this a meeting for the solemnization of a Marriage I might further descan upon this plain-song that ariseth from the inference of Mens honouring of Women What have I said if it were a Marriage solemnity surely howsoever here be before our eyes the eyes of our bodies a visible object of mortality yet notwithstanding here is before us an invisible occasion of rejoycing as at a Marriage solemnity to the eye of our soul understanding and faith for while here we live in the world Jesus Christ our Spouse he hath his friends friends of the Bridegroom his Ministers and messengers that in his name come to us woo us use all the means that may be to move us to accept of Christ for our Lord and Husband When a man accepts of this offer there is then the contract consummated in regard of the Mutual consent that passeth between the one and the other Christ having his Proxies here we the Ministers being for him and every believing soul for himself This contract continueth so long as here we remain in this world when we depart the body is laid in the Bride-bed quietly to rest and sleep till the Bride-groom be pleased to come and awake his Spouse and it will be a blessed voyce that he shall come withal Come ye blessed of my Father receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world As for the soul that goeth immediatly to Christ and is in his Fathers house with him the Spouse in that part with her Husband the Lord Christ enjoying an eternal inviolable communion and sweet society But howsoever this is thus to the invisible eyes of the soul we now must look upon the object here before us and answerably order out matter and therefore with this touch I let pass the inference and come to the substance of the Text. You heard the sum you heard the parts But we must hear proceed Huesteron and Proteron and clean invert the order of the words as I hope your selves will discern if you do but well mark the order and method Life is in the last place grace before it the right that cometh before it and the extent of that right before all I suppose therefore you will think that first it is meet to lay forth the priviledge it self Life and then to speak of the ground of it then of the right that we have and then of the Extent of that right and this order I purpose to follow First therefore concerning the Priviledge it self Life For brevities sake I forbear to speak much of the divers acceptations of life and distinctions thereof as it is in the Creatour the only true God Father Son and holy Spirit or as it is the invisible and glorious creatures the Angels or as it is in men who are animated by a reasonable soul or as it is in those creatures that are guided only by sense Beasts Fowl Fish or otherwise as it Trees and Plants that come forth out of the earth having a vegetative life only The life here meant is that we call eternal life consisting in our communion with Christ our Spouse and this is a life proper to the Saints proper unto them because coming from the grace of God extended unto them alone proper unto them because they are heirs of it And in this extent there is a restraint howsoever the extent be in divers considerations yet a restraint a qualification only believers only found true Christians to them it is proper And this life is to be considered either in the Inchoation and beginning thereof or in the consummation and accomplishment thereof In regard of the Inchoation of this special life of the Saints it is here begun in this world I now live faith the Apostle speaking even of this life by the faith of the Son of God And the Just shall live by faith This life it is by Christs dwelling and living in us I now live yet not I but Christ liveth in me faith the Apostle in the place before quoted The other it is in the world to come and it is by a sweet feeling and fruition it is by our abiding with Christ and living with him in which respect faith our Lord Christ to the penitent believer upon the Cross This day the very day that he dyed shalt thou be with me in Paradise and so Saint Paul saith of himself I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ implying that upon the dissolution immediatly there is a fruition a communion with Christ And the same Apostle speaking of those Saints that shall be upon the earth at the very moment of Judgment when the dead faith he are raised then shall we also that are alive and remain be cought up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the ayr and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Now then mark here you see the soul hath present communion with Christ upon the dissolution of the body and the body also shall have communion with him at the great day of the Resurrection of all flesh Now this life and communion with Christ is proper to the Saints by vertue of their union with Christ A mistical union For Christ the Son of God he is life originally in himself for as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself He is also Life communicatively communicating life unto us therefore he is said to be the Bread of life and in this sence because he is that Bread which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world The Use of this point my brethren is manifold I will but touch it First it doth instruct us in the great love and good respect that God beareth to us children of men that of his own good pleasure hath written our names in the book of life and hath sent his Son to purchase life for us and to bring us also to this life Beloved what love the Father hath shewed to us in Christ Secondly this is a demonstrrtion of the woful plight wherein naturally men are in this world they may seem to be of some account they have a life that is far different from the life of Plants and also from the life of Beasts they have a reasonable soul to animate them Oh but this this is not the life Natural life indeed is a death compared to this life that is here noted to be proper to the Saints which cometh by grace wherof we are heirs and therefore of all natural men it may be said as the Apostle said of the wanton Widdow she is dead while she liveth even so are all such dead while they live dead in sins and trespasses and if so be those that are in this kind dead continue so till the death of the body seize upon them wo wo wo to them upon this followeth an eternal death endless easeless
of the Benediction If Esau lift up his voyce and wept because he was defeated of the blessing while Isaac lived Joseph might well have made a mourning had he been prevented of the Benediction by an unexpected or a distant death But Jacob blessed them and with his blessing gave order for his burial and with that blessing and that order dyed And as his death was no way prejudicial to the spiritual so was it not at all disadvantageous to the temporal condition of his Son He suffered loss of no enjoyments by his Fathers death Jacob had lived long by the favour and the care of Joseph his filial gratitude alone preserv'd his life but no such narrow thoughts abated the freeness of Joseph's forrow And he made a mourning for his Father If none of these considerations which work so powerfully on other persons did move this Mourner to express such sorrow what were the Motives then which caus'd so deep a sense what meditations wrought so powerfully on the heart of Joseph I answer they were but two Mortality and Paternity the one supposed the other expressed in the text Jacob was the Father of Joseph and that Father dead and therefore Joseph mourned for him Mortality is a proper object to invite our pity and privation of life alone sufficient to move compassion in the living Weep for the dead faith the Son of Sirach for he hath lost the light If for no other reason yet because a man is dead and by death deprived of those comforts which those that live enjoy they which survive may providently bewail their future privation in his present loss Thus every Grave-stone bespeaks or expects a tear as if all those eyes which had not yet lost their light were to pay the tribute of their waters to the dead Sea This Fountain Nature never made in vain nor to be alwayes sealed up that heart is rock which suffers it never to break forth and be it so yet if the rod of Moses strike an affliction sent from God shall force it Let us therefore be ready with our sorrowful expressions when we are invited by sad occasions especially when a Father who may command them calls for them as that Wise man did My Son let tears fall down over the dead And if paternal authority demands them at the death of others it is no filial duty which denies them to attend upon a Fathers Funeral Joseph a man of a gracious and a tender heart moved with common objects of compassion had a vulgar forrow arising from the consideration of mortality Joseph a Son full of high affection and of filial duty and respect was touched with a far more lively sense by the accession of paternity And he made a mourning for his Father he made a mourning for his Father which begat him for his Father which loved him for his Father which blessed him for his Father which had mourned for him for his Father which came down to die with him First he made a mourning for his Father who begat him had there been no other but that naked relation it had carryed with it a sufficient obligation There is so great an union between the Parent and the Child that it cannot break without a deep sensation He which hath any grateful apprehension of his own life received cannot chuse but sadly resent the loss of that life which gave it If the fear of the death of Croesus by a natural miracle could unty the tongue of his Son who never spake before that man must be miraculously unnatural the flood-gates of whose eyes are not open'd at his Fathers Funerals though he never wept before The gifts of grace do not obliterate but improve nature and it is a false perswasion of Adoption which teacheth us so far to become the sons of God as to forget that we are the sons of men Joseph a person high in the esteem of Pharaoh higher in the favour of God great in the power of Egypt greater in the power of the Spirit yet he forgets not his filial relation yet he cannot deny his natural obligation but as a pious Son he payes the last tribute of his duty to Jacob And he made a mourning for his Father who begat him Secondly he made a mourning for his Father who loved him Love when in an equal commandeth love and this is so just that fire doth not more naturally create a flame In this the similitude is so great that there is no difference in the nature of the love produced and that which did produce it But when it first beginneth in a superior person the proper effect which it createth in an inferior is not of a single nature but such a love as is mingled with duty and respect The love of God to man challengeth love from us but that of such a nature as cannot be demonstrated but by obedience and that of a Father to his Son is of the same condition though not in the same proportion The Father loveth first with care and tenderness with a proper and a single love the Son returns it with another colour mingled with duty blended with respect Now Jacob had many children and as an eminent example he lov'd them all but among the rest there was one clearer and warmer flame for be loved Joseph more then all his children the off-spring of Rachel the Son of his old age the Heir of his Vertues the Corrector of his Brethren the Beloved of God had a greater share in Jacobs affection then the rest of his issue He did not so much prefer his wives before his hand maids he did not so highly value Rachel before Leah as he did esteem Joseph before the off-spring of them all This was the paternal love of Jacob and this was answered with as high a filial respect in Joseph which after death could not otherwise be expressed then in tears And therefore he made a mourning for his Father who loved him Thirdly he made a mourning for his Father who had blessed him Blessing is the soveraign act of God and the power of benediction like the power of God He delegateth this power unto his Priests who stand between God and Man and bless the Sons of men in the name of God He derives the same upon our natural Parents that children honoring them may expect his blessing upon their desires and prayers And what greater favour could we ask of God then that those persons who have the most natural affection toward us should also have the greatest power to bless us Now when the time drew nigh that Israel must die when his body drew nearer to the Earth and his soul to Heaven when his desires were highest and his words of the greatest efficacy he called unto his Sons and blessed them every one according to his blessing he blessed them But as he loved Joseph more then all his Brethren so he blessed him above them all he made one Tribe of every
Son and two of him his affection shew'd it self Rhetorical in his Benediction saying The blessings of thy Father have prevailed above the blessings of my Progenitors unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills they shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his Brethren Giving this Benediction Jacob dies receiving this Blessing Joseph survives who can render no other Retribution after his death but care of his Burial and tears at his Funeral And therefore he made a mourning for his Father who had blessed him Fourthly he made a mourning for his Father who had mourned for him The Parents cares and fears are equal and when any infelicity betides their children their griess are great and all these bear a proportion with their love Now the love of Jacob to Joseph was transcendent and being so it rais'd as high an hatred in the hearts of his Brethren by which he was in their intention and in his Fathers opinion dead And now the Funeral is Joseph's let us see how Jacob does appear He rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his Son many dayes Here is a real demonstration upon a supposed death and a serious mourning at a feigned Funeral Had his dearest Son been dead yet he might well take comfort in his numerous off-spring but he did not for all his Sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said for I will go down into the grave unto my Son mourning thus his Father wept for him Thus it pleaseth God to permit this happy deceit of envious Brethren this pious mistake of an affectionate Father not only for a great example of Paternal love but also to teach all Sons to measure their griefs at their Fathers death by a consideration of those sorrows which their Parents would have expressed had they dyed before them Howsoever Joseph was but just in this he made a mourning for his Father who had mourn'd for him Lastly he made a mourning for his Father who came down to die with him It was the old expression of Parents comfort that at their deaths they might have their children to close their eyes and it hath been equally the desire of children to be made happy by that occasion in shewing the last testimony of their duty at their Parents Death Now Jacob who upon the supposed death of Joseph had said I will go down into the Grave unto my Son upon the certain intelligence of his life and safety resolveth to go down and die with him For when he saw the Waggons which Joseph sent and his spirit revived Israel said it is enough Joseph my Son is yet alive I will go and see him before I die and when Joseph first presented himself unto him in the land of Egypt the first words he spake were these Now let me die since I have seen thy face because thou art yet alive Now he which said at first I will go and see him before I die and when he saw him said Now let me die resolved nothing in that journey but to die with Joseph And he made a mourning for his Father who came down to die with him For all these reasons Joseph mourned for his Father who begat him remembring his natural generation for his Father who loved him not forgetting his singular affection for his Father who had blessed him considering his double Benediction for his Father who had mourned for him meditating a pious retaliation for his Father who came down to die with him embracing the opportunity of a dutiful expression And thus I close up the first general part of the Text or the Solemnization of the Obsequies The Second general Part of the same presents us with the Continuation of the Solemnity Which ministers a double Consideration one as consisting of not many dayes the other as determining how many dayes And he made a mourning for his Father seven dayes Immediately after Jacobs death in Egypt forty dayes were fulfilled for his embalming and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten dayes They which have no hope of a life to come may extend their griefs for the loss of this and equal the dayes of their mourning with the years of the life of man But so tedious a Funeral Solemnity is a tacite profession of Insidelity When Moses went up into the Mountain of Nebo and dyed there the children of Israel wept for him in the plains of Moab thirty dayes The plains of Moab were nearer to the Land of promise then Egypt was and some light of the joyes of the life to come was discovered under the Law and therefore more then half of the Egyptian Solemnity was cut off by the Faith of the Israelites But this Patriarchal Funeral was made in Canaan the Land of promise the Type of Heaven it was appointed by Joseph a blessed Patriarch and a Type of Christ it continued some dayes to declare his natural affection but those not many to express his religious expectation Had it been extended longer it had demonstrated more of duty but less of faith he had shew'd himself more a Son but less a Patriarch But now he is become a great Example in mourning some dayes of filial duty in mourning few dayes of Divinity Which is our first Consideration The Second leads us to the determinate number of the dayes which are expresly Seven And he made a mourning for his Father seven dayes The Jews took special notice of this act of Joseph and in the land of Canaan observed the number of these dayes Seven dayes do men mourn for him that is dead faith the Son of Sirach and though it be not unto us a law yet it is a proper subject of our Observation It was afterward one of the laws of Moses He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven dayes And therefore well did Joseph teach the Israelites to mourn the same number of dayes that with their tears of natural affection they might mingle some thoughts of their natural pollution Again the number of Seven is the number of rest In six dayes the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and all that in them is and he rested on the Seventh day from all his works which he had made Now Joseph knew that there remaineth a rest to the people of God he was fully assured that as the dayes of the years of his Fathers pilgrimage were evil so they ended in rest and happiness that as sure as his body was past all weariness and pain so his soul was placed above all possibility of grief or sorrow A Dove brought Noah word into the Ark that waters were on the face of the Earth and he stay'd seven dayes and then the Dove sent forth returned and loe in her mouth was an Olive leaf pluckt off so Noah
knew that the waters were abated from off the earth If we mourn for the death of any person departed and the waters appear upon the face of man yet after the seventh day when the Olive leaf is pluckt when we have considered the peace and rest and joyes of the souls departed in the fear of God 't is time for the waters to abate for mourning to cease Thirdly the number of Seven is the number of holiness as God rested the seventh day so blessed and hallowed it Seven dayes Aaron and his Sons the Priests were consecrated seven dayes an Attonement was made and the Altar was sanctified Seven dayes hath Joseph set apart for his Fathers Funeral to shew that mourning for the dead is something sacred the tenth of the Egyptian mourning an act of Piety a part of Religion The Jews observed that the Circumcision was deserred till the eighth day that a Sabbath might pass upon the child and so sanctifie it before it was circumcised and Joseph appointeth seven dayes for mourning one of which must necessarily be that day which God blessed and sanctified in the beginning to procure a blessing upon that duty and to sanctifie his sorrow Upon which seasonable Consideration I shall take leave to conclude my meditations on the Text and apply my self to the present Solemnity which gave the occasion to consider it that I may make such use of the work of this holy day as may sanctifie the sorrow of it And now most Honorable Sir the Joseph of this time the chief Mourner of this day be pleased to endeavour the Sanctification of your mourning by these reflexive Meditations First learn from hence to meditate upon your own Mortality and be now assured by this neer and home example that your self shall die This may seem but a cold monition but a dull reflection every Grave preacheth that Doctrime and every Skeleton readeth as good a Lecture when we come into the House of God our feet will learn thus much and the ground we tread upon will thus far instruct us 'T is true the examples of our mortality are numerous but they are not equally efficacious the nearer our relations are to those which die the more we are concerned in their death and there is none so neer in his concernment as that of the Father and Son There is a difference between the language of the Scriptures and such a Prophet as Nathan was one tells us that all men are sinners the other says thou art the man So common Funerals tell us all men are mortal but that of a Father speaketh not only plainly but particularly thou art so From his vivacity the Son receiveth life and in his death must read his own departure 'T is possible to imagine an immortal family and then the deaths of others concern'd that not but where the Father 's dead there can be no pretence or thought of immortality Beside there 's something more then propinquity of nature in a Father Religion teacheth us that our dayes are otherwise bound up in our Parents lives Remember the first Commandement with Promise Honorthy Father and thy Mother that thy dayes may be long in the land consider that you have lost in his death all further opportunity of improving the hopes of that promise and that you stand now only as to him upon what comfort you have in your former duty and in your past obedience Thus learn to fix a more immediate and more concerning meditation of your own mortality upon the death of him in whose life yours was involved both by a natural and spiritual dependance Secondly reflect upon that love and entire affection which you have lost and could no otherwise be lost but by losing him in whom it lived Love is of that excellent nature that it is esteemed by the best of men and accepted from the meanest persons what then is the affection of a Father what is the purity of that fire which God and Nature kindles in the brest of man what were the flames which ever burnt upon the Altar of your Fathers heart who never hated any man See but the nature of Paternal love in David who when Absalom his Son but a most rebellious Son openly sought his life and Crown and dyed in that unnatural attempt went up into his chamber and wept and as he went thus he said O my Son Absalom my Son my Son Absalom would God I had dyed for thee O Absalom my Son my Son Measure by this example the affection you have so lately lost who never gave any offence as Absalom did and yet had in your Fathers eye all the reasons of love which Absalom could have Know then you make a mourning as Joseph did for a Father that loved you remember that the love of Jacob was divided between twelve Sons and therefore though it was high it could not be whole and entire to Joseph as for many years your Fathers hath been unto you Thirdly I speak not this out of design to renew or advance your grief to tell you what you have lost alone but I propound this privation that I may contrive it for your imitation endeavouring to stir up the same fire and to kindle the same affection in your self who now are wholly to be considered in the same relation What you were to him others are now to you and what he was to you you are now wholly unto them Before your natural affection was partly taken up with duty respect honour and obedience due to a Father from a Son it is now taken off from those expressions as to him that it may descend the more entire upon those which come from you as you from him Thus far you have been the Joseph of the Text be now the Jacob that those two great names may be concealed not only in the Text but in your breast Thus far you have been the better part of Absalom learn now to be the David that we may truly say that tender affection that Paternal love dyed not with your Father but survives in you to your and his posterity Fourthly I desire you to look not only upon that which you have lost but also upon that which he hath left behind him Vulgar and common persons as they carry nothing out of this world so they leave nothing in it they receive no eminency in their birth they acquire none in their life they have none when they die they leave none aâ—… their death But honorable persons as they die like common men so that only dyeth with them which was common unto all degrees of men their singular respects the priviledges of their greatness their honors survive them and descend unto their Heirs with their Inheritance Give me leave then yet to speak unto you as to the Heir of your Fathers Honors consider what the nature and design of honors are remember they were first graciously conferred as a reward of the vertues of your Ancestors and were
of Christ to him then ever when it was in the body So then here is a cessation of baser actions and imployments to give place to more noble and heavenly and excellent actions wherein the soul shall be employed in heaven There is then no losse of actions neither Again there is no losse of company This is a thing that troubleth men husband and wife to part friends to part But we lose no company by death howsoever we lose the company of men that we cannot assure ourselves friends indeed for of all the friends we speak of in the main point when they come to be tryed there are few to be found to be friends But then we go to them whose love is perfect than you may be sure of and have the truth of their love Again how little comfort nay how little have you company with those friends you desire Is not much part of our life spent without any sight of our friends Is not half of it spent in sleep in the night and the other half in businesse and pleasure Alas how little time have we to enjoy our friends we rest on But then we shall perfectly enjoy them when there shall be no need of sleep when there shall be perfection of love and freedom from distraction and imployment when the servants of God shall fully and freely and sweetly and comfortably enjoy one the other Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the meanest of the Saints shall meet in the expression of love in such a perfection as we cannot speak of And this is certain you shall go to many Who can tell the dvst of Jacob Now you have some one or two or three or a few men or women that you account friends and dote much upon but then you shall have ennumerable company a world of friends of men and women multitudes they cannot be numbred they are as the stars of heaven for number I say there is no losse of company by this means Again you shall lose no pleasures by death it may be you shall lose some few sensual bruitish pleasures a few mixed corrupt pleasures pleasures that have the mixture of sorrow and fear in them that imbitters them to the soul of a man but it shall not be so then you shall be freed from imperfect pleasures and have perfect ones at Gods right hand for evermore pure pleasures Again you lose no necessary convenience neither the rich man loseth no riches by death he loseth his money doth he lose his riches therefore No The Angels are rich but they have no money the Saints are rich they want nothing but they have no money It may be thou losest a child thou shalt find a Father it may be thou losest a weak friend that loveth not long or it may be not so truly as thou thinkest he doth and thou findest friends that are many and perfect and pure in their love that love with a perfect heart And what then are all those losses when you enjoy that which shall make the soul happy for ever Thus I say you shall rectifie your opinions concerning Death look upon it aright have true apprehensions of it Get an intrest in Christ and look on death through him get faith and then all these things that I have spoken shall be your advantage so the Apostle concludeth Christ is to us in life and in death advantage If we live he is gain to us in life and if we die he is advantage to us in death And death is reckoned amongst the special favours and priviledges Christ hath given to his Church All are yours what all life and death things present and things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods So we see that Death is amongst the priviledges that Christ hath given his Church therefore rectifie your opinions concerning Death make good that I spake before and you shall find this good that I now speak And for the last the unacquaintance with Death let not that trouble you none come from the dead to tell you what is done there but look on the servants of God before and when they die and you shall find enough how they apprehended Death when they have looked on it in the glasse of the Gospel Look upon them before death Jacob being to close up his dayes with blessing of his children Lord saith he I have maited for thy salvation He looked upon Death through Christ the Saviour of the world that he should be saved by him and though it be true that there is a further meaning for the Tribes in those words of Jacob yet this was proper to Jacob himself he looked upon Death now approaching as that that he was delivered from and set into that freedom purchased by Christ So old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Jacoh accounted it his salvation old Simeon a departure from a worse place to a better from worse company and comforts to a better A change for the better still and a departing in peace Again secondly look on the servants of God in death see what they have said too Josiah a man that was upright in heart he went to the grave in peace he was gathered to his fathers in peace that he should not see the evill that should come upon his people here is all it was but a peaceable taking of him away from a more troubelous condition if he had lived longerâ—… Beloved he died in war yet it is said he was gathered in peace he had inward peace with God though he failed in that particular action And the Apostle in the 2 Cor. 5.4 This is our desire that we may be clothed upon not that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality may be swallowed up of life A strange speech he counteth death life to him he counteth the death of this life to be the death of mortality by laying aside this earthly tabernacle as he said in the first verse mortality is swallowed up of life And therefore you give wrong names to things for while you live you die because your life it is a dying condition and while you die you live because then the cessation of life it is as the river Jordan to the people of Israel no more but a passage to Canaan not a floud to drown them so it is with the servants of God death is but a passage to heaven it is not destructive to them So that if men did but rectifie their opinions of Death as I told you before when their hearts are right set when they are humbled and not lifted up with worldly things when their faith is strengthned and setled in them when they are made watchful in a holy course looking for Death when they are established with the assurance of Gods favour then I say they may find that all these natural fears of death were upon mistake they did
be upon us and we pine away in them how shall we then live The Prophet had incouraged them notwithstanding their great sins to return by true repentance and they should not perish nevertheless they are muttering discouraged with fear breaking their spirits withdrawing themselves from God the judgements of God are begun upon us the hand of wrath is gone out against us we are pining away in them though we are not wasted yet yet we are like a man in a consumption that wasteth by degrees how shall we live certainly we shall die Saith the Lord say not thus among your selves but know if ye turn ye shall live As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes for why will ye die oh house of Israel Beware of discouragment therefore it is Sathans device that when once he hath drawn men from God by a path of sin to hold them under discouragement that so he may ever after keep them from turning to God again It was his device whereby he would have kept Adam from turning to God after he had committed that great sin in eating of the forbidden tree He thought of nothing but hiding himself from God and so he did hide himself amongst the bushes of the Garden I heard thy voyce and was afraid and I hid my self Mark here was a fear of discouragement in Adam that whereas he should have come and fell down before the Lord and have begged mercy and said as David here Who knoweth whether the Lord will be gracious to me He run clean away from God There is a fear of reverence that keepeth a man with God and there is a fear that draweth a man to God but this fear of discouragement driveth a man from God and that is the temptation of Sathan to keep a man from God when once he hath turned aside from him Therefore that is the first thing take heed of such inward discouragements as may drive you quite off Secondly Take incouragement then to seek the face of God in his own means and way He hath threatned judgements against others for the same sins that ye find your selves guilty of when they have returned to him they have found mercy Return ye to him in truth and seek his face aright and ye shall find the same mercy In the prophesie of Joel ye shall see there that though God had threatned judgements nay though he had begun judgement for that was the case of those times judgement was begun upon them yet neverthelesse the Prophet calleth them to fasting and weeping and telleth them that the Lord is gracious and merciful and ready to forgive and who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him Therefore let us do our parts and seek God in truth amend our lives and then no question of this but that God will return It is an old device of Sathan to draw men instead of Gods revealed will to look to Gods secret will whether I be absolutely rejected or cast off or not But this is not the thought wherein a Christian should exercise himselfe his main business is this to make his calling and election sure by all the evidences of it hy a holy life walk obediently to Gods revealed will and be certain thou shalt not be rejected by Gods secret will He never rejecteth those by his secret will and purpose and decree to whom he giveth a heart to walk obediently to his revealed will So much for that Who knoweth that the Lord will be gracious to me that the child may live The incouragement is this That the child may live But mark his expression Whether the Lord will be gratious to me that the child may live If he had said no more but this Who knoweth whether the child may live A man would have thought this would fully enough have expressed his mind but there is more in it that could not be expressed without this addition Who knoweth whether the Lord will be gracious to me that the child may live The life of a child is a mercy to the father David expresseth herein both his Pitty and his Piety His pitty He accounteth all the good or ill that befalleth his child as his own if death befalleth it he accounteth it as a misery that befalleth himself if sickness befalleth his child he accounteth it as an affliction upon himself This is his natural pitty that some natural affection of a father to his Child See such an expression of the woman of Canaan have mercy on me thou son of David my daughter is miserably vexed of a divel The Daughter was miserably vexed and the mother cryeth out Have mercy on me There is such a simpathy ariseth hence from the natural and free course that love hath in descending from the Father to the Child There are not only moral perswasions that may invite and draw on love but besides that there is a course of affection that floweth naturally and kindly from the Father to the child as it is with those rivers that fall downward they fall more vehenently then those that are carried upward so the more natural the affection is the more vehement it expresseth it self in the motion to such objects Now when the Father expresseth his affection to his child this is more vehement because it is more natural there is more strength of nature in it I cannot stand upon this only a word by way of inference and application to our selves First are natural parents thus to their children Then here is a ground of faith for the children of God that he is pleased to stile himself by the name of Father and to receive them into the adoption of sons and daughters This was Davids expression of God As a father hath compassion of his children so hath the Lord on those that fear him And the Prophet Isaiah expresseth it fully In all their affliction he was afflicted and the Angel of his presense saved them in his love and pitty he redeemed them and he bare them all the dayes of old he bore them upon his wings This giveth confidence and boldness to Gods children in making their requests known to him This was it that incouraged the Prodigal I will arise and go to my father and say Father I have sinned against heaven and bofore thee c. God saith S. Barnard alwayes grants those petitions that are sweetned with the name of father and the affection of a child I should hence speak somewhat to children to stir them up to answer the love of their Parents but other things that follow forbids me any long discourse of this Secondly here is Davids piety expressed in this Who knoweth whether the Lord will be gracious to me He exprest not only the Pitty and affection of a natural father to a child but piety
too he is a man that liveth to himself This was the case of the second and third grounds they received the seed with joy that is when they were sensible of comfort they followed Christ but afterward when persecution arose for the Gospel they fell off and took offence Such as these live to themselves they seem to live to God but it is to themselves and therefore when self-respects fail they fall off too Secondly take another instance for the clearing of it Suppose that not only sensible advantages fail but sensible disadvantages come in the world A man is sensible that he shall disadvantage himself much if he go on in the wayes of obedience to God It may be if he make conscience of his wayes he must make restitution of his estate unjustly gotten He must deny himself in a greater measure of pleasures that he hath unlawfully pursued He must empty himself in works of mercy and piety of a great part of his estate for the good of others that God may be glorified by his substance He shall lose some worldly friends some esteem among men Here are sensible disadvantages to a man Now the Question is what he resolveth to do Here is the command of God and here is the thing whereupon the heart of man and his affections are set upon disadvantages in the world These come together Here is an occasion for a lust a sinful affection to express it self If that be laid in the ballance and shall prevaile above the other that rather then I will endure disadvantage in the world I will neglect the way of serving God this party liveth to himself whatsoever good he did before in matters of religion all was done to himself I say when these two come together as you know when two men walk together and one servant followeth them a man knoweth not whose servant he is till they part but then when they part a stranger may know whose servant he is he followeth his own Master and leaveth the other So when God and the world go together God and a mans own advantages go together when their is nothing commanded but standeth with his own advantages so long a mans deceitful heart may flatter and delude and misguide him he may go on in a false perswasion and in a strong conceit that he is in Christ in a blessed estate But when these two part that I shall not only not advantage my self but sensibly disadvantage my self in outward things Here now I say the the Question is what a man doth If I resolve to cleave to my outward advantages and leave God and leave the wayes of God I live to my self A man that liveth to God you shall see it is otherwise with him as for instance David when he might have had the kingdome of Israel somewhat sooner by sin he would not do it his heart smote him for cutting off the â—…appe of Sauls garment though he might have gained the kingdome of Israel by it he would not lay his hands on the Lords anointed And what was the reason of it because he would not advantage himself by disobedience to God he would rather want himself What was the reason that Daniel when he saw he was in an apparent hazard not only of the loss of honour but of his life and that for the performance but of one duty prayer and that but for a short time yet would not omit it no not for a short time though he might by that not only have saved his life but kept his honour in the Court he prayed to God even at that time when he was forbidden Why so because he lived to God and not to himself Had Daniel lived to and sought himself more then God he would have dispensed with this and saved both his life and honour though he had offended God in that particular of omission But this is the disposition of a heart that is faithful and upright with God it will not dishonour God for the greatest advantage that can come to it self it will not neglect a duty to God whatsoever loss it have in the world Thirdly Take another instance whereby we may see what we intend in this tryall Let the will of God and the bent of a mans own will come in competition together God will have me leave this I will hold it God will have me forsake this I will keep it It is a comfort a wordly benefit I lose my comfort if I part with it He that now liveth to himself he will please his own will and be disquieted and vexed against Gods will that crosseth his But he that liveth to God will be contenâ—… that God should cross him in his will because he would glorisie God in his own will in his soveraignty in his purity in his holiness and justice c. See it in the case of Abraham Abraham had a strong love to Isaac and good cause yet nevertheless though he could see a comfort to himself in this son when God telleth him thou must sacrifice thy son Isaac when he had the revealed will of God Abraham now resolveth to shew that he lived to God and not to himself therefore he would part with any comfort of his life for God when he required it So David If the Lord will saith he he can bring me back that I shall see the Tabernacle and the Arkâ—… if not If he say I have no pleasure iâ—… thee loe here I am let the Lord do with me as seemeth good in his owneyes When the case is this when the will of God crosseth thy will what now prevaileth Doth the desire of having thy own will prevail against the desire of submitting to Gods will Doth it raise murmuring and impatiency of spirit So far thou livest to thy self Therefore consider this Here is an occasion now for a lust and a sinful affection to shew it self either a man may advantage himself in an evil course or he cannot but disadvantage himself in a good course or when God crosseth a man in that he desireth and delights in in the world That is the first tryal whereby a man may know whether he liveth to himself Secondly another tryal will be this Consider if their be any part of the truth of God of his revealed will that for self-respects thou art willing to be ignorant of least the knowledge of it should make the do somewhat to thy own disadvantage in this thou livest to thy self See this to be true in all that live to themselves Balaam though he profest that for a house full of gold he would not go beyond the word of the Lord yet notwithstanding he was willing not to take notice of Gods will but to go on rather to curse Johanan in Jer. 42. professeth deeply that he would obey the will of the Lord but when he understood the will of the Lord when it crost his will then saith he to Jeremy It is not the Lord that hath bid
comfort if he have carried it well and much sorrow and griefe if he have carried it ill Thus a religious heart carrieth it self in this duty Now a worldly man doth the duty too but how as if not that is he hath none of this care before he cometh to it he hath none of this trouble when he is at it he hath none of this perplexity when he hath done if he have miscarried in it if he be able to come off it is well enough though it be performed in never so ill a manner Why his mind is after other things he intends greater matters as he thinks The Minister hath taught him to pray and he can say his prayers and so he doth the duty but still as if not Or again suppose a man whose heart is set upon Mammon put this man to recreation he may perhaps find time to play at Bowles or Cards or Tables with a friend but how he cares not whether he wins or loses he whiles away the time but this is not the thing his heart is set upon that giveth him contentment but that which his mind is on is his commodities his trade his merchandize his business in the world Just thus beloved it must be with every true beleever in the using of all the things of this life that is without care without fear without perplexity without distraction and if they come on so if they go so he must be pleased if he have them and content if he want them and howsoever his thoughts must be carried higher and better To think thus I am the servant of God I have a Calling here I will follow it in obedience to God I have a Wife I will use her as a wife should be used I have children I will have a care of their education But I must not come to be distracted about my calling about my wife and children and servants and good name or any thing that is here below I am here to day it may please God I may be gone to morrow my hearts desire must be to be content with this that God is my all-sufficient portion if I be in prosperity to be as if not if in affliction to carry my self so that in the middest of sorrow and trouble to be as if God freed me from all remembring still that my portion is in another life Thus you have seen both the lesson arising from the Text and what that is that in it is required of every true beleever And this point I am now to prove and still I must use the compellation of the Apostle Brethren for as for others I have little hope of I will as I promised make it plain out of the Scripture That a true beleever that would have comfort of it that he is a true believer must be as if not in all the things of this world There is one eminent place for this purpose viz. 1 John 4.10 Saith the Apostle there Love not the world nor the things of the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Hence I argue thus He that must so use wife children credit freinds good name prosperity without loving of them it is likely he useth them as if not for love is the great wheel that setteth all the faculties awork Now the Spirit of God doth directly forbid all Christians to love the world or the things of the world as they do the Scripture absolutely injoyneth that we should not love them that is that our hearts must not be fixed on them Another place you have likewise in Colloss 3.1 Set not your affections on things below Now as I said before if any man do any thing that his affections are not upon that he doth not love and joy and delight in that he doth not take care for and the like certainly that man useth it as if not but so must every true beleever use the things of the world so as that he must not set his affections upon them Other Scriptures I might give you to make good this point but I am somewhat afraid to be straitned Two or three arguments I will add to make it plain Why every true beleever must be as if not in all these things First because all the things in this world which are contained in the Text they are all but empty poor things to a beleever To another man who makes them his God in his conceit they are full but to a true beleever these things are well known to be but empty things I need give you no better proof to make this evident then that which followeth in the Text For the fashion af this world passeth away The fashion of the world What is that That is a thing that is a shew without a substance Nay the world signisieth such a fashion as is in a Comedy or stage-play where all things are but for a while to please the eye A man it may be acts the part of a King that is no better then a begger or a varlet so all things in the world are no better then shadowes and empty like a piece of a stage-play and no marvel if beleevers that know this use them as not Secondly another argument why beleevers must in all these things use them as if not is because they are none of a beleevers and being none of his it is a meer folly for him to set his heart upon them How are they none of his you will say First for the truth of it these things below they belong to the men of this life but the treasure and estate of a Beleever is laid up in another life he is but as a stranger and pilgrim here below and therefore they are none of his And then likewise they are none of his because he hath resigned them all up to God in the day when he made the bargain for Christ For when we come to be Christs we must sell all to buy that Pearl and in selling all we sell not only our corruptions and lusts but wives and children and pleasures and credit and all we have them not now to have and to hold to do what we will with them but now that we have Christ we return all to him and have them as Coppy-hold to be tenants at will to that great Land-lord we have only a little time in them And if it be so that every beleever hath no more to do in this world but thus that he is meetly at the pleasure of God and can properly call nothing his own but God and Christ then certainly he must use all these things as if not Conceive it thus A Traveller goeth a long journey hee cometh at night to his Inn when he is there he is woundrous glad of his table of his bed of his fire of his meat and drink and every thing and he is woundrous welcome but he doth not so delight in them as the
service of God our reward shall be eternal life not that we deserve it but that it is the pleasure of our heavenly Father to bestow it upon us For the wages of sin is death and the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. THE PROFIT OF AFFLICTIONS OR GODS AIM IN HIS CORRECTIONS SERMON XXX HEB. 12.10 For they verily for a few dayes chastned us after their own pleasure but He for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness THere are two things among many others eminently in Jesus Christ which declare him to be an all-sufficient Saviour of his people and these the Scripture frequently setteth forth unto us in a most sweet conjunction Righteousness and strength So the Prophet Surely shall one say in the Lord have I Righteousness and strength There are two things likewise in a Christian which are of eminent sufficiency in order to his salvation and his possession of the Glorious Inheritance purchased by this Saviour Faith and Patience often spoken of severally and in particular but withal jointly and together as might be manifested by the allegations of Scripture as be not slothful but be ye followers of them that by Faith and Patience inherit the promise c. Concerning these two which are so eminent in the called of God and are sufficient in order to their possession of the purchased inheritance as the Scripture abundantly treateth of so most frequently in the Epistle and more especially in the 10 11 and 12. Chapters In the latter end of the tenth Chapt. you have the Apostle there first dogmatically handling the doctrine of Faith as the necessary means to attain everlasting life and as the principall conducement to the possession of glory and to the saving of the soul The just shall live by Faith In the beginning of the eleventh Chapter he sheweth the absolute necessity of Faith to an acceptable walking and well-pleasing of God For without faith vers 6. it is impossible to please God and the whole Chapter is further spent in setting down the glorious Examples of Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and the rest of the Elders eminent for then Faith by which saith he they received a good report All whom did worthily in their dayes and are now become famous to posterity standing out to this day also many living voyces calling upon us to become followers of them that we might together with them be at length made partakers of the glorious inheritance of the Saints in light The Apostle have spoken much to this purpose goeth on to that other grace we spake of so necessary to the constitution of a Christian and to the enabling of him to a well and faithful managing of his Calling and condition and that is Patience Propounded by way of exhortation in the first part of this twelfth Chapter and urged with respect to the necessary uses of it both concerning duties done and afflictions to be endured in the verses following First with respect to duties which the Apostle propoundeth under the Metaphor of running in a race for such is the course of a Christian life which the Saints of God are called to the finishing of Let us run the race that is set before us and run with Patience Secondly it is urged with respect to sufferings and that of two sorts from men from God From men from whom the faithful are to make account of sufferings in divers kinds in shame and derision in proud and insolent contradictions and according to their power and opportunity in bloudy persecutions You have not yet resisted unto bloud vers 4. From God and here the Apostle is more large urging his exhortation to Patience and a quiet applying of our selves to God according to all the states and conditions he is pleased to bring us unto and according to all his several administrations towards us very strongly labouring to fasten it in the hearts of the Saints of God as a nayle in a sure place first alledging that same passage of Solomon in the Proverbs My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord. And then he further strengthneth his exhortation by invincible arguments I do but touch upon these things hast ening on to the main thing I intend only desiring to give you a plain and brief Analasis of this Scripture with the context of it The Apostle I say driveth on this exhortation by strength of argument And that first of all by propounding to the godly that whereas the Lord is pleased to exercise them with afflictions to make them drink many times of a cup of bitterness yet they have reason to be quiet and patient because this way the Lord giveth a proof of his love to his children and those that are wise and godly will be glad they have reason so to be that God should take such a course with them as whereby he may give them a demonstration of his dear love and affection Now herein the Lord evidenceth his love and affection to his people for all the afflictions and chastisements that he exerciseth them withall flow from his love and are as fruits thereof For saith he whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth vers 6. Secondly he propoundeth it to their consideration as a course wherein the Lord giveth an evidence of his peoples adoption For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not But if ye be without chastisement whereof all his children are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons vers 78. Now the godly should be glad to have the Lord take such a course with them and so to order out his administrations concerning them as that they may have some comfortable evidence to their souls that they are his adopted ones and such as he will one day acknowledge for to be his children But thirdly and that which more concerneth our present purpose the Apostle urgeth his exhortation by a comparison that he frameth between God the Father of spirits and men that are fathers of our flesh we have had fathers of our flesh and they verily for a few dayes chastened us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live they chastened us for their pleasure but He for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Wherein you see the comparison is laid out in several particulars and the preheminency the advantage of the comparison is given to God for so is the scope and intent of the Text. It lieth thus briefly First We have had fathers of our flesh and God is the Father of Spirits if we have been contented to undergo the discipline of our earthly fathers much more have we reason quietly and patiently to submit our selves to the proceedings of the Father of our spirits Secondly They for a few dayes chastened us and we gave them reverence it is but a few dayes neither that the Father of
soul is heavy unto death yet be not troubled was he so careful when he was in his own troubles on earth to comfort them and will he not now be so in heaven when he is in blessedness certainly the soul that hath recours to Christ shall not return empty therefore see how Christ is exprest in heaven Matth. 25. Come ye blessed c. For what you have done to these you have done to me he is in heaven and so Saul why dost thou persecute me he is in heaven yet in respect of his Church he is below therefore be assured that Christ hath not put off the bowels of love to his people he will be the same if thou receive him as a Lord and Saviour as ever he was to his Disciples But it may be objected we are exposed to many uncertainties though we beleeve in Christ and we find not the comfort of it here Therefore Christ saith rest not upon things present here you are in Tents but you shall come to your fathers house there is a place provided for you between which and this there is as much difference as is between a house and a Tent between a mans own mansion and an Inn. And though you have hard entertainment in the world yet you shall have an abiding place after But you will say indeed there are mansions but there are abundance to receive them what shall we do There are many masions therefore look as there are many children to be brought to glory so there are many places to receive them in glory and to settle them there we see what a vast body the Sun is and the Stars are yet they seem but little sparks in comparison of the heavens above us but what is the heaven of heavens that contain all these infinitely beyond in its own compass there are many mansions But how shall we come to heaven Saith Christ I go to prepare a place for you as if he should say all that I have done is for your sakes I die and ascend and sit at the right hand of God for your sakes I will come at the day of judgment to bring you to glory all that Christ doth now as God-man as Mediator between God and us all is for our sake But when Christ is taken from us how shall we get thither Saith he I will come and bring you with me I will come in glory at the day of Judgment in the clouds and inable you to meet me and thence bring you to those heavenly mansions in my fathers house never doubt how these things shall be done I will do them all Thus Christ would confirm their faith there is the greatest happiness and comfort in this wherein he would have them setled this should stir us up to settle our hearts this way But the time is past this shall be sufficient for this time FAITHS TRIUMPH OVER THE GREATEST TRYALS SERMON XXXII HEB. 11.17 By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up his son Isaac and he that had received the promise offered up his onely begotten son THis Chapter doth speak in the commendation of the Faith of many of the Patriarchs and Abraham among the rest is brought in with a manifest testimony of his Faith there be two things observable which Abrahams Faith strengthened him to act one was to give up his Country the other was to give up his Son to give up his Country in verse 8. By Faith Abraham when he was called of God to go out in a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whether he went To leave our friends our parents to take our journey we know not whither to live among we know not whom and all this upon a bare word this was not an easie thing to part with good Land for some good words this was a hard matter sence derides it and reason contemns it and will not hearken to it but Faith can see more in Gods promise than sence can find Abraham will leave his Country when God calls him to it but never shall lose his inheritance by beleeving and obeying no man did ever yet hazard his estate who could part with it upon obedient terms A second thing that he is to part with is with his Son his only son his first begotten son in this Act of faith Abraham sails against wind and tide where he breaks through the contentments of the world not only of sence and reason but of natural affection The story in a word is this God after many years patience at length gave Abraham a son in his old age he was the child of many prayers and of many teares the parents delight and to Abrahams thinking an heir of life because a child of the Promise he had not long spent his gray hairs in a strange land but God on a sudden calls upon Abraham to give back his son his very son Isaac as we may read in the 22 of Genesis Now what doth Abraham do how doth he behave himself doth he expostulate with God Any thing Lord but spare my son Isaac Nay the Text saith he offered up his son Doth he murmure and grumble against God in this manner Lord why dost thou single out this delight of mine why dost thou seem to envy this blessing of mine No he offered up his Isaac as if the Text had expressed Ahrahams language thus O Lord my God what is it that thou callest for whom is it that thou callest for is it for my only son Isaac the son of my love the son of thy promise the son of my age verily Lord thou shalt have him it is true I love him dearly well but I love thee better I got him by beleeving and I shall never lose him by obeying if Isaac were a thousand sons thou shouldest have them all though I am a father yet Lord thou art a God if I give him he is a sacrifice acceptable and though I kill him yet thou canst quicken him and raise him again I shall never lose my Isaac though I part with my son for thou hast said in Isaac shall thy seed be called Now the parts of these words are two First we have Abrahams great tryal Secondly we have Abrahams acquitment First his tryal Abraham was tried when he offered up his son Secondly his acquitment by Faith Abraham offered up his son In the former we may observe three particulars First the person that is tried Abraham Secondly the Person that tried him God Thirdly the thing wherein he was tried it was no ordinary thing it was to part with a part of himself to offer up his dear son Isaac In the latter part two things are observable First his quickening up himself in his obediential act he offered up Isaac saith the Text. Secondly the powerful cause which did inable Abraham to so difficult a work By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up his
son and he that had received the promise offered up his only begotten son Now I cannot handle all these parts by several peeces as they lye therefore I will deliver to you the juyce and substance of all that I have to say in two Propositions there might be many more collected from these words but I will speak of no more the first is this That strong and great trials may befal strong and great Christians The second Proposition is this That faith will make a man acquit himself in great trials Now for the first That strong and great trials may befal strong and great Christians The Text clears it in Abraham about his son his only son a great trial there are ten remarkable steps in this trial of Abraham in oftering up his Son First had it been to part with a dutiful servant this had been something but to part with a Son this is much more this we know that the relation of a servant is much less then that of a child Again if he had been to part with a faithful friend such a one as Jonathan was to David this would have tried him but to part with a tender Isaac this is much more Again if it were an adopted son that he were to part with it were not so much but to part with a natural son one that was a part of himself a part of his own body Again if he were a son amongst many more but he must part with his only son his only son Isaac Again if Abraham had been young and might have enjoyed another son it had not been so much but he is the only son of his old age Again if it were the son of his old age if it had been an Ishmael this had not been so much but his only son Isaac a child of promise and of prayer a child of many tears Again if it had been a son wherein he took no great delight that his affections were not so much set upon it had not been so much but it was the son of his love he must not onely part with his only son and the only son of his old age but his only son whom he loved Again if it were but only to part from him to have him taken away this had not been so much but he must kill his son he must cut his son all in peeces and so offer him up to God wherein his heart might have disputed with that sinful act of murder Again if another had been to do it to cut his son in peeces but Abraham must do it himself the tender Father must take away the life of his tender child Again it had not been so great if Abraham had been to do it presently or neer to some of his friends that might have hindered him from this Act but Abraham must go three dayes journey and must go to an unknown place and there must pour out the heart and bloud and life of his Isaac In these many particulars we may see the greatness of Abrahams trial O the heighth and depth and bredth of this trial no one could impose such a trial but a God and none could answer such a trial but an Abraham Job may come in as another instance God gives Job this testimony that he was an eminent person None like him in the earth a perfect and upright man and one that feared God and eschewed evil He seemed to be the tallest Cedar and yet he had the sharpest winds his eminency in grace would not deliver him from trouble he is tried many wayes in the loss of his cattel and then in the loss of his servants and then in the loss of his children and in the loss of all his children at once and all on a sudden and at such a time the time of his greatest prosperity he is tried by his neer friends condemned for an hypocrite and by his own wife contemned and tempted to curse God and he was tried by God himself He wrote bitter things against him and fastened his arrowes in his spirit But to leave these instances let me crave leave a little to touch upon two things for the full and cleer opening of this point First I will shew you wherein the strength of a trial may consist And secondly I will shew you why God is pleased to lay strong and great trials upon strong and great Christians First wherein the strength of a trial may confist and I will observe six things which may make a trial great First one is the goodness and kindness of the agent that deals with us when any neer to us in a singular relation to us shall seem to turn against us and spoil us and persecute us when a dear friend shall prove a bitter enemy O this is a heavy trial no sword cuts so sharp as this nothing makes a greater wound then this when God himself shall seem to reject He who had said thus much I will be a God to Abraham and I will bless thee and multiply thy seed and yet now to command him a Duel with his son for a man to meet with a condition of trouble and sorrow when he expects all mercy and compassion and tenderness of love O this doth cause singular sorrow to meet with waves in the middest of the Ocean it is a common thing but to thrust the ship into some harbour and there to meet shipwark O this is very much for a Christian to find scorns and hard usage from the world this is but an ordinary thing but when he looks up to heaven and receives such looks and frowns from God that fetch tears from his eyes and from his heart this is much more Secondly the strength of a tryal may consist in the neerness of an object when the tryal is not that which rends the garment but rends the heart for a woman to lose her ring is not so much but to lose her husband this is much more for a man to lose an outward thing is something but to lose a child is much more this many times is the renting of the loyns a sunder for David to lose a servant is not so much but when David loses Absalom then he cries out O Absalom my son would God I had dyed for thee O Absalom my son my son God is pleased many times to try his servants by taking away the delight of their eyes and the joy of their heart and the hope of their lives Thirdly the strength of a tryal may consist in the neerness of a comfort a tryal is strongest when it seems to pluck away the thing that is neerest the heart when God plucks away a Child sucking at the breast when he takes away that whereon our delight is fixed when God on a sudden doth take away and cousume the Gourd that shadowed Jonah when he snatches away the thing that we take content in O this will enter to the quick
of poor people at Macedonia being so poor that the Apostle bears witness of them they gave above their ability We see a poor man and yet an heir of heaven lying full of sores and in want at the gate of Dives that was after thrown into hell An heir of heaven and yet on earth a Beggar You see then beloved the point is true now we will descend and see how it appears to be so and for what respect it comes to pass by Gods providence First it becomes so that there may be a conformity between the head and the members for Christ that was rich for our sakes became poor saith the Scripture even Christ that was rich and Lord over all became poor and in the form of a servant unto all for our sakes so poor that we see the foxes had holes and the fowles of the ayre had nests but our Redeemer had no shelter no not so much room as to rest his head Now there must be a conformity between Christ and his members if the head be poor necessity makes the other members partake of the same Cup. Again secondly if you observe and look on the condition of Gods Saints of the houshold of faith on earth here you shall find small occasion to marvel at their simple estates considering they are a company of travellers and Pilgrims in this world I beseech you as Pilgrims and strangers c. They are not only strangers which may have riches conveyed unto them after some certain stay in a place But they are Pilgrims and time will not permit their abode in one place upon any condition of advantage for their profession compels them from one place to another On whom our Proverbe may truly be verified that a rouling stone gathers nothing They are Pilgrims and Pilgrims desires extend no further in this life then a staffe and a scrip This is the brood of travellers saith David that seek thy face Thirdly there followes another reason and that proceeds from the opposition they find in the world against their course the world labours to make them poor and having prevailed like an imperious Jaylor to a distressed prisoner endeavours to keep them under And it comes so to pass in regard of the natural enmity and division that is in the world in opposition of the wayes of God You shall find that our Saviour intending to go to Jerusalem made his way through Samaria and dispatched some before to provide him lodging But the Samaritans understanding or suspecting that he was minded to go thither refused to entertain him They would not receive him saith the Text Why Because he was going unto Jerusalem Beloved thus deals the world with the members of Christ if they would rely on the world and make that their end as they do then riches should flow in in abundance and their estates might arive to be as eminent and mighty as others But if their minds be resolved for Jerusalem and their eyes reflect that way Let them seek their own entertainment for they shall receive no benefit nor enjoy any contentment by their permission Lastly God disposeth it to be so by his wondrous providence that his glory may be so much the more conspicuous and open in providing that they of the houshould of faith should endure the scourge of poverty on earth that so the work of his grace may appear the more in them by the means of their poverty for when doth grace make it self more manifest in the heart then in the middest of such extremities The stars make the brightest reflection in the obscurest night and grace appears most glorious chiefly in distress You have heard of the patience of Job had not Job endured much sorrow and been exercised in many afflictions the world had been ignorant of his vertues he was first deprived of his substance and suffered the torments of his body before he expressed his patience You have heard of the faith of those people which wandered in sheeps-skins and goats-skins But how could you have been acquainted with their faith if you had not heard of their clothing you see them in sheeps-skins and goats-skins enduring contempt of the world to preserve faith and a good conscience and so you became acquainted with their faith also Is it so then that Gods servants are thus then let the world wonder their fill at it and let not us account it a strange thing saith Saint James for it befalls others of the Saints So say I when we see of the houshold of faith in poverty account it no strange matter that God bestows not riches in this world to one that is rich in grace You see a multitude of believers stript of all they had and yet they were holy and religious Secondly condemn not their wayes for the entertainment they meet within the world Like not the worse of the wayes of God because he afflicts his servants you should then judge evil of the generation of the just You know Job was a man beloved of God from heaven he witnesseth his goodness He was an upright and a just man one that feared God and eschewed evil Notwithstanding you see how he was environed with troubles and made destitute of means and the society of his friends insomuch that his three familiar acquaintance did conclude that therefore he was an hypocrite and that God had found him out in some sin But the ensuing displeasure of God towards these men though it took no effect because of the righteous invocation of his servant Job will tell us there belongs a Judgment to those that censure the Children of God by their afflictions weighing their sins their sufferings both in one scale together But beware of incurring Gods displeasure by accusing the generation of the just in respect of their unprosperous events in this World Thou seest one man disgraced in much trouble it may be in extream necessity for want of these outward blestings presently thou concludest something is amiss in his life Thou perceivest another grows rich having riches and honour and applause in the World notwithstanding he goes on in a prophane course yet thou concludest certainly God loves this man these are dangerous conclusieâ—…s Cain and Esau were beloved of God if this be a sign of love now God himself said that He hated Esau Esau whom God hated had twelve Dukes to his Sons enjoying abundance and superfluity of all things and therefore forbear to reprove the just man or call his integrity into question because of his outward poverty Thirdly take heed you despise not the Houshold of Faith for outward poverty think not meanly of them nor the worse of Grace because of their simple outside for this is to have the Faith of God in respect of mens persons when a man comes in gay cloathing you say sit here in a goodly place but a man in meaner apparel stand thou there
through Christ that strengthens me Phil. 4.13 partly also this is proved from one principal end of the spirits Donation his being given us namely That we may know the things that are freely given unto us of God and to co-witness with our spirits that we are his Sons and Daughters 1 Cor. 2.12 Rom. 8.16 1 John 5.13 Thirdly from the duties required of us upon this account as Thank fulness Ephes 1.3 Col. 1.12 13. What wise man will give thanks for that which he hath no certainty that he doth enjoy this were for a man to boast of a false gift as of a cloud without water so likewise of Love we love God because he first loved us 1 John 4.19 in so freely giving his Son to us John 3.16 and together with him all things that do accompany salvation Rom. 8.32 even to the Author of life and salvation unto all that obey him Heb. 5.9 And how come we to know of all this love but by that experimental proof thereof that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us Rom. 5.5 And lastly by the examples of Saints that have had this assurance in themselves as Job 19.25 〈…〉 and here in my Text Saint Paul which eminent Saints were not set forth in Holy Writ as Wonders meerly to be gazed at but as Patterns of imitation and though ordinary Christians and Saints cannot reach to the same steps yet they may walk in the same path and may possibly attain though not to the same measures yet to the same soundness of perswasion and indeed as a reverened Divine observes its firmness rather than fulness of assurance namely in respect of adherence or of recumbency that the Saints in this life arrive unto but to this firmness they may come by the use of the ordinary and of the right means as here St. Paul did by fighting the good fight by finishing his course and by keeping the faith hereby as by the ordinary means be concluded therein likewise shewing us an example that from henceforth there was a Crown of Righteousness laid up in Heaven for him yea and for all others with himself who loved the appearing of the Lord Jesus But though it be cautionately understood thus possible notwithstanding it is very difficult and hard to be attained and that for many weighty and important reasons As First in regard of the difficulty to put a distinction between seeming Vertues and real Graces which are the signs and fruits of Election and which give the best evidence of glory so that there needs much discussion and an exact Spirit of Discerning to put a Difference and to discriminate the one from the other yea we are to take notice that there are many Vices neer of kin to many Vertues and carry in semblance a near affinity as it were with them There is faith devout Bernard à à minium vertutis a certain kind of Vermilion wherewith Satan paints over the outside of Vices and makes them shew like Vertues and but by an Eâ—… and an Heart exercised in piety hardly discernable each from the other thus â—…ttery sometimes carries the stile of affability Covetousness of Frugality Rashness of Fortitude a Divellish Matchiavelisme of a lawful policy excess and ryot of good fellowship and under this mistake of judgment that is taken for zeale which is nothing but an impetuous headiness or a fiery kind of vehemency that instead of heating the house is apt to burn it Thus in short presumption passeth often for Faith this being the guile of our hearts and Satan complying with it who can tansform himself into an Angel of Light and set a fair gloss upon naughty wars making the tinsel of Hypocrisie to pass for the Silver of sincerity we must not too much â—…ely upon our own Judgments in this matter but bring things to the beam of the Sanctuary and there prove and weigh them the Word of God ever giveth a right Judgment the searching hereinto John 5.39 and examining of these matters hereby requiring great deliberation this makes the assurance difficult when the Evidence is perplexed and not presently cleared Secondly its hard in regard of the plenty of Lusts and of the works of the flesh which too much over-grow and abound in every mans Heart but graces are but rare and come up thin much chaff and little solid grain our graces are like Gidâ—…ons Army but a handful in comparison but our fins are like Midianites Innumerable as Grashoppers Hipps and Hawes faith one grow in every hedg when choycer fruits are but in some few Gardens and every soyle almost yeilds stone and rubbish but Gold and precious stones are found in very few places now Saint Peter who exhorts to give diligence to make Election sure exhorts also 2 Pet. 1.5 6. to add to Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledge c. a large enumeration induction of graces is required to clear up this assurance and certainly that is a matter of no ease Thirdly that I may hasten this is difficult in regard of the great progress that an Hypocrite or a Cast-away may make in the wayes of Christianity and yet never attain to this assurance He may have some degrees of Illumination Heb. 6.4 much like a Coruscation that a suddain flash of Lighting maketh in the Ayre He may have good wishes as Balaam Numbers 23.10 A sight of sin as Cain had Gen. 4.13 Confess sin as Judas did Mat. 27.4 have zeal as Jebu had 2 Kings 10.16 in these and in like other gifts may a very Cast-away make a great progress But no child of God can have any real comfort in any thing wherein he cannot say he hath yet therein gone beyond a Cast-away and yet but in the ground or rule or end of doing these things are hardly discernable each from other All which and much more that might be added to the same purpose shew though not the utter impossibility yet surely the very great difficulty of attaining unto the assurance that a man can say as S. Paul doth here in a particular application unto his soul Christ loved me and gave himself for me and henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness There yet remains but one Pearl more in the Cabinet of this Text which I shall onely offer to your short notice and so conclude it is that due qualification which renders other Christians as well as it did S. Paul capable of the Crown of Righteousness they must be such as who do love the Lord Christ's second appearing in the day of Judgment And indeed it is the property of none but Saints to love it and long for it See Phil. 1.23 Rev. 22.20 Amen even so come Lord Jesus Some cautions notwithstanding must be here remembred sith it 's possible that times may fall out when we tremble at the thought or mention of it as when conscience is