him and hide him from the Face of him that sitteth upon the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb For the great day of his Wrath is come and who is able to stand Rev. 6.16 17. Now then Deliverance from Death must needs deserve Praise and Thanksgiving Deliverance from the greatest Evil should be received with the greatest Gratitude Deliverance from natural Death causeth Holy persons to bless God but Deliverance from Sin the cause of Death from the Wrath to come eternal Death much more This makes the Deliverance most compleat and the Thankfulness should be most ample To which is to be added 2. That the Deliverance is by God it is He that delivers the Soul from Death Now what comes from God's hand is most acceptable to them that love God A Deliverance from Death by a man doth ingage our Affections to him we think our selves obliged to him while we live who hath preserved our Life especially if he be a person of great Quality To have our Lives saved by the King whom we had provoked to be pardoned our Treason exceedingly heightens our valuation of the Benefit There is much more cause to magnifie the Goodness of God who saves his people from Death by pardoning of their Sins by advancing them to Nearness with himself who so saves from Death temporal as to give Life eternal Behold saith Hezekiah Isa 38.17 for Peace I had great Bitterness but thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the Pit for thou hast cast all my Sins behind thy back The Forgiveness of Sins which occasioned Death is a greater Benefit then the prolonging of Life And then it is Happiness accumulated to the height when there is not onely length of days on Earth but eternal Life in Heaven conferred upon the saved Bless the Lord O my Soul saith David Psal 103.1 2 3 4. and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits Who forgiveth all thy Sins and healeth all thy Diseases Who redeemeth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with Loving-kindness and tender Mercies All which Mercies are the more joyfull to the believing Soul because they are not so much the fruit of our Prayers as of God's free Grace in Christ The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ so loved the World the sinfull World even when they were Enemies to him that he gave his onely-begotten Son to death even the death of the Cross that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting Life This Deliverance from Death proceeding from God's special Love that great Love wherewith he loved us when we were dead in Trespasses and Sins quickening us together with Christ saving us by Grace is that which makes it incomprehensibly welcome and encourageth the Soul to expect farther Preservation as David doth here which brings me to the Second Part of my Text now to be handled viz. II. David's Postulation Wilt thou not deliver my Feet from falling The Expression seems to be expostulatory but is to be conceived to include a Petition He demands of God Wilt thou not c not as one that challenged it as his due desert but as assured of the Continuance of God's Goodness He deprehends in God a Fountain of Love which is still running over flowing down in farther Streams of saving Mercy We have an exact and ample Paraphrase upon the words of my Text in that passage Psal 36. from vers 5. to the end where having set out the Wickedness of men and his own Danger he breaks forth in extolling God's Goodness in an assurance of a constant Current of Mercies and then is instant with God for the Continuance of his Preservation This part of my Text is a most precious passage of great Use for your Meditation in times of Danger by reason of Pestilence or War and it shews this to be the customary practice of Holy persons to gather Arguments of Assurance of future Help from God from their experience of his former gracious Deliverances So did David 1 Sam. 17.37 when he was to fight wïth Goliah he argued thus The Lord that delivered me out of the Paw of the Lion and of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine And after him S. Paul 2 Cor. 1.9 10. We had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God that raiseth the dead Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver In his former Deliverance he perceived the Power of God that he could deliver from Death he deprehends his watchfulness over him in the Continuance of his Deliverance his Love to him and Care of him which confirms him in the expectation of farther Help for the future As they say all Vertues are concatenate in Prudence so all Mercies are linked together in God's Love and Care of his Servants And indeed so the Apostle inferrs Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things He that preserves our Lives will keep our Feet Thou hast delivered my Soul from Death wilt thou not also deliver my Feet from falling Surely thou wilt But then this Deliverance must be sought for at his hands which is also implied in this Expression When Christ cured the lame Cripple he bade him take up his bed and walk God when he saves our Life from death expects that we should walk before him Our Life is a Pilgrimage we walk from one Stage of it to another as the Sun runs its course so doth Man The Emanations of our Minds the Actions of our Members are our Steps If we walk not uprightly if we heed not what we think what we speak what we act our Feet will quickly fall first into Sin and then into Mischief The Psalmist Psal 73.2 tells us out of his experience of himself that his Feet were almost gone his Steps had well-nigh slipt He had stumbled at the Stumbling-stone to wit the Prosperity of the Wicked This begat Envy in him and that drew him on to a kind of Affection to their ways to a condemning of his own Course and offending against the generation of God's Children And had not God mercifully caught him when he was falling by directing him to the Sanctuary of God where he might see the End of the wicked that however they stood on smooth yet they were but slippery places they walked on Ice which would suddenly break under them and then they would sink for ever he had certainly perished Therefore he recovers himself and applies himself to God vers 23 24. and stays himself on the Manutenentia Divina Thou hast holden me by my right hand Thou wilt guide me with thy Counsel and after receive me to Glory As for me saith he in another Psalm 41.12 thou upholdest
hath not the Son of God hath not Life Joh. 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see Life but the wrath of God abideth on him But Jus in re or the Consummation and full Possession of this Life is after the Resurrection in the World to come which therefore Christ by way of Excellency terms eternall Life Mark 10.30 And this is that Life in the assurance whereof Christ laid down his Life with so much quietness when he commended his Spirit into the hands of his Father Luk. 23.46 And upon the promise of Life which is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 1.1 not onely of the Life that now is but also of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 S. Paul did both labour and suffer Reproach vers 10. In hope of this eternall Life Tit. 1.2 he exposed himself to daily danger of Death which he terms dying daily 1 Cor. 15.31 as being sensible as he saith vers 19. if in this life onely he and other Christians had hope in Christ they were of all men most miserable Now in hope and assurance of this Life Christ duram serviit Servitutem underwent the hardest Service that ever was undertaken he emptied himself took upon him the form of a Servant was made in the likeness of Men and being found in fashion as a Man he humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2.7 8. Though the Cup he was to drink of were a very bitter Cup a Cup of deadly Wine such as had in it the Dregs of God's Anger and was mingled with the Sins of men for whom God made him Sin or a Sacrifice for Sin yet he drank it off yielding to his Father's Will as knowing it to be true which he himself taught the two Disciples that Christ must suffer these things and rise from the dead the third day and so enter into his Glory Luk. 24.26 46. And the Promise of this Life animated all the Holy Apostles Martyrs and Saints in their severall Generations to give all diligence to deny themselves to take up their Cross and so to follow Christ even to Death not counting their own Lives dear to them but being zealous to doe and suffer for Christ though with the Loss of all as having learned that whosoever will save his Life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his Life for Christ's sake shall find it Matth. 16.25 What things were gain to me saith S. Paul Phil. 3.7 8 9 10 11. those I have counted Loss for Christ Yea doubtless and I do count all things but Loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord for whom I have suffered the Loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him that I may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable unto his Death if by any means I might attain unto the Resurrection of the dead Which occasions them to seek the Path of this Life which is the next thing enquired into and is now to be considered II. What is the Path or what the Ways of this Life The Ways or Path of Life is a Metaphor taken from Travellers who have a certain Track in which they are to tread and by going in which they are guided to the place to which their Journey tends and by its direction are ascertained of coming thither if they hold on their Motion Here in this passage it can be taken for no other then the Means of assurance of their attaining this Life Which in respect of Christ are 1. On God's part the Engagement of his Father to him Isa 53.10 11. that when he should make his Soul an Offering for Sin he should see his Seed he should prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hand He should see of the travail of his Soul and be satisfied Christ undertook the great Business of doing his Father's Will which was written in the volume of his Book by offering that Body which his Father had prepared him upon a Contract between them when he came into the world as it is described Heb. 10.5 7 8. And this was that he should so lay down his Life as to take it up again as Christ himself declareth Joh. 10.18 I have power to lay down my Life and to take it up again this Commandment have I received of my Father Which thing made it impossible that he should be holden of the pains of death Act. 2.24 And therefore it is said He foresaw the Lord always before his face as being on his right hand that he should not be moved with the fear of Death vers 25. being firmly assured by his Father's Covenant upon which he put himself on that great Expedition of Coming into the world to save Sinners by the offering of himself that he should not lose by his Adventure but should after his Sufferings enter into his Glory To which is to be adjoyned the Love that his Father bare to him for this reason as he expresseth it Joh. 10.15 17 18. As the Father knoweth me even so I know the Father and I lay down my Life for the Sheep Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my Life that I might take it up again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self This unparallel'd Dutifulness of Christ to his Father in yielding so freely to his Self-exinanition and Humiliation unto Death did obtain a singular Love from his Father to him and engage his Truth and Power to revive and superexalt him 2. On Christ's part his ready Obedience to his Father's Will was the Path to Life which therefore he allegeth in that Prayer of his wherein he opened his Bosome to his Father Joh. 17.4 5. I have glorified thee on Earth I have finished the Work thou gavest me to doe And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self with the Glory which I had with thee before the World was In respect of Believers the Path of Life to them is 1. On God's part the free Love of God in chusing them to Life termed the writing their Names in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world Rev. 17.8 which because they are given to Christ is said to be the Lamb's Book of life Rev. 21.27 and our Saviour tells them their names are written in Heaven Luk. 10.20 Hereby is Christ engaged to give Life to them as he himself testifieth Joh. 6.39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day And accordingly he saith Joh. 17.2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternall Life to as many as thou hast given him Hereby it is that Christ is
merry heart for God accepteth his works Eccles. 9.7 He rejoyceth in them because he hath them with God's allowance with his favour they are sanctified to him by the word of God and prayer and thereby they are good to him 1 Tim. 4.4 5. otherwise they would be unclean to him Tit. 1.15 All things are good to the Godly with the light of God's Countenance if they can have them with his acceptance and use them for his Glory God is the principal thing in which a renewed Nature delights all other things are pleasant as they come from him and tend to him as they signify to us his good will towards us and as they are occasions of shewing our love to him Trahit sua quemque voluptas As carnall hearts have carnall delights so a spirituall person delights in the things of the Spirit of God Rom. 8.5 A Sow will feed on filth a Sheep on tender sweet grass So profane and ungodly men can be merry in a Tavern in Swearing Cursing Singing obscene Songs and Invectives against Piety praising of God hearing his Word but a Holy heart is weary of such Company it is a Hell to him to associate with such Woe is me saith David Psal 120.5 that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar but saith he Psal 122.1 2. I was glad when they said unto me Let us goe into the House of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy Gates O Jerusalem for there God is praised there is an Assembly of them that love God and delight in his Worship Truly saith S. John 1 John 1.3 our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ As it is the greatest Grievance for an Epicure a swinish brutish voluptuous luxurious man to be restrained from his Cups wanton and sensuall Company and Delights so it is the greatest Grievance to good men to be withheld from the Communion and Society of Saints from the enjoyment of holy Ordinances and imployment in holy Exercises whereby they may honour and injoy Communion with God because they delight in God and count all other delight as insipid without relish while they want that Intercourse with God which makes all things savoury and pleasant to them 2. The End of a Godly man's life is to honour God and to promote the Service and Kingdome of Jesus Christ None of us saith the Apostle Rom. 14.7 8. liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord 's Without God a Godly man's Life is not Vita vitalis a lively Life but rather a Dream then a Life He doth sensim mori he doth but linger and die a lingering death This saith the Apostle Phil. 1.20 21. is my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed but that with all boldness as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or death For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain That is the whole gain of his life or death was Christ and therefore so he might glorify him and enjoy him he was indifferent whether he did live or die He was affected so to Christ and his love to him that in his farewell speech to the Ephesian Elders Act. 20.22 23 24. he saith And now behold I goe bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city saying that bonds and afflictions abide me But none of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto my self so that I might finish my course with joy and the Ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospell of the grace of God It is the property of Love not to seek its own things 1 Cor. 13.5 but the pleasing and serving him whom he loves and accordingly to that he loves he regards nothing so much as the gratifying of his beloved is willing to part with any thing which may be inconsistent therewith imploys his faculties to the utmost acts ad extremum virium to the uttermost on his behalf Love is Affect us Vnionis an Affection of Union the Soul of a Lover is ubi amat non ubi animat not where he breaths but where he loves which makes him long after his beloved as David did Psal 42.1 2. As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God My Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God And for the same reason he is not content in Exile or Sickness when he cannot have opportunity to glorify God As on the other side it is well with him when he can injoy God and doe his work though it be with shipwreck of all his other Commodities he willingly parts with all and freely relinquisheth them for this end as knowing that of our Saviour to be a necessary Lesson to be learned by him He that loveth Father or Mother more then me is not worthy of me and he that loveth Son or Daughter more then me is not worthy of me Matth. 10.37 and again Luk. 14.26 If any man come unto me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brothers and Sisters yea and his own Life also he cannot be my Disciple Excellent and worthy was the resolution of S. Paul Act. 21.13 When he was besought not to goe up to Jerusalem because of Agabus his Prophecy of his being bound at Jerusalem and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles he thus repells the motion of his most loving Friends What mean ye to weep and break my heart for I am ready not to be bound onely but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus But far more excellent was the Objurgation of Christ to S. Peter to whom when he dissuaded him from going up to Jerusalem to suffer death there with indignation he turns himself with this Thunder-clap Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me for thou savourest not the things that be of God but those that be of men Matth. 16.23 And indeed though in a far inferiour degree such is the mind of all that truly love God and the Lord Jesus Christ They are magnanimously resolved to encounter with all Difficulties for Their honour as Luther who would goe to Wormes to witness his Doctrine before the Emperour though he should meet with as many Devils there as there were Tiles on the houses of that City and are well contented when they part with the greatest outward Advantages for it As those Martyrs that went to the Stake joyfully and that Marquess that left the Emperour's Court and Preferment there his Wife and Children to injoy the Gospell in a Protestant City And they think their Life not to be
and the pleasing of him as our End Insomuch that if we can acquit our selves so as to have his Favour and good Liking of us we must not care what we lose or what Obloquy Censure or Disgrace we incurro from men Our Righteousness and Holiness should not be in shew but in truth Eph. 4.24 4. In Following of that which is Good we should doe it zealously with our Minds our Affections and our Studies We should give all diligence and study that we may abound in Faith Vertue Knowledge Temperance Patience Godliness Brotherly love Charity 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7. We should follow Peace with all men and Holiness Heb. 12.14 pursue after it as Hunters after a Prey or Enemies after Enemies This one thing I doe saith the Apostle Phil. 3.13 14. forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things that are before I press or pursue towards the Mark for the price of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus A lazy slack Following of Good is ineffectual such a Seeking as the old Saints are said to have used is that which is required of them that will inherit the Promises Heb. 6.11 12. 5. Yea we should not onely follow that which is Good our selves but animate others to follow it too He loves not God nor his Brother that seeing him in Want doth not relieve him when it is in his power so neither doth he follow God that seeing his Brother erre doth not as he hath opportunity endeavour to convert him from the Errour of his ways that doth not lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees Heb. 12.12 that doth not avoid giving such Offence as may cause the Lame to fall in the way or to turn out of it that doth not encourage others in that which is Good comfort and heal the sorrowfull Spirit and lead others by Example Instruction and Prayer Such as are of God doe good even as he doeth who benefits all invites all is Bonum universale an universal communicative Good 6. Our following of Good must be with Constancy We must always be zealous in a good thing Gal. 4.18 all our days in youth and age in all Companies in all Estates on all Occasions not by sits and starts We must cleave to that which is good Rom. 12.9 as a Wife adheres to her Husband as Ruth did to her Mother-in-law We should be stedfast and unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord as knowing that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 Which brings me to the other Particulars propounded to be considered in which I shall be very brief III. The Harm that they who are zealous Followers of that which is Good are secured from This is indeed all sorts of Evils the chief whereof are the Wounds of Conscience and the Wrath of God While men follow that which is Good they are not obnoxious to those Lashes of a guilty Conscience which are consequent upon the remembrance of lewd Pranks in youth Deceits and Covetous practices in age cruel Murthers horrid Perjuries unjust Bribes Purloining Stealing and such other Evils as do vastare Conscientiam violently torture the Mind and are as scorching Heat in a man's Bones Gall and Wormwood in his Belly as when God wrote bitter things against Job and made him possess the Sins of his youth These Tortures were resembled in the Poets by the Affrightments of Furies and are Forerunners of Hell-Torments Nor shall those who follow what is Good be liable to the Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish which God inflicts on them that are contentious and obey not the Truth but obey Vnrighteousness Rom. 2.8 9. These are indeed the grand Harms that are like the stinging of a Scorpion but my Text intends likewise all Afflictions incident to us from mens Injuriousness and Malignity such as are Reproaches Derision Slanders privation of Liberty Livelihood Life which though they be but Flea-bitings in comparison of the other yet are they very harmfull as being extreme trouble-some and grievous Yet by Following of that which is Good there is Security from them if not altogether at least in a great measure if not from the Feeling of them yet from the Oppression of them if not from the Buzzing and Disquieting of them as of Flies yet from the Sting of them as of Scorpions if not from the Molestation of them yet from the Deadliness of them which will be better discerned if we consider our next Particular IV. Who they are from whose Harming they are secured They are either Men or Devils neither of whom can mortally and eternally wound us Fear not them saith our Lord that can kill the Body and when they have done that can doe no more but fear him that can cast both Soul and Body into Hell-sire Matth. 10.28 Luk. 12.4 Men and Devils may interrupt our Peace but cannot damn our Souls Neither Tribulation nor Distress nor Persecution nor Famine nor Nakedness nor Peril nor Sword neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature can separate them that follow that which is Good from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But in all these things they are more then Conquerours through him that hath loved them as S. Paul saith of himself Rom. 8.35 37 38 39. Yet are they sorely assaulted by both these Enemies insomuch that the Apostle tells us there vers 36. for God's sake they are killed all the day long and are counted as Sheep for the slaughter They are as Sheep among Wolves who are ready to worry them Satan casts some into Prison ten days that they may be tried Rev. 12.10 He goes about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8 There is a spitefull Spirit in all that are of the Wicked one yet sometimes God restrains the remainder of their Wrath. He cuts off the spirit of Princes he is terrible to the Kings of the earth Psal 76.10 12. He rebukes an Abimelech in a Dream so as that he dares not touch them Gen. 20.6 He suffers no man to doe them wrong he reproves Kings for their sake saying Touch not mine Anointed and doe my Prophets no harm Psal 105.14 15. When a man's ways please the Lord he maketh even his Enemies to be at peace with him Prov. 16.7 Sometimes the Luster of a Good life doth either attract the favourable Aspect or dazzle the Eyes of those with whom they live Sometimes the benefit of Laws and Government secures their Peace they are Ministers to them for good Rom. 13.4 By these and many more means are they that follow that which is Good indemnified whenas his own Iniquities take the Wicked himself and he is holden with the Chords of his Sins Prov. 5.22 V. When it is that they are secured But then this is not perpetually so it falleth out sometimes otherwise When
XXXI SERMONS Preached to the PARISHIONERS of Stanford-Rivers in Essex Upon several Subjects and Occasions BY CHARLES GIBBES D. D. Rectour of that Church and Prebendary of Saint Peter's at Westminster Never before made publick QVI SEQVITUR ME NON AMBULAT IN TENEBRIS LOâ—â—â—â— Printed by E. Flesher 〈…〉 most Sacred MAJESâ—◠〈…〉 To the well-beloved the PARISHIONERS Of Stanford-Rivers in the County of Essex Grace and Peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be multiplied IN this Age and Nation abounding with Learned Men and Books of all sorts especially in Points of Sacred Theology I should not have thought any thing of Mine worth the Press being conscious to my self of mine own Unfitness for that Employment by reason of Age and other Imperfections had not your Importunity extorted these Papers from me which I now exhibit to you But that I might not be wanting in what I am able for your Edification in the Doctrine of Christ I have yielded to adventure an Impression of them whereunto I have been induced by a like Consideration with that of Saint Peter 2 Epist ch 1. vers 12 13 14. where his writing is declared to be out of an apprehension of his approaching Dissolution that after his Decease there might be that extant which might keep in their Remembrance that which he had taught them and wherein they were established It is part of my Rejoycing that I have had so much Ability as to hold forth the Word of God to you in any measure and that it hath found so ready Reception with you It is that which I pray for and earnestly exhort you to that you will never forget the Saving Truths you have been taught though I be buried in oblivion nor backslide to Errour or Profaneness But that you be still constant in the true Faith of Christ and the right Worship of God in publick and in your private Families seeking the Divine Benediction on your selves and Families and living in mutual Love and Helpfulness towards all as knowing that the saving Grace of God hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying Vngodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of Good works Whereunto if this Writing or any Labour of mine may conduce I have my Desire who recommending both you and this Work to the Almighty's Blessing do yet remain Your truly loving and faithfull Servant in Christ CHARLES GIBBES A TABLE of the several TEXTS discoursed upon PSAL. VI. 6. I Am weary of my Groaning every night wash I my Bed and water my Couch with my Tears Three Sermons pag. 1 19 37. PSAL. LI. 1 2. Have mercy upon me O God according to thy Loving-kindness according to the multitude of thy tender Mercies blot out my Transgressions Wash me throughly from mine Iniquity and cleanse me from my Sin 57. PSAL. LI. 3. I acknowledge my Transgression and my Sin is ever before me 75. PSAL. LI. 11. Cast me not away from thy Presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me Two Sermons 87 99. PROV XVIII 14. The Spirit of a man will sustain his Infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can bear Two Sermons 111 121. PSAL. CXXX 4. But there is Mercy or Forgiveness with thee that thou maist be feared 131. PSAL. LXXIX 8. O remember not against us former Iniquities let thy tender Mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low 153. HEBR. IV. 7. To Day if you will hear his Voice harden not your Hearts 173. ROM VI. 1. and part of 2. What shall we say then shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid 185. LAMENT III. 22. It is of the Lord's Mercies that we are not consumed because his Compassions fail not 197. PSAL. LVI 13. For thou hast delivered my Soul from Death wilt thou not deliver my Feet from Falling that I may walk before God in the Light of the living Two Sermons 217 235. PSAL. CXIX 15. I will meditate in thy Precepts and have respect unto thy Ways 251. PSAL. CXXII 1. I was glad when they said unto me Let us goe into the House of the Lord. 263. PSAL. XXXVII 4. Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee thy Heart's desire 275. 1 PET. III. 13. And who is he that will harm you if ye be Followers of that which is Good 287. PSAL. XVI 11. Thou wilt shew me the Path of life In thy Presence is fulness of Joy at thy right hand there are Pleasures for evermore Two Sermons 305 325. PSAL. LXXIII 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsel and afterwards receive me to Glory 345. PSAL. XL. 8. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord onely makest me dwell in Safety 357. 1 JOHN III. 1. Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God 371. PSAL. CXIX 34. Give me Vnderstanding and I shall keep thy Law yea I shall observe it with my whole Heart 383. PROV XIV 2. He that walketh in his Vprightness feareth the Lord but he that is perverse in his Ways despiseth him Two Sermons 399 411. REVEL VII 15. Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them 421. JOHN VIII 56. Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my Day and he saw it and was glad 435. GEN. XII 1. Now the Lord had said unto Abraham Get thee out of thy Country and from thy Kindred and from thy Father's House unto a Land that I shall shew thee 449. Imprimatur Febr. 27. 1676 7. Guil. Sill R. P. D. Henr. Episc Lond. à Sacris Domesticis DAVID's GROANS Part I. The First SERMON PSALM vi 6. I am weary of my Groaning every night wash I my Bed and water my Couch with my Tears THIS Psalm is intituled to David and is styled by many One or the First of his Penitentiall Psalms And it is true it expresseth his Agony and dolour of mind for his Sickness undoubtedly for his Sins as the Cause of it in likelihood and so for both as in a Psalm parallel to this he complains Psal 38.4 which two make a heavy Burthen too heavy for any man to bear The Burthen of one onely to wit of Sin though not his own made the Mighty One the Mighty God to stoop under it when he bare the Sins of Men in his own body on the Tree insomuch that as in the Garden he told his Disciples Matth. 26.38 My Soul is exceeding sorrowfull unto death so on the Cross he cried out in the Anguish of his spirit Matth. 27.46 O God my God why hast thou forsaken me No marvel then that
any Preaching could never hear God's Voice And they that have admitted it into the Ear without opening of the inner Door of the Heart want the enjoyment of it It was Lydia's happiness that when she heard S. Paul the Lord opened her Heart that she attended unto the things which were spoken Act. 16.14 They are unhappy to whom the Lord vouchsafes not the opening of the Ear to hear his Voice but they are most unhappy and accursed to whose Ears the Voice of God comes but their Hearts are not opened to receive it No Curse more direfull then that which our Saviour saith was fulfilled in his Auditours By hearing they heard and did not understand and seeing they did see and not perceive For this people's Heart is waxed gross and their Ears are dull of hearing and their Eyes have they closed lest at any time they should see with their Eyes and hear with their Ears and should understand with their Heart and should be converted and I should heal them Matth. 13.14 15. For this reason as the absenting from hearing of God's Voice is a damnable Sin they that come not to hear with their Ears shew their Contempt of God's Grace so much more damnable is the hardening of the Heart whereby the Voice of God is wilfully kept out of the Understanding Memory Conscience Will Affections so as it cannot be seated in them nor they guided and ruled by it Which thing comes to pass by the Deceitfulness of Sin as our Apostle tells us Heb. 3.13 Love of any Sin adherence to any Errour opposite to God's Voice will harden the Heart so as neither to admit the enlightning Brightness of it into the Eye of the Mind nor the softning Virtue of it into the Will to make it pliable Pride and Self-dependence were two of the chief Causes of the Jews hardening their Hearts against the Voice of God in the Preaching of the Gospell by Christ and his Apostles How can ye believe saith our Saviour Joh. 5.44 which receive honour one of another and seek not the Honour which cometh from God onely Rom. 10.3 They being ignorant of God's Righteousness and going about to establish their own Righteousness have not submitted themselves to the Righteousness of God Rom. 10.3 Thus at this day do Popish Justitiaries who place their Righteousness in their own good Merits All ignorant people who are wedded to vain Superstitions harden their Hearts against the Voice of the Gospell so as not to be humbled for Sin as the penitent Publican but to boast themselves as the proud Pharisee They receive not Christ joyfully with sinfull Zacchaeus but reject the offers of Grace like those who judged themselves unworthy of eternall life Act. 13.46 In like manner the Cares of this World the Deceitfulness of Riches the Pleasures of this life with other Lusts choak the word of the Kingdome so as that it becomes unfruitfull Matth. 13.22 Luk. 8.14 Hence it is that worldly-minded men and voluptuous livers harden their Hearts against the Warnings of God's Word slight the Tender of the Gospell imploy their wits to discredit it hearken to Seducers which foment their Lusts and pervert their Understanding As redundance of Choler in the Stomach makes it cast up the best Meat as unsavoury so where the Heart is filled with sinfull Lusts or erroneous Principles they make the most precious Truths of the Gospell to be loathed and refused Vicious minds expell holy Doctrines and therefore till the Heart be softned the Motions of God's Spirit will not be entertained APPLICATION Let me now intreat you Brethren to descend into your selves and examine whether it be not so with you The Voice of God in the Gospell of Christ hath been so evidently demonstrated to the world that never was there any thing which was published with more manifest proofs and Divine infallible assurance of its Truth And to take away all doubt of Imposture in the Publishers Testimony hath been given to their Sincerity therein by their relinquishing all outward desirable Advantages even with the sacrificing of their own Lives And to you of this Nation it hath been held forth with much Perspicuity pressed with much Earnestness But do you hear it do you perceive this to be the time of your Visitation your Day Do you not harden your Hearts as in the Provocation Do not your proud Spirits think it below you to stoop to it May we not say as once the Jews did Which of the Rulers believe on him Do we not find the Poor receive the Gospell when the Rich are sent empty away Surgunt Indocti rapiunt Coelum the Unlearned rise up and take Heaven by violence when the reputed Wise goe on in their waies to Perdition Do we not love the Praise of Men more then the Praise of God Do not your love of Pleasures and the Cares of this world choak the Word and make it unfruitfull I come not to accuse you but would have you judge your selves as knowing that you shall be judged by the Lord and if you prevent it not by self-judging condemned with the World Take it as a warning out of a most ardent desire I have to save your Souls that I tell you that there are shrewd Symptoms of the Hardness of your Heart and Averseness from hearing God's Voice in that places of Pastime and Pleasure houses of Good-fellowship are so much frequented as they are and the Church of God neglected in that Romances profane Histories yea Discourses savouring of Atheism are bought up and read with more delight then the Bible or any other Holy Writings we take more pleasure to furnish our Fancy then to rectify our Conscience Are you not sensible that God hath limited you a certain time to hear his Voice that your daies are numbred and your months that you cannot pass that while the Gospell is preached is your Day of Salvation that if the Sun of your Life be set the Day of the Gospell darkned over you there will be no time left to make your Peace to save your immortall Spirits that if you harden your Hearts there remains nothing after this Day but Hell and eternall Judgment Think seriously then upon your Condition and while it is called to day provide for Eternity Hear God's Voice readily and constantly Harden not your Hearts by Pride Luxury Covetousness Superstition or any other evil Lusts Submit your Understandings to God's Wisedom Retain his Word in your Memory and Conscience Believe him against your own Fancies Conform your Wills to his Receive his Truth in the love of it and you shall be saved by it Which he grant c. Amen LAVS DEO THE DANGER OF Abusing Grace The Thirteenth SERMON ROM vi 1. and part of 2. What shall we say then shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid TO acquit the Gospel which he preached from the Exceptions and Obloquies which it and the Preachers of it were obnoxious to and to demonstrate the Wisedom
out It is Goodness and not Greatness we are desirous to see and do freely remember and pleasingly celebrate We sometimes are willing to hear of the Exaltation of another and are ready to magnify it but not without Regret of mind unless there be a Complication of Goodness with Greatness The Magnificence of a great Prince is a pleasing Object to us when we know him to be gracious kind mercifull and bountifull otherwise what-ever we doe with our Eyes and Knees and Tongues yet our Hearts are averse from him But when these concurre when Power is tempered with Love and that Love is a cordiall Benevolence as it is in my Text then it deserves a Videte as here Behold what manner of love c. Which leads me to the next thing II. The Authour it is the Love of the Father The Love of a Friend is highly valued by us How doth David celebrate the Love of Jonathan to himself My Brother Jonathan very pleasant hast thou been unto me thy Love to me was wonderfull 2 Sam. 1.26 And indeed his Love was admirable who preferred a Friend before a Father who endeavoured to preserve him whom his Father sought to destroy yea then stuck fast to him when he might and perhaps did understand that David's Advancement to the Throne of Israel would be his and his Posteritie's Ruine Yet this Love is not comparable to the Love of a Father A Father loves his Child though his Child loves not him A Father loves his Child and will doe him good before himself will like Zalencus pluck out his Eye to preserve his Child's venture and cast away his Life to save his Child's Fathers care little what they eat wear undergoe how they labour so as their Children be well and well provided for And such is the Love that S. John calls to us to behold Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed on us God is the Father by way of excellency the Father of Fathers the Universall Father who hath formed all things the Father of all Men for we are all his Off-spring Act. 17.28 But in a peculiar manner he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of his Love Col. 1.3 He proclaimed from Heaven Matth. 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased His orient brightest Love shines most directly in its Zenith on Christ he is under the Line but it shines also on us from him He hath made us accepted or Favourites in the beloved Eph. 1.6 And so he is become the Father of all the Saints adopted in Christ Jesus and made the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 3.26 'T is this Father's Love that is here presented to be seen His who is styled the Father of Mercies the God of all Consolation 2 Cor. 1.3 the Father of Lights from whom every good and every perfect Gift cometh with whom is no Variableness or shadow of turning Jam. 1.17 the Father who is Love it self in the abstract 1 Joh. 4.16 God is love It is not an Accident in him but his very Essence so that if he cease to love he ceaseth to be Dulce nomen Patris The Name of a Father is a sweet Name especially of such a Father I will goe to my Father said the Prodigall Son when he knew not what to doe being brought into great Extremities Though he had wasted his Estate by playing the Unthrift yet he saith I will arise and goe to my Father and say unto him I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son and his Father meets him hath Compassion on him runs to him falls on his Neck and kisses him puts on him the best Robe a Ring on his hand Shoes on his feet kills the fatted Calf eats and drinks and is merry with him after all his Miscarriages Luk. 15. So forcible so free so indulgent so active so constant and so unalterable is the Love of a Father If there be so much Water in a River there is more in the Ocean if so much Love in an Earthly Father there is infinitely more in the Heavenly Father Be you perfect saith our Lord Matth. 5.48 as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect As he is perfect in all his Attributes his Wisedome Power Truth Justice so also in his Love Whence it is that his Love is an everlasting Love I have loved thee with an everlasting Love therefore with Loving-kindness have I drawn thee saith God in the Prophet Jerem. 31.3 His Love is an unchangeable Love his Gifts and Calling are without Repentance Rom. 11.29 His Love is a preventing Love bears date afore ours 1 Joh. 4.19 We love him because he first loved us His Love is a most pure Love it hath no sordid End no mercenary Motive I doe not this saith God for your sakes O House of Israel but for my Holy Name 's sake Ezek. 36.22 It is pure Goodness meer Love that sets God on work to doe good to us it is the Love of a Father which hath no reason from without him but from his own nature it is a most active Love not in shew onely but in deed and in truth it is an immense Love that hath a Height and a Depth a Length and a Breadth without bounds a rich Love God who is rich in Mercies for his great Love wherewith he hath loved us even when we were dead in Sins hath quickned us together with Christ Eph. 2.4 5. a Love so ample and full that he gave his own Son for us and with him hath freely given us all things Rom. 8.32 And all is done gratis without Fee or Compensation which is next to be observed III. The Freeness of it it is given or bestowed Donatur say the Civill Lawyers quod nullo Jure cogente conceditur That is said to be given which cannot by any Law be enforced Sure that Love which the Father vouchsafes to us is such as there was no Reason to demand it no Title whereupon to claim it It was Love to us before we thought of it I was found saith God Rom. 10.20 of them that sought me not I was made manifest to them that asked not after me Yea God commendeth his Love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us When we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son Rom. 5.8 10. There was nothing in us but Hatred of God when he loved us and we were so far from any Merit de Condigno of Condignity or de Congruo of Congruity that indeed there was the greatest Demerit in us So far were we from deserving God's Love that we rather merited to be rejected by him by reason of our many Provocations of him to Anger as the proper Fruit of our Demeanour The Wages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is eternall Life through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.23 Nor could
there be any After-dutifulness which might be accounted a fit and just Compensation on our part for such Love Who is there that gives any thing to God first Rom. 11.35 Surely when we bring forth any Fruit to God it is but what is of his own Culture Christ is the Vine his Father is the Husbandman and we are God's Husbandry 1 Cor. 3.9 he it is that purgeth the Branches in Christ that they may bring forth more Fruit Joh. 15.1 2. Neither is he that planteth any thing nor he that watereth but God that giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3.7 Who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive saith the same Apostle 1 Cor. 4.7 Yea were it imagined to suppose an Impossibility that we could of our selves by our own Free will by the Light of Nature so ingratiate ourselves with God as to procure his Favour that we could obtain Arte propriâ by our own Skill or Marte proprio by our own Ability our Filiation our Regeneration our Adoption to be God's Sons yet were not God ingaged by any Worth of our Actions to yield it us this were no Purchace no Exchange of quid pro quo no advantaging God that he might benefit us Rightly saith Elihu Job 35.7 8. If thou be Righteous when givest thou to him or what receiveth he of thy hand Thy Wickedness may hurt a man as thou art and thy Righteousness may profit the son of man But alas all that in such a case we could doe all that Adam himself in his Innocency and Integrity could have done could not have given us such a Claim as that we could have challenged our Adoption as due to us according to distributive Justice in an Arithmetical or Geometrical proportion between our Actings and God's Adoption but that still it must be taken as the free Gift liberrimi Agentis of the most free Agent as the effect of the purest and most immense Love And therefore well said the Apostle Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed on us of free Gift that we should be called the Sons of God Which is the next thing to be considered IV. The effect of this Love of God that we should be called c. The Sons of God are of many sorts The Magistrates are so by Office Psal 82.6 the Angells by Dignity Job 1.6 Adam by Creation Luk. 3.38 and so all other men Act. 17.29 the Posterity of Seth as it is conceived Gen. 6.2 by Profession our Lord Christ is his own Son by peculiar and eternal Generation Rom. 8.32 All Believers are his Sons by Regeneration As many as received him to them he gave power to be the Sons of God even to as many as believe in his name which were born not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1.12 13. By Adoption God having predestinated us unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his Will to the praise of the glory of his Grace Eph. 1.5 6. Regeneration is by a Change of us inwardly whereby we are renewed in the Spirit of our minds and put on the New man which after God is created in Righteousness and Holiness of truth Eph. 4.23 24. Adoption is an Act which alters the outward Estate whereby a person becomes as a Son to another as Moses was to Pharaoh's Daughter Heb. 11.24 It is Naturae similitudo ut Filium quis habere possit quem non generaverit Gaius Inst l. tit 5. an Imitation of Nature whereby a person may have another man's Child as if he were his own Son so that he is his Child by a Legal Right though not by naturall Birth and is to own his Adopter as his Father and he the adopted as his Child And it is this that S. John here means Behold what manner of Love the Father hath given us that we should be called by reason of our Regeneration and Adoption the Sons of God And not onely that we should be so called as if it imported a meer Title Appellation or nudum inane Nomen a bare and empty Name Sure this Adoption as it is by the best highest richest Father so it is to the best greatest and most ample Benefits He that is thus the Son of God by Faith in Christ Jesus hath the Name the Dignity the Honour of a Son of God hath the Spirit of his Son crying Abba Father Gal. 4.6 hath the Apparel of a Son of God the white Linen which is the Righteousness of Saints hath the Provision Protection Attendance of a Child of God the Angells are ministring Spirits to him Heb. 1.14 The Spirit of God is his he is a Member of Christ's Body the Promises are his He hath the Society of Saints on Earth and is come to the Church of the first-born that are written in Heaven All things are his Paul Apollos Cephas Life Death things present things to come and he is Christ's and Christ God's 1 Cor. 3.22 23. If he be a Son then an Heir an Heir of God a Joynt-heir with Christ Rom. 8.17 And can more Favour be desired or imagined to be done by the most Holy and High God to such Beggars Malefactours Rebells condemned Prisoners such base contemptible Wretches as we are We may here cry out with the Apostle O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisedome and Knowledge I may adde and Love of God! how unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out Rom. 11.33 With the greatest reason then doth S. John call upon us to behold this which is the last thing to be considered V. The Adverb of demonstration inviting us to consider this Love Behold what manner c. And this may also serve for the APPLICATION This is then the Use to be made of what hath been said and did time permit might be more amply declared of the Love of God in our Adoption that we are to behold it not so much with the Eye of our Body as with the Eye of our Mind Sure the Apostle S. Paul thought this to be of so great consequence that he ceased not to make mention of the Ephesian Believers in his Prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory might give them the Spirit of wisedom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ that the eyes of their Vnderstanding being enlightned they might know what is the hope of his Calling and what the riches of the glory of his Inheritance in the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his Power to us-ward who believe Eph. 1.16 17 18 19. This of all things is most worthy our Contemplation our most full constant accurate Meditation We should behold it in all the Effects of it in us and towards us Every Motion of his Spirit every Providence in escaping Temptations every Gospel-Sermon every Prayer we make invite us to this