this great Truth affords you encouragement and comfort to think that though the World despise and reject you yet God owns you though they count you abject and base as the very off-scouring of the earth yet that he looks upon you as his Children having adopted you as his own and put his Name upon you so it may teach you these Lessons 1. Love God with a filial affection He deserves your best love who hath shewen you such love as this is Context vers 1. Behold It calls for attention observation and admiration What manner of love It is a love which your hearts cannot comprehend it is so great so strange that ever sinners should be taken so near to the great God Let your love meet it Hence 1. Love his Honour and Glory Nothing can grieve a Child more than to see his Parents vilified and hear them evil spoken of and their names traduced How then should it grieve the Children of God to see and hear what woful dishonour is cast upon his glorious Name by the profane lives and speeches of wicked men this was David's overwhelming grief Psal 119. 136. Rivers of tears run down mine eyes because men keep not thy Law 2. Love fellowship or communion with him Love to draw near him in all those wayes in which he reveales himself and holds correspondence with his own People Take delight in Ordinances and spiritual Duties value one day in the house of God better than a thousand elsewhere be willing to go through all difficulties and if called to it endure calamities that you may enjoy the presence of God Get to be able sincerely to make David's profession Psal 119 136. Lord I have loved the habitation of thine House and the place where thine honour dwelleth 3. Love his Image wheresoever you see it We look often and with great content upon the Pictures of those on whom our hearts are set There are those here in the World that are more than Pictures the Saints are living Images of the Lord we may see in them not only the likness to but the shining reflection of his communicated perfections Hence we should love the Saints as they are Gods Children and our fellow brethren so did David Psal 16. 2. The Saints in whom is all my delight 5. Love his commands The dutiful Child loves that his father should be calling for his service and is glad at the heart when any thing that he doth can find acceptance and give content How doth David love the law He cannot express it Psal 110. 96. How sweet and precious is it to him Psal 19. 9 10. Do not reckon it to be your burden but your priviledge that your heavenly Father will honour you so much who needs it not as to imploy you about any thing for him And though it be the meanest service yet because it is for him account it honourable true love will stoop low to express it self to the beloved 2. Serve God with a filial subjection It s the Apostles counsel 1 Pet. 1. 14. As obedient Children c. There is a great difference between the service of a Child and that of a servant Shew your selves the Children of God 1. By hearkening unto him in whatsoever he hath to say unto you How diligent should Children be to listen whither their Parents call them or no And what attention ought they to yeild unto them when they speak to or command them in any matter Eâ—e God in his providences consider what is his mind therein hear the rod and him that hath appointed it hearken to him in his word and make a particular application to your own souls of all those counsels aâ—d directions which are given in his Ordinances from one time to another II. Readily embrace his will and without grumbling or repining go about every work of God which you are called unto chearfully It is a note of great disobedience of heart and a thing very grievous unto their Parents when they see that their Children go about their doing of any thing that they are commanded with an ill will How acceptable must it needs be unto God when his Children do their duty so as in the manner of their doing it they make it to appear that they take great satisfaction in it Herein we shew our selves to be like Christ our elder Brother who rejoyced to do his Fathers will Psal 40. 7. 3. Endeavour in all things so to carry it that such as take notice of you may see and know whose Children you are Bear alwayes about with you the Image of God and labour after an evident representation of his perfections in your whole conversation Mat. 5. ult Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect Remember that as there is a real so there ought to be a manifest difference between the Children of God and the Children of the Devil 1 Joh. 3. 9. In this the Children of God are manifested It is therefore your part to be alwayes shewing the difference And to that end have a care of conforming your selves in the sinful and carnal courses and customs of the world Be not afraid no nor ashamed to run in a stream quite contrary to theirs And for this be observant of the rules of Gods word where you may learn to cleanse your way and regulate your lives sutable to your relation And hence 1. Shew your selves the Children of God by an holy life and conversation 1 Pet. 1. 15 16. As he that hath called you is holy so be ye also holy c. Live contrary to the worlds filthiness they love to be wallowing in the mire of fleshly lust to be polluting themselves with sin do you abstain from the very appearance â—â— any such thing God is most holy and he loves purity and hates filthiness and when we do so to and shew that we do so in our practical conversation then do we shew our selves to be like him It is a very great shame that the Sons of God should have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness that believers should be overtaken with the like excesses of riot drunkenness wantonness c. with unbelievers this is a great disgrace to the high and honourable calling of the Children of God holiness becomes his Saints let then the shine of his Graces irradiat your loves 2. By expressing an holy confidence in God in all the cases and concernments of your lives In trouble affliction Persecution distress contrary to those cares and perplexities of the men of the world which eat them up and declare that they have no further to rely upon we then honour God and bring credit to Religion when we can at all times cast our care upon him believing in his power and promise in our sorest distress thus did David when he was reduced to the greatest imaginable difficulties 1. Sam. 30. 6. He encouraged himself in the Lord. 3. By a constant application of your selves to God in all your cases Children especially
Spouse of Christ hence called the Bride the Lambs Wife Rev. 19â— 7 21 9. And it is the Wives prerogative to share in her Husbands Honour They are the members of Christ he is their head now the whole man partakes in the honour which the head is adorned withal they are Christ mystical 1 Cor. 12. 12. And therefore are not to be divided from him in his Glory 4. The Intercession of Christ He is in Heaven interceding with his Father for this very thing when Christ was ready to depart the World as to his bodily presence he gave us a specimen of this intercession of his in that mediatorial Prayer of his Joh. 17. In which he positively declares that this is one thing which he importunately and without taking of any denial pleads vers 24. Father I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am 5. From the condition of the Covenant of Grace For though there be nothing of merit in it yet their is certainty and a promise which cannot be made void Now this is ingaged to those that serve him Joh. 12. 26. Where I am there shall my servants be That follow him Mat. 19. 28. Ye that have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit upon his Throne ye shall sit upon Thrones That suffer with him 2 Tim. 2. 12. If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him 6. Finally Union is the ground of Communion Hence these being made one with Christ by the same spirit dwelling in them which dwelt in him so they come to be like him in Glory Hence Our Saviour Christ puts them together Joh. 17. 21 22 23. That they may be one in us c. And the Glory which thou gavest me I have given them c. I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one 3. What ground of satisfaction ariseth from hence Ans In summe if we shall be like Christ there needs no more to make us fully blessed and conspicuously glorious He cannot be ought less than unexpressibly happy in the great day of Christs appearance that shall then be like him for although we can at present no more know what Christ shall be then we can what we shall be yet the consideration that we shall be like him may afford to us these grounds of satisfaction 1. That our happiness shall countervail and more than make us amends for all the sorrows and sufferings of this life Christ was a Man of sorrows with an Emphasis he was put to the greatest grief and yet he hath a full compensation for all his Exaltation holds a full proportion to his Humiliation Phil. 2. 7 with 8 9. He was deeply humbled so was he highly exalted Such was it that the very thoughts of it before hand carried him resolutely through all that he was to meet withal Heb. 12. 2. For the joy that was set before him he endured the Cross and despised the shame And if he hath enough to answer his how then must the People of God needs have that which will dry up their tears and wash off their griefs and troubles Hence with this David comforts himself in midâ—â— of such thoughts as he had been labouring under Psal 17. ult I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness 2. That our happiness shall be so discovered that our Enemies and those that scorned and scoffed at us here shall be ashamed and confounded at the sight of it It shal then appear not only to our selves but to all the World too that it was not as they thought in vain to serve God and unprofitable to pray to him Christ's second appearance shal fill his Enemies with horrid con fusion Rev. 1. 7. They scorned him here and he was made a reproach but then they shal tremble and dread his glorious presence shal drive them to seek shelter from him of Rocks and Mountains Rev. 6. 20 21. And when we shal appear with him in Glory then they that said the Saints were unhappy men shal see and confess that they are glorious Then Men shal say Verily there is a reward for the Righteous Verily he is a God that Judgeth in the Earth Psal 58. 11. With this thought the Church in the greatest distress comforts herself and cheks the pride of her Enemies Mic. 7. 8 9 10. 3. That our happiness shal be such as shal serve 〈◊〉 to express the love of God to be like himself Christ is the Son of his love and God to 〈◊〉 that he loved him in our nature hath made him accordingly glorious He hath also loved his People in Christ hence they too must be made to know what that love meaneth That love with which he loves them is special love and not common which all his Creatures are made the partakers of and hence the fruits of it must be special too It shal be such a Glory as shal deserve to have a Proclamation made before it and Angels and Men called to turn their eyes and look upon it to see what were the everlasting thoughts of good will which God did bear to his chosen Ones in Christ 4. What can the Disciple desire better than to be as his Master As he cannot expect to meet with-any thing better here so he can hope for no better hereafter To be with Christ where he is and to be like him in the day of his appearance is as much as the Soul can desire and will be found a felicity so great that his most enlarged reaching will not be able to grasp after more USE I. For Information 1. That the thoughts of the great Day of Judgement ought to be delightful thoughts to the People of God for this is the very day wherein being made like to him they shal look like themselves This thought that then we shal be like him may make the expectation of it very precious to us There are many terrible considerations of that day awful and amazing which may well make the ungodly World to fall a trembling but the consideration of what they shal be then may take off all that dread from the hearts of the Children of God It is the very day wherein Christ comes with great Power and Majesty and all his Saints shal wait upon him in like Robes of Glory unto them which he shal be adorned withal Could we but think of these things with a true discerning of our right and title to them it could not but make us love to be meditating before-hand of that glorious time Paul loves often to be speaking of it 2. Learn hence wherein true happiness consists viz. To be like Christ The World hath greatly mistaken in its ghuess-at the nature of true felicity whiles some have placed it in pleasures others in profits others in honours Some have called the Proud happy others the Voluptuous happy whereas that which is the true happiness namely likness to Christ they have reckoned upon as
spiritual right and all their enjoyments are theirs by the new Covenant 2. They have the Ministry of the blessed Angels Heb. 1. 14. Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation Those glorious Beings which attend before the Throne of God are also made to wait upon Gods Children they guard these Heirs of Salvation they are unto them tutelary Angels to defend them from evil and to watch for their good Psal 91. 11. He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee they pitch their tents round about them Psal 34. 1. they bring them messages of peace from Heaven even answers of their Prayers Dan. 9. 23. they strengthen and confirm them in their secret conflicts Luk. 22. 43. and when they come to die they are a convoy to carry their Souls home to eternal rest Luk. 16. 22. The Angels carried Lazarus into Abrahams bosom 3 They have the cooperation of all things to do them good Rom. 8. 28. Gods Children are called to pass through varieties of changes in this life they meet with manifold afflictions they have many enemies men and devils that are engaged to plot their harm and take all advantages to bring it about but yet all these being over-ruled by the power and wisdom of God which stand on his peoples side are made beneficial to them and whatever they plot for evil is turned to good and though sorely against their will whom nothing more grieves then the welfare of the Saints all helps them forward for heaven and contributes to the encrease of their eternal glory every reproach and injury doth but add weight to their Crown 6. They are made Royal Heirs they are conjoyned with Jesus Christ in the glorious inheritance that is prepared Rom. 8. 17. Joynt Heirs with Christ they are as Children of the great King entituled to a Kingly estate yea they are constituted Heirs of all things God is theirs Christ is theirs the Throne and Crown that are prepared and the exceeding eternal weight of Glory are theirs and though for the present during their nonage and minority here in this life they seem but little different from servants to the observation of others their Inheritance being as yet in reversion and they mean while under manifold exercises of their graces yet erelong when they are made perfect men in Christ and having finished the work set them to do in this World shall be brought to take full possession of their own it shall then be known what happy ones they are 4. For the evidence of the Doctrine or wherein it appears that they are now the Sons of God notwithstanding their present despicable condition here take only two Conclusions 1. There is nothing in their present mean and despicable estate but what is well enough consistent with their Sonship though they are hated despised persecuted afflicted and every way as low and mean as is to be imagined For 1. That the World hates them is rather an evidence of their Sonship than any Argument against it as being an exercise and discovery of that enmity which God hath put between the seed of the Serpent of the Woman The Devil who is the Father of ungodly Men is Gods great Enemy and the ringleader of Rebellion against him and no wonder since he cannot touch God in his Being if Hell rise up against him and oppose him in his Children It is true that wicked men do not know them to be certainly the Children of God for the world know us not ver 1. but they know them to be other kind of men from themselves and for this reason they hate and persecute them our Saviour foretold his Disciples that they must expect to meet this measure from the World and gives the reason Mat. 10. 22. Ye shall be hated of all men for my Name sake it is for the profession which they make and the glory of God which they are bound for that they are hated and scorned in the World 2. That God suffers the World to afflict and persecute them denies not his fatherly care of them for in this very thing he makes men and devils to serve them there is no Saint that ever was or ever shall be a loser by all that Gods and his Enemies shall do against him and that because what they intend for harm God evermore by a powerful over-ruling providence turns for their good his Graces are hereby tried and made to shine forth and that trial proves to be much better than that of God 1 Pet. 1. 7. God hereby puts an advantage into his hands to glorifie him and testifying his love and sincerity to him in chearfully suffering all things for his Name and Faith at such a time teacheth him to rejoyce that he may be counted worthy for this so did the Apostles when scourged before the Council Act. 5. 41. and when wicked men have done their worst to the Children of God they do but prepare for them a glorious Chariot to ride home in tryumph to the City of God 3. That they are low and mean in the world is not because God loves wicked men better than he loves them whom he suffers to flourish and abound in all delights to live at ease and die without bands but because such a condition in this life is usually best for them and still when they are most distressed poor and bare they are his chosen they are rich because God himself is their portion and a Kindom is prepared for them Jam. 2. 6. as long as they are here they are from home they are Strangers and Pilgrims and it is safest for them to be so and still that remains to be a great truth Psal 37. 16. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked better because it is his own and he hath it with Gods favour and love 4. That God is often angry with them afflicts them and withdraws the light of his countenance from them and puts them to grief is not because he loves them not but because it is that which their present condition requires they are but Children and childish and foolish and if they were not sometimes chastened they would grow wanton and careless of Duty a Fathers love is evidenced as well in correcting a wanton child as in providing for him God doth it to shew his love Heb. 12. 6. Whom he loves he corrects he doth it for the saving of their Souls 1 Cor. 11. 32. Ye are judged of the Lord that ye may not be condemned with the World when the time comes that all their sin is done away then they shall sorrow no more so that in all this way how dark soever it seems to be God is guiding them by counsel that he may bring them to glory 2. In this mean and despised estate of theirs God is pleased to be giving of them many testimonies and clear evidences of their Sonship As 1. Their fellowship
little Children in their minority are to have their whole dependance upon their Parents and so shoâ—â—â— Believers upon their God When you are in any straâ—â— go to him thus did Hezekiah Isa 38. 14. I am oppressed Lord undertake for me Hence 1. When you want any good thing go to God for it and no whither else ask it of him and not of a stranger is it a great disparagement to Parents and they take it so for their Children to go to other houses to beg or steal to supply their wants it is enough for Orphans that have none to care for them to do so Have you a Fathâ—â— in Heaven go then and tell him what it is that you need he will consider of it and if you do indeed need it you shall have it and if you have it not you may certainly conclude it is because his wisdom sees that it is better for you to be without it you would take harm by it if he should gratifie you in it it is for your good to want it and therefore be content and do not seek to supply your selves out of his way for as that would dishonour him so you may be sure it shall not prosper 2. When you suffer and are wronged by any content your selves now to go and tell him of it and do not seek by any indirect course or undue means to right your selves It is the duty of Gods Children to leave all their wrongs and injuries to his righting of them Psal 10. 14. The poor committeth himself unto thee God looks upon the recompence of wrongs to be a preâ—ogative of his soveraignty and his Children â—ave no reason to fear but that he will plead their cause and do them right 4. Be alwayes strengthening and encouraging of your Faith in God by the frequent consideration of your Adoption Be much therefore in this contemplation it affords plentiful and soul-satisfying encouragement to a Child of God in every condition that he can be reduced unto Hence improve it 1. When you are wooed and solicited by Satan to look upon the tempting glories of the things of this world when honour and pleasures bid hard for your affections solicite you eagerly to let out your hearts upon them and it may be their seeming splendor and delicacy may begin to dazzle your eyes and allure your minds now consider solemnly with your selves who you are reflect upon your extract and draw such conclusions as naturally result from it Say now these things may indeed seem fine and fair baâ—ts to poor beggars and fatherless ones that ly upon the worlds dung-hill let them then take and share them among themselves let them scramble and see who can get most of them they may do it they are not Themistocles they have no better an hope these are things accommodated to their earthly minds Check your rambling affections with these considerations It is below my birth and breeding to take up satisfied with and place my hearts delight upon such sorry despicable things this is fit for none but such miserable sneaks as have nothing else to trust unto I have otherghuess delights riches and honours to feed upon and satiate my Soul withal I have substances I will not therefore rest in shadows nor envy such as do 2. When you are ready to be opprest and overcome with slavish fears of want and distresses here in this world and your minds begin to be distracted about it cares are multiplying upon you now rouse up yourselves and think who are you that you should afflict and torment your selves about such matters Consider 1. Have you not a Father in heaven and will he not take care of you or can he not supply you What is it should give you reason to doubt of it Doth he not take care for things of less value Be often propounding that question to your selves Job 38. ult Who provideth for the Raven his food Doth not God cloath the Lillies Do not all eyes wait for him and he gives them their meat in due season Are not the meanest creatures in his family well provided for And can a Child be neglected Are not the Lillies gorgiously decked by him and do not we see the Fowles of the air get a living God doth all this for them it is his love and care and doth he not love you better Such thoughts as these should quicken our Faith from day to day 2. Have you not enough to live on If not I wish then that you had Have you not Estates enough to maintein you Is there not enough in heaven and earth to supply the wants of one poor creature what if this earth should fail and all these lower springs should be dryed up and indeed they may so do for these are waters that sometimes fail yet still there is enough to be had in heaven Is not an Almighty God sufficient to be your portion Well then draw up this conclusion with yourselves if this World will afford me nothing if I can get no relief here below yet I will go to heaven for it and as long as my God and Father is there I will not dispair 3. When you find in your selves an impotency to the performance of your duty in serving of God Your knees are feeble and your hands hang down and you feel your selves ready to faint in the work of God which you are called 〈◊〉 now gather strength again by musing upon this I can do nothing of my self yet I will go to him and he shall do all for me I will wait upon him and he shall worke all my works in me I cannot Pray as I ought but he shall help all my infirmities he shal make requests in me form Petitions for me and fill the Sails of my Soul with his heavenly Gales and my desires though in themselves they are low and dull shal by his mighty assistance be wasted along to Heaven with the stiff Gales of sighs and groans that cannot be uttered I fall shoâ—t in duty and there is sin and imperfection in every service which I set my self about but his work in me shal give my poor but sincere performances acceptance with God Yea I am a Child and therefore my weak but true endeavours shal never be despised by a Father whose love can over all my frailties 4. When your Sins appear before you with a terrible aspect and Satan would make you affraid to come before God by reason of them When he represents him to your thoughts as a consuming fire as appearing in his wrath and displeasure and would perswade you to believe there is no favour for you that such sins and so circumstanced as yours are will find no remission Now reflect but am I not still a Child and if so then I am sure that though he correct me and I deserve it nor will I refuse to submit my self patiently unto it yet he cannot take away his loving kindness from me I will therefore appear before him
the advantage to raign without any rebuke or check and men begin to grow impudent when there are none left to reform them nor any to avert the sore indignation of God from theâ— When Joshua and that good Generation that went with him into Canaan were dead theâ— aâ—ose a new Generation that knew not the Lord what followed but Apostasy and Calamity See Judg. 2. 8. c. And this will help to illustrate the second enquiry viz. 2. Why God then takes them away when he is about to bring evil upon a place Answ There may be two especial reasons assigned for this 1. God doth it with a gracious and favourable respect to themselves Since they could not by all their pious endeavours reclaim a degenerate People but misery must come God takes them away that their eyes might not see it This God promiseth as a special favour to Josiah 2. Chr. 34 28. Thou shall be gathered to thy Grave in Peace neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place Truly when ever a Godly man dyes he rests from his Labour but when he is taken away from the face of evil it is a particular blessing to him How could his tender and pitiful heart have born to look upon all those Calamities which his Country his Friends his Children and Relations must suffer To see all going to Rack before his eyes would be a lamentable sight God therefore in great love respect takes them home where they are removed out of the noise or tumult of all these things dwelling in the fulness of present Joy and Glory 2. God doth it also that he may have no Remora or Hinderence lying in the way to stop the course of his anger These were they who before held his hands we find that he could do nothing to Sodom till Lot was out of it And he is put to ask Moses to let him alone Exod. 32. 10. Godly Men are God's Jewels he cannot set fire to the Rubbish till they are secured they are his tender Ones to whom he hath a peculiar respect and they must be marked before the destroyâ—â— Angel executes his Commission they must 〈◊〉 many times housed in their Graves before he 〈◊〉 give full scope to his Indignation and these 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 supposed to be those Chambers in which God calls his People to hide themselves before such a Day Isa 26. 20. But when once they are gone now God can shut up his Bowels against a Rebellious Nation USE I. This truth may afford us help to unfold that Riddle of Divine Providence at the which many are ready to stumble viz. That Godly men are often suddenly and strangly taken away when wicked men are let alone and suffered to live It is the Wise Man's observation Ecâ—les 7. 16. There is a Just man that perisheth in his Righteousness and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his Life in wickedness Let none suppose that God therfore discountenanceth his Servants and approves of ungodly men no thâ— one is taken away in mercy to himself though in judgement to the World the other is spared to his greater misery either here or hereafter Godly men when ever they die are then certainly happy and at sometimes it is a peculiar priviledge for them to die that they may get away from the sight and report of these direful dispensations of divine displeasure that are coming upon a surviving Generation The Philosopher saith every thing hath two handles a right and a wrong and most men take Providence in some cases by the wrong handle they interpret many dispensations to be Judicial and so indeed they may be but their folly is that they interpret them so to be in respect of the persons suffering them when as it is indeed to themselves when Solomon had with some consternation viewed these things he recollects himself and draws this safe conclusion Eccles 8. 12. Surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God and so it shall but woe to the World when holy Men flock to their graves as Doves to their Windows before a Storm and they may when they are departing speak to surviving Mourners in the Language of our Saviour Christ to those weeping Women Luk. 23. 28 29 30. Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but for your selves and for your Children c. USE II. This may serve to reprehend their folly who are weary of the company of righteous men they think that the World hath been troubled with them even long enough they look upon them as Enemies as busie bodies as men that are the troublers of Israel and no body can be quiet for them so wicked Ahab unjustly censured holy Elijah And hence They take it for certain that it would be much better for the place which they live in if they were well laid up in their Graves They wisâ— them in Heaven as the vulgar note of wicked men is What do these men do but in effect 〈◊〉 and impreeate upon themselves a mischief 〈◊〉 God grant them their desires upon this account 〈◊〉 would but carry the godly to the place of their 〈◊〉 and bring them home to the 〈◊〉 of their eternal rest But in the mean time when they are gone who shall plead and pray and mourn for a sinful People Will God hear wicked sinners Who shall stand in the Gap to keep out Judgement and Wrath Shall wicked and ungodly men Assure we our selves that so much of Godliness as goes away from a place so much of God goes away too and it may not be long ere the time comes when those that so earnestly longed for their removal and were inwardly satisfied and glad that they were taken away shall as much wish that they had them again when it will be too late USE III. For Tryal is it so sometimes then it may put us upon the enquiry whether there be not good ground for us to fear that it 〈◊〉 may be so with us at this day I might urge it more particularly to our selves of this Congregation from whom God hath of late years taken away many pious and precious Servants of his and wâ— that are left alive ought to lay it to hearâ—â— But I shall take liberty to urge it on a more publick account as it bears respect to this People in general and here give me leave to further this tryal by leaving such things as these to consideration 1. They are Apostatizing or declining times by reason of which there is dâ—uotless much of provocation offered to the holy Majâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 Heaven I need not to seek out witnesses 〈◊〉 this Habemus confitentes reos yea and 〈◊〉 himself hath also testified to it in his many awful and amazing providences It is a thing too manifest that the power of Godliness is now under great decayes and many sins begin to look abroad and dare to hold up their heads And from hence we may safely conclude that it is
against all the misgiving Objections of Flesh and Blood establishing the truth of our present state of Adoption without any doubting or questioning of it The Emphasis of the assertion lies in the word Now and it looks either backward to the words foregoing or forward to these that follow it stands between two dark Clouds and scatters them both He had told them of this great dignity and glorious title but sence seemed to contradict and say 1. If we are Sons why then are we not known are not the Children of a Prince acknowledged by the Subjects but the World tramples us into the dust and persecutes us unto death and would God suffer this if he was our Father well saith he they neither do know you nor him and a Princes Son is of no repute with him that know him not from a Peasant but for all this you are Sons and your Father knows you though the World doth not and that may satisfie you But 2. If we were Sons we should be in a more happy condition whether the World knew it or no but we live in the midst of sorrows and sufferings both of body and mind we are encompassed and almost overwhelmed with miseries and is this the portion of Sons do Kings wont to neglect their Children and suffer them to live in misery well but still this shakes not the conclusion for although the happiness we are entituled unto appears not as yet yet now we are Sons and there shall a time come when we shall be made to look like such We may first take the assertion it self into our consideration now are we the Sons of God and from hence we may observe this Doct. The poorest and most despised Believers in the World are now the Sons of God The Apostle speaks of such as had received the anointing of the Spirit Cap. 2. 27. of such as had known the Father and believed on Christ ver 13 14. and these are they whom he pronounceth owners of this happy title In the opening of this Doctrine we are to consider 1. What is meant by being the Sons of God 2. How we come to be his Sons 3. What is the profit or advantage coming to us by this relation 4. The evidence or how it appears that we are such 1. What is meant by being the Sons of God A. The Title of a Son is a title of Relation and hath a Father for its correlate God is pleased to assume this Relation to himself and to acknowledge it between him and his Creatures that so he may express his love and goodness to them by such things as may carry to their conception the greatest evidence or demonstration Father and Son among Men are relates standing very near one to another and have such considerations and respects in them as very nearly resemble that Covenant relation which there is between God and his People Hence it is Anologically expressed the same affections and engagements that Fathers bear to their Sons the same doth God to his People the same interest that Children have in their Fathers love and care the same have Believers in God Now among Men persons come to bear the denomination of Sons in two wayes viz. either by natural Generation or voluntary Adoption After the former of these wayes God hath but one Son begotten by an eternal and undeclarable Generation after the latter he hath many Sons even as many as believe in the Name of Christ Joh. 1. 12. So that by the Sons of God we are to understand all those of the Children of Men who by Gods free Adoption are made to bear the relation title and priviledges of his Children It is a word borrowed from the customs among Men who when they Adopt one to be their Heir do give him the title of their Son and although it differ from that in two main points viz. 1. That God was not put upon it thus to Adopt any because of the deficiency or want of a natural Son which is the main incentive to it among Men that so they may have one to Heir their Estates nor yet because his Son had given him any just provocation to reject and disinherit him for which Men do sometimes abdicate their own Children and adopt a Stranger No God had an only begotten Son in whom he placed his delight from all Eternity who had never given him any displeasure in the least but had afforded him everlasting satisfaction yea then when his Father put him upon the highest proof of filial obedience calling him to do and die for sinful man he cheerfully replied Lo I come to do thy will Oh God Psal 40. 7. this Adoption therefore was an effect of his abundant overflowing Grace that it should be the good pleasure of his Holy Will to joyn poor Believers unto and admit them to be made coheirs with Christ Rom. 8. 17. Joynt Heirs with Christ And 2. That God doth not do it to make them inherit by way of succession which is the case among men and the ground and design of humane Adoption being because man is mortal and must in a short time die and leave all his earthly possessions and name behind him hence that they may have one to bear up the their name and possess their livings which they can no longer in person enjoy they substitute one in their room so that as long as the Adopter lives the adopted is kept out of possession and must be content to wait for his portion till the other goes off and is often in the mean while put to many and hard shifts whereas God lives for ever and yet Believers are not entituled to but have actual participation in all the good things of God according to their present state and capacity immediately after their Adoption and eternally Men say when I die you shall inherit but Christ saith because I live you shall live also I say although in these things it differs and evermore the antitype is something more glorious than the Type yet in the main notions of Adoption they agree viz. 1. As that so this makes an absolutely free choice of the subject if men do much more God may take a liberty to do with his own what he pleaseth the Adopted could have laid no claim to his Title if it had not been freely conferred upon him he can give no other reason for it but the good will of him who chose him unto it if he had left him out and named another in his will he could not have charged it as any wrong done unto him Gods Adoption is an act of free Grace and a discovery of his greatest love Context ver 1. Behold what manner of love c. it is said there to be a love given or bestowed and how free it is will appear 1. From the antiquity of the Foundation of it it was founded in Gods eternal Decree where we were chosen to this priviledge Eph. 1. 5. Having predestinated us to the Adoption of
our interest and trust in all other things it is that whereby we cleave unto him with full purpose of heart to be for him and for no other this is in the very nature of justifying Faith and hence we shall find it frequently exprest in the Scripture under such phrases as these are or others that are synonimical 2. This Faith is the true and proper product of the Spirit in our Regeneration that which iâ— begotten and brought forth in us is Faith all that is before it in the Soul is onlie preparatory unto it all that is concomitant with it is denominated from it all Grace in us is called Faith in Scripture because that is the principal Grace wrought in us Gods Elect are by nature dead but the Spirit quickens them Eph. 2. beginning and how doth he so why by causing them to believe for the life of Regeneration is properly a life of Faith Gal. 2. 20. I live by the Faith of the Son of God so that when by the operation of the Spirit in him a man is made to believe he is then and not till then born of God he is then also married to Christ Christ marries with none that are dead he finds them indeed spiritually dead when he comes to them but he first quickens them by his Grace causing them to believe and so to live and as such he takes them into this nearness of relation to himself and so they are together and at once born of God and espoused to Jesus Christ 3. What is the profit and advantage coming by this Relation A. The Apostle John using it as a present Argument to engage us to constancy in times of Antichristian Tyrany thereby intimates that it is a relation of infinite worth and would have us therefore to consider of it and take a large view of its worth and eminency and indeed there is so much in it as we may lose our selves in the contemplation all the good which is wrapt up in the promise is made oveâ— and becomes the propriety of the Believer in and by his Son-ship I cannot rehearse all but the choice advantages of Adoption are 〈◊〉 as these that follow 1. The Name and Title it self is a great benefit and advantage it is a dignity an honour to be called the Children of God the Apostle seems to place much weight upon the denomination it self ver 1. What manner of love that we should be called the Sons of God Jacob honoured Joseph's two eldest Sons when he willed that his name should be called upon them so doth the great God the Children of Men wâ—â—n he is pleased that his Name should come into their Title that those who were before by way of Disgrace called Adam's Sons and Children of Hell Children of Wrath Children of the Devil should rise and be henceforth called the Children of God this very Title declares these to be made noble by their new-birth who by their natural birth were ignoble It is among men accounted an high thing to be the Son of some King or Emperour 1 Sam. 18. 23. Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a Kingâ— Son in law what is it then for God to call us his Sons and Daughters and to give us leave to call him our Father as 2 Cor. 6. 18 I will be to you a Father and you shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord God Almighty and Jer. 14. 9. we are called by thy Name 2. They are taken into Gods and that not as Servants but as Children there to abide for ever Joh. 8. 35. The Servant abideth not in the House for ever but the Son abideth for ever Believers therefore are all one Houshold called the Houshold of Faith Gal 6. 10. and they are of Gods Family after another manner then wicked Men and inferiour creatures God after a more common way and by a more general providence looks after the World and all the affairs of it all creatures come under his care and for that reason the whole Creation is his great Family but these Children are under his special inspection and care 1 Pet. 5. 7. Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you In sum they being Children have him for a Father And hence 1. He will certainly provide for them and they need not to puzzle their minds or distract their thoughts about any such thing for he will consider all their wants and send them relief they shall have whatsoever they stand in need of and they shall have it as they need it Mat. 6. 31 32. take no thought c. for the Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of these things if others in a Family suffer want and be pincht with difficulties yet the Children shall certainly be taken care for as long as there is any thing to be had they are hard times indeed when Children are denied that which is needful for them Hence that Psal 34. 10. Young Lions are brought to want and suffer hunger but they that fear the Lord shall want for no good thing 2. He will protect them from all harms and injuries and that both by defending of them from their Enemies and also by righting of their wronged cause and at all times and in all cases whatsoever they may with greatest safety and without any fear leave it with him and in it he will not leave him Heb. 13. 5 6. He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper and I will not fear It is hard for earthly Parents to deser their Children and when they see them wronged to hold their peace and neither say nor do any thing to right them it is certain God will not nay he cannot Psal 27. 10. When my Father and my Mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up Jer. 2. 2. All that devour him shall offend evil shall come upon them saith the Lord Zech. 2. 8. He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye 3. He will uphold them from falling he will take them by their hand and stay their steps for them sustein them keep them from undoing themselves hence those promises 1 Pet. 1. 5. Ye are kept by the power of God Psal 91. 11 12. Gods Sons in this life are like little Children alwayes tripping and stumbling and falling and so weak that they could never get up again but for him but by reason of his hand that is upon them his everlasting Arm that is under them hence if they fall at any time through incogitancy or by stumbling at any thing that lies in their way or through that weakness that attends them or by Satans malice thrusting at them he will lift them up again 4. He will counsel and direct them they are tender and foolish in themselves they have not wisdom enough of their own to order and direct their way and are therefore easily se duced and cheated by the adversary
with Christ in his sufferings this was one thing that Paul desired to know Phil. 3. 10. and this the Children of God do know inasmuch as they suffer for his Name sake and in his cause and that the Name of God may be glorified in their sufferings and also because he supplies them with patience and constancy therein for that they do not dishonour him and hereby they come to know that blessedness is theirs Mat. 5. 12. Rejoyce and be glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you They are made to understand that being joâ—ned with Christ in his sufferings they shall not be separated from him in Glory 2 Tim. 2. 12. If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him Paul counts the Saints suffering a manifest token as of the amazing destruction of their persecutors so also of their future felicity in another world 2 Thes 1. 5 6. 2. The fruits of the spirit in them working in all the graces thereof in their souls and giving them their free exercise Their love to God their faith in Christ their hope of Glory their hatred of sin their delighting of themselves in holiness c. The Apostle tells us the fruits of the spirit are manifest and what they are Gal. 5 22 23. The glory of Gods Children is inward and spiritual and by the maintenance and increase of this is a Child of God to apprehend a Fathers love growing grace is a good confirmation of approaching glory 3. The testimony of the spirit of God added to and confirming of the testimony of their own spirits in witnessing to their Sonship Rom. 8. 16. By vertue of which testimony at such times as God enables them to read it they can Triumph in the hopes of glory trample upon all the scoffs and scorns and persecutions and despise all the flatteries and fair promises of the world He gives them inward consolation and enables them to call God Father in greatest straits and strengthens them to roll themselves upon him to commit their wayes to him to cast all their burdens on him and to wait with holy confidence and boasting for the manifestation of the Sons of God and in expectation of receiving an immortal and eternal Crown then at the hands of the righteous Judge they love his appearing 1. Are Believers now Gods Children It may then teach us what a dangerous thing it is for any to go about to do them any injury or wrong The ignorant world seeing the Saints of God so low and despicable to have so few friends here below to take part with them and to be so poor and disregarded among men they are hereupon ready to think they may do their pleasure against them there is no danger is like to a â—ise upon it but they abide secure though they slander revile persecute and do them all manner of imaginable wrong They have none to take in with them none to plead their Cause for them none to stand up in their defence And being thus animated with what boldness virulency and spite do they prosecute them But they grievously mistake themselves and shall in Gods time find that they have so done to their cost God will not suffer his own dear Children to be abused and see that abuse to go free and escape unpunished Whosoever they be though armed with the greatest worldly power yet they had better take a Bear by the tooth a Lyon by the Paw than meddle with the least meanest obscurest and most seeming contemptible Saint of Christ to do him any the least injury If an earthly Father see his Child abused or misused by a stranger how will his fatherly affection stir his bowels boile and put him upon it to vindicate that wrong How much more will God do so for his Children who are to him as the apple of his eye and to whose mercys the bowels of most affectionate Parents are not to to be compared God may possibly seem to wink and keep silence for the present and men may take encouragement therefrom to vent their spite and malice but he will not do so alwayes but a time shall come and that quickly when he will call them to an account for all and a dreadful account it will be when it comes God doth many times in this world testifie to his displeasure upon this very account and there are several remarkable instances in Scripture of his severity upon the malicious adversaries of his Saints enough to put a dread upon any such would they but consider of it Do Korah and his accomplices arise up against Moses and Adronâ— They shall not dy as other men but a new work shall be done the earth with her opened mouth shall swallow them up quick and they shall go down alive into the pit Doth Babylon triumph in cruelty over the People of God when it is used as a Rod in Gods hand to manifest his displeasure against them in punishing of their sin Babylon shall smart for it Isa 47. 6. c. I was wroth with my People I gave them into thy hand thou didst shew them no mercy Neither shal Edom be forgotten who in Jerusalems day of visitation cryed Raze it raze it to the ground Psal 137. 7. How are Edom and Ammon and Moab and mount Seir and the Philistians and Tyrus threatned upon this account See Ezek. chap. 25. and 26. But supposing that they should escape here and God doth not alwayes presently let fall his hand upon the Persecutours of his People yet is the time a coming when the Persecutors of the Saints shall be made to know that they persecuted Christ and shall find how hard a thing it is for them to kick against the pricks when God shal rendeâ— tribulation to the troublers of his Children 2 Thes 1. 6. Their blood may for a season seem to ly still and speak nothing but now are their souls under the altar and are there crying to their God and father for revenge and he who is holy and true will not alwayes hold his peace Tremble then at the thoughts of such a thing that poor persecuted despised Saint whom you seem to trample under the feet of pride hath a Redeemer that is mighty â— Father in Heaven that will plead his cause Make the Children of God your friends and they will be ready to speak a good word to their Father for you and however you may judge of them contemptuously yet there is a blessing in their prayers But if you make them your enemies wo to you you had better bring all the world about your ears The cryes of Saints when they are under the exercise of the envy and hatred of men coming up into the ears of God and Christ for the wrongs which are done unto them are affecting cryes and will stirr up the holy jealousie of the great God and he that is under the male diction of them scorn he it as much as
Countenance those inward supports of heart that sweet communion which their Souls have with God in an Ordinance in hearing the Word at a Sacrament in their Closets on their knees powring out of their Prayers and tears into the bosom of their Father Those holy transports are riddles and matters of laughter and scorn to them and if they know not what is how should they understand that which is to come 3. The Children of God themselves whiles they are here do not fully know what they shal be it doth not yet appear to them It is true 1. The Word of God hath said a great deal concerning their future Glory There are many high and towring expressions to our apprehension used in the Scripture worthy descriptions of that great City and the Inhabitants of it and if we would study the Scripture more we might know more of it But yet when we arrive at the Kingdom and come once to see and view and experience it we shal say as the Queen Sheba to Solomon 1 King 10. 6 7. 2. The People of God have their sips and foretastes and first fruits of this Glory here They are made to tast of those Graps of which the Wine is made in Canaan They have not only their assurances but also sometimes their extasies They are taken into the Mount rapt up into the third Heaven their souls are lifted up aboue the world and all that is in it God is pleased at some times to carry them out so farr in their meditations and reveal so much of himself and his infinit love to their contemplation that they are loth to come down or to have any thing more to do with the sink and puddle of this world They know so much of that after state that when they are under these precious discoveries and the irradiations of the spirit of God upon their souls they cry out Who will give me the wings of a Dove that I might mount up and be gone And with Paul their hearts are carried forth with a longing desire to depart and be with him in full possession of all this Glory But 3. A full clear and manifest discovery of their happiness is not made to any of God's People here They that have seen most of heaven while upon this earth have seen it but â—â— Landskip They that have had the most ravishing tasts of the love of God have but imperfectly tasted it All our knowledge all our sight here is but in part 1 Cor. 13. 9. We know but in part That which is pâ—â—fect is yet to come vers 10. The are but dawnings at the most which we have here what those rayes will be which shal beam forth from the Sun of Righteousness in the mid-day splendour of Celestial Glory we now cannot tell but must be content to wait till we go thither where it is to be seen and enjoyed 2. For the ground of the Doctrine or reason why it doth not yet appear 1. God makes it not known to the ungodly 1. Lest they should be allured by it All which they hear and enjoy here must therefore be Aenigmatical or obscure to them lest they should be converted it is an awful word but Christ himself hath spoken it who knew his Fathers and his own mind and purpose Mar. 4. 11. 12. To them that are without these things are done in parables c. Lest at any time they should be Converted 2. That they may by Persecutions and oppositions try the Graces of his Children There is great use and fruit in this tryal it is more precious than that of Gold And God is pleased to use wicked men as instruments of the tryal And hence they shall not know who these be nor what their Glory is for if they did they would without doubt suspend if not in love yet in fear of them Christ himself must come in a disguise that so the determined Counsel of God might be fulfilled iâ— him 1. Cor. 2. 7 8. They would else never have Crucified him 2. The reason also why the People of God themselves have no comprehensive discovery of their own future estate 1. Because it is too big a sight for their weak eyes to gaze upon They must be prepared for their Glory as well as their Glory for them or else it would swallow them up Rom. 9. 23. Hence When Christ is upon the one work in Heaven the Spirit of Christ is on the other here Should a full description of that state be given us it must be in a Language which we understand not They are but dark similitudes dim and dull comparisons accommodated to our own weak capacity which the Scripture affords The words which Paul then heard when he was in the third Heaven were ineffable words and such as were not lawful to utter 2 Cor. 12. 4. Not unlawful because forbidden by any precept but because they did out-bid his ability If the Glory to be revealed should now be revealed to us in this our imperfect state it would over oppress and sink us 2. That they may with more patience abide the time allotted then here and serve there Generation in the doing of that work which God hath set out for them to do before they go to be possessed of this Glory We find that after St. Paul's rapture he had great wrestlings with his own spirit and much ado to keep up in himself a willingness to tarry here any longer Phil. 1. 21. I am in a strait between two Having a desire to depart And such have been the frames of God's dear Children after that they have had some extraordinary beamings of his love and been feasted by him with some special visits they have been long ere they could quiet themselves from longing and praying that the Chain might be cut and they might hoise Sail and be gone Might the Saints be permitted to know here as much as shall be known hereafter it would be harder perswading them to be willing to live than it is now to make them willing to dy USE I. For informations learn we from Hence 1. The reason why the Children of God are so little regarded here in the World it is because the World knows not who they are nor what they are born unto Their great Glory for the present is within outwardly they look like other men they eat drink labour converse in earthly imployments as others do the communion which they have with God in all of these is a secret thing They are Sick Poor Naked Distressed like other men those in ward supports which they have under all those exercises are remote from publick view They dy and are buried under the Clods and their bodyes putrifie and rot like other men and none see those joyes that their souls are entred into nor that guard of Angels which comes as a Convoy and carryes them into Abraham's bosom Naâ— they have their sins their spots their imperfections and weaknesses here as well as other men but
Child of God shal ever be lost that no weapon that is formed against them shall ever prosper that the foundations of the World shall sooner be shaken the Pillars of the Earth faulter crack and crumble in pieces than they fail of eternal felicity is unchangeable he that will keep a Child of God from Heaven and happiness must make void the everlasting purposes of an unchangeable God violate the eternal Covenant of Redemption disanul Gods firm and undeciveable promises kill the immortal seed of grace overcome the Omnipotent Spirit of God Till all this can be done the Believers well-being stands secure which whiles Men and Devils are contriving and endeavouring he may stand still and smile at their bold and impossible undertakings and whiles his hope is built and his eye fixt upon these strong Pillars it is as vain for them to think to scare or terryfie him I confess if God should hide his face and with-draw the light of his Countenance and leave him but a while to combate diffidence and doubting his Spirit is easily overwhelmed But if God stand by and give him the advantage to live in this light his evidence is so good and his knowledge so firmly grounded that all which can be done against him will but help to confirm him Lightly grounded opinions may easily be confuted by as probable contradictions but firmly fixed principles and clear evidences of Divine knowledge are not shaken by the greatest contradiction of sinners Such is the perswasion that a Child of God hath of his love to him that he is withal fully perswaded that all which can be done against it cannot dissolve it Rom. 8. 37 38 39. And hence Nothing will prejudice them against God and his service nothing will turn them out of their way of duty and obedience to God because they are not labouring for uncerteintyes or looking for things that may not be they live not upon deceivable hopes they know whom they have trusted and that he is able to keep that which they have committed unto him to the day of the Lord and therefore are they not weary nor faint as those that know that in due time they shal reap if they faint not and though their enemyes may take away their comforts of Life deprive them of their Estates of their good name among men of their liberty yea of their lives too yet because they know they cannot rob them of their glory therefore are they resolved in their way and will be faithful unto death USE III. For Exhortation to the Children of God in two Lessons 1. Study much for this knowledge The wise man's assertion Light is sweet is true of material light much more of spiritual and there is never a ray of it which brings more of delight with it than that which discovers unto us our names written in Heaven The Philosopher could say a little knowledge and that conjectural which deserves not the title of knowledge in heavenly things is to be preferred before a great deal and that certein in earthly things And yet were his thoughts bounded on this side of the third heaven But here we have the best and surest knowledge the clearest and most demonstrable light is to be had of the things of eternity Man's nature inclines him to love knowledge in general let grace rectifie nature and employ you in the disquisition of theirs the knowledge whereof can be no less than inchoative happiness Of all knowledge that which concerns our selves is the most profitable and of our selves that which informes us about our eternity is the most desirable The souls immortality is discovered by a beam of natâ—res light the happiness of some and misery of others in their immortality is evident by Scripture revelation the uncerteinty of our present condition here is known by constant experience He therefore and only he can enjoy solid comfort who hath an hope grounded in knowledge that it shall at last go well with him â— Make use of this knowledge to establish your hearts against all the evils and threatned dangers of this present life The eâ—couragement in our Text as we have heard is accommodated by our Apostle to the dayes of Antichrist that he might confirm true Believers by the consideration of their sonship to a resolute standing by the sincere profession of Christ and maintenance of an holy life Their Godliness is the great quarrel which the world have against the Children of God Their present Sonship and future glory known is the great relief they have against the Temptations of such an hour This knowledge is practical and the strength of the practice is the being much in exercise of Faith of which the Apostle gives that encomine Heb. 11. That it is the evidence of things not seen His meaning is that it makes those future things so plain as if they were present and gives in such demonstrations of them that there is no room to call the truth into question Let the Children of God fear nothing but sin for all other things â—â—mend them to God and your Souls with theâ— in wel-doing If you look only upon the revolutions of times and changes of this lower World these things may be too intricate for your understanding to resolve Their tracing of the motion oâ— the wheels of Providence may be too high and hard for you But if now you do but look foreward as far as Eternity and take a view of the concerns of that future life where indeed your great concerns ly here you may read Lectures of consolation to your own souls and knowing and being assured that after a troublesome way the latter end shall be peace your hearts may be fixt trusting in the Lord. When he shall appear The second thing here asserted concerning the happiness of the Children of God is the time when it shall be compleated When he shall appear There being an Ellypsis in the Words it hath occasioned divers interpretations for there is no mention made of the subject appearing Hence Some refer it to the foregoing words what we shall be and read it when it shall appear and so leave the time indefinite and yet so it intimates thus much viz. There will be a time when Gods Children shall appeâ—â— like themselves others refer it to Him â—â— their following words and read it as our translation when he shall appear and expound it of Jesus Christ and make it parallel to and interpreted by that of Paul in Col. 3. 4. When Christ who is our life shall appear we shall appear with him in Glory We have an Ellypsis like this in Psal 87. 1. His foundation is in the holy hills clearly intimating God In the Text it is if he shall appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if we so read it we are not to take if for an If of doubting but only of supposing and connecting q. d. If Christ shall ever appear glorious then shall Believers too or there is as great a certeinty
hard for those that are left that you be not utterly stript and bereaved Be prudent foresee the evil and hide your selves take the presage to be awakened to meet your God in that way wherein he is ready to receive and be reconciled to a sinful People and repent of the evil which he is ready to bring upon them lest otherwise if you now neither believe nor consider Your sad experience do to â—late convince you and extort that better confession from you that such have been taken away from the evil to come FINIS The only sure way to prevent threatned CALAMITY As it was delivered in a SERMON Preached at the COURT of ELECION May 24. 1682. Jer. 26. 12 13. Then spake Jeremiah unto all the Princes and to all the People saying The Lord sent me to prophesie against this House against this City all the words that ye have heard Vers 13. Therefore now amend your wayes and your doings and obey the voice of the Lord your God and the Lord with repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you SUch is the unhappy entertainment that plain-dealing and open-hearted reproofs do meet with in the World that when they are most needed they can be least born The fouler the stomack the more nauseous is the Physick when the malady is come to a dangerous Crisis and every symptom bodes a sad and sudden change men are better pleased with â— cheating quack that dissembleth the dâ—sease and engageth all shall be well then with an honeâ—â— and faithful Physitian who tells them the distemper is malignant the issue dubious and without the application of some speedy and eâ—traordinary means desperate He that will â—ndertake to lay open the true state of degenerous People by ripping up their sins displaying their impenitencies and applying the threatnings of â—â—â—ine displeasure shall expose himself to the hatred and injurious usage of those for whom he doth this kindness Apostacy being a spiritual frenzy and herein expressing an affinity with madâ—en in being enraged at none so much as those that in love seek their cure The truth of this our Prophet here experienced who being sent by God on an unthankful errand for when men love the distemper they do by consequence despise the remedy and hate him that brings it And I therefore call it unthankful 〈◊〉 from its own nature for what can be a more obliging courtesie than to give men timely notice of eminent dangers counsel how to avoid them But from the disposition of those who were to receive it whom custom in sin had wedded to â— complacency in it whose pride and presumptioâ— had made them inpatient of all threatnings and in whom deep rooted impenitence had obstructed the reception of every advice calling them to reformation being thus sent he faithfully and clearly opens their state shews them their hazzards directs to such duties as the present circumstances required promiseth them a good issue if they were so followed but denounceth ruine if they were neglected And now as if he had been guilty of Treason and had joyned hands in some dangerous conspiracy the Priests Prophets and People in a transport of fury lay violent hands on him in the very Temple and nothing can satisfie their hellish rage but the Prophets life The Princes who though possibly they had but little if any thing more of Religion then the rest yet pretending to more civility enterpose in this fray and call the matter to a legal hearing which by the over-ruling providence of God determineth in his delivery out of their hands The Principal things observable in this transaction are the Peoples Accusation and Jeremiah's Apology The former is briefly touched in vers 11. in which while they pretend to accuse they undertake to Judge and with a full cry pronounce him a man of death This man is worthy to dye or the judgement of death is for this man as the Hebrew text reads it Which lest they should seem to have spoken of prejudice they article against him for sedition For he hath spoken against this City nor need witnesses be sought for they themselves had heard it with their ears We see what different interpretations the words and actions of men ly open unto how change of times changeth mens opinions of things how dangerous it is for men to speak the truth in Apostatizing times Micah the Morasthite delivered a more fearful because a more positive Prophesie in the dayes of Hizekiah Mic. â— 12. Zion shall be plowed as a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forrest And yet was not branded for a turbulent person nor prosecuted as a ring-leader of sedition but received as a Prophet of the Lord and his prediction â—mproved to repentance which averted eminent desolation Jeremiah so threatens calamity as withal to promise mercy in case of sound repentance and he is an offender prophesieth against the City and no less than his blood can serve to expiate his crime How happy a thing is it to preach to a pious Generation who because they hate their sins love their reprovers How unhappy to come to a People wedded to their wicked waves who count those their enemies who are so to their lust As for the Prophets Apology I need for the present occasion to take notice only of the just defence which he makes both of himself and his prophesie which is contained in the Text. The Persons before whom he makes it are the Princes and all the People under whom we may list the Priests and Prophets unless we look on these as his accusers and the other as those to whom he appeals as Judges The Vindication it self consists of two Parts 1. A clearing up of the Authority by which he had spoken Their Lord Jehovah sent me to prophesie Divine Authority gives a supersedeas to humane Laws They may make it Capital to speak against their wayes and doings but if God Authorize his Servants to it it is no Crime in them but a duty to cry aloud and not to spare The Prophets Commission comprizeth the full of their Accusation He might have prophesied against other Nations without their offences but that he doth it against this City this is the provocation He therefore asserts his particular charge To prophesie against this House and this City Grotius indeed lenifies the expression and would have the words read To this House and to this City Noting that the prophesie was for them and not against them And indeed conâ—â—cing and awakening preaching would be so if a People had wisdom and grace rightly to improve it But suppose it against them yet if God be against a People and would have them to know it should the Prophet obey man or God Especially if he exceeds not the bounds of his commission which Jeremiah here further asserts for the Lord sent him to speak all the words which they had heard he had not added