ from the worke of Faith which is true and that hand which must reach Jesus Christ to my soule 1. There is a naturall perswasion Nature hath principles to perswade the soule by to some Assent Nature perswades us there is a God and he must be worshipped Looke upon me saith Nature Praesentemque refert quaelibet herba Deum I have not a spire of grasse but tels thee there is a God See the variety greatnesse beauty of my work Read a great God in a great Whale or Elephant a beauteous God in a glorious flower A wise God in my choice of works Behold a God in the order thou hast seen in me See him in my Law written in thy heart Rom. 2. 15. From these and such like things Nature bequeathes a faith to the soule and learnes it credere Deum to beleeve a God But this is far from faith not only from justifying faith but also from faith as to that point It wants that steadinesse of assent which must be in assent when an act of faith A Roman writ to Tully to write him something concerning the immortality of the soule Tully writ back againe to him Evolve librâ—m Platonis nihil amplius est quod desideres Read saith he Plato's Book over concerning it and you will desire no more The Roman returnes him answer Evolvi iterum atque iterum evolvi c. I have read it over saith he againe and againe but I know not whence it is when I reade it I assent to it but I have no sooner laid the book out of my hand but I begin to doubt againe whether the soule be immortall yea or no. So it is with all perswasion from natural principles as to that extent of Doctrine it would perswade us of the perswasion that ariseth from them is faint and weake one while we thinke it is true another while we question
Brother a Sister a Friend that hath no grace Lord what shall I doe for her in the day when she shall be spoken for Remember your owne misery and you will pitty their poor soules Thirdly and lastly Were you all borne out of Christ in a sad undone condition by Nature Then let mee perswade you to keep humble hearts Remember but what you were It is enough to tame the swellings of your spirits to thinke that you were not borne worth a ragge to cover your nakednesse you were cast out into the open field to the loathing of your person It was that which the Apostle urged to bring downe the swellings of pride in the Corinthians 1 Cor. 4. 7. For who maketh thee to differ from another And what hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou hast received it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it Let mee apply those very words to thy soule Christian Art thou proud of thy gifts and proud of thy graces that thou differest from another and excellest another others are nothing to thee c. I beseech thee to consider who maketh thee to differ How came there to be such a difference betwixt thee and other Christians I am sure you were once both under the Apple-tree together there your mothers brought you forth there she brought you forth that bare you Hath Christ made thee to differ What hast thou then that thou diddest not receive Now if thou diddest receive it why diddest thou glory as if thou hadst not received it Wilt thou boast boast of thy owne then Christian boast of thy workes not of thy gifts give Christ his owne and thou art not worth a farthing yea the Lord knowes ten thousand times worse than a begger Wee say and truely too that one that hath been very scandalous if ever the Lord brings him in he had need bee very circumspect and humble And so concerning one that hath been of a verie low and meane condition and by the meere favour of the Prince is raised up to some great dignity wee say it will be a great deale of policy in him to carry himselfe humbly in his place Truely Christian I know no actuall difference by Nature betwixt thee and the vildest damned Reprobate in Hell Indeed there was a difference in God the Fathers Book of Election and in Christs Book of Redemption which is but a transcript of the other but a Creature difference there was none no selfe-difference at all Hath the Lord brought thee in thou hadst need walke humbly and circumspectly Philip would have the Boy to cry at his Chamber doore Philippe memento mortalis es Philip thou art a mortall man remember it be not proud of thy Empire thy Diadem must lye downe in the dust I would have the Christian that the Lord hath given great gifts and parts to be minded of his first estate I would have my Text written in his heart repeated in his eares O remember Christian who it was that Raised thee up under the Apple-tree there thy mother brought thee forth there she brought thee forth that bare thee And now I have done with my Use of Exhortation in its several Branches Use 4 I have but one word more and that is Consolation Is it so that we are borne under the Apple-tree though under out of Christ yet under not out of sight or hope The Apple-tree is over us though by Nature we have no hand to reach up to it Here 's then a word of comfort and hope 1. To those that upon serious examination the Lord hath made seriously sensible that to this houre they are out of the Lord Jesus Christ if yet they be willing to get into him 2. To those of Gods people that walke with sad hearts for the spirituall estate of their children husbands wives friends c. considering that they were all borne out of Christ and for ought they can yet see they have yet no portion in him For the first Is there any whose hearts the Lord hath smitten with the sad apprehensions of this Truth that they are all borne out of the Lord Jesus Christ that begin to say what shall we doe to be saved Loe here is some comfort yet though thou beest borne for the present out of Christ yet possibly thou mayest be borne under the Apple-tree yea for ought thou knowest thou art Christ is the Apple-tree Christ exhibited in his Gospell in the preaching of the Word c. is a glorious Apple-tree full of ripe Apples dropping into the hands of every soule that doth but lift up his beleeving hand to take and eat This is certaine whomsoever Gods secret will shuts out of heaven his revealed will shuts out none who doth not shut out himselfe Come therefore Turne turne why wilt thou dye O thou sinfull creature For ought thou knowest thou art in no worse condition than Manasses and Paul and Mary Magdalene all of them were borne such as thou art Christ cals Hoe every one that thirsteth come c. Come then let not thy sinnes hinder thee there 's merit enough and mercy enough in him O let not faith be awanting in thee Behold it is now Autumne with us Autumne indeed for Gospell-dispensations have been but as green Apples formerly to the times wherein the Lord hath cast our lot never was there such a plenty of soule-enlightening powerfull preaching plenty enough the Lord grant we surfeit not with it O reach out an hand take eat live To encourage consider how the Lord pleads with you Some Apple-trees are so loaden with fruit that when the Apples grow once to their full quantity the boughes bend even to the hand of the gatherer such my friends are our dayes the boughes loaden with Apples of free Grace even bend again to your soules O take eat and your soules shall live The Autumne is plenteous The Gospell is free you may take what you will it shall cost you nothing Christ even bends to you loaden with Apples of Love Ah! how he reacheth out himselfe to your soules despaire not only plucke and eat you are under the Apple-tree Secondly Is there any one here that hath a child husband wife friend brother sister c. that he can have no comfort concerning in regard that they can see no sigues of grace in them let this comfort them yet they may be under the Apple-tree though the Lord hath not discovered himselfe yet to their soules yet he may doe it All the Apples are not gathered off the Tree of Life it is laden yet pray cry for them mourne for them the Lord may yet give them an heart to repent I thinke it was Ambrose told Saint Austines mother being sadly lamenting the condition of her sonne then a Manichee Be of good comfort saith he it is impossible that a sonne of so many teares should perish I will not say so concerning any one but I will say vix probabile est it is scarse probable
ascended that he might raise us O then let us likewise ascend after him setting our affections upon things which are above not upon things which are below Christ who is our treasure is ascended Let our hearts also be where our treasure is Col. 3. ver 1. If then ye be risen with Christ seeke those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God 7. Lastly Will he yet once againe come and raise you by glorification O then Let Christ in you be the hopes of glory Looke for him he is making ready his chariot He is bowing the Heavens and comming downe He hath prepared a place for his redeemed ones and he is comming Loe he is comming to take them up into the chambers of glory that where he is there they may be also But to summe up all let me only adde 5. A fifth and last use of Consolation To all the Saints and servants of God both touching themselves and touching others 1. Touching themselves against their worldly miseries and spirit-feares 1. Art thou disconsolate Compl. Christian to thinke what a poore low estate God hath given thee in this world that thou art poore despised rejected O consider thou shalt have better in heaven The Martyrs could be comforted at their bitter breakfast to thinke they should have a good supper There is a roome prepared for thee in glory O be comforted in the hopes of glory When thou canst say I have not bread to eat yet Christ is mine I have not a foot of land yet Heaven is mine I am worth nothing yet I blesse God I have a portion in Jesus Christ It is enough Christian it is enough against thy spirit-fears be comforted Ah saith 2. Compl. a Christian my sins my great sins that my youth hath been guilty of make me feare and sit downe in bitternesse yet be comforted if thou beest changed Christ hath raised thee hee paid ransome enough for thee if thy sinnes were greater than they are It was a sad saying to remember such were some of you but it was joyfull newes to consider But now you are washed now you are cleansed c. But alas saith the 3. Compl. Christian I sinne every day my backslidings are many I sinne in my righteousnesse my best duties are sinne Consider Christian Christ is still raising thee by pleading for thee it is his work to make intercession for the Saints But alas saith the Christian If God be 4. Compl. with me if Christ be mine why am I thus why doe I walke heavily I answer Because God sees it fit for thee thou mayst be raised both meritoriously and actually though not comfortably and sensibly God will shine upon thee when he thinks good the Sun shines where it lists Ah But I feare 5. Compl. I shall fall away saith another I have a base heart full of corruption c. Dost thou feare and why dost thou so sinne Dost thou thinke Christ hath taken all this paines with thee for nothing No no be assured as Heaven is purchased for thee so it shall be given to thee Christ useth not to doe his worke by the halves I have not lost one of them saith Christ he knowes them by name they cannot be missing his worke shall not be in vaine concerning any one of his chosen ones Secondly Let Christians from hence be comforted concerning others 1. Such of their friends as they may sadly feare have as yet no portion in the Lord Jesus Christ O pray for them weep for them speake to them in the name of the Lord and yet hope that though they be not actually raised yet they may be meritoriously raised There is many a one that hath a white name in Gods Election-booke and whose name Christ hath engraven upon his hands that to us is yet a black child of wrath a stranger to the Covenant of Grace If their names be there Christ will in his owne time raise him betwixt this and the Judgment day there is a spare roome in Heaven for them 2. Art thou disconsolate to see some of thy friends in great terrors in great afflictions of spirit O rejoyce over them Christian it is probable Christ is raising of them Be assured if they be his he will raise them there is not the lowest worme that belongs to Christ but he hath provided an high place for them Not the most blubber'd-eyed uncomely Christian in thine eyes in the world but Jesus Christ hath provided an handkerchiefe to wipe all teares from their eyes Christ hath raised them and will raise them One Branch of my use of Instruction I forgate in its due place take it now in a word We may hence be instructed and let us learne how much Christ deserves our cleaving to him in the wildernesse in all trials and crosses whatsoever I take this to be the proper use of this Text. The Spouse had fancied to her selfe what the world would say of her how they would admire her dependance upon Christ when he seemed to leave her and make her sad Christ replyes in the words of the Text I raised thee up under the Apple-tree c. As much as to say And doe I not deserve all this love and a great deale more Is it for nothing that thou thus cleavest to me Remember what thou wert by Nature Remember who hath done all the good for thee that is done for thy soule I raised thee up under the Apple-tree there thy mother brought thee forth there she brought thee forth that bare thee THE SPOVSES Carriage In the Wildernesse in her leaning upon her Welbeloved Opening the temper of the Beleeving-soule in her severall Wildernesses And discovering the way of her comming out by her acting of Faith on the Lord JESVS CHRIST In a Sermon formerly preacht in Andrewes Parish in Norwich Now reprinted being corrected by the Author By JOHN COLLINGS M. A. Isa 50. 10. Who is amongst you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darknes and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God LONDON Printed for Rich Tomlins 1649. TO The Right Honorable his never enough Honoured Lady FRANCES HOBART Increase of Grace c. Madam SOme time since I presumed to present this Sermon to your Honours hands your Ladiships acceptance then hath emboldened mee now to present it againe with some though very small alterations It presents your Ladiship with a great piece of your Honours duty and practise Faith Madam is almost the Christians All the Life of Faith is distinctively the Christians life and if ever there were a time for a Christian to live this life surely this time in which the Lord hath cast our lot is the time The whole Church of Christ is this day in the Wildernesse the Israelites way to Canaan lay that way And for my part I look still that the Church should keep the beaten path and as all
preached repentance as well because The axe was laid to the root of the tree and whatsoever tree brought not forth good fruit should be hewn down and cast into the fire as because The Kingdom of Heaven was at hand I dare not learne contrary to Christ and the Baptists Coppy I will preach Mercy and Judgment The Law and the Gospell go well together let me not be accursed for separating what God hath joyned But Lastly I conceive Wee cannot call any Repentance saving Repentance til the worke of conversion be wrought fully in our souls Nay I make a question whether any man without the grace of Assurance can properly call his Repentance saving Repentance till he comes in Heaven And for my owne part I am full in the Negative But I have digressed too farre to convince some who I feare are not so willing to suffer the word of conviction as I to speake it We left the Spouse in the second wildernesse The wildernesse of sorrow 't is time we now return to her and comfort her and shew you how she comes out of that leaning upon her Beloved Here now the beloved Soule is mourning like a Turtle and crying O whâ—â— shall I doe to be saved I am lost oh how shall I finde the way out of this wildernesse O my sins pull me back I cannot set a step forward Sin trips up my heeles The Devill tels me I am his and my sins beare witnesse to his words Now she that is not the Spouse of Christ sinkes in these mighty wateres she sinkes to hell in dispaire is quite lost if once she comes into them But he that said not one of those whom his father had given him should perish seeing the poore soule like Peter Mat. 14. 30. that thought to have trode upon those waters sinking in them and crying Lord save me or else I perish when he sees such a poore soules ship in which he is though he seemes to sleepe tost in these bitter waves when the tempest ariseth and hearing the soule in this Agony crying out Master save me or else I perish now he begins to arise and stretch out his shoulder for the soule to leane upon speakes and rebukes the winds and calmes the busie tempests when the Whale of sorrow hath sallowed up these Jonahs â—nd they are in the bottome of the Sea in the Whales belly they cry their God heares and causeth the Whale to vomit them out on the dry land Me thinks that voice of Jonah is the voice of every penitent soule Jonah 2. The soule cries by reason of her affliction unto the Lord and the Lord heares her out of the belly of hell she cryes and he heares her voice for he hath cast her into this deep into the midst of the Seas and the flouds compasse her about and all the billowes and the waves past over her Then the soule saith I am cast out of the Lords sight yet I will looke againe towards his holy Temple The waters compasse her about even to the soule the depths closed round about her the weeds were wrapt about her head she went downe to the bottome of the mountaines the earth with her barres was about her yet her Lord her God brings up her life from corruption when her soule faints within her she remembers the Lord and her prayers come unto him even into his holy place And when the soule is in this wildernesse in the deeps of sorrow then her Beloved doth throw her his shoulder of supporting grace to lean upon that she saith as David Psal 94. 17 18. Unlesse the Lord had been my help my soul had almost dwelt in silence when I said my foot slippeth thy mercy Lord held me up When the soule cryes I am drowned Then the Lords mercy holds her up No saith God thou art not drowned here is a cord of mercy for thee to lay hold upon and I will draw thee out by it Here is my hand be still O ye waves this soule is mine When the soule is burthened with sins laden with the sense of them and in the sad apprehension of them cryes out my burthen is too great for me to beare I sinke I sinke under it then Christ looks out of the heavens and sayes Cast thy burthen upon the Lord man and he shall sustaine thee or Psal 55. 22. Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you Mat. 11. 29. The supporting grace of God is the Anchor of the soule which staies the Ship of the soule when a tempest of sorrow arises the waves beat upon it Now this Anchor hath two flukes The first is her Beloveds mercies and merits The second is her Beloveds promises When she is in this sad wildernesse of sorrow her Beloved gives her a staffe of merits and mercy and free grace to leane upon and a clue of promises to lead her out of this Labyrinth and the mercies and merits of her Beloved have two hooks both which take fast hold to stay her soule 1. The fulnesse of them 2. The freenesse of them First the fulnesse of them The soule cries out O I am damned Christ suggests to her But didst thou never heare of one that came to save those which were in their owne apprehension damned I deserve to dye everlastingly saith the soule oh but did not he dye for thee that deserved to live everlastingly saith Christ I deserve infinite torments saith the soule Oh! but are not â—hy Christs mercies infinite mercies saith God Thy mercy held me up My sinnes have cryed up to heaven saith the soule O but my mercies are above the heavens saith Christ Psal 108. 5. My sins are more in number than the haires of my head saith the soul but my mercies saith Christ are more in number than the sand which lyes on the Sea shore Psal 139. 17 18. My sins have abounded saith the soule but my grace hath much more abounded saith Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 5. 20. O but my heart is as hard as Iron and the face of my sinnes like Brasse saith the soule but that God that made the Leviathan is as strong as the Leviathan He esteemes Iron as straw and Brasse as rotten wood My sinnes are many saith the soule but were their name Legion saith Christ I could cast them out O but I am an old sinner I have a mountaine of sinnes But my mercies are from everlasting saith Christ so are not thy sinnes and I came to levell Mountaines Luke 3. 4. The more old thou art the more glory shall my free grace have all the world shall see I doe not pardon thee for any service thou canst or wilt doe me thou must ere long lye downe in the grave Thus the soule in this wildernesse of sorrow leanes upon the fulnesse of Gods mercies But secondly there must be freenesse as well as fulnesse or else what hath the soule to doe with Christ O saith the soule I
the most part of the world yea of those that the world most esteemes of and sets the highest rate and value upon are poore indesirable uncomely wretches in the eyes of Jesus Christ Christ's eye sees not as mans eye seeth man seeth beauty where Christ seeth none man seeth a desirablenesse where Christ's eye seeth none man dotes upon what Christ cares not for man calleth the proud blessed but the Lord's soule abhorreth them they have not yet left their owne people and their fathers house You see many a gallant strut it in the world and who but they are the people of fashion as you call them the glory the beauty of the world every one admires them c. many that in respect of their wisdome or parts or behaviour and civility are the desire of those amongst whom they live and there is not one in ten of all these that the Lord Jesus Christ hath any desire too they are poore uncomely indesirable creatures in Christ's eyes notwithstanding all their honour and greatnesse and nobility notwithstanding all their beauty whether naturall or artificiall borrowed from the Painter or Taylor notwithstanding all these Christ seeth no excellency in them at all The vaine creature dotes Christ scornes the vain creature loves Christ sees no lovelinesse in them but looketh upon them black with the soot of hell eyes their countenance all blots and their soules too the vaine creature preferres them there 's many a poore creature that lives in a cottage that is at an higher rate in Christ's thoughts the poore wormes soule is carried out to desire matches an union and a communior with them Jesus Christ scornes them and hath no desire either to any union or to enjoy any communion with them Christ saith of such vaine creatures There go poor wretches that my soule loathes I am sick of them ashamed of them as my creatures And is this nothing to you O you sons and daughters is this nothing to you it vexeth you to think that you live in a place where none desires you and if you were gone none would lament you It was an untoward character of an unworthy Emperour is it no trouble to you to think I live not desired not cared for of Jesus Christ Zeph. 2. 1. The Lord cals his people to repentance under this notion Gather together O nation un desired O that it might call you to some serious thoughts vaine creatures you are people not desired of the Lord Jesus Christ as uncomely and despised in his eyes as you are beautifull and admired in the eyes of men nay and more and let me tell you in your eares and oh that it may make your hearts rend and your eares tingle if you be not desired of him here you shall never enjoy him nor be enjoyed of him hereafter Haman was such a poore wretch the King had ennobled him every hat and knee did him homage and took notice of the Kings respects to him at last hee came to the gibbet have a care poore creatures else though you compasse your selves about with sparkes poore sparkes of friends honours riches pleasures sparks that will extinguish as quickly as rise yet this and onely this you shall have at the Lords hand you shall lie downe in sorrow everlasting sorrow you shall lie down in hell It is an ill place to leave you in but the Lord pluck you as firebrands out of the burning I passe on 2. From what you have heard you may be instructed which way the way to heaven lies and 2. That it is no easie way we are all pilgrims and strangers here we were bred so our fathers were so Now the journies end which all pretend to though the most ride backward the coast which all say they are bound for which way soever their compasse guides them is Heaven this is omnibus in Voto though few so runne that they may obtaine But hath any blind or misled traveller a mind to know the way Is any poore soule startled this day doth hell-fire flash in any of your faces and are you crying out Sir What shall we doe to be saved which way lies our way to heaven Learne hence that the next way to heaven is not the beaten road but quite crosse Natures-fields and so through the long street of selfe-deniall and up the mountaine of holinesse at the top of which you shall see God it lies over hedge and ditch over rockes and mountaines you must leave your youth sinnes as you goe on your right hand your education and custome sinnes on your left hand your beloved sinnes behind you if your father or mother or husband or wife or brother or sister or child lie in your way you must make no halis but over their necks if all your vaine acquaintance your drunken swearing wanton companions stand of each side and becken you another way you must decline their invitation and go quite crosse you must tread upon all your glory and pompe and greatnesse you must avoid the mountaine of Gold and the rocks of Pearle you must take heed of the pleasant brook of carnall and vain pleasures avoid your dancing and painting and patching and decking your selves In short you must put your selfe in an habit fit to carry a crosse This is the next way to heaven And now I need not tell you in the second place That strait is the way and narrow is the gate that leads to everlasting life and few there be that find it By this time you will know that if you will goe to heaven you must goe like and with very few in this age of wantonnesse and dotage By this time you will easily ghesse sinners are out of the way and proud men are out of the way those that glory in riches and worldly greatnesse are out of the way the carelesse daughters of Sion that stretch out their necks and mince it as they goe are out of the way the selfe-righteous men are out of the way Ah Lord who are in it Heaven is a difficult journey it is an hard way to find it is hard to flesh and blood to doe these things It was the Martyrs speech that the crosse way was the way to heaven The way to heaven is astrait way no dancing way dancers must have the elbowroome of hell-road they that will walke in this strait way must croud they must not thinke to walk thither in state no they must croud and never bee afraid of wrimpling a neat handkerchiefe or cuffe it is not opus pulvinaris said one but pulveris you shall be sure to meet with all the opposition that nature can make all the forces of flesh and bloud and all the forces the devill can adde who then shall be saved even those that God hath appointed to life those to whom the Lord shall give such an heart as I have told you strait is the way and few there be that find If you will have a broader way you may
given us many precious promises many things hath he spoken that in him through them wee might have peace 3. He hath sent his spirit Ioh. 14. hee promised the sending of his spirit whom he there calls the comforter in relation to the peace that the spirit conveyes and seales to the soules of his Saints Thus much may serve briefly to have spoken to the doctrinall part I proceed now to the application of what I have said I shall apply it variously First by way of instruction Use 1 Instr Let us learne from hence the nature of the world and what to expect from it from the men of it from the Contentments of it or while wee have any thing to doe in and with it one wittily sayes it is like the straits of Magellane where which way soever a ship was bound to be sure the saylors found a wind against them Br. 1 Truly so it is with the world let a man be bound for the coasts of hell or heaven if he sailes through the world he shall be sure to find a wind against him they that have most Contentments in it that think they have the world at will they shall find that in the world even they shall meet with trouble Though they bee the world 's owne and so it doth not hate them and the cause of their troubles lies not there yet in respect of the very incertainties of all things in the world the flitting condition of every thing under the Sunne where there is nothing certaine they shall meet with troubles Sirs you may look for all faire weather but you will not find it you may think you are above crosses when you are upon your mountaines of gold and worldly greatnesse But believe it besides the clouds of divine vengeance which hang over your heads and threaten you disturbance hereafter you will find that there will bee earthquakes here below that will hinder your quiet sitting In the world all shall have trouble But more properly Br. 2 From hence we may be instructed What is the peace or lot of the Saints while they live on this side their fathers house Every one that lives in the world shall have his hand and heart full of trouble but all that will live godly in Christ Iesus must look for it in a more especiall manner I told you before that Christ and his crosse cannot be parted if you take him you must have him with all the appurtanances of which the crosse is one there is an emphasie in the word you In the world you shall have trouble others shall have trouble but you especially others may have but you shall have David was flattering himselfe into another opinion Psal 30. 6. In his prosperity hee said hee should never be moved but he was quickly consuted the Lord hid his face and hee was troubled The man eat his owne words and confuted himselfe Is there any before me that hath undertaken the wayes of God upon another expectation that hath forgot that he was made a Christian upon this condition that hee should take up the crosse and follow Christ Christians you may ratifie your errour before experience confutes you in it if you look for earthly peace for immunity from troubles it is more than Jesus Christ ever leased out for life to his Saints feed not your expectations high for feare your quick experiences low them Trouble is the lot of the Saints here as sure as heaven is their portion hereafter But thirdly Br. 3 From hence we may be instructed concerning the miserable condition of those poore wretches that are without Christ They shall be sure to meet with trouble and for the way of peace they have not knowne it Let me a little speak to such poore creatures Is there any poore wretches before mee and O Lord that there were not many such that are yet such as the Apostle sayes the Ephesians once were Eph. 2. 12. that are without Christ aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel strangers to the Covenant of promise having no hope and without God in the world Poor wretches my soule trembles for you Let me but propound to you the same question that the Prophet propounds Is 10. 3. What will you do in the day of visitation in the day of desolation which will come from far to whom will you flee for helpe and where will you leave your glory you are now in prosperity and plenty you have no disturbances no dissettlements of spirit but what will you doe in the day of your visitation If the Lord should come but to keep court in your conscience to visit there a little for all your abused mercies for all your originall and actuall sinnes for all your youth and life sinnes if the Lord but comes and beats up your quarters poore creatures what will you doe in that day whether will you flie for helpe a wounded spirit who can beare though none can beare it yet Christ can heale it Ah but this Christ is none of your Christ you never lookt upon him as your Priest or your Prophet or your King poore wretches what will you doe whether will you flie Ah that poore creatures should so quietly sleep over damnation as you doe that you should sit at your tables of gluttony and drunkennesse and eat and drink and rise up to play so freely when there 's but an haires breadth betwixt your poore soules and everlasting burning The sword of divine vengeance that sharpe two-edged sword hangs over your head every moment and there is nothing but the twine thread of your life keeps it from dividing you and all your comforts from indeed dividing you from all manner of hope and comfort and peace either from the Creator or Creature and that for ever poore halfe-damned wretch spell that word and tell me how many syllables of time goe to the compounding of it Good Lord how it would pose reason to find out the ground of any soules rest or peace though but for an houre without Christ after what rate they dance about the take that burnes with fire and brimstone and play about a nest of adders and a cockatrices denne You that think your selves at such good quarter with God because hee is not upon your neck every day I will tell you what you are like a Gentleman that rides out in a flashed suit of apparell If the Sunne shines hee is well enough and glisters bravely upon the road but if the weather proves cold or a showre of raine comes and hee hath never a coat to put on nor ever an hedge to shelter himselfe under is he not washed for his bravery what will he doe may hee not chance to get a cold will with his leave beare him company to his grave So long as the Sun shine of prosperity lasts that your conscience doth not flash in your face and you meet with no crosses in the world you are well enough and all the world well be fooles in your eyes