there is no Acceptation of any service Till our persons be accepted and reconcil'd our performances are abominable But now sin being pardoned here is acceptance for all our services He drinks the milk as well as the wine Cant. 5.1 And eats the honey-comb with the Honey c. 5. Sanctification of every condition to us When sin is removed which was the curse in all 6. Supportation under Crosses Upon removal of sin which was in all the heaviest burden 7. Participation of all the priviledges of the Covenant These are the inseparable fruits of pardon There are other as Peace Joy Comfort Rom. 5.1 which indeed are not so much Fruits of pardon as Fruits of Assurance of pardon not the next but the remoter fruits of pardon USE Lastly Is sin the Greatest Evil in the world Oh then let us Above all things in the world labour to get our selves rid of sin Get a pardon of sin Say with David Oh! Take away the iniquity of thy servant What will the enjoyment of all other goods profit thee if thy sins be not pardoned what profit had Dives of his wealth Saul of his Kingdom c. It is a thing greatly to be lamented to see How active and serious men are about removing of other evils on them and the purchasing and procuring of other goods but yet how slight how superficial they are about getting Pardon of sin Thy Person is under the Guilt of Sin Thou standest a Condemned man and woman Damnatus antequam Natus And God hath given thee time and that time is not a time of Reprival onely but is a time that God hath afforded thee to get a pardon in And it cost no less than the Blood of Christ to procure thee this time it was that that made a stop of the present proceedings of Gods justice against thee else thou hadst been in Hell long ago And wilt thou Squander away This Time wilt thou Neglect This Business wilt thou eat away sleep away nay drink away sin away a Pardon If there were a man condemned to dye and yet were out of Mercy Reprived That hee might procure his Pardon and the King were willing to grant him a pardon would you not think that man deserves to dy who shall now spend this time in drinking in revelling c why this is your case But yet there is another sort that will seek for a pardon but they seek it coldly they seek it formally they seek it sleightly and superficially they seek it as if they had no need of it as if they could do well enough though they wanted a Pardon There is a great deal of dallying with God about this Great business Most men in the World do but Trifle with God about it I will name you five or six sorts of men who are Tristers with GOD in this main and concerning matter and these none of the meanest neither I shall not now deal with your Debaucht People but such as will seem to do somewhat for a pardon 1 Such who will seek and perhaps cry earnestly but yet still continue in the practice of those sins which they beg a pardon of I speak not now of Sins of Course Peccata quotidianae incursionis Sins of daily incursion Sins of Infirmitie weakness and Imperfections in Duty These the best notwithstanding their daily praying for pardon of do yet too often fall into But I speak of grosser-sins Peccata Vastantia Conscientiam Sins wounding and gashing the Conscience And this is a fearfull thing fearfull dallying with GOD. What would you think of such a man who should come to beg a Pardon and yet before the Pardon were given out should run to commit new acts of Treason This is thy case I see many of you living in a Course of sin Potting swilling swearing I am ashamed to name them Do you pray for a Pardon Or do you not pray If you do not pray you are no better than Atheists And do you pray for a Pardon and yet live in the practice of those sins you beg pardon of Oh! what fearfull dallying with GOD is here Oh! you little think what a strong tye this is against sin To pray for the pardon of sin What Have you been confessing sin humbling your souls for sin begging of Pardon of Sin And no sooner turn your backs upon God but return to Sin Ah! This is fearfull dallying indeed And this is a Fearfull aggravation of Sin you think to have something come in for your dayes of Humiliation for your prayers for pardon of Sin you think there is some good in it Why you have begged a Pardon though you have Sin'd yet you have prayed and therefore hope that notwithstanding your sins God will hear your prayers But dost thou live in sin and confess sin Dost thou practice sin and yet pray for pardon of sin Dost thou commit sin and yet humble thy self for sin Oh! These are Great Aggravations of sin these do adde more weight to sin Do you think it would be an Extenuation or an Aggravation for a Malefactor to beg a pardon and yet run to the same Rebellion again would he think this To lessen his sin because he hath formerly beg'd a Pardon No certainly he would look upon this as a Greater Aggravation Why this is thy case And this you shall see was Israels spirit which was so much displeasing to God Jer. 3.4 Thou art my Father and the Guide of my youth They gave God good words compast him about with good expressions But saith the Lord This hast thou done and yet done as much evil as thou couldst v. 5. 2. A second sort who dally with God are such who seek the pardon of some sins but yet keep up the love and liking of others Thou art it may be Pinched and Troubled for some gross sins and thou beg'st a pardon for them when it may be there is some Running-Issue of corruption within which thou Overlook'st some secret Haunt of Villany that thy heart runs out after which thou canst not leave which thou hast no minde to part withal Oh! Thou vain man Thou maist cry all thy life and shalt never get good Thou maist pray as long as thou wilt That One sin kept with love and liking will Turn all thy prayers into sin God will never regard the Prayers of a sin-regarding-sinner Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me though I should never act it in my life Didst thou know the Tenor of the Covenant of Grace and Mercy the Strictness of the Gospel and Severity of Mercy it self against sin thou wouldst see There were an impossibility of having one sin forgiven as long as one sin is unforsaken Justification and Sanctification Gods forgiving and our forgoing are equally as large one as the other As God justifies from the guilt of all sin so he sanctifies from the Corruption of all Sin Grace in God forgives all Sin And Grace in us makes us
is a marriage duty c. As Ahasuerus had two houses for his Spouses And therefore seeing Christ thinks nothing too dear to bestow upon his Church hence must needs follow That the Heart of Jesus Christ is exceedingly taken with his Church 1. Those which Christ hath made all things for to serve for the good of them 2. Those whom hee hath prepared Glory for Heaven for 3. Those which hee hath shed his bloud for must needs bee dear to him his Heart much taken with them If a King should build a stately house for one with whom hee would solace himself all his life and should at last give life too you would think sure hee loved him 1. God made all for thee the Sun Moon Stars Creatures all this frame of the World sure you are dear to him 2. God prepared Heaven for thee a place of Glory Happiness where thou shouldest for ever injoy him and solace thy self with his love 3. Christ shed his bloud for thee which was more dear to him than ten thousand Worlds What is all the World and ten thousand Worlds in comparison of one drop of his bloud and therefore they whom hee shed his bloud for must needs bee more dear to him than all the World his Heart is taken with them Thus far now wee have gone in the breaking up the rich Cabinet of Christs Love the sent whereof hath cheared and revived us Wee will now proceed to the further discoveries of it and that is to the third thing wee propounded Why the Heart of Christ is so much taken with his Church and People Wee will but give you these three grounds all which are taken not from us but from himself his own mercy In brief Either From his own Grace to us Amat Deus non aliundè hoc habet sed ipse est undè amat et ideô vehementius amat quia non amorem tam habet quam hoc est ipse Bern. Or From his own Grace in us The first Ground or Reason why the Heart of Christ is so taken is 1. Because wee are his Propriety you know is the great ground of love Wee love our own our own Husbands Wives Children They are ours wee have propriety in them So here wee are His Hee hath propriety in us and therefore loves us Cant. 7.10 Cant. 7.10 The Spouse makes the same argument I am my Beloveds and hee is mine therefore his desire is towards mee therefore his heart is taken with mee therefore his soul loves mee And wee are his in the dearest and sweetest relations 1. Wee are his People his subjects Christ is the King of Saints whose throne is in our hearts and will brook no Rival whose Scepter is his Word and whose Word is our Law Nay least this bee too little 2. Wee are his Friends Henceforth I call you not Servants but Friends Wee are his Friends and Favourites Nay 3. Wee are his Children begotten again and born again to everlasting life 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Being born again c. 4. Wee are his Spouse such as hee hath married to himself in faithfulness and truth and such as hee delights in 5. Wee are his Members The Church is his Body his fulness and every one Members in particular as the Apostle speaks 6. Wee are his Jewels his Treasure Mal. 3.7 In the day that I make up my Jewels they shall bee mine And therefore his heart must needs bee taken with us Christ hath the same argument Where the Treasure is there will the heart bee also The Heart and a mans Treasure lye together Now wee are his Jewels his Treasure Ubi thesaurus tuus ibi cor tuum Bern. his Portion his Inheritance that which his Father left him and hee must dearly earn it too And therefore the Heart of Christ is exceedingly taken with his Church and People So you see this is the first ground why because wee are his and his in the dearest nearest choicest of Relations To bee brief wee are his these four wayes Wee are his 1. By Choice 2. By Purchase 3. By Donation 4. By Covenant 1. First Wee are his By Choice Hee set his heart on us from everlasting which was his first love and that which hath carried God through all the expressions of his mercy towards us to this day even to admiration of Angels and astonishment of men These were his primitive his bosome-thoughts to us his first love which is most dear and precious As the first love of the Creature to the Creator is most precious in Gods esteem the Virgin-love of the soul to God those affections the soul hath when first enamoured with God Therefore hee tells the Children of Israel Hee remembred the time of her Espousals the kindness of her youth That will not out of his mind Jer. 2.2 So the first love of the Creator to the Creature his bosom-thoughts Amor Dei non invenit sed facit amore dignos Bern. they are most precious Oh! these take the heart these are the fullest these are his freest thoughts towards us 2 Tim. 1.9 All the World stood before him from the first man to the last And why hee should chuse us Non quia nos delexerimus Deum sed quia ipse prior dilexit nos denique dilexit etiam non existentes sed resistentes juxta Pauli testimonium quoniam cum adhuc inimici essemus reconciliati sumus 〈◊〉 Deo per mortem Christi filii ejus Bern. in Cant. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and pass by others others finer peeces of Clay than wee are others of greater parts greater abilities which if it had pleased God to have conquered to himself might have brought him far more glory done him more service Here was only his free mercy There was no ground to make him chuse us before hee loved us but there is some ground to cause him to love us now hee hath chosen us Wee are his and his by free choice chosen and singled out of a world of men And therefore will hee love us 2. Wee are his By Purchase Hee hath bought us and that at a dear rate with the price of his own blood Gal. 4.5 Christ was made under the Law that hee might buy out those who were under the Law Hence 1 Cor. 6.20 You are bought with a price And what was the price It could not bee too little for the meanness of the commodity not worth owning when hee had it But it cost him his dearest Hearts-blood as 1 Pet. 1.18 Wee were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish without spot So then wee are his by Purchase wee are the fruits of all his pains of all his doings and sufferings wee are the commings in which Christ had for his Bloud wee are his Purchase God did covenant and bargain with Christ that if hee would lay down his life and bloud for a people hee
Use of Examination But now my Brethren it will bee a great matter of inquiry whether wee have an interest in this love As one said when hee looked upon the Rainbow and in that read Gods Covenant never to drown the world again Ah! but saith hee what is this to mee If I bee drowned I may bee drowned though the World bee not drowned So may you say You tell us of the exceeding love of Christ to his Church But what if I bee not of his Church what if I have no interest in his Love what 's all this to mee But then I suppose you are desirous to know whether you have an interest in this love It concerns your everlasting good to have an interest and your present comfort to know you have an interest Now in this inquiry I would have you 1. To examin your hearts thoroughly Deceits lye low A false evidence is the fruit of a slight and superficial search 2. In your inquiry let not any thing which is compatible with any who have no interest in this love bee a bottom on which your soul resteth I have told you sometimes and tell you again Whatever another man may have and do and yet have no interest in this love of Christ cannot bee a sufficient evidence for thee that thou having or doing that hast an interest Acquaint thy self with the most clearing and proving evidences 3. Take thy evidences from the carriage of the Spirit neither at the best nor at the worst but the middle way which is most thy self If thou look upon thy self at the worst thou mayest bee discouraged If at the best thou mayest bee deceived Many have had such affections in an Heat which in cold blood have nothing of them 4. Judge not of thy self by particular actions and carriages but look upon the universal frame and bent of thy spirit No certain rule is to bee established upon a particular instance whether good or bad I might lay down other rules to observe in your inquiry But wee will come to the inquiry it self Wouldest thou know whether thou art one with whom Christs heart is taken See whether thou art of his Church Art thou one who art taken out of the World Art thou one whom God hath called one whom hee hath justified one whom hee hath regenerated sanctified Art thou one who art washed purged renewed These might bee in the general but are too obscure But I will name you but one and it is a plain one and none more demonstrative Wouldest thou know whether the heart of Christ bee taken with thee why then see Art thou one whose heart is taken with Christ If Christ bee taken with thee thou art taken with Christ. It is a mutual a reciprocal taking Whatever God doth to the soul it makes an impression in the soul of the like to God God delights in us and thereupon wee come to delight in him God knows us and thereupon wee know him Joh. 10.14 God apprehends us and thereupon wee apprehend him Hee chuseth us and thereupon wee chuse him Hee loves us and thereupon wee love him 1 Joh. 4.19 His heart is taken with us and thereupon our hearts come to bee taken with him Our love to him is nothing else but radius amoris Dei erga nos in Deum reflexus a beam of Gods love reflected back upon God So that this now is a true character of Christs heart being taken with thee if thy heart bee taken with Christ Quest But you will say How shall I know whether my heart bee taken with Christ Ans For the answer of this because upon this foundation I will lay the whole weight of this discourse in this Use 1. A heart taken with Christ is a heart which knows Christ and hath tasted of Christ Are you such as know Christ Invisa possumus amare incognita nequaquam For knowledge of Christ precedes the love of Christ Hee who doth not know cannot love Things unseen may but things unknown cannot bee loved 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen yee love but never not known All love to Christ doth arise from discoveries and manifestations of Christ to the soul Either from the discoveries of those beauties those attractive excellencies that are in him or with that from the discovery of his heart and good will towards us Now blind men cannot discern of beauties nor ignorant men of the beauties of Christ Christ is to them as a Mine of Gold covered over with earth and rubbish as a Bed of Pearl and Diamonds hid with an heap of sand as a glorious Messiah under a contemptible outside And wanting eyes to see through the Veil of his Flesh through the bark and outside of his Humanity they can behold no beauty in him As Isaiah speaks of carnal men Isa 53.2 When you behold him you see no beauty in him that shall make him desired Now then art thou one who knows Christ did ever God reveal him to thee in a promise what apparitions hath Christ made to thy soul what manifestations what discoveries that may evidence to thee that thou knowest him There are four manifestations or discoveries of Christ to the soul which do exceedingly take the soul Indeed every apparition of Christ doth take the heart but at these times the heart is not only wooed and won but overcome with his sweetness and glory 1. After the soul hath long lyen bedrid in sorrow been overwhelmed in the deeps of Legal Humiliation and have been broken and shattered in peeces with consternation and apprehensions of sin and Gods wrath for it Then a discovery of Christ and apparition of Christ to the soul is a resurrection from the dead When Christ comes by a promise into the soul and displaies his glory the Riches and Greatness and Freeness of his Grace as to Moses The Lord God gracious and mercifull long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin Exod. 34.6 I I am hee who forgiveth thy iniquities c. Isa 43.25 Then is the soul beyond expression inamoured with him now it is overcome with his beauties and excellencies and even ravished with his love And this is the first eminent taking of the heart with Christ 2. When the soul hath been upon the stormy Sea of temptations and desertions hath long laboured under the sense of Gods withdrawings and absence from the soul And Christ returns again breaking the dark and thick cloud and shining into the soul Who can then expresse the warmth the comfort the revivings the holy heats and flames of love and affection to Christ You see how it was with Job I have heard of thee with the hearing of the ear But now mine eyes see thee And certainly the sight of his beauties did take him those eyes which saw him were like a burning-glasse to the heart to kindle the flames and fervors of holy affections towards him again You see how it was with
the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. This should make us live more humbly more actively more studious to please more diligent to obey more carefull to serve him This should make us live at higher rates for Heaven more spiritual more heavenly minded It is a Cord let down from Heaven to fetch our souls up thither And doth this cause us to bee more remiss more careless Doth this which should quicken slacken our hand to duty Oh base ungrateful neglect of Love 3. when wee take heart to sin thereby Grow more loose careless This is an high abuse of this Love Because God is Good wilt thou bee Evil because hee is Merciful wilt thou bee sinful because hee is Gracious wilt thou bee impious What fearful abuse of Love is this This is to wound Christ in the house of his friends To return good for good is but Humane To return evil for good is Wicked To return good for evil is Christian-like But To return evil for good and the greatest evil for the greatest good Sin for Love this is devilish Were you his enemies hee knew how to deal with you hee could revenge himself and the abuses of his love upon you but you are his friends and those bowels which you wrong are stirred in him when hee goes about to punish you Oh Ephraim How shall I give thee up how shall I deliver thee Israel my bowels are turned within mee My repentings are kindled together Hos 11.8 The greatness of God prevails with wicked men that awes them often that they dare not sin against him But the goodness of God this should prevail with us There is mercy with thee therefore thou art to bee feared It is set down as the Principle in such with whom the heart of Christ is taken Hos 3. ult They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter dayes None but venimous spirits will suck poison from such a sweet as thence to draw incouragements to sin from that which is the great incouragement to service The Love of Christ had so prevailed with Chrysostome that hee used to say Ego sic censeo sic assidue praedicabo And Anselme That if on the one hand hee should see sin and on the other the torments of Hell hee had rather chuse to fall into Hell than fall into sin 4. When wee stagger and doubt give way to misgiving thoughts of Christs Love and unbeleevings of our own hearts wee abuse this Love What is it possible that Christ should do or suffer more than hee hath done and suffered to perswade your hearts of his Love If Christ should ask the question of you who doubt most of his Love What shall I do to answer your scruples to satisfie your souls for ever in this that I love you could you rationally desire more than what hee hath expressed in his words and to your heart and if notwithstanding all bee in vain 1 Sam. 25.21 may hee not justly say as David of Nabal Surely in vain have I done all this when this all commeth to nothing 3. Direction to them of the Church 3. Bee much in the contemplation of this Love of Christ Dwell upon this This Love of Christ will bee matter of eternal perusal in Heaven Wee shall do nothing but read over this Love Oh! let us not bee strangers to it now View it in the 1. Fulness 2. Freeness 3. Bounty 4. Perpetuity thereof 1. Measure it in the Fulness of it It is a Love which reacheth to every necessity A love able to make you holy and able to make you happy Thou art under guilt and sin thou art terrified by the one and ashamed and confounded because so loathsomely defiled by the other Why It is a pardoning a purging a sanctifying Love it is a Love as large as himself though the persons beloved bee finite 2. Read it over in the Freeness of it 1. It was an undeserved 2. It was an unsought-for Love 1. It was an undeserved Love Wee may provoke him to anger but wee cannot tempt him to love Amat Deus non aliundè hoc habet The former doth arise from our sins the latter from himself His chusing justifying adopting saving love all are free 2. It was an unsought-for Love Never a prayer put up for it I am found of them that sought mee not Isa 65.1 3. Read it over in the Bounty and Expressions of it 1. What hee did 2. What hee suffered 3. What hee hath given to his Church 4. Look upon it in the Perpetuity Permanency and continuance thereof A Love which reaches from Eternity to Eternity From Eternal chusing to Eternal glorifying An unchangeable Love Let us then peruse this Love Read it over in all the Dimensions Dwell upon the thoughts of it till your hearts bee Humbled melted inabled in-nobled winned quickened comforted c. The Thoughts of this Love are 1. Soul-humbling Thoughts Nothing layes the soul lower than Love The consideration of this will vile a man to Hell Ezek. 36.25 to 33. where you may read some expressions of love how it affects These would bee 2. Soul-melting Thoughts They will not only humble but melt not only break but dissolve the heart Nothing doth melt the soul more than Love The Law may break us but it is as the breaking of a flint every dust retains hardness but it is the Gospel that melteth us The thoughts of Gods Justice do stone the heart make it more hard but the thoughts of Gods Mercy do melt the heart You know you never mourn indeed till Love till Mercy do melt you Every drop of tears sticks like an hailstone and congeals in the eyes but when Love comes in then all the springs are opened and a man is dissolved into waters So much apprehensions of this Love of Christ so much godly sorrow They are like the Fountain and the Stream whereof the one doth rise no higher than the other The thoughts of this Love have 3. A Soul-inabling Power It will not only ingage us to service as the Apostle The Love of Christ constrains mee But it will inable us to service make us pray and pray with affections pray with life make us hear and hear with strength This puts us upon work and puts life vertue and vigor into our actions No actions stronger than those that come from Love Things incredible and impossible to others are yet easy to them who love See what the Saints have gone through what they have done what they have suffered Let but the thoughts of this love lye on your spirits a little and you will finde that Love is strong as death Cant. 8.6 and will mightily carry us through that which otherwise may seem impossible They will bee 4. Soul-innobling thoughts They will make you like themselves Whatever the soul feeds on the soul is digested into the nature of it So here feed on the thoughts of this love and your spirit will bee digested into it Whiles wee behold as in
give away to jealous mis-giving and mistrusting thoughts of God or of themselves Some there are who do nothing but make objections against themselves and Gods dealings with them And a quarrelsome heart is for the most part a troublesome heart You shall see some to whom God hath given evidences of their estate and condition and such as might content them such as they might have Peace in But they will quarrel against them Either their evidences are not so clear as others are not written in so fair and legible characters as others are Or else they want sealing And therefore they will take no comfort in them Thus do many forsake their own mercies breed their own disquiet and are injurious to their own peace When God hath spoken Peace and Peace to their Souls yet they return back again to folly to the folly of Unbeleeving Doubting Questioning of Gods love And no marvel if such do want Peace Men that will forgoe their evidences give up their claim and title to Christ Men whom Satan can make unsay what they know God hath said to their hearts may soon sit down in dumb silence and discouragement If when God hath manifested himself to you hath come and supped with you hath given you the white stone of absolution the Hidden Manna of comfort and consolation those manifest experiments of his love and yet you will joyn Issue with Satan give way to doubts No marvel if you disturb your peace bring insufferable fears and disquiets upon your selves And it were just with God to leave you to the doubts and mis-givings of your own hearts and never to give you a word of Peace more but suffer you to bring your gray hairs with sorrow to the Grave seeing nothing will satisfie you 6. The Reason why Beleevers have no more Peace is Because they seek Peace no more in a way of beleeving They seek it more in the Law than in the Gospel more in Sanctification than in Justification more in the Precept than in the Promise more in working than in beleeving more in their Obedience than in Christ. And therefore no marvel seeing all this is imperfect that they have no more perfection of peace So long as you make the grounds of your peace any thing within your selves or any thing wrought by your selves you will never have fulness of peace There may bee some peace for a time in these things but it is not a full and satisfying peace nor yet a permanent and constant peace It may be gotton to day lost or incumbred to morrow Every imperfection will disturb your peace Every failing will raise up a new and fresh storm breed a new quarrel in the soul Hee that would have peace must seek it in the God of Peace in the Prince of Peace in Christ himself in whom hee said Joh. 16.33 Wee should have Peace When there 's a storm in your selves there 's peace in him when there 's no peace in you in regard of your imperfections and failings there 's yet peace in Christ who is a perfect Saviour The Sacrifice is imperfect but the Priest is perfect Tenth Royalty 10 Faith is an Heart-inabling-Grace 10. Royalty of Faith It s an Heart-inabling-Grace It is such a Grace as inables a man 1. To do 2. To suffer A Beleeving Christian is a strong Christian He is strong for any service It is said By Faith Abraham obeyed God Faith did inable him to obey And it was a great act of Obedience as you may read scil The offering of his Son his only Son the Son of his love If it had been an adopted Son only and not his Natural or if his Natural and but one among many the trial had not been so great But hee was his own and only Son and the Son of his old age and therefore like to have no more the Son of the promise not an Ismael but an Isaac a Son long expected now exceedingly rejoyced in hee was the Son of his Love Now to part with such a Son was a great tryal But here was not all the tryal If hee had but parted with him in the way of Nature by a natural death this had not been so much but to part with him in way of Sacrifice wherein hee was to bee cut in peeces nay and hee himself must bee the Butcher of this Son of his Love must imbrue his own hands in the blood of this Son This was a great tryal yet here was seen the power of Faith tht it inabled him to obey Hee did not consult with Flesh and Blood did not dispute but obey By Faith hee obeyed Faith it is an Heart-inabling-Grace It will inable you to pray yea and to pray to purpose to wrestle with God Beleeving-prayers are wrestling prayers wherein the Soul wrestles with God by strength of his Promise his Covenant his Truth his Christ It inables you to hear and to hear with profit when Faith doth incorporate it self with the Word it will be profitable Faithful hearing is ever fruitful hearing It will inable you to receive the Sacrament and to receive with comfort Faith is the Organ whereby wee feed on Christ receive Christ Faith is the instrument that conveyes Christ the Conduit-pipe A beleeving Receiver is a blessed Receiver It will inable you to bring forth much fruit To bee fruitful in Obedience It plants us into a fruitfull stock and how can wee bee barren Plants It draws life and nourishment from Christ A faithfull Christian is a fruitfull Christian Men of a good Beleef are men of a good Life That soul that hath yeelded obedience to the Promise in a way of beleeving is ready to subject it self to every Precept in a way of Obedience Faith doth inable a man to contend with lusts with the strongest corruptions The sons of Zerviah which else would bee too hard for us It inables us to combate with Satan It is our shield whereby wee resist it is our weapon whereby wee conquer It sets Christ against Satan by whom wee over-overcome as the word is Wee are more than Conquerors It inables us to overcome the World This is our Victory whereby wee overcome the World even our Faith Whereas unbeleef doth slay and disable the heart both from doing and suffering An unbeleeving heart is an impotent heart The state of unbeleef is a state of impotency and disability to the performance of any thing that is good There is a total and universal impotency in an unbeleeving heart Hee cannot pray hear receive Faith on the contrary doth inable and strengthen the soul to all Obedience It inables a man to yeeld A willing Obedience cheerfull Obedience voluntary Obedience a constant a fruitful an universal Obedience It will inable a man to do his duty Towards God Towards others Towards himself It inables a man to walk through the duties of all relations faithfully The Husband to the Wife the Wife to the Husband The Parents to the Childe The Child to the
will bee nothing to the soul that loves him Love is as strong as Death You see it in the Apostles They counted not their lives too dear to give to death for the Love of Christ It is not the Bloud which is in the veins the spirits which are in the arteries the Life in the Body which will be too dear There is a kinde of unquenchablenesse in Love like the stone in Thracia which burns in the Water Much Water cannot quench Love 1. Much Afflictions from God cannot quench our Affections to God As all our dealings to God doth not alter Gods affections to us so all Gods dealings to us will not alter our affections to God Si diligis Domine fac quicquid vis was the speech of Calvin Lord if thou love mee do what thou wilt And Jobs Though thou kill mee yet I will still trust in thee And the Church professeth the like Psal 44.17 18 19. All this is come upon us yet do wee not forget thee nor have wee dealt falsely in thy Covenant Our heart is not turned back nor have our steps gone out of thy paths Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death c. 2. Much afflictions for God shall not cool our affections to God Wee shall bee ready to go through a Sea through a Wildernesse through the sharpest incounters for Christ Nothing shall pose a strong Beleever When once the soul is perswaded of the Love of God by Faith then there follows abundance of love to God again 1 John 4. from 15. to 19. Whosoever confesseth that Jesus is the Son of God in him dwelleth God and hee in God And wee have known and beleeved the Love that God hath to us God is Love and hee that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him c. wee love him because hee loved us first And that of Mary Much was forgiven her and therefore shee loved much Whiles a man looks upon God as an enemy who hates him hee can never love him But when once the soul by Faith doth apprehend Gods love to him then doth the soul love God again The love of God begets love in the soul to God Amor Dei amorem animae parit No mans heart is warmed with the sense of Gods love but it is inflamed with love to God again As the Sun beams shining upon a Glasse begets a reflection of the Beams upon the Wall So the Love of God shed abroad in our hearts breeds a reflection of love back again to God 2. Strong in Faith and strong in Hope and expectations of the thing beleeved which is that which holds up our head and keeps the soul from sinking in the midst of all these worldly troubles 3. Strong Faith and strong Patience A strong Faith will bear strong Afflictions with strong Patience Faith doth strengthen a mans shoulders to bear evils and troubles with Patience A weak Tree is blown down with that which moves not a stronger Tree Weak shoulders sink under that burden which a strong one will bear away So a weak Faith would sink with that tryal which a strong Faith is able to undergo with strength of Patience And therefore it is Gods goodnesse still to proportion the Tryal to the strength A strong Faith can receive a mercy and bee thankful and can render a mercy and bee patient A strong Faith can injoy a blessing and bee chearful and can lose it and bee contented Hence saith Paul I have learned in all estates therewith to bee content I know how to abound and how to suffer want c. Hee was a man strong in Faith And the ground of all is this because a strong Faith having dear evidence and apprehensions that God is a Father doth conclude that all his dealings are for good All things shall work together for good to them that love God And hee hath said Hee will never depart from us from doing us good Faith like the Philosophers stone turns all into Gold sees all Gods dealings to bee for good If God then afflict a man why will Faith say It 's for good I have need of such Afflictions to work out such a strong corruption Are the Afflictions many why will Faith say I have need of many Afflictions because I have many corruptions Are they long why I have need of that too because sin and I are so hardly parted It is so hard to make a divorce betwixt sin and my soul and therefore the afflictions had need to continue long Faith sees that God aims at this to wean us from the World to win us closer to him to exercise and increase our Graces to weaken sin and corruption to make us more fruitful Therefore doth hee prune us that wee might grow more If a man lop Trees at sometimes they will wither and dye but if at other times they will be made more fruitful God useth to afflict the wicked at such time But the Saints when they may grow the more Therefore God winnows us fannes us to blow away the chaff Therefore hee puts us as Gold into the fire that wee may come out much more pure Strong Faith and strong Obedience Obedience is proportionable to our Faith The greater the Faith the more the Obedience A little Tree a young Tree may bring forth good fruit as well as a greater but not in equal quantity to the greater so hee that hath the least degree of true Faith lives a godly life brings forth some fruits of Obedience but they are not so plentiful in good works as those whose Faith is come to an higher degree Weak Faith doth obey and this Obedience is a willing a chearful a fruitful a constant an universal Obedience both 1. In respect of the Subject The whole Man and 2. In respect of the Object The whole Law There is a willing yeelding of the soul up to God to walk in every way of God As David Lord I am thine or as the Prophet Isaiah One shall say I am the Lords Otherwise it were not true Obedience But they are not able to act so much as the stronger They are as large in desires in affections to obey but not in expressions of Obedience But the stronger the Faith the stronger is the Obedience the stronger the Will the stronger the Affections and the spirit in his Obedience A Child may do actions as well as a Man but not with that strength as a man doth them hee cannot do them so strongly so vigorously A weak Beleever may pray hear c. but not pray so strongly so powerfully as others who have more Faith So that you see where there is strong Faith there is strong Obedience A strong Faith will follow God fully in every way In losing waies as well as in gaining waies In suffering waies as well as in doing waies In discountenanced waies as well as in such as the World doth countenance In strait waies
thus taken with it and given you the grounds and reasons of it I will now descend to application If so bee that the Heart of Jesus Christ be taken with his Church and People Then from hence wee may deduce these Consectaries 1. Consectary 1. This then may bee a ground for us to expect and hence our Faith may bee strengthened in the expectation that Christ will yet do more for his Church and People than yet hee hath done Indeed hee hath done much for our Nation for our English Sion Hee might have ruined us for a Generation of such as provoked him Wee have been a Provocation of his Anger to this day Hee might have suffered our carkasses to have fallen in the Wilderness and kept our posterity to have entered into Canaan Wee have looked toward Egypt toward Babylon Hee might have laid the foundation of purer times in our bloud raised up a purer Church upon the ruines of us But God hath seemed to over-look our great unworthiness And to the terror of our enemies and even to the astonishment and wonder of us all hath begun set forth and gone forward in a way of mercy such wayes as have been untrodden in former times And that which God hath given us in hand is an earnest of what wee have in hope that wee have in possession bids us but look to what wee have in promise And expect the performance of it because God loves the Church the Heart of Christ is taken with the Church Hee loves his Church and therefore hee will purifie his Church aad take away her dross and tinne Hee loves his Church and therefore will hee reform his Church Hee loves his Church and therefore will hee take away whatsoever doth offend all soul-burthens all conscience-burthens which oppress the spirits of his own People 1. The Church is his Fold and hee will destroy the Wolves which have gotten in to devoure the sheep 2. The Church is his Field and hee will weed out the Tares and binde them in bundles to burn them 3. The Church is his House and hee will sweep it 4. It is his Flore and hee will fanne and blow away the chaff That love which made him ingage himself to his Church in precious promises will not suffer him to rest till hee hath made good those promises to it That love which moved him to begin will not suffer him to rest till hee hath made an end You see in Ezek. 37.27 the whole Chapter is but an addition of Mercy to Mercy When God begins to go forth towards a people in a way of mercy hee knows no stop hee can make no end I will do this and also this as you see in that Chapter God adds Mercy to Mercy And the reason is because free-Free-love begins and that knows no end The proceedings of Gods Mercy towards his Church and People do arise from himself his own Free-Grace His Justice is from us but his Mercy is from himself If when hee threatned to punish Israel hee saith hee will adde Judgement to Judgement This and this also will I do Amos 4.12 How much more then when hee promiseth to shew Mercy to Israel will hee adde Mercy to Mercy God hath Also's of Mercy as well as of Judgement See in Ezek. 37.27 My Tabernacle also shall bee c. Well then Is the Heart of Christ taken with his Church and People Then will wee with confidence beleeve and with patience wait and expect that Christ will yet do more for his Church and People than ever hee hath done because hee loves them Let us but joyn Supplication with Expectation Praying with Waiting and wee shall see it to the joy of our hearts I never read that ever God bestowed any great Mercy and deliverance upon his Church and People but he first stirred up the hearts of his people mightily to pray unto him And never did God mightily stir up the hearts of his People to seek him but hee wrought some great Mercy and deliverance for them God loves to make his People as thankful as they were prayerful As happy Injoyers as they were humble Seekers When Trouble sends us to Prayer then Deliverance shall send us to Praises Let us then joyn our Supplications to our Expectations Times of great Expectations should bee times of Great Supplications whether they bee 1. Expectations of Hope the Object whereof is Good 2. Or Expectations of Fear the Object whereof is Evil. 3. Or Mixed Expectations between Hope and Fear as our times are they are times of Expectation and therefore they ought to bee times of Supplication Wee are now big with Expectation let us now bee mighty in Supplication Great Stones are not to bee turned over without great strength Great Mercies are not to bee gotten without great strivings The Man-child of Deliverance is not to bee brought forth without pangs Let us then bee mighty in Prayer That will make all our present throws and pangs subservient to deliverance And then let us stand still and wait 1. Wait for performance of Promises 2. Wait for performance of Prayers There are many thousand Prayers registred in Gods-book and many thousand Tears put up in Gods-bottle Let us wait when all these shall come down upon our heads in a warm shower of Mercy Wait when the great revenew of Prayers will come in The longer the stay the greater will bee the harvest Wee say great Engines move slowly Magnarum rerum tarda molimina Smal things they are quickly wheeled about but great Mercies they are long in conception long in the womb and long in the birth This is all our comfort God will not bring to the birth and afterward not bring forth nor will hee bring forth and afterward shut the womb again as hee saith Isa 66.9 Hee is Alpha and Omega the Beginner and the Finisher where hee laies the foundation there hee will lay the roof upon it 2. Consectary If the Heart of Christ bee once taken with his Church and People Then hee will never take his heart off from them His heart once taken shall never bee taken off Men may love to day and hate to morrow but God cannot whom hee loves once hee loves to the end even to all eternity As there was nothing in us that was the ground of his planting his love upon us so there is nothing that shall bee able to over-turn the thoughts of his love when once they are fixed on us Indeed our behaviour may bee such as may cause God to bee angry with us and correct us sharply yea and make us to know wee had better never to have tryed conclusions with him But there is nothing shall cause him to hate us and cast us off Hee may correct his Spouse but hee will not divorce her The Israelites were so hard-hearted that for every trivial fact they would put away their Wives But the Lord hates putting away Mal. 2.16 If sin fore-seen were not able to hinder him from planting
yet here hee that beleeves most and loves most makes most haste The more the soul beleeves and the more the heart is taken with Christ the greater are the desires to bee with him Till Simeon had gotten Christ into his armes hee was unwilling to dye but after hee had Christ in his armes Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for my eyes have seen thy salvation Indeed here are but the Espousals between Christ and the soul Some Broken-Rings Contracts Espousals betwixt Christ and us But then is the great Marriage-day the Solemnization of our Nuptials to all eternity Here wee do see him but dimly and darkly at the best and there are oftentimes clouds come in and interpose themselves between Christ and us but then wee shall see him face to face and never shall there cloud come between Christ and us to all eternity There wee shall see him in his Glory his full discoveries Here wee injoy him but in part The distance is great betwixt him and us All which distance doth arise from that within us Were it not for sin wee might bee in Glory even in Grace But then wee shall injoy him in fulness Heaven is the place which God hath intended to set forth himself to his People in his Glory to all eternity Where there shall bee no fears no sin never smoak of distrustfull thoughts shall arise more Where there shall bee no sorrow no tears All sighing and sobbing shall pass away and nothing but joy shall keep the house Wee are now the Sons of God But it doth not yet appear what wee shall bee for wee shall see him as hee is 7. Sign A heart taken with Christ thinks nothing too much to do nothing â—â—o much to suffer for Christ You know Love cannot bee posed Wee say there is no difficultie in Love Things impossible to others are easie to them who love And things burthensome to others delightfull to them who love If once thy heart bee taken with Christ thou wilt think nothing too much to do nothing too much to suffer for him As Christ thought nothing too much for us because his heart was taken with us neither shall wee think any thing too much for Christ Wee read how prodigal the Saints have been of their Riches their Blood their Lives for Christ because they loved him 1. They have not accounted their estates too dear for him Heb. 10.34 They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods 2. They have not accounted their lives too dear Rev. 12.11 They loved not their lives to death for him If they must dig in Mines or be cast to bee devoured by Wild-Beasts for Christ as it was the usual sentence of Christians Christiani ad nâ— talla ad Ecstias in the primitive times they were willing to do and suffer it See this in the Virgin of whom Basil speaks who was condemned to death because shee would not worship Idols And the like of old Polycarp and others This is certain A soul taken with Christ knows no difficulty in its love It loves him with an unlimited an uncircumscribed love which no duty no difficulty can pose 8. Sign A heart taken with Christ is exceedingly cast down with the withdrawings and absence of Christ The comforts of the soul are laid up in Christ and when hee is gone all is gone Comfort gone Joy gone the Heart gone with him As Mephibosheth said Take all now my Lord is come back so the soul saith Take all take the World take Riches take Heaven and Glory so far as Heaven and thou are two things That my Lord may return with my soul Datkness is terrible to the soul and this is thick darkness and therefore saith with Absolom let mee see his face mea non prosunt sine te nothing besides thee can either satisfie or profit mee 9. Sign A heart taken with Christ is fully content and satisfied with the injoyments and possession of Christ The possession of the thing beloved doth content the soul so far as there is satisfaction and contentment with it The reason why wee do not meet with full contentments and satisfactions here in the possession or our loves is because they want of fulness But now it is not so with Christ Hee is able to brim the soul to satisfie the spirit to answer all the desires of the heart and therefore the heart taken with him needs must rest satisfied and contented with him Such a gulf of desire is in the soul of men that if God should cast in a thousand worlds there would bee no contentment except Christ bee cast in And Christ is so full contentment that if God bestow him they will neither need nor desire any more And thus much shall serve for the use of tryal wee will now come to an use of Exhortation and conclude this Use of Exhortation 1. To them of his Church 2. To them who are not of the Church 1. To them of his Church Is it so that the heart of Christ is so much taken with his Church and People 1. Direction to them of the Church 1. Walk suitably to this love Dignities and suitable walkings to dignities must go together Now this suitable walking wee will express in these five things 1. Walk chearfully 2. Walk thankfully 3. Walk humbly 4. Walk watchfully 5. Walk obediently 1. Walk chearfully Walk as Heirs of such a Mercy Here is a truth speaks comfort when all the world speaks nothing but terrour 2. Direction to them of the Church 2. Beware of abusing this love Precious things are committed to us by a word of Caution This is a precious Truth and therefore let mee adde to it this word of Caution Beware of abusing this Love of Christ Christs Love are his bowels and hee will never indure to have his bowels injured his love abused You know a man will not have his Love injured the abuse of his power of his wisdome greatness doth not touch a man so nearly as the abuse of his Love This is an injury men cannot indure So to speak after the manner of men Christ can least indure his Love should bee abused There is no abuse like it Therefore beware of it Now this Love of Christ is injured these wayes and beware 1. When wee slight the intreaties reject the tenders cast aside the offers and beseeches of his Love When love stoops to you when the mercy and goodness of Christ doth as it were come on its knees to you and intreats you to do this or not to do that And yet you will stop your ears pull back your shoulder slight the intreaties This is an abuse 2. When the Love of Christ doth slacken our hearts to duty loosen our ingagements makes us more remiss to or in service This is to abuse his Love Wee should reason from Mercy to Duty and not from Mercy to Liberty Abundance of Grace calls in for abundance of Duty The Love of Christ should constrain us as
is a Soul-inriching-Grace It gives a man not only Title and interest into a Soul-inriching-God a Soul-inriching-Christ a Soul-inriching-Treasure but gives the soul the possession and injoymnet of all this By Faith wee possess God injoy God and by no other way but by Faith in Christ Though Faith be poor in it self the poorest Grace of all as having nothing of its own such a Grace as lives all upon anothers stock is fed with anothers food rich by anothers riches as the Apostle said of himself Hee was poor yet making many rich having nothing yet possessing all things so I may say of Faith Though it bee poor in it self yet it makes us rich doth inrich us with all the riches of Christ though it hath nothing in it self yet it possesses all things it possesseth Christ which is all Oh! If you bee rich in Faith you cannot bee poor in Grace Quantum credimus Tantum amamus Quantum credimus Tantum speramus Saith Aug. poor in Holiness Faith sanctifies So much Faith so much Grace so much Faith so much Love so much Faith so much Hope so much Faith so much Humility so much brokenness of spirit for sin so much Patience Zeal c. Never was it known a strong Beleever to bee a weak Christian So much Faith write down so much Grace Little in Faith and little in Grace little in love c. Grace is still proportionable to the measure and degrees of Faith like the fountain and the flood Hence Faith is called the Mother-Grace 2. Pet. 1.2 3. Grace and Peace bee multiplyed on you by the Knowledge of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the acknowledgement that is by Faith The augmentation of Faith doth cause the multiplication of Grace not in the kinds only but in the degrees The more Faith in degrees the more Grace Grow in Faith and you grow in all Grace Decrease in Faith and all the Graces of God decrease in thee There is decay of Love of Joy of Patience The ground of all decayes is the decay of Faith Well then To draw to a conclusion of this you see Faith is an inriching-Grace 1. It inricheth the understanding with knowledge with heavenly wisdome which is better than gold It makes the Head a store-house of divine knowledge There is some Knowledge before Faith Scientia Principiorum the Knowledge of Principles But the best Knowledge is after Beleeving Wee beleeve and know saith John First beleeve and then know Crede ut intelligas beleeve that thou mayest understand Hence David Psal 119. Teach mee good Judgement for I have beleeved thy Word Not that I may beleeve but for I have beleeved Non possunt discere qui nolunt credere Addiscentem oportet credere Hence Augustine upon Heb. 4.2 The Word did not profit them because it was not mixt with Faith in them that heard it saith They cannot learn because they will not beleeve Hee that would learn must beleeve As Knowledge of things revealed goes before Faith so Faith goes before the exact understanding and clear apprehensions of them How shall a man bee able to understand these heavenly Mysteries in the Word all which are far above Reason The Mystery of the Trinity the Mystery of Christ in whom there is nothing but Mysteries His Person a Mystery his Nature his Works all Mysteries 1 Tim. 3.16 Without Controversy great is the Mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory That hee should bee God-Man mortall and immortal That there should bee such greatness and such baseness such infiniteness and yet such finiteness in one person These are all Mysteries Hence Christ is called Isa 9.6 Wonderful because all is wonderfull in Christ hee is wonderful in his Person in his Nature in his offices in the managing of them A chain of wonders So the Creation a Mystery Resurrection a Mystery Christian Religion is nothing else but a bundle of holy Mysteries Which how shall any man understand until first hee beleeve Hee that seeks to know before hee beleeve shall never know The best way to know is to shut your eyes captivate Reason and Beleeve and then you shall see and know Thus you see Faith inricheth with Spiritual Knowledge 2. As Faith inriches the Understanding the Head with Knowledge so it inriches the Heart with Grace It makes the Heart a Treasury of divine and holy Graces The least of which are worth all the Riches of the World Divines set down four invaluable things 1. The Favour of God in Christ 2. The Souls of Men. 3. The Spirit 4. The Graces of the Spirit 1. The Favour of God That 's invaluable Psal 63.3 Thy loving kindness is better than Life And Life is the most precious thing a man hath in the World Skin for Skin and all a man hath will hee give for his life The Devil was right there Now Gods loving-kindness is better than Life 2. The Souls of Men. What will it profit a man to gain the whole World and lose his Soul Christ sets the gain of the whole World against the losse of one Soul Hee puts one Soul in one Balance and the whole World in another And one Soul weighs down all What will it profit its too light All that gain cannot make up this loss It is an incomparable loss because an irrecoverable loss once lost lost for ever There 's no recovery of a lost soul Though a man may lose other things yet may hee recover them again Man may lose Riches c. but not his Soul when once lost for want of beleeving 3. The third invaluable is the Spirit not to bee bought with silver or gold Hence Peter told Simon-Magus when hee would have bought the Spirit Thy mony perish with thee Thinkest thou the Gift of God may bee bought with mony 4. The Graces of the Spirit The least of which doth weigh down all the World The least grain of Grace of Love of Repentance of godly sorrow Humility is worth ten thousand Worlds Faith is more precious than gold saith Peter Now these are the Riches that Faith doth possess the Soul of the invaluable Riches of Grace Other Riches God deals out promiscuously and No man knows either love or hatred by any thing before him A man may do wickedly and prosper as it was said of Antiochus Epiphanes Dan. 8.24 â—5 These Riches Gods enemies do share in as well as his friends Nay and have often the greatest share the greatest portion Job 21.7 Jer. 12.1 Dives may have more wealth Saul more command Agrippa more gorgious apparel than the dearest of Gods Saints But now these are such Riches as God bestows upon none but Beleevers Abraham gave portions to the Sons of the Concubines and sent them away but unto Isaac hee gave all hee had Rex honores dignis Other Riches may bee taken away A man may bee rich to
as well as in broad waies in rugged waies as well as in plain smooth waies In difficult as well as in easie waies You see this in Abraham concerning the sacrificing of his son In which act hee might seem to disobey in his Obedience And the dutiful yeelding to it might seem to contradict duty There seemed not only Nature and reason to cry down this act of Obedience but even the word too The yeelding of Obedience did seem to justle against the Precept of Obedience Yet you see hee obeyed God It is said By Faith Abraham obeyed God By Faith indeed It was a strong Faith That strong Faith that beleeved hee should have a Son did now obey God in offering of his Son Strong Obedience proceeded from his strong Faith Strong Faith produceth strong Obedience 1. Strong for Active 2. Strong for Passive Obedience The same Faith doth supply the soul with Active strength for doing duties and with Passive strength for suffering duties 1. A strong Faith is strong to bear Reproaches for Christ As Moses Hee esteemed the Reproach of Christ greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt Heb. 11.26 And Paul Therefore wee labour and suffer Reproach because wee trust in the living God 1 Tim. 4.10 2. A strong Faith is strong to bear losses for Christ As they Heb. 10.34 Who took joyfully the spoiling of their goods as if the enemy had done them a great courtesie A strong Faith is strong to bear Persecutions Scourges Death it self for Christ You see what the Apostles indured what Stephen indured Why saith the Text Hee was a man full of Faith Act. 5.8 Strong Faith did inable them to suffer and bear and to go through difficulties prisons persecutions scourgings c. for Christ A strong Beleever doth rejoyce if hee can hold up God as it were though himself bee down if hee can raise up Gods Glory though it bee by the ruine of himself save his honour by losse of himself What Epaminondas said who having resolved concerning his Buckler either to defend it or to dye for it being wounded to death brake forth into these words Num salvus est Clypeus meus Is my Buckler safe If that bee safe I am well So the Beleever in the midst of all his sufferings if hee can keep his Buckler safe hold up God and his Glory All is well 3. A strong Faith will beleeve nothing contrary to his belief All the temptations of Satan all the arguments of men shall never bee able to reason him out of his Faith A weak Faith is quickly brought to deny his conclusion to yeeld up the cause Satan may make a man unsay what formerly hee hath said But a strong Faith will hold the conclusion against all Satans sophistry His Faith hath been gotten up by many invincible experiences from Gods behaviour to him as a Father from the souls behaviour to him as a Child And all that Satan can do shall not out-reason his Faith What a man saith by feeling a temptation may make him unsay but what a man saith by Faith nothing can make him unsay If Satan do assault such a man and tell him God doth not love him God is not his Father yet will the soul binde it self to this Mast and hold his conclusion against all with the Church Isa 63.16 Doubtless thou art our Father thou Lord art our Father our Redeemer Say Satan takes up arguments from Gods 1. Inward Or 2. Outward dealings with us 1. From his Inward dealings May bee a man is in some present Desertion and wants the clear Evidences which formerly hee had and Satan from thence doth argue That God is not our God hee is not our Father yet will not a strong Faith bee reasoned out of his Faith The soul will yet conclude it though it cannot clear it and beleeve it when it cannot see it The strong Christian lives by Faith not by feeling and knows God may bee His God though by sense it bee not discerned but that God is not his God You see this in Psal 22.1 My God! My God! There 's Faith Why hast thou forsaken mee There 's sense Faith held the conclusion against sense That God was his God though sense could not apprehend but that hee was forsaken of God And therefore when the eye of Sense and Evidence is put out yet hee hath the eyes of Faith to see and beleeve And Blessed is the man saith our Saviour to Thomas who beleeves and sees not Joh. 20.29 A strong Faith will trust God further than hee sees him Faith is the Evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 Faith will trust upon the Promise of Mercy in the want of Sense of Mercy Our Faith is not begotten by sense and feelings but by the Promise and therefore in the want of sense and feelings the soul may beleeve Isa 50.10 Though a man walk in darkness and sees no light yet may hee trust in the Lord and lean upon his God A weak Faith if it want feeling it is gone but the strong Faith will Hope against Hope Beleeve against Sense Reason and present Evidence and can say God is mine though it want the present Sense and Evidence of it It will trust in God a Father when his dealings seem to argue him an Enemy Faith will read Love in his angry looks and look through the mist of Desertion and see the affections of a Father under the expressions of an Enemy Thus did Job by Faith Though thou kill mee yet will I trust in thee Full well it knows Though God hide his face yet hee cannot deny himself 2. Say hee takes an argument from Gods outward dealings in chastising and afflicting of us and say If God loved thee hee would not so afflict thee If God were thy Father hee would not so chastise thee However the weak Faith may bee born down with such a temptation as this yet the strong Faith is not moved with such a temptation it is able to retort on Satan because God loves mee therefore hee scourgeth mee that I might not bee condemned with the World That I might not love the World therefore hee suffers the World to frown on mee That I might bee crucified to the World therefore hee suffers mee to bee crucified in the World Because I am a Child therefore hee afflicts mee Hee scourgeth every Son whom hee receiveth Rom. 12.6 7 8.9 c. God takes liberty to chastise our bodies to save our souls And God loves tenderly when hee corrects severely Job 5.17 Pro. 3.11 Thus doth a strong Faith hold up the conclusion of Faith against all the Reasonings of Satan against it Let him produce never so many Evidences to the contrary yet will hee not bee born down in it It 's a maxime of Faith hee will hold to against all opposition whatsoever You see it was thus in Job When God had taken away his goods when his hand was upon his body and upon his spirit too not only withdrawing himself from
Mover of all the affections Mat. 7.28 When the people heard him they were astonished at his Doctrin The like wee read Mat. 13.54 Mar. 1.22 Mark 11.18 Luk. 4.22 All bare him witness and wondred at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth All wondred but All were not savingly wrought upon That is the first 2. They may hear it with affections of fear and trembling Thus you know Foelix heard Paul Act. 24.25 When Paul preached of Temperance and Righteousness and Judgement to come Foel x trembled It struck dread and fear into his heart It set him on trembling 3. They may hear the word with affections of delight and some kinde of love You see in the Text They did delight to know Gods waies and did delight in approaching to God And Ezek. 33.31 32. They come and sit before thee as my people They hear thy words and thou art to them as a very lovely song They hear thy words but they do them not With their mouth they shew much love but their heart goes after their Covetousness 4. They may hear the word with affection of Joy It is said of Herod Mark 6.20 That Herod feared and observed John and when hee heard him hee did many things and heard him gladly The like you have Matth. 13.20 The stony ground heard the word and anon with joy received it yet wanting root in the time of Persecution they fell away So you see the first particular cleared A man may hear the word hee may hear it often abound in hearing Hee may hear it with affections and yet his heart may bee unsound 2. A man may not only hear but pray too nay and make many prayers abound in praying Hee may pray in publick pray in private pray in the Church pray in his family pray in his closet which last commeth nearer to sincerity And may make strong cries Hee may pray with affections i. e. such affections as sense stirs up but not such affections as Faith stirs up such affections as are raised up by some present sting and smart some trouble and pressure of conscience though not with such affections as are raised up by Faith quickned by Gods sanctifying Spirit Affections of love and desire Nay and they may joyn fasting to Prayer nay further adde mourning to fasting And yet their hearts may bee unsound I cannot stand to clear all the Particulars The main I shall make to appear to you in two or three places Read Isa 1.15 When you stretch forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when you make many prayers when you multiply prayer adde prayer to prayer as the word imports Yet I will not hear your hands are full of blood i. e. you are unregenerate you are unsound in your spirits So that you see a great deal cleared in this A man may pray abound in praying multiply prayers c. And yet bee unsound And you may joyn fasting to prayer as you see in the next verse to my Text and in the example of the Scribes and Pharisees who prayed often and fasted often And you may joyn mourning to fasting Zach. 7.5 When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month even these seventy years did you at all fast to mee even to mee They served themselves not God in that action all those seventy years together Hos 7.14 and they have not cryed to mee with their hearts when they howled upon their beds they assemble themselves for Corn and Wine that 's the ground of their fasting and howling For they rebel against mee That 's the second Particular 3. A man may seem to bee humbled to mourn and weep for sin and yet bee unsound A man cannot mourn for sin as sin but his heart is sincere but a man may seem to mourn for sin and yet his heart not bee sincere Hee may mourn for sin clad with wrath for sin cloathed with Judgement and Displeasure for sin as it smels of Hell Fire and Brimstone for sin as it appears in its dooms-day attire So did Ahab so Judas There are Crocodile-tears There are false tears as well as false prayers As a broken heart doth not ever expresse it self in tears So tears are not ever the expression of a broken heart There are 1. Lachrymae Indignationis tears of Anger as was Esaus 2. Lachrymae Desperationis tears of Desperation such as of the damned in Hell 3. Lachrymae Compunctionis tears of Compassion such as were Christs for Jerusalem 4. Lachrymae Compunctionis tears of godly sorrow and Compunction Such tears they may expresse as sense and smart stirs up but not such as Faith and Love do raise up in the soul 4. A man may seem to do much walk in many wayes of duty go far in the outward shew of obedience the letter of command and yet his spirit bee unsound A man may do so much spin a thread so finely as they who have the most discerning spirit are not able to detect and discover him Hee may deceive the men of the world hee may deceive the Saints deceive the Devil hee may deceive himself Wee read of Zeuxes the Painter Hee drew Grapes so to the life that hee deceived the Birds they would come flying to them as though they had been real Grapes Dedalus hee made an Image by art that moved of it self insomuch that men beleeved it had been alive But Pigmalion made an Image so lively that hee deceived himself and taking the Picture for a Person fell in love with his own Picture So there are some who can spin so fine a thread limb out the picture of godliness so to the life that not only the men of the World but even the Saints who are of most discerning spirits nay and themselves may bee deceived and deluded 5. A man may cast up his vomit disgorge himself of all his former wayes his old lusts and sins hee may bee washed that is outwardly reformed in every thing hee may leave many sins and yet bee unsound You see this plain in 2 Pet. 2.20 21 22. And there is nothing more plain than that a man may leave sin and yet not hate sin Hee may leave sin either 1. Ex timore mali alicujus 1. Out of fear of evil 2. Ex taedio 2. Out of weariness of it 3. Ex amore mali alicujus oppositi 3. Out of love of some contrary sin 4. Ex deficientia organotum 4. Out of want of fit instrument and means to compass his sin 6. A man may accompanie himself with the People of God Saul may bee among the Prophets Judas Demas Simon-Magus among the Disciples and Apostles A man may get on Sheeps-cloathing accompany go in and out with the Sheep bee folded with the Sheep and yet bee no better than a Ravenous Wolf There are Tares as well as Wheat in Gods Field there is Chaff as well as Corn in Gods Floar bad Fishes as well as good in Gods net And unsound
best friends they come in too to lay more weight more guilt more burden on him Every Prayer every Duty which hee hath done with an unsound heart is now a burden a weight upon his spirit yea and weighes heavier than all the rest Here is trouble out of expected comfort which is the greatest trouble And take this with you and remember it Whatever you do in the wayes of God if comfort flow not from it trouble will one day rise out of it If it bee not a bottome for Faith Satan will use it as an argument for Despair when time serves I say that duty that is done and cannot minister comfort by the sincerity of the heart in doing of it will one day create discouragement and strengthen Despair Despair ariseth from that where comfort should but doth not arise But I am too long upon this This is the second ground why Satan doth not disturb such men 3. It may stand yet further with Satans ends and therefore hee doth not disturb them because hee hopes to have some further good of them another day Hee knows full well that they who will serve God for their own ends will serve the Devil for their own ends too when hee once out-bids God and exceeds him in his tenders It is an easy thing to make him the Devils Priest who is Mammons Chaplain You see Demas hee was unsound served God for By-ends for worldly respects And the Devil doth but out-bid God tender more for his service and hee presently forsakes God and cleaves to the World Hee forsook the Faith of Christ and turned to bee an Idol-Priest at Thessalonica as Dorotheus reports of him This is a sure Rule Hee who serves God for the World will serve the Devil for the World Hee who serves God for little will serve the Devil for more hee will easily bee brought upon higher tenders to change his Master I say men that have no minde to the Work nor love to the Master but the eye is only to the wages such men will quickly bee drawn upon greater offers to forsake their Master and their Work too and to joyn themselves to any where better wages may bee found And you must know There are no men whose service the Devil doth more desire than the service of such who have made profession And that upon diverse reasons 1. Hee knows They will bee the surest and most trusty servants to him of any None are more trusty souldiers than such who have forsaken the colours of the Lord and fled over to the Tents of Satan Such men hee never fears to loose again their Ears are boared in token of eternal subjection to this black Prince of darkness As wee say of the Angels If once they turn they never return There is no possibility of their repenting And this is one ground because their will hath sinned against such excellent clear and eminent light that they can never return again if all that light would not keep their desperate hearts from sinning it shall never prevail with them for returning when once they have sinned And God will never give a fuller a greater light and therefore they must needs bee fixt in their condition of sin So I may say of these in some degree They have sinned against so clear light such manifest evidence that if they turn sin wilfully Hardly do they return again It is no more but what the Apostle saith in that sixth and tenth to the Hebrews And therefore these must needs bee trusty servants to the Devil they are sure his They are his by choice And none surer his than they who are his by choice Now such men they have chosen him nay and not only chosen him but they have chosen him upon experience and dislike of their former Master If indeed a man should have chosen Satan before ever hee had tryed God then were there some hopes that his mind might bee altered hee might repent of his choice But when a man hath had a tryal of God and upon experience and dislike of God and his wayes chuseth Satan and the world these are sure Besides these men have sold themselves over to Satan Now none are more sure his than they who sell themselves over to him Indeed wee are all sold in Adam as the Apostle saith sold to sin But now when a man shall come and not only ratifie the bargain but make a new sale of himself This man is sure his It is not so much what the Father hath done but when the Son comes to age and shall ratifie what the Father hath done and make a new Sale Nay Satan doth not only know they are sure his but hee knows they will bee most usefull Instruments for him and by these things are they strengthened and prepared for his service and therefore hee will not disturb them Hee knows they will by this bee made better Engineers to work for him They will bee active instruments full of malice against God and his cause Who of all the Emperors was more mischievous than Julian who had once made profession of Christ Such men as these are set on fire of Hell Wee have a Proverb An English man Italianate Is a Devil Incarnate I may say the same A Professor Apostate Turns a Devil Incarnate There are none in the World have more of the Infernal Nature than they Their Head poisons their Heart poisons And the venome of Aspes is under their Tongue They are full of Hell There is some ingenuity in Nature fallen though never so bad But Nature once raised and after Devilized such men are all fury These are Satans Mogols Satans Champions the chiefest of that black band of Darkness Such men as these they have sinned away Light Conscience all natural remorse and tenderness And what can bee expected from them there is no mans sword more sharp and keen than theirs who have sharpened it upon the threshold of God No mans pen writes so bitterly against God his Cause and People than theirs who have dip'd their pen in the Blood of Conscience No man fails more desperately to Hell than such a man who hath made Shipwrack of Conscience And therefore seeing such men are so trusty so sure so active so malicious instruments when they are brought over to him and it is so easy a thing to bring them about no marvel if Satan will not disturb such men for a time but lets them go on till they bee fit for his work It will stand with the designs of his own Kingdome Thus I have shewed two things how it may stand 1. With Gods 2. With Satans ends 3. Now thirdly How it may stand with their own ends who having corrupt hearts yet should notwithstanding abound in duty 1. To answer the calls of Conscience Every man hath a Conscience And every mans Conscience doth call upon him for the performance of something And the further conscience is inlightened the further work it calls him out upon A man
resolved for God you who are bound for Heaven that you would get better evidences than the bare and naked performance of duties will afford you All which may bee done and thou sink into Hell at the last Nay get better evidences than duty it self performed at the best is able to afford unto you 1. Because evidences of this kinde are obscure full of ambiguity full of intricate disputes and controversies There will bee Objection upon Objection and controversy upon controversy will arise And all must bee cleared and all Objections answered before ever wee can conclude our estates by them I say Evidences of this kinde they must bee put in suit and pass a long scrutiny and tryal where there must bee Evidences upon Evidences and no end of them before ever wee can have any comfort in them You will finde that the clearing of the truth of these Evidences will bee as difficult if not more than the compassing of the Evidences themselves 2. Wee are to seek out for better Evidences than duty performed at the best can afford us because these kinde of Evidences are not only obscure full of ambiguity and so uncertain But because these kinde of Evidences they are unconstant they are instable they may appear to day and vanish to morrow You know my Brethren that a man is not alwayes in the same temper of spirit his spirit is subject to varying and alteration in the performance of duties And therefore though a man may fetch an Evidence out of the Court of duty at this time yet it may bee at another time the Court will not afford it A man may bee cleared to day by duty and condemned to morrow This day hee may thence have an evidence and hee may bee cast in the same Court to morrow Our comforts fetcht hence are lyable to change They vary as wee vary change as wee change This is certain That the Peace which is wrought out of our selves is again lost by our selves And the comfort gotten by duty at one time is lost by duty at another time Well then I call you out to seek out for better evidences Such as will afford you more fulness of peace and will minister to you more stability of comfort than these can do Fetch your Evidences from your Justification your interest in Christ in the Covenant You will finde an emptiness in all only a fulness here Draw your waters of comfort from the highest springs the springs of Justification These are 1. The clearest 2. The purest 3. The most satisfying 4. The most constant Evidences 1. These are the clearest Evidences They are fetched from the Spring Other waters are muddy and disturbed but Spring-waters are clear So Evidences taken from other things often run muddy and are disturbed but those from Justification are the cleanest and run the clearest Though these kinde of Evidences are hardest to clear It will cost a man something before he reach to these Evidences before he can make out these Evidences to himself yet they are the most perspicuous being cleared The Testimony of blood is the hardest and darkest Testimony to make out but none is more clear than that when once you have made it out to your souls So that it is worth all your labour and pains you take in the clearing of it Other Evidences are liable to dispute But what can Satan dispute against this Doth hee say Thou art a sinner Yea but maist thou say God justifies sinners hee justifies the ungodly Though sin hath weakened the Law and made that unable to do us good yet it hath not weakened Christ and Free Grace nor should it weaken our Faith if now wee bee returning sinners If Sin it self were a just Obstacle then there could never bee any who could bee Justified or fetch comfort from their Justification because all were sinners I am a sinner so was Abraham the Father of the Faithful so the best of Gods worthies Doth hee say our sins are great Yet wee may say they are not greater than God can pardon They are not greater than 1. The Mercy of God to pardon them or 2. The Righteousness of Christ to cover them 1. For the Mercy of God The Apostle tells us there was more than enough to pardon him who was the greatest of sinners 1 Tim. 1.13 14 15 16. The Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Did superabound was more than enough more than might serve the turn for him who was the greatest of sinners 2. And for the Righteousness of Christ it is said to bee an everlasting Righteousness more than eternity of sinning is able to expend and draw drye It is a Righteousness which as it cannot bee over-clasped by any Faith So can it not bee posed non-plust by any sin You see Rom. 1.17 It is a Righteousness revealed from Faith to Faith The more Faith not the lesse but the more Righteousness is discovered And as it cannot bee over-clasped by any Faith so it cannot bee exceeded by any sin Thus you see Evidences from our Justification they are the clearest Evidences the freest from disputes and if any Objections do arise they may bee the more quickly laid But now it is not so with other kinde of Evidences If a man take an Evidence from Duty there will bee controversies Objection upon Objection will arise and there must bee Evidence upon that Evidence before ever a man can make out the truth of them Nay though Evidences bee taken from Graces themselves yet you will scarce finde a bottome without much search Suppose a man come to bring in his Love to Christ for an Evidence yet this is liable to dispute You know there is a False-Love as well as a True a counterfeit as well as a sound And therefore this must bee examined by the Nature of your Love the workings of your Love towards Christ the expressions of your Love in all the wayes of Obedience And I must tell you of great latitude and extent in this tryal There will bee long debates before you come to the utmost And the like I may say of any Grace besides Therefore these from Justification are the clearest Evidences from disputes and controversies 2. These are the purest Evidences Spring-waters are the purest waters so these Evidences fetched from the Spring scil from your Justification and interest in Christ these are the purest I say these kinde of Evidences are the purest and most unmixed Evidences You shall see all other kinde of Evidences they are not so pure they have mixtures in them 1. Are they taken from Prayer yea and Prayer at the best yet these are not pure they have mixtures in them Our best Duties are mingled with imperfections They have a tang and taste of the flesh in them You know there is much deadness with our chiefest Life much formality in our best Power much coldness with our heats much of the flesh in all the imployments
The great work of Reformation hath gone so slowly forward because Gods People are not so strongly carried on in seeking 3 The third thing wee have to do is to shew you 3. Quere What are those wonders which God doth for his Church and People 1 God doth wonders for the souls of his People 2 God doth wonders for the body and outward man 1 Gods Wonder◠to the soul 1 For the soul And wee will give you a glance of these The first Wonder and indeed the Wonder of Wonders which God hath done for his Church and People is 1 Wonder for the soul 1 The giving of Christ for us and to us All wonders are swallowed up in this wonder Nothing is wonderful if compared to this God manifested in the flesh Hence the Apostle 1 Tim. 3.16 Great is the mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh That such greatness and such meanness such finiteness and such infiniteness such riches and such poverty such strength and such weakness Tantus Deus tantillus Homo So great a God and so mean a Man all in one Here is a Wonder There is four great Wonders conspicuous in this 1 Here is a Wonder of Humility which will appear if you consider 1 Of Humility 1 Who hee was 2 What hee became 1 Who hee was Hee was the Son of God The express Image of his Fathers person One equal with God and thought it no robbery to bee equal with God hee was God blessed for ever As the Apostle stiles him 2 VVhat hee became Hee took not upon him the Nature of Angels which yet had been a greater discent than if all the Angels in Heaven had been turned into Worms But hee took not the Nature of Angels but hee took upon him the Nature of Man and that not at the best but of Man fallen subject to infirmities Penal not Culpable General not particular And what a wonder of Humility was this There is not the meanest Angel in heaven but would have thought it a wrong above amends to have been so low abased Here was a wonder of Humility Factor terrae factus in terrâ The maker of the earth to bee made of earth 2 Here was a wonder of wisdome That God should find out such a way to recover us when we were lost If all the united Consultations of men and Angells had been laid together they could never have found out a way to Reconcile Gods mercy in the salvation of man and yet his Justice in the damnation of sin If God should have helped us thus farre You are miserable Creatures But I am a merciful God The demands of my justice I must not deny neither will I deny the intreaties of my mercy Find mee then but one that can satisfy my justice and I will shew my mercy to you Ah! where should wee have found one who was strong enough to bear sinne and to satisfy the wrath of God for us No it was his own wisdome that found out the way Here was a wonder of wisdome which wee adore and admire 3. Here was a wonder of Love An Heighth a depth a length a bredth a Love beyond all dimensions Hence said to bee a Love passing knowledge a Love that may bee apprehended by faith not comprehended by reason it was an infinite love And this is more than if wee could gather all the bowels of the Creation together Hence saith Christ who knew the greatnesse of it John 3.16 i. e. So God loved the world so infinitely so incomprehensibly that hee gave his only begotten Son that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life 4. Here was a wonder of mercy which will bee more conspicuous if we consider 1. The Person 2. The Time 1. The Person who undertook this It was the second Person in the glorious Trinity the Person against whom the first Sinne was in some special respect committed Hee is the wisdome of the father and called wisdome Prov. 8. And this sinne was an affectation of wisdome to bee like to God As the falling-sin is now the sinne against the Third Person Sinne against the Holy Ghost so the sin which did occasion the fall was in some special respects against the second Person And therefore the greater is the wonder of mercy That he against whom the first sinne was so committed should undertake the expiation of it 2 Consider the time when hee took our nature And that was when wee were brought to a desperate losse when it was made evident that nothing else could help us Heb. 10.6 7. Sacrifice and burnt-offerings thou wouldst not have Then said I Loe I come When Legal washings were declared unable to pacify God or to work our peace Then Christ comes into the world Christ came not into the world till it was made Evident That without him God could not be satisfied nor man bee saved And this is the first Wonder The sending of Christ in whom all is wonderfull His Incarnation the Hypostatical union of two natures in one Person His Passion Resurrection Ascention Session Intercession They are a chain of holy wonders Hence Isa 9.6 Christ is called wonderful because all in Christ is wonderfull 1 He is wonderful in his person and natures God-man and mortall-immortall finite and infinite so great and yet so mean so rich and yet so poor Here is a wonder 2 Hee is wonderfull in his Offices A King Priest and Prophet 3 Hee is wonderfull in his government That hee should bring us to life by death to glory by misery to honor by shame All wonders This is the first wonder and the root of all the rest 2 Another wonder God doth for the souls of his People is The second wonder to the soul 1 In Conversion 1 The work of Conversion and regeneration that a man should partake of another begetting of another birth of another nature than others have in the world Nay than hee himself had This is a wonder That a man should bee the same and not the same The same man for body yet as different in qualities as if another soul did dwell in the same body That hee should live by another life bee fed by other food refreshed by other comforts than others are Here is a wonder that of a Lyon should become a Lamb of a Wolf a sheep of a Saul a Paul a Persecutor become a Preacher Here is a wonder And the greater is the wonder if you look upon the weaknesse and contemptiblenesse of the means God works this by The ministery of a weak man It had been no great wonder if the Walls of Jericho had fallen down by the battery of a Canon But this made it the wonder that the blast of Rams-horns should bring down the walls of Jericho And this is that which makes this work more wonderful that by such weak and Contemptible means and men in the eyes of carnal men this great work should be effected When a man
hee was for theirs 3 A third incouragement that wee have to these duties is from the consideration of Gods love to his Church and many precious ingagements to them in promises The Church is dear to him wee are his Spouse his Members such as hee dyed for c. Wee are his 1. By Choice 2. By Purchase 3. By Gift 4. By Covenant And being his hee will do great things for us also Gods love to his Church is that into which wee may resolve all the mercies hee doth for his Church and is the only ground of our Faith and hope to expect mercies from him It is the Sea the spring Well then having so strong incouragements to these duties I would now have spent a little time to have pressed these duties on you but I forbear 9 Information 9. Information This may inform us what is the reason that God suffers wicked men to conceive and to hatch mischief against the Church Nay and to bring up their designes to ripeness that they are ready for execution why God doth not disturb them all their way Here is the Reason Because hee can do wonders Though hee let them go on yet they can never get the advantage of God nor can they make it past Gods help It is but shewing a wonder at last and all is dasht Men when they see an adversary whom they can easily Master when they please they will let them go on counsel advise lay their heads and power together and seem to take no notice of them They know the further they let them go the fuller and compleater will bee their overthrow at last So doth God here Hee suffers wicked men to go on but is because hee knoweth hee can overtake them though they think they have got the start before they come to the goal or get the prize When men see there would bee some hazard at last when they had brought their design to ripeness or did fear that the adversary would bee too strong for them then they will labour to hinder the beginnings and gatherings they will indeavour to crush the birth of their counsels or they will set themselves against their power as soon as they can And this is the wisest way among men But now God hee can let them go on hee can let them bring their designes to ripenesse they can never swell so big as to bee too great for his power to conquer them can never make their design so strong as to non-plus his wisdome and skill to help And therefore hee will let them go on because hee can dash them in their Man-hood as well as in their infancy in their strength as well as in their weaknesse It is but shewing a wonder and all is done And this was the Reason why God suffered the five Kings of Canaan to lay all their strength together that they might bee able to do that joyntly which they were never able to do singly Yet it is said The Lord hardened their hearts to joyn together to come against Israel Though they thought by this means to overthrow Israel yet Gods end was to make the quicker dispatch the fuller overthrow of them And therefore hee let Pharaoh also to go on did not stop him in his preparations nor hinder him in his setting forth but let him follow them to the utmost God knew hee could have him at the last hee could shew a wonder and break all in peeces The like of Haman God could if hee would have dasht his bloody counsel in the beginning hee could have set the King against it But hee lets him go on and bring his design to ripenesse and then declares a wonder and ruines him and his counsel too And this is the reason why God suffers wicked men to go on gather themselves together bring their designs to the utmost Because hee can break them in the end as well as in the beginning It is but doing a wonder at last which is familiar with God and all is broken in peeces And therefore Melancthon saith Non est judicandum de operibus dei ante quartum actum 2. Use Let it bee an Use of cautional Advise to wicked men 2 Use is for Caution to the wicked Let them beware of designing or attempting any thing against the Church and People of God seeing they have such a one on their side as can and will do Wonders for the relieving of them It was a truth which Zerish Hamans wife told him Esther 6.17 If Mordecai bee of the seed of the Jews before whom thou hast begun to fall thou shalt not prevail against him but shalt surely fall before him It seems it was a known truth of those dayes even among Heathens that there should bee no power nor counsel against the Church of God God would do wonders for them Gods people are dear to God they are all the riches hee hath in the World Hee calls them so His Inheritance his Portion his Jewels his Treasure Hee hath a great deal of lumber in the world besides but these are his Jewels only and it cost him dear to make them Jewels It was no lesser than the price of his own blood As the Apostle saith You were not redeemed with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.19 Gods people are all the Income Christ had for his blood and sufferings all that Christ desired all that God promised and all he enjoys As you see Isa 53.11 12. Hee shall see of the travel of his Soul and shall be satisfied c. And do you think then that God will not preserve his People yes certainly and will not stand to do wonders to preserve them Assure your selves God will never desert his cause his Church his People when things are brought up to their ripenesse that God is as it were drawn out to discover to the world in what cause hee will stand for what persons hee will fight Then he will declare it to the comfort of his Saints and to the cost of all those who are enemies to the Church of God God hath promised That hee will never leave us nor forsake us Hee hath said Hee will bee with us as hee was with Joseph in Prison And that not onely as a Spectator but as an Actor not as one to look on and take notice onely but as one to relieve and help us His power shall bee with us his Wisdome with us c. And as hee is with his Church so is hee against the Enemies of it His Power is against them before whom All the Nations of the Earth are but as the drop of a bucket And his wisdome against them his justice and truth against them And Woe bee to them whom God is against Thou maiest stand out against the power of men but not of God if he once prove thine enemy Hee hath a rod of Iron a Scepter of power an arm of strength to crush in peeces all his adversaries And