goodnesse and omnipotency be theirs for what is God without these The Prophet David often in this Booke of Psalmes professeth and triumpheth in this peculiar interest himselfe had in God as a member of his Church and confirmeth likewise the generall title and right which the Church of God hath in him Psal 144.15 Blessed be the people that be in such a case yea blessed is that people whose God is the Lord. Where the Prophet doth not only speake to the point in hand to confirme and establish that namely that the Lord is the God of his People Church for it is cleare he speaks of these these are the persons upon whose heads he sets this crowne of blessednesse but withall more particularly and fully he informes in what sense it must needs be taken where it is said that God is the God of his people or that they have a propriety in him namely in the sense already expressed he is theirs quantus quantus est as great as glorious as mighty as excellent every way as he is For we see hee pronounceth them blessed in respect of this propriety or interest of theirs in God Blessed is that people whose God is the Lord. Now if their interest extended no further but to some inferiour degree of his power the people that had some creature for their God might be as blessed as they Nebuchadnezzars Courtiers had him for their God they had an interest in their King and no question he did many things for them for their advancement in the world but these were not blessed by any such interest because Nebuchadnezzar could not bee a God unto them Another testimony you may peruse at leisure 2 Cor. 6.16 I now make haste to the Grounds and Reasons CAP. IV. Whereing foure severall Grounds or Reasons of the Churches propriety in God are laid downe and opened AMongst many considerations that might be laid downe as grounds or reasons of this interest and propriety of the Church in God I shall only insist upon foure which are most obvious and nearest at hand to every mans thoughts The first is the love and affection that God bare unto this Church and people of his yea even before they were either Church or People unto him or he theirs in any such relation as now they stand It is true that now he loves them because they are his in that peculiar maner that now he hath made them his by the great cost and charge both of his Son and Spirit bestowed on them And yet I conceive hee loves them as much or rather more because he is theirs then because they are his An upright and just man loves his promise and upright dealing more then he doth his possessions or estate as David in effect affirmeth in Psal 15.4 Now God loving his People because they are his loves them as a wise and upright man loves his inheritance or possession which kinde of love in the expression of it is capable of subjection to a Superiour and must give place when time is but loving them because he is theirs and they have a propriety in him hee loves them as he doth his owne truth and faithfulnesse in the performance of his promise which is a soveraigne love and to be commanded over-ruled by nothing whatsoever And if God had not loved his Church and People before they became either the one or the other unto him it is certaine hee would never have loved them because it is impossible that any or all other meanes whatsoever either in heaven or earth should ever have made a Church or People unto him of persons defiled with sin without the concurrence and assistance nay without the precurrence and ducture of his owne love thereunto Of this love of God towards his Church before their Church-making or drawing neare to him in any such relation the Scripture speaketh exprefly John 3.16 So God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. That love of God in the wombe whereof Jesus Christ as given unto the world and consequently unto those of whom his Church is raised and built for no man can imagine these to bee here excluded though neither doe I conceive them to bee solely and precisely intended was conceived must needs go before the raising of this Temple unto him because this was actually done by Jesus Christ as given at least in promise So John 6.37 All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me and ver 44. No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him And again ver 45. Every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father commeth unto me Now all these and such like acts of God acted and exercised upon men not yet actually brought home to Christ but for and about the bringing of them home to him as giving to Christ drawing to Christ teaching c. are apparently the fruits or acts of such a love in God towards them which hath precedency both in order of nature and time also before that love of his wherewith he loveth them as being in Christ that is as being made a Church and People unto him Thus it is evident that there was in God a love towards his Church and People before the light of either of these or the like relations arose upon them Let us then proceed in our Demonstration The nature and property of love we know that is reall and in truth is to be bountifull as S. Paul affirmeth 1 Cor. 1.13 The Father loveth the Son saith Christ John 3.35 and hath given all things into his hand When the love and affection of God is cast upon the creature Himselfe Son Spirit and all he hath shall not stay behinde Love and Gift affection and expression in God we shall still finde together John 3.16 So God loved the world that he gave c. and 2 Thes 2.16 Even the Father which hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation So S. Paul speaking of Christ saith thus Who hath loved me and given himselfe for me Gal. 2.20 Now the love of God to his Church being the greatest and most transcendent love he must finde out an expression or gift answerable to it otherwise there would be losse of some part of the glory belonging to it For he cannot be praised and magnified but according to such a measure thereof as is manifested to the creature The gift that should expresse the height depth breadth length of this love to the full can be no other then himselfe and that as God all other would be defective If there had beene any thing greater any thing better then himselfe it is like we should have had it and that had been fittest for his purpose herein I am drawne to use such an expression unto you which I confesse might otherwise seeme somewhat hard and strange because I finde one of like importance in a matter not much unlike or rather indeed very neare to that
we now speake of in that Scripture Heb. 6.13 When God saith the Apostle made the promise to Abraham because he had no greater to sweare by he sware by himselfe Because he had no greater c. if that be the spirit of the words which I conceive neither can I apprehend what other it should be with any tolerable congruity of Reason they are a straine of speech to be heard out of the mouth of an infinite God fearefully high and glorious Because he had no greater to sweare by therefore he sware by himselfe clearely implying that if he had a greater then himselfe he would have sworne by him For this is the reason delivered in plaine and expresse tearmes why he sware by himselfe because he had no greater As if the infinite Al-sufficiency of God himselfe did not give him that satisfaction which he desired for the confirmation of his oath made to the heires of promise in respect of the weaknesse and marvellous backwardnesse of their hearts to beleeve unto perfect establishment and assurance but he would have had a greater if it might have beene and have passed by himself if there had been infinitum infinito infinitius this had been an only choice for him in this case To say that the words imply only this Gods greatnesse above all others makes the sense but cold and waterish For it is not the scope of the Holy Ghost here to declare the greatnesse of God but rather the greatnesse of his desire to satisfie the heires of promise as they are called that is his Church and People with the strongest and mightiest consolations touching the truth and stablenesse of that promise of life by Christ And for this purpose the words in the sense given are as is evident of mighty importance So desirous he was that his children should be filled with faith and the strong consolations of it that if hee had had any greater or more effectuall meanes for the bringing it to passe they had been used and the words thus understood are but an expression and breaking out of the mighty power of that love of his towards his Children which all this while we speake of which moves him to give his owne selfe unto them if he had any greater then himselfe they should have had it but for himselfe they shall be sure of As we heard before of Christs love mentioned by S. Paul Who loved me and gave himselfe for me Like love like bounty like affection like expression Thus you see the love and affection in God towards his Church to be one cause or reason why he gives them this interest and propriety in himselfe which the Doctrine speaketh of A second Ground of the point is The gift or bestowing of Iesus Christ upon the world So God loved the world that hee gave his only begotten Son c. as you heard before Iohn 3. Though the love of God to his Church was the Basis or prime cause of that propriety it now hath in him yet was it not either the only or immediate cause thereof This affection of his notwithstanding they were yet afarre off as S. Paul speakes and lay at as great a distance as is between heaven and earth from being a Church or holy People unto him from having any such peculiar interest or propriety in him Sin had separated and that with a high hand betweene him and them and had fixed a great gulfe betwixt the one and the other moveable only by him that hath power to remove the earth out of his place which kept them asunder from comming one at the other God could not reach or come at his creature with any other expression of his love till this gulfe was removed till sin that hindered was taken out of the way much lesse was it possible for the creature to have made any approach neare unto him to have gained any thing upon him or in him till then Now to fill up this vaste dreadfull and devouring gulfe and so to make the way passable from God to the creature and from the creature back again unto God there was nothing else to be found in heaven or earth of any proportion or any wayes commensurable thereunto but only one that might lawfully count it no robbery to be equall with God being God himselfe blessed for ever The infinitely wise just and righteous God could have found no other consideration of value and weight sufficient to have built a dispensation of that most righteous and just Law of his upon In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death but only the death of his owne only begotten Had all other creatures in heaven and earth consented together in one to have given out their strength and beeings to the uttermost to have raised a consideration or reason amongst them why God should have passed over those words of his as if they had never beene spoken should have let fall that solemne intermination or threatning of his to the ground never to have executed what he had threatned the wisdome of God doubtlesse and zeale to his glory would have despised it and laughed it to scorne whatsoever possibly it might have amounted unto and would have beene more ready to have fallen upon Mediators and Offenders together with fiery indignation then any wayes relented or stood so much as to consider what he had to doe upon the tender of any such propositions unto him It was no worke no undertaking for creatures to salve the glory of an infinite Wisdome and Majesty in case he should let such words of his goe for nought and vanish into the winde which were uttered with such solemnity upon such just and righteous grounds in the sight of heaven and earth It might justly have been thought that God had prized such words as those at a low and under rate and consequently undervalued himselfe in the bargaine if he had sold them at any such rate or price as the creature could have given But the death and sufferings of his owne Son this was a price that weighed somewhat like in his hand upon consideration hereof it was no waies grievous unto him to dispense with his Law and suspend the execution thereof for ever as far as it concernes those that shall unfainedly acknowledge this inestimable grace of his who hath thus bought them from under so heavy a curse and condemnation It is not the least prejudice or disparagement to the infinite Wisdome or Majesty of God or the least diminishing of the authority of any of his Lawes or threatnings whatsoever to let Lawes and threatnings sleep upon such a Pillow as this is and not to be put into execution upon the intercession of such a consideration as this And thus we see how the gift of Iesus Christ likewise was of absolute necessity to bring about this great and wonderfull thing in the world that sinfull men and women the generation of which the Church of God is made should have this deare
immortality it selfe Though I have no ground of confidence to put any such great question unto you as Paul did and well might unto the Galatians to aske you What hath your felicity been since my comming and preaching the Gospell unto you yet this I cannot but professe and testifie to the world to the exaltation and praise of the grace of God that hath been given you by my dispensation of the Gospell towards you let the tree of interpretatiō fall which way it will whether to the North or to the South it shall neither hurt me nor you by the fall that you have rejoyced in my light and have been ready many of you if not to pluck out and give your eyes unto me yet in the best and readiest way of Christian expression to signifie and seale the truth life and power which you have seen tasted and felt in my Ministery And that which I know not how to draw aside to any other construction but only to make a demōstration and proofe of the naturalnesse of your affection towards me and towards the truth it self delivered by me though the iniquity of many hath abounded against both yet your love to neither hath waxed cold which crowne of praise I could willingly enrich yet seven times more and set it upon your heads when I had done if I knew how to worke upon it without seeming at least to soile others by way of complaint and to make men offenders for personall wrongs which is a straine of too much effeminatenesse in a Christian and little lesse then either an acknowledgement of the strength of other mens weaknesse or of the weaknesse of a mans owne strength Howsoever my silence whether upon this or other consideration will be found no treason either against the life or dignity of your Christian and worthy deportment therein there is one greater then all the world besides that will see that righteousness of yours fully rendred unto you in due time Truth is honest in her deepest poverty and distresse and whatsoever she borroweth or taketh of any man for her support or reliefe in prison she will pay double and treble when she recovers her liberty and entreth againe into her glory And feare not he that would not leave the soule of his Sonne in hell nor suffer his holy One to see corruption will be as mindfull of tender over his daughter Truth and will give her beauty for ashes in due season You I confesse have the advantage of me in opportunities many wayes for expressing your selves in point of affection The giving of carnall and outward things is both easier of interpretation and lesse liable to sinister construction then the dispensing of spirituall things is Ministers are oftentimes suspected to preach the Gospell out of envy or other pretences that are not good but no man gives either silver or gold but is presumed to doe it of good will Besides the work and labour of a Minister is looked upon by the most but as of a matter of course and that which he is bound to doe and no great thanke conceived to belong to it but the bestowing of a small matter where men are conceived to be free the rule of which freedome is generally made the silence of the Lawes of Land and State is no lesse then matter of admiration unto many and two mites cast into a Ministers treasury of free gift signifieth in the vulgar Dialect of men twenty thousands in affection Yea the diligence and faithfulnesse of good Ministers themselves successively who have abounded in this worke may well be conceived to have abated the esteeme of it with many and have caused it to seem now rather a 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 then commendation Whereas on the other hand the generall basenesse and empty handednesse of men towards their Teachers sets off a slender liberality with much lustre and beauty as the scarcity of comforts and refreshings in hell make a drop of water to coole his tongue seem a great boone to the rich man Neverthelesse my trust and confidence is concerning you that are spirituall that you by the light partly of my labours and paines amongst you having served you now in the things of Jesus Christ well neare the terme of seven yeares partly of my Doctrine partly of my manner of life and conversation otherwise can plainly and perfectly reade it written in the Tables of my heart how deare you are unto me and how high and glorious my contentments and comforts are in such amongst you whose faces are set towards heaven and are resolved to take nothing in exchange for your soules I will not be further importune with you in pleading the cause of my indearments to you upon this occasion I had rather give you an accompt of my heart towards you in deeds then in words in power then profession Neither shall I ever be troublesome unto you for any greater measure of esteeme or approbation with you then what my carriage shall be reasonably valued at betweene a Pastor and his People If you will please to interpret this Dedication as a recommendation and testimony of mine especiall love care and respects unto you the burden and weight I conceive of what you doe herein shall not need to lie more upon your affections then your judgements and those actions ever come of with best contentment and satisfaction to sober men that are so divided If you had not been the first of my care and affections these first fruits it is most like had not fallen to your portion There is little in what is here presented to your view but that which your eares have tasted already some yeares since You may by a fresh perusall of these things besides the direct benefit of the knowledge reaped from them be occasioned better to understand and consider the state and condition as well of your hearts as memories and to compare them together so as to finde out whether you be stronger in the one or in the other or in both strong or in both weake alike If you finde the sinewes strength and substance of these things in your inner man so that whilst you reade you seem to see the lineaments of the face of your owne soule as in a Glasse to reade the naturall history of your owne spirits this is a pregnant and precious signe unto you that your hearts are sound and their digestion of spirituall nourishment of the best If you meet with little here but what you were able before or without your reading to have uttered and given an accompt of this argues faithfulnesse in your memories also If you lie under the power of these things but have little or no command of the letter this demonstrates a defectivenesse or weaknesse in memory but soundnesse of heart which is the great praise glory and comfort of a Christian if the words passages and expressions remaine for the most part whole with you but the marrow and fatnesse the spirit and life of
being an use of Reproofe are handled Fol. 171 CAP. VIII Wherein the third and last branch of the Use of Reproofe is handled Fol. 215 CAP. IX Wherein the Doctrine is applyed to the enemies of the Church by way of Exhortation Fol. 257 June 23. 1640. IMPRIMATUR THO WYKES THE SAINTS Interest in GOD. PSAL. 68.20 He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues of death CAP. I. Wherein the Coherence together with the sense and meaning of the words are cleared and Doctrines raised WE are met in the presence of this God of ours as the Text speaketh to our hearts very gratiously who is the God of saluation to pay the yearely tribute of praise and thanksgiving which a mercy so transcendently glorious as that Deliverance was which this day calls to remembrance hath imposed upon us with the rest of our Brethren of this Nation That which our Prophet spake of the great workes of God in generall Psal 111.4 though some restraine the words to the deliverance from Aegypt may in speciall manner be applyed to that great Deliverance wrought for this Land which wee now celebrate Some of our English translations reade the words thus The marcifull and gracious Lord hath So done his marvellous workes that they ought to be had in remembrance Our late Translation without any variation of the sense thus He hath made his marvellous workes to beremembred that is upon such workes of his by which hee intends in any more especiall manner to magnifie himselfe on earth he sets as it were such faire and large Characters of his glorious Greatness Power Wisdom and Mercy that all the world cannot but see and know the superscription whose it is He hath so done his marvollous workes that is in such a manner hath put so much as it were of himselfe into them that they ought to bee had or must needs or cannot but bee had in remembrance which is the same with the other Translation he hath made his marvellous works to be remembred that is he hath as it were compelled the world against the naturall inclination and disposition of it which stands to neglect to passe by to forget any thing that God doth to preserve the remembrance of them Men cannot but doe what they doe therein That great Deliverance which that great God of ours wrought for this Nation now 29. years since is of this sort or kinde of his workes among many excellent and goodly workes of his which shine like the Stars in the Firmament it is one of the first magnitude it doth not require it rather comes with power and authority upon us and commands this solemne remembrance of it selfe by this Nation As our Saviour answered the Jewes speaking against the people who so much magnified him If these should hold their peace Luk. 19.4 the Stones would cry So if wee the people of this Land the Men and Women to whom the duty of praising God for such a mercy doth belong if wee I say should have that Miracle or rather indeed Monster of sin found amōgst us not to exalt the name of God under such a provocation we might have cause to expect that God would provoke us and confound us by them that are neither Men nor Women The very beasts of the field or trees or stones of the earth would rise up and take this glory from us They would cry out if we should hold our peace that great is that God that could and would deliver after such a manner David tooke notice by way of thankfulnesse of that speciall love God bare to Sion above all other places in that Land in that he would have his praises heard there Psal 87.2 The Lord loveth the gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Iacob So have wee just cause to conceive and judge by that great mercy of his to this Land that the same Lord loveth more to be praised by us then any other Nation under heaven that the English Incense is in heaven as the Gold of Ophir sometimes was upon earth preferred before that of other Lands it makes the sweetest perfume and savour in the Nostrils of God And therefore because he would have it plentifully offered and sent up unto him he hath unbared his holy arme to doe those great things for us which our soules know right well When he made this compact with David I will deliver thee and thou shalt praise me Psal 50.15 it was a signe that he had a minde to Davids praises more then other mens so having delivered this our Nation once and again and the third time also with so high a hand What other construction can all the world make of such his dealings with us but that he delights to have his praises sung and his name magnified by the English Nation more then all Lands besides Since therefore wee have so great a testimony of the Lords good pleasule in this kinde that he esteemes our praises lovely and desires to heare our voice let us addresse our selves to this great and honourable service let us fill the golden Vialls of our hearts with these sweet odors and make a perfume before the Lord. To furnish both you and my selfe herewith I have made choice of this rich Veine in one of the Psalmes of David as you have heard wherein wee shall finde the praise and glory of God bearing very strongly The Psalme it selfe is in genere laudativo that is of that kinde of Psalme which is in purpose framed for the exaltation of the name and praise of God For the scope of the words no more but this The scope The Prophet a few verses before having set forth severall deliverances and victories which God had given him and his people Israel his heart being full with a Commemoration and mention of so many mercies of the love of the Lord and admiration of his goodnesse in these two verses this and the former not able to hold any longer hee easeth himselfe and breakes forth into the praises of his God in this manner Blessed be the God that daily ladeth us with his benefits c. For the meaning of the words and meaning of the words a little will suffice because here is nothing scarce either word or phrase but is every mans language He that is our God that is that God with whom we are in Covenant whom wee serve and worship That God whether true or false which any Nation or People or any private person chuseth for a god and bestowes that feare and love other points of worship which belongs to God indeed is usually termed and well may be their or his God because such a People or such a person may seem to have a right and interest in the power of that God whatsoever he is for helpe and succour in times of need Out of some such principle as this he spake that said Iure venit cultos ad sibi
the greatnesse of the giver makes them all weighty and full of importance and signification Observe from the premises yet further by way of instruction one speciall Ground and Reason of all that exceeding love which the Church of God beareth towards him and manifesteth in her care diligence faithfulnesse zeale c. to serve him like himselfe and to advance his glory God is theirs their owne they have propriety in him and this they apprehending and beleeving the full streame and current of their love keeping but the naturall and ordinary course runs towards him and falls wholly upon him If ye were of the world the world would love his owne saith our Saviour to his Apostles Iohn 15.19 The Church and People of God having this speciall interest in God which makes him theirs if they love him what singular or strange thing do they in this respect they love but their owne which every man is apt to doe Many when they see the servants of God carried on with a high hand of affection and zeale in his Worship watching daily at Wisdomes gates and giving attendance at her Posts serving him night and day and that instantly or else ingaged deeper then ordinary either in their Estate Credit Friends Liberty Life c. for the advancement of his glory make darknesse of light and interpret that strength of affection which ruleth thus gloriously in the wayes and practises of such men to be nothing else but either weaknesse of judgement or strength of hypocrisie and dissimulation They either thinke they have lost their owne wits to make such unnecessary expence and wast of themselves or else gained in some of the old Serpents subtilty and craft unto them whereby he transformes himselfe into an Angel of light for advantage sake And this Erasmus reports that Luther in his time seemed to the generality of men Partim stultus partim malus partly a foole and partly a knave as we use to speake The spirituall man saith Paul 1 Cor. 2.15 is judged of no man that is is not rightly and truly judged of by any man but only by his owne society men that are spirituall like himself by any certaine rule of judgement because his grounds principles ends relations c. are not knowne believed or comprehended by other men But though he be judged of no man in this sense for the reason given yet is he judged and rejudged over and over after a fashion by all sorts of men and no man hath more verdicts and censures past upon him then he and these as wilde and inconsistent with themselves as lightly can be As it is with unskilfull Archers that shoot over and under and on both sides but never come neare the But or Marke they shoot at But if men did fully apprehend and believe this speciall relation of theirs we speake of this peculiar interest they have in God it would neither be thought either defect in wisdome or excesse of dissimulation that such should with that freenesse give out their strength unto him and bestow themselves with that which is theirs upon him but would judge it a sober orderly and well-resolved course a course whereunto the wisdomes discretions and even naturall inclinations of men usually conform themselves in other things Nebuchadnezzar doubtlesse was at great expences and lavisht Gold apace out of the bagge what other inconveniences soever he put himselfe upon when he built that royall Palace of Babel but because it was his owne Dan. 3. and for the house of his Kingdome and the honour of his Majesty I know none that have risen up against him to censure or condemne him for his magnificence in that kinde If he had built for another no wayes related to him after such a rate and proportion of charge men might well have asked how the King and his Treasure came so soone parted and have deemed him greater in power then in wisdome And generally when men doe bestow cost upon things that be their owne whether it be for their credit profit or the like if the subject upon which it is bestowed or laid out as for example House Lands Wife Children or the like will reasonably or but tolerably beare it it is passed over as a matter of no great observation men are not taxed with the transgression of any rule or law either of honesty or discretion in such a case Behold is he not their God have they not a peculiar right and propriety in him He that loveth his Wife saith the Apostle Ephes 5.28 and may not I say much more he that loveth his God loveth Himself Yea he that loveth his God most loveth himselfe most and doth it argue either want of wit or honesty that men should love themselves Or what greater honour and esteeme yea what greater profit and advantage can in a regular way be expected then that it should be publikely knowne and acknowledged in the world that that God whom wee serve and in whom wee have a propriety as our owne is the only true God a God of infinite goodnesse power and majesty The true God is called the glory of those that worship him They changed their glory into the similitude of an Oxe that eateth grasse Psal 106.20 So again Psal 62.7 As on the contrary to be mistaken in a mans God to worship and serve and to be coupled with a strange god with a filthy Idoll as the best of all worshipped gods are the true God only excepted is a great reproach and staine to the dignity and excellency of a man They went to Baal-Peor and separated themselves to that shame c. Hos 9.10 So Ier. 11.13 You set up Altars to that shame c. Yea to be under question or just suspition of such an error and great evill is not a thing so well consisting with any mans reputation in the world Now that a man hath indeed the Lord for his God as David speaketh that he that is God indeed hath revealed himself unto him and that the devill hath not furnisht him and provided him of a god is a thing which cannot fully be manifested by any other light whatsoever but only by pouring out our selves and our whole substance freely and willingly in his worship and service And may not thoughts of jealousie be justly taken up against a man that he hath some ignoble god for his god that he goeth not above the Sun Moone and Stars if he goeth so far to fetch the deity he worshippeth when the sacrifice he offers is only the lame and torne of his flock when he serves him with an evill eye or thinkes any thing too good or too great for him Cursed be the deceiver saith the Lord by his Prophet Mal. 1.14 which hath in his flocke a Male and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing But why should such a man be cursed or how is he a deceiver The Reason of both followeth and is the same For I am a great King