thee for the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee And therefore be comforted O thou deserted Saint the Lord Jesus stands at thy door and knocks open open then unto him and he will come in to thee and sup with thee and thou with him Rev. 3.20 There is a table spread his comforts are dished out the chairs are all ready set and I am sent as a messenger from the Lord to invite thee to this banquet and to assure thee in the name of thy dear Jesus that thou shalt eat many a meal at his table and thy countenance shall be no more sad Prov. 12.25 Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop but a good word maketh it glad Oh sure these experiments as to desertion and as to consolation as to the withdrawings and the returns of Gods favour would marvailously revive a drooping Saint and make his stooping heart glad my reasons are these 1. Because the methods of God in correcting and comforting his people are the same their tryals and their triumphs are alike as face answers face in a glass so the condition of one Saint answers another There is no new thing under the Sun that which is now hath been there is no temptation happeneth to any but what is common to man 1 Cor. 10.13 Yea the best of men 2. Because experiments gain much authority with us we are apt to expect good from a probatum est in order to natural so to a spiritual cure Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ says the woman to the Samaritanes Joh. 4.29 and upon this they went out of the City and came unto him this was the method of Saint John in his first Epistle ch 1.1 3. That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truely our fellowship is with the father and with his Son Jesus Christ 3. Because God will hereby set a greater mark of honor upon the Saints and make them with more affectionateness love one another when they find that the eye hath need of the hand and the head of the foot 1 Cor. 12.21 that they are mutually dependent upon and mutually serviceable one to another It is much my thoughts that in the way proposed the people of God would be more comforted one by another and their hearts would be more knit up in love one to another 4. You will live best to others when you draw forth the sense and experience which ye have found of the love of God by way of hope and helpfulness unto those that mourn under the want of the spirits witness to their Son-ship and salvation with what holy earnestness doth many a servant of the Lord press after assurance how would he accept of it as a good bargain indeed if purchased with the loss of all outward enjoyments and how is it with many as it was with Paul in another case 2 Cor. 2.13 I had not rest in my spirit because I found not Titus my brother Certainty of salvation is this Titus the absence whereof fills the soul with a strange unquietness breathing after it in every duty in every ordinance in every promise they are strangers to the prayers and practices tears and troubles of the Saints that are ignorant of this That certainty of salvation is attainable is a clear truth 1 Joh. 5.13 These things write I unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know ye have eternal life not with the certainty of hope onely as the Papists say but of faith also in the foretastes of after-blessedness Apoc. 2.17 To him that overcome will I give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white stone with a new name written in it which no man knoweth saving he that hath received it indeed this sealing of the holy Spirit of Promise is a certain divine impression of light a certain unexpressable assurance that we are the Sons of God a certain secret manifestation that God hath received us and put away our sins I say says worthy Dr. Preston t is such a thing which no man knows New Covenant p. 399. but he that hath received it it is a wondrous thing and if there were not some Christians that do feel it and know it you might believe that there was no such thing that it were but a fancy and Enthusiasme but it is certain that there are a generation of men which know what this seal of the Lord is now then if such as do experimentally know it and know how they attained unto it would be but free in their communications how might they be as faithful guides unto those Who ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward how might they set up way marks for them and led them by their ports within the view yea to the suburbes of heavenly Jerusalem telling them this course we steered we were much in prayer much in an humble attendance upon Gospel-appointments much in searching of the Holy Scriptures much in contesting against all corruptions much in a due and serious tryal of our own spiritual estate and gave much diligence to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 We did not go to the university of election untill we had been at the Grammer-School of vocation as one saith we began below at our sanctification at the work and truth of grace in our hearts and so gradually ascended step by step unto the top-stone of our election we framed a Sillogisme of assurance from the witness of water and blood and the Lord at length superadded the witness of his spirit This we did and blessed be the Lord we are sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance untill the redemption of the purchased possession Eph. 1.13 14. and therefore go you and do likewise pray in hope wait in hope and believe in hope under the perswasion that the vision is for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lye though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come and will not tarry Hab. 2.3 we can set our seal of experience to this truth though we waited long yet the vision hath spoken our souls have heard the speakings of God by his spirit in peace and joy and a rejoycing hope of glory to come and blessed be God it doth not lye it is not a presumptuous brag an opinionative boast which vanisheth into smoak and air in a time of tryal but a real evidence of divine love and demonstrative assurance of our eternal
Schismaticks and rebells so I limit their attempt for we had many pittifull Parliamentarians who might have gone in the throng of the most ungodly Cayaliers and in likelyhood would have found favour both for life and estate if the issue of the warre had gone for the King and hath not the Lord broken them and their plots in pieces hath he not fastened his people as a nail in a sure place Isa 22. ver 23. what think you then are not these mercies obligations upon you from the Lord to pursue his honour are they not opportunities put into your hands to advise exhort and perswade your families friends and neighbours and help them to heaven O what a pattern of Gospel-charity is good Cornelius Act. 10. ver 24. He had called together his kinsfolks and near friends to partake with him in that word of salvation which Peter from the Lord was to bring unto him how desirous was he to take them all into the Gospel-wherry that they might all be wafted over to the Lord Jesus therefore ver 33. he tell 's Peter We are all here present before the Lord to hear all things that are commanded thee of God O that such a gaining spirit such a winning carriage was in all the Saints Indeed when Religion was under the hatches in the nation and the old Puritans were underlins in every town they might have feared Lot's return from the wicked Sodomites and that dogs would have snarled at them if they had given holy things unto them but now that godlinesse is advanced to the throne that the people of the God of Abraham are as Princes among the people Psal 47. ver 9. and that the Kingdome and the Dominion in a considerable measure is given to the people of the Saints of the most high Dan. 7. ver 27. they have an easier accesse to their prophane neighbours and more hope of fastening good upon their spirits would God you would every where take up this practice that you would make this as one of your returns to a good God! not to proselyte others to your particular opinions and perswasions if in any thing you be Heterodox but to win them over to the power of godlinesse and to embrace that Jesus Christ who is so fully and clearly offered in the Gospel O think you hear the Lord speaking singly to you by way of encouragement in this work and in reference to your respective towns as he did to Paul Act. 18. ver 9 10. Speak and hold not thy peace for I have much people in this city Let 's not limit the election of grace to the called ones but hopefully believe that the names of many are in the Lamb's book of life whose natures are yet unrenewed and who walks not after the Lambe in Gospel-paths and let us improve yea own our naturall preservations as a fruit of Gods-longsuffering that all his elect ones in the Nation might be brought off from a perishing estate and might all come to repentance 2. Pet. 3.9 Con. 4. Consider that it is a maxime both in grace and nature that we must do unto others what we would have others do unto us we must make other mens cases our own this our Saviour lay's down Matth. 7. ver 12. All things whatsoever ye would have men do unto you do ye even the same unto them for this is the law and the Prophets this is the Royall law the standard of equity in this kind a sealed weight and rule according to which we must converse with all men as one saith Charity t is true begins at home in regard of order but not of time for so soon as you begin to love your selves in the best sense you must then love your neighhours as your selves now then put the case by way of supposition suppose you were ignorant carnal and unbelieving and had a sense of that misery you were hastening unto that you saw your selves upon the brink of the grave and borders of hell would you not thank that Christian that would reprove you in love advise you in love instruct you in love and that would pull you out of the fire though he saved you with fear Jud. ver 23. would you not own it as a piece of highest love and good will in any that would endeavour your everlasting welfare why then what you would others should do unto you do you the same unto them if you should casually slip into the river and be near unto drowning would you not have your neighbour lend his hand to help you out if a neighbour should see a fire kindled upon any of your houses when you and your whole family were fast asleep and should suddenly awaken you by crying fire fire by which means you and yours are preserved from the flames would you quarrel with him for breaking your sleep or coming upon your ground I trow you would not but rather own it as an act of singular love why go you and do likewise to your sinking and sleeping neighbours hand them out of the depths of sin and awaken them that everlasting flames may not catch hold upon them The law of love will never rightly be fulfilled until Christians are acted by a principle of fellow-feelingnesse he that considers himself lest he be tempted will restore a brother that is overtaken in a fault with a spirit of meeknesse Gal. 6. ver 1. He will remember those that are in bonds who by a sympathizing spirit is bound with them and will consider them which suffer adversity who himself is also in the body and as a fellow-member feels the smart of their misery Heb. 13. ver 3. O this is the way to continue brotherly love and advance it when your endeavours are serious to save souls from hell and when you wish your neighbours well as to their everlasting estate when with Paul your hearts desire and prayer to God is that they may be saved Rom. 10. ver 1. Consid 5. Consider that what your carnall neighbours are you were some of you have been as vile as any and yet you have now obtained mercy the spirit and grace of God have put you into a hopefull way for heaven and why may it not be so with them are some of your neighbours fornicatours and adulterers why so were some of you are some of them idolatours why so were some of you are some of them thieves covetous drunkards revilers extortioners Why so were some of you 1 Cor. 6. ver 9 16. I speak not this to shame any servant of the Lord nor do I cast his former sins into his teeth to reproach him Isti homunciones invident mihi gratiam Dei were Beza's words to the Papists who upbraided him for his youthfull Poems De me fabula narratur there are enough will do that but to enmind him of the endeavour of good to them who at present are what he once was but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in
when death was coming and life going when the water was spent her patience spent and all spent when she had received the sentence of death within her self for her self at least for her son whom she had given up for a dead childe Then then God heard the voyce of the lad and calleth unto her and biddeth her lift up the lad yea her own faith and hope and spirit for there was an universal sinking in her and telleth her he will make him a great Nation as if he had said Fear not the life of the lad for there are many lives bound up in his life if I should let him perish I should lose a Nation yea a great Nation and that distrustful thoughts might not arise in her heart God openeth her eyes and she saw a Well of water and gave the lad drink Let us pitch down a little upon this Quotation for it is a place of pleasant springs and draw these Observations 1. That the goodness of God is a springing fountain unto the Saints even in a wilderness Psal 107.35 There is alwayes water in this fountain Psal 36. vers 9. With thee is the fountain of life There are springs of providence and springs of promises both which do send forth refreshing streams unto the Saints There are alwayes supplies in the Lords store-house fresh cordials in the Lords closet yea he can and will create deliverances for his Jacobs though Hagar was at a loss yet God was not though the ground was dry to her yet God can bring up springs of water through the secret veynes of the parched earth Oh! there is much support in this duely to improve the Omnipotency and All-sufficiency of God 2. That the Saints themselves sometimes have their eyes so shut up that they cannot see these springs of goodness Sometimes the heads of these springs lye so deep and low that they are not visible either in promises or in providences Nay when they are open and run yet in some cases the Saints eyes are closed that they cannot see them all seemeth to be dry ground to them Indeed these fountains are shut up to the unbeleeving world alwayes sealed to the wicked so great a stone is rolled by an Almighty arm upon the mouth of this Well that all the strength of nature cannot remove it to dip a bucket in it but to the faithful it is alwayes open they need no Jacob to roll it away See that Zach. 13. vers 1. A fountain opened to the house of David for sin and for uncleanness This great Gospel fountain the blood of Jesus is open to beleevers to them that dwell at Jerusalem in the Spirit not in the letter of profession Now if this great Fountain be open which feedeth all the lesser springs referring to the blood of the Lord Jesus then sure no lesser springs shall be shut up to them He is the fountain of Gardens the Well of living waters Cant. 4. vers 15. What a precious priviledge is this to have all Gospel-springs open unto us yet here is our misery and it is very great though the springs be open our eyes are sometimes shut now what is a spring of water to a thirsty traveller if he see it not But you will say How shall the Saints get their eyes opened 3 God alone openeth the eyes of his people that they may see these open Fountains that they may behold these streams from Lebanon Hagar saw not the fountain neither could she untill God opened her eyes He that opened the heart of Lydia Act. 16. vers 14. opened Hagars eyes Jesus Christ who hath the Key of David can onely open and shut eyes by his anointing Spirit Apoc. 3. vers 18. This is true in the first work of conversion Act. 26. vers 18. So also in the passage of after comforts 2 King 6.17 The Lord opened the eyes of the young man that he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha The providences and protections of God do circumvallate and encompass the faithful His Angels encamp round about them yet the Lord must open their eyes else they cannot behold them A truth falling in with our own experience how many amongst us saw not that wall of fire which hath been round about us nor those Chariots of fire which have been so eminent a protection unto us in times of greatest danger But 4. God will open the eyes of his people to behold these springs of mercy when they stand in most need of them What had it been to Hagar if her eyes had been opened to have seen many Wells of water when she was in Abrahams family or if she had been in a land of fountains but to be in a wilderness in a land of drought to have the water in the bottle spent and knew not where to fill it nor how to keep her lad alive without supplies of water and then in this streight to have her eyes opened to see not a little water in a pitcher to fill her bottle once with and no more but to see a Well a spring of water where she might have constant supplies Oh! this was a seasonable and therefore a welcome mercy to her this was life to her self her son and to her hopes of after safety Oh this is marvellous sweet and an excellent means to get up the heart in sinking times and conditions 6. Her eyes are opened shee seeth the Well What doth she now do why she obeyeth the voyce of the Lord in filling her bottle with water and giving the lad drink this teacheth us That it is the duty of Gods people to lay hold â—n offers of mercy from the Lord to close in with to own and improve the providential dispensations of God for good unto themselves What is she in a wilderness her bottle-store spent a fountain opened and her eyes opened and doth she sit still is she sullen or is she pettish because supplies came not her own way or at her own time will she not dip her bottle in the fountain because it ariseth in this and not in that plat of ground doth she stand upon such niceties no no but presently she snatcheth up her bottle and goeth to fill it A commendable practice Oh! what we see her do do we likewise in all our streights let us haste to the Throne of grace and when mercy is offered help seasonably tendered let us imbrace it and improve it when Christ opened that fountain of grace shewing the wounds in his hands and in his side to Thomas presently he runneth to the fountain and dippeth his bucket in the Well acting faith by a personal application My Lord and my God Joh. 20. vers 28. So when the Lord openeth his Mercy-fountains to us and our eyes to see them let us not onely sip a little but fill our buckets yea brim our bottles drawing with joy and thankfulness of heart water out of those Wells of salvation Isa
this distemper many have been referred from Sessions to Assizes have had many hopefull intervalls and yet are detained bound over from the feaver to a quartan ague and after long detainment find little strength and as little hopes of life at the last See Job 13. ver 26 27 28. and chap. 16. ver 8. thou hast filled me with wrinkles which is a witnesse against me grief had made surrows in his face and his tears filled them 7. It was inevitable No way to avoid the stroke Vid. Trap. in loc no Antidote would prevent it no closet could secure against it as 1 King 22. ver 34. like that Psal 90. ver 5 6. Arrows fly swiftly and secretly though Ahab had disguised himself that he might not be known and armed himself that he might not be wounded yet a certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote him between the joynts of the harnesse 7. It was mortall to many persons in many places 1. In the present stroke some never came off from their sickbeds till they were carried to their death beds to wit their graves 2. In the effects and consequents of it though the disease it self kill'd not some presently yet it slipt them into Dropsies Consumptions and Quartans which have since been mortall to many Now then set home these considerations give God the glory of your lives in the words of the text ascribe your healing onely unto him in the words of Eliphaz Job 5. ver 18. He maketh sore and bindeth up he wonndeth and his hands make whole and go sing good Hezekiahs song to the stringed instruments all the dayes of your life in the house of the Lord Isa 38. ver 20. II. Make good your sick-bed thoughts and purposes what you intended when sick be intent upon now well what you then purposed now practise sick people usually have the best minds but the worst memories when they are under an arrest from the Lord and brought within sight of the Prison then conscience is awakened then their debts to God lie heavy upon their spirits then their thoughts are how to make even with God and fly to their surety then if mercy will but put in Bail for them if God will but spare them a little before they go hence and be no more if he will but have patience they will pay him all No Saint under heaven can promise fairer and further then they what they will do and what they will be if the Lord restore them to health Luke 11. ver 24. The unclean spirit often goeth out upon a sick-bed there is a cessation from sin that work goes not on then but alas sad experience hath let us see too often that words are but winde and all the sick-bed resolutions vanish into air the unclean spirit returns when restored to health and finds the heart swept and garnished then goeth he and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked then himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last estate of that man is worse then the first As health comes on Religion goes off and they forget the vows of the Lord that were upon them Indeed it fares thus very often with the Saints themselves what a vow did Jacob bring his soul under when in distresse Gen. 28. ver 20 21 22. Mr. Calamy Con. in Psal 119.92 I knew a man who in the time of his sickness was so terrified in his conscience for sin that he made the very bed to shake upon which he lay and cried out all night long I am damned I am damned and made many and great protestations of amendment of life but became as wicked as ever yet this good man made slow haste to perform it until God was fain to jog him and be as a faithful remembrancer unto him Gen. 35. ver 1 2 3. then and not till then did Jacob purge his family and go up to Bethel to perform his vow which computing the time was about seven and twenty years after he made it good Hezekiah fell into this distemper also you shall hear how his spirit was up in thankfulness to God Isa 38. ver 19. The living the living they shall praise thee as I do this day the father to the children shall make known thy truth that is I will perpetuate the memoriall of this mercy by handing down the knowledge thereof to my children yea my command shall be upon them as a speciall charge in my last will that they shall give God the glory of my recovery good words spoken and probably from a reall intention at that time But alas the sence of this great mercy was but an Ephimera it soon wore off 2 Chron. 32. ver 25. Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him for the recovery was signal attended with many remarkable circumstances as 1. The sentence of death was reversed which was passed in foro externo for God had sent him a speciall message by the hand of Isaiah to set his house in order for saith he thou shalt die and not live chap. 38. Object But did not the Prophet speak his own apprehensions onely considering the mortality of that disease which had seized upon him Sol. No he prefaceth his message with Thus saith the Lord and 't is certain he knew the Lords mind concerning him at least so much as was then revealed there being not any person then alive who was Consiliarius è secretioribus to the most high God more then Isaiah was and who knew more of the councels of Heaven witnesse his glorious and Evangelicall promises and Predictions 2. The reversall of the sentence of death was the single return and procurement of his own prayers and tears for ver 5. The Lord gives a second command to the Prophet to go to Hezekiah and deliver this message from him Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father I have heard thy prayers I have seen thy tears so that as Hannah said of Samuel her son 1 Sam. 1. ver 27. For this child I prayed and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him The same might Hezekiah for my life I prayed and wept and the Lord hath given me my petition Nay the Lord makes a large addition to his life Psal 21.4 he asked life and the Lord gave him length of days the life of man twice told in our ordinary law compute even fifteen years which did very much accent the Lords mercy seeing Hezekiah was so exceeding earnest for life having then no Son to succed in the throne and the affairs of Church and state being very unsetled 4. This also gave a great Emphasis to the mercy in that he had such a suddain return to his prayer The Lord did not make him wait long for answer thereby tormenting his spirit with perplexing fears but before the Prophet was gone out into the middle Court 2 Kin. 20.4 the word of the Lord came unto him the Lord
5. 7. Undue receiving of the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11.30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep 8 Heresies Apoc. 2.22 Behold I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation 9. Want of due respect unto and fear of the great name of God Deut. 28.58 59. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law that are written in this book That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name THE LORD THY GOD then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful and the plagues of thy seed even great plagues and of long continuance and sore sicknesses and of long continuance Cause these sins as Joshuah did the Tribes of Israel 7.16 to pass before your consciences to finde out the Achan for which the Lord hath so sorely afflicted you and having found out those particular sins be humbled for them repent of them and carefully avoid all future tendencies unto them as Samuel advised Israel 1 Sam. 7.3 Put away the strange gods from among you and Ashteroth So do I you put away from you the love of all sins and especially Ashsteroth that sin which hath been the root of your disease and think you hear the Lord Jesus by his spirit speaking these words unto you Behold ye are made whole sin no more least a worse thing come unto you Joh. 5.14 And improve your late visitation with the present opportunities of grace That ye may be partakers of Gods Holiness Heb. 12.10 Consecrate your lives which ye have received a new from the dead unto the Lord devote your selves wholly to the service of the great God let me bespeak you in the words of the Apostle 1 Pet. 4.2 That ye live no longer the rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God and that not onely in the general duties of your general Callings as Christians but with a special eye to your particular standings and capacities as Magistrates Ministers or as Christians so and so related and qualified Three things are hinted in this verse 1. That the time of mans abode in the flesh is fixed and dedetermined by God That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and residue of time is stated in heaven I may here allude by way of resemblance unto a piece of cloath which as to the number of yards is laid in the warp so soon as brought to the Weaver and every hour he works in the woof he lessens the bulk of yarn that is wrapped upon the beam untill at length he finisheth the whole piece and cuts it off leaving nothing but the thrums behind the heathen had this in their three fatall sisters And Job alludes to it Chap. 7.6 My days are swifter then a Weavers shuttle before man is born into the world whilst his substance is yet imperfect in the wombe of his mother like raw yarn in the shop as all his members are in Gods book so the measure of life is fixed in the appointment of his great Creator and every day he lives Weaves off somewhat of his life until at length nothing is left upon the brain but the thrums of a crazy and putrid carcass which is cut off and thrown into the grave Hezekiah alludes to this Isa 38.10 12. I said in the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave I am deprived of the residue of my years mine age is departed and is removed from me as a shepherds tent I have cut off like a Weaver my life 2. Whilest man lives to the lusts of men he lives not according to the Law of his Creator Ego te non Catelinae genui sed Patriae as he said to his son I begat thee not to serve Cataline but thy Country so speaks the Lord Jehovah to man I created thee not to serve man but thy Maker not to live according to thy own or other mens lusts but according to my laws now the lusts of the flesh and the laws of an holy God they are inconsistent and opposite each to other It is a sad thing to be a servant of men in many cases but in none so sad as in this It was the great English Cardinals complaint in the day of his distress If I had served my God with half that faithfulness as I have served my King he would not have left me now or to this sence Many men have rued it and will at the great day of accounts that they have been such slaves to the lusts of men their pride avarice ambition uncleanness c. And have so cast off the easie and noble yoak of Gods laws many servants have much to answer for the Lord give them timely repentance and masters too else their own and their servants sins will stand upon their score 3. He only lives up to the rule of his creation who lives up to the will of God this is the royal standard under which we all must march This is the maine wheel which must govern all our motions Obedience to this is that which denominates us both men and Christians and as our duty obligeth us to obey the will of God in the gross and general so far as it is revealed so our Allegiance to God as men and more as Christians binds us to observe our particular calls and cries as God revealeth things to be his minde and will there are indeed standing commands which run through all ages of the world without the least variation to obey which all men especially Christians stand equally obliged But the wise God is pleased to parcel out his will in particular commands to persons as to time manner and matter in many things as his own councels ripen and bring forth his pleasure into the world now a Christian must not onely observe the will of God as it speakes to him in common with other men but as it speaks unto him and calls for something from him in such a standing and capacity and not onely observe the will of God which hath been owned in all ages as the entertainment of his Son sanctifying his Sabbaths waiting upon his own appointments c. But also to act up unto it in our respective stations as he makes it known to us in the present providences and products of it Mr. Hamner in his preface to his excerbitations on confirm And therefore as a learned Writer lately observes That God committed the receiving and refining of truth from Antichristian power and mixture to the forgoing worthies of this and foraign Nations which were happily performed by them but discipline and order seem to belong unto us and which the Lord hath preserved for this period of time wherein the work of reformation is to be carried on to greater perfection this doubtless the late providences speak to be the Lords will and his expectation from the men of this generation Oh then ye servants of the Lord whom
he hath ransomed from the grave in these late sickly times live the rest of your time in the flesh to the will of God in the advancement of Gospel-purity and the power of godliness let this be your return to the Lord observe his finger pointing to this as the especial work of your generation and believe that God hath brought you again from the dead that ye may give life to reformation national at least Congregational which for many years hath laboured under painful throes and pangs and yet is not delivered The Apostle Paul in that excellent Sermon of his preached at Antioch Act. 13. Speaking honorably of holy David verse 22. produceth letters testimonial under Gods own hand concerning him in these words I have found David the son of Jesse a man after mine own heart who shall fulfill all my wills 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and gives this farther account of him vers 36. That after he had served his own generation by the will of God he fell asleep Whence I note in general that the best men and most eminent both for parts place and piety must dye Josh 1.2 God tells Joshua this news Moses my servant is dead what he was and how eminent the spirit of God fully declares And David full of days riches and honor died 1 Chro. 29.28 And go therefore work whilst it is day walk in the light whilst ye have the light bestir your selves for God for though eminent dye ye must as many of great eminency in this age of ours have dyed who are yet lamented by some now alive and will be more unless the Lord fill up their empty rooms with others of choice and noble spirits 2. In particular I shall briefly commend these few things unto you as 1. That the best and choicest of Gods saints are not exempted from service God exspects to have work done by every servant he will not suffer idle drones to live in his family he will not allow any lazy loiterers to sleep within the walls of his vineyard he doth not keep any idle Serving-men in his house no he appoints them all to labour and 't was well if the patterne of God's house was observed if the Lawes of his family were executed by our Great Ones much sin would be prevented which is nursed at the breasts of idleness nay places of great eminency are no exemption from Gods work The nobles of Tekoah have a brand set upon them because they put not their necks to the work of the Lord Neh. 3. ver 5. And the Lord puts this as the highest mark of honour into the scutcheons of his greatest Saints that they were his servants Moses my servant my servant David c. Matth. 25. ver 20 21. He that received five talents traded and at the day of accounts his labour was not onely honourably accepted but gloriously rewarded entrance was granted unto him into his Masters joy 2. That Gods will is and must be the only rule of our work The Master expects as to have his work done so to have his own orders and directions observed in the doing of it to neglect the work of the Lord and to do it cross to divine order is equally sinful Vzziah died upon the place for touching the Ark and Vzziah was stricken with the leprosie for attempting to burn incense upon the Altar of incense both which expresly thwarted the appointment of God It was the peoples sin to eat the Passeover otherwise then it was written 2 Chron. 30.18 Therefore David in the person of the Lord Jesus joyns both together Psal 40.8 I delight to do thy will yea thy law is in my heart as the standard by which I work and our Saviour writes vanity upon the forehead of all service which is performed to God upon the single authority of man without a warrant under Gods own hand for it Mat. 15.9 In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men what bundles of vain worships are layed upon Gods Alter by the Pontificians And how ought we to be humbled also for the vanity of many services which have been performed by us in this Nation 3. That the great God commands us not onely to work but to do the work of our own Generation David served out his own Generation he did the work which was allotted by the Lord to him in that particular age he lived in which was to fight the Lords battels to subdue the enemies of his Church settle the Nation in peace establish the worship of God provide for the service of his Sanctuary and prepare for the building of the temple these were the works of his Generation in those 2 capacities of Prophet and King and therefore the holy Ghost engraves this Epitaph upon his sepulchre which shall not be defaced so long as the world endures that David served his own generation by the will of God Instances of like nature the Scripture affords many Quest But the great Query is How shall we know what are the proper works of our Generation Answ I answer much of this nature hath been offered by learned and judicious Divines in severall Treatises and though they have not been so harmonious as was defired in their judgement as to the manner yet they have agreed in one as to the matter Indeed repentance toward God and faith towards our Lord Jesus with those generall duties of Religion which are comprehenhended under these two heads none deny or dispute except some of prophane or perverted spirits and judgements and that things of order and Government in the Church should be reduced to the Primitive Pattern and Practice few of sober and Orthodox principles do oppose yea most desire and surely that this is the generation which God hath called forth to act in these transactions may be spell'd if not legibly read in the dispensations of his providence towards us I do not set up providence as a standing rule to work and walk by when it is either crosse unto or receives not approbation from the written word for that was to perswade the Traveller to sleep all day when the sun shines bright and clear and to take his Journey in the night when the starres do onely twinckle and the wayes are dangerous and difficult to find mistakes have been sad and many of this kind Numb 14. ver 40 41. the mistake of Gods minde in that dreadfull message ver 39. occasioned the slaughter of many men for the people apprehending that God was offended with them for not going up to take possession of Canaan rose up early in the morning and gat them up unto the top of the mountain saying Lo we be here and will go up into the place which the Lord hath promised for we have sinned and what followed why their attempting to invade their enemies under this mistake cost them many of their lives Thus did Saul mistake the mind of the Lord 1 Sam. 23. ver 7. when it was told
large in that peculiar Ordinance of the Supper to be a departure from the flock and fold of Christ for in this their breathing after Gospel-purity they walk agreably to a Gospel-rule 1 Cor. 5.11 Cha. 10.16 17. but when a people run into destructive errors and take up opinions or practices inconsistent with the truth and holiness of the Gospel this I call a wandering from the flock and fold of Christ 4. When sheep begin to wander and are got out of their usual walk so inobservant are they that they straggle over all mountains and hills and know not where to stay nor how to return home again how sadly and how often hath this been evidenced in our days what errors new or old have not been taken up and entertained by some of the Nation how have some wandered from mountain to hill and knew not where to fit down and how far have they straggled out of their knowledge that they knew not how to get back again 5. That wandering sheep become meat to every beast of prey single sheep and silly sheep when they are from under the care and oversights of their keepers can hardly save themselves by flight or fight from the evening wolves how suddainly have many been caught in our days Joh. 15.6 6. That there are many beasts of prey which lay wait for wandering sheep to devour them Foxes and Wolves have been always stirring and are not many now a days Wolves in sheeps cloathing who have cunningly drest up their opinions with such an Evangelical trimming that nothing of the Wolf appears even to them which hold him by the ears 7. That it is much blame-worthy in shepherds when they suffer their sheep to go astray and run themselves into danger the Lord chargeth high as a piece of great unfaithfulness in the over-seers of his flock when through their default his sheep do straggle and become a prey to the beast of the field you may hear him expressing himself in words of greatest distast Ezek. 34.10 Thus saith the Lord God Adonai Jehovah or Jehovah who is your Lord behold I am against the shepherds and I will require my flock at their hands and cause them to cease feeding my flock t is known to most that in Scripture-language Magistrates and Ministers are termed shepherds and have in their respective capacities a joint over-sight of the flock committed unto them by the chief shepherd but alas how have ye Magistrates shuffled off the care of the flock to the Ministers and how have the Ministers shifted back the over-sight of it to the Magistrates and betwixt them both many sheep have wandered and some have been worried Though most were desirous that the Foxes should be taken yet it came under dispute who should take them and though at all hands it was agreed that deceiving Jezebel should be dealt withal yet how and by whom hath hitherto been the question Ask the Magistrate and he will tell you Ministers must do it by the sword of the spirit and ask the Minister and he will tell you that the Magistrate must do it by the sword of his civil power And whilst we have been disputing what to do and who should do it errors have sadly spread and a considerable part of the flock hath straggled and is become a prey to the beasts of the field the blame whereof is laid by some at the Magistrates door upon account of his tenderness and gentleness of spirit and countenance to such as differed onely in disciplinary points refusing to establish by his civil sanction that way of discipline as universal and imposing upon all which they own and would enthrone as the government of the Lord Jesus as also for their remisness and too much indulgence to evil persons and opinions in not punishing the one nor suppressing the other which amounteth to a toleration And many charge the blame hereof upon the Ministry by reason of morose austere and rigid carriage toward those who differ from them in the way of discipline or onely in some lesser doctrines that are not fundamental or because they remit much of that care watchfulness and oversight which the duty of their places and the present necessity obliged them unto but the day will declare it and t is not good for either to plead not guilty the Lord help us to mourn that the folds are broken up and that the flocks are scattered The Lord teach us all our duty and by his own spirit in the word determine that great question what is to be done and by whom That the sick may be healed the broken bound up the lost may be sought up those that are driven away may be brought again and the residue secured against future scattering And the Lord give stability of spirit to his people that they may be kept from topling in these tottering times when so many backslide some in profession not in opinion some in opinion who yet retain a profession and some in opinion and profession both stepping into Religion without any precedaneous and inward change and so soon in soon out making that good 1 John 2.19 They went out from us because they were not of us And now you will finde upon due trial this an excellent means to fix your spirits when you read over those acts of grace which the Lord hath drawn out upon your hearts in the blood of his own Son How did this fix the Apostles Joh. 6.67 Many of the disciples went back and walked no more with the Lord Jesus upon which he puts the question to them will yee also forsake me there was need of such a question for Nemo errat sibi-ipsi Seneca sed dementiam spargit in proximos the heathen could say no man errs to himself but evil men and erring do spread their madness unto their neighbors as weeds endanger the good corn bad humors the good blood and an infected house the whole neighborhood Therefore the Lord Jesus tryes their pulses whether this great defection had not tainted them with some infection and behold the fixedness of their spirits in Peters reply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God we have certainly and experimentally known by those glorious works which thou hast wrought before us and by the saving communication of thy grace and light unto us when we were in a dark and dead estate that thou art Christ the Son of the living God and therefore we will not leave thee this cemented and knit their hearts unto Christ it was a brave speech of old Polycarpus when the Proconsul perswaded him to deny the Lord Jesus Eighty and six years have I served Christ and he never did me hurt but good and shall I now deny him Oh! absit God forbid Thus Saint Paul argues back the Galathians Gal. 3.1 2. O foolish Galathians who
faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners That is the Doctrinal part which indeed flowes with much comfort into the heart of an humble believing sinner as Mr. Bilney Martyr found in a great conflict But now the Applicatory part gusheth out with streams of comfort and what 's that of whom I am chief howbeit I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting as if he had said One great reason next to the secret purpose of his own free grace why this grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was so exceeding abundant towards me even to a pleonasme of mercy was that I might be held forth as a pattern of free grace as a monument of pardoning and sparing mercy to all sin-laden and sin-loathing persons who are the true Penitents Oh how would a wounded spirit yet healing a broken heart binding and a drooping soul reviving from such discoveries of misery and mercy of guilt and grace sin and salvation there would no be such sinking of spirit neither would the wounds of many be so long raw and bleeding if experienced Christians would be free in communicating their conditions and comforts unto them and would like the good Samaritan pour in the wine and oyl of their experienced mercy 2. This would be a mighty support to weak believers the experiences of stronger Christians rightly imparted and improoved will exceeding buttress up their faith alas when God first opens their eyes they see men walking afar off as trees they have but imperfect apprehensions of Gospel depths Godliness is so great a Mystery the work of Redemption in all its causalities concurrences and qualifications is so mysterious wrapt up so much in the glory of divine wisdome held forth under such seeming impossibilities to carnal reason and contradictions to corrupt nature that they are ready to cry out Nunquam natura mutabit sic sua jura ut virgo pâ—reret nec vâ—rginitate careret as that Iew said How can these things be John 3. vers 4. And if these things be so who then can be saved Luke 18. vers 26. and are afraid to give assent unto those deep Mysteries as the truths of God but when the Lord hath helped them over these doubts and difficulties that they set their seal to the Gospel as spoken by the Lord and confirmed by them that heard him God also bearing them witness with signes and wonders and divers miracles and gifss of the Holy Ghost according to his own will Heb. 2.3 4. so that they do willingly embrace this so great salvation yet alas the greatest work of faith is behind and that is to live upon the promises to appropriate Jesus Christ to put on Christ to believe that he is made unto us of God wisdom righteousness holiness and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 Christus vivit Christ liveth was Luthers motto and Christ liveth in me loveth me and gave himself for me is the language of true faith Mr. Trap. in Gal. 2. v. 20. Gal. 2.20 true faith individuateth Christ and appropriateth him to a mans self this is the pith and power of particular faith But ah how long doth many a poor soul lye upon the bankes of Jordan before he can waft over to the land of Canaan Some of the Saints have many a hard pull for faith they are fain to tug hard with fears and doubtings sometimes faith is up and fear down sometimes fear is up and faith is down Why now if strong believers who have the work of faith fulfilled in their hearts with some power 2 Thess 1.11 who have passed through the several stages of fear and faith and have found those very fears and troubles in their own souls if such would receive the weak in faith affeciu charitatis into the bosome and embracement of Christian love not making them question-sick by doubtful disputations Rom. 14.1 but deal tenderly and gently with them and give them a free and full account of their former fears and present faith recounting their experiences how and in what methods the Lord hath given them an establishment in the faith sure it would much conduce through the grace and blessing of God to the quieting strengthening and confirming of weak believers suppose I should labor under a distemper which in its nature and to some is mortal and a friend tells me he hath had the same disease in the same height and accompanied with the same pains and that in the use of such and such means he had cure and now is a healthful man though I cannot be recovered by such a narrative yet I am perswaded to use those medicines and am raised up to an expectancy of cure in the right use of them So when a believer who hath been upon the rack of fears and diffidences comes to a doubting Christian that is torn in peices as it were with them and whose spirit even sinks within him and tells him that it was so with him that he wrestled long with discouragements and in a pet of unbelief was ready to throw up all crying out all men are lyars that notwithstanding what this Prophet and that Apostle this Preacher and that Preacher hath said I shall perish in my sins and be a cast-away to all Eternity and that then the Lord came in led him by the hand of his spirit to this and that Promise shewed him the sealed fountain open Zech. 13. vers 1. the bloud of Christ as a fountain therefore full and as open therefore free both to pardon sin and purge uncleanness and that now he is justified by faith and hath peace with God through Jesus Christ Rom. 5. vers 1. yea joy in God through Jesus Christ by whom he hath now received the attonement vers 10. Thou I say a believer cannot spare any oyl out of his own vessel to supply the want of another with nor work faith in his heart that being the peculiar work of the Lord Jesus Heb. 12. ver 2. yet such discoveries as these will mightily raise up the heart of a sinking Christian and beget in him a hopefull expectancy of faith in this evidence of it however he brings him up to the Conclusion To sear the Lord and obey the voice of his servant yea though he walk in darkness and sees no light yet to trust in the Lord and stay upon his God Isa 50. vers 10. And thus is his soul quieted in this recumbent act of Faith untill the day dawn and the day star arise in his heart You will live best to others when in the sense and evidence of Grace received you communicate your experiences by way of comfort unto others in these 4 particular cases 1. In the black day of Persecution 2. In the sad hour of Temptation 3. In the dark night of spirituall desertion 4. In the bewailed want of the
righteousness and will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble Read and enlarge these and the following Verses in your own thoughts 3. Improve the consideration of temporal mercies by way of support under all your saddest and sorest temptations from the wicked one If the manchilde Christ Jesus in the spirit be formed in you and any actings of grace be brought forth by you the great red Dragon will wait to devour you He is your adversary an inveterate enemy he owes you an old grudg and will be revenged on the heel for the bruising of his head and that by your head It is his Interest to bestirre himself If Christ gaineth he looseth There 's a wedge loose with him when the word findes a welcome in a sinners heart There 's not a soul brought home to Christ but is fetch'd out of the Devils quarters not a convert gained but is wonne by Christ in a set battel Sathan sadly speaks those words of John the Baptist John 3. ver 30. he must increase but I must decrease The sea is in continual revolution when it is high water in one place its low water in some other so when it is high tide in such a nation country or town its low water with Sathan Christs gain is Sathans loss He knows how Christs and his own affairs go on in the world who gains and who looses and that his loss is Christs gain and therefore he tries all his tricks improves every method and turns every stone to keep his own ground to man his own forts maintain his own principality and withall to gain soules to himself to fetch them off from the embraces of Christ nay he is so bold and daring that though he sees the actings of godliness from the Saints and findes a work of grace in them which he doth find by those strong repulses the heart gives to his secret temptations which are his spies sent forth to search the land by whom he learns what frame the heart is in Though he sees his strong holds beat down and defaced by a conquering spirit though he observes the stream running in another channell and that the soul is now in armes against him believing repenting mourning praying watching hearing and all against him yet he will play an after game and not be wanting in skill or will to reduce the soul And he ploughs in hope and sowes in hope for he cannot read the Lambs book of life he knowes not the decrees of God they are Secret to him untill death brings forth a discovery and the soul is taken up to God and therefore though he fears such or such a Saint that is gone off from his quarters is under electing grace yet he hopes the contrary Yee see how busie he was with Joshua the High Priest Zech. 3. ver 1. and how hard he pressed upon him probably not without some hopes to have got him or the day against him until Christ rebuked him and told him he was a brand plucked out of the fire singled out by the purpose of the eternal Father to be a vessel of grace then he sleared away and left him Yet as our Saviour probably but for a time Luke 4.13 nay though he should read their names writ in heaven though he knowes the immutability of Christs love that whom he loves once he loves to the end John 13. ver 1. and of Gods counsel that his gifts and calling are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without repentance irreversible Rom. 11. ver 29. yet such is his malice and so great is his rage against the Saints that if he cannot keep them out of Canaan hee 'l sting them and scratch them in the wilderness before they get thither though he cannot put out their light hee 'l be a thief in their candle to swail away much of their comfort though he cannot reach them in heaven he will reckon with them on earth if they must to heaven he will send them cripples thither he will have a leg or an arm out of joint or broken or he will want of his will some way or other he will vex them buffet and disquiet them many long stories and sad ones too may be told of his exploits against the Saints my own experience can witness something of his trains and treacheries of his malice and the Lords mercy of his black designs and of the Lords gracious support and disappointments blessed be his holy name and adored for ever be his goodness O then in the name of the Lord lift up your banners buckle on your armour stand with your weapons in your hands ready to receive and charge your adversary and that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day gather up your experiences of God and meditate upon the great things God hath done for you in the day of your outward troubles what that power that wisdome that goodness of the Lord hath been which hath appeared unto you and engaged for you in the time of your greatest streights and what those streights and distresses how sharp and how pressing from which the Lord hath wrought your deliverance And then go to your spiritual Logick frame such an argument as this The Lord gives help to his distressed Saints in their outward troubles therefore also will he help them in their inward temptations now if Sathan shall argue that God doth not give in succours to the Saints in their outward troubles it 's true they and it may be ye had help and deliverance but it came not from God when ye were cast upon such and such sick-beds that ye despaired of life and your friends gave you up for dead then the Physician came and by his great skill administred such physick which wrought your recovery or when ye were in such streights the liberality of your friends relieved you or in such exigencies the wisdome and potency of your allies brought you off God was not seen in all your deliverances what will you do now why your business is to secure this fort by summoning your experiences and placing them upon the works saying that ye beheld the face of God in such deliverances that your help was onely from on high that men and means stood off and came not in no not for a reserve or though men and means were seen upon the wall yet God acted by the instrumentality of them though Christians were consulted with yet the blessing of God upon the means brought forth the cure be sure ye own God in every preservation how visible and potent soever creature-helps are or have been entrench your faith in this perswasion that whatsoever secondary causes contributed the chief agency was from God If Sathan beat you out of this trench he will soon take your standard and rout your whole army but if ye make good this ground if ye have the advantage of the hill ye are out of gunshot all his murthering pieces will not reach you ye may then quiet your