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
of his Holiness in my Text. Now he is so termed in opposition to the unclean Spirit Matth. 12.43 or evil Spirit and Spirit of Devils which are in some men as the Holy Spirit is in others For as the Heathens imagined that every man had his good Genius or his bad his good or bad Angel so the Holy Scripture expresseth the Motions of men to be from the Spirit of God's Holiness in them who are sanctified and from Satan in them who are unholy as in Cain and Judas Now the Spirit of God is sometimes spoke of as God's Instrument by which he works in the works of Creation Psal 104.30 Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are created and thou renewest the face of the Earth Job 33.4 The Spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life When God bringeth any great thing to pass he doth it by his Spirit Zech. 4.6 Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit That which is in Matth. 12.28 If I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God is in Luk. 11.20 If I with the finger of God cast out Devils whence it appears that the Spirit of God is Digitus Dei God's Hand or Finger whereby he works But especially the works God doeth in and for the Saints are ascribed to the Spirit of God All these things worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally even as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 All those precious Qualities and Operations whereby we please God are termed Fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 23. 2. This helps us to understand how the Holy Spirit may be taken from a person to wit by withdrawing from him those Operations of the Holy Spirit which are amiable to God or comfortable to us Now in this Petition it is to be considered that notwithstanding David's Sins he was not utterly bereft of God's Spirit for in this Psalm his humble Confession his ardent Supplication shew that there was some fire of God's Spirit remaining in him all the sparks were not gone out Yet he felt so little of the Vigour and Consolation of the Spirit that he feared its utter Extinction And because this would leave him in utter Darkness therefore he is importunate with God that he would not take his Holy Spirit from him but as it is in the next verse restore unto him the joy of his Salvation and uphold him with his free Spirit The Petition thus opened yields us these Observations 1. That the having of God's Spirit in us and with us is the most beneficial Gift which God gives to a Repenting Sinner 2. That great Transgressions endanger the Loss of God's Spirit 3. That a Repenting Sinner is an earnest Suitour to God for the Continuance of it to him Of these in their order I. OBSERVATION That God's Spirit is the most beneficial Gift that God bestows on a Repenting Sinner This is manifest from the words of Christ Luk. 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good Gifts to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Which shews that the Gift of the Holy Spirit is a greater Gift and far better then that which earthly Parents give to their Children as bodily Food and the like and that God in giving his Holy Spirit to those that ask him shews an Affection far exceeding that which Parents have for their Children when they supply them with Corporall sustenance Adde hereunto that the Apostle 2 Cor. 13.14 in his Benediction of the Corinthians prays thus for them The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all Amen Whereby it is manifest that the Communion of the Holy Spirit is ranked among the best things he could beg for that people to wit the Grace of Christ and the Love of God Nor is this without reason for the Spirit of God removes all that Evil which is odious to God and noisome to our selves it washes away that Filthiness of flesh and spirit which is loathsome to God it cures that Blindness of Mind that Hardness of Heart that Perverseness of Soul that Impotency of Faculties which make us unable to doe any thing that may please God or rectify our own Actions It is this clean Water which being sprinkled on us by God makes us clean in his eyes so as to cleanse us from all our Filthiness and all our Evils It is that by giving of which we have a new heart and a new spirit is put within us God takes away the stony heart out of our flesh and gives us an heart of flesh which causeth us to walk in God's Statutes and to keep his Judgments and doe them Ezek. 11.19 20. In whom the Spirit of God dwells not there is a Spirit of Slumber Eyes that they should not see and Ears that they do not hear even the Gospel is hid to them the God of this world blinds their minds lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image God should shine unto them they are held in the Snare of the Devil and are taken captive by him at his will An evil Spirit possesseth them so that they want the Consolations of God the Peace which passeth understanding which guards the minds of them that believe through Christ Jesus they are filled with Horrour of Conscience are under the spirit of Bondage they sow to the Flesh and of the Flesh reap Corruption On the other side where the Spirit of God inhabits it renews a man in the spirit of his mind so that he knows the things that are freely given him of God spiritually discerns the hidden wisedom of God in a mystery which God hath ordained before the world to our glory even those things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Even to Babes are these things revealed by God's Spirit which the Princes of the world knew not but they were hid from the wise and prudent Matth. 11.25 Whence it is that they are made the Epistle of Christ written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in Tables of Stone but in fleshly Tables of the Heart with open face beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord they are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.3 18. By which means they are made the Temple of God in that the Spirit of God dwelleth in them vers 16. and holy unto God an habitation of God through the Spirit they are joyned to the Lord one Spirit with him new Creatures in Christ and conformed to him Whence it is that Sin bath not dominion over them nor the Wicked one toucheth them They are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein they were held
so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death That which is said by David but most truly verified of our Lord Christ is true of all that delight in the Lord Psal 40.8 I delight to doe thy Will O my God yea thy Law is within my Heart And this their Desire God always grants so that however he that delights in the Lord be assaulted with Temptations be benighted in his Apprehensions of God's Favour though Heaviness may endure for a night Joy shall come in the morning though he miss of his Way yet he shall find his Errour and return into it again The Steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand Psal 37.23 34. Next unto these ultimate and supreme Ends the Desire of his Soul who delights in the Lord is to see God How earnestly did Moses beg the sight of God's Face How often doth David bemoan his Absence from God's Worship at his Temple As the Hart saith he 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 Psal 42.1 2. And in the next Psalm vers 3. O send out thy Light and thy Truth let them lead me let them bring me unto thy holy Hill and to thy Tabernacles So Saint Paul Phil. 1.23 I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is best of all And this Desire God will give them at last who delight in him Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Matth. 5.8 Now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 Manutenentia Divina God's supporting Grace here and Visio beatifica the Fruition of God hereafter are two grand Desires of Souls that delight in God these they petition for and he will grant them both There are other Desires which they have as the Prosperity of God's Church the Downfall of their Enemies which the Lord will also at last accomplish though not without much Contention and long Waiting They shall overcome the Powers of darkness and the World they shall see the people of God above their Enemies by the bloud of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony though they lay down their Lives for it Other Desires of outward Blessings God grants not always in the kind but often in some Equivalent He repairs that which they lose for Christ and his Gospell by inward Comfort and Spirituall Strength Though they be in Want or under Persecution yet they know how to abound in that they have learned in whatsoever estate therewith to be content They can doe all things through Christ that strengtheneth them If they have a Thorn in the Flesh a Messenger of Satan to buffet them and it still molest them yet the Grace of God is not denied them and it is sufficient for them his Strength is perfected in their Weakness Many Desires of particular Blessings are granted them and this one comprehensive Privilege belongs to them that all things work together for good to them who love God Rom. 8.28 APPLICATION It remains then that we learn this way of Thriving by delighting our selves in the Lord. Self-love is naturall every man desires his own Good but all take not the right way to attain it God made Man upright or simple but he hath sought out many Inventions Many ways are devised by men for the attaining their Ends and many Ends propounded by them The Desires of men are almost as various as their Faces and their Designs and Courses are almost as manifold as their Heads So many Men so many Minds Among you who are my present Auditours though you meet here about the same Business the Serving of God yet how few in truth do desire to know him aright or to serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind Even in this very Action how few mind God's Glory How many observe onely the Custom in coming to Church or perhaps some worser Motives bring them hither and sinfull Thoughts possess them here And no marvell then if they grow not in Knowledge and holy Obedience are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth yea grow worse and worse because they delight not themselves in the Lord but aim onely at the feeding their Eyes or the tickling their Ears or some other sinister Ends of their own As these mens Hearts are not towards God so neither is God's towards them they have no Pleasure in God nor God in them How many of you are there of whom those things are verified which we reade Isa 58.2 They seek me daily and delight to know my ways as a Nation that did Righteousness and forsook not the Ordinance of their God they ask for the Ordinances of Justice they take Delight in approaching to God and yet for want of reall Delighting in God it may be your lot at last to hear Christ say to you I know you not depart from me you workers of Iniquity Is it not true of you which the Prophet said of his Hearers that they came and sate before the Prophet as God s People and they heard his words but they would not doe them for with their Mouth they shewed much Love but their Hearts went after their Covetousness The Prophet was unto them as a very lovely Song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an Instrument for they heard his words but did them not Ezek. 33.31 32. A Sermon is to most but as an Oration in Schools the Delivery the Composure is observed and perhaps censured but the Matter is not learned their Hearts not bettered their Ways not amended God not glorified After Dismission yet neither the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ nor the Love of God nor the Communion of the Holy Spirit remains in them but worldly Projects earthly Designs carnall Practices are still prosecuted Yea their Hearts are more hardened more estranged from God and the Life that is in him and their Wisedom remains earthly sensuall and devillish No marvell if such find no Incomes of Grace no Consolation in Christ no spirituall growth in Godliness Oh that you would ask your selves whether this Guilt lie not on you and that you would now at last apply your selves throughly to delight your selves in God especially in these great Duties of Prayer and Hearing his Word lest when you would have your great Desire of seeing God's Face in the great Day of Christ's appearing ye be shut out of his Presence and be cast into outer Darkness where is nothing but weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Delight in the Lord now that he
they can say with that Martyr He is come He is come Glover in Queen Mary's days burnt at Coventry when they can discern the Light of God's Countenance shining upon them can see him reconciled in Christ can hear the voice of Christ speaking to them Son be of good chear thy Sins are forgiven thee when they find the Spirit enabling them to pour out their Souls before the Lord when their Souls can send this Challenge to the Gates of Hell Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect it is God that justifieth Who shall condemn it is Christ that died or rather is risen again who also sitteth at the right hand of God making Intercession for us Who shall separate us from the Love of God Then there is rejoycing indeed then they rejoyce with Joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 Though they be in much Affliction they can sing in the Fire and clap their hands at the Stake in a poor Cottage in a Prison they can be as merry as if they were in a stately Palace for then they are delivered from their greatest Enemies and their greatest Fears Now the Joys that are in the Presence of God are for Deliverance from these Evils from all of them bodily and spiritual from unrighteous Sentences of men violent Captivity forcible restraint of Liberty Sickness Losses Sorrows Death and which is more from all Corruptions within Temptations to Sin from without from the Malice of men the Power of Satan the Hiding of God's Countenance the Absence of his Spirit the Fear of Hell They that are with God in his Presence doe as the Children of Israel did when they saw the Egyptians dead on the Sea-shore they triumphantly glory in their Deliverance they sing as it were a new Song before the Throne they sing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb with the Harps of God saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy Ways thou King of Saints Rev. 15. v. 3. There they with the greatest glorying and magnanimity of Spirit take up the speech of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin and the Strength of Sin is the Law But thanks be to God that giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 2. The Joys that Believers have in God's Presence are not onely because of Freedom from all the Evils which in their life-time did annoy them but also by reason of the entire injoyment of all Good in its Purity and Resplendency Many things there are which men rejoyce in on Earth and if but in one single Excellency they find themselves goe beyond others how do they glory in it as if others were not to be named the same day with them Some rejoyce in their Descent and Parentage as Pharaoh I am the son of the wise the son of ancient Kings Isa 19.11 Some in their Beauty as Absalom that gloried in his unblemished Body and goodly Head of hair Some in their Wisedom and Skill their Riches and Prosperity as the King of Tyrus that had his Heart lifted up and said I am a God I sit in the Seat of God in the midst of the Seas Behold thou art wiser then Daniel there is no Secret that they can hide from thee With thy Wisedom and with thy Vnderstanding thou hast gotten thee Riches and hast gotten Gold and Silver into thy Treasures and thine Heart is lifted up because of thy Riches Ezek. 28.2 3 4 5. Some in their Honours as Haman did in King Ahasuerus his promoting him Esther 5.11 Some in their Righteousness as the Pharisee that boasted he was not as other men are nor as the Publican Luk. 18.11 Yea some can rejoyce in their unsociable Cynical sowr austere Deportment though it be but a Delusion if they conceive Holiness in it as Monks Anchorets Quakers and such like have done and doe at this day All these and many more things the Hearts of men can rejoyce in though they be some of them but vain things some but petty good things yea if they were enjoyed in their Confluence as Solomon enjoyed them who had Wealth and Wisedom and Beauty and Dominion and what-ever the carnal Heart of man affects and yet after his ample experience of the Sweetness of them gives this account of them Eccles. 1.2 Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity yea Vexation of Spirit they produce but a forced Mirth Sardonium Risum notwithstanding which in the midst of Laughter the Heart is sorrowfull and the end of their Mirth is Heaviness As it was with Belshazzar Dan. 5.6 He was in his Royall Palace at Babylon carousing in gold and silver with his Wives and Concubines praising his Gods when on a sudden upon a Hand 's writing on the Wall the King's Countenance was changed and his Thoughts troubled him so that the Joynts of his Loins were loosed and his Knees smote one against another That which is worth rejoycing at indeed as begetting a permanent and genuine Joy sutable to the Spirit of a man is his Acquaintance with God his Knowledge of him God's Adopting him to an Inheritance with him his Relation to the Son of God the Habitation of his Blessed Spirit in him the Holiness of his Heart the Beauty that is in the hidden man of the Heart which is in the sight of God of great Price the hearing of his Prayers the accepting of his Works the glorifying of his God the Love of his Saviour In these things are the Joys of the Saints So saith S. Paul We are they that rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3.3 God forbid that I should rejoyce in any thing save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby the World is crucified unto me and I unto the World saith the same S. Paul Gal. 6.14 Many there be that say Who will shew us any Good Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Thou hast put Gladness in my heart more then in the time that their Corn and their Wine increased saith David Psal 4.6 7. And again I have rejoyced in the way of thy Testimonies as much as in all Riches Psal 119.14 These things do indeed beget the most solid Joys which enlighten the Eyes and chear the Heart under many Wants many Dangers many Persecutions many Expectations of future Evils And yet these Joys are eclipsed to the most Holy man Sometimes by his own Sins and the Withdrawing of God's Spirit from him as the case was with David Sometimes by reason of Calamities and the sinfull Practices of his Children as it was also with him Sometimes from his Doubting of his own spiritual Estate from the want of such Feeling as once he had of the Efficacy of God's Grace in his Heart by the Motions of it to holy Exercises to Prayer Praising God and heavenly Meditations in the
and Power of God in his proceedings concerning it S. Paul in this Epistle written to the greatest and most intelligent People of the Gentiles declares both the extreme Corruptions of the whole World and the Wrath of God impendent on them for that reason as also the unparallel'd Longanimity of God in bearing with such a provoking Generation whom Hell had long waited for and especially the incomprehensible Philanthropy or Loving-kindness of God towards men whom though Enemies though weak to resist him he not onely spareth but also reconcileth to himself by the Bloud of his own Son and proclaimeth his free Pardon to all that receive him by his Apostles But lest Mercy abused should inflame the Wrath of God so much the more lest the sweetest Meat undigested through a Surfeit should be putrefied in the Stomach and turn to the most deadly Poison he in this and the following Chapters warns us of the ill Inference which men may make from so great Goodness and he begins at the words now read unto you What shall we say then shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid In which words are two Questions the former whereof is onely a form of Transition propounding it to the consideration of those to whom he writes that they with him should bethink themselves what Determination to make upon his former Declaration What shall we say then If this be the state of affairs between God and us it concerns us to heed what thereupon we resolve to doe The other Question is more particular Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound Shall this be the Inference we make from it The Answer is negative Absit God forbid Let no so absurd so unworthy an Abuse of so rich Mercy be yielded to though it be never so plausibly urged by our carnal Reason and our corrupt Affections would incline us to embrace the Motion In this passage of Scripture these following Conclusions are couched 1. That God's dealing with Sinners according to the Gospel of Christ is out of his abundant Grace 2. That the corrupt Heart of man is apt thereupon to harden it self by Continuance in Sin 3. That such a Determination is a most foolish and pernicious Abuse of God's superabundant Grace Of these in their order I. OBSERVATION That God's dealing with Sinners according to the Gospel of Christ is out of his abundant Grace That abundant Grace which is here supposed is the same with that which he speaks of Rom. 5.20 21. Moreover the Law entred that the Offence might abound but where Sin abounded Grace did much more abound That as Sin hath reigned unto Death even so might Grace reign through Righteousness unto eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Which elsewhere Ephes 1.7 he terms the Riches of his Grace In whom we have Redemption through his bloud the forgiveness of Sins according to the Riches of his Grace And Eph. 2.4 5 7. God who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in Sins hath quickened us together with Christ That in the Ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace in his Kindness towards us through Christ Jesus And Eph. 3.8 it is termed the unsearchable Riches of Christ All which Expressions are true without an Excess of speech if we consider either the State of mankind antecedent to the exhibition of this Grace or the Effects thereof or the Means of exhibiting it For what more deplorable Condition except that of Devils could the World be in then it was in before the exhibiting of the Divine Evangelical Grace of Christ to the sons of men They had all sinned and came short of the Glory of God they were concluded as Malefactours condemned under Sin under the Curse of the Law dead in Trespasses and Sins they were alienated from the Life that is in God Enemies in their minds by wicked works foolish disobedient serving divers Lusts hatefull and hating one another children of Disobedience of Darkness who walked after the course of the Prince of the power of the Air they were carried away after dumb Idols were Vassals of Satan and children of Wrath by nature And yet even to such did the Loving-kindness of God towards Man appear so as to reconcile the world unto himself not imputing their Trespasses to them He made him to be Sin for us who knew no Sin that we might be made his Righteousness in him and committed the Ministry of Reconciliation to chosen Vessels which might bear his Name to the Gentiles and bring Light and Salvation to such persons It was no small Testimony of his Goodness that even then when they were such when they walked in their own ways he gave them Rain from Heaven and fruitfull seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness that he caused his Sun to shine upon such unjust people as were both Jews and Gentiles The former of which were degenerated from the Integrity of Abraham and though claiming the privilege of his Children yet in reality were of their Father the Devil whose works they did except a few names that waited for the Consolation of Israel the rest of them were a Generation of Vipers full of Hypocrisie and Cruelty Unpeaceable Ambitious seeking the Praise of men not the Honour that cometh of God such as would compass sea and land to make one Proselyte and having wone him to them made him twofold more the child of Hell then themselves The other were filled with all Vnrighteousness Fornication Wickedness Covetousness Maliciousness full of Envy Murther Debate Deceit Malignity Whisperers Backbiters Haters of God despightfull proud Boasters Inventers of evil things disobedient to Parents without Vnderstanding Covenant-breakers without natural Affection implacable unmercifull Rom. 1.29 30 31. Yet even such as these he washed he sanctified he justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by his Spirit It might rather have been expected that he should have repented that he had made them and have executed his Wrath on them as he did on the world of the ungodly in Noah's time by a Deluge of water to wash away from the Earth that Dunghill and filth of evil Imaginations and wicked Works that had polluted the whole Earth or should have rained Fire and brimstone from Heaven to burn up and so to take away those unclean Sodomites those brutish Dogs and Swine which filled the World He might justly have caused the Earth to open its mouth and swallow up the Inhabitants of the world so as that they should go down quick into Hell as it did the Families of Korah Dathan and Abiram He might have sworn in his Wrath as he did concerning the Rebellious Israelites that they should never enter into his Rest They and we in all Generations succeeding might have expected to suffer the Vengeance of eternal fire But O Altitudo O the depth of the riches both of the Wisedom and Knowledge and Love of God! how
unsearchable are his Judgments and his ways past finding out Even in this desperate State when Iniquity was at the height when the Sins of men were ripe the Harvest come to its full growth when they lay weltring in their own bloud he said unto such out-cast helpless sons of Adam Live he hath swaddled washed nourished decked married to his Son such forlorn Creatures done the greatest Good to the worst of men he so loved the World that he gave his onely-begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have Life eternal Jesus Christ came into the world to save Sinners even the chiefest though it was foreseen which is next to be considered II. OBSERVATION That corrupt Hearts will be apt upon this gracious dealing of God to harden themselves by continuance in Sin The Apostle Jude in his Epistle vers 4. tells us of some ungodly men in his time who turned the Grace of God into Lasciviousness But it is an Abuse not peculiar to those onely it is a Disease which is hereditary How many are there who presume on God's Mercy though they persist in their Impenitency Is it not a frequent thing with many that profane the Name of God by an hourly Abuse of it in vain Swearing that spend a great part of their lives in Debauchery so as to become more like Beasts then Men to live more Pecudum or more Ferarum as Sensualists rather then Religious persons as Devils rather then Saints yet to feed themselves with imaginations of God's Grace as if God would be mercifull to such Christ died for All God would damn None to bolster up themselves in Sin deluding themselves with Conceits of Pardon if at last Gasp they can but cry Peccavi when they love their Sin as much as they did and grieve onely that they cannot still commit it or that God awards Hell to the Actours of it and cry God mercy in a faint Miserere mei God be mercifull to me when they have neither acquaintance with his Promise nor any lively sense of his Love in Christ How great a part of the sons of men expose themselves to Temptations and give way to sinfull Compliance in Errour or unrighteous Practices out of a fond hope of future Repentance and easie Pardon Not onely notorious ungodly persons who walk in the Stubbornness of their heart adding drunkenness to thirst say in their heart they shall have Peace when God saith he will not spare them Deut. 29.19 bless themselves when God curseth them but also others who have a Form of Godliness without the Power shelter themselves from Wrath upon a mistake of God's abundant Grace Yea somewhat of this Leaven is hidden even in Good mens Hearts which is apt to sour their Spirits to puff them up with high conceits of their Happiness and Interest in God so as to make them secure in some goings astray Which is a foolish and pernicious Abuse of God's superabundant Grace to be next considered III. OBSERVATION That it is a foolish Conceit that we may securely continue in Sin and expect Favour from God because of his superabundant Grace in Christ This is manifest because it is a groundless and vain Presumption there being no Promise or other Declaration of God which assures his Grace to such persons Promise of Pardon of Sin is made onely to the Penitent Mercy to him that confesseth and forsaketh his Sin Onely a working Faith that is in Christ operative by Love avails with God to the Justification of a Sinner New Obedience is requisite to the Continuance of our Peace with God a holy Life to eternal Life We reade of David's Forgiveness and we reade also of David's Confession he acknowledgeth his Sin before Nathan tells him The Lord hath put away thy Sin We reade of God's Mercy to Manasseh but the same Story tells us of his humbling himself first Saint Paul was saved though the chief of Sinners but not till he was converted and thereby made a real Saint Were it so that Grace were bestowed on hardned Sinners it would be in effect a cherishing of Rebellion When a Prince pardons a Traitour he will first have him an humble Supplicant lay down his Weapons and fall prostrate at his feet Else he should maintain Enemies not secure his Dominion he should in the event destroy himself by saving his Foe such Pity to them would prove Cruelty to himself It is so in God's Royall Government Should he shew himself facil and forward in bestowing his most beneficial Grace on open Sinners that persist in their Provocations or on secret Hypocrites that are false-hearted he should in stead of upholding his Kingdom ruine it in stead of gaining good Subjects nourish Vipers in his bosome It is a Maxim with him in his Holy Polity That when the Righteous turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth Iniquity his Righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his Trespass that he hath trespassed and in his Sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die Ezek. 18.24 This is the way of God which he counts as it is indeed most equall it being altogether incongruous to God's Holiness to abett Evil. For that would foster such Conceits in men as those were in him of whom God saith Psal 50.21 These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self Then which there is nothing more opposite to his pure Nature nothing being more repugnant to him then Sin Such Imputations therefore are the greatest Disparagements of God the foulest Reproaches the most hainous Injuries the most monstrous Indignities that can be cast on the Divine Majesty it being all one as to metamorphose him into a Devil All Sin is from the Devil and therefore for God to bestow his Grace on him that continues in Sin were to countenance the Devil's Actings to breed up his Brats in stead of destroying the works of the Devil such Indulgence would promote them God should be an egregious Dissembler he should in word forbid Sin in deed command it he should take to himself the name of a Righteous God and act as the Authour of Sin he should threaten Sinners as if he were in jest not in earnest give liberty and allowance to a dissembling Hypocrite to mock him to his face while he makes a shew of honouring God when he sues for his Grace and yet in Heart derides the Word of the living God The Intention of God in exhibiting his surpassing Grace is to draw the Hearts of men by the Chords of love to him the more abundantly that as it is said of that woman Luk. 7.47 that her Sins which were many were forgiven for she loved much much Love might be the fruit of much Grace Whereas the Continuance in Sin out of the fancy of superabundant Grace is indeed to abuse the Love of God to the increase of Hatred against him Spider-like to suck Poison out of that Flower
which a Bee would convert to the sweetest Hony In the end this course is most pernicious to him that follows it there being nothing that more alienates Affection from a person then his abuse of Kindness God's Love abused turns to Rage and none have God more incensed against them then those that having tasted of the good Gift of God fall away into sinfull Courses that are so unthankfull for so great a Favour as the offer of Reconciliation the Sacrifice of Christ the Invitation to his Supper to the Marriage of the Son of God as that they chuse rather to be at home with their Oxen and Wives and Farms or to come without a Wedding-garment then to accept of his Motion and accommodate themselves to his Kindness that having had ten thousand Talents forgiven them take their Brother by the throat for an hundred pence When men despise the Riches of God's Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth them to Repentance after their hardness and impenitent Hearts they treasure up to themselves Wrath against the day of Wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God Rom. 2.4 5. APPLICATION Oh then let me in the most tender Bowells of Compassion my Heart can be touched with with the most serious Importunity that my words can express with the deepest Adjuration by the most affecting things that I can mind you of instantly press you to take heed of this most vile ugly dishonest irrational and damnable Abuse of the Divine Grace so as to continue in Sin that Grace may abound It is most meet yea natural that Love should beget Love Grace should beget Observance Is not he a most egregious Villain that hates his own Father that begat him that kills him that gave him Life Is not the Lord the Rock who begat thee the God that formed thee And wilt thou then be so unnatural as to hate God as thou dost if this be thy Requital for his Grace to persevere in Wickedness He tells thee that he is hated when thou lovest any thing more then him givest his Glory to another makest thy Belly thy God gloriest in thy Shame mindest earthly things And wilt thou thus recompense so great Goodness with such extreme Badness He saith he will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain And wilt thou pollute the Holy Name of thy Holy Father with thy impure Swearing The earnal mind is Enmity against God as being not subject to his Law but inconsistent with it And wilt thou suffer vain Thoughts to lodge in thee fleshly Reason to sway with thee carnal Lusts to rule over thee All Benefits received engage to answerable Duty What art thou then but a very Miscreant that having so much taste how gracious God is how amply he hath vouchsafed to be bountifull to thee in giving Christ for thee how profusely he hath bestowed on thee the Riches of Heaven in the largess of Spiritual Blessings in heavenly things in Christ dost yet side with Sin and Satan his profest irreconcilable Enemies that canst harbour that Enemy which thy Allegeance to God binds thee to pursue zealously unto death Oh that rather the Sense of God's Goodness might make us good the Taste of his Grace might make us gracious Surely none are worse Enemies to God then such as have been acquainted with the excess of God's Grace in Christ yet exceed in their obstinate perseverance in Evil such as when God's Grace should draw Tears from their Eyes Sighs from their Breasts cause Dejectedness in their Spirits by reason of their Sinning against so incomprehensible a Love as that which he vouchsafes to the Sons of Adam in Christ have yet a Forehead of brass that cannot blush glory in their Wickedness boast of their Lewdness and are secure in their Impenitency Greater Woe was to Chorazin and Bethsaida then to Tyre and Sidon because they repented not upon such Proofs of Christ's Excellency as would have wrought on the other As they had been lifted up to Heaven so Christ foretells their casting down to Hell No people in the world are likely to have a greater degree of Torment in Hell then profane and unrighteous men among us who have the greatest Proof of God's Grace of any people on the Earth As then you either stand in fear of so great Damnation or are desirous of that abundant Grace which the Gospel of Christ exhibits abhorr the thought of Continuing in Sin that Grace may abound Let the Mercies of God lead you to present your Bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service for that will procure his Favour here and your Blessedness hereafter Which he grant c. Amen LAVS DEO THE DIVINE COMPASSIONS The Fourteenth SERMON LAMENT iij. 22. It is of the Lord's Mercies that we are not consumed because his Compassions fail not I Have read to you a passage out of a most dolefull Poem composed by that Holy Prophet Jeremiah with much Art in the four first Chapters the order of the Hebrew Alphabet being observed in the initiall Letters of the Verses yet with a very deep sense of God's Judgments on Judah and Jernsalem and a tender Sympathy with them in their Affliction He had long and often foretold those Evils would befall them which he now saw come upon them quorum pars magna fuit and in which he had a great Share and he might well say Quis talia fando temperet à lacrymis Who could think or speak of such things with dry Eyes or an insensible Spirit This set may I say his Muse I should say rather his Prophetick spirit on work to endite and leave to the Church this Poem In which with much Compassion towards his Country he bewails their Desolation yet with much Piety towards God justifies him as punishing them according to the Demerit of their Sins and magnifies his Goodness as punishing them less then they deserved Both which are expressed in the words of my Text It is of the Lord's Mercies that we are not consumed because his Compassions fail not And sure we may say the like It is of the Lord's Mercies that London and all England are not consumed by the Pestilence because his Compassions fail not And therefore the handling of this Passage will be apposite to the present Face of things with us and the Occasion of this Day In it 1. The Prophet takes notice of the Mitigation of God's Wrath in that they were not consumed 2. He assigns the genuine Cause of it the Lord's Mercies or Benignities great Mercies which is exclusive of any other procuring Cause that might deserve it and intimates that there was sufficient reason did not his Mercies interpose why he should have consumed them 3. These Mercies are described 1. By the kind of them they were Compassions in the Original Bowel-mercies such as a tender Mother hath to the Child of her womb in God Pardoning Mercies Relieving
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
was accompanied with much inward Regret at their Sufferings Indignation against the Tyranny of them that oppressed them Vexation at their hard Destiny yea with Alacrity and Joyfulness of heart laid themselves down to sleep even in the midst of the Fire as if it had been in a Bed of Roses triumphing over the most extreme Cruelties of their violent Persecutours that were mad with Rage against the Sheep of Christ who herein followed their Shepherd who was led as a Sheep to the slaughter and like a Lamb dumb before the Shearers so opened he not his mouth Act. 8.32 This excellent Temper of spirit in Holy Believers ariseth from the Conscience of their Integrity and the vigour of their Faith A good Cause and an upright Heart are very prevalent to allay all inward Fluctuations of mind and to arm the Heart against outward though stormy Occurrences The Righteous saith Solomon Prov. 28.1 are bold as a Lion They that fear God need not fear Men or Devils Such as know the Uprightness of their Heart the Justice of their Cause especially when their Danger is for Righteousness sake for God can appeal to God with Confidence can mind God as Hezekiah did Lord remember that I have walked before thee with an upright Heart and have done that which is good in thy sight Isa 38.3 It was our Lord's Argument in that his Soliloquy with his Father that Bosome-prayer wherein he did expectorate himself open his Heart 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 This was his Plea when he was to be betrayed and crucified It is so in like manner with all that doe the Will of God They know the work of Righteousness is Peace and the effect of Righteousness Quietness and Assurance for ever Isa 32.17 They know that God will keep him in perfect Peace whose mind is stayed on him because he trusteth in him Isa 26.3 Faith doth assure them that he that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep that as it is true Diabolus non dormit the Devil sleepeth not but goes about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour so Dominus non dormit the Lord sleeps not but his Eyes are open upon the Righteous He is that most vigilant Shepherd that keeps his Sheep night and day They know that if God be with them none either Tyrant or Devil can be against them That the Prince of Life hath by Death destroyed him that had the power of Death to wit the Devil and delivered them that through fear of Death were all their life-time subject to Bondage That they may take up their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Triumph-song their Io Paean O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory That he that gave his own Son for them will with him freely give them all things That he is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City which hath Foundations made and built by himself in a heavenly Country where no Nero's or Domitians or Diocletians no bloudy Bonner's or Spanish Inquisitours shall come where no Infernall Spirits nor Sons of Belial shall approach to hurt None shall be able to lay any thing to their charge they have God to justifie them Christ to intercede for them And therefore neither Height nor Depth nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor any Creature shall be able to separate them from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Hereby they have that Peace of God which passeth all understanding which keeps as a Garrison their Hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus And therefore they can rest in their Beds without fear of humane Tortures or haunting Ghosts They can sleep in the dust of the Earth with expectation of a better Resurrection and after David's Example here they can resolve to lie down and sleep for that the Lord maketh them dwell in Safety and this with hope of Rising again to Life and of having Dominion over their Enemies in that Morning in which the Sun of Righteousness shall appear again from Heaven with Healing in his Wings APPLICATION And now I beseech you learn to discern between the Righteous and the Wicked How fearfull are the Minds of them that are troubled with an evil Conscience that are not armed with Faith in God! Every Report of an invading Enemy of a walking Ghost any ghastly Apparition any unusuall Noise terrifies them and takes away their Sleep Solitariness is a Terrour to them specially in the Night Cain gets him from the Presence of the Lord into the Land of Nod Caligula runs under a Bed at a Clap of thunder Adrian whines in his mournfull Ditty when he is to part with his Soul from his Body Sickness appalls others The message of Death makes a Saul fall all along on the Earth a churlish Nabal's Heart die within him as a Stone On the contrary Holy David sleeps quietly in a Cave though Saul's Army be near him he dies quietly though Adonijah go about to take his Crown from off his Head Job can trust God though he kill him S. Paul can trust in him that raiseth from the dead when he receives the Sentence of death in himself Oh then that you would consider these things to purpose Time may come wherein you may have the Name of Magor-missabib Terrour round about armed Souldiers may break into your Houses the Arrow of God may be shot into your Bodies Pestilence may enter in at your Windows sooner or later Sickness and Death will surprize you and seise on you If at that hour thy Spirit be wounded also and God call thy Sins to Remembrance if when the Decree goes forth This night shall they fetch away thy Soul from thee thou hast nothing but thy full Barns thy high Honours and Dignities the Favour of Princes to secure thee Oh how wilt thou be like Belshazzar when he saw the Hand-writing on the Wall Thy Knees will dash one against another thy Sleep will be gone thy Terrours will rush in upon thee like an armed man thou wilt feel Hell-Torments while thou art yet on Earth On the other side if thou hast Hezekiah's Uprightness and David's Faith thou wilt sleep in Peace and die with Comfort God's Grace will support thee here and advance thee hereafter He will guide thee with his Counsell and after receive thee to Glory Oh be wise then I beseech you Take heed of Sin which will defile you it will make your Bed as uneasie as if you lay on Flints or Thorns breed a Worm in your Conscience which will gnaw on you to Eternity kindle a Fire in your Bowells which will never be quenched but burn for ever produce the Sting of a fiery Scorpion which will never be cured Get
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
thee Make the best thou canst of thine own Righteousness thou shalt find the way to Salvation by thine own Works a way unknown to the holy Saints untroden by them none there ever got thither that way That is not Scala Caeli the Ladder of Heaven by which the Saints climbed thither but Scala Gehennae the Precipice by which proud Pharisees superstitious Monks and Friers ignorant Quakers and formal Protestants that trust to their own Devotions and Good deeds tumble down to Hell I beseech you then as you love the Salvation of your Souls seriously examine your selves whether you that have sinned with David do repent with David Complain of your Sins be sensible of them as your most heavy Burthen confess them to God with detestation be instant for Cleansing from Sin through the multitude of God's Mercies hope for Pardon and Righteousness onely through Christ's Atonement by the Sacrifice of himself and his Intercession in Heaven have a settled purpose of Amendment of life be impatiently importunate with God for a new Heart and a new Spirit and expect these things and whatever Good your Souls want onely through the Loving-kindness and free Grace of God in Christ If it be so with you I may assure you of Blessedness and tell you from the Spirit of God that Blessed is he whose Transgression is forgiven and whose Sin is covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile Psal 32.1 2. cited by S. Paul Rom. 4.7 8. to prove the Blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works I may tell you from him Rom. 8.1 There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit But if you be insensible of Sins unhumbled for them neither confess them freely nor bewail them mournfully fly not to the multitude of God's Mercies for Pardon trust to other things for Salvation then Christ's Merits find no change of your Hearts nor alteration of your Lives nor work of renewing Grace in your minds nor beg it of God as a thing most necessary for you I may truly say you stumble at the Stumbling-stone and that you will unless God awaken you and change your minds die in your Sins and perish for ever Be perswaded then to follow the Example of David S. Paul and other holy Saints find out by God's Law your Sins confess them to God bemoan them with hatred beg for Mercy in the Forgiveness of them trust to the Obedience of Christ in his dying for you his appearing with his Bloud before God magnify God's Grace and Christ's Love pray for a new Heart and study to live a holy Life and thou shalt be blessed Amen LAVS DEO THE TRUE PENITENT The Fifth SERMON PSALM li. 3. For I acknowledge my Transgression and my Sin is ever before me THIS Psalm is one of the Penitentials occasioned by the greatest Sins which David committed the greatest Rebuke which ever he underwent and therefore penned with the greatest Compunction of spirit and most vehement Deprecation of his Guilt and Punishment of any which he composed After the Inscription of the Psalm which shews that it was framed after his Conviction by Nathan the Prophet and the Denunciation of Divine Vengeance for his Adultery and Murther he instantly craves Pardon with variety of Expressions and most prevalent Motives doubling and redoubling his Petitions and adding this forcible Reason which the words of my Text yield For I acknowledge my Transgression c. Wherein 1. He professeth ingenuously his Agnition of his Transgressions as most hainous of deep dye Crimson Scarlet Sins Red Sins Bloud-guiltiness and damnable Uncleanness 2. That he did not slightly take notice thereof but that as his Sin stared in his face to his great Horrour so he set it before him for his deep Humiliation and that not onely for a fit while the Prophet's Conviction was fresh in his memory but for a continuance it was ever before him he mourned and intended to mourn for it all or most of his days to repent and abhor himself in dust and ashes God had set it before his face by his Prophet and he did set it continually before his face as an humble Penitent And therefore he importunes God with strong hope for mercifull Forgiveness In the Text we have many considerable things to be observed concerning the estate of an holy and humble Penitent As 1. He owns his Transgressions and his Sins as by and from himself My Transgression and My Sin 2. He doth not extenuate but aggravate them by various terms denoting their Criminousness Transgressions and Sin 3. He doth freely acknowledge and confess them to God and Men. 4. He makes not this a short transient Action but his Sin is ever before him He continues this Humiliation as just and equall by reason of the greatness of his Iniquity 5. He pleads this as a Reason to induce God to a compassionate relenting towards him and a gracious Condonation Of these briefly in their Order I. OBSERVATION A Penitent Sinner owns his Sin as from himself He doth not as Eve did father it on the Serpent or as Adam on Eve but imputes the acting of it to his own innate Pravity as the fountain and spring out of which it did issue And that is indeed a right derivation of it Every man saith S. James 1.14 15. is tempted when he is drawn away by his own Lusts and enticed Then when Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth Sin and Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death Perditio tua ex te O Israel said God to Israel Thy destruction is of thy self And the same may be said of all Sinners The Providence of God orders the Occasions of Sin but it is Man 's own Free will that chuseth to sin upon these Occasions God ordered Bathsheba's washing her self and David's walking on the roof of the house but he put not Lust into David's heart or the wicked contrivance of her Defilement Vriah's assaulting Rabbah and the Souldiers falling upon Vriah were by Divine Providence but the Plot of David and execution of it by Joab were of humane Maliciousness Impenitent Sinners charge their Wickedness on their ill Fortune unhappy Destiny unlucky Planet which is done with the like reason as if the Knife were to be blamed for a man's Self-murther or the Bread he eats as the cause that he is choaked or the Girdle he wears that he was strangled by it Planets and other natural Agents though they have Influence on the Body which may provoke to Evil yet they cannot necessitate the Mind to assent to it or to act accordingly Casual Concurrence of things may prompt but not compell to Sin Evil Company bad Counsel cruel Tyrants may have power on the Members not the Will It is true the Devil is the Father of Lies He that committeth Sin is of the Devil but were it not that
Sins have withholden good things from you Jer. 5.25 We may then thank our selves for all the Evils that come upon us we must not cast them upon Destiny Stars or any other Cause and leave out the principal Cause which is the plague of our own hearts God is neither the Authour of Sin nor the Punisher of Sin without cause It is the Devil's property to rejoyce in Evil and therefore as he tempts to Sin so he delights to torment It is otherwise with God Afflictions are Opus alienum his strange work He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth Lament 3.33 34. Is God unrighteous who taketh Vengeance I speak as a man God forbid for then how shall God judge the world saith the Apostle Rom. 3.5 6. We deny not that God might impose Sufferings on him that had no Sin of himself He made his Son to be Sin for us who knew no Sin 2 Cor. 5.21 Job's Calamities came on him by God's Permission though he were an upright man one that feared God and eschewed Evil Job 1.8 that he might prove his Integrity by his great Patience Of the Son who was born blind Christ saith Joh. 9.3 Neither hath this man sinned nor his Parents that is there was no special Sin committed by either of them as his Disciples deemed which was the immediate cause of his Blindness but it came to pass that the works of God should be made manifest in him The Holy Martyrs suffered for Righteousness sake and were therefore to count it all Joy when they fell into manifold Temptations But in such Evils as their Circumstances demonstrate to be from a more then common Hand of God specially when they are publick and universal as we are to acknowledge the Finger of God in them so we are to discern them to be the fruit of our doings and the work of our hands The Scripture styles them God's Judgments and we are sure saith the Apostle Rom. 2.2 that the Judgment of God is according to truth against them that commit such things And therefore though we are not allowed to judge of the afflicted as greater Sinners then others and point out them as the Causes of common Calamities yet we are to judge our selves and impute the Evil what-ever it be to our own Sins Moses the man of God in the 109. Psalm which was made in a time of great Mortality such as is now with us having said to God vers 7. We are consumed by thine Anger and by thy Wrath we are troubled addes vers 8. Thou hast set our Iniquities before thee and our secret Sins in the light of thy countenance It is true that all outward things happen alike to all there is in publick Calamities especially one event to the Righteous and to the Wicked No man knoweth love or hatred by all that is before him Eccles. 9.1 2. Yet even in these and all other that of the Prophet Lament 3.39 40. is necessary for every person to mind Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his Sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again unto the Lord. Though in this day of God's Visitation we may discern many common and open Sins the increase of which may be judged the Cause wherefore God brings this sore Scourge of the Pestilence in such a manner at such a time in those places on which it lights considering that God shoots not at Rovers but at a certain Mark and so the consideration of the Practices of the Persons and Places may justly lead us to determine that such Sins as have been by them and there committed are the Sins God punisheth for instance the Uncleanness Riot Profaneness and other Sins committed among us have brought down this Vengeance on our great City yet since there are particular Sins also with us and there is never a one of us but hath his secret Sins perhaps our Security putting far from us the Evil day living in Ease and Pleasure Unmercifulness and Insensibleness of the Afflictions of others secret Atheism Lukewarmness in Religion leaving our first Love Backsliding from our Profession secret Hypocrisie Formality without the Power of Godliness which may cause Christ to spue us out of his mouth it is necessary that the best of us make a strict Enquiry into our own Bosome-sins and resolve that God by this his Judgment on others calls our Sins to Remembrance and presseth us to justifie him and to betake our selves to his Mercy as the Psalmist here Let thy Mercy speedily prevent us Which leads me to the II. OBSERVATION That the Removing of the Calamities which are inflicted by God when he remembers mens Sins is the effect of God's tender Mercies So it is expresly said Lament 3.22 23. It is of the Lord's Mercies that we are not consumed because his Compassions fail not They are new every morning great is thy Faithfulness Vers 32. Though he cause Grief yet will he have Compassion according to the multitude of his Mercies And hereto accord very many speeches of God concerning himself That he is the Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin as he says in his solemn Proclamation to Moses Exod. 34.6 7. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of the Remnant of his Heritage He retaineth not his Anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Mic. 7.18 Hence it is that the Holy Writers and all the Saints do still celebrate his Mercies as being tender abundant free rejoycing against Judgment and to instance in no other there is a whole Psalm 136. in which the close of every verse is this For his Mercy endureth for ever And this Mercy of his is the Reason of all those works of Goodness he doeth as to the World in general in causing his Sun to rise on the Just and Vnjust and being kind to the Vnthankfull and to the Evil Luk. 6.35 so as that his tender Mercies are over all his works Psal 145.9 so chiefly to his own people all whose Deliverances and Benefits are made the fruits of his Mercy Above all the great Redemption in Christ of which the Apostle thus speaks Eph. 2.4 5. God who is rich in Mercy out of the great Love wherewith he hath loved us even when we were dead in Sins hath quickned us together with Christ is the effect of the highest most transcendent and everlasting Mercy Hence in all their Praises the Godly remember his Mercies as the Prophet Isa 63.7 I will mention the Loving-kindness of the Lord and the Praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us and the great Goodness towards the house of Israel which he hath bestowed on them according to his Mercies and according to the multitude of his Loving-kindnesses
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
his Will before the supplying of our Bread the Remission of our Sins or our Deliverance from the Evil one's Temptations from the Exceptions God takes against them that built themselves cieled houses when God's House lay waste them that had in their flock a male and vowed to the Lord a corrupt thing from his punishing such Slighting of him and asserting his Regal Majesty to convince men of the transcendent Regard that is due to him above all Potentates from the Protestations and Practice of Saints and Holy persons preferring the well-being of God's House and Service before their chief Mirth peremptorily refusing Delights neglecting any other Glory or otherwise desirable Advantage when God's House or Honour is impaired Mourning for it more then for their own Losses and reckoning them for their best-deserving Friends that promote the Service of God and them for their greatest Enemies that hinder it The Reasons of which are 1. On God's part His superlative Excellency in comparison of whom all the Glory Beauty Goodliness Power Wisedom or what-ever else is magnified in Creatures is but a Shadow yea Vanity or a mere Nothing All the Nations of the Earth in respect of him are as a drop of a Bucket counted as the small dust of the balance as Nothing Isa 40.15 17. And therefore to prefer our own Honour the Honour of any of the Grandees of the world or the glorious Spirits of Heaven before the Worship the Regalia or Royalties of the Great God who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords is to prefer a Torch-light before the Sun-light to esteem a Candle more then the glorious Lights of Heaven As there is in God more Glory then in all the Creatures so his Name his Service should be magnisied and adhered unto above and against all the Services and Names that stand in opposition to or competition with his 2. Nor is this Prelation less due on our part because of our Obligation of Gratitude to him Justice exacts it from us It is Debitum morale and naturale that we should honour our Father that begat us our Preachers that instruct us our Princes that protect us our Benefactours that help us All these is God to us in a superlative manner He is the Father that begat us the Rock that formed us we are the Work of his Hands and the Sheep of his Pasture He is our Shepherd therefore we lack nothing on him we depend from our mother's womb It is he that teacheth us Wisedom more then the beasts of the Earth He is a Sun and a Shield to us what-ever good we receive from any it is first derived from him He is the Fountain of living waters all Creatures are but broken Cisterns that can hold no water And therefore undoubtedly he should be preferr'd before all and by all Which that it may be done we should have the like Affection as David had and that is the next thing observable in this Text. II. David's Joy at the People's Forwardness to joyn in God's Worship As David preferred God's Service before his own Dignity so he rejoyced in the Conjunction of others with him therein This was it which gladded his Heart that not onely himself and his own House were ready to goe up to the House of the Lord but all the people of Israel likewise were forward to joyn with him in God's Service When the People offered willingly to the Lord for the building of the Temple it is said David the King also rejoyced with great Joy 1 Chron. 29.9 How often in the Psalms doth he invite all people to praise God Praise him all ye Nations Psal 117.1 is a Prophecy containing his Prayer for the Conversion of the Gentiles Rom. 15.11 Our Saviour teacheth us to pray not onely that we our selves who pray but all others may hallow God's Name When the Pharisees would have had the Children and Multitude that cried Hosanna with his Disciples rebuked our Saviour not onely justifies them but also animates them to it telling the Pharisees that if those should hold their peace the Stones would cry our Luke 19.40 Malignant spirits that seek the Praise of men their own Power and Interest envy the forwardness of people to joyn in the true Worship of God and the Duties of Godliness But to a holy and humble Heart it is a joyous thing As Moses said once to Joshua Enviest thou for my sake I would that all the Lord's people were Prophets and that God would put his Holy Spirit upon them Num. 11.29 Hereto every upright heart is moved both by the Love he bears to Men and the Love he hath to God who is honoured 1. Love to others makes him that loves them not seek his own Good onely but their Good also joyntly with his own Now there cannot be a greater Good to any person then when his Heart and Ways are set to glorifie God The best turn we can doe a man is to bring him into Acquaintance with God so as that his Fellowship be with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ And therefore if we love men indeed we cannot but rejoyce with them when they address themselves to seek God 2. Love also to God will cause this Rejoycing at the Associating of others with us in his Service The Corinthians Bounty to the Saints is commended from hence that it is abundant by many Thanksgivings unto God whiles by the experiment of such ministration they glorifie God 2 Cor. 9.12 13. We pray that all may sanctifie God's Name what we pray for sincerely we desire affectionately and what we desire affectionately to obtain we rejoyce in it heartily when it is acquired No man prays to God rightly but he who earnestly desires God's Glory by all the more therefore glorifie him the more is their Joy increased who love God truly especially when as here the Service is voluntary ready with alacrity when they say as it is in my Text Let us goe into the House of the Lord. Which leads me to some farther Observations III. The People's Willingness and Forwardness They invite each other to goe into the House of the Lord. Not to the house of Mirth and Jovialty not to the house of Bacchus or Baal not to the Idol-Temple or other house of Iniquity And therein is discernible the End and Motive of this their Invitation It was no doubt that they might worship God as those did who went up into the Temple to pray as it is said of the Pharisee and Publican in the Parable or as it is in the fourth verse of this Psalm to the Testimony of Israel to give Thanks unto the Name of the Lord. Thus it is said Luke 1.10 while the Priest burnt Incense in the Temple the whole multitude of the people were praying without And of Anna Luk. 2.37 she departed not from the Temple but served God with Fasting and Prayers night and day And in respect of this Practice our Saviour Matth. 21.13 allegeth out of Isa 56.7
many come hither without Faith or sense of God's Presence as if they came to a Court yea to sport or play With what Drowziness Irreverence Heedlesness do many appear here How many are weary with the Service with the Sermon to whom it is tedious to sit one hour to hear God's Word though they can endure to sit whole Nights and Days at their Pastimes or to be imployed in any mischievous Design How many bring their Bodies hither and their Minds the while are roving over the world How many are filled with unclean Lusts Contentions revengefull Imaginations and Devices even while they are in the Church How many come to carp at the Preacher or justle with their Brethren How many pray with their Mouths and curse with their Hearts Alas how will such bear Crucem Domini the Lord's Cross who are so backward to goe in Domum Domini into the Lord's House How can such expect to appear in the Temple of God in Heaven who defile the House of God on Earth How weary would they be of the Service there to whom his Worship here is so tedious Brethren let me deal plainly with you It is an ominous Presage an ill Sign that such as now are so averse from the House of God and his Service here are never likely to enter into the Temple of God in Heaven it would be a Burthen to them and they to it Oh then bethink your selves of coming hither as David and his People did Prefer the Honour of God before any Interest of your own Excite one another to goe to God's House out of Love to one another out of Love and Gratitude to God Goe not to any Idol-service or ungodly Meetings Come to God's Service with Faith with Concord and Unanimity with Chearfulness and Reverence And know that if you meet with God in his Ordinances he will meet with you in his Mercies Which the Lord grant c. Amen LAVS DEO DELIGHT in GOD THE Christian's Gain The Nineteenth SERMON PSAL. xxxvij 4. Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee thy Heart's desire THIS Psalm is wholly doctrinall somewhat artificially composed after the order of the Hebrew Alphabet it is likely for the more ready learning and easie remembring of it The matter of it is a Receipt to cure that Lipothymie or Faintness of Spirit which is incident to the best men when they see the worst to prosper Which as it is in appearance rationall so it is highly dangerous as tending to undermine our Faith in God's Providence and to divert our Course from the Via Regia the high and right Way of holy Obedience to him to a walking in By-ways of our own chusing To prevent which after some Directions against Impatience and Distrust of God this Dose is here prescribed by one that could say Probatum est even by Holy David the sweet Psalmist of Israel who had by his own Experience found it true and the most sovereign Medicine and Cordiall in this case He had observed That notwithstanding the wicked man prospered a while and like a Comet blazed much yet it was but as a Meteor a Blazing-star that would soon vanish But that he who trusts in God and delights in him should be as a Fixed Star which though it be clouded or benighted for a time yet it hath a permanent Light and shall break out of its Obscurity That it is therefore best for such a one in the greatest Luster of the Wicked and in the most dismall estate that befalls himself yet to delight himself in the Lord and to assure himself that he will give him the Desire of his Heart Which words you may at first View perceive to contain in them 1. A Precept Delight thy self in the Lord. Affect not the Prosperity of Evil men Though they mount up to Heaven in Wealth Honour and Power so as that in their Luciferian Pride they say in their heart We will ascend into Heaven exalt our throne above the Stars of God we will ascend above the heights of the Clouds we will be like the Most high yet do thou humbly quietly patiently contentedly delight thy self in the Lord. 2. A Promise He shall give thee in the conclusion the Desires or Petitions of thine Heart either in that Deliverance thou wouldst have or that Comfort or Preferment which he thinks best for thee So that from hence arise two Conclusions of much importance 1. That it is best to delight our selves in God in the most elevated estate of Evill men and in our own most dejected Condition 2. That such as doe so shall have their Hearts Desire and in fine speed better then if they had been in a like illustrious estate to that of Wicked men I shall address my self to handle both in their order with what brevity and perspicuity I can I. OBSERVATION That it is best to delight our selves in God in the most elevated estate of Evill men and in our own most dejected Condition Delight is an inclining Affection of the Soul upon the apprehension of some pleasing Good that is sutable to the Mind and it is conceived in the womb of the Heart but not resting there it manifests it self by the motions of the Members by the speech of the Tongue glances of the Eyes hearkning of the Ears and by other gestures of the Members which discover the Complacency of the Spirit within Delighting then in the Lord is for a man to have pleasing Thoughts of God and thereby strengthening his Heart and Mind against all Objections concerning God or himself against all Fears and Occurrences which might cast down his Spirit Many sadning Objects do often present themselves even to the most Holy men on earth We find David sometimes complaining that God had cast him off I am cut off from before thine eyes Holy Job that God hid his Face from him and held him for his Enemy Such Complaints are frequent Thou hast cast us off and puttest us to shame Wherefore hidest thou thy Face Why sayest thou O Jacob My way is hid from the Lord and my Judgment is passed over from my God Others cry Wherefore doth the Way of the Wicked prosper Most fully we find this Argument urged against God's Providence even to the staggering of that Holy Psalmist in Psal 73.2 c. where he relates his Temptation and his Recovery out of it For notwithstanding what his Eyes saw his Ears heard his fleshly Reason suggested to him of the Happiness of Evil men and the vanity of Godly courses yet he upholds himself by delighting in the Lord and thus expresseth himself in that Psalm Vers 1. Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart and after vers 23 24 25 26 28. Nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast holden me by my right hand Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsell and afterwards receive me to Glory Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth
quieting of his Spirit by remembrance of God's Covenant of Grace in Christ the Love of Christ in giving himself for him in the assurance of his Perseverance to the end and the knowledge of his Integrity Yea Holy persons do often go mourning all their days charging themselves with Hypocrisie with Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost with Apostasie condemning themselves as Reprobates uncapable of Pardon destitute of all Grace and so no better then Fire-brands of Hell and this even while they pray for Pardon repent of Sin are of so tender Consciences that they fear to sin against God and would rather die a thousand Deaths then once speak the least evil of Christ or God If none of these Clouds do darken the Joys of Holy men here yet there are other things which do and will certainly while they are on Earth much diminish them The Sins which they see committed by others are no small Vexation to Holy men Just Lot was vexed with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked for dwelling among the Sodomites in hearing and seeing he tormented his righteous Soul from day to day with their unlawfull deeds 2 Pet. 2.7 8. The Sufferings of the Saints are no small Affliction to their Fellow-members If one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it as if one Member be honoured all the Members rejoyce with it 1 Cor. 12.26 Much more are their Sins The incestuous Corinthian's sinfull taking his Father's Wife was matter of Mourning to the whole Church So the Schisms in that Church the Disorders in their Assemblies their Yielding to communicate with Idolaters in their Idolatries their going to Law one with another before Infidels and not composing their Differences between themselves were matter of Affliction to S. Paul I fear saith he 2 Cor. 12.20 21. lest when I come I shall not find you such as I would lest my God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the Vncleanness and Fornication and Lasciviousness which they have committed The Ignorance Unteachableness Unfruitfulness of his Hearers much more their falling away into Errours and scandalous Practices is no small Grief to a Godly Pastour which makes him walk heavily and complain to God serving him with many Tears and Temptations Yea the deferring of a Christian's Hope makes his Heart sick he is weary with waiting so that he cries Come Lord Jesus come quickly Our selves which have the First-fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our bodies Rom. 8.23 In this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven For we that are in this Tabernacle do groan being burthened not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life Being confident and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.2 4 8. But they that are in the Presence of God have all Good They have the most high Descent as being born of God the most perfect Beauty in Soul having the Image of God perfectly restored and at the Resurrection their Bodies fashioned like unto the glorious Body of Christ They become fully Rich being made Heirs of God Joynt-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 When they have overcome they shall inherit all things God will be their God and they shall be his Sons Rev. 21.7 They have advancement to Honour and Greatness To him that overcometh saith our Saviour Rev. 3.21 will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne I will not say that the Blessed Saints and Angels that stand in God's Presence are omniscient They know not the Secrets of Mens hearts much less the secret Counsels of God whose Ways are unsearchable and whose Paths past finding out That Conceit of some of the Papists about the Speculum Trinitatis the Glass of the Trinity as if by seeing God they could see all things in him according to that saying of Gregory Videt omnia qui videt Videntem omnia is most false though some of them make use of it to excuse their abominable Invocation of Saints deceased whom they absurdly and foolishly pray to for all sorts of Good things though they know neither them nor their Necessities much less their Hearts But I may safely say with the Apostle 1 Cor. 13.9 10 12. Now we know in part and we prophesie in part But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away Now we see through a Glass darkly or in a Riddle but then face to face now I know in part then shall I know even as also I am known The Beatifical Vision of God will perfect our Holiness and Wisedom so far as to free us from all Errour and Folly which now do miserably mislead us from all Ignorance which now doth sadly perplex us it will enlighten us with that Knowledge which will be sufficient to glorifie our God and satisfie our selves As the Light of Heaven exceeds the Light of the Sun so the Light of the Soul in those that are with God exceeds all the Light that was in Adam by Creation in Moses S. John S. Paul or any other of the most inlightned Saints on Earth by Revelation In a word there is no kind of Good which is meet for a created Being and an adopted Child of God to have but it is conferred on those Holy persons that are in the Presence of God which makes their Joys unspeakable and full of Glory But they are still more sweetned from the consideration of the Fountain whence they flow which is next to be considered III. What is the Cause and Motive from whence these Good things these Joys do proceed And that is the Love and Purpose of God which is immutable Ointment and Perfumes rejoyce the Heart so doth the sweetness of a man's Friend by hearty Counsell saith Solomon Prov. 27.9 The Love and hearty Welcome that a man meets with makes the Feast the more pleasant Eat not thou the Bread of him that hath an evil Eye neither desire thou his dainty Meats For as he thinketh in his heart so is he Eat and drink saith he to thee but his heart is not with thee The Morsell which thou hast eaten thou shalt vomit up and lose thy sweet words Prov. 23.6 7 8. Oftentimes men are invited to a great Feast but it is not out of Love but for some sordid Ends to engage them in something which they will find cause after to repent of it is not with True-heartedness which makes many sad at Feasts as fearing an After-reckoning Joseph's Brethren when they sate at meat with him marvelled one at another Gen. 43.33 not well knowing whereto that Invitation tended When men believe they are welcome indeed and that they are feasted in