am enabled as couragiously to suffer for him and stedfastly to hold fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginning of my confidence or substance as the word is and Ambrose renders it and that unto the end Heb. 3. 14. This This is to be a Christian indeed and in good earnest which really and actually instateth us in this bequest in the Text in which Christ promiseth to cause them who love him to inherit substance SERMON XV. ON PROV 8. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That I may cause to inherit WE have hitherto in the first particular treated of what At St. Maries August 10. 1656. Christ is in himself and to them that love him And that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substantial reality In the second we are now come to consider the Tenure and Title in which they are promised to be seized and possessed of him and this that other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expresseth It is by way of free and perpetual inheritance so that what Solomon elsewhere saith that wisdom is good with an inheritance that he avoucheth to be found in Eccles 7. 11. the wisdom here spoken of both substance and Inheritance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may cause them to inherit substance And that holdeth forth to us as I even now hinted 1. The freeness of it our claim to it not being merit or purchase or self-procurement but only free gift and inheritance for however to inherit often signifieth in general to possess and so Haeres and Dominus or Herus are the same and an inheritance may be said to be gotten by the father Prov. 20. 21. yet the Child that cometh to enjoy it neither purchased it by his penny nor procured it by his labour Inheritances were wont to be divided by lot Ezek. 47. 22. which speaks God's allotment and are now usually either born to or by favour adopted to and so are of the Father's Prov. 19. 14. not of the Child's procurement In Ravenell ad vocem Haereditas Schindler in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word both from Scripture and common use an inheritance is in part described to be that quod gratis cedit in possessionem And so it is here Christ and that Grace and Glory which cometh to us by him are only and altogether of mere grace by none of our merit or purchase and therefore in this sense are all said in Scripture to be conveyed to us by way of inheritance He that overcometh shall inherit all things Rev. 21. 7. To have all things is a great possession but yet all by Inheritance So we are said to be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ Gal. 3. 29. Rom. 8. 17. to inherit promises Heb. 6. 12. to be heirs of righteousness Heb. 11. 7. of Salvation Heb. 1. 14. of the Kingdom James 2. 5. which the Elect shall at last inherit Matth. 25. 34. Come ye blessed of the Father Inherit the Kingdom That word inherit tells us by what Title we come by it as also those that follow prepared for you from the foundation of the world that if so early provided for us before we were it was not of our purchasing but of God's preparing as here in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may cause them to inherit substance If it be an heritage it 's God's causing us to inherit it not any thing in us that may procure or merit it Away then with the proud doctrine of Merit and let every Vse humble soul be glad and thankful that he may have all of free gift and inheritance And if you say that Col. 3. 24. we read those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as though this inheritance were a reward I only say that they are strangers in the Scriptures that know not that there may be a reward of grace and not of merit and that the Psalmist spake not contradictions when he said Psal 62. 12. Vnto thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou rewardest every man according to his work non quod mereantur sed quia Deus misereatur as Austin speaks and therefore as Basil observes that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Retributio Donum Gods In Psal 7. reward is his free gift So in other places and in that mentioned the Apostle speaking of Christian servants he telleth them for their comfort that such servants are by adoption made Sons and See Bâ—za Piscator in locum so instead of the reward or the wages of servants they shall receive an inheritance of Sons so that their inheritance is not so much a reward as their reward an inheritance and therefore as the word reward doth not imply merit so that other word inheritance doth exclude it Our reward is our inheritance and our inheritance is from our Birth and Sonship and that is merely only from our Father and his love We never made our selves heirs John 1. 13. Ephes 1. 5. 1 John 3. 1. but as the word in the Text is He causeth us to inherit Here is no free will but free-grace no merit but mere mercy Indeed David often in his prayers pleads both God's righteousness and his own righteousness But when Gods it 's either for his righteous taking vengeance on his enemies or his righteous fulfilling of his promise and both these speak free mercy When he pleads his own righteousness it 's either the righteousness Vide Contarenum de Justificatione pag. 594. edit Paris of his cause in reference to unjust men or the integrity of his heart before God But there 's no merit in all this for our righteousness is our duty and it 's but righteous for us to perform it and in that respect our very mercy is justice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some read that Matth. 6. 1. And on the contrary God's righteousness in those places is all one with his Benignity and Mercy unless you will with some Muiâ— in Psal 36. 12. thus distinguish them that his righteousness is in vouchsafing as much as he promiseth and his mercy in giving more and such it is even to them who may seem to be most deserving So David when he had thankfully acknowledged that God had recompensed him according to his righteousness Psal 18. 24. immediately in the 25. verse he adds with the merciful thou wilt shew thy self merciful He doth not say just in giving him what he deserveth but even with the merciful who might bid the fairest for merit thou wilt shew thy self merciful i. e. in giving what thy mercy freely vouchsafeth not what even his mercy can justly challenge And therefore to put an end to this particular let us all the best of us all pray and say with the same Psalmist shew us thy Psal 85. 7. mercy O Lord and grant us thy Salvation Whatever we are God sheweth us his free and great mercy if he grant us his salvation so here in the Text this causing of us to inherit
next place it 's a word of both comfort and direction Vse 5 in the end of all other Perfections that God 's Commandment is exceeding broad I say first Comfort that whereas all other imperfect Contentments are but short and narrow if I have but my share in God's Word and Promise I have that which in the loss of all them will reach me comfort to all Times and in all Wants Truly Brethren all outward Contentments be they never so glorious and comfortable they will not last long nor reach far not longer than Life not so far as Heaven no not so far as mine inward Man Babylon's broad Walls are thrown down Jer. 51. 58. they are unstedfast as Waters and as it is said in anokind the face of such Waters is soon straitned Fair large Job 37. 10. Estates soon brought into a narrow compass great Families soon reduced to a small number To speak to the present occasion pretty little Children are like pretty little Books in which a Parent sometimes reads much that very well likes him But it may be he cannot read long for tears when the Book is taken away and at best he cannot read much because it is but a little one But blessed be God may a Child of God say who is sure that he hath part in God and his Promise that I have another Book of a larger Volumn of a far broader Page than all these outward comforts come to They are but narrow Rivers at the best and they soon dried up too But God in his Word in his Kingdom hath broad Rivers that you read of Isa 33. 21. and they deep ones too in which I may bathe and not be straitned and out of which I may drink for ever and yet they never dried up but spring up to everlasting life This is a Christian's comfort in such cases and it should be his direction too in them that when he sees an end come of this perfection and of that to be still thinking that there will at last come an end of all and yet in the end of all even then to look unto this Commandment and word and promise of God which the Text saith is so exceeding broad As Hath God straitned me in my estate Take that out of the breadth of Gods Word Hath he taken this pretty little child this pretty little book out of my hand that I cannot read in it as formerly Truly let us get a better a bigger a broader book into our hands God's book and see what we can read there if not enough to make a full supply of all such wants that whereas other men shuffle and shift have this fetch and that reach and as they use to say when the Lion's skin is not big enough to cover all they sew the Fox skin to it to make it broad enough and yet all will not do because there will be an end of all perfection a Christian is or at least should be able out of God's Word and Promises as out of a rich Treasury to make a supply of all such wants Here he gets a promise for himself and there another for his friend Here one for a live-dead parent and there another for himself though his child be dead In a word that 's it I call for as much as we are straitned in outward comforts let us labour to be so much enlarged in God and as much as he takes from us of outward contentments to get as much and more from him in this broad Commandment and large Promises and then we shall be no losers This one word also that Gods Commandment is exceeding broad Vse 6 is ground of great comfort to other of God's children in other cases as much satisfying them in two main doubts they stick at 1. The first is They are so sinful and so unworthy and set so far off and estranged from God that his mercy they think will never reach them But let such think then of this exceeding broad Commandment There is breadth and length and heighth and depth in Gods love passing knowledge Ephes 3. 18 19. And there is such a breadth and exent in Gods promises that they can cover our greatest sores reach the furthest out-liers if they would but come in Boaz hath a skirt to cast upon Ruth though a poor handmaid Ruth 3. 9. And much more hath Christ to cover the Ne cogitemus ad nos non pertinere promissionem sicut enim perpetuò durat et persistit verbum quod primum erat ita latum est valde i. e. undique ad omnia tempora aetates ad omnes homines qui fide hanc doctrinam amplectuntur se extendit M. nakedness of his poorest servants Mens blessings and favours are strait and when Jacob hath got away the blessing Esau may cry bitterly and say bless me even me also O my father and Isaac have it not for him But God hath for all that will unfeignedly ask and beg of him He hath a blessing for me and another for thee and a third for a third and even for them that are afar off Acts 2. 38 39. though never so far off yet if with the like bitterness but not the like profanesse that Esau had thou cryest blesse me even me also O my father If thou canst but call him Father thy Father hath a blessing for thee also for his Commandment is exceeding broad to reach to all thy needs and wants and sins 2. And to all times and by that a second trouble is removed for a child of God though he hath gotten beyond the former doubt that God hath had mercy for him to bring him at first to him yet he sees his weakness such and his lusts so strong that he fears he shall never hold out in grace to heaven but that there will be as well an end of this as of all other perfections but let such remember that however their strength reacheth not far is scant and soon spent yet that God's promise and truth and mercy ne cogitemus fieri posse ut nos in medio cursu destituamur Molerus is of a far broader extent and longer continuance for God's Word those that have had longest experience of it have yet cause to say as vers 152. Concerning thy testimonies thy promises I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever and in the end of health and peace and strength and life to end all with this word last in his mouth I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandment is exceeding broad SERMON XXIV EXOD. 28. 36. August 19. 1634. Before Sir Nathanael Brent Visitor for the Arch-Bishop of Cant erbury in his Metropolitical Visitation Holiness to the Lord. VErbum Diei in die suo A fit time had it been by an abler hand to bring forth the Priests garments out of the Scripture's vestry whilst the eye of Authority is present to see them put on and here the first peece
Christ our King doth reign in Righteousness so Princes and Judges as his Deputies do rule in Judgment And in this Honourable Lords for the continuance of all Vse 2 our happiness without flattery let me according to the old verse Eâ—hortation Qui monet ut facias c. commend you in commending to you that which you are commended and honoured for Justice guided by Wisdom and sweetned by Mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. Judaeus ubi prius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he speaks that from you as from main Streams under our highest Well-head such sweet streams of Justice and Equity may flow as may be for the refreshing of all that thirst after Righteousness Many things I might commend it to you for and urge it with 1. A just God for whom you judge and by whom your selves must be judged one day 2. A gracious Prince whose person here you represent so that what violence is now done to you his Laws make as Treason against himself Those Laws that honour you I know will be honoured by you nor will you profane his chair who in some respect hath made you sacred 3. The worth of Justice and your own benefit by it a Grace that makes you like God and a Vertue as universal in it self so hath this peculiar to it that whereas some other Vertues are distasted by many this hath universal approbation from all though most unjust themselves Every man will kiss his lips that gives a right answer Prov. 24. 26. The Scripture makes it your Diadem Job 29. 14. Isa 11. 5. Robe Girdle and so tells you that it is comely safe honourable Your businesses and distractions cannot but be many and it may be often tumultuous but as Aristotle made Pleasure Vertues page so the Conscience of your steering point-blank on Justice through the most troublesome Seas and Tempests will be as the pleasant ayre of a sweet Instrument that sounds well even after it hath been well handled This for your comfort and for your safety it 's wrapt up in the publick weal as particulars are in generals and therefore sometimes it is the safest way to lay up our treasure in the common Town-house nor to think that ours will stand whilst our Injustice ruines others unless a man could in wisdom hope that his house would be safe when he hath set on fire all his neighbours about him Thus self-love may plead for another's right but yours are more generous and publick Spirits Nor did Pacatus mistake when in his Panegyrick of Theodosius he expresseth his thoughts thus Nullam majorem crediderim esse Principum felicitatem quam fecisse felicem Princes and great mens happiness is to make others happy and this is done by a wise and moderate executing of Justice which leads me directly to the second part of the Text in the second Verse which had I time to handle I should from those comparisons and expressions shew you 1. What an universal blessing a just Judge and a right Justice of Peace is to a Common-wealth and State 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he calls him a common Benefactor Such are Abimelech's Patres Patriae such careful Fathers and Patriots as every way provide for the peoples safety and welfare If they stand in a sore blast they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut tectum adversus ventum as a Roof to cover them if in a storm at Sea or in danger of an inundation they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut portus adversus tempistatem an Hâ—â—ven to harbour them if â—ainâ—ing with inward thirst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut rivus adversus sitim as full Rivers of waters sully to cool them or with outward drought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut umbra adversus aestum as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land to refreth them The greater the person the greater the shade If a Suprâ—me Monarch as our Gracious King he a great rock under whose shade we all sit down in Peace but every Judge and Justice especially if chief yea under officers Pleaders Clerks Jurors c. according to their several places may be greater or less hills whose shelter and shade the innocent lamb may ly in For although I have spoken all this while to Magistrates and Judges yet it was not to spare or neglect inferiour Officers but onely in hope that the great wheels going right would make all the less move accordingly For you inferiour Officers and Country-men must not be like the lesser and inferiour Orbâ— which though carried about with the motion of the Primum mobile yet have a slie contrary motion of their own No you are but as hands and feet which must work and go according as the head directs you cannot be exempted from this charge of Righteousness and Justice in your pleadings writings verdicts oaths testimonies if your betters cannot plead immunity but even Kings must reign in righteousness and Princes rule in judgment and so prove a general universal good which may help at every hand Which is the first thing observable from these comparisons 2. The second expresseth what protection they are in lesser and greater dangers to whole States and Kingdoms never so overflowen with misery and mischief as long as a stream of Justice runs in a strong and clear current as Fens and low grounds not drowned if their out falls keep right and open in particular to bad ones in stopping up and cutting off their wickedness which would else drown them to good ones in defending them against their unjust oppressions who else would over-run them Thus an hiding place from the wind yea coverts from most violâ—nt tempests may you be First in regard of safest protection especially to many a poor man now blasted with the wind of a great mans breath and quite born down the stream by him who hath wind and tide for him and secondly in regard of that full refreshment which you may be to them that thirst after Justice and are quite wearied out with long suites you will indeed prove as rivers of waters in a dry place and the shade of a great rock in a weary land Thus from the Text you may observe such a Judge is an universal blessing to others and that oftentimes though with inconveniency to himself the Vine loseth of his sweetness and the Olive of his fatness that is for their own advantage it being spent on others when they come to rule this they lose and what get they what the Buckler gets strokes it self to keep the body safe Agreeable to the comparison in the Text the Roof of the house stands in the Blast to keep him safe that sits under it The bank endures the Waves fierce beating to keep the Land from drowning the River spends of its water to quench the thirsty Traveller's thirst and the rock intercepts the Suns heat that he may sit in the shadow of it Thus is it with a good Magistrate omnium somnos illius
as Rev. 6. after the Red Horse of War that took Peace from the Earth vers 4. the Black Horse of Famine marched after vers 5. and the Pale Horse of the Plague trod on both the other's heels vers 8. The Gospel Peace Plenty Health Life all â—â—e but as God's Servants sent by him to minister to us so that in the abuse of any one of them the Lord of them all is dishonoured and therefore the same Sin that calls back one may make all leave us When the Gospel must be gone because it cannot reform us we are unworthy that Peace should stay behind to preserve us or Plenty to feed us or any thing to relieve us but that all at once may take leave of us and say as Jer. 51. 9. We would have healed Babylon and she is not healed forsake her and let us go every one unto his own Country for her Judgment reacheth unto the Heaven and is lifted up even unto the Skies which leads to a fourth particular 4. And still worse that upon the removal of abused Mercies the heaviest of all contrary Judgments use then to come in their room It 's Patience abused which is then turned into Fury and then look for those which the Scripture calls furious Rebukes and Ezek. 5. 15. then all sorts of God's sorest Judgments Famine Wild Beasts Plague and Sword as you have them in the two following verses and all this for abuse of Mercies as you may see in the 5 6 7 Verses of the same Chapter Look over all Churches nay over the whole World and then say whether you see not saddest ruins where somtimes were stateliest Monuments of God's choicest Mercies but because abused left as everlasting Monuments of God's severest Justice with this Text as it were for an Inscription written upon them with Capital letters of Bloud that they that run may read Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee But this I have touched upon before and therefore do not insist on here but only add what we all had need sadly think of that God's staying of his hand for a time and intermitting of his strokes is not as though he had quite thrown away the Rod and put up his Sword but only to see how much we are bettered by former Judgments and how fit we are with Humility Thankfulness and Obedience to entertain and improve begun Mercies whether what we have suffered be enough that so he might inflict no more which he earnestly desires and waits for Jer. 3. 4. But if our distempers and out-rages after all this say no if not yet ready for the sodering look for no fastning Isa 41. 7. if not yet kindly melted and Dross removed we must into the Furnace again and it made seven times hotter The Physician after some Purgative Medicines administred gives over a little and stayes to see whether the peccant Humour be sufficiently evacuated if no but it 's in a burry still he must give more and then stronger These lucida intervalla are but Truces not a full Peace which may break out into a more bloudy War for which in this interim in that case he is preparing but an intermission of the fit of the Fever which will return with greater violence as it was with Pharaoh's intervals but still succeeded with heavier and heavier Judgments which at last ended in his utter Destruction the Clouds returning after Rain as the King of Syria in the end of the year with a greater Force and God all the while that he forbears striking only lifting up his Hand higher to give the heavier and deadlier Stroke Now with what bended knees and with what trembling hearts and hands need we receive the returns of Mercies from that God who is glorious in Holiness and fearful in Praises whose begun Mercies if abused are but the beginnings of heaviest Judgments which is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this worse thing in the Text. 5. And yet the last and worst of all is that as abuse of Mercies brings heaviest Judgments so to make them more desperate it deprives us of the best help for removing them so that we are in danger to sink irrecoverably under them namely in that it stops both our mouths that we cannot pray and God's ear that he will not hear and both held out in that place of Ezra 9. when after their Captivity and deliverance from it they again break God's Commandments And now O our God what shall we say after all this vers 10. And again we cannot stand before thee because of this vers 15. he is quite Non-plust and dasht out of Countenance and blusheth to lift up his face to God vers 6. as a condemned Esth 7. 8. man his face is covered with shame that he dare not look up to God or if fain he would he is afraid that his Father would spit in his face as God said to Miriam now grown leprous and to be put out of the Camp Numb 12. 11 14. God using to turn away the Ear from such as when grown fat dare lift up the heel and being ready to put off our mournfullest requests in such cases with a check rather than an answer or rather to upbraid us with what he had done and we have ill requited than to grant us what we then never so mournfully sue for as he did in the like case to the children of Israel Judg. 10. 10 to 15. I have again and again delivered you and you have still forsaken me and served other Gods I will therefore deliver you no more Go and cry unto the gods that ye have chosen and let them deliver you in your tribulation Never expect God in after-straits either at all or at least not so readily as in former troubles to hear us if we deal frowardly and falsly with him after that he hath had mercy on us Wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should be no remnant nor escaping is all that Ezra can expect from a God so abused and provoked And thus every way in point of Misery and Judgment it 's likely to be worse with us which is very sad and yet very just because it 's every way worse in point of sin 1. It proves so in the Consequents of it they usually growing the worst of men who grow worse after best of Mercies even most unprofitable and abominable whom neither Afflictions nor deliverances can work upon as that 's a rotten tooth that can neither endure cold water nor hot and what you cannot preserve either in Brine or Sugar will be sure to corrupt and putrify 2. Nay it is so in the cause of it two of the worst of sins being the chief ingredients into it viz. Abominable Ingratitude and Invincible Obstinacy 1. Hateful Ingratitude so to render evil for good we would not do so with man and do we thus requite the Lord foolish People and Vnwise Deut. 32. 6. Is he
not thy Father that hath bought thee c. Thy God and Saviour that hath redeemed thee and doth Jeshurun when grown fat begin to kick to forsake God that made him and lightly to esteem the God of his Salvation vers 15 18. but what follows vers 19. When the Lord saw it he abhorred them because of the provoking of his sons and daughters It 's an unmanly sin man loaths it a most ungodly sin God abhors it in all especially in a Jeshurun and that signifieth an upright people it 's matter of highest provocation if he find it in his sons and daughters With others this despising of the riches of the goodness and forbearance and long-suffering of God treasures up wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2. 4 5. And even in the dearest of God's children God so ill takes it that if the most upright Hezekiah make such returns he shall smart for it 2 Chron. 32. 25. compared with 2 King 20. 17 18. Let them so ungratefully abuse such a mercy the very worst of the Heathens shall rather have it than they continue owners of it Ezek. 7. 24. A return in this case God expects but it 's a return of praise and obedience and not a return to our sin that 's most hateful ingratitude 2. Most desperate Obstinacy as standing out against God when he hath gone through a full course of all means of the very last and most likely and which usually are wont to be most effectual for when God hath delivered his people from straits he hath endeavoured to fasten on them all obligations to obedience besides the tye of the Word in his Command there hath been the bond of affliction in their by-past misery and the thick cord of love in their present deliverance and shall this three-fold cord be so easily broken It 's not the Heroick Impetus of the Spirit of God coming Judg. 15. 14. Matth. 8 28. with Mark 5. 3 4. upon us as sometimes upon Sampson but from the insult of some evil spirit more fierce than ordinarily as in the Gospel that none of all not all these chains and fetters can hold us nor any thing tame us a tough bad humour which strongest Physick cannot purge and which is the Physicians last receipt for such are Afflictions and Mercies Sometimes indeed afflictions are the last as pinching and pineing Poverty at last brought home the Prodigal Luke 15. As a Winter-frost helps to kill these Weeds which in Summer sprung up and multiplied When Lenitives will not do corrosives searings cuttings off sometimes work the Cure But what hope if after all the Gangrene creep on still It may be you will say sometimes that may be preserved in Sugar that will not in Brine and when God hath not been before in the Wind and Earthquake and Fire he may be after in the still voice 1 King 19. 11 12 13. And therefore God that he may leave no means unessayed like a careful tender-hearted Father to a stubborn Child whom he would not lose will try whether mildness as a Summer-Sun will not melt that heart which harshness as a winter frost hardned You are told of a stone that will move at the gentle touch of a finger more than with the violent rush of your whole body and such stones sometimes are our hard hearts and therefore God that delights not in the death of a sinner and with the goodness of whose Nature this sweet way of Mercy most agrees is willing as at first to begin with it so after other sharper means used at last to end with it When after the Israelites want of Food he in Mercy gave them Bread from Heaven he saith it was that he might prove them whether they would walk in his Law or no Exod. 16. 4. So that if after Judgments we have a return of Mercies we had need take heed for it may be then we go upon our last and strongest trial In Afflictions God indeed strongly tryeth us whether we will cleave to him in want of Mercies but by Mercies he maketh fullest tryal of us whether we will serve and obey him whether we will set upon our Journey for Heaven in such fair Way and Weather when we have nothing to hinder us and whether we will build when the Scaffold is built and all Tools and Materials ready that we want nothing that might help us And then Isa 5. if after all Mercies yet sour Grapes what can God do more but quite extirpate If after tryal thus made of all means of the last and best we continue as ill or prove worse than before then Reprobate silver call them for the Lord hath rejected them Jer. 6. 29 30. Meneh Meneh Tekel Dan. 5. 25 to 30. Vpharsin God hath again and again numbred and weighed us and we are found light nay heavy-hearted and immoveable and what then follows Peres thy Kingdom is divided the Lord knows so is ours miserably And the Lord grant that which is added do not follow and is given to the Medes and Persians that God give us not up to our Enemies who after all this variety of powerfullest means will not yet give up our selves to him in a way of Obedience For if after we are made whole we sin again as we are over prone which was the first point it cannot be avoided but that every way both in point of sin and misery it will be worse with us which was the second point here implyed Of both which the Use and Application should have been in Vse the more full opening and inforcing the other two things here enjoyned 1. A serious and heedful Consideration and Review of the Mercy received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 behold thou art made whole saith our Saviour he sets an Ecce upon it as to set forth the remarkableness of the Mercy so to put him in mind of his Duty and that was to take a diligent and exact survey of the Mercy and because being made whole speaks a former Disease and a present Cure he is called to think of both of them together and to compare them together how weak before he was and how well now before not able to crawl he can now rise up and walk he that could not before carry himself from the Porch to the Pool can now carry his bed from the Pool through the City He that for many years together was made sick with delayed Hopes and quite cut to the heart with vexatious Disappointments hath with the speaking of a word his Health perfectly restored and his longing Desires in an instant fully accomplished All this our Saviour would have him wisely behold and consider and for ever remember with all thankfulness And would he not have us of this City and Kingdom behold with the like care a greater Cure Indeed I cannot say to England thou art perfectly made whole we are yet come short of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that perfect Soundness which Peter told the Jews
that lame man had attained in the presence of them all Acts 3. 16. The Humours in this great and greatly diseased Body are yet in an hurry we bleed still at best our Wounds are but in healing and not yet fully whole But yet humble and hearty thanks be to our heavenly Physician we cannot but see as it were this poor Man in the Text arising our Sanballats and Tobiahs whom our Healing wounds and cuts to the heart even they to their grief hear and see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the phrase is Neh. 4. 7. that an healing Plaister is mercifully applyed to our bleeding Wounds that unless we be stupid and sensless we cannot but with the Woman when her bloudy Issue was stopt know and feel what is done in us Matth. 5. 33. and unless lothsomly ingrateful say as it is Ezek. 21. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is not this we are not what we were that a great change is wrought in the Patient and we hope in a healing way so that though not wholly yet in part though not absolutely yet comparatively in regard of what we were we are made whole And therefore O London O England Behold Behold thy former Wound and thy present Cure Behold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from what depths of Misery into which thy sins had cast thee to what hopeful and happy beginnings of Health and Peace the healing hand of thy pitiful Physician hath raised thee thy Religion wofully corrupted now graciously begun to be reformed thy Liberty before inslaved now vindicated a most unnatural and bloody War the other day most eagerly prosecuted by the malice of Man more powerfully and miraculously ceased through the Mercies of God This poor Man that had been sick so long could not have believed that ever he should have been well so soon nor had we Faith to believe that were so hastily dying away in the beginning of the last year we should be so happily recovering by the end of this Let therefore the Voice of the Cryer and through God's Mercy not now as that might have been in a Wilderness call out all your heedfullest attentions and let an unworthy Minister use the holy Prophet's words Come and behold the Works of the Lord we might of late have added as it 's there what desolations he hath made but now what Restaurations what Salvation he hath wrought in the Earth He maketh Wars to cease he breaketh the Bow and cutteth the Spear in sunder and burneth the Chariot in the fire Psal 46. 8 9 c. Truly the Lord hath so wrought his wonderful Works that they ought to be full in our eye and heart for the present and to be had for the future in everlasting remembrance O set up our Eben-ezer with this impress upon it Hitherto hath the Lord helped us Behold thus far O England thou art made whole and what remains but 2. The second duty injoyned in the following word sin O sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee Sin no more Now the Lord be more merciful for I fear many of us sin more than ever Oppressions in many more aggravated Heresies more openly maintained Christ the Holy Ghost and Holy Scriptures more horribly blasphemed Factions and Divisions more multiplied the Scene only changed but the same or a worse part acted the Weapons struck out of the hands of Enemies and more taken up by Brethren and Friends Were Christians ever so mutually estranged and imbittered Were your publick Church-Assemblies ever so neglected In your civil Meetings your Elections and other Affairs ever with such confusion I had almost said brutish rage as of late so transacted as though we had put off Christianity and Civility and Humanity together But think in all your hearts and all your souls Is this to sin no more Is it not to revolt more and more O think that you see God angrily looking upon you and saying but do you thus requite me O foolish people and unwise Think that you see Jesus Christ standing and weeping over you and saying as once O Jerusalem Jerusalem if thou hadst known even thou in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace thou wouldst have made a better return lest before thou art aware they be hid from thine eyes I charge thee once more sin no more serve me thus no more O do not this abominable thing that I hate Jer. 44. 4. at last be thou instructed O Jerusalem O England lest my soul depart from thee lest I make thee desolate a Land not inhabited Jer. 6. 8. Do we remember our former fears and troubles were they not bad enough that we now grow worse that they may be renewed and aggravated Do we remember our resolutions vows and promises that we then made to prevail with God for Mercy were they that we would be worse than ever if God would deliver us and do we think that upon those terms he would have helped us Do we consider to what happiness we have for the present arrived to an Harbour after a Tempest to a day of joy and gladness after the sad times of our griefs and fears And shall our sins damp our joyes drive us again into the deep and overcloud our Sun in a clear day unless we be weary of our Mercies let us not weary Amos 8. 9. our God by our sins Noli gemmam perdere in die festo is an Arabick Proverb O do not that in a good day which will undo all the comfort of it Or lastly do we think what yet we may be Are we so absolutely cured that we are past all possibility of a relapse May not the wound rankle and grow angry and then come to Judab's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there be no remedy 2 Chron. 36. 16. O why should Israel's stubborness when come to the borders of Canaan drive them back to the Red Sea again why should we cast poyson into the wound that 's healing O why will we dye O pity a tender Mother a dear Native Country which beseecheth you by the Womb that bare you and by the Breasts that gave you suck that now that she is recovering you would not be a means of her death that first gave you breath If you will not pity your selves yet pity the excellency of your strength the desire Ezek. 24. 21. of your eyes and that which your soul pityeth your sons and your daughters which may do God more service than ever you have done when you are dead and gone Eat not the sour Grapes that their teeth be not set on edge that instead of rising up and calling us blessed they do not gnash their teeth and curse us that by our sins in this Crisis when we might have made both our selves and them happy have utterly undone both without recovery I might in this kind say much yet when I had said all I could say no more than the Text doth And therefore when I have done speaking let
and neglectest God the Giver fastnest upon the Bait and art not drawn to Christ who would draw thee to himself by that Cord of Love Like the Romish Fisher that casts away the Net when he hath caught the Fish he fished for openeth the Door of the Heart so wide as to take in an outward Mercy from the Hand of Christ and then shuts it against him who thereby would have made way for himself to enter in nay it may be with those Husband-men in the Gospel will kill the Heir that they may have the Inheritance shakes hands and quits Christ with Demas to embrace the World Mat. 21. 38. At least when he hath grasped the World careth not to reach out to a Saviour as Adam of old satisfied his Appetite with the pleasant Fruit of the Tree of knowledg of Good and Evil but cared not to taste of the Tree of Life Foolish People and unwise but do we so require the Lord to forget him in those Tokens by which he would be remembred To lose Christ in the Crowd in the midst of those Mercies in and by which he would be found To make the End the Means Christ as a Bridg only by which we would get over to what we would come to and on the contrary to make the Means and Way the end of our Journey which we mean to sit down and rest in Remember that as Christ calls it hating of Father and Mother when we under-value them in comparison of him so he calls it hating of him Prov. 8. 36. when we prefer any thing before him or rest in any thing that is short of Him and his Salvation But Drexel horolog what As he said An Coelum desperâsti Wretched Man dost thou despair of Heaven that thou thus liest groveling on the Earth Now Sursum Corda And when shall our Hearts make the Responsal Habemus Domine When we have all have we an Heart hungering and thirsting after Christ who is all in all without whom all else is nothing For so on the other hand a Jacob's and every true Israelite's heart that is touched with sense of the emptiness of all else and the only All-sufficient fulness of Christ after fullest draughts of all other Contentments thirsts everlastingly till satisfied with him with Miphibosheth bids the Zibaes of the World take all 2 Sam. 19. 30. may but the King return to his Soul in peace Bids others much good do them with their Corn and Wine whilst he still cries Lord Psal 4. 6. do thou lift upon me the Light of thy Countenance is content to part with them all for him and therefore cannot be content with them without him With the Martyr saith Valeat Pecunia valeat Vita veniat Christus Farewel Money farewel Life farewel all only come Christ who is more than all who is All in all And though too oft in perfunctory Duties he puts off Christ with skins and shells of Performances yet he meaneth not to be so put off by him with these husks and shells of outward Contentments No Christ is the Kernel which his People hungers after and is only satisfied with And therefore the hungry Child is not put by with such Toys and Rattles but cryeth earnestly till it be fed with this Bread of Life Like Ruth and Elisha the one is not shaken off by Naomi with a Go return Ruth 1. 2 Kings 2. to thy Mothers House nor the other with an Elijah's saying Tarry here But on they will and nothing but Death as it is in your English nay not Death it self shall separate them as it is in the Hebrew Ruth 1. 17. So a true Christian whose Heart is indeed touched with the Love of Christ though he might have Chains of Gold to bind him down to fit still by what the World can afford him yet he cannot rest but in the Bosom of his Saviour He cannot be safe in the greatest security that falls short of his Salvation I this is an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile and let this be his Character which we may judg both of him and our selves by and not be beguiled This Secondly instructs us what is a right Spiritual Use Vse 2 and Enjoyment of all outward Mercies and Deliverances if it be as the Apostle speaks of Marrying Wives only in the 1 Cor. 7. 39. Lord. If they do not terminate our thoughts and desires so as to take them off from Christ but rather as it was here with Jacob prove as a Rise to lift up our Souls to him And as so many Illicia and Prolectives to draw them out more earnestly towards him The Earth is indeed an opake dense Body which we stick in and our Eye cannot penetrate and pierce through and so are earthly Contentments to earthly Hearts like thick dull Glass which intercept the Light and dull and almost terminate our Eye and Heart But if all were right they should be as Media diaphana as clear Chrystal Glass that might transmit the Beams of the Sun of Righteousness to our Souls Looking-Glasses in which we may see Christ or as so many Shadows that better commend and set out to us the Beauty of Christ that by these Streams we may be led up to the Spring-Head and by these Rivers led out to the Ocean This is the right Spiritualizing and Sublimating these low and gross earthly Enjoyments Not a Rosicrucian Philosophica Theologizata nor the Libertine Familist high-flown Allegorical Mystical Divinity Or the Enthusiasts crying up the Spirit whilst he wallows in the Lusts of the Flesh But a plain Honest-hearted Christian's taking advantage from outward things to be raised up to Spiritual and Heavenly As a Man from the rise of a Hill makes a greater Leap and as the Bird which from the Tree takes a longer-flight so from the advantage of the higher Ground of an outward Exaltation and Deliverance instead of being lifted and puft up in Pride to have the Heart raised up to diviner thoughts and more ardent desires of God and Heaven as he Luke 14. 15. whilst sitting at Meat with Christ raiseth up his thoughts to the Blessedness of him that eats Bread in the Kingdom of God This Meat is pleasant but Oh! what then is the Bread of Life This Garment comely But how Glorious then the Robe of Righteousness This House a very good Dwelling But Heaven is better O sweet Friend But O sweeter Saviour When thus these outward tasts do not dull but rather quicken the Spiritual Appetite and make us more hunger and thirst after fuller Meals and greater Draughts of Christ and his Salvation This is a right not so much using as improving them which God would have us ready at and have a holy Skill and Dexterity in Their Anagogical Interpretations of Scripture are often vain but here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is truly Divine when an holy Heart out of Terrene and Corporal things extracts the Elixir or Divinest Contemplation and Affections