over-seers of his flock when through their default his sheep do straggle and become a prey to the beast of the field you may hear him expressing himself in words of greatest distast Ezek. 34.10 Thus saith the Lord God Adonai Jehovah or Jehovah who is your Lord behold I am against the shepherds and I will require my flock at their hands and cause them to cease feeding my flock t is known to most that in Scripture-language Magistrates and Ministers are termed shepherds and have in their respective capacities a joint over-sight of the flock committed unto them by the chief shepherd but alas how have ye Magistrates shuffled off the care of the flock to the Ministers and how have the Ministers shifted back the over-sight of it to the Magistrates and betwixt them both many sheep have wandered and some have been worried Though most were desirous that the Foxes should be taken yet it came under dispute who should take them and though at all hands it was agreed that deceiving Jezebel should be dealt withal yet how and by whom hath hitherto been the question Ask the Magistrate and he will tell you Ministers must do it by the sword of the spirit and ask the Minister and he will tell you that the Magistrate must do it by the sword of his civil power And whilst we have been disputing what to do and who should do it errors have sadly spread and a considerable part of the flock hath straggled and is become a prey to the beasts of the field the blame whereof is laid by some at the Magistrates door upon account of his tenderness and gentleness of spirit and countenance to such as differed onely in disciplinary points refusing to establish by his civil sanction that way of discipline as universal and imposing upon all which they own and would enthrone as the government of the Lord Jesus as also for their remisness and too much indulgence to evil persons and opinions in not punishing the one nor suppressing the other which amounteth to a toleration And many charge the blame hereof upon the Ministry by reason of morose austere and rigid carriage toward those who differ from them in the way of discipline or onely in some lesser doctrines that are not fundamental or because they remit much of that care watchfulness and oversight which the duty of their places and the present necessity obliged them unto but the day will declare it and t is not good for either to plead not guilty the Lord help us to mourn that the folds are broken up and that the flocks are scattered The Lord teach us all our duty and by his own spirit in the word determine that great question what is to be done and by whom That the sick may be healed the broken bound up the lost may be sought up those that are driven away may be brought again and the residue secured against future scattering And the Lord give stability of spirit to his people that they may be kept from topling in these tottering times when so many backslide some in profession not in opinion some in opinion who yet retain a profession and some in opinion and profession both stepping into Religion without any precedaneous and inward change and so soon in soon out making that good 1 John 2.19 They went out from us because they were not of us And now you will finde upon due trial this an excellent means to fix your spirits when you read over those acts of grace which the Lord hath drawn out upon your hearts in the blood of his own Son How did this fix the Apostles Joh. 6.67 Many of the disciples went back and walked no more with the Lord Jesus upon which he puts the question to them will yee also forsake me there was need of such a question for Nemo errat sibi-ipsi Seneca sed dementiam spargit in proximos the heathen could say no man errs to himself but evil men and erring do spread their madness unto their neighbors as weeds endanger the good corn bad humors the good blood and an infected house the whole neighborhood Therefore the Lord Jesus tryes their pulses whether this great defection had not tainted them with some infection and behold the fixedness of their spirits in Peters reply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God we have certainly and experimentally known by those glorious works which thou hast wrought before us and by the saving communication of thy grace and light unto us when we were in a dark and dead estate that thou art Christ the Son of the living God and therefore we will not leave thee this cemented and knit their hearts unto Christ it was a brave speech of old Polycarpus when the Proconsul perswaded him to deny the Lord Jesus Eighty and six years have I served Christ and he never did me hurt but good and shall I now deny him Oh! absit God forbid Thus Saint Paul argues back the Galathians Gal. 3.1 2. O foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth See Mr. Baxter in loc crucified among you This onely would I learn of you received ye the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith c Oh did ye much and often read over the passages of divine love unto you and would be true to your own experiences it would antidote you against many errors of the times and keep your hearts close with God 3. This serious recognition and review of the Lords mercies brings most comfort unto the soul and sure he lives best to himself who lives most to his own comfort a life of comfort is the sweetness the desireableness and life of life What is life to the bitter in soul which long for death and dig for it more then for bid treasures which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they finde the grave Job 3.21 22 23. And what comfort have men in living upon a natural account when those dayes are come wherein they say we have no pleasure in them Eccl. 12. ver 1. and is it not so in a spirituall sense a wounded spirit who can bear but a good conscience is a continual feast and the Kingdome of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. vers 17. Then do we come nearest heaven and live in the suburbs of it when we are filled with peace and joy in our soules when we experience a sedateness and serenity of spirit rejoycing in hope of the glory of God now sence of grace received doth marvellously comfort the soul 1. In our addressments unto God by prayer when we have any request to make at the throne of grace this will work a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and holy boldness
but we may see a deluge of wrath breaking in upon whole mankinde at the breach of the first Covenant we cannot read over our own Diaries but we may read our own Dangers drawn up in black Characters of our sins as provoking God unto displeasure against us nay the times that lately passed over us presented us with danger from the sword of men in the heat of warr and now are we in dayly hazards from the arrows of the Almighty in various and violent distempers Again we cannot seriously study the Gospel but our great Deliverance from wrath to come by the precious bloud of our Crucified Jesus presents it self unto our view nor can we considerately survey our own Soules but we may read the counterpane thereof transcribed by the Eternal Spirit nor own Experiences but we may meet with large Volumes of eminent Deliverances personall and Nationall wrought for us by the outstretched arme of an Almighty God Again if we turn over those holy leaves of the Scriptures of Truth if we consult the Experiences of Gods people in the Ages that are past or seriously advise with our own spirits when in a right frame we shall finde many Duties charged upon us as our returnes to God for our great Deliverances The great God will not be a loser by his mercies he exspecteth some incomes into the bank of his glory if he have it not from us he will have it out upon us If we do not give it he will take it Deliverances are a great Talent put into the hands of men to trade withal for God They that lap up this Talent in a napkin by forgetfulness or squander it away by unsuitable actings heap guilt upon their own soules and shall be sure at the reckoning day to finde this sin as the Israelites did an ounce of their golden calf in all the rebukes of God upon them The sad Consideration whereof hath been and is much upon my heart and hath been a principall inducement to thrust this Treatise into the world which is not Polemical in the main intention of it my Standard bearing this Motto Zech. 8.19 LOVE THE TRVTH AND PEACE nor is it provoking I hope to any Iames 3.17 being the product of that wisdome which is first pure then peaceable c. I have avoided all bitterness that I might not stirr up any prejudice my business is to be a Remembrancer from the Lord unto you and to provoke unto love and good works as the genuine improvement of grace and mercy received I have not exactly methodised this Treatise nor cast it into the mould of the Title Page but laid down all Sermon-wise handling the Saints Dangers and Deliverances in the Doctrinall and their Duties in the Applicatory part of it in which I have respect as well to Spiritual as to Temporal Dangers and Deliverances and with respect to all as they stand in a personall or Relative capacity I will not Cramben bis coctam dare by Epitomizing in the Epistle what is largely pressed in the body of the Discourse I shall therefore onely entreat you to bewail before the Lord that root which bringeth forth wormwood and gall amongst us that discontent and sullenness of spirit by means whereof God is not owned in nor honoured for those glorious vouchsafements of mercy which have been matter of envie and astonishment in all the Nations about us that land-flood of corrupt Principles and practises which like a swift and spreading Torrent hath laid a great part of the Nation under water that spirit of bitterness and enmity against Godliness in the power and Religion in the purity of it and those sad divisions about which sadly hinder the work of a thorough Gospel-Reformation c. all which are sowre grapes yea clusters of Gomorrah and not such a Vintage which the Lord might reasonably exspect from a people of such rich mercies such signal preservations and under the enjoyment of such encouraging advantages as ours have been O that your souls would mourn in secret places for these things O that you were so affected with them that you would refuse your pleasant bread O that you would so reprove a carnal and careless Generation of men by your lively acttings for God that many yea all who have experienced the goodness of the Lord in eminent preservations may glorifie the name of the Lord by an Evangelical conversation that so the presence of God may still give us rest that our English Zion may be made an Eternal Excellency a joy of many generations Isay 60.15 18. that our walls through the divine Custodiency may still be called Salvation and our gates praise But though this spiritual Lethargy be incurable in many yet be ye O ye Ransomed ones of the Lord awakened unto duty and let the sense of mercy in the eminent appearances of God to your help in the daies of your distress carry you like wind and tide full sail in your zeal for his Glory in order to which I shall humbly offer these hints unto you and I entreat the people of my own charge to take special notice of them as being mainly intended for them 1. Be frequent in your reveiws of those feared dangers and fretting distempers those painful sicknesses and perplexing sorrows from which the good Hand of God has fetcht you gather up your dangers and deliverances your pressures and preservations how the Lord has granted you life and favour life with the comforts of it to make it sweet and desireable Iob 10.12 and his visitation has preserved your spirit has secured your lives in the midst of many dangers which surely have been many from infancy to gray hairs that so you may visite him in duty who hath so often visited you in mercy there are frequent visites past betwixt friends God is your best friend account that day lost wherein you do not visit him and keep up sweet communion with him It was a gallant speech of a brave man Marquess of Vico. accursed be that man who values the wealth of the world worth one daies communion with God Psal 34.2 4. and act up unto David's pattern I will bless the Lord at all times c. I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me out of all my feares which were many and lay hard upon him when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech and acted the part of a mad man which so sober a person as David would not have done had not his fears been strong and his faith weak 2. Get your Spirits tinctured with a deep sense of that darkness which was upon you when day first broke upon your souls what desperate courses you were engaged in and out of what company the Lord pluckt you with whom ye were folded as thornes before conversion own the conduct of that providence whereby you have been led from Beth-haven to Beth-El from profane places and societies into such families such fellowships and Congregations where
Religion has been owned family-duties carefully observed Sabbath-strictnes advanced the Word spiritually dispensed and holiness has been contended for whereby a saveving change has been brought forth in you or you have been more built up in faith and holiness Let the consideration of what you are compared with what you have been be much upon your spirits that you may with thankfulness adore the riches of that mercy by which you have been differenced as to present grace and hope of future glory from the profane world 3. Keep up your first love to Christ and your first hatred to sin Yonge converts have usually strong affections Those sinnes which have been Peccata in deliciis which have had most of the heart are most upon the conscience most in the confession most in the holy mournings and are most the abhorency of new Converts Again such is their sense of differencing mercy that they are all Love to God and all Zeal for his glory Apoc. 2.2 3. Mihi sane Auxentius nunquam aliud quam diabolus erit quia Arrianus Hilar. you may read this in the gallantrie of the Ephesians spirit I know thy works and thy labour and thy patience and how thou canst not bear them which are evil either passions in thy soul or persons in thy society c. a high strain of Love the stream must needs be strong that turns all these wheeles it argues a great force of affection to draw out the soul into all these noble actings for Christ but as a well-kindled fire abates in heat and light as the fuel wastes or as a passionate lover remits of that violent affection when the person beloved has been some time enjoyed So it fareth with these Ephesian Christians they left their first love the love of their Espousals and so became Aphesis Mr. Trap. n loc remiss and careless possest with a spirit of sloth and indevotion O let not this charg be drawn up against us that the candlestick may not be remooved from us What attempts have been made to un-church un-sabboth and un-gospel us and how signally the Lord has appeared for us you know O remember that strength of zeal that warmth of spirit that height of love to God his truth waies and people those sighings prayings fastings fightings c. that were amongst us when the yoak was loosned from our necks and when a doore was first opened unto us for Religion and Reformation in the long Parliament Labour therefore to keep up your fiest abhorency of sin and your first affection to Jesus Christ 4. Cherish an high esteem of Gospel-ordinances Remember how pretious the word was then unto you when visions were scarce how you blessed God for it and rejoyced in it when you ran to and fro to find it how your feet stood in the house of the Lord and you flew as Doves to their windows swiftly and in slocks when Pulpits began to be filled with zealous spiritual and conscientrous Preachers O let not this Manna lose any of it's sweetness upon your tastes now that you have it in so much peace and plenty Bread if wanting is called for though the table be heaped with dishes The word is bread to all creature-comforts 't is that which makes them noble and nourishing O then be often in the galleries with the King Cant. 7.5 drink deep of his spiced wine feed freely of those dainties which are prepared and served out by the Eternal Spirit When you here a Sermon-bell think you hear a voice from heaven calling you in the words of Divine Herbert Come hither all whose taste Is your waste Save your cost and mend your fare God is here prepar'd and drest And the feast God in whom all dainties are You know and lament the negligence of some and the wantonness of others thin Congregations and empty seats is not the complaint of a simple Minister 1 Pet. 2.2 Still desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby Do not wean your selves from the breast whilst you are in a growing estate and never think you are past growth Ephes 4 13. until you be come to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ which state of perfection Scripture and your own experience duly consulted with will tell you is not attainable on this side Heaven 5. Maintain an evangelical brotherly love amongst your selves Love is the greate Gospel Soder and Cement a characteristical note of Christ's Disciples without which the highest pretence to piety and profession is under censure by the Holy Ghost Iac. 3.14 15 16. O how did Christians cling together in times of trouble What friendly entertainment did Saints find in the hearts and houses each of other when they were forced from their dwellings by an enraged enemy how did the old Primitive and puritane love begin to spring up and flourish in England And now that we have no enemy to quarrel with will you needs quarrel one with another What an unsuitable return is this unto the God of Peace for his astonishing mercies and preservations Ah friends well may the Lord take this ill from his people after such notable deliverances as ours have been it was a good wish of an Heathen Vtinam inimicitiae mortales Livye amicitiae immortales essent and I wish the same that your friendships were immortal your enmites mortal that your dissentions like to Jonas his Gourd might die at the root in one night and that Brotherly love might continue as a Teyle-tree and as an Oake whose substance is in them 1 Ioh. 3.14 vers 18. O then preserve this evidence for heaven un-blurred in your souls that you may know you are passed from death unto life because you love the Brethren let love be without dissimulation love not in word and in tongue onely but in deed and in truth it is easy to make them two who were never truly one to make them foes who were never truly friends to keep them oft from being one bread who were never one body And in case of difference leave your gift at the Altar not leave the Altar that 's not the mind of Christ and goe and reconcile your selves There is a memorable story of Aristippus an Heathen who went of his own accord to Aeschines his enemy saying shall we not be reconciled until we become a Table-talk to all the Country To whom Aeschines replied that he would gladly be at peace with him remember therefore said Aristippus that although I am the elder and the better man yet I sought first unto thee thou art indeed said Aeschines a far better man than I for I began the quarrel and thou the reconciliation O stand not upon punctilios but goe thou and do likewise you know the sad fruits of contention where a scar-fire is the bels ring backward So where this fire breaks forth in fellowship and fraternity Religion is Retrograde all things go backward
Lord hath given real testimony of love and good will unto us The arrows of the Lords deliverance like Jonathans warning arrows are arrows of love feathered and headed with choicest affections Object 1. But this Fort-royal of the Saints seemeth to be assaulted by the Preacher Eccles 9. vers 1. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before him therefore the reliefs God giveth in to his people when distressed though signal and eminent are no demonstrative Arguments of Gods love he may help and yet hate a people Answ I shall receive the charge and endeavour to secure the truth within some sconces and therefore do answer 1. It is confessed that the onely wise God doth dispence outward mercies with an equal hand to the good and to the bad to him that sweareth and to him that feareth an oath and this according to the ordinary course of providence prosperity doth not alwayes spring up upon the root of piety God doth not difference the precious and the vile by sun and rain yea many times the worst men live under the warmest Sun-shine David saith Psal 17. vers 14. God filleth their bellies with hid treasures they have full meals of the worlds delicates riches and honour by the belly as our phrase is and who are these who like Pharaoh's kine are so fat and well-favoured why they are the wicked who like dogs when their bellies are full are turned out of doors they have their portion in this life their Chelech their part and share the word is used 1. in a military sense for the souldiers pay or his part in the spoyles of a conquered enemy thus Abraham calleth it the portion of the men that went with him Gen. 14. vers 24.2 'T is used in a civil sense for the share or portion which children have in their parents Estate Rachel and Leah said Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our fathers house Gen. 31. vers 14. So that the wise man in this Verse confuteth the vain yet general opinion of worldlings who fondly and as falsly measure Gods love and their lot in the same Omer And in this he ballasteth the Saints who are apt to topple over in their own stormes and the wicked's calmes as Psal 73.2 2. The dispensations of God according to his ordinary rate of providence do not decisively conclude love or hatred a just man may have all his moisture drunk up with the arrows of the Almighty when the unjust may have his bones full of marrow the Saint may be poor with Job even to a Proverb and the sinner may abound with wealth even to the parable Good Josiah may dy the same death with wicked Ahab both slain by the hands of their enemies God will not write his love in such legible characters that every pur-blind worldling may read this secret indeed Jerusalem had the honour to be baptised Jehovah-shammah the Lord is there Ezek. 48.35 but this engraving was not found upon Dives his palace It is the heart not the house which beareth this Inscription and that not in letters of Gold but of grace 3. No man can give a certain and infallible judgement of love or hatred towards another person by all that is before him indeed men may speak hopefully in the judgment of charity and draw up a hopeful conclusion of another man's standing in grace from what is visibly good when the exercise of faith is vigorous and the actings of the spirit of holiness are visible and uniform as 1 Thes 1. vers 3 4. The Apostle mentioneth their labour of love their work of faith and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ from which he deduceth this conclusion knowing Brethren beloved of God your election though the white stone with the new name written in it is known to no man certainly but to him that hath received it yet holy men D. Preston in some degree are known one to another to make the communion of saints the sweeter yet cannot such a conclusion be drawn from external acts of providence infallibly to determine love or hatred by his outward administrations how sadly would the men of that generation have miscaried if they had asserted Esau to have been a person dear to God and peculiarly in his favour because he prospered so farre and fast in worldly greatness and glory who had four hundred men at his heels and the father of so many Dukes and if they had concluded Jacob to have been a person of Gods hatred because he was a poor shepherd and met with such hard measure from his uncle Laban seing the Lord determined otherwise Rom. 9. vers 13. Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated It was much the sinne of Job's three friends in asserting Job's afflictions to be the fruits and evidences of Gods displeasure against a person hated by him when God himself giveth testimony to Job so fully at the beginning and end of this book 4. I do not assert that God's outward dispensations although in an extraordinary manifestation of his power and goodness do fully and alwayes speak forth his peculiar love to a person or people when their testimony is single and something else be not superadded to render it more authentick for wicked Cham had the same preservation in the ark from the deluge of waters as godly Sem had and Samariah's siege was raised in a way of miracle under wicked Jehoram as well as Jerusalem's was under good Hezekiah Compare 2 Kings 7. verse 6. with Chap. 19. vers 35. It was false Divinity that those Barbarians preached when the Viper fastened on Paul's hand No doubt this man is a murtherer whom though he hath escaped the Sea yet vengeance suffereth not to live Acts 28. vers 4. which our Saviour fully consulteth in the case of the Galileans and the eighteen persons on whom the tower fell in Siloe Luke 13. vers 1 2 3 4. 5. But the glorious and remarkable outgoings of God when falling in with the witness of grace and the spirit when they are the returns of the Saints prayers the fruits of their holy wrastlings and the issue of their hope conceived in the womb of Gods gracious promises are comfortable conclusions of divine favour and do very much seal to the peculiarity of God's love thus the Saints in their own cases can distinguish love from hatred by the things which are before them they know the voice of Christ and read the love of their father in the streight lines of his providencial favours toward them Psalm 87. vers 2. God loveth the gates of Zion how doth this appear Trap. in loc All my thoughts are upon thee with greatest delight All my bowels are in thee making them to be the words of God promising plenty of grace and comfort to them as from overflowing overslowing fountain though other expositours think them to be the Psalmists word see Mr. Jackson in loc why vers 7. God saith All
he laid hold on God with all his strength as men when they are in danger of drowning will lay such fast hold that their fingers will sooner be broken then loosened thus David being almost under water stretched forth his hand of faith strengthened with promises and experiences and layeth sure hold on the rock of ages whereby his head and hopes are kept above water in this dreadfull storme what a noble gallantry of spirit did good Nehemiah shew Et Turnum fuglentem haec terra videbit Omnia de pâ—aesumas prater fugam Palinodiam was a brave Speech of Luther to Staupicius when Shemaiah advised him to take sanctuary in the Temple because the enemy had designed to fall upon him by night and slay him a word of advice which a carnal heart consulting more his own safety then Gods honour would readily have listened unto but what is the answer of this heroick saint Neb. 6. vers 11. Should such a man as I flee and who is there being as I am would go into the temple to save his life I will not go in why not go in what safety could he pretend unto you may suppose him arguing thus I am under an eminent call from the Lord to build the city of the sepulchres of my fathers I have seen the face of God in bowing the heart of King Artaxerxes to contribute his royal aid and commission me to the work I have found the Elders of the Jews willing to owne my authority and to rise up as one man to build strengthening their hands for that good work Chap. 2. vers 18. as it was 2 Chron. 30. vers 12. In Judah The band of the Lord was to give them one heart Oh that the Lord would give that oneness of heart unto us in the work of our God Hence Nehemiah gathereth up his spirits and speaks like a brave man Should such a man as I flee a choice spirit a gallant pattern to be ey'd by all who are called forth by the Lord to serve out their generation in doing his work and if it hath a direct aspect to any age or nation surely to none more then to ours both in an eminent call to work and in eminent preservation of the workmen We may experimentally apply that promise as very much fulfilled upon us Isa 4. vers 5 6. The Lord hath created upon every dwelling place of mount Zion and upon her Assemblies a cloud and smoak by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all the glory there hath been a defence Chuphah The word implyeth a covering Cherube or nuptial vail under which the bride the Lamb's wife hath been hid from the rage of men Oh! how should this fortifie the Saints against future dangers and argue them to a dependent resting upon God! for them to cry out with the prophets servant Alas Master what shall wee do or with the disciples when tempest-tost wee perish as though there had been no hope of escaping as an high dishonour to them as Saints but more to the Lord Jesus as King of Saints especially to sink so low in their Faith as to say The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me this argueth them to be low in the sence of the care and love of God expressed to them in former mercies Oh then ye distressed of the Lord take sanctuary in this point and bewray not your infidelity by a sinking spirit in an evil day Is it so that the appearance of God are eminent and immediate in the day of his peoples distress Vse 2 Of Caution hath he given in security unto them by experienced preservations that he will be the Lord their Redeemer Oh this is a choice dish upon the Saints table they need not faint nor famish that have such a mess to feed upon yet as wholesome food may send up unwholesome vapors if unseasonably eaten or to excess and good Physick may produce bad effects if due order be not observed so this soveraign potion may nourish ill distempers if not rightly ordered And therefore I shall entreat you to take this Cordial with these cautions 1. Take heed you do not precipitate your selves into needless hazards and rashly cast your selves into dangers under the protection of this truth It is sinful to argue and would be unsafe to attempt it that because Elijah forded Jordan and made it passable with his mantle therefore thou wilt attempt the same rather then step out of thy way to go over the bridge or because the three Jewish worthies were preserved in the fiery Furnace therefore thou wilt throw thy self into the flames and presumptuously expect the same preservation no God will have his people learn the difference between tempting and trusting him It is folly not faith for a man to drink down a draught of deadly poison and say I believe the promise of Christ Mar. 16. vers 18. and expect to be antidoted against the venome of it the Israelites Numb 14. vers 44. are a said witness to the danger of presumption read the passage The Lord liketh not this language We will do and we will go when he bids not that men should bottome their safety upon the sandy washes of their own phantasies and fool-hardiness the same God who bids his people Isa 26. vers 4. Trust in the Lord for ever forbiddeth their tempting of him Deut. 6. vers 16. which text the Lord Jesus the best interpreter that ever commenced upon the Bible expoundeth to this sence Mat. 4. vers 7. The Devil had set Christ on a pinacle of the temple By the way Note that height of place giveth opportunity to the tempter temple Pinnacles are no safe standings when once Satan gets a man into his Rood-loft of spiritual pride his dangers great and near no marvail that mens heads should swim and their hearts swerve when they stand upon a Pinnacle of the temple when Satan had got the Lord Jesus so high he tempteth him to give a proof of his Divinity by casting himself down urging the charge of Angels to protect him but did the Lord Christ take the cue No he answereth It is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Christ had no call from God at that time to cast himself into the hands of custodient Angels here is a full promise but we must also look to a clear call Psal 91. vers 11. He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways that is in all those courses which are appointed thee by God in all lawful and Christian undertakings for no further doth God or his holy Angels take charge of thee if thou keepest not within these precincts thou art out of his protection wefts and strays fall to the Lord of the Soyl the State secureth none who travail at undue hours Pro. 27.8 As a bird that wandereth from her nest so is a man that wandereth from his place God hath made a
and softly when you drew your breath short and painfully when paleness had covered your faces when the grashopper was a burden to you such was your weakness Job 16. vers 16. when the shadow of death was on your eye-lids and all the symptomes of death appeared in you and all this at such a time when graves were opened very many in most places when God himself was the preacher and that upon this text Isa 40. vers 6 7. All flesh is grass and the goodliness of it as the flower of the field the grass withereth and the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it which was fully confirmed every passing bell being a proof of the point and every dead corps a reason of the doctrine so that if ever now it might safely be affirmed the people is grass and you as grass might have withered into dead hay and though flowers might have faded into loathsome Carcases if the Lord had not preserved a secret sap at the root Oh consider to receive a message of life from the Lord when you had received a message of death from man to be kept alive by his almighty power when you were within an hairs breadth of death is a mercy worth the owning at all times but calls for more abundant thankfulness at such a time as this was when so many some out of the same houses and many out of the same Towns have been carried forth unto the places of burial when many of those had the same advantages for life yea greater some from men and means then ye had yet they are dead and ye are alive Oh these considerations lay great ingagements of thankfulness upon you especially if you seriously take notice what your sickness was by which ye received an arrest from the Lord it was not an ordinary disease it hath been very much ludibrium medicorum few Physicians have found out the true cause and the right cure of it the distempers have so varied and the effects have been so different in several persons and places so that with the Egyptian Sorcerers all have been forced to confess it was no other then the finger of God The Lord having made good upon us that threatning Deut. 28. Verse 61. In bringing a sickness among us which is not written in the book of the Law a Scripture parralel whereof in every particular cannot be found I shall represent it to you under these Considerations 1. It was general no County no Town no Family scarcely escaped the rod nay almost all persons found some alterations in their bodies as tendencies to that disease having as large a Commission as to smiting as the destroying Angel had Ezek. 9. vers 5 6. Go ye through the City and smite let not your eye spare neither have ye pity slay utterly old and young both maids and little children and women 2. It was suddain Many Diseases have their Prodromio's their forerunners which bring news of their coming some dayes or weeks before they seize a man but when men were in their apprehensions perfectly well and at their labour perceiving no symptomes of a sickness they were suddenly surprised some in the Towns some in the fields and brought home sick As if a man should walk in a Corporation and suddenly should be snapt by the Sergeants and carried to the Jaile when he feared nothing less 1 Thes 5.3 3. It was violent It seized many strong men with that violence at the first onset as though it would strike but once many thinking at their first surprisall they had been dropping into the grave like that Job 16. v. 12 13 14. I was at ease Read Mr. Jakson's notes in loc but he hath broken me asunder he hath also taken me by the neck and shaken me to peices and set me up for his marke His archers compass me about he cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare he poureth out my gall upon the ground He breaketh me with breach upon breach he runneth upon me like a Giant 4. It was weakning the strength of the strong man was suddenly taken from him that he was either chained to his bed or like an old man walked with his staffe in his hand through age Zech. 8. ver 4. for Job 6. ver 4. the arrows of the Almighty are within me the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit And Psal 38.8 10. I am feeble and sore broken c. My heart panteth my strength faileth me by reason of inappetency Psal 107. ver 18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat 5. It was languishing many diseases do their work in a few dayes either the distemper wears off and health returns or else sicknesse prevails and death comes In some cases the Malefactour is committed till the next Goal-delivery and then set free with a little scarre in his hand But in other cases a man is kept prisoner from Sessions to Assizes and from Assizes to Sessions and knows not when he shall have his freedome or whether his life will be spared at last So some diseases have their fixed periods of time after which health is restored but in this distemper many have been referred from Sessions to Assizes have had many hopefull intervalls and yet are detained bound over from the feaver to a quartan ague and after long detainment find little strength and as little hopes of life at the last See Job 13. ver 26 27 28. and chap. 16. ver 8. thou hast filled me with wrinkles which is a witnesse against me grief had made surrows in his face and his tears filled them 7. It was inevitable No way to avoid the stroke Vid. Trap. in loc no Antidote would prevent it no closet could secure against it as 1 King 22. ver 34. like that Psal 90. ver 5 6. Arrows fly swiftly and secretly though Ahab had disguised himself that he might not be known and armed himself that he might not be wounded yet a certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote him between the joynts of the harnesse 7. It was mortall to many persons in many places 1. In the present stroke some never came off from their sickbeds till they were carried to their death beds to wit their graves 2. In the effects and consequents of it though the disease it self kill'd not some presently yet it slipt them into Dropsies Consumptions and Quartans which have since been mortall to many Now then set home these considerations give God the glory of your lives in the words of the text ascribe your healing onely unto him in the words of Eliphaz Job 5. ver 18. He maketh sore and bindeth up he wonndeth and his hands make whole and go sing good Hezekiahs song to the stringed instruments all the dayes of your life in the house of the Lord Isa 38. ver 20. II. Make good your sick-bed thoughts and purposes what you intended when sick be intent upon now well what you then purposed now practise sick people
usually have the best minds but the worst memories when they are under an arrest from the Lord and brought within sight of the Prison then conscience is awakened then their debts to God lie heavy upon their spirits then their thoughts are how to make even with God and fly to their surety then if mercy will but put in Bail for them if God will but spare them a little before they go hence and be no more if he will but have patience they will pay him all No Saint under heaven can promise fairer and further then they what they will do and what they will be if the Lord restore them to health Luke 11. ver 24. The unclean spirit often goeth out upon a sick-bed there is a cessation from sin that work goes not on then but alas sad experience hath let us see too often that words are but winde and all the sick-bed resolutions vanish into air the unclean spirit returns when restored to health and finds the heart swept and garnished then goeth he and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked then himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last estate of that man is worse then the first As health comes on Religion goes off and they forget the vows of the Lord that were upon them Indeed it fares thus very often with the Saints themselves what a vow did Jacob bring his soul under when in distresse Gen. 28. ver 20 21 22. Mr. Calamy Con. in Psal 119.92 I knew a man who in the time of his sickness was so terrified in his conscience for sin that he made the very bed to shake upon which he lay and cried out all night long I am damned I am damned and made many and great protestations of amendment of life but became as wicked as ever yet this good man made slow haste to perform it until God was fain to jog him and be as a faithful remembrancer unto him Gen. 35. ver 1 2 3. then and not till then did Jacob purge his family and go up to Bethel to perform his vow which computing the time was about seven and twenty years after he made it good Hezekiah fell into this distemper also you shall hear how his spirit was up in thankfulness to God Isa 38. ver 19. The living the living they shall praise thee as I do this day the father to the children shall make known thy truth that is I will perpetuate the memoriall of this mercy by handing down the knowledge thereof to my children yea my command shall be upon them as a speciall charge in my last will that they shall give God the glory of my recovery good words spoken and probably from a reall intention at that time But alas the sence of this great mercy was but an Ephimera it soon wore off 2 Chron. 32. ver 25. Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him for the recovery was signal attended with many remarkable circumstances as 1. The sentence of death was reversed which was passed in foro externo for God had sent him a speciall message by the hand of Isaiah to set his house in order for saith he thou shalt die and not live chap. 38. Object But did not the Prophet speak his own apprehensions onely considering the mortality of that disease which had seized upon him Sol. No he prefaceth his message with Thus saith the Lord and 't is certain he knew the Lords mind concerning him at least so much as was then revealed there being not any person then alive who was Consiliarius è secretioribus to the most high God more then Isaiah was and who knew more of the councels of Heaven witnesse his glorious and Evangelicall promises and Predictions 2. The reversall of the sentence of death was the single return and procurement of his own prayers and tears for ver 5. The Lord gives a second command to the Prophet to go to Hezekiah and deliver this message from him Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father I have heard thy prayers I have seen thy tears so that as Hannah said of Samuel her son 1 Sam. 1. ver 27. For this child I prayed and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him The same might Hezekiah for my life I prayed and wept and the Lord hath given me my petition Nay the Lord makes a large addition to his life Psal 21.4 he asked life and the Lord gave him length of days the life of man twice told in our ordinary law compute even fifteen years which did very much accent the Lords mercy seeing Hezekiah was so exceeding earnest for life having then no Son to succed in the throne and the affairs of Church and state being very unsetled 4. This also gave a great Emphasis to the mercy in that he had such a suddain return to his prayer The Lord did not make him wait long for answer thereby tormenting his spirit with perplexing fears but before the Prophet was gone out into the middle Court 2 Kin. 20.4 the word of the Lord came unto him the Lord met him and sent him back with a message of life to Hezekiah Oh t is matter of great comfort to have a quick dispatch of business especially in things relating to life and death 5. Yet further the immediate appearance of power from the Lord in effecting the cure doth marvailously greaten the mercy that Hezekiah should be visited with so sharpe a distemper Leigh Crit. Sac. probably the plague of pestilence for Shechen signifies an hot ulcer boil or push and may refer to a Plague sore also however the disease in it self was mortal and that so slight an application as a plaister of figs should perfect his recovery and that suddainly within three dayes 2 King 20.5 whereas we finde lighter distempers are long in carrying off where able Physitians are consulted with and all means attempted 6. And then that the great God should work a miracle in heaven to confirm his faith in the certainty of the cure that he should command the Sun to a retrograde motion to go back ten degrees not onely the shadow upon the dyal of Ahaz for that had not been so visible and universal but the body of the Sun in the heaven for so t is Isa 38.8 So the Sun turned ten degrees by which degrees it was gone down Dr. Richardson in loc whereby that day became ten hours longer then otherwise it should have been allowing half an hour for a degree and the motion of the Sun regular in its going backward and coming forward which things with safety may be supposed seeing the miracle was so notable and amazing that the King of Babilon put on 't is likely by his Astrologers sent Ambassadors on purpose as to congratulate Hezakiahs recovery so to know the certainty and manner of that great wonder a brute or flying report whereof he had heard 2 Chron. 32.31 Now though
the stead of Isaac Gen. 22. ver 12 13. by a divine Prolepsis anticipating that law of redemption which afterwards was enacted and published by God himself Exod. 13. ver 13. all the first born of man amongst thy children shalt thou redeem thus when the Lord met Moses by the way as he was going down to Egypt and would have slain him Exod. 4. ver 14 15 then Zipporah his wife probably by her husbands appointment circumcised her son concluding the neglect of that duty to be the speakings of God in that providence as appeared Read Babbingtons notes upon the place for when the child was circumcised the Lord let Moses go When Gideon heard the Medianites dream and the interpretation of it Judge 7. ver 15. he worshipped and returned into the host of Israel and said Arise for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host He concludes this providence as a clear exposition of the mind of God and a full confirmation of former promises How did the Elders of the Jews now being in Babylon interpret the Lord's mind in setting Cyrus the Persian upon the throne of Babylon and stirring up his heart to publish that gracious edict concerning their return to Jerusalem and rebuilding of the temple Ez. 1. ver 2 3. why they concluded that God had now put an opportunity into their hands both to quit the waters of Babylon by which they had sate down and wept and to enjoy the freedome of Gods worships in their own land ver 5. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin and the Priests and Levites with all them whose spirit God had raised to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem they owned this providence as a true paraphrase upon that passage Psal 102. ver 13. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come being penned as is thought by Daniel or some other holy man about this time of Cyrus's proclamation Now to bring this home to our selves that the reformation of State-abuses and male-administrations is the mind of God appears Isa 1. ver 17. Cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgement relieve the oppressed judge the fatherlesse plead for the widow that the worships of God should be established in liberty and purity that Gospel-truth should be winnowed from the chaffe of errours and heresies that the people of God should walk in the fellowship of the Gospel and advance Religion and the power of Godliness the Scriptures plainly declare to be the will of God that such things are seizable that there is hope of a good issue in such undertakings we have the word of Gods faithfulness for Isa 1. ver 25 26 27. Isa 60. ver 11.19 20 21 22. Chap. 54. ver 11 12 13. Zech. 13. vers 2 3 4 5. Ezek. 11. vers 19 20. Zeph. 3. vers 9.11 12 13. If these and other Scriptures be consulted with they will afford matter of great encouragement to the Saints of God which breathe after Zion's beauty and glory And that it is a duty incumbent upon the Lords people to endeavour these things besides the inward witness of the Spirit in their own hearts we have the testimony of the Spirit in the Scripture of truth And that this is the period of time in the secret appointments of the onely wise God and the Saints of this generation the people assigned by him for the carrying on of these works may be read in the dispensations of God amongst and toward us what have the people of God had more in former Ages by way of call from God or encouragement from men then we have Did God give them rest and peace from their enemies forraign and domestick So hath he given us in some measure Did the Lord pull down those persons and powers amongst them who authorised or abetted Idolatry and profaneness hath he not done the same amongst us Did the Lord give them the protection and encouragement of prudent and pious governours is it not so with us had they the Prophets of the Lord to quicken them up and strengthen their hands have not we also faithful and learned Ministers who from press and pulpit call upon us and excite us to do great things for the Lord Oh what glorious work would those blessed Spirits who are now at rest have made in England if they had enjoyed our opportunities Let me commend the practise of the Saints unto you Acts 9. v. 31. Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samariah And how did they improve their Halcyon dayes why they were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the holy Ghost were multiplied the superstructures were carried on and new foundations laid old converts arrived at greater growth and new converts were dayly added Oh what a blessed peace would ours be if these two fruits were the products of it Oh ye servants of the Lord whom he hath ransomed from the grave and from the sword Magistrates Ministers and Christians lay aside your private interests and animosities and fall upon these great works as your respective stations give you advantage and opportunity that ye may have this Motto engraven on your tombes Here lie such and such who David-like served their own generations by the will of God And let me adde these two Corrolaries 1. That God hath assigned you your particular times for working Stat sua cuique dies 2. That when ye have lived up that time your working tooles must then be laid aside When David had served out his generation he fell asleep And therefore I shall shut up with the Preachers advice Eccl. 9. ver 10. Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do do it with all thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdome in the grave whether thou goest and though thou beest lately come from thence be not secure the winde may suddenly turn and waft thee back again Alas What is your life it is even a vapour which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. 4. ver 14. How easily can the great God disperse that vapour and melt that cloud into dew there is a great Arbitrer of all things that can thunder the proud Emperour under his bed and write the great King in three or four words into trembling that can send a fly to fetch the triple crown before his Tribunal make an hair or the kernil of a raison as mortal as Goliah's spear that can unspeak the world into nothing and blow down a great bubble with an easie breath that by drawing one nail can throw down the stateliest building and undress your soules by unpinning one pin c. I have read of a Persian Noble-man who lost his life by the loss of an hair plucked out of his bosome Mr. Vines Essex's Hearse in sport by his Minion 5. Get your hearts
would observe the boundaries that the Lord himself hath set betwixt a called Ministery and a Christian Laity that in your undertaking of this great charge you would be much and earnest in your addresses unto God and be faithfull in discoursing over experienced mercies from God If you meet with sinners that are hardened in their wayes obstinate wilfull and sermon-proof tell them so it was with you I doubt not it hath been some of your cases but when the Lord came in upon you by the thorow convictions of his Spirit he awakened your consciences to such a sight of sin and sence of wrath filled your soules with such terrours from the Law and softened your hearts with such a shower of Gospel grace that you were immediately humbled broken and brought in you threw down your weapons begg'd a parly and submitted to the Lord Jesus You found such a strange and secret work upon your hearts that you cryed out with Saul Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9. ver 6. and Ephraim-like Though you had been as a young bullock unaccustomed to the yoke yet now the Lord hath turned you and you are turned Jer. 31. ver 18. and tell them thus it will be with them if ever they have a conviction unto Conversion God will break their stomachs soften their iron sinews subdue their Gospel-enmity and give them a spirit of holy compliance with his blessed wayes and will and that God can bring forth this work in their hearts though obstinate and obdurate as well as he hath brought it forth upon yours and then they will be of another mind however at present they stand it out with that boldness and daringness of spirit against Law and Gospel If you meet with sinners whom the arrows of the Lord have wounded his Spirit hath throughly awakened and his Word hath filled with such sad apprehensions of sin and wrath that they cry out with them Acts 2. vers 37. Men and brethren what shall we do or with the Jaylour Acts 16. v. 30. Sirs what must I do to be saved tell them this was your case tell what methods of mercy the Lord used to the healing up of your wounds and to the quieting of your consciences that so they may be encouraged to the use of Gospel-means and to an hope of the same grace and goodness of the Lord towards them If you meet with as you will with many proud presumptuous Formalists that fill their sails with vain hopes of Salvation without any saving change wrought upon them without any inward principles of life light planted in them or without any lively Acts of Faith Repentance Self-denial Mortification c. put forth by them tell them this was your case you had the same perswasions you were such foolish Virgins and that then you thought your penny as good silver for heaven as the best deriding the precise Puritan and scoffing at the power of Godliness but when the Lord opened your eyes and shined into your soules with a beam of saving light you soon discovered your Errour how you had built upon the sand that your Infant-baptisme was but sand your outward Priviledges were but sand your Formal Profession was but sand yea all you built upon was but sand so that had death and Judgment like windes and waves forcibly beat upon your house it would certainly have fallen and you had been ruined to all eternity but now you have digged deep and laid your foundation sure upon a rock you have built upon a new foundation for heaven now you finde a new creation wrought in you now you mourn over those sins which formerly you made your selves merry with now you contest against those lusts which formerly you cherished now you are broken off from those lewd Companions with whom you were formerly bound up in wayes of sin now you act faith upon Jesus Christ for the pardon of sins rejoyce in him and have no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3. ver 3. Now you are convinced that grace is the onely way to glory and that without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12. ver 14. you now owne Religion in all the duties of it love the Ordinances which formerly you loathed delight in the society of the Saints which formerly you derided maintain communion with God in the Spirit which formerly you mocked at and that now The God of hope hath filled you with peace and joy through believing Rom. 15. ver 13. and you find Christ in you the hope of glory Col. 1. ver 27. Pursue this method as the Lord puts opportunities into your hands and as you meet with new cases suit your experiences according to what you have been and now are and I doubt not you will finde encouraging success for though I honour the word I hope as much as any as having the greatest authority upon the consciences of men and as being the great instrument of new birth especially when it is faithfully dispensed by faithfull messengers Jesus Christ giving a clear proof of his speaking in them 2 Cor. 13. ver 3. yet certainly Christians as such though they do not invade the ministerial Office nor loosen one stone in that partition wall which Christ hath raised up with his own hands betwixt a called Ministery and converted Layity may be instrumental to much spiritual good among their carnal relations It was much that the Church did towards the gaining over the daughters of Jerusalem by her commendatory oration of Jesus Christ Cant. Chap. 5. For. Chap. 6. they put the question Whether is thy beloved gone Oh thou fairest among women whether is thy beloved turned that we may seek him with thee The woman of Samariah did much in ripening those fields which began to be white unto the harvest John 4. ver 28 29. compared with ver 39. Surely when the experiences of believers do run in a paralel line with the words and as counterpains do bear a full testimony to the truth of it men give a more willing entertainment unto it when they hear Christians affirm what Ministers assert men listen more after it Oh then break your pitchers that your candles may shine and give lights to the world Phil. 2 ver 15 16. holding forth the word of eternal life unto others in your several standings and capacities relative and religious And give me leave to lay down these considerations by way of inducement unto you Consider Con. 1. That the conversion of a sinner is a matter of great well-pleasingnesse unto God Isa 53. ver 10. it is termed the pleasure of the Lord ve-caphets Leigh Crit. Sacr. the will of the Lord that which he wills with greatest pleasure and delight it notes the highest content that may be to wit delight which is the intention and strength of affection hence Isa 62. ver 4. the Church is called Hephzibah that is my pleasure in her the parables of the lost sheep and lost son do fully evidence this
all impatient risings of heart against God in a day of distress and will lead out the spirit to submit unto and trust God in the greatest streights For as it followes in the second head of Doctrine The Saints of God do sometimes meet with such distresses Doctrine 2 that cut off all hopes of deliverance from man Reason is at a stand heart and flesh fail carnal policy is at a loss all proud helpers stoop in vain yea Faith it self beginneth to flagge Thus Gen. 21. vers 14 15 16. Hagar with her sonne are cast out of Abraham's family and are now in a wilderness a place inhabited onely by wilde beasts their stock of provision spent and no supplies to be had What then what courss will Hagar take why she layeth down her beloved boy under a bush And what then she goeth a distance from him not being able to bear his dying groanes and cryes and having emptyed her bottle of water she seeketh to emptie her moaning heart by teares seeing nothing but the death of her Sonne as knowing no way to prevent it a great distress a sad streight but not her case alone Many of the Saints of God have come to the emptying of their bottles to cases of utmost extremitie a parralel case was that of the poor widow 1 Kings 17. vers 12. her whole store was spent and markets shut up as to new supplies a handfull of meal in the barrel and a little oyl in the cruse was her whole livelihood and she is now gathering a handfull of sticks to bake one cake for her self and her Sonne and what will she do when that cake is eaten did she see relief coming some other way no these were her thoughts she and her sonne would eat that cake and die It were easie to multiply presidencies of this kinde upon both accounts temporall and spirituall streights of bodie and pressures of spirit have been matter of the Saints complaint 1. Oh then thou that art a servant of the Lord who hast not been brought into these streights upon whom such a day of distress hath not been but findest the incomes of the spirit dost take in comfort from the promises walkest in the light of God's countenance and hast the candle of the Lord shining upon thy Tabernacle as 1 Kings 1.6 That hast been the Lords Adonijah Oh! charge it home by the way of thankfulness upon thy heart that the Lord should lead thee unto the land of rest and not by the way of the wilderness 2. Let thy bowels yearn toward the distressed of the Lord pity them pray for them and administer seasonable supplies of comfort to them considering thy self as being in the body especially let thy heart go out in tender compassions towards the afflicted in spirit to those who are brought into soul streights whose case runneth parallel with that of Heman Psal 88. ver 3. My soul is full of troubles Heb. is satiated with evills hath its fill is brimm'd up yea running over and these so pressing that my life draweth nigh to the grave and then vers 8. I am shut up I am a prisoner under restraint I but it is libera custodia he may go forth with his keeper no I cannot go forth Oh! t is a sad thing to be a close Prisoner to be so shut up that he cannot steppe one foot beyond the grate to take any contentment in the creature any delight in outward enjoyments or any comforts in relations Ah but Heman's case is far sadder he is so shut up that his spirit cannot go forth in prayer to fetch in comfort from the Promises nor healing from the Spirit nor life from Jesus Christ nor pardoning mercy from the God and Father of mercies nor evidence of Electing love nor assurance of Redeeming grace nor demonstrations of Adopting grace nay nor satisfying and soul-quieting conclusions of truth of grace but free amongst the dead like the slain in the grave whom God remembreth no more Dead to duty dead in duty dead from duty spirit dead and heart dead affections dead desires dead comforts dead hope dead faith dead yea all dead Oh! this is sad above what words can express onely the heart knoweth its own bitterness yet this day of distress hath been upon many precious Saints Oh! then draw forth the breasts of consolation to such sad souls Stay them with flaggons comfort them with apples And let this give you incouraging hopes of success in all your applications that the appearances of God are eminent and immediate in the day of his peoples greatest distress which is the main point I pitch upon as being the chief scope of the Text. Doct. 3. The Lord comes in often with seasonable and suitable mercies in times of greatest miseries He loveth to be seen on the Mount to be a present help in the needful time of trouble to help when none else can help when refuge faileth and hope is now at the giving up the ghost See that Gen. 21. vers 17 18. When Hagars fears were highest and her faith lowest as too oft is seen that when fear is up then faith is down when death was coming and life going when the water was spent her patience spent and all spent when she had received the sentence of death within her self for her self at least for her son whom she had given up for a dead childe Then then God heard the voyce of the lad and calleth unto her and biddeth her lift up the lad yea her own faith and hope and spirit for there was an universal sinking in her and telleth her he will make him a great Nation as if he had said Fear not the life of the lad for there are many lives bound up in his life if I should let him perish I should lose a Nation yea a great Nation and that distrustful thoughts might not arise in her heart God openeth her eyes and she saw a Well of water and gave the lad drink Let us pitch down a little upon this Quotation for it is a place of pleasant springs and draw these Observations 1. That the goodness of God is a springing fountain unto the Saints even in a wilderness Psal 107.35 There is alwayes water in this fountain Psal 36. vers 9. With thee is the fountain of life There are springs of providence and springs of promises both which do send forth refreshing streams unto the Saints There are alwayes supplies in the Lords store-house fresh cordials in the Lords closet yea he can and will create deliverances for his Jacobs though Hagar was at a loss yet God was not though the ground was dry to her yet God can bring up springs of water through the secret veynes of the parched earth Oh! there is much support in this duely to improve the Omnipotency and All-sufficiency of God 2. That the Saints themselves sometimes have their eyes so shut up that they cannot see these springs of goodness Sometimes the heads of these springs lye
so deep and low that they are not visible either in promises or in providences Nay when they are open and run yet in some cases the Saints eyes are closed that they cannot see them all seemeth to be dry ground to them Indeed these fountains are shut up to the unbeleeving world alwayes sealed to the wicked so great a stone is rolled by an Almighty arm upon the mouth of this Well that all the strength of nature cannot remove it to dip a bucket in it but to the faithful it is alwayes open they need no Jacob to roll it away See that Zach. 13. vers 1. A fountain opened to the house of David for sin and for uncleanness This great Gospel fountain the blood of Jesus is open to beleevers to them that dwell at Jerusalem in the Spirit not in the letter of profession Now if this great Fountain be open which feedeth all the lesser springs referring to the blood of the Lord Jesus then sure no lesser springs shall be shut up to them He is the fountain of Gardens the Well of living waters Cant. 4. vers 15. What a precious priviledge is this to have all Gospel-springs open unto us yet here is our misery and it is very great though the springs be open our eyes are sometimes shut now what is a spring of water to a thirsty traveller if he see it not But you will say How shall the Saints get their eyes opened 3 God alone openeth the eyes of his people that they may see these open Fountains that they may behold these streams from Lebanon Hagar saw not the fountain neither could she untill God opened her eyes He that opened the heart of Lydia Act. 16. vers 14. opened Hagars eyes Jesus Christ who hath the Key of David can onely open and shut eyes by his anointing Spirit Apoc. 3. vers 18. This is true in the first work of conversion Act. 26. vers 18. So also in the passage of after comforts 2 King 6.17 The Lord opened the eyes of the young man that he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha The providences and protections of God do circumvallate and encompass the faithful His Angels encamp round about them yet the Lord must open their eyes else they cannot behold them A truth falling in with our own experience how many amongst us saw not that wall of fire which hath been round about us nor those Chariots of fire which have been so eminent a protection unto us in times of greatest danger But 4. God will open the eyes of his people to behold these springs of mercy when they stand in most need of them What had it been to Hagar if her eyes had been opened to have seen many Wells of water when she was in Abrahams family or if she had been in a land of fountains but to be in a wilderness in a land of drought to have the water in the bottle spent and knew not where to fill it nor how to keep her lad alive without supplies of water and then in this streight to have her eyes opened to see not a little water in a pitcher to fill her bottle once with and no more but to see a Well a spring of water where she might have constant supplies Oh! this was a seasonable and therefore a welcome mercy to her this was life to her self her son and to her hopes of after safety Oh this is marvellous sweet and an excellent means to get up the heart in sinking times and conditions 6. Her eyes are opened shee seeth the Well What doth she now do why she obeyeth the voyce of the Lord in filling her bottle with water and giving the lad drink this teacheth us That it is the duty of Gods people to lay hold â—n offers of mercy from the Lord to close in with to own and improve the providential dispensations of God for good unto themselves What is she in a wilderness her bottle-store spent a fountain opened and her eyes opened and doth she sit still is she sullen or is she pettish because supplies came not her own way or at her own time will she not dip her bottle in the fountain because it ariseth in this and not in that plat of ground doth she stand upon such niceties no no but presently she snatcheth up her bottle and goeth to fill it A commendable practice Oh! what we see her do do we likewise in all our streights let us haste to the Throne of grace and when mercy is offered help seasonably tendered let us imbrace it and improve it when Christ opened that fountain of grace shewing the wounds in his hands and in his side to Thomas presently he runneth to the fountain and dippeth his bucket in the Well acting faith by a personal application My Lord and my God Joh. 20. vers 28. So when the Lord openeth his Mercy-fountains to us and our eyes to see them let us not onely sip a little but fill our buckets yea brim our bottles drawing with joy and thankfulness of heart water out of those Wells of salvation Isa 12. vers 3. not quarrelling with men or means but owning the goodness of the Lord in the seasonableness and fulness of our distress What should I mention the Angels staying Abrahams hand when it was lifted up to slay his beloved Isaac What should I name Jacoh's Mahanaim the Host of God which appeared to him when he feared his brother Esau lest he should slay the mother with her children or Joseph in the pit or in the prison or Israel at the red Sea what should I say more the time would fail me if I should reckon up what the Holy Ghost hath recorded of this kinde How often may the saints and how many of them may truly speak the words of my Text Vnless the Lord had been my help my soul had almost dwelt in silence but God appeared relief came and deliverance was sent from the Lord in the very nick of time Oh! if God had deferred his help for one hour nay one minute nay less then one minute if time could be parcel'd out into a lesser moment I had been undone life and all had been lost But you will say what moveth the Lord to this full and seasonable appearance for his people in their greatest streights I answer Reason 1. Because God sometimes leadeth his people into streights therefore it is for his honour to fetch them out again Some Commanders have been very bold and forward to lead an Army on but have had little care and skill to bring them off by means whereof many thousands have been slain in some desperate assaults but the Lord of hosts will not do thus he will not fall back with his reserves and suffer his Vriahs to perish by the sword of the children of Ammon he will bring off with safety when he putteth his own people upon danger Exod. 15.3 The Lord is a man of
of their distress Hast thou experienced them to be so in thine own case canst thou witness this truth Except the Lord had heen thy help thy soul had well night dwelt in silence thou wert within a hairs breadth of death Oh consider what thy straights have been hast thou been in perils of waters or in perils of robbers or in perils of the City or imporils in the wilderness or in perils amongst false brethren in perils of war at home by thy own Country-men and abroad by strangers and hath the Lord been seen upon the Mount hath he come in with seasonable supplies and brought thee off from the borders of the grave Oh! what have thy returns to God been what improvement hast thou made to his glory and thy own spiritual growth how hath thine heart gone after the God of thy salvation If thou hast taken up the cup of blessing and praised the name of the Lord if thou hast paid the vows which thou madest in the day of thy distress If the sense of mercy hath had a kindely work upon thy spirit and brought forth the blessed fruits of sanctity newness of life new obedience and a total resignation of thy self unto God if thou livest in a lively sense of these things resolving in the strength of grace received to spend that life which thou receivedst from the dead not to the lusts of men but to the will of God and from a sense of thy temporal doest work out thine own eternal salvation with fear and trembling my work is done my end attained I have nothing to urge by way of exhortation upon thee onely desire to bless the Lord with and for thee endeavouring to draw up after thee exhibiting thy pattern as exemplary to my practice I profess my self to be much at the foot of the hill and far below such high attainments although my obligations to the most High God are very many and my experience of preserving mercy hath been very signal the sense whereof hath led me out to this Discourse and made these meditations publick Hence then by a frequent converse with mine own heart and often feeling the pulse of mure own spirit I have grounds to beleeve that a word of advice may be seasonable upon this subject to others and to my self seeing too little of this nature doth come either from Press or Pulpit there being very few who say Where is the Lord that brought us out of Egypt that led us through the wildernes through a land of drought and of the shadow of death And therfore in the strength of the Lord conduct of his teaching Spirit I shall improve this Doctrine by way of advice 1. To some peculiar Christians in a distinct capacity from other men I mean to some ranks and orders of men 2. To Christians in general without such particular references onely as they meet in Christ the common head and in the Church the common hody In my first address I shall onely single forth five ranks of men to speak unto 1. The Magistrates 2. The Ministers 3. Military-men 4. Mariners and Merchants whosetraflick and imployments lye at Sea 5. The restored ones of the land whom the Lord hath ransomed from the grave in these late dayes of Visitation 1. I humbly crave leave to be-speak the Magistrates with a word of Exhortation Ye that be the Rulers of the people and Judges of Israel let me beseech you seriously and often to consider the worth and weightiness of your office that though this or that title this or that form of administration be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an humane creature an ordinance of man 1 Pet. 2. vers 13. yet Government and Magistracy it self is an Ordinance and Institution of God himself Rom. 13. vers 1 2. That the cause which cometh before you is the cause of God Deut. 1. vers 17. That ye judge not for man but for God who is with you in judgement 2 Chron. 19. vers 6. that the dignity of place unto which ye are advanced is exceeding high ye being the Vicegerents of the most High God in all Civill administrations and upon whom the Name of God himself is called Ps 82. v. 1 6. I have said ye are Elohim Because God had conferred a part of his Sovereignty and Judiciary power upon them Mr. Iackson in lec Gods and all of you are children of the most High not by adoption of grace but by administration of office That the expectation of the Lords people is great from you That now the Lord hath turned his hand so much and often upon you as the Potter turns and fashions his vessel upon the wheel your dross should be purely purged away and all your tin wasted and that their Judges should be as at the first and their Counsellors as at the beginning such as David Hezekiah and Josiah were amongst the Kings and such as Joshuah Zerubbabel and Nehemiah were amongst the Judges and Governours of Israel that so their Jerusalem may be called the City of righteousness and their Nation an habitation of Justice That Zion may be redeemed with judgement and her converts with righteousness Isa 1. vers 25.26 27. and let it not be ill resented that I intreat you to consider how small your springs were which are now spread into broad Rivers how Jacob-like the passage of some have been over this Jordan Gen. 32. vers 10. How much of truth there is in Hannah's Song 1 Sam. 2. vers 7 8. And in Davids Psalm Psal 113. vers 7 8. one ecchoing to another like the Seraphims in Isaiah The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up he raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up egentem the needy from the dunghil to set them among Princes to make them inherit the throne of glory As David Agathocles Numa Maximinianus c. and that ye would alwayes keep a fresh sense of these three Considerations upon your spirits you that have owned the cause of God and acted in the work of this generation 1. Consideration Consider how eminent and glorious the appearances of God have been unto you how the arm of God hath been mightily out-stretched for you when you met with opposition to blood and wasting in the Land and that from a numerous and inraged enemy How often the Lord defeated the plots befooled the Councels and broke the power and Armies of them who lifted up themselves against you and Amalek-like fought you in Rephidim when you were upon your march through the Wilderness to the land of promise and who were as Samaritans among you hindering you by force of Armes and weakning your hands by false reports when you were building at least repairing the house of the Lord and the walls of our Jerusalem and yet in the things wherein they dealt proudly God was above them and the same God hath by unparalleld providence kept the sword still in your hands and you still upon the
have work done by every servant he will not suffer idle drones to live in his family he will not allow any lazy loiterers to sleep within the walls of his vineyard he doth not keep any idle Serving-men in his house no he appoints them all to labour and 't was well if the patterne of God's house was observed if the Lawes of his family were executed by our Great Ones much sin would be prevented which is nursed at the breasts of idleness nay places of great eminency are no exemption from Gods work The nobles of Tekoah have a brand set upon them because they put not their necks to the work of the Lord Neh. 3. ver 5. And the Lord puts this as the highest mark of honour into the scutcheons of his greatest Saints that they were his servants Moses my servant my servant David c. Matth. 25. ver 20 21. He that received five talents traded and at the day of accounts his labour was not onely honourably accepted but gloriously rewarded entrance was granted unto him into his Masters joy 2. That Gods will is and must be the only rule of our work The Master expects as to have his work done so to have his own orders and directions observed in the doing of it to neglect the work of the Lord and to do it cross to divine order is equally sinful Vzziah died upon the place for touching the Ark and Vzziah was stricken with the leprosie for attempting to burn incense upon the Altar of incense both which expresly thwarted the appointment of God It was the peoples sin to eat the Passeover otherwise then it was written 2 Chron. 30.18 Therefore David in the person of the Lord Jesus joyns both together Psal 40.8 I delight to do thy will yea thy law is in my heart as the standard by which I work and our Saviour writes vanity upon the forehead of all service which is performed to God upon the single authority of man without a warrant under Gods own hand for it Mat. 15.9 In vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men what bundles of vain worships are layed upon Gods Alter by the Pontificians And how ought we to be humbled also for the vanity of many services which have been performed by us in this Nation 3. That the great God commands us not onely to work but to do the work of our own Generation David served out his own Generation he did the work which was allotted by the Lord to him in that particular age he lived in which was to fight the Lords battels to subdue the enemies of his Church settle the Nation in peace establish the worship of God provide for the service of his Sanctuary and prepare for the building of the temple these were the works of his Generation in those 2 capacities of Prophet and King and therefore the holy Ghost engraves this Epitaph upon his sepulchre which shall not be defaced so long as the world endures that David served his own generation by the will of God Instances of like nature the Scripture affords many Quest But the great Query is How shall we know what are the proper works of our Generation Answ I answer much of this nature hath been offered by learned and judicious Divines in severall Treatises and though they have not been so harmonious as was defired in their judgement as to the manner yet they have agreed in one as to the matter Indeed repentance toward God and faith towards our Lord Jesus with those generall duties of Religion which are comprehenhended under these two heads none deny or dispute except some of prophane or perverted spirits and judgements and that things of order and Government in the Church should be reduced to the Primitive Pattern and Practice few of sober and Orthodox principles do oppose yea most desire and surely that this is the generation which God hath called forth to act in these transactions may be spell'd if not legibly read in the dispensations of his providence towards us I do not set up providence as a standing rule to work and walk by when it is either crosse unto or receives not approbation from the written word for that was to perswade the Traveller to sleep all day when the sun shines bright and clear and to take his Journey in the night when the starres do onely twinckle and the wayes are dangerous and difficult to find mistakes have been sad and many of this kind Numb 14. ver 40 41. the mistake of Gods minde in that dreadfull message ver 39. occasioned the slaughter of many men for the people apprehending that God was offended with them for not going up to take possession of Canaan rose up early in the morning and gat them up unto the top of the mountain saying Lo we be here and will go up into the place which the Lord hath promised for we have sinned and what followed why their attempting to invade their enemies under this mistake cost them many of their lives Thus did Saul mistake the mind of the Lord 1 Sam. 23. ver 7. when it was told him that David was come to Keilah presently he infers that God had delivered him into his hand for sayes he he is shut in by entring into a town that hath gates and bars but it proved otherwise Yea Davids men would have put him upon the same mistake chap. 24. ver 4. when Saul came into the cave to cover his feet where David and his men lay hid they presently conclude behold the day of which the Lord hath said unto thee behold I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand that thou maist do to him as it shall seem good unto thee A like passage ye have chap. 26. ver 8. when David and Abishai came into Sauls army by night and found them all fast asleep not a Sentinell waking and Saul asleep also Abishai said to David God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day now therefore let me smite him I pray thee with the spear unto the earth at once and I will not smite him a second time but David durst not slay the Lords Anointed under the protection and warrant of this providence as the following verses declare because it would have been an expresse violation of Gods will Instances of this nature might be multiplied But now when the speakings of God in his works run in a paralell line with the speakings of God in his word when they fall in with his revealed will they do then safely interpret the mind of God and are a good glosse upon the text both as to the quod and quando of a duty shewing that it ought to be done and that then is the time for the doing of it thus Abraham when he had received a prohibition from heaven not to sacrifice Isaac and beheld a ramme caught in a thicket by the horns interprets the mind of God by that providence and offers up the ramme in
verses doth she speak forth the praises and preciousnesse of the Lord Jesus expressing her delight complacency and acquiescence in him and the ardency and strength of her holy affections towards him again chap. 3. ver 1 2 3 4. How earnestly and instantly did she seek the Lord Jesus in his withdrawings from her How hastily did she get out of her bed and trudge to Jerusalem where the Temple Priests and ordinances were to find her beloved Jesus and how did she lay hold upon him and cling unto him clasp him with the embraces of faith and love and would not part with him untill she had her desires fulfilled like Jacob Gen. 32. ver 26. nay Chap. 4. ver 16. How fervently doth she pray for the graces and in-breathings of the spirit and invite her beloved to come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruit and yet what an unhandsome return and how inevitable to all those affectionate pangs did the Lord Jesus receive from her Chap. 5. ver 3. Christ gives her a visit and calls to her to open the door and entertain him and she from within replies I have put off my coat how shall I put it on I have washed my feet how shall I defile them what a pictifull answer is here and what poor reasons are here produced I have put off my coat like that Luke 11. ver 7. Tr uble me not the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed I cann't rise A great businesse sure to have risen a little from his children and opened the door to relieve the want of a neighbour the flesh is wayward as well as weak I cannot sayes he how can I saith she well enough she was past a child and not yet grown so decrepid with old age but she could make her self ready at least she might have slipt on her morning coat and stept to the door without any danger of taking cold but sin and shifting came into the world together as one observeth and the brats of our own begetting are alwayes with us in the bed of carnall security and flesh-pleasing yet let us a little plead the Churches cause and advocate for her to take off the rigour of the charge It may be she was asleep and had then let fall the watch of the Lord no she sayes ver 2. I sleep but my heart waketh there was wakfulnesse in the hidden man of the heart though her eyes might be a little drowsie It may be Christ made no noise without nor gave any notice he was there yes he knocked it may be he did but onely knock and in the night we are not willing to open the door unlesse we hear the voice of him that knocketh I but Christ both knocked and called It may be she did not know his voice and therefore did not open a chaste wife will not at unseasonable hours arise and open her doors unto a stranger in her husbands absence I but she knew his voice vers 2. It is the voice of my well beloved that knocketh It may be Christ onely knocked and called like a friend in his journey onely to enquire how it fared with her or to speak unto her at the window nay he spake his plain meaning He had her open unto him which implies his desire to have entered her house It may be Christ had given her some distast had let fall some unkind words which made her a little pettish a common fault among women or else the match was broke off no Christ owns her as his Beloved and courts her with the most winning and amicable tearms of love My Sister my Love my Dove my undefiled I but it may be Christ was too quick for her gave but a knock and a call and was gone before she could rise and open the door No Christ stayed till his head was filled with dew and his locks with the drops of the night Christ stands bare headed and that in foul weather yea in the night time wooing intreating and beseeching admittance yet could obtain none but must go seek lodging in some other place Dr. Richardson in loc as one says All these circumstances being put into the ballance do sadly speak out both the fault and folly of the Church and give full testimony to those distempers which seize upon the best Saints But how did the Lord Jesus the best and great Physitian bring off the Church from this distemper Why vers 4. He put in his hand by the hole of the door the key hole Why his hand the reason of the phrase may be this we know the hand is the chief instrument of action with that we work we write we fight c. So the spirit is as the hand of Christ by him he convinceth quickeneth teacheth comforteth illighteneth and strengtheneth his people as Act. 11.20 21. those that were scattered spake unto the Grecians and preached the Lord Jesus And the hand of the Lord was with them so that a great number believed and turned unto the Lord so powerful and present was the spirit of the Lord in succeeding their Gospel-Ministery that faith was wrought in many of the Gentile-Grecians here the hand of the Lord implyed the blessing power and concurrence of the spirit of Christ so Christ put in his hand by the key-hole that is sent in his spirit to awaken reprove and convince the spouse of her great unkindness toward him by the way take this note Note That the spirit can finde a passage into the heart though the doors be barred and bolted never so fast The key of David will open any lock Satan with all his skill and artifice cannot frame a lock of such cross and curious wards and work that this key cannot open the spirit acts with irresistibility in the saving communications of grace to the stoutest sinner Lord what wilt thou have me to do was Sauls question the lock was soon opened the spirit had quickly got into his heart So here the spirit was quickly within doors and what then her bowels were moved for Christ she had no rest in her spirit her bowels yearned after him There was a strange tumult raised within her Heb. the word carries that signification her heart aked and quaked being by the spirit convinced of her unkind and inconjugal carriage toward her dear Lord This brought her off from her bed now she could put on her coat and feared not the fouling of her feet she starts and stirs and hastens to open the door and as soon as she had taken the key in her hand Her hands dropt with myrrhe and her fingers with sweet smelling mirrhe that is she had new tokens of Christs good-will refreshing consolations from a comforting spirit which being added to her former experiences of love had such a force upon her heart that she breaks off all delay runs to the door and opens and not finding her beloved there she fails poor heart she sinks down and swouns the
by the Law of Moses and Christians by the Gospel of Christ as if there were some other means to come to heaven and to the favour of God then by Christ whereas now all that we have must be by Promises and all the Promises we have are in Christ they are all yea in him without him there is no intercourse between the Majesty of God and us Therefore Acts 4. vers 12. There is no name under heaven whereby we can be saved but by the name of Jesus which not onely confutes the devilish opinion and conceit that some have but also the charitable errour of others that think the Heathens that never heard of Christ shall be saved I leave them to their Judge we must go to the Scriptures all the promises are in Christ in him they are yea in him they are made in him they are Amen in him they are performed out of him we have nothing out of the Promises in him we have nothing sayes Reverend Doctour Sibs in 2 Cor. 1. v. 20. Page 412. Nor can we who are Christians say that if nature had not helped us if free will had not step'd in to the rescue of us our souls had dwelt in silence we had perished to all Eternity but if God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us had not quickened us together with Christ when we were dead we should have continued dead and had he not saved us by grace when we were in our sinnes we had lain under the guilt of them for evermore yea as a confutation of the pride of man in crying up the power of nature they must say Of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for evermore Rom. 11.36 that grace preventing subduing renewing effectual c. are all from God who was pleased that all fulness should dwell in Jesus Christ the second Adam That of his fullness we all might receive grace for grace John 1.16 A latitude answerable to all commands Dr. Treston a perfection answerable to Christs own perfection in the matter though not in the measure for in Christ there is plenitudo fontis the fullness of a fountain in the best of Saints but plenitudo vasis the fullness of a vessel or grace upon grace a daily encrease of grace Pasor gratium nova gratia cumulatam All from God through Jesus Christ which excellently appears by ten Arguments in the words of an ancient father Mr. Resbury in his lightless Star p. 62 63 64 65 c. by a godly and Judicious Divine I shall onely name the heads and refer you to the book for the fuller enlargement The main scope of the Author is to assert the free and sole agency of God in the production and work of grace against such as would advance free-will and the power of nature as also that the Lord is the Alpha and Omega of mans salvation And this is made good from these considerations Consid 1. From Gods promise to Abraham touching the faith of the Gentiles the whole of which faith is from God and godliness from faith purifying the heart 2. From differencing grace God alone maketh one to differ from another 3. From Election what Israel sought he obtained not but the election hath obtained and the rest were hardned 4. From the efficacy and peculiarity of grace depending upon election as many as were ordained to eternal life believed 5. From the salvation of infants taken into the bosom of Gods electing love before they had done either good or evil 6. From the person of the Mediator who himself is likewise a clear light of predestination and grace who is the chief corner-stone elect precious c. 7. From the corruption of nature express'd in hardness of heart the election hath obtained the rest were blinded or hardened 8. From the increase of sin by the law in the natural man sin taking occasion by the commandment works in him all manner of concupiscense 9. From the subjection of the natural man to the devil the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience 10. From the thanksgiving and prayers of Saints upon the account of grace received which considerations do fully assert the doctrine of free-grace and lay obligations upon the Saints to own and admire with thankfullnesse the grace and good will of God in Jesus Christ 3. Is man by nature born within a hairs breadth of hell is the work of grace and the reward of grace in glory onely from free-grace and meer-grace Away then with that opinion which advanceth corrupt nature into the throne and makes it at least copartner with the grace and Son of God in the great work of salvation what do they but in a great measure proclaim that Christ dyed in vain what else do such sayings as these import mihi soli debo I ow all to my self ego me ipsum discerno I make my self to differ from others and that they can repent that they can believe it is from God but that they do repent that they do believe is from the liberty of their own free-will yet alas all the arguments and oratory boastings and bravadoes of Arminius will be but as the staff of Elisha to the dead child or as the Jews tears shed over the grave of dead Lazarus or as the exorcismes of the sons of Sceva they will avail little either to light or life grace or growth without the concurrance of the spirit and power of the Lord Jesus Christians do finde by daily and sad experience that the power of godliness would be but poorly advanced in them if they had no other power to act by then that of nature and the work of holiness would be carryed on but slowly in them if they had no better friend then free-will to promote it they would soon stick upon the shallows if the gales and tides of the spirit did not waft them off their hearts would soon be dead if the spirit of the Lord did not quicken them their affections would soon be chilled if the spirit of the Lord did not warm them their desires would soon be straightned if the spirit of the Lord did not enlarge them if the spirit of the Lord did not help our infirmities how listless should we be unto prayer and how lifeless in prayer Oh whatever proud men do vainly boast let not us sacrifice to our own nets nor burn incense to our own drags but say with the Psalmist not unto us not unto us O Lordâ— but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truths sake Psal 115.1 and in all our duties and devotions when we do most for God and act highest for his glory let us breath out those humble acknowledgements of that holy man 1 Chro. 29.14 Who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thine own have we
weight of glory O then do but in the hour of temptation draw up the main body of your experiences and evidences of Gods love in Christ unto you and Satan cannot hurt you though his main battail be against you though he may pluck of some rath grapes he shall never destroy your Vintage though he may pick up some scattered ears he shall never carry away your harvest and though he may trouble you in your passage to heaven he shall never keep you out of heaven what a day of comfort is this unto the foul 3. Are you summoned by the King of terrors do his batteries play upon you are there breaches made in your mud-walls is there a mine sprung and your life in all likelihood to be blown up Why the lively sense and evidence of grace received will like a cordial water warm your hearts and stay up your spirits at such an hour as this is that light of life within you if heeded will clear up the counsels of God unto you as to your after and eternal well-being it will convince you of Gods soveraignty conquer your renitency and make you bow head and heart with much submission to the father of spirits this will ballance and ballast your souls too and poise them evenly between hope and fear that neither shall be inordinate and that in two particulars 1. Where grace sits at the helm of Government in the soul it brings the unruly passions into subjection to the divine pleasure and preserves the Saints from over-much hoping of life seeing their dayes are determined and their bounds set and antidotes them against overmuch fearing of death seeing the number of their mouths are with God Job 14.5 6. the indefinite is equivalent to an universal so that it was not Jobs single case but the common lot of all mankind and therefore you may safely argue that all the rare feasts which Paracelsus professed to do for the lengthening of mens lives the use of all remedies cannot make you out-live nor the missing of them cause you to fall short of those bounds which God in his secret and irreversible decrees hath set you This consideration will much quiet your hearts in God when you have the sentence of death within your selves it will excellently prevent that distemper which is an evil that I have seen even amongst the Saints of God viz. an over-eager desire of life and a greedy catching at any hopes thereof even to some neglect of that preparation and those precedaneous duties which the seriousness of death and eternity do call for at their hands not that I condemne a modest and humble desire of life or a sober use of means and medicines in order thereunto onely propound this as a cure of that heart-distemper mentioned and to perswade my self and others to say with David Here I am let the Lord do to me as seemeth good unto him 2 Sam. 15.26 2. Your gathering up your experiences of converting renewing adopting and accepting grace in Jesus Christ will fill your souls with ravishing comforts upon an everlasting account even then when your nearest friends fill your heads with weepings sighings and sad lamentings as seeing your dying breath draw faint and short and other symptomes of death report your change to be very near you will then gather up your spirits as old Jacob did his feet and not be afraid to speak with your enemy in the gate the gate of eternity Oh grace improved will shew you your names written in the Lambs book of life will give you some foretasts of those joys which are in the presence of God will lead you in a vision of the Spirit into your fathers house that you may see those mansion places of glory which are prepared for you and will open your eyes that you may see the Angels of God those blessed ministering spirits waiting at your pillows to waft your souls into the everlasting embraces of your dear Redeemer that you may say with the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.1 to still the sobbings of your sad relations We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building with God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Dr. Kendall in his answer to Mr. John Goodwâ—n p. 53. That with Moses you may dye upon the mount of vision and with David full of riches and honor in a spiritual sense Oh this consideration will make death-tokens love-tokens and represent death as a messenger from your dear Jesus who brings the glad tidings of everlasting life if you fall by an arrow yet is that arrow shot by the hand of God in more love then Jonathans was to David if by a stroke of the pestilence yet that pestilence is no Plague but somewhat a harsher plaster of all miscries whatever be the fury of the disease it is but a chariot of fire to carry you to heaven None of the blessed Fathers ever complained of the untowardness of the way so happy are they in being seized of their inheritance among the Saints in light though they were hurried thither through the darkest valley of the shaddow of death Thus that learned Author O friends mind the annointings of the Spirit the sealings of the Spirit the witness of the spirit and draw up a fair Copy of all the gracious visits actings and workings of your blessed Redeemer by his Spirit unto and upon your hearts that your soules may often read therein that so when you come to die as needs you must and be as water spilt upon the ground which can be gathered up no more you may then be set down in the valley of Achor nay may finde the valley of the shadow of death as the valley of Baracha God hath pluckt out the sting of death and so death is given as a favour unto you O read your own blessedness in the light and print of the spirit Apoc. 14.13 Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord from * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e vestigio amodo ab ipso mortis articulo Mr. Trap. in locum henceforth yea saith the spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them A Christian says one is here like quick-silver which hath in it a principle of motion not of rest never quiet like a ball upon the rackets a ship upon the waves but death brings him to his rest his body to the grave which is his bed of rest Isa 57.2 and his soul into Abrahams bosom That rest which remains to the people of God Heb. 4.9 And your works shall follow you mors privare potest opibus non operibus death doth strip a Saint of his wealth not of his works there shall be a resurrection of your prayers and piety yea honorable mention will be made of your charity to the poor Saints at the great day Mat. 25.35 I was an hungry and ye fed me c. Oh comfort your hearts with these considerations duly
weighing what ye have read and you will find when you sive most in a lively sense of grace received and in the improvement of it you live best to your selves as to a greater freedom from sin a closer walking with God and living a life of greatest comfort 3. A sober and savourly collection of grace received will make you live best to others No man is born to himself says the heathen and no man liveth to himself says the holy Ghost Rom. 14.5 he is a monster in nature that centers onely upon himself and is fitter to dwell like an Anchoret in a Cell or like a leper apart then in a community with men and Christians as there is a circulation of the blood in natural bodies that every part may receive warmth and spirits to supply its want and to render it serviceable to the whole So ought there to be a circulation of gifts and graces in the body mistical upon spiritual accounts therefore says the Apostle We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak either bear with them or bear up the infirm and weak Christians as pillars do the poise of the whole house or parents bear their babes in their armes and not to please our selves that is not to live onely in a way of self-pleasing as men acted by principles of self-love but vers 2. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification for even Christ pleased not himself The end of Christs coming into the world was not to seek great things for himself upon a carnal and self-pleasing score nay though the cup and cross were displeasing unto him as man and he prayed against them yet when he considered that the will of his father was to bring many sons unto glory and that by making the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings he presently submitted and said not my will but thine be done Here 's our pattern in the pursuance of others good our lives should be as so many Sermons on the life of Christ as one saith this is to walk as Christ walked and this will give boldness in the day of Judgment Now we shall best seek our neighbours good to edification when we keep up a sence of our own wants and weaknesses supplies and succours we shall thereby be like the good Scribe Matth. 13. ver 52. which is instrutied to the kingdome of heaven who hath things new and old in his treasury to bring forth upon every occasion The Rabbins Proverb is Lilmed le-lammed Learn that ye may teach and the Scribe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extrudit copiose alacriter freely and fully gives forth his store to the needy hearer Christians as well as Ministers must be like full paps Mr. Trap. in Mat. 13.52 which pain the nurse with their fulness and therefore draw them out to their babes that they may be drawn or like Aromatical trees which sweat out their soveraign gummes and oyls But alas how few such sweating trees grow upon English ground how many dry breasts have we every where and those that are full have sore nibbles that will not give suck because of the painfulness in drawing Truely when I observed this great evil amongst the Christians of our age and Nation I was pressed in spirit to provoke unto love and good works and to publish my thoughts by way of brotherly advice unto them that a wise and faithful improvement of our own cases and graces would excellently advantage the good of our neighbours I shall instance in some Particulars 1. Your own experiences faithfully communicated will marveilously encourage young Converts they will be as a staff in the hand of the weak whereon to stay New beginners have many fears and pull-backs at their first setting forth for heaven many adversaries that do way-lay them and many enemies that do pursue them Egypt at the red sea and Amaleck in the wilderness Satan levies all his temptation to render the seed of grace abortive in their soules so that it would bring forth fruit to perfection at a slow rate if the Lord Jesus who planted it did not also water and preserve it and that every moment Isa 27. vers 3. Bendes when the Lord gives a converted sinner a vision of himself lets him see his own vileness the heaps of sin and lust the springs and falls of corruption in his nature how he lies under the guilt of black and horrid sins open to the wrath of an Almighty and sin-revenging God and ready to drop into the grave and hell out of which there is no recovery Oh the fears that are upon his spirit the dismal thoughts that roul up and down his mind the dreadfull sound that is in his ears but now if you that are Christians of some standing in the grace of God would impart your experiences and tell him what your fears and terrours and troubles were and how the Lord gave you in comfort and establishment sure this would mightily encourage a young convert and have a special influx to his peace quietness and consolation This was the Apostle Paul's way 1 Tim. 1. ver 15. This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners That is the Doctrinal part which indeed flowes with much comfort into the heart of an humble believing sinner as Mr. Bilney Martyr found in a great conflict But now the Applicatory part gusheth out with streams of comfort and what 's that of whom I am chief howbeit I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting as if he had said One great reason next to the secret purpose of his own free grace why this grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was so exceeding abundant towards me even to a pleonasme of mercy was that I might be held forth as a pattern of free grace as a monument of pardoning and sparing mercy to all sin-laden and sin-loathing persons who are the true Penitents Oh how would a wounded spirit yet healing a broken heart binding and a drooping soul reviving from such discoveries of misery and mercy of guilt and grace sin and salvation there would no be such sinking of spirit neither would the wounds of many be so long raw and bleeding if experienced Christians would be free in communicating their conditions and comforts unto them and would like the good Samaritan pour in the wine and oyl of their experienced mercy 2. This would be a mighty support to weak believers the experiences of stronger Christians rightly imparted and improoved will exceeding buttress up their faith alas when God first opens their eyes they see men walking afar off as trees they have but imperfect apprehensions of Gospel depths Godliness is so great a Mystery the work of Redemption in all its causalities concurrences and qualifications is so mysterious wrapt up
difference onely in the point insisted upon I do not I dare not But t is probable this Text of Daniel referres to some after priviledg or different estate of honour in heaven which they that turn many unto righteousness shall receive from the Lord from what they that are turned unto righteousness shall have for though every vessel shall be filled yet these may be more capacious then others unless we fit down with what sense is put upon it by a late godly Divine as to the first Resurrection and that in order to the personal reigne of Christ upon earth But suppose that Text should not speak fully to the assertion yet certainly to have a mediate hand in saving an immortal soul is a noble work and shall be honoured by the Lord with highest acceptation as that which brings the creature into some degree of conformity to the Lord Jesus who is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour Acts 5. vers 21. Besides there is much in that of our Saviour John 4. vers 36. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto eternal life that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoyce together he quickens up his Disciples to diligence in Gospel work First By propounding wages for their work though not by way of merit yet of grace Secondly By that common joy which Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and all the Lords servants who are instrumental in the conversion of sinners shall have in heaven Consider That bad men are very active and industrious to gain over others to their bad principles and worse practises The spirit of the world is a gaining spirit Wicked men are true to their own Interest and serviceable to their own Master Wicked men are the Devils fetters or like that little beast which hunts the prey for the old lyon Many persons of hopefull ingenuity and carriage are decoy'd by the sleights and subtilties of some old sinners See how the wise man sets them forth to the life Prov. 1. ver 10 11. 1. By their manner of deceiving expressed in their fair and flattering words they entice blanditiis phaleratis verbis decipiunt they deceive with their smooth tongue and fair speeches so the force of the word in the Hebrew implies hence it is rendered si te pellexerint referring to the fawning carriage and flatteries of an Harlot fully held forth Chap. 7. ver 14. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lusts and is inticed as the silly fish is by the bait upon the hook Thus do wicked men like fishers and fowlers cunningly deceive the simple 2. Their manner of deceiving is expressed by their call unto sin come with us they call the tradesman out of his shop and the ploughman out of the field to querry and mate with them in their sinfull practices much of this language may be heard abroad in the world and some is upon record in the word as that ale-bench call Isa 56. ver 12. Come ye say they I will fetch wine and we will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant This is the drunkards oratory and promise to toll in and enter their young quaffers with 3. They are set forth by their methods of deceiving by the artifices they use First they perswade those that they draw in that they will drive on such close designes carry things with such privacy that the guilt of blood shall never be charged upon their score implyed in these phrases let us lurk privily let us swallow them alive as the grace c. as if they had said we will manage our affairs with that secrecy that strangers may as easily know the dead by their faces and what deaths they died of whom the grave hath swallowed up and the pit hath covered as men shall know who did this murther and how it was done doubtlesse this hope of secrecy hath undone many Secondly they give great assurances of much gain and advantage we shall find all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil Alas thou art a poor fellow hast not a penny scarce to help thy self withall but come come with us we 'l help thee to money enough thou shalt be a rich man presently yonder is a booty will make us all men Thirdly they promise to be very honest to give him his full share cast in thy lot among us we will all have one purse Wee 'll divide the spoil thou shalt have thy lot nay more thou shalt never want while we have it we 'll have a community of goods a common stock these are winning wayes prevailing arguments gilded pills and tempting poisons where the heart is not in some measure antidoted by grace against them and doubtlesse the devil gains much ground in the world by such artifices catcheth many a fowl in his nets by means of these decoyes his servants are true to his interest they spare neither pains nor purses to advance it nor are his headservants I mean Hereticks and Impostours those that are the chief factours and head men among their brethren lesse industrious into how many shapes Proteus like will the Jesuite cast himself how many hazzards of his neck will he run and how many hard journeys will he take to reconcile a poor Protestant to the Church of Rome neither do some others fall short of the Jesuites either pains or zeal to proselyte men to their opinions we have seen that made good in our dayes which our Saviour spake of the Scribes and Pharisees Matth. 23. ver 15. Ye compasse sea and land to make one proselyte What wanderers among the Nations have some of our Sect-Masters been what labours and hardships have some undergone what journeys tedious and dangerous by land and sea have some undertook what errand have they gone on what merchandizes have they exported but some old drugs and antiquated errours which the Saints in former ages and forreign parts have exploded but now being in-land commodities of the growth of our own Nation and being now put into a new dresse by men of English birth pretending hatred to the Romish Hierarchy are become vendible in most parts O what marts and markets have been kept by them in many of our towns to put off their stale and stollen wares and what sale have they had in some places who le towns almost in some places have come in to truck and barter with them the more is the pity that the spirit of delusion should gain so farre upon English ground O how should this provoke all that fear the Lord in truth to pursue salvation-salvation-work with utmost diligence to endeavour with much seriousnesse of spirit the winning over souls to God! How shall we answer the charge of our own consciences at a dying hour how shall we look our dear Redeemer in the face at the last day nay how shall we stand against the great accuser before the great tribunal when he