Psal 41.1 2. Blessed is he that considereth the Poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive c. Lastly A Godly man hides himself in the whole work of self-reformation and holiness of life In carefulness to please God in all things and to do those things which he requires of him sin it makes a man naked it exposes him and lays him open to evil and all manner of danger but a good and Pious Conversation is a sure defence Innocency is the the best shelter that can be and that which will keep a man safe when nothing else will And thus we see how in all these respects a good Christian hides himself which is his Activity or Practise Now to join these two Points both together in the Improvement and Application We see here two Properties of a wise and Godly man The one as to matter of Fore-sight He fore-sees the Evil. And to other as to matter of Indeavour He hides himself What now remains but that we for our particulars should be careful to put those both into practise and to be carefull of them in regard of our selves First To Fore-see the evil to look after that We see how in every thing else it is counted a peice of wisdom in men and that which they indeavour after In matter of trade to fore-see the Dearness of the Market In matter of Wars to fore-see the devices of the Enemy In matter of Health to fore-see the coming on of a Disease And why should we not also in Providence fore-see also the arising of a Judgment Surely as we do ever disire to approve our selves for wise men it concerns us to be skilfull in this We see how the want or neglect of it is still reproved and upbraided in Scripture Thus the Prophet Jeremy Jer. 8.7 The stork in the Heaven knows her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow know the time of their coming but my people know not the Judgement of the Lord. And so our Blessed Saviour we find him upon this censure likewise of the Jews Matth. 16.2 3. When it is Evening ye say it will be Fare weather for the sky is Red and in the Morning it will be fowl weather to day for the Sky is Red and lowring O ye Hypocrites ye can discern the face of the Sky but can ye not discern the sign of the times He reproves them for that they had skill in natural Predictions but yet had not skill in spiritual There are some kind of foresights sometimes in the world and fore-tellings of evil but what are they Even the bold and presumptuous undertakings of insolent persons your Astrologers and Star-gazers and the like whom God suffers in his judgement to seduce and deceive a people that love to be deceived But as for this Christian fore-sight here spoken of It is thas which few are acquainted withall or which care to be acquainted It is our Wisdom to regard it our selves that so evils may not surprize us or that day come upon us unawares For which purpose we should first pray to God to instruct us and direct us and to open our eyes we should beg of him the spirit of Revelation as whereby to see the Mystery of Religion so likewise to see the Mystery of Providence and understand Gods dealings in the world That which I see not teach them me as it is Job 34.3 Secondly We should also our selves mark things and take notice of what is done in the world we should as I said lay things together and compare one thing with another and see how one thing follows upon another This should be done by us in order to our fore-sight and pre-apprehension of any evil which is to come As we desire to shew our selves discreet and prudent Christians so we should be carefull of this Fore-seeing of Evil. And then again also farther to hide our selves let us look to that also As our knowledge should tend to practise to us in every thing else so amongst the rest in this As we do any thing pre-discern and apprehend it we should we should hide our selves from it which is done especially in the fore-named Graces There are many false coverts in the world which will not do it The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it as it is Esai 28.20 Such is Wealth or strength or Wit or Friends or any of such things as these are It is not these which will be able to cover us in the day of the Lords anger No it is nothing but the love and favour of God himself that will do it when nothing else will He shall cover thee with his Feather and under his wings shalt thou trust Psal 9.19 And that we may do this the more effectually it will concern us to acquaint our selves with God without this there is no expectation of shelter from him For he hides none but his Friends and his houshold-servants And therefore Eliphaz does very properly give Job such Counsel as this Acquaint thy self with him c. Then shall the Almighty be thy defence He is a buckler to all that trust him and he is good to them that know him and whom himself does know Therefore labour to get an interestand propriety in him yea and that before trouble comes the evil it self which is fore-seen Let the Ark be built before the flood and deluge over-flows there 's no hiding then if we take not care to hide our selves before-hand Therefore let us have a regard to that Close with God before the Plague comes that so when it does come we may find favour and mercy with him and refuge and safety in him which will be our greatest security And those which are in some measure acquainted they should labour to be more and to perfect their acquaintance with him Yea not only to have acquaintance but Communion and dayly Converse We should take heed of being in such a state and condition of Soul as from whence God may refuse to shelter us and protect us when Evil draws near But then again He hides himself We are to take this not only as an Expression of Enedavour but of Success He foresees the evil and hides himself that is he so behaves himself as from whence God does undertake to hide him The Lord hides such prudent persons as these are in the days of evil and danger as Jeremy and Baruck Jer. 36.26 it is said the Lord hid them This he does to the rest of his prudent and provident Servants In his Presence in his Pavilion under his Wings in the hollow of his hand he has many Receptacles and Hiding Places for them His Providence is large and broad enough to hide them from any Evil which may happen unto them sometimes in other Countries sometimes in their own sometimes in the Grave as Job 14.13
his Works of Judgment How he made a way to his Anger spared not their souls from death but gave their life over to the destruction Psal 18.50 Thus do the Nations forget God according to each of these Explications and are here threatned with Punishment for it And so we have these persons here adjudged in each Description and Representation of them whether Comprehensive or Emphatical The Wicked and all the Nations that forget God And so much for the Point it self Now that which remains in breif is the Use and special Improvement which is to bemade of it First We see here what 's the Doom and Sentence which is past upon all such Persons as we have hitherto described Yet not only upon Persons considered distinctly but upon whole Nations considered joyntly That being wicked and Forgetfull of God They shall be turned into Hell That is both for ever be deprived of Gods Glorious and Beatifical Presence and also filled with unspeakable torment both in Body and Soul Now therefore let this serve for the Terror of all such Persons as these are By considering what a sad condition does Betide them and belong unto them whilst they remain and continue in such a State as this is What is it for People to injoy a little seeming pleasure here but for a moment and to be condemned to infinite misery to all eternity Now this is that which is here discovered and declared unto us Wicked men after all their jollity and vanity and temporary prosperity which they have here partaked of in the World they shall all in a little while and space of time be for ever adjudged to Hell This is that which the Holy Ghost himself does here expresly assure them of if they will take notice of it And it is not amiss by the way to observe the Phrase and manner of Expression where it is said of such Persons as these That they shall be turned into Hell which is very Emphatical in several regards First They shall be so forcibly and irresistably whether they will or no. Turning It is a word of Violence Secondly They shall be so tumultuously and promiscuously without any order Turning it is a word of Confusion They shall be turn'd that is they shall be hurried Thirdly They shall be so justly and regularly upon the account of their demerits and as an effect of that Righteous sentence which is past upon them Turning it is a word of Execution They shall be turned that is they shall be returned as the Hebrew word Jathuvou properly signifies And as they came from Hell in their Principles so they shall return to Hell in their Punishment To the place whence they came as the Place of Sin to that which is the place both of Prison and of Execution This is that which is here Emphatically signified These are dreadfull and fearfull things and which accordingly should have answerable influences upon Peoples Affections in the receiving and entertaining of them The thoughts of no more but Death it self they are Awaking thoughts and such as should be effectual with them But when Judgment and wrath is joyned with it and accompanying of it this serves so much the more to aggravate it And I looked and behold a pale Horse and his name that sat on him was Death and hell followed with him and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the Earth to kill with sword and with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the Earth Rev. 6.8 Where Death shall go before and Hell shall follow after But Secondly It may serve also for a use of Caution and Admonition to prevent us from coming into such a Place and State as this is by taking heed of such ways and courses as these are which lead thereunto and by labouring to be so qualified and disposed as may keep us therefrom There 's a possibility of keeping from it though not of coming out of it Where there are two things which are pertinently to be commended unto us The one is that we look to our general State and Condition And the other is that we look to our particular Lives and Conversations First As we desire to be kept from this dreadfull place which is here mentioned It will concern us to look to our General State and Condition in Grace That we be such as are truly in Covenant with God in Christ and by Faith united to Him For whosoever are not members of Christ they are children of Hell and Heirs of Damnation whosoever are so they are delivered from it and made Heirs of eternal Salvation He that beleiveth on the Son hath everlasting Life and he that beleiveth not the Son shall not see Life but the wrath of God abideth on him as it is expresly told us in Joh. 3.36 And again the verse before the 18th verse of that Chapter He that beleiveth on him is not condemned but he that beleiveth not is condemned already because he hath not beleived in the name of the only begotten Son of God This is the first thing to look to our General State and Condition The Second is To our particular Life and Conversation For as there is a State of Wrath so there is a Curse of Wrath also and that is a Course of Sin and wilfully proceeding in it It is said of the Harlot that Her house is the way to hell going down to the Chambers of death Prov. 7.27 And that Her guests are in the depths of hell in Prov. 9.28 And so it is likewise with many other Examples besides and with all such persons as give themselves liberty in sinful and wicked Courses They are in the High Way to Hell and their end is Destruction Therefore the way to be kept from that is to keep from these and to take heed of them And if any be for the present surprized in due time to withdraw and to put a check upon themselves The Wicked are turned into Hell that is which remain and continue still to be so But if any shall in due time consider and repent and recollect themselves If the wicked shall forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and shall turn unto the Lord he will have mercy upon him and to our God and he will abundantly pardon Isa 55.7 And so as for Particular Persons so for General and whole Nations here 's an Item which reaches to them also for reformation and amendment of Life And especially to us of this Nation amongst the rest in the midst of that great wickedness which does dayly grow upon us in all Particulars To take heed of any farther progress and proceeding in it but rather seasonably and speedily to restrain it and to depart from it We have cause to do it for the preventing of Temporal Judgments and those Calamities which in that respect do hang over our heads but we have cause to do it for prevention of Eternal Judgments especially the Judgment of Hell which is
Common-Wealth and indeed in any kind whatsoever is but a Candle lighted at his Torch It is a beam of that wisdom which is in God And that we may use it the more for him and acknowledg it the more thankfully from him it is indeed originally his thus Artaxerxes speaks to Ezra Ezr. 7.25 And thou Ezra after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand set Magistrates and Judges which may judg all the people in the Land The wisdom of thy God! To Joseph it is said The Spirit of God was in him in regard of his wisdom Gen. 41.38 39. And Daniel it is said of him that he was a man in whom the Spirit of the Holy Gods and wisdom like the wisdom of the Gods was found in him Dan. 5.11 Fourthly The wisdom of God is sometimes taken for the Scripture and word of God As Luke 11.49 therefore also to be said the wisdom of God I will send them Prophets and Apostles and some of them they shall slay c. The wisdom of God that is the Scripture wherein this will of God is so declared Fifthly The wisdom of God is taken more restrainedly for the Doctrine of the Gospel and the great Mysteries which are contained in that Thus 1 Cor. 2.7 We speak the wisdom of God in a Mystery And Eph. 3.10 That to Principalities and Powers might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God That is that great plot and design of saving the World by the death of Christ wherein God shewed his infinite wisdom Lastly The wisdom of God is taken for the Creation of the World that wisdom which does shine forth in the Creature and the works of God in that respect And so 't is particularly to be understood here in this place When 't is said That the world knew not God in the wisdom of God the meaning is this that they did not so improve that advantage for theknowledg of God by the Creation as indeed it became them to do This work of the Creation is fitly called the wisdom of God because the wisdom of God does therein very much appear to all such persons as will take notice of it Thus Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead All the several Attributes and Excellencies and Perfections which are in God they do hereby discover themselves And amongst the rest his admirable wisdom this shews it self in the frame of Heaven and Earth Thus Psal 104.24 O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all And so Psal 136.5 To him that by wisdom made the Heavens And as the Heavens so the Earth and all things in it whether we look upon the House it self or the Furniture or the Inhabitants all are the effects of wisdom Hence it is that the Psalmist breaks so forth into the Admiration of them in another place Psal 8.1 c. O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the earth And why Because he considered the Heavens the work of Gods fingers the Moon and the Stars which he had ordained c. As it follows in Verse 3. c. And again Psal 19.1 The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shews his handy-work c. Surely when we look upon the Creation and consider the usefulness of the Creatures in regard of their ends and the subordination of them one to another in regard of their dependence and the exquisiteness and curiousness of them in regard of their frame and constitution we cannot but be forced to acknowledge an incomprehensible wisdom which had an hand in the disposing of these things even no other than the wisdom of God And so much for the first term The second is what 's meant by the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And surely here as in the first term was understood the world for the frame of it so also in this second Term is understood the world for the Inhabitants of it the men that dwell in the world and have their abode here below upon earth by a Metonymie of the Subject for the Adjunct These are in this place the world and yet not all of these neither although I may say almost all And that 's the worst part of them By the world we are here to understand the wicked of the world Mundus impiorum The world of the ungodly as they are stiled 2 Pet. 2.5 There 's a world taken out of the world and that 's the world of the Elect which is commonly called the Church a people called out from the rest that live in the world But they are not those which are meant here in this place No but meer carnal and natural men considered in their unregenerate condition and that the best of them even their learnedest and greatest Philosophers That world which is opposed to the Church and shut out of the prayer of Christ when he says I pray not for the world these are the world which the Apostle Paul points here unto in sundry respects 1. Because they are most of the world in regard of their number 2. Most in the world in regard of their interest 3. Most in regard of their affections Now these are called the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First In regard of their Multitude because they are the greatest part of the World Denominatio sumitur a majori parte And so indeed it is here the greatest number of people in the World they are such as are void of true Religion and the knowledg of God the Church of Christ it is a little flock and the least society that is in the World There 's but a few to speak of of this number There 's but a little inclosure all the rest is wast and wild ground The waters where the whore sits are Peoples and Multitudes and Nations and Tongues as it is in Rev. 17.15 That is almost all the World if we divide the World into parts Christendom has the least share in it and for Christendom true and right Christians indeed have the least share in that also Universality is no note of the true Church This is one great Mistery and depth which we are unable to dive into that the greatest part of people in the world they are the least part of those which are good and which are acquainted with God the most of them they never heard of God at least to purpose and if they have yet have not closed with it the greater is Gods goodness to those with whom 't is otherwise But that 's one respect in which the wicked are called the world because they most fill the world Secondly Because they have most of the world they have their share and portion in the world and they are hereby described as Psal 17.14 Deliver me O Lord from men of the world which have their portion in this life whose
First I say here 's the carriage and behaviour of God towards wicked and worldly men and that is in much patience and kindness to them that 's here supposed and implied in the Text Thou de spisest his goodness to thee therefore there is his goodness to thee This is that therefore which we may observe and take notice of from it that the Lord is oftentimes very kind and gracious to such kind of persons And his kindness is here exprest in two particulars First In the Positive by the good which he does for them the riches of his goodness i. e. by an Hebraism Abundant goodness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly In the Negative by the evil which he withholds from them Forbearance and long-suffering c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First In the Positive by the good which he does for them God does shew a great deal of goodness and kindness even to evil men and bestows a great deal of good upon them though it does not always prove good to them And this whether we take it in a Temporal Consideration or in a spiritual First If we take it in a Temporal He does here bestow many outward comforts upon them and gives them sometimes a great portion in the things of this present life Health and wealth and honours and parts andcredit and success in imployment and favour and esteem and repute in the world Whatever belongs but to the world a wordly man may injoy and oftentimes does and that in great measure and abundance as it is here exprest Thus the Scripture sots it forth to us in sundry places of it Psal 17.14 Deliver my soul c. From men which are thy hand O Lord from men of the world which have their portion in this life and whose belly thon fillest with thy bid treasure They are full of children and leave the rest of their substance to their babes So Psal 73.5 6 7. They are not in trouble as other men nor plagued as other men therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain violence covereth them as a garment Their eyes stand out with fat ness they have more than heart could wish So Job 21.9 10. Their houses are safe from fear neither is the rod of God upon them their bull gendreth and faileth not their cow calveth and casteth not her calf they send forth their little ones c. So Job 12.6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper and they that provoke God are secure into whose hand God bringeth abundantly And so as for Temporal good things so likewise for spiritual they do enjoy as to the outward means many good things here they have the Gospel Preached unto them and the Ordinances administred amongst them and many good counsels and admonitions cast away upon them yea sometimes they have also secret touches and girdings of conscience within them and motions and tendencies to repentance and amendment and reformation though ineffectual and which dye again in them They are almost perswaded to be Christians but they are not perswaded altogether and they are not far from the Kingdom of God but yet they are such as will never come thither whiles they continue in their present estate And this is God's positive kindness to them in doing them good The second is his Negative in withholding evil from them This for fashion-sake is exprest in two words at once it is forbearance and long-suffering he bears with much in them and is long-suffering as to his punishments of them he puts up many an insolency and provocation from them and does not presently proceed to the ruin and destruction of them but spares them in this particular This the Scripture it self takes notice of and sometimes in a way of disad vantage as Jer. 12.1 The Prophet there expostulates with God Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously c And so Hab. 1.13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he All which shew God's patience in this regard Now to give some account of both these Branches together this kindness of God to wicked men both in the positive and negative Explication there is a various account may be given of it First God is pleased in his Providence thus to deal with them out of the redundancy and overflowing of Bounty and Magnificence in himself Thus the Sun it shines upon a dunghil as well as upon the pleasant meadows not for the benefit of the dunghil but from the excellency of its own light which is of a spreading and diffusive nature And so is it with God himself whose creature that is he causes his Sun to shine both upon good and bad and maketh his rain to fall both upon the just and unjust Matth. 5.45 and that as having abundance and variety of â—od in him the riches of Goodness as it is heâ—â— exprest in the Text he has enough in him for all sorts Secondly God bestows good things oftentimes upon wicked men as a reward of some good in this life which has been here done by them those which for the main are evil men yet they may have some sprinklings of goodness in them and there may be some good things done by them at least in a civil way We shall find if we look into Scripture how many persons whose hearts were naught and had no work of grace at all in them yet they had many commendable and plausible actions which did come from them and did gain them repute and esteem in the eyes of the world In the Lives and Stories of the Heathen Philosophers and other famous men amongst them we meet with many notable exploits which were eminent and praise-worthy in them Now God is pleased many times to recompence such as these with many outward and temporal favours because they are not good enough to go to Heaven and yet he would not have them to be altogether unrewarded therefore it is that he does follow them and inlarge them here below God will be a debter to no man whosoever he be indeed he cannot be a debtor properly any other wise than he makes himself because we owe all we are unto him but he will not receive any thing from any man which he will not sufficiently pay him for when those which otherwise are no better than they should be yet shall do somewhat which is good in the world in order to the preservation of it they shall be satisfied by him for it Thirdly To stop mens mouths and to leave them inexcusable that they may have nothing to say for themselves Oh ye shall have some ready to say If I had been thus and thus and had had these advantages and opportunities and encouragements this health or this estate or this power or this favour and the like Oh
God a people of Inheritance As we should serve God in our own Generation so we should take care that others may likewise serve him in theirs and thereby propagate Religion in the World Thus we have seen the end of Gods delivering of his People That they might be to him a people of Inheritance Now further we may look upon it also as a Consequent and so see the Connexion of these two both together How did God bringing his People forth out of Egypt make them to be to him a people of Inheritance Namely thus far as they had now larger Opportunities for the serving of him afforded unto them while they were in Egypt they were there restrained in regard of the Idolatrous people which they were mingled withall but now being escaped they were more at liberty This therefore is the Advantage which we should still make of such opportunities That being delivered out of the hands of our Enemies we may serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of our life as it is there in Zacharys song Luk. 1. vers 74.75 And so much of the first Particular observable in this second General viz. The design it self to be c. The Second is the Amplification of it That we have in those words As ye are this day In which clause we have three things especially hinted to us concerning God First the Accomplishment of his purposes Secondly The Certainty of his promises Thirdly The Continuance of his performances The Accomplishment of his purposes God does whatsoever he decrees and propounds to himself He had propounded this to make Israel a peculiar people to himself and he had now at this day performed it and brought it to pass so that we see how there is nothing stands in his way for the hindering of what he has a mind to He spake and it was done He commanded and it stood fast Psal 33.9 Our God is in Heaven and doth whatsoever he pleaseth Psal 115. vers 3. This should satisfy us and incourage us as to our Expectations for the good of the Church that all Gods thoughts of peace towards it shall be accomplished and brought to pass and are sure as if we see them done already before our Eyes wheresoever he intends good unto them their good shall not be kept from them but shall certainly be Effected and brought to pass and all the attempts to the contrary they prove in vain As for Pharaoh and the Egyptians they were both to part with Israel and to let them go out of their Land having a desire to keep them in Bondage and Service still and they thought they dealt very wisely in so contriving as we may see in Exod. 1. vers 10.4.5 But yet for all that they mist of their mark and their aim as it appeared in the Event and as it was now at this present day with them That 's the first Accomplishment of Gods purposes The Second is the Certainty of his promises as to the performance and effecting of them also As ye are at this day We see how punctual God is with them to a day he keeps his time to a moment and as he had long ago promised that he would bring his people out of that land so he now effected it and brought it to pass All Gods promises they are Yea and Amen God is not a man that he should lye nor the Son of man that he should repent Hath he said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good as it is Numb 23.19 Therefore let us rest upon his promises where-ever he does vouchsafe them to us and comfort and incourage ourselves by them and make use of this point as to Corporal Deliverance so to Spiritual He promises for treading down Sin and Satan and Death and all the Enemies of our Salvation and bringing us out of the Thraldome and Captivity of them which he will surely do for us The third and last is the continuance of His performances As ye are this day Namely in the fruit and efficacy of it This was performed fourty years ago for the thing it self but yet Moses speaks of it as done at that day to wit in regard of the benefit which thereby did redound unto them God's mercies they are mercies of extent which do not only reach to the present times in which they were first wought but also to many succeeding Generations Now from hence will follow another point as our Duty which is here also to be observed and that is that we are accordingly to remember them and call them to our mindes and so from thence make them fresh unto us as if done at this present time It is that which Moses indeavours to make these Israelites to do here In the Text who minds them of a mercy which was done many years ago for them as if it had been done for them just at that time This is the scope of this narration and this also hath been the practise of the Saints of God in other places Thus Psal 78.1.6 Give ear O my people to my law encline your ears to the words of my mouth I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter dark sayings of old Which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us We will not hide them from their children shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he hath done For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children That the generation to come might know them even the children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their children c. Thus there 's very good ground for First Because the mercy in its own nature is still one and the same and Time does not take away from the greatness or largeness of it That which was done so many years ago is as great a Mercy as if done at this day 3dly because one Age alone is not sufficient to praise God for them therefore posterity must take notice of them for them The children must herein help the fathers to publish and set forth Gods praises for the mercies bestowed upon them This therefore should be our own particular practise as we have any occasion afforded us for it Not content our selves to take notice of those mercies which are bestowed upon us at present but which have a long time been bestowed upon one to another that have been before us or upon our selves though for many years past To conclude our Meditations on this Text we may here take notice of two things more with which I will shut up First The Inlargements of God towards his people We see here in how many particulars he expresses Himself towards them First In that He brings them out of that sad condition in which they were though in
since through means of that deliverance vouchsafed unto us I say it behoves us to provoke our selves to all kind of Thankfulness in this regard and to take advantage of this Annavasary Commemoration which is appointed to this purpose That it may not be onely a matter of Course and Formality which we cannot well decline but may have a real Influence and Impression upon us to raise our Hearts in the praysing of that God who hath done so great things for us Secondly As to matter of Faith we are to improve it to that likewise having had Experience of God's Goodness hitherto to be ready to expect as much from him for time to come That he that hath kept the feet of his Saints will do so still Sutable to the manner and Carriage of the expression here in the Text which is not in the time past but in the Future Not he hath kept onely but he will and therefore will because he hath experience of former Mercies should teach us to trust and to depend upon God for following as 2 Cor. 1.10 Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver In whom we trust that he will yet deliver us Thirdly and Especially To Fruitfulness and Obedience God having done so great things for us we should indeavour to do somewhat for him And being thus Delivered out of the hands of our Enemies should study to serve him as now without Fear in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of our Life And this for the keeping of the feet of his Saints In the deliverance of his people Now further Secondly For the Wicked's silence in Darkness in the Disappointment of his Enemies we may observe the Parallel in this also Here was both Darkness and silence in Darkness Darkness there was in the very Letter It was a work in the Dark And that both as to Place and Time in which it was wrought There was Darkness in the Place For where did these Wicked Conspirators prepare their Devices Surely it was in the Seller and in the Vault which they had fitted to that purpose They dig'd deep to hide their Counsell from the Lord and their work was in the Dark saying who seeth us and who knoweth us as the Prophet speakes in Esay 29.15 And there was Darkness likewise in the Time For it was the Night which they chiefly made choyce of for the carrying on of their wicked Designes A time and place of Darkness sutable to a work of Darkness And then there was Silence as to this Darkness When they were Discovered they were in a manner Confounded and knew not what to say for themselves As others were silent in a way of Astonishment at the Horridness and Strangeness of the Fact so were themselves silent in a way of Confusion being Prevented and Disappointed of it and as a Reproach not onely to their Persons but also to their Religion the Principles whereof led them and carryed them thereunto in the full extent and improvement of it But that which made them chiefly to be so was the last thing of all And that is That by their strength they could not prevail Neither by the strength of their interest and Combination Nor by the strength of their Wit and Conspiracy God infatuated their Counsels and turned all their Wisdom into Foolishness And in the things wherein they dealt proudly he was above them Their strength it was proved to be Weakness both ways both to the hurting and spoyling of us And as to the helping and securing of themselves as sayling in either I will Conclude all at this time with these words of the Prophet David in the name of the People of Israel which are applyable likewise to our selves Blessed be the Lord who loadeth us daily with Benefits even the God of our Salvation Selah He that is our God is the God of Salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from Death SERMON IX Job 20.11 His bones are full of the Sins of his youth which shall lie down with him in the dust The Scope of this present Scripture which we have here in hand is to set forth to us the miserable Estate of an Ungodly Person And for sureness sake it takes him in his full Latitude and Compass from his Youth to his riper Years from the Beginning of his Life to the end of it wherein the Evil of his sinful Courses does continually pinch upon him His bones are full of the Sins c. IN the Text it self there are two General parts observable First The State or Condition of a Wicked man Secondly The Extent or Amplification of this his Condition His State that 's exprest in these words His bones are full of the Sins of his youth The Amplification or extent of it in these Which shall lye down with him in the Dust We begin with the first General viz. The State or Condition His bones are full of c. Wherein again two Particulars more First The Sin and Secondly The Punishment of the Sin The Sin That is Youthfulness in the Miscarriage of it The Sin of his youth The Punishment of his Sin that is Exprest in this that his Bones are said to be full of it First For the Sin here mentioned It is the Sin of the youth The word in the Hebrew Text is Gnalumaw which signifies properly his Youths and being applyed to a matter of Guilt Youthful prankes These are things which are laid to the Charge of evil men By Sins of youth for the better opening of this passage to us we may understand two things Especially either the kinds of Sin or the time of Sin The kinds of Sin that is such Sins as are more Especially proper and incident to that particular Age and Condition of Life to wit his youth The time of Sin that is such Sins as are indifferent to any Age but which for the Commission of them have been Acted very Early and betimes First The Sins of youth it does denote the kinds of Sins by way of Specification and does signify such kind of Sins as are more proper and peculiar to that Age as some Sins there are Corrupt Nature though it cleave to all Conditions of Life in the whole latitude and Extent of it yet it does not Act and put forth it self alike in all but as is it varies to other things besides In Constitution in Improvement in Place and the like so amongst the rest in matter of Age and the periods of Life There are the Sins of Elder years and there are the Sins also of Youth which are to be observed and taken notice of by us and to be understood and avoyded Thus 2 Tim. 2.22 Fly Youthful Lusts Such Lusts namely as Youth is more Especially subject unto St. Paul would have Tymothy a Young man Especially to take heed of those These they are of divers sorts ' I le instance briefly in some few of the Cheifest of them which may give us an hint of the rest
of Gods servants in this regard who dare not trust him with their lives and the preservation of them notwithstanding so many Gracious Promises and experiences which they have received from him As David he was but just before delivered out of his enemies hands and he presently cryes I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul even so it is with many others besides who as the Apostle speaks through fear of death are all their life-time subject to bondage Heb 2.15 Now for such as these they may be here said from this passage before us though God may bring them to danger yet as he sees cause he will deliver them from it as he did here with this servant David The Lord hath chastened me sore but he hath not given me over to death Secondly Where we partake of this mercy let us acknowlelge it with all thankfulness Thus does David do here we are to take notice not onely of his words but also of his Affection which is signified in them and the Spirit from whence they came from him he utters them with a great deal of feeling and sensibleness of Gods goodness to him And so they are not onely a narration of his present condition but an acknowledgement of Gods favour to himself to an answerable temper and disposition which he does here Express by the words which came from Him He hath not given me over to Death They are not words of Boasting and Vanity and Ostentation and Carnal Rejoyceing but the words of Soberness and Piety and Discretion And there are divers things intended by them First He would make it an Argument for Patience The escaping greater Evils should breed Contentation under less That as God afflicts us below our Deserts so also below our Capacities that he does not afflict us in the utmost Extremity and so to this purpose should we argue and reason with our selves he has taken away my Health but he hath not taken away my Life He hath exercised me in my Body but he has spared my Soul He hath deprived me of Earthly Comforts but he hath not deprived me of Heavenly of the Graces of his Spirit of the assurance of his Love of the Communion with himself of his own blessed and Gracious presence these he hath not denyed me but continued them still in the midst of all other Discouragements Secondly He would hereby silence the false rumours which were to the Contrary and the Insultations of his Enemies from them for their mouthes were full to this purpose and delighted to be so as these which spake according as they would have it as in the place before alledged Psal 41.6.7 And if he come to see me he speaketh Vanity his Heart gathereth Iniquity to it self when he goeth abroad he telleth it all that hate me whisper together against me against me do they devise my hurt This was the Condition of David in regard of his Enemies They Tryumpht before the Victory and pleased themselves both in the thoughts and speeches of his supposed Ruine and Destruction now by this Expression here in the Text he does in an holy and Humble manner signifie their Mistake and Disappointment as if he had said unto them it is not so bad as ye thought it nor so bad as ye hoped it nor so bad as ye talked it I am through Gods goodness alive still for all the surmises The Lord hath Chastened me sore but he hath not given me over to Death Thirdly Which is here namely Considerable David I say would hereby express his Thankfulness to God for this Mercy they are words of Praise and spiritual Rejoyceing as appears by those that follow in the 19 verse of this Psalm Open to me the Gates of Righteousness and I will go into them and will praise the Lord namely for this his Goodness to me This is that which we all should do as we have occasion for it and indeed there 's none of us all but have so one way or other though some more then other either by way of prevention in keeping of Evils from us or by way of recovery in delivering us out of those Evils and especially in these late Distempers which have been so rife and frequent amongst us for this year now last past wherein Death hath come up into our Windows as the Scripture speaks that we should not be given over to it is matter of due praise unto us and to be acknowledged by us And we cannot better nenew the year unto us then by such performances as these are And further stir up others to do so occasionally from our Example which is another thing here intended by David in this Expression he does not onely hereby signify his own Thankfulness but also excite and stir up others to praise God both for him and themselves upon the like occasion as we find him in another place Psal 34.2.3 My Soul shall make her boast of God the humble shall hear thereof and be glad O magnify the Lord with me and let us Exalt his name together But especially as a third Improvement of this point let us be careful to use our lives well which God has given us to his Glory and so give them back to him again who has first given them too us Life it is a Blessing as it used and ordered by us For men to live onely a Natural Life here in the word to Eat and Drink and take their pleasures like brute Beasts Alas what a poor thing is that for men to live onely for such a purpose as this is to fiill up the measure of their Sins and to aggravate their Account at another Day by thinking that they are delivered to commit such and such Abominations this is very sad and Miserable but then is Life indeed when it is improved to Gods Glory The doing of good in our several Opportunities the Furtherance both of our own and others Salvation and laying up in store a good Foundation against the time to come laying hold on Eternal Life Therefore I beseech ye let us be careful especially to look to this and that likewise those which are in the prime of their Years and Health and Strength let them not neglect so Blessed an Opportunity as that is those that are past it let them indeavour to redeem it for time to Come We should labour to find our lives given us and continued to us in Mercy and Love which we may know to be no otherwise then accordingly as we have hearts given us with them for the improvement of them as we may do any other Mercy besides where it has the stamp of Gods love upon it it makes us to serve him better with it and our selves to be really and indeed so much the better for it whereas when it is otherwise it is a fign it is in wrath and to harden us so much the more in Evil There 's none are so bad as those who are bad after Mercies Received both as having
own infinite Majesty and Glory what are all Nations and Kingdoms of the World Surely as the Prophet Isaiah speaks of it Isa 40.21 Behold the Nations are as the drop of a bucket and are accounted as the small dust of the ballance Behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing The Lord is high above all Nations and his Glory above the Heavens Psal 113.4 He encreaseth the Nations and destroyeth them he enlargeth the Nations and straitneth them again Job 12.23 Who smote great Nations and slew mighty Kings Psal 135.10 Secondly The Importunity of Sin and Guilt that makes for this likewise Nahum 1.12 Though they be quiet and likewise many yet thus shall they be cut down when he shall pass through says the Lord there by his Prophet because their Sins call for Vengeance As we see it was with the Sodomites and tâ—â— Cities round about them whilst the Cry of their Wickedness ascended and came up to Heaven in their committing of Fornication and going after strange Flesh it is said That even they suffered the vengeance of eternal fire And so the Cananites and the rest of the Nations which opposed and fought against Gods People we hear what a quick and speedy riddance the Lord made of them for it in their Universal overthrow and ruine and destruction And so he is ready to do with many more in the like circumstances Who would not fear thee O King of Nations as it is in Jer. 10.7 What cause have all the People and Kingdoms of the Earth to tremble before this great God who is able thus to crush them in peices and to destroy them even in Hell it self if they provoke him as he here threatens them We should here learn to satisfie our selves in this great Mystery both of Prudence and Religion It seems to be a strange thing to reason that God should damn whole Nations And therefore such Persons as make Reason to be the Rule of Faith they do much doubt of it and call it into Question For which purpose they have found out salvation even for the Heathen that know not God nor ever heard word of Christ But we see here how the Scripture it self expresses it self in this particular whereby it tells us that whole Nations shall be turned into Hell That so we may not be wiser or mercifuller than God himself But submit our own reason and the Dictates of our own understanding to his Discoveries and Proposals And in the mean time bless God our selves if he hath exempted us out of the number of those Nations which shall be thus dealt withal by a more peculiar manifestation and dispensation of himself unto us Thus for the Subjects here mentioned in reference to this Punishment All the Nations The Second is the guilt which is fustned upon those Subjects as the Ground and Foundation of this Punishment and that is Forgetting of God This now does a little qualifie it and restrain it and take it in It is not all Nations Absolutely and Indefinitely and without exception howsoever qualified but under this Notion of Impiety God does not in this case proceed in a way of Soveraignty but in a way of Justice It is true he might if he pleased do the former forasmuch as all the Nations of the World they are his own Creatures and the Workmanship of his own hands therefore if he saw good he might deal with them as the Potter with his vessel And no man might say unto them what dost thou But he has thought fitting to take another course than this with them and that is by proceeding upon the account of their own guilt as it is here declared unto us Therefore this Punishment and Destruction it is here limited and restrained to Sinners And so we find it to be also in other places as Psal 79.6 Pour out thine indignation upon the Heathen that have not known thee and upon the Kingdoms that have not called upon thy name Not upon the Heathen considered Absolutely nor upon the Kingdoms considered Indefinitely But upon those Heathens and Kingdoms which have not known God Nor called upon him And so likewise here in the Text All the Nations that forget God This is a Particular Character whereby a wicked People are distinguisht viz. Forgetfullness of God as that which carries the very root of all wickedness in it For hence it is that any Persons do make so bold with God as commonly they do by offending him and rebelling against him because indeed they are such as do forget him and think not of him This forgetfulness of God which wicked men are thus guilty of to explain it a little to you it extends to Sundry Particulars First To the Essence of God They forget God that is they forget that there is a God They have heard of it it may be and have seen Habitual Notions of it yea but in such and such cases and circumstances they do it or reflect upon it They do not Actually mind or consider it which makes them so to carry it as if indeed they did not beleive it Secondly To the Nature of God They forget God that is they forget who or what manner of one God is They forget him in his Properties and Attributes and such Expressions of him as whereby he has revealed and made himself known In his Holiness and Justice and Power and Omniscience and Omnipresence and the like In these they do not remember him but plainly forget him Wicked Men they frame to themselves such a God as is suitable to themselves and their own Fancies and Imaginations As he tells that wicked Man in the Psalm 50.21 Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self As if that which pleased them it were pleasing to him also Thirdly To the Word of God They forget God that is They forget what God does command or commend unto them They forget his Instructions and they forget his Injunctions and so in that respect they forget God himself for as much as he accounts himself interested and concerned in such things as these are as a Prince in his Laws David resolved with himself that he would never forget God's Precepts But this is that which such Persons as these do continually though they may seem to remember God Notionally yet they forget him Practically And though they profess that they know him yet in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1.16 Lastly To the Providence of God They forget God that is They forget what God has done and brought to pass in the World As it is charged upon the Israelites that they forgat the works of the Lord aad the wonders that he had shewed them Psal 78.11 His Works of Mercy they forgat them They remembred not his hand nor the day when he delivered them from the Enemy Psal 78.42 They forgat God their Saviour which had done great things for them in Egypt Psal 106.21 And
to sin there is not onely Privative evil in it but a Positive He that toucheth Pitch shall be defil'd and so here srequent converse and society it does convey a similitude of disposition which goes along together with it nay this fire it does quickly take but upon a little mingling and joyning in this particular We see here then what to think of such persons as are for all companies and Societies whatsoever they be that care not with whom they converse and associate themselves it is a sign that they have little of true grace or goodness in them for if they had they would be a little more wary in this respect they would consider where they went and whom they joyn'd and appli'd themselves to in regard of their intimacy and intireness We see how it is with men which regard the health of their bodies they will not go into infectious places but as they desire to avoid the plague so they will shun and avoid the house which is visited with it They that would keep themselves from Leprosic they will take heed of coming near the Leper The same should it like wise be with them in regard of their Sould when it is not it is so far taxable in them as here in Ephraim He hath mingled himself among the people it was a fault in him to converse with them no more but so That 's the first Explication as we may understand a mixture which is Local The second is a Civil mixture a mixture of Affinity and Alliance this is another thing forbidden in the People of God with Heathen and Idolaters that they mix not themselves with them thus Thus Exod. 34.15 16. Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the Land and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons c. So Deut. 7.34 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them c. Again 2 Cor. 6.14 Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial Such unsuitable mixtures as these are of Gods People and those which are either enemies or strangers to Religion they are not without a great deal of mischief and hazard in them they are like the lying of a living and a dead body together which was wont to be accounted of the greatest punishments that could be But thirdly which seems here chiefly and principally to be intended a mixture Spiritual or Moral Fphraim hath mixed himself with the people that is Israel hath shared in the iniquities and abominations of the Heathen And so it seems not to be much unlike to that in Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to idols For Gods people to comply with those which are wicked and ungodly in their practises and to conform themselves to their customs and manners is a thing very grievous and unsufferable This is that which the Prophet especially condemns here in this place and it is that which the whole Scripture besides does almost every where set it self against in sundry passages as Rom. 12.2 Be not conformed to the world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds c. So 1 Cor. 8.6 A little leven leaveneth the whole lump Purge out therefore the old leven c. And Eph. 5.11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them And many such places as these are This we have cause to take care of upon sundry grounds and considerations First as contrary to our Election and Gods special designation of our persons to eternal life Those whom God has separated from others in regard of their end and final condition they should be separated from them likewise in regard of their way and present conversation Now thus is it with those which are the Saints and Servants of God God has appointed them to another end than he has done those which are not his people and therefore their course especially should be varying and different from them This is the very argument and reason of the Scripture it self as 1 Thess 5.6 Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober Why upon what ground it follows in verse 9. of that chapter For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Because we are not appointed to wrath as others are therefore let us not walk in ways of wrath as others do that so the Way may be suitable to the End So Ephes 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love God hath chosen us that therefore we might be holy So again Rom. 8.29 Whom he did foreknow he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son as in glory so also in suffering and in holiness tending to glory And 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God standethsure having this seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity Gods peculiar interest in our persons by reason of Election calls for a peculiarity of carriage from us towards him again as to our holy life and conversation Secondly This conformity of Gods people to the fashions and manners and corruptions of men of the world as it is contrary to their Election so it is likewise opposite to their Redemption we are redeemed for another purpose than this is Thus Luke 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life And Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works So Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God And 1 Pet. 1.17 18 19. And if ye call on the Father c. pass the time of your sojourning here in fear forasmuch as ye know that ye were redeemed from your vain conversation not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb c. Thirdly Our effectual Calling and Vocation This is another thing which restrains us herefrom we should not therefore be mingled with the world because we are call'd out of it and God hath thereby distinguisht us from other men which are in it This the Scripture does likewise with other arguments press upon us to this purpose As Eph. 4.1 I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech ye that ye walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith ye are called So 1 Thes 4.7 God hath notcalled us to uncleanness but unto holiness And Heb. 3.1 Holy Brethren partakers of the Heavenly Calling And 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us
loose his hand and cut me off And so the Prophet Jonah because his message was crost which he had delivered concerning Nineveh therefore he desires to live no longer in the world Therefore now O Lord says he I beseech thee take away my life from me for it is better for me than to live in Jonah 4.3 In others of worse principles it is commonly more frequent and ordinary but it is such as is very grievous and dangerous in them Those that with for death lightly and rashly and discontentedly they know not what they wish for as having not leisure to recollect themselves To wish for it as an opportunity of nearer and fuller and closer communion with Christ and enjoyment of him as a cessation and period to sin as an exemption from temptation this is very good and praise worthy and such as the Scripture leads us unto But to wish for it out of murmuring and impatience and discontent it is no way allowable especially according to the circumstances which such persons may possibly be in which is of strangeness and unacquaintedness with God and unpreparedness for another world Oh! it is a mad thing indeed to desire death in such a case as this is let their condition here in the world be otherwise never so lamentable because that then they do change but out of one bad condition into another yea out of a less evil into a greater as it follows after in the next verse to the Text. As if a man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand upon the wall and a Serpent bit him such is the fruit of such desires as these And that 's one expression of this rash and unadvised desiring of the day of the Lord in those who do so desire it as proceeding from a principle of discontentedness in their own condition Secondly from a principle of presumption of their own innocence This is that which hypocrites sometimes do They seem to desire the day of the Lord as if they were ready in a manner to try it out with the Lord and to justify themselves at his Tribunal There are some persons that are so full of carnal confidence and conceited of their own righteousness as that they dare even to plead and contend with God himself and think to do well enough with him Such an one as this was that young man in the Gospel that said he had kept all God's Commandments from his youth upward and such an one also was the Pharisee that thanked God he was not like other men And such also were the people of the Jews that stood upon their own righteousness Now such as these might well have a woe to be denounc'd against them Woe unto him that strives with his maker as the Prophet Isaiah sometimes expresses it It was that which Job in all his innocency durst not do as himself professes Job 9.15 Whom though I were righteous yet would I not answer but would make supplication to my Judge This is that which these considerate persons will not vouchsafe to do but rather think to carry it out by the strength of their own deserts as having nothing which might be charged upon them Thirdly From a principle of ignorance of the nature of the thing it self They know not what death is in the properties and consequences of it nor they know not what judgment is in the strictness and severity of it And therefore it is that at a distance they think favourably both of the one and the other and seem as if they were desirous of them Which is a very sad case to be so Thus do they desire the day of the Lord without understanding either the day of death or general or particular judgment Again further Take this day of the Lord in the other sense for the day of captivity and National desolation as it may be also taken And so there is a woe likewise belonging to those which do desire it or at least which so carry themselves as if they were little affected with it Thus it was with some of the Jews at this present time they were so far from being humbled under the predictions and prognostications of this condition which was threaten'd to them as that they were in a manner at a point about it and did in some sort wish for it so it happens to be sometimes with divers others of the like temper and disposition with them They do sometimes according to the discontents which may be upon them wish for war and wish for calamity and wish for confusion it self as conceiving that such extremities may be some kind of help and relief unto them But alas they do not know what they wish for in so wishing Such desires as these are rash and unadvised in them and have a woe attending upon them as it is here exprest It is not safe to give way but to the first beginning and entring of Judgment because we know not where they will stop or stay when we once dye I have not desired the woful day thou knowest it as Jeremy speaks in another case So it concerns all persons in this case to be able to say in this particular Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord that is that desire it rashly or foolishly because ye do not consider it or attend to the circumstances of it That 's the first explication Secondly Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord that is that desire it scoffingly and scornfully because ye do not believe it This is another sense which may be founded upon this expression Desiring it in their mouthes but not in their hearts and so desiring that it might come as yet thinking it would not come and therefore mocking at the coming of it Such persons as these there are also sometimes in the world the Prophet Esay makes mention of them to us Isa 5.19 They say Let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it and let the counsel of the holy One of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it Therefore as they laugh at the Day of the Lord so accordingly they laugh at the Word of the Lord and his Message concerning that day as the Prophet Jeremy has it in Jer. 17.15 Behold they say unto me Where is the word of the Lord let it come now That is Where is that which the Word of the Lord has so much threatned and spoken of as that which shall come to pass Not onely scoffing at Judgment it self but likewise at all the fore-runnings and monitions of it This is an high piece of wickedness and impiety indeed yet such as the sons of men are now and then subject unto Where they have not so much grace as to avoid Judgment they have at least so much vileness as to despise it and to make a mock and derision of it and of those that proclaim it They desire it
in reference thereunto If we speak of the persons themselves they are not always such as in every thing can be approved of we are men subject to the like infirmities and affections with other men though it would very much become us to have as few of them as needs must and a great deal fewer of them than any other besides yet notwithstanding so it is with us through the corruptions of nature which is in us we have our faults as well as you and it may be sometimes the more for your sakes If you were that which you should be we should be better than we are God may perhaps humble us now and then for your defects But that 's not that which we stand upon now in this point it is not the persons so much as the office which I now plead for the calling and profession it self though that also subjected and terminated in such and such persons as it was here in the persons of St. Paul and the rest of the Ministers This it was made manifest in their Conscices at least of those which were godly and gracioso amongst them And so likewise will be to the end of the world as long as there are any which have any saving work in their hearts their Ministry shall be sure to find acceptance and approbation notwithstanding all opposition And so much of the first particular viz. the thing it self which is asserted We are made manifest in you c. The second is the word of Transition or Introduction I trust or hope We may take notice also of this and it carries a double notion in it first of Endeavour and Desire and secondly of Confidence and Expectation it was that which he wisht it might be and it was that which he was perswaded it was First There was his Desire in it as he wisht it might be he desired to approve his Ministry and himself in the execution of his Ministry to the hearts and consciences of those which were faithful that they might be sure to close with him This should likewise be the desire and ambition of all others besides to be made manifest in the consciences of those which are the people of God whether in regard of their Doctrine or their life to deliver such Truths as are made good in their experience and to lead such lives as are suitable and agreeable to their principles and the practise of them Those men that walk not in the ways of good men they may well think they step aside and so are opposite to our Doctrine Those Points and Doctrines in Divinity are very questionable and suspicious and do expose the teachers of them to a great deal of just censure and exception which do thwart and cross and contradict the common sense and feeling and experiments of those which are most godly and religious and have the work of saving Grace in their hearts such are those points in particular of Free-will of Universal Redemption of uncertainty of Salvation the resistibility of Conversion of falling from Grace of conditional Election and the like they are such as do not only swerve from the plain Doctrine of the Scriptures but likewise do very much fall short of the experiences of the servants of God who need no other arguments against them than what they find in their own hearts and consciences as fighting with them So those which are the teachers of them as therein they are not manifest to God so neither are they manifested in the consciences of godly men which it would well become them to be for their own greater satisfaction as well as others and which St. Paul here seemed so to desire Secondly As there was his Desire in it so there was also his confidence and Expectation I hope or trust that is I believe and make account of it It is a word of Triumphant expression as you have another of the like nature with it 1 Cor. 7.6 I think also c. The Apostle was perswaded of it that so it was with him That he was made manifest in their Consciences And this again he was upon a double motive or consideration First from his own Integrity And secondly from their Ingenuity He knew that himself did deserve and he knew likewise that they were of themselves ready to imbrace it First I say he knew his own integrity that himself did deserve it The best way for any one to expect to be made manifest to others is first to be made manifest to himself and that he may be approved of in others Consciences to be approved of first in his own They whos 's own hearts condemn and upon a just examination of them do bear witness against them they may be very well afraid of others and think that they will not have that opinion of them as perhaps they could desire they might have Secondly As the Apostle concluded it from his own integrity so likewise from the ingenuity of the persons which he had to deal withal If a man be never so upright and sincere in his own heart and never so careful to approve what he does to his own Conscience yet if he be to deal with captious persons and those which have a mind to wrangle and contest and pick a quarrel with him he shall never approve himself to those for all this But these Corinthians were not so especially those which were the gravest and godliest amongst them which the Apostle does here principally intend these they had other kind of minds and dispositions in them which was that which made him to be so confident and perswaded of them I trust we are made manifest in your consciences There 's an Emphasis in both of the words whether in consciences or in yours and accordingly we may take notice of it To your consciences not to your fancies to your consciences not to your humours to your consciences not to your lusts And then to your consciences not to the consciences of strangers to Religion to your consciences not to the consciences of enemies to Religion to your consciences not to the consciences of the false teachers and false Apostles amongst you which labour all they can to pervert and entice and corrupt you in your consciences we are made manifest and desire and rejoice so to be So much also for the second General SERMON XXXIV 2 Cor. 1.10 Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us There are two Graces especially which do serve very much to amplifie and enlarge Gods mercies towards us the one is the Grace of Thankfulness and spiritual joy and the other is the Grace of Faith and spiritual trust joy that enlarges them to others and disperses and scatters them abroad to those persons with whom we converse and faith that enlarges them to our selves and makes them so much the greater to our own minds and expectations Now each of these we may here take notice of in
the course of this present Text and Scripture which we have now read unto you where the Apostle gives us an account of the deliverance of him with his company from a great danger which happened unto them and therein expresses his thankefulness and holy rejoicing as also gives us an hint of expectation of further deliverance from the like dangers that might happen unto them and therein expresses his hope and most holy faith Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust also c. This passage it relates to a story which we meet withal in Act. 19.29 30. which we may read at our leisure though I suppose that most of us are already sufficiently skilled in it and acquainted with it So that I need not now rehearse it or declare it unto you IN this present Verse before us we have three General Parts considerable of us First The Commemoration of a Deliverance past Secondly The signification of a Deliverance present Thirdly The prognostication of a Deliverance to come The Commemoration of a Deliverance past Who delivered us from so great a Death The signification of a Deliverance present And doth deliver us The Prognostication of a Deliverance to come In whom we trust that he will yet deliver us Here 's all that we can possibly desire for all the limits and periods of time whether past or present or future This Deliverance it is extended to each here 's matter of thankfulness and matter of joy-fulness and matter of hope We begin in order with the first viz. The Commemoration of the Deliverance past Who delivered us from so great a death Wherein again we may take notice of two Particulars more First the terms of the Deliverance or the evil it self delivered from and that is here exprest to be so great a death Secondly the Deliverance it self or the time for the vouchsafing of it Who hath delivered us First We have here the terms of the Deliverance or the thing delivered from so great a death For the evil it self death and for the aggravation of it a great death it is a deliverance from both Chrysostom together with some others gives it in the Plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so great deaths And indeed there are more deaths than one which God does undertake to deliver his servants from and from which he delivered St. Paul with his Brethren and Companions amongst the rest And which it may not be amiss for our selves at this time by the way to take notice of though I shall insist chiefly upon that which is here chiefly intended and is most agreeable both to the scope of the Text and the present occasion First From spiritual death the death of sin that 's a very great death it puts a man into a state of death not only as exposing to wrath and future condemnation but likewise as disabling to the actions of Grace and Holiness alienating us and depriving us of that life of God which should be in us Ephes 4.18 For as there is a life of grace distinguisht from the life of glory so there 's likewise a death of sin distinguisht from the death of condemnation And this death of sin it is such as is to be numbered among great deaths and the deliverance from it reckoned among great deliverances Indeed it is not always counted so at least by the generality of the world they for the most part are ready to make nothing of it a light and small matter as for the death of the body do all they can to shun that but as for this body of death which the Apostle Paul so much complain'd of and blest God for deliverance from it this is such a thing as they are little troubled or solicitous about Well but every good Christian who has the eyes of his understanding inlightned and his heart truly sanctified with grace he looks upon this as a very grievous and fearful death and accordingly blesses Gods for his deliverance and redempton from it Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 7.24 25. Secondly Eternal death the death of wrath and condemnation that 's another great death also and such as follows likewise upon the former without recovery from it He that 's finally dead in sin he shall be certainly dead in judgment the death of sentence and condemnation follows upon the death of spirit and disposition This God has also delivered us from He hath delivered us from wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 And we are saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.9 This is a great death among other Considerations in this respect forasmuch as it required so great a death for the expiating of it which was the death of no other than of the Son of God himself who therefore tasted of this death for the kind of it that he might free us from it We are reconciled unto God says the Apostle by the death of his Son What a sweet and blessed Saviour have we that cares not how great a death he dyes himself that so he might free us from death for whom he dyed We should take all occasions that may be to celebrate our deliverance from this which I am therefore so much the willinger to mention upon this phrase which I now here meet withal in the Text though it is not that which I desire to insist or stand upon I come to that which is more pertinent The third and that which is here particularly aim'd at is Temporal Death which though it be the least Death of all compared with the former yet it is great considered simply in it self and so much the greater according to the several circumstances and aggravations which it may be cloathed withal Which we may take in these following particulars First From the nature and kind of it A violent Death not a natural This is a great death and so consequently a great mercy to be delivered from it to be kept from accidents and casualties and mischances which we are subject unto when the Candle is not put out but goes out when our life is not taken away from us but ends of it self This is a Temporal Blessing and such as when it is granted to the Children of God is granted in love and answerably to be looked upon by them as a merciful dispensation which they are to be thankful for As for wicked men it is threatned as a judgment upon them Joh 27.20 That a Tempest shall steal them away and a storm shall hurl them out of their places and they shall lye down and not be gathered and such was this God thrusts them and turns them out of doors like a company of disorderly persons whom he will no longer have patience with but now as for the godly and righteous there 's an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fair and kindly death which so far forth as they have an
Christians as they are Members one of another so they rejoyce in one anothers mutual life and preservation and count their own deliverance to be still so much the greater as it has their brethrens involved with it not only we but us And then what kind of us were they Take in secondly the Quality of persons such as were especially serviceable and useful an Apostle and the Ministers of Christ for these to be delivered from death it was to be delivered from a great death The death of none is to be slighted though never so mean The life of the poorest and simplest man in the world it is precious as the life of a man no more but so but the death of such persons as for their gifts and graces are eminent and for their places and improvements are useful this it is such as is very choice and much to be set by and such was this which the Apostle here speaks of in this present Text It was so great a death c. Sixthly A great death in regard of the proximity and neerness of the evil it self It was as it were at the very next door A great death that is indeed a great danger so some read the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De tantis periculis Though Chrysostom does not so well approve of it surely it carries the sense very well though it answers not the word for if we speak properly the Apostle was not delivered from death but from danger from that which tended and inclined to death and would have proved so if it had not been prevented This is called death both here and in other places as when 't is said by the same Apostle of himself that he was in deaths oft 2 Cor. 11.23 In deaths that is in dangers of death so here from a great death that is from a great danger of death every deliverance is so much the greate as the danger is so much the nearer Lastly A great death also in regard of the apprehensions of those which were in danger of it Conceit and apprehension it does set an aggravation upon danger and does make it to be so much the greater That which is great in our thoughts and in our opinions to us it is great And so was this here to the Apostle Paul and his Company as we may see in the Verse before the Text We had the sentence of death in our selves that is we gave our selves for dead men Men that do not see their danger they do not so easily fee their deliverance nor so much take notice of Gods goodness in vouchsafing it unto them but when they are made sensible of the one they are likewise made sensible of the other If ever we would get our hearts enlarged in thankfulness afterwards we must be apprehensive of danger before For a secure spirit in danger will be an unthankful spirit in deliverance and preservation and so for the contrary So great a death Y◠here 's now the nature of Thankfulness to extend the meroies of God and to make them as great as may be It is of an amplifing and enlarging dispostion as an humble heart puts an aggravation upon sin that it may put an enlargement upon pardon so a thankeful heart puts an aggravation upon danger that it may put an amplification upon deliverance It thinks those mercies to be great which are bestowed upon it because it 's small in its own eyes and looks upon it self as less than the least of all the morcies of God Yea and that which is also further here observable when the danger it self is past and the worst is over There are many which can see it to be a great death when 't is coming and approaching and ready to surprize them when evils are present as near unto them Oh then they are great indeed yea but when they are once gone and removed then they are small or none at all The Plague when it does not spread it was not the Plague This is commonly in mens dispositions yea but with Paul it is not so he counts it a great death even now when it was past and gone It was great to his apprehensions and so great in that regard also thus now have I done with the first Particular in this first General viz. the terms of deliverance or thing c. so great a death The second Particular is the Preservation or Deliverance it self And doth deliver c. And here again take notice of two things more First The thing it self simply and absolutely propounded Secondly The Apostles acknowledgment and manifestation of it in the reflection The thing it self That God had delivered him His acknowledgment in that he blesses God for it and makes mention of it here to the Corinthians First For the thing it self this is that which we may here observe how ready God is to deliver his people from death and from great death that which the Apostle speaks of himself and those which were with him it is appliable to many others besides it is a piece of Providence which the children of God do partake of in frequent experiences and they are able to say it of themselves as so with them It is that which David does often as Psal 57.13 Thou hast delivered my soul from death Again Psal 116.8 My soul from death mine eyes from tears my feet from falling And so likewise Psal 118.18 The Lord hath chastened me sore but he hath not given me over to death And so in like manner other of the Sains There are many gracious Promises to this purpose as Job 5.20 He shall redeem thy soul from death And Psal 72.14 He shall redeem their soul from violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight So Psal 116.15 it is said That precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints The Lord does not at any time cast away the lives of his servants but though he may seem now and then indifferently and promiscuously to take them away yet he does it not without special heed and regard had unto them He is very careful so far forth as may consist with their greatest advantage and the promotion of his own gracious ends and purposes and glory which it is very fitting all this should stoop unto to keep them and to deliver them from death First Out of pity and compassion towards them the Lord has bowels of tenderness towards his people And deliverance from death it is an act of mercy In Phil. 2.27 it is said concerning Epaphroditus that God had mercy on him when he brought him from the gates of death Look how much sweetness there is in life so much mercy in preservation from death which is a privation of life And God he is full and abundant in mercy as being the God and Father of it as he stiles himself and properly to those which are his children Secondly He has work for them to do and some service which he requites
from them thus it was here with Paul and the rest they were to be imployed by him in the work of the Ministry and he had business wherein to use them therefore he would save and deliver them God stands not in need of our service simply considered nor of any thing which can be done by us but yet so far forth as he is pleased of his free Graceto imploy us so far forth will he be careful to preserve us in order and reference hereunto In Mal. 3.17 it is spoken there of the children of God that a book of remembrance was written before him in their behalf and that he would spare them when he made up his Jewels as a man spares his own son that serves him There 's two arguments in one for Gods indulgence there mentioned First their relation his son and secondly their imployment that serves him a man will spare his son in reference to his bowels and he will spare his servant in reference to his work and the latter of these is that which is here exhibited unto us God takes a special care of his working servants This is a certain truth that as long as God has any work and business for any man to do for him so long he will keep and preserve him and deliver him from death and he may with confidence depend upon him for it which by the way teaches us how in some manner to preserve our lives and keep our selves from hazards and danger as we do any thing desire it namely by being careful to be exercised and well-imployed in the doing of that which God requires of us When we put our selves out of service we put our selves out of protection When we lay our selves aside as to our work we do in a manner hasten our end and ring our own passing-bell as I may so express it but when we are careful as much as we can to serve God in our generation and to be useful and profitable to the time and places wherein we live we do hereby very much provide for our own safety and preservation and in a manner engage God himself thereunto who is very tender of his working-servants as here of Paul The way to secure our lives is not so much to spare our selves to study our own ease to make much of one no he that saves his life so is most likely to lose it but rather accoding to that strength and ability which God affords unto us to do him all the service we can Thirdly God does further delight to frustrate the attempts of enemies and those that plot and conspire and contrive the death of his servants and for this cause will deliver them from it as here again 't was with Paul God fears the wrath of his Adversaries lest they should behave themselves strangely and say Our hand is high c. The consideration of this Point is a great encouragement to all those that fear God against the inordinate fear of death That the Lord has a special care of them and regard unto them in such dispensations at least so as to keep them from the evil and hurtfulness of it He hath delivered us from so great a death And this for the thing it self here propounded in the absolute consideration of it We may in the second place look upon it in the reflection as coming from the Apostle God had delivered him and he did not now let it pass without any notice taken of it but he observes it and likewise acknowledges it This is a duty which lyes upon us to take notice of those mercies and deliverances which God at any time has vouchsafed unto us thus does the Apostle here and also elsewhere and teaches us to do the same likewise He makes mention of mercies and deliverances which were past sometime since and not only makes mention of them but gives thanks for them it is not a bare and simple narration but with some acknowledgment annext unto it We would not have you ignorant says he of our trouble that came to us in Asia c. Why would he not have them ignorant of his trouble because he would have them thankful for his deliverance and to join with him in the blessing and praising of God for it who had so graciously shewn himself in his behalf Thankfulness and acknowledgment is the least which we can return upon God for deliverance and preservation This is that which we our selves are now called to this present day wherein we celebrate Gods goodness to us in our Deliverance from the Gunpowder-Treason a Deliverance which in regard of the thing it self was vouchsafed many years past five and forty years ago but the remembrance of it should be still green and fresh and flourishing with us We may very well express it in all the words of this present clause That God has delivered delivered us and from a great death First For the Person delivering it was God He that delivered Paul and his Company delivered us He that delivered them from the great danger in Asia the same has delivered us from the great danger in England He that raised from the dead as it is said in the verse before it is he that has kept and preserved from death here It was he that discovered the Plot. It was he that prevented it or otherwise we had been utterly destroyed and overwhelmed in it If the Lord had not been on our side may England now say if the Lord had not been on our side when men rose up against us they had swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us It is true God had his means and instruments which he was pleased to imploy and improve in this business but the main of it must be resolved into himself It was he who delivered us c. Secondly For the Persons delivered we may add also us it is we which are delivered The deliverance of others has cause in its place to affect us and we ought to be very much taken with joy for it But when our selves are interested in any deliverance for our own particular this should more work upon us and so it was here There 's none of us all but had a share and propriety in it some of us in regard of our Persons and others of us in regard of our Relations either in our selves or else in our Friends and Country which should be dear unto us We were either delivered from death or from Non-entity which you will Those which were then born they were delivered in a way of preservation those which were not born then they were delivered in a way of anticipation So that the Deliverance comes home to our doors one way or other do what we can and he has delivered us Thirdly For the terms also of Deliverance so great a death so great as it is hard to express and declare how great it was it was great in the consideration of all or most of those several
answerable and correspondent thereunto According to either of these Explications does God deliver even after delivarance and he that has delivered formerly may be said to deliver still First I say God does still deliver so far forth as he does confirm and make good his former deliverance God when he delivers his People he does not only deliver and preserve them for that present streight and exigent and distress wherein they were and so let them go no but he still follows them and pursues them with his deliverance further He compasses them about as it is said with songs of deliverance look as 't is on the other side with their Enemies they usually pursue an advantage and where they have them at a dead lift they make the most of it that possibly they can even so does God also with his People he pursues adeliverance and preservation he loads us daily with his benefits It is with the Lord in delivering from temporal destruction as it is with him in delivering from spiritual in his delivering of them from death as in his delivering of them from sin and the corruption of nature where he does not only begin but continue As there 's preventing and antecedent grace so there 's following and subsequent grace And as there 's the grace of conversion so there 's likewise the grace of confirmation As the putting of gracious principles into us so the strengthning of those which we have and so also here in Temporals God does not only deliver at first in the present act but also afterwards in making good of that act and in giving of a further fruit and efficacy and benefit of that deliverance which was given at the first Thus for example when God delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians at the Red Sea What did he only deliver them then in that juncture of time no but even all the time after they did reap the fruit and comfort of that deliverance which they partaked of before In the Wilderness and so all along till they came to Canaan so likewise here for this instance in the Text The Apostles deliverance from his great danger in Asia He says that God still deliver'd him even now when he had deliver'd him How was that namely as he gave him now the fruit and comfort of that deliverance Whiles Paul had his life at this present and this liberty to write to the Corinthians and to go on in his Ministry for their good he was at present even still delivered as he here expresses it And thus now in like manner to bring it home to our own particulars in the present occasion as for the deliverance which we now commemorate this day from that Popish and Hellish Conspiracy Though for the thing and act of it it was vouchsafed many years ago yet for the efficacy of it it is a present deliverance and he that has deliver'd does deliver The present enjoyment of our Religion the present enjoyment of our lives the present enjoyment of these opportunities which God does now afford unto us of meeting together to praise and bless his Name for what we do enjoy they are a fruit and effect and consequent of that days preservation and deliverance which was first acted so many years since For had that plot taken and succeeded as it was near to have done we had never been capable of these mercies which since that time have been upon us and which by the goodness of God still are So that that now may be one Explication how God does deliver after he has delivered namely virtualiter by way of settlement and confirmation as he does continue still upon us the fruit and benefit of former deliverances Secondly God does deliver even after that he has delivered already Analogice specificative In renewing upon us the like mercies again and in vouchsafing the same deliverances for kind as he has formerly done Look what God has done for his Church in times past the same he does also still and look what God has done for us in times past the same he does also still He is yesterday and to day and the same for ever Take an instance still but in that which we are now at present upon the Gunpowder-Treason God delivers us from that even at this present not only as I shewed before in the fruit and efficacy of it which we still to this day enjoy but likwise in the similitude and suitableness of it in many other deliverances besides which are agreeable thereunto As there 's a correspondency of Enemies the same spirits and dispositions as then and as there 's a correspondency of attempts the same plots and conspiracies as then so there 's likewise a correspondency of disappointments the same deliverances and preservations as then the same for kind and resemblance and proportion and so he that has delivered does deliver This may serve in the first place to take off all Enemies of the Church and to restrain them in their attempts against it they think that when God has delivered his people once that that 's all he can do as when he has punish'd themselves once that he has done punishing so when he has delivered his Church once that he has done delivering no but it is not so neither in the one nor the other and so will they at last find if they observe it and put it to the tryal where God has the same provocations to wrath he will inflict the same judgments and where he has the same grounds and occasions for mercy he will shew the same goodness and tenderness again and again This we may see in the story of Balack and Balaam Gods carriage to his People in that ye see how often Balack attempted it the cursing of Israel and how often he put Balaam upon it from one place to another Come curse them me here and come curse them me here and curse them me here yet all would not do the deed he blesses them notwithstanding in all and there was no hindring or preventing of it even as Balaam himself is forced to profess and acknowledg Numb 23.23 Surely there is no inchantment against Jacob neither is there any divination against Israel according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel What hath God wrought So likwise in Isa 8.9 10. See there how the Church hereupon is bold to challenge and dare her Enemies out of her confidence in this respect Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces and give ear O ye of far countrys gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces Take counsel together and it shall come to nought speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us Thus does this renewing of God's deliverance serve to take off the Enemies of the Church for the renewing of their attempts And so secondly does it also incourage the Church it self to renew
water of life thereby to raise our thoughts in the admiration of it Look by how much we woul esteem of Life so much proportionably should we esteem of Grace which does carry life in the bosom of it even eternal life it self Thus our Saviour himself sets it in his discourse with the Woman of Samaria John 4.14 Jesus answered and said unto her Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life This is Grace both in it self and in the means that conduce to it Therefore those that neglect this they do even neglect life it self and judg themselves unworthy of it as it is Act. 13.46 They that hate it love death Prov. 8.36 And so much may be spoken of the first Branch in this third General to wit the benefit mentioned and that is the Grace of Christ or salvation it self exprest by the water of life The second is the persons to whom this benefit is offer'd and tender'd And they are here laid forth two manner of ways First In their extended notion and secondly in their limited The extended notion is whosoever the limited notion is that will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which does carry both an indefinite and a restrained sense with it First Take it in the extended sense Here is a gracious offer and tender of salvation to all men indefinitely an O yes Heus omnes as it is in that place of the Prophet Isa 55.1 This is the scope of the Ministry and the Tenor of the Evangelical Dispensation as the Scripture declares it to us Mark 16.15 Christ sent his Apostles with this Commission Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature And Col. 1.23 The Gospel is said to be preached to every creature under heaven i. e. rational creature This it proceeds from Gods Bounty and Royalty and love to mankind So God loved the world Joh. 3.10 And after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared in Tit. 3.4 God bore that special love to the sons of men above the fallen Angels as to offer them Salvation by Christ which the others are uncapable of and this it is general and unlimited as to the proposal and exhibition of it We may say to every man living Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved come to Christ and thou maist have life by him here 's none excluded of what rank or condition soever whether Jew or Gentile whether male or female whether bond or free if he be a man he i invited to come and to take of the water of life freely as it is here signified and exprest in the Text. Though God hath his secret number of such persons whom he hath appointed to Salvation in his rejection of others and neither hath he like intention towards all elect and reprobate neither have all the like Grace to receive Christ and to apply him unto themselves yet the offer is to all men indefinitely neither are any to exclude themselves where God himself does not exclude them And that 's the first Designation of the Persons here invited in the sense of extension Whosoever The second is in the sense of Restriction Whosoever will This is not so to be taken as if it were in our own power to incline our own wills to good and to the accepting of the Grace of Christ for that it is not It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth as the Apostle tells us but of God that sheweth mercy Rom. 9.16 But it is said whosoever will to shew that Salvation is not forced or obtruded upon us against our wills but in the exercise of those faculties in us which as men are bestowed upon us His people shall be willing in the day of his power Psal 110.5 But this willingness it is not from themselves but only from him We are the subjects of this willingness but he is the Author and worker of it in us Certum est nos velle sed Deum facere ut velimus as St. Austin speaks It is we that will but God that makes us to will whensoever we do so And it is he that works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.12 God infuses a Principle of Grace and spiritual life into every true Convert whereby he makes him to be willing to accept of the terms of salvation and so therefore it is exprest Whosoever will The natural liberty of the will does not exclude or frustrate the spiritual nor the spiritual destroy or evacuate and make void the natural And so much may suffice also of the second Particular in this third General to wit the persons to whom the benefit is offered in General Whosoever in Particular Whosoever will The third and last is the offer it self in these words Let him take it freely Wherein again two things more First The word of conveyance and that is to take it And secondly the word of qualification and that is freely First There 's the word of conveyance Let him take it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This expression as it lyes here in the Text does seem to imply divers and sundry things in it as first the possibility of obtaining it it is such as may be had There are many who are sometimes invited and called upon to the participation of such and such comforts who when they come in the expectation of them are frustrated and disappointed of them and so in conclusion do but lose their labour They go it may be to the water but come home a-dry because the Well may be locked upon them like Tantalus in the midst of the waters but cannot partake of them thus it is sometimes with some others but in the invitations of God it is otherwise where he calls upon us to come he gives us leave to receive that which we come for whosoever comes if he will he may take Secondly The necessity of acceptance and imbracing of this gracious offer which is made unto us It is not enough for us to come but we must likewise take There are some people who now and then divide the one from the other and the latter from the former They are content it may be to come that is to present themselves to the means of Salvation the Word and Prayer and Sdoraments and such Ordinances as these which are the Conduit-pipes as I may so call them of this water of life yea but when they come they do not take that water which is conveyed in them Now here it is said let him taâ—e to put us not only upon the preparatives of Salvation but likewise upon the actual closings and compliances with it That we may not frustrate or make void the Ordinances and means of Grace unto us Thus in the place before