Dew of Heaven never sinks so deep as to come to that root Therefore as it is said in 1. Joh. 3. A man that is borne of God cannot sinne Why Because the Seed of God abides in him he hath a root in him So on the other side an Hypocrite he can doe nothing to purpose because there is a seed of sin in him there is a root there is a Coare at the heart that the Dew of Heaven never toucheth Therefore it is a signe that thou seest God aright when the impressions of it in thy Soule goe through and through that they soak into thy very soule as I may say and fetch out thy inward lusts Thirdly and lastly and there I shall leave at 3 They are universall this time these impressions are universall An Hypocrite or a wicked man in time may have some impressions upon his soule of some one thing of God or some few things As for instance Judas had an impression upon his heart and a sad one too of the Justice of God it made him goe and hang himselfe And so Saul and Pharaoh and others but that was but of one thing But now a Saint he hath impressions of all that is in God that is there is nothing in God but he hath a heart to answer it he hath as it were to speak with reverence a Coppy of God written on his soule he hath an impression of the love of God as well as of the feare of God of delight and trust in God and the like This is the difference betweene a Saint of God and an Hypocrite Therefore in Exod. 34. When Moses was so desirous to see God O Lord saith he let me see thy glory God revealed his glory and told him his name The Lord God the Lord mercifull gracious long suffering abundant in mercy keeping mercy for thousands Forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and that wil not cleare the guilty visiting the sins of the Fathers upon the Children God tells him of visiting of wicked People What was this to Moses God would not tell him halfe his name but all Therefore he tells him what he was to the Saints The Lord gracious and mercifull long suffering abundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands And then he tels him what he would be to the wicked he would have the impression of the whole name of God upon Moses It is a signe thy apprehensions of God are true though they be weake and small when they be reall and thorow and universall The third thing is The Expressions or Effects of it but that I must leave till another time SERMON 3. Isaiah 6. 5. For mine eyes have seene the King the Lord of Hosts YOu remember the Lesson I doubt not that we are upon that The Saints have a peculiar priviledge above all others that they can even in this world see God They can see God in Jesus Christ I did open this and proved it and shewed you the last time how by the Word of God you might know whether ye have ever seene God in this manner whether God have ever bestowed this glorious priviledge upon any of you Three waye I tooke to shew it to you The first was by your apprehensions of God The second was by the impressions that those apprehensions of God have upon you The third thing which I am now to come to is by the Expressions of them or by their Effects If you would know whether you have seene God aright 3 By the expressions of them which are or no I say you may know it by the expressions of it How doth it set it selfe forth in thee It works something upon thee and that vents and shewes it selfe some way in thy heart and life Therefore I finde in Scripture especially in the Epistles of John where much is said of seeing God he brings the Saints usually to know the sight of God by outward expressions Because though it be cleare as I said yet it is so small that a St. cannot alway see it unlesse he consider the workings of it also upon his heart and life as well as his single apprehension Therefore saith he in one place by this you shall know that you have seene God if ye confesse Christ And in another place If yee love the Brethren c. Now there are these foure or five cleare things in Scripture that demonstrate a man to be one that hath seene God The first is this If thou hast seene God certainly the Lord hath purified thy heart the Lord hath given thee a pure 1 Purity of heart heart For saith Christ in his first Sermon Blessed are the pure in heart For they shall see God And in Heb. 12. Without holinesse it is impossible to see God Matthew 5. that is a cleare generall rule And therefore I say thou mayest then read if thou or I be a Man or a Woman to whom God hath not given a pure heart if God have not purified thy heart certainly as yet thou hast not seene God For if any man saith he hath seene God or that he walke in the light and yet live in sin he is a Lyar and there is no truth in him at all you are to give no credit to him at all al his apprehensions are but fancies Now the question will be what is the purifying of the heart Or how may I know that BELOVED according to the language of the What meant by a pure heart Scripture I find that by a pure heart is meant two things First by a pure heart is not ordinarily meant as 1 The conscience purified from guilt of sinne you take it for the killing of sinne in the soule I say not ordinarily But the chiefe meaning of the purifying of the heart is to have the conscience for the heart is taken for the conscience to have the conscience purified and washed from the guilt of sinne Therefore in Act. 15. say the Apostles and Elders Why should we doe thus and thus with them Seeing their hearts are purified by faith as well as ours That is seeing they believe in Jesus Christ and thereby have peace of conscience setled in their hearts To cleare and open this a little to you There Conscience purified What are three expressions that the holy Ghost useth in Heb. 10. that open this Heb. 10. 2. A pure heart in this sence is a man that hath no conscience of sinne that is the Scripture language one that hath no conscience of sinne Not as it is commonly in your sence one that makes no conscience of sinning one that continues in sinne But one that hath no conscience of sinne That is one whose conscience is not stained with the guilt of sinne but by the bloud of Christ there is a perfect peace setled within him Peace and joy in believing For that it is to have conscience of sinne when alway upon the least infirmitie there is guilt heaped upon the conscience of
is the cheife principle that the creature should desire its owne preservation It is so in all creatures Grace screws up and makes nature spirituall but grace goes not contrary to the mayne and solid principles of pure nature Now therefore I say that a man by grace should be brought to wish his owne destruction it is very harsh For besides that it is contrary to the principle of nature Ground of true submission to God it is contrary to the spirit of adoption for what is it that makes me submit to God It is because I have loving thoughts of him and I conceive of his love to me and the like if I should looke upon God as an enemie I should love him no more then the Devill himselfe doth it is ordinarily so But what may be in one soul or two or a few I know not But that which I meane is in ordinarie mercies especially in temporall mercies it is the frame of a humble heart to sit still and be quyet if God denie the mercie That is one thing Another thing is this that as a humble heart 2. He is content that God should take away any mercy will be content that God should denie him any mercie So Secondly he is contented if it please God to take away any mercie that he hath God shall pick and choose and if he will take away all yet he is contented and quiet It is just with a humble heart towards God as you read of an honest hearted man in the Book of God that was humble towards David you shall read of him in 2 Sam. 19. 24. It was one Mephibosheth David had given Mephibosheth him a great deale of land for his father Jonathans sake and being a lame man for his Nurse let him fall when he was a child he had a wicked servant one Ziba and when David came home he sadled asses and brought presents and told David Mephibosheth would not come to 2 Sam. 16. 1. meet the King which was a grosse lie saith David if he be so sturdie take thou the land At the last Mephibosheth finds a way to come to David and David asked him why he did not come to 2 Sam. 19. 24. him sayth he My Lord O King my servant deceived me for he sadled an asse and went away and hath slandered thy servant unto my Lord the King c. Sayth the King Vers 29. Thou and Ziba divide the land honest hearted Mephibosheth once I gave him all but now the more was the pitty he shall have one halfe and thou the other saith Mephibosheth yea let him take all for as much as my Lord the King is come again in peace unto his owne house I care little for the land though I be a lame man and cannot get any thing for my selfe and Ziba though he were a wicked man and deserved it not yet sayth he I am so taken with the Kings person that he is come home that let him take all So a humble heart carries himselfe thus towards God that when the Lord seems to be as it were in a holy chafe and anger that he takes away his mercies he takes away a child or a husband or a mans estate or the like if thou have a humble heart thou wilt not be in a rage and say let him take all in a desperate humour but he sayth meekly let him take this or that or all if he will so I may injoy him and his love I will blesse God I say when thou canst blesse God notwithstanding all be gone This was Jobs condition God tooke all from Job one after another in a little while as we see in Job 1. Sayth Job notwithstanding God hath taken all from me Naked came I out of my Mothers wombe and the Lord gives and the Lord takes blessed be the name of the Lord. Or as it is in some old Greek coppies As it pleaseth the Lord so commeth things to passe blessed be the name of the Lord. He blessed the Lord that had taken away his children and thrown downe his house yet he could blesse him Now looke a little upon your hearts how you finde your spirits when God hath denied you mercies when God hath taken away mercies As I could give you many instances but to name one or two it may be when thou wert a carnall man that thou wert a very honourable man in thy Countrie thou wert the onely States-man the man that did doe all the businesses but now since thou art Religious thou art despised and there are none that make use of thee thy honour is gone Thou wert accounted a wise man but now thou art accounted a mope and a sot Thou wert once accounted a fine young man or woman and now thy esteeme is gone canst thou be content that God hath rubbed off these mercies that one while he takes away thine honour another while thy wealth another while thy friends and yet thou canst blesse the name of God this a humble heart can doe Another thing in respect of the mercies of 3. A humble heart will wait for mercies God is this that a humble heart can be content to wait upon the Lord though he stay never so long for the least mercie Proud hearts unlesse you feed them in hast they will be gone A proud heart will not waite on God but a humble heart will stay Gods leasure till he give him what he pleaseth and how he pleaseth Hab. 2 3. The vision is for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lie though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry Behold his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him but the just shall live by his faith The proud heart and the just man living by faith are put opposite one to the other the just shall live by faith that is though he desire mercies yet he shall be content to waite on God but he that hath his soul lifted up he will be gone he will not stay for God just like that wicked King that you read of in the Book of God This evill sayth he comes of the Lord what should I stay for him any longer a wretched man So an unhumbled heart sayth what should I stay for God any longer in this and so he takes base courses to helpe himselfe and will not waite upon God and goe in Gods wayes It is a thing highly commended in the Saints throughout all the Scriptures when they had a frame of heart to waite on God As Abraham the father of the faithfull we read of him in Acts 7. VVhen God brought him from his fathers house and from his whole estate and led him abroad from one place to another and had brought him at the last to the Land of Canaan where he had not one foot of land and his posterity was not to possesse it of foure hundred yeares after yet he blesseth God and rayseth Altars
and when peace comes there will then be a discovery of rotten hearts then much more then in these times yet in these times there are abundance of rotten hearts discovered that were not knowne before The Lord comes near the quick of our profession in these times there are abundance that have been professors that now jeere the Saints and dishonour God and imbrace the VVorld but in times of mercie there will be more the sun makes the Traveller put off his cloake when the wind cannot But to open it to you as I did the former that which I shall doe shall be to discover to you what the carriage of a humble heart is and what our carriage should be when God shewes mercie to us when the Lord deales kindly with us in the way of his mercy What is the posture of a humble heart then I answer First of all a humble heart he can be 1. A humble heart content to be denyed any mercy content that the Lord should denie him any mercie let it be never so deare or pretious to him though he prize it high and pray earnestly for it and wayt long for it yet if God come at last and say thou shalt not have it he can be content patiently and meekly to take a denyall from God and goe away contented if it must be so Indeed there is a kind of earnestnesse that should be in us and in a sence we should take no deniall from God we should not be easily put off As we see in Mat. 15. That Woman of Canaan when Christ put her off shee comes again and again and again But if God say say no more it shall not be so rhen a man should quietly submit himselfe to God though like Hannah he desire Children and pray earnestly and seek God againe and againe and seeme to be near towards it sometimes but at last if God come and say thou shalt never have a child then sayth a proud heart Give me children or I die I will give you an instance or two of this in 2 Sam 15. 25. David there was in a poore condition he was pursued by his enemy by Absalom his owne son and David David had the Arke and Zadock the Preist But sayth the King to Zadock carry back the Arke of God into the City if I shall finde favour in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me again and shew me both it and his habitation But if he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here I am let him doe to me as seemeth good unto him As if he had said I am in a miserable condition but I will not trouble thee or indanger the Arke if I have found favour in the eyes of God he will bring me again to my house and to his but sayth he if he thus say I have no delight in him Behold here I am let him doe to me as seemeth good in his eyes God will bring me back to Jerusalem if I have found favour with him but if God say David I have no delight in thee thou shalt never see my house more Loe here I am let him doe as seemeth best to him This is the posture of a humble soule that desireth this and that and the other mercy yet if God say I have no delight in thee I will doe none of these things he can say here I am doe as it seemeth good in thine eyes I will give you one instance more in Deut. 3. 24. You have Moses there praying and he desires a great request and that earnestly of God Moses O Lord thou hast begun to shew thy seruant thy greatnesse and thy mighty hand for what God is there in Heaven or in Earth that can doe according to thy might I pray thee I pray thee Lord see how familiar he is with him Let me goe over and see that good land that is beyond Jordan and that goodly Mountaine and Lebanon Moses was going towards Canaan that was a type of the Kingdome of grace under the Gospell and a type of Heaven and they had travelled forty yeares in the VVildernesse I pray thee sayth he let me goe over and see that good land and see Lebanon that goodly forrest But sayth he the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes and would not heare me and the Lord said unto me let it suffice thee speak no more unto me of this matter Let it suffice I will heare no more concerning this thing Get thee up into the top of Pisgah I will give thee leave to looke on it but thou shalt not goe over Now in the Chapter following Deut. 4. 21. Sayth he The Lord was angrie with me for your sakes It was for their sakes that God denyed him And he sware that I should not goe over Jordan and that I should not goe in unto that good land which the Lord thy God hath given thee for an inheritance but I must die in this Land It is a broken speech I must die he doth not say it in passion must I die must I lead this people forty yeares and when there is any good to be had I must be cut off he spake it not on that fashion but sayth he I must not goe over but you shall goe over and possesse it He submits to Gods will and rejoyceth that they should goe over though it was for their sakes that he was crossed And he shewes them how they should carry themselves there A proud heart would have sayd you may get you over if you will and if it had not been for you I might have gone too but I may thanke you that I must stay and die here But sayth he God hath sayd I shall speake no more of that matter it is my lot I submit So in all the mercies of God to thee if thou canst quietly as Moses and David submit in silence when he denies thee any mercy though it be never so deare it is a signe thou hast a humble heart Truely some godly men are of opinion that a Saint can come to this to be content that God should deny him everlasting Salvation for his soul I have read of one and I have spoken with another I have knowne two godly men in that posture the one was so and the other seemed to be so by his writing that if after all the meanes used he cannot come to beleive as others doe that he can have no assurance or hope of life from God but that God almost in every Ordinance doth as much as tell him thou shalt be damned yet he can be content to goe to Hell it selfe I have seen a glorious Saint that hath said that if God should tell him he should be damned yet he could submit without murmuring Such a thing may be but I think it is not ordinary neyther Grace crosseth not principles of nature doth God expect it because grace never crosseth the ground principles of nature and of all this
therefore he is praying for more but he forgets to pray with thanksgiving to make his requests known with thanksgiving Now let a humble heart be in never so much distresse and misery the man can see abundance of cause to prayse God if he have but water that the beasts drink and if he have but strength to dig he can say Lord I owne this as a mercie and whatsoever is on this side Hell is mercie So in Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you by the mercies of God that you give up your selves a living and holy and acceptable sacrifice to God He would have the mercies of God to bring them to obedience to give up themselves to obey God So in Rom. 2. Sayth he Doest thou despise his riches and goodnesse and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodnesse of God should lead thee to repentance The goodnesse of God and the patience of God and the mercie of God should lead all humble hearts to a holy thankfullnesse and obedience and so it doth And the more the Lord doth multiplie mercies upon him the more obedient and thankfull he is Now in all this that I have said I would desire you to examine your soules and if you find that in any of these or in any of the rest that I am yet to speake of you are faultie and come short yet I would not have you conclude therefore I am not the humbled soul that the Minister spake off there is none of this grace in me for though it be not so with thee in every poynt though thou come short of perfect humiliation that should be in thee it followes not that therefore there is none at all The end why I put these things before you is not so much to trie your selves as that you might labour with the Lord to bring up your hearts to these things And I have the rather chosen to speake of this at this time because me thinks the Lord is preparing to come towards us in a way of mercie and that I would have you to think of and pray for that the Lord may still come in a way of mercie that he may turne from the evill he hath intended or else he may easily bring us againe to the red sea if we provoke him as we have done But so much for this time SERMON 8. Isaiah 6. 5. For mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts I Hope you are not wearie of this subject though I have been somthing long upon it you may remember the last doctrine was that A saving sight of God in Christ is the principall means of true humiliation It is the principall meanes to humble the heart of any man whether he be a Saint or a sinner I have spoken much to you concerning that sight At the last we came to this to examyne whether we have seen God or no. John puts much stresse upon that word If any man love not his brother he hath not seen God I say if you have seen God in Christ as Moses had seen him and as all the Saints see him with open face it will appeare by this it will make your hearts humble it will worke a holy frame of humiliation No proud man hath ever seen God no man hath ever seen God but his heart was thorowly humbled But that begat another question How shall I know whether I have an humble heart or no I told you you might know it First by the carriage of your souls towards God In poynt of justification In regard of his commands In regard of his truths In regard of his corrections In regard of his mercies And this last was the thing I did endeavour to open to you the last day Secondly you may know whether your hearts 2. True humiliation known by our carriage towards men be truly humbled by your carriage towards men When ever men are converted to God there the hearts of the children are turned to their fathers Now among men there are two sorts in generall They are eyther Sinners or Saints I shall leave to speake of our carriage towards Saints for the last because it will require a little more time and because I shall speake but a few words of this of the carriage of a humble heart towards sinners and that I shall endeavour to shew you at this time Therefore breifly whosoever hath this humble frame of heart his carriage towards sinners is according to the rule that we 1. To sinners with meeknesse read of Titus 3. 2. To speake evill of no man to be gentle shewing all meeknesse unto all men His carriage I say is meek and affable and courteous and gentle towards all men Indeed there is no heart in the World so proud you shall observe it but it hath in it some meeknesse and especially to some men The proudest Tyrants in the World have had some favourites that they did fawne on and in some sort might be termed meek men but the Apostle sayth that we must shew all meeknesse and that unto all men to all sorts of men to whoremongers to drunkards to those that deprive us of our goods and of our good name which is hard to doe but I will give you a Scripture that will open it Collos 1. 9. I pray for you sayth Paul that you may be filled with the knowledg of his will in all wisdome and spirituall understanding c. If the Lord hath revealed himselfe that thou hast had a saving sight of him then the Lord humbleth thy heart How will that appeare By thy carriage to all men there will be all meeknesse to all men It will appeare by thy affabilitie for meeknesse and humblenesse have the same name in the Originall Moses was a humble man and Moses was a very meeke man VVhere ever there is a humble heart it is a meeke heart there will be meeknesse shewed even to sinners That you may see this I will give you but one solid instance instead of many You know that of all proud men there were none that had the name so much as the Pharisees therefore they are called the proud Pharisees And of all that have Christs meeknesse to sinners been humbled there was not such a patterne of humilitie as our Lord Jesus Christ Now you shall see how the pride of the Pharisees was expressed and how the humilitie of our Saviour is set forth by his carriage to sinners As he sayth Mat. 11. 28. Come and learne of me for I am meeke and lowly of heart It is because of the pride of our hearts that we are not meeke you shall see this meeknesse of Christ by paralell places in Luke 7. 34. You shall finde there that our Lord Christ was at a feast when he sat at meat in a Pharises house there comes in a woman and shee was washing his feet and wyping them with the haire of her head as he sate at the table The Pharisees fall a reasoning with themselves