sink into your hearts I 'll give you one Scripture that you may go a way and seek to God to teach you how to be full and to learn this lesson It is in the 12 ver of the Epistle of Jude These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear There 's the description of wicked and ungodly men How are they described They feast themselves without fear that they may be fed to the full they care for nothing else O this is a sign of a wretched wicked man to feast himself without fear Hath God given thee a full estate and what do'st thou take it without fear If God hath given thee an estate and all outward comforts in this world according to thy hearts desire it stands thee upon to fear least thou should'st not improve it for God And O that God would send you away from his presence upon the consideration of what you have heard even with trembling hearts Lord Thou hast given us these and these outward comforts and let Husband speak thus to the Wife and Wife to the Husband when they see all things comming in in a plentiful way O the Lord hath given us these mercies more than others O but how if we should not improve them for God how if we should abuse them and if we have not answerable grace to make use of them what should become of us Now having your hearts possest with the fear of this you will be the more like to be driven to God in prayer to seek of him that he would learn you this lesson to teach you how to be full And there is a great mystery in this as there is a mystery of Godliness in Contentment so there is a mystery in this and I shall shew you further that it is done in a kind of mystical way There are indeed some natural Rules whereby we may propound to men how to make use of their prosperity and it were well if all of us were wrought upon in a natural way But I shall endeavor to go further with you than so To shew you in a spiritual way how you should learn to be full according to the Rules of the Gospel To manifest the mystery of Godliness in the giving God the glory of your Estates and all the Comforts that you do enjoy in this world SERMON III. WE Shall now come to what remains There are but three things more in this point that now we are to finish And the First is To shew you what a mystery of Godliness there is in a right learning how to be full Secondly What are the several Lessons that are to be learned And then the application of all from the point And this is the method we observed in the learning how to want The Mystery of Godliness And I told you that from the word in my Text I am instructed so it is in your Books but in the Original it is I am taught as in a mystery so that there is a mystery in both these I have shewn you in many things wherein the mystery of Godliness lies in learning how to be content A godly man knows how to abound after another manner than any other can do Perhaps a man by some strength of natural prudence and wisdom may know how to order his Estate so as not to be very inordinate and wicked in the management of his outward estate A man that hath civility and natural wisdom may make some good use of the blessings of God that God hath given him But a gracious heart comes to sanctifie the name of God in his estate and outward blessings that God hath given him in another manner than natural wisdom will teach a man Grace will raise a mans spirit higher and that in these particulars First A gracious heart learns how to be full by often resigning up the estate that it doth possess unto God He learns how to enjoy his estate by resigning up all his estate and comforts unto God This is a way that a natural man understands little of To know how to enjoy his comforts by resigning up his comforts yet that 's the way of a gracious heart He doth very frequently when he gets alone into his Closet resign up his Estate Lord Thou hast blessed me with many outward comforts more than thou hast done others of my brethren Lord I here profess all to be thine and give up all to thee all belongs to thee and I desire to enjoy no farther than I may be useful to thee in the place where thou hast set me Here Lord I give up my self and all my fulness unto thee take all dispose all lay out all for thine own praise and glory And by this means when he hath done this he comes to enjoy more sweetness than what he hath in any other way It is not in a greedy use of what he hath that he comes to enjoy his fulness but by resigning up what he hath to God and so he comes to enjoy his fulness in a better manner and more comfortably than ever he did before This a godly heart finds by experience as divers times upon occasion I have hinted to you that the oftner any thing comes out of Gods hand the better and sweeter it is and therefore he is willing to give up often what he hath into the hand of God And that 's the first way But Secondly He learns how to be full in this way of mystery he doth seek to preserve his comforts and enrich himself by communicating what he hath not onely by resigning to God but by communicating his comforts he seeks to preserve them and he seeks to enrich himself by communicating of his riches Now this is a mysterious way yet the Scriptures shews this to be the way of a gracious heart A carnal heart he would enjoy his fulness but how that is by keeping it to himself I but a godly heart that learns in the way of mystery how to be full looks upon it as the onely way to preserve his estate by communicating his estate by doing many good works by making use of his estate for the publick good the glory of God and the good of his brethren In Isa 32. you have a notable Scripture for that that that 's the way that a godly man uses for the preserving of his estate ver 8. But the liberal deviseth liberal things What then he doth not onely take the opportunity when he is called to communicate of his estate but studies with himself how he may communicate his estate for good I but he may quickly communicate all away you will say and grow a begger himself No but mark what the Text saith And by liberal things shall he stand That 's the way that he takes for the preservation of what he hath he will trust God with that And indeed he comes to enjoy the comfort of his life by the communicating of the comforts of
hear it my Soul shall weep in secret places for your Pride and mine Eyes shall weep sore and run down with Tears because the Lords Flock is carried away Captive If ye will not hear That indeed should be the work of the Ministers of the Gospel when they are Rejected Not to be Careless and say I have done my Work and what need I care But they should take it to Heart and Lament it as the greatest Affliction that can befal them yea more than any Affliction whatsoever That the Blessed Message that they are sent withal is Rejected by Wretched and Sinful Men. Secondly If God in Christ be sometimes Rejected all the Mercy of God in His Son we should not think much though our love and kindness towards others be many times Slighted and Disregarded Indeed there 's nothing goes more to any Ingenuous Heart than to have his love and kindness to be Disregarded But when we find our Hearts troubled at this O that such a one that I have done so much for and yet that he should deal thus with me Lay thine hand upon thy Heart and consider what God hath done for thee in Christ and how ill thou hast requited Him Is it so much for thee a poor Worm not to have thy Love and Kindness imbrac'd What is it then for the Infinite God not to have that Infinite Love and Mercy of His to the Children of Men not Imbraced but Rejected Thirdly Let 's learn from hence never to trust our own Hearts We think often had we such means as others have then we should not do as they do surely we should do better Men are very ready to trust their own Hearts and in the use of Means But let us learn from hence never to trust in our own Hearts or in the use of any Means God may send you Means and Reveal glorious Truths unto you yet it may so fall out that you may never come to be partakers of the good of those things It hath been so with many and you must look to your own Hearts Do not Bless your selves in this Through Gods Mercy the Lord hath sent us His Word plentifully and the Gospel comes to be Opened clearly among us That 's not enough what God hath done but look you into your own Hearts how you Imbrace it otherwise the Gospel may come among you and yet you never come to be Saved by it But this indeed is a sad Condition wheresoever it is Fourthly Further Gods Ministers are to Learn from hence not to be Discouraged They come and Preach and with an Expectation to prevail with the Hearts of People to draw them to Christ When they have been in their Studies labouring to find out some Truths of the Gospel and to sit it to the Hearts of their Auditors and have been Praying over it They come now with Expectation that some good may be done that some Soul may be drawn in to Christ yet perhaps find it quite otherwise and the People to sit Dead under it it may be Slight it Contemn it Scorn it Disobey it But they must not be I say Discouraged in this as if so be a strange thing had befallen them What art thou more than Jesus Christ thy Master What art thou more than Paul and other of the Apostles They have been rejected all in their Ministry and what art thou that thou canst not bear any Rejection Indeed it is the hardest thing to be Born by a Minister of the Gospel that possibly may be But consider That it is not a new thing for the Gospel to be Rejected I remember I have read of Melancthon he had such thoughts that when he began to Preach he should Convert all that heard him He thought there was so much Reason in what he Spake and so much Evidence and Power to prevail with the Hearts of People that he thought he should prevail with every one but he found it otherwise by Experience And though indeed when any Minister that is acquainted with the Glorious things of God and Christ come to open them to People they are ready to think such things will surely prevail with the Hearts of People but the Lord teaches him to know that the Blessing depends upon Himself That though the things be never so Excellent and Moving yet all will not do except the Lord comes in by His Almighty Power Fifthly Let all those with whom the Ministry of the Gospel doth prevail in any measure Bless God that makes such a difference between them and any others It is Preached unto many but doth them no good But the Lord hath Called thee out and it hath struck thy Heart converted thy Spirit Thou seest cause to stand and admire at the Glory of God in Christ and thou wonderest perhaps that all People are not taken with the Riches of the Glory of Gods Grace in Christ Well Bless God that hath made a difference between thee and others It may be in the same Family another Scorns it and Contemns it perhaps one that came out of the same Womb despises it and God hath taken thee and revealed Himself to thee it may be thy rich Neighbour Contemns it but God looks upon thee a poor Creature and makes Himself known to thee It may be a Learned Man he slights it and makes nothing of it and thou who art but a Babe hast those things Revealed Thou hast cause to thank God for it For Christ doth He thanks His Father for this thing That He should be pleased to pass by the Wise and great ones of the World and chuse Babes Mat. 11. 25. At that time Jesus Answered and said I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hist revealed them unto Babes Now this Scripture that I bring not only to shew you that God doth sometimes Reveal the great Mysteries of the Gospel to Babes and hide them from the Wise but as a Text to stir up your Hearts to Bless God if He hath done so for any of you Upon this ground Jesus Christ doth thank His Father for it then surely thou hast cause to thank God the Father for this great Mercy of His to put such a difference between thee and others For indeed it is one of the most glorious Works of God This Work of the Lord making known the Great and High Mysteries of the Gospel to poor weak ones when as the Great and Rich and Mighty and Learned of the World do not come to understand it It is one of the great Miracles by which the Lord doth Confirm the Gospel to be His own as great a Miracle as other Miracles that were Wrought by Christ And for that this is very observable that we have in the place where John sends to Christ to know whether He were the Messias or no. Now mark the Answer that Christ gives unto John's Messengers Jesus Answered and said unto them Go and
an Offer to them of the Blessed things of Christ to enter into his Rest for so it is apparent that the Apostle doth apply it to the Blessed things of the Gospel If I say when the Lord shall discover these things unto them they shall not Enter into this Rest but they shall pretend a great many difficulties O the Way is so strict and hard and they shall suffer so much and upon this do refuse the Land of Canaan the Blessed things of Jesus Christ then is the time if ever to Swear against a Soul that it shall never be made partaker of Jesus Christ Now then I had thought to have opened the Point further in three Particulars First to shew what the dealings of God doth use to be with such in what way he deals so quick with them Secondly the Reasons of it and Thirdly to have Answered some Objections about this but I shall give you but a Word or two of each and so come to the Application For the First The way of Gods dealing with such it is either as you heard the last Day to take away the Ministry from them that he doth sometimes or if not so the Lord passes a sentence against them They shall not taste of my Supper and so a man may live a long time under the Ministry of the Word under a Sentence Or further That sometimes the Lord gives him up to himself to his own hearts lusts for this the Gospel is the Counsel of God for so it is called in one of the Evangelists Now mark what Gods dealings was with those that rejected but his Counsels in Psalm 81. I gave them up to their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels And that famous place in Rom. 1. from the middle of it there the Apostle shews that those that did reject but the very light of Nature God gave them up to a Reprobate sense much more those that shall reject the light of the Gospel that 's the way of God to give them up sometimes to the power of their sin as if God should say they will have none of Christ nor of my Grace and Mercy their Hearts are set upon their Lusts Lust take them such a lust of uncleanness take them such an earthly Lust take full possession of them The Lord gives them up to their own Hearts Lusts the Lord saith of them He that will be filthy let him be filthy still as you have it in Revelations the last he that will be filthy let him be filthy and let him have the satisfying of his Lusts to the uttermost And sometimes it is to cut them off by some extraordinary and fearful Judgment the Lord many times appears most dreadfully against them The Reasons that should have spent me a great part of the time and it might very well require a whole Exercise to have Opened to you why the Lord is so provok'd against this Sin rather than another Sin whatsoever it be For the Opening of the great Evil that there is in the Sin of Unbelief and Rejection of the Gospel you that understand any thing must needs know that it must require a very large time to open it all But in a very few Particulars take them thus You that reject the Gospel you sin against the greatest Mercy that ever God tendred to Creatures he never tendred such a Mercy to the Angels that sinned against him as to you Indeed here are the bowels of Gods mercy as the Scripture calls them the tender bowels of Gods mercy Now to sin against the Gospel it is to spurn at the very Bowels of God Many men speak of Mercy and desire to hear much of Mercy O but you had need look to your selves when you hear much of Mercy for when you hear of Mercy your Souls lye at the stake one way or other God deals more quick with those that hear much of Mercy than he doth with others One Sermon of Mercy rejected may send a man nearer to Hell by far than ten Sermons of Judgment Though you should not reform after many Sermons of Judgment yet they do not make your condition so dangerous as one Sermon of Mercy and therefore you had need at any time when you hear Mercy Opened to you you had need have your Hearts shake the more and tremble to think thus Lord here 's a Sermon upon which my Soul doth more lye than it may be Ten Sermons before yea perhaps than any that ever I heard in all my life Thou comest to hear a Sermon of Mercy and goest away and sayest O what an Excellent Sermon is this it was a Sermon of the most Mercy that ever I heard in my life I say Was it so then thy Soul lay more upon that Sermon than upon any that ever thou heardest in thy life Mercy is such an Attribute which God doth put such a price upon that it is resolved he will revenge the Wrong done to his Mercy Whatsoever God doth bear with he is resolved he will not bear the Abuse of his Mercy and therefore you had need look to it when you come to hear of Mercy especially the Mercy of the Gospel There is a great deal of Mercy in Gods Works I but when he comes to Preach Jesus Christ to thee there 's Mercy of another Nature there look to thy self If thou dost dally and trifle with Gods Mercy then thy condition will be most Dreadful I 'll name these one or two Arguments to thee because when thou sinnest against the Offer of the Gospel then thou sinnest against the help of thy Soul the means to do thee good The preaching of the Gospel it is as a Board after Shipwrack for every poor Soul is as a man that hath suffered Shipwrack and he is in the midst of the Sea upon a Board of the Ship and there 's all his help Now were it not a mad thing for this man to put off this Plank from him when he hath no other help Now we are ready to be swallowed up of the Sea of Gods Wrath and now God casts in a Plank to waft us to the Shore if possibly may be Or rather thus The Offer of the Gospel it is like the casting of a Rope into a River unto a man that is in danger of Drowning There is a man that is fallen into the Thames and you cannot get him up but you will get a line and throw it into the place where he sunk and there is no way for him to be Sav'd but only that Now if such a man put off the time from him what help can there be of that man Thus it is all Men and Women naturally they are even ready to sink into the Bottomless Gulf of Eternal Misery this is thy condition Now the Lord in Mercy sends his Ministers to come and make an Offer of the Gospel and cast a line to Congregations and make this Proclamation In the Name of God every Soul that will
take hold of this may be saved from sinking into the bottomless Gulf of Eternal Horror and Despair and there is no way to save any sinking Soul but only this Now if men slight and disregard this and put it off is it not just that men should sink down this that I speak will eb foundgood one day the Lord forbid that any one Soul in this Place should find this similitude made good upon them that is to sink into the bottomless Gulf and there to consider with himself had not I a line cast to me for the Saving of me and had I catch'd hold of it as others did might not I have been Saved as well as they This I say the Lord will make good one day But now because much may be said As doth not God call at the Eleventh hour and the like And grant God may call at the eleventh hour I but it is not said God will call eleven times That is God may let Men and Women go a long time and at length call them but what have you in Scripture after Rejection of Calls to Call again do not mistake me I do not say but that God may call eleven score times I but it is more than such a one may expect the Lord calls at the Eleventh hour but you do not hear if they refuse then what he will do afterwards So you say That the Theef on the Cross was called at the last hour but who knows whether ever he did hear of Jesus Christ before that time therefore your case is not his though it 's true he was Saved at the last I but it may be he did never reject Christ in his life and it was the first time that ever Jesus Christ was made known to him for ought any can tell and do you so though you be old sinners yet upon the offer of the Gospel if you shall presently come in then you may be received but what may be after the offer of the Gospel I cannot tell You will say That we find by Experience that God doth Convert those that lives a long time under Meanes It 's true he may be patient towards them I but it is more than they can expect that it should be so and mark it you must not venture upon Gods patience with another to think that he will be patient so long with thee I will give you a notable Scripture for that the Example is in Manasses in 2 Chron. 33. 1. there you have the Story of Manasses how wicked a man he was and Manasses did Reign Fifty five Years though he were a very Wicked man yet the Lord suffered him to Reign Fifty five Years and it is like most of this time was in his Wickedness but now comes his Son Amon after him v. 21. and perhaps Amon he might think thus Why may not I do as my Father did The Lord was patient with my Father many Years and why may not I venture as he did and so he did venture to live in the Wickedness that his Father had lived in but mark God was quick with him though he spared Manasses the Father yet he was quick with Amon the Son in vers 24. God spared him but Two Years for he died Wickedly as the Story shews you afterwards so that you must know Gods patience is his own God may be patient with one perhaps Twenty or thirty Years and he will not with another so many moneths Wherefore then by way of Application thus much First Hence Ministers may see cause when they come to Preach Jesus Christ to a People to come with trembling hearts and the truth is though it be that that their Souls desire above all and they account themselves or should do in their Element when they are opening Jesus Christ unto you yet upon the Consideration of this Point they cannot Preach Christ unto you without trembling Hearts for they have these thoughts whatsoever you have Lord I am now going to Preach Christ and open the Mysteries of Grace to this People I but if they should reject it how quick will the Lord Deal with them the Ministry of my Word How soon may it be to cut them down and to send them to their own places Therefore those that know what they do cannot but come with Trembling Hearts Secondly From hence Let all those that have liv'd under the Gospel and yet the Lord hath been patient towards them for a long time O let them learn to Bless the Name of God I perhaps was Born of Godly Parents and they instill'd good Principles into me and they were careful to set me under good Preaching yea and I not only had the outward Offer of Grace but God knows how often Gods Spirit came offered Christ to my Soul and yet I went on stubbornly and stoutly a long time O the rich Mercy of God that he did not wholly give me up and cut me off Rich Mercy And what hath God yet come and strove with me again for all this Rejection O the Riches of the Grace of God towards me more than towards others Thou hast cause to magnifie God for it is not an ordnary thing for God to deal so with People as he hath dealt with thee Thirdly Let all those that do come to hear the Ministry of the Gospel to hear the Word of the Gospel and yet their Consciences tell them that they are Opposers of it and secret Contemners of it and are resolved to go on in their wayes let there be said what will be yet they resolve to go on and to continue as Vile as formerly O that the Lord would strike some such bold Sinner this Day by this Word By this Point that hath been thus Preached unto thee the Lord strike thy Heart thou bold Sinner that darest be bold even against the face of the Mercy of God in Jesus Christ that darest be bold to kick as it were God in his Bowels If the Lord hath any purpose to do good unto thee he will strike thy Heart and humble thee before him in that that thou hast gone on thus against so much rich Grace as thou hast done as Jehu said in another case What hast thou to do with Peace get thee behind me So is God a Merciful God and the Preacher Preaches Mercy howsoever thou wilt live in the face of the Mercy of God in thy wicked wayes What hast thou to do with Mercy Now if this be so Hearken to the Exhortation in the Second Psalm Kiss the Son lest he be angry there indeed lies the Emphasis Kiss the Son saith the Psalmist What shall the Son of God that is Jesus Christ come to be Preached to you and do you reject him No take heed what you do Kiss him and that expression it is a sign of Obedience for so it was used in those times they came and Kiss'd the Prince as a sign of their Subjection to him Kiss the Son Obey the Gospel submit
condition but were rather worse for it than better I confess there is one or two examples that we read not that they were worse for their prosperity as Nehemiah and Daniel but where have you an example else but almost all of them when they were full they forgat God When they were afflicted they would learn David had learned to be content in his afflicted condition and to get abundance of good by his afflicted condition O but he could not learn so well to be full And therefore you shall find that the most excellent Psalms that ever David penn'd it was in his afflicted condition There was a fulness of the spirit of God in him then then in a more especial manner And therefore I remember that it 's said in one place That Solomon did not do according to the first works of his Father David The first works of David were the works when David was not so full but when he grew to be full his works were not so good then And generally all the people of God were worse in a full condition So Solomon you know how his fulness had almost spoil'd him Solomon though he had so much wisdom that he understood all things almost yet he wantâ—d wisdom to know how to be full There was never a man of that greatness in the world that was a meer man that had the wisdome as Solomon had and yet all his wisdome was not enough to teach him this lesson to know how to be full And then This is an evidence that it 's a very difficult thing to learn to be full because that the way of God constantly hath been even from the beginning of the world to this day to keep his people down low in affliction and especially in the times of the Gospel Now why is it that the Lord hath so ordered things in the waves of his providence as that the most part of his Churches and his Saints should be kept under the hatches under afflictions Why God could as easily fill them with fulness of outward blessings as fill them with the Holy Ghost but those that God fills with the Holy Ghost yet he doth not fill them with outward blessings in his ordinary way but the people of God have been in afflictions This is an evidence to us that God sees that it is more safe for them to be in a mean estate than in a high because they can better learn how to be empty than to be full The Lord sees it 's a hard lesson for his people to learn how to be full and therefore he doth but very rarely bring them into a full condition And daily experience teaches it too who are those that are the most spiritual and heavenly Christians are they those that are fullest We see it plainly otherwise O God hath a great deal more glory from poor mean Christians and there is more spiritual Communion between God and them than there is between God and those that are in a fuller estate The Ecclesiastical Story is notable for this I suppose you have heard of That at the time when the Church was delivered from persecution and Constantine had endowed it with great possessions the Story saith there was a voice heard in the Air saying This day is poyson poured into the Church And so it fell out indeed for the Church grew far worse after it was delivered from persecution It was in a worse condition by far then it was when it was under persecution they could not learn to be full so as they could learn to be afflicted and empty then they fell to contending and wrangling one with another and then Heresies began to prevail a great deal more than they did when they were under persecution and we find it so by our experience Is it not so that when we are lowest then we are in the best condition for the most part for as soon as we have prosperity and are full we begin to spurn with the heel But I have spoken to that at other times And thus much for that second particular That it is a very difficult lesson to learn to be full But yet it is very necessary there is a kind of absolute necessity of it a great necessity Why many wayes there is need of this and it would be a very sad thing if you do not learn this lesson For First Those that are full if they have not learned how to be full they will be guilty of the abuse of the Creatures of God more than other men the Creatures of God that they enjoy in a fuller way than others will be under bondage and will cry out against them So do not you enjoy a great many Creatures more than others that are in a poor condition But if thou hast not learned how to use them for God night and day do these Creatures of God cry to heaven against thee as if they should say Lord we were made for thee and we have a propensity in us to be serviceable to thy glory but here 's one to whom thou hast given the possession of us and he doth abuse us and force us from the end that thou hast made us for and that we would fain be useful in Lord we are forced to do that that is contrary to our nature we were never made to be serviceable to the lusts of men and yet here 's a man that doth abuse us to his lusts Lord why should we be in bondage to such men as know not how to use us You love not to be a servant to one that knows not how to use you The Creatures of God they groan under the bondage they are in when men and women enjoy them in the fulness of them and yet abuse them not working them to the end that God hath made them for there is a cry that God hears from his Creatures though you hear not the voice of it Yea and Secondly If you be in a prosperous condition and have not learned to be full then you will be guilty of sinning against mercy more than others the mercies of God towards you will be but an aggravation to your sinfulness and this is a grievous condition O Mercy my Brethren is a tender thing and to sin against mercy is very grievous Those that are in a low condition they have many mercies but not so many as you therefore they are not guilty of sinning against mercy so much as you are What a sad thing is this that Gods mercy that might do us so much good should be of no other use to us but meerly to aggravate our sins at last There 's no greater aggravation of sin than that that comes from mercy and therefore when the Lord would speak to the very heart of his people so as to perswade he brings them to that to consider of his mercy towards them In Deut. 32. 6. Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise So Dost thou thus requite the
Lord hath God made thy condition more comfortable than anothers Another he wants Bread and fares hardly lies hard and is in the cold and lives in a poor condition and thou hast all things full about thee and yet art thou worse Do'st thou thus requite the Lord O foolish heart And so you know it was the aggravation of the sin of David in 2. Sam. 12. after David had committed that great sin the Lord sends the Prophet to him to convince him of his sin and mark how he aggravates it ver 7. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel I annointed thee King over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul and I gave thee thy Masters House and thy Masters Wives into thy bosome and gave thee the House of Israel and of Judah and if that had been too little I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things Wherefore hast thou despised the commandement of the Lord O this was that that struck the heart of David I have sinned saith David And in Nehem. 9. 25 26. you have a remarkable Scripture for that setting out there the mercy of God So they did eat and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in thy great goodness nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy Law behind their backs and slew thy Prophets c. Here 's the aggravation they were filled with good things nevertheless they were disobedient O may not this Scripture be made good upon many of you The Lord hath filled your houses with abundance of mercy you cannot look into any of your Families but you see mercy yet nevertheless a carnal heart for all this nevertheless a Swearer a Company-keeper a Prophaner of Sabboths a Neglecter of the Worship of God in thy Family Notwithstanding an unclean wretch for all those mercies that the Lord would wooe thee to obedience by That 's the second thing that shews the necessity of learning to be full otherwise we shall be guilty of sinning against much mercy and likewise the mercy of God will serve for no other end but to aggravate our sin And Thirdly If men do not learn to be full they will grow extream wicked How our fulness doth afford fewel for lusts that we spoke to I onely now speak to it as to shew the necessity that we learn to be full lest we come to grow most abominably wicked Sin will come to be out of measure sinful if so be we learn not to be full As a man that hath a weak distempered body and lives at a full Table and hath a strong appetite and yet if he doth not learn how to order his diet he will grow full of Diseases so when thy heart is weak at least and thou comest to a full Diet and knowest not how to order thy self thou art like to grow extreamly diseased and therefore you find in Scripture that those that were in a full condition and yet had not grace to know how to be full they are described to be the most wicked people that are in the world Job 21. 14. Therefore they say unto God depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes And in Psal 73. there you may read at large of the prosperity of the wicked from the beginning and so on and in Isa 2. 7 8. Their land also is full of silver and gold neither is there any end of their treasures their land is also full of horses neither is there any end of their chariots then mark in the 8th verse Their land also is full of Idols These two are joyned together O so it is in many Families this Family is full of all outward good things and it 's a Family full of sin and here 's a man that hath a full Estate and a man that is full of sin as he is full of his Estate If thou do'st not learn to abound thou wilt certainly abound in sin and therefore it is an absolute necessary lesson for us to learn to abound And then Thirdly If thou dost not learn to abound thy portion will be in this life if there doth not go together with thy abundance the grace of God to teach thee how to abound this will prove to be thy condition to be a man or woman that God hath said shall have no other portion from him then in this world If the Lord gives a man an estate and doth not withal give him some proportionable measure of grace to know how to use it and abound in it that 's a man that God saith his portion shall be in this world it is as much as if God should say from heaven concerning this man Here 's one whose portion is in this world In the 17th Psalm at the latter end there the Psalmist speaks of men who have their portion in this world here 's their consolation Thou hast a full estate and doth God give thee nothing with thy full estate it is like to be thy All. You will say Is this so great a matter I a thousand thousand times better thou hadst never been born though thou hadst a thousand times more in the world then thou hast if this should prove to be thy portion thy All for thou art made for eternity and those creatures were not and therefore if thou should'st onely have hopes in this world thou art a wretched creature Shall St. Paul say if we have onely hopes in this life we were most miserable of all men O may I say concerning thee if thou hast onely hope in this life thou art most miserable of all creatures except the Devils themselves O it 's a dreadfull thing for a man or woman to have their portion in this world But now those have it that have a great deal in this world and yet know not how to use it for God O consider of this you that God hath given more portion to than others do you think thus in the night Lord thou hast indeed made my condition more comfortable then others I am full handed and have means coming in but Lord what if it should prove that my portion should be here I remember it 's reported of Gregory that was the Pope he did profess that there was no Scripture that did strike to his heart so much as that Scripture Wo to you here is your consolation fearing least his portion should be here And the truth is that Scripture and that other in the 17th Psalm should go to the hearts of rich men and of those that have a full estate in this world except their consciences tell them that through the grace of God they have learned in some measure to know how to use it for the glory of God as for their own comfort You account it an ill thing for a man to have an estate and knows not how to use it for himself As now If a man should be born to a great inheritance and should be a fool you
his state and promotion did not succeed but was added to it I this is an excellency indeed when a mans fulness is added to his former condition and doth not succeed it that is he is the same man now that he was before that 's a rare blessing of God upon one Fourthly It argues a great deal of strength of grace for a man that is full and knows how to be full and to improve it It argues not onely grace but strength of grace as it argues a great deal of strength in mens bodies that they can drink a great deal of Wine and not be drunk Some think that they may take liberty to themselves to drink Wine so they do not stagger in the streets But you know the Scripture saith Wo to those that are strong to drink Wine It 's a speech of Seneca That moderation is a sign of a strong breast Moderation in the midst of prosperity is a sign of a strong heart It 's a sign God hath given thee strength of grace if thy conscience can witness this to thee Well Through Gods mercy though I have many weaknesses and fail in all that I do yet I can say to the praise of God that my estate hath not estranged my heart from God but my heart doth cleave to God and I have communion with God in the Creatures that God sonds me And when God doth give me the best Voyages I find my heart in the best temper and I have more sweet communion with God then than at other times Can you say so I appeal to your consciences now whether you can say as in the presence of God I never found my heart in a more heavenly spiritual temper than when I have found God blessing me in my labors and I have enjoyed God in them O now if thou canst say so be of good comfort thou hast learned a lesson that is a thousand times worth more than all thy prosperity This is thine excellency not that thou hast a fuller estate than others but that God hath taught thee such a lesson as this is And then farther Such a one may do abundance of good What abundance of glory may God have from one man that way whereas a man that is of an estate and hath not grace withal he is like a great Elder-Tree in the midst of a Garden Such a Tree why it spoils the Flowers and doth hurt there I but one that hath an estate and is rich and godly withal he stands as a prime Flower in the Garden that is an ornament to it As commonly in the midst of your knots you set a prime flower there to be an ornament to all the rest So the Lord will have some to be rich that may be an ornament and a shelter to his servants O many many hundreds of people will bless God that ever God set such a man in such a place and that God did give them their estate We say of some men that they have good estates I and it 's well bestowed on them for they do a great deal of good with them But now when they are not onely so but their hearts are to improve their estates for the furtherance of the Gospel for the beating down of sin and the countenancing of Religion O then all the people of God that live about them will bless God O for such a man Had it not been for some few in a place that God gave estates unto that was stirring what would have become of the Gospel Religion would have been trampled under feet O will not this be a greater comfort in the day of Jesus Christ when Christ shall own this and say I gave you an estate in the world and I acknowledge that you did make use of it for my Glory and Religion I made you an instrument to uphold it in the place where you were used O if Christ should own this would it not be a thousand times worth your estates And then When you come to die O how sweetly will you die when you can say O Lord remember me for good As Nehemiah did in the close of his Book look upon the very last words of Nehemiah he was a man that was full in outward blessings and he improv'd them to purpose for God and that was the very close of all Lord remember me for good and so may'st thou when thou comest to die Thy conscience shall not upbraid thee as others will Thou comest to God for mercy What come to me for mercy I have bestowed mercy upon you already and how did you abuse it With what face can you cry to me for mercy that have abus'd it so O but when your Consciences can tell you that you have not abused Gods mercy but his mercy in outward things hath drawn your hearts unto him and you have imploied it in his service Now thou may'st with joy and encouragement say Lord remember me for good And if God should ever bring thee into afflictions in this world it will be sweet and comfortable to thee if thou hast used thy prosperity well For that man that is willing to give up the comfort of his prosperity to God which he doth enjoy God will have a care to take away the gaul and the bitterness of affliction from that man when he is under affliction O there 's nothing more comfortable to a man in affliction than to consider that he hath made use of his prosperity for the honour glory of God When I was in prosperity God had honour and now I am in affliction I can comfortably fly to God for peace and comfort to my soul And in this God doth attain to his end and the end of his Creatures God hath his end especially from these men the end of his Works of Creation and Providence Why the Lord hath made this world and filled it with abundance of excellent things but now how shall God attain his end that is To have glory from the excellent things that he hath made in the world Why most men takes them and abuses them to Gods dishonour now were there not some men that had hearts to give God the glory of their estates why God should have no glory from all his works all his works would be as it were to no purpose But now it seems God hath called thee out to give him the glory of his works so that thou art the man among so many that doth pay as it were to God the rent that he requires for all the great things that he hath done in the world which cannot but bring in a great deal of comfort to thee and shews the excellency of it I have now but two other things for the opening of it before we come to the application yet all the way as we have gone along we have indeavoured to apply it shewing wherein it consists the difficulty of it and the excellency of it Now for the close at this time let these things
oftentimes far otherwise to us than they do to God God looks upon things otherwise than we do Then let Him do what seemeth Him good Not what seemeth good to me nor what seems good to others but unto God Then fourthly That this is a very Commendable and Acceptable work upon the first Manifestation of any Displeasure of God presently to yield and submit without any more adoe Not after a great deal of riggling and stir then to yield but to yield presently upon the first Manifestation against his Family he presently falls down and saith It is the Lord let Him do what seemeth Him good These are the four Conclusions in the Text and I shall desire to go through them all and speak to mine own Heart and yours in them It is the Second that is the chief and main there we shall pitch most But briefly of the First That a gracious Heart in all Afflictions looks up to God It is the Lord. Not this Cause and the other Cause or this Accident or the other thing that takes up his Thoughts so much but God in it The truth is a Heart that is truly Gracious loves to Converse with God in every thing If it be a Mercy presently the Heart gets through the Creatures by which God bestows a Mercy and looks up to the God of that Mercy And so if it be Afflictions the Heart that is Gracious having some of the Divine Nature in it presently works it's self up to God in the 6th of Micah ver 9. there 's a famous Scripture for this Saith the Prophet there The Lords Voice crieth unto the City and the Man of Wisdom shall see thy Name hear ye the Rod and who hath appointed it The Man of Wisdom shall see thy Name The Name of God is written upon his Rod and where there is a Man of Wisdom he sees the Name of God that is there written It 's a special part of the Wisdom of a Christian to be able to see Gods Name and to read Gods Name written upon his Rod The Men of the World have not the skill to read the Name of God written upon his Rod but it 's a priviledge of the Saints that they see Gods Name written there It is a special part of the Worship that is due to God the Acknowledgment of God in all his Administrations That 's Worship when we acknowledge God in all his Providences towards us In all thy wayes acknowledge Him and in all His Wayes he must be acknowledged As we must acknowledge God in all our wayes so we must acknowledge God in all His Wayes and thereby we come to Worship Him Secondly It 's a means to compose the Heart to strike the Heart with awful Fears and Reverence of God when we look at Him in our Afflictions and beyond the Creature It is a Way to make us search and examine our Hearts what there is between God and us when once we take notice it's God that doth it this presently puts the Heart upon a Scrutiny What is there between God and my Soul What is there between God and my Family And then it is a special means to put the Soul on to seek God for Help for Assistance for Blessing for a Sanctified Use of what ever Affliction is upon it There 's a great deal of good in seeing the Lord in an Affliction in seeing that we have to deal with Him but the special good is that that we shall come to in the second Point The working of the humble submission of the Heart to God Only for the present let this Rebuke such who are of Carnal and Atheistical spirits That whatever befals them look no higher than the Creatures by which God works It 's an Argument that they have little to do with God that they know not what it is to Converse with God that will cry out of their Afflictions They howl upon their Beds as the Holy Ghost saith in the 7th of Hosea But they seek not to Me or turn not to Me. And such as have slight and vain hearts in the time of their Afflictions it 's a very ill thing that for Men to think to take Courage to themselves so as not at all to be sensible of the Hand of God God expects we should be so though we should not have dishonoured Hearts yet we should have precious Hearts For when one have to deal with God in any thing we had need be serious the Presence of God should work our Hearts to Seriousness And therefore slightness and vanity of Spirit in the day of Affliction it is very unbeseeming Thou doest not sanctifie the Name of God in that Administration of His towards thee who hastâ—â— vain and slight Spirit in the Day of thine Affliction And surely that 's an Argument that thou never sawest God in His Mercy when thou doest not see him in thine Afflictions but that thou didst enjoy Gods Mercy but in a Brutish way when thou doest behave thy self under thine Afflictions in a Brutish way But this shall suffice for the first The second and that 's the main That the sight of the Hand of the Lord is that that hath a great deal of Power in it to work the Heart that is Gracious to an humble submission to Him It is the Lord let Him do what seemeth Him good That that 's here spoken of Ely we may find mentioned by divers of the Servants of God in Scripture I 'll give you but only two Scriptures for it and those are concerning David In this Book of Sam. 15. 25. If I shall flnd favour in the Eyes of the Lord he will bring me again and shew me both it that is the Ark and the City and his Habitation but if he should say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him So you see how David he looks up to God here If I find favour in the Eyes of the Lord he will bring me again and if he say I have no delight in thee behold here I am let Him do what seemeth good unto him And in the 39th Psal ver 9. I was dumb I opened not my Mouth because thou diddest it It was the sight of the Lord in it that made him Dumb and not open his Mouth And you know what He did in the case of Shimei when He Curst him The Lord hath bid him saith he Now this Point is very large I shall briefly propound unto you the several Considerations from the Hand of God in an Affliction for to quiet the Heart and to help the Heart to sanctifie his Name As first â—â—us It is the Lord It is he that is infinitely above me above us all and therefore He must be submitted to It is the Great and Blessed God that is infinitely above Angels and above all Creatures that hath done it and therefore He must be submitted to It may may be you could not tell how to bear a
Box on the Ear from an Inferiour or an Equal or from one a little above you But if so be a King should be near and strike you you could bear that you would not be so ready to rise against him as against an Inferiour mans striking of you Why 'T is the Lord that is Infinitely above us that is the Infinite Glorious and Blessed God He must be submitted to Yea secondly It is the Lord that hath the absolute Right to us and all that we have more than we have to our selves or any thing that we enjoy It is the Lord that hath the absolute Authority over us to do with us what He will you have not so much authority over a Worm under your feet as God hath over you and over all your Comforts you have not so much right to kill a Fly as the Lord hath to take away your Lives He hath more Right a thousand thousand times over your Lives Familie Comforts and all you have than you have over the meanest Creature He hath the absolute Right over you all If any thing be done amiss in a Family and the Servants be falling out one with another and one saith you did thus and thus and the other saith you did it and so are wrangling one with another now if the Master comes and saith Why It was I that did it He makes account that this should still them all because it was he that had right to do it Why It is the Lord and therefore it is not for us to stand Fretting against any means For it is the Great Soveraign Lord that hath the absolute Power and Dominion over us And then Thirdly It is the Lord we have sinn'd against and hath us at infinite Advantages that way It is the Lord that we are liable unto While we are here in this World and carry about with us so much sin we cannot have any serious Thoughts of God but we must needs have Thoughts how we have sinn'd against this God and what advantages this God hath us at in respect of our sins Oh! It is the Lord that we have offended and sinn'd against Fourthly Hence it follows It is the Lord and therefore it is He that if He hath brought a little Affliction He may bring abundantly more if He pleases It is He whose Power as it is not shortned in a way of Help so not in a way of Affliction Hath He afflicted in one kind He might in a hundred if he pleased Hath He afflicted thee in thy Estate He might have afflicted thee in thy Body Hath He afflicted thee in thy Body He might have afflicted thee in thy Soul Hath He afflicted thee in thy Soul here He might have sent thee down to Hell eternally Is it upon any within thy Dwelling-place it might have been upon thy self It is the Lord that hath us under His feet And if He bring the least evil He might have brought as much as He pleased He might have afflicted us abundantly more than He hath done And this is a mighty humbling Consideration to quiet the Heart under the Hand of God And then Fifthly It is the Lord. Why it is the Lord that hath done all the Good that ever we have enjoyed It is He that hath done all Good to us You have an Affliction but have you no Mercies Do you enjoy no Good Why from whence was it was it not from the Lord Shall I receive Good from the Hand of the Lord and not Evil saith Job Why even the Savage Beasts will bear strokes from them that feeds them The very Bears will suffer the Bearherd that brings them Meat to strike them they will not suffer a stranger so much but those that bring them Meat They receive good from them and therefore they will submit to them Now we receive infinite Good from God daily Good and that 's a very useful Meditation for us to consider of in times of Affliction There 's this Good or that particular Good taken from me but what do I enjoy or what have I enjoyed It 's a usual thing in Afflictions to keep the sight of God from us As the putting a thing but as big as a Two-pence upon the Eye it will keep the sight of all the Heavens from us and so a little Afflictions many times keeps the sight of all the Good that we do enjoy from us But when we consider it is the Lord the infinite Fountain of all Good this is a mighty quieting Consideration Sixthly It is the Lord He is Just and Righteous in all his Proceedings there 's nothing but Righteousness in Him in all His Wayes In very Faithfulness saith David hast thou afflicted me It may be some affliction may come from Men and we may think they deal Unrighteously and Unjustly but it is the Lord and there is nothing but Righteousness in all His Wayes If we should think Why these afflictions they fall upon me and such and such they escape You must not reason so It is the Lord and therefore it is Righteous You think it might be better thus and thus but it is the Lord that is Just and Righteous in all His Proceedings and in all His Wayes Yea Seventhly As Righteous so infinitely Wise He is Infinitely Wise and so knows how to Order things in the best way that may be He knows what 's fittest both for us and for His own Glory We are poor weak Creatures but it 's the Lord that sees Infinitely beyond us Eightly It is the Lord that hath alwayes very Holy ends in all His Dealings He hath Holy ends and Aims at Great and Holy things though perhaps we know them not and therefore He is to do whatsoever He will We use to say of a Man if we see him to be a Wise and Understanding man yea a Just man and to be a man that doth all things alwayes from good Principles and for good Ends let him alone though we do not understand what he is doing yet let him alone he knows what he doth It is the Lord let Him alone in His work let Him do what seemeth Him good Ninthly It is the Lord and He is able to bring good out of the greatest evils to bring light out of darkness yea to bring the greatest good out of the greatest evils I verily believe that many of the People of God have found it so That the greatest Blessings that ever they have had since they were born have been Ushered in by the greatest Afflictions Certainly as the Lord would not suffer sin in the World were it not for His Infinite Power to bring about Good from the sins of men so neither would He suffer Afflictions in the World to His Saints but that He knows He hath Power enough to bring good to them even out of their greatest Afflictions It is the Lord that hath this Power One would be loath to trust ones self with one in any Danger that cannot tell how to bring him
out again You would be loath to see your Child held over the Water by another little Child or over a Fire but if a strong Man hath your Child in his Arms and holds it over the Water and you know him to be your loving Friend it troubles you not at all Why Because you know he hath strength enough to keep your Child from the Danger Why It 's the Lord that though He holds his Children over Fire or Water and brings them into Fear and Afflictions yet He hath Power enough not only to preserve them but to bring a great deal of Good out of all and therefore let Him do what seemeth Him good Tenthly It is the Lord therefore submit to Him for His Counsel must stand and His Work must go on there 's no striving with the Almighty Are we greater than He No Instead of striving let there be submitting and yielding Eleventhly Yea and further It is the Lord and therefore He is worthy that His Designs should be brought about though we should be ruined There is such infinite Excellency in this God as I say He is worthy to have his own Designs brought about and his own Will fulfilled though it be to our Ruins Doth God think man so excellent a Creature as that He shall give thousands of other Creatures for to help him with the loss of their own Lives And shall not we think the Lord to be Infinitely worthy if He have use of our Lives or Liberties or Names or any thing that He should not have all to bring about his Designs withal O he is worthy and therefore let Him do what seemeth Him good If so be he will raise up any building of his in our ruins we should be willing to be serviceable to God in it we should be willing to lie down and let all that we have go that may be any way serviceable to God in his designs for the Lord is worthy These Considerations may be very useful to help you in the day of Affliction to meditate of God and so to work your hearts to an humble submission but especially if you add this one more Twelfthly When you do not onely see him to be Jehovah the Lord but if you can see that you have any interest in him as that he is the Lord your God this is of mighty power to quiet the heart as if he be your God why then he is in Covenant with you and if he be in Covenant with you then he hath engaged all his Wisdom and all his Power and all his Mercy for to be working eternally for your good and that 's more than a meer consideration that it is the Lord and that he is above us and just and holy and that it is in vain not to submit unto Him But it is the Lord that is in Covenant with me and in that Covenant he hath engaged all his Power and Wisdom and Mercy and Goodness for me Did we but understand what the Covenant of God in Jesus Christ was that he hath taken his Servants into O then this thought It is the Lord in Covenant with me would be enough to enable us to resign up our selves wholly to his dispose Thirteenthly Yea 'T is the Lord that is our Father You know what Christ saith Shall I not drink the Cup that my Father giveth me to drink That was the Argument of Christ O that this were in all our thoughts at all times when any thing though it be never so grievous befals us Shall I not drink the Cup that my Father giveth me to drink Whatsoever it be if it comes out of a Fathers hand why let Him do what seemeth him good You know when Christ came to the Disciples walking upon the waters and the Disciples were afraid Be not afraid 't is I saith Christ They were troubled at it and thought that one came as an Enemy to do them hurt but be not afraid 't is I saith Christ So my Brethren we should look in all afflictions to see who it is that comes we apprehend an Enemy coming but now those that are godly they may look upon him that comes as God Be not afraid saith the Lord it is I It 's I that am reconcil'd to you in my Son Upon this the soul may with abundance of sweetness and comfort go to God in Prayer and open it self to God having an interest in him You know If a great Dog should come with full mouth upon one why indeed if so be that he that comes to a house be a thief he hath cause to fear but if he be a Child he can call to his Father the Master of the house Take off your Dog So when afflictions come to the wicked they come with open devouring mouth and they have cause to be afraid but those that have interest in God may go with freedom unto God in prayer and cry to the Lord to take off the dog the affliction to keep it that it should do them no hurt at least It is the Lord. Object I but you will say That though it be the Lord yet it 's this indeed that rather makes my affliction the greater to consider it comes from God The thought that it's God in it strikes terror because I am conscious of sin against God It is an affliction that comes for my sin and therefore I see the displeasure of God in it and this makes it more grievous I would rather bear any thing from a creature than to bear the displeasure of God in a creature that 's that that is the greatest stick of all and therefore every time I think it is the Lord it rather adds to mine affliction Answ To that I answer First It 's true many men that think that all is well between God and them in the time of their health and prosperity yet when affliction comes God appears to them and they look upon God as an Enemy this is dreadful It 's a fearful thing when God is a terror to a man in the day of Calamity You know what Jeremy saith Jer. 17. 17. Be not thou a terror to me O Lord for thou art my hope in the day of evil If the soul may have God to be the hope of it in the day of evil there 's no evil terrible but if God be a terror then too and write bitter things against the soul in the time of affliction that 's dreadful But yet suppose thou seest God even as an Enemy coming against thee yet the consideration that it is the Lord should make thee submit at least For it is time for thee then to submit if so be that God as an Enemy appears against thee It 's time for thee to make haste to make thy peace with God yea and thou hast the more cause to bless God that he hath not destroyed thee What dost thou apprehend God as an Enemy O then it 's infinite Mercy thou art not destroyed Certainly if He be an Enemy
if you read the Scripture from this place till you come to Chap. 42. you shall find that God is Manifesting himself there and Revealing himself in his Glory and Righteousness to Job Now in the 3d. verse Job takes up the very words to himself that God had before spoken Saith Job Who is he that hideth Counsel without Knowledge Therefore have I uttered that I understood not things too wonderful for me which I knew not God he saith Who is this that uttereth words without knowledge And then he shews himself Look upon me is it not I that have done it Then Job saw that it was God that did it I have meddled with things that I understood not I have troubled my self like a Fool in things that I did not understand O foolish wretched heart that I have And then afterwards he saith I have heard of thee by the hearing of the Ear but now mine Eye seeth thee wherefore I abhor my self and repent in Dust and Ashes As if he should say I 'll never be Impatient more I 'll never have any risings of heart more against any of thy dealings towards me For Lord now I see that I heard of thee before I could have said All things come by the Providence of God I could have said so I but now mine Eyes see thee I have the sight of that Glorious Infinite Majesty of thine that art so infinitely Great Blessed and Holy and therefore now I abhor my self in Dust and Ashes Let become of me what will I have learned for ever to sanctifie that Holy Name of thine It is the Lord let Him do what seemeth Him good And therefore by way of Exhortation O my Brethren I beseech you apply these things unto your selves In some of your Thoughts it seems I have been as Dead hear then somewhat that I am this day to say to you as you know Dives said If one come from the Dead they will hear him Here what I have to say to you from this Point First O let this sinck into your hearts as if one should come from the Dead to speak it to you namely this That God is so infinitely worthy of Honour from you that you should be at a point whether you Honour him either in the enjoyment of Mercy or suffering of Affliction it 's no great matter The Honour of God should be so dear to you and you should so much love him your hearts should be so much with God as you should leave it wholly to himself which way he would be Honoured by you Surely though we think we have a Love to God and we would Honour him yet our Love to God and desire to Honour him is very little If so be that we do not wholly resign up our selves to him to do in us and by us as he will then indeed is the heart right And this is Honouring God as a God when there is a full yielding up of the heart and when it is in a manner indifferent what way God will take Then your hearts are come to a right frame Secondly The second thing that I would say to you is this That there is so great evil in sin and O that God would make it take as great an Impression upon you as if one from the Dead spake it as the least stopping one in the way of sin the least abating the power of sin hath so much good in it as it 's enough to countervail the greatest evil in the greatest Afflictions in the World O this Principle would be of mighty use in the hearts of People when any Affliction doth befal them or their Family but doth God by this at least stop me in any way of sin Doth not God by this some way or other help me against some sin O then the Affliction is well paid for I have now a greater good abundantly than the evil of the Affliction comes to There was a little bitter but here 's a great deal more sweet Thirdly There is more good in any Exercise of any Grace than there is evil in the bearing of any Affliction If God doth bring an Affliction but for the Exercise of any Grace or for the stirring up thy heart but to look towards him there may be more good in that then there is evil in any Affliction Perhaps thou art going up and down muddling in the World and thy Thoughts were but little upon him before why if by Afflictions thou comest but to look after God his is a greater good than the evil of the Affliction comes to But if God Blesses thee so as thou comest to Exercise Grace in it Humility Patience Self-denial Faith O here thine Affliction is abundantly made up Oh! labour therefore upon the Consideration of this that It is the Lord to submit humbly to him this is acceptable to God Suppose you have two Children that were sick it may be one he riggles and keeps a stir and will take nothing that you give him but now you have another Child lies and he is sick too and he saith Father Mother I 'll do what you will have me I 'll take what you will give me do but tell me what you would have done I 'll presently do it though it be never so grievous and bitter I 'll take it Now would it not make your hearts relent towards such a Child that should be so yieldable will lie this way or that way take this thing or that thing and all because it comes from a Father If the Child should say to you It 's true I am Sick and Ill but I know you love me and know what 's better for me than I do and therefore I 'll take it Would not this be very acceptable O this it is which the Lord accepts when his Children do behave themselves so under his Afcting Hand And my Brethren This further helps against a great many Temptations When Job did but say this The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away let Him do what seemeth Him good The Devil saw his hopes gone then his hopes of doing that hurt and mischief that he intended was gone O the heart is in a safe condition that is thus submissive unto God Others that have Fretting Impatient hearts are subject to abundance of Temptations but the danger of Temptation is over when thy heart comes to this And this will make the Affliction very easie unto thee when thou bringest thy heart to this It may be others may think that 's very sore and hard with thee I but thou findest it very easie abundance of sweetness comes in with this Yea I appeal to the Experience of the Saints that knows but what this means Whether ever had you more Comfort in all your Lives than at that time when you have been most Afflicted and yet brought your hearts to this Temper and Disposition O therefore learn to work these things upon your hearts It 's an easie matter for Men and Women to speak
at the Goodness of God whereas He might have Curst thee and sent thee long since down to thine own place yet He doth give His Ministers charge to offer peace to thy Soul Think thus The Lord in this hath done more to me than He hath done to all those Thousand Millions of Angels that sinn'd against Him Those that were once glorious Angels and did sin against God the Lord took Advantage against them for their first sin and upon that cast them down into Chains of eternal Darkness and did resolve that He would never so much as enter into a Plea about any Condition of Peace with them to all Eternity This was the Way of God towards the Angels that did sin against Him that are now Devils O you that think the Lord to be a God of Mercy altogether do but consider of this and consider to Tremble before Him that God should take Advantage against Millions of Angels for so they were For we read in Scripture that Legions of Devils were in one man and they were once Angels and they did but commit one sin against God and the Lord would not Plea with them about Terms of Peace But mark now The same God that was so severe against Angels that were His own Creatures as well as thou and were more glorious Creatures and committed but one sin yet would never enter into any Terms of peace with them this God is not only willing to Treat with thy Soul to be at peace with thee but He sends forth His Messengers unto thee to Treat in His Name and doth give them command that when they come to thee they should offer Terms of peace to thy Soul Admire at this thou that hast not been guilty of one sin but of Thousands thou that hast Liv'd like a Monster in the place where thou hast Liv'd and hast liv'd in Rebellion against the Lord yet He doth give Command to His Ministers to offer peace to thee I say stand and admire at this when thou goest Home lay it to thy Heart O that the Great God should so Condescend to me rather than to Angels He doth so this day and in His Name I say according to the Text Peace be to every Soul that shall yet come in and return yet come and repent whatsoever they have been whether thou mayst live to have any further offer of peace or no the Lord knows It is an Offer that thou hast this day Look to thy self come in for there are many things in the Text that might put you on For if there be not a Son of Peace this Peace will turn back again Observ 5. But the last Point of all is this That Ministers of the Gospel are when they come to a place to say First Peace be to this place It should be the first Message that they should declare they should begin with this And there is a great deal of Emphasis in this word First say First So we read of John Baptist his first Sermon was this Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And likewise the First Sermon of Christ in Mat. 4. 16 17. And again the Apostles you shall read of them Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand The First Sermon of John Baptist of Christ and of the Apostles was this Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And the First Sermon that the Seventy Disciples was to Preach was Peace And in this the Lord deals with sinners according to the Order He gave in Deut. 20. 10. The Lord required that the First thing the Children of Israel should do when they came against a City it was to proclaim peace And we read of Alexander the First thing that he did was to set up a Lamp and his White Colours and to Proclaim That whosoever did come in before that Lamp was out should have his Life and Peace So when the Lord sends Ministers of the Gospel to any place he sets up a Lamp in that place and the First thing that He would have done it is to Proclaim to all People to come in that so they might have Peace And it is to be done in the First place First Because the Bowels of Gods Compassions are very strong and Gods Mercy lies at His Heart uppermost and therefore that is most ready and He is most ready to vent it That 's the most proper Work of God that He doth delight to Vent His Mercy Jer. 9. 24. Secondly Because that when the Offer of Peace is that hath a great deal of power to work upon the hearts of People Now the Lord therefore would have that done at First that is like most to prevail We know that People at First when a Minister comes amongst them they are set upon Novelties now it is good to take advantage of that their Humour and when they are hearkning after Novelty that they should come to have some principal Doctrine of Salvation to be secretly Instill'd into them that they should Drink in that before they are aware So the Lord uses to work upon Mens Self-love Every Creature loves it self and therefore the Lord sees that it is a good advantage to work upon Mens self-love to offer terms of Peace And the truth is that is it that gains the Heart of a Sinner And God will out-bid the World and Devil and Flesh What do they offer any thing that may delight you saith God I will out-bid them all Christ out-bids the World and Devil in offering unto sinners a greater Good than World or Devil can possibly bring unto them And indeed this offer of Peace doth out-bid the World that is doth proffer a greater Good to a sinner than World or Devil can possibly proffer to them Nay then saith the Soul if I see that I may have a greater good by Repenting and Believing than by going on in my sin I will go that way I will rather attend upon the Word for I hear of great things that are there about Reconciliation between God and man Now this is the way to take the Hearts of men and it is the way to break them of their stoutness and stubbornness For certainly every man naturally hath a very stout and stubborn Heart against God Therefore if First he be opposed he will be ready to rise against God and against His Truths and against His Servants Therefore it is good to come First with those things that their Hearts may close with all that so they may be in a more preparation that they may hearken to what the Lord shall reveal after as necessary unto them But you will say If it be thus Why is it then that Ministers do Preach so much of our miserable Condition in which we are The answer is It 's true at First there should be a tender of peace and I make no question but you have had it so here But now it 's true before the full Doctrine of Reconciliation with God is to be opened
then the Blessedness you spake of For I bear you record that if it had been possible you would have plucked out your own Eyes and have given them to me The meaning is this When the Gospel came at first to be Preached among them generally they cried out O this Blessed Gospel O the Blessedness O these blessed Truths that is come among us such Truths as we were not acquainted withal O they are blessed Truths indeed Mark They were thus taken with the Truths of the Gospel when they were first Preached But now saith Paul Where is the Blessedness ye spake of Your Hearts are not now so taken with the Gospel as they were at first now you seem to be taken off from it Where is the Blessedness you spake of I make no Question but many Ministers in many Congregations have Cause to make Use of these words of the Apostle when God sent them at first The Hearts of People were taken with the Ministry of the Gospel but within a while they are off again And well may their Ministers say Where is the Blessedness you spake of The Peace of the Gospel it doth not abide upon them but one thing or other takes it off from them So in Heb. 6. There you read of some that yet were not Sav'd by the Gospel or were not in a Condition at least for the present to be Sav'd yet they had a taste of the Heavenly Gift They did not only hear the Word and understand it but they Had a taste of the good Word of God O they said It was the good Word of God And Mark Of the Powers of the World to come That is of those powerful Truths of those Truths that do concern the World to come that were powerful Truths For so certainly my Brethren the Truths that do concern the World to come as powerful Truths they have a mighty deal of Power to work upon the Heart And these had not only the Apprehensions but a taste of the Powers of the World to come and yet it appears that they had not those things that did accompany Salvation Many other Scriptures might be shewed that there are many that are Affected with the Gospel yea they are Convinc'd and they have some taste of it and their Spirits taken yea almost perswaded with him that we read of almost perswaded to become a Christian and yet for all this this Mercy that is here promised to the Sons of Peace is not their Portion the peace of the Gospel doth not rest upon their Spirits It is a Blessing beyond that which any Hypocrite in the World hath to have this peace of the Gospel to rest and abide upon his Spirit That is First To be set up as a constant Light before the Soul not to come as a meer flash of Lightning suddenly come and suddenly gone but then it may be said to rest when the Lord sets up those glorious Truths of the Gospel as a constant Light before the Soul And Secondly When as the Lord works those Truths by Meditation upon the Heart the Lord causes those Truths to follow the Thoughts of the Mind and so to work them upon the Heart yea into the Heart of the Thoughts of the Mind when the Lord gives a constant real Taste of those Truths and Savour of them that though they be not alwayes Hearing of them yet the Savour and Relish doth abide in a constant way upon their Hearts when the Lord causes those Truths of the Gospel to spread all over the Faculties of their Souls that it is as the Holy Ghost compares it in Scripture to Leven The Kingdom of God is like unto Leven which in a little time doth Leven the whole Lump So when the Lord causes the Truths of the Gospel not only to be in the Mind in the Understanding in the Conscience but to get into the Heart to get into the Affections and as it were to Leven in a good sense the whole Soul by the Sweetness and the Goodness and the Excellency of those Truths Yea when the Lord shall cause those Truths to be dearly Rooted in the Heart to take such Root as Temptations and Deducements any Provocations without shall never be able to take out those Truths which are upon the Heart When the Lord shall cause them to stick so fast to sinck so deep into the Heart let there come what will to take off the Heart from them or take them out of the Heart yet they shall never be able to take them out of the Heart As a Martyr said saith he You may take my Heart out of my Body but you shall never take the Belief of these things out of my Heart O the Blessing and the Truths of the Gospel did so rest upon his Soul and they had gotten so near into his Heart that nothing in the World could take it off Many People that are a little stirr'd upon the Hearing of the Gospel and they think it is good and the Truths are Blessed Truths and they had good Resolutions but perhaps when they come Home from Hearing of the Word they shall have a Fellow-servant Jearing of them or the Father or Mother Speaking against them or the Husband the Wife or the Wife the Husband and so perhaps they come to lose all those Truths which formerly they were so taken with But those that are the Sons of Peace they have the Peace of the Gospel resting upon them as hath been Opened to you and this is a very great Blessing of God O this is a Mercy indeed for the Lord to grant the Truths of the Gospel and the Good of it thus to rest upon the Heart that the Heart doth keep it as a Treasure within it it is a great Mercy First Because it is a special Fruit of the Covenant of Grace according to that Text in Jer. 31. where God promises as the Fruit of the Covenant that he will Write His Law in their Inwards parts Now certainly by the Law it is not meant the Letter of the Ten Commandments But when He saith I will Write my Law that is My Will The great Counsels of my Will And the saving Truths of God are there meant by the Law For when David Expresses his love to the Law he means also the Soul-saving Truths that are Revealed in the Word of God and certainly there because it was in the time under the Law the Language of the Holy Ghost was suitable to the Time But certainly It is meant in a more especial manner the Truths of the Gospel That look as the Law was Written in Adams Heart at first so now those that are received into the Covenant have the Law of the Gospel and the Truths of that Written in their Hearts That is When ever they shall come to hear the Truths of the Gospel Opened to them they shall find as it were a Counterpain of the blessed Truths of the Gospel in their Hearts Yea further To have the Word of
God doth at sometime or other Convice Men and somewhat stir their Hearts O but this is that that they have cause bitterly to complain of that those things that they deliver to them that are the Precious and Glorious things of Jesus Christ yet though they stir them a little for the while yet they do not rest upon them It was a Complaint of Chrisostom saith he We Ministers are in a worse Condition than any Work-men whatsoever Take a Carpenter he comes and works and leaves his Work over-night and comes the next day and finds it where it was as he left it his Work is no more forward neither backward Oh! But it is not so with us Preachers for we come and work upon the Hearts of People and we bring it into a reasonable good forwardness and we leave it one Night and come the next day but woe to us we find it not where we leave it We work upon their Hearts one Lords Day and it may be they go away with some Resolutions that they will break off their evil way and they will attend to the Ministry of the Word but before the next Lords Day they are quite off again They are got again into some wicked Company or other and they begin to harden their Hearts against those Blessed Truths so that our Condition is worse than any Work-mans whatsoever But though it be a sad Condition for the Ministers of the Gospel yet know it is a sadder Condition for your selves You that heretofore have heard those Blessed things of the Gospel and your Hearts have been taken with them have they rested upon you I put this to you in the Name of God I say Hath the Peace of the Gospel rested upon your Hearts It may be some of you may know Two or Three years ago God began to work upon you you began to have some Enlightning of Jesus Christ and of the Kingdom of God and you began to say Blessed are those that shall be partakers of those things but have these rested upon you Hath not the Ministry of the Gospel been to some of you like a Ship that when it is Sailing in the Water it makes a great Impression for the present but let the Ship be gone and the Water is as smooth as ever it was So many times when the Minister comes and open the Blessed Truths of the Gospel they make a mighty Dent upon the Hearts of their Auditors but within a little while their Hearts are like the Water no man can see that ever there was an Impression of any Truth upon their Hearts Now know that this is a very sad thing to have the Gospel begin to Affect the Heart but not to Rest First Consider How vile is thy heart it is an argument of strong corruption that is in thy heart that the things of the Gospel cannot stick there And Consider How vild it is that wicked thoughts vile base unworthy unclean filthy thoughts can abide upon you If the Devil dart in temptations they will abide and rest why when he darts them in over-night he can find them in the morning perhaps if you have some vain or unclean thoughts you can role them up and down in your mind for half a night together perhaps day after day and night after night base and filthy thoughts are rol'd up and down in your Spirits these things can abide Now what shall vile filthy ungodly thoughts rest in your hearts and shall not the Blessed and Glorious Truths of Jesus Christ and the things of the Kingdom of God rest upon your hearts Yea Consider further That it is a most dangerous thing for an essay of mercy to pass away and to do no good for mercy to come and as it were make a trial upon the heart and then leave it and no good done this is a sad condition It is not so dangerous while Men and Women are in such an estate as the mercy of God hath not made an essay as it were upon them But now When the Grace of the Gospel shall come to make an essay upon the heart to make as it were a tryal upon the heart and to have the repulse this is a dangerous thing for an offer of Gods Grace to be rejected is very sad to loose one opportunity of Gods Mercy is a very sad thing how dost thou know that ever they will come upon thy heart with that power that once they did and therefore thy condition is very sad And know further That when the Lord begins to reveal to thee the things of the Gospel and thou puttest them off those flashes of affection and conviction that thou hast had will prove to be matter of terror of conscience another day Some poor Soul may say Then Lord what shall become of me God knows this is my condition I come many times to hear the word and I meet with those truths that do mightily take my heart for the present but the Lord knows all vanishes again I think I could remember every thing that the Minister speaks while I am hearing of them but they go out again I hear that this is the Blessing of God upon the Sons of Peace that the Truths of the Gospel should abide upon their hearts and rest there O they do not rest with me Now and then they come to me but they do not rest with me Now for the Answer to this Perhaps they may not rest in thy memory but yet if the Fruit and effect of them doth rest in thy heart thou hast the Gospel resting in thy heart As thus Why perhaps the Water may pass through a Vessel go quite through it and not stay I but yet there is so much Fruit of the passage of it thorow as to keep the Vessel sweet Though you cannot take up any Water from it but it is all gone yet I say it keeps the Vessel sweet So I may say to those that have the weakest memories and yet the Lord hath wrought any degree of Grace though thy memory be so weak that thou canst not remember I speak this to those that have weak memories naturally and there is nothing that their Souls do more desire then this O that they might keep those things that they hear they would think themselves the most happy Creatures in the world if those truths that sometimes they hear might rest upon them I speak to those Is it so with thy heart Then though thou canst not remember yet if those truths keep thy heart sweet they keep thy heart from filthy lusts that they do not abide in thy heart thy heart is kept savory by them if there be this effect abiding upon thy heart to keep it savory and sweet this Peace of the Gospel may rest with thee though thou canst not remember particulars A Man or Woman perhaps they cannot remember what Meat they ate a little while since but they find themselves nourished by that Meat So for the word of God that
conscience liberty to reprove you for being Truant in the School of Jesus Christ and let this humble your souls before the Lord. I shall speak more to that afterwards but for the present know that this is your work to go and be humbled before the Lord that you have not understood what it is to sanctifie God in the fulness that you enjoy Lord Through thy mercy I have all my dayes been full of outward comforts Thou hast been full-handed towards me in the wayes of thy mercy but Lord though I have had fulness a long time O how far have I been from knowing how to be full If this be to know it then I have been a stranger to it hitherto Tenthly A man doth know how to abound when he knows how to make use of the Comforts he doth enjoy of the world so as not to be hindered by the afflictions or troubles that doth attend his Comforts In mens abounding and being full of comforts in this world they cannot but have some affliction and some troubles attending these comforts for all Creature comforts are mingled comforts Now then Then a man knows rightly how to be full when he enjoyes his fulness so as though he hath some affliction mixed yet he can tell how to make use of his affliction for his humiliation and his comforts for thanksgiving unto God at the same time whereas now abundance of people when they enjoy comfort if they meet with any trouble and affliction mixed with their comfort they are filled so with vexation and bitterness and their spirits are so troubled that they lose all the good of their comforts As Haman he did abound but he did not know how to abound therefore when he was but crossed in one thing that Mordecay did not bow the Knee to him why all the comfort of his prosperity was taken away and his spirit was filled with rage and bitterness and malice And thus it is with many people that have abundance in their Families they are full of outward comforts they have their Yoke-fellows comfortable Children they have Estates they have their Tables furnished and all things that one would think might content the heart of a man almost But now if any one cross doth fall out that doth displease them they are put into such a vexation and fretting humour as they lose all the benefit of the comforts Do'st thou know how to abound when as thou goest abroad and something crossest thee or thy Servant doth something amiss why presently thou art in a rage and fretting and all thy thanksgiving to God for all thy mercies that 's forgot Nothing but fretting and vexing in the Family for one cross when as there are a hundred mercies that thou shouldest bless God for Thou dost not know how to to abound when thou canst not tell how to sever the good of mercy from the consideration of affliction And though God doth afflict thee in something yet he gives thee abundance of occasions to bless him and praise him But now when thou canst bless God for all mercies and be humbled for all afflictions at the same time If God doth grant me more mercies then affliction he shall have more thanksgiving from me then sorrow or then trouble I le have more joy then I will have trouble if I have more mercy then I have correction This man knows how to abound that can do thus then Eleventhly lastly That man knows how to abound that in his abundance yet knows himself Such a man or woman knows how to be full and to abound I say that if they are full and abound yet they know themselves It s ordinary for people not to know themselves when once they come to abound Saul was little in his own eyes when he was in a mean estate but when Saul came to abound he knew not himself And so it hath been ordinary with people that their abundance hath taken away the very knowledge of themselves they have grown wanton and foolish and proud that they have not known themselves when they have abounded But now when a man in the midst of abundance knows his own meaness and wretchedness and sinfulness and vileness notwithstanding his abundance here 's a man that hath learned this lesson of the Apostle how to abound But this is a very difficult lesson If there be such things as as these in learning how to abound surely the lesson must needs be difficult You that are Mariners think if you have Sea-roome enough you are safe you care not then but it 's otherwise in this that we are speaking of your Sea-roome may be your undoing and the more abundance you have the more difficult it will be for you to know how to order your selves in your way I gave divers reasons why this lesson was more difficult then the other to know how to be full than to be empty which few people in the world will think so but certainly it is so Now though the very naming of these things may shew he difficulty of it yet we shall come in the Second place to shew that there 's a great deale of difficulty in Mens and Womens knowing how to be full And I name this the rather because I would put your hearts upon exercise that you may not lightly pass over what is said when we speak of knowing how to be full for it is ordinary for Men that have estates and outward comforts to slight the Word Well Let me have what will satisfie me and for this lesson to know how to be full I hope we shall do well enough for that Now for this that you may not slight the lesson I shall shew you something about the difficulty of it You that are Marriners If you may have Sea-roome enough you care not you think then you can do well enough but though you can do well enough in your Art when you have Sea-roome yet the truth is you do the worst for your selves when you have the greatest Sea of prosperity there you do worst of all and it is your Sea-room that doth undo you I mean the abundance of outward prosperity it is that ordinarily which doth undo men So it is easier a great deal you know for one to manage a little Boat in the Thames then for one to be able to manage an East-Indian Ship The truth is less skill will serve for the ordering of a mans estate when it is low and mean in the world than when he comes to be full It were a mad thing for a man that can but onely row in the Thames to undertake the command of one of your greatest Ships And so it is for those that are mean if God doth not teach them how to be full they are like to undo themselves by their fulness as well as any way It is easier for a man to manage a little estate that he hath then for him to manage great merchandizing There is more difficulty and skill required
abundance of hurt in the place where he lives not onely to himself but to others O the evil he may do in a Town and in a Family and in a Kingdom One rich man if God doth not sanctifie his heart and his estate may do more mischief than an hundred other wicked men God doth not so much look at the hurt that base Drunkards that go up and down from one Alehouse to another can do They may destroy their own souls but now a man that is a man of an estate in the place where God hath set him if he spend nights in Chambering and Wantonness if he contemn the wayes of God and Religion O the hurt that comes by that man and the guiltiness that will come upon his Spirit that way O how is the Gospel hindered by such men as they that have outward prosperous estates and yet for all that have not hearts to make use of it whereas I shall shew presently the contrary will be in those that have learned to be full But onely now to shew the danger of a full condition If we have not learned to be full and all to put you upon this that you may beseech God to learn you to be full when God doth give you a fulness least you should contract the guilt of the sins of thousands of others upon you And then If thou do'st not learn to be full thy full estate will endanger thy salvation exceedingly It is easier for a Cammel saith Christ to go thorow the eye of a Needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now Christ doth not interpret at first what is a rich man but at another time he doth those that trust in them Chrysostom hath this passage upon that to the Hebrews He wonders how any Governor can come to be saved The fulness of a mans condition doth much endanger his salvation if God doth not teach him how to be full And then it will make death to be more terrible O Death how terrible will it be to a man that hath not learned to be full When Death shall come and now he must be deprived of all bid an everlasting farewel to his House and Estate and Lands comming in Never such merry meetings as he was wont to have I but now they are gone there 's an end of those dayes he shall never have them more O then I say Death will gnaw upon a man and then a mans conscience indeed will terrifie him If he be afflicted they will come upon him to terrifie him But when he sees that he must bid an everlasting farewel to all those things then Death will terrifie him to purpose O conscience will tell him Now art thou going to give an account before the great God of all that thou didst enjoy in this world It 's a sad message that this will be to some that are full You think because you have money to pay for what you eat and drink and do enjoy you think you shall be called to no farther account O yes you must be called to an account for all the Creatures that you do enjoy Now if men can scarce count the mercies that they do enjoy O then how will you be able to give an account for them Well all this is but to awaken the hearts of people that have the comforts of this world that they may not satisfie themselves with what they enjoy but seek what they can to learn to be full And the Excellency of this Lesson of Learning to be full is very great For first It shews a great deal of ingenuity in the heart of a man Ingenuity in these two regards First Because hereby it appears that this man is not onely for his own turn It 's a sordid spirit for a man to seek to serve his own turn upon others and when his turn is served never to care for any body But now an ingenious spirit when that hath its own turn serv'd it is as careful again to return answerable respect to those that were useful to him as it was desirous to have its own turn serv'd before So it is in those that have learned to be full they have ingenuity they are as careful to return answerable respects to God as they are to receive any mercy from him And their Ingenuity is in this That they are thankful spirits An ingenious heart is a thankful heart and loves to acknowledge whence he had any mercy And then further That 's great ingenuity for one to be moved by good and be moved by mercy 'T is a slavish spirit that 's onely mov'd by necessity and force and violence That 's nothing for a man to be forced to do a duty The basest Slave by a Whip will be put to do that that is his duty I but for one to be wrought upon by love and by goodness this is ingenuity Now if the Lord hath given thee an estate and thou findest it doth draw thy heart to God more and works upon thy heart that thou art affected by Gods mercy O this is a sign of an ingenious heart And then what grace such a man hath is a great deal more conspicuous than others mens graces and more beautiful As a Diamond that is set in Gold there is a beauty in it A Diamond set in a Crown of Gold doth sparkle more gloriously than when it is wrapt up in a dirty Rag. So the graces of many that are poor and mean in the world are as it were wrapt up in a dirty rag as sometimes they wrap up their money But now a man that is eminent in the world and godly too his graces are like Diamonds upon a Crown as it were that are so conspicuous before the world that the world takes much notice of them and gives glory to God for them Thirdly It 's an excellency because it is so rare It 's a very rare thing for a man to be instructed in this Lesson of being full It 's a speech of Bernard Not to be lifted up when a man is put high that is very unusual now saith he the more unusual it is the more glorious thing it is It is a very rare blessing of God upon a man for him to learn to be full I remember the same learned man Bernard writing to Eugenius that was advanced to great favour he speaks of the grace of God towards him and blessing God for it his promotion did not succeed his former estate but was added to his former estate That 's thus The promotion of many men doth succeed their former estate that is the former ingenuity they had and ingenuity that they seem'd to have that 's gone and the promotion doth come and succeed it But the promotion of this Eugenius was not so he continued in the former estate that he was in before that is the former humility and heavenly-mindedness and holiness as he seem'd to have before so he had the same still so that
that have rich friends any of you you see what need you have here to pray for them It was the speech of a holy man once when he met an acquaintance of his that he had not seen a long time before and it seems he had a great estate befallen him as soon as he met him O Sir saith he I had never need to pray for you so much as now His friend stood amazed at it supposing that he had heard of some great evil that had befallen him He gives him this answer I hear you have a great estate befallen to you Certainly there 's no men in the world that have so much need of Prayer as those that are high in estate And then You who do abound be you exhorted to what you have heard and now to set upon the work To learn how to abound Learn this one Lesson farther that should have been spoken Learn throughly your dependance upon God in all your abundance To see as much need of God in the midst of your abundance as in the greatest depth of affliction That 's one thing that is of very great use A man hath attain'd to a good measure of Grace when he comes to this that he sees he hath as much need of mercy from God in his abundance as in the lowest afflicted estate in the world Many men and women they think that they have need of God in their affliction then they depend upon God I but you should depend upon God as much if you had all the world to possess as the poorest beggar in the world This you may either put into the mystery that there is in it or into the Lessons for indeed it is a mystery to the men of the world and therefore Christ teaches not onely poor people to come and say Lord give us this day our daily bread but the richest men in the world is to pray so the greatest Prince and Monarch in the World is every day to come to God to the Gates of Mercy to beg his bread Now if rich men would be so sensible of their condition that they depend upon God for the enjoyment of what they have every moment have as much need of mercy as the poorest wretch that lives upon the Face of the Earth This would be a mighty help for them to learn how to Abound I beseech you examine whether this be so in you or no When you have been poor and afflicted then you acknowledge you had need of Mercy I but now whether do you find that your Life is as much a Life of Dependance upon God now as ever it was If God should take away all you have then you would think O I must live altogether the Life of Dependance but certainly you should now live the Life of Dependance as if you knew not where to have your Dinner or Supper Man lives not by Bread only saith the Scripture or by Meat but by every Word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God he lives by it There is much in this that I am speaking But a little for the further putting of you on in this that you may learn this Lesson of Aboundance Consider but this What a great Mercy of God it is to you that your great Work that you are put now upon it is how to improve Mercy whereas the work of other Men it is how to get Mercy Other Men all their Care and Thoughts is how they should get Necessaries and now that that God calls you to it is to Improve what you have The Life of many Men and Women is this Nothing else but to Improve Mercy not to bear Affliction much or to seek to get but the whole Course of their Life is to be spent in Improving Mercy Think but of this one thing and it will make you Thankful when you are in your Families What have I to do in the Morning when I rise Nothing but to Improve the Mercy that God gives me Mercy meets with me when I rise Mercy goes forth with me Mercy comes in with me and I have nothing to do from the Beginning of the Year to the End of the Year but to make use of Mercy Why this is the Lives of many to receive in Mercy and make use of it for God O the comfortable Life that thou hast Therefore seeing that God puts thee upon such a Notable and Excellent Imployment thou hadst need be Faithful Thy work is a great deal better and more Comfortable than the works of others therefore often Examine thy Heart And O that I could but prevail thus far with Men and Women that have great Estates that there should never a Day pass but they would call themselves to Examination Have I learned to be full Do I enjoy my fulness for God yea or no Do not let the Reckoning between God and thy Soul run too long but keep thy Book even every day with God and then thou shalt have abundance of Comfort in thy Fulness And set before you the Example of those that have Miscarried in their Fulness and that will be a very good help unto you Such and such Men have Miscarried Lord help me that I may not Miscarry as they have done Yea thy most eminent Servants have Miscarried the Lord help me that I may not Miscary And for the Close of all O you that God hath given these Mercies to Bless Him for His Blessings but especially Bless Him that He hath Blessed His Blessings to you When we receive a Blessing we should Bless God I but when God hath Blest this Blessing then our Blessing of Him should be Double and Trebble too O think thus with thy self What all this and Heaven too such convenient Habitations and compassed round about with Mercy wheresoever you are All this and Heaven House and Estate and Friends and Health of Body and every Thing that I want O the greatest thing that I want is a thankful Heart for if I had but that then I were happy indeed Now for a Man to have all things in a Fulness and only Scantiness in Thankfulness every thing is full but only the Heart is empty The Heart of the Wicked is little worth Thy House is full and thy Estate but what 's thy Heart in the mean time But now If God gives thee so much Mercy in the World and all this but the beginning of Heaven to thee O then how sweet is thy Life made to thee by God! And all things that are the means of Undoing of others are the means to help thee to Honour God O by this the Mercies of God are raised indeed Bless God for so great a Blessing it is not an ordinary thing Only one thing more for the Close of all in my Text and that is the joyning of both these things together That I learn how to be content and how to be full There should have been that Note And that is That Grace wil help Men to carry
than Paul did and yet death was Gain to him he should get much by it Why many things might make the death of Paul Gainful I remember the last time I spake to you I spoke about an Argument of the Victory over Death that we have by Christ I will not speak now of what then I spake to but meerly Confine my self for otherwise the Argument might be very large to shew the Gain of death to Believers But I 'll confine my self to the very thing that the Apostle speaks of here in this Chapter That he should be present with Christ Therefore now I 'll speak of the Gain of being with Christ Now I confess there are many things that might be opened The Communion of the Soul departed with Jesus Christ As First It shall be immediate the Souls of the Saints while they are in the Body they have Communion with Christ but it is Mediately by other things by Ordinances and Means whereby Christ conveys Himself to them but there they shall have Communion with Christ Immediately only Christ and the Soul together Now the more Immediate the Communion is with Christ it is the more pure Here we have some Communion with Christ but a great deal of Sin mixt together with it That that is immediately from the Fountain is more pure that that comes in the Streams hath Dirt mixed with it So that that we shall have with Christ immediately shall be pure we shall have Communion with Him and nothing else We shall have no mixtures at all of any evil in our own Spirits And then Secondly Immediate communion with Christ it is more Sweet As the more Pure so the more Sweet As now the Wine that comes immediately from the Grape it hath more Spirits and is more delightful than that that is poured from Vessel to Vessel That which we have here from Christ it is that that is poured from Vessel to Vessel but that which Souls departed have from Christ is immediate and so comes more Sweet As if the Child suck Milk from the Breast it is more sweet to the Child than the Milk in a Spoon That that we have from Christ here is Milk as it were from the Spoon but that that Souls have that are departed they suck from Christ immediately and so comes to be more sweet Thirdly And more especially we account that that comes Immediately to have more Love in it As that that a Friend gives by his own hand is better and more comfortable to us So that that comes from God Immediately it 's a great deal more sweet As now here while we Live in the World the more immediate a Mercy is the more sweet it is to a gracious Heart Indeed a Mercy that comes by second Causes it 's comfortable because God Over-rules all the Causes but when it can see God immediately in a Mercy the more immediate the Hand of God is here Though God doth not work so Immediately here as He will do afterwards but the more Immediate God is here the more sweet it is And therefore in a Judgment the more Immediate the Hand of God is the more Terrible as in the Plague So in a Mercy though every Mercy is sweet yet the more Immediate God is in a Mercy the more sweet it is And then O how sweet is all the Good that the Saints have immediately from Christ therefore it 's Gain to them And then Fourthly It 's more strong The first Rebound is more Powerfull than a second and the first Gushings out are more strong The Beams of the Sun when they are first Reflected than if you take a Glass and Reflect them again and again And so that that comes Gushing out as it were of the very Heart of God it 's more strong a great deal and there is greater Impressions upon the Heart by it than that that comes by second Causes Fifthly That that comes Immediate it comes without Labour The Soul draws it from Christ and is not put to so much Pain and Labour as now we are put to If we would have Communion with Jesus Christ we must stir up our selves to the Humbling of our Hearts to the Acting of our Faith to Exercise our Graces and put the Body to it If you would have any communion with Christ in Prayer it must put you to some Labour And so in the Word and Sacraments And the Labour of a Christian is very great But when we come to have Immediate communion with Christ it will be the flowings in of Christ to the Soul without any Labour at all Sixthly It shall be more full when we come to be United to the very Fountain it self there it will be more full than the Stream Certainly there is that Good and Excellency in Christ that is too much for any Creature in the World to convey Yea take all the Creatures in the World and Ordinances they are too scant to be able to convey the Good that is in Christ yea that Good that Christ takes delight to communicate to the Souls of His People And that 's the Reason that here we have but a little Why Because the Conduits are so Narrow and Small that there can be but a little let out through those Conduits but when the Soul is with Christ immediately then it hath the Fulness of the Lettings out of Gods Mercy There will be an Eminency of every sort of Good to every poor Christian I remember Jerom speaking of that Text Christ being All in all He makes this Interpretation of it saith he Christ is here but some to some but not all to all As for Instance saith he Here some Men have some Eminency of some particular Grace conveid to them and some other Eminency of some particular Grace As Moses had an Eminency of Meekness Abraham an Eminency of Faith Job an Eminency of Patience and Solomon an Eminency of Wisdom but saith he Where was there ever a Man Eminent in all Graces But then saith he Christ shall be All in all That is Christ shall convey all Grace to all His Saints that all the Saints shall have an Eminency and Fulness in all Grace whatsoever This will be an Excellent thing Surely it 's Gain then to Die for a gracious Heart where Christ shall be thus All in all to them to convey this Fulness of Good in all things unto them Those Saints that are the Meanest now whose Souls have the least degree of true Grace they shall have an Eminency of all Grace Wouldst not thou think thy self happy if thou hadst as much Faith as Abraham as much Meekness as Moses and as much Patience as Job and as much Insight into the Misteries of the Gospel as Paul Now hadst thou as much as all the Saints ever had were not that Gain Why now as soon as thy Soul is departed from the Body thou shalt have an Eminency in all Graces as much as all the Saints ever had since the beginning of the World
Therefore surely it 's Gain to die for a Godly Man 7ly Further It 's Gain in this respect When they receive immediately they shall receive all United in one and all together They shall have such Influence from Christ as hath all Good united in one Beam of Excellency and so receive it all together As now a Man may take the Quintesence of several Herbs there 's this Herb hath this Virtue another another and a third a third but now if you Still all these Herbs together you will have the Virtue and Quintesence of all in one Drop So Christ here scatters His Excellencies one in one Creature another in another but when we come to enjoy Him immediately then we shall have all in one because all His Excellencies whatsoever is united in one in Him Eighthly Further all our Good shall be in continal Act. Here we have a great deal of Good in the Habit but now when we come to have this Immediate communion with Christ there all our Graces shall be Acted continually The Sun you know how it doth Act the Earth whatsoever there is in the Earth it draws it forth and makes it flourish So the Presence of the Sun of Righteousness Oh how Gloriously will it Act all our Graces In Numb 17. 7. We read of Aarons Rod it Blossom'd And the Text saith It Blossom'd before the Lord. When the Souls of the Saints shall be before the Lord and be in the Presence of the Lord Christ O they shall Blossom and Flourish and all their Graces shall Flourish in a most Glorious manner Ninthly And then lastly We shall enjoy what is in Christ without any Intermission What 's the reason of any Intermission here But something that comes between Christ and our Souls But now when there shall be nothing between Christ and the Soul then there will be no Intermission That Sweetness and Comfort thou hast in communion with Christ at any time thou shalt have it at all times And how good is that O saith many a Soul could I have but the communion with Christ at all times as I have at some times O that would be comfortable Now when the Soul hath Immediate communion with Christ it shall have it at all times What 's the reason of Ecclipses It is the Interposition between the Moon and the Sun or some Interposition between the Sun and us So our Ecclipses of the Light that we have from Christ it is some Interposition Take away the Interposition and then there will be no Intermission Now put all these together and is it not Gain to Die and to be with Christ Now by way of Use It is Gain thus to be with Christ Hence then If it be Gain for one that doth so much Service for Christ as Paul did surely than those that are Believers and are made little Use of in any Service for Christ they will get by their Death Paul was a Man that one would wonder how the Churches could spare him he did so much for Christ and yet Paul would get by Death If thou beest a Believer thou shalt have thy Immediate communion with Christ as Paul had Alas here while thou Livest thou hast but little communion between Christ and thee and doest Him but little Service in the World Then why should you so much desire to Live in the World that have nothing to Countervail the Trouble that you have and the Sin that is committed in the World O surely it will be gain for you Secondly Hence it follows That it is a Self-denial to a Believer to be willing to Live here in the World You will say If it be so much Gain why should any be so desirous to Live It 's this first Nature will have its work though in their Judgments they are convinc't that it 's better to be with Christ yet the Body will be working and the Affections will follow the Body very much Further Though they be convinc't that it is Gain yet God lays a Tie upon them to preserve their Lives as long as they can here in this World in Obedience to God They do desire to avoid Dangers and Preserve their Lives It is not for them to be where it is best for them to be but to be where God would have them to be and therefore God doth charge them to seek to Preserve their Lives and to go on till He Himself shall Dissolve the Body and Soul It 's God that is the Lord of our Life and as God gave us our Lives so it is He that must take them away and not any Body else But yet I say there is some Self-denial in it We must look upon our selves here as in a very Low and Mean condition in comparison of what we hope to be within a while after Therefore observe this one Note Those that do believe the Gain of Death they had need Labour what they can to countervail the Forbearance of the Gain by somewhat or other If a Man hath a great Gain and it comes not in his present Possession he thinks What shall I have for my Forbearance You will say What is it that any Believer can have in lieu of his Forbearance of that Gain Truly the most Excellent thing is this that he may do Christ Service while he Lives Now then Is that the main thing O learn from hence to be of as much use in your Lives as possibly you can for you have nothing else to speak of in Forbearance of that great Gain Why Lord I expect to enjoy Thee for ever before long but thou art pleased to Prolong my Life here for a while in the mean time I meet with many Temptations and Troubles and Vexations and much Sin I have But yet Lord thou knowest it 's my desire to Honour Thee and Serve Thee and through Thy Mercy I am some way or other Serviceable to Thee in the Place where Thou hast set me and Lord this is the thing contents me while I am absent from Thee Thirdly Hence we see the great Difference that there is between the death of a Believer and the death of a Wicked Man I shewed you I remember in the death of an Ungodly Man when the siery Serpent comes with his Sting and takes him in his Natural Estate Death is not Gain to such a one O no death takes away all his Gain But now death is the greatest Gain to the Saints That 's an excellent Scripture you have in 1 Cor. 3. the latter end Whether Paul or Appollos or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or Things present or Things to come all is yours In Christ Death comes to be made yours Death is part of the Possession of the Saints O the difference between the death of the Saints and the death of Wicked and Ungodly Men Do but put two Men a Wicked Man and a Godly Man lying both together upon their Death-Beds you must take a wicked Man that hath an enlightned
unto you there is something to be opened unto you about your miserable state by Nature for it is impossible to open the Doctrine of Peace and Reconciliation without the opening of that And that may well be Justified That though the First thing should be to say Peace yet before this can be opened at large unto People they must come to know what their Natural state is There is some that would at First and at Last say Peace and would have nothing else Preached and crys out against Preaching of any thing of the Law of God which is meerly through their Ignorance in not rightly understanding the Nature of the thing For though at First we are to open this Peace yet when we come to open it this hath that in the very Bowels of it that will shew the most woful Condition of man by Nature that possibly can be As for Instance Peace between God and us Why what are we Enemies Is there an Enmity between God and us Yes that comes here We cannot open the meaning of this Peace but if we come once to open it we must of necessity fall upon the Doctrine of Mans state by Nature and shew what a Breach sin hath made between God and the Soul And what infinite need there is of such a Redeemer that we could no other way be redeemed but that we must have such a Saviour that must be both God and Man Now when we come to open the Nature of this it must needs shew you what your miserable Condition is by Nature But a word or two for the Application of this God doth appoint His Ministers at First to come to you and to make the proffer of Peace unto your Souls then it should teach you presently to be willing to come and close with that Message Gods Heart is sofull of Mercy towards you as at the very First He will have this offered to you then your hearts should likewise come in as well to God and at the very First come in and close with that blessed Offer of Grace and Mercy O it is a great Encouragement to a Minister when People come in at the very First offer We have a notable Scripture for this in Psal 18. 44. Mark As soon as they hear of Me they shall obey Me. That 's indeed a blessed thing that when a People comes to hear of Christ and of the Doctrine of Reconciliation that as soon as they hear of it they shall come in presently and Obey that a Minister shall find his First Labours to be Fruitful and Effectual I could tell you of one as in 2 Cor. 12. the beginning And so I could say That I knew one Twenty Years ago or more that at the very First day of Preaching of the Doctrine of the Gospel of that Truth unto a People at the First day God pleased to bring in a Soul and continue him to this very day and make him a Godly Gracious and Holy man that was a desperate and prophane wicked Wretch before O that it might please God to Incourage the Hearts of His Ministers so that at their First coming to People they might find some Fruit of their Labours For one that is Faithful and comes among a People he looks after his Ministry and considers what he doth and what Effect that hath and so doth give account to God of what Effect that hath upon the Hearts of People And O what an Incouragement is this and how Honourable to a People if a Minister of God shall give up this account and say Lord as soon as ever thou didst send me among such a People they did begin to hearken after the Doctrine of Peace and began to Consider what it was that was spoken And they were exceedingly Hopeful by their Attention and by other wayes they have given exceeding good hope that they have received the Doctrine of Peace that Thou didst send me about And those certainly are most to be Honoured that do First come in though it's true if men come in at the last Hour there is a possibility to get to Heaven but those that come in at the First they are the most acceptable to God Mich. 7. beginning My soul desired the first ripe fruit So the Soul of God doth this day long after the First Fruits of every Minister that comes among you O He looks into this Congregation to see where shall be the First Fruits of the Ministry of such a one and of such a one that comes among you in Rom. 16. 5. It is spoken to the Honour of Epenetus That he was the First fruits of Achaia unto Christ O Epenetus he is one that God did Honour for He was the First fruits of Achaia unto Christ And it is the Honour of England that it was the First Kingdom that profest Christian Religion by the Authority of the Publick Magistrate and God hath some special regard to England to this very day I make no Question for that And so in any place when God comes to them and offers the Conditions of Peace I say they that come First in upon this First offer will be most acceptable unto God Therefore do not defer and think I may come in at last and before I die time enough But if God be so timely with thy Soul that He would have His Ministers so begin with thee do thou Answer to God and begin with this God betimes and especially you that are young ones do not you reject it O when God shall come to thy Soul and say Peace be to thee I say take heed of rejecting the First offer For you that are young what though you may be guilty of much Vanity and Folly other wayes yet it may be you have not been guilty to this very day of rejecting the offer of the Gospel O take heed of Contracting that guilt upon you Know if you do it will make you a great deal harder and that guilt will be a great deal worse than of all your other sins besides therefore come in betimes as we read in Mark 10. 17. There comes a young man running to Christ and saith Good Master what shall I do to Inherit Eternal Life He was a young Rich man a Gentleman one that had great Possessions and the Text saith he came running to Christ O that God would perswade young ones and those of Quality seeing the Lord is pleased to begin with their Souls that they would hasten and come running to Christ to know what are the Terms of Peace and Reconciliation as it is said concerning John Baptist in Mat. 11. 12. The Text saith And from the dayes of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffered violence and the Violent take it by force The meaning is this Because that this great Doctrine of Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand was not Preached before John Baptist He was the First that came to Preach this in the plainness of it in a Gospel way
Lord should have Studied and Contriv'd with His own Infinite Wisdom what strong Arguments He would use to work upon the Hearts of the Children of Men one would not have imagined how an Infinite Wisdom should have found out such to perswade Men to come in One may say of the Arguments of the Gospel as the Master of the Vineyard said when he had Let out his Vineyard to Husbandmen and sent for Fruit one Servant was beaten and the other was misused But at last saith he I will send my Son for surely they will reverence my Son Why now this may be said of other Arguments To compare those things that are in the Gospel with all other things that can be Preached unto People Indeed a Minister of God may come with many strong Arguments to draw the Hearts of People from their sin and to draw them unto Repentance But now this Argument will not do it nor the other Argument will not do it they stand out this and that Argument I but saith the Lord I will send the Ministry of my Gospel among them I 'll reveal my Son unto them Certainly they will Reverence this Argument and their Hearts will be taken with this Argument That 's another Reason why there is great hopes when the Ministry of the Gospel comes that there should be some Sons of Peace found there Reas 7. Further Another is this Because it is the Way of God with a People when He sends them the Gospel in the Power of it and the Clearness of it I say the Way of God then is not so much to have regard to any of their sins that ever were Committed before that time but now to go as it were upon a new Score I do not say but if they should perish then they must perish for their old sins too But I mean thus That when the Lord sends the Ministry of the Gospel to a place the Lord now doth not so much look at any sin that they liv'd in before in the dayes of their Ignorance there is none of those sins now that shall Damn them upon condition that they now do Imbrace the Gospel that is offered to them Therefore there is a great deal of hope that there may be some Sons of Peace For the Riches of Gods Mercy hath not yet had the Glory the Turn as it were of it towards this People that yet have not had the Gospel in the Clearness and in the Power of it brought amongst them Now God looks thus upon a People that He sends His Gospel unto It 's true they have liv'd in Blindness in Darkness in Prophaneness in Sabboth-breaking in Ungodliness Alas they did not know what the Councels of my Will were concerning the Eternal state of their Souls which is revealed in that Gospel of Mine They knew no better things that to Eat and Drink and make provision for the Flesh therefore for all that time of their Ignorance I will not regard I will Wink at it But now God Calls for Repentance So you find it in Acts 17. 30. And the times of this Ignorance God Winked at but now God Calleth all men every where to Repent As if the Lord should say As for the times of your Ignorance though you were very Prophane very Superstitious very Ungodly yet I am content to Wink at it but now I am content to go as it were upon a new Score Now come in and Repent and your Souls shall live Now my Brethren when Mercy comes to have a Turn towards a People who knows what may be done As thus Now suppose that a Man hath lain Sick a long time and his Sickness increases upon him and it is very dangerous If you should come to such a Man and say What means have you used What Phisicians have you had Now it appears that he hath not used such a Medicine that is Soveraign for such a Disease it hath not been tried now if that Medicine hath not been used you will have a great deal of hope concerning the Life of your Friend until it be tried and you see it doth no good that it makes no alteration upon the body of your Friend So it is here People that have liv'd Prophanely and Ungodlily and their Hearts have not been brought to God I but what hath God revealed his Grace in Christ unto their Souls Have they known the Blessed things of the Gospel If not there may be a great deal of hope For when Gods Mercy shall come to have its Turn upon this People it 's very like there are many whom God intends Everlasting good unto But now to wind up this Point in a word of Application If this be so O do not frustrate Hope There are hopes that God intends Mercy to a People when He sends the Gospel to be Preached to them at any time though they may say we have had it Preached to us before Yet if He sends it a-fresh it seems that Mercy must have the second Turn to this People I say now do not frustrate Hope First The Hope of God Himself You will say The Hope of God why God knows whether it will work upon People yea or no and that cannot be Frustrated But for the Answer to that We are to know that God is pleased in Scripture to Speak after the manner of Men and God Himself doth Speak after this manner as if He had some good hopes that People would be wrought upon when He sends His Ministers among them As that place which I named before I will send my Son surely they will reverence him I hope that will prevail And a suitable place we have of Gods expressing himself after this manner in Jer. 36. 2 3. Take thee a Roll of a Book and Write therein all the Words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel and against Judah c It may be saith God that the House of Judah will hear all the evil that I purpose unto them Go your way and preach saith God unto the Prophet it may be they will hear and return every Man from his evil way This was not now the Ministery of the Gospel but of Threatings and yet God speaks with some expectation as if so be he did expect that they should it may be they will saith God And so in Zeph. 3. 7. I said surely thou wilt fear me thou wilt receive Instruction so their dwelling should not be cut off howsoever I punished them but they rose early and corrupted all their doings God was frustrated in his Expectation yet I said surely thou wilt fear me Thus the Lord though he knows all his works from all eternity yet he speaks after the manner of Men and saith surely such and such means may do good upon such and such people O therefore let not the Expectation of the Lord be frustrated and let not the expectatitions of the Ministers of the Gospel be frustrated Certainly when they come to any place they are to
the Gospel in the Heart and for the Heart to keep it It is a very great and close Mercy a greater Mercy than to have Christ to be Born of the Body of a Woman in Luke 11. 27. And it came to pass as He spake these things a certain Woman lift up her voice and said unto Him Blessed is the Womb that Bare thee and the Paps which thou hast Sucked But He said Yea rather blessed are they which hear the Word of God and keep it Those that when they have heard the Word of the Gospel and shall keep it in their Hearts and not let it Vanish away from them but keep it I say in their Power and Life upon their Hearts they are rather Blessed than the Womb was Blessed that Bare Jesus Christ or than the Paps were Blessed that gave Jesus Christ Suck I suppose there is no Woman here but would account her self a blessed Woman if her Womb had Porn Jesus Christ and if her Paps had given Jesus Christ Suck Now here is a greater Blessedness than this for a Woman to hear the Word of the Gospel Preached unto her and to have this Word of the Gospel to rest in her Heart and for her to keep it in her heart in the Power and Life and Efficacy of it this Woman now hath a greater Blessing than if she had Born Jesus Christ in her Womb. Surely it is a great Blessing to have the blessed things of the Gospel to be kept in the Soul after the hearing of them And further A great Mercy because there is such a wonderful Power in the good things of the Gospel and therefore it must needs be a great Mercy to have those things abide upon the Heart They have such a mighty power to work good upon the Heart a mighty Convincing power they have to Convince any Soul in the World Let a Man or Woman be never so Wicked or Prophane yet there are such blessed Truth in the Gospel that is enough to Convince his Soul I say though it be never so vile and to take his Heart And we have little Cause to fear the working upon the Hearts of People only if we could but procure this that those things that we Speak might but abide upon their Hearts If we were but sure that what we Deliver in the Name of God would but abide upon their Spirits we need not fear the working upon any Soul Living let them be never so Vile there is such a mighty Power and Efficacy in those blessed things of the Gospel when they come to be Revealed And so there is a mighty Comforting power to Comfort the Soul with such Consolation as is Infinitely above all Consolation that ever it was Acquainted withal before There is a mighty Power to resist any Temptation If the Truths of God were but kept in the Soul we might make little of all Temptations in the World The Devil could have little hope to prevail with any Temptations if the Word of the Gospel did but abide upon the Heart of a Man or Woman that doth hear it This is the advantage that the Devil hath at any time when one hath been hearing of the Word if he knows that the Word is past from them and it doth not abide then he can come with Temptations and makes no question of prevailing But if the Devil knows that those Truths do abide and rest upon the Soul the Devil can have little hope to prevail The Peace of God shall keep your Hearts Fro Resi shall Guard your Hearts It shall be as a Troop of Horse to keep you from Temptations from the power and strength of Temptations You complain and say O that you would do better but Temptations are so strong that they prevail upon you Why are Temptations so strong It is because thy Soul is not acquainted with the Blessed and Glorious things of the Gospel and the Power and Life of them doth not abide upon thy Spirit And likewise the Truths of the Gospel O they have a mighty deal of Power to cleanse your Hearts 1 Pet. 2. 20. There you have mentioned the Power of the Knowledg of the Gospel when it abides in one that might be an Hypocrite and therefore not of that Efficasie that the true saving Knowledg is Yet Observe what is said there For if after they have escaped the Pollutions of the World through the Knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Now then If that Knowledg have such a cleansing Power O what Power then hath the true saving Power of the great things of the Gospel and the Glorious things of it to Cleanse the Heart Yea If those Truths do abide upon the Spirits they have a Transforming power they have a power to change the Heart into the same likeness According to that Scripture 2 Cor. 3. 18. But we all with open face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now this Gospel of the Lord is nothing else but the good things of the Gospel We behold them and that as with open Face as we do behold the Gospel of the Lord. And what then We are changed into the same Image Oh! this is a Blessed abiding it is a Blessed thing for the things of the Gospel to rest upon the Soul Why Because they have such a Power in them to Change the Heart to Transform the Heart into the very Image of them and the Truths of the Gospel have the clearest Image of God upon them the Glory of God is Imprinted upon the Truths of the Gospel Now that these should rest upon the Spirit it must needs be a great Mercy Another is this It is that which makes them indeed to be Saving All those Blessed things of the Gospel that are Revealed they never come to be Saving until they come to rest upon the Soul to be got into the Heart and there to dwell and rest Mark that Scripture in James 1. 21. Wherefore lay a part all Filthiness and Superstuity of Naughtiness and receive with Meekness the Ingraffed Word which is able to save your Souls Mark Receive with Meekness the Word But how The Ingraffed Word which is able to save your Souls The Word of God can never save your Souls till it comes to be an Ingraffed Word Now these things I premise to shew you the Excellency of this that so I might have the more ground for an Exhortation by and by To labour to keep the Word of God I mean those Truths of the Gospel that at any times comes to be discovered to you Now by way of Application as brief as may be First In the First place Hence we see cause the Ministers of the Gospel especially see cause bitterly to Lament the want of this in their Auditory ordinarily It 's true There are few that are faithful Preachers of the Gospel but they do find that
than by the dreadful Threats of the Law For the Gospel shews that sin makes such a dreadful Breach between God and the Creature that only the Son of God made Man and put under a Curse can make up the Breach again In the Red-glass of the Blood of Jesus Christ that is Preached to you in the Ministry of the Gospel the evil of sin is more fully discerned than in the bright Crystal-glass of the Law that doth discover somewhat but this shews you more It shews you that those beloved sins of yours that you have Imbrac'd and have had a great deal of Sweetness and Gain by O they are such Snakes and Vipers in your Bosom as makes such a Breach between God and your Soul that only the Son of God paying an Infinite price for the Satisfying for these can take away from you And further The Gospel doth discover more to Debase a Man than any thing can possibly be Imagined There is nothing that doth more discover that which may Abase Men and bring them Low and make them Vile in their own Eyes than the Gospel Why The Gospel doth shew unto them that they are by Nature the Enemies to God It is the Gospel doth discover that because it is the Doctrine of Reconciliation and it doth discover that all a Mans Righteousness is nothing his own Righteousness is nothing in point of Salvation for Justification that whatsoever Righteousness a Man hath by common Gifts by his good Nature it will not serve his turn in the Day of Jesus Christ he may perish notwithstanding It takes a Man off from all his Civil Righteousness and so makes him to be as a vile wretched Creature before the Lord and one that must lie upon meer pure Mercy or else must perish to all Eternity whatsoever he thought himself he must be taken from his own bottom even from that which his Soul Imbrac'd and was as dear unto him as his own Soul he must be taken from all O now this is a hard saying and who can bear it The Gospel doth teach Self-denial that we must deny our own Excellency every beloved Lust and to be nothing in a Man 's own Eyes I indeed it is the first Lesson of the Gospel saith Christ If any man will follow me let them deny themselves Now Men naturally are Proud and Haughty and what for them to come and appear before the Lord as vile wretched Caitiffs in themselves and to have all their Righteousness to be counted as filthy Rags now to see that they must be Sav'd by a Righteousness that is above them and beyond them and without them O this is very hard The Gospel requires Conditions that are very hard to Flesh and Blood that we must be willing to Sell and part with all for Christ as the wise Merchant did And besides It is a very high Mystery a thing that is above the reach of any Natural Man living and People Generally are of Slight Vain and Proud Spirits Now being partly Slight and Vain and partly Proud they will not bend their Minds to dive into those things that they are not presently able to read It is that Mystery that the Angels do stoop down to pry into and it requires a great deal of pains to behold the Glory of God in it Now the Vain and Drossy and Proud hearts of Men and Women they pass it over lightly because they see no present need of it They Thrive and injoy their Estates and they are well enough for the Flesh and all things that are Savory to them they have according to their hearts desire and what need have they to trouble themselves Many other things might be named to shew that when the Gospel comes to places why it is not entertained Quest But you will say Why doth God send it God knows it will not be entertain'd it is not with God as it is with us to go to a place at paradventures It is said If they hear them There can be no Ifs with God God knows every thing Now if God knows that before a Man comes it will not be entertain'd why doth God send it Answ 1. To that I Answer First That Gods Wayes and Judgments are Unsearchable and past finding out in this thing For indeed there is nothing wherein God doth appear more Wonderful in His Wayes and Judgments past finding out than in this in sending the Gospel sometimes to a place where He sees it will not prevail and denies it to another place where He sees that if it were among them it would be likely more to prevail You will say This is strange and yet this is certain This is the Administrations of God that sometimes God denies the Gospel to a place where He doth see that if He sent it they would Entertain it more and sends it to another place where He sees they will not Entertain it Now to make this out by Scripture that Text is clear for it in Mat. 11. 21. Wo unto thee Chorazin Wo unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty Works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sydon they would have Repented long ago in Sack-cloth and Ashes It is a strange Speech almost as any one that is in Scripture Here 's Chorazin and Bethsaida have the Gospel sent to them and they did not Entertain it Saith Christ If the Works that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sydon they would have Repented and yet I denied it to them and sent it to you Now there can be no Reason given of this but only this The Judgments of God are unsearchable and His Wayes past finding out Gods Mercies are His own the Gospel is His own and He will send it where He pleases Secondly But then Secondly The Lord sends His Gospel For though perhaps it be rejected for the generallity yet there may some one Soul Entertain it among a People that shall so much reject it and for the sake of that one God may send it God may send Ministers to a Congregation to spend their very Heart and Strength and Life and it may be may intend some one or two Souls that are as unlikely as others perhaps some one or two poor Servant or Child and it is worth the Life of any Man if he may be Blest to call home one or two in his Life time You know the Lord lets it Rain and the Intendment of the Rain it is to Water the Earth but abundance of it falls upon Tiles and Stones but likewise it falls upon your Beds in your Gardens and the Intendment I say is for the benefit of the Ground So the Ministry of the Gospel Gods chief Intent is for the good of Souls though God causes the Ministry of it to be generally The Gospel is Preached to Congregations and for the generallity it doth but as it were Rain upon the Tiles and Stones I but there are some Beds that have some good Seeds in them and
shew John again those things which ye do hear and see the Blind receive their sight and the Lame walk and the Lepers are cleansed and the Deaf hear and the Dead are raised and the Poor have the Gospel Preached to them And as some of the Evangelists have it Poor receive the Gospel Observe why Christ brings this He brings it in as an Argument that he was the Messiah John would know whether He was the Messiah How shall he know it Why go and tell him The Blind receive their sight the Lame walk the Lepers are cleansed the Deaf hear the Dead are raised These are good Arguments to prove that Christ was the Messias If Christ could Work such Miracles as to give sight to the Blind to make the Lame to walk to cleanse the Lepers to cause the Deaf to hear and to raise the Dead these indeed were good Arguments But how comes in the last And the Poor receive the Gospel How is this an Argument that Christ is the Messias One would think that this should rather be an Argument that He is not the Messias They might say I indeed there are these great things done by Him but there is one thing makes us suspect that He is not the Messias For our Great Rich and Learned Men they do not receive Him only a Company of poor Ignorant People this Vulgar sort For so was the Arguing of the Pharisees there in John 7. 48. say they when the Officers were Affected with the Ministry of Christ Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him Have any of them Believed on Him But this People that knoweth not the Law are Cursed Only a Company of poor Ignorant People they believe on Christ But the Rulers have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees the Great Men and the Rich Men the Learned Men Have they believed You see that this was a Stumbling-block whereby they would perswade Men that Christ was not the Messias But mark That which Men make the great Stumbling-block why Christ is not the Messias that Christ makes unto John the great Argument why He was the Messias Because the Poor receive the Gospel And Christ doth put this among his other Miracles And you will say How is this an Argument Thus It is one of the greatest Miracles that ever Christ wrought and it may well be Reckoned among those Miracles of giving Eyes to the Blind and Hearing to the Deaf Thus To make one that is a poor weak Creature that hath but a mean Capacity yet that such a one shall be able to see into the Great and High and Glorious Mysteries of the Gospel that the Angels desire to pry into So to see into the Reolity and the Certainty and the Glory of those Mysteries that he dares venture his Soul and his Eternal Estate upon I say This is as great a Work of a â—od as ever any Work that God did in this World and therefore it may well be put among Christs Miracles â—nd an Argument that Christ is the Messias If Christ shall Reveal such Glorious things that are the Objects of the Understanding of Angels to poor Illiterate People when as the Wise of the World shall not be able to see them but shall Reject them They shall not see so much as to dare to venture the loss of a Lust for them of any Creatures contentment for them but a poor weak Man or Woman Illiterate that understands but little in other things shall come to see so much the Glory of God shining in the Face of Christ as he dares venture not only all outward Comforts in this World but his Soul and Eternal Estate upon the Grace of God in his Son Here 's a mighty Work of Christ The Poor they come then to receive the Gospel it is Preached to them and they receive it and hereby Christ shews his Power Now hath Christ shown such a Miraculous Work of his upon thy Soul when he hath past by others that are Understanding and Men of Parts yet Reveal'd such deep and hidden Mysteries of the Gospel unto thee Oh admire at the Grace of God in his Son to thee and Bless him for this is not an ordinary Mercy it is a choice Mercy The Gospel is Rejected many times where it comes and thou seest it only God hath made a separation between thee and others As I told you of that Speech of Judas not Iscariot Lord saith he Why is it that thou Revealest thy self unto us and not unto the World Thou hast cause to wonder at it indeed Sixthly And then further that we may hasten to what remains If this be so that Gods sends the Gospel where it is Rejected hence be not Scandalized when you see it Despised and Contemned Let none be Scandalized at it so saith Christ in Mat. 11 when he saith The Poor have the Gospel Preached to them in the next words And Blessed is he whosoever is not offended in me For Men are ready to be offended when they see great Ones Reject the Ministry of the Gospel But you hear that God sends it where it is Rejected therefore be not you offended do not think that because others do not Imbrace it therefore there is nothing in it and why should I There is this Temptation in the Hearts of many though while they are Hearing of the Gospel Preached their Hearts are taken with what they Hear and they are Convinc'd but when they go away and are among their Companions and others that they find to slight all and to disregard all their Hearts are taken off likewise But O learn by this Point never to be Scandalized by others casting off the Gospel For it is that which Christ hath forewarned his Ministers when they go to Preach he doth intimate to them that they must expect that their Ministry must not prevail with all 7ly Lastly Is this true That God sends the Preaching of the Gospel where he sees it will and doth not prevail with many Now let every one of you lay his hand upon his Heart and think thus with himself Is it I Am I the man am I the Woman to whom Jesus Christ shall be Preached and shall not prevail O the Lord forbid that this should be so though it doth not prevail with others such and such yet God forbid that it should not prevail with my Heart let me imbrace it so much the rather Do I see Jesus Christ rejected by others O it is that which should go neer to my Heart that the Lord is rejected by any and shall he be rejected by me too the Lord forbid that as Christ said to his Disciples when others forsook him And will ye also go away O whither shall we go from thee saith Peter for with thee are the words of Eternal life so dost thou see others slight and neglect the glorious Ministry of the Gospel and wilt thou do so wilt thou add to the dishonour of the Gospel too
Estates and Liberties and Lives and all to be at Gods dispose so as they are resolved that they will never enjoy any of them but only in God and for God O how far are People from this No they love their Estates too much and they will see what they shall have before they part with them And thus that all the Ministers of the Gospel Preach unto you concerning God and Christ are but meer Notions but we are sure our Money and Estates have something in them and so their Hearts embrace this present World and reject Jesus Christ and do you so Well saith God Pack up your Commodities again I have no more People in this Place therefore go and carry them some-where else there is another People that will know the worth of these things there is a People in the World that will be willing to renounce their Lusts and to give up all that they have unto me if they may have but this Gospel preached to them therefore go somewhere else Just as we Read of the Apostles in the Acts 13. 46. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold they were not daunted and said It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you but seeing ye put it from you and judge your selves unworthy of Eternal Life lo we turn to the Gentiles Indeed you are the Jews and in Profession the only People of God for the present and therefore we were to come to offer it at first to you but seeing you judg your selves unworthy of Eternal Life that is if you by your carriage do manifest that you are a People no wayes suitable to this glorious Gospel then we turn to the Gentiles we will pack up our Commodities and go to some others that will buy it and indeed if there be any thing in the World that makes a Faithful Minister go from any Place it is the rejection of his Ministry Other things are no such Arguments as this is and if there be any thing can Warrant it this as much as any thing by vertue of this Scripture and by vertue of my Text Let your Peace return to you again and be gone to some other Place We know the Scripture saith that Pearls are not to be cast before Doggs and Swine And indeed when Men shall prise their Swinish Lusts before the Pearl of the Gospel all the good that is tendred to them in Jesus Christ what are they in Gods esteem but as Swine and why should Pearls always lye before them that they should trample them under-foot and therefore the Lord would have his Light to be removed God Warrants his Ministers in some Cases so to do But let people know that this is a dreadful condition if this should fall out concerning them If the Lord should begin to make a tender of the Mercy of Christ to a People or particular Souls and if God should take it away again that Soul or People is in a most dreadful condition Perhaps you think you may spare it well enough but know if you can do well enough without the Gospel the Gospel can do well enough without you when that is taken away from a Place the very light of that Place is taken away there is double darkness I remember I have read of the Christians in Chrysostoms time howsoever people now make little esteem of the preaching of the Gospel yet the Christians were so affected with Chrysostom's Ministry the Story saith that when he was silenced by a Wicked Empress they did profess That they would rather have the Sun withdraw the beams of light from the World then that the mouth of John Chrysostom should be stopt they saw so much good in his Ministry he preaching Christ to them that if it were put to their choice whether they would be without the beams of the Sun or his Ministry they would rather chuse to be without the beams of the Sun than his Ministry It 's true we are not to arrogate such things to any particular man now we do not speak to that end no but to the Ministry it self What if God take away a faithful Ministry we do not speak of any particular men that are sent to Preach the Gospel to you But certainly if God take away the clear light of the Gospel indeed that Gospel that opens Jesus Christ and the way of Salvation and Eternal life to your Souls O what if God take away that from you either take that from you or you from that that you shall never come to hear the Mysteries of it opened more but instead of the glorious things of it you should hear some pleading for Ceremonies Cross or Surplice or Cringing and that should be the Chaff that you should be fed withall I say when God takes away this from a People he takes away the light from them and leaves them in darkness It is not such a fruit of Love and Mercy from the Lord to give fruitful seasons and to bless you in your Trading as for the Lord to send the Ministry of peace among you to open the unsearchable Treasures and Riches of Jesus Christ that 's the special Token of Gods love to such a place and when that 's removed then the special note of the love of God is removed and when he takes away that he takes away the Bread of life from you and therefore the absence of the Word is called a Famine We read of the poor people in Egypt they came and sold all that they might have Bread It may be some of you complain of great Taxations and want of Trading and your Estates decay and the like I but doth not God recompence this with a more plentiful use of the Gospel than ever he did before and doth not this Recompence you for the trouble that you suffer and the loss of your Estates I make no question but there are many Souls since the beginning of this Parliament that are now in Heaven that were alive and did suffer much for a while but are now in Heaven and blessing God for these Two or Three Years and I know no greater Argument of a Carnal Base and Vile Heart than this for them to be alwayes complaining of the loss of their Estates and not to think it at all made up with the liberty of Gods Ordinances and with the more clear light of the glorious Gospel that shines among them whereas did the Gospel take your Hearts indeed you would bless God It 's true Lord my Estate is less than before but Blessed be thy Name that we live to hear Jesus Christ and the way of Life and Salvation opened further to us than heretofore If God should take you away perhaps then your Consciences would accuse you and say we had an Opportunity wherein we heard Jesus Christ opened to us in his Natures and in his Offices O had we taken that time how happy had it been for us Further Perhaps Carnal Hearts may think it
nothing to have the Gospel taken from them yet when that is taken from you know that the Kingdom of God is taken from you that place in Mat. 21. 43. is very remarkable O this is one of the dreadfullest Threats therefore say I unto you The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof When you have the preaching of the Gospel in the clearness if it among you know that you have the Kingdom of God among you Now God doth require that you should bring forth the fruits thereof therefore examine your own Hearts what fruits of the Kingdom of God are in my Life in my Family Why the Kingdom of God is among us that 's the meaning of Christ's and Johns preaching Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand that is now comes the Revelation of Jesus Christ in the Gospel and he calls people to Repent upon this Ground O Repent and Turn from your sins Why for the Revelation of Jesus Christ is come among you I say to you in this place therefore Repent Repent now for the Lord is coming to Open the Kingdom of Heaven and to Reveal the Grace of Christ and the Glorious things of Eternal Life to you and therefore if you should please your selves rather in sporting upon the Lords Day and going to Ale-Houses and Wicked places rather than Attending upon the Word why the Lord may take away this Gospel and so take away the Kingdom of Heaven from you and the taking that from you it is but a fore-runner to the depriving of you from the Everlasting Kingdom that the Saints shall have to all Eternity And know there is no Dallying with God for when thou comest to the Offer of Mercy in Christ saith Christ either come in or not Christ calls for your Answer quickly Though the Lord be very patient towards men that never yet understood the Offering of the Gospel of Christ but if they come once to have Christ preached to them they must not expect the like patience When John began to preach Christ you know what he said Now is the Axe lay'd to the root of the Tree And why now more than before Because now the Kingdom of Heaven is to be preached to them and now Every Tree that bringeth not forth good Fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the Fire Perhaps they have gone this Thirty or Forty Years and there was no Hewing of them down but now the Axe is lay'd to the root of the Tree You know that of Christ to his Apostles go your wayes and preach saith he He that Believes shall be Saved and he that Believes not shall be damned there is no more ado either Believe and be Saved or Believe not and be Damned there is quick work and indeed that 's a Point that I would very gladly have been upon even the Consideration of the Quick Work of God upon those Souls that shall reject the Ministry of the Gospel Sermon VI. Luke 10. 6. If not it shall return to you again THere are Two Points more remaining which is to be the Subject of this Excercise The First is this That those that are not the Sons of Peace what is means you have had already opened that do not imbrace the Ministry of the Gospel they shall have no Blessing from the peace of the Gospel they shall not be partakers of the good of the Gospel Secondly That God is very quick with those that do not embrace his Gospel Go and say peace if there be a Son of peace well and good they shall have peace if not It shall return saith Christ From the manner of the phrase that note was raised That God doth use to be very quick with those that do not embrace the Gospel I shall be very short in the Former of these two because I would gladly have a little more time in the Latter Those who entertain not the Gospel they shall not have the Blessing of it I shall not need to go far for another Scripture which is indeed a very dreadful one to this purpose Luke 14. 14. For I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my Cup. We have there a Parable A certain man made a great Supper and bade many The meaning is this It is to set out God the Fathers preparing of his Son and of these Blessed Dainties at the Marriage of his Son The scope of it is to shew the excellent things of the Gospel that they are no other but the Dainties that are prepared by the great King of Heaven at the Marriage of his Son The Scope of it is to shew the excellent things of the Gospel that they are no other but the Dainties that are prepared by the great King of Heaven at the Marriage of his Son unto Souls unto Believers Well there are sent his Ministers they are the Servants of this King they are sent to Invite to this Marriage to Invite men to partake of the Blessed things of the Gospel Upon this Invitation we see that generally it was rejected One saith he hath bought a Farm another a Yoak of Oxen and another hath Marryed a Wife c. and the Ministers they come in and give this account to God Lord we have according to thy Command invited them to come in to partake take of the good things of the Gospel but these are their Excuses their hearts are set upon other things Now mark their doom in ver 24. For I say unto you that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my Supper That is do they thus reject it and slight it and disregard it I say to you I profess it that there 's not one of them shall make such a slight account of that Blessed Gospel of mine and the glorious things contained therein not one of them that shall taste of my Supper Only one Text more in Rom. 2. 8. But unto them which are contentious and do not obey the truth that must needs be meant of the truth of the Gospel but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Those who are set upon their evil wayes and will not obey the truth you see what their Doom is The first is privative That they shall not taste of the Supper the other is Positive Wrath and indignation and anguish shall be upon them You will say That this shall return What then What great Evil wil follow upon this what most dreadful Evils Why first The very want and privation of the Infinite good that the Gospel tenders to thee is evil enough and the remaining under all those Evils that the Gospel would have delivered thee from that 's evil enough as thus What doth the Gospel return and the Blessing from you why then you remain under the guilt of all your Sins and stand charged
the Preaching of the Word of the Gospel to the Rain that comes down from Heaven upon the Ground Now saith he in v. 7. For the Earth which drinketh in the Rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth Herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth Blessing from God but that which beareth Thorns and Bryars is rejected and is nigh unto Cursing whose end is to be burned So those people that do receive the Dews and Showers of the blessed Truths of the Gospel and brings forth Fruit and Works meet for him that doth Dress them and grants them such Showers these shall receive Blessing from God but mark v 8. But that which beareth Thorns and Bryars is rejected and is nigh unto Cursing whose end is to be burned That is those people that live under the showers of the Gospel and yet bring forth nothing but Bryars and Thorns that is wicked Works they live prophanely and ungodlily notwithstanding all the showers of the Word that comes upon them Mark what the Text saith such a one is nigh unto Cursing he doth not say presently he is Cursed no not so but he saith He is rejected and is nigh to Cursing whose end is to be burned that is continuing so his end is to be burnt You will say How long shall he continue so No he cannot continue long for the Text saith he is nigh to Cursing And in Rev. 11. you read there of the Witnesses those Witnesses the Ministers of the Gospel especially that stood up to Witness for Christ in vers 4. they are called Two Olive Trees The Ministers of the Gospel for they are the special Witnesses to Christ they are Two Olive-Trees that is they bring Peace to people Do not think that these things can any ways contradict what was said before they do bring peace and because their Message of peace is such a blessed Message therefore it is that the Lord is so severe against those that do reject it They are as Olive-trees to bear the Emblem of Peace and as Candlesticks standing before the God of the Earth but then mark in vers 5. If any man will hurt them if any man will oppose them fire proceedeth out of their mouths and devoureth their Enemies and if any man will hurt them he must in this manner be killed They are Olive-trees they come and bring peace but if they be opposed and hurt then even fire comes out of their mouths It is strange that those that are Olive-branches should have fire in their mouths The Witnesses of Christ they are Olive-branches that have the Message of peace but if they be opposed and rejected and hurt then fire comes out of their mouths and devours their Enemies By this fire is meant the Ministry of their Word the Lord makes it be as a consuming Fire to the Souls of those that shall reject their Ministry and that you may see Gods quickness in dealing with those that he calls to Repentance and offers any Mercy to you have in the Old Testament somewhat but in the Old Testament the Lord never revealed his Grace so clearly and therefore we cannot expect so much of Gods quickness there as in the New and yet mark what he saith in Jer. 18. 9. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation to build and to plant it if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my Voice then will I repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them If I come and speak unto a Nation and offer them Mercy and tell them of my Grace if that Nation doth evil in my sight at that very instant when I speak if they do not turn from their evil wayes I will repent of all the good and I will take all my goodness from them You see that God expects to have you at an instant You many times would have your Children and Servants come as soon as you do call or else you are ready to fly in their Faces certainly God may justly expect that at what instance he should call that you should come in The Lord may be too quick for you your day may be past the day of Grace and Salvation may be past I say before you are aware before your repenting time comes Gods forgiving time may be past Though it is true you will say At what time a man repents I that is if God give him a heart But what if God will not give thee a heart but will harden thy heart and give thee up to thy self at what instant saith the Text And then another Text is in Mal. 3. beginning Behold I will send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple Now this is apparently meant concerning Christ but saith he Who may abide the day of his coming so he goes on and shews how severe he will be and then in vers 5. I will come near to you to Judgement and I will be a swift witness against the Sorcerers and against the Adulterers and against false Swearers and against those that oppress the Hireling in his gates c. Christ when he comes he comes to be a swift Witness against them that live in their Wicked wayes after his coming Indeed all mens sins do witness against them but now those that live in Prophaneness and Wickedness when Christ is come among them I say they are to expect Christ to be a swift Witness against them How quick did the Lord deal with his People upon their rejection of the Land of Canaan they did often sin against God in the Wilderness but when they came to the Land of Canaan and had an offer of the Land of Canaan having sent Spies to see the good Land and they came and declared what a Good Land it was and yet some discouraging of them because of the Children of Anack they were Rebellious and would not go to the Land to enter upon it because of the difficulty they should endure No God presently Swears against them he takes a Solemn Oath that they should never Enter into his Rest so you have it in Heb. 4. God did never Swear against them till they came to have the proffer of the Land and upon their first rejection of it after the Offer and declaring to them the good Fruit of it upon the very first rejection the Lord Swears in his Wrath that they should not Enter into it and so they were to turn back again into the Wilderness Now we are to know this Land of Canaan to be a Type not only of the Church but of Heaven it self and of the good things of the Gospel Now those that live in the Wilderness and do not know the good Land of Canaan and have not the Offer of it the Lord may bear a long time with them but now when it comes to this that the Lord doth reveal unto them the Blessed things of Christ and make
to it Why lest he be angry lest the Son of God be angry The anger of the Son of God is a dreadful anger the Anger of God the Father is dreadful and yet the Anger of the Son of God in some respect is more dreadful as the Anger of the Holy Ghost is most dreadful of all because the Scripture saith The sin against him can never be forgiven And next Kiss the Son and that because there is so much Mercy in the Son therefore if he be rejected his anger is so much the more dreadful And lest you perish in the mid-way that is when you hope to live many years to have many more Merry-meetings with your Companions and do not think your selves to be nigh to perishing saith the Text In the mid way the Lord comes upon such when they least think of it The Lord comes upon many and cuts them off in the middle of their years This Consideration no question it was in part that caused Saint Paul when the Lord Christ was Revealed to him that he dared not put off a day no saith the Text Gal. 1. 15 16. When it pleased God who seperated me from my Mothers Womb and called me by his Grace to reveal his Son in me that I might Preach him among the Heathen immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood immediately as soon as ever God was pleased to reveal Christ to me or in me I did not confer with flesh and blood that is I dar'd not so much as Reason about the difficulty of the way or what I should suffer if I took this course I dar'd not go to my Company and take their Advice and Counsel No saith he but as soon as ever the Lord was pleased to reveal Christ in me I presently went about the Work and so in the 26th of the Acts where he tells the story of his Conversion speaking of Gods revealing himself to him in that glorious way of a Vision Whereupon O King Agrippa I was not disobedient to the Heavenly Vision the very first Vision I presently submitted to Paul he fell down and said Lord what wilt thou have me to do upon the first manifestation of Christ unto him O do you take heed that you be not disobedient to the Heavenly Vision perhaps together with the Ministry of the Word the Lord may grant to some of your Souls a Vision that is he may come with his Spirit and shew some of the Glory of his Son to you O be not disobedient to the Heavenly Vision but immediately yield to it and confer not with flesh and blood O but you will say this is hard you come at first and say Peace to us but this is very severe to tell us how quick the Lord is But Observe it It is but severity to those that put off Mercy then if you love Mercy so well what need you fear this Severity But further Know that upon your receiving of the Gospel the Lord will be as quick with you in wayes of Mercy as he is in Judgments to those that do reject it You will say How quick will the Lord be in the wayes of his Mercy Thus quick that upon thy receiving the Gospel and Believing the very first instant of thy receiving it thou shalt be delivered from all thy sin the guilt of all thy sin thou shalt be made as clear from the guilt of sin as the Child that is new born and more clear a great deal How quick is God now Yea thou shalt be made as clear from the guilt of all thy great sins that thou hast committed I say as clear from the guilt of them as the Saints are in Heaven and this at the first moment of thy Entertaining of Jesus Christ thou shalt be as clear as Abraham Isaac and Jacob thou shalt be equal with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the point of thy Justification yea in regard of any guilt of sin thou shalt be as unspotted before the Lord as the Saints are in Heaven O the Lord is willing to be quick with you in wayes of Mercy Now then consider of both Here we set Life and Death before you we know it is not in Mens power indeed but we know God doth use to Bless his Ministry so as to convey power by his Ministry God is quick both wayes upon Entertaining he is quick in wayes of Mercy presently to clear the Soul from all those horrible Wicked Sins that thou hast been guilty of and if thou shalt reject it then thou may'st fear that the Lord will be quick with thee another way O consider what hath been said in this Point and in this Text and the Lord give you understanding FINIS Doct. Appl. Obs Exhort His house being visited it was thought he was Dead Doctr. Doctr. Appl. Vse Doct. 2. Doct. 3. Reas 1. Appl. Doct. 2 Doct. Appl. Doct. 2 Appl. Doct. 3. Reas Doct. Doct. Doct. 1 2. 3. Appl. Doct. Appl.