every Morning doth give a new stamp and beauty to the Earth and the Creatures in it Job 38.13 14. The day-light takes hold of the ends of the earth that is the earth is turned as clay to the seal The Light is as a Seal that stamps the Earth the Earth by darkness loseth its lustre for then we cannot discern it but by the Morning light doth as to our sense recover a new lustre as if Clay were new stamped and received a new impression by a Seal and as if the Earth were decked with a new Garment and variety of Ornaments and had a new beauty and lustre put on it Manifold are Gods works and in wisdom he hath made them all Psal 104.24 5. The Goodness of God eminently appears in the making of the Creatures The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord Psal 33.5 The Earth is said to be full of the Mercy of the Lord Psal 119.64 The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works Psal 145.9 This was wonderful Goodness that God prepared a place for Mans Habitation before he was made God commanded the Waters to be gathered together into one place and the dry Land to appear that Man might have a place of Abode The waters stood above the mountains they covered all Psal 104.6 7 8. But God rebuked this as a disorder he gave forth a thundering Command to the Waters at which they fled and hasted away Two things here are observable 1. That God brake up a deep and hollow place in the Earth large enough to receive such vast quantities of Waters Job 38.10 I brake up for it my decreed place that the Earth should sink so deep as to entertain these huge Treasures of Waters It is somewhat probable that as the Earth was depressed so low in some places so it did proportionably swell and rise high in other places The low Valley in which the deep Sea doth lie is answered by high Mountains that ascend so much above the plain ground 2. This is observable That God shut in the Sea he sets bars and doors God commanded the Sea Hitherto shalt thou come but no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed Job 35.10 11. This is wonderful Power and Goodness for God to Park in and Inclose so wild and furious a Creature as the Sea is and when its Waves rise to be as high Mountains God is said to tread on the Waves of the Sea Job 9.8 And God treads these swelling and mountainous Waves into a Plain when he allys the Wind causeth the Storm to cease and makes a Calm God hath set a bound that they may not pass over that they turn not again to cover the Earth The sand is fixed as a bound to this furious Creature by a perpetual decree Jer. 5.22 2. Here is more Goodness that restrains the Waters that are over our Heads God binds up the waters in his thick clouds and the clouds are not rent under them Job 26.8 We dwell between two Seas a Sea below and a Sea in the Clouds There are vast quantities of Waters in the Clouds that would fall down and overwhelm us did not the power of God bear them up For this reason as well as others Gods strength is said to be in the clouds Psal 68.34 3. That God hath made such variety and abundance of Creatures for Mans use Bread to strengthen and Wine to chear his Heart Psal 104.15 Birds Beasts and Fishes for his use God did not make Man till he had stocked a Farm and furnished a House for him The earth is full of Gods riches Psal 104.24 which were made not to advantage or enrich God for he hath need of nothing Acts 17.25 but Man was to be enriched by being made Proprietor and Possessor of this great House and Farm 4. That God should so graciously share and divide the Sun Moon and Stars and by turns communicate their light to all Nations Deut. 4.19 The Sun shines to some and makes a day with them when it 's night with others The Sun gives a six Months day to some and a six Months night to others so the Moon and Stars do by turns afford light to several parts of the Earth 5. That God hath made Beasts for burden to carry Men and their Goods up and down to Draw and Plow their Ground And God hath made other Beasts Birds and Fish to feed Men. 6. That God hath not only made Herbs and Plants for Food but also for Medicine Healing of Diseases and Curing of Wounds 7. That the Earth doth not only serve us with its surface and outside bearing under-Wood Trees Broom Furzes and Turf but with its inside Heart and Bowels There are several rich Mines precious Stones Peat and Coals growing in the Bowels of the Earth for Fuel The Earth serves us with its outside and inside which should oblige us to serve God with our Souls and bodies with our Hearts and Lives 8. Though particular Creatures as Men Beasts Birds Fish Flowers Herbs Trees do die yet God doth not suffer any Species of Creatures utterly to perish and be extinguished but new Creatures do spring up and rise in the room of those that decay and perish and so do fill up their place Thou sendest forth thy spirit and they are created thou renewest the face of the earth Psal 104.30 God's Spirit gives Life to the Creatures he brings forth a new Stock of Men Beasts Birds Trees and Plants so that God's great Farm is not left unstocked and unfurnished God may be seen and felt in his Creatures Those that do not see God's Glory that do not adore his Wisdom and Power that do not admire his Goodness deserve to be consumed out of the earth and to cease their being here Psal 104.4 yea that Christ should come in flaming Fire to take Vengeance on them for their Ignorance of God That they close their Eyes against such a light as shines through the World spreads and diffuses it self among all the Creatures Man was made to seek God Acts 17.26 27. And God endued Man with a Life of Light John 1.40 Taught him more than the Beasts of the Earth and made him wiser than the Fowls of Heaven Job 35.10 11. and this was to fit Man to ask and inquire after God Every Rational Creature should say Where is God my Master that gives Songs in the Night God did not breathe a Soul into Man that he should pant after the dust of the Earth Amos 2.7 but should breathe and pant after God Psal 42.1 2. 2. Christ will come in flaming fire to take Vengeance on those that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Three things here I shall insist upon 1. I shall shew what the Gospel is 2. What it is to obey the Gospel 3. How great and heinous a sin it is not to obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 1. What the Gospel is I Answer It is
in peace and your Faith may be found to Honor and Glory at the Appearing of Christ It is the Blood of Christ that must quench the Fire of God's wrath and it is the Spirit of Christ as mortifying as sanctifying that must pull away the Fuel of this Fire There is a sweet and gracious Promise Is 1.25 I will turn my hand upon thee and purely purge away thy Dross and take away all thy Tin How full how rich and comprehensive is this Promise that the Dross of Prophaness and the Tin of Hipocrisie shall be purely purged away If open Sin and secret Hipocrisie be removed the Euel of this Eternal Fire will be put away We must be put into Christ's Refining Fire that we may not be exposed to God's Consuming Fire If Christ now appear for you in Heaven Heb. 9.23 24. he will not appear against you in the great Day Those he has made Righteousuess and Sanctification to he cannot Condemn he will not destroy at his Appearing 5. For what end will Christ be Revealed in Flaming Fire It is thus expressed He comes in a Flame of Fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giving Vengeance 1. He that is a merciful and gracious God yet will have no other gift to bestow on impenitent Unbelievers Tho' Mercy belongeth to God which he will Exercise towards his People tho' Forgiveness belong to him which he will bestow on penitent Believers yet only Vengeance belongs to God to be executed on hardened Transgressors Heb. 10.30 Ps 94.1 2. He hath no other Attributes but Justice and Power Rom. 9.22 to be glorified in them 2. This is an Impoverishing Gift when Christ gives Vengeance the one Talent shall be taken away Matt. 25.28 All that the Souls of Sinners do Lust after shall depart all the things that are dainty and goodly shall depart and they shall find them no more at all Rev. 18.14 3. This is a Formenting Gift it is a Cup of trembling a Cup of fury If 51.21 22. it is a Cup of red Wine and full of mixture all bitter all fatal deadly Ingredients are squeezed into joined and are rempered in this Cup yet it is without mixture not one drop of Mercy or Kindness in it but it is pure Wrath and Severity as if all the strongest most griping tormenting Poysons did meet in one Cup Rev. 14.10 and there was nothing to antidote or allay their deadly force and operation 4. This is a Gift they must receive they cannot decline avoid or refuse Jer. 25.15 28. Take the Wine-cup of this fury at my hand and cause all the Nations to whom I send thee to drink it If they refuse to take the cup and to drink then shalt thou say unto them Thus saith the Lord of Hosts ye shall certainly drink I may allude to this Text Tho' Condemned Sinners do loath the bitter and dreadful Cup that God giveth to them tho' they may recoil start from it and refuse it yet they shall certainly drink it 5. This is a Gift that is Debt and Wages Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death So God is said to repay fury to repay recompence Is 59.18 and to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of Fire We are commanded to render to all their dues Rom. 13.7 Misery and punishment is due to Sinners if Christ should not pay it he would not be true to his Word or just to himself Tribulation and anguish belongs to every Soul that sins Rom. 2.9 We are bid to owe nothing to any man but love Rom. 13.8 And this is a Debt that must be always paying and yet can never be fully discharged so God owes Sinners enmity and vengeance and this Debt will be paying and yet never be wholly paid off or discharged to Eternity What Presents do Sinners make to or what Gifts do they bestow on God What Fruit did God's Vineyard yield to him Were they not sowre and wild grapes grapes of gall and bitter clusters Wine that is the poyson of Dragons the cruel venom of Asps Deut. 32.32 33. What crop or harvest doth barren and bad ground yield to the Husbandman but briers and thorns Heb. 6.8 How Righteous is it then that Christ should give vengeance to them Deal out blows stripes and wounds to them and that for ever Christ offered them Mercy once and they would not receive it but he will give them Punishment he will shew Severity to them and they shall not be able to decline refuse or reject it Sinners would not do Christ right would not give him their hearts Prov. 23.26 They would not give him glory Jer. 13.16 Christ must therefore inflict punishment on them and give vengeance to them If Men will not give God and Christ glory Christ will get honour on them whether they will or no. Compare those two Scriptures Jer. 13.16 Give glory to the Lord your God And that in Exod. 14.17 I will get me honour on Pharaoh and all his Host Those that will not give Christ glory by repenting and believing Christ will get Honour by pouring out his fury and executing vengeance on them Ezek. 28.22 O Zidon in thee I will be glorified they shall know I am the Lord when I shall have executed judgments in her The day of vengeance is in Gods heart Is 63.4 And the strokes of Justice shall shortly be dealt out by Christ's hands The whirlwind of the Lord will go forth in fury it shall fall grievously on the head of the wicked Jer. 23.19 6. But on whom will Christ take vengeance This Text informs us it is on all that know not and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ As it is life eternal to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent John 17.3 so this causeth death eternal to be ignorant of the true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Those that hear the Gospel and do not listen to it and receive it are guilty of a wilful and affected Ignorance of God and Christ The light shineth but they come not to it yea they shut their eyes against it Matt. 13.15 and so concur with Satan to promote their own destruction The Devil blinds their minds 2 Cor. 4.4 lest they should believe and they close their own eyes lest they should see with their Eyes hear with their Ears understand with their Hearts and so should be converted and God should heal them How guilty are Men before God who imprison and shut in Natural Light Rom. 1.18 and exclude shut out Supernatural Lights The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit for they are foolishness to him 1 Cor. 2.14 The blindness folly and vanity of their minds is as a dark Lanthorn about the Candle of Natural Light to hinder it from shining out in their Words and Actions They detain and hold it under unrighteously Their Lusts are too hard for their Light and do Rebel against it And Men come not to that Supernatural
7.19 3. We must take hold of God's gracious and free Promises to incourage us to set on this Tillage and breaking up of our Fallow ground Adam was sent out of the Garden of Eden to Till the Ground but this might much dishearten him That the Ground was Cursed for his sake And that God did threaten him That it should bring forth Thorns and Thistles to him That these should spring up in his Plowed Land and grow among his Corn. It is grievous to plow and sow under a Curse to break the Ground and sow Wheat and yet to Reap Thorns Jer. 1.2 13. They sowed wheat but reaped thorns and so were ashamed of their Revenues A Harvest of Thorns was a very sad and shameful Crop but do not Men disappoint God He soweth good Seed yet the Souls of Sinners do bring forth Briars and Thorns Heb. 6.8 Justly therefore may the Earth disappoint Man when Man frustrates God I looked for Grapes saith God but his Vineyard brought forth wild grapes Isa 5.4 But this is a great incouragement to our Spiritual Husbandry That there are so many great and precious Promises that God's own Power and Grace will accomplish and fulfil It is said The Wilderness shall blossom as a rose Isa 35.1 That floods of water shall be poured out on the dry ground to enrich and make it fruitful Isa 44.3 That the spirit shall be poured out on the Off-spring of the Church therefore they should spring up as the willows by the water-courses One should say I am the Lords another should subscribe and as by writing bind himself to the Lord Isa 44.4 5. That the deaf should hear the word of the book Isa 29.18 And the dead should hear the voice of the Son of God and live John 5.25 There are Promises made to Christ that he shall see his Seed behold the travel of his soul and be satisfied and that by his knowledge he shall justify many Isa 53.11 That he should call Nations that knew not him and they should run to him Isa 55.5 And the Apostles that God should send to the Gentiles should succeed and prevail and bring in the Gentiles that are called their Brethren as living Sacrifices as holy Offerings to God's spiritual Temple Isa 66.18 19 20. Therefore the Labours of God's Messengers cannot be in vain As Ministers are Plowers and Seeds-men so they shall be Harvest-men Matt. 9. last The Seed they sow should spring up to a Harvest Hearers should be Converted gathered into the Barn of the Church there be threshed and winnowed for the Garner of Heaven Matt. 3.12 What sweet and incouraging words are these I will put Laws into their inward parts and write them in their hearts Jer. 31.33 Ministers are but as Pens but the spirit doth handle these Pens to write an Epistle with them whereby the Soul is dedicated to God and Christ 2 Cor. 3.3 How reviving are these Words Ezek. 36.26 27. A new Heart will I give to you a new Spirit will I put within you I will take away the Heart of Stone and give a Heart of Flesh My Spirit also will I put within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and keep my Commandments As Christ doth speak in his Ministers 2 Cor. 13.3 so he works by them and in them Mark 16.20 how greatly would Ministers else be deterred from this Tillage Shall Horses run on the Rock will one plow there with Oxen Amos 6.12 Some Seed is said to fall on a Rock Luke 8.6 To plow and sow on a Rock is very uncomfortable yet this Promise of God I will take away the Heart of Stone may bear up Ministers against these Difficulties 4. You must persist and go on in this Work of breaking up your fallow Ground As there are Fallows in the visible Church many there do need Conversion so in the best of the Saints there is a carnal and unregenerate part that well may be called a fallow Ground this Ground should still be plowed up More Ground in the Soul should be subdued converted to Tillage and manured there is still a barren part there is still a Soil that nourishes Weeds and is over-run with Thorns this is to be broken up We are sow'd but in part bear Fruit but in part With our flesh we serve the Law of Sin Rom. 17. ult Nehemiah complain'd That though their Captivity was turned yet they were Servants in their own Land and it yielded much encrease to the Kings that GOD had set over them because of their Sins Neh. 9.36 37. the Kings of Persia were still their Lords and out of their Labours they paid Tribute either in Money or Fruits to them But how much more is this to be bewail'd and lamented that Sin and Satan have yet some Ground in us that beareth Fruit unto them Should we not therefore more break up our fallow Ground Should not the Kingdom of Christ and the Coasts of the New Creature be more enlarged in us Joshua divided to the Children of Israel even the Nations not yet conquer'd and did yet remain in Canaan and encouraged the Israelites to fight against them with this Promise The Lord your God shall expel them from before you Joshua 23.4 5. So all that is possessed by the Flesh in us is divided to us is to be the Portion and Lot of the New Creature We should still therefore more crucifie and subdue the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts the New Creature should more cast forth its Roots and spread its Branches we should gain more Ground from the Sea of Corruption and turn more of our Souls to Tillage 5. We should presently set on this Work and fall to break up our fallow Ground The Jews said The time was not yet come the time that the Lord's House should be built Hag. 1.2 So sloathful Souls are ready to say The time is not yet come to fall to plow and break up their fallow Ground they are yet but in their Youth in the Morning of their days two or three hours of their day will suffice to sow Seed enough and to provide for an Eternal Harvest but this Tillage may well take up our whole Day of Life It is to please an Infinite God it is to enjoy an Eternal Harvest that we plow God cannot sow us to himself Hosea 2. ult and we cannot sow to our selves in Righteousness and reap in Mercy We cannot bring our Sheaves with joy and eat the fruits of our doings with comfort for ever Isa 3.10 if we do not break up our fallow Ground We should make haste and not delay to obey this Command of God Psal 119.59 60. Do not mind and pursue the World as if that were your greatest Business and chiefest Happiness consider to mind earthly things is a great sin Phil. 3.19 to have our Portion in this life is a sore Judgment Psal 17.14 to have their Backs continually bowed down to look after and pursue carnal things is a dreadful Curse Rom. 11.10 be perswaded be convinc'd that it is high time to break up your fallow Ground and to seek the Lord O desire to be God's Husbandry 1 Cor. 3.9 O cry to him to enlighten your dark Minds to break your hard Hearts to spiritualize your carnal Affections Seek God diligently seek him with your whole Heart seek him continually that he would write his Law in you stamp his Image on you and graft his Word in you Jam. 1.21 and thereby graft you into Christ and plant you in the likeness of his Death and Resurrection Rom. 6.5 to root and ground you in the Faith Col. 2.7 Do not delay do not defer this necessary Work of Spiritual Tillage lest hereby you fall into the Snare of the Devil he that now tells you it is yet too soon to set on this Work to break up your fallow Ground After your long idleness and negligence the Devil may change his Temptation and suggest to you that the time to break up your fallow ground is now past that it is too late to set on this Work when your Hearts are harden'd by the deceitfulness of Sin your Day of Grace is past God's Treasury is lock'd his Fountain of Life is sealed his Bowels of Mercy shut Therefore you must pine away in Horrour and Despair and perish for ever