such a sympathy or compassion of heart as enclines us to relieve the miserable But as attributed to God and Christ in glory as here it notes either 1. A gracious disposition or inclination to help and succour us in our distresses De Na. Dei l. 4. c. 4. q 1 As for sympathy and compassion they are not as learned Zanchy observes essentiall to mercy in selfe but accidentall to it in regard of our present state 2. The effects and expressions of mercy or the actual helping of us out of our distresses and so God is said to have mercy on us and shew mercy to us Now these effects of mercy are either common or special Common such as are afforded to all men and creatures Psal 147.9 Luke 6.36 c. Special bestowed upon the elect who are the vessels of mercy and who onely have the inward effects of mercy in preventing and following grace the outward in justifying and glorifying mercy bestowed upon them And thus mercy is principally to be taken in this place and that peculiarly for those gracious expressions and discoveries of mercy which shall be shewn toward the faithful in acquitting and delivering them at Christs second coming or coming to judgment And this is called mercy in scripture 2 Tim. 1.18 where the Apostle speaking of Onesiphorus prayes that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day And deservedly its so called For 1. It comes from the purpose and intention of free favour and good will Joh. 6.39 This is the Fathers will that hath sent me that I should lose nothing c. Luk. 12.32 Fear not little flock it is your fathers good will to give you the kingdome The means and the end the bestowing of grace and glory are both referred to the Fathers pleasure Election to this state was from free grace And in that regard the Elect are called vessels of mercy 2. In it there are the greatest effects and discoveries of mercy A removal of all bad sin sorrow tears temptations outward inward eternal evils Woes from our selves other men devils God himselfe A confluence of all good of perfect grace in the soul glory on the body and soule By it we enter into the vision and fruition of the cheifest good a supply of all exigencies A fulnesse of joy Rivers nay a fountain of pleasures In one word in this respect 't is not so much a mercy one mercy as a bundle of mercies and the perfection and consummation of them all It s call'd by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mercy that mercy by way of excellency God here had much mercy in his heart but his hands will be full of mercy at the coming of Christ 3. It s mercy in respect it s bestow'd upon the miserable Indeed the saints are vessels of mercy and in comparison of the reprobate happy in this life but yet in comparison of the glorified they are miserable and that in respect of the remainders of sin in the soule the frequent eclipses of Gods lightsome and loving countenance tentations from devils opposition and persecution from a cruel and unkinde world they are here in a valley of teares surrounded with shame sicknesses paines losses deaths Their eyes run down with rivers of teares they are men of sorrow yea sorrow is not only their condition but their duty but sorrow and sighing shall flee away Luc. 17.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist pol. 1. ◠4 Rom. 8.17 Gal. 4.7 Rom. 11.35 1 Cor. 4.7 Phil. 2.13 Bonum opus in quantum est naturae est impuratum in quantum gratiae non est nostrum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil in Psal 14. and all teares shall be wiped from their eyes when this mercy comes 4. It s mercy because bestowd upon those who could not merit and deserve it Rom. 6.23 Eternall life is the gift of God It could never be deserved by doing nor suffering The best men are unprofitable servants Al our good is either ipse aut ab ipso either God or from God all we doe is due debt all we receive is from free grace Our very sufferings are not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 We are not purchasers but heirs of this happinesse our works as they are good are not ours but Gods meer gifts as they are ours they are impure imperfect Besides none can give any thing to God equivalent to what he hath already received therefore he cannot deserve that which he hath not received I am les◠saith Jacob then the least of thy mercies What shall I render for them saith David Gen. 32.10 Psal 116.12 There 's no proportion between a finite worke and an infinite reward a reward no lesse then the infinite rewarder himselfe It s the alone free grace of this God whereby we come to partake of his glory 2. But why is it the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ 1. It s his ratione meriti he hath purchased it by his merit The obedience of Christ was not onely satisfactory but meritorious by reason of the infinitenesse of the person there being an infinitely greater excesse and proportion of vertue in his obedience then of malignity in our disobedience by vertue of which merit a purchase is made of this mercy as well as there is a removall made of our misery Christs merit at his first procures mercy at his second coming 2 It s his respectu praeparationis he hath prepar'd us for it Parat quodammodo mansiones mansionibus parando mansores Aug. Trac 68. in Job by sending his Spirit into us to make us meet to partake of this mercy He hath bestowed upon us the earnest of our inheritance and the first fruits of the Spirit given us a part in the first resurrection The heaven without us is from his merit the heaven within us from his Spirit 3. 'T is his respectu donationis of giving and exhibiting it at his coming 'T is he who shall be the Judg to acquit the saints that shall pronounce the blessed sentence Come ye blessed c. that shall give his faithfull souldiers a Crowne of righteousnesse at that day 2. Tim. 4.7 That shall present us faultlesse before the presence of glory Jude 24. Secondly in this first branch we are to consider what is this looking for this mercy Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noting properly an earnest receiving of it or taking it to us as some welcome guest or stranger whom we take in A disposition commended in and commanded to the saints Tit. 2.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looking for that blessed hope and Christ commands his to be like men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 12.36 Rom. 16.2 that looke for their Lord. And this comprehends severall particulars under it as 1. Meditation of this mercy I may thinke of that which I doe not look for but I cannot look for that of which I do not think The wife that lookes for the returne of her welcome
the former as whereby is intended that these Seducers imitated those former sinners in those very sins which were before by the Apostle mentioned Ver. 5 6 7. I conceive it may be best answered that the agreement here mentioned by Jude between the former and latter sinners was an agreement in the same sins for sort and kind and that he intends as the Isralites and Angels proudly refused to yeeld due obedience and subjection to God the former rebelling against God who governed them immediâ—tely Videtur Judas indicare Gnosticos Sodomitis fuisse similes quasi eo rum improbitatem imitarentur Vid. Justinian in loc the latter despising that government which he exercised over them by his servant Moses and as the Sodomites sin'd by sensual filthinesse and carnal uncleanness in like manner did these Seducers defile the flesh and despise dominions c. And yet I doubt not but withall the Apostle in this word likewise insinuates a further agreement between these former and and later sinners and that was in the same punishment which was likewise to fall upon those who lived in the same sins for which they of old were punished The second aggravation of the wickednesse of these seducers is taken from their obstinacie in sinning contained in this expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also or notwithstanding noting that these seducers sin'd although they well knew what judgments of God had befallen the forementioned sinners for the very same sinnes whereof they were guilty These Angels Isralites Sodomites had been whipt as it were before their eyes God had laid them before them for a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Jude spake before an example to them who after should live ungodly Ver. 7. These judgments were as a buoy before the ankre to prevent the dashing of future generations against the same destruction Yet these seducers sinn'd notwithstanding these judgments of God upon those of old Rom. 1 32. like a theef so mad upon cutting a purse that he commits that offence even under the gallows whereon one was newly hanged for the same fault OBSERVATIONS 1. Great is our proneness to follow corrupt example Observat 1 Of this before pag. 572 of the former part 2. Observ 2 There is a proneness to sin in every age of the world Israelites and Sodomites before and these seducers afterward provoke God A doctrine that puts the godly upon a holy both contention against and contentation under the iniquity of their times they should be both patient and zealous patient to shew their submission to Gods providence Eccles 7.10 Zealous to preserve their own purity they must shine as lights in the midst of a crooked generation Even the godly are as ready to favour of the follies of their generation as waters to receive a tang from the earth through which they run 1 Pet. 4.4 Of this see more pag. 605 of the former part 3. Observ 3 The wicked agree in sinning they run together into the same excess of riot Hand may joyn in hand against holinesse This unity is but conspiracy it 's against unity trin'unity Gods people should be asham'd of their divisions even by the example of sinners Of this more pag. 571. Part 1. 4. Observ 4 Greatest severities are in themselves insufficient to work upon sinners These Seducers sinned notwithanding the punishing of the same sins formerly What a calamitous catalogue of Judgments do we find mentioned by Amos chap. Amos 4.6 7.8 c. 4 and though all of them had been inflicted upon the people yet did not the punished return to the Lord. They turn not saith the Prophet Isai 9.13 Isa 9.13 Lev. 26.39 to him that smiteth neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts And Lev. 26.39 it is not threatned only as a judgment that the people should be carried into their enemies land but which is far worse that there they should pine away in their iniquities though their Liberties estates lives were consumed yet their sins out-liv'd them and remained Their iniquities did not pine away in them but they in their iniquites The Prophet Hosea Hos 13.13 Compares them to a foolish child that stayes in the place of breaking forth of children men may be in troubles and yet rather dye there then seek by repentance to be delivered like as the Prophet in that place useth the comparison of a foolish child which though in a dark stifling womb there continues though to the destruction of it self and mother Ther 's an insufficiency in all outward dispensations to change the disposition of the heart the back may be broken and yet the heart remain unbroken Though divels be thrust down into and tormented in hell yet they ever continue proud and unreformed Ahaz trespass'd the more 2 Chron. 28.22 the more he was distressed judgments may irritate not remove sin They may make us to fret and rage by stopping us in a way of sin as a dam makes the torrent the more to rise and swell but they cannot turn or dry up a stream of corruption Resistance occasions it to break forth afterward with the greater violence Great wounds cannot work in us good wils unlesse grace doth inwardly renew us as well as troubles outwardly restrain us there will be no true turning to God The more God stop'd Baalam in his way the more mad he was to be going on a man who is stopt in the street with a cart is not made thereby out of love with his journie but the more resolved to go on the faster afterward It 's a singular mercy when an affliction is wrought into us if God hath a mind to do us good he will make us good by all our troubles This is the depth of misery for God to say let him that is filthy notwithstanding his washing continue so still Consider in every trouble thy work is with God and that not only to observe him sending of it but to beg his blessing upon it Beseech him that no wind may go down till it hath blown thee nearer thy haven to take off no plaister till thy sores be healed pray not so much with Pharaoh to have the frogs as with David to have thy sins taken away Calamities are then removed in mercy when sanctified before they are removed Love me not Lord said Augustine with that love wherewith thou puttest one out of the way Non quo extrudis de viâ sed quo corrigis devium but reducest him that is wandring And this for the first part of this verse viz. the faults wherewith these seducers were charged as they have been considered both in their specification and aggravation The second follows The fountain from which these faults issued intended in this expression Filthy dreamers EXPLICATION In the explication hereof I shall shew in what sense the Apostle here gives these seducers this title and withall the sin and misery in being such as this title imports The word here interpreted
conceive that Satan is principally called 1 Pet. 5.8 Our Adversary in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word that properly signifies an Adversary pleading or contending against another before a Judg in judgment in which sense it s used Matth. 5.25 Lest thy adversary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deliver thee to the Judg c. so Luke 12.58 When thou goest with thine adversary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Magistrate so that when the Apostle calls the Divel Our adversary he intends that he is our adversary by way of accusing us before the Judg of Heaven and earth And very fitly may this our Accuser be called an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or adversary in judgment because he who contends with another before a Judg commonly labours to pervert his cause by slanders and false accusation which as hath been said aptly agrees to this our adversary and hence it may be 1 Chron. 21.1 Job 1 6. Zâ—ch 3. â— that when the Septuagint meet in the Old Testament with the Hebrew word Satan an adversary they translate it by the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a false accuser Thirdly Our enemy is here called the Divel or false Accuser because he accuseth one man to another stirring up hereby strife and contention between man and man and as sometimes he accuseth the Godly to one another as plain hearted Mephibosheth to David his Divellish stratagem in these times so most commonly he accuseth the Godly to the wicked Thus he accused Joseph of Incontinency David of Treason Daniel of Disobedience Elijah of troubling Israel Jeremy of revolting Amos of preaching against the King the Apostles of Sedition Rebellion alteration of Lawes Paul was accused to be a pestilent fellow and one that taught against the Law of Moses Christ himself was accused of Gluttony Sorcery Sedition and how skilful a Master he is in this hellish Art of false accusation appears in that he accuseth the Faithful though never so innocent devising what he cannot find Jer. 18.18 nay not only though they are but even because they are holy for the matter of their God for Praying Hearing Fasting keeping Sabbath Preaching the Truth He accuseth them oft by those who are tyed to them by dearest relations David of Injustice by Absolom He accuseth all the Godly for one mans offence Thus they are all c. nay for a personal failing in one or two he accuseth the whole Religion it self railing against the Sun because one hath stumbled in the Sun-shine He hath an Art to accuse for that whereof himself and his are most guilty thus he accused Joseph of Incontinency Elijah of troubling Israel Christ of being an enemy to Cesar yea of that to which the Accused are most contrary as in those instances appears accusing even the Sun of darkness And God hereby makes their integrity more apparant either here or hereafter Slanders are but as soap which though it soyles for the present yet it makes way for whiteness The Sun of their good fame shall break out gloriously from under the cloud of slanders God will bring forth their righteousness as the light Psal 37.6 and their judgment as the noon day yea which is the greater advantage the smutchings of slanders shall brighten the Graces of Gods people their Humility Peace Watchfulness Faith The tongues of sinners are but as brushes or rubbers to fetch off the dust which is but too ready to fall upon the graces of Saints The Divel is Satan and therefore he is a Divel he is an Adversary to Christ to Holiness what will not malice say Now Christ is gone beyond Satans reach he throwes the dirt of slanders upon his pictures and on them most that are fairest and most resemble him he loves to trouble them in their way whom he cannot hinder of the end The Divel is a Serpent and therefore he is an Accuser he hath subtilty to invent as well as malice to utter his slanders He is the god of the world and hath the tongues of wicked men at his command if he saith to one Go it goeth c. He hath found the successfulness of this Engine of accusation he hath murdered thousands with it and thereby ever brought Religion into suspition and disgrace he hath many receivers he wil therefore thieve away the names of Saints his calumnies easily enter and hardly depart Fourthly This adversary may here be called a Divel an Accuser because he accuseth a man to himself and that in two respects 1 He makes a man think better of himself then he should tells him he is going to Dothan when he is going to Samaria that the way to Hell is the ready way to Heaven As Absolom told the people flatteringly Thy cause is good so he Thy case is happy Strangling them oft with a silken halter 2 He makes men think their estate worse then it is by stretching the sins which he hath drawen them to commit beyond all the measure of Mercy and possibility of pardon to bring the sinner to despair Thus he dealt with Cain and Judas He who once told men they might repent when they would and it would be time enough hereafter to call for Mercy now affrights them with apprehensions that the day of Grace is at an end and that it is too late to make their peace with God He who was of late a tempting is now a tormenting Divel Hitherto of the Explication of this first part the parties contending the Observations follow OBSERVATIONS 1. Observ 1. The higher our Eminency is the greater should be our humility The more glorious any one is for Endowments the more humble should he be in the beholding them This Eminently glorious Angel this Archangel hath Humility stampt upon his name By it he doth not ask Know you not who I am or Who is so great as I but Quis sicut Dominus Who is like the Lord The more thou art above others in the height of place the more shouldst thou go beyond them in the grace of humble-mindedness Humility is an Angelical Grace No Creature so high as an Archangel no Creature so humble as he and the highest is the humblest Angel None so low as the Divel and none so proud as he The Divel tempts Christ to worship him the Archangel worships Christ We must though high take heed of high-mind edness When we shine most with outward glory we must not know it know it we must so as to be thankfulâ— not so as to be proud What have we that we have not received The more we have received as the greater shall be our account so the greater should be our acknowledgment They who partake of most gifts do but proclaim ' like beggars that they have oâ—tâ—est been at the door of mercy When any great performance hath been wrought by us we should â—ear to arrogate the praise thereof to our selves herein imitating Joab who when he had as good as taken Rabbah the Royal City 2
invidentium natura ut malin◠propria mala pati quam aliena bona intueri Mend in 1 Sam. 5. Quanto ille qui invidetur successu meliore profecerit tanto invidus in majus incendium livoris ignibus inardescit Cypr. lib. de Zel. Liv. Non illos malos faciendo sed istis bona quibus mali facillimè possunt invidere largiendo incitesse dicitur ad odium August in loc and dreamed that he should be higher then they in his worldly condition the Israelites likewise were envied because they increased more then Egyptians David by Saul because the women ascribed more thousands to him then to Saul Moses by Miriam and Aaron because by God advanced above them and here Moses and Aaron by Corah and his Complices because of their Superiority The object of hatred is oft the sin of others but of envy alway the Excellency of others either real or seeming of body mind estate fame c. the cause thereof being pride or an inordinate self-love the Envious ever deeming his own Excellency by anothers happiness to be diminish'd and obscured Thus the elder brother Luke 25. deemed himself wronged by the love which his father shewed to the younger and by reason of Envy against his brothers he forgets his fathers bounty to himself and he who had received all his fathers inheritance denyes that ever his father had given him a kid Of all sinners the Envious is most his own scourge and torment He had rather suffer misery then see others in prosperity as some have noted of the Philistims who could hardly be brought by the smart of their own distresses to send the Ark back to Israel Psal 105.25 it s said that God turned the heart of the Egyptians to hate his people But as Augustin well notes not by making the heart of the Egyptians evil but the Estate of the Israelites prosperous What a moth to the soul saith Cyprian is Envy Qualis est animi tinea in malum proprium bona aliena convertere aliorum gloriam facere suam poeham velut quosdam pectori suo admo ere carnifices c. Cypr. de zel liv to turn anothers good into our own hurt to make anothers glory our own punishment The meditation of this cursed distemper of the Envious may provoke us to contentation in a low condition They are high Towers upon which the lightnings of Envy falls It◠oftentimes a mercy to be in misery How many righteous and well-deserving persons have been made faulty and guilty only for their being wealthy and honourable How abundantly doth the sweet safety of a retired life recompence for all that obscurity which seems to debase it How oft have I known those who have lived in envyed honour to envy those who have lived in safe obscurity 10 Heretical Seducers Observ 10. are commonly turbulent and seditious They here followed Corah in his opposing of Authority They who deny the only Lord God as these Seducers did will make nothing of despising Dominion They who oppose Gods Dominion will never regard mans Impious men will not be obedient Subjects The order of obedience prescribed by the Apostle 1 Pet. 2.17 is first to fear God Prov. 24.21 Cunctus totius orbis clerus imperio Magistratus Civilis ex emptus L. 2. decret Tit. 2. Imperator quod habet totum habetà nobis in potestate nostra est ut demu◠imperium cui volumus Hadrian in epist ad Archiep. Treu. Mogunt Colon. and then to honour the King My son saith Solomon fear thou the Lord and the King The Romish off spring of Antichrist who throw off and deprave the Law of God will not submit to Civil Authority They openly teach that the Clergy is exempted from the power of the Magistrate So long as the Arch Heretick the Pope lives Corah and these Seducers will never dye In one Pope are many Corahs Seducers Rebels Libertines He usurps a Dominion over all the Princes in the world he makes himself the Sun and from him as the fountain of light he pretends that all Civil Governors as the Moon borrow their light to himself he saith is given all power in heaven and in earth and as profanely he applies that passage Psal 72.8 He shall have Dominion from Sea to Sea and from the River unto the ends of the earth And that of Prov. 8 15. By me Kings reign And when he speaks concerning the distribution of Empires and Kingdoms he imitates his Father in these words They are delivered to me and to whomsoever I will I give them It would be endless and in some respect needless as having toucht upon this sad Subject before to relate the many bloody machinations and murtherous enterprises of the Popes cut-throats and Emissaries against the persons of Christian Princes Under the wing of this whore of Babylon in the nest of the Popes chair Pag. 179 180 181. having been hacht those stabbings poysonings powder plots and which is worse the defence of all these by his Janizaries the Jesuits in their writings in blood which have fill'd the ears and hearts of true Christians with horror and amazement Nor would it be unsutable to the present Subject to mention the seditious turbulency of the Heretical crew of Anabaptists of late years who to all their other erroneous Tenets adde this that before the day of Judgment Christ should have a worldly kingdome erected where the Saints onely were to have dominion and Magistracy was to be rooted out and with what an inundation of blood these idle and at first neglected dreams and opinions have filled Europe the Histories of the last age have related to us and the Lord grant that we who have read and not been warned by them may never our selves become an History to the age which shall come after us I say no more Of this more page 638. Part 1. 11. It s a sin for those who are uncalled Observ 11. to thrust themselves into the office of the Ministry Hudson 137. Corahs sin was his endeavour to invade the Priesthood Seek ye the Priesthood also saith Moses to him Numb 16.10 And because all the Lords people were holy as Corah alledgeth vers 3. therefore he pretends that others had as much right to discharge the office and function of Aaron as Aaron himself had and that since the people had an holiness by vocation to grace whereby the Israelites were distinguisht from other Nations there needed no holiness of special consecration to distinguish the Priest from other Israelites Now that this sin of Corah which was an invasion of the Priests office may still be committed in the times of the New Testament is clear because the Apostle reproves it in these seducers And that it can be no other way committed in the times of the Gospel but by intrusion of uncalled persons into the Ministry of the Gospel is say * See Mr. Ly fords judicious Discourse some as plain because
they may procure much credit though they ask but little cost Besides natural conscience will not be put off with a total laying aside of duty and if Satan can cheat poor souls with putting a Pibble in stead of a Pearl into their hands he thinks it as much cunning as if he put nothing into their hands at all nothing doth so dangerously hinder men from happiness as the putting off themselves with shadows and appearances of that which is really and truly good He who is altogether naked may be sooner brought to look after the getting a garment then he who pleaseth himself with his own rags wherewith he is already clad A man who is smoothly civil and morally honest is in greatest danger of being suffered to go to Hell without disturbance he snorts not in his sinful sleep to the disturbing of others and he is seldom jogged and disquieted nay perhaps he is highly commended Christians please not your selves in the bare profession and appearances of Christianity that which is highly esteemed among men may be abominable before the Lord let not the quid but the quale not the work done but the manner of doing it be principally regarded examine your selves also concerning the principle whence your actions flow the righteousness whereby they are to be accepted the rule by which they are regulated the end to which they tend and as the Apostle speaks Let every one examine his own work and consider whether his duty be such as will endure the Scripture Touchstone 2. Withering and decaying in holinesse Observ 2. is a distemper very unsuitable and should be very hateful to every Christian It was the great sin and wo of these seducers and should be look'd upon as such by us and that upon these following considerations 1. In respect of God Decayes in our Christian course oppose his nature in whom is no shadow of change Mal. 3.6 Psal 102.24 I am the Lord saith he I change not He is eternally I am and ever the same his years are throughout all generations And what hath inconstancy to do with immutability how unlike to the Rock of ages are chaffe and stubble no wonder that his soul takes no pleasure in those who draw back and that they onely are his house who hold fast the confidence and rejoycing of the hope Hebr. 10 38. Hebr. 6.6 firm to the end If a frail weak man will not take a house out of which he shall be turned within a few years how unpleasing must it be to God to be so dealt with 2. Spiritual decays and witherings are unsutable to the works of God His work is perfect Deut. 32.4 he compleated the work of Creation he did it not by halves Gen. 2.1 The heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them God finished the building of his house before he left His works of providence whether general or special are all perfect he never ceaseth to provide for and sustain the creatures the doing hereof one year is no hinderance to him from doing the like another and another nay the day week month Psal 23. Psal 71.17 18 Christus perseveravit pro te ergo tu pro illo perseveres Bern. de temp 56. Ibi tu figas cursus tui metam ubi Christus posuit suam Idem Ep. 254. Obtulerunt ci Judaei si de cruce descenderet quòd crederent in illum Christus vero pro tanto munere sibi oblato noluit opus redemptiâ—nis humanae inchoatum relinquere inconsummatum Perald p. 216. year generation end but Gods providentiall care still goes on he upholds every creature nor is the shore of providence in danger of breaking he feeds heals delivers cloaths us unweariedly goodness and mercy follow us all the dayes of our lives he regards us from our youth and forsakes us not when we are gray-headed Most perfect are his works of special providence Redemption is a perfect work Christ held out in his sufferings till all was finisht Though the Jews offered to beleeve in him if he would come down from the Cross yet would he not leave the work of mans Redemption inconsummate He finisht the work which was given him to do he saves to the utmost delivers out of the hands of all enemies nor doth he leave these half destroyed they are thrown into the bottom of the Sea he hath not onely toucht taken up but quite taken away the sin of the world Nor will he leave the work in the soul imperfect he is the author and finisher of our Faith His whole work shall be done upon Mount Sion he will carry on his work of grace till it be perfected in glory where the spirits of just men shall be made perfect and the Saints come unto a perfect man 3. Spiritual witherings and decayings are opposite to the Word of God 1. The Word commands Spiritual progressiveness Be thou faithful unto the death Rev 2 10. Let us not be weary of well doing Gal. 6.9 Look to your selves that we lose not those things which we have wrought John Eâ—p 2. v. 8. Let us go on to perfection Hebr. 6.1 Perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 Take heed lest there be in any of you an evill heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Hebr. 3.12 2. The Word threatens spiritual decays If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledg of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearfull looking for of vengeance and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Hebr. 10.26 27 31. I have something against thee because thou hast left thy first love Rev. 2.4 If any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him Hebr. 10.38 3. In aternum se divino mancipat familatui Ob hoc inflexibilis obstinatae mentis punitur aeternaliter malum licet temporaliter perpetratum quia quod breve fuit tempore vel opere longum esse constat in pertinaci voluntate ita ut si nunquam moreâ—etur nunquam vâ—lle pecâ—are dâ—sineret ita â—ndefessum presi icuâ—â— stud â—m pâ—oâ—profectione reputatur Perald ubi supra The Word encourageth proceeding in holiness I will give thee a crown of life Rev. 2.10 Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Hebr. 10.37 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me Rev. 22 12. He that endureth to the end shall be saved Nor need it seem strange that the proceeding of a godly man in holiness for a few years is rewarded with eternity for as the sin of the wicked is punisht eternally because they being obstinate and inflexible would sin eternally should they always live so the sincere desire and endeavour of the godly to proceed in holiness is crowned eternally because should they always live they would always and progressively be holy 4. Spiritual
unworthy Israelites murmure Absalom is discontented Haman cries out what doth all this availe me c. whereas Jacob tells God that he was not worthy of the least of all the mercies and truth which God had shewd him Gen. 32.10 Job praised and submitted to God taking from him as well as giving to him None see their unworthinesse so little as they who are fullest of unworthinesse and til a man see himselfe deserving nothing he wil ever complain of God when he abridgeth him of any thing Besides the wicked mortifie no lusts and therefore they are angry when their lusts are not fulfiled when their itch is not scratched because they take not away the inward distemper which caused it but especially they look not upon God as their portion in Christ and who can be content or praise God that hath no spirituall blessings to blesse him for How readily â—hen in stead of being angry with Gods dispensations should we chide our own corruptions and oft blush that so many Saints have been so patient under mountaines and that such sinners as we should so complaine under feathers 4. Obs 4. It s our duty to take heed of this sinfull distemper of murmuring against and complaining of Gods dealing with us To this end in the most unpleasing dispensation of providence 1. More study what thou deservest than consider what thou sustainest Whatever thy Condition be thou hast deserved that it should have been worse The fire is not answerable to thy fewel Wonder more at what good thou hast then what thou wantest and at the evill thou art without then at that which thou undergoest The godly say He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us after our iniquities T is his mercy that we are not consumed Our God hath punished us less than our iniquities 2. More mourne for thy incorrigiblenesse under than the unpleasantnesse of any providence that thou hast been so long in the fire and lost no more of thy drosse that folly is still so bound up in thy heart notwithstanding all thy rods of Correction Hos 13 13. and that thou art that foolish childe which stayes so long in the place of breaking forth of Children 3. More labour to make thy shoulder strong than to get thy burden taken off and rather to be fit to endure cross providences than to have them ended To this end 1. Prov. 23.18 More looke upon providence as concluding then as at present in the end thou shalt say the wilderness was the best way to Canaan and that God dealt better by thee than thou couldst have done by thy selfe Wait the winding up of providence prejudg not Gods proceedings he oft turns water into wine Gods furthest way about will prove better than thy shorter Cut. 2. Clear up thy interest in Christ and so possesse thy selfe of true riches Gratia Dei portio locuples If God be thy portion thou wilt never complaine its small or smart â— Labour to kill Lust which is the sting of every trouble making a sweet Condition bitter and a bitter Condition bitterer rather mend thy house then complain of the raining into it Get affections weaned from the world Count the greatest worldly gain small and then thou wilt never think the greatest loss great Love every thing besides Christ as about to leave and loath it 4. Endeavour after submissivenesse of heart Say rather oh that I had patience under than riddance from my trouble Study for an annihilated will or rather to have thy will losing it self in Gods 5. Compare thy lâ—t with theirs who have less then thou hast and yet deserve more then thou dost If thy drink be small others drink water if thine be water others drinke gall if thine be gal others drink blood if thine be blood others drink damnation 6. More Consider whence every providence is than what it is t is bitter in the streame but sweet in the fountaine Observe the hand of a soveraigne Lord a wise Governour a merciful Father a righteous Judg. In Precepts consider not what is commanded but who commands In Providence not what is the Correction but who is the Correcter the former will make thee obedient in doing the latter in suffering 4 Remember if thou hast a murmuring tongue God hath a hearing ear God hears thee when thou mutterest most secretly most inwardly He who hears the grones of his own spirit hears the grumblings of thine Exod. 16.7 8 9 The Lord saith Moses teareth our murmurings If his ear be open let thy mouth be stopt be afraid thy God should hear thee Murmuring is a great provocation 5. 5. Eccles 7.10 Meditate of the folly and vanity of this sin of discontented murmuring against God 1. Consider it cannot benefit and relieve us I may say of sinfull complaining as Christ of sinful Care which of you by complaining can add one cubit to his stature Never did any find ease or obtaine their desire by contending with God An impatient murmurer is like a man sick of a burning fever who tumbles and tosseth from one side of the bed to the other for coolnesse but till his distemper be removed he gets no ease God must have his will there 's no escaping from him but by submiting to him It s a vaine thing for a man in a boat by pulling with a cable at the rock to thinke to draw the rock to him 2. It s a distemper which disquiets him most in whom it is The impatient murmurer is his own martyr his afflictions are selfe-created He would take it very ill to have another doe halfe so much against him as he doth against his own soule All his trouble is from his own pride through which comes all Contention with God and man T is fulnesse of the stomack which makes a man sea-sick and the proud heart which causeth all the vexation in a troublesome estate The arrow of murmuring shot up against God falls down upon the head of him who shot it The wild bull in the net in stead of breaking it doth by strugling the more hamper himselfe 3. This sin of discontentednesseâ— deprives a man of all that spirituall benefit which he may reap by the troublesomnesse of his wordly alotments Were not men peevish and unsubmissive they might take honey out of the carcass of every Lion-like and tearing trouble They might learn those lessons of heavenly mindednesse meeknesse faith mortification which would countervaile for every cross The silent and submissive acceptance of a severe dispensation turns every stone thrown at us into a precious stone and produceth the peaceale fruit of righteousnesse whereas murmuring discontentednesse makes us spend that time in beating of our selves and wrangling with God which we might profitably improve in labouring for a sanctifyed use of every dispensation This for the first proofe that this seducers were those ungodly ones who should be judg'd at the last day viz. because they were murmurers Complainers