who humbleth and exalteth saith the wise Son of Syrach And Solomon whose Words have yet greater Weight saith whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker and he that is glad at Calamities shall not be unpunished So the Prophet Habakkuk saith That he was humbled at these Disasters of Midian and Cushan that he himself might rest in the day of trouble Who wisely and seriously consider the Instability of humane Affairs will neither be lifted up with their own Prosperity nor will they insult over their Neighbours Misery For what is the ones Case to Day may be the others to Morrow Who at present braves it out with Pride and Scorn may within a little time come to be contemptible Quem dies vidit veniens superbum Hunc dies vidit fugiens jacentem Res Deus nostras celeri citatas turbine versat Secondly We see here that the Church and People of God are often visited with the Rod of Afflictions The Text declareth it and if any Persons doubt it let them read the History of the Church and they shall be fully convinc'd As for the Iewish Church 't was first sadly oppress'd in Egypt and thereafter for the space of forty Years 't was exercised in a barren Wilderness with divers kinds of Afflictions After they came to Canaan during the time of the Judges they were often brought low They had Peace a part of David's and all Solomon's Life but afterwards it was continually interrupted till they were carried Captive to Babylon When they were brought back and restored to their own Land they were not settled without hot Debates and Contests with their Neighbours and after their Settlement they had severe Wars and were kept in continual Exercise with divers sore Troubles until Christ as appears from Iosephus and the History of the Maccabees And as for the Christian Church Trouble sprang up with it and continually attended it for the space of Three Hundred Years it suffered Ten severe General Persecutions besides many sad particular Conflicts And tho' after that the Emperours and Rulers turned Christian there was no general Persecution for the Name of Christ and the Sake of the Gospel yet there was no particular Church or People without the Rod of Correction They have been visited either with Foreign Wars or Intestine Divisions with Pestilence or Famine or some other Calamity No Nation or People can boast of an Immunity from such Disasters but for the space of One Hundred Years As Man in his private Capacity so States and Societies are born to Trouble Nor is an Exemption from the same among the Privileges of the People of God The Roman Church makes Temporal Felicity one of the Notes of the true Church But her Infallibility appears as little here as in other things For as it is no where promised in Scripture so no Church can de facto shew it She her self would fail if she were put to prove her self the true Church by this for where was her Temporal Felicity when Rome it self was sacked and the Pope shut up in Prison Calamities and Afflictions do indeed indicate that they who suffer them are Sinners But they do not prove them to be Reprobates and Cast-aways for the People of God may expect them as well as others nay they may look for them more than others because God is more jealous of them and his glory is more concerned to Punish Sin in them Thirdly We may observe here that even when God is most provoked to lay on his afflicting Hand and to Punish he doth not forbear to shew Kindness And that in the extreamest Misery there is still ground to Hope in God for a Deliverance None ever provoked God more than the People of Israel and Iudah in the days to which this Prophecy referrs nor did any Peoples case look more desperate than theirs when carried Captive by the King of Assyria And yet you see here that the Prophet in regard to them then saith when I fall I shall rise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me As God casts down with one Hand he lifts up with another Soepe premente Deo fert Deus alter opem Thus when he cast the Israelites out of their own Land he made them to find favour with the People among whom they were dispersed God wisely tempereth his Punishments so that while they vindicate his Holiness and Justice they also serve to manifest his Mercy and Good-will God hath no pleasure in Wickedness and therefore when he seeth it he punisheth it But all his hatred being against the Crime and not the Person therefore he saveth and comforteth them and maketh their very Afflictions tend to their Good unless they have made themselves altogether incorrigible and have hardned their Hearts against all his Methods and then indeed he gives them up to Destruction When he sees it necessary to withdraw external and worldly Comforts he doubles inward and spiritual Consolations So the Prophet Isaiah having denounced Judgments against Israel he addeth And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of Affliction yet shall not thy Teachers be removed into a corner any more but thine eyes shall see thy Teachers and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying this is the way walk ye in it when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left The felicity of the Soul is to be preferred to the welfare of the Body and Spiritual Consolations to Worldly Advantages Now because ordinarily People are insensible of the former and indisposed to receive them while the latter abound with them Therefore he takes away this that they may seek the other and be capable of them so that we really gain by our losses and our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Thus it is said Hos. ii 14. Therefore behold I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her and I will give her her vineyards from thence and the valley of Achor for a door of hope and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt These words shew that God comforteth his People in their Afflictions and therefore afflicteth them that he may make them sensible of his Kindness and have occasion to speak comfortably to them As also that in due time he will deliver them and make them to rejoice for the days wherein they have been afflicted It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. There is always ground to hope and never reason to despair be our condition never so low perplex'd and troubled For he is
which touch them but are not so soon sensible of the Cause and Occasion which make them groan longer under the Distemper Ephraim perceived his Sickness Iudah felt his Wound their Senses taught them both these but they had not Understanding enough to discover whence these things came they had no Sense of their Sins and Transgressions and were slow in considering that the Reason they were so pinched and infested was because they sinned and would not frame their Doings to turn unto their God And it is just so with the Generality of the World at this time Men have sense enough to perceive the outward Evils that are upon them but scarce any to discover the Hand which inflicts them or the Cause which procures it Touch a Man in his Body in his Fortune or in any thing dear unto him he will be quickly sensible of it and ready enough to complain But there be few so wise as to acknowledge that the Root of the Matter is in themselves People ordinarily throw all the Blame of their Trouble from off themselves upon other external things he that is sick finds fault with his Diet or his riding and travelling unseasonably and in unwholsome Weather he that is wronged and oppressed chargeth and accuseth such and such Persons as perhaps are the immediate Instruments thereof in times of publick Calamity and Disasters all the Talk is how they began and after what manner they proceeded if the Plague enter a Place the Inhabitants curiously enquire about the first Person who brought it in if Fire take hold of a City the Discourse is about the small Occasion of its beginning and the Unwariness of the Servant who kindled it Statesmen and Politicians resolve Wars civil Broils and Factions Oppressions and other things of the like Nature into Political Causes Philosophical Heads exercise their Wits in finding out natural Reasons of Famine Pestilence immoderate Drought excessive Rains and other such Judgments according to the uncertain Hypothesis of some vain System they have imbib'd And thus Mens Thoughts are carried off from the serious Consideration of the true that is the moral and meritorious Cause of all the Evils that are upon them They reflect not upon their own Sins nor the Sins of the Land they live in They say not with David Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore there is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin For mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me It 's long before People come to lay to Heart that the Evils which are upon them are because the Lord hath a controversie with the Inhabitants of the land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land that it is by reason of swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery and other abominations that the land is made to mourn To take only Notice of the immediate Instruments of our Trouble without enquiring into this chief Cause thereof is just but to act like Children and to do what the common Rabble do at publick Executions who only consider how the condemned Person is led to the Scaffold and after what manner the Executioner proceeds to put him to Death never reflecting upon the Sentence of the Judge nor the Transgression of the Law which yet ought chiefly to be considered Hear ye therefore the Rod and him who hath appointed it as ye feel the Evils which are laid upon you so call to mind from whom they come and for what Cause they are sent otherways Ease and Relief is not to be expected It 's necessary in order to the removing of bodily Distempers that there be first a Knowledge of the Nature and Cause of the Disease without this there can be no Cure all Applications are ineffectual even so the first step to remove the Wrath of God and the sad Effects of it is to find out those Sins and Transgressions which have occasioned it till this be done it 's in vain to struggle and to use Endeavours for the saving our selves it is but as the common Proverb is a striving against a stream which is too strong for us And thus I am brought to a third Observation and it is this That when God is visiting with his Iudgments people are seldom so wise as to address themselves first to God but they ordinarily in the first Place have recourse to second Causes and humane Endeavours which tends but to their greater ruine and mischief Ephraim and Iudah here instead of making Application to God sent to the King of Assyria and addressed to King Iareb So when Sickness comes upon Men the Physician is sent for and he is required to use his Skill and to apply his Remedies and with the Woman in the Gospel who had the bloody Issue they seek not out for Christ till they have spent much upon the Physicians to no purpose and that their Art and Skill hath been quite baffled When Men are opprest and born down all their Thoughts are how to get an Interest in some great Personage and ingage him to espouse their Cause and thereby counter-balance the Power of the Person that oppresses them In a word every one considers the nearest and likeliest Method and Means of procuring to themselves Ease and Relief and when they have discovered the same they are wholly bent on it and the Eagerness of Men to be saved by those means which their own Prudence has suggested keeps them from exercising that Trust and Dependance on God which is necessary Men have not Faith enough ordinarily to commit their cause entirely to God and they walk so much by Sight that they can put little Trust where they see no visible Means and because ordinarily God works by rational means and has established in the World a settled Order and a Series of Causes for producing certain Effects they too much imagine that these things work necessarily and that they cannot be disappointed of the Effects while they make use of the Means and Causes which ordinarily produce them Whereas all things depend upon the Blessing of God and only work and take effect as he is pleased to give the Word unto them I do not say that prudent Means and Methods should be neglected or that Men should expect Deliverances miraculously when these other may take Place But that in seeking to save our selves from any Danger or Judgment we ought to apply our selves to God and as we ought never to use any means for our safety but what is lawful so in the Use of the most lawful and most proper means we ought to depend entirely upon God for the Success else we may expect these Means to be blasted or what is worse to turn to our Hurt and greater Damage As we see here befel the Israelites for the King of Assyria whom they sent to
p. 123 SERMON VI. On Easter Day 1 Pet. I. 3 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ from the Dead To an inheritance incorruptible and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you p. 166 SERMON VII On Easter Day 1 John V. 12. He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life p. 195 SERMON VIII On Easter Day 1 Cor. XV. 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable p. 228 SERMON IX Rev. II. 17. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it p. 261 SERMON X. Luke VI. 46. Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say p. 296 SERMON XI A Preparation to the Holy Communion Heb. X. 22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our Bodies washed with pure Water p. 340 SERMON XII Hosea X. 12. Sow to your selves in Righteousness reap in Mercy Break up your fallow Ground for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain Righteousness upon you p. 385 SERMON XIII Hosea V. 13 14 15. When Ephraim saw his sickness and Iudah saw his Wound Then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Iareb yet could he not heal you nor cure you of your Wound For I will be unto Ephraim as a Lion and as a young Lion to the house of Iudah I even I will tear and go I will take away and none shall rescue him I will go and return unto my Place till they Acknowledge their Offence and seek my Face in their Affliction they will seek me early p. 416 SERMON XIV Micah VII 8 9. Rejoice not against me O mine Enemy when I fall I shall arise when I sit in Darkness the Lord shall be a Light unto me I will bear the Indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my Cause and execute Iudgment for me he will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his Righteousness p. 446 SERMON XV. 1 Tim. V. 23. Drink no longer Water but use a little Wine for thy Stomachs sake and thine often Infirmities p. 479 SERMON I. On Matth. XI 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest THESE words are worthy of all acceptation they ought to be listned to most earnestly and deserve our most serious Consideration if either we regard the Person who uttered them or the Matter contained in them For here is promised what all Men seek after here is a free and gracious Invitation to what all Men would be at to that which they toil and labour for with all their might The Wise and the Unlearned the High and the Low and all the World pursue this tho' they entertain different Sentiments and follow various Courses yet still they agree in this that they all would be at rest Rest to the Soul is a common End which all aim at for without this there is no happiness What is the true way to this has been the Enquiry of Philosophers and of all wise and thinking Men in all Ages The several Sects of Philosophers pretended to teach it and the same is done by all the Parties who now divide the World One alledgeth the way to rest and happiness is with them another saith it is with them But we may trust him who speaketh here we may safely rely on his Word and have reason to believe him with an implicite Faith for he neither can be deceived himself nor will he deceive others He who giveth this Invitation and maketh this Promise of Rest is the Blessed Jesus that is the greatest Person who ever appeared in Human likeness the very eternal Son of God Wisdom and Truth it self No Falsehood can come from him and he is willing that all come to the Knowledge of the Truth He loves us and wisheth our happiness more than we our selves do He had no other Errand to this World but only to procure our happiness and to direct us in the way to it We ought therefore to receive his Instruction and when he promiseth rest we have all reason to expect it and no cause to fear the missing it O! with what joy should we hear these words from him Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden c. First you see the Invitation is general to all Persons whatsoever Jesus Christ excludes none from his Mercy who do not exclude themselves by their contempt hardness and impenitency As his Benefits are highly to be valued and most desireable so they are freely and kindly offered to every one he is willing that all partake of them The Favours of Kings and Princes are reserved to a few special Friends and Favourites either because they would exhaust themselves if they bestowed many or because they are afraid of rendering them contemptible if they make them common But as Jesus Christ is an inexhaustible Treasure of all desireable riches as he is a Fountain which can never be drained so he doth not shut himself up he freely communicateth of his fulness to us If we be miserable we have only our selves to blame if we lack any thing it is because we do not ask if we cannot rest it is because we do not apply unto him We find him complaining of Mens backwardness to their own happiness but there was never any instance of his hard-heartedness Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life And to give all Confidence and Encouragement and to manifest his free and unlimited Goodness towards all therefore it is written by the Prophet Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price Again And the Spirit and the Bride say come and let him that heareth say come And let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely So here it is Come unto me all ye that labour c. The adding this doth not restrain the Invitation or make it less general for this Epithet may be made of equal extent with Mankind it self for saith the Son of Sirach great travel is created for every man and an heavy yoke is upon the Sons of Adam from the day that they go out of their mothers womb till the day that they return to the mother of all things Ecclus. xl 1. By the words of labouring and
forth It is the express Condition of all the Promises and without Faith it is declared That we cannot look for Mercy Pardon or eternal Life And this is not a new thing introduced by the Gospel But the Divine Oeconomy from the beginning of the World did require Faith which is a Second Proof of its being absolutely necessary now As it appears now to be the chief Condition required of Men under the Gospel so it was under the Law as St. Paul declares Heb. ii Nay before the Law as appears from Abraham and the other Patriarchs Of Abraham it is said That he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness Gen. xv 6. Moreover Faith was exacted of Man even before the Fall while he was in a State of Innocence For the two Trees of Knowledge and of Life which God set apart in Paradise and the Interdiction of the First by that severe Sanction in that day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die was to try and exercise Man's Faith Thus the Divine Oeconomy before the Fall and ever since before the Law under the Law and by the Gospel hath always required Faith as a necessary Condition to the obtaining God's Favour In respect to the certain and unalterable Order and Method of which Oeconomy it is that St. Paul saith without faith it is impossible to please God And tho' the Counsel of God be secret and his Methods for the most part unaccountable yet the Reasonableness of this doth appear from this that without Faith in this present State we neither can acknowledge all the Divine Attributes nor yet worship him with all our Faculties His Veracity Truth and Faithfulness cannot be owned otherwise than by Faith by believing his Word assenting to his Declarations relying on his Promises and trembling at his Threatnings And as all those Divine Attributes can only be acknowledged by Faith so it is only by Faith that we worship him with our Understandings It is reasonable that we worship God with the whole Man all our Faculties ought to pay him Homage But how can he have Homage from our Understandings unless we believe It is only by Acts of Faith that we declare the Submission of our Judgment to God for if we will admit or receive nothing but what is demonstrable and what we can clearly comprehend then we deny God's infinite Wisdom and Knowledge and refuse to own his Reason to be above our own which is intolerable Pride and Insolence For this Cause even to try our Faith and to give us occasion to pay him this due Homage of our Reason and Understanding it is that God proposeth to us Mysteries which are incomprehensible and hence it is also that he often absconds himself as it were he worketh not always in a God-like manner that is in a splendid glorious or such a visible Way as may force Acknowledgment from Men but often after a secret and covert manner under the Shadow of Means and Instruments of divers sorts that hereby it may be proved whether we believe him Almighty and the wise Disposer of all things and Author of all Events In the other World Faith shall cease there will be no place for it because there will be a present immediate Intuition of the Divine Nature and Attributes but now that we are absent from the Lord we walk by Faith Thus you see that as Faith is required here so it is necessary and why it is so I have also briefly laid before you And as the Text obliged us to speak of this so the times we live in make it necessary for Atheism and Infidelity are setting up their Heads and some have the Impudence in this licentious Age to dispute both the Reasonableness and Necessity of what God has clearly revealed As for you My beloved I beseech you build your selves up in your most holy Faith and let not the weak Efforts of insolent Wits shake your Faith Stand up and strive vigorously for the Faith of the Gospel which has been confirmed by so many Miracles and Prophecies by such evident Demonstrations of the Spirit and Power that if it be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not least the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them Take heed Brethren saith St. Paul lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God When we let go Faith and entertain an Heart of Unbelief we depart from God lose the Promises forfeit Heaven render our selves uncapable of Mercy and give our selves to a reprobate Mind here and to Damnation hereafter He that layeth aside Faith may also put off the Name of a Christian and all the Pretensions which that Name may give to Blessings earthly or heavenly bodily or spiritual temporal or eternal For Faith is necessarily implyed in that Name and as requisite to him that would deserve it as the Skill of Law or Physick to one that sets up for a Lawyer or Physician or Philosphy to a Philosopher Seeing therefore we own our selves to be Christians that we may be worthy of so sacred a Name let us evermore pray God with the Man in the Gospel Saying Lord encrease our Faith and help our Unbelief But now it may be very pertinently asked what this Faith is which is thus required In answer to this St. Paul hath told us the first and lowest Acts of Faith when he saith He that cometh to God must first believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him We must begin with the Belief and Perswasion of God's Existence Power Wisdom Providence and what else Reason and the Light of Nature teacheth of him But then that our Faith may be perfect we must add to it Knowledge and extend it to all the Manifestations which God hath made of himself from time to time we must embrace all the Divine Revelations and what they contain All the Declarations Laws Promises and Threatnings in God's Word are proposed as Objects of Faith and by Faith we ought to receive them that is we must own and acknowledge them to be of God and by a constant regard to them in all our Actions testifie the Firmness and Sincerity of this Belief and Perswasion More particularly our Faith must respect the Person Offices Doctrine and Actions of the Lord Jesus Christ we must receive him as the Person who was promised to Adam Abraham and the Patriarchs who was foretold by the Prophets prefigured by the Law expected by the Jews and even waited for by the Gentiles we must receive him and rely upon him as the Son of God and Saviour of the World we must embrace him as the Person whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation for Sin and the Mediator by whom and through whom only we have access unto
of other Mens For he was no less than others subject to Hunger and Thirst Cold and Heat Fainting and Weariedness and all the other things which Nature or Providence has made us liable to As he espoused our Nature so he espoused it with all its Weakness and Infirmities and with all the Trouble which ordinarily attends it Nay which is more he not only submitted to all the unavoidable Infirmities of our Nature but also to all the Misery which attends the meanest Condition of Men which the Apostle points at by the Form of a Servant The form of a servant implies somewhat more than the Nature of Man simply for every Man is not a Servant Jesus Christ has carried his humane Nature to Heaven but he is not there in the Form of a Servant for he is exalted above all When therefore St. Paul saith he took upon him the Form of a Servant he remembers us of the low and contemptible Condition in which he appeared For he came not to the World in Pomp and Splendour in the Form of a King or some great Person Nor did he aspire after a State of Grandeur Power and Command over others but chose to be born of mean and poor Parents who were totally divested of the Glory which by their descent they might have pretended to He was lodged with a Carpenter brought up in his House learned his Trade and wrought with his own hands for his Bread And though it be lawful for Men to endeavour to better their Condition if they take honest means yet he never made a Fortune to himself the foxes had holes and the fowls of the air nests but the Son of Man had no place or possession of his own where to lay his head When he entered upon the Exercise of his Ministery his Retinue was a dozen of poor Fishermen instead of splendid Walls and Schools he taught in Desarts on the Tops of Mountains and from the sides of small Ships and Boats He was born under the Law and subject to it he wore the heavy Yoke of Moses and religiously observed all his Laws He was also subject to the Romans and obliged to pay them Tribute though he owed them none In a word while he was in the World his outward Condition was base ignoble and contemptible and in that Condition he was treated like a Slave forced to endure more Hardship and Misery than ever any Slave was put to He was mocked beaten and cruelly and unmercifully used he was loaded with Contempt Injuries Reproach and all the Evils which Men or Devils could invent And yet like a good and faithful Servant he never declined his Duty nor shifted the Commands which were laid upon him but humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross This is the last Point of the Text. But I cannot enter upon it now I must pass it till another time The two Points I have handled are sufficient for the present to add more would perhaps be too great a burthen to our weak Minds I have laid before you a Mystery which was hid from the Foundation of the World but is now revealed by the Gospel a Mystery which the longest and most profound Meditation can never exhaust A Mystery which may give to all Eternity matter of Admiration both to Angels and Men A Mystery which as our Apostle saith to all that are Perfect sheweth both the Wisdom and Power of God These Divine Attributes were never so admirably manifested The Power of God is clearly seen and evidently set forth in the Creation of the World the erecting such a vast Fabrick out of Nothing the conconjoining its Parts so that they neither interfere nor breed Confusion and the adorning those various Parts with an infinite Variety of Creatures to Inhabit them is a great instance of Divine and Almighty Power So is the Production of Man the Contrivance of his Body the Faculties of his Soul and the Union of two so different Species as Matter and Spirit into one Composition But yet it is more astonishing and more incomprehensible to see the Creature Deified the God-head Embodied and the Humane and Divine Nature united together in one Person And as the Power of God is hereby seen so his Wisdom in contriving this Way to confound Satan to destroy Sin to save Mankind to declare his own Justice and to keep up the Authority of his righteous Laws Lord what Admiration may this breed How ought the Contemplation of this to transport us But Admiration ought not to be the only Effect of this Contemplation it should also engender Love and indeed if our Hearts be not hard as an Adamant and as insensible as a Stone it will enflame them with ardent love to God who hath so highly regarded us as to dignifie us beyond the Angels and any Creature in Heaven or Earth He is infinitely above us and standeth not in need of us and yet he hath had a particular Concernment for us and hath honoured us beyond Expression And that too when we were Rebels and Apostates and guilty of a Thousand Indignities done to the Deity If he had cast some Pity upon us or shewed some Commiseration after we had crouched and humbled our selves and bewailed our Sins with weeping and sorrowful Hearts it had not a little shewed his Goodness even in this Case his Mercy would have been abundantly declared But what superabundant Mercy was it to seek us first nay to court and wooe us when we hated him and were running away from him and that too by no meaner Person than his own Son God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past to the Fathers hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds Lord how little did Man deserve this And what Obligations doth this lay on Man to love fear and serve God! Again how should our Hearts cleave to Jesus Christ What a strong and passionate Affection should we have for him Who for us and for our sakes made himself of no Reputation Who to serve us and procure our good laid aside the Glory which he had before the Foundation of the World and being in the Form of God and in a State in which he thought it not Robbery to be equal to God did yet take upon him the Form of a Servant All this was his own proper deed and the meer effect of his free Love You see all is ascribed to himself and indeed there was no Force to constrain him wherefore so great and so free Love in him requires the greatest Measure of Love from us Do you think what he has done nothing Seems it little to you to exchange the Form of God for the Form of a Servant The Glory of Heaven for the Miseries of Earth Is it nothing think you for Omnipotency to be confined to the Weakness of a Child For
affront and do violence to his Priesthood They who dispute the Justice Reasonableness and Necessity of his Laws they who refuse to walk by them and who resist the Motions of his Spirit even they do violence to him as King All of this Spirit and Temper would have concurred with the Iews in crucifying him they are Enemies to our Lord and as the Apostle saith crucifie him afresh and put him to open shame And who do thus crucifie him their Sin is rather more grievous and more provoking than that of the Iews before For St. Peter saith that through ignorance they did it And St. Paul that if they had known they would not have crucified the Lord of life and glory But now he has appeared with such Light and Evidence that he cannot but be made known to all who have Eyes to see or Hearts to understand or a desire to be informed And therefore great is the guilt now of crucifying him and putting him again to shame He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace Heb. x. 28. What then shall we think of these Nations and of our selves who are Chargeable with this very great Sin What cause of Mourning and what cause of Fear have we upon this very account I may say where has there been more clear and more frequent Instruction And where has it been less observed What contempt of God and Religion What open Profanity and avowed breach of the Laws of God have been among us How often and how horridly has the Sacred Name of God been Blasphemed both Publickly and Privately How little regard has been shewed to Jesus Christ or to any thing he did or suffered for us To what purpose has his Blood and Wounds his Agony and Passion been declared and set forth to us Whose hearts have they touched How few have been prevailed upon by these to forsake Sin but on the contrary even in spite of them they go on and continue in it And all the use which some make of them is to take occasion from them to forge New and Different Oaths for setting off their Prophane and Idle Discourse Have not some run up to that height of Impiety as not only in common Conversation to mock the Doctrine and Institutions of Jesus Christ to droll upon his Person and Actions but also deliberately in Writing to publish Blasphemies that could not be tolerated amongst Mahumetans How many Scandalous Pamphlets have been written of late which either by plain Assertions or clear Innuendo's divest him of his Godhead spoil him of the Merits of his Death represent him as an Impostor and all the System of his Gospel as a Cheat tho' the whole contrivance is not only highly worthy of God but doth as fully and as evidently set forth his infinite Wisdom and Power as the Universal Frame of this Material World But tho' all have not been so grosly wicked yet all Ranks and Orders of Men Rulers Pastors and People have one way or other less or more been guilty of grieving the Holy Spirit of God and the Righteous Spirit of Jesus Christ And therefore we have reason to fear that his Anger will break forth and fall down in some heavy Judgment upon these Nations as it happened to the Iews I do not pretend to any peculiar Privacy into the Secret Councils of God nor to be acquainted with his Purposes towards the publick state of these Kingdoms wherefore I shall not denounce any particular Judgments in the Name of God having no special Warrant for it but I must say that if his Word and the Methods of his Providence be a Rule if we may take any measures of Conjecture either from his Nature or his Threatnings or the Example of others there is too much reason to look for some grievous Calamities to these Lands unless a speedy and Universal Repentance prevent it We are not the safer that we are secure Nay our Security is a sign that our Ruin and Calamity are not far off At this time when our Lord gave this Warning the Iews were very secure they thought of nothing less than the utter destruction of their Nation and State When God has been provoked to determine the Ruin of a People he useth to possess them first with a Drowsiness and to cast them into a Slumber that they may be incapable to prevent it Make the heart of this people fat make their ears heavy and shut their eyes least they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed said the Lord to Isaiah Isa. vi 10. God hath been of a long time punishing Nations and Kingdoms about us but the voice of the Rod upon others hath not awakened us for all this we have slept on in our Sins Wherefore he hath drawn a little nearer and he hath laid his Judgments at our own Door he hath shaken the Foundation of our State and with that shake tumbled many Persons from their Honours their Preferments their places of Ease Comfort and Subsistence and yet still there is little or no awakening As with Men who are suddenly interrupted in their rest and whose Sleep is hastily broken there is so much sense as to fret repine and complain of Uneasiness and to be angry with those who disturb us But there is no awakening to true Repentance no Rouzing up to Provide for our Safety and to prevent the Danger threatned He that mocked God and laughed at Religion before doth so still He that uttered Oaths and Blasphemies continues to do so the Drunkard continues his Drinking he that was Filthy Unjust or Unholy is so still every one continues his former wicked course and few break off their Sins by Righteousness or their Iniquities by shewing mercy to the Poor Surely it is meet to say unto God I have born Chastisement I will not offend any more that which I see not teach thou me If I have done iniquity I will do no more But who saith this Alas there be Few to stand in the gap to deprecate God's Wrath but too too many who by their hardness and impenitent heart treasure up to themselves and to the Nations Wrath even in this day of Wrath. If I had time I could draw a Parallel betwixt our selves and the Iews our Temper and Behaviour and theirs before all those Evils came upon them But God forbid that our End be as theirs or as some other Churches of the East who as they followed them in their Sins so they were Partakers of their Judgments But whatever be the Publick Fate of these Nations and tho' all may escape Temporal Judgments in this Life yet how do Impenitent and
because I do not look upon them as matters of such moment in themselves or of such concernment to me But believing the Truth of the Gospel and knowing the importance of what is revealed therein I find it my duty to esteem it as my necessary Food and that it is as proper and necessary to refresh my Soul with serious and daily Meditations thereof as to give my Body those repasts which Nature daily calls for This made our Apostle desire to know nothing save Iesus Christ and him crucified and to say doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Iesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. And as such a Faith is required in all the Mysteries of the Gospel so more particularly in the Mystery of the Cross the Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ and that Satisfaction he has made thereby for Sin These we should have an Eye to all in our Addresses to God and more especially such solemn Addresses as those we are now to make For he who believes this relies thereon and by vertue thereof draws near to God does confess himself a great Sinner that it had been just for God to have damned him eternally that it is only for the sake of Christ he is saved and that the Wisdom and Mercy of God is highly to be magnified in finding out such excellent Means and Methods for the Salvation of Man and by such Acknowledgments the greatest Sinner endears himself to God and conciliates his Favour and Kindness But he who denies this or has no respect thereto when he draws near to God must either not own himself a Sinner or not think it necessary to satisfie God's Justice or to repair his Honour which is provoked and affronted by Sin or he must not believe that Jesus Christ hath done this for us and that he is the only Mediator betwixt God and Man but must fancy he can come to God by himself or through some other besides Christ and which soever of these perswasions he has he is so far from finding acceptance that he at once both exasperates God and provoketh him who had undertaken to make his Peace and who only could do it I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me therefore it 's said He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God Secondly I told you the Faith here required must also have a respect to our acceptance with God that is we must not only be firmly perswaded of God's Mercy and his good Will to save Sinners But that we our selves in particular shall find Grace in his Sight if we approach as we ought and bring no Impediment along with us and 't would seem the Translators of our Bible have chiefly respected this act of Faith in the Translation of this Text. Christ required of all those who came to him to be cured of their bodily Distempers Faith both in his Power and good Will And St. Matthew tells us He did no mighty works in his own countrey because of their unbelief St. Mark saith further that he could not do it Which we are not so to understand as if our Lord's Power could be restrained by any or that he depended upon Men for the exercise thereof but only that the want of this Faith rendred those Men unworthy of his Benefits and indisposed them for receiving them And as these temporal and bodily Benefits were not commonly conferred without this precious Faith so neither will spiritual and temporal Blessings as Mercy and Salvation be granted except to those who are disposed for them by earnest Desires and a sincere belief of God's being ready and willing to bestow them or at least if they be given to any other 't is not according to those ordinary Rules and Methods of the Dispensation of Grace which we ought to walk by For this Faith is always required as a necessary condition All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing ye shall receive saith Christ. And St. Iames saith Let not that man who wanteth Faith think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. This Faith is requisite both to animate our Endeavours after the means of Grace and Salvation and also to excite God's love and to encline him to be merciful to us 'T is natural to love those who put confidence in us and he has no spark of generosity who will not do his utmost for those who altogether rely on him if a Sinner can confide in God notwithstanding that he hath offended him if he throw himself at his Feet and can but believe that God has so much Mercy as to forgive him all his Sins and upon his Repentance to receive him into Favour for the sake of Christ He by this act so honoureth God and so obligeth him to Mercy by his trust in him that he will not he cannot abandon him This is set forth to us in the Parable of the Prodigal for when the Penitent Son was yet a great way off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him And as this Faith enclines God to Mercy so it animates our Endeavours it excites and quickens us to a cheerful Performance of all the Means and Conditions of Salvation The Husbandman soweth when he has Hope and the Merchant Tradeth when he has Hope of Gain and every Man plyeth heartily what he believes will succeed but Men are discouraged and made to give over their Endeavours when they take up a Perswasion that they shall but labour in vain A double minded man saith St. Iames that is one who hangs in suspence who is tossed with Doubts and Fears he is unstable in all his ways Such an one is inconstant he pursues not his Enterprizes but desists he is not steadfast and unmoveable and always abounding in the work of the Lord as every one ought to be and as he will be who knows and believes that his Labour is not in vain When therefore we draw near to God let us do it in this full Assurance of Faith that we may do it heartily so as to please God let us not entertain Doubts and Fears which but disquiet our own Minds and cast dishonour upon God Would not a Servant reflect either upon the Ability or Honesty of his Master if he questioned his Reward for the sincere Performance of his Service If ye who are evil and sinful think your selves oblig'd to love and be faithful to those who seek to please you will not God think you be more faithful and just to forgive us and to receive us into his Favour if we approve our selves unto him Is there any thing surer than his Word Are not
other things a Man is sure of it Sow Righteousness and ye shall sow to your selves none shall come betwixt you and the blessed Fruits which is produced by that sowing Wherefore it is here added and reap in mercy Because the Verb here is the Imperative Mood some will have this a Command for a farther Progress in doing that good we have explained to be contained under the first Head But this cannot be admitted for besides the Tautology we must put a strain'd and unusual sense upon Reaping Wherefore certainly in this Phrase is set forth the gracious Reward wherewith God will bless Sowing in Righteousness Reaping follows Sowing and is the natural effect thereof so who Sows in Righteousness shall Reap in Mercy tho' what they thus Reap be neither the necessary natural effect of what they sow nor yet the just desert thereof if they merited what they Reap it should not be called Mercy But it is so called that they may not think what is given them to be their due If Men would consider themselves and their actions impartially and lay aside all proud thoughts they would adjudge their merits to ' be small and that little belonged to them on that account However all who ply Sowing in Righteousness sincerely may look for Mercy as the Husband-man doth for a Crop after he hath sown nay they may assure themselves of it which he cannot do they may claim it as their Privilege by virtue of the Divine Promise which can never fail With respect to which Promise and the undoubted certainty thereof the Prophet bids them here Reap Mercy Reap is Imperative to denote the certainty of the thing as if there were no more requisite than to put forth the hand and take it in which sense the Imperative is usually taken in Scripture as Ezek. xviii 32. They have not the promise nor are they capable of Mercy who sow not in Righteousness Indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish shall be upon every soul of man that doth evil Rom. ii 9. As therefore Sowing must go before Reaping so Sowing in Righteousness must be previous to the Reaping in Mercy this is necessary not that we may merit but that we may be fit objects of Mercy And as naturally the Crop exceeds the measure of the Grain which was Sown so the Gifts and Expressions of God's Mercy towards righteous Persons shall infinitely exceed the Works done by them Wherefore a Iewish Doctor hath not ill express'd it Sow c. Do that which is good in mine eyes and the good Reward which ye shall receive of me shall be far greater than your good Works as he that soweth a Bushel hopes to reap two or more and therefore in the Command for sowing he useth the word Iustice but in the promise of Reaping the word Chesed Mercy or Benignity which is more than Iustice or what in strict Iustice can be required The Mercy which they who Sow in Righteousness shall Reap is like God himself the Author thereof infinite and so cannot be express'd We cannot particularize all the ways whereby God will shew his Mercy to such Persons It is written Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. ii 9. As long before the Harvest the Husbandman is refreshed with the sight and savour of his Field so God comforteth and refresheth the Souls of the righteous even in this World and hereafter he Crowns them with unspeakable Glory and blesseth them with eternal Life The Light of God's Countenance even in this Life where its beams are often intercepted do yet afford more Joy than in the time of Harvest when Corn and Wine and Oil abound with Men And what will it do in the other World where it shines fully and clearly and without interruption and where there is nothing to obstruct the Power and Efficacy thereof Lord What Joy is there in the very prospect of this Harvest How happy and blessed are they who are sure of it What a kindness is it that we have liberty to throw in our poor stock into such a profitable Bank and a Privilege to Sow where we may Reap so much With what Face can any refuse the Occasion or what Excuse is sufficient Have Men by their many Inventions found out any higher Felicity than what God and his Superabundant Mercy can confer or is there a nearer way or more proper to this than that which the Prophet directs to the Sowing in Righteousness Is it better to labour for Temporal than Eternal things for that Meat which perisheth than that which endureth to Life everlasting Will ye plough Wickedness and reap Iniquity and eat the Fruit of Lyes that is will ye die rather than live This were a mad and shameful Choice and yet one of them we must make for there is no middle Course left us It is certain the Wages of Sin are Death and that there is no way to Everlasting Life but to have our Fruit unto Holiness Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a Man soweth that shall he also reap He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting Gal. vi 7. The Prophet having told them what they would reap returns to exhort them to the Use of those means which are requisite in order to it and to the Performance of those Duties to which reaping in Mercy is promised which People have need to be put in mind of for ordinarily they are very slack and negligent Many would be at reaping but few set themselves to the Work and Labour that must go before it they would be putting in the sickle in Harvest-time though they have not sown nor made any Preparation for it But those who sow not shall not reap and that our sowing may be successful we are bid first break up our fallow ground for Interpreters make the Prophets Speech Elliptick and will have First or After that or some such Word to be understood If the Ground be not prepared sowing is to no Purpose the Seed was lost that fell on stony ground among thorns and in the high-way The good and precious Seed to be sown is the Word of God our Hearts are the Ground which must receive it and they cannot receive it till they be made honest and good as our Saviour speaks Luke viii 15. and in order to this they must be prepared Pains must be taken on them Break up your fallow Ground If the Husband-man did not till his Ground cast Furrows in it and root out the Weeds thereof he needed not sow and would in vain expect a Crop So our Hearts by their natural Constitution are like fallow ground which was never laboured which is indisposed for receiving Seed from the Sower and of it self brings forth only Thorns and Briars The natural Product of