«ii;'i i-'ii'iij.Twiab.-cu- FMS SSjli£;^S^;t. NICHOL'S SERIES OF STANDARD DIVINES. PUEITAN PEEIOD. • Mxi^ (^zmxul f wto BY JOHN C. MILLEE, D.D., LINCOLN COLLEGE ; HONORAET CANON OF WOBCESTER ; BECTOB OF ST MAKTIM'S, BIBMIHGHAUi THE WOEKS OF EICHAED SIBBE8, D.D. YOL. YI. COUNCIL OF PUBLICATION. W. LINDSAY ALEXANDER, D.D., Professor of Theology, Congregational Union, Edinburgh. JAMES BEGQ, D.D., Minister of Newington Free Church, Edinburgh. THOMAS J. CRAWFORD, D.D., S.T.P., Professor of Divinity, University, Edinburgh. D. T. K. DRUMMOND, M.A., Minister of St Thomas's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh. WILLIAM H. GOOLD, D.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Church History, Reformed Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh. ANDREW THOMSON, D.D., Minister of Broughton Place United Presby- terian Church, Edinburgh. ©enrval ffiuttot. REV. THOMAS SMITE, M.A., Edinburgh. THE COMPLETE WOEKS OF RICHARD SIBBE8, D.D., MASTER OP OATHBKXNE BAtJJ, CAMBRIDGE J PBEAOHEB OF OBAY's INN, IiONDON. ^'isxiiH, foii^f ^tmoxx, BY THE REV. ALEXANDER BALLOCH GROSART, (COB, MBMB. SOO, 4STiq, OF SOOTlJllIO) KINROSS. VOL. VI. CONTAINING : THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE JOSIAH's EEPORMATION THE SPIRITUAL FAVOURITE THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKER THE RETURN OF PRAISE THE SAINT's COMFORTS — THE church's COMPLAINT GOd's INQUISITION RICH POVERTY SPIRITUAL MOURNING VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS ^ANGELS' ACCLAMATIONS FRUITFUL LABOUR MATCHLESS LOVE A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE KING DAVID's EPITAPH^LYDIA's OONVEESION THE bride's LONGING. EDINBURGH : JAMES NICHOL. LONDON : JAMES NISBET AND CO. DUBLIN : W. ROBERTSON. M.DCCO.LXm. EDINBUEGH : PEISTID BT JOHH GEEIG AHD SOS, OLD PHYSIO GAEDEHS CONTENTS. Pase THE FAITHl'UL COVENANTEE. .... 1-25 JOSIAH'S EEFOEMATION. .... 27-90 (1.) The Tender Heart. ..... 27-43 Doctrines : — [l.j God doth graciously fit prophets for persons and his word to a people that are upright in their hearts. 80 [2.] It is a supernatural disposition of a true child of God to have a tender and a melting heart. . 82 Wherein is discussed — The qualities of a tender heart. . . . 82 How a tender heart is wrought [and] how preserved. 33 How God is said to harden the heart. . . 88 How to know that we have a sensibieness and pli- ableness. ..... 39 How to recover ourselves from deadness of heart. ^ 41 (2.) The Art of Self- Humbling. .... 44-58 Doctrines : — [l.J It is a disposition not unbefitting kings to humble themselves before God. .... 44 [2.] The actions of grace are reflected actions. . 46 Here are handled — The kinds and degrees of humiliation. . . 46 How we laay come to humble ourselves. . . 48 Motives to humiliation. . . , . . 61 How true humiliation may be known. . . 62 (8.) The Aet of Mourning. , ' . . . ' 59-75 Doctrines : — [1.] The body and soul must join together in the action of humiliation. . . . . . 62 ri contents. Paoe 63 [2.] When God will afflict or humble a man, it is not a kingdom that will save him. [3.] Tears and mourning for sins, when it comes from inward grief, is a temper befitting any man. . 63 [4.] It concerns magistrates above all others to be afiected with the dangers and miseries of a land or nation. 64 [5.] It is the duty of every Christian to take to heart the threatenings of God, against that place and people where he doth live. . . . . °^ [6.] God takes a particular notice of the prayers we make to him. ...... '72 (4.) The Saint's Refreshing. .... 76-90 Doctrines : — [l.J God regards every good thing which his children do, and rewards them for the same. ... 77 [2 and 8.] Death is nothing but a gathering, and pre-supposeth that God's children are all scattered in this world amongst wicked men. .... 78 [4.J The changes of God's children are for the better still. . ¦ . . _ . . 78 [5.J Burial is a comely and honourable thing. . 80 [6.J The miseries of this life may be such as that death may be much better then life, and far rather to be chosen. ..... 81 [7.] Our times are in God's hand. ... 81 [8. J It is the sight of misery which works the deepest impression. ..... 82 [9. J Those which be dead ' in the Lord' are freed from seeing any evil or misery. ... 83 [lO.J The righteous go to heaven, and cannot see or know our wants. ..... 88 [11. J The lives of God's children do keep back evil from the place where they live, and their death is a forerunner of judgment. ... 84 [12. J All the evils which we suffer are from the evil of sin. ...... 86 [18. J God will give good men faithful servants. . 88 [14.J The care of a commonwealth and of a church is a duty belonging to the king. ... 88 THE SPIRITUAL FAVOUEITE AT THE THEONE OF ; GEACE. . . . . . . 91-108 Notes. ....... 108 THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. .... 109-132 ¦ Notes. ...... 132 CONTENTS. A EESCUR FROM DEATH, WITH A EETUEN OF PEAISE. Notes. ...... vu Paob 133-157 157 THE SAINT'S COMFOETS. The children of God fall into extremity of misery and affliction Six reasons of it. . Tvfo uses of it : first, not rashly to censure ourselves or others secondly, against profane mockers at the dejected. God upholdeth his from sinking in trouble Four reasons of it. . Seven uses of it. Affliction stirs up devotion. . Two uses of it. Prayers to be made only to God. How to make our prayers fervent. Six directions. Sin hinders prayer. The way to get out of misery is to get discharged of sin The way to take away sin, is by confession. Sin is in the best. .... Community of offenders lessens not sin. God makes his children see and feel what sin is Four reasons of it. . How to be sensible of sin with seven directions. Three uses of it. . A soul stung with sin, should fly to the free mercy of God only can relieve a guilty conscience. God only forgives sin. God's mercy is free. The best Christian needs forgiveness. Forgiveness is general to all that cast themselves on mercy. God's goodness stirs up to duty. It stirs up to faith, love, and fear. Three uses of it. We should wait upon God. . Four reasons of it. . Two uses of it. God. his free 159-180 161 162162 163168 163165166166166 166168 168 168 169 169169 ¦^170 170 171 173 174174174 175 175 177 177177 179 179 179 THE CHUECH'S COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCE. • i8i-203 Notes. . . . . . . • . 203 GOD'S INQUISITION. Notes. . 205-228 228 vm CONTENTS. Page THE EIGH POVEETY; OE, THE POOE MAN'S EICHRS. .229-263 There is difference of people. .... 232 God will have some in the worst times ; why. . . 232 Comfort that God will have a church when we are gone. . 233 God's children but few. ..... 233 God hath a special care of these few. . . . 234 God's church and children afflicted in the world, and why. 236 Outward poverty a help to poverty of spirit. . . 238 Providence serviceable to predestination. . . . 241 Spiritual poverty what it is not. .... 242 What it is. ...... 242 Degrees of this poverty. ..... 242 Before conversion. ..... 242 After conversion. ...... 242 Signs of spiritual poverty. ..... 243 How to come to spiritual poverty. .... 247 God trusted as he is known. .... 253 Evidences of trust in God. ..... 254 |How to come to trust in God. .... 259 Notes. ....... 263 SPIEITUAL MOUEI^ING. • ... 265-292 Wherein is laid open — Who are spiritual mourners, and what it is to mourn spiritually. 267 That all godly mourning is attended with comfort. . . 271 How spiritual mourning is known and discerned from other mournings. ...... 274 Together with the means to attain it, and the trial thereof in sundry instances. ..... 275 VIOLENCE VICTOEIOUS. Notes. 293-314 314 ANGELS' ACCLAMATIONS. Angels an host ; why. Of glorifying God. . The greatness of the glory of redemption. How to know whether we glorify God. Hindrance of God's glory. How to come to glorify God. Whence peace comes. Peace wrought by Christ, why. 315-356 319 324 824 829 832 334 337 341 CONTENTS. IZ How to know our peace with God. . How to maintain peace with God. Motives to stir up to this peace. God's good will the ground of all good. Why God loves us in Christ. How to know God loves us. Notes. .... Page 841 344346 348351 852 856 THE FEUITFUL LABOUE FOE ETEENAL FOOD. 357-381 Notes.- ....... 381 THE MATCHLESS .'LOVE AND INBEING. • • 385-412 Wherein is shewn— , That we may be assured of God's love unto us. . . 388 Helps for weak Christians how to attain unto this love. . 389 Helps how to know that we have it in us. , . . 391 ' That Christ is in all believers. .... 402 How to know that Christ is in us. . . . - 403 * How, in a seeming absence, he is discovered to be in the soul. 406 How to keep Christ there, and how to recover him being lost. , 409 A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE. To the Reader. Notes. . . '. 413-486 416485 KING DAVID'S EPITAPH. Notes. 487-516 516 LYDIA'S CONVERSION. Notes. 517-534 534 THE BRIDE'S LONGING, • • • 5%^560 To the Reader. ...... 537 The church's happiness consummate in heaven. . . 539 Of the word Amen. ..... 4^40 Doct. 1. The hearts of God's children are pUable to all CONTENTS. divine truths ; more to the promises ; "above all, to the „, promises of Christ's second coming. Reason 1. There is a suitableness between a sanctified heart and sanctified truths. . . . . Reason 2. There is a spiritual taste infused to relish those truths. ...... Reason 3. The Church's will is not her own, but Christ's. Reason 4. There is a spiritual contract between Christ and the soul. .... Reason 5. It is a seal of effectual calling. What effectual calling is. Use 1. If we find an unpliableness on our part, to beg the performance of the covenant of grace. Motives to give our Amen : — Motive 1. God honours us in having our consent. Motive 2. We honour God in sealing to his truth. Use 2. A reproof of two sorts : 1. Those which have no 'Amen' for God. 2. Those which have a false ' Amen.' . The desires of the Spirit, the true characters of a Christian, Desires resembled to a stream in sundry particulars. 1. They come from a good spring. 2. They carry all before them. 3. They swell by opposition. 4. They are restless till they are emptied. 5. They increase in running. 6. They rest in their proper place. 7. They constantly send up vapours. Five observations making way to the main point : — 1. There will be a second coming of Christ, more glorious than the former. ..... 2. A Christian that hath true faith in the times to come, will have answerable desires and prayers. . 8. A gracious heart turns promises into desires and prayers. 4. The more assured one is of any thing, the more effectual it makes him pray. .... 5. God's promises have gradual performances. The sixth and main point — 6. It is the duty and disposition of a gracious heart to desire the glorious coming of Christ, and all his other comings, in way and order to this, as they make way for his last coming. . , Reason 1. The Church is in want till then. Reason 2. Our life is hid with Christ in God. Reason 3. Christ is, in some sort, imperfect till then. Reason 4. Where the treasure is, there will the heart be. Reason 5. The members are carried to union with the Head Reason 6. By comparing it with glory here, in sundry par ticulars. ..... Rsason 7. From the state of the church at the best in this world, in regard of troubles without and corruptions within. .... Page 541 541641 641 641 641 641541 642542542 642 543543 543644544 544 544 544 644644 545 545 646 546 547547 '647 547 647 648 549 contents. xi Paoe Trials of our desires for the second coming of Christ : — Trial 1. By seeing what benefit we have by the first coming of Christ. ...... 650 Trial 2. By our preparing for it. . . . . 650 Trial 3. Whether our hearts be in the kingdom of Christ now. ...... 651 Trial 4. By our holy exercises. .... 551 Directions enabling us to utter this desire and prayer : — Direct. 1. Labour to be reconciled to God. . . 562 Direct. 2. Labour to grow in the new creature. ' . . 552 Direct. 3. Be sure to do what you do thoroughly and quickly. 552 Direct. 4. Take all advantages to help this desire and prayer, from crosses and Satan. .... 553 Two objections answered : — Obj. 1. I find I am not so desirous of the coming of Christ as I ought. ..... 654 Obj. 2. But I desire to live still. .... 654 A pressing exhortation to long for the second coming of Christ, and from thence also to quicken ourselves in our Christian work. .... A conclusion — Upon the particular occasion. . . 556 THE FAITHFUL COYENANTEE. THE FAITHFUL COVENANTER. NOTE. ' The Faithful Covenanter' forms a portion of the miscellaneous sermons of ' Evan gelical Sacrifices' (4to, 1640). Its separate title-page is given below.* For general title-page, see Vol. V. page 156. G. * THE FAITHFUL COVENANTER. In two Sermons upon Gen. 17. 7. By The late Learned and Reverend Divine, KlCH. SlBBS: Doctor in Divinity, M' of Katheeine Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher to the Honourable Society of g e a y e s-i n n b. Nehe. 1. 5. 0 Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible Ood, that keepeth Covenant and mercy for them that Love him. London, Printed by E. Purslow, for N. Bourne, at the Eoy- all Exchange, and R. Harford at the gilt Bible in Queenes head Alley, in Pater- Noster-Eow. 16 3 9. THE FAITHFUL COVENANTER. I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a Ood to thee, and to thy seed after thee. — Gen. XVII. 7. God having framed man an understanding creature, hath made him fit to have communion and intercourse with himself; because he can by his understanding discern that there is a better good out of himself, in com munion and fellowship with which, happiness consists. Other creatures — wanting understanding to discern a better good out of than in themselves, their life being their good — desire only the continuance of their own being, without society and fellowship with others. But man, having the knowledge of God, the Creator of heaven and earth, but especially of God the Redeemer, providing for him a. second being better than his first, under- standeth that his best and chiefest good dependeth more in him than in himself; and because his happiness standeth in acquaintance and fellow ship with this God, which is the chief good, he desireth a communion with him, that he may partake of his good. This communion and fellowship of man with God, was first founded on a covenant of works made with Adam in paradise. If he did obey, and did not eat of the forbidden fruit, he should have life both for himself and his posterity ; the which covenant, because God would not have forgotten, he afterward renewed in the delivery of the ten commandments, requiring from man obedience to them in his own person, exactly, at all times, per petually : promising life on the obedience, and threatening death and cursing if he continued not in everything the law required to do. But this fellow ship being placed in man's own freedom, and having so weak a foundation, he lost both himself and it, so that now by the first covenant of works, Adam and all his posterity are under a curse ; for we cannot fulfil the law that requireth personal obedience, perfect obedience, and exact obedience. He that ' continueth not in all is cursed,' Gal. iii. 10. The law then findeth us dead and killeth us. It findeth us dead before, and not only leaves us dead still, but makes us more dead. Now after this fall, man's happiness was to recover again his communion and fellowship with God ; and therefore we must have a new covenant before we can have life and comfort. God must enter into new conditions with us before we can have any communion with him. 4 THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. God therefore, loving man, doth after the breach of the first agreement and covenant, when Adam had lost himself by his sin, and was m a most miserable plight as ever creature was in the world, falhng from so great a happiness into wondrous misery ; he raised him up and comforted him by establishing a second, a new and better covenant, laying the foundation of it in the blessed seed of the woman, Christ the Messiah, who is the ground of this new covenant, and so of our communion and fellowship with God, without whom there can be no intercourse between God and us in love. And because this covenant was almost forgotten, therefore now in Abraham's time God renewed it to Abraham in this place : ' I will be thy God, and the God of thy seed after thee,' &c. There are four periods of time of renewing this covenant : first, from Adam to Abraham ; and in those first times of the world, those that were under the covenant were called the 'sons and daughters of God,' 'the chil dren of the promise,' and the covenant of grace was called a promise of the blessed seed. Secondly, From Abraham to Moses ; and then it was called a covenant, and they the children of the covenant. ' I will estabUsh my covenant.' A covenant is more than a promise, and a more solemn thing, because there be ceremonies. The third period of renewing the covenant of grace was from Moses to Christ ; and then it was more clear, whenas to the covenant made with Abraham, who was sealed with the sacrament of circumcision, the sacra ment of the paschal lamb was added, and all the sacrifices Levitical ; and then it was called a testament. That differeth a little from a covenant ; for a testament is established by blood, it is established by death. So was that ; but it was only with the blood and death of cattle sacrificed as a type. But now, to* Christ's time to the end of the world, the covenant of grace is most clear of all ; and it is now usually called the New Testament, being established by the death of Christ himself; and it differs from a covenant in these respects : First, A testament indeed is a covenant, and something more. It is a cove nant sealed by death. The testator must die before it can be of force. So all the good that is conveyed to us by the testament it is by the death of the testator, Christ. God's covenant with us now, is such a covenant as is a testament, sealed with the death of the testator, Christ ; for ' without blood there is no redemption,' Heb. ix. 22 ; without the death of Christ there could be no satisfaction, and without satisfaction there could be no peace with God. Secondly, A testament beqiteatheth good things merely of love. It giveth gifts freely. A covenant requireth something to be done. In a testament, there is nothing but receiving the legacies given. In covenants, ofttimes it is for the mutual good one of another, but a testament is merely for their good for whom the testament is made, to whom the legacies are bequeathed ; for when they are dead, what can they receive from them ? God's cove nant now is such a testament, sealed with the death of Christ, made out of love merely for our good ; for what can God receive of us ? All is legacies from him ; and though he requireth conditions, requireth faith and obedience, yet he himself fulfilleth what he asketh, giveth what he. requir eth, giveth it as a legacy, as we shall see afterward. Thus you see that the communion and fellowship of man with God, must * Qu. 'from'?— En. THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. 5 either be by a covenant of works or by a covenant of grace. And we must distinguish exactly between these two covenants and the periods of them. When the covenant of works was disannulled by our sins, because we could not fulfil the law exactly and perpetually, God will have a new cove nant. If we believe in Christ, we shall have everlasting life. Now, if we stick to the one, we must renounce the other. If it be of faith, it is not of works ; and if it be of works, it is not of faith. This was excellently signi fied by Joshua and Moses. Joshua bringeth the people to Canaan, and not Moses. Moses doth not bring any to heaven. It must be Joshua, the type of the true Jesus, that must bring them through Jordan to Canaan. This was typified also in the ark. There was the law, the covenant of works in the ark, but the propitiatory, the mercy-seat, was above the ark, above the law, and from thence God made all his answers ; to signify to us that we can have nothing to do with the law without the propitiatory. Christ is the propitiatory, the mercy-seat. In Christ God heareth us. He makes all his answers in the propitiatory, Christ. There fore when the question is our salvation, how we have title to heaven, not by the merit of works, for then we reverse the covenant of grace ; but our title is merely by God's mercy in Christ apprehended by faith. The evi dence indeed to prove our faith to be a true faith, is from works, but the title we have is only by Christ, only by grace. Here we must appeal from Sinai to Sion ; from the law to the gospel ; from Moses to Christ. We must fly with Joab to the horns of the altar, 1 Bangs ii. 28. That must be our refuge. Fly to Christ in the covenant of grace, and we shall not be pulled from thence, as Joab was from the altar. There let us live and die. Remember, I say, that the covenant of grace is distinct in the whole kind from the- covenant of works ; yet this, they are both in the church, and both taught, one subordinate to the other ; as thus, the covenant of works is taught to shew us our failing, that seeing our own disability to perform what the law requireth, we may be forced to the new covenant of grace. And therefore, saith Paul, ' By the law I am dead to the law,' Gal. ii. 19. It is an excellent speech, ' By the law I am dead to the law ; ' by the cove nant of works I am dead to the covenant of works. That is, by the law's exacting of me exact and perpetual obedience in thought, word, and deed, I come to see that I cannot fulfil it, and therefore am dead to the law ; that is, I look for no salvation, for no title to heaven by that ; and therefore he saith, ' The law was added for transgression.' Why was the law added to the promise of salvation by Christ made here to Abraham ? Why was the covenant of works added in the wilderness afterwards ? It was for trans gression, to increase the sense of transgression, that we by the law might see what we should do, and what we have not done, and that we are by that come under a curse, and so might fly to the promise of grace in Christ. I have stood the longer in the clearing of this, because it is a main point. But to come to that which I specially intend. The words, as I said before, contain the renewing of this blessed and gracious agreement between God and man to Abraham, the father of the faithful. ' I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be thy God, and the God of thy seed after thee.' The words, you see, contain a covenant ; and here are all things — all the articles and circumstances that agree to any covenant whatsoever. Here are the parties, both that make the covenant and that are cove nanted with. 6 THE FAITHFUL COVISNANTEE. Here is the substance of the covenant, and the qualities of the covenant, and the condition of the covenant. The party making the covenant is God, 'I will be thy Ood.' God is the party covenanting. God indeed is both the party covenanting and the substance of the covenant : ' I will be a God to thee.' They fall both together in one. It is a most sweet sign of God's great love, that he will stoop so low as to make a covenant with us, to be our God ; to be him self all in all to us. For consider but both these parties : God and we ; the Creator and the creature ; the immortal God and mortal man ; the glorious God and ' dust and ashes ; ' the holy God and sinful man ; the great King of heaven and earth, and rebels and traitors as we are. For him to condescend so low as to make a covenant with us, to enter into terms and articles of agreement with us, it is a wondrous sign of his gra cious mercy and love. What can we but hope for from so gracious a God ? But I shall have occasion to touch that afterward. The parties covenanted with, are Abraham and his seed — his seed by promise. The substance of the covenant .is, ' I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee,' The qualities of the covenant are, first, it is a sure covenant : ' I will establish my covenant.' Secondly, It is an everlasting covenant : ' I will establish my covenant for an everlasting covenant.' Thirdly, It is a peculiar covenant : ' I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed; that is, only between me and thee, and thy seed ; not with the refuse of the world, but only with thy seed by promise ; only believers, whether Jews or Gentiles. Fourthly, It is a moat free covenant. It was made to Abraham, whom God called out of Ur of the Chaldees, out of an idolatrous nation, out of an idolatrous family ; ¦ even as it was at the first most freely made to Adam in paradise, when he was in a most desperate estate. When he was as low as hell in a manner, ready to sink into despair, then the ' seed of the woman' was promised. So here it was freely made to good Abraham: First, the love of God was free to him when he called him, being an idola ter ; and then it was freely renewed afterward, when he was good, as we shall see anon. ¦ And lastly, It is a covenant consisting most of spiritual things. It is a spiritual covenant. I mean especially, promising spiritual favours, although the other things, as appendices of the main, are likewise meant. For aftw that the covenant was made to Abraham and his posterity, they endured many afflictions. After the promise was renewed to Jacob, we know he fled from his brother Esau, to whom the covenant of grace was not made, and yet of Esau presently came duke such a one, and duke such a one[ Gen. xxxvi. 15, seq. ; and poor Jacob was fain to fly for his life in regard of the promise. So that I say it must be specially of spiritual blessings. These are the qualities of the covenant. It is a sure, an everiasting, a peculiar, and a most free covenant, aiming speciallv at spiritual things. ' And then, lastly, you have the condition of the covenant ; and that though it is not expressed, yet it is impHed. ' I will be thy God, and the God of thy seed.' Therefore thou shalt take me for thy God, carry thy self to me as to thy God, &c. It is usual in other places of Scripture, where mention is made of this covenant, to imply the condition required on our parts. Sometimes both the covenant and condition are mentioned together THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE, as in Zech, xiii, 9, ' I will say,' saith God, ' It is my people ; and they shall say. The Lord is my God,' The one springeth from the other. When God is a God to any, he makes the heart to answer, Thou shalt be my God, and I will be thine always. This is the condition on our part that we make with God in this covenant, to take him for our God, to be his people, and his pecuUar ones. ' I will be thy God, and the God of thy seed.' Though these words, ' I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed,' be the last words of the text, yet being the substance of the covenant, I think it shall be best to speak of that before I speak of the qualities of the covenant or anything else. ' ' I will be thy God.' This is the covenant in the Messiah ; but first, what is it to be a God ? I answer, To be a God, take it in the general, is to give being to the creature that had no being of itself, and to protect and preserve the creature in its being : in a word, to be a creator ; for providence is the perpetuity and continuance of creation. This is to be a God, The office of God, as God, is a most glorious function. To be a king is a great matter, but to be a God, to give being to the creature, to support it when it hath a being, to do all that God should do, this is a most glorious work. But this is but creation. This is not intended especially here, for thus he is the God of all his works. Thus by creation and preservation he is the God of all the men in the world out of the church. What is then to be thy God ? 'I will be thy God,' I answer. To be a God in a more peculiar manner, is to be a God in covenant ; that is, not only to be a God to preserve and continue this being of ours in a civil life, but it is to be a God in a higher relation to us ; to be a God in a reference to an eternal, supernatural estate in heaven ; to be a God here in grace, and hereafter in glory ; and thus God is a God in a gracious covenant, only by Jesus Christ, and to those that believe in him. ' I will be thy God ; ' that is, ' I will be thy God in Christ,' to give thee a better being than this world can afford ; to free thee from the cursed estate thou art in by nature ; to deliver thee from all ill, spiritually and eternally ; especially to bestow on thee all good, spiritually and eternally ; especially as we have it in the words of the covenant, Gen, xv. 1, 'I will be thy shield and thy exceeding great reward ; ' a shield to keep off all ill, and a reward for all good. So in Ps, Ixxxiv, 9, ' God will be a sun and a shield,' &c, : a sun for all sweet comfort and good, and a shield in regard of defence from ill ; a sun and a shield till we come to the possession of eternal happiness. This is to be a God in a peculiar manner, to give all things necessary for grace and life too — for this life and for a better ; to do all things requisite to bring us to heaven and happiness through Christ, ' in whom all the promises are yea and amen,' 2 Cor. i. 20 ; to be all in all ; to direct the protections and provisions of this life, of our estate here, to a supernatural happiness hereafter, to a state beyond nature. For God directs the favours of this life, so that he takes them away or he giveth them, as he seeth them advantageous, or hindrances to a better estate. So is God a God to those that are in covenant with him. To do all this, and to do all this in opposition of all enemies whatsoever ; to do aU this in weakness and in the impotency of the creature; to do all this when all second causes are con trary, as it were, to bring a man to heaven in spite of the devil and of our own corruptions, or all oppositions whatsoever — this is to be a God indeed. But why doth he say only, ' I will be thy God '? Why doth he not say, 8 THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. I win give thee grace and protection, I will give thee heaven and life ever lasting ? Because all is one, for all things in the world are in this one promise, ' I will be thy God,' See the wisdom of heaven, how much he speaks m how little. There cannot be more spoken than thus, ' I will be thy God,' For in saying, ' I will be thy God,' he imphes that whatsoever he is, or hath, or can do, shall be thine too. ' I will be thy God ; ' that is, my wisdom shall be thine, to watch over thee, to find out ways to do thee good; my power shall be thine, to keep thee from danger, to defend and rescue thee from all enemies, and to subdue them by degrees unto thee ; my pro vidence shall be thine, to turn all things to thy good ; my mercy shall be thine, to forgive thy sins ; my love shall be thine, to bestow on thee all necessary comforts. There is no phrase in the Scripture that hath so much in so little as this here, ' I will be thy God,' if we could unfold and lay open this excellent promise. All other particular promises in the covenant of grace- are members of this. What is the reason, as Saint Paul saith, ' all things are yours?' 'Because you are Christ's, and Christ is God's,' 1 Cor. iii, 23. God is the God of Christ, and our God. We are in covenant with the God of Christ. Christ 'is the heir of all, and we are members of Christ. God who is the God of all things is ours. It is a wondrous comprehensive promise, ' I will be thy God, and the God of thy seed,' The substance of the covenant then is, that God will be a God to us. The point to be observed is this, that God graciously in the blessed seed, the Messiah, Christ Jesus, he takes upon him to be a Ood to all those that are in covenant with him; that is, to be all-sufficient, to bring us to happiness — all-sufficient in this world and in the world to come, to be our portion, to be all in all. This is the first and fundamental promise of all other. Indeed, it is the life and soul of all the promises, and it is the life and soul of all comfort what soever. For all other relations spoken of God tend to this, that he is ' our God,' This is before to be a Father, before to be anything. God first is a God, and then a Father, and then all in all to us. As he is first the God of Christ, and then the Father of Christ ; as you have it usually in the beginnings of the epistles, ' God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ;' first the God, and then the Father. To be a God, then, is the fundamental and principal favour. From thence cometh our election ; his choosing of us to eternal salvation before all time ; his protection and preservation of us in time unto heaven, I shall not need to speak more of this, having unfolded it before. But you will say, How shall we know that this covenant belongeth to us ? that we are such as we may say, God is our God ? I answer, first — to lay this for a ground — ^you must know that to be a God is a relation. Whosoever God is a God to, he persuadeth them by his Spirit that he is a God to. The same Spirit that persuadeth them that there is a God, that Spirit telleth them that God is their God, and works a qualification and disposition in them, as that they may know that they are in covenant with such a gracious God, The Spirit as it revealeth to them the love of God, and that he is theirs, so the Spirit enableth them to claim him for their God, to give up themselves to him as to their God. And the Spirit doth this, because friends cannot be in covenant and con federate without there be a likeness or an agreement. There must be more words then, on* to a covenant. Though God's grace do all, yet we must give our consent ; and therefore the covenant is expressed under the title * Qu. ' than one '?— En. THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. 9 of marriage. In marriage there must be a consent of both parties. In reconciliation between a king and subjects, that are fallen out, when they are rebels, there must be an accepting of the pardon, and a promise of new subjection. So then if God be our God, there will be grace given to take him for our God ; to give him homage as a king ; to give him our consent as to our spouse, ' Thou shalt be my God, and I will cleave to thee, as to my lord and husband,' ' Can two walk together,' saith the prophet, ' and not be friends ?' Amos iii, 3, There can be no friendship with God, except there be somewhat wrought in us by his Spirit, to make us fit for friendship, that we may look on him as an object of love and delight. If we look on him as an object of hatred, what terms of friendship can there be ? Now, that we may look on him as an object of love, fit for converse with him, he must make us such by consent and yielding to him, by framing the inward man to his likeness, that so there may a peace be maintained with him. You see the ground of it, of necessity it must be so. Well, to come to the trials. But let me first add this to the former : whomsoever Ood is a Ood to, it is Ttnown specially by spiritual and eternal favours. A man cannot know certainly that God is his God by outward and common things that castaways may have ; for a castaway may have Ish- mael's blessing and Esau's portion, blessings of the left hand, common graces. To know undoubtedly, therefore, that God is our God, must be by peculiar matters ; for those whose God God is are a pecuHar people, a holy nation, severed from others. First of all, then, know what the Spirit of God saith to thy soul ; for they that are God's have his Spirit, to reveal to their spirits the secret and hidden love of God. , But if the voice of the Spirit be silent in regard of testimony, go to the work of the Spirit ; but go to the peculiar work of the Spirit. For though the Spirit may be silent in regard of his testimony, yet there are some works or other of the Spirit in a man, whereby he may know that God is his God ; as the Spirit of God works in some sort a proportion in him unto God, and none can know better what God is to him than by searching of his own heart, what he is back again to God ; for as God saith to him by his Spirit, Thou art mine, so they say to God, Thou art mine. Let us then come to the trial by our carrying ourselves to God. Can we say with David, ' Whom have I in heaven but thee ?' or ' What is there in earth in comparison of thee ?' Ps. Ixxiii, 25, When the conscience can tell us that we make God our trea sure and our portion above all earthly things, then we make him our God. A Christian singleth out God above all things in the world for his happi ness. Lord, thou art mine ! Whatsoever wealth is mine, or riches mine, or friends mine — I stand not upon that, but thou art mine. A rich man runneth to his wealth, and makes flesh his arm. He runneth to friends, to bear him out in ill causes ; but a true Christian that hath God for his God, he may know it by this, he singleth out God for his portion, runs to him in all extremities. Lord, thou art mine. This is a sign that God hath said to his soul first, ' I am thy salvation,' Ps. xxxv. 3. How can the soul appropriate God to himself? How can he say, as Thomas did, ' My Lord and my God,' John xx. 28, except the Lord have spoken peace to the soul before, and have said, ' I am thy salvation ' ? It is a sign we have made God our God, when we prize him and value him above all the world ; and when, with St Paul, Phil. iii. 8, we count all things ' dung and dross, in comparison of Jesus Christ our Lord.' What we will do most for, that is our god. If we will do most for God, he is our God. If we do most for .pleasures, they are our god. If we do 10 THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. most for riches, break our rests and crack our consciences for them, that is our god. In a word, whatsoever we value highest, that is our god. Examine what affections we have to Ood : for it is affection that makes a Christian. Single out some few that we are most offending in. As, first, for /ear, it may shame us all. Indeed, a Christian upon his best resolution is better. But the ordinary carriage of men is, they fear men more than God; they fear everything more than him that they should fear above all. For instance, is the retired carriage of men to God such as their carriage is to the eye of the world ? Will not they do that in secret ofttimes that they will not do openly ? In secret they will commit this or that sin, and think, Who seeth ? There are secret abominations in the closet of their hearts. They will not fear to do that in the eye of God, that they fear to do in the eye of a child of six years old, that is of any discretion. Is this to make God our God, when we fear the eye of a silly mortal creature more than the eye of God, that is ten thousand times brighter than the sun, that is our judge? Is God our God the whiles? Undoubtedly, when God is made our God, there is an awe of the eye of heaven upon a man in all places. . Therefore this is the condition of the covenant, ' Walk before me,' or ' Walk as in my sight,' 1 Sam. ii, 30, How do we walk before God as in his sight, when there is such a great deal of difference in our carriage secretly, and before the eyes of men ? when we labour more to approve our carriage to men, than we make conscience of our spirits to God ? This may shame us. Even the best of us who are in covenant with God, and have made God our God, we have cause to be abased for this : and surely one of the best ways to make God's children abased and humbled, is to compare the different proportion of their carriage ; how they carry them selves to men whom they respect, and to otitward things in the world, and how they carry themselves to God, If God be our God, there will be an universal fear and care to please God in all times and in all places, because he is everywhere ; darkness and light are all one to him. Try yourselves therefore by this affection. If we make Ood our Ood, we will fear him above all ; for there being such a distance between God and us — he the mighty God, and we creatures whose breath is in our nostrils — there can no other way be a covenant of peace betwixt us, but with much reve rence. Therefore all Christians are reverent creatures; they do all in fear ; they pass ' the whole time of the conversation here iu fear,' 1 Peter iii, 2 ; they ' make an end of their salvation with fear and trembling,' Philip. ii, 12 ; they enjoy their liberties in fear, St Jude makes mention of a number of wretched people in his time, that ate without fear, ver, 12. You may know a man that hath not this grace of God in his heart, by his un- reverent carriage. He never thinks of the presence and all-seeing eye of God. A Christian that hath God to his God, knows that wheresoever he is, he is in the eye of heaven. Therefore he is jealous, even of his own most secret corruptions. He knows that they are lawless of themselves ; and therefore he always sets himself in the presence of God, He is full of reverence, full of fear, even in the enjoying of his Christian liberties, _ So hkewise for the affection of love. Ii God be thy God, thou hast grace given thee to love him above all things. With whom God is graciously reconciled, he giveth them his Spirit to be reconciled back again to him. He loveth us, and we love him again ; for we are by nature enemies to God, as he is to us. There is no wicked man in the world can love God ; indeed, as God is a God that promiseth salvation, he loveth him — he would fain have that, and therefore would fain be in his favour — ^but he THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE, 11 tannot love God as he is in all respects ; but he hateth him, and he hateth his children. He trifleth with his name by oaths and blasphemy, and the like. He scorneth God, He wisheth that there were no God, Can this man say that God is his God, when he doth not carry himself back again to him in his affection as his God ? No such matter. He is God's enemy, and God is his enemy. So if God be our God, if he have set his love upon us, we cannot but love him again. If he be reconciled to us, we are recon ciled to him'. This is a sure sign that God is our God, if we love him above all. Now, that may be known if we be zealous when Ood is dishonoured any way ; for whatsoever we make our god, we will not endure to have touched. If a man make his lust his god, if that be touched, he is all in a chafe. When that which a man loveth is touched, experience shews it, he is pre sently all on a fire. And here the best Christians have cause to be abased. Hath God their love, when they can hear him disgraced, and his name abused, without being greatly moved, and yet notwithstanding, in the mean time, will not endure their own credit to be touched, but they are, as I said, all on a fire ? Where there is no zeal, there is no love. Certainly when we can hear God's children misused, and religipn endangered, and pro fession scoffed at, &c., and yet not be affected, nor cannot take God's cause to heart, this is great fault in our love. And so for joy and delight : we make God our God when we joy in him above all things in the world; when we make him our boast all the day long, as it is Ps. xliv, 8 ; when we make him our glory, as he is called our glory in Jer, ii, 11, ' They changed their glory.' God is our glory if he be our God. We count it our chiefest glory that we are his, and that he is ours. Whatsoever our estates be, we glory in God, and not in ourselves, A Christian when he would joy and glory, he goeth out of himself to God, he is his joy. But do not men joy in the creature, and delight in it ofttimes more than in God ? It is a great shame for us, and that for which even the best of us all may be abased, to con sider what a deal of delight and comfort we take in the creature more than in God, We see Jonah, a good man, when his gourd was taken from him, that God raised up to be a shelter for him — a poor simple defence it was ; and yet we see how pettish the good man was. All the comfort he had could not keep him from anger and fretting when the gourd was gone ; and yet God was his God. So many men, whereas they should joy in God above all things, yet if God take outward comforts from them, they are as if there were no God in heaven, no comfort there ; as if there were no pro vidence to rule the world ; as if they had no Father in covenant with them, I say this is a great shame for us. Again, If God be our God, we will trust in him, rely and depend upon him above all things ; for whatsoever our trust is most in, that is our god. Now if our conscience tell us that we trust most in God, more than in wealth or friends, and will not, to displease God, please any man, it is a sign that we have made God our God, because we trust in him. And surely, if we would examine ourselves, the best of us all, it would bring us on our knees, and make our faces be confounded, to consider what a deal of atheism there is in our heart (though we are not altogether atheists, yet what a deal there is), that must be mortified and subdued. For if an honest man, and that we know is faithful, should say to us, I will be yours ; I will take upon me to provide for you, to defend you, to protect you, to stand by you against all adversaries ; we believe and hope that he will do 12 THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. it. But do we so to God ? Hath he our trust and affiance ? Alas, no ! so far forth, I mean, as we are not subdued to God. A Christian, indeed, in some measure is enabled to make God his trust and confidence, but there remains abundance of atheism even in the best of us. If God be our God, why do we not trust in him, depend upon him for all things ; depend upon him for protection and deliverance from all ill, spiritual ill specially, froni sin, Satan, hell, and wrath ; depend upon him for all good, the good of grace specially, for the change of our nature and the forgiveness of our sms, for spiritual privileges, adoption and sonship, for the inheritance of heaven, &c. It is a sign, I say, that God is our God when we trust m him above all the world, and trust other things only from him and for him. I will trust man, but man may deceive me. I will not trust him therefore with an absolute confidence. No. That were to make a god of him. What is the reason that God confoundeth proud men at last ?^ David shews the reason. ' This man he took not the Lord for his God.' When men will, in contempt of religion, set up themselves and somewhat else to rely on, besides God, God at the last brings it to pass, that the world shall note them out. This man trusted in his greatness ; he trusted in his policy, in his wit, in his friends ; this man took not the Lord for his God. Again, If we make God our God, we may know it by our obedience, espe cially by the obedience of the inward man. When the inward man is vowed to God, when a man yieldeth inward obedience to God, it is a sign that God is his God. When a man can arraign his thoughts and desires before God, and when lusts rise in his heart contrary to the Spirit, he checks them pre sently. This becometh not those that are God's ; it beseemeth not those that walk after God, that have God's Spirit for their leader. Therefore he is ashamed presently of base tentations.* A Christian can perform the first and last commandments, which are the most spiritual commandments. He can make God his God in his affections. His affections are placed upon him alone, as I have shewed before. He can yield up all his inward affections of fear and love and joy, and such like, unto God, which is the sum of the first commandment ; and he can be content not to have his lusts rage and range, suppresses his very thoughts and desires, will not suffer anything to rise in his heart unchecked and uncontrolled, which is the sum of the tenth commandment, I mean, he can do it in some measure. And there is a inward passive obedience too. It is God, as David and other saints said. ' It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good in his own eyes,' Ps, cxix, 68, I am God's, and he shall dispose of me. The soul that knoweth God to be his God hath an inward obedience of conten- tatipn with his estate, God is my portion, and it is large enough. The earth is his, and the fulness thereof, Ps, xxiv, 1, Therefore I will be eon- tent to be at his disposing, whether it be more or less ; and if any murmuring arise in his heart, against God in respect of his estate or otherwise, he presently suppresseth it, as being contrary to the blessed government that a Christian is under, that should resign his whole soul unto God, Thus by our affections, by the trial of them, we may know whether God be our God, if we give him the affections of the heart, which religion most stands in ; when we make the whole inward man stoop, and bow, and bend unto him ; when we make him our king, and give him the supremacy ; when we set the crown upon his head ; when he hath our fear, our joy and delight, our love, our trust ; I mean, when he hath the supreme of all, for we may love man, as God derivethf good to us by him, and so for the rest. * That is, ' temptations.' — G, % That is, ' commuuioateth,' — G, THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE, 13 But God must be supreme. Others must be loved and feared, &c,, in him and for him, but he chiefly, when we depend upon him for all deliverance out of ill and for all good, and shew our dependence on him by our subjec tion to him in all his ways, by our yielding to him obedience answerable to all this ; and especially when we shall shew it by performing inward worship to him, when we walk before him perfectly and sincerely, as it is in the beginning of this chapter, ' I am God all-sufficient : walk before me and be perfect,' By this we may know that God is our God, I need not enlarge it. The practice of the first commandment will teach us what is our God. Whatsoever we give the supremacy of the inward man to, whatsoever we love most, whatsoever we trust most, whatsoever we fear most, whatsoever we joy and delight most, whatsoever we obey most. — that is our god. ' I am the Lord thy God,' in the first commandment. There is the ground. What follows ? ' Thou shalt have no other gods but me ;' that is, thou shalt love nothing in the world, nor fear nothing, nor trust in nothing, nor joy in nothing more than me, no, nor with me ; but all things else thou shalt trust them and fear them, &c,, in me and for me. Otherwise what is our love is our god, what is our trust is our god, what is our greatest fear is our god. If we fear man, fear him to do ill, man is our god ; if we love the creature, or sin, that is our god ; if we crack our consciences for wealth, the covetous man's wealth is his god ; if we crack our consciences for pleasures, or for our bellies, our pleasures and our bellies and our lusts are our god. We make not God our God except we give him the supremacy of the inward man. But to proceed, and to come to some few familiar signs more that will try us, though these may try us, in the intercourse that is between God and us. Whosoever hath God for their God, they have the Spirit of supplication and prayer, to cry unto God, to run unto him, especially in extremity. AU God's children have the Spirit of adoption to cry, 'Abba, Father !' They have the Spirit to give them boldness to God, when otherwise their nature, and likewise trouble joining with nature and tentations, would make them run from God ;' yet the Spirit of God in them makes them bold to go to God in Jesus Christ, God's children, that are in covenant with him, can at all times pray to God, If they cannot pray, they can ' chatter ' and sigh to God, There is somewhat they can do. There is a Spirit in them that groaneth and sigheth, as Rom. viii. 26, and God heareth the voice of his own Spirit. They are cries in his ears. ' My groans and sighs are not hid from thee,' saith the Psalmist, Ps. xxxviii. 9, The Spirit of sup plication will shew God to be our God, because if he were not ours, we could not be bold to go to him, in the time of extremity especially. This sign you have in Zech, xiii. ver, 9, ' They shall call upon my name, and I will hear them ; they shall be my people, and I will be their God.' Invocation and prayer is a sign that God is our God, when we go to God presently in all our wants and necessities by prayer. Pharaoh and repro bate spirits say to Moses, ' Pray you for me,' Numb. xxi. 7 ; but as for a spirit of supplication in themselves, they have not. They may speak of prayer, but they cannot pray. Whosoever is God's, he can cry to God. A child, we know the first voice is uttered as soon as it is born, it cries ; so God's new-born children they can cry unto God. Paul in Acts ix. ver, 11, you shall find him praying as soon as ever he was converted ; and certainly those that use not to pray morning and evening, and upon all occasions, that acquaint not themselves with God, God is not their God. If he were their 14 THE FAITHFUL COVENANTER. God, they would seek to him, and be acquainted with him. The Spirit wUl teach them to go unto God as to a Father, Again, We may know that God is our God by this, by our separating frotn all others, in ourselves and out of ourselves. There is a separation in our selves, for there is the first separation. God, whose God he is, he giveth them his Spirit, and that like fire severeth the dross, and gathereth the fold together. And as heat in the body, that severeth good nourishment and separateth that which doth not nourish the body, so where the Spirit of God is, he works a separation between the flesh and the spirit. The Spirit will. know what is spiritual, and will discern what is in us that is fleshly, and will join to spiritual things, and the Spirit will be one as it were. There will be a sweet agreement in the word, in the sacraments, in good company, in holy meditation and the like, and a separation from the flesh, A Christian knows that he is redeemed from himself, as far as he is naught,* We are redeemed from ourselves and our own base nature, as well as from hell and damnation. Therefore there is first a separation in ourselves from our selves. It begins there. We have nothing to do with our corruptions. We will not own them. And where this sweet covenant is, that God is our God, as there is a separation fr'om ourselves and our corruptions, so there is a separation from all that joineth with our corruption ; a separation in affection from delighting in' all that is not God, from all such occasions and company as strengtheneth our corruption, A Christian knows what he hath of God's in him, and what he hath of Satan, and that he must weaken. Therefore he severeth himself from that which strengtheneth the one and weakeneth the other. This trial is expressed in 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18, ' Come out from amongst them, separate yourselves, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people,' He speaks for direction, especially in our society and acquaintance, for that is the thing he aimeth at. How shall we know that God will be our God ? We must separate ourselves, and touch no unclean thing, nothing that will help rebellion. Therefore those that have an indif ferent disposition to aU companies, and can solace themselves in any society, though never so corrupt, that bear themselves plausible to all, and would be thought well of all, and so will venture upon all occasions, it is an ill sign that they are carnal people. When in the nearest league in friendship or amity, or in intimate familiarity, they will join with any, — all are alike, — it is a sign they have not God for their God. For then they would have common enemies and common friends with God ; common enemies with God, Whom God hated they would hate. As God in covenant blesseth them that bless us, and curseth them that curse us, so they that are in covenant and friendship with God will hate with a perfect hatred whatsoever it is that hateth God ; they will have nothing to do in intimate familiarity further than their callings press upon them ; they will give them their due in humanity and courtesy, but no more. Their love and delight will be in God and those that are his, that represent him, that have his Spirit and image. How oft is this ' I am the Lord your God ' repeated by Moses as a ground of separation from idolatry ? Itis expressed almost everywhere ; and indeed, if the Lord be our God, there is ground enough of separation from all that is not God. It cannot be otherwise. Another sign and evidence that God is our God is victory over our base corruptions in some measure. This you have in Rev. xxi. 7 : ' He that overcometh shall inherit all things ; I will be his God, and he shall be my '"'* That is, ' naughty ' = wicked. — G. ' THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. 15 son.' How shall I know that God is my God, and that I am his son ? If by the power of his Spirit I am able to overcome and conquer in some com fortable measure base tentations and my base corruptions and lusts ; when I lie not as a beast or as a carnal man under sin, but God hath given me in some measure spiritual strength over sin. Undoubtedly these and such like works of the Spirit, together with the testimony of the Spirit, will be wheresoever God is our God. In a word, to name no more trials but this, whosoever God is a God to, there will be a transforming unto Ood, a transforming unto Christ, in whom God is our God. For we must know that we are renewed according to the image of the ' second Adam,' Our comfort is by God revealed in Christ. If God be our God in Christ, we will be like to God ; and that will be known that we are like to God, if we be like to God in the flesh, God incarnate. For we are predestinated to be like God incarnate, God, first he is Christ's God before he is ours ; and as Christ carried himself to God, so if we be God's, we must carry ourselves like Christ, be transformed unto him. How did Christ carry himself to God ? God was his God, ' My God, my God,' saith Christ upon the cross. Now the gospel sheweth that he obeyed his Father in all things, in doing and suffering : ' Not my will, but thy will be done,' Luke xxii. 42, You know how full of mercy and compassion he was ; how he prayed all night sometimes. Though he knew God would bestow things on him without prayer, yet he would pray in order to God's appointment. You know how full of goodness he was, going about continuaUy doing good. Acts x, 38 ; and that in obedience and conscience to God's command. In a word, look how Christ made God his God, and carried himself to God, So must we ; for we are predestinated to be transformed to the image of the ' second Adam,' Christ. Especially observe one thing — I touched it before — whom we run to and trust to in extremity, is our god. Christ in extremity, when he felt the anger and endured the wrath of God, being a surety for our sins, yet ' My God, my God ' still. So if we make God our God, chiefly in the greatest extremity, in the time of desertion, as Christ did, it is a good sign. I do but touch these things. The point, you see, is large. I only give you matter of meditation. You may enlarge them yourselves in your own thoughts. These I think sufficient trials, whereby you may know whether God be your God, Having now thus unfolded these terms, let us see what we may draw from thence for our use and comfort, 1, First, then, if by these trials we find that God be not, or have not been, our God, alas ! let us never rest till we make it good that Ood is our Ood. For what if we have all things, if we have not God with all things ? All other things are but streams ; God is the fountain. If we have not the spring, what will become of us at last ? Ahithophel had much wit and policy, but he had not God for his God. Ahab had power and strength, but he had not God for his God. Saul had a kingdom, but he had not God for his God, Herod had eloquence, but he had not God for his God. Judas was an apostle, a great professor, but he had not God for his God. What became of aU these ? Wit* they had, strength they had, honour they had, friends they had, but they had not God ; and therefore a miser able end they made. What miserable creatures are all such, when they shall say. Friends have forsaken me, wealth hath forsaken me, and health hath forsaken me ; terrors lay hold upon me, the wrath of God hath over- * That is, ' wisdom.' — G. 16 THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. taken me. But they cannot say, God is my God. Oh, such are in a miserable case, in a fearful estate indeed. Nay, suppose they have all these, suppose they could say they have a world of riches, they have inheri tances, they have friends, &c., yet if they cannot say, God is my God, all is vanity. The whole man is this, to have God to be our God. This is the whole man, to fear God and keep his commandment, Eccles. xii. 13. If a man have all the world, and have not God for his God, all is but vanity and vexation of spirit. Never rest therefore till we can prove our selves to be in the covenant of grace, till we can say, God is my God. But, secondly, when we have found God to be our God, then make this use of it, a use of resolution. Is God my God ? then I will resolve to please him, though all creatures be against me. This was their resolution in Micah iv, 5, 'Every nation walketh in the name of his god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever,' Resolve with Joshua and others to please God, whosoever saith the contrary ; to walk after the commandments of God, whatsoever others do or say. In all discouragements from men or devils, let us set this as a buckler, God is my God, Arm ourselves with resolution against all fears and threaten ings of men, of men of terror, against the arm of flesh. They say they will do this and this ; ay, but God is my God, All that they do they must do in his strength. Arm ourselves with this against the power and gates of hell. Fear not the devil. If we fear man or devil more than God, fear them so as to do anything to displease God, we make them god. If our conscience rightly tells us that what is to be done by us is the will and command of God, and that herein I serve God, we need not fear any opposer ; but oppose this as an armour of proof against all creatures, against all discouragements whatsoever. And certainly experience telleth us, and approveth it to be true, that nothing can dismay a man that doth things in conscience to God, and knows God will bear him out in it, though not from danger in this world ; and yet for the most part he doth that too. Those that are the stoutest men for God are oftentimes most safe, always freed from inward dejection. Yet God disposeth of it so as that he that keeps a good conscience shall always be a king, and rule over the world ; and therein he performs his promise. Whatever discourage ments he endureth outwardly, yet no discouragement can cast down that soul that looks to God. In his conscience he knows that he takes God to be his, that he serveth him, and that it shall go well with him at last, that God wiU be all-sufficient to him ; and this raiseth him above all, makes him rule and reign over his enemies, and be a terror to those that do him hurt. 3, Again, If God be our God, then let this stop all base and covetous desires after earthly things. If God be our portion, why should we grapple too much after the world then ? What need we crack our consciences and break our peace for the muck of the world ? Is not God our portion ? Is he not rich enough ? Is not he Lord of heaven and earth ? Hath not he promised that he wiU not fail us nor forsake us ? ' I am thy exceeding great reward,' saith God to Abraham, Is not this enough? What doth Satan for us when he getteth us to crack our consciences by gripleness * after earthly things ? He promiseth, thou shalt have this and that, but I wiU take God from thee, as he did Adam in paradise. Thou shaU have an apple, but thou shalt lose thy God. All his solicitations to base and earthly courses tend to nothing else but to take God from us. Now, when * That Is, ' gripingness,' = greed, rapacity.— G. THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE, 17 God is our God, and he hath promised to be our portion, let it be sufficient for us ; let us not, for the displeasing of him, take any condition from Satan or the world upon any terms, 4, Again, If so be we know this for a truth, that God is our God, then let it be a use of exhortation to stir us up to keep, and maintain, and cherish acquaintance and familiarity with him; as it is in Job xxii, 21, 'Acquaint thyself with God.' If we be acquainted with him now, he wiU be ac quainted with us in time of sorrow, in the hour of death ; therefore cherish acquaintance with him. Wheresoever we may meet with God, be there much ; be much in hearing, in receiving the sacrament, in praying to him and making our suits known to him in all our necessities ; be much in the society of saints, God hath promised to be there. Therefore cherish the society of aU that are good. What a friendly course doth God take with us ! He seeks for our acquaintance, and therefore giveth us his ordinances, the word and sacraments ; sendeth his messengers, the good motions of his Spirit, to our hearts, to |leave the world and vanities of it ; to make us out of love with bad courses, and join with him in friendship and famUiarity, Oh let us make use of these blessed means, check not these good motions, but yield unto them and obey them, grieve them not ! The Spirit is sent to make God and us friends, who were enemies. Grieve not the Spirit, entertain his motions, that we may be acquainted with God, But do we do so ? Truly no. Indeed, if God will be our God to save us, and let us live in our swearing and lying and deceiving, and in other base courses, we would be content with him upon these terms ; but to be our God, so that we must serve him, and love him, and fear him, and joy in him above all, and have nothing in the world without his favom", then let him take his favour to himself, we will have none of it. Though men speak it not with their mouths to the world, yet the inward speech of their hearts is to this purpose. If we must be the people of God upon these terms, to renounce our pleasures and profits, let him be a God to whom he will for us ! If he will save us, then welcome his favour, we will be glad of his acquaintance ; otherwise we wiU have none of it. What is the speech of the world but this ? These men, when they shall at the day of judgment claim acquaintance with God, and say, ' Lord, Lord, open to us,' 'we have known thee in the streets,' &c., what will God say? 'Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I know you not,' Mat. xxv. 4l. You were acquainted with me indeed outwardly in the ministry of my word, but you kept not an inward and spiritual familiarity with me in my ordinances ; you used not the society of the saints, you entertained not the motions of my Spirit, which I sent to you, to leave your ill courses ; I know you not. This shall be the answer to such wretched persons, 5, Lastly, If by these comfortable signs we find God to be our God, tlien here is a spring of comfort opened to a Christian. If God be mine, then aU that he hath is mine ; he is my Father ; he is my husband ; he is my rock ; his goodness, his wisdom, his providence, his mercy, whatsoever he hath is mine. If we had any man in the world that had all wisdom in him, and aU the strength of the world, and aU goodness, and aU love in him, and all this for us, what an excellent creature were this ! God hath all this, and a Christian that hath God for his God hath aU this and much more ; for whatsoever is in the Creator* is much more in him. Hereupon cometh all those styles and sweet names that God hath taken upon him in the Scripture, because he would have us to know, that aU comforts are * Qu. * creature ' ?— Ed. VOL. VI. B , 18 THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. together in him. The names of aU the creatures that are comfortable, God hath been pleased to take upon him, to shew us what a God he is. He is water to refresh us, a sun to comfort us, a shield to keep evil from us, a rock to support us, chambers to cover us in the time of danger, and such like ; and in every creature God hath left footsteps and beams of himself, that man, being an understanding creature, might find out God in them. In water there is a beam of his refreshing power ; in the sun, a beam of his cherishing power, and the like ; and when we receive comfort from the creature, which hath but a drop, a beam of his goodness, we should consider how good God himself is. If this be so comfortable, what is God that is my God ! Here we use the creatures to refresh us, and God deriveth his goodness usually to us by them. What wiU he be to us in heaven, when he wUl be all in aU ; and whatsoever comfort God hath, Christ hath ; be cause God and Christ join together for our good. For God is in Christ ' reconcUing the world to himself,' 2 Cor. v. 19; and if God be ours, Christ is ours ; and if God and Christ be ours, all things are ours, because all things are God's. Angels are ours, cherubins are ours, because God is ours. It is a point of wondrous comfort. A poor Christian, when he hath nothing to trust to, he may perhaps say sometime, that he hath no friend in the world, and he hath many enemies. Ay, but he hath a God to go to. If he have not the beam, yet he hath the sun ; if he have not the stream, yet he hath the fountain ; if he have not particular benefits that others have, yet he hath better. Whatsoever portion he have in the world, he hath a rich portion, for God is his portion, 'God is my portion,' saith the church in the 8d of Lamentations, ver, 21, ' therefore will I hope in him,' The poor church had nothing else in the world to comfort it, for it was in captivity, in the midst of enemies, had no wealth, nor friends, nor any thing ; yea, but God is my portion, saith my soul, and therefore God being mine, in him I have friends, and wealth, and pleasure, and all whatsoever; and so hath every Christian soul, and never more than when the creature and the comfort of it is taken away. He never finds God more his God than when he is deprived of those means that usually derive comfort to him, for then God immediately cometh to the soul and comforteth it ; and the disposition of a true Christian is, at those times, to take advantage by grace to get nearer to God, to cling faster to him, to solace himself more in him as his portion. What a spring of comfort is here arising to a Chris tian in all estates ! If God be his God, then he may claim him upon all occasions and at all times, as the saints in the Scripture have done, David, Jehosaphat, and all the saints, what do they allege in their prayers to God ? ' Thou art our God,' ' we are thy people,' ' the sheep of thy pasture,' ' the vine that thy right hand hath planted,' ' the Lord is my shepherd,' &c. What made the disciples, when they were ready to be drowned, to cry out, ' Master, save us,' but because they knew that they were servants in covenant, that he was their Master. We should use this as a plea to God in aU the calamities of the church. We are thine, thou art ours ! Doubtless thou art our God, saith the church, though Abraham have forgotten, and Israel be ignorant of us, Isa, Ixiii. 16. It is a point of spiritual wisdom, when we know we are in covenant with God, to im prove it as an argument to persuade God to help us in any strait. ' I am thine: Lord, save me,' saith David, Ps, cxix. 94. Thou art my God; Lord, look to me, protect me, direct me, ease me, receive my soul. This is a plea that obtaineth anything of God in all extremities whatsoever. THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. 19 ' I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee,' &c, I come now to the qualities of this covenant ; and before I speak in par ticular of them, I beseech you observe one thing (which I will but touch, to make an entrance to that which follows), from the manner of setting down the covenant ; it is not here set down as it is in other places of Scrip ture : ' I will be thy God, and thou shalt be my people ; ' but here is only the first part, the main of the covenant of grace recited, 'I will be thy God,' Why doth he not say, too, Thou shalt take me for thy God ? Because where the first is, he ever works the second ; our part depends upon his, AU our grace that we have to answer the covenant, is by reflection from God. He chooseth us, and then we choose him. He knoweth us, and therefore we come to know him. He loveth us first, and then we love him. He singleth us out to be a peculiar people, and we single out him above all things to be our portion. ' Whom have I in heaven but thee ? ' Ps. Ixiii. 25. It is therefore — ^to come to the first quality — called a free covenant. It cometh from God merely of grace. It is of grace that he would enter into any terms of agreement with us. It is of grace that he. would send Christ to die to be the foundation of the covenant. It is of grace that he giveth us hearts to take him for our God, to depend upon him, to love him, to serve him, &o. All is of grace, and aU cometh from him. So you see that it is a free covenant. That is the first quality. Again, secondly, it is a sure, a certain covenant. I will establish my covenant. But in whom is it established ? how cometh it to be sure ? It is established in Christ, the mediator of the covenant, in the Messiah ; for ' in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,' Gen, xii, 3. That is the fundamental promise. All other promises, the promise of the land of Canaan, the promise of the multiplying his seed as- the stars of heaven, they were all but accessary. This is the grand promise : in thy seed, in Christ, shaU all the nations of the earth be blessed. So it is a sure covenant, because it is established in the Messiah, Christ,, God-man. And Christ being God and man, is fit to be the foundation of the covenant between God and man, for he is a friend to both parties. As man he will do aU that is helpful for man ; and as God, he wiU do nothing that may derogate from God ; and so being God, and being God and man, he brings God and man together comfortably and sweetly, and keepeth them together in a sure and firm agreement. For first of all, he takes away the cause of division that was between God and us, because by his sacrifice and obedi ence he did satisfy God's wrath ; and that being satisfied, God and us are at peace and friendship ; for God tiU then, though he be a fountain of goodness, yet he was a fountain sealed. The fountain was stopped by sin; but when there is a satisfaction made by Christ, and we believing on hini, the satisfaction of Christ is made ours. It is a sure covenant, because it is established in Christ the blessed seed. And as it is a sure covenant, so, thirdly, it is an everlasting covenant. ' I wiU make an everlasting covenant with thee.' So it is set down here. Everlasting in these respects. For when we are in Christ, and made one with him by faith, he having satisfied God's wrath for us, and made him peaceable, then God is become our father, and he is an everlasting father. His love to us in Christ is like himself, immutable. For even as Christ, when he took upon him our nature, he made an everlasting covenant with our nature, married our nature to himself for ever, and never layeth aside his human nature, so he wiU never lay aside his mystical body, his 20 THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. church. As Christ is God-man for ever, so mystical Christ, the church, is his body for ever. As Christ wiU not lose his natural, so he will not lose his mystical body. ' I wiU marry thee to myself for ever,' saith God in the prophet. So then it is everlasting in respect of God, he being immu table, ' I am God,' saith he, ' and I change not,' Mai. iii, 6 ; and Christ, the foundation of the covenant, is everlasting. And then again it is everlasting in regard of us ; because if we be not wanting to ourselves, we shaU be for evermore, in grace here and in glory for ever. The fruits of grace in us — that is, the work of the Spirit — it is everlasting ; for howsoever the graces we have be but the first-fruits of the Spirit, yet our inward man grows more and more, till grace end in glory, till the first-fruits end in a harvest, tiU the foundation be accomplished in the buUding ; God never takes away his hand from his own work. Everlasting also in regard of the body of Christians. God makes a covenant with one, and when they are gone, with others. Always God will have some in covenant with him. He will have some, to be a God to, when we are gone, so long as the world continueth. So that we see it is in every respect an everlasting covenant. God is everlasting, Christ is everlasting, the graces of the Spirit are everlasting. When we are dead, he wiU be a God unto us, as it is said, ' I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob,' their God when they were dead. He is the God of our dust, of our dead bodies. He will raise them up, for they are bodies in covenant with him. I am the God of whole Abraham, and not of a piece ; therefore his body shall rise again. It is an everlast ing covenant. That is the third quality. Lastly, It is a peculiar covenant. ' I will be thy God, and the God of thy seed. All are not the children of Abraham, but they that are of the faith of Abraham. God is in covenant only with those that answer him, that take him for their God, that are a peculiar people. It is not glorying in the flesh ; but there must be somewhat wrought that is peculiar before we can be assm-ed we are of Abraham's seed, and in covenant with God. And we may know that we are God's peculiar by some peculiar thing that we can do. What peculiar thing canst thou do ? To speak a little of that by the way. Thou lovest and art kind; but, saith Christ, what peculiar thing canst thou do ? A heathen man may be kind and loving, but canst thou overcome revenge ? Canst thou spare and do good to thine enemies ? Canst thou trust in God when aU means fail ? What is the power of the Spirit ui thee ? Doth it triumph in thee over thy natural corruption ? Canst thou do as Abraham did ? He left aU at God's com mand ; canst thou do that if need should be ? Canst thou leave children, and wife, and life, and aU at God's command ? Canst thou sacrifice Isaac as he did ? Canst thou more trust in the promise of God than in the dearest thing in the world, yea, than in thy own feeling of grace ? What soever is not God, canst thou be content to be without ? Canst thou rely upon God when he appeared* to be an angry God ? Abraham knew that there was more comfort in the promise than in Isaac. If thou have com fort in the promise more than in anything else, then thou art one of Abraham's seed, thou hast sacrificed thy Isaac. Never talk of Abraham else ; never think that thy portion is great in God, be what thou wilt by profession, if there be no particular thing in thee which is not m a natural man. If thou art covetous, as gripplef for the world, 'as very a drudge ;in thy caUing, as licentious in thy course as carnal men are, thou art none of * Qu. • appeareth ' ?— Ed. -f That is, ' greedy, rapacious.'— G. THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. 21 God's peculiar ones, thou art none of Abraham's seed. God's people have somewhat peculiar that the world hath not. It is a peculiar covenant. Thus you see the qualities of this covenant. It is a free covenant ; a sure covenant, established in the blessed seed, the Messiah ; it is an everlasting covenant ; and it is a peculiar covenant. To make some use of this, in a word. Here, then, you see is another spring of blessed comfort opened to a Christian. If he findeth God, though his assurance be little, to be his God in regard of peculiar favours, let him remember it is an everlasting favour. His love is everlasting. The foundation is everlasting ; the graces of the Spirit are an everlasting spring, always issuing from Christ our head. Grace is never drawn dry in him. God is our God to death, in death, and for ever. All things in the world will fail us : friends will fail us ; all comforts wUl fail us ; life will fail us ere long ; but this is an everlasting covenant, which will not fail. It is a point of comfort in the loss of friends, in the loss of estate in this world. If I lose friends, yet I cannot lose God ; if he be mine, he is mine for ever ; a friend now, and a friend ever ; my portion now, and my portion for ever. Whatsoever God takes away, he never takes away him self ; and in him I have all that is taken away. AU the comfort that he doth still derive '•' to me by friends, he resumeth to himself. It is not perished with the party.f He can immediately, by himself, convey what soever comfort was derived to me by others. He is God all-sufficient ; that is, put the case all the world were taken away ; not only friends, but the sun, the light, the earth, food and raiment, all, as it shall be at the day of judgment ; if aU be taken away, yet I have him ; yet I have him that made aU, that supporteth aU, Cannot he do all in a more excellent manner ? Is not he all-sufficient, though I lose all things else ? It is a point of wondrous comfort, God knew it well enough. Therefore he laboureth to estabUsh the heart of the father of the faithful, good Abraham, here, with this instead of all, ' I am God all-sufficient, and I will be thy God.' Again, If this be so, that God wiU be a God to us for ever, let us comfort ourselves hence in all the unfaithful dealings of men. They are friends to-day and enemies to-morrow ; but God is my God ; and whom he loveth he loveth to the end, John xiii. 1. An ingenuous spirit certainly esteemeth it the greatest cross in the world ; and if anything will whet a man to heaven, this is one, that those whom he trusteth will prove false, and at length deceive him. Man is but man ; in the balance he is Mghter than vanity ; but he that is in covenant with God, his promise, and love, and faithfulness never faileth. A Christian in all the breaches of this world hath this comfort, that he hath a sure God to trust to. He that hath not God to trust to, and is unfaithfully dealt withal in the world, what a wretched man is he ! This was David's comfort. When he was beset with calamities and miseries, aU took from him, and the people were ready to stone him, he trusted in the Lord his God, I come to the extent of it. ' To thee and to thy seed after thee,' Why doth he make the covenant with his seed as well as with himself? I answer. We apprehend favours and curses more in our seed ofttimes than in ourselves ; and it will humble a man to see calamities on his posterity, more than on himself ; and a man more rejoiceth to see the flourishing of his seed than of himself. It is said that Josiah did die in peace, though he died a bloody death, because he saw not the ruin of his house and » That is, ' communicate.'— G. t Cf. Vol. III. page 9.— G. 22 THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. family, which was worse than death, God saw how Abraham apprehended and valued seed, when he said, ' What wUt thou give me, since I am child less ? ' Gen, XV. 2. Therefore God, intending a comfortable enlargement of the covenant of grace to Abraham, extends it to his seed : ' I will be the God of thy seed.' It is a great blessing for God to be the God of our seed. It is alluded to by St Peter in the New Testament, ' The promise is made to you and to your children,' Acts ii, 39, But what if they have not baptism, the seal of the covenant ? « That doth not prejudice their salvation. God hath appointed the sacra ments to be seals for us, not for himself. He himself keepeth his covenant, whether we have the seal or no, so long as we neglect it not. Therefore we must not think if a child die before the sacrament of baptism, that God wiU not keep his covenant. They have the sanctity, the holiness of the covenant. You know what David said of his child, ' I shall go to it, but it shaU not return to me ;' and yet it died before it was circumcised. You know they were forty years in the wUderness, and were not circumcised. Therefore the sacrament is not of absolute necessity to salvation. So he is the God of our children from the conception and birth. But how can God be the God of our chUdren, when they are bom in corruption, chUdren of wrath ? Can they be the children of wrath and the children of God both at one time ? I answer, Yes ; both at one time. For even as in civil matters, in our city here, a man may be a freeman of the city, and yet be born lame or leprous, or with some contagious disease — this hindereth not his freedom — so the children of a beUeving father and mother may be freemen of the city of God, and in the covenant of grace, and yet be tainted with original sin, that overspreadeth the powers of the soul notwithstanding. Whence we see a ground of baptizing infants, because they are in the covenant. To whom the covenant belongs, the seal of it belongs ; but to infants the covenant belongs ; therefore the seal of it, baptism, belongeth to them. If circumcision belonged to them, then baptism doth ; but cir cumcision belonged to them, for the eighth day they were circumcised ; therefore baptism belongeth to them, Anabaptistical spirits would not have children baptized if they believe not. Why then were the children of the Jews circumcised ? They were circumcised because they were in covenant ; and is not the covenant of grace enlarged ? Wherein doth the new covenant differ from the old, but, among many other things, in the enlargement of it ? There is now a new people, the Gentiles, in covenant, that were not before, new priests, new sacrifices, new sacraments. All is new in the covenant of grace. If all be enlarged in the covenant, why should we deny the seal of the covenant to them in the new that had it in the old, even chUdren ? It is senseless. The Scripture, to meet with such, applieth baptism to them and circum cision to us, to shew that in the covenant of grace they are all one in effect : 1 Cor. X. 2, ' All they were baptized under the cloud ;' and St Paul saith. Col. ii. 11, ' We are circumcised with circumcision without hands.' We are circumcised, and they were baptized ; to shew, I say, that all are one in Christ. Christ is all one, ' yesterday, to-day, and the same for ever,' Heb. xui. 8 : ' yesterday,' to them that were under the law ; ' and to-day,' to us under the gospel ; and ' for ever ' to posterity. And therefore, if children had interest in Christ then, so they have now. This is clear and undeniable : God is the God of our children. This should be an encouragement to parents to be good, if not for love THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. 23 of themselves and their own souls, yet for their children and posterity's sake, that God may do good to their children for them. They cannot deserve worse of their children than to be naught* themselves. How many examples are there in Scripture that God plagued and punished the chUdren for the fathers' sins ! Though in the main matter he wiU not do it sometimes, because he is gracious and good ; he will be good to the children, though their parents be naught,* as Joshua and Caleb came into Canaan, though their parents were rebels, and died in the wilder ness. Yet it is a discomfortable thing. When parents are naught,* they may look that God should punish their sin in their children. There is a great deal of care taken by carnal parents here in the city (and everywhere too, but in the city especially) by covetousness, a reign ing sin; they wiU not make God their God, but the wedge of gold to be their god. They labour to make their chUdren great. If they can leave them rich men, great men in a parish, to bear office, to come to honour, that is their main endeavour ; for this they drudge, and neglect heaven and happiness. But, alas ! what is this ? Thou mayest leave them much goods, and the vengeance of God with them ; thou mayest leave them much wealth, and it may be a snare to them. It were better thou hadst left them nothing. Look into the state of the city. Those that are best able in the city, do they not rise of nothing? And they that have been the greatest labourers for these outward things, that they may call their lands after their own names, Ps.'xlix 11, God hath blown upon them, and aU hath come to nought in a short time, because they have not made God their portion. Of aU things, parents should labour to leave them God for their God, to leave them in covenant with him ; lay up prayers in heaven for them, lay the foundation there ; sow prayers there, that they may be effectual for them when you are gone. And this likewise should be a comfort to poor Christians, that have not much to leave their children. I can leave my child nothing, but I shall leave him in covenant with God ; for God is my God, and always hath been, and ever will be ; he wUl be the God of my seed. I shaU leave him God's blessing ; and a little weU gotten goods that the righteous hath is better than a great deal UI gotten. God addeth no sorrow with that. There is no ' fearful expectation ' another day, as there is of that which is iU gotten ; when the father and chUd shaU meet in heU, and curse one another ; when the son shaU say to the father. You ensnared yourself to make me happy, and that turned to my ruin. This shall make wicked wretches curse one another one day, A poor Christian that cannot say he hath riches to leave his children, yet he can say, God is my God, and I am sure he wUl be their God ; though I have but little to leave them else, I shaU leave them God's blessing. Good parents may hope for a blessing upon their children, because God is their God, and the God of their seed. For the sacrament, a word. The sacrament is a seal of this covenant, that God is our God in Christ, and we are his people. God to his word addeth seals, to help our faith. What a good God is this ! how wUling is he to have us beheve him ! One would think that a word from him, a promise, were enough; but to his promise he addeth a covenant. One would think a covenant were enough, but to that he addeth seals, and to them an oath too : 'I have sworn to David my servant,' Ps. Ixxxix, 3, Thus he stoops to aU condi. * That ia, ' naughty,' = wicked,- G. 24 THE FAITHFUL COVENANTER, tions of men ; he condescendeth so far to use aU these means that he ma,y secure us. You know that a promise secures us, if it be from one that is an honest man. We say that we are sure to have it because of his pro mise ; but when we have his covenant, then we are assured more, because there is somewhat drawn. Now, we have God's covenant and his seal, the sacrament ; and then his oath. If we wiU take him for our God, and renounce our wicked courses, we shaU lose nothing by it ; we shaU part with nothing for God but we shaU have it suppUed in him. If we lose honour, wealth, or pleasure, we shaU have it abundantly in him. What do we hear in the sacrament ? Do we come only to receive his love to us ? No ; we make a covenant with God in the sacrament that he shaU be our God, and we promise by his grace to lead new lives henceforth. We have made a covenant with God at first in baptism, now we renew it in taking the sacrament ; and it is fit, for if he renew his covenant oft to us in love to be ours, we should renew ours oft with him, to take him to be our God. Seven times in Genesis he renewed his covenant to Abra ham, because he would have him trust what he said.* Then we should seven times, that is, oft, come to the sacrament, and renew our covenant with him, to take him for our God ; and remember what it is to sin after the receiving the sacrament. Sins against conscience break off a covenant renewed. Sin hath an aggravation now. You that mean to receive, if you sin wiUingly after, it were better you had not received. What makes adultery worse than fornication ? Saith Malachi, ' It was the wife of thy covenant,' ii. 14, Adultery breaks the covenant of marriage. It is worse than fornication, where there is not a covenant. So you have made a covenant with God in your baptism, and now you come to renew it. If you sin now, it is an aggravation of the sin. It is adultery, it is disloyalty against God. Remember, therefore, that we do not only take here God's kindness sealed in the sacrament, but we re-promise back again to lead new lives. All must resolve by his grace to obey him henceforward, and to take him for our God. ,The way, therefore, wiU be to put this into the condition of your promise now, and prayer after. Lord, I have promised this ; but thou knowest I cannot perform the promise I have made, and the condition thou requirest, of myself. But in the covenant of grace, thou hast said that thou wilt make good the condition. Thou hast promised to give the ' Spirit to them that ask him,' Luke xi. 13; thou hast promised to 'circumcise my heart,' Col, ii, 11 ; thou hast promised to ' teach me,' Ps, xxxii, 8 ; thou hast promised to delight over me for good ; thou hast promised to ' wash me with clean water,' Ezek, xxxvi. 25 ; thou hast promised to put thy fear in my heart,' Jer, xxxii, 40 ; thou hast promised ' to write thy law in the affections,' Jer. xxxi. 33. I would fear thee, and love thee, and trust in thee, and delight in thee ; thou knowest I cannot fulfil the conditions. Thou art able and willing ; thou art as able to make me do these things as to command me to do them. Thus we should desire God to give the grace that he requires in the use of the means ; for that must not be neglected. We must attend upon the ordinances ; use the parts that are given us ; and in that, ' to him that hath shall be given,' Mat, xiii. 12. Thou shalt not need any necessary good to bring thee to heaven, if thou wUt claim the promise of the covenant in the use of means. We shall want degrees perhaps ; but in the covenant of grace, it is not degrees that brings us to heaven, but truth. 1- Of. Vol. V. p. 63. -G. THE FAITHFUL COVENANTEE. 25 Now, in our renewing the covenant with God, let us not despair of his performance ; let not that hinder us from coming to the sacrament, but come cheerfully, and know that he that hath made the covenant with thee to be thy God, and to give thee all particular grace, in the use of all good means, will perform it. He will perform it if we come in sincerity of heart. If we come to ' daub '* with God, and after to follow our sinful courses, this is to mock God. This made David take it to heart so much, that ' his familiar friend, that ate at his table, lift up his heel against me,' Ps, xii, 9, May not God complain of us, that we come to the com munion, to his table, with false, Judas hearts, and afterwards betray him ? He may say. My familiar friends they came and ate with me, yet they have lift up the heel against me ; they are rebellious ; they will leave no sin that before they were enthralled to. So, instead of a blessing, we bring a curse upon us, a just reward of our disloyalty. Oh remember that it is a great aggravation of sin after the sacrament, , I speak not this to discourage any, but to encourage us rather. If we come with sincere hearts, and with resolution to please God, we may look for all the promises from God. All that he hath promised he is ready to perform, if we in faith can allege the promise, ' Lord, remember thy pro mise, wherein thou hast caused thy servant to put his trust !' Ps, cxix. 49, * Cf. Ezek. xiii. 10-14, and xxii. 28.— G. JOSIAH'S EEFOEMATION. JOSIAH'S REFORMATION. NOTE. ' Josiah's Eeformation' forms Nos. 8, 9, 10, 11 of the first edition of ' The Saint's Cordials'- 1629 ; and iu the second and third— 1637 and 1658— Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4. Cf. Notes, Vol. IV. page 60, and Vol. V. page 176. For account of a manuscript eopy of these delightful sermons, in my possession, see Bibliographical List of Editions in Volume VII, The title-page of ' Josiah's Eeformation,' in the edition cf 1637, which is our text, is given below,* G. * JOSIAHS EEPOEMATION, Laid open in foure Sbbmons. SI. The Tendek Heabt. 2. The Aet of Selfe-Humbling. 3. The Aet op Mouekino 4. The Saints Eefeeshino. VVHEEEIN IS SHEWED THE TVENINGS AND WINDINGS OF THE Soule in this great worke of Eeformation: and how the stout heart may so be brought low, as to be made humble, 1 melting, and compassionately mournfull : even to the comfort of a sweet Assurance. [Wood-out here, as described, Vol. IV. p. 60. See also Memoir, p. cxxiv.] By E. SiBBS D. D. Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and preacher of Orayes Inn London. The second Edition. EsAY 57. 15. For thus saith the high and lofty One, that inhabileth Eternity, whose Name is Holy ¦ I dwell in the high and holy I'lace : with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, ton- Vive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. LONDON, Printed for E. Davvlman, at the brazen Serpent iu Pauls Churchyard. 16 3 7. THE TENDEE HEART. SERMON I. And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him. Thus saith the Lord Ood of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard, Became thine heart was tender, (ic.—2 Chron, XXXIV, 26. These words are a part of the message which the prophetess Huldah sent to good King Josiah ; for as the message was concerning him and his people, so his answer from her is exact, both for himself and them. That part which concerned his people is set down in the three foregoing verses ; that which belongs unto himself is contained in the words now read unto you, ' But to the king of Judah,' &c. The preface to her message we see strengthened with authority from God, ' Thus saith the Lord God of Israel ;' which words carry in them the greater force and power from the majesty of the author. For if words spoken from a king carry authority, how much more then the word of the Lord of hosts, the King of kings ? Here is her wisdom, therefore, that she lays aside her own authority, and speaks in the name of the Lord, We, see that waters of the same colour have not the same nature and effect, for hot waters are of the same colour with plain ordinary waters, yet more effectual ; so the words of a man coming from 'a man may seem at first to be the same ."with others, yet notwithstanding, the words of God coming from the Spirit of God, carry a more wonderful excellency in them even to the hearts of kings. They bind kings, though they labour to shake them off. They are arrows to pierce their hearts ; if not to save them, yet to damn them. Therefore she speaks to the king, ' Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard,' &c. Here we read of Josiah, that he was a man of an upright heart, and one who did that which was right in the sight of the Lord ; and answerably we find the Lord to J deal with him. For he, desirous to know the issue of a fearftU judgment threatened against him and his people, sendeth to Huldah, a prophetess of the Lord, to be certified therein ; whereupon he receiveth a full and perfect answer of the Lord's determination, both touching himself and his people, that they being forewarned might be forearmed ; and by their timely conversion to the Lord, might procure the aversion* of so • That ia, ' turning away.' — G. 30 THE TENDEE HEART. heavy wrath. He in uprightness sends to inquire, and the Lord returns him a full and upright answer. Whence we may learn, Doct. 1, That Ood doth graciously fit prophets for persons, and his word, to a people that are upright in their hearts. Where there is a true desire to know the wiU of God, there God wUl give men sincere prophets that shaU answer them exactly ; not according to their own lusts, but for their good. Josiah was an holy man, who, out of a gracious disposition, desirous to be informed from God what should become of him and his people, sends to the prophetess Huldah, It was God's mercy that he should have a Hul dah, a Jeremiah, to send to ; and it was God's mercy that they should deal faithfully with him. This is God's mercy to those that are true-hearted. He wUl give them teachers suitable to their desires ; but those that are false-hearted shall have suitable teachers, who shall instruct them according to their lusts. If they be hke Ahab, they shall have four hundred false prophets to teach falsehood, to please their lusts, 1 Kings xxii, 6 ; but if they be Davids, they shall have Nathans. If they be Josiahs, they shall have Huldahs and Jeremiahs. Indeed, Herod may have a John Baptist, Mark vi. 27; but what wiU he do with him in the end when he doth come to cross him in his sin ? Then off goes his head. Use. This should teach us to labour for sincerity, to have our hearts up right towards Ood ; and then he will send us men of a direct and right spirit, that shall teach us according to his own heart. But if we be false-hearted, God will give us teachers that shall teach us, not according to his will, but to please our own. We shall light upon belly-gods and epicures, and shaU fall into the hands of priests and Jesuits, Where such are, there are the judgments of God upon the people, because they do not desire to know the wiU of God in truth. We see, Ezek. xiv. 3, 4, the people desired to have a stumblingblock for their iniquity. They were naught,* and would have idols. Therefore they desired stumblingblocks. They would have false prophets, that so they might go to hell with some authority, WeU, saith God, they shaU have stumblingblocks : for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, ' To every man that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbUngblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet to inquire ; I the Lord wUl answer him that cometh, according to the mul titude of his idols ; according to his own false heart, and not according to good.' What brought the greatest judgment upon the world, next to hell itself, I mean antichrist — ^the terriblest judgment of all, that hath drawn so many souls to heU — but the wickedness of the place and people, and his own ambition ? The sins of the people gave life to him. They could not endure the word of God or plain deaUng ; they thought it a simple thing. They must have more sacrifices, more ceremonies, and a more glorious govemment. They would not be content with Christ's govemment which he left, them, but were weary of this. Therefore he being gone to heaven they must have a pope to go before them and lead them to hell. There fore let men never excuse those sins, for certainly God saw a great deal of evU in them, and therefore gave them up to the judgment of antichrist. But let us magnify God's mercies that hath not so given us up. Thus we see how graciously God deals with a true-hearted king : he sends him a true answer of his message. Ver. 27, ' Because thine heart was tender,' (fee. Now here comes a comfortable message to good Josiah, that he should * That is, ' naughty,' wicked G. THE TENDER HEAET. 31 be taken away and not see the miseries that should befall his people ; the cause whereof is here set down, ' Because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God ;' which cause is double. 1. Inward. 2. Outward. 1. The inward is the tenderness of his heart and humbling of himself. 2. And then the outward expression of it is set down in a double act : (1.) Rending of clothes. (2.) Weeping. ' Because thou hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me.' After which comes the promise, 'I have also heard thee,' saith the Lord ; ' behold, I wiU gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be put in thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evU which I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same.' I will first remove one doubt, before I come to the tenderness of Josiah's heart. Quest. What ! may some say. Is there anything in man that can cause God to do do him good ? Ans. No, One thing is the cause of another, but all come from the first cause. So tenderness of heart may be some cause of removal of judgment ; but God is the cause of both, for they all come from the first cause, which is God, So that these words do rather contain an order than a cause. For God hath set down this order in things, that where there is a broken heart there shall be a freedom from judgment ; not that tenderness of heart deserves anything at God's hand, as the papists gather, but because God hath decreed it so, that where tenderness of heart is, there mercy shall follow ; as here there was a tender heart in Josiah, therefore mercy did I foUow, God's promises are made conditionally ; not that the condition on lour part deserves anything at God's hand, but when God hath given the condition, he gives the thing promised. So that this is an order which God j hath set down, that where there is grace, mercy shall follow. For where God intends to do any good, he first works in them a gracious disposition : ! after which he looks upon his own work as upon a lovely object, and so I doth give them other blessings. God crowns grace with grace. By ' heart ' is not meant the inward material and fleshy part of the body ; but that spiritual part, the soul and affections thereof. In that it is said to be ' tender' or melting, it is a borrowed and metaphorical phrase. Now in a ' tender heart' these three properties concur : 1. It is sensible. 2. It is pliable. 3. It is yielding. 1. First, A tender heart is always a sensible* heart. It hath life, and therefore sense. There is no living creature but hath life, and sense to preserve that life. So a tender heart is sensible of any grievance ; for tenderness doth presuppose life, because nothing that hath not life is tender. Some senses are not altogether necessary for the being of a living creature, as hearing and seeing; but sensibieness is needful to the being of every living creature. It is a sign of life in a Christian when he is sensible of inconveniences. Therefore God hath planted such affections in man, as may preserve the life of man, as fear and love. Fear is that which maiea a man avoid many dangers. Therefore God hath given us fear to cause us make our peace with him in time, that we may be freed from inconveniences ; yea, from that greatest of inconveniences, hell fire. 2, 3. Again, A tender heart is pliable and yielding. Now that is said to be yielding and pliable, which yields to the touch of anything that is put to it, and doth not stand out, as a stone that rebounds back when it is • That is, ' sensitive,' — G. 32 THE TENDEE HEAET. thrown against a wall. So that is said to be tender which hath Ufe, and sense, and is pUable, as wax is yielding and pliable to the disposition of him that works it, and is apt to receive any impression that is appUed to it. In a tender heart there is no resistance, but it yields presently to every truth, and hath a pliableness and a fitness to receive any impression, and to execute any performance ; a fit temper indeed for a heart wrought on by the Spirit, God must first make us fit, and then use us to work. As ' a wheel must first be made round, and then turned round, so the heart must be first altered, and then used in a renewed way. A tender heart, so soon as the word is spoken, yields to it. It quakes at threatenings, obeys precepts, melts at promises, and the promises sweeten the heart. In aU duties concerning God, and all offices of love to men, a tender heart is thus qualified. But hardness of heart is quite opposite. For, as things dead and insensible, it will not yield to the touch, but returns back whatsoever is cast upon it. Such a heart may be br9ken in pieces, but it will not receive any impression ; as a stone may be broken, but will not be phable, but rebound back again, A hard heart is indeed like wax to the devU, but like a stone to God or goodness. It is not yielding, but resists and repels all that is good ; and therefore compared in the Scripture to the adamant stone. Sometimes it is called a frozen heart, because it is unpliable to anything. You may break it in pieces, but it is unframeable for any ser vice, for any impression ; it will not be wrought upon. But on the con trary, a melting and tender heart is sensible, yielding, and fit for any service both to God and man. Thus we see plainly what a tender heart is. The point from hence is, Doct. 2, That it is a supernatural disposition of a true child of Ood to have a tender, soft, and a melting heart. I say that a disposition of a true child' of God, and the frame of soul of such an one, to be tender, apprehensive, and serviceable, is a supernatural disposition ; and of necessity it must be so, because naturally the heart is of another temper — a stony heart, AU by nature have stony hearts in respect of spiritual goodness. There may be a tenderness in regard of natural things ; but in regard of grace, the heart is stony, and beats back all that is put to it. Say what you will to a hard heart, it wiU never yield. A hammer wUl do no good to a stone. ! It may break it in pieces, but not draw it to any form. So to a stony heart, all the threatenings in the world will do no good. You may break it in pieces, but never work upon it. It must be the almighty power of God. '. There is nothing in the world so hard as the heart of man. The very! creatures wiU yield obedience to God ; as flies, and lice, to destroy Pharaoh • but Pharaoh himself was so hard-hearted, that after ten plagues he was ten times the more hardened, Exod. x. 28. Therefore, if a man have not a melting heart, he is diverted from his proper object ; because God hath placed affections in us, to be raised presently upon suitable objects. When any object is offered in the word of God, if our hearts were not corrupted, we would have correspondent affections. At judgments we would tremble' at the word of threatenings quake, at promises we would with faith beUevei and at mercies be comforted ; at directions we would be pliable and yield ing. But by nature our hearts are hard. God may threaten, and promise and direct, and yet we insensible aU the whUe. WeU, aU Josiahs, and aU that are gracious, of necessity must have soft hearts. Therefore I wUI shew you, 1. How a tender heart is wrought. 2. How it may be preserved and maintained. THE TENDEE HEAET. 83 3, How it may be discerned from the contrary. 1. First, A tender heart is made tender by him that made it. For no creature in the world can soften and turn the heart, only God must alter and change it ; for we are all by nature earthly, dead, and hard. Hence is it that God doth make that gracious promise, Ezek, xi. 19, ' I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within their bowels ; and I will take away the stony hearts out of their bodies, and give them a heart of flesh ;' that is, a living, sensible heart. Quest. But doth God immediately make the heart tender, and change it, without any help by means ? Sol. 1. I answer, Means do not make the heart tender, but God through the use of means softens it by his word. God's word is a hammer to break, and as fire to melt the hardened heart, Jer. xxin. 9. And thus it works, first, when God doth shew to the heart our cursed estate, and opens to the same the true dangers of the soul, which it is in by nature and custom of sin, and sets before it the terrors of the last day and present danger of judgment. When the Spirit of God, by the word, doth convince the soul to be in a damned estate, dead, bom under wrath, and an heir of damna tion ; that by nature God frowns, and hell is ready to swaUow us up ; when the soul is thus convinced, then the heart begins to be astonished, and cries out, ' Men and brethren, what shall I do ?' Acts u. 37. When the word is thus preached with particular application, it doth good. For a man may hear the word of God generally, and yet have no broken heart. But when a Peter comes and saith, ' You have crucified the Lord of life ;' and when a Nathan comes to David, and saith, ' Thou art the man,' then comes the heart to be broken and confounded. But it is not enough to have the heart broken ; for a pot may be broken in pieces, and yet be good for nothing ; so may a heart be, through terrors, and sense of judgment, and yet not be like wax, pliable. Therefore it must be mdting ;* for which cause, when God by his judgments hath cast down the heart, then comes the Spirit of God, reveaUng the comfort of the word ; then the gracious mercy of God in Christ is manifested, that ' there is mercy with God, that he may be feared,' Ps. cxxx. 4. This being laid open to the quick, to a dejected soul, hence it comes to be melted and tender ; for the apprehension of judgment is only a preparing work, which doth break the heart, and prepare it for tenderness. Sol. 2. Again, Tenderness of heart is wrought by an apprehension of tenderness and love in Christ. A soft heart is made soft by the blood of Christ. Many say, that an adamant cannot be melted with fire, but by blood. I cannot tell whether this be true or no ; but I am sure nothing wUl melt the hard heart of man but the blood of Christ, the passion of our blessed Saviour. When a man considers of the love that God hath shewed him in sending of his Son, and doing such great things as he hath done, in giving of Christ to satisfy his justice, in setting us free from hell, Satan and death : the consideration of this, with the .persuasion that we have interest in the same, melts the heart, and makes it become tender. And this must needs be so, because that with the preaching of the gospel unto broken-hearted sinners cast down, there always goes the Spirit of God, which works an application of the gospel, Christ is the first gift to the Church. When God hath given Christ, then comes the Spirit, and works in the heart a gracious acceptance of mercy offered. The Spirit works an assurance of the love and mercy of * Qu. 'melted'?— Ed. VOL. VI. 0 34 THE TENDEE HEAET. God, Now love and mercy felt, work upon the tender heart a reflective love to God again. What, hath the great God of heaven and earth sent Christ into the world for me ? humbled himself to the death of the cross for me ? and hath he let angels alone, and left many thousands in the world, to choose me ? and hath he sent his ministers to reveal unto me this assurance of the love and mercy of God ? This consideration cannot but work love to God again ; for love is a kind of fire which melts the heart. So that when our souls are persuaded that God loves us from ever lasting, then we reflect our love to him again ; and then our heart says to God, ' Speak, Lord ; what wilt thou have me to do ?' The soul is pliable for doing, for suffering, for anything God will have it. Then, ' Speak, liOrd, for thy servant heareth,' 1 Sam. iii. 9. And when the heart is thus vn'ought upon, and made tender by the Spirit, then afterward in the proceeding of our lives, many things will work tenderness : as the works of God, his judgments, the word and sacraments, when they are made effectual by the Spirit of God, work tenderness. The promises of God also make the heart tender, as Rom. xii. 1, 'I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, offer up your souls and bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.' There is no such like argument to persuade men to tenderness of heart, as to propound the love and mercy of God, And so the fear of any judgment will work tenderness. This made Josiah's heart to melt, but yet this did not work first upon him ; for he having a tender heart before, and being sure of God's love, when he heard the judgment that should come upon his people, out of love to God and to his people, his heart melted, not so much for fear of judgment, but to think that God should be provoked by the sins of his people. And thus we have seen how tenderness of heart is wrought. Now I come to shew, 2. Second, The means how we may preserve this tenderness of heart, because it is a disposition of God's chUdren. How then shall we preserve ourselves in sucha perpetual temper ? The way to preserve a tender heart is, 1, First, To be under the means whereby Ood's Spirit will work ; for it is he by his Spurit that works upon the heart, and doth preserve tenderness in us ; and he wUl work only by his own means. All the devices in the world wiU not work upon the heart. Therefore let us be under the means that may preserve tenderness, and hear what God's word says of our estate by nature, of the wrath and justice of God, and of the judgment that wiU shortly come upon aU the world. This made Paul to cry, though he knew that he was the child of God, and free from the law. ' Therefore,' saith he, 'knowing the terror of the law, we admonish you.' 2. And then, go into the house of mourning, and present before yourselves the miserable and forlorn estate of the church of God abroad. It was this that broke Nehemiah's heart. When he heard that the Jews were in great affiiction and reproach, that the waU of the city was broken down, and the gates thereof burnt with fire, he sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, Neh, i. 4. This made this good man Nehemiah to mourn, so that aU the princes of the court could not comfort him. This also made Moses's heart to melt, when he looked on his brethren's affliction in Egypt, So we might keep our hearts tender if we did but set before our eyes the pitiful estate of God's church abroad, and that we may come to be in such an estate ourselves ere long. 8. And if thou wilt preserve tenderness of heart, labour for a legal and evangelical faith. We must believe that aU the threatenings of God's THE TENDEE HEAET. 35 vengeance against the wicked shall come to pass. Faith doth make these things present before our eyes ; for it is the nature of faith to set things absent as present before us. What makes the' malefactor to tremble and be cast down, but when he sees that he is ready for to die, is going to the place of execution, and sees death look him in the face ? So faith setting the day of judgment before our eyes, will make us to tremble. Therefore Paul doth so often adjure Timothy by the coming of the Lord Jesus to judgment, 2 Tim, iv. 1 ; and Enoch set the day of judgment before him, at the beginning of the world, as we may see in Jude 14. He had a faith, that set things to come as present, and made him to walk with God, So if we had an evangeUcal faith to believe the goodness of God, pardon from him, and everlasting life, this would preserve tendemess of heart. 4, Again, Good company will preserve tenderness of heart, sorting ourselves with those that are tender-hearted. For the soul will reason thus : Doth such a one make conscience of swearing, profaning the Sabbath ? and doth he mourn for the miseries of the church? Then what a hard piece of dead flesh am I, thp,t have nothing in me ! 6. Again, If thou wouldst preserve tenderness of heart, .by all means take heed of the least sin against conscience, for the least sin in this kind makes way for hardness of heart. Sins that are committed against con science do darken the understanding, dead the affection, and take away life ; so that one hath not the least strength to withstand the least temptation. And so it comes to pass by God's judgment; for when men will live in sins against conscience, he takes away his Spirit, and gives up the heart from one degree of hardness to another. For the heart at first being tender, will endure nothing, but the least sin will trouble it. As water, when it begins to freeze, will not endure anything, no not so much as the weight of a pin upon it, but after a while will bear the weight of a cart ; even so at thp beginning, the heart being tender, trembles at the least sin, and will not bear with any one ; but when it once gives way to sins against conscience, itjjbecomes so frozen that it can endure any sin, and so becomes more and more hard. Men are so obdurate, having once made a breach in their own hearts by sins against conscience, that they can endure to commit any sin ; and therefore God gives them up from one degree of hardness to another. What wiU not men do whom God hath given up to hardness of heart? 6, Again, If thou wilt preserve tendemess of heart, take heed of spiritual drunkenness ; that is, that thou be not drank with an immoderate use of the creatures ; of setting thy love too much upon outward things. For what saith the prophet ? ' Wine and women take away the heart,' Hosea iv. 11 ; that is, the immoderate use of any earthly thing takes away spiritual sense ; for the more sensible the soul is of outward things, the less it is of spiritual. For as the outward takes away the inward heat, so the love of one thing abates the love of another. The setting of too much love upon earthly things, takes away the sense of better things, and hardens the heart. When the heart is filled with the pleasures and profits of this life, it is not sensible of any judgment that hangs over the head ; as in the old world, « they ate and drank, they married and gave in marriage, they bought and sold, while the flood came upon them and swept aU away,' Mat. xxiv. 37. When a man sets his love upon the creature, the very strength of his soul is lost. Therefore in the Scripture, God joins prayer-; and fasting both together, Mat. xvu. 21 ; that when he would have our hearts raised up to heaven, we should have aU use of earthly things taken away. Therefore 86 THE TENDEK HEAET. when we are to go about spiritual duties, we must cut ourselves short in the use of the creatures. Talk of rehgion to a carnal man, whose senses are lost with love of earthly things, he hath no ear for that ; his sense is quite lost, he hath no relish or savour of anything that is good. Talk to a covetous man, that hath his soul set upon the things of this life, he hath no relish of anything else ; his heart is already so hardened to get honour and wealth, though it be to the ruin of others, that he cares not how hard it become. Therefore we are bidden to take heed that our hearts be not overcome with drunkenness and the cares of this life, for these vyill make a man to be insensible of spiritual things, Luke xxi, 34, 7. Again, If thou wilt preserve tenderness of heart, take heed of hypocrisy; for it causeth swelling, and pride makes the heart to contemn others that be not like unto us. They bless themselves that they Uve thus and thus, they think themselves better than any other ; and if they hear the minister reprove them for sin, they wiU shift it off, and say, Oh, this belongeth not to me, but to such a carnal man, and to such a wicked person ; as the Scribes and Pharisees, who were vile hypocrites, yet they were the cause of all mischief, and more hard-hearted than Pilate, an heathen man ; for he would have delivered Christ, but they would not, Luke xxiii, 14, seq. So, take a Romish hypocrite, that can proudly compliment it at every word with enticing speech, yet you shaU find hin^ more hard hearted than Turk or Jew ; for full of cruelty and blood is the ' whore of Babylon.' There fore, if thou wilt have tenderness of heart, take heed of hypocrisy. 8, Again, Above all things, take heed of great sins, which will harden the heart ; for little sins do many times not dead the heart, but stir up the conscience ; but great sins do stond* and duU a man ; as a prick of a pin will make a man to start, but a heavy blow maketh a man for to be dead for the present. Therefore take heed of great sins. Thus it was with David, He sinned in numbering of the people, and for this his heart smote him ; but when he came to the great and devouring sin of Uriah and Bath- sheba, this was a great blow that struck him and laid him for dead, tiU Nathan came and revived him, 2 Sam, xn, 1. For when men faU into great sins, their hearts are so hardened, that they go on from sin to sin. Let us therefore be watchful over our own hearts, to preserve tenderness. The eye being a tender part, and soonest hurt, how watchful is man by nature over that, that it take no hurt. So the heart, being a tender thing, let us preserve it by all watchfulness to keep blows from off it. It is a terrible thing to keep a wound of some great sin upon the conscience, for it makes a way for a new breach ; because when the conscience once iDegins to be hardened with some great sin, then there is no stop, but we run on to commit sin with all greediness, 9. Lastly, If thou wilt preserve tenderness of heart, consider the miserabU estate of hardness of heart. Such an one that hath an hard heart is next to heU itself, to the estate of a damned spirit, a most terrible estate. A hard heart is neither melted with promises nor broken with threatenings. He hath no bowels of pity to men or love to God, He forgets aU judgment for things past, and looks for none to come. When the soul is in this case, it is fit for nothing but for sin and the devU, whereas a tender-hearted man is fit for aU good. Let God threaten : he trembles and quakes ; let God promise: his heart melts and rejoiceth, and makes him even to break forth into thanksgiving ; let God command : he wiU perform aU ; he is fit for any good thing to God and man. But when a man's heart is hardened * That is, 'stun,' = harden.— G. THE TENDEE HEAET. 37 by hypocrisy, covetousness, or custom in sin, he hath no pity, no com passion : let God command, threaten, or promise, yet the heart is never a whit moved. This is a terrible estate of soul. Now, to speak a little to young men that are like to this holy man Josiah. Surely his tenderness had some advantage from his years. Let those that are young by all means labour to keep tenderness of heart ; for if young persons be good, there is a sweet communion between God and them, before the heart be pestered with the cares of the world, God delights much in the prayers of young men, because they come not from so polluted a soul, hardened with the practices of this world. Let such, therefore, as are young, take advantage of it, to repent in time of their sins, and let them not put it off unto their old days, WhUe we are young, let us not neglect natural tenderness ; although we cannot bring ourselves under the compass of God's kingdom by it, yet shall we get our hearts the sooner to be tender. In our youth, therefore, let us not neglect this good opportunity, as good Josiah did not when he was but young. Therefore let us repent of every sin betimes, and acquaint ourselves with those that are good ; as it is said, Heb, iii, 13, ' Let us provoke one another daily, while it is called to-day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.' Let us use aU means to keep our hearts tender. Oh, it is a blessed estate ! We are fit to live when our hearts are tender ; fit to die, fit to receive anything from God, fit for duties of honesty to men, for any service to God, But when we have lost sense and feeling, it must be the almighty power of God that must recover us again, and not one amongst an hundred comes to good. Therefore labour to preserve a tender, soft, and melting heart. Now, ere I proceed, give me leave to answer some cases of conscience, as, Quest. 1, First, Whether the chUdren of God may bo subject to this hard ness of heart, opposed to this tenderness ? Quest. 2. Secondly, Whether a Christian may be more sensible of out ward things than of spiritual, as the love of God, or his own sin, and the lUie? Sol. 1. To the first I answer, that the child of Ood may be hard-hearted. He may have some degrees of hardness of heart in him. For a Christian is a compounded creature ; he hath not only body and soul, but flesh and spirit. He is but in part renewed; and therefore, having in him both flesh and spirit, he is subject to hardness of heart ; and it is clear that it may be so. Examples shew that God's children are not always alike sensible of the wrath of God and of his mercy. They do not yield so to his commands as they should. But what is the reason that God doth suffer his children to faU into this hardness of heart ? There is something in us that makes him give us up unto it, for we are no longer soft than he works upon us. Quest. But what doth move him to leave us in this disposition ? Sol. I answer, he doth it for correction of former negUgences, for sins of omission ; especially when they neglect some means of grace whereby their hearts might be kept tender : it is for want of stirring up of God's grace in them ; for want of an high esteem of grace bestowed upon them ; want of care of their company, for not associating themselves with such as are tender-hearted ; and from hence it comes that God suffers his chUdren to fall into hardness of heart. Quest. But now, from hence ariseth another question : How may a, man know his heart from the heart of a reprobate, seeing that God's children may have hardness of heart ? 88 THE TENDER HEAET. Ans. I answer, that the heart of a man that is a very reprobate is totally, wholly, and finally hardened, and it is joined with security and msensible- ness ; it is joined with obstinacy, and with contempt of the means, ^ut the chUd of God hath not total and final hardness of heart, but hatn a sensibieness of it, he feeleth and seeth it. Total hardness doth feel nothing, but a Christian that hath hardness of heart, doth feel that he hath it ; as a man that hath the stone in his bladder, feels and knows that he hath a stone, A hard-hearted man feels nothing, but he that hath but only hard ness of heart doth feel : for there is difference between hardness of heart and a hard heart ; for the child of God may have hardness of heart, but not a hard heart. Now, I say a child of God that hath hardness of heart is sensible of his hardness, and performs the actions of a sensible soul : he useth some good means for the softening of it, for the sense thereof is grievous to him above all other crosses ; and whiles he is under it, he thinks that all is not with him as it should be : therefore he complains of it above all other afflictions, which makes him cry to God, as we may see, Isa. IxiU. 17, ' Why hast thou hardened our hearts from thy fear ? ' Obj. But some may demand how God doth harden, Sol. I answer, the cause is first from our own selves ; but he hardens four ways : First, Privatively, by withholding and withdrawing his melting and soften- ' ing power. For as the sun causeth darkness by withdrawing his light and warming power, so God withdrawing that melting power whereby we should be softened, it cannot be but that we must needs be hardened. 2, Secondly, Negatively, by denying of grace ; by taking away from us 1 his graces, which are not natural in us. Thus God doth to those whom , he doth absolutely harden ; he takes away that which they have, and so they become worse than they of themselves were by nature. When men walk unworthy of the gospel, God takes away very rational life from them, and gives them up to hardness of heart, that they run on in such courses, as that they are their own enemies, and bring upon themselves ruin, ^ 3, Thirdly, And as God hardens by privation and negation, so, in the ' third place, he hardens by tradition ;* by giving us up to the devil, to be vexed by his troubles, to harden us. It is a fearful judgment. When we take a course to grieve the Spirit of God, the Spirit wUl take a course to grieve us : he will give us up to Satan, to blind and to harden us. So that though God doth not work, as the author, effectually in this hardening, yet as a just judge he doth, by giving us up to Satan and the natural lusts of our own hearts, which are worse than all the devils in hell, 4. Fourthly and lastly. He doth harden objectively, by propounding good] objects, which, meeting with a wicked heart, make it more hard, as, Isa, vi. 10, it is said, ' Harden these people's hearts.' How ? By preaching of the word. A good object, if it Hghts upon a bad soul, hardens the heart ; for they that are not bettered by religion, under the means, are so much the worse by their use. So we see God cannot be impeached with the hardening of our hearts, because all the cause is from ourselves ; for whether he hardens by privation, negation, tradition, or by propounding good objects, it is all firom ourselves ; and likewise we have seen that God's children may have hardness of heart in some measure, but yet it differs from a reprobate, because they see and feel it, grieve for it, and complain of it to God, Quest. The second question is. But whether may a child of God be rnort » That is, ' giving up.' Cf. 1 Tim. i. 20 for the woTd.—G. THE TENDEE HEART. 39 sensible of outward joys or crosses, than of spiritual things ? for this makes many think they have not tender hearts, because they are more sensible of outward things than of spiritual, Ans. I answer, It is not always alike, with them ; for God's children are stiU complaining of something : of their carelessness in good duties, of their want of strength against corruption. They go mourning when they have made God to bring them down upon their knees for their hardness of heart ; but there is an intercourse, in the children of God, between the flesh and the spirit. They are partly flesh and partly spirit. Therefore many times, for a while, when the flesh prevails, there may be a sudden joy and a sudden sorrow, which may be greater than spiritual joy or spiritual sorrow ; but yet it is not continual. But spiritual sorrow, grief for sin, though it be not so vehement as, for the sudden, outward sorrow is, yet it is more constant. Grief for sin is continual ; whereas outward sorrow is but upon a sudden, though it seem to be more violent, 2, And again, in regard of their valuing and prizing of earthly things, there may be a sudden sorrow : for a child of God may, upon a sudden, over prize outward things, and esteem them at too high a rate ; but yet after that, valuing things by good advice, they prize spiritual things far beyond outward ; and therefore their sorrow and joy is more for spiritual things, because it is constant. This I speak, not to cherish any neglect in any Christian, but for comfort to such as are troubled for it ; therefore let such know, that God will not ' break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax.' If they have but a desire, and by conscionable * use of means, do shew their desire to be true, they shaU have it at last, for Christ doth con tinue to make intercession for us ; and if there were no weakness in us, what need Christ continue to make peace for us ? for peace is made for those that fall out. Therefore, if there were no falling out between God and us, what need Christ to continue to make intercession for us ? For these reasons, we see a child of God, for the present, may be more sensible of outward things than of spiritual, ¦^ Quest. But here another question may be asked, How shall we know that we have sensibieness and pliableness, or not ? Ans. I answer, EasUy, by applying of the soul unto objects, as 1, to God ; 2, to his word ; 3, to his works ; 4, to man. We may try our tenderness and pliableness of heart these four ways : 1. To Ood. As it is tender from God, so it is tender for God ; for the three persons of the Trinity. He that hath a tender heart cannot endure to dishonour God himself, or to hear others dishonour him, either by his own sins or by others.' He cannot endure to hear God's name blasphemed. So that they have a tender heart who when they see Christ in his religion to be wronged, cannot choose but be affected with it. So again, a man hath a tender heart when he yields to the motions of the Holy Ghost. When the Spirit moves, and he yields, this shews there is a tender heart. But a hard heart beats back aU, and as a stone to the hammer, wiU not yield to any motion of God's Spirit, 2. Now, in the second place, to come downward, a tender heart is sen sible in regard of the word of Ood; as, first, at the threatenings a true tender heart wiU tremble, as Isa, Ixvi, 2, ' To him wiU I look, even to him that is of a contrite and broken spirit, and trembleth at my words,' A ?man that hath a tender heart wiU tremble at the signs of the anger of God : ' ShaU the lion roar, and the beasts of the forest not be afraid ? ' * That is, ' conscientious,' — G. 40 THE TENDEE HEAET, Amos in, 4. Yes, they wUl stand stiU and tremble at the roaring of the lion ; but much more wiU a tender heart tremble when God roars, and threatens vengeance, A tender heart wiU tremble when it hears of the terrors of the Lord at the day of judgment, as Paul did : ' Now knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men,' 2 Cor, v, 11, It forced him to be faithful in his office. This use the apostle Peter would have us make of it : 2 Pet, in, 11, ' That seeing aU these things must be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be in holy conversation and godli ness ? • And so for the promises in the word. The heart is tender when the word of God doth rejoice a man above aU things. How can the heart but melt at God's promises, for they are the sweetest things that can be. Therefore when a tender heart hears God's promises, it makes him to melt and be sensible of them. Again, a tender heart wiU be pUable to any direction in the word. To God's caU it wiU answer, ' Here I am ;' Lord, what wUt thou have me to do ? As Isaiah, when he had once a tender heart, then ' Send me, Lord,' Isa, vi, 8. So David to God's command, •Seek ye my face,' answers, 'Thy face. Lord, wiU I seek,' Ps, xxyii, 8. There is a gracious echo of the soul to God in whatsoever he saith in his word. And thus a true, tender heart doth yield to the word of God, and is fit to run on any errand, 3, Thirdly, By applying it to the works of Ood ; for a tender heart quakes when it doth see the judgment of God abroad upon others. It hastens to make his peace with God, and to meet him by repentance. So again, a tender heart rejoiceth at the mercy of God, for it doth see something in it better than the thing itself; and that is the love of God, from which it doth proceed. 4. Fourthly, A man may know his heart to be tender and sensible, in regard of the estate of others, whether they be good or had. If they be wicked, he hath a tender heart for them ; as David, Ps, cxix, 136, ' Mine eyes gush out with rivers of water, because men keep not thy law,' So Paul saith, ' There are many that walk inordinately, of whom I have told you before, and now tell you weeping,' &c,, Phil, iii, 18, So Christ was sensible of the misery of Jerusalem, wept for it, and a little while after, shed his own blood for it. Mat, xxiii, 37. Thus had he a tender heart. But when Christ looked to God's decree, he saith, ' Father, I thank thee. Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and noble, and hast revealed them unto babes,' Mat, xi, 25, And so like wise for those that are good, in giving and forgiving ; in giving, they give not only the thing, but they give their hearts and affections with it ; and so in forgiving, they apprehend Christ's love in forgiving them ; therefore they forgive others. So for works, wiU God have a tender heart to do any thing, it wiU do it. If he will have it mourn, it will mourn ; if to rejoice, it will rejoice ; it is fit for every good work. By these marks we may know whether we have tender hearts or no. But to apply this ; how is this affection of Josiah in the hearts of men in these days? How many have melting hearts when they hear God blasphemed, and the religion of Christ wronged ? How few are there that yield to the motions of the Spirit ! We may take up a wonderful complaint of the hardness of men's hearts in these days, who never tremble at the word of God. Neither his promises, nor threatenings, nor commands wUl melt their hearts ; but this is certain, that they which are ? not better under religion, by the means of grace, are much the worse. And how sensible are we of the church's miseries ? For a tender heart is THE TENDER HEAET, 41 sensible of the miseries of the church, as being members of the same body, whereof Christ is the head. But men now-a-days are so far from melting hearts, that they want natural affection, as Paul foretells of such in the latter times, 1 Tim, iv, 1. They have less bowels of pity in them, when they hear how it goes with the church abroad, than very pagans and heathens. This shews they have no tender hearts, that they are not knit to Christ by faith, who is the head ; nor to the church, the body, in love. How is thy heart affected to men when they commit any sin against God, as idolaters, swearers, drunkards, liars, and the like ? Is it mercy to let these go on in their sins towards hell ? No, this is cruelty ; but mercy is to be shewed unto them, in restraining men from their wicked courses. Therefore do not think thou shewest mel'cy unto them by letting them alone in sin, but exhort and instruct them. Coldness and deadness is a spiritual disease in these days. But surely they that have the Spirit of God warming their hearts, are sensible of their own good and UI, and of the good and ill of the time. Well, if you will know you have a tender heart, look to God, look to his word, to his works, to yourselves, and others ; and so you shall know whether you have tender hearts or not. Quest. But here may be another question asked. How shall men recover themselves, when they are subject to this hardness, deadness, and insen- sibleness ? If after examination a man find himself to be thus, Jiow shall he recover himself out of this estate, I answer, A71S. 1. First, As when things are cold we bring them to the fire to heat and melt, so bring we our cold hearts to the fire of the love of Christ ; consider we of our sins against Christ, and of Christ's love towards us ; dwell upon this meditation. Think what great love Christ hath shewed unto us, and how little we have deserved, and this wiU make our hearts to melt, and be as pliable as wax before the sun, 2, Secondly, If thou wilt have this tender and melting heart, then use the means ; be always under the sunshine of the gospel. Be under God's sun shine, that he may melt thy heart ; be constant in good means ; and help one another, ' We must provoke one another daUy, lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin,' Heb, in, 13, Physicians love not to give physio to themselves. So a man is not always fit to help himself when he is not right ; but good company is fit to do it, ' Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us ? ' said the two disciples, holding communion each with other at Emmaus, Luke xxiv, 32, For then Christ comes and makes a third, joins with them, and so makes their hearts burn within them. So Christ saith, ' Where two or three are met together in his name, he is in the midst of them,' Mat, xviU, 20, Now they were under the pro mise, therefore he affords his presence. Where two hold communion together, there Christ wiU make a third. Therefore let us use the help of others, seeing David could not recover himself, being a prophet, but he must have a Nathan to help him, 2 Sam, xii. 7, Therefore if we would recover our selves from hard and insensible hearts, let us use the help one of another, 3, Thirdly, We must with boldness and reverence challenge the covenant of grace; for this is the covenant that God hath made with us, to give us tender hearts, hearts of flesh, as Ezek, xi, 19, ' I wiU give them one heart, and put a new spirit within their bowels ; I wiU take away the stony hearts out of their bodies, and I wUl give them a heart of flesh. Now seeing this is a covenant God hath made, to give us fleshly hearts and to take away our stony, let us chaUenge him with his promise, and go to him by prayer. Entreat him to give thee a fleshly heart ; go to him, wait his time, for that 42 THE TENDER HEAET. is the best time. Therefore wait though he do not hear at first. These are the means to bring tenderness of heart. • Now, that ye may be stirred up to this duty, namely, to get a soft and tender heart, mark here, 1, First, What an excellent thing a tender heart is. God hath promised to dweU in such an heart, and is it an excellent thing to have God dwell in our hearts, as he hath promised, Isa. Ivii, 15, 'For thus saith he that is high and excellent, he that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is the Holy One : I wiU dweU in the high and holy place, and with him also that is of a contrite and humble spfrit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to give Ufe to them that are of a contrite heart?' So Isa. Ixvi, 2, ' To him wiU I look, even to. him that is poor and contrite in spirit, and doth tremble at my words,' Now God having promised to dweU where there is a soft heart, and no hardness, no rocks to keep him out ; can God come into a heart without a blessing ? Can he be separated from goodness, which is good ness itself ? When the heart therefore is pUable and thus tender, there is an immediate communion between the soul and God ; and can that heart be miserable that hath communion with God ? Surely no. 2. Secondly, Consider that this doth fit a man for the end for which lie was created. A man is never fit for that end for which he was made, but when he hath a tender heart ; and what are we redeemed for, but that we should serve God ? And who is fit to be put in the service of God but he that hath begged a tender heart of God ? 3. Thirdly, To stir you up to labour for this, consider that a tender heart is fit for any blessedness. Itis capable of any beatitude. What makes a man blessed in anything but a tender heart ? This will make a man to hear the word, to read, to shew mercies to others, ' Blessed are the poor in spirit,' saith Christ, ' for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,' A tender heart is blessed, because that only heareth God's word, and doth it ; and it is always a merciful heart, and therefore blessed. 4. Again, Consider the wretched estate of a heart contrary, that is not tender, and will not yield. Oh what a wonderful hardness would the heart of man grow to, if we do not follow it with means to soften it ! What a fearful thing was it to see what strange things fell out at Christ's death, what dark ness there was, what thunders and lightnings. The veU of the Temple rent, the sun was turned into darkness, the graves opened, and the dead did rise, yet notwithstanding none of these would make the hypocritical Pharisees to tremble, but they mocked at it, although it made a very heathen man confess it the work of God, Mat, xxvii. 45-54. For a ceremonial hypocrite is more hard than a Turk, Jew, or Pagan. All the judgments of God upon Pharaoh were not so great as hardness of heart. The papists, after they have been at their superstitious devotion, are fittest for powder- plots and treasons, because their hearts are so much more hardened. What fearful things may a man come to, if he give way to hardness of heart ! He may come to an estate like the devil, yea, worse than Judas, for he had some sensibieness of his sin ; he confessed he had sinned in betraying the innocent blood. But many of these hypocrites have no sensibieness at aU, which is a fearful thing. Eli's children hearkened not to the voice of their father, because that the Lord had a purpose to destroy them, 1 Sam. ii. 25. So it is in this case a shrewd sign that God wiU destroy those that are so insensible that nothing wiU work upon them. But these hypocrites shall be sensible one day, when they shall wish they were as insensible as in their lifetime they were. ^ But it wUl be an unfruitful repentance to repent THE TENDER HEART. 43 in hell ; for there a man shall get no benefit by his repentance, seeing there they cannot shake off the execution of God's judgment, as they shake off the threatenings of his judgments here. Well, to this fearful end, before it be long, must every one that hath a hard heart come, unless they repent. Therefore let every one be persuaded to labour for a tender, pliable, yield ing, and sensible heart here, else we shall have it hereafter against our wills, when it will do us no good ; for then hypqorites shall be sensible against their wills, though they would not be sensible in this life. And thus I have done with the first inward cause in Josiah that moved God so to respect him, namely, tendemess of heart. THE AET OF SELF-HUMBLING. SERMON II. Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me, dc.—2 Chron. XXXIV. 27. Of tenderness of heart, the first inward cause in Josiah, which moved God to pity him, so as he should not be an eye-witness of the fearful calami ties to come upon his land and people, is largely spoken in the former sermon ; wherein is also shewed how it is wrought, preserved, discerned, recovered when it is lost ; what encouragements we have to seek and labour for it, with some other things which I wiU not here repeat, but fall directly upon that which follows, ' And thou didst humble thyself before God.' In which words we have set down the second inward cause in Josiah, that moved God to shew mercy unto him ; the humbling of himself. ' And thou didst humble thyself before God,' Tenderness of heart and humbling ' a man's self go both together ; for things that are hard wiU not yield nor bow. A great iron bar will not bow, a hard stony heart will not yield. Now, therefore, humbling of ourselves, the making of us as low as the ground itself, is added unto tenderness ; for the soul being once tender and melting, is fit to be humbled, yea, cares not how low it be abased, so mercy may foUow. For the better unfolding of the words, we wiU con sider, 1, The person that did humble himself : ' Josiah,' a king, a great man, 2, Humiliation itself, and the qualities of it: ' and humbledst thyself before God,' which argued the sincerity of it. 3. The occasion of it : ' when thou heardest the words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof,' 4, The outward eccpression of it, in weeping and rending his clothes ; which we will handle in their place. 1. First, for the person, ' Thou didst humble thyself,' Josiah a king, who was tenderly brought up, and highly advanced ; a thing which makes the work so much the more commendable ; whence we learn, Doct. 1. That it is a disposition not unbefitting kings to humble themselves i hefore God. For howsoever 'they are gods downward, to those that are under ' THE ART OF SELF-HUMBLING. 45' I thefti, yet if they look upward, what are kings ? The greater light hides the ! lesser. What are aU the inhabitants of the earth in his sight, but as a j drop of a bucket, as dust upon the balance, of no moment! Isa, xl. 15. ' I have said you are gods, but you shaU die like men,' Ps, Ixxxii. 6, 7. For howsoever the saints of God differ from other men in regard of their use, and the inscription God hath set upon them, yet they are of the same I stuff, dust, as others are. And so kings, though in civU respects they differ from other men, yet are they of the same metal, and shaU end in death, 1 aU their glory must lie in the dust. Therefore it is not unbefitting kings to humble themselves before God, seeing they have to deal with him who is a ' consuming fire,' Heb. xn, 29, before whom the very angels cover their faces, I say it is no shame for the greatest monarch of the earth to abase himself when he hath to do with God ; yea, kings, of ,all other persons, ought most to humble them selves, to shew their thankfulness to God, who hath raised them from thefr brethren to be heads of his people. And considering the endowments which kings usually have, they are bound to humble themselves, as also in regard of the authority and power which God hath put into their hands, saying, ' By me kings reign,' Prov. vUi, 15, But usually we see, from the beginning of the world, that kings forget God, Where there is not grace above nature, there kings will not stoop to Christ ; but so far as it agrees with their pleasure and will, so far shall Christ be served, and no farther. But yet God hath always raised up some nursing fathers and mothers, — as he hath done to us, for which we ought to bless God, — who have and do make conscience of this mentioned duty, so well beseeming Christian princes, as in sundry other respects, so also in this, that therein they might be exemplary to the people. For no doubt but Josiah did this also, that his people might not think it a shame for them to humble them selves before God, whenas he their king, tender in years, and subject to no earthly man, did before them, in his own person, prostrate himself in the humblest manner before the great God of heaven and earth. As that ointment poured upon Aaron's head fell from his head to the skirts, and so spread itself to the rest of the parts, even to his feet, Ps. cxxxui, 2, so a good example in a king descends down to the lowest subjects, as the rain from the mountains into the vaUeys. Therefore a king should first begin to humble himself. Kings are called fathers to their subjects, because they should bear a loving and holy affection to their people, that when anything troubles the subjects, they should be affected with it. Governors are not to have a distinct good from their subjects, but the wel fare of the subjects should be the glory of their head. Therefore Josiah took the judgments threatened as his own: howsoever his estate was nothing unto theirs. It is said moreover, ' Thou didst humble thyself.' He was both the agent and the patient, the worker and the object of his work : it came from him, and ended in him. Humiliation is a reflected action : Josiah humbled himself. And certainly this is that true humiliation, the humbling of ourselves ; for it is no thanks for a man to be humbled by God, as Pharaoh was ; for God can humble and pull down the proudest that do oppose his church. God by this gets himself glory. But here is the glory of a Christian, that he hath got grace from God to humble himself; which humbling is, from our own judgment, and upon discerning of good grounds, to bring our affections to stoop unto God ; to humble ourselves. Many are humbled that are not humble ; many are cast down that have 46 THE ART OF SELF-HtTMBLING. proud hearts stiU, as Pharaoh had. It is said, ' Thou humbledst thyself.' Then we leam, Doct. 2. That the actions of grace are reflected actions. They begin irom a man's self, and end in a man's self; yet we must not exclude the Spirit of God ; for he doth not say, thou from thyself didst humble thyself, but ' thou didst humble thyself,' We have grace from God to humble ourselves. So j that the Spirit of God doth work upon us as upon fit subjects, in which ; grace doth work. Though such works be the works of God, yet they are i said to be ours, because God doth work them in us and by us. We are j said to humble ourselves, because we are temples wherein he works, seeing he useth the parts of our soul, as the understanding, the wiU, and the affections, in the work. Therefore it is fooUsh for the papists to say, good works be our own, as from ourselves. No ; good works, say we, are ours, as effects of the Spirit in us. But for the further expression of this humbling of ourselves before God, we wiU consider, 1, The kinds and degrees of it, 2, Some directions how we may humble ourselves, 3. The motives to move us to it, 4. The notes whereby it may be known, 1. First, for the nature and kinds of it; we must know that humiHation is either(1,) Inward, in the mind first of aU, and then in the affections; or, (2,) Outward, in expression of words, and likewise in carriage. (1.) To begin with the first inward humiliation in the mind, in regard of judgment and knowledge, is, ivhen our understandings are convinced, that we are as we are ; when we are not high-minded, but when we judge meanly and basely of ourselves, both in regard of our beginning and dependency upon God, having all from him, both life, motion, and being ; and also in regard of our end, what we shall be ere long. All glory shall end in the dust, all honour in the grave, and all riches in poverty. And withal, true humiliation is also in regard of spiritual respects, when we judge aright how base and vile we are in regard of our natural corruption, that we are I by nature not only guilty of Adam's sin, but that we have, besides that, i wrapt ourselves in a thousand more guilts by our sinful course of life, and that we have nothing of our own, no, not power to do the least good thing. When we look upon any vile person, we may see our own image. So that if God had not been gracious unto us, we should have been as bad as they. In a word, inward conviction of om* natural frailty and misery, in regard of the filthy and foul stain of sin in our nature and actions, and of the many guilts of spiritual and temporal plagues in this life and that which is to come, is that inward humiliation in the judgment or understanding. Again, Inward humiliation, besides spiritual conviction, is when there are affections of humiliation. And what be those ? Shame, sorrow, fear, and such like penal afflictive affections. For, upon a right conviction of the understanding, the soul comes to be stricken with shame that we are in such a case as we are ; especially when we consider God's goodness to us, and our dealing with him. This wiU breed shame and abasement, as it did in Daniel. Shame and sorrow ever foUow sin, first or last, as the apostle demands, Rom. vi, 21, ' What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashalned ? ' After conviction of judgment there is always shame ; and likewise there is sorrow and grief. For God hath made the inward faculties of the soul so, that upon the apprehension of the under standing, the heart comes to be stricken through with grief, which works THE ART OP SELF-HUMBLING, 47 upon our souls. Therefore we are said in Scripture to afflict ourselves ; that is, when we set ourselves upon meditation of our deserts. Hereupon we cannot but be affected inwardly, for these sorrows are so many daggers to pierce through the heart. The third penal affection is, fear and trembling before God's judgments and his threatenings, a fear of the majesty of God, whom we have offended, which is able to send us to hell if his mercies were not beyond our deserts. But his mercy it is, that we are not consumed. A fear of this great God is a part of this inward humiliation. So we see what inward humiliation is : first, a conviction of the judgment ; and then it proceeds to inward afflic tive affections, as grief, shame, fear, which, when upon good ground and fit objects, they are wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, they are parts of inward humiliation. But as for the wicked, they drown themselves in their pro- faneness, because they would not be ashamed, nor fear, nor grieve for them. But this makes way for terrible shame, sorrow, and fear afterwards ; for those that wUl not shame, grieve, and fear here, shall be ashamed before God and his angels at the day of judgment, and shall be tormented in hell for ever. 2. Secondly, His outward humiliation is expressed and manifested in words, in outward behaviour and carriage. The words which he used are not here set down ; but certainly Josiah did speak words when he humbled himself. It was not a dumb show, but done with his outward expression and his inward affection. This is evident by those words of the text, ' I have heard thee also,' saith the Lord. Without doubt, therefore, he did speak something. But because true sorrow cannot speak distinctly, — for a broken soul can speak but broken words, — therefore his words are not here set down, but yet God heard them weU enough. And indeed, so it is some times, that the grief for the affliction may be stronger than the faculty of speech, so that a man cannot speak for grief. As a heathen man, by light of nature, did weep and grieve for his friends, but when his child came to be killed before him, he stood like a stone, because his sorrow was so great that it exceeded aU expression. So humiliation may so exceed that it cannot be expressed in words ; as David himself, when he was told of his sins by Nathan, did not express all his sorrow, but saith, ' I have sinned ;' yet afterwards, he makes the 51st Psalm, a composed speech for supply, a fit pattern for an humble and broken soul. So doubtless there was outward expression of words in Josiah, although they be not here set down. This speech, which is a part of humiliation, is called a confession of our sins to God ; with it should be joined hatred and grief afflictive, as also a depre cation and desire that God would remove the judgment which we have deserved by our sins ; and likewise a justification of God, in what he hath laid or may lay upon us. Lord, thou art righteous and just in all thy judg ments ; shame and confusion belongeth unto me ; my sins have deserved that thou shouldest pour down thy vengeance upon me ; it is thy great mercy that I am not consumed. The good thief upon the cross justified God, saying, ' We are here justly for our deserts ; but this man doth suffer wrongfuUy,' Luke xxiu. 41. Justification and self-condemnation go with humUiation. This is the outward expression in words. Now the outward humiliation in respect of his carriage, is here directly set down in two acts : 1. Rending of clothes. And 2. Weeping. But of these I shaU speak afterwards when I come at them. Thus we have seen the degrees and kinds of humiliation. Seeing it is such a necessary qualification, for humUiation is a funda- 48 THE AET OF SELF-HUMBLING. mental grace that gives strength to all other graces ; seeing, I say, it is such a necessary temper of a holy gracious man to be humble ; how may we come to humble ourselves as we should do ? I answer, Let us take these directions : ' 1, First, Get poor spirits, that is, spirits to see the wants in ourselves and in the cre3,ture; the emptiness of aU earthly things without God's favour ; the insufficiency of ourselves and of the creature at the day of judg ment ; for what the wise man saith of riches may be truly said of all other things under the sun : they avaU not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death, Prov, xi, 4. Josiah was not poor in respect of the world, for he was a king ; but he was ' poor in spirit,' because he saw an emptiness in himself. He knew his kindgom could not shield him from God's judgment, if he were once angry, (1.) Let us consider our original. From whence came we ? From the earth, from nothing. Whither go we ? To the earth, to nothing. And in respect of spiritual things, we have nothing. We are not able to do anything of ourselves, no, not so much as to think a good thought, (2.) Likewise, consider we the guilt of our sins. What do we deserve ? HeU and damnation, to have our portion with hypocrites in that ' lake that burneth with fire and brimstone,' (3.) Let us have before our eyes the picture of old Adam, our sinful nature : how we are drawn away by every object ; how ready to be proud of anything ; how unable to resist the least sin ; how ready to be cast down , under every affiiction ; that we cannot rejoice in any blessing ; that we have \ no strength of ourselves to perform any good or suffer ill ; in a word, how that we carry a nature about us indisposed to good, and prone to all evil. This consideration humbled Paul, and made him to cry out, when no other affiictions could move him, ' 0 miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death ? ' Rom. vii. 24. By this means we come to be poor in spirit. 2. If we would have humble spirits, let us bring ourselves into the presence of the great God : set ourselves in his presence, and consider of his attributes, his works of justice abroad in the world, and open* ourselves in particular. Consider his wisdom, holiness, power, and strength, with our own. It wiU make us abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes. Let us bring ourselves into God's presence, be under the means, under his word, that there we may see ourselves ripped up, and see what we are. As Job, when he brought himself into God's presence, said, ' I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,' Job xiii, 6. Job thought himself somebody before ; but when God comes to examine him, and upon examination found that he could not give a reason of the creature, much less of the Lord's, afflicting his chUdren, then he saith, ' I abhor myself.' So Abraham, the more he talked with God, the more he did see himself but dust and ashes. This is the language of the holy men in Scripture, when they have to deal or think of God. ' I am not worthy,' says John Baptist, John i, 27. So Paul : ' I am not worthy to be called an apostle,' 1 Cor, xv, 9. So the centurion : ' I am not worthy thou shouldst come into my house,' Mat. viU. 8, ' I am less than the least of thy blessings,' saith Jacob, Gen, xxxii. 10. Thus let us come into the presence of God, under the means of his word, and then we shall see our own vUeness, which will work humiUation • for as the apostle saith, when a poor simple man doth come, and hears the pro- * Qu. 'upon'?— Ed, THE AET OF SELF-HUMBLING, 49 phecy, that is, the word of God, with appUcation unto himself, laying open his particular sins, doubtless he wUl say, God is in you, 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25. 3. That we may humble ourselves, let us be content to hear of our sins and baseness hy others. Let us be content that others should acquaint us with anything that may humble us. Proud men are the devil's pipes, and flatterers the musicians to blow these pipes. Therefore it is, that though men have nothing of their own, yet they love to give heed to flatterers, to blow their bladder full; which do rob them of themselves ; whereas a true, wise man, wiU be content to hear of anything that may humble him before God. 4, And withal, that we may humble ourselves, look to the time to come, what we shall be ere long, earth and dust ; and at the day of judgment we must be stripped of aU, What should puff us up in this world ? All our glory shaU end in shame, all magnificency in confusion, all riches in poverty. It is a strange thing that the devil should raise men to be proud of that which they have not of their own, but of such things which they have borrowed and begged ; as for men to be proud of themselves in regard of their parents. So, many there are who think the better of themselves for their apparel, when yet they are clothed with nothing of their own, and so are proud of the very creature. But thus the devil hath besotted our natm-e, to make us glory in that which should abase us, and to think the better of ourselves, for that which is none of our own. Nay, many in the church of God, are so far from humbling themselves, that they come to manifest their pride, to shew themselves, to see and to be seen. Thus the devil besots many thousand sUly creatures, that come in vainglory into the house of God ; that whereas they should humble themselves before him, they are puffed up with a base empty pride, even before God. Therefore let us take notice of our wonderful proneness to have a conceit of ourselves ; for if a man have a new fashion, or some new thing, which nobody else knows besides himself, how wonderful conceited will he be of himself ! Let us take notice, I say, of our proneness to this sin of pride ; for the best are prone to it. Consider, it is a wonderful hateful sin, a sin of sins, that God most hates. It was this sin that made him thrust Adam out of paradise. It was this sin which made him thrust the evil angels out of heaven, who shaU never come there again. Yea, it is a sin that God cures with other sins, so far he hateth it ; as Paul, being subject to be proud through the abundance of revelations, was cured of it by a prick in the flesh : being exercised with some dangerous, noisome, and strange cure. Indeed, it is profitable for some men to fall, that so by their humiUation for infirmities, they may be cured of this great, this sacrilegious sin.* And why is it called a sacrilegious sin ? Because it robs God of his glory. For God hath said, ' My glory I wiU not give to another,' Isa, xlU, 8. Is not the grace, good ness, and mercy of God sufficient for us, but we must enter into his pre rogatives, and exalt ourselves ? We are both idols and idol-worshippers, when we think highly of ourselves, for we make ourselves idols. Now God hates idolatry ; but pride is a sacrilege, therefore God hates pride. 5. If we would humble ourselves, let us set before us the exam,ple of our blessed Saviour ; for we must be conformable to him, by whom we hope to be saved. He left heaven, took our base nature, and humbled himself to the death of the cross, yea, to the washing of his disciples' feet, and among the rest, washed Judas's feet, and so suffered himself to be killed as a traitor, PhUip. u. 5-7 ; and aU this to satisfy the wrath of God for us, and * Cf. Augustine in references and quotations of note y, Vol. Ill, p. 531. — G. VOL. VI. D 50 THE AET or SELF-HUMBLING. that he might be a pattern for us to be like-minded. Therefore, if we would humble ourselves by pattern, here is a pattern without aU exception. Let us be transformed into the likeness of him ; yea, the more we think ot him, the more we shaU be humbled. For it is impossible for a man to dweU upon this meditation of Christ in humility, and with faith to apply it to himself, that he is his particular Saviour, but this faith wiH abase the heart, and bring it to be like Christ in aU spiritual representation, A heart that believeth in Christ wiU be humbled like Christ, It wiU be turned from aU fleshly conceit of excellency, to be like him. Is it possible, if a man consider he is to be saved' by an abased and humble Saviour, that was pUable to every base service, that had not a house to hide himself ; I say, is it possible that he which considers of this, should ever be wilUngly or wilfully proud ? Do we hope to be saved by Christ, and wiU we not be like him ? When we were firebrands of heU, he humbled himself to the death of the cross, left heaven and happiness a-while, and took our shame, to be a pattern to us. We know that Christ was brought into the world by a humble virgin. So the heart wherein he dweUs must be an humble heart. If we have true faith in Christ, it wiU cast us down, and make us to be humbled. For it is impossible that a man should have faith to cha,l- lenge any part in Christ, except he be conformed to the image of Christ in humility. Therefore let us take counsel of Christ : ' Leam of me, for I am humble and meek ; and so you shaU find rest to your souls,' Mat, xi. 29. Lastly, That we may humble ourselves, let us work upon our own souls by reasoning, discoursing, and speaking to our own hearts. For the soul hath a faculty to work upon itself. Now this, being a reflected action, to humble ourselves, it must be done by some inward action ; and what is that ? To discourse thus : If so be a prince should but frown upon me when I have offended his law, in what case should I be I Yet, when the great God of heaven threatens, what an atheistical unbelieving heart have I, that can be moved at the threatenings of a mortal man, that is but dust and ashes, and yet cannot be moved with the threatenings of the great God ! Consider also, if a man had been so kind and bountiful to me, if I should reward his kindness with unkindness, I should have been ashamed, and have covered my face with shame ; and yet how unkind have I been unto God, that hath been so kind to me, and yet I never a whit ashamed ! If a friend should have come to me, and I have given him no entertainment, what a shame were this ! But yet how often hath the Holy Ghost knocked at the door of my heart, and suggested many holy motions into me of mortification, repentance, and newness of life, yet notwithstanding I have given him the repulse, opposed the outward means of grace, and have thought myself un worthy of it ; what a shame is this ! Thus, if we compare our carriage in earthly things with our carriage in heavenly, this wiU be a means to work upon our hearts, inwardly to humble ourselves. Thus was David abased ; for when Nathan came and told him of a rich man, who having many sheep, spared his own and took away a poor man's, which was all that he had ; when David considered that he had so dealt with Uriah, he was dejected and ashamed of his own courses. Let us labour to work our hearts to humUity, into true sorrow, shame, true fear, that so we may have God to pity and respect us, who only doth regard a humble soul. Thus we have seen some directions how we may come to humble ourselves. Further, There is an order, method, and agreement in these reflected actions, when we turn the edge of our own souls upon ourselves and THE ART OP SELF-HUMBLING, 51 examine ourselves ; for the way that leads to rest is by the examination of ourselves. We must examine ourselves strictly, and then' bring ourselves before God, judge and condemn ourselves ; for humiliation is a kind of execution. Examination leads to all the rest, So^ then, this is the order of our actions; there is examination of ourselves strictly before God, then indicting ourselves, after that comes judging of ourselves. Oh that we could be brought to these inward reflected actions, to examine indict, judge, and condemn ourselves, that so we might spare God a labour, and so all things might go well with us ! 3, Now I come to the third thing I propounded, the motives to move us to get this humiliation. , (1.) First, Let vs consider of the gracious promises that are made to this disposition of humbling ourselves; as Isa. Ivii. 15, ' For thus saith he that is holy and excellent, he that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is the Holy One ; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of an humble and contrite spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to give life to them that are of a contrite heart.' So there is a promise that God will give grace to the humble. An example of mercy in this kind we have in Manasseh, who, though a very wicked man, yet because he humbled him self, obtained mercy, Peter humbled himself, and David humbled himself, and both found mercy. And so likewise Josiah ; yea, and in James iv. 10, we are bid to ' humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and be wUl exalt us in due time.' There is the promise. Yea, every branch of humi liation hath a promise. As confession of sins, if we confess and forsake our sins, we shall have mercy and find pardon. So those that judge them selves shaU not be judged. A humble heart is a vessel of all graces. It is a grace itself, and a vessel of grace. It doth better the soul and make it holy, for the soul is never fitter for God than when it is humbled. It is a fundamental grace that gives strength to all other graces. So much humiUty, so much grace. For j according to the measure of humiliation is the measure of other grace, because a humble heart hathin it a spiritual emptiness. Humility emptieth the heart for God to fill it. If the heart be emptied of temporal things, then it must needs be fiUed with spiritual things ; for nature abhorreth emptiness ; grace much more. When the heart is made low, there is a spiritual emptiness, and what fiUs this up but the Spirit of God ? In that measure we empty ourselves, in that measure we are fiUed with the fulness of God. When a man is humbled, he is fit for aU good ; but when he is proud, he is fit for aU iU, and beats back aU good. God hath but two heavens to dweU in ; the heaven of heavens, and the heart of a poor humble man. The proud swelling heart, that is full of ambition, high conceits, and self-dependence, wiU not endure to have God to enter ; but he dweUs largely and easily in the heart of an humble man. If we wiU dweU in heaven hereafter, let us humble ourselves now. The rich in themselves are sent ' empty away ;' the humble soul is a rich soul, rich in God ; afid therefore God regards the lowly and resists the proud. As aU the water that is upon the hiUs runs into the valleys, so aU grace goes to the humble. ' The moun tains of Gilboa are accursed,' 2 Sam, i, 21, So there is a curse upon pride, because it will not yield to God, » (2,) Again, All outward actions benefit other men ; but this inward action of humbling a man's self makes the soul itself good. (3,) An humble soul is a secure and safe soul ; for a man that is not high, but of a low stature, n.eeds not to fear falUng, A humble soul is a safe 52 THE ART OF SELF-HUMBLING. soul ; — safe in regard of outward troubles ; for when we have humbled Our selves, God needs not foUow us with any other judgment : safe, in regard of inward vexation or any trouble by God ; for when the soul hath brought itself low, and, laid itself level as the ground, then God ceaseth to afflict it. WiU the ploughman plough when he hath broken up the ground enough? or doth he delight in breaking up the ground? See what Isaiah saith to this purpose in chap, xxviu, 28, When God seeth that a man hath abased himself, he wiU not foUow with any other judgment ; such a one may say to God, Lord, I have kept court in mine own conscience already, I have humbled and judged myself, therefore do not thou judge I me ; I am ready to do whatsoever thou wilt, and to suffer what thou wilt have me. I have deserved worse a thousand times, but. Lord,, remember I I am but dust and ashes. Thus God spares "his labour when the soul hath humbled itself. But if we do not do this ourselves, God wUl take us in hand ; for God wUl have but one God, Now if we wiU be gods, to exalt ourselves, he must take us in hand to humble us, either first or last. And is it not better for us to humble ourselves than for God to give us up to the merciless rage and fury of men, for them to humble us, or to fall into the hands of God, who is a ' consuming fire ' ? For when we accuse and judge ourselves, we prevent much shame and sorrow. What is the reason God hath given us up to shame and crosses in this world, but because we have not humbled ourselves ? What is the reason many are damned in hell ? Because God hath given them reason, judgment, and affections, but they have not used them for themselves, to examine their ways, whether they were in the state of condemnation or salvation. They never used their affections and judgment to this end, therefore God was forced to take them in hand. Well saith Austin, aU men must be humbled one way or other ; either we must humble ourselves or God will ; * if we will do this ourselves, the apostle promiseth, we shall not be judged of the Leird, 1 Cor, xi, 31. But we do not these things as we should, because it is a secret action. We love to do things that the world may take notice of, but this inward humiliation can only be seen by God, and by our own consciences. Let these motives therefore stir us up to humble ourselves, for humbled we must be by one way or other. How many judgments might be avoided by humbling our selves I How many scandals might be prevented if we would judge our selves ! What is the reason so many Christians faU into scandalous sins, whereby, provoking God's anger, they faU into the hands of their enemies, but because they spare themselves, and think this humbling themselves a troublesome action. Therefore to spare themselves, they run on. Be cause they would not work this upon themselves, they grow to be in a des perate state at last. Wherefore upon any occasion be humble, let us prepare ourselves to meet the Lord our God, When we hear but any noise of the jud^ents of God, we should humble ourselves, as good Josiah did ; when he did, but hear of the threatenings against his land, it made him humble himself. Quest. But here it may be demanded, considering that wicked men do oftentimes humble themselves, being convinced in their consciences, and thereupon ashamed, 4, How may we know holy from hypocritical humiliation? which is the last thing I propounded concerning humiUation, namely, the notes and marks whereby we may know true humiUation from false, which are these. Ans. 1, First, Holy humiliation is voluntary ; for it is a reflected action, * In ' Confessions ' repeatedly Q. THE ART OP SELF-HUMBLING, 53 which comes from a man's self. It ends where it begins. Therefore Josiah is said to humble himself. But, on the contrary, the humiliation of other men is against their will. False humiliation is not voluntary, but by force it is extorted from them, God is fain to break, crush, and deal hardly with them, which they grieve and murmur at. But the chUdren of God have the Spirit of God, which is a free Spirit, that sets their hearts at liberty. For God's Spirit is a working Spirit, that works upon their hearts, and hereby they willingly humble themselves, whereas the wicked, wanting this Spirit of God, cannot humble themselves willingly, but are cast down against their wUls, For God can pluck down the proudest. He can break Pharaoh's courage, who, though he was humbled, yet he did not humble himself, A man may be humbled, and yet not humble. But the chUdren of God are to humble themselves, not that the grace whereby we humble om-selves is from ourselves ; but we are said to humble ourselves, when God doth rule the parts he hath given us, when he sets our wits and understanding on work to see our misery, and then our wiU and affec tion to work upon these. Thus we are said to humble ourselves when God works in us. An hypocrite God may humble and work by him. He may work by graceless persons, but he doth not work in them. But God's children have God's Spirit in them, not only working in* them his own works, as he doth by hypocrites and sinful petsons, but his Spirit works in them. So that here is the main difference between true humUiation and that which is counterfeit. The one is voluntary, being a reflected action, to work upon and to humble ourselves ; but the other is a forced humiliation. 2, Again, True humiliation is ever joined with reformation. Humble thy self and walk with thy God, saith the prophet : Micah vi, 8, ' He hath shewed thee, 0 man, what he doth require of thee, to humble thyself, and walk with thy God,' Now the humiUation of wicked men is never joined with reformation. There is no walking with God. Josiah reformed him self and his people to outward obedience, as much as he could, but he had not their hearts at command, 3, Again, Sin must appear bitter to the soul, else we shall never be truly humbled for it. There is in every renewed soul a secret hatred and loathing of evU, which manifests the soundness both of true humiUation and refor mation, and is expressed in three things, (1.) In a serious purpose and resolution not to offend God in the least kind. The drunkard must purpose to leave his drunkenness, and the swearer resolve between God and his own heart, to forsake his base courses, and cry mightily herein for help from above. (2.) Secondly, There must be a constant endeavour to avoid the occasions and aUurements of sin. Thus Job made a covenant with his eyes, that ' he would not look upon a 'maid,' Job xxxi. 1 ; and thus every unclean and filthy person should make a covenant with themselves against the sins which they are most addicted unto. When they came to serve God, in Hosea, then ' away with idols,' Hosea. xiv 8. So must we, when we look heavenward, cast from us all our sins whatsoever. (3,) Thirdly, There must be a hatred and loathing of sin in our confes sions. We must confess it with aU the circumstances, the time when, and place where. We must aggravate our offences, as David did : ' Against thee have I sinned, and done this evU in thy sight ;' Ps. U. 4 ; and as the apostle : • I was a blasphemer, I was a persecutor,' I was thus and thus. He did * Qu. 'by'?— Ed. 54 THE AET OF SELF-HUMBLING. not extenuate his sin, and say, the rulers commanded me so to do ; but, ' I persecuted the church' out of the wickedness of mine own heart. A true Christian wiU not hide his sins, but lay them open, the more to abase him self before God, This aggravating of our sins wiU make them more vile unto us, and us more humble in the sight of them. True reformation of life is ever jomed with an indignation of aU sin, there is such a contrariety in the nature of a chUd of God against aU evil. [1.]* We should therefore first hate sin universally; not one sin, but every kind of sin, and that most of aU which most rules in us, and which is most prevalent in our own hearts, A sincere Christian hates sin in himself most. We must not hate that in another which we cherish in ourselves, [2.] We should haU sin the more, the nearer it comes to us, in our children and friends, or any other way. It was David's fault to let Absalom his son go unreproved in his wicked practices, and Eli for not correcting his sons. We see what came of it, even their utter overthrow. [3,] He that truly hates sin will not think much to be admonished and reproved when he errs. A man that hath a bad plant in his ground, that will eat out the heart of it, wUl not hate another that shaU discover such an evil to him ; so if any one shall reprove thee for this or that sin, and thou hate him for it, it is a sign corruption is sweet to thee. Only this caution must be remembered, reproof must not be given with a proud spirit, but in a loving, mild manner, with desire of doing good. There is a great deal of self-love in some men, who, instead of hating sin in themselves and others, approve and countenance it, especially in great men, flattering them in their base humours, and fearing lest by telUng them the truth they should be esteemed their enemies, [4,] Our hatred of sin may be discerned by our willingness to talk of it. He that hates a snake, or toad, wUl flee from it ; so a man that truly abhors sin, will not endure to come near the occasions of it. What shall we say then of those that prostitute themselves to all sinful delights ? As hatred of sin is in our affection, so it will appear in our actions. Those that love to see sin acted did never as yet truly loathe it. It is a sign that we do not hate sin when we take not to heart the sins of our land, ' Woe is me that I am constrained to dwell in the tents of Kedar,' saith David ; ' mine eyes gush out with tears because men keep not thy law,' Ps, cxx, 5, Lot's soul was vexed at the unclean conversation of the wicked, 2 Peter ii, 7, But, alas I how do we come short of this ! The greatest number are so far from mourning for the abominations of the land, that they rather set themselves against God in a most disobedient manner, and press others to sin against him. Are magistrates of David's mind, to labour to cut off aU workers of iniquity from the land ? Indeed, for small trifling things they will do a man justice, but where is the tender ness of God's glory ? Where are those that seek to reform idolatry, Sabbath-breaking, and profaneness amongst us ? Pity it is to see how many do hold the stirrup to the devil, by giving occasions and encourage ments to others to commit evil. Do we hate sin, when we are like tinder, ready to receive the least motion to it, as our fashion-mongers, who trans form themselves into every effeminate unbeseeming guise ? Shall we say that these men hate sin, which, when they are reproved for it, labour to defend it or excuse it, counting their pride but comeliness, their miserable covetousness but thirst,f and drunkenness only good fellowship ? * In margin here, ' Signs of a true hatred of sin.' — G. f Qu. ' thrift ' ?— Ed. THE ART OP SELF-HUMBLING. 55 To strengthen our indignation against sin the better, consider, 1. The ugliness thereof, how opposite and distasteful it is to the Almighty, as appears in Sodom and in the old world. It is that for which God himself hates his own creature, and for which he wUl say to the wicked at the day of judgment, ' Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,' Mat. xxv. 41. Sin is the cause of aU those diseases and crosses that befall the sons of men. It hath its rise from the devil, who is the father of it, and whose lusts we do when soever «ve offend God. There is not the least sin but it is committed against an infinite majesty, yea, against a good God, to whom we owe ourselves and aU that we have, who waits when you wiU turn to him and live for ever ; but if you despise his goodness, and continue still to provoke the eyes of his glory, is a terrible and revengeful* God, and ready every moment to destroy both body and soul in heU. Sin is the bane of all comfort. That which we love more than our souls undoes us. It embitters every comfort, and makes that we cannot perform duties with spiritual Ufe, Our very prayers are abominable to God so long as we live in known sin. What makes the hour of death and the day of judgment terrible but this ? 2. Again, Grow in the love of Ood. The more we delight in him, the more we shall hate whatsoever is contrary to him. In that proportion that we affect God and his truth we will abhor every evil way, for these go together. Ye that love the Lord, hate the thing that is ill. The nearer we draw to him, the farther we are separated from everything below, 3, And to strengthen our indignation against sin, we should drive our affections another way, and set them upon the right object. A Christian should consider. Wherefore did God give me this affection of love ? Was it to set it on this or that lust, or any sinful course ? Or hath he given me this affection of hatred that I should envy my brethren, and condemn the good way ? No, surely, I ought to improve every faculty of my soul to the glory of the giver, by loving that which he loves, and hating that which he hates, God's truth, his ways, and children, are objects worthy our love, and Satan with his deeds of darkness the fittest subjects of our indignation ,and hatred, I 4. Fourthly, True humiliation proceeds from faith, and is in the faithful not only when judgment is upon them, but before the judgment comes, which they foreseeing by faith, do humble themselves. True humiliation quakes at the threatenings, for the very frowns of a father wiU terrify a dutiful child. As Josiah, when he did but hear of the threatenings against the land, he humbled himself in dust and ashes. ' He rent his clothes.' So true humiliation doth quake at the foresight of judgment, but the wicked never humble themselves but when the judgment is upon them. Carnal people are like men that, hearing thunder-claps afar off, are never a whit moved ; but when it is present over their heads, then they tremble. So hypocrites care not for judgments afar off ; as now when the church of God is in misery abroad we bless ourselves, and think all is well. It is no thanks for a man to be humbled when the judgment is upon him, for so Pharaoh was, who yet, when the judgment was off, then he goes to his old bias again. Let us try our humiUation by these signs, whether we can willingly humble ourselves privately before God, and caU ourselves to a reckoning ; whether we add reformation of life to outward humUiation, when our heart * That is, = ' avenging.' — G, 56 THE AET OF SELF-HUMBLING, doth teU us that we live m such and such sins ; whether our hearts tremble at the threatenings, when we hear of judgments public or private. What is the ground that may deceive themselves ? They say, if any judgment come upon them, then they wUl repent, and cry to God for mercy _; and why should I deny myself of my pleasures of sin before ? Oh, this is but a forced humiUation, not from love to God, but love to thyself. It is not free, therefore thou mayest go to heU with it. Others defer off their repentance tiU it be too late. When they have any sickness upon them they wUl cry to God for mercy. This is but Ahab's and Pharaoh's humiU ation. It is not out of any love to God, but merely forced. It is too late to do it when God hath seized upon us by any judgment. Do it when he doth threaten, and now he hath seized upon the parts of the church abroad already ; therefore now meet thy God by repentance. 5, A fifth difference between true' humiUation and false is, that with true humiliaiion is joined hope, to raise up our souls with some comfort, else it is a desperation, not a humiliation. The devils do chafe, vex, and fret themselves, in regard of their desperate estate, because they have no hope. If there be no hope, it is impossible there should be true and sound humi liation; but true humiUation doth carry us to God, that what we have taken out of ourselves by humiUation, we may recover it in God. There fore humility is such a grace, that though it make us nothing in ourselves, yet doth it carry us to God, who is all in aU, Humiliation works between God and ourselves, and makes the heart leave itself, to plant and pitch itself upon God, and looks for comfort and assurance from him. And where there is not this there is no true humiliation. There is nothing more profitable in the world than humility, because, though it seem to have nothing, yet it carrieth the soul to him that fills all in all. Hence it is, that there is an abasing of ourselves for anything that we have' done amiss, from love to God and love to his people, but yet it is joined with hope. We know God to be a gracious God unto us, and therefore we humble our selves, and are grieved for offending of him. 6, A sixth difference between true humiliation and false is this, That hypocrites are sorrovful for the judgment that is upon them ; but not for that which is the cause of the. judgment, which is sin ; but the child of God, he is humbled for sin, which is the cause of all judgments. As good Josiah, when he heard read out of Deuteronomy the curses threatened for sin, and comparing the sins of his people with the sins against which the curses were threatened, he humbled himself for his sin and the sins of his people. For God's children know, if there were no iniquity in them, there should no adversity hurt them ; and therefore they run to the cause, and are humbled for that. Whereas the wicked, they humble themselves only because of the smart and trouble which they do endure. 7, The last difference between true humiliation and false is this, that true humiliation is a thorou//h humiliation. Therefore it is twice repeated in this verse, ' thou didst humble thyself before God ; ' when thou heardest the words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, ' and humbledst thyself before me,' It is twice repeated in this verse, and after ward expressed by ' rending of clothes,' and ' tears.' It was thorough humUiation, For he dwelt upon the humbling of his own soul. So that the chUdren of God thoroughly humble themselves, but the hypocrite, when he doth humble himself, it is not thoroughly. They count it a light matter. As soon as the judgment is off, they have forgotten their humUiation, as Pharaoh did. Many wUl heave a few sighs, and hang down the head like THE ART OF SELF-HUMBLING, 57 a bulrush for a time ; but it is, like Ephraim's morning dew, quickly gone. They have no sound and thorough humUiation, It is but a mere offer of humiliation. Whereas the children of God, when they begin, they never cease working upon their own hearts with meditation, until they have brought their heart to a blessed temper, as we see in David, Ezra, Nehe miah, and Daniel, how they did humble themselves. But why do God's children take pains in humbling themselves ? Partly because it must be done to purpose, else God will not accept it ; and partly because there is a great deal of hardness and pride in the best; and much ado before a man can be brought for to humble himself. There fore we must labour for this. We see what ado there was before Job could be brought to humble himself. Yet Job must be humbled before there comes ' one of a thousand' to comfort him, as Job xxxiii. 23. If a man be once thoroughly and truly humbled, he shall soon have comfort. By these marks we may know true humiliation from an humiliation coun terfeit. Quest. But here may arise another question. How may we know when we are humbled enough, or when we are grieved enough ? Ans. To this I answer, 1, That there is not the same measure of humilia tion required in all. For those whom God did pick out for some great work, he doth more humble them than others, as he did Moses and Paul before he wrought the great work of converting the Gentiles, So David, before he came to be king, was a long time humbled, 2, Again, There are others that have been greater sinners, and more openly wicked in their courses than others, and in them a greater measure of humi liation is required, 3, Again, There are others that are more tenderly brought up from child hood, who have often renewed their repentance. These need not to be humbled so much as others ; for humiliation should be proportionable unto the sinful estate of the soul; which because it differs in divers men, in like manner their humiliation ought to differ. But to answer the question more directly, we are said to be humbled enough, 1, First, When we have wrought our souls to a hearty grief that ice have ofended Ood, when we have a perfect and inward hatred of aU sin, and when thou dost shew the truth of thy grief by leaving off thy sinful courses. So that, dost thou hate and leave thy sinful course ? Then thou art suffi ciently humbled. Go away with peace and comfort, thy sins are forgiven thee. Therefore it is not a slight humiUation that wUl serve the turn,_but our hearts must be wrought unto a perfect hatred and leaving of all sins ; for if this be not, we are not sufficiently humbled as yet. And when we find ourselves to hate and leave sin in some measure, then fasten our souls by faith, as much as may be, upon the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. For the soul hath two eyes, the one to look upon itself and our vileness,_ to humble us the more ; the other, to fasten upon the mercy of God in Christ, to raise up our souls. For if the whole soul were fastened upon its own misery and vileness, then there could not be that humiUation which ought to be, neither could we serve God with such cheerfulness ; therefore we must have our souls raised up to God's mercy. Now let us labour for the first, because the devil is so main an enemy unto it ; for he knows weU enough, that so much as we are humble and go out of ourselves to God, and rest upon him, so much we stand impregnable against his temptations, that he cannot prevaU against us ; and so much as we do not trust in God, but upon the creature, so much must we lie open to his snares. 58 THE AET OP SELF-HUMBLING. Therefore all his temptations tend to draw us to trust in the creature, to have a conceit of ourselves, and to draw our hearts from relying upon God, His first plot is always to make us rest in ourselves. Therefore let us labour to go out of ourselves, to see a vanity in ourselves, and a happiness in God, that so going out of oursejves, and relying upon God and his mercies, we may stand safe against Satan's temptations. Use. This should teach us to take heed of such affections as tend directly contrary to humiliation ; for how can it be but that those should be proud, that hold the doctrine of the Church of Rome, as, first, that we have no original sin in us, but it is taken away by baptism ; that we are able to fulfil the law fully in this life. This is presumptuous. Whereas Paul cries out after baptism, ' 0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death ! ' Rom, vii, 24, Nay, they can do more, namely, works of supererogation, whereby they merit heaven. How do these blow up the heart of man, and make it swell with pride,! This must needs make men very proud, to think that a man can merit by works. With such blasphe mous opinions they have infected the world, and led captive - miUions of souls into hell. Therefore let this be a rule of discerning true religion ; for surely that is true religion which doth make us go out of ourselves ; that takes away all from ourselves and gives all the glory to God ; which makes us to plead for salvation by the mercy of God through the merits of Christ. But our reUgion doth teach us thus. Therefore it is the true re ligion, and wiU yield us sound comfort at the last. Thus much for inward humiliation, the humbling of ourselves, as Josiah did. THE ART OF MOURNING. SERMON IIL But because thine heart ivas tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord. — 2 Chron. XXXIV, 27. As the waters issuing from the sanctuary, mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel, grew deeper and deeper; first to the ancles, then to the knees, and after to the loins, until it came to an overflowing river, so hath it fared with us in handling of this text ; wherein, from tendemess of heart, we have waded deeper and deeper through the mysteries of humiliation in the inward man, until at length from thence we are broken forth to the outward expressions of Josiah's inward humiliation, his ' rending of his clothes,' and overflow ing floods of 'tears;' which sprung partly from his apprehension of ruin at hand, to come upon God's sanctuary, and partly from the sorrow and sense of sin in himself and the people, as causes of his fear. But to come to the text now read in your hearing, ' And didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me,' here we have set down the outward expres sion of Josiah's inward humiUation. For trae humiliation shews itself as well outwardly as inwardly. Now, the outward expression of his inward affection is set down in two things : , 1, By rending of his clothes ; 2, By his weeping. No doubt but he did express his sorrow as well by words as by these gestures, although they be not here set down with the other ; for he might for the time be surprised with so great a measure of sorrow and grief, as could not be expressed presently at that instant, or we may conceive that for the time he was so thoroughly humbled, that he could not speak orderly. Wherefore God did regard and look more to his affections and tears than to his words, for he rent his clothes and wept before God, As it is written of the poor publican, that he could not say much, and looked down with his eyes, saying, ' Lord, be merciful to me a sinner,' Luke xviU, 13 ; and as it was with the poor woman in the gospel who came to Christ weeping, and washed his feet with her tears, yet she said nothing, Luke vii, 38 ; and as when Christ, upon the cock's third crowing, looked upon Peter, we 60 THE AET OP MOURNING, find not what he said, but that he went out and wept bitterly, Luke xxii. 61, 62 ; so here, we may imagine Josiah's affection was too fuU of sorrow to speak distinctly and composedly ; for from a troubled soul can proceed nothing but troubled words ; from a broken heart comes broken language. But howsoever, likely it is that Josiah did speak somewhat ; for God saith, ' I have even also heard thee,' But to leave this and come to the outward expressions here set down, let us learn somewhat from his rending of his clothes and weeping, ' Rending of clothes' was a thing frequently used in old times, as we see in the Scriptures ; and it was a visible representation of the inward sorrow of the heart. Job rent his clothes. Job i. 20 ; his friends rent their clothes, Job U. 12 ; Paul and Barnabas rent theirs. Acts xiv. 14 ; the high priest rent his clothes, being to accuse Christ, Mark xiv, 63 ; and Hezekiah rent his clothes when he heard the words of Rabshakeh, Isa, xxxvU. 1, Nay, this was a common action, and frequently used among the heathen also ; for they likewise, upon any disastrous accident, were used to_ rend their clothes; as we read of a heathen king, that having his city invaded round about with enemies, rent his clothes,* So that it hath _ been the custom both of God's church and also of heathen, to rend their clothes. But what is the ground or reason of this ? The reason of such their rend ing of clothes was, because that in their sorrow they thought themselves unworthy to wear any. They forgat all the comforts of this life ; as holy Josiah forgets his estate, his throne, his royal majesty, and crown. He looks up to the great God, and considers duly whom he stood under, and the miserable estate of the people, over whom he was governor ; and there upon he rends his clothes, shewing hereby that he was unworthy of those ornaments wherewith he was covered. We know that clothes have divers uses ; as, 1. First, For necessity, to cover our nakedness, and to preserve from the injuries of the weather, 2. Secondly, Clothes are given for distinction of sexes and degrees: to know the great man from the mean, the woman from the man. 3, And lastly. They serve for ornaments to honour our vile fleshy- which is so base that it must fetch ornaments from base creatures. Now, so far as they served for ornaments, he rent his clothes, as thinking himself unworthy of any garments ; for he being in grief doth rend his clothes, thinking with himself, why should I stand upon clothes and outward things to cover me ? God is angry. Till he be appeased I will take no pleasure in any earthly thing. Therefore, apprehending the wrath of God, he rent his clothes. Well, this is but an outward expression, and therefore it must proceed from inward truth. This rending of clothes was a national ceremony, which seeing we have not used amongst us, we must rend our hearts with grief. For the rending of clothes shews the rending of the heart before, without which there is no acceptance with God ; for the rending of the clothes without the rending of the heart is but hypocrisy ; as Joel ii. 13, he says, ' Rend your hearts, and not your garments, ye hypocrites.' So that out ward expressions of sorrow are no further good, than when they come from inward grief and affection. Now, when both these are joined together it is a comely thing ; for wherein stands comeUness but when all the parts of our body do agree in proportion, when one Umb is not bigger than another? So it is uncomely and an hypocritical thing for a man to have all outward * Query, Is this an allusion to the Sultan — the 'raging Turk' of the Puritans—' in his anguish at the siege of Soodra? Cf. among others Trapp on Ezra ix. 3. — G. THE AET OP MOURNING. 61 expression and yet to have no inward grief. This is but acting of humilia tion, when we hang down the head like a bulrush, and the heart is not sound. But outward expressions are good when the heart is grieved to purpose ; when they proceed from inward humiliation. Quest. And why ought this to be ? Ans. Because both body and soul have a part in the action of sin. Therefore it is needful that they should be joined in humiliation for sin. There is no sin of the body but the soul hath part in it, nor any sin in the soul but the body hath part in it. Therefore both body and soul should be humbled together. Labour then to have outward expressions and shows of sorrow come from a true sorrowful heart. There be two things in the religious actions of men, 1, There is the outward action or expression. 2. There is the inward, which gives life to the other. The outward is easy, and subject to hypocrisy. It is an easy matter to rend clothes and to force tears, but it is a hard matter to afflict the soul. The heart of man taketh the easiest ways, and lets the hardest alone, thinking to please God with that. But God will not be served so ; for he must have the inward affections, or else he doth abhor the outward actions. Therefore let us as well labour for humble hearts as humble gestures. We must rend our hearts and not our clothes, when we come into the priesence of God, We must labour, as to shew humiUty, so to have humility, that so we be not Uke hypocrites, who make show of a great deal of devotion in carriage, but yet have none in heart ; a great deal of outward humUiation, whenas they have none within. The papists are wicked and erroneous in all their devotions, especially in the point of justification, and in other points of the worship of God ; for is it not a superstitious error, to think to please God with outward observations, when they do not come from inward truth ? Their religion is all an outside, consisting merely of outward performances. But true devotion, the Scrip ture teacheth, cometh from a heart judicially understanding the case of its own self ; considering what a great God it hath to deal withal, a God full of glory and majesty. Doth God love blind sacrifices ? No, Devotion must come from the heart, and spread itself from thence into the counte nance aiid carriage. For then it is true, when the outward expression doth shew the inward disposition. Use. This reproves the negligence of people in these times. Where is their inward humiUation ? Nay, where is their outward humiliation ? In popery, there is an acting of humiliation. They whip themselves in their bodies, and other such outward fooleries and gestures they have iu their hypocri tical devotions. Thus do they in some sort humble themselves. But how few are there amongst us that humble themselves in apprehension of their pwn misery, who yet, if they look to their own persons, have cause enough I Yea, and how few are there that are humbled for the miseries of the church abroad ! Where shall we find a mourning soul ? Well, seeing it is not a custom amongst us to rend our clothes, yet let us make conscience of being proud in apparel ; for it is a wicked and a fearful thing when men wUl regard some wicked and foolish fashion, and set more by it than by God's favour, threatenings, and judgments abroad. Many there are that, instead of rending their clothes, come into God's house to shew their bravery ; to see and to be seen. Where they should most of all humble themselves, there they come to shew their pride, even before God. 'Whereas they should come to hear the voice of the great God 62 THE AET OF MOUENING, of heaven, and stand in his presence, who is a ' consuming fire,' Before whom the very angels cover their faces and the earth trembles, they, contrari wise, come to outface and provoke him with their pride. We see Josiah, though he were a king, he rent his clothes, forgot aU his bravery, and considers himself not so much a king over the people, over whom God had set him, as a subject to God. Wherefore, though, as I said, the custom of rending of clothes be not used m our church, yet let us ever make con science of rending our hearts, and so to make our peace with God, as this good king did. It foUows ; — ' And weptest before me,' In which words is set down the seco7id outward expression of Josiah's inward humiliation, which is ' weeping,' This came nearer to him than rend ing of clothes, for it touched his body. Hence, in a word, observe, Doct. 1. That the body and soul must join together in the action of humUia tion, for the soul and body go together in the acting of sin, therefore they must go together in humiUation. As they were both made by God, and redeemed by Christ, so they sin and practise good together. Now I wiU shew three ways wherein the soul and body have communion one with another, whereby it may appear how reasonable and fitting a thing it is they should be both humbled together, 1, First, The soul and body have communion together by way of impres sion or information ; for sensible things have an impression upon the senses, and so come into the soul ; for nothing comes into it but through the senses of the body ; because, though the soul may imagine golden moun tains, and things that it never saw, yet the working of the soul depends upon the body, for the body informs it of all outward objects. As the body is beholding to the soul for the ruling and guiding of it, so the soul is beholding to the body for many things ; as now in the very sacrament, God helps the soul with the senses ; Christ, as it were, in the sacrament enters through the senses more lively than in the preaching of the word, for there he enters in by the ears, but in the sacrament he is seen, tasted, handled, felt. So that the soul and body have communion together by way of information. 2. Secondly, The soul and body have communion together by ivay of temptation ; for the soul standing in need of many outward things which are pleasing and delightful, and having sympathy with the body, it is led away by the body. Outward objects are pleasing to the senses of carnal men. Now these passing through the senses into the soul, it is led away, and so they become a dangerous temptation, 3, Thirdly, The soul and the body have communion together, both in sinful and in good actions, by way of subjection or execution ; for God hath made the body, with the parts thereof, to be the instruments and weapons of the soul. The body is a house wherein the soul is kept. It is a shop for the soul. Now the soul useth the body, with the members thereof, as instruments or weapons, either to honour God or dishonour him. The wicked fight against God with all the members of their body, with their eyes, tongue, feet, hands. Now the body having thus a part in sin, as well as the soul, therefore it is necessary that the body and soul should join together in humiliation. Caution. Here we must take heed of a notable sleight of the devil in popery. The papists think the body only in fault for sin, and therefore they humble and afflict their bodies for it, while they puff up their soul, THE ART OP MOURNING, 63 with pride, a conceit of merit and satisfaction. They are falsely humble and truly proud, whUe they afflict the body and omit the soul. They are falsely humbled, because they humble their body only ; but truly proud, because they think by afflicting and humbling their bodies to merit. But let us take heed of this gross error, and remember to let both soul and body join in the work, Doct. 2. The second thing here to be noted is, that when God will afflict or humble a man, it is not a kingdom that will save him. As Josiah, though he were a monarch, — ^for he was an absolute monarch, — ^yet if God threaten, his kingdom can do him no good. If God will abase men, whether they be his children or enemies, it is not a kingdom can protect them. When God shewed Belshazzar the handwriting upon the wall, he could take- no comfort in anything, Dan, v. 5 ; yea, his dear children, if he shew but tokens of his displeasure against them, though they be kings, as Josiah was, yet he can humble them. If God roar, it is not their greatness can keep them ; if not now, yet he will make them to treiflble hereafter, Doct. 3, The third thing here that we learn from the example of Josiah, being a king, is. That tears and mourning for sin, when it comes from inward grief, is a temper well befitting any man. It is a carriage befitting a king. It is not unbeseeming any, of what sex or degree soever. It is no womanish or base thing. When one hath to deal with God, he must forget his estate and take the best way to meet with God, This is evident by many instances, for David, though a man of war, yet when he had to deal with God he watered his couch with his tears, Ps, vi. 6. So Hezekiah, though a great king, yet he humbled himself, Isa, xxxviii. 1, seq. Nay, our blessed Saviour himself did it ' with strong cries and tears,' Heb, v. 7, when he had to deal with God, Use. This serves for the justification of this holy abasement and humbling of ourselves. When we have to deal with God, then all abasement is little enough, ' I will be yet more vile than thus,' saith holy David, 2 Sam, vi, 22, So let us say when we have to deal with God ; I will be yet more vile, and so cast ourselves down before the Lord. All expression of devo tion is Uttle enough, so it be without hypocrisy. Yet I pray give me leave once again to give warning unto you concerning outward actions, for most have conceived wrong of devotion and humiUation. They think that devo tion is only in outward actions ; as in outward act to hear a little, to read, confer, or pray a little, whereas in truth these outward acts do only make up the body of devotion, which, without the soul, namely, the inward reli gious affection, looking unto God, is no better than a dead carrion. Our outward expression must come from the apprehension of the goodness, mercy, and justice of God, before whom the very angels veil their faces. It is not outward devotion that wiU serve the turn, as to come to the church with this bare conceit and forethought ; I wiU go pray, and kneel, and express aU outward carriage, in the meantime neglecting to stir up the soul to worship God with these or like thoughts ; I wiU go to the place where God is, where his truth is, where his angels are, to hear that word whereby I shaU be judged at the last day. Therefore let aU holy actions come from within first, and thence to the outward man. Let us work upon our hearts a consideration of the goodness, justice, majesty, and mercy of God, and then let there be an expression in body, such as may bring men off from their sins ; for else there is a spirit of superstition that wiU draw men far from God in seeming services, conceiving that God wUl accept of outward and formal expressions only. WeU, we see that weeping and mournmg 64 THE AET OF MOUENING. for sins is a carriage not unbeseeming for a king. Therefore it is a desperate madness not to humble ourselves and be abased, now we have to deal with God. Your desperate atheists of the world wiU not tremble at threatenings, nor humble themselves tUl death comes, which humbles them and makes them tremble ; whereas, on the contrary, that soul which, feeling the wrath of God, humbles itself betimes, and trembles at threatenings, that soul, I say, — when the great judgment of death comes, and appearance before God, — looks death in the face with comfort ; whereas your desperate atheists, that can now scorn God, swear at every word, and blaspheme God to his face ; let God but shew his displeasure, they tremble and quake upon any noise of fear. Therefore when we have to deal with God, it is wisdom, and the ground of all courage, to humble and abase ourselves with fear, as Josiah did although he were a king, • ' And thou didst weep before me.' His tender heart did melt itself into tears. In the first clause of the verse you have his tender heart set down, and here we have tlie melting of the tender heart. There we have the cloud, here we have the shower. Therefore I will speak something of the original of tears. We know that tears are strained from the inward parts, through the eyes ; for the under- . standing first conceiveth cause of grief upon the heart, after which the heart sends up matter of grief to the brain, and the brain being of a cold nature, doth distil it down into tears ; so that if the grief be sharp and piercing, there will follow tears after from most. But to come to the particulars ; we see the provoking cause of tears, from without, in Josiah, was the danger of his kingdom, hearing the judgment of God threatened against his country and place. Whence, for the instruction of magistrates, I will enforce this point. Doct. 4l. That it concerns magistrates above all others, to take to heart any \ danger whatsoever, that is upon their people ; for as kings are set above all ! other people in place, so they should be above them in goodness and grace, i They ought, above all others, to take to heart any judgment, either upon them already, or feared ; as good Josiah did, whom, wbUe he looked not so much to himself and his own good, as to that state whereof he was king, the very threatenings of judgment against it, made to express his grief with tears. The bond that knits the king to the people, and the people to the king, requires this ; for kings are heads, and shepherds over the people. Now the shepherd watcheth over his flock ; the head is quickly sensible of any hurt of the body ; aU the senses are provident for the body. So it should be with all great persons in authority. They should cherish the good estate of the subjects as their own ; for they are committed to their | care. And even as the head doth care for the body, and forecast for it, so ! those that are in authority should forecast for any good to the body of the commonwealth. An excellent example of this we have in holy David ; who, when there was a judgment coming upon his people, Lord, saith he, let the judgment come upon me and my father's house ; what have these sheep done?' 2 Sam, xxiv. 17. And surely such magistrates as are tenderly affected with the case of those under them, shall lose nothing by it ; for the people likewise wUl carry a tender affection towards them again. ^ As we see, when the people went to fight against Absalom, they would not let David go with them, but they said to him, ' Thou art worth ten thousand of us,' 2 Sam, xvUi, 3 ; that is, they had rather that ten thousand of them should die in the battle, than that David should have any hurt come to THE ART OP MOURNING. 65 him ; so he lost nothing for his love and affection towards the people, for they shewed the like love to him in his distress. So likewise when Josiah was dead, the people wept largely for him (for with him perished aU the glory of that fiourishing kingdom), as we may read in the story, 2 Chron, xxxv. 24, 25, compared with Zech. xii. 11. They mourned for him with an exceeding great mourning, in Hadadrimmon, in the valley of Megiddo. So that there is no love lost between the magistrate and the people ; for if the magistrate be tenderly affected to them, the people will likewise weep for him again, and lament his case in his distress. But now to come to a more general instruction, we will leave speaking of Josiah as king, and take him into consideration as an holy man, and make him a pattern unto us all, of whatsoever civil condition we be ; and so we learn this point, Doct. 5. That it is the duty of every Christian to take to heart the threaten ings of God against the place and people where he doth live; to take to heart the afflictions and miseries of the church and commonwealth, the grievances of others as well as his own. The mourning and weeping of Josiah" was for the estate of the church, when he heard the judgment threatened against the place and inhabitants thereof. There be tears of compassion for our selves and for others. There were both of them in Josiah ; for no doubt but he wept for himself and his own sins, and over and above his own had special tears of compassion for his people. Thus then it becomes a Chris tian that will have the reward of Josiah, to abase his heart as he did for the estate of the church. Good Nehemiah took to heart the grief of his country. The joy of his own preferment did not so much glad him, as the grief for his nation the Jews cast him down. What joy can a true heart have, now the church of God is in affliction ? We are all of one house. When one part of the house is a-fire, the other part had need to look to itself. There were many things wrought upon the heart of Josiah, which caused him to weep ; so there are many causes should move us, as the seeing of the sins that are committed in the land ought to make us grieve, and to express our grief one way or other. And the love of Christ, were it in us, would make us mourn ; as when we hear God blasphemed, and his name dishonoured, and when we see the people bent to idolatry ; how can this but break even a heart of stone, nay, a gracious heart will mourn and weep for the judgment of God upon wicked men, considering them as men, and as the creatures of God. Thus Christ wept for the wicked Jews in Jerusalem, though they were his enemies : ' 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem,' &c., Luke xix. 41 ; and so good Jeremiah, though he were ill used, and exceedingly abused by the people, yet he saith, ' Oh that my head were water, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for them,' Jer. ix. 1. Though they had wronged, persecuted, and counted him a contentious fellow, only because he taught the truth of God ; yet such was the affection of tender-hearted Jeremiah, that he desired that he might weep day and night for them. But continual weeping must have a lasting spring affording continual issues of tears, which Jeremiah not find ing in himself (such is the dryness of every man's heart, that it is soon emptied of tears), and thereupon fearing he should not weep enough, he doth earnestly desire it, and if hearty wishes may obtain, he would have it to be supplied with a plentiful measure of tears in his lamentation for the ensuing calamity of his people : ' 0 that mine head were a well of water, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people ! ' 66 THE ART OF MOUENING. Quest. But why did not Jeremiah rather pray that they had a fountain of tears to weep for themselves ? Ans. Because he, knowing the hardness of their hearts, thought it to no end to entreat them to weep for themselves. Their hearts were harder than the nether miUstone. They never desired it, yet he weeps for them. Thus we see how godly men have been formerly affected, and [that] it is our duty even to weep and mourn for the very wicked. We have matter enough of lamentation and weepings at this day, if we look abroad ; and at home, if we look to judgments felt and feared, we have cause to weep, before the decree come out against us. Therefore we should meet God beforehand. It is no thank for a man to be humbled when the judgment is come upon him ; but when we can weep before the judgment is come, it is a sign of faith. Happy were we if faith could make us do that which sense makes wicked men to do. If the beUeving of the judgment before it come would make us seek unto God, Oh how God would love such a one I This should teach us every one to mourn ; and indeed a Christian soul cannot but do it, and that for divers reasons. 1, First, Because of that sympathy between the Head and the members. A Christian hath the spirit of Christ, who takes to heart the miseries of the church. Now, can that spirit of Christ be in any, and he not affected as Christ in heaven is affected ? Surely no. 2, Again, It must needs be so in regard of the communion which is between the members of the body. We are all a part of one mystical body, whereof Christ is the head. What member can he be of this body that doth not take to heart the miseries of the other members ? There is want of life where there is no sense of misery. 3, Thirdly, Where there is true grace there will be weeping and mourn ing for the church, in regard of the insolency of the church's enemies and their blasphemous speeches. Where is now their God? their religion? What is now become of their Reformation ? What child can hear the reproach and dishonour of God his Father without bowels of compassion ? 4, Again, A gracious man will weep in regard of tlie danger of not mourn ing ; for by not mourning we have a kind of guilt lying upon us, for we make the sins and miseries of the church our own, as Paul tells the Corin thians, reproving them for not mourning, 1 Cor. v. 2. Therefore as we are a part of the body, so we must have a part of the shame and grief. Again, God hath promised to mark and single out all those that mourn for the sins of the time ; therefore, on the contrary, those that do not moum are in a dangerous estate, Ezek, ix, 4. 5. Again, We must add reformation unto lamentation, else the whole church and commonwealth is in danger. If Achan be not sought out and punished, the whole state is in danger, and Ues open to the wrath of God. For these reasons we ought to take to heart the sins and miseries of the times ; for the Spirit of God is in every Christian, that wUl not suffer him otherwise to be, than to weep and mourn for his pwn sins, and for the sins and miseries of others. . ZJse 1. If this be so, what wUl become of those that take not to heart nor mourn for the miseries of the church ? that judge not aright of the poor, but censure the judgment of the afflicted, add affliction to the afflicted and misery to the miserable ? What shaU we say to those that are so far from helping God, that they help the enemies of God, and are grieved at the heart to hear any cause of comfort on the church's part ? whose hearts it doth joy to hear of any overthrow on the church's side ? Such false hearts THE ART OF MOUENING. 67 there "are, and many that are glad of the sins of others, thinking thereby to hide their own wicked courses. These men are far from mourning. Let our souls also be far from entering into their secrets. Use 2, If this be so, that holy men ought to take to heart and weep for the judgments of the commonwealth, both felt and feared, and also for the judgment of God upon the churches abroad, then Quest. How may we get this weeping and mourning for others ? I answer, Ans. 1. First, Remove the impediments that hinder; as, first, a hard and stony heart, which is opposite to tenderness. Josiah had a melting heart, and therefore it was soon dissolved into tears. Our hearts are worse than brass or stone, for workmen can work upon them ; but nothing will work upon the hard heart of man, AU the judgments in the world wUl not work upon it ; for all the IsraeUtes saw the judgments of God in Egypt, and all his mercies and blessings unto them in the wilderness, yet it would not work upon them, because they had hard hearts. Therefore let us get a good spring of tears, that is, a soft and tender heart, and let us beg it of God, for it is his promise to give us tender hearts ; and then there will be an easy expression of it in the outward man, 2, The second. Let us beware of the love of earthly things, and get a heart truly loving towards God ; for love is compared to fire ; and fire, among many other properties it hath, melts the gold, and makes it pUable, Heat is the organ of the soul, whereby it doth anything, and the instrument of nature. So spiritual heat, a warm soul, warmed with the love of God and of our Christian brethren, will make the heart pliable, and melt into tears. Therefore get a loving heart, fiUed with love to God and Christian brethren, that we may mortify self-love, which dries up the soul. There can be no melting in such a self-loved soul. Let us therefore labour for spiritual love, to cross and subdue carnal self-love. It is this blessed heat that must send forth this heavenly water of tears ; it is the spirit of love that must yield this distillation from the broken heart ; this works all heavenly affection in us. Therefore Christ compriseth all the commandments under love. And indeed that is all, 3, Thirdly, If we would have our souls fit to grieve, let us be content to see as much as we can, with our own eyes, the miseries of others. The best way to weep is to enter into the house of mourning, and set before our eyes the afflictions of others. The very sight of misery is a means to make the soul weep. And let us be willing to hear that which we cannot see ; as Nehemiah was content to hear, nay, to inquire, concerning the church abroad ; and when he heard that it was not well with them, it made him weep. Every man will cry, 'What news ? But where is the man, when he hears of the news beyond the seas, that sends up sighs to God ? prayer, that he would take pity upon his church? It is a good way to use our senses, to help our souls to grieve, 4. Again, Let us read [of] the estate of God's church, what it hath been from the beginning of the world ; what miseries God's children have en dured in former ages by reason of war and the Uke, that so we may work grief upon our own hearts. We have always matter of grief whUe we are in this world ; if we look abroad, we shaU find matter of mourning. And surely we should labour to mourn if we desire to be blessed. For ' blessed are they that mourn : they shaU be comforted,' Mat, v, 4, 5. Fifthly, That we may get this weeping and mourning,, let us work this tender affection upon our own hearts. The soul hath a facutly to work upon 68 THE AET OF MOUENING, itself. Therefore let us shame ourselves for our own deadness, dryness, and spiritual barrenness this way, that we can yield no sighs, no tears for God, for his church and glory. Let us reason thus with our souls : If I should lose my wife, or child, or my estate, this naughty heart of mine would weep and be grieved ; but now there is greater cause of mourning for myself and the church of God, and yet I cannot grieve. _ Augustine saith he could weep for her that kUled herself out of love to him, but he could not weep for his own want of love to God.* We have many that wiU weep for the loss of friends, wealth, and such Uke things, but let them lose God's favour, be in such an estate there is but one step between them and heU, they are never grieved nor moved at it. Therefore, seeing they do not weep for themselves, let us weep for them. Can we weep when we see a man hurt in his body, and ought we not much more for the danger of his soul ? Therefore let us work this sorrow upon our hearts. Now, we are to receive the sacrament, which is a feast, and therefore must be eaten cheerfully. The passover was a banquet, and therefore to be eaten with joy, but withal it was used to be eaten with sour herbs. So must it be in this blessed banquet which God hath provided for our souls. There must be sorrow as well as joy. It is a mixed action, and therefore it must be eaten with sour herbs, presenting to the eyes of our mind the object of the old Adam ; thinking upon the vileness of our nature, that have such filthy speeches, disobedient actions, such rebellious thoughts in us. Great need have I of the mercy and favour of God to look upon such a defiled soul as I am. And also, having in the eyes of our soul Christ crucified, look upon Christ, which is crucified in the sacrament, sacramentally. What was that which broke the body of Christ ? Was it not sin ? That sin which I so often cherish, this pride, this envy, unbelief, and hypocrisy, this covetous ness of mind was that which put Christ into such torment. It was not the naUs, but my sins. The sacrament must work upon our hearts so as to work grief in us. We must weep as the people did for Josiah, accordmg as God hath promised we should do. It is said, Zech. xii. 10, ' They shall look on him whom they have pierced by their sins, and weep and mourn for him as one that mourneth for his only son.' So then, the sacrament is not only a matter of joy and thanks, but a matter of sorrow. Therefore, if we would joy in the sacrament, let us first be humbled for sin, and then joy in it afterwards, Obj. But here it might be objected. Are we not bid for to rejoice always? and always to be thankful? 1 Thes. v. 16. Then how can these agree? for weeping and mourning are contrary to thanksgiving and joy. Ans. To this I answer, that the estate of a Christian in this life is a niixed estate, both inward and outward ; his outward estate and the inward disposition of the soul is mixed. Therefore, having this mixed estate, our carriage must [be] answerable ; as we have always cause of mourning and rejoicing both from that in us and from without us, therefore a Christian ought to rejoice always, and in some measure to mourn always. As, for example, _ A Christian hath cause of mourning within him when he looks upon his sinful nature and the sins which he doth daily commit, yet notwithstanding, at the same time, there is cause of joy, and great reason to bless God, when he considers that God hath pardoned his sins in Christ, Thus the apostle did, Rom. vU, 24 ; when he looked upon himself and his own vUeness, he cries out, ' 0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this * Augustine on the death of his mother Monica.— G. THE ART OP MOURNING, 69 body of death ! ' yet for aU this, at the same time he rejoiceth and blesseth God : ' I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord, who hath freed me from the law of sin and of death,' Thus, you see, we have always in respect of ourselves both cause of joy and mourning, therefore we must do both. So have we in like manner continual causes both of joy and sorrow from without us, if we look to the church of God : of joy, in regard there is a God in heaven who hath an eye to his church, who pitieth it and ten- dereth* it as the apple of his eye ; that takes to heart the afflictions of it ; that will be glorious in the midst of the troubles of his people, by uphold ing, comforting, and turning all to the best for them ; — of sorrow also, in respect of the miseries under which the church of God doth groan, of which we are bound to take notice, and so to weep with them that weep, Isa, xxii. 12 ; Amos vi, 6 ; Rom. xii. 15, You see the rare mixture of joy and sorrow in a Christian, whereby he is made capable of this great privilege, as neither to be swallowed up of grief, because that his sorrow proceeds from a heart where there is cause of joy, nor to lose himself in excessive joy, because he always sees in himself cause of sorrow. Now, as it is to be seen in other mixtures that there is not at all times an equal quantity or portion of each particular thing to be mingled, but now more of the one, and at another time more of the other, according as the cause doth vary, so is it in this mixture of joy and sorrow for ourselves and for others ; sometimes joy must abound with the causes of it, and sometimes sorrow with its causes doth superabound. It will be worth our inquiry, therefore, to know when to joy most, and when to weep most, which we shall know by God's call in outward occasions, and by the spirit of discretion within us, which will guide us. For God hath given his children a spirit of dis cretion, that will teach them when to joy and when to weep most. As God calls to mourning now in these times that the church of God is in misery, as he calls for sighs for the afflictions of Joseph, so the spirit of discretion within us doth tell us what to do. Quest. Yet here may be a question, How shall we know when to cease and leave off mourning ? for the soul is a finite thing, and cannot dwell upon one action always, because it hath many things to do ; and therefore it cannot always mourn nor always rejoice, Ans. To this I answer, that we have mourned enough, and discharged our duty sufficiently therein, when we have overcome our hearts, and brought them to a temper of mourning, and have complained before God, spread the UI of the times before him, and entreated pity from him, having poured out ourselves in prayer, though short, yet effectual. When we have this done, then we have discharged our duty in mourning, and may turn to other occasions as God doth require of us ; for when we have mourned and wept, then we must look upon causes of rejoicing and thanksgiving. We must always remember so to mourn and weep that yet notwithstanding, looking upon God's blessing upon us both in kingdom, state, and our own particular persons, we may be excited to thankfulness ; for we must not always be sullen, looking upon the evU, but casting our eyes upon the good things we do enjoy, we must provoke ourselves to be thankful. Even as men that have their eyes dazzled will look upon some green colour to recover their sight again, so when we have wrought upon our souls and brought them to mourn, then to help and raise them up, we ought to look upon causes of joy and thankfulness. We have cause of thankfulness when we consider that many churches in France and other places are invaded by enemies, * That is, ' guardeth.'— G. 70 THE AET OF MOUENING, oppressed with cruelty, and deprived of liberty, whUe yet we enjoy the Uberty and free passage of the gospel, being freed from the destruction of war and pestUence, which devoureth so many that it makes the land to mourn. He continueth to us liberty to hear the word, and gives us many blessings which others have not. Nay, we have cause to bless God for freeing us from that terriblest judgment of all judgments, — which makes both church and commonwealth to mourn, — because he doth not suffer us to fall into the hands of man, but takes us into his own hand to correct. It is God's infinite mercy that he doth not humble us by our enemies, but takes us into his own hand. Therefore let us not provoke him, lest he give us up to the hands of our mercUess enemies, which is a terrible judgment. We had better an hundreS times meet him by repentance, andcast our selves into his hands, for then we have only to deal with a merciful God ; but when we are to deal with merciless men that scorn the gospel, then we have both God and them to deal with, which doubles our affection. Therefore let us mourn, seeing we have cause, for ourselves and the estates of others ; but yet let us be thankful, for if we would be more thankful for God's benefits, we should have them longer continued. For, as prayer begs blessings, so thanksgiving continues them. As the best way to obtain good things is prayer and mourning, so the best wa,y to pre serve them is thanksgiving and rejoicing. /So, then, we have plainly seen that Christians should not always be dumpish and look sourly, but they must as well rejoice and be thankful, as mourn and weep. Quest. 1, But here, ere I proceed, I must answer some cases of con science. As, first, What shaU we say to those souls that cannot weep for the sins and miseries of the church, and therefore complain for the want of it? Secondly, What shaU we say to that soul that can weep, but more for outward than for spiritual things ? Sol. 1, To the first I answer briefly, that we must not speak friar -like of tears, and never know from whence they come. But when we speak of weeping, we must always understand that tears are no further good than when they spring from sorrow and love within, than when they proceed from inward hatred to sin, and from fear and love to the church of God, If this be in a man, the matter is not much for tears. There may be weeping without true sorrow, as there was in Esau for the blessing. Gen, xxvii. 38 ; and so the Jews, they could weep and howl upon their beds when there was a famine, yet there was no sound sorrow in them. And, on the contrary, there may be true sorrow without weeping, yea, and such may it be that there can be no weeping, because their sorrow may be so great that it is rather an astonishment than a weeping. In a fresh wound in the body, at the first there is not such pain felt nor the blood seen, because the part is astonied only ; so the soul for a time may be in such an astonishment and grief that there may be no expression of tears. Again, the soul doth foUow the temperature of the body. Some are of a more easy constitution to shed tears than others, so that there may be more grief where there are fewest tears. But to come to the question more directly, we ought to think our estates not so good as they should be, if we cannot at one time or other weep for the sins and miseries of the church. If we can shed tears for outward things at one time or other, and cannot weep for spiritual, it is a bad sign ; for certainly, one time or other ordinarily God's children express their sorrow for their sins, and the estate of the church, by tears. They either THE ABT OF MOURNING, 71 have tears for spiritual respects, or else they mourn that they cannot mourn, grieve that they cannot grieve, and desire that they might moum and that they could weep. They wish with Jeremiah that their head were a fountain of tears, they wish they might have their bodies to answer the intent of their soul, that so they might largely express outwardly their inward grief. As Jeremiah feared he should not have tears enough, therefore wished that his head were a fountain of tears, so they desire, Oh that I could mourn, and that I could weep I Sol. 2, But what shaU we say to those that can weep for other things ? Shall they be condemned for hypocrites ? 1. I answer. No ; for a torrent may run faster for the present than a continual current ; so on the sudden there may be tears and grief for out ward things, but yet grief for sin is more because of the continuance thereof. For sin is a continual cause of sorrow. Whereas sorrow for outward things is but on a sudden, as it was in David when he cried, ' Oh my son Absalom, my son Absalom ! ' 2 Sam. xviii. 33. What ado is here on the sudden for Absalom ! but yet he wept for his sins more, because that was a continual grief. So in a Christian, there may be some sudden passion, when he may seem to weep and grieve most for outward things, but yet his grief for sin and the misery of the church is more, because it is a continual grief. 2. Again, Spiritual grief comes from spiritual causes. Tears for sin, and for the church of God, do issue merely from spiritual grounds ; whereas in.natural grief for outward things, we have both the Spirit and nature that make us grieve. Now when both these meet together, they carry the soul strongly, as in a stream. So that there must needs be more tears and grief for outward things. As when the windows of heaven were opened from above, and the foundations below were broken up, there must needs foUow a great flood. Gen. vii. 11 ; so when we have the Spirit from above, and our nature below, there must of necessity be a great grief for outward things. But yet in these cases, a little of spiritual sorrow is better than a great deal of natural, for spiritual grief fats the soul. As the river Nile runs through Egypt, and fats the land, so this heavenly water of tears and grief fattens the soul, and makes it fit for all holy services. They are both good, but one less than the other. Natural grief is aUowable, which if a man have not, he is in a reprobate sense ; for the apostle reckons this up as a great sin, that in the latter days men should be without natural affec tion. So then we see, that for this reason also there may be a great store of grief and tears for outward things. 3. Again, Let them that grieve that they cannot more grieve, know and comfort themselves, that they have the Spirit of God within them, which is an everlasting spring that wiU in time overcome aU carnal and worldly respects whatsoever, and make the heart in a fit temper of weeping and grieving for spiritual respects. Use. WeU, if this be thus, what shaU we think of the jovial people of the world, who are so far from this sorrow, that — ^when a man shaU come and ask them when they wept for their sins, when they did ever mourn and send up sighs to God for their swearing, lying, profanation of God's Sabbath, for the wrong they have done to others, or for any of their sins — the time was never yet wherein they ever shed a tear for sin, or had a sigh, groan, or mourning for sin ? In what estate are we born in ? All children of wrath, and heirs of damnation. But when got you out of this state ? You have ever lived in jollity. Therefore as yet you are as you were born, a child of wrath. Do ye think to reap, and never sow ? to 72 THE AET OF MOUENING. reap in joy, and never sow in tears ? God puts aU his children's tears in a bottle ; but thou sparest God a labour, because thou never weepest. There are a company that engross all jollity and mirth, as if they had no cause to weep, whose language yet when any man hears, and observes their com-ses and living in gross sins, he may quickly judge that they of all others have most cause to weep, though there be none more free from mourning, and though they seem to be the only men of the world. But I say to such, go weep, howl, and lament for your sins ; for your peace is not yet made with God, Therefore never rest tiU thou hast got an assurance from heaven that thy sins are forgiven thee. Many people are angry because ministers teU them of this, but surely we must be damned if we do not. Therefore, as any would hope for comfort, and have God to wipe away their tears from them in another world, let them work upon their hearts here, to shed tears for their own sins first, and then for the sins of the time ; for their own first, I say, for a man must first be good in himself before he can be good to others ; and then let their grief extend to their brethren even beyond the seas, to the forlorn estate of the church there. Now the last thing that is noted in Josiah's weeping, is the sincerity of it. ' Thou hast wept before me ;' that is, sincerely, before God. He sinned before him, and is humbled before him. There is nothing hid from his sight, not only open sins, but he knows the very thoughts of our hearts : therefore let us weep before him without hypocrisy. No matter whether the world see it or no ; but let us weep before God, as the prophet saith, Jer. xiii. 17, ' My soul shall weep in secret for you, and mine eyes shaU weep, and drop down tears in the night season.' Let us weep in secret before God ; for this is without hypocrisy. Now follows the issue of his weeping and humbling of himself. ' I have even heard thee also,' saith the Lord. In which words is set down Ood's gracious acceptation of Josiah's humi liation ; which was not without his special observation. ' For I have even heard thee,' saith the Lord : so that it seems Josiah did utter some words of grief, because God saith, ' I have heard it. And we may the rather think so, because usually God's children do in their prayers add words unto their tears, as David and good Hezekiah did. Howsoever then his prayer was not a distinct prayer of a composed tenor of speech ; yet it was a prayer, because that with these tears he did send up sighs, and groans, and uttered broken words from a broken heart. There was such a language in his heart that God did understand, for God understands the language of his own Spirit in the hearts of his children. The Spirit knows what we mean, as Rom, viii, 26, 27. God hath an ear to hear our desires, our sighs and groans ; for tears have the weight of a voice, they speak for us. Where there is ti'ue grief, many times there cannot come a composed tenor of speech ; for a broken heart expresseth itself more in sighs, groans, and tears, than in words. Though we do not utter distinct words in a form of prayer, yet he hears our sighs and groans : his ears are open to the cries of his children. So we learn from hence, for our comfort against all Satan's temptations, Doct. 6. That God takes a particular notice, and understands the prayers we make unto him : he hears the groans of his children. So David saith, ' My groaning is not hid from thee,' Ps. xxxvUi. 9. So the prophet says, Ps. clxv. 18, 19, ' He wiU fulfil the desire of them that hear* him ; he wiU also * Qu. 'fear?'— Ed. THE ART OF MOURNING. 73 hear their cry, and wiU save them ;' yea, he knows our thoughts long before. This must needs be so. Reason 1. First, Because he is gracious and merciful ; he is a God hear ing prayers. 2. Because of the relations which in his love he hath taken upon himself, to be a Father. So that when a man shall, by the Spirit of adoption, call God Father, there is such a deal of eloquence and rhetoric in this very word, it works so upon the bowels of God, that he cannot choose but hear. Even as a child, when he speaks to his father, and calls him by this name, this word father doth so work upon him that he cannot but hear. So it is with God ; when he hears us call him Father, he cannot but hear us. 3. Because of his nature and love, which is above the love of an earthly father. Though a mother should forget, and not hear her child, yet the Lord will bear us. And likewise this is his promise : ' Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will hear thee, and thou shalt glorify me,' Ps. 1. 15. 4. Again, God cannot basely esteem of our prayers, because they are the motions of his own Spirit. Oh, but they are broken prayers. It is true ; but the Spirit understands them and makes intercession for us, with sighs and groans that cannot be expressed ; and none can understand them but the Spirit, Rom. viU. 26, 27. 6. Again, God cannot but hear our prayers, because they are offered up in the name of a mediator. They are perfumed with the incense and sacri fice of his Son. Therefore he cannot but hear them. 7. Again, God must needs hear our prayers, because they are made according to his will. When we pray for ourselves, and for the church of God, it is according to God's will. So then, if we consider these respects, God cannot but hear our prayers. Obj. But some wUl object, God doth not hear me: I have prayed a long while, and yet he hath not given me an answer., Ans. 1. I answer, God doth always hear, though he seemeth not to hear sometimes, to increase our importunity. Christ heard the woman of Canaan at first ; but yet, to increase her importunity, he gave her the repulse and denial, and with the same, inward strength to wrestle with him. Ans. 2. Again, God seems not to hear, because he delights in the music of his children's prayers. Oh how he loves to hear the voice of his chil dren I As a father to hear the language of his child, though it be none of the best ; so it is sweet music in God's ears to hear the prayers of his children. He will have prayers to be cries. Therefore he defers to hear ; but in deferring he doth not defer, for he increaseth our strength, as in Jacob's wrestUng, that we might cry after him, wrestle with him, and offer violence unto him again. Ans. 3. And sometimes, indeed, he will not hear us, because, it may be, there is some secret Achan in the camp, or some Jonah in the ship ; some sin, I mean, in the heart unrepented of; for in this case we may come before God again and again, and he not hear us. This is the reason why God hears not many Christians, because they have not made a thorough inquisition into their own estates, found out their sins, and humbled them selves for it. Thus we see for what reasons God defers to hear our prayers. Use 1. If this be so, that God doth hear us, let us make this use, to be plentiful in prayers, and lay up a great store of them in the bosom of God, for this is that wiU do us the most good. He hears every one in due time. We do never lose a sigh, a tear, or anything that is good, which proceeds 74 THE AET OF MOUENING. from his own Spirit, but he will answer abundantly in his own time. For he that gives a desire, and prepares our heart to pray, and gives_ us a Mediator by whom to offer them up, wiU doubtless accept of them m his own Son, and wiU answer them. The time wiU come when he wUl accept of nothing else, and we shaU have no other thing to offer up. What a comfort wiU it then be, that we have m former times, and can now call upon God ! The day is coming when goods, wiU do us no good, but prayers will. What a comfort then is it to a Christian, that he hath a God to go to, that hears his prayers ! Let aU the world join together against a Christian, take away all things else and cast him into a dungeon, yet they cannot take away his God fi'om him. What a happiness is it to pray I We can never be miserable so long as we have the Spirit of prayer. Though we were in a dungeon with Jeremiah, or in the whale's belly with Jonah, yea, though in heU, yet there we might have cause of comfort. Let us therefore be ashamed of our barrenness in this duty, and observe whether God hear our prayers, or else how can we be thankful ? Ther^ be many that pray, because their consciences do force them to some devotion, and therefore they slubber over a few prayers that their consciences may not smite them, but they never observe the issue of their prayers, whether God hears them or not ; whereas God is a God hearing prayers, and the chUd of God doth esteem of nothing but that which he hath from God, as a fruit of prayer, and therefore accordingly he doth return thanks. God will have his children beg aU of him. As some fathers wUl give nothing to their children, but they will have them first ask it of them, so God will give us nothing but what we pray for. And though he doth exceed to give us more than we ask, yet he looks that we should return thanks in some measure proportionable to the benefit received. Therefore let us observe how God hears our prayers, that so we may be suitably thankful. This will strengthen our faith in evil times when we can thus plead with God. Hear, Lord ! Heretofore I came before thee, though weakly, yet with a broken heart, and thou didst hear me then. Thou art still a God hearing prayer, therefore, Lord, look upon my estate now and help me. Seeing, then, God hears our prayers, let us think of this glorious privilege, that we have liberty to go to the throne of grace in all our wants. The whole world is not worth this one privilege. We cannot command the prince's ear at all times ; but we have a God always to go to, that will hear us. What a wretched folly is it therefore of those that, by their sins, bring themselves into such a condition that they cannot have God to hear them. Quest. But how shall we make such prayers as God will hear ? Ans. I answer first of all. Would we be in such an estate that we may enjoy this blessed privUege, to have God's ear ready to hear ? 1, First, Then hear him. If we wiU have God to hear us, then let us hear God, as Josiah did. When he heard the word read, his heart melted. For ' he that turneth away his ears from hearing the law, even his prayers shall be abominable,' saith God, Prov, xxviii. 9, And is it not good reason, think we, for God not to hear us, when we wUl not hear him ? Prov, i. 24, 25, ' Because I have caUed, and you have refused ; when you are in misery, and shaU out of self-love cry to me to be delivered, then I wiU refuse to hear you,' saith the Lord, Therefore let aU profane persons, that wiU not hear God, know a time wiU come, that though they cry and roar, yet he wiU not hear them. 2, Secondly, If we wiU have God hear our prayers, they must proceed from a broken heart. Prayers be the sacrifice of a broken spirit. Josiah THE AET OF MOUENING, 75 had a tender and a broken heart, and therefore God could not despise his prayers. So David pleads with God : Ps, Ii, 17, ' The sacrifice of God is a broken and a contrite spirit,' So holy Bernard saith, ' I have led a life unbefitting me ; but yet my comfort is, that a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Lord, thou wUt not despise,'* God wiU hear the prayers and tears of relenting hearts, 3. Thirdly, To strengthen our prayers we must add to them the wings of love, faith, hope, and eamestness, as Josiah did here. Out of love to his country his prayers were joined with weeping, and he wrestled with tears. Oh I the prayers that have tears with them cannot go without a -blessing, 4. Lastly, If we would have God to hear us, let us have such a resolu tion and purpose of reformation as Josiah had ; for his prayers were joined with a purpose of reformation, which he afterwards performed in so strict a manner, that there was never such a reformation among all the kings of Judah as he made. To this purpose David saith, ' If I regard wickedness in my heart, God will not hear my prayer,' Ps. Ixvi, 18, If we have but a resolution to live in any sinful course, let us make as many prayers as we wiU, God will not respect them, God regarded good Josiah, because he had no purpose to live in any sin against him. If we come with a traitorous mind unto God, with our sins in our arms, we must look for no acceptation from him. When a man comes to a king to put up a petition unto him, and comes with a dagger in his hand to stab him, will the king accept of this man's petition ? So, do we think that God will hear our prayers when we bring a dagger in our hand, to stab him with om' sins ? If we will not leave swearing, lying, pride, covetousness, and the like, if we have not covenanted with our own hearts, but still go on in sin, we shall never go away with a blessing. Josiah reformed him self; therefore God saith, ' I have also heard thee.' Thus if our prayers issue from a heart rightly affected, as good Josiah's was, then we shall speed as he did ; for God did not only hear his prayer, but see how he rewards him with an excellent blessing ; to be taken home to heaven from the troubles of this life : which we shall in the next place speak of. * In his Letters very often. — G. THE SAINT'S REFRESHING. SERMON IV. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again. — 2 Chron. XXXIV. 28. It is for the most part the privilege of a Christian, that his last days are his best ; and ' though weeping be in the evening, yet joy comes in the morn- , ing,' Ps. XXX. 5 ; though he do begin in darkness, yet he ends in light. Whereas, on the contrary, the wicked begin in joUity and light, but end in darkness ; yea, such a darkness as is ' utter darkness,' Mat. viU. 12 — by Peter called the ' blackness of darkness,' 2 Pet. ii, 17 — the preparations whereunto are, God's outward judgments in this life inflicted upon the im penitent and rebellious, wherein God many times puts a sensible, visible difference betwixt the godly and the wicked ; as betwixt Lot and the Sodom- mites, Noah and the adulterous world, Moses and the Israelites with him, from Korah, Dathan, and his company, the Egyptians and the Israelites at the Red Sea ; and in this text, betwixt this good king and his people. He must not see all the evil that God was to bring upon his wicked and rebelUous subjects. Oh the happiness of holiness, which is sure to speed well in all storms whatsoever ; because on all the glory there is a defence, as Isaiah speaks, Isa, iv. 5. Light is sown for the righteous, Ps, xcvii, 11 ; and whatsoever his troubles be, yet his last end shall be blessed, ' Let me die,' saith Balaam, ' the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his,' Num. xxiii. 10. Such honour have all his saints, such honour had this good king Josiah ; being removed from hence that he might not see the evil to come. Though he were taken from earth, yet it was for his good, that he might be gathered into heaven, and make a royal exchange. The words contain a promise of a reward, and great favour unto good king Josiah, that he should die, and be gathered unto his fathers ; and that which is more, the manner considered, that he should ' die in peace ; ' the ground whereof is shewed unto him : ' Because thine eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same,' God's promises are of three sorts. First, Such as he made'j THE saint's refreshing, 77 upon condition of legal obedience : ' Do this and thou shalt live,' Secondly, 'When we are humbled upon sight of our sins, then he propounds another way, and promises that if we believe in Jesus Christ our surety, who hath made satisfaction for us, then we shall live. This is the grand promise of aU, the promise of life everlasting, and pardon of sin. Thirdly, There are promises of encouragement unto us, when we are in the state of grace. As a father, who means to make his son an heir, doth give him many promises of encouragement, so God deals with his children, when they are in the covenant of grace. There are, I say, promises of particular rewards to encourage them, as they are sure of the main and great reward, namely, everlasting life. Therefore Josiah being an heir of heaven, God did propound a promise of encouragement unto him, by way of favour, to shew that his good works were not unregarded. In general here, Doct. 1. First, We may observe God's gracious dealing ivith his children, that he takes notice of every good thing they do, and doth reward them for it, yea, in this life. There is not a sigh but God hears it, not a tear but he hath a bottle for it. Most men spare God a labour in this kind. He promiseth ' to wipe away all tears from our eyes,' Rev. xxi. 4, but they will shed none. Yet the least tear shed, and word spoken in a good cause, goes not without a reward from God ; not so much as a cup of cold water, but he rewards. Which must needs be so : Because God looks upon the good things we do, being his own works in us, as upon lovely objects, with a love unto them ; for though Josiah had said nothing, yet his deep humiliation itself, was as it were a prayer, that cried strongly in the ears of God, that he could not but reward it. So that partly because God looks upon us as lovely objects, he loving the work of his own Spirit, and partly because they cry unto God, as it were, and pluck down a blessing from heaven, they cannot go unrewarded. Use. This is matter of comfort, that God will not only reward us with heaven, but will also recompense every good thing we do, even in this world ; yea, such is his bounty, he rewards hypocrites. Because he will not be beholding to them for any good thing they do, nor have them die unrewarded, he recompenseth them with some outward favours, which is all they desire. Ahab did but act counterfeit humiliation, and he was rewarded for it, 1 Kings xxi, 27-29, So the Scribes and Pharisees did many good things, and had that they looked for. They looked not for heaven, but for the praise of men. This they had, as Christ tells them, ' Verily, I say unto you, you have your reward,' Mat. vi, 5, God will be beholding to none ; but whosoever do anything that is good, they shall have some reward, whether they be good or bad. If the conscience of a man did judge well, he might come to God with boldness, not to brag of good works, but out of an humble heart saying, ' Remember me, 0 Lord, as I have dealt with thee,' So good Hezekiah did : ' Remember, Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth,' Isa. xxxviii, 3, 'When we labour in all our actions to please God, we may with boldness approach to the throne of grace, and say with Peter, Remember, Lord, ' Thou knowest that I love thee,' John xxi, 15. If there were no other reward but this, that we have a privilege to go to God with boldness, our conscience not accusing us, it were enough. What a shame is it, then, that we should be so barren in good works, seeing our labour shall not be unrewarded of the Lord ! Oh then let us take counsel of the apostle : ' Finally, my brethren, be ye sted- fast and unmoveable, abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that 78 the saint's eefeeshing. your labour is not in vain in the Lord,' 1 Cor. xv. 58. He hath a reward for every cup of cold water, for every tear. Every good deed we do hath the force of a prayer to beg a blessing ; yea, our very tears speak loud to God, although we say nothing. But to come to particulars. ' Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers,' &e. Here we see this word behold, a word serving to stir up attention, set before the promise, which was formerly set before a threatening, ' Behold, I will bring evil upon this place,' &c. Behold is as necessary before pro mises as threatenings. For the soul is ready to behold that which is evil, and by nature is prone to dejection, and to cast down itself. Therefore there need be a ' behold' put before the promise, to raise up the dejected soul of Josiah or others, and all little enough. Christians should have two eyes, one to look upon the iU, the other upon the good, and the grace of God that is in them, that so we may be thankful. But they for the most part look only upon the ill that is in them, and so God wants his glory and we our comfort. ' Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace,' Doct. 2, Mark here the language of Canaan, how the Spirit of Ood in common matters doth raise up the soul to think highly of them. Therefore it is that the Holy Ghost sweetens death with a phrase of ' gathering.' Instead of saying, Thou shalt die, he saith, ' Thou shalt be gathered,' How many phrases have we in Scripture that have comfort wrapped in them, as there is in this phrase, ' Thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace,' I will not speak how many ways peace is taken in Scripture. ' Thou shalt die in peace ; ' that is, thou shalt die quietly, honourably, and peaceably. And thou shalt not see the misery that I will bring upon the state and kingdom. Thou shalt be gathered to thy fathers, which is meant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all the faithful patriarchs.' Doct. 3. Only observe, it is a very sweet word, and imports unto us, that death is nothing but a gathering, and presupposeth that God's children are all scattered in this world amongst wicked men, in a forlorn place, where they are used untowardly, as pilgrims use to be in a strange land. There^ fore we had need be gathered, and it is a comfort to be gathered. But from whence shaU he be gathered ? He shaU be gathered from a wicked, confused world ; and to whom shaU he go ? To his Father. His soul shaU go to their souls, his body shaU be laid in the grave with theirs. As if he had said. Thou shalt leave some company, but go to better ; thou shalt leave a kingly estate, but thou shalt go to a better kingdom. Doct. 4. The changes of Ood's children are for the better. Death to them is but a gathering. This gathering doth shew the preciousness of the thing gathered ; for God doth not use to gather things of no value. Josiah was a pearl worth the gathering. He was one of high esteem, very precious. So every Christian is dearly bought, with the blood of Christ. Therefore God wiU not suffer him to perish, but wUl gather him before the evil days come. As men use to gather jewels before fire comes into their houses ; or as husbandmen wUl be sure to gather their corn, before they will let the beasts come into the field ; so saith God to him, I wiU be sure to gather thee before I bring destruction upon the land. We are aU by nature lost in Adam, and scattered from God, therefore we must be gathered again in Christ. For all gathering that is good is in him ; for he is the head of the saint s eefeeshing, 79 aU union that is good. And this is to be wrought by the ordinances of God, by the means of the ministry, which is appointed unto that end, to gather us, as Mat. xxni, 37, Christ speaks to Jerusalem, ' How often would I have gathered you together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but you would not,' Christ would have gathered them unto him self, by his word, but they refused. All the gathering of a Christian in this Ufe is a gathering to Christ by faith, and to the communion of saints by love, 1 Thes, iv, 17 ; and the more he doth grow in grace, the more near communion he hath with Christ, Then after this gathering by grace, there comes by " death a gathering to Christ in glory. For the soul goes for ever and ever to be with the Lord, After this comes a higher degree of gathering at the day of judgment, when there shall be a great meeting of all saints, and the soul and body shaU be reunited together, to remain for ever with the Lord, Let us then think of this, that whatsoever befalls us in the world, we shall be sure to be gathered, for death is but a gathering. For from whence goes Josiah ? From a sinful world, a sinful estate, a wretched people, unto his fathers, who are all good, nay, to God his Father, We are all here as Daniel in the lion's den, as sheep among wolves ; but at death we shall be gathered to our fathers. It is a gathering to a better place, to heaven ; and to better persons, to fathers, where we shall be for ever praising the Lord, never offending him, loving and pleasing one another. Here Christians displease one another, and cannot be gathered together in love and affection, but there they shall be gathered in unity of love for ever. Use. This serves, first of all, to comfort us in departure of friends, to render their souls up with comfort into the hands of God, We know they are not lost, but sent before us. We shaU be gathered to them, they can not come to us. Therefore why should we grieve ? They are gathered in quietness and rest to their fathers. This should also make us render our souls to God, as into the hands of a faithful Creator and Redeemer. From whence go we ? From a sinful world and place of tears, to a place of happiness above expression. Why should we be afraid of death ? It is but a gathering to our fathers. 'What a comfort is it to us in this world, that we shall go to a place where all is good, where we shall be perfectly renewed, made in the image of God, and shaUhave nothing defaced ? Let this raise up our dead and drowsy souls. Thus we shall be one day gathered. The wicked shall be gathered together, but a woeful gathering is it. They shall be gathered like a bundle of tares, to be thrown into hell, there for ever to burn. They are dross and chaff, never gathered to Christ by faith, nor to the body of the church by love ; and therefore they are as dross and chaff, which the wind scatters here, and shall for ever be scattered here after, Ps. i. 4. They are, as Cain, vagabonds in regard of the life of grace here ; and therefore shall be for ever scattered from the life of glory here after. They shall be gathered to those whom they delighted in, and kept company with, whilst they were in this world. They loved to keep com pany with the wicked here, therefore they shall be gathered to them in hell hereafter. This is sure, thou shalt live in heaven or hell afterwards, with those whom thou livedst with here. Dost thou live only deUghted in evil company now ? It is pity thou shouldst be severed from them hereafter. If thou be gathered to them in love and affection here, thou shalt be gathered to them in hell and destruction hereafter. It is a comfortable evidence to those that delight in good company, that they shall be with them in heaven for ever. ' Hereby wo know that we are translated from death to life, because we lovei 80 THE SAmT's eefeeshing. the brethren,' 1 John iii. 14. And on the contrary, those that are brethren in evil here, may read in their own wicked courses and conversation what wiU become of them hereafter. They are all tares, and shall be gathered together in a bundle, and cast into hell fire for ever. ' And thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace.' Here is a reward, not only to die, but to die in peace. Josiah goes the way of all flesh ; he must die though he be a king. This statute binds aU. All are liable to death. ' And thou shalt be gathered, or put in thy grave in peace.' This doth declare that he should be buried ; the ground whereof is out of Gen. iii. 19, 'Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return.' From earth we came, and to earth we shall return. The earth we carry and the earth we tread on shall both meet together. In that Gpd doth here promise it to Josiah as a blessing, we may hence learn, Doct 5. That burial is a comely and honourable thing, and that we ought to have respect unto it, partly because the body of a dead Christian is a precious thing. They are temples of the Holy Ghost, members of Christ, and therefore ought to have the honour of burial. Partly because it shews our love and afi'ection to the party buried, for it is the last kindness we can do unto them. Again, we ought to have respect to burial, to shew our hope of the resurrection, that though the body be cast into the earth, yet it shall rise ; though it be sown in dishonour, yet it shall rise in honour. So we see that for these reasons burial is honourable. Therefore it is said of the faithful in Scripture, that they were buried, to shew how honourable a thing it is ; and indeed it is an honour, specially for fathers, to be buried by their friends and children, and carried by them into their graves. For to be buried like a beast is a judgment to wicked men. Quest. But what then shall we say to all those that are not thus buried, whose bodies are given to be torn by wUd beasts, or burnt to ashes, or flung into rivers, as antichrist useth to deal with many saints ? Ans. I answer, that in this case faith must raise itself above difficulty ; for though it be a favour and blessing of God, to have Christian burial after we are dead, yet Christians must be content to go without this blessing sometimes, when God caUs them to the contrary, as when we cannot have it upon good terms, with peace of conscience, or with God's love. In this case a burial in regard of God's favour is not worth the naming. Therefore let aU Christians be content to put their bodies, life and aU, to hazard ; not only to be wUling to want burial when we are dead, but to sacriflce our lives and whatsoever else for God, as many saints have been martyred, and their bodies burnt to ashes. Yet God will gather together the ashes of the dead bodies of his children ; for ' right precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints,' Ps. cxvi. 15. And is it not better to want this with God's favour, than to have the most honourable burial in the world on evU terms ? For what saith the Spirit of God ? ' Happy and blessed are they which die in the Lord,' Rev. xiv. 13; not happy are they that die in pomp, and are buried in state, but happy are they that die in the Lord. Therefore when we may not have it, although it be a comely thing, yet if we have God and Christ, we have all that is good. Therefore it is no matter what becomes of our bodies after we are dead ; for though we be flung into the sea, burnt to ashes, yet both sea and earth must give up all the dead, as it is Rev. xx, 13, Therefore as for our bodies, let us be wUling that God may have them, who gave them ; and if -he wiU have us to sacrifice our lives for him, let us do it wilUngly. ' THE saint's refreshing. 81 ' And thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace.' Obj. How is this ? for we read, in the succeeding chapter of Josiah, that he died a violent death; he was slain by the hands of his enemies. Is this to die in peace ? Sol. I answer, the next words do expound it. He died in peace, ' because his eyes should not see the evil that God would bring upon the land afterwards ;' as if he had said. Thou shalt not see the ruin of the church and commonwealth. So, though Josiah were slain by idolaters, by Pharaoh and his chariots, yet ho died in peace comparatively with a worse state of life. For though he died a bloody death by the hands of his enemies, yet he died in peace, because he was prevented by death from seeing that which was worse than death. For God may reserve a man in this life to worse miseries than death itself. From hence we learn this instruction, Doct. 6. That death may he less miserable than the ill which a man may live to see in this life ; or, that the miseries of this Ufe may be such as that death may be much better than life, and far rather to he cliosen. We may fall into such miseries whilst we do live, that we may desire death, they being greater than it. The reason hereof is, because that a sudden death, in some respects, is better than a lingering one. One death is better than many deaths, for how many deaths did Josiah escape by this one death ! It would have been a death to him if he had lived to see the ruin of the commonwealth, the church of God, and his own sons carried into captivity, to have seen them slain, their eyes plucked out, the temple of God plucked down, and idolatry set up. We ought then to be careful how to avoid a cursed and miserable estate after death. All the care of wicked men is to avoid death. But they may fall into such an estate in this life that they may wish death, as an heathen emperor once did, who complaining said, ' I have none will do me so much favour as to kill me.'* All the desire of atheists is, that they may live. Thou base atheist, thou mayest fall into such an estate as is worse than death, and if that be so terrible, what will that]- estate be after death ? An atheist in this life desires life. Oh that I might not die ! But in hell thou wUt desire, Oh that I might die ! The time will come that thou shalt desire that which thou canst not abide to hear of now. What desperate folly is it therefore to redeem Ufe with base conditions; not to give it for the gospel when we are called to it. In this case, that base life which we so stand upon, will cost us the loss of our soul for ever in. heU, when we shall desire to die. ' Behold, I wUl gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be put in thy grave in peace.' The Lord saith, he ' will gather.' So we see, Doct. 7. Our times are in Ood's hand ; as David saith, ' My time is in thy hand,' Ps. xxxi. 15, Our times of coming into the world, continuing in it, and going out of it, are in God's hand. Therefore he saith, ' Thou shalt be put in thy grave in peace.' God hath power of death. Our going and coming is from God ; he is the Lord of life and death. Use. This is a comfort unto us while we live in this world, that whilst we live we are not in our own hands, we shall not die in our own time ; neither is it in our enemies' hands, but in God's hand. He hath appointed a certain time of our being here in this world. This should tie us to obedi ence, and to die in hope and faith ; because when we die we are but gathered to our fathers, to better company and place than we leave behind us. • Qu. ' Nero ' ?— G. t Qu. ' thine ' ?— Ed. VOL. VI. ^ 82 THE saint's eefeeshing. Again we see here that men may outlive their own happiness, that at last life may be a judgment unto them, because they may see that which is worse than death. How many parents live to see the ruin of their own families ! the undoing of their children by their own miscarriage ! We see God takes away Josiah, because he wUl not have him live, as it were, beyond his happiness. We see how tenderly affected God is for the good of his chUdren. He pities them when they are in misery, knows what they are able to bear, and wiU lay no more upon them than he gives them strength to endure, God knew that Josiah was tender-hearted, and melted at the very threatenings, which if he could not endure to hear against his country, could he ever have endured to have seen the miseries upon his people and country ? Surely no. Therefore God wiU rather gather him to his fathers. Now this is a wonderful comfort, that many times God wUl not let us see too great matter of grief. Let us then imitate God, and deal so one with another as God deals with us — the husband with the wife, and the wife with the husband, and the like. Let us not acquaint them with such things as may make' them more grieve than is fitting, or they are able to bear. God would not have Josiah to see the misery he brought upon his country, because he knew that he was tenderly disposed, that a Uttle grief would soon overcome him. So let us beware of causing any to grieve, or to let them know things which they are not able to bear. Again, Seeing this is a grief to a kind and loving father, yea, worse than death, to see the ruin of his child, this should teach aU those that are young, ¦ to take care that they give no occasion of offence to those that are over them, for to grieve ; which will be worse than death unto them. It would have been worse than a death unto Josiah to have seen the ruin of his children. So for those children which have been cherished by their parents in their nonage, it will be worse than death to them in their age to see their children lewd and come to ruin, whereby they bring so much sooner the grey head of their father to the grave in sorrow. These offend against the sixth commandment, which saith, ' Thou shalt not kiU,' Let us then rather revive and comfort the heart of those that have been good unto us, and not kill them, or do that which is worse than death unto them. ' Neither shaU thy eyes see the misery I will bring upon this people,' Doct. 8, Here we learn again that it is the sight of misery which works the deepest impression. It is not the hearing of a thing, but the sight of it, which affecteth most deeply ; as in the sacrament, the seeing of the bread broken, and the wine poured out, works a deep impression ; and because God knew Josiah's heart would break at the sight of the misery, therefore he tells him, ' Thine eyes shall not see the evil that I wUl bring upon this place,' The sight is a most working sense, to make the deepest impression upon the soul. What shall be our great joy and happiness in heaven, but that we shall see God for evermore ? Sight is a blessing upon earth, both the eyes of the body wherewith we see, and the eyes of the soul — ^that is, faith — which makes us see afar off, till in heaven we shaU see him face to face. So that sight makes us both happy and miserable. Use 1. How wretched, then, is the estate of them that shall see themselves, with their own wicked eyes, sent to hell, with the creature they delighted in^ That which the eyes see, the heart feels. There are many atheists, whose whole care is to preserve Ufe. They would live, although they live the life of a dog. But the time wiU come, that thou wilt more earnestly desire THE saint's eefeeshing. 83 death than life. Thy eyes shaU see, and thy body feel, and thy conscience too, that which is worse than a thousand deaths. Thou shalt then die a living death. The worm of thy conscience shall gnaw thee for ever, and shalt see and feel the tormenting fire which shall never be quenched. That which the wicked nourish now to foUow their humour, never caring to please God, the day will be when they shaU desire to avoid it ; and that which they labour to avoid most now, the time will come when they shall most desire it. Death is the king of fears. It is terrible. But then look be yond death : what is behind that ? Thou shalt see at the heels of it hell and eternal damnation. Use 2. This should teach us also how to understand the promise of long Ufe. It is a promise and a favour of God to be desired. It is a prayer with condition, if God see it good ; else God may give us long life, to see and feel a world of misery. Therefore such promises are to be desired conditionally : if God see it good for us. Doct. 9. Again, The Holy Ghost saith here, ' Thy eyes shall not see the evil I will bring upon this place.' Hence we leam, tJiat those which be dead in the Lord, are freed from seeing of any evil or misery. The godly shall see no misery after death. If this be so, then they do not go into purgatory after death, as the papists hold. The Holy Ghost saith, Josiah is taken away from seeing any evil to come. Then sure they do not fall into such misery after death, which is worse than death. True, say the papists, such excellent men as Josiah do go to heaven immediately. Ay, but the Holy Ghost saith by Isaiah, Ivii. 1, that ' the righteous are taken away from the evil to come.' It is spoken of the whole generation of righteous men. Therefore it is a sottish thing for them to hold that any of them shall see purgatory, when God saith the righteous are taken away from seeing any evil to come, Doct. 10, And as it is against them in this, so here is another conclusion against popery, that takes away their invocation of saints : for the righteous go to heaven, and cannot see or know our wants and miseries ; yea, they are taken away, because they should not see the miserable estate that befalls their posterity. Then if they do not know our wants, how can they hear and help us when we pray, seeing it is a part of their happiness not to understand our miseries ? For if Josiah, from heaven, could have seen the desolation and misery that befell his country afterwards, it would have wrought upon him. But Josiah was taken away, that he should not see it. Therefore, why should men spend that blessed incense and sacrifice of prayer, unto those that cannot hear ? But put case, they could hear some ; yet can they hear all that pray unto them ? A finite creature hath but a finite act and limited power. How can one saint give a distinct answer and help to perhaps a thousand prayers, as the virgin Mary hath many thousand prayers offered her ? How can she distinctly know, and give a distinct answer to every prayer ? ' Thou shalt be put in thy grave in peace, neither shall thy eyes see aU the evU that I will bring upon this place,' Let us learn here a mystery of divine providence in his death; for there is a mystery of providence, not only in great matters, as election and predestination, but in ordering of the common things of the world. How many exceUent mysteries are here wrapt together in this death of Josiah ! As, first, it is said that he died in peace, whereas he died a violent death, and was slain by the hands of his enemies. His death was both a mercy and a correction : a correction for his error in being so hasty in going to war with Pharaoh, king of Egypt ; and yet it 84 THE saint's eefeeshing. was a mercy, because it prevented him from seeing the evil_ to come, and BO likewise brought him sooner to heaven. It is a strange thing to see how the wisdom of heaven can mingle crosses and favours, corrections and mercies together ; that the same thing should be both a mercy to Josiah to be taken away, and yet a correction also for his error, in going to fight against Necho, king of Egypt, as we see 2 Chron. xxxv. 23. We may have mercies and afflictions upon us at the same time, as God, by the same death, corrected Josiah's folly, and rewarded his humiUty. Mark here again another mystery, in the carriage of divine providence : how he brings his promises to pass strangely above the reach of man ; as here, he having promised Josiah that he should die in peace, one would have thought that Josiah should have died in pomp and state. No. Thou shalt die in peace, although thou be slain by the hand of thy enemies ; thou shalt come to heaven, although it be by a strange way. Thus God brings his chUdren to heaven by strange ways, yea, by contrary ways, [by] afflic tions and persecutions. Paul knew he should come to Rome, although it were by a strange way ; though he suffered shipwreck, and was in great danger, as we may see Acts xxvii, 2, seq. God hath strange ways to bring his counsels to pass, which he doth so strangely, as we may see his own hand in it. Again, Here we may see another mystery in divine providence, concern ing the death of Josiah, in that he was taken away being a young man, but thirty-nine years old, who was the flower of his kingdom, and one upon whom the flourishing estate of such a kingdom did depend. Now, for such a gracious prince to be taken away in such a time, and at such an age, when he might have done much good, a man would hardly believe this mystery in divine providence. But ' our times are in God's hand,' Ps, xxxi. 15, His time is better than ours. And therefore he, seeing the sins of the people to be so great, that he could not bear with them longer, — for it was the sins of the people that deprived them of Josiah. It was not the king of Egypt who was the cause of his death, but the sins of the land — those caused God to make this way, to take away their gracious king. Use. Here we may admire the wisdom of God, who doth not give an account unto us of his doings, why he suffers some to live, and takes away others ; why he suffers the wicked to live, and takes away his own. We can give little reason for it, because it is a mystery ; but God best knoweth the time when to reap his own corn. ' Neither shall thy eyes see all the evil I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the land.' Doct. 11, Here the Holy Ghost doth insinuate unto us that whilst Josiah was alive, God would not bring this judgment upon the land, but after his death, then it should come upon them. So here we learn this comfortable point of instruction, that the lives of God's children do keep back judgment and evil from the place where they live, and their death is a forerunner of judgment. Their life keeps back iU, and their death plucks down ill. While thou art alive, I wUl bring no evil upon this place, but when thou art gone, then I will bring it down, saith God. The reasons of this are. Reason 1. Because gracious men do make the times and the places good where they live. It is a world of good that is done by their example and help. "WhUe they live the times are the better for them. Reason 2, And again, they keep hack ill, because gracious men do bind God hy their prayers. They force, as it were, a necessity upon God, that he THE saint's refreshing. 85 must let the world alone. They bind his hands, that he wiU do nothing whUe they are in it ; as to Lot in Sodom, ' I can do nothing while* thou art gone, saith the angel,' Gen, xix. 22. They stand in the gap, and keep God from pouring down the vials of his wrath. But when they are gone, there is nothing to hinder or stop the current of divine justice, but that it must needs have his course. As when men have gathered their corn into their bams, then let their beasts, or whatsoever else go into the field, they care not ; and as when the jewels are taken out of a rotten house, though the fire then seize upon it, men regard not. So when God's jewels are gathered to himself, then woe to the wicked world, for then God wUl break forth in wrath upon them. Woe to the old world when Noah goes into the ark, for then follows the flood. Woe to Sodom when Lot goes out of it, for then it is sure to be burned, Luther prayed that God would not bring war upon the people in Germany all his time, but when he died, the whole land was overspread with war. So, before the destruction of Jeru salem, God did gather the Christians to a little city called Pella, near Jerusalem, then came Titus and Vespasian and ruinated the city of Jeru salem,! So there are many gracious parents that die, after whose death comes some miserable end to their wicked children, but not before, God takes away the parents out of the world, that they might not see the ruin of their children. So then we see that it is clear, that good men keep back judgment from the places where they live. What should we learn from hence ? Use 1. This should teach us to make much of such men as truly fear God, seeing it is for their sakes that God doth spare us. They carry the bless ing of God with them wheresoever they go. As Laban's house was blessed for Jacob's sake. Gen. xxx. 27, and Potiphar's for Joseph's sake. Gen, xxxix, 23, so the wicked are spared and fare the better for the saints who live among them. But what is the common course of wicked men ? To hate such with a deadly hatred above all others, because their lives and speeches do discover the wickedness of theirs, and because they tell them the truth, and reprove them. Therefore it was that Ahab could not endure the sight of Micaiah, that holy prophet, who without flattery spake downright truth, 1 Kings xxu, 8, seq. So it is now beyond seas and elsewhere. They labour to root out aU the good men. But what wiU they get by it ? Surely it wiU be a thousand times worse with them than it is ; for if they were out, then woe to the land presently. Use 2. This should also teach us to pray to God to bless those that are good. Is it not good for us to uphold those piUars whereby we stand ? What madness is it for a man to labour to puU down the pUlar whereby he is holden alive ? As Samson, pulling down the piUars of the house, brought death upon himself, so godly men, the piUars of this tottering world, which uphold the places whereby they live, being once shaken, aU the whole state faUs. Therefore let us not be enemies to our own good, to hate the godly ; for it is for their sakes the Lord shews mercy to us, and refrains to pour out his judgment upon the wicked world. And when the best gather ing of aU gatherings shaU come, that the elect of God shaU be gathered together, then comes the misery of aU miseries to the wicked. So we see this point is clear, that the godly, whUe they are aUve, keep back UI and bring much good. For doth God continue the worid for wicked men ? Surely no. For what glory and honour hath God from such wicked .» That is, ' untU.'-ED, t Cf. Note ccce, Vol. III. p, 536,— G, 86 THE saint's eefeeshing. wretches ? Do they not swear, Ue, live filthily, and abuse his members ? Is it for these that God doth continue the world ? Surely no ; but for the godly's sake are judgments deferred, and the world is continued. Use 3. If this be thus, well may we lament the death of those that are good. For when they are gone, our safety is gone. ' They are the chariots and horsemen of Israel,' 2 Kings u. 12, Therefore weU may we bewaU their loss. WeU might Jeremiah lament for the death of Josiah, for together with the breath of Josiah the life of that state breathed out ; together with him, the flourishing condition of Jerasalem died, and lay buried with him as it were in the same grave. See here again how God correcteth too much resting on the arm of flesh. They blessed themselves under Josiah, as if no evU should come near them ; as appears, Lament, iv. 20, ' The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shaU live.' There is no greater wrong to ourselves, and to others on whom we rest so much, than to secure ourselves so much on them as to neglect serious turning to God. ' Neither shaU thy eyes see all the evU I wiU bring upon this place.' This is the ground why he should die in peace, ' Because he shall not see aU the evil I will bring upon this place,' Here we see that the judg ment which God threatened to bring upon the church and commonwealth is set down by this word ' evil.' ' Thine eyes shaU not see all the evil I will bring upon this place.' But who sends this evil. It is an evil brought by God. Thou shalt not see the evU ' I wiU bring,' &c. It was not God that brought it properly, but Nebuchadnezzar, who carried his sons into captivity. Howsoever, God had a hand in it. ' For is there any evil in the city and God hath not done it ? ' saith the prophet, Amos iu. 6. But we [ must distinguish between evil. There is, | 1. TheevUofsin; and 2. The evil of punishment. First, The evU of sin ; and this God doth not bring, for it is hateful untoi him. Then the evil of punishment, which is twofold : (1,) Either that which comes immediately from God, as famine, pesti lence, or the Uke ; in which punishments we are to deal with God alone, ' (2.) Or else, the evil that comes from God, but by men, which he useth as instruments to punish us, and this is by war and cruel usage. 1 Now thus Josiah is taken away from this greatest evil we can suffer in this life ; to have God correct us by the hands of men. For when we have to deal with God, the labour is easier to prevail with him, as David did, 2 Sam, xxiv, 14. But when we have to deal with merciless men, then we have to deal with the poisoned malice of men, besides God's anger. Now the evil that comes from God is chiefly. The ill which seizeth upon the soul after death ; or else, the evil which seizeth upon the whole man, both soul and body, both in this and after this life. Thus God is said to bring evil, not the evil of sin, but the evU of punish ment. Doct. 12. Hence we learn, that the evils which we suffer, they are from the evil of sin. It is sin that makes God to bring evil upon the creature. If we look upward to God, there is no evil in the world, for in that consi deration aU things are good so fax as he hath a hand in them. Therefore, whatsoever the creature suffers, it comes from the meritorious evU, the evU of sin. It comes from God, but through the evil of sin provoking him. the saint's eefeeshing. 87 Quest. If any man ask, How can God, which is good, bring that which is evU ? Sol. I answer. We must know that the evU of punishment is the good of justice. All the evil that he doth is good, as it comes from him in his justice punishing, because it doth good to them that are punished, either to cause them return, or if they wiU not, to shew the glory of his justice in condemning them. It is the good of justice, and it is not always in God only permitting or suffering such a thing for to be done ; but it is in him as an act, having a hand in it. Therefore God saith, ' Ashur is the rod of my wrath;'* so that in all punishments God hath a hand, whether it be upon the body or soul. Use. This serves for direction unto us. To begin where we shoidd begin ; in all our afflictions to go to heaven and make our peace with God, and not go to secondary causes. For aU evil of punishment comes from him. Let us, if we fear evU, make our peace with God by repentance and new obedience ; and then he will overrule all secondary causes so as to help us. Go not in this case to the jaUor, or to the executioner, but go to the judge. Let us make our peace in heaven first, and then there will be soon a com mand for our ease. Yea, Christ can command the wind and sea to be stiU, the devil himself to be quiet, if our peace be made with him. Therefore let us learn this lesson, and not fret against the instrument whereby God useth to correct us, David hai learned thus much when Shimei railed upon him : ' It is God that hath bid him, therefore let him alone,' 2 Sam, xvi, 11. So holy Job saith, ' It is God that gives, and God that takes away,' Job i. 21. He doth not only say, God gives, but God takes away. Oh but it was the Chaldeans that took it away. Ay, but it is no matter for that, God gave them leave. Therefore let us carry ourselves patiently ui all troubles, submitting ourselves under the mighty hand of God, from whom we have all evil of punishment, Ohj. Again, Here we have another mystery of divine providence. For it may be objected. What ! will God bring evil upon his own church and people ? upon the temple and place where his name is called upon, and that by idolaters. Where is divine justice now ? Sol. I answer. Hold thy peace, take not the balance out of God's hand. He knows what is better for usf than we ourselves. We must not call God to our bar, for we shall all appear before his, God useth servants and slaves to correct his sons ; worse men than his people to correct his people. It is his course so to do, when they of his own sin against him. For evil men many times make evil men good, when they are used as instruments to correct them ; as here God useth wicked men to make his chUdren good. So God makes a rod of Ashur, to make his evU children better. He useth slaves to correct his sons, because it is too base a service for the angels or good men to do. Therefore he useth the devU and his uistraments to do it. Wherefore let us not caU into question God's providence ; for when he wiU punish his people, he can hiss for a worse people ; for Egypt, or Ashur, or the like. So if he wiU punish England, he can hiss again for the Danes, or Normans, to punish his own people. Let us not boast we are God's people and they idolaters. No ; God can hiss for a baser people to punish his own servants. It is the wiU of God so to dispose, and the wiU of God is summa justitia, the height of justice. God wUl have it so. Let us make our peace with him, and not demand why he doth thus and thus. « That is, ' Assyria,' Cf. Isa. x. 5. — G. t Qu, ' what is good for us, hetter ' V — Ed. 88 the saint's refreshing. ' And so they brought the king word again,' I wiU but touch this in a word, and so make an end. . _,. Here we see that the messengers deal faithfully with Josiah. _ iHey brought the direct message which the prophetess did bid them, which was good for himself, but doleful for his estate. He was a gracious man, and God gave him gracious servants. v, n ;i i Doct. 13, For God will give good men faithful servants, that shaU deal faithfuUy with them. As for the wicked, God wiU give them such servants that shaU humour them to their own ruin. If they have a heart not desirous to hear the truth, if they be Ahabs, they shall have four hundred false pro phets to lead them in a course to their own ruin. But Josiah had an upright heart, desiring to know the truth. Therefore God gave him a faithful pro phetess to deal truly with him, and faithful messengers to bring the true answer. ' Then the king sent and gathered together aU the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and aU the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people great and smaU,' &c. Which words shew what good king Josiah did upon the_ receipt of this message. As soon as ever he heard it, he did not suffer it to cool upon him. But when his spirit was stirred up, he did as a gracious _ king should do, he sent and gathered aU the elders of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, both great and smaU, and they went up to the house of the Lord, and there read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. Here, first, we see that Josiah gathered, as it were, a parUament and a councU ; as also, in both Josiah and the people, we may behold an exceUent and sweet harmony of state, when all, both king and priests, Levites and people, did meet amiably together. This was an excellent time, when there was such an harmony between king and people, that he no sooner commands but they obeyed him. ' But more particularly we learn, Doct. 14. That the care of the commonwealth and of the church is a duty belonging to the king, that the reformation both of church and common wealth belongs unto the prince. There is a generation which think that the king must only take care for the commonwealth. But they have also power to look to religion. We see Josiah doth it, he is the keeper of both. Josiah hath a care of religioii, and it doth become his place. He is a head, and it is befitting his relation. He is a father, not only to look to the temporal state, but to the church. The Donatists in Augustine's time did ask. What had the emperor to do with the church ? But it was answered that the emperor could not rule the commonwealth except he govern the church, for the church is a com monwealth. So that we see, as a chief right, the ordering of the matters of religion belongs to the care of the prince. But there are two things in religion : first, intrinsecal, within the church, as to preach, administer the,[ sacraments, and ordain ministers. These he ought not to do. But for? those things that are without it, these belong unto him. If any of those that are placed in church or commonwealth, do not their duty, it is fitting for him to correct. He ought to set all a-going without, and to remove abuses, but not to meddle with the things within the church aforesaid, as, to execute the same, but to oversee and govern their execution, and those,' persons whose proper office it is to execute them. ' This observe against the usurpation of the pope, and see the supremacy the saint's refreshing. 89 of king Josiah, that he is supreme over all ; not only over temporal persons, but over evangeUcal persons. For there was an high priest at that time and the Levites, but none were above king Josiah. Quest. Ay, but this was under the law, say the papists, Sol. 1, I answer, that this is a rule in divinity, that the gospel doth not take away or dissolve the laws of nature and reason. Therefore if the supremacy belonged to the prince then, surely now much more. Therefore saith one, We give respect to the emperor as next to God ; to God in the first place, and then to the emperor,* The ministers have power over the prince for to direct him and give him counsel, but yet they are not above him, A physician doth give directions for his patient. Is he therefore above him ? So a builder giveth direction for the building of the king's house. Is this any supremacy ? So the minister may give direction and counsel to the prince ; but hath he therefore any superiority above the prince ? Surely no, Sol. 2, In the second place, here we see who it is that called this parlia ment. It was king Josiah, He was the first mover in caUing of this council, for he was the head ; and had it not been a strange thing to have seen the foot move before the head ? The head must first give direction before any of the members can move. Therefore it is only in the authority of the king to gather a council, and none must gather a public assembly without authority from the king. The calling of assemblies belongs to the prince. If it be a general council, then it must be by the emperor ; if it be a national council, then by the king or prince of that nation ; if provincial, then first from the king or princes, as first movers of it, and so to others. As the heavens, and these celestial bodies over the earth, first move, and then all other after ward, so kings ought first to move, and then all to follow, ' Use 1. If this be so, we see how the pope wrongfully takes this right of calling councUs to himself, which properly belongs to the emperor ; for we know that for a'thousand years after Christ the emperor called councils, if any were. But of late years the pope, encroaching upon the emperor, hath usurped this right of calling them, whenas you see no assemblies ought to be gathered without the authority of the prince. Though fasting be an excellent thing, yet pubUc fasting must not be without the consent of the king. Let Christians have as much private fasting as they will, thereby to humble themselves, but public fasts must not be without the consent of the king ; for great matters are to be done by great motions. Here is a great matter of gathering a council. There fore the head and body and all join together; As it is when the body is to do some great thing, all the members of the body stir together to do it, so it is with the commonwealth. When great matters are in hand, all must be joined together, as here king, priests, Levites, and all the people, both great and small, joined together for to prevent the judgment threatened. But what must we do if things be amiss ? I answer. Take the right course ; that is, go to God by prayer, and entreat him who hath the hearts of kings in his hands, to incline and stir up the hearts of princes for to reform abuses. WeU, but what did the king do when he had gathered all the elders and inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem into the house of the Lord ? They went up thither to fast, and pray, and read the book of the law. * TertuUian. Cf. Apology, c. xxxiii. to xxxvi. — G. 90 the saint's eefeeshing. Reformation makes aU outward things faU into a good rale, but they are to be caUed only by the authority of the prince, and when a fit time and occasion requires. The papists brag much of the CouncU of Trent ; but if ever there was a conspiracy against Christ, it was in that council ; for the parties that had most offended, and were most accused, and should have been judged, were the judges ; and the Holy Ghost, which should have been in the councU, and should have been their judge, him they excluded, and received a foul spirit of antichrist sent unto them, in a cap-case* from Rome, whence they had all their counsel. Was not this a goodly council ? Again, In that Josiah gathered a council in time of public disorder and public danger, here we leam that it is not only lawful, but many times necessary, to gather assemblies and councils for reformation of abuses, both in church and commonwealth, which otherwise cannot be abolished. So councils are good to make canons, rules, and to prevent heresy ; yea, much good may be done by gathering of them, if they meet to a good end, for the good of the church, and the glory of God; for God who is wilUng and able to perform the good wiU be strongly amongst them. For if Christ by his Spirit hath promised to be in that assembly, ' where two or three are gathered together' upon good grounds, and to good ends, how much more wiU he be, when two or three hundreds are so gathered together ? But this must be done by the consent of authority, otherwise it would be an impeachment to government. So much briefly for this text, and for this time. * That is, a small case or travelling-box. Cf, Nares and Halliwell sub voce. — 6. *»* The frequent allusions in the preceding sermons, and throughout, to wars and accompanying evils abroad, receive interpretation from ' The Thirty Tears' War,' which, beginning iu 1618 and ending in 1648, was thus contemporary with the whole of Sibhes's public life. — G. THE SPIRITUAL FAYOURITE AT THE THRONE OF GRACE. THE SPIRITUAL FAVOURITE AT THE THRONE OF GRACE. NOTE. ' The Spiritual Favourite ' forms a small volume (18mo). The title-page is given below.* Prefixed is a portrait of Sibbes, differing from the usual miniature one. He holds a book in his hand ; and underneath, in engraved letters, is this inscription, ' The reverend, faithfull, and profitable Minister of Gods word, Kichard Sibbes, D:D : master of Katherine Hall, in Cambridge, and preacher of Grayes Inne, London.' The copy from which our reprint is talcen is believed to be unique. I had searched tor it in all the ' public ' libraries of the kingdom, and advertised through innumerable channels, but utterly in vain ; nor could I hear of any one who had so much as seen it, when, through the spontaneous kindness of W. E. Whitehouse, Esq., Birming ham, I was unexpectedly put in possession of it. It becomes me thus publicly and cordially to acknowledge my obligation to Mr "Whitehouse. G. * the SPIEITVALL FAVORITE AT THE THKONE OF GEACE. By the late learned, and reve rend Divine R i c H A K D S I B B s Doctor in Divinity. Published by the Authors owne appointment, subscribed with his hand ; to prevent unperfeot Copies. Proverbs 29. 26. Many seeke the Rulers favour, but e- very man's judgement commethfrom the Lord. LONDON, Printed by T/iomas Paine, for Ralph Mabb. 1640. THE SPIRITUAL FAYOURITE AT THE THRONE OF GRACE. 0 Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear he attentive to the prayer of thy ser vant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name ; and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. — Neh, I, 11. In the ninth verse the holy man miiids God of his promise made to his people, that if they should ' turn unto him, and keep his commandments, and do them, though they were cast out to the] utmost parts of heaven, yet he would gather them thence,' &c,, ver, 9, I will touch a little on them, [on the] two verses, and then come to that I mean to dwell on, from the words read. ' If you turn unto me, and keep my commandments.' There is no pro mise of mercy but to those that turn. The Scripture is peremptory in denial of mercy to such as go on in their sins. Heaven could not brook''' the angels themselves, having sinned ; and neither such, nor such ' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,' Yet how many are there that bless themselves that it shall go well with them, though they cast off all God's yokes and divine bonds, that might bow them to better courses, as if words were but wind ; when we see here God made his word good against his own dear people, ' If ye sin, I wUl scatter you to the farthest parts of the world,' ver, 8, We see in the former verse, ver. 7, a proud, presumptuous sinful disposition may slight God, and the messengers of the word and all, now when we come to threaten ; but when God comes to execute, will he shake it off then ? WUl swearers and blasphemers and filthy persons shake off the execution as they can the threatenings ? God saith, none that are such shall enter into heaven, ' but his wrath shall smoke against them, and shaU be as a fire that shaU burn to heU,' against such persons as ' bless themselves' in wicked courses. Dent. xxix. 20 ; and when God comes to the execution, they desire ' the mountains to fall upon them,' Rev. vi. 16. There are none more presumptuous against the threatenings, and none more base and fearful when it comes to execution. As we see in presump tuous and profane Belshazzar, that was quaffing in ' the bowls of the tem ple,' and scorning reUgion and God, when there comes a handwriting on the waU, ' his knees knock together and his joints tremble,' Dan. v, 6, So » That is, = ' suffer, endure.'— G. 94 THE SPIRITUAL FAVOUEITE let there be any evidence of execution, and we see all the tyrants in the book of God, and that have been in the world, that have trifled at religion, of all men they are most disconsolate and fearful, as we see in Belshazzar and others, I beseech you therefore take heed. God wUl seal aU his threatenings with executions in due time, as he did to his own people. What is the rea son we should promise ourselves more immunity than they had ? ' If ye turn and keep my commandments, and do them,' Here are three conditions, ' Though you were cast to the utmost parts of the world, I will gather you thence,' ' If you turn,' The holy man Nehemiah puts God in mind of his pro mise, and his argument is from the Uke, and indeed from the less to the greater. Because God would rather of both, perform his promises than his threatenings, because mercy is his own proper work. Now, as he had been just in punishing his people, so he would be merciful in restoring of them again ; therefore he saith, ' Return and keep my commandments and do them, and though ye were scattered to the utmost parts of the earth, yet I wUl gather you thence,' And he did gather them thence upon their repentance ; he did perform his promise at length. Beloved, the full accomplishment of this yet remains ; for this people to this day, since the death of Christ, since they drew the guilt of that sacred blood on them, they are scattered about the earth to every nation, and have not a foot of land of their own, but are the scorn and hissing of nations. Notwithstanding, this promise wUl be performed. Upon their repentance, God will bring them again. As St Paul calls it a kind of a resur rection, the conversion of the Jews, so it is true of us all. Though we were scattered as dust, as we shall be in the grave ere long turned to dust, God will gather the ashes ; he will gather all those parts of ours. Even as his power gathereth his people together, so his power at length will gather us all. We have his promise for the one as well as the other. Therefore let us comfort ourselves with the performance of this promise, for the performance of the grand promise of the resurrection. Indeed, the grand promise of the resurrection is the ground of the performance of all other promises. As you have it in Ezekiel, concerning the dry bones : saith God, ' I will clothe these dead bones with flesh and skin,' &c., ' there fore I wiU restore you again,' Ezek, xxxvii, 1, seq. God that will restore our dust and bring our bodies together, that were scattered here and there, he will restore us out of our sickness and trouble, if it stand with his glory and our good. Now, after the argument that he useth to persuade God from his word of threatening and promise, he comes to the argument from their relation, ' These are thy servants,' Though sinful servants, yet they are thy servants, ' These are thy people,' Thou hast no other people in the world but these, and ' thou art their God,' He pleads from former favours. ' Thou hast redeemed them by thy great power and strong hand,' It is a good argument to plead with God for former favours : because ' there is no shadow of change in him,' James i, 17 ; he is always like himself; he is never drawn dry. And it is a great honour to go to him for new favours upon former, because he hath an infinite supply. We may draw so much from men as they have not afterwards to make good, but we cannot honour God more than to go to him with a large faith, to fetch AT THE THRONE OF GRACE. 95 large favours from him. The more he gives, the more he can give, and the more he is willing to give. ' To him that hath shaU be given,' Mat, xiU, 12. We cannot honour God more than to go to him upon former favours and with enlarged desires. ' Thou hast redeemed us, and been gracious to us before,' Ps. cvii, 2, We may much more take this argument in our mouths, and press the majesty of God, ' Thou hast redeemed us,' not out of Egypt or Babylon, the land of the north, but ' with the blood of thy Son,' from hell and dam nation ; and therefore thou canst redeem us from this petty misery, from these enemies. We may allege that grand favour to all other petty redemp tions, whatsoever they are. He that hath given us Christ, that ' hath not spared his own Son, but gave him to death for us all, how shall he not with him give us all things else ? Rom, viii, 32, He that hath been so large and bountiful as to give us his own Son, that gift to admiration * — ' So God loved the world,' John iii, 16 — how cannot we plead with him for all other favours whatsoever, whether they concern the life of grace or glory, or our present condition while we live in this world ? We may plead it much more I say, ' Thou hast redeemed us.' But these things I will not press further now. In the eleventh verse he comes to press it still, and repeats that which he had said before, ' Lord, I beseech thee, let thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and of thy servants that desire to fear thy name,' ' Let thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servants,' It is a prayer ; and thou art ' a God hearing prayer.' They be thy servants, and thou regardest thy servants. Here are but a few petitions in this large request : ' remember,' ' be attentive,' and ' give me favour,' The most of the prayer is spent in a preparative considering the attributes of God, and in confession and strong reasons from the word, of promises and threatenings, and from their relation ; and then he makes good the relation, ' We are thy servants, because we desire to fear thy name.' To shew that indeed : It is an excellent skiU and art in prayer, to have strong arguments. Then the suit comes off easily, as in Ps, xc. It is a prayer of Moses, the man of God ; and yet the least part of the psalm is prayer : ' Teach us to number our days,' &c., ver. 12, That is all the petition. Though the petition be short, yet it is efficacious, when the heart is warmed and strengthened with strong reasons before ; when the heart is elevated and raised with the consideration of the majesty and the truth of God ; and when the heart is strengthened with strong convincing reasons, that God wUl hear when we press him with his word ; I say, when the heart is thus raised and warmed, all the petitions come easily off. Therefore, it is an excellent thing, beloved, to study the Scriptures, and to study aU the arguments whereby holy men have prevailed with God in Scripture ; and to see in what case those arguments were used. They are of usQ and force to prevail with God, It is a pitiful thing now, for Christians under the glorious light of the gospel, to come to God only with bare, naked petitions (if they come from a true heart, they have thefr force that God should regard them), and have not reasons to press God out of his own word. They cannot bind God with his own promise, nor with arguments that he hath been bound with before. Let a chUd but cry to the father or mother, there is relief pre- * That is, 'wonder.'— G. 96 THE SPIEITUAL FAVOUEITE sently for the very cry (a). But if it be not one that is a chUd, but isof grown years, the father looks for arguments that are moving to press him with. So here, Nehemiah he presseth God with moving and strong argu ments, and he repeats and forceth them. He doth not only aUege them, but enforceth them : ' 0 Lord, I beseech thee, let thine ear be attent to the prayer of thy servant, and of thy servants that desire to fear thy name.' He desireth God to be ' attentive,' He presseth God ; and indeed he doth it to warm his own heart, for when we have humbled our heart low enough, and broken it with the consideration of our own unworthiness, and then warmed it with the consideration of God's goodness, and strengthened it with the consideration of God's promise and truth, then we are sure of a gracious success. ' Let thine ear be attent to the prayer of thy servant, and of thy servants,' How did they know that they were thine ? Because there was no other people in the world that knew God_ but they. And he knew that the saints, wherever they were, had a spirit of prayer, and would remember the case of the church. Therefore he saith, remember ' my prayer and the prayer of thy servants,' For if ' the prayer of one righteous man prevaileth much,' James, v, 16, much more the prayer of many. If there had been but ten righteous in Sodom, Sodom had been preserved. Now this he aUegeth to God, ' remember the prayer of thy servant,' of mine, and the prayer of thy servants. As TertuUian, an ancient father, saith very weU, ' When men join together, they offer a holy kind of violence to God' (6), Prayer is a kind of wrestling and contending with God, a striving with him, ' Let me alone,' saith God to Moses, Exod. xxxU, 10, It is a binding of him with arguments and promises of his own, and it is so forcible, that he desires, as it were, to be let alone. Now, if the prayer of one be a wrestling, and striving, and forcing of him, as it were, against his will, that he said, ' Let me alone,' as if he could do nothing except he gave over praying, what are the prayers of many, when there is a multitude of them ? Therefore we may look for a comfortable issue of our prayers and humi liation that is performed at this time.* The desires of so many Christian souls touched with the Spirit of God, and with the case of the church, which God doth tender,f cannot be ineffectual. It must needs draw plenty of blessings from heaven. I will not enter into the commonplace of prayer, having spoken of it upon another occasion ; but surely you see the holy man Nehemiah stood so much upon it, that he hoped to speed, because he and others prayed : holy Daniel, and others with him. It was such a gracious messenger to send to heaven for help and for all good, that Daniel, though it cost him his life, that he should be cast into the lion's den, he would not omit it for his life. Take away prayer, and take away the life and breath of the soul. Take away breath and the man dies ; as soon as the soul of a Christian begins to live he prays (c). As soon as Paul was converted, ' Behold he prayeth,' Acts ix, 10, A child, as soon as he is born, he cries, and a Christian wiU not lose his prayer ¦ for his Ufe, as we see in holy Daniel. For what is all the comfort that he hath, but that that is derived from God ? and God will be sued unto for aU the favours he bestows. Whatsoever is from his favour, it comes as a fruit of prayer for the most part. Though he go beyond our desires many times, yet ordinarily, what we have if we be his children, we have it as a fruit of prayer. Therefore, * A ' National Humiliation ' by royal proclamation' G, t That is, = ' care for,' regard, — G. AT THE THRONE OF GRACE. 97 I beseech you, let us be stirred up to this duty, as we see Nehemiah here : ' Remember the prayer of thy servant,' &c. And when we pray to God, let us press him, as we see here, ' Be atten tive,' verse 6, and here again, ' be attentive.' He presseth upon God. It is no sinful tautology to come again and again. God loves to hear the same song again and again. This music is not tedious but pleasing to him. And this pressing is for us to warm our hearts ; perhaps one petition will not warm them, and when they are warmed by a second, let us labour to warm them more and more, and never give over tiU we have thoroughly warmed our hearts. ' Be attentive, be attentive to my prayer ;' and if mine will not prevail, be attentive to the prayers of others ; let the prayers of all prevail — ' the prayer of thy servant, and of thy servants,' But how doth he make it good, they are thy servants ? ¦ ' They desire to fear thy name.' Empty relations have no comforts in them: to profess one's self a servant, and not to make it good that he is a servant. We must make good the relation we stand in to God, before we can claim interest in the favour of God by our relation. Servants, and Christians, and professors — here are glorious titles ; but if they be empty titles, if we cannot make them good when we come to God with them, — we cannot say we have any interest in God from empty titles,' — it is rather an aggravation of our sin, God will be honoured in all those that come near him, either in their obedience, or in their confusion. Therefore here the holy man did not think it enough to say, ' Thy servant, and thy servants, but who desire to fear thy name.' He goes to make it good that he was the servant of God, not from any outward thing, but from his inward disposition, ' the fear of God,' which I will not now stand to speak largely of. God requires the heart ; and reli gion is most in managing and tuning the affections, for they are tEe wind that carries the soul to every duty. A man is like the dead sea without affections. Religion is most in them. The devil hath brain enough, he knows enough, more than any of us all. But then he hates God. He hath no love to God, nor no fear of God, but only a slavish fear. He hath not this reverential fear, childlike fear. Therefore let us make it good that we are the servants of God, especially by our affections, and chiefly by this of fear, which is put for all the worship of God. It is put instead of those conditions spoken of verse the 9th, ' If you turn to me, and keep my com mandments, and do them,' then I will make good my promise. Now, saith he, taking up the same strength of argument, ' We desire to fear thy name.' As if he should have said, we turn to thee and obey thy command ments, and desire to do them. It is aU one. ' We desire to fear thy name,' for those that fear God will turn to him ; and to desire to obey his commandments and to do them, it is all one as to do them. If a man should do them, and not from the fear of God, all were nothing but a carcase of obedience. I will not stand longer on that. How doth he make it good that he feared the name of God ? He makes it good from this, that he had good desires. ' TTe desire to fear thy name.' We desire it for the present, and for the time to come; whence we will observe two or three things shortly, as may be useful to us. First of aU, out of this, that this desire to fear the name of God is brought as an argument to prevail in prayer, we may observe that, VOL, VI. G 98 ' THE SPIEITUAL FAVOUEITE Those that will prevail with Ood in prayer, must look to the hent of their souls for the time to come, and for the present. l n a ' Regard thy servants that desire to fear thy name.' For to come to God without such a frame of soul as this, to desire to please God in all things for the present, and for the time to come, it is to come as God's enemy ; and wiU God regard his enemies ? When one comes with a purpose to live in any sin, without a desire for the time to come, to regard all God's com mandments, he comes as God's enemy, he comes as it were with his dagg to shoot at God, he comes with his weapon. Who wiU regard the petition of a man that comes to wound him at the same time ? When a man comes to God with a purpose to sin, he comes to wound God at the same time, as an enemy, and is he like to speed ? For what are our sins, but that that makes us enemies to God ? They are opposite to him as can be, they make us hateful to God, Therefore we must be able to say with good Nehemiah, when we come to God, to make it good that we are servants indeed, ' We desire to fear thy name,' As Jeremiah teUs them, Jer, vu, 10, ' WUl you steal, and oppress, and commit adultery, and yet stand before me ?' WUl you do this and this viUany, and stand before me ? ' What hast thou to do,' saith God, Ps, 1, 16, seq., ' to take my name into thy mouth, and hatest to be reformed ?' If we hate to be reformed, and do not desire to serve God for the time to come, what have we to do to take his name into our mouths, especially in the holy exercise of prayer ? Ps. Ixvi, 18, ' If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord wiU not hear my prayer,' If a man do but regard to live in iniquity for the time to come, the Lord wiU not hear his prayer. Therefore, if we wiU be able to prevaU with God in our petitions, we must say with holy Nehemiah, ' We desire for the time to come to fear thy name.' I beseech you, let us remember it. And then, to omit other things, ' we desire to fear thy name,' we see that Religion especially is in holy desires. The greatest part of Christianity is to desire to be a sound Christian with j all his heart. Religion is more in the affections of the soul than in the I effects and operations. It is more in the resolutions and purpose of the soul, than in any effects we can yield to God. There is much desire in all our performances. Therefore saith the holy man here, ' We desire to fear thy holy name.' Why are desires such trials of the trath of grace ? Because they are the immediate issues of the soul. Desires and thoughts, and such like, they are produced immediately from the soul, without any help of the body, or without any outward manifestation. They shew the temper and frame of the soul. Thereupon God judgeth a man by his desires ; and that which he desires, if it be a true desire, he shall have and be partaker of. The godly man desires to serve God all the days of his life, and for ever he shall do it. A wicked man desires to offend God if he might live everlastingly. God looks upon him as his desire is. He shall not alway sin here ; but because he hath an infinite desire of sin, he shall be punished in hell eternally. God looks upon him as he desires. God values men by their desires. But how are the truth of these desires known ? I will name a few signs. The truth of those desires may be tried thus : 1. If they he constant desires and not flashes ; for then they come from a * That is, = pistol. Cf. Halliwell'a Dictionary of Archaisms and Provincialisms, tub voce, 2 vols. 4to, 1852, — G, AT THE THRONE OP GRACE. 99 Aew nature. Nature is strong and firm. Art is for a turn to serve a turn. When men personate a thing, they do it not long. Creatures that are forced to do so and so, they return to their own nature quickly ; but when a man doth a thing naturally, he doth it constantly. So, constant desires argue a sanctified frame of soul and a new creature. They argue that the image of God is stamped upon the soul. Thereupon we may know that they are holy desires, that they spring from a holy soul, if they be constant, if they be perpetual desires, and not as a torrent that is vented for the present on a sudden, and then comes to nothing after. They are constant. 2, And likewise, if these desires be hearty, strong desires ; and not only strong, but growing desires — desire upon desire, desire fed with desire still, never satisfied till they be satisfied. Strong and growing desires argue the truth of desires ; as indeed a child of God hath never grace enough, never faith enough, never love enough, or comfort enough, till he come to heaven. They are growing desires more and more. The Spirit of God, that is the spring in him, springs up still further and further, till it spring to ever lasting life, till it end in heaven, where all desires shall be accomplished, and all promises performed, and all imperfections removed. Till then they are growing desires still. ' We desire to fear thy name,' and to please thee in all things. 3. Again, True desires, they are not only of the favour of God, hut of graces for the altering of our nature; as Nehemiah here, he desires not the favour of God so much as he desires to fear God's name. Now when desire is of graces, it is a holy desire. You have not the worst men but would desire, with Balaam, ' to die the death of the righteous,' &c.. Numb, xxiii. 10, that they might enjoy the portion of God's people. But to desire grace, that is opposite to corrupt nature as fire and water, this is an argument of a holy principle of grace in us, whence this desire springs, when we desire that that is a counter poison to corrupt nature, that hath an antipathy to corruption. Therefore, when a man from the bottom of his heart can desire. Oh that I could serve God better ! that I had more Uberty to serve him ! that I had a heart more enlarged, more mortified, more weaned from the world ! Oh that I could fear God more ! And of all graces, if it be a true desire, it is of such graces as may curb us of our sinful delights, and restrain us of our carnal liberty, and knit us near to God, and make us more heavenly-minded. The desire of these graces shew a true temper of soul indeed, 4. True desire is carried to grace as well as glory, and the desire of heaven itself. A true spirit that is touched with grace, with the Spirit of God, it desireth not heaven itself so much for the glory, and peace, and abundance of all contentments, as it desires it, that it is a place where it shall be freed from sin, and v/here the heart shaU be enlarged to love God, to serve God, and to cleave to God for ever, and as it is a condition wherein he shall have the image and resemblance of Jesus Christ perfectly upon his soul. Therefore we pray, ' Thy kingdom come ;' that is, we desire that thou wouldst rule more and more largely in our souls, and subdue all opposite power in us, and bring into captivity aU our desires and affections ; and let ' Thy kingdom come ' more and more. ' Let thy wUl be done by us,' and in us more and more, ' in earth as it is in heaven,' Here is a sweet prayer now serving to the first petition, the haUowing of God's name, when we desire more to honour God, and to that purpose that he may rule in us more and make us better. These desires argue an exceUent frame of soul; as we see in Nehemiah, ' our desire is to fear thy name.' 100 THE SPIRITUAL FAVOUEITE 5, True desires are likewise to the means of salvation, and to the means of salvation as they convey grace, as sincere milk ; as you have it, 1 Pet, ii, 2, ' As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word,' Where a man hath holy desires of any grace, and hath them in truth, he will desire those means whereby those graces may most effectually be wrought in his heart. Therefore he will hear the word as the word of God. He comes not to hear the word because of the eloquence of the man that deUvers it, that mingles it with his own parts. He comes not to hear it as the tongue of man; but he sees God in it. It is the powerful word of God, because there goes the efficacy of the Spirit with it to work the graces he desires. Therefore a man may know by his taste of divine truth whether he desire grace. He that desires grace desires the means that may convey grace, and especially so far as they convey grace, ' As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word.' You cannot stiU a child with anything but milk. He desires no blending or mixing, but only milk. So a true Chris tian desires divine truths most, because the Spirit of God is effectual by them to work grace and comfort in him, I will not enlarge myself in the point. Use. The comfortable observation hence is this, that weak Christians that find a debility, and faintness, and feebleness in their performances, hence they may comfort themselves by their desire to fear God, and to worship God, and to serve him, if their desires be true. Therefore, in Isaiah xxvi, 8, the church allegeth it to God, ' In the way of thy judgments have we sought thee,' &c, ' The desire of our souls is towards thy name.' They bring it as a prevailing argument to God, So when we come to God, ' The desire of our souls is toward thy name,' Lord, our endeavours are weak and feeble, but ' the desire of our souls is to thy name,' and ' thou wilt not quench the smoking flax,' Mat. xii. 20, Therefore we come to thee with these weak and poor desires that we have, ' The Lord will fulfil the desires of them that fear him,' Ps. cxlv. 19, if they be but desires, if they be true, and growing, and constant desires, and desires of grace as well as of happi ness, as I shewed before. The reason why God accepts them is partly because they spring from his own Spirit. These desires they are the breathings of the Spirit, For even as it is in places where fountains and springs are digged up, they are known and discovered by vapours ; the vapours shew that there is some water there, some spring, if it were digged up. So these desires, these breath ings to God for grace and comfort, these spiritual breathings, they shew that there is a spring within and Spirit within, whence these vapours and desires come. Therefore they are accepted of God, because they spring from his own Spirit. And because Ihey are pointed to heavenward, to shew that a man is turned; for it is put here instead of turning, ' Turn ye to me, saith the Lord,' ver, 9 ; and he answereth here instead of turning, ' My desire is to fear thy name,' because, when the desire is altered, then the frame of the soul is altered, a man is turned another way. The desire is the weight of the soul. What carries the soul but desire ? Now, when the soul is carried another way than before, it argues an alteration of the frame ; therefore it pleaseth God to accept of them. I beseech you, let us often enter into our own souls, and examine what our desires are, which way the bent of our souls is ; what cause we would have to flourish and prevail in the world, Christ's or antichrist's ; for God esteems us by the frame of our desfres. ' Who desire to fear thy name.' AT THE THEONE OF GRACE. 101 , • And prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day,' Now he comes to his petition, ' Prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day,' He doth not capitulate* with God for particular matters much — for he knew he had to deal with an all-wise God, — ^but he commends his petition in general, ' Prosper, I pray thee, thy servant,' &c. He was to attend the king, and he was in his attendance to mind the state of the church, for the re-edifying the walls and gates of Jerusalem, Now saith he in general, ' Prosper thy servant,' He leaves it to God how and in what manner, being to deal, as I said, with an infinite wise God ; only he prays in general, ' Prosper thy servant this day,' He comes again with his relation of ' servant,' to teach us alway when we come to God to look in what relation we stand to him, whether we be true servants or no, what work we do for him, in what reference we do what we do ; whether we do it to please him as servants or no, I said something of the relation of servant before, I wiU add a little here, because he repeats it four or five times in this short prayer. In all our services we should look to God ; for our aim in our works shew what they are, whether they come from servants or no. As the stamp upon a token makes it, if there be a good stamp on it ; it is not the matter that makes it current, A stamp on silver makes it current as weU as gold, though the metal of gold be better. So when things are done, because God commands them, to please God, as a service to him, this makes it good that we are servants indeed, that the relation is good. When we go about the service of the church or country, or place we live in, to think I do God service here, and do it as a service to God, who wiU be honoured and served in our service to others, herein I am a good servant. Though the matter of my service be a common, base, and mean matter, yet it hath a stamp upon it. It is God's wUl. God hath placed and planted me here, and he wiU be served of me in this condition at this time, though the matter of it be an ordinary thing. I know it may help the good of the church. It hath reference to the wiU of God and the good of the church. Thus if we do what we do with an eye to God in the place where he hath set us, that we do it as to him, we are God's servants, whatsoever the work is. And let us remember oft to think of it, to bring it in our prayers. ' Master,' say they when they were ready to be drowned, ' dost thou not care that we perish ? ' Mark iv, 38, They put him in mind of the relation they were in to him. So when we can put God in mind of our relation — ' Father, we are thy chUdren ;' ' Lord, we are thy servants' — it wiU strengthen our faith and hope of aU good, WiU a master suffer his servant to miscarry in his service ? Surely God wiU never turn away true-hearted servants that have served him a long time. It puts us in mind of our duty, and serves to strengthen our faith ; for as it is a word of service on our part, so it is a promising word of aU good from God, Doth he expect that masters should be good to their servants because they have a Master in heaven ? and wiU not the great Master of heaven be good to his servants ? You see how he foUows the relation. ' Prosper thy servant this day.' What is included in this word 'prosper.^' It includes not only success, which is the main upshot of all, but aU that tends to good success. ' Prosper thy servant this day ;' that is, direct thy * That is, = ' make terms.'— G. 102 THE SPIEITUAL FAVOURITE servant this day how to do and to carry himself. And likewise assist thy servant. When thou shalt direct him, assist him by thy strength, direct him by thy wisdom, prosper him with thy grace, give him good success in aU. It includes direction, and assistance, and good success. In that he saith, ' prosper thy servant,' it includes these things. First of aU, that in ourselves there is neither direction, nor wisdom, nor ability enough for success. We have not power in ourselves to bring things to a comfortable issue. So it enforceth self-denial, which is a good disposi tion when we come to God in prayer. 2, And then again, to attribute to God all, both wisdom, and strength, and goodness, and all. Here is a giving to God the glory of aU, when he saith, ' Prosper thy servant this day,' 3, Then in the third place, here is a dependence upon Ood ; not only acknowledging these things to be in God, but it implies a dependence upon God for these : ' Prosper me. Lord,' I cannot prosper myself, and thou who art the Creator hast wisdom, and strength, and goodness enough. Therefore I depend upon thee, upon thy wisdom for direction, and upon thy strength for assistance, I depend upon thy goodness and aU for a blessed issue. Here is dependence. 4. Again, in the fourth place, here is a recommendation of all hy prayer ; a recommendation of his inward dependence upon God for aU. Now, Lord, ' prosper thy servant.' So that when we come to God for any prosperity and good success, let us remember that we bring self-denial, and an acknowledgment of all excel lency to be in God, to guide, and direct, and assist, and bless us. And remember to depend upon him, to cast ourselves on him, to bring our souls io close with the strong, and wise, and gracious God, that God and our souls may close together. And then commend all by prayer ' to cast ourselves and our affairs, and to roll ourselves,' as the Scripture saith, and all upon God, Ps. Iv. 22 ; and then we shall do as the holy man Nehemiah did here, we shall desire to good purpose that God would ' prosper us.' Indeed, ' it is not in man to guide and direct his own way,' Jer. x. 23. We are dark creatures, and we have not wisdom enough. And we are weak creatures. We have no strength. We are nothing in our own strength. And for success, 'alas ! a thousand things may hinder us from it. For success is nothing but the application of all things to a fit issue, and foreseeing all things that may hinder, and a removing of them. Now who can do this but God ? One main circumstance that besiegeth and besets a business may hinder an excellent business. Who can see all things that beset a business ? all circumstances that stand about a business ? 'Who can see all circumstances of time, and place, and persons, that are hindrances or furtherances ? It must be an infinite wisdom that must forsee them ; man cannot see them. And when men do see them, are there not sudden passions that come up in men, that rob them of the use of their knowledge ? that though they know them before, yet some sudden passion of fear or anger may hinder the knowledge of a man, that he is in a mist when he comes to particulars. When he comes to apply the knowledge that he had before, he knows not what to do. So that unless God in a particular business give success, who is infinitely wise and powerful to remove all hindrances, there will be no success. As it is in the frame of the body, it stands upon many joints ; and if any be out of tune, the whole body is sick. And as it is in a clock, aU the AT THE THRONE OF GEACE, 103 wheels must be kept clean and in order, so it is in the frame of a busi ness. There must all the wheels be set a-going ; if one be hindered, there is a stop in all. It is so with us in the affairs of this world. When we deal with kings and states, if all the wheels be not kept as they should, there will be no success or prosperity. Nehemiah knew this weU enough ; ' prosper thou therefore.' He meant not to be idle when he said this, ' prosper thou ;' for he after joined his own diligence and waited. Therefore join that. If we would have our prayers to God and our dependence upon him effectual for prosperity and success, be careful to use the means as he did. He stands before the king, and observed how he carried himself, to see what words would come from the king, and then he meant after to put in execution whatsoever God should discover. Use. It should teach us to make this use of it, when we deal in any matter, to go to Ood to prosjjer it, and give success, and direction, and assist ance, and a blessed issue. For God, that we may alway depend upon him, he keeps one part in heaven stiU. When he gives us all likelihood of things upon earth, yet he reserves stUl the blessing till the thing be done. TiU there be a consummation of the business, he keeps some part in heaven. Because he would have us sue to him, and be beholding to him, he will have us go up to heaven. Therefore, when we have daily bread, we must pray for daily bread, because the blessing comes from him. Our bread may choke us else. We may die with it in our mouths, as the Israelites did. But when we have things, we must depend on him for a blessing ; all is to no purpose else. Let us learn by this a direction to piety and holy walking with God ; in aU things to pray to God for a blessing. And to that purpose we must be iu such a condition of spirit as we may desire God to prosper us ; that is, we must not be under the guUt of sin when we come to God to prosper us. And we must be humble. God wiU not prosper a business tiU we be humble. As in the case of the Benjamites, when they came, they were denied the first, second, and third time. TiU they prayed and fasted, and were thoroughly humbled, they had their suit denied. Judges xx. 36, seq. If the cause be never so good, tiU we be humbled, God wiU not prosper it, because we are not in frame for the blessing ; if we had it,_ we would be proud. God in preventing* mercy and care, will grant nothing tiU we be humbled. Therefore let us see that we be humble, and see that the matter be good that we beg God to bless and prosper us m, or else we niake a horrible idol of God. We make (with reverence be it spoken) a devU of God. Do we think that God wiU give strength to an iU business ? This is to make him a factor for mischief, for the devU's work. We must not come with such ' strange fire ' before God, to transform God to the con trary to that he is ; but come with humble affections, with repentant souls for our former sins. And let the thing itself be good, that we may come without tempting of him ; let the cause be such that we may desire God's assistance, without tempting of him, as we do when it is good and when we come disposed. Then come with a purpose to refer aU to his service. Lord, if thou wUt bless me in this business, the strength and encouragement I have by it, I wUl refer it to thy further service. Let me have this token of love from thee, that I have a good aim in aU, and then I am sure to speed weU. ' Prosper now thy servant.' * That is, ' anticipating.' — G. 104 THE SPIEITUAL FAVOUEITE It is an exceUent point, if I had time to stand on it. I beseech you, let it have some impression upon your hearts. What is the reason that God blasts and brings to nothing, many excellent endeavours and projects ? Men set upon the business of God, and of their callings, in confidence of their wit* and pride of their own parts. They carry things in the pride and strength of their parts. Men come as gods to a business, as if they had no dependence upon him for wisdom, or direction, or strength. « They carry things in a carnal manner, in a human manner, with human spirits. Therefore they never find either success, or not good success. Let us therefore commend all to God : ' Prosper thy servant.' Before he went about the business, holy Nehemiah he sowed prayers in God's bosom, and watered the seed with mourning ; as it is in this chapter, he mourned and prayed. When this business was sown with prayers, and watered with tears, how could he but hope for good success ! He mourned and prayed to God, ' Hear thy servant.' Now when we deal with things in a holy manner, we may, without tempt ing God, trust him. That which is set upon in carnal confidence and pride, it ends in shame ; when men think to conceive things in wit, ay, and in faction and human affections, God will not be glorified this way, God will be glorified by humble dependent creatures, that when they have done the business, will ascribe all to him. ' Not unto us, but to thy name give the praise,' Ps. cxv. 1. The direction and assistance and blessing was thine. Saith God in Isa. 1., to'Sfards the end, ver. 11, ' Go to now, ye that kindle a fire, walk in the light of your own fire : but be sure you shall end in sorrow.' You will kindle a fire of your own devices, and walk in the light of your fire ; you will have projects of your own, and be your own carvers : but be sure you shall Ue down in darkness and discomfort, you shall lie down in sorrow. -A proud unbroken heart accounts these poor courses. It is but a course of weak and poor spirits to pray and fast, and humble themselves to God, and to fear God. Alas ! what are these ? These are weak courses. I hope we have stronger parts and means to carry things. So they have a kingdom in their brain. What is the issue of these vain men, when God discovers all their courses to be vain at length, to be wind, and come to nothing ? ' Prosper now thy servant,' saith he. Let us learn this lesson likewise. If we come to God in a particular business, that we are not so confident in, to be pleasing to God, yet in general to submit ourselves, ' Lord, prosper thy servant ; ' go before thy servant ; let me deal in nothing against thy wiU ; direct me what is for thy glory ; and not to prescribe or limit God. ' Prosper thy servant this day.' ' And grant him mercy in the sight of this man.' _ He comes more particularly to this request, ' Grant me mercy in the sight of this man.' We see that A king is a great organ or instmment to convey good things from God, ihe\ King of kings, to men. Therefore he prays that God would give him favour in the sight of the king. For a king is the first wheel that moves all other wheels, and as it werethe sun of the commonwealth, or the first mover that moves aU inferior orbs. Therefore in heavenly wisdom he desires God to give him favour with him ; for if he had that, the king could turn aU the inferior orbs to his pleasure. Indeed, it were a point worthy enlarging, but that * That is, ' wisdom.' — G. AT THE THEONE OF GRACE, 105 it is not so seasonable for this time, the time being already spent. You see what great good God conveys by kings and princes. And when God means to do good to a church or state, he raiseth up ' nursing fathers and nursing mothers,' Isa. xlix. 23. He will raise up both kings and subordinate Nehemiahs, excellent men, when he hath excellent things to do. But the main thing here intended, which I will but touch, is, that con sidering they stand in such a subordination to God as to be instruments to convey so much good or so much ill as they may, as it is said of Jeroboam, they either cause others to sin or to worship God, therefore we should do as good Nehemiah : he prays that he might find favour in his sight, A wise and holy prayer 1 He begins at the head ; he goes to the spring of all good. Prayer is the messenger or ambassador of the soul. Being the ambassador of the soul, it goes to the highest, to the King of kings first ; to the Lord of lords first. It goes to the highest mover of all, and then desires him to move the next immediate subordinate mover, that is, the king, that he may move other orbs under him, that things may be carried by a gracious sweet course to a blessed issue. Therefore the observation hence is this, that when we have to do anything with great men, with kings, Sc, however, begin with the King of kings, and do all in heaven before we do it in earth ; for heaven makes the laws that earth is governed by. Let earth conclude what it wiU, there will be conclusions in heaven that will overthrow all their conclusions. Therefore in our prayers we should begin with God, and desire him with earnest and fervent entreaties that he would set all a-going, that he would set in frame these inferior causes. And when we have gotten what we would in heaven, it is easy to get in earth. Let us win what we desire in heaven at God's hands, and then what an easy thing is it to work with princes and other governors in state when we have gotten God once ! Hath not he ' the hearts of kings in his hand as the rivers of water,' Prov, xxi. 1, to turn this way or thart there way ? As a skilful man derives water by this channel or by that, as he opens a vent for the water, so God opens a way to vent the deliber ations and determinations of kings and princes, to run this way or that, to this good or that, as he pleaseth. Therefore considering that there is an absolute dependence of aU inferior things from God, when we have to do with kings or great men, let us always begin with prayer. As Jacob, when he was to deal with Esau, he faUs down and prays first ; and when he had gotten of God by prayer, God, that makes ' even of enemies friends,' he turned Esau's heart of an enemy to be a friend. And God put into Jacob's heart a wise course to effect this, as to offer a pre sent, and to give him titles, 'My lord Esau,' &c.. Gen, xxxUi, 4. God, when he wiU effect a thing amongst men, and hear the prayers that are made to him for the favour of men, he wiU put into their hearts such ways whereby they shaU prevail with men, as Jacob did with Esau, So Esther, before she goes to Ahasuerus, she got* in heaven first by prayer. When she had obtained of God by prayer, how placable and sweet was Ahasuerus to her ! So we see in other places of Scripture, when holy men have been to deal with men, they began with God, I beseech you therefore learn this point of Christian wisdom. If you would speed well, — as we aU desire to speed weU in our business, — especiaUy those that have pubUc employments, [this must be the course] that they would pray to God, that hath the hearts of kings 'and princes in his government and guidance, that he would make them favourable ; and not to * Spelled ' gate,' i. e., gat. — G. 106 THE SPIRITUAL FAVOURITE think to carry things in a violent course, for then God doth not usually give that good success; but to carry things in a religious pourseto the King of heaven, and then to know in what terms to stand in aU inferior things as may stand with the will of God in heaven. If so be there be a dependence of all inferiors to God, then we must not offend God, and go against conscience, for any, because he is ' King of kings, and Lord of lords,' He doth not set up authority against himself, to disarm and disable himself. He never went to set up gods under him, to make him a cypher ; that he should make them gods, and God a man, or nobody, to alter all the frame of things. He never meant to set up any ordinance to nullify and make himself nobody. Therefore, I say, we ought to pray to God for kings, that so in our obedience we may be sure to do nothing against conscience for any creature. We must do all things that possible can be, that may procure the favour, and ingratiate us, because it is in vain to pray unless we use all possible means to win their favour ; but if it cannot be upon good terms, then ' whether to obey God or man, judge ye,' Acts v, 29. And as the three young men, ' we take no thought to answer in this matter ; our God can defend us if he will,' Daniel iii, 16, And as Esther said, 'If I perish, I perish,' Esther iv, 16. When things are clear, we are to be resolute, yet reserving due respect to God's ordinance and to his lieutenant upon earth ; I say, always reserving due respect, and using means to win favour, and also to use prayer. Holy Nehemiah, he prays here ; and together with that, he attends upon the king. As good Jacob observed Esau, so all good means must be used, or else God will not bless our proceedings. Remember that all inferior governors whatsoever, they are subordinate'' and dependent, and therefore they must be regulated by a superior. They are limited, they are dependent, they are derivative. They are dependent upon God ; they are derived from him. Therefore, as the apostle saith that ' servants must obey their masters in the Lord,' Eph. vi, 5, so we must' obey and do all ' in the Lord.' That limitation must be always added ; but reserving that, it is a good thing to pray that there may be favour from the king, because it is of much consequence to bring business to a good issue. And with prayer, there must be a using means to get favour, always with this liberty, to do it so far as we can with preserving a good con science. As they have a distinction among civilians, there is a parting with a thing cumulative and privative : cumulative, that is, when we part with a thing so as that we reserve the propriety ; * privative, when we give away the propriety and all. Now, so Gqd parts with nothing below, as to strip himself ; but cumulative, he derives \ authority to others, but reserves the propriety to himself. Therefore we must obey them in him, and with this limitation, as it may stand with his favour. To draw to a conclusion in a word. You see here that any good Chris tian may be a good statesman in one good sense. What is that ? A good Christian hath credit in heaven, and he hath a spirit of prayer, and his prayer can set God on work ; and God can set the king on work ; and he can set his subjects on work. Now, he that can prevail with God to pre vaU with the gods upon earth here, surely such a man is a profitable man in the state. And you know, God he can alter all matters, and mould all things : it is but a word of his mouth. And what God can do, prayer can do ; for prayer binds God, because it is the prayer of faith; and faith, as it * That is, property, ' possession.'— G. t Tliat is, ' communicates,' bestows,— G. AT THE THEONE OF GRACE, 107 were, overcomes God. Now, prayer is the flame of faith, the vent* of laitn ; ana taith is a victorious, triumphant grace with God himself. If it be any. It is Christians that can prevaU with God for a blessing upon a state. Iben certamly there is no good Christian but is of exceUent service m tne state. Though in particular perhaps he hath not policy, and wisdom, and government, yet he hath God's ear to hear him, and he can pray to trod tiia,t God would make the king and other subordinate magistrates favourable. ° You see what great good a good man may do in a state. ' The innocent man delivers the land,' as it is in Job xxii. 30. And the ' poor wise man dehvers the city,' as it is in Eccles. ix. 15. A few holy, gracious men, that have grace and credit in heaven above, they may move God to set aU things in a blessed frame below. And surely if this holy means were used, things would be better than they are ; and tiU this be used, we can never look for the good success and issue of things that otherwise we may hope for. Divers things might be spoken of the doctrinal part, I will give you but a word of it. That God hath our hearts in his government, more than we ourselves. I speak it to inform our judgment in a point of doctrine, whether God foresee and determine of things below upon foresight, which way they shaU go ; or whether he foreordain that they shaU go this way, because he dfrects them thus : that is to make God, God indeed. He determines that these things shaU be, because he determines, in the series and order of causes, to bring things to pass, and to guide kings, and princes, and magistrates, and aU, this way. Again, whether God hath set aU men at liberty, in matters of grace especially, that they may apply grace at their liberty, which way they wiU ; and in foresight, which way they will apply then; liberty, to determine thus or thus of them. This is to make every man's wiU a god, and to divest God of his honour, as if God could foresee the inclination of the creature, without foresight that he meant to incUne it this way or that way. Can God foresee any entity, any thing that hath a being in nature or grace, without foresight to dfrect it this way or that way ? He cannot. This is to make him no God, We see God hath the hearts of kings in his power, and that is the ground of prayer for grace to them. Why should we pray for them, if they could apply their own wiU which way they would ? Why should we give thanks for that we have liberty to do this way or that way ? It stops devotion, and petition, and thanksgiving, to say that the creature hath Uberty to apply itself, and God, seeing it would apply itself thus, determined so. Oh no. We must go to God. He hath set down an order and course of means ; and in the use of those means, desire him to guide us by his good Spirit, to enlighten our understandings, to guide our wiUs and affections by his Holy Spirit, because our hearts are in his govemment more than our own. If it were needful to prove it, I could prove it at large. If there had been such a liberty, good Nehemiah would never have made this prayer. But God doth strangely put thoughts and guide all, even of himself, as we may see exceUently in the story of Esther. I wUl give you but that example and instance. What a strange thing was it that Ahasuerus could not sleep ; and when he could not sleep, to call for the book, and then that he should read of Mordecai, and thereupon to advance Mordecai, All this tended to the good of the church : it was a strange thing. And so in other things. It is a strange thing that God should put little thoights and desires into great persons, and then foUow ¦* That is, ' outlet,' = utterance, — G, 108 THE SPIRITUAL FAVOUEITE AT THE THRONE OF GRACE. it with this circumstance and that ; and so bring things to pass. AU this is from God. Except we hold this, that God rules all without, and espe cially the hearts of men, where it is his especial prerogative to set up his throne, we shall never pray heartily or give thanks. And if we do pray and give thanks, he wUl put thoughts into governors' minds, strange thoughts and resolutions for the good of the church, that we could never have thought of, nor could come otherwise, but from the great God of heaven and earth. We shall see a strange providence concur to the good of aU, But I must leave the enlargement of these things to your own thoughts and meditations.* * Here is added, ' Imprimatur. Thomas "Wykes. August 24. 1639.' — G. NOTES. (a) P. 96. — ' Let a child but cry to the father or mother, there is relief presently for the very cry.' Tennyson has finely put this : — 'What am I? An infant crying in the night, An infant crying for the light, And with no language but a cry.' — In Memoriam, liii. (b) P. 96. — ' As TertuUian saith, ..." "When men join together, they offer a holy kind of violence to God." ' In his ' Apology ' the sentiment is found, e.g., c. xxxix. : ' We are a body united in the profession of religion, in the same rites of worship, and in the bond of a common hope. We meet in one place, and form an assembly, that we may, as it were, come before God in one united body, and so address him in prayer. This is a violence which is well-pleasing to God.' Cf. 'Temple Chevallier's exceUent edition of the post-apostolical Letters and Apologies (8vo, 2d ed., 1851), in loc. (c) P. 96. — ' Take away prayer, and take away the life and breath of the soul. Taks away breath, and the man dies ; as soon as the soul of a Christian begins to live, he prays.' This recalls the beautiful hymn of James Montgomery — ' Prayer is the Christian's vital breath. The Christian's native air,' &c. G. THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKER. NOTE, ' The Successful Seeker' appeared originally in ' Evangelical Sacrifices' (4to., 1640). Its separate title-page is given below.* For general title-page of the volume, see Vol. V. page 156. G. *THE SVCCESSEFVLL SEEKER. In two Sermons, on PSALME 27. 8. BY The late Learned and Reverend Divine, Rich. Sibbs. Doctor in Divinity, Mr. of Katheeine Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher to the Honourable Society of Gbayes-Inne. 1 Cheon. 16. 11. Seehe yee the Lord, and his strength : seeke his face continually. LONDON, Printed by T. B. for N. Bourne, at the Eoyall Exchange, and R. Harford, at the guilt Bible in Queenes-head Alley in Pater-noster-Eow. 1639. THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. When thou saidst. Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee. Thy face. Lord, will I seek.— Ps. XXYII, 8. In the former verse, David begins a prayer to God, ' Hear, 0 Lord ; have mercy upon me, and answer me.' This verse is a ground of that prayer, ' Seek ye my face,' saith God, The heart answers again, ' Thy face. Lord, will I seek ;' therefore I am encouraged to pray to thee. In the words are contained, God's command and David's obedience. ' Seek my face ; thy face. Lord, will I seek.' God's warrant and David's work answerable, the voice and the echo : the voice, ' Seek my face ; ' the rebound back again of a gracious heart, ' Thy face. Lord, will I seek.' ' When thou saidst.' It is not in the original. It only makes way to the sense. Passionate speeches are usually abrupt : ' Seek my face ;' ' thy face. Lord, will I seek,' The first thing that I will observe from the encouragement is, that, Ohs. Ood shews himself to his understanding creature. God begins you see, ' Seek my face.' He must open his meaning and shew himself first. God comes out of that hidden light that he dweUs in, and discovers himself and his will to his creature, especially in the word. It is our happiness now, that we know the mind and meaning of God, What is the ground of this ? What need God stoop thus ? There is the same ground for it as that there is a God, These things go in an undivided knot, God : the reasonable, understanding creature ; and religion, that ties that creature to God ; a discovery of* God what that religion shall be. For in the intercourse between God and man, man can do nothing except he hath his warrant from God, It is extreme arrogance for man to devise a worship of God, Do we think that God wiU suffer the creature to serve him as he pleaseth ? No. That were to make the creature, which is the servant, to be the master. It belongs to the master or lord to appoint the service. What master or lord will be served according to the liberty and wisdom and will of his servant ? And shall the great God of heaven and earth be worshipped and depended upon as man pleaseth, or from any encouragement from himself? Shall not he design his own wor ship ? He that singles out his own work makes himself master in that, * That is, = ' by God.'— G. ; 112 THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. Therefore God begins with this command, ' Seek my face ;' and then the heart answereth, ' Thy face. Lord, will I seek.' God must first discover his mind, of necessity, to the creature. Scriptures might be forced hence to shew the duty owing from the creature, man, to God. For the creature must have a ground for what he doth. It must not be will-worship, infringit, &c. It is a rule, it weakens the respect of obedience that is done without a cause. Though a man doth a good deed, yet what reason, what ground have ye for this ? And that we may do things upon ground, God must discover himself; therefore he saith, ' Seek my face.' It may be objected that everything proclaims this, to seek God. Though God had not spoken, nor his word, every creature hath a voice to say, ' Seek God.' AU his benefits have that voice to say, ' Seek God.' Whence have we them ? If the creature could speak, it would say, I serve thy turn that thou mayest serve God, that made thee and me. As the prophet saith, the rod and chastisement hath a voice. ' Hear the rod, and him that smiteth,' Micah vi. 9. Everything hath a voice. We know God's nature -i omewhat in the creature, that he is a powerful, a wise, a just God. We | see it by the works of creation and providence ; but if we should know his nature, and not his wUl towards us — his commanding will, what he will have ' us do ; and his promising will, what he will do for us — except we have a ground for this from God, the knowledge of his nature is but a confused ! knowledge ; it serves but to make us inexcusable, as in Rom. i. 19, seq., ' it is proved at large. It is too confused to be the ground of obedience, unless the will of God be discovered before ; therefore we must know the mind of God. And that is the excellency of the church of God above all other people and companies of men, that we have the mind and will of God ; what he requires of us by way of duty to him, and what he will do to us as a liberal and rich God. These two things, which are the main, are discovered ; what we look for from God, and the duty we owe back again to God, these are distinctly opened in the word. You see here God begins with David, ' Seek ye my face.' Indeed, God is a God of order. In this subordination of God and the creature, it is fit that God should begin. It is God's part to command, an^ ours to obey. This point might be enlarged, but it is a point that doth but make way to that that follows, therefore I will not dwell upon it. Again, in this first part, God's command or warrant, ' Seek ye my face,' you see here, Ohs. 2, God is willing to he known. He is wiUing to open and discover himself; God delights not to hide himself, God stands not upon state, as some emperors do that think their presence diminisheth respect, God is no such God, but he may be searched into, Man, if any weakness be dis covered, we can soon search into the depth of his excellency ; but with God it is clean otherwise. The more we know of him, the more we shaU admire him. None admire him more than the blessed angels, that see most of him, and the blessed spirits that have communion with him. Therefore he hides not himself, nay, he desires to be known ; and aU those that have his Spirit desire to make him known. Those that suppress the knowledge of God in his wiU, what he performs for men and what he requires of them, they are enemies to God and of God's people. They suppress the opening of God, clean contrary to God's meaning : ' Seek my face ;' I desire to be made known, and lay open myself to you. THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE, 113 Therefore we may observe by the way, that when we are in any dark condition, that a Christian finds not the beams of God shining on him, let him not lay the blame upon God, as if God were a God that delighted to hide himself. Oh no ; it is not his delight. He loves not strangeness to his poor creature. It is not a point of his policy. He is too great to affect * such poor things. No ; the fault is altogether in us. We walk not worthy of such a presence ; we want humility and preparation. If there be any darkness in the creature, that he finds God doth not so shine on him as in former times, undoubtedly the cause is in himself ; for God saith, ' Seek my face.' He desires to open himself. But it is a point that I wUl not be large in. We see hence likewise, that Obs. 3. God's goodness is a communicative, spreading goodness. That is peculiar to God and to those that are led with the Spirit of God, that are like him ; they have a communicative, diffusive goodness that loves to spread itself. ' Seek ye my face,' I am good in myself, but I desire to shine on you, to impart my goodness to you. If God had not a communicative, spreading goodness, he would never have created the world. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were happy in themselves, and enjoyed one another before the world was. But that God delights to communicate and spread his goodness, there had never been a creation nor a redemption. God useth his creatures, not for defect of power, that he can do nothing without them, but for the spreading of his goodness ; and thereupon comes all the subordination of one creature to another, and all to him. Oh that w e had hearts to make way for such a goodness as God would cast into us, if we were as we should be. God's goodness is a spreading, imparting goodness. It is a common distinction. There is the goodness of the fountain and the goodness of the vessel, that is our goodness, because we contain somewhat in us that is good. The goodness of the creature, that is but the channel or the cistern ; but the goodness of God is another manner of goodness, the goodness of the fountain. The fountain begs not from the river ; the sun borrows not light from the candle ; God begs not goodness from the creature. Ours is a borrowed goodness, but his is a communicative goodness : ' Seek my face,' that I may impart my goodness. The sun delights to spread his beams and his influence in inferior things, to make all things fruitful. Such a goodness is in God as is in a fountain, or in the breast that loves to ease itself of milk. I note it, that we may conceive aright of God, that is more wUling to bestow good than we are to ask it. He is so wiUing to bestow it, that he becomes a suitor to us, ' Seek ye my face.' He seeks to us to seek him. It is strange that heaven should seek to earth, and yet so it is. Quest. Whence comes this in God, the attribute of goodness, the spread ing goodness in his nature, that he desires to impart and communicate himself ? Ans. There is no envy in God. He hath none above him, and there fore he labours to make all good. There is a mystery in it ; but if some be not good, the fault is in themselves. As it is a prerogative in him to make some more and some less good, so there is a fault in them ; that I am no better, it is my own fault. The prerogative belongs to God. We must not search into that. But every man may say, I might have been better and more enlarged ; I did not seek his face, that he might take occasion to * That is, ' choose ' = love. — Q. VOL. VI. H 114 THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKER. enlarge himself towards me. Would we be like our heavenly Father ? Let us labour to have large affections, to have a spreading goodness, _ Two things make us very like God, that much concern this point : to do things freely of ourselves, and to do them far. To communicate goodness, and to communicate it far to many. The greater the fire is, the further it burns ; the greater the love is, the further it extends and communicates itself. There are none more like God than those that communicate what good they have to others, and communicate it as far and remote as they can to extend it to many. Our Saviour Christ, you see what a world were beholding to him ; heaven and earth were beholding to him. And the nearer a man comes to Christ, the more there is a*kind of self-denial, to do good to others. Saint Paul had a great measure of Christ in him. He was content to be bestowed for the good of the church ; the care of all did Ue upon him, 2 Cor, xi, 28, A public mind is God's mind ; a pubUc mind is a mind that loves to do good freely and largely to others, "Therefore God saith, ' Seek my face,' that I may have better opportunity to empty my goodness to you, ' Seek my face ;' that is, seek my presence. The face is the glass of the soul, wherein we see the mind of a man, ' Seek my face ;' that is, seek my mind, seek my presence, as we shall see afterward, I will speak no more of that point, God's warrant or command, but go on, ' My heart said unto thee. Thy face, Lord, will I seek,' Here is the work and obedience, 'My heart said unto thee,' &c, David's heart was set in a good and sanctified frame by God ; it was between God and his obedience. The heart is between God and our obedience, as it . were an ambassador. It understands from God what God would have done, and then it lays a command upon the whole man. The heart and con science of man is partly divine, partly human. It hath some divinity in it, especially if the man be a holy man. God speaks, and the heart speaks. God speaks to the heart, and the heart speaks to us. And ofttimes when we hear conscience speaking to us, we neglect it ; and as St Augustine said of himself, ' God spake often to me, and I was ignorant of it ' (a). When there is no command in the word that the heart directly thinks of (as in deed many profane careless men scarce have a Bible in their houses), God speaks to them thus ; conscience speaks to them some broken command, that they learn against their wills. They heed it not, but David did not so, God said, ' Seek ye my face ; ' his heart answers, ' Thy face. Lord, wiU I seek.' The heart looks upward to God, and then to itself. 'My heart said.' It said to thee, and then to itself. First, his heart said to God, Lord, I have encouragement from thee. Thou hast commanded that I should seek thy face. So his heart looked to God, and then it speaks to itself, ' Thy face. Lord, wUl I seek,' It looks first to God, and then to all things that come from itself,' ' My heart said.' It said of that point, concemkig the thing thou saidst, ' Seek my face,' ' My heart said to thee.' David saw God in all his commandments : ' Thou saidst to me. Seek my face ; my heart said to thee.' I know the command is from thee ; I have to deal with thee in the command and encouragement, and in the warrant. I look not to the words, but to thee; the authority and strength of them comes from thee. ' My heart said to thee. Thy face, Lord, will I seek,' Between the answer of David and God's command and warrant, the heart comes to think seriously upon the command, and then to enjoin the THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. 115 duty. This is to be considered, because there is no knitting of these two together but by the heart, the serious consideration of the heart. When God saith, ' Seek my face,' he answers, ' I will seek thy face.' How comes this return? The soul considers the ground of the return before the return. A man, when he doth anything, he doth it from the principles of a man, A holy man, when he doth a thing, he doth it from the principle of a holy man ; and what is the principles and foundation of the practice of a holy man ? A sanctified understanding to tell him what God hath said, and what he hath promised, and wherein God hath discovered himself. Well, when the heart knows that once, the heart hath enough from heavenward, it hath enough from heaven, God hath said and promised it. Then the heart, by a work it hath of itself, speaks to itself, and to the whole man, to seek God. The heart will not stoop without reason, the heart of an understanding man ; but when it sees the command first, ' Seek my face,' then it answers, ' Thy face. Lord, will I seek,' So that this command of God, and this encouragement and warrant from God, ' Seek ye my face,' it was in David's heart, it was written, and set, and grafted in his heart ; and then his heart being awed with the command of God, God hath said thus, the heart goes again to God ; thou hast said thus, Lord, ' thy face will I seek,' See the depth of David's speech, when he saith, ' Lord, thy face will I seek,' It came from his heart root, not only from the heart, but from the heart, grounded upon the command and encouragement of God, ' Seek my face.' There is the ground ; the heart digesting this thoroughly, this is God's command ; I understand it, and understand it from God ; I see the authority from whence it comes. Therefore I wUl stir up myself, ' Thy face, Lord, wiU I seek,' I shall have occasion to' speak somewhat of it afterwards, in the next thing, his obedience. Therefore I go on, ' Thy face, Jehovah, wUl I seek,' Here is his return again to God, that he will seek the face of God, I wiU seek thy face in all my necessities. Then will I seek to thee ; and in all thine ordinances I wiU seek to thee, whereinsoever thy presence is dis. covered. Thy presence is in all places, especially in thine ordinances ; thy presence is in all times, especially in the time of trouble and need. In aU times of need I wiU seek to thee ; in aU exigences I wiU seek unto thee ; and in aU thine ordinances wherein I may find thee, I know I may meet with thee there ; thou givest thy people meetings in thine ordinances. It is thy walk ; therefore thy face. Lord, wiU I seek, where I may be sure to meet thee, in thine own way and ordinances. So much for the meaning. ' Thy face. Lord, will I seek.' Here is, first of aU, an application, and obedience from application. They be words of particular application, ' Thy face wUl I seek,' God had given him a ground, ' Seek ye my face,' His heart makes the application, ' Thy face I wiU seek,' applying the general encouragement to himself in particular. So that you may observe hence that, Obs. The ground of all obedience, of all holy intercourse with Ood, is a spirit of application. Applying the truths of God, though generally spoken, to ourselves in par ticular. It is spoken here in the plural number, ' Seek ye my face ;' but the general implies the particular, as London is in England. ' Seek ye my face,' aU ye that are the people of God. But I am one of them : what though I be not named ? That tenet in popery is against sense. When a man is condemned by the law, is his name in the law ? It is against 116 THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. such a fact ; he is a malefactor : and so the particular is included in the general, ' Seek ye my face.' David knew that; reason taught him that, and not religion. ' , . ,, 1, Now the gi-ound of application of divine truths to ourselves m parti- ticular is this, that the truth of Ood (setting aside some circumstantial thmgs that arise sometimes to particular persons, that sometimes limit the command to one person, or the promise to one person, cut off those dis tinctions), all comfortable truths agree to Ood's people in all ages, while there is a church in the world. AU truths are eternal truths, die not as men do. David is dead, and Moses is dead ; but this truth is not dead, ' Seek ye mv face.' Paul is gone, and Peter is gone. We are the Davids and the Moseses, and the Peters, and the Pauls now. Those traths that were good to them are good to us. Whatsoever was written before was written for our comfort, Rom, xv. 4, There is an eternal trath, that rans through aU ages of the church, that hath an everlasting comfort, God hath framed the Scriptures not to be limited to the times wherein they were written, as the papists idly speak, BeUarmine and others (6) ; as if they were occa sional things ; that the Scriptures were written by such and such men, and concerning only those times. But the Scriptures were written for aU times, and it concems aU times to apply all truths to themselves, setting aside those circumstances that are appUed to particular men, which are easy to discem. In Heb. xiii. 5 that that was said to Joshua, Josh. i. 5, the apostle applies it to the church in his time, and to aU : ' Be not afraid ; I wUl not fail thee nor forsake thee,' It is a general truth. ' And Abraham beUeved God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness,' that whosoever believes as Abraham is a son of Abraham, Rom, iv, 5. These truths are universal, and concern every one, as well as any. And so^many other places of Scripture. ' The promise of the blessed seed,' the believing of it runs from the beginning of the world, in aU ages to the coming of Christ. AU other promises were but an enlargement of that, that was the mother promise. That is the ground of application, that the general truths agree to all the churches. The truth of God is the portion of every child of God, He may claim every promise, and ought to follow the direction of every command. The reason is, because all the church of God are heirs aUke — ^heirs of the promise, children of Abraham, heirs of salvation. They have interest in Christ alike, ' in whom all the promises are yea and amen ;' in whom all the promises have their making and their performance. And by rea son that there is an indifferent equality, in regard of the main things, of aU the children of God, they have interest aUke in all the benefits by Christ : in all truths, in all substantial duties to God, and all favours from God. That is the ground of the equity of application. 2. But if you wUl have the ground of the necessity of it, nature wiU shew that. For the truths are food. If food be not taken, what good doth it do without application ? The word of God is a sword : what will a sword do if it hangs up in a man's chamber ? or if it be not used when the enemy approacheth ? The application of the sword of the Spirit gives the virtue to it. It is to no purpose else. Divine truths are physic. If it be not applied, what use is there of physic ? There is a necessity, if we will obey God, of a spirit of application. There is nothing that will do good but by application, neither in nature nor in grace. There must be a virtual* application at least. The heavens * That is, = in efloaoy, energy.— G. THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. 117 work upon the earth. There is no appUcation bodily, the heavens are too high. But there is a virtual application ; there comes Ught in, and influence to these inferior bodies. Therefore we say the sun is in the house, and in the place we are in, though there be only his influence there. But there must be application of divine truth to the soul. It must be brought near the soul before the soul can move. There is a necessity of application from a principle of nature to make it our own. Now as in nature there is a power in the soul to work out of the food that that is good for every member, which we caU a digestive power and faculty, that applies and assimilates the meat and nourishment we take to every part ; there hefibrte, sucking veins, that suck out of the meat strength for this and that purpose ; so there is in the soul of every Christian and holy man : there is a spiritual sucking ; there is a drawing digestive spirit, that digests and draws out nomishment out of the book of God, that is fit for him ; that he can say. This is mine, this is for me. I want comfort and strength and direction, here it is. I want light, here it is. I am weak, here is supply for it. So there is a digestive power by the Spirit of God in every Christian, to suck and to draw out of the word that that is fit for aU purposes and turns ; and he can apply the word upon every occasion : as, if it be a command, he obeys it ; if it be a threatening, he trembles at it ; if it be comfort, he rests in it ; if it be a direction, he foUows it like wise. He appUes it answerable to the nature of the word, whatsoever it is. His heart is moulded answerable to the word, by reason of the Spirit of application. 3. As there is a ground of the application of the word, and a necessity of it, so there is a principle of application ; that is, the Spirit of God in the hearts of the children of God, teaching their spirits to draw wholesome truths fitting to themselves ; and none but the chUdren of God can do it, that have the Spfrit of God. They cannot apply the word of God aright. False application of the word of God is the cause of aU mischief sometimes, when those that apply the law should apply the gospel ; and on the con trary, when those that should apply the law, sinful, secure persons, apply the gospel. Many times poor distressed persons, that comfort belongs to — ' Oh comfort my people,' Isa. xl, 1 — they apply the law that belongs not to them. In that case false appUcation is the ground of mischief. Therefore the Spirit of God is the principle of application of divine truths, according to the exigence and estate of God's people. Use. Therefore we should he stirred up to beg tlie spirit of application, to maintain our communion and intercourse with Ood, that we may apply every thing duly and traly to ourselves and our own souls. All is to no purpose else, if we do not apply it, if it be not brought home to our souls and digested throughly in our hearts. We must say. This is from God, and this belongs to me ; when we hear traths unfolded, to say of ourselves, This concerns me, and say not. This is a good portion and a good truth for such a one and such a one, but. Every one take out his own portion, this is for me, God saith, ' Seek my face ; thy face. Lord, wUlI seek,' with a spirit of application. , ,, , i If we do not— as indeed it is the fault of the times to hear the word of God loosely— we care not so much to hear the word of God, as to hear the gifts of men. We desire to hear fine things, to increase notions. We delight in them, and to hear some empty creature, to fasten upon a story or some phrases by the by. Alas ! you come here to hear duties and coti- forts, if you be good, and sentences against you, if you be naught. We 118 THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. speak God's threatenings to you that wiU wound you to heU, except yon pull them out by repentance. It is another manner of matter to hear. than it is took for, ' Take heed how you hear,' saith Christ, Luke vni. 18, So we had need, for the word that we hear now shaU judge us at the latter day. Thereupon we should labour for a spirit of application, to make a right use of it as we should. Therefore those humble souls that are cast down in the sight and sense of their sms, they must apply the sweet and blessed comforts of the gospel, such as are contrite in spirit : ' Blessed are the poor in spirit ; blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Come unto me, aU ye that are weary and heavy laden,' &c.. Mat, xi, 28, Those on the other side, that go on in a course of sin, and wiU not be reclaimed, let them con sider what Moses saith. Dent, xxix, 20, ' If a man go on and bless himself, my wrath shall smoke against such a man, and burn to heU,' I wUl not remove my wrath from him, tiU by little and Uttle I take my good Spirit from him, and let him go with some temporal comforts, and then bring him to heU, ' I wiU curse him in his blessings,' He shall have blessings, hut he shaU be cursed in aU that he doth ; and aU things shaU be in wrath and anger that shall burn to heU, Such lUie places, let such men apply to themselves. There is no comfort at all to men that live in sin wittingly and wUlingly, ' If I regard iniquity in my heart, God wiU not hear my prayer,' Ps. Ixvi, 18, If a man despise the ordinance of God, hearing and good means, ' his prayer shall be abominable :' ' He that wiU not hear the law, his prayer is abominable,' Prov, xxviU, 9, The applying of these things would make men bethink themselves, and turn to God, when he considers what part of the word belongs to him, and makes a right appUcation, If we make not a right appUcation of God's truths, this mischief wiU come of it. (1.) We dishonour Ood and his bounty. Hath God been so bountiful, as to give us so many instructions and such promises ? and shall not we make them our own ? What is the end of the ministry but to spread before us the unsearchable riches of Christ ? They are yours, if you will take them. When you have not a spirit of application, and are not in case to take them, they are lost : God's bounty is discredited, (2,) The devil rejoiceth when he seeth what excellent things are laid open in the church of Ood, in the ministry, what sweet promises and comforts, but here is nobody to take them and lay hold on them ; like a table that is richly furnished, and there is nobody comes and takes it. It makes the devil sport, it rejoiceth the enemy of mankind when we lose so great advantage, that we will not apply those blessed truths and make them our own. There is no greater delight to Satan, than for us to refuse those dainties that God hath provided for us. What can rejoice an enemy more, than to see courtesies refused ? He sees that all the Scripture is for comfort to poor distressed souls ; and when they refuse their comforts and set light by them, as they tell Job, ' Softest thou light by the consolations of the Almighty ? ' Job, XV, 11, then Satan, the enemy of mankind, and especially the enemy of our comfort, since he hath lost all comfort and all hope of it him self, he rejoiceth to see us in this condition comfortless. Therefore let us lay claim to the promises by a spirit of appUcation, (3,) Again, We are injurious to ourselves, we rob our ovm souls. The want of this makes Christians be discouraged and droop as they do. When they are cast down, all comfortable traths belong to them, yet they put them off: This is not for me and those in my case. When God saith he wUl ^ THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE, 119 come and dwell with a humble heart. This is not for me. This spirit of peevishness and forwardness* is that that keeps them long from that comfort that they might enjoy. What ! to be in the midst of comforts and to starve ; for a man to be at a feast and to starve, because he hath not a spirit to digest and to take that that is fit for him ! We detest, and deservedly, those misers that, in the midst of all their abundance, will not spend sixpence upon themselves. What a spirit of baseness is this, in the midst of spiritual contentments and refreshings, when God offers to feed our souls with the fat things of his house, to say. Oh no ! this belongs not to me ; and cherish a peevish froward spirit that puts all away. Why do we not labour to be in such a condition that we may be cherished ? and that we may have satisfaction ? to be truly hungry and poor in spirit, that we may be filled and satisfied, and not to go on thus stubbornly ? There is a proud kind of modesty. Oh, this belongs not to me ; I am unworthy. If we wUl hearken to our own misgiving hearts in the time of temptation, we shall never answer God and say, ' Lord, thy face wiU I seek,' Therefore let us labour for a spirit of supplication,! I will not enforce that point further. Now from this spirit of application, from this general ' Seek ye my face,' comes obedience; for it is a speech of obedience, ' Thy face. Lord, will I seek.' I wiU seek by thy strength and grace ; for when God utters a general com mand to his chUdren, there goes with that command a secret virtue, whereby they are enabled to seek him. There came a hidden virtue with this ' Seek my face,' when David's spirit was raised by God to think of it. Together ' with the thought of this ' Seek my face,' there was a virtue enabUng his i soul to return back to God, to say, ' Lord, thy face wUl I seek.' So though David said, ' I will seek thy face,' yet there was a spiritual virtue that enabled him. God must find us before we can seek him. He must not only give the command to seek his face, but together with the command, there goes a work of the Spirit to the chUdren of God, that enableth them to seek him. In the covenant of grace, God doth his part and ours too. Our partis to seek God, to please him and walk before him. They are aU one ; I need not be curious in particulars. Now this was not a speech of self-confidence, but a speech of the Spirit of God, that went with the command to him. This is a great encouragement, by the way, to hear good things, and to come to the congregation. We hear many great things, high duties,_ but we are not able to perform them. It is trae, but the gospel is the ministry of the Spirit ; and together with the duty there goes the Spirit to enable us to the duty, ' Stand up and walk,' saith Peter to the poor lame man, and there went an enabling virtue to raise him. Acts ui. 6, _ ' Arise,' saith Christ to Lazarus, and there went a divine virtue to make him rise, John xi, 43 ; and here, ' Seek my face,' there went a divine virtue to make him seek, which those that contemn the ordmances of God want, because they wUl not attend upon the ordinances. So much for that. Now I come to his obedience, • Thy face. Lord, wiU I seek,' This obedience ariseth from appUcation, and his obedience hath these qualifications : v.- ¦< i 1 It was present. As soon as he heard God's wUl, as soon as his heart did think of the word, he puts not off. The Spirit of God and the works • Qu, ' frowardness ' ?-Ed. t Q^. ' application ' ?— Ed. 120 THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. of it, are not slow in the chUdren of God ; but when they hear their duty, there is a spirit presently, ' Thy face wUl I seek,' before the heart grow cold again. 2, Again, This return and answer, as it was present, so likewise it was a pliable obedience : ' Thy face wiU I seek,' It is a speech of a ready, cheer ful, pliable heart. Where the Spirit of God works, it makes not only pre sent and quick, but cheerful and pliable. For the Spirit of God is like fire, that softens the hardness of the heart, that naturally is like iron, and makes it pliable, God's people are a voluntary people, as it is Ps, ex, 3 ; a people of devotion, of readiness of wUl, and cheerfulness ; a free-hearted people, a people set at large. They are led with a royal spirit, a spfrit abpve their own ; and that makes that easy and pleasant to them, that otherwise is difScult and impossible to nature. When Isaiah's Ups were touched with a coal from the altar — that is, he had somewhat from the Spfrit of God to encourage nature — then ' Here I am, Lord ; send me,' Isa, vi. 8. He detracted* the business before, and put it off" as much as he could. The Spirit of God makes pUable, as we see in the Acts, They cared not for suffering whips or anything, because they were made pUable to God's service ; they accounted it an honour to suffer anything for God's sake. Acts v, 41, The obedience that is good is pliable and cheerful. God would have things in the church done by such people. The very building of the tabernacle was done by such voluntary people, that brought in as God moved their hearts. Oh, beloved, a Christian knows what it is to have a royal spirit, a free spirit, David knew it. When he had lost it by his sin, he prayed that he might have a free spirit, a cheerful spirit, in the service of God, and in his particular calling, for sin darkens and straitens the soul, ' Thy face wiU I seek.' His heart was weary and pliable now, as God would have it. So should our hearts be ; and they will be so, if we have the Spirit of God, ready and cheerful, God hath none to fight his battles against Satan and the kingdom of darkness, but voluntaries. All God's people are volun taries. They are not pressed soldiers ; I mean, not against their wiUs, in that sense, • Indeed, they have press-money in baptism, to fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil ; but they are not pressed, they are voluntaries. They know they serve a good general, that wiU pay them abundantly ; therefore they labour to be voluntary. It is a good saying. There is no virtue in men that do things against their wills ; for that is virtue and grace that comes from a man from his own principles, from cheerfulness : ' God loveth a cheerful giver,' I might enlarge this, but I do but take it as it may strengthen the point. Our obedience to God, it must be pliable, and cheerful, and voluntary, 3. Again, Obedience, if it be true, it is perfect and sincere, looking to God : ' Thy face, Lord, will I seek.' We must eye God in it, and God's com mandment, and not have a double eye. We must not look to our own selves. It must be perfect obedience ; that is, opposite to that which is hypocritical. That is the best perfection. For the perfection of degrees is not to be attained here, but this perfection of soundness is to be laboured for ; as we see here it was a sound obedience : _' Thy face, Lord, wiU I seek.' I wiU not seek thy favours and blessings so much as thy face. It was perfect obedience, as perfection is opposed to unsoundness. 4, It was likewise a professed obedience before all the world, in spite of * That is, ' drew back from,' = delayed.— G. THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKER. 121 Satan : ' Thy face wUl I seek.' Let the devil and the world do what they can ; let others do as they will ; but as Joshua saith, ' If you wiU worship other gods,' if you will fall away, do ; ' but I and my house will serve the Lord.' What if his house will not serve the Lord ? If my house will not serve the Lord, I wiU. So we should all be of Joshua's mind, ' I and my house wiU serve the Lord,' Josh, xxiv, 15, let the world go which way it wUl. In blessed St Paul's time, Oh, saith he, ' There are many of whom I have told you often, and now tell you weeping, who are enemies to the cross of Christ, whose end is damnation, who mind earthly things,' Philip. iii, 18. What doth Paul in the mean time ? Oh, but ' our conversation is in heaven,' We swim a contrary way. We care not to let the world know it. Our conversation is another way. So our obedience must not only be present, and pliable, and perfect, but a professed obedience : that is, to break through all the oppositions of the devil and the world ; with an invincible resolution to break through all difiiculties, and scandals, and examples of great persons, and of this and that, if we will go to God, and say truly, ' Lord, thy face will I seek,' Let other men seek what they wiU : let them seek the face and favour of others ; ' Thy face wUl I seek,' Thou shalt be instead of aU to me, as indeed he is, 5. Again, As it is a professed, so it is a continued, a perpetual obedience. He is resolved for the time to come, ' Thy face will I seek :' not only now, and then turn my back upon thee afterwards ; but I will seek thy face, till I see thee in heaven. I see thy face in thine ordinances, in the word, in thy people ; where two or three be gathered, thou art among them. Mat. xvUi, 20. I wiU see thy face as I may, tiU I see it in heaven. So here is a perpetual resolution : ' Thy face I will seek.' 6, Lastly, There is one thing more in this obedience and answer to Ood's command, that his answer to God is an answerable answer ; that is, the answer and obedience is suitable to the command, God's command was, ' Seek my face.' His answer is, ' Thy face. Lord, will I seek.' So the point is, that Obs. Our obedience to Ood must he proportionable to that that is commanded. It must not be this or that devised by men. When the Lord's eye is on you in this place, and gives you a charge to do thus, the obedience must be suitable. When he saith, ' Seek my face,' we must obey : ' Thy face. Lord, wUl we seek.' Therefore it may, in some poor sense, be compared to an echo. We return obedience in the same kind. The Spirit of God teacheth the children of God to do so, to answer God in aU the things he doth. I know not a better evidence of a child of God, than this answering spirit. How shall I know that God loves me ? I love him again ; there fore I know he hath loved me first. It is an undoubted argument. How shaU I know that God hath chosen me ? I choose him : ' Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and what is there in earth in comparison of thee ? ' Ps. IxxiU, 25. It is an undoubted argument : ShaU I be able to single out God, to be instead of aU to me ? and hath not he chosen me first ? ^ Can there be anything in the current, that is not in the spring before ? It is impossible. I know God ; I look on him as my father : certainly he hath shined on me first. I have said to him, ' Thou art my God ; ' certainly he hath said before, ' Thou art my servant,' If I say to him, ' Thou art my God,' certainly he hath said before, ' I am thy salvation.' He hath begun. For this is the order : God begins. He saith, ' Seek my face ; ' then if we have grace to return answerable obedience to God, ' Thy face, Lord, wiU I seek.' When thou biddest me. Lord, I wiU love thee, I wiU 122 THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. choose thee, and delight in thee ; thou shalt be my God, If we have this returning spirit back again, we cannot have a better argument that God loves us, than by answering God's course. This is that that St Peter hath in 1 Peter iu. 21. That that doth all in baptism, it is not 'the washing of the filth of the body,' but the Jwsgwr^^aa, ' the answer,' or the demand ' of a good conscience ; ' but ' answer ' is better. The answer of a good conscience cleanseth in baptism. What is that ? In baptism, dost thou beUeve, saith the minister, in God the Father Almighty ? I do believe. That was the answer. Dost thou beUeve in God the Son ? I do believe. Dost thou beUeve the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting? I do believe. Dost thou renounce the devU and his works ? I renounce them. That is the answer of a good conscience. Where that is from the heart, there God hath spoken to that heart before, and there is obedience to purpose, ' Thy face wiU I seek,' It is that that|brings comfort, not the washing of the water. It is not the eating of the bread, and drinking the wine, and hear ing the word of God : when there is not the answer of a good conscience, when we say we believe, and we will do this, to do it indeed, Lord, ' I will believe ; ' I will go out of the church with a purpose to practise what I hear. Here is the answer of a good conscience, when we mingle what we hear with faith, and labour to practise it, or else it will do no good. Our obedience must be suitable and answerable, as I said before : if it be a direction, to follow it ; if it be a command, to obey it ; if it be a threatening, to fear it ; if it be a comfort, a promise, to rest upon it. Let there be a suitableness of obedience to the word thereafter as the word is. Let us have a spiritual desire to these things, to imitate the holy man of God, as we desire to share in his comforts, I will follow this point of the answerableness of obedience a little further, and then come to the particular of seeking. Let our obedience be every way answerable first. Let the heart think what God saith, what God commands and promiseth ; let the heart take the word of God the second time and ruminate on it, and go over it again. Let us look into the word, and see what is commanded, and what is pro mised, and then let the heart go over it again. And then upon that allege it to God. (1,) Put case a man be in trouble, Lord, thou hast commanded, ' Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will hear thee,' Ps, 1, 15, Let the heart think of it and go over that encouragement. It is rather an encouragement than a command. Though indeed God lay a command on us to be good to our own souls, it is a duty to love ourselves. Therefore he commands us to go to him, to seek his face, as though we wronged him by disobedi ence, when we injure ourselves by our peevishness, as indeed we do, God loves us better than we love ourselves. Let us think of the command and invitation ; thou hast commanded me. Lord, and encouraged me to come ; I am now in trouble, experience teacheth me, I come to thee. Thou hast said, ' He that sitteth in darkness, and seeth no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord,' Isa, 1, 10, I am in darkness, and see no light now, I trust in thy name. Let the heart think of the promise, and then allege it to God, and come with an obedient answer, and cast itself upon him, and trust in him, (2.) We are in want, peihaps, and see no issue, no supply. Think of God's gracious promise, 'I wiU not fail thee, nor forsake thee,' Heb, xiU, 5. I come to thee and claim this promise ; I am in covenant with thee, &e. THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. 123 (3.) So we should take the promise. Thou hast said, ' At what time soever a sinner comes to thee with a repentant heart, thou wUt forgive his iniquities ; and though his sins were as scarlet, thou wilt make them as snow, and white as wool,' Isa, i. 18, My soul thinks of that command, and I come to thee. Thou hast bid aU that are weary and heavy laden in soul, that are troubled in conscience with the sense of their sins, to come unto thee. My heart thinks of thy command and invitation, I come to thee ; I am weary and heavy laden. First, let us think of the encouragement, that is our warrant, and then yield present obedience. And then what wUl be the issue ?-; What will spring from it when the heart and obedience join with the command, that there is a meeting, that they concentrate the heart and obedience ? God bids the heart obey. The heart saith, I do obey. When these meet, the issue must be exceeding comfortable. It cannot be otherwise, when the obedient heart meets God in his command, in his promise. In aU perplexity of business, ' commit thy way to the Lord, and he shaU establish thy thoughts,' Prov, iii, 6, and other places. Lord, I com mit my ways to thee ; establish my thoughts and designs agreeable to thy will, because thou hast bid me commit my ways to thee. In the hour of death, let us commend ourselves to God, ' as to a gracious and merciful Creator,' 1 Pet, iv, 19, Lord, I commend to thee my soul, who art the Creator of my soul and the Redeemer of it. Here is an obe dience answerable. What can be the issue of it but comfort ? Therefore let us learn by the example of this blessed man, that when he had but a hint from God, ' Seek ye my face,' answers, ' Thy face, Lord, wiU I seek,' Faith wUl see light at a little crevice. When it sees an encouragement once, a command, it will soon answer : and when it sees a promise, half a promise, it will welcome it. It is an obedient thing, ' the obedience of faith,' Rom, xvi. 26, It believes, and upon believing, it goes to God, As the servants of the king of Assyria, they catch the word presently, ' Thy servant Benhadad,' 1 Kings xx, 32 ; so faith, it catcheth the word. To put God in mind, it is an exceUent thing with the prophet, whosoever penned the 119th Psalm, whether David, or some other, ' Remember thy promise, wherein thou hast caused thy servant to trust,' ver. 49, As it is Neh, i, 8, ' Remember, Lord,' He puts God in mind of his promise ; and so it is good often to put God in mind. Lord, thou hast made such and such promises, I know thou canst not deny thyself. If thou shouldst deny thy word, thou must deny thyself. Thy word is thyself, ' Remember thy promise, wherein thou hast caused thy servant to trust.' If I be deceived, thou hast deceived me, for thou hast given me this promise and this command. This is an excellent way to deal with God, as it were, to wrestle with him, ' By thy promise thou hast quickened me,' Ps, cxix, 50. When I was dull and dead-hearted, then I thought on such and such a promise. I aUege that promise, and apply it by a spirit of faith, and that quickened me. And mdeed, as I said, God hath made us fit to answer him, and we should study in aU things to return unto him by his Spirit, Whatsoever God doth, the heart should return back again— love for love, knowledge for knowledge, seeking for seeking, choosmg for choosing. He begins with us, he chooseth us, he loves us, he seeks us ; and we, if ever we intend to be friends with God, and to entertam a holy communion, as aU that shaU be 124 THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. saved must do, we should labour to have our hearts to return to God, what we find from God first. ' Thy face. Lord, wiU I seek.' To come more particularly to this seeking, which is the particular of the obedience and of the application. ' Thy face. Lord, will I seek.' Seeking impUes that our happiness is out of ourselves. It impUes that there is somewhat in ourselves, in the appUcation to which there must be some happiness. Therefore we go out of ourselves to seek. It is a motion, and it is out of an apprehension of some want ; a man seeks out of some want, or out of some loss, or out of some duty. Either he hath loss, and therefore he seeks ; or else he wants, and therefore he seeks ; or else he owes respect and duty,' and therefore he seeks. It is somewhat without a man that moves his seeking. God need not seek the creature ; he hath aU fulness in himself. Indeed, his love makes him seek for our love, to be reconcUed to him. But the creature, because his happiness is out of himself in communion with God, the fountain of aU good, he must seek. Christians must he seekers. This is the generation of seekers, Ps. xxiv. 6. AU mankind, if ever they will come to heaven, they must be a generation of seekers. Heaven is a generation of finders, of possessors, of enjoyers, seekers of God. But here we are a generation of seekers. We want somewhat that we must seek. When we are at best, we want the accompUshment of our happiness. It is a state of seeking here, because it is a state of want; we want something alway. But to come more particularly to this seeking the face of God, or the presence of God. The presence of God, and the face of God, where is it to be sought for? (1,) Know that first for a ground : The presence of God it is everywhere. But that is not the thing here purposed. (2.) There is a face and presence of God in everything, in every creature. Therefore every creature hath the name of God ; sometimes a rock : because God is strong, so a rock is strong. So likewise a shield ; as a shield defends, so God defends us. There is some resemblance of God in the creature. Therefore God hath the name of the creature. But that is not here meant. (3.) The presence of God meant here is, that presence that he shews in the time of need, and in his ordinances. He shews a presence in need and necessity, that is a gracious presence to his children, a gracious face. As in want of direction, he shews his presence of light to direct them ; in weakness he shews his strength ; in trouble and perplexity he will shew his gracious and comfortable presence to comfort them. In perplexity he shews his presence to set the heart at large, answerable to the necessity. So in need God is present with his children, to direct them, to comfort them, to strengthen them, if they need that. (4.) And in the issue of all business there is a presence of God to give a blessing; for there is a presence must be even to the end of things. When we have all we would have, yet God must give a blessing. So you see there is a presence of God answerable to the necessity of man, as it hath reference to this place, ' Thy face will I seek,' to direct me by thy heavenly light when I know not what to do, as Jehoshaphat said, ' We know not what to do, but our eyes are towards thee,' 2 Chron. xx, 12. And so in weakness, when we THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. 125 have no strength of our own, then go to God, to seek the face of God, that he would be present with us. So when we are comfortless, go to God that comforts the abject, ' the God of aU comfort ; ' go to him, for his pre sence, for help. And when we are troubled in our hearts about success, what wiU become of such and such a business ; go to God, that gives success and issue to aU. Thus we see a presence of God answerable to every necessity of man, (5,) There is a gracious presence of God likewise in his ordinances. That is the chief presence, next to heaven, the presence in God's ordi nances ; that is, in the unfolding of the word, in the administration of the sacraments, in the communion of saints. Indeed, in the ordinances God is graciously present, ' Where two or three are gathered together, I will be in the midst of them,' Mat, xviii, 20, Therefore in Rev, i. 12, seq., it is said, ' that Christ walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks ; ' that is, in the midst of the church. There is a gracious presence of Christ in the midst of the candlesticks. He takes his walk there, Christ hath a special presence in his church in the ordinances ; and that David aims at here too, not only, I wUl seek thy face in trouble and necessity, when I need anything from thee, but ' Thy face will I seek in all thine ordinances,' to enable me for the other. For it is in vain for a man to think to seek God in his necessity and exigence, if he seek not God in his ordinances, and do not joy in them. So you see where the face and presence of God is to be sought ; in necessities of all kinds, and in the ordinances. Now, in our seeking the presence or face of God, there is four or five things that I will touch the heads of, [1,J First of all, seeking implies observance. Seek my face ; that is, observe me, respect me as a God, ' Thy face I will seek,' I will be a fol lower of thee ; as in English an ' observer ' is a follower, a creature. It is a proud word ; as if man could make a man of nothing. And indeed they are creatures in that kind, they are raised of nothing. To seek a man is to observe him. There is a notable place for it, Prov. xxix. 26, ' Many seek the ruler's favour,' In the Greek translation, the Septuagint, the word is, to observe and respect a man, which is translated seeking (c). Many observe the ruler; but every man's judgment cometh from the Lord. You see those that think to rise by the favour of such or such a man, they wiU be his followers, as I said, and observe him ; they study men ; as those that rise by favour that way, they study not books so much as men, what may delight such a man, what he respects. Surely they will serve him at every turn. A base atheist makes a man his god. That he may rise, he wiU deny God and the motions of conscience, and honesty, and all to observe the face of a great man whom he hopes to rise by. But a trae Christian observes the great God. The greatest preferment comes from him. So it signifies to ' observe.' In Ps, Ixii, 11, there you shaU see the ground of observation is, that power belongs to God. ' I have heard once, nay, twice,' He heard it twice by the meditation of it, by going over it in his heart again. I have heard once, nay, twice ; that is, I thought again and again on it ; that is, hearing of it oft. We may hear a trath a hundred times, that is, by meditating of it. ' I have heard once, nay, twice, that power belongs to God ;' that is, riches and power to advance a man. Atheistical men think all belongs to the creature, but power belongs to God, That is one thing that is meant by seeking, dUigent observing of God, and respect to him and his wiU and commandments in all things. 126 THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE, If SO be that a person of great place should say. Observe me, and I will prefer you, I hope men would be ready enough, they need no more words. Here is the atheism of our hearts. God saith, I will do all good for you. The greatest preferment is to be the child of God here, and the heir of heaven after. What preferment is there to that of Christianity ! And he saith. Seek my face, observe me, respect me, let the eye of your souls be to me, as it is in the Psalm, ' As the eyes of a maid are toward the hand of her mistress,' Ps, cxxiii, 2. The obedience of a servant is toward the eye of the commander, so the obedience of a Christian is toward the eye of God, to see what God commands. We should be more serviceable to God, It is an argument of the atheism of our hearts, to take more encouragement from a mortal man that can raise us and do us a pleasure, than from God himself. But to let that go, that is the first branch, ' Seek my face,' that is, observe me, [2,] Then seek my face ; that is, depend upon me. To seek God's face, is"to depend upon him for all. It argues dependence. For him that we observe, we observe him for something. We depend upon him to be our raiser and maker. So seek my face, seek my countenance and favour ; depend upon me, and it shall be suflicient for you, [3.] Then, in the third place, ' Seek my face ;' that is, seek my favour and grace. Favour appears and shines in the face, ' Seek my face,' observe me, depend on me ; for what ? For my favour. What is that? It is all. If we have the grace of God, we have aU, For the grace of God is in every thing that is good to us. If we have the graces to salvation, they come of free grace : every good gift is the grace of God, ChUdren are the grace of God, So, if we have the grace of God, we have all for our good. We have all in the spring of good, which is the grace and favour of God, As men, if they be graced from a great person, they study not this and that particular thing. They think, I have his favour, and that favour of his is ready for aU exigences. And therefore, in way of compUment, they say, I seek not this or that, but your favour. The favour of God, it is a storehouse, and spring, and fountain, better than life itself; as the psalmist saith, ' The loving-kindness of the Lord is better than Ufe,' Ps, IxUi, 3, When life faUs, the favour of God never fails. Life wiU faU, and aU earthly comforts ; but the favour of God is better than life itself; it is everlasting and eternal. In Psalm iv. 7, you see how worldly, atheistical men rejoice when their corn and wine and oil increase. And ' who wiU shew us any good ? ' who ? It is no matter who ; any good, any hope of preferment, it is no matter what way ; and it is no matter what, any good ; and let them but shew it and we wiU work it out,, we have wit enough. Oh, saith he, but your wit I stand not upon, nor your courses ; but, ' Lord, let thy face shine upon me, lift up the light of thy counte nance,' and that shaU be instead of aU honours and preferments. So in seeking we must observe God, and depend upon him ; and for what ? For his favour especially ; for the face and favour of God. Let me have a good look from thee, 0 Lord ; let me have thy favour and love. For other things I leave them to thy wisdom, thou art wise enough ; only let thy face shine on me. Oh this favour and face of God, it is a sweet thing, this presence of God! What is heaven but the presence of God there ? Let God be present in a dungeon, it wiU be a paradise ; let God be absent, paradise it is as a heU or dungeon, as it was to Adam ; after he had sinned, he ran to hide himself. What is heU but the want of God's presence ? God's face and THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. 127 favour is not there. What makes hell in the heart of a man ? God is not there, but leaves the heart to its own darkness and confusion. Oh therefore, the face and favour of God, seek that especially ! [4.] Again, To seek the face of God is to pray to him, to put this in exe cution in prayer. Everywhere in Scripture it is all one to pray and to seek God's face. It is called the spirit of prayer ; which because I have spoken of at large out of another scripture, I will now say nothing of it.* [5,] Likewise, in the next place, to seek the face of God is to attend upon the presence of God, wheresoever he reveals himself ; to attend upon the word and ordinances is to ' seek the face of God.' It is said that Cain went from the face of God when he went from the worship of God in his father's house ; he went out from God, Gen, iv, 16, Where God is worshipped, there God is present ; and when we leave the place where God is worshipped, we leave God's presence, God is more especially present there, therefore seeking the face of God is to attend upon God's ordinance : ' I will seek thy face ;' that is, wheresoever there is any presence of thee I will seek thee, Christ when he was lost, he was found in the temple. That hath a literal sense, but it is true in a spiritual sense. If we lose Christ, and have not comfort from Christ, we shall find him in the temple. The sweetest presence of his Spirit is there. His body is in heaven, and his Spirit is his vicar in the world. If we want comfort and direction from Christ, we shaU meet him in the temple. There he gives us sweet meet ings by his Spirit ; there we have the comfort, and direction, and spiritual strength that we wanted before we came. There is the best meeting. As in the Canticles, Christ goes into the ' garden of spices,' He goes among his children, that are as a watered garden, and as so many plants of right eousness and beds of spices. He delights to be there. Christ is in the communion of saints in the ordinances, therefore ' thy face will I seek,' especially in the tabernacle, and temple after ; especially in the church and communion of saints, there thy face will I seek. "Thus we see the unfolding of this promise of a gracious, obedient, respective heart : ' Thy face will I seek.' I will add no more, but come to the use of it. Use. And in the first place, by way of direction, that we may seek the face of God — ^that is, observe him, and depend upon him, and enjoy his favour, and meet with him in his ordinances — we must first get The knowledge of God [and of] ourselves. 1. Get the knowledge of God, for they that know him will seek to him. They that know his riches, his power, his sufficiency, in a word, his all- sufficiency for aU things, they will seek to him. And they that know them selves, that know their wants, their inability to supply those wants, and know the greatness of those wants, and that they must be supplied, they wiU out of themselves. They that have nothing at home wiU seek abroad. The knowledge of these two therefore, of the great God, the aU- sufficient God ; and of ourselves, the insufficiency of ourselves every way, either for direction, or for protection, or for comfort in distress, or for strength in duty to go through business, or for issue when we are about anything ; ' they that know that the way of man is not in man,' as Jere miah saith, X, 23, they would certainly out of themselves. Therefore let us grow in the knowledge of God and of ourselves, of our own wants and necessities. And especiaUy know God now in Christ. For there is enmity between the nature of God and the nature of man, of sinful man ; but that Christ * Cf. the General Index under ' Prayer.'— G. 128 THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. hath taken our nature now and made it lovely to God, and God lovely to us, Christ Immanuel, God and man, 'God with us,' hath made God and us friends. Therefore now we must go to God in that Immanuel, in Christ, that ladder that joins heaven and earth together. See God's face shining in Christ, his gracious face, and this wUl encourage us to go to God together with our wants. Go not to absolute God, a God without a mediator ; for then God is ' a consuming fire,' Heb. xU. 29. 2. In the next place, when we go to God, and seek to God, be sure to seek his favour and grace in the first place. If we want any particular thing, protection or direction or comfort in distress, go not for that in the first place, but let us see in what terms God and we are ; let us be sure that reconciliation and peace be made. For if we seek to God in our particular wants, and have not made our peace before, but have sought to other gods, to men, and to our shifts,* God may say. You seek to me ! Go to the gods you have served, to the great men you have served, to the riches you have trusted unto, go to your shifts.* Therefore, first, make peace and reconci liation with God before you seek other things. If a man have offended a great person, he doth not go and seek particular favours, till first he have made peace and taken up the quarrel. Let us take up the quarrel between God and us, by repentance and a promise of new obedience ; get reconcilia tion that way, and then seek for particular favours after. For what if God give you particular favours, if they be not from his grace and favour, what wUl they do us good ? What will all that a reprobate wretch hath do him good ? What will his favours, his riches, and honours and preferments do him good when he dies, when he shall conflict with the anger of God ? when he shall see hell before him and see heaven shut ? He seeth he hath all, from a general providence and as a reward for his care in this world, God answereth him with a civil enlargement for his civil obedience, but he hath his reward. Heaven he hath not, he oared not for it. What will all do without the love of God in Christ ? Therefore I beseech you, let us first seek the favour and mercy of God in Christ. And then for particular things go to him as the exigence is ;*for inTGod there is a supply for aU turns, and that is the ground of seeking ; for our seeking it must be a wise seeking. Now it were not wise, unless there were a supply in God for every want, whatsoever it is. If the creature could do anything without God, we should upon good ground make that God. If anything could raise us without God, I mean, to comfort, we might seek to them, and make them God upon good reason ; but what can they do ? In anger, God may let a man enjoy favours, as the fruits of his displeasure, but what can they do without him ? They can do nothing. Therefore it must be the supreme cause, the highest cause, the great wheel that turns every little inferior wheel in the world. They turn with the great wheel of divine providence and goodness ; therefore go to him as the first cause.'! 3, Again', In seeking the favour of God, we must search our consciences, to come with pure and clean hearts to Ood to seek him. If we regard ' iniquity in our hearts, God wUl not hear our prayers,' Ps, Ixvi, 18. We come to God with a purpose to offend him. If we come not with a purpose to leave our sins, why do we come ? God wiU not regard our prayers. We must come with pure consciences to God, as it is excellently set down, Ps, xxiv. 3, ' Who shall ascend into thy hiU, 0 Lord ? who shall stand in thy holy place ? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart,' And then he saith after, * That is, ' expedients,'— G. THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. 129 ' This is the generation of them that seek him,' those that have clean hands and a pure heart. Thou hast foul hands ; thou art a briber, a corrupter ; thou hast an impure heart ; thou art a filthy creature ; thou hast lived in such and such sins ; cleanse thy hands and thy heart, ' This is the gene ration of them that seek him.' If a man seek the pure and holy God with an unclean heart and unclean hands ; if he be corrupt in his hands and in his heart, that is the fountain, he may seek God long enough before he find him, and if he see God, it is in anger, 4. Again, If we would seek the face and favour of God, let us study the word hard. Study the promises, as I said before, bind him with his own word. Thou hast said thus, I allege thy own word. Jacob, when he wrestled with God, Gen, xxxU. 24, then he saw God ; he caUed the place Peniel, that is, the face of God, because of seeing God. Upon wrestling, when the heart by faith wrestleth with God by the promise — ' Lord thou hast done this ; though I feel no comfort, yet I wiU rest upon thee' — that place will be Peniel ; the face of God wiU be there, God will shew himself. And let the extremity be what it wUl, seek God in extremity ; allege the word of God in extremity. What word have you for extremity ? ' In the mountain God will be seen,' Gen, xxii, 14, His face will be seen in the mount ; that is, when there is no other help whatsoever, ' God is a present help in trouble,' Ps, xlvi, 5, He is the ' God that comforteth the abject,' 2 Cor, vii, 6, that none else can comfort ; ' and he that is in darkness, and sees no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord,' Isa, 1, 10, And ' though I were in the valley of the shadow of death,' if the Lord be with me, ' I will trust in him,' Ps, xxiii, 4, ' And though thou kUl me, yet will I trust in thee,' saith Job, Job xiii, 15, In extremity seek God then, and find out words and promises then, as the Scriptures is large in that kind ; for then there is most need of seeking God, Lord, if thou help not now, none can help. And this is the difference between a true child of God and another. In the time of extremity, Saul seeks to the witch ; but David seeks to God, as here, ' Lord, thy face will I seek,' Many things upbraided David, no ques tion, with his sin and the affliction he was in. Thou seek God ! Thou hast offended him, and now thou endurest some sign of his displeasure. A heavy case, beloved, sometimes, especially in the time of extremity. Then conscience saith, I am in extremity, and withal God follows me with such and such sins, A guilty conscience meets me in my prayers to God and upbraids me, Thou hast done so and so ; that if there be not faith, and a word of God to lay hold on in extremity, what will become of the poor soul ? It is swaUowed up. No question David was now in pangs, and many things offered to thrust him off, and he might say, ' I have many things to discourage me,' yet ' thy face. Lord, will I seek,' for deliverance out of trouble and for pardon of sin. Set the promise of God and the pardon of sin above all extremity whatsoever. God is the God of all and above aU, he is ' the God of comfort.' If comforts be wanting, he can make them anew. In the want of means, and when means are against us, let us seek to God, Jonah in the whale's belly, that was a creature that might have consumed him with heat, ' when he was in the belly of heU, he caUed unto God,' Jonah U. 2, If a man be as low as hell, if he have a command to come, and a promise, it wiU fetch him thence. Therefore aUege the promises and the word. What a miserable taking are they in, that in extremity have no acquain tance with God's word — with the promises or good examples — that have VOL, VI, ^ 130 THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE, stored up nothing ! Alas ! they are in the midst of a storm naked ; in the midst of war and opposition disarmed ; they lie open to all assaults. Therefore, as you love your own souls, gather grounds of comfort, treasure up promises and holy truths, that in extremity you may say with David, upon good ground. Lord, thou hast said thus and thus ; and in this extre mity I come to thee, ' Thy face. Lord, wiU I seek,' Break through all fears and discouragements whatsoever ; allege the command of God, and the promise of God, and the encouragements of God, My discouraged heart saith thus, and Satan saith thus ; but. Lord, thou sayest thus, ' Seek my face,' Shall not I believe and obey God more than the devU or mine own lying false heart ? Therefore, except we will betray our souls to temptations, and betray the comforts that we have, let us seek God in aU extremities, I desire you to remember these directions, and be encouraged to seek to God. Joinjthe seeking in extremity, with the seeking him in his ordinances. If we do not seek him in his ordinances, in the time of peace, let us never think he wUl be so familiar with us in the time of trouble. If we be not acquainted with him in his ordinances in prosperity, in extremity he wiU be far off. Therefore ' seek the face of God' now, in all his ordinances. That is the way to have provision of strength against all other extremities whatsoever. It is a great comfort in extremity to one that hath sought God in his ordinances before. Foolish atheistical men seek not the wisdom of God in his ordinances. God cries to them and they regard it not. But then they cry to God, and God wiU not answer them, but ' laugh at their destruction,' Ps. xxxvU. 13, And as it is in Zechariah, you cry, ' and I will not hear, because I cried and ye would not hear,' vii, 11. When God speaks and we regard it not, we shall cry and he wUl not regard it. There fore, as we desire his presence in the evil day, let us labour to hear him now. Let us search his will, what he requires of us, and what he will do for us, and labour to be armed with obedience against the time of distress. And let us seek him betimes. Now presently seek the favour of God, you that are young. ' In the morning early wUl I seek thee,' Ps, Ixiii. 1. In the morning of your years, in the morning of the day, it is good to seek God, before the heart be possessed with other business, that he may bless aU our affairs. Seek his face, that his blessing, and dfrection, and strength may be upon aU. ^ Let us set upon things in his wisdom and strength, and hope on his blessing. And in the moming of your years, early, put not off. For here is the mischief. If we seek not God early, betimes, the heart wiU be hardened, and wiU grow worse ; to-morrow we shaU be more unfit than to-day. Then those that seek in their sickness, and at the hour of death, that is self-love. It is grace to seek God for himself, out of old acquaintance and love. But to seek him in sickness only, and to neglect his ordinances, it is merely self-love. As a malefactor that carries himself UI in prison, and then seeks the judge's face at the bar; when God arraigns a man at the bar, then to seek him, it comes from self-love. Bat that obedience we owe to God is to seek him out of a new nature, out of love of God's goodness and grace. When we seek him in extremity, not out of the love of grace, but to escape the danger of heU and damnation, such seeking seldom proves good. Many make a great show of repentance and turning to God, many of those prove false. He that is good in affliction only is never good. Therefore put not off seeking God's face, by prayer and the use of aU good means. Many men first settle their estates, and then send for a physician, and THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. 131 the divine last pf aU, when they are sick. Oh but seek God first, and above all things in the world, or else we have adulterous, idolatrous hearts, to make the face of man our idol, or health our idol. We should seek God's face above aU. The Scripture sets him out sweetly to us. Therefore one way to encourage us to seek to God, is to present to our souls God, under those sweet terms. He is a rock in the midst of the waves ; he is a habitation in the midst of a storm : ' Thou art our habitation,' Ps, Ixxi. 3, He is called a hiding-place, he hath the shadow of his wings to cover us ; let us fly under the shadow of his wings. He is presented sweetly to us in Christ, Therefore let us have recourse to him upon all occasions ; and now, now that we may be familiar with him, that we may be acquainted with him now, in the days of our youth, and he will know us in age aqd sickness. If we be not acquainted with him now, he wiU not acquaint himself with us then. Therefore seek his face now, and above aU things seek it. And can we have more encouragement ? There was never any that sought the face of God that went away sorry. It is said of some good emperors, that never any man went sorry out of their presence ; either they had the grant of their suits or good words (d). God) sends none sorry away. There are none that come into the presence of God but they are the better for it. They go away more cheerful and more satisfied. Their consciences are quieted when they pour out their souls to God. There is ' the peace of God which passeth understanding, preserves their soul,' as it is Philip, iv. 7. ' In nothing be careful : but let there be thanksgiving for favours received, and let your requests be made known to him ; and the peace of God shall preserve your hearts and minds,' Philip, iv, 6. You shaU not despair and be over much cast down, peace wUl preserve yon. And if we do not seek the face of God now, when we may enjoy his presence, we shall never see his face in glory hereafter. We must now be acquainted with him, or else we shall not when we would. Therefore, as we may enjoy the presence of G^d in his ordinances, so in all our affairs let us seek his face and blessing. Let us have what we have, and do what we do, in his blessing and assistance, and not in the strength of wit and shifts,* Let us do what we do by divine strength, and in confidence of his blessing. That that we do by his strength we may expect his blessing on ; we cannot do so by our shifts. Let us inure ourselves in these courses, and we shaU find much peace ; and by long acquaintance with God we shall be able to commit our souls to him ; we shall be able to look him in the face at the hour of death. He that looks God in the face often in prayer, and seeking him, may look death in the face. These things may be made effectual if your hearts be prepared, as the Scripture phrase is. And because I mentioned preparing : that is a word in Scripture that is set before seeking. Rehoboam did not thrive, he did not ' prepare his heart to seek God,' 2 Chron. xii. 14. Jehoshaphat was blessed of God, ' he prepared his heart to seek the Lord,' 2 Chron, xx, 3. Therefore let us come prepared to seek God, prepare our hearts to seek him. Think, When I go to the congregation, I go to seek God's face ; therefore come in humUity and subjection. And in aU the courses of our lives, let aU of us prepare, and set our hearts in frame to seek God in all thmgs ; and let us set upon nothing that we cannot depend on him for assistance, and look to » That is, ' expedients.' — G, 132 THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE. him for a blessing. And when we cannot enjoy his favour and blessing in anything, we were as good be without it as have it. This is the way to have our wiUs in all things. Christ, the trath itself, hath left us this one sweet promise, ' Seek ye first the kingdom of God,' Matt. vi. 33, He speaks there of seeking our own good. What is the best thing we should seek for ? ' Seek ye first the kingdom of God,' of grace, and of glory ; the favour of God, and the fruit of his favour, grace. Seek those best things in the first place. What then ? It is the way to have aU things else, as far as they are for our good. But we would have more. We think if we seek to God, and depend upon God's divine prin ciples and rules, it is a way to beggary and disgrace. Oh no. It is the way to have our own desire in all things, as far as it is for our good. Let us seek first the kingdom of God, that God may rule and reign in us, and we shall reign in the kingdom of God, For] other things, God will bring it to pass I know not how, they shall be cast upon us. He that is full for heaven and happiness, God will make him full for the world, and success ful, as much as he sees fit to bring him to heaven. If God see anything that would hinder him, he must leave that to his wisdom. Therefore let us labour to be able from truth of heart to return to the commandment and promise of God, this sweet and gracious answer of the holy man David, when God saith generally or particularly, ' Seek my face,' ' Thy face. Lord, will I seek,' NOTES, (a) P. 114. — ' As Saint Augustine said of himself, " God spake often to me, and I was ignorant of it." ' A frequent self-accusation in the ' Confessions.' Cf. note /, Vol. II. page 194. (6) P. 116. — ' God hath framed the Scriptures not to be limited to the times wherein they were written, as the papists idly speak, BeUarmine and others.' A commonplace of the popish controversy. Cf. nnn, Vol. III. page 535. (c) P. 125. — ' " Many seek the ruler's favour." In the Greek translaiion, the Sep tuagint, the word is to " observe " and respect a man, which is translated " seeking."' The LXX rendering is mXKoi ^tga.'ffiuouei, i. e., 'higannhu = to wait upon, to minister unto, to serve. {d) P. 131. — ' It is said of some good emperors, that never any man went sorry out of their presence ; either they had the grant of their suits or good words.' This is said of various of the Csesars: e.g., Julius Csesar, Antoninus, and later, of Con- stantine. q._ A RESCUE FROM DEATH, WITH A RETURN OF PRAISE. A RESCUE FROM DEATH, WITH A RETURN OF PRAISE, NOTE. For the full title-page of the book of which ' A Rescue from Death ' forms the second moiety, see Note to the Treatise composing the former, entitled ' Lydia's Conversion,' in the second division of the present volume. 6. A RESCUE FROM DEATH, WITH A RETURN OF PRAISE. Fools, because of their transgressions, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted, dc.—Ps. CYII, 17, &o. This Psalm containeth some passages concerning God's particular, sweet providence ; not only to the church, but to other men ; for he that created aU things, even the meanest creature, must have'a providence over all things ; his providence must extend itself as large as his creation. For what is providence but a continuance of creation : a preservation of those things in being that God hath given to have a being. The prophet here of purpose opposeth the profane conceits of them that think God sits in heaven, and lets things go on earth, as if he cared not for them. It was the fault of the best philosophers to ascribe too much to second causes. The psalmist here shews that God hath a most particular providence in everything. First, he sets it down in general, and then he brancheth it out into particulars, especially four, wherein he specifieth God's providence. The first instance is of those that ' wander in the wUderness hungry and thirsty ;' ver, 4, ' They cry, and God regards them,' The second is in ver. 10, ' They that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in iron, they cry, and the Lord heareth them.' The third is in the words of the text, ' Fools for their transgressions are afflicted ; their soul abhorreth aU manner of meat.' He instanceth insick- ness, the most ordinary afiliction, and shews that God hath a most particular providence even in that. The fourth is in ver, 23, ' Those that go down into the sea, they see ' experiments* of God's particular providence. Since the faU, the life of a man is subject to a wondrous many incon veniences, which we have brought on us by our sins. Now in this variety it is a comfortable thing to know God's care of us in our wanderings and imprisonments, in our sickness, &c. But to omit the other three, and to come to that that is proper to the place, that is, the instance of God's pro vidence in sickness. ' Fools, because of their transgressions, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted,' &c. • That is, ' have experience of.' — G. 136 A EESCUE FEOM DEATH, In these words you have. First, The cause of this visitation, and of aU the grievance he speaks of : ' transgression and iniquity,' And then the kind of this visitation : ' sickness,' And the extremity, in two branches : ' Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat ;' and secondly, ' They draw near to the gates of death,' And then the carriage of the affected* and sick parties : ' They cry unto the Lord in their distress,' And the remedy, of the universal and great physician : ' He saves them out of their distress,' And the manner of this remedy : ' He sent his word and healed them ; ' his operative and commanding word, so as it works with his command. Lastly, the fee that this high commander asks for ; all the tribute or reward that he expects is praise and thanksgiving. ' Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and his wondrous works for the children of men,' &c. So you see this Scripture contains several passages between God and man, in misery and in deliverance. In misery : — God afilicts man for his sin. The passage of man to God is, ' He cries to God.' God's passage back again is his ' deliverance,' and then his return back again must be ' thanks giving.' So here is a double visitation, in justice God correcting sin ; and then a visitation in mercy, upon their crying and praying, God restores them ; and then man's duty, ' thanksgiving,' But to proceed in order, ' Fools, because of their transgressions,' &c. Here you have first the quality of the persons set down, ' Fools,' We must understand by ' fools,' wicked fools ; not such fools as are to be begged, as we say ; that are defective in their naturals, f but the ' wise fools ' of the world. They are the chief of fools. However in the courts of men they be not found fools, yet they are fools in God's esteem, who is wisdom itself. Those that think themselves wise, that are conceitedly wise, they are these fools here. In the phrase of Scripture and the language of the Holy Ghost, every sinner is a ' fool.' It were a disgraceful term if any man should give it; but let no man stumble at it. It comes from the wise God that knows what wisdom is, and what is folly. If a fool shaU call a man ' fool,' he dotynot regard it ; but if a wise man, especially the ' God of wisdom,' call a man ' fool,' he hath reason to regard it. Who can judge better of wisdom than God, who is ' only wise ' ? Why are wicked men fools ? and Ood's children, so far as they yield to their lusts ? In divers respects. 1, First, For lack of discerning in all the carriage and passages of their lives. You know a fool is such a one as cannot discern the difference of things, that is defective in his judgment. Discerning and judgment, that especially tries a fool, when he cannot discern between pearls and pebbles, between jewels and ordinary base things. So wicked men are defective in their judgments. They cannot discern aright between spiritual and heavenly things, and other things. All your woridly fools, he hunts after and placeth his happiness in things meaner than himself; he takes shadows for substances. 2, A fool is led ivith his humour and his lust, even as the beast. So there * Qu. ' afflicted ' ?— G. t That is, (natural) ' reason.'— G, WITH A EETUEN OF PRAISE, 137 is no wicked man that shakes off the fear of God, ' which is true wisdom,' Prov, i. 7, but he is led with his humour, and passion, and affection to some earthly thing. Now a man can never be wise and passionate, unless in one case, when the good is so exceeding that no passion can be answer able ; as in zeal in divine matters. That will excuse all exorbitant car riage otherwise. When David ' danced before the ark,' a man would think it had been a foolish matter, except it had been a divine business, 2 Sam. vi. 14. When the matter is wondrous great, that it deserves any pitch of affection, then a man may be eager and wise ; but for the things of this life, for a man to disquiet himself and others, to hunt after a ' vain shadow,' as the psalmist saith, after riches and honour, and to neglect the main end of a man's life, it is extreme folly. A man that is passionate in this respect cannot be wise. All fools are passionate, and wicked men have their affec tions set deeply on somewhat else besides God. Because passion presents things in a false glass, as when a man sees the sun through a cloud he seems bigger. When men look on things in* the judgment of the Scripture, and the Spirit of God, and right reason, but through affection, things appear to them otherwise than they are, and themselves afterwards see themselves fools. Take a worldling on his deathbed, or in hell. He sees himself a fool then. When his drunkenness is past ; when he is come to himself and is sober, he sees that he hath catched, all his lifetime, after shadows. Wicked men that are carried with their lusts to earthly things, they cannot be wise. Therefore the ' rich man' in the gospel, is called a ' fool,' Luke xn. 20 ; and in Jer xvii. 11, he speaks of a man that ' labours aU his lifetime, and in the end is a fool.' Is not he a fool that wUl carry a burden, and load himself in his journey more than he needs ? And is not. he a spiritual fool that ' loads himself with thick clay,' as the prophet calls it, Hab. ii. 6, and makes his pUgrimage more cumbersome than he needs ? Is not he a ' fool' that lays the heaviest weight on the weakest ? that puts off the heaviest burden of repentance to the time of sickness, and trouble, and death, when all his troubles meet in a centre, as it were, and he hath enough to do to conflict with his sickness ? 3. Again, He is a ' fool' that wUl play with edge tools, that makes a sport of sin. He is a ' fool' that provokes his betters ; that shoots up arrows and casts up stones, that shall fall on his own head. He that darts out oaths and blasphemies against God, that shaU return back upon his own pate, Ps. vii. 16. Many such fools there are. ' God wiU not hold them guiltless,' Exod. xx. 7. 4. He is a ' fool' that knows not, or forgets his end. Every wicked man forgets the end wherefore he lives in the world. He comes here into the world, and lives, and is turned out of the worid again, and never considers the work that he hath to do here,' but is carried Uke a ' fool,' with affec tions and passions to earthly things, as if he had been born only for them. A wise man hath an end prefixed in aU that he doth, and he works to that end. Now there is no man but a sound sanctified Christian, that hath a right end, and that works to that end. Other men pretend they have an end, and they would serve God, &c. They pretend heaven, but they work to the earthward ; like moles, they dig in the earth. They work not to the end they pretend to fix to them selves. All men, how witty soever they are otherwise*, in woridly respects, they are but ' fools.' As we say of owls, they can see, but it is by night : so wicked men are witty, but it is in works of darkness. They are wise ' in * Qu. ' not in ' ?— Ed. 138 A RESCUE FEOM DEATH, their own generation,' among men like themselves. But this is not the life wherein folly and wisdom can be discerned so weU. It wiU appear at the hour of death, and the day of judgment. Then those wiU be found wise that are wise for etemity ; that have provided how it shall go with them when aU earthly things shaU faU them ; and those wiU be' fools' that have only a particular wit for the particular passages of this life ; to con trive particular ends and neglect the main. They are penny wise and pound foolish. Ahithophel, a witty wiseman, his ' counsel was an oracle, yet he was not wise to prevent his own destruction, 2 Sam. xvi. 23. 5. He is a madman, a ' fool,' that hurts and wounds himself. None els6 wiU do so. Wicked carnal men, they wound, and hurt, and stab their own consciences. Oh, if any man should do them but the thousandth part of the harm that they do themselves every day, they would not endure it. They gall and load their consciences with many sins, and they do it to themselves. Therefore it is a deserved title that is given them. God meets with the pride of men in this term of folly. For a wicked man, above aU things, is careful to avoid this imputation of ' fool,' Account him what you wiU, so you account him a shrewd man withal, that can overreach others, that he is crafty and wise, he glories in the reputation of wisdom, though God account him a fool, and he shaU be found so afterward ; and to abate the pride of men, he brings a disgraceful term over their wit and learning, and calls them fools. Use 1. This should abase any man that is not a right and sound Christian, that the ' God of wisdom,' and the Scripture — that is, God's word — esteems of aU wicked men, be what they wiU, to be ' fools,' and that in then: own judgments, if they be not atheists, if they wiU grant the principles they pretend to believe. Let this, therefore, be an aggravation in your thoughts when you are tempted to commit any sin. Oh, besides that it is a transgression and rebellion against God's commandment, it is ' foUy in Israel,' and this wiU be ' bitterness in the end.' Use 2, Is he not a ' fool' that will do that in an instant, that he may repent many years after ? Is he not a foolish man, in matter of diet, that will take that that he shall complain of a long time after ? None will be so foolish in outward things. So when we are tempted to sin, think, Is it not folly to do this, when the time will come that I shall wish it undone again, with the loss of a world if I had it to give ? Use 3. And beg of God the wisdom of the Holy Ghost, to judge aright of things, the ' eye-salve of the Spirit of God, to discern of things that differ,' Rev, iii, 18 ; to judge spiritual riches to be best, and spiritual nobility and excellency to be best ; and to judge of sinful courses to be base, however otherwise painful,* Let us labour for grace. ' The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,' Prov. i, 7. Those that do not fear the Lord, they have no wisdom. Use 4. And pass notf for the vain censures of wicked men. Thou art hindered from the practice of religious duties, and from a conscionablej course of life. Why ? Perhaps thou shalt be accounted a fool. By whom ? By those that are fools indeed, in the judgment of him who is wisdom indeed, God himself. Who would care to be accounted a fool of a fool ? We see the Scripture judgeth wicked men here to be ' fools.' We must not extend it only to wicked men, but even Ukewise God's children, when they yield to their corruptions and passions, they are foolish * Qu. 'gainful'?— Ed. % That is, 'conscientious.'- G. t That is, ' heed not.'— G. WITH A RETURN OP PEAISE. 139 for the time : in Ps. xxxviU, 5, ' My wounds stink and are corrupt, because of my fooUshness ;' and in Ps. IxxiU, 22, ' So fooUsh was I and ignorant,' &o. Therefore, when any base thought of God's providence comes in our mind, or any temptation to sin, let us think it ' folly ; ' and when we are overtaken with any sin, let us befool ourselves, and judge it, as God doth, to be fooUshness. This is the ground and foundation of repentance. So much for the quaUty of the persons here described, ' fools.' I come to the cause. ' Because of their transgressions, and because of their iniquities,' Transgression especially hath reference to rebeUion against God and his ordinances in the first table. Iniquity hath reference to the breach of the second table, against men; and both these have their rise from folly. For want of wisdom causeth rebelUon against God, and iniquity against men. AU breaches of God's wiU come from spiritual folly. Why doth he begin with transgressions against the first table, and then iniquities, the breach of the second ? Because all breaches of the second table issue from the breach of the first, A man is never unjust to his neighbours, that doth not rebel against God's will in the first table ; and the foundation of obedience and duty to man, it riseth from man's obedience to God, Therefore the second table is like the first : that is, our love to our neighbour is like to our love of 1 God ; not only Uke it, but it springs from it. For all comes from the love : of God. Therefore the first command of the first table runs through all the commandments. ' Thou shalt honour God ; ' and honour man, because we honour God. A man never denies obedience to his superior, to the magistrate, &c., but he denies it to God first ; a man never wrongs man, but he disobeys God first. Therefore, the apostles lay the duties of the second table in the Scriptures upon the first, St Paul always begins his epistles with the duties to God and religion, and when he hath discharged that, he comes to parents, and masters, and children, and servants, and such particular duties ; because the spring of our duty to man is our duty to God, and the first justice is the justice of religion to God. When we are not just to give God his due, thereupon come all breaches in our civil conversation and commerce with men. For want of the fear of God, men do this : as Joseph said, ' How shall I do this, and offend God ? ' Gen, xxxix, 9 ; and Abraham, he had a conceit they would abuse his wife, ' Surely the fear of God is not here,' Gen, xx, 13, Therefore he thought they would not be afraid to do anything. He that fears not God, if opportunity serve, he wiU not be afraid to violate the second table. He that fears God, he wiU reason, ' How shaU I do this,' to wrong another in his name and repu tation, or in his estate, and sin against God ? For I cannot sin against man, but I must first sin against God. That is the reason he sets it down thus, transgressions and iniquities. See an unhappy succession of sin, that where there is transgression there wUl be iniquity ; when a man yields to lust once, presently he breaks upon God's due, and then upon man's. One sin draws on another. _ As we see David giving way to one sin, it brought another ; so the giving way to transgression, neglecting the word of God and duties of religion, presently another foUows, neglect of duty to men. Use. Take heed of the beginnings of sin. There are degrees in Satan's school from iU to worse, tiU we come to worst of all ; and there is no stay ing. It is Uke the descent down a steep hiU. Let us stop in the beginning 140 A EESCUE FEOM DEATH, by any means. As we would avoid iniquity, let us take heed of trans gression, ' Are afflicted,' He means, especially, that affliction of sickness, as appears by the words following, Doct. Sin is the cause of all sickness. • ' Fools, for their transgressions and iniquities, are afflicted,' For God's quarrel is especially against the soul, and to the body because of the soul. I will not dwell on this point, having spoken of it at large on another text, 1 Cor, xi, 31,* Use 1. The use that I wiU make of it now, shall be, first of aU, if sin be the cause of all sickness, let us justify Ood and condemn ourselves ; complain of ourselves, and not of God, ' Wherefore doth the living man complain,' Lam. iii. 39, and murmur and fret ? Man suffereth for his sin. Justify God, and judge ourselves. ' I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him,' Micah vii. 9. Judge ourselves, and we shall not be judged,' 1 Cor. xi, 31, 2, Then again, is sin the cause of sickness ? It should teach us patience. ' I held my tongue, because thou, Lord, didst it,' Ps, xxxix, 2, Shall not a man be patient in that he hath procured by his own evil and sin ? 3, And search ourselves ; for usually it is for some particular sin, which conscience will tell a man of; and sometimes the kind of the punishment will tell a man. For sins of the body, God punisheth in the body. He pays men home in their own coin. ' What measure a man measureth to others shall be measured to him again,' Mat, vii. 2. If a man have been cruel to others, God will stir up those that shall be so to him ; therefore we should labour to part with our particular transgressions and iniquities. It is a general trath for all ills whatsoever, as well as this of sickness. Therefore we should first of all go to God by confession of sin. If is a preposterous course that the athestical careless world takes ; where the physician ends, there the divine begins ; when they know not what to do. If diseases come from sin, then make use of the divine first, to certify the conscience, and to acquaint a man with his own mercy. First, to search them, and let them see the guilt of their sins, and then to speak comfort to them, and to set accounts straight between God and them, as in Ps, xxxii. 4 — an excellent place — David ' roared ; his moisture was turned into the drought of summer.' What course doth he take ? He doth not run to the physician presently, but goes to God. ' Then said I.' It was an inward resolution and speech of the mind. Then I concluded with myself, ' I will confess my sin to God, and thou forgavest my iniquities and sins,' Ps, xxxii, 5, So body and soul were healed at once. Divinity herein transcends aU other arts ; not only corrupt nature and corrupt courses, but all other. For the physician he looks to the cause of the sickness out of a man or in a man ; out of a man, and then especially in contagious sick ness, he looks to the infiuence of the heavens. In such a year, such con junctions and such eclipses have been ; he looks to the infection of the air, to subordinate causes, to contagious company, and to diet, &c, (a). And then in a man, to the distemper of the humours and of the spirits. When the instrument of nature is out of tune, it is the cause of sickness. But the divine, and every Christian, — that should be a divine in this respect, — goes higher, and sees aU the discord between God and us. There is not * Cf. Sibbes's ' Glance of Heaven,' in Vol. IV,— G, WITH A EETUEN OF PRAISE. 141 that sweet harmony there ; and so all the jars in second causes come from God as the cause inflicting : from sin, as the cause dementing. The divine considers those two alway. The physician looks to the inward distemper and the outward contagion ; and this is weU, and may be done without sin. But men must join this too, to look into conscience, and look up to God, together with looking for help to the physician, because we have especially to deal with God, _ I would this were considered, that we might carry ourselves more Chris tian-like under any affliction whatsoever. What is the reason that people murmur, and struggle, and strive, ' as a bull in a net,' as the prophet speaks, Isa, U, 20, when God hampers them in some judgment ? They look to the second causes, and never look to clear the conscience of sin, nor never look to God, when indeed the ground of aU is God offended by sin, ' Fools for their transgressions are afflicted,' We hy our sins put a rod into God's hand — ' a rod for the fool's back,' as Solomon saith, Prov, xxvi, 3 ; and when we will be fools, we must needs endure the scourge and rod in one kind or other. Those that wiU sin must look for a rod. It is the best reward of wicked and vain fools, that ' make a jest of sin,' Prov, xiv, 9 — as the wise man saith, ' They cast firebrands, and say. Am I not in jest ? ' Prov, xxvi. 18— that rail and scorn at good things; that swear and carry themselves in a loose, ridiculous, scandalous fashion, as if God did not eye their carriage ; and yet ' Am I not in jest ? ' WeU, it is no jesting matter, SUi is like a secret poison ; perhaps it doth not work presently. As there are some kind of subtile poisons made in these days, — wherein the devil hath whetted men's wits, — that will work perhaps a year after, so sin, if it be once committed, perhaps it doth not kill presently, but ' there is death in the pot,' 2 Kings iv, 40. Thou art a child of death as soon as ever thou hast committed sin ; as Salvian saith well, ' Thou perishest before thou perish' (i). The sentence is upon thee. Thou art a dead man, God, to wait for thy repentance, prolongs thy days ; but as soon as thou hast sinned without repentance, thou art a ' child of death.' And as poison, that works secretly a while, yet in time it appears ; so at last ' the fruit of sin wUl be death.' Sin and death came in together. Take heed of all sin ; it is no dallying matter. ' Their soul abhors all manner of meat.' This' is one branch of the extremity of the sickness, the loathing of meat ; for God hath put a correspondency between food that is necessary for man and man's relish. For man being in this world to be supported, the natural moisture being to be supplied and repaired by nourishment, as it is spent by the natural heat which feeds upon it ; therefore God hath put a sweetness into meat, that man might delight to do that which is necessary ; for who would care for meat if it were not necessary ? There fore, being necessary, God hath put delightful tastes in meats, to draw men to the use of them, to preserve their being for the serving of him. Now when these things savour not, when the relish of a man is distempered that he cannot judge aright of meats, when the palate is vitiated, there must needs follow sickness. For a man cannot do that that should maintain his strength ; he cannot feed on the creature ; therefore the psalmist setting down the extremity of sickness, he saith, ' Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat.' This the great physician of heaven and earth sets down as a 112 A RESCUE FEOM DEATH, symptom of a sick state, when one cannot reUsh and digest meat. Ex perience seals this truth, and proves it to be trae. You see, then, the happiness of epicures, how unstable and vain it is, whose chief good is in the creature ! God by sickness can make them disreUsh aU ' manner of meat ; ' and where is the summum bonum then of all your belly-gods, your sensual persons ? Again, In that he saith, ' Their soul abhorreth aU manner of meat,' it should teach us to bless God not only for meat, but for stomachs to eat. It is a blessing common, and therefore forgotten. It is a double blessing when God provides daily for our outward man, and then gives a stomach to relish his goodness in the creature. Sometimes a poor man wants meat, and hath a stomach; sometimes a rich man wants a stomach, when he hath meat. They that have both have cause to bless God, because it is a judg ment when God takes away the appetite, that men ' abhor and loathe aU manner of meat,' Therefore, if we would maintain thankfulness to God, labour to thank God for common blessings. What if God should take away a man's stomach ? We see his state here : he is ' at the gates of death,' There fore thank God that he maintauis us with comforts in our pilgrimage ; and withal, that he gives us strength to take the comfort of the creature. We see here again one rule how to converse with them that are sick. Blessed is he that understands the estate of the afflicted and sick, not to take it iU to see them wayward. It comes not from the mind, but from the distemper of the body. As we bear with chUdren, so we must bear with men in those distempers, if they have food and yet loathe it. You see how it is with men in that case, ' their soul abhorreth all manner of meat,' It should teach us to sympathise with those that are sick, if we see them in these distempers. The next branch of the extremity is, ' They draw near the gates of death,' Death is a great commander, a great tyrant ; and hath gates to sit in, as judges and magistrates used to ' sit in the gates.' * There are things implied in this phrase, 1, First, ' They draw near to the gates of death ;' that is, they were ' near to death ;' as he that draws near the gates of a city is near the city, because the gates enter into the city. 2. Secondly, Gates are applied to death for authority. They were almost in death's jurisdiction. Death is a great tyrant. He rules over all the men in the world, over kings and potentates, and over mean men ; and the greatest men fear death most. He is ' the king of fears,' as Job calls him, Job xviU. 14 ; ay, and the fear of kings. Yet death that is thus feared in this Ufe by wicked men, at the day of judgment, of all things in the world they shall desire death most ; according to that in the Apoca- lypse, ' they shall desire death, and it shall not come to them,' Rev. ix. 6. They shall subsist to eternal misery. That that men are most afraid of in this life, that they shaU wish most to come to them in the world to come — Oh that I might die ! what a pitiful state are wicked men in ! — Therefore it is caUed the 'gate of death,' It rules and overrules aU mankind. Therefore it is said ' to reign,' Rom, v. 21. Death and sin came in to gether. Sin was the gate that let in death, and ever since death reigned, and will, till Christ perfectly triumph over it, who is the King of that * Cf, Gen. xix. 1 ; 2 Sam. iii. 27 ; Job xxxi. 21 ; Pa. Ixix. 12.— G. WITH A EETUEN OF PEAISE. 143 lord and commander, and hath ' the key of hell and death,' Rev, i, 18. To wicked men, I say, he is a tyrant, and hath a gate ; and when they go through the ' gate of death,' they go to a worse, to a lower place, to hell. It is the trap-door to hell. 3, Thirdly, By the 'gate of death' is meant not only the authority, but the power of death ; as in the gospel, 'the gates of heU shaU not prevaU against it,' Mat. xvi. 18 : that is, the power and strength of heU, So here it impUes the strength of death, which is very great, for it subdues aU, It is the executioner of God's justice. Use. If death hath such a jurisdiction, and power, and strength, let us labour to disarm it beforehand. It is in our power to make death stingless, and toothless, and harmless ; nay, we may make it advantageous, for the ' gate of death' may become the gate of happiness. Let us labour to have our part and portion in Christ, who hath the ' key of hell and death,' who hath overcome and conquered this tyrant : ' 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where is thy victory ? ' ' Thanks be unto God, who hath given us victory, through Jesus Christ our Lord,' 1 Cor, xv, 55, 57, that now we need not fear death ; that though death have a gate, yet it is a gate to let us into heaven, as it is a door to let the wicked into hell. So much for that. In the next place, we come to their carriage in their extremity. ' They cried to God in their trouble.' This is the carriage of man in extreme ills, if he have any fear of God in him, to pray ; and then prayers are cries. They are darted out of the heart, as it were, to heaven. It is said, ' Christ made strong cries,' Heb, V, j7. In extremity, prayers are ' cries.' Hence I observe • briefly these things. Doct. That God suffers men to fall into extreme ills, even to the gates of death ; that there is but a step between them and death. Why? Reason 1, To wean them perfectly from the world. To make them more thankful when they recover ; for what is the reason that men are so slight in thanksgiving ? Usually the reason is, they did not conceive that they were in such extreme danger as they were, 2, Likewise he suffers men to fall into extreme sickness that he may have all the glory, for it was his doing. There was no second cause to help here, for their soul ' abhorred all manner of meat, and they were even at the gates of death,' Now, when all second causes fail, then God is exalted. Therefore he suffers men to fall into extremity. The greater the malady, the more is the glory of the physician. The second thing is this, as God brings his chUdren into extremity, so God's children in extremity they cry to him. Extremity of afflictions doth force prayers : ' In their affliction they wiU seek me early,' When all second causes fail, then we go to God, Nature therefore is against atheism. As one observes, that naturally men run to God in extremity (c) — ' Lord, succour me' — so, especially in the church, in extremity, God's people cry to God ; and as afflictions, so particularly this of sickness of body drives men to God. God should not hear of us many times, unless he should come near us by afflictions, and deep afflictions. ' Out of the deep have I cried,' Ps. cxxx. 1, God brings us to the deep, and then we cry. Our nature is so naught,''' that God should not hear of * That ia, ' naughty' = wicked. — G. 144 A RESCUE FEOM DEATH, US, as I said, unless he send some messenger after us, some affliction to bring us home, as Absalom dealt by Joab when he ' fired his corn,' In the gospel, Christ had never heard of many people, had it not been for some infirmity. But blessed are those sicknesses and infirmities that occasion us to go to God, that makes us cry to God, It was the speech of a heathen, ' We are best when we are weakest' (d). Why ? As he saith very weU, ' Who is ambitious, voluptuous, or covetous for the world when he is sick, when he sees the vanity of these things ? ' This should make us submit more meekly unto God, when we are under his hand, when we are his prisoners by sickness, when he casts us on our sick beds, because God is working our good, he is drawing us nearer to him, ' Then they cried to him,' So we see, then, that prayer it is a remedy in a remediless estate, when there is no other remedy ; and this is one difference between a child of God and another. In extremity, a carnal man that hath not grace, he hath not a spirit of prayer to go to God ; but a child of God he cries to God. He had acquaintance with God in the time of health. Therefore he goes boldly to God as a father in the time of extremity. God's children can answer God's dealing ; for as he brings his children to extremity, when there is no second cause to help, so they answer him by faith. In extremity, when there is nothing to trust unto, they trust him ; when there is no physic in the world that can charm the disease, they have a spirit of faith to answer God's dealing in the greatest misery, as Job saith, ' Though he kill me, yet will I trust in him,' Job xiii. 15, For God is not tied to second causes, and therefore if he have ' deUght in us,' and if he have any service for us to do, he can recover us from the ' gates of death,' nay, from death itself; as we see Christ in the gospel raised from the dead — and at the resurrection he will raise us from death — much more can he raise us from the ' gates of death,' when we are ' near death,' Therefore, considering that prayer is a remedy in aU maladies, in a remedUess estate, let us labour to have a spirit of prayer, and to be in such a state as we may pray. What state is that ? 1, First, Take heed of being in league with any sin. ' If I regard iniquity in my heart, God wiU not hear my prayer,' Ps, Ixvi, 18 ; nay, he will not hear others' prayers for us. Oh what a pitiful state is it when God wUl not hear us nor others for us, ' Pray not for this people,' saith God to Jeremiah, ' and if Noah, Daniel, and Job stood before me, they should but deliver their own souls,' Ezek, xiv, 14, If a man be in a peremptory course of sin, and wiU not be reclaimed, but is Uke the ' deaf adder, that wiU not be charmed,' Ps. Ivui. 4, God wiU not hear prayers for him. WiU God hear a rebel when he comes to him for mercy, and is in a course opposite to God's wiU ? As if a traitor should come to sue for pardon with a dagger in his hand, which were to increase the treason ; so when a man comes to God and cries to him, and yet purposeth to live in sin, and his conscience teUs him that he offers violence to God by his sins, and lives m rebeUious courses, God wUl not hear his prayers. 2. Again, If we would be in such a state as God may accept us when we come to him, let us hear Ood when he cries to us. He cries to us in the ministry of the word : ' Wisdom hath lift up her voice,' Prov. i, 20 ; and this is God's course. He wUl hear us when we hear him. 'He that turns WITH A RETURN OF PRAISE. 145 his ear from hearing of the law, his prayer shall be abominable,' Prov, xxviii. 9, Those that do not attend upon God's ordinances, that wiU have a kind of devotion private to themselves, and avoid the public ordinance, that fear perhaps they shall hear somewhat that would awaken their con science, and they would not ' be tormented before their time,' Mat, vUi, 29, let them consider — it is a terrible speech of Solomon — ' He that turns his ear from hearing the law, his prayer shaU be abominable,' Let us take heed. It is a fearful thing to be in such an estate, that neither our own prayers nor others, shall be regarded for us ; and let any man judge, if we wiU not hear God speak to us, is it fit that he should hear us speaking to him ? And before I leave the point, let me press it a little further. At this time we have cause to bless God for the deliverance of the city." Oh, but let all that have the spirit of prayer, that have any famUiarity with God, improve all their interest in heaven at this time. Do we not conceive what danger we are in ? what enemies we have provoked ? What if we be free from the sickness, are we not in danger of worse matters than the sickness ? ' Is it not worse to fall into the hands of our enemies ?' 2 Sam, xxiv, 14, Have we not great, provoked, cruel, idolatrous enemies ? Therefore let us jointly now, all cry to God, and importune him, that he would be good to the State ; that as he hath given us a. pledge of his favour in delivering us from the plague, so he would not be weary of doing good unto us, but that he would still make it a token of further favours and deliverances hereafter ; that as he delivered us in former times, in '88,f and magnified his mercy to us, so now he would not expose us to the cruelty of idolatrous enemies, ' whose mercies are cruel,' Prov, xii, 10, Let us stir up ourselves. Security and carelessness alway foreruns one destruction or other. Prayer will do a great deal more good now, than when trouble hath overtaken us ; for now it is a sign it comes from a religious seeking of God, then it comes from self-love. There is a great deal of difference when a malefactor seeks to the judge before the time of the assizes, and when he seeks to him at the present time ; for then it is merely out of self-respect, and not respect to him. If we seek to God now, he will single and mark out those that mourn for the sins of the time, and pour out their spirits to him in prayer, that he would still dwell and continue the means of salvation amongst us ; when God, I say, ' comes to gather his jewels,' Mai, iii, 17, he will single and call out them as peculiar to himself. Therefore let us in all our prayers put in the church. Things do more than speak. They cry to us to cry to God earnestly. Put case we be not in trouble ourselves, our prayers will be the more acceptable. Before trouble come, it is the only way to prevent it, as it is the only way to rescue us when we are in trouble, I come now to the remedy, ' He saved them out of their distress,' Ood is a physician, good at all manner of sicknesses. It is no matter what the disease be, if God be the physician. Though they be as these ' at the gates of death,' he can fetch them back, Herem God differs from all other physicians. First of aU, he is a general physician. He can heal a land, a whole kingdom, of sickness, of pestilence, and as it is in 2 Chron. vii, 14, « The plague of 1625-6.— G. t That is, 1588, from the Armada.— G. VOL, VI, ^ 146 A EESCUE FEOM DEATH, Then he is a physician of body and soul, of both parts. And then he is not tied to means. Other physicians can cure, but they must have means. Other physicians cannot cure aU manner of diseases, nor in all places, but God can cure all. ' He saved them out of their distress.' Other physicians cannot be alway present, but God is so^ to every one of his patients. He is a compassionate, tender, present physician. ^ Use. Which should encourage us in any extremity, especially in sickness of body, to have recourse to Ood, and never to despair though we be brought never so low. He that can raise the dead bodies can raise us out of any sickness. Therefore let us use the means ; and when there is no means, trust God, for he can work beyond means and without means. ' They cried to the Lord, and he saved them out of their distress.' It was the fruit of their prayers. Doct. There teas never any prayer from the beginning of the world made to God successlessly. What, should I speak of prayer ! Our very breathings are known to God, when we cannot speak, our sighs ; as it is Ps. xxxviii, 9, ' My groans and sighs are not hid from thee,' God hath a ' bottle for our tears,' Ps, Ivi. 8, and preserves our sighs and groans. There is nothing that is spiritual in us but God regards, as in Rom. viii. 26, ' We know not what to ask, but the Spirit of God stirreth up in us sighs and groans that cannot be ex pressed.' And God hears the voice of the sighs of his own Spirit. Let us also be exhorted'from this issue to ' cry unto the Lord ;' for there was never any man did sow prayers in the breast and bosom of God, but he received the fruit of it. He is a God ' hearing prayer,' He wiU not lose his attribute. Nay, further, mark, the instances in this psalm are not made only of men in the church, but likewise of men out of the church, of men that have not the true religion. They pray to God, as creatures to the Creator ; and though God have not their souls, yet he will not be beholding to any man for duties. If Ahab do but hypocritically fast, Ahab shall have outward deliverance for his outward humiliation ; and these men mentioned in the text, if they call to God but as creatures, and not to idols, God will regard them in outward things, and deliver them, God wUl not be in any man's debt for any service to him, though it be outward. And do we think that he that regards ' dogs' out of the church, wiU neglect his children in the church ? He that regards heathen men when they pray to him in their extremity, and delivers them to shew his over: flowing bounty and goodness, wUl he not regard his own chUdren, that have the spirit of adoption, of suppUcation, and prayer ; that put up their suits and suppUcations in the mediation and sweet name of Christ ? WUl he not regard the name and intercession of his Son and of his Spirit, the Holy Ghost, stirring up prayers in them, and the state of his children, being his by adoption, since he regards the very heathen ? Nay, more than so, ' God hears the very young ravens,' Job xxxviU, 41, and spreads a table for every living thing ; and wiU not suffer them to die for hunger, but provides for them, because they are his creatures. And wiU he not for his children, those that he hath taken to be so near him, to be heirs of heaven and happiness ? Let us, I say, be encouraged to cry unto the Lord upon aU occasions. If God be so good as to deliver sinful men, — that have nothing in them but the principles of nature, — when they fly to God in prayer, as the author and preserver of nature, much more WITH A EETUEN OF PEAISE. 147 wiU he hear his own chUdren. ' He wiU give his Spirit to them that ask him ' Luke xi, 13. _ Ohj. But here may an objection be made, I have cried long ! I am hoarse with crying ! I have waited a long time ! I have been a long time sick, or annoyed with some particular trouble I' and God seems, as it were, to stop his ears, to harden his heart against me, to shut up his bowels of compassion and pity, therefore I were as good give over as continue stiU crying and not be heard, f Ans. I answer, there is no one duty almost, more pressed in Scripture than 'waiting and watching to prayer,' Wait stiU, Hath not God waited thy leisure long enough, and wilt not thou wait on him ? A patient, when he feels his body distempered by physic. Oh, he cries out,, partly for the physic, and partly for the sickness, that trouble him both together, and make civU war in his body, yet notwithstanding the physician wisely lets it work. He shall have no cordial, nor nothing to hinder it ; he lets it go on till the physic__have wrought well, and carried away the malignant matter, that he may be the better for it, and [in] that, he is a lovmg and tender physician. Yet so God, when we are in trouble, it is as physic. We cry, but God he turns the glass''' as the physicians do. Nay, this time shall be expired. It shaU work so long, TiU thy pride be taken away, thou shalt be humbled thoroughly ; till thou be weaned from thy former wicked pleasures ; till thou be prepared to receive further blessings. Therefore they cry and cry, and God defers to hear the ' voice of his chil dren,' In the mean time he loves to hear the ' cry of his children,' and their prayer is as ' sweet incense ;' yet he defers stiU, But all is for the patient's good. Be not weary of waiting. It is a g^-eat mercy that he makes thee able to continue crying, that thou hast the Spirit of prayer ; that thou canst pour out thy soul to God, It is a great mercy, and so account of it. Perhaps thou hast not cast out thy Jonah, thy Achan ; that there is some particular sin unrepented of; and thou criest and criest, but thy sin cries louder. Thy pride or thy oppression cries, thy wicked course cries. Thou criest unto God, and there is another thing cries in thee, that cries vengeance as thou doest for mercy. Therefore search out thy Achan ; cast out thy beloved sin ; see ' if thou regard iniquity in thy heart,' if thou regard any pleasing, or profitable, or gainful sin ; and never think that God will hear thee till that be out, for it wiU outcry thy prayers. The next thing is the manner of God's cure. ' He sent his word and healed them,' What word ? His secret command, his will. Let such a thing be, as in the creation, ' Let there be light,' &o. Besides his word written, there is his word creating, and preserving things created ; and so here, restoring them that were sick, ' He sent his word and healed them ;' and so at the resurrection, his word, his voice shall raise our bodies again. It is a strange manner of cure for God to cure by his word, by his command. It shews that God hath an universal command of all things in the world, in heaven and earth, over devils, and over sicknesses ; as it is said in the gospel, ' He rebuked the sicknesses,' Mat. xvii, 18, He can rebuke the agues, the plague, and the pestilence, and they shall be gone by his word, as the centurion said, ' I am a man that have servants under me : and I say to one. Come, and he cometh ; and to another. Go, and he * That is, ' hour or time-glass.' — G, 148 A EESCUE FEOM DEATH, goeth,' Mat. viif , 8, seq. ; so thou hast all things under thee, thou art God ; and if thou say 'to a disease, ' Come, it cometh ;' and if thou say, ' Go, it goeth.' God ' sent his word of command and healed them.' It is but ' a word of God' to beal, but ' a word of God' to strike. He is the ' Lord of hosts,' ' If he do but hiss,' as the prophet saith, ' for the fly of Egypt,' Isa, vii. 18, if he do but call for an enemy, they come at his word ; as we see in Pharaoh's plagues, the flies and frogs, all things, obey his word. There is a secret obedience in all things to God, when his wUl is that they shall do this or that. Why doth the sea keep his bounds, whenas the nature and position of the sea is to be above the earth ? It is the command of God, that hath said. Let it be there, and ' hither shall thy proud waves go, and no further,'. Job xxxviii. 11. I might give many instances how God doth aU by his word. The devils are at his word ; the whales ; the sea, when Christ rebukes it, obeys. Use. It should teach us not to displease this God, that can strike us in the midst of our sins even with a word. Let us fear this God, Put case we had no enemy in the world : God can arm a man's humours against him. He can raise the spirit and soul against itself, and make it fight against itself by desperate thoughts. He needed not foreign forces for Ahithophel and Saul, he could arm their own souls against themselves. And when he will take down the greatest giant in the world, he needs not foreign forces. It is but working of a disease, but giving way to a humour, but inflaming the spirits, and the soul ' shall abhor all manner of meat.' Again, He gives a command, a rebuke, and they are gone presently. Therefore let us not offend this great God, that is commander of heaven and earth ; let us labour to please him, and it is no matter who else we displease. For he hath all things at his command, even the ' hearts of kings as the rivers of water,' Prov. xxi. 1. When Esau sought for Jacob to hurt him, there was a secret command God set upon him to love him. Therefore we should fear him, and aU other things shaU fear us. We need fear nothing, so we have a care to fear God, further than in God and for God, But not so to fear them, as to do evil for them and offend the great God, that can with a word command sickness to come, or bid it begone. Again, In that God, when aU second causes fail, can ' heal by his word,' therefore let us never be discouraged from praying. Though we see a hurly- burly and tumult in the church, though we see aU Europe in combustion, and the church driven into a narrow corner, let us not give over prayer, . For Christ, that with a word commanded ' the waves to be stUl,' and ' the devils to be gone,' and they presently obeyed him, he can stUl the waves of the church ; he can put a ' hook into the nostrils' of his enemies, and draw them which way he please ; he can stiU all with ' his word.' There fore, howsoever things seem to run contrary and opposite to our desires, yet let us not give over. He that sees no ground of hope in carnal fieshly reason, let him despair of nothing. Despair shuts the gate and door of mercy and hope, as it were. You see here, when all means fail, when they were ' at the very gates' and entry of death, God fetcheth them back again. How ? With physic ? No, He is not tied to physic. There is difference between God and between nature and art. Nature and art can do nothing without means ; but the God of nature and art can do it with his word. How made he this heaven and earth, this glorious fabric ? With his word, ' Let there be light, and there was light,' &c,, Gen, i. 3. And how shall he restore aU again? With his mighty commanding word. How doth he preserve things? By his word. How are things multi- WITH A RETURN OP PRAISE, 149 plied ? By his word, ' Increase and multiply,' a word of blessing. He doth all things with his word. So he can confound his enemies with a word. Nay, Christ in his greatest abasement, when they came with staves and arms to take him, ' Whom seek ye ? ' saith he. That word ' struck down all the officers of the Scribes and Pharisees ; they feU flat on the ground,' John xviii. 4, seq. Could he in his humUiation, loefore his great abasement on the cross, strike down his enemies with his word ? What shaU he do at the day of judgment, when aU flesh shall appear before him ? And what can he do now at the right hand of God in heaven ? Let us never despair, what state soever we be in, in our own persons, or in respect of the church or commonwealth. Let us yet pray, yet soUcit God, and wrestle with him ; for we see here, when they wore at the ' gates of death,' he fetcheth them again with ' his word.' He can fetch things again when they are at destruction, as it were. When man's wit is at a loss, that he knoweth not what course to take, God with a word can turn all things again, ' Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the chUdren of men ! Let them sacrifice the sac rifice of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing,' You see that God, the great physician, he is good at all diseases. He is never set at anything, for he can create helps andr remedies, of nothing. If there be none in nature, he can create peace to the soul. In the midst of trouble of conscience, God can make things out of nothing, nay, out of contraries. You see here what this great physician hath done. He fetched them ' from the gates of death, when their soul abhorred all manner of meat ;' and what doth he require for all this great cure ? Surely the text tells us he looks for nothing but praise, ' Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness,' &c. In which words you have these circumstances considerable, together with the substance of the duty : First, The persons who must praise God : • Oh that men would praise the Lord.' And then the duty they are to perform : ' to praise God,' to ' sacrifice to God,' to ' declare his works ' — one main duty expressed by three terms. The third is for what they should praise him : ' for his goodness,' It is the spring of all, for all particular actions do come from his nature. His nature is goodness itself, and indeed all other attributes are founded on goodness. Why is he gracious, and merciful, and long-suffering ? Because he is good. This is the primitive attribute. And then another thing for which we must praise him : ' for his wondrous works for the children of men,' Fourthly, The manner how this should be done : ' with rejoicing and singing,' as the word signifies (e), ' declare his works with rejoicing,' For as aU holy actions must be done joyfully and cheerfully, so especially praise : ' God loveth a cheerful giver,' 2 Cor, ix 7, much more a cheerful thanksgiver, for cheerfulness is the very nature of thanksgiving. It is a dead sacrifice, of thanksgiving, it is a dead sacrifice else. These are the many things considerable in these words. First of all, of tlie persons. ' Oh that men would praise the Lord,' The blessed psalmist, whosoever he were, directed by the Spirit, of God, 150 A RESCUE FROM DEATH, he would have aU men to praise God ; not only those that participate and have interest in the favour, but the beholders also of the goodness of God to others. For here he that was not interested in these favours for his own particular, yet he praiseth God for the blessings to others; and he wisheth that God might have praise from them. For we are aU of one society, of one family, we are aU brethren ; there fore we must praise God for his blessings and benefits on others : and_ not only for ourselves, but we must wish that aU would do so; and specially we must 'praise God' for ourselves, when we have part of the benefit. For shaU others 'praise God' for us, and shaU not we for ourselves? ShaU the churches of God abroad 'praise God' for his great deliverance of this city — as there is no church in the world that hears of it but is thankful for it— and shaU not we for ourselves ? Shall the angels in heaven ' praise God,' and sing for the redemption of the church by the blood of Christ, ' Glory to God on high, peace on earth, good wiU to men?' Luke U, 13, 14; and shaU not we, that have interest in the work of redemption ? for Christ is not a mediator of redemption to angels. He hath relation to them in another respect. Yet they out of love to God and the church, and a desire to glorify God, they 'praise God' for this; and shaU not we much more for ourselves ? We must praise God ourselves, and desire that all would do so, as he saith here, ' Oh that men would praise the Lord,' &c.; and in some other psalms he stirs up aU the creatures, ' haU, and snow, and wind,' and all to praise God, How can these ' praise God ' ? / They do it by our mouths, by giving us occasion to praise him. And they ' praise him' in themselves ; for as the creature groaneth, Rom. viu. 28, that none knows but God and itself; they groan for the corruption and abuse that they are subject unto, and God knows those groans. So the creature hath a kind of voice Ukewise in praising of God, They declare in their nature the goodness of God, and minister occasion to us to praise God, Therefore the psalmist being desirous that God might be praised for his ' goodness and mercy,' he stirs up every creature, Ps, ciii, 20, seq., even the very angels, insinuating that it is a work fit for angels. The children of God have such a love and zeal to the glory of God, that they are not content only to praise God themselves, but they stir up all. They need not to wish angels to do it, but only to shew their deshe. Oh the blessed disposition of those that love God in Christ ! What shall we think then of those wretched persons that grieve that the ' word of God should run and have free passage, and be glorious,' 2 Thes, iii, 1, and that there should be a free use of the sacraments and the blessed means of salvation ? They envy the glory of God, and the salvation of people's souls. What shall we say to those that desire to hear God dis honoured, that perhaps swear and blaspheme, themselves, or if they do not, yet they are not touched in their hearts for the dishonour of God by others ? This is far from the disposition of a Christian, He desires that all creatures may trumpet out the praise of God, from the highest angel to the lowest creature, from the sun and stars to the meanest shrub ; only deviUsh-spirited carnal men take delight to blaspheme God, that can strike them with his word and send them to their own place, to hell, without repentance, and can hear him dishonoured without any touch of spirit, A child of God desires God to be glorified from his very heart-root, and is grieved when God is dishonoured any kind of way. So much briefly for the first. WITH A EETUEN OP PEAISE. 151 Now what is the duty this holy man wishes ? ' That men would praise God. And sacrifice the sacrifice of thanks giving, and declare his works.' Out of the largeness of his heart he expresseth the same thing in many words, therefore I shall not need to make any scruple in particularising of them, because there is not so much heed to be given in the expressions of a large heart as to be punctual in everything. First, He begins with praise. ' Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord,' &o. It is a duty, as I said before, fit for angels. Fit ! Nay, it is performed by them. For it is all the work they do. It is the only work that was religious, that Adam did in paradise, and that we shall do in heaven with God, Therefore we are never more in heaven than when we take all occa sions of blessing and ' praising God,' We are never in a more happy estate. It is a duty therefore we should aim at, and the rather, because it is the fruit and end of all other duties whatsoever. What is the end of all the good we do, but to shew our thankfulness to God? The end of our fruit- fulness in our place ? That others may take occasion to glorify God, What is the end of our hearing ? To get knowledge and grace, that we may be the better able to praise God in our mouths and in our lives. What is the end of receiving the sacrament ? Nay, what is the duty itself ? A thanksgiving. What is the end of prayer ? To beg graces and strength that so we may carry ourselves in our places as is fit ; that so we may not want those things without which we cannot so well glorify God, So the end of all is to glorify God, It is the end that God intended in all. He framed all things to his own praise in the creation. Why hath God given man reason here upon the stage of the world ? To behold the creatures, Rom, i, 19, 20, that seeing in the creature ' the wisdom of God in ordering things,' ' the goodness of God' in the use of things, and the 'power of God' in the greatness of things, the huge, vast heaven and earth, he might take occasion to glorify and magnify this God, to think highly of him, to exalt him in our thoughts ; that his creatures, heaven and earth, be so beautiful and excel lent, what excellency is in God himself ! And as the end of creation, so in redemption, all is for his glory and praise. In Eph, i, 6, how sweetly doth Saint Paul set forth the end of it : ' To the glory of his rich mercy and grace,' To be merciful to sinners ; to give his own Son ; for God to become man, not for man in that estate as Adam was in innocency, but for sinners ; for God to triumph over sin by his infinite mercy : here is the glory of his grace shining in the gospel. All is for the glory and praise of God there. And for particular deliverances, in Ps, 1, 15, ' Call upon me in the day of trouble : I wiU deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.' His deliverances of us in the passages of our life is, that we may glorify him, by taking notice in imminent dangers of some of his attributes, when there is no means of deliverance, of his power and goodness, &c. In Rev, iv, 10, the elders are brought in praising God for the work of creation ; and then in the fifth, ver. 12, for ' redemption,' ' Thou art worthy, for thou hast redeemed us,' So indeed the work of creation, redemption, and the particular passagesof God's providence, and protection, and preservation, they are matter of praise in heaven and earth among God's people. 152 A EESCUE FEOM DEATH, Now to name a few helps and means to perform this duty the better. If we would stir up ourselves to praise God, let us consider our own un worthiness. As in prayer there must be a humble heart— for a man will not seek abroad if he have somewhat at home : poverty of spirit and humility of heart makes a man pray— so it is the humble soul that ' praiseth God,' that sees no desert in itself. This is one way to help us to ' praise God,' to see nothing in ourselves why God should so regard us, as ' to give us our lives for a prey,' Jer. xxi. 9, to set his love on us, and to follow us with good ; nay, we have deserved the contrary, that God should leave us and expose us to misery, rather than to watch over us by his providence. What is in us ? ' It "is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves,' Ps, c. 3 ; and he made us again when we were sinners, when we were worse than nought. Therefore, to humble us, we must con sider our own unworthiness. He that knows himself unworthy of any favour, he wUl be thankful even for the least, as we see in Jacob, ' I am less than the least of all thy favours,' Gen. xxxU. 10. Therefore he was thankful for the least. So we see here in the text. These men are stirred up to 'praise God,' They saw no other help, no worthiness in themselves. They were at the gates of death, in a desperate estate ; ' Oh that such men would praise God.' Indeed, such men are fittest to ' praise God,' that can ascribe help to nothing but to God, to no second causes. Therefore, in the next place, as a branch of the former, if we would praise God, dii-ell not on the second causes. If God use second causes in any favour he bestows on us, either in keeping us from any iU, or bestowing any good, consider it as a means that God might dispense with ; that he might use if he would, or not use. See God in the second causes ; rise from them to him. Art thou healed by physic ? Use physic as a means, but see God in it. But if God hath cured thee without physic, without ordinary means, then see him more immediately doing good to thee without the help of second causes. That is one way to help us to praise God, to see him in every favour and deliverance. For what could second causes do, if he should not give a blessing ? Especially praise him when he hath imme diately* done it, as he can. Did not he make light before there was a sun ? He is not tied to give light by the sun ; and he made waters before he made the clouds. He is not tied to the clouds. Therefore especially ' praise God ' when we have deliverance we know not how, without means, imme diately from the goodness and strength of God, Again, If we would ' praise God ' for any favour, consider the necessity and use of the favour we pray for, as these men here ; they were at death's door, and ' loathed all manner of meat,' Alas ! they had died if God had not helped them. If thou wouldst bless God, consider what a miserable state thou shouldst be in if thou hadst not that favour to praise God for. If thou be to bless God for thy senses, put case thou shouldst want thy sight, what a miserable case thou shouldst be in 1 So for any of the senses that a man wants, whereby he should glorify God, and take the comfort of the creature, put case a man should want his taste, as these men here — ' their soul abhorred all manner of meat ' — alas ! what a miserable case is it to want a relish and taste of the comfort that God hath put into the creatures ; put case we should want the meanest benefit we enjoy, how uncomfortable would our lives be 1 This spark of reason that God hath given us, that we have understanding * That if, ' without means.' — G. WITH A EETUEN OF PEAISE, 153 to conceive things, which is the engine whereby we do all things as men, and are capable of the grace of God, what a miserable thing were it if God should take away our wits, or suspend the use of them ? But especiaUy in matters of grace, if God had not sent Christ to redeem the worid, what a cursed condition had we lain in, next to devUs ? Agam, If we would praise God, let us every day keep a diary of his favours and blessings : what good he doth us privately, what positive blessings he bestows upon us, and what dangers he frees us from, and continues and renews his mercy every day ; and pubUcly what benefit we have by the state we live in. Oh what a happy state is it that we live in peace, that we enjoy such laws, ' that every man may sit under his own vine, and under his own fig-tree,' Micah iv. 4, and enjoy the comforts of life, when all the worid about us are and have been in combustion ! We should keep a register of God's blessings. Oh that we could learn to have such exact lives 1 It would breed a world of comfort, and we should have a less account to make when we die. Every day labour to be humbled for our sins, specially such as break the peace of our consciences, and never give our bodies rest tiU our hearts have rest in the favour of God ; and together with matter of humiliation, daily observe how God bestows new favours, or else continues the old ; that notwithstanding our provocation and forgetfulness of him, he strives with us by his goodness. This is a blessed duty that we should labour to per form. And then when we have done this, let us rouse up aU that we are, and all that we have within us, to praise God. Ps. ciii, 1, ' My soul, praise the Lord, and all that is within me praise his holy name,' What have we within us to praise God ? Let us praise God with our understanding, to conceive and have a right judgment of God's favours, of the worthiness of them and our own unworthiness, and then a sanctified memory, ' Forget not 'aU his benefits,' Ps. ciii. 2. Forgetfulness is the grave of God's blessings. It buries all. And then there is in us the affection of joy and love to God to taste him largely, and then all within us will be large in the praising of God. And our tongue likewise, though that be not within us, it is caUed our ' glory,' Ps. xvi. 9 and Ps. Ivii. 8 ; let us make it our glory in this, to trumpet out God's praise upon all occasions. All that is within us, and all that we are, or have, or can do, let it be aU to the glory and ' praise of God.' To draw to a conclusion, with some general application of all that hath been spoken, and then in particular to the present occasion. You know how God hath dealt of late with this city,* and with ourselves indeed ; for we are all of one body politic, and however God visited them, yet it was our sins also that provoked him. We brought sticks to the common fire, A physician lets the arm blood, but the whole body is dis tempered, God let the city blood/ but the whole kingdom was in a distemper. So that it was for our sins as weU as theirs. We all brought, I say, something to the common flame, and God afflicted us even in them. God hath now stayed the sickness almost as miraculously as he sent it. It was a wonder that so many should be swept away in so short a time. It is almost as great a wonder that God should stay it so soon. And what may we impute it unto ? Surely as it is in the text, ' They cried unto the Lord,' God put it into the hearts of_the governors of the State to appoint humiliation and ' crying to God,' 'and therefore since God hath * In margin here, ' In the great visitation, 1625.' — G. 154 A RESCUE FROM DEATH, been so merciful upon our humiliation, it is religiously and worthily done of the State, that there should be a time to ' bless God,' Again, God did it with a word, with a command. It was both in the inflicting and delivery, as it were, without means ; for what could the physician do in staying the plague ? Alas, all the skill in the world is at a loss in these kinds of sicknesses ! It comes with God's command. It is God's arrow more especiaUy than other sicknesses. God sent it by his command, first to humble us for our sin ; and now he hath stayed it with a word of command, that from above five thousand a week it is come to three persons. ' God hath sent his word and healed us.' It was a pitiful state we were in before ; for indeed it was not only a sickness upon the city, but a civil sickness. The whole state was dis tempered ; for as there is sickness in the body when there is obstraction, when there is not a passage for the spirits and the blood from the liver, and from the heart, and from the head, these obstructions cause weakness, and faintings, and consumption. So was there not an obstruction in the State of late ? Were not the veins of the kingdom stopped ? Was not civil commerce stayed ? The affliction of this great city, it was as the affliction of the head, or of the heart, or of the liver. If the main vital part be sick, the whole is sick ; so the whole kingdom, not only by way of sympathy, but it was civilly sick, in regard that all trading and intercourse was stopped ; it was a heavy visitation. And we have much cause to bless God that now the ' ways of this Sion ' of ours ' mourn not ; ' that there is free commerce and intercourse as before ; that we can meet thus peaceably and quietly at God's ordinances, and about our ordinary callings. Those that have an apprehension of the thing, cannot choose but break out in thanksgiving to God in divers respects. 1, First of all, have not we matter to praise God that he ivould correct us at all ? He might have suffered us to have gone on and been ' damned with the wicked world;' as it is 1 Cor, xi, 32, 'We are therefore chastened of the Lord, that we should not be damned with the world,' It is his mercy that he would take us into his hands as children, that he would visit us at all, 2, Another ground of thanksgiving is this, that since he would correct us, he would use this kind of correction, that he would take us into his own hands. Might he not have suffered a furious, bloody, dark- spirited, deviUsh- spirited enemy to have invaded us ? to have fallen into the hard hands of men acted with devUish malice ? David thought this a favour, even that God would single him out to punish him with the plague of pestUence, that he might not ' faU before his enemies,' 2 Sam. xxiv. 14, The mercies of God are wondrous great when we ' fall into his hands,' He is a ' merciful God,' He hath tender bowels fuU of pity and compassion. But the very mercies of wicked idolaters ' are cruel,' There was a mercy, therefore, in that, that God would take us into his own hands, 3. In the third place. We see when he had taken us into his own hands, how he hath stopped the raging of the pestilence, and hath inhibited the destroying angel even in a wondrous manner ; that the plague, when it was so raging, that it should come to decrease upon a sudden. God was won drous in this work. Is not here matter of praise ? 4. Then again, It is a mercy to us aU here that he should ' give us our lives for a prey ; ' as God saith in Jeremiah to Barach, ' Wheresoever thou goest, thou shalt have thy life for a prey,' Jer, xxi, 9. Might not God's arrow have followed us wheresoever we went ? WITH A EETUEN OF PEAISE, 155 _\\T3ither can a man go from this arrow, but that God being everywhere, might smite him with the pestilence ? Now, in that he hath watched over us, and kept us from this noisome contagious sickness, and hath brought us altogether here quietly and freely, that so there may be intercourse between man and man in trading and other calUng, this is the fourth ground of ' praising of God,' 5, And that it did not rage in other parts. In former time God scattered the pestUence more over the kingdom. It is a great matter to bless God for, I beseech you, let us say with the same spirit as this holy man here, ' Oh that men, therefore, would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for the wonders that he doth for the children of men ! ' — for his goodness, that he would rather correct us here than damn us ; for his goodness, that he would not give us up to our enemies ; for his goodness, that he stayed the infection so suddenly, and that he stayed the spreading of it further ; for his goodness unto us in particular, that he hath kept us all safe. What shall we do now but consecrate and dedicate these lives of om-s ; for he gives us our lives more than once, at the beginning. There is never a one here but can say by experience, God hath given me my life at such a time and such a time. Let us give these Uves again to God, labour to reform our former courses, and enter into a new covenant with God. This is one part of thanksgiving, to renew our covenant with God, to please him better ; and indeed, in every thanksgiving that should be one ingredient. Now, Lord, I intend and resolve to please thee better. Whatsoever my faults have formerly been, I resolve by thy grace and assistance to break them off. Without this, all the other is but a dead performance. Now, briefly, by way of analogy and proportion, to raise some medita tions from that that hath been delivered concerning the body, to the soul ; for God is the physician both to soul and body, K God with his word can heal our bodies, as the psalmist saith here, much more can he with his word heal our soul. There are many that their bodies are well, thanks be to God, but how is it with their souls ? Here you have some symptoms to know their spiritual state ; and oh that people were apprehensive of it ! Have you not many that their ' soul loatheth all manner of meat,' and they ' draw near the gates of death ? ' Their souls are in a desperate state. They are deeply sick. How shall we know it ? Their soul ' abhorreth all manner of wholesome meat.' How many are there that relish poets and history, any trifle that doth but feed their vain fancy, and yet cannot relish the blessed truth and ordinances of God? Where is spiritual life when this spiritual gense is gone, when men cannot reUsh holy things ? If they relish the ordinance of God, it is not the spu-itual part of it, so far as the Spirit toucheth the conscience, but some thing that, it may be, is suitable to their conceit, expressions, or phrases, or the like. But it is a symptom and sign of a fearful declining state when men do not reUsh the spiritual ordinances of God, which should be, as it were, ' their appointed food; ' when they do not ' delight to acqua,int them selves with God,' in hearing of the word, and reading, and the like. Let such, therefore, as delight not in spiritual things, know that their souls lie gasping; they are at the ' gates ' of spiritual death. All is not weU, There is some fearful obstruction upon the soul that takes away the appetite. The soul runs into the world over much. They cloy themselves with the world. When men cannot relish heavenly things, they are ate up with the delight and joy oftother things, pleasures, and profits. 156 A RESCUE FROM DEATH, Let them search the cause, and labour for purging, sharp, things that may procure an appetite. Let them judge themselves, and see what is the matter, that they do not delight more in heavenly things ; let them purge themselves by confession to God, and consideration of their sins, and labour to recover their appe tite. For it is almost a desperate estate, ' they are at the gates of death.'. Especially now when we come to the communion. What do we here, if we cannot relish the food of our souls ? Let us examine if we desire to taste the love of God, and to be acquainted with God here. If not, what shall we do in these spiritual distempers ? Desire of God, cry to God, that he would forgive our sins and heal our souls by his Holy Spirit, that he would make us more spiritual, to relish heavenly things better than we have done before, that as the things that are heavenly are better in their kind than other things are, so they may be better to our taste, A man may know the judgment of his state when he answereth not the difference of things. What the difference is between the food of life and ordinary food ; what the difference is between the comforts of the Holy Ghost and other comforts ; between the riches and pelf of the world and the riches of the Spirit ; the graces of God, that wiU cause a man to live and die with comfort ; the true riches, that make the soul rich to_ eternity : there is no comparison. Beg of God this spiritual reUsh to discern ' of things that differ,' Heb, v. 14, that we may recover our appetite. God by his word and Spirit can do it, not only the word written, but the inward spiritual word written in our hearts. Desire God to join his Spirit with his word and sacraments, and that will recover our taste and make us spiritual. that we shall relish him that is both the feast-maker and the feast itself. He is both the meat and the provider of the banquet. For whence is it that aU other things are sweet to us ? deliverance from trouble and sickness ? Because it is a pledge of our spiritual deli verance in Christ, The deliverance from hell and damnation, what comfort can a man have that knows not his state in grace, in the enjoying of his health, when he shall think he is but as a ' sheep kept for the slaughter ? ' He knows not whether he be in the favour of God or no. Therefore let us come and renew our faith in the forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Christ, of whom we are made partakers in the sacra ment. For if we believe our deliverance from hell and damnation by the body of Christ broken and his blood shed, then everything will be sweet. When we know God loves us to life everlasting, then everything in the way to life everlasting, even daily bread, will be sweet, because the same love that gives heaven gives daily food, and the same love that redeems us from helljredeems us from sickness, , Therefore let us labour to strengthen our faith in the main, that we may be thankful for the less. And as we enter into new covenant with God, so labour to keep it ; in Lev, xxvi, 14, seq., everything avengeth the breaking of God's covenant. When we make covenant to serve him better for the time to come, and yet break it, God is forced to send his messenger. He sends siclmess to avenge his covenant. Considering that he hath lately so avenged it, let it make us so much the more circumspect in our carriage. So much for this time and text. Imprimatur. Thomas Wykes. MayW 1638. » WITH A RETURN OP PRAISE. 157 NOTES. (a) P. 140. — ' In such a year, such conjunctions and such eclipses,' &c. One of various allusions to astrology, a faith iu which Sibbes shared with the most illus trious of his contemporaries, e. g.. Bacon, Sir Thomas Browne, &c. (i) P. 141. — ' As Salvian saith well, " Thou perishest before thou perish." ' Cf. note d. Vol. V. page 34. (c) P. 143. — ' As one observes, that naturally men run to God iu extremity.' Many curious and striking illustrations of this will be found iu the old Puritan ' Commentaries' on the Book of Jonah, chap. i. verses 5, 6, and parallel passages. It is an observation common to Cicero, and all writers on ' Natural Religion.' (d) P. 144. — ' It was the speech of a heathen,' &c. A variation of the proverb, ' Man's extremity is God's opportunity.' (e) P. 149. — '"With rejoicing and singing," as the word signifies.' Cf. Dr Joseph Addison Alexander in loc, who, with Sibbes, supplies 'joyful' before ' singing.' G. THE SAINT'S COMFOETS. THE SAINT'S COMFORTS, NOTE. > ' The Saint's Comforts ' forms a moiety of a small volume (ISmo) published in 1638. The general title-page of the volume is given below.* It will be observed that Sibbes's name does not appear thereon, but on the other sermons it does. Pro bably the name was withheld from the ' Comforts, ' as being from 'Notes ' without Sibbes's sanction. Next to ' The Spiritual Favourite, ' this volume is the rarest of his books. I have been able to trace only another copy besides my own, viz,, that in the Bodleian. I have to acknowledge the kindness of the Eev. Henry Creswell of Canterbury in procuring ' The Saint's Comforts ' for me. The other sermons will be found in their place in Vol. VII. G. » THE SAINTS COMFOETS. Being the substance of di verse Sermons Preached on, Psal. 130. the beginning. The Saints Ilappinesse, on Psal. 73. 28. The Rich Pearle ; on Math. 13. 45, 46. The Successe of the Gospell, on, Luk. 1. 34, 35. Maries Ohoyce, on Luk. 10. 38, £19, 40. By a Reverend Divine now with God. Printed at London by Tho. Cotes, and are to be sold by Feter Cole, at the aigne of the Glove in Corne-hil Tieere the Exchange. 1638. On reverse — Imprimatur, Tho. Wykes. Ootob. 5. 1637. THE SAINT'S COMFORTS: AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, 0 God. — Ver. 1, This psalm is a pithy psalm, and therefore is called a psalm of degrees. Other reasons the Jews give of this title, but they agree not. Some will have it that these psalms were sung upon the fifteen stairs that went up to the temple. Some call them thus, for that they say they were sung with an extraordinary high voice. But in these difficulties. Melius est dubitare de occultis, quam litigare de incertis. All historical truths are not necessary to be known, for Christ did many things that were not written, John xx. 30, The author is not named. However, we may assure ourselves the Spirit of God indited it, setting down, first, the state of the writer, ver, 1 ; secondly, his carriage in that estate : ' He prayed, being in depths,' ver. 2 ; thirdly, the ground of his prayer, which was God's mercy, ver. 3 ; his own faith, hope, and patience ; his waiting, is simply laid down, ver, 5,- and comparatively, ver, 6 ; and fourthly, an application to the whole church, ver, 7, from his own experience of God's mercy and sufficiency. Out of the first part, concerning the state of the writer of this psalm, let us observe these particulars, following in their order : first, that the children of Ood do fall into depths ; that is, into extremity of misery and affiiction, which are called ' depths ;' because as waters and depths, so these, do swallow up and drown the soul, and because they do compass about the soul, bury ing it in great, terrible, continuing deep dangers ; and these depths of a Christian are either outward or inward. The outward troubles and depths are those of the body. These God's chUdren are aflfiicted with, as Jonah was when he was in the bottom of the sea, Joseph in prison, and Paul in the dungeon ; and these are like the man of God to the Shunamite, 1 Kings xvii, 18, they do but call our sins to remembrance. But the inward spiritual troubles are the great depths ; that is, trouble of mind for sin that Ues upon us, causing us to doubt of our estate, to feel God's wrath, to fear rejection and excluding from God's presence. This is the soul of sorrow ; other outward sorrows being but the carcase of sorrow. ' The spirit of a man wUl bear his infirmities ; but a wounded spirit who can bear ?' Prov. xvUi, 14, In such an estate, in regard of the extremity of the burden of the sins of the whole world laid on him, was our head, Christ Jesus, making him sweat L , VOL, VI. '^ 162 THE saint's COMFORTS : ' drops of blood,' Luke xxu. 44 ; and when he was on the cross, when he cried with strong cries and tears, ' My God, my God, why hast thou for saken me ?' Mark xv, 34, But why is this thus, that the Prince* of our salvation should be in such a depth of misery ? I answer, because it was requisite that salvation should be repaired by the contrary means to that whereby it was lost. It was lost by Ufting up. Adam would be like a god ; and Christ he regained us by abasing himself. The Son of God must become man, and a man of sorrows ; and as the head was, so the members have been and must be, Rom, vUi. 29, ' for we are predestinated to be like the image of his Son,' and so to pledge him in the same cup wherein he drank deep to us. In this pUght we find David often, though a man after God's own heart, Ps, vi. 2, 3, Ps, IxxxviU, 2, &c., Ps, xl, 12 ; and Jonah, a prophet, Jonah U. 2, &o. ; and Hezekiah, Isa, xxxviu, 13; and Job especially. Job vi, 4. But why is this thus, seeing our head, Christ Jesus, hath suffered for us ? I answer, we must suffer. Reason 1, First, That we may know what Christ suffered for us by our own experience, without which we should but lightly esteem of our redemption, not knowing how to value Christ's sufferings sufficiently, which is a horrible sin, Heb. ii. 8, Reason 2, Secondly, By our sufferings we know what a hitter thing sin is, Jer. ii. 19, as by the ill consequents thereof : for without the taste of God's wrath, we find nothing but sweetness and pleasure in sin ; and therefore, we have so much sense of God's wrath as to humble us, but shews not the extremity of the depth of sin, lest we should sink down into despair. Reason 3, Thirdly, By our afflictions and depths, we manifest Ood's power and glory the more in our deliverance : for the greater the trouble is, the greater is the deliverance ; as the greater the cure is, the greater credit the physician gets. Reason 4, Fourthly, Many times, by less evils, it is God's manner to cure greater ; and thus he suffers us to feel wrath, to cure us of security, which is as a grave to the soul ; as also to cure spiritual pride, that robs us of grace, dealing with us as he did with the Israelites. He would not cast ¦^ out all the nations from before them, but left some that might be employed in hunting and destroying the wild beasts, which might else multiply against the children of Israel. And thus God dealt with Paul, gave him to be vexed by a base temptation, lest he should be lifted up with spiritual pride, through the abundance of revelations, 2 Cor, xii, 7. Reason 5, Fifthly, These depths are left to us, to make us more desirous of heaven ; else great men, that are compassed about with earthly comforts, alas, with what zeal could they pray, ' Thy kingdom come,' &c. ? No ; with Peter they would rather say, ' Master, it is good for us to be here,' Mark ix, 5 ; and therefore, it is God's usual deaUng with great men, to suffer them to fall into spiritual desertions, to smoke them out of the world, whether they will or not. Reason 6, Sixthly, God works by these affections in us a more gentleness of spirit, making us meek and pitiful towards those that are in depths, which was one cause of Christ's afflictions : he suffered, that he might help and com fort others. He suffered Peter to stumble, that when he was converted, he should ' strengthen his brethren,' Luke xxii, 32. Use 1. Hence therefore we learn not to pass a rash censure on ourselves or others that are in such depths as this holy man was in ; for the afflicted soul no sooner tastes of this bitter fruit, but presently breaks out into complaints. * Misprinted ' point.' — G. AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX. 163 ' Never was any thus afflicted as I,' thinking it unpossible that there should be greater crosses, than it feels ; when indeed the draught that Christ our head did drink to us, was far beyond the apprehension of mortal man, and therefore much more beyond his power to undergo. Let us beware how we censure others that are afflicted, for God's ends are hid. It may be God sends afiiictions to manifest some excellent graces which lie in him, unknown both to the world and himself; and so he set Job as a flag of defiance against the devU, bidding him do his worst. He should find him upright, and a just man ; and therefore we should rather take notice of affliction as a sign of some excellent grace with which God hath furnished such; for God wiU not caU out any of his to suffering, but he wiU get him self honour thereby. Use 2, In the second place, note this doctrine against the profane persons that tush at religion, and make a mock at the dejected condition of those that are good, because they seem despised, afflicted, and forsaken. They, alas ! are ignorant of God's ways and works. It were much safer for them to consider their own ways, and to reason, if God deals thus with his dearest ones, with the ' green trees,' what shaU become of those that are his enemies, that are ' dry trees ? ' If such troubles arise to the godly, even from God's love to them, what shaU defend the wicked when the vials of God's wrath shaU be poured down upon them, when they shaU ' caU to the rocks and mountains to hide, cover, and defend them ?' Rev, vi. 16, If the ' righteous hardly be saved, where shall the ungodly appear ? ' 1 Peter iv, 18, And to conclude, know that the afflictions of the children of God are far better than the pleasures of sin. _ . ^ n . t Doct. 2. In the second place, observe we, though Christians laU into depths, yet Ood upholds them that they sink not down into them without recovery. Thus it was with our Head. Though he on the sudden appre hended not the presence of God, so as he thought himself forsaken, yet he could even at the worst say, ' My God.' Thus also Jonah, ii. 4, ' I said I was cast out of thy sight ; yet will I look towards thy holy temple, tao Ps. xxxi. 22, and Ps. cxvui. 5 and 6 verses. . Reason 1. For the Spirit of God is in them., and where it is, it is stronger than heU, yea though the grace be but as a grain of mustard seed. Reason 2. Again, As there are depths of misery m a Christian, so m God there are depths of love and of wisdom. j t n j Reason 3. Thirdly, Faith, where it is, unites the soul to Christ, and to (^od through him, and draws down divine power— lo lay hold on the almignty power of God by trae and fervent prayer,— at whose rebuke the waters of affliction flee away, Ps. IxxvU. 16; and so the stronger the faith is, the stronger is the delivery, for it is of a mighty power, e^abhng us to wrestle with God, as Jacob did. Thus when we lay hold on God, and God on us, what can drown us ? . i i. *„„„,-.,„ Reason 4. Fourthly, It is the nature of God's working to he bycontrarm^ in his works of creation, making aU things of nothing; i^ ^^f .^J^ °f providence, he saves by little means from greatest dangers. /^^^ -^^J^'g^* bring us t^ heaven, he suffers us to go down even into heU, to see our worst estate, to humble us; and it may therefore ^e a cause why many men lie long m afflictions, even because they come not low enough to see their sms and need of help. In glorifying our mortal ^ofe^'^e tot brings them to the grave, that they may rot and corrupt, and so be refined and moulded anew. , . i.i,„„„ iVot oro Ifse 1. This should teach us a note of difference between those that are 164 THE saint's comforts: God's chUdren and those that are not. Those that are his, when they are in danger, go to him. They have ever that hold by faith, as to say, ' Yet God is good to Israel,' Jer. xxxi, 1, Others seek to escape by desperate undoing of themselves, as Saul, and Judas, and Ahithophel, for aU his strong natural parts ; and indeed such are in most danger of such courses of aU other ; for God wiU tread on such for their pride. _ Contrarily he mingles comforts, in the worst estate that his children are in, with griefs, one to humble them, the other to support them from despair ; and so he sets them on a rock that is higher than they. Use 2, Secondly, It should teach us in all extremities how to carry ourselves. We should take heed of the stream of grief, striving against it, as we desire a note of our good estate ; take heed how we think that God forsakes us. It is an imputation unbefitting him that never forsakes his. Take heed of judging ourselves by sense. Is meat sour because one that is sick doth not relish it ? No, The fault is in his indisposition. So in such desertions, be sure thou retainest thy anchor of hope, though contrary to hope ; and therefore in the next place. Use 3, We should answer God's dealing by our dealing. He works by contraries ; we should judge by contraries. Therefore, if we be in misery, hope and wait for glory, in death look for life, in sense of sin assure thy self of pardon, for God's nature and promises are unchangeable ; and when God will forgive, he lets us see our troubles ; and therefore with resolute Job say, ' Though he kUls me, I will yet trust in him,' Job xui, 15, But to come particularly, I will set down cures of such depths as may arise from several causes ; and these depths are either imaginary or real. Christians sometimes think themselves to be in depths when indeed they are not, but it is only imaginary, raised it may be from a melancholy distemperature of the spirits, which also distempers the reasonable working of the mind ; raising as false and feigned conceits of their souls as it doth in many of their bodies ; and yet these conceits have real effects, as in Jacob, who sorrowed as truly for Joseph as if he were dead indeed. Therefore for the avoiding hereof be not alone ; a friend and good company are made for such times. For the devil sets on men in such case most when they are alone, and the strongest are then too weak for him ; and believe not thine own fancy, but rather believe those that can discern us better than we ourselves can. We know how men have been deceived thus, and therefore when we are advised thus by friends, and counselled, let us suspect that it is a motion of the devU or a fancy of thine own that thus troubles thee. There is another depth that is imaginary, arising /rom mistaking of rules, concluding because they have not so much grace as others, have not so much subduing and prevailing power over sin, therefore they have no grace at aU, they are damned hypocrites and the like. Little do they think that perfec tion is not attainable here, but is reserved to the blessedness of that other life heieafter. Little do they look to the imperfections of the best saints of God, and the great depths that they have been in ; and indeed they know not what the covenant of grace requires, nor perfect fulfilling of the law by our own persons, for that was the end of the law. But the covenant of grace requires sincerity with growth ; and this is the only perfection which we can look for here. Another depth also there is, which ariseth from the taking of the motions of the devil for those of his own corrupt nature. The baseness and unrea sonableness of them makes them think they cannot be God's children, and have such detestable motions within them. Let such know that such shall AN exposition UPON PSALM CXXX, 165 be cast upon Satan's score. And it is a sign rather that such are none of the children of the devU, who, if they were, would suffer them to rest in quiet without vexing them. Again, some men fall into another depth, which ariseth from an appre hension of God forsaking them. To such I give this advice, that they judge not of themselves by their distemper, for a sinful conscience puts a veil some times between God and us, hiding his favour ; which nevertheless may be as great to us then as at any other time, and it may be intended by God to drive us to him by scourging us from our wicked ways and sins, which formerly we lived m. By faith therefore pull off the vizor from the face of God ; judge not according to present appearance, but by God's nature and his promises, who hath said he will be with us for ever, that no temptations shaU be above measure, 1 Cor. x. 13 ; judge by his nature who is unchange able ; and thus did the Canaanitish woman see Christ's loving nature under his frowning look, who doth as Joseph, hide his love and person from his brethren out of a increasement of love, not out of any ill intent. Again, in such a case let us be sure we trust others that are our friends rather than ourselves. I mean in time of temptation, whenas others can better discern of our health by our spiritual pulses than we ourselves, who then are blinded ; and in such cases there is the trial of faith and love. There is another sort of depths, and these are before conversion ; and thus was Paul troubled, ' Lord, what shaU I do ? ' and thus was Manasseh. Let such consider the commandment, to humble them and cast themselves on Christ and his promises, considering the end of Christ's coming was to save and seek such as are lost. Use 4. And if any one shall find himself already escaped such depths as are formerly mentioned, let him take comfort to himself, as being thereby evidently proved to be the child of God ; for that is utterly impossible, that natrue should overcome such difficulties, and to that end let him reason after this sort, God's children go to him in depths, I go only to him in depths, therefore I am God's child ; for to have the spirit of prayer to go to God in time of trouble, it is a work of the Spirit ; a natural man hath it not. Job xxvii, 9, 10, Use 5, Hence therefore, in the next place, note a sure sign of the true religion, namely, to be able to support men in danger and in spiritual troubles. This is verified in ours, as the subtile Jesuit will acknowledge, while they hold that reposing ourselves merely on mercy and favour in Christ, and not on man's good works, is the safest way. Why, therefore, they live by their uncomfortable rules ; and when they die, fiy for succour to these, which in their Ufetime they despise,* Use 6. Moreover, let this be a ground to encourage us never to give over God's cause. He hath said he will not leave us though we be in depth of our sins, if we belong to him, and therefore much less will he leave us in that work which he himself sets us about. He was with Daniel among the lions, with Moses in the bulrushes, with the ' three chUdren' in the fire, with his church through ' fire and water,' Use 7. Lastly, Let us therefore be sure to keep Ood our friend, that he may own us ; else when we cry he will not hear us, Prov, i. 28, Acquaint we ourselves with him, as it is in Job xxU, 21, in prosperity, and he wiU be our refuge, &c, Doct. 3, In the third place, observe we that afflictions stir up devotions ; for prayers in time of afflictions are cries, Oratio sine malis est avis sine alis ; * Cf. note w, Vol. III. page 531.— G. 166 the saint's comforts : for what allays worldly joy, and embitters it, but affliction ? Now we know that it is the worldly afflictions* that quenches our zeal and makes us cold. Affliction is a purgation opening the soul, causing it to reUsh and to affectf spiritually, and to see the wants and necessity of supply, and so procures longing and earnest hungering, Hosea v, 15, ' In their affliction they wiU seek me early,' and therefore, Ps. cvU. 6, it is sa3d they cried to the Lord in their trouble. Now crying supposes want and sense of misery and ardency. Thus were Christ's cries caUed ' strong cries ;' and indeed weak afflictions many times makes men rather pettish and froward, as Jonah, than ardent in feeUng relief ; and therefore. Use 1. Let us interpret God's dealings with a sanctified judgment. He is a wise physician, and knows when strong or gentle physic is most requisite. Sometimes God by great afflictions doth manifest great graces, but so as notwithstanding they may be mingled with a deal of corruption ; and it is God's use that hereby his graces may be increased, and the corrup tion aUayed, to bring down the greatest cedars, and to ecUpse the greatest Ughts. Use 2. Secondly, Let us oppose desperations hy all means, by prayer, hy crying ; and if we cannot speak, by sighing ; if not so, yet by gesture, especially at the time of death, for God knows the heart. For then it stands upon eternal comfort. And therefore let us do anything to shew our faith fails not. We must know that every one shall meet with these enemies, that would cause us to despair if they could, for this life is a warring and striving life. We shall have enemies without and within us that wiU fight against us. Doct 4, In the next place, observe hy the example of this holy man, that prayers are to be made only to God, who knows our wants, supports us and binds us up ; and it is only Christ that doth this. None can love us more than he that gave himself for us. He is our eye whereby we see, our mouth whereby we speak, our arms whereby we lay hold on God ; and therefore it is an intolerable unthankfulness to leave this ' fountain opened , for sin and for uncleanness, and to dig to ourselves cisterns that wUl hold no water,' Jer. ii, 13 ; to leave Christ, and run to saints and angels, and the like, &c. Ver. 2, ' Lord, hear my voice ; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications,' Mark here his constancy and instancy in prayer by his ingemination ; % and this he doth not to work upon God, as if he were hard to be entreated to mercy, but to waken up his own heart, and to entreat of God a more inward and clear communion, communicating increase of grace ; so as God's children are not satisfied with small portions of grace. And this did Daniel, Dan, ix. 18, 19, 0 Lord, hear, forgive, hearken, do, defer not ! His ardency shews into what an exigent he was brought ; and indeed the Lord regards lukewarm prayers no more than lukewarm persons, so as he wUl spue them out. Prayers must be like incense. It must be fired with zeal. Quest. But some will ask. How shaU we come to make our prayers fervent? Ans. I answer, consider of our wants, and our necessity of supply, of our misery in our want, of our hope to prevail by prayer ; and these wUl edge our affections in prayer. Consider also how these times, and the estate of * Qu. 'affections'?— Ed. J That is, ' repetition.'— G. t That is, ' choose.'— G. AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX. 167 the church do sympathy with thy particular depths. The church abroad is in great depths ; and if we wUl have proof that we are fellow-members, that we_ are chUdren of that mother, let us labour for a fellow-feeUng of their miseries, and make them our own ; and to that end in our prayers allege the depths and pray, ' Help thou. Lord, for vain is man's help,' Ps, Ix, 11. For extremity itself is a good argument to a father to help his chUdren. Allege also the insolency of the enemies, ' Why should the heathen say. Where is our God ?' Ps, Ixxix. 10. There is no church but useth more helps of humiUation than we do, which foreteUs a great judg ment ; for God cannot endure this lukewarmness. Therefore call upon God with fervency, else wiU he cast us into such extremities as shaU force fire into us. He that is poor doth naturally speak supplications. ( Direct. 2, Secondly, Look that we always be in such an estate as Ood may j hear us. If we be not within the covenant with God, our prayers shall 1 turn to sin. Direct. 3, Thirdly, Take heed of wilful neglect of God's word. He that turneth his ears from hearing the law, his prayer shall be abominable, Prov. xxviii. 9, Some cry down preaching and cryup prayer, making opposi tion between duties where none is. Dost thou think God wiU hear thee, and thou wilt not hear him ? Prov, i, 28, Direct. 4, Fourthly, Take heed of double dealing with God. This is hateful to God, and therefore David, till he dealt plainly with himself by condemning himself, his prayers were but roaring as a beast taken in a snare and [that] cannot get out, roars for pain and despite, Ps, xxxU. 3. Direct. 5, Take heed, in the next place, of allowance of any sin, though never so little ; and though it be only entertained in heart, the Lord will not hear our prayers, Ps, Ixvi, 18, For shall we think that God cares for our prayers when we make covenant with his enemies ? Direct. 6. Take heed also of unmercifulness and cruelty. God would not hear the Israelites, Their hands were fuU of blood, Isa. i, 15. God will rather have no sacrifice than no charity. Let us take heed of these things, and let us come boldly to the throne of grace while he holds out his sceptre to us. But against this a man may object and say, that he is a wicked wretch, and his prayers shall but increase sin. To such I answer, let them offer their prayers in obedience to God's commandments, who commands them to pray, and he will respect the very ' groans' of his Spirit within, Elias was a man subject to'the like infirmi ties ; yet God heard his prayer, James v, 17. Where God's Spirit stirreth up, man's spirit is stirred up ; and where Christ joins to offer the prayers to his Father as in his own name, why should we vilify that which God highly esteemeth ? Let God have his sacrifice. He knows how to accept of that which is good, and to pardon that which is amiss. He will second his beginnings, and wiU enlarge the heart more and more. Though in the beginning, prayer may be dull and untoward, it shall end in fulness, and therefore let these spiritual depths be so far off from hindering us from prayer, as that rather it should encourage us to pray. For it may be one end why the Lord suffers us to fall into depths, to the end that we may be stirred up to come to him ; that thus we may glorify him, and he glorify his mercy in hearing our prayers and granting our requests. For sure it is, he that hath not a heart to pray when he is in depths, shall never conie out of them ; and let such as do come to him know, that however God is not present to sense, but rather seemeth to hide himself, yet he is most 168 THE saint's comforts: near to such as, with Mary, cannot see him for their tears and griefs, if with her in humility they seek after him. Ver, 3, ' If thou, Lord, should mark iniquities, 0 Lord, who shall stand?' These words are a removal of hindrances of prayer, foUowing God with an humble confession of that which is evU, which is ever better than a proud boasting of that which is good; and thus preventing* a secret objection, which God and a guilty conscience may make, that he was a guUty wretch. To which he answers by way of confession, ' Truth, Lord ! yet if thou shouldst mark iniquities, none could abide it. Whence in general we may observe, Doct. 1. That sin hinders and discourages the soul from prayer; for the conscience will object, and the soul wiU upbraid us, teUing us we are sin ners, God, he is holy, and how Can we think he wiU hear us then, where there is no faith ? The soul must needs sink. This estate was David's, Ps, Ii. 14, 15, Sin and a guilty conscience had almost sealed up his lips ; and thus was the publican, who durst not Uft up his eyes to heaven ; and thus will our estate be, especially if we yield to sins against conscience ; like Adam, we shaU run from the presence of God to hide ourselves, though our former estate and conversation with God were never so inward and famUiar. Therefore let us look to our souls as \ve desire to appear with comfort before. the throne of grace, for consciousness of the remainder of sin hinders boldness in prayer in the best, Doct. 2. In the second place, the way to get out of misery is first to get discharged from sin ; for sin is the beginning and cause of all misery, ' There fore the sons of Jacob, when they were handled roughly by Joseph, pre sently the thought of selling Joseph into Egypt came into their minds, as the cause of aU their trouble, though the fact was many years before ; and the widow, when her son died, presently called to mind her sin : '0 thou man of God, why comest thou to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son ? ' 1 Kings xvii, 18, If therefore we will remove the misery, let us remove sin first. Thus David began with desiring pardon, Ps, cxUii. 2, then prayer for deliverance, for misery follows sin, even as the shadow doth follow the body, Doct. 3, Thirdly, We may observe from the general, that the way to purge and talee away sin is hy confession ; thereby clearing God and laying load on ourselves. The way to cover our sin is to uncover it by confession. The way for God to spare us is, not to spare ourselves. And this God requires, not for himself, as if he were not able to be merciful but by this means, but to the end that ' we may glorify him,' as Joshua said to Achan, ' My son, give glory to God,' Josh. vii. 19, Secondly, God wiU have it a way to mercy, because he hath so decreed it ; and in the third place, that thereby there may he wrought in our souls a greater shame for sin. And this confession must be serious, thorough, humble, with grief, shame, and hatred. Every ' Lord, have mercy,' is not enough, for many deceive them selves this way, misapplying the promises, that Christ will not ' break the bruised reed,' that he looks at the desire, Alas ! these belong to such as are not lazy, that are plain dealers with themselves, that will not spare themselves ; that by reading, hearing, meditation, conference, and all other duties, will not give over till they have found out the bottom of their ini quity hidden in their heart. And let only such apply them, and not those to whom they do not belong. Thus much in general. Now, to come to * That is, ' anticipating.' — G. AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX, 169 some particulars ; and first, let us observe out of this interrogation, having the force of a strong affirmation, Doct. 4, That the best men in the estate of grace are sinners ; some may be sine crimine, but not sine peccato ; for in every man there are two prin- ] ciples : one of good, another of evil, the old man and the new. In all j there is a ' combat between flesh and spirit,' Christ is not a mediator for 5 such as are already perfect ; for mediation needs not be, where aU is friendly, 'And therefore there must be some enmity that must make God's children stand in need of the perpetual intercession of Christ, who is a high priest for ever. And the servants of God have acknowledged thus much, Ps, cxliii. 1, ' Answer me in thy righteousness,' not mine, I wUl not have a quarrel with thee ; thou art righteous, I am sinful, I may be just in mine own eyes, but in thy sight no man shall be justified. We acknowledge thus much in our daily prayers, whUe we still pray ' Forgive us our trespasses,' Though we profit every day never so much, yet, like leaking ships, we gather that which will drown our souls at length if we repent not ; for as it is Isa. Ixiv, 6, ' Our best performances are as filthy rags,' Isa, vi, 5, ' I am a man of polluted lips,' Dan, ix, 20, ' WhUe I confessed my own sins' The papists themselves imply so^much, for else why teach they the doctrine of doubting ? If we be perfect, it is a sin to doubt of salvation, for thereby we deny God to be just. If they be perfect, what need they force the doc trine of penance, or of going to saints to be their mediator ? And when they are upon the rack of conscience, the best of them will renounce then their dreams of perfection. From this observation, therefore, we learn, that no man can perfectly fulfil the law ; and secondly, that there can he no justification by works. Only, that that must make us just must be perfect. Our best works are imperfect. Doct. 5. In the next place, we may observe that community of offenders is no ground of lessening or diminishing of sin. A formal Christian, it is his itrick to wrap himself up in general confessions. We are all sinners ; and jif God should deal with us as we deserve, we were damned ; but come to reckon with him for his particular sins, then he is all in a chafe. He can not be a saint, and the like speeches, tending to the defence of his course. The psalmist is not of this nature. He argues otherwise : neither Adam nor Abraham could stand, how much less shall I, poor worm ! David, he aggravates his sin while he teUs us that he was conceived and born in sin. But men now-a-days, contrarily, ' You must bear with me ; it is my natural disposition; I cannot do otherwise.' Yet do I not deny but to the dejected sinner this may be used as a comfort ; for whUe they see the mass of cor ruption within them, they presently conceive worse of their estate and condition, as if none were so ill, or in as ill a case as they. Such should be stayed by considering it is the general estate of all men, only the differ ence is, some see their sins more than others do ; and thus Solomon useth it, 2 Chron. vi. 36, ' If any man sinneth against thee, as there is no man that sinneth not ; ' and God himself useth it as an argument to move him to mercy. ' The imaginations of man's heart are evil continually, there fore my Spirit shall not always strive with flesh,' Gen. vi. 3. Doct. 6. In the next place, observe that God opens the heart and eyes of his children to see and feel what sin is, and keeps their eyes open, and their consciences continually tender. The wicked are blind in most heinous crimes of aU, David he complains of this, that his sin was ever before him, Ps. Ii. 3. And God threatens this, Ps. 1. 21, ' I wUl set them before thee ; ' and the reasons hereof are, 170 THE saint's comforts: Reason 1, First, To make our judgments conformable to his in hatred of sin; for we being his chUdren, it is fit we should be of his image, and like to him. Reason 2. Secondly, "To make us apprehend mercy the more dearly, and thereby glorify him in it the more. Reason 3, Thirdly, Because he would have us beg of him to cover our sins from his eyes, that it may be covered from our eyes ; for the best cannot shake off the sense of sin, be it ever so burthensome. But God keeps it in our minds to humble us the more thoroughly. Reason 4, Again, God's children have a new life which is sensible of the least thing that is contrary to itself; and those that are in most perfect life are most perfect in the sense of sin, though never so smaU, though but motions. Where the sun shines most clear, then motes are most easily seen ; and therefore the best Christians do complain most of corruptions, for they see more than others do. Hence, therefore, we may know our estate, whether we are still-born or have Ufe, If we have life, we have light, and can see and discern between good and evil. Some are still-born, yet think they live. Thus are many, thinking themselves unblameable in con versation, yet in heart full of pride ; and like the Pharisees, count well of themselves, nothing knowing what belongs to the Christian warfare. OtJiers are more hold, and their very lives bewray they think not of sin, but are bold in their courses, proud in speech and carriage, contemptuous of others and the means of salvation, contented with a little, and think any thing enough. But the worst of all are those that think indeed of sin, hut it is to defend it and maintain it by translation* and recrimination. They will be sure to repay double, to those that tell them of their courses in friendly manner. Quest. But how shall we come to be sensible of sin ? Direct. 1. First, Let us have the picture of the law in our hearts, seeing all ill and the degrees thereof ; also learn us to desiref to avoid sin, so to endeavour to flee aU occasions thereof, though never so small ; and to take up all occasions of doing good ; and doing good spirituaUy from judgment, affection, faith ; and consider the extent of the law, reaching to the least thought. Direct. 2. Secondly, Bring ourselves continually into the presence of Ood. Human frailty appears in nothing more, than when it is brought to the light ; opposites being compared illustrate one another. Consider therefore in whose presence we are, what we are, what God is, what we have done, what he commandeth ; and then, with Job, we shall abhor ourselves in dust and ashes, though formerly we defended ourselves, Job xiii. 6. Direct. 3. And because God is invisible, bring ourselves to that which is divine ; hear we the word often unfolded, and we shall, with the unbeliever, 1 Cor. xiv. 24, ' be convinced, and falling down shall confess God's power with it.' Direct. 4. Furthermore, Let us converse with those that are hetter than ourselves ; for the image and likeness of God is seen in his children. It is the custom of many men to converse with the worst company, that they may appear to be the best ; and thus do they increase an overweening self- conceit in themselves. Direct. 5. Let us also use to go to places visited with God's corrections; for seeing misery, the conscience retires to itself, considering of the ways of sin, and how the devil pays those that serve him. And this use we ought to make of objects of misery, to see God's correcting hand, else do * That is, ' transference.' — Q. f Qu, ' learn, as to desire . . . so ' ? &o.— En. AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX. 171 we provoke God, Isa. i. 3-5, 'who curseth such;' Jer. v. 8, and brand ing them with the brand of king Ahaz, ' this is Ahaz.' And while we delight ourselves with pleasing worldly objects, our eyes shut against sin, but corrections and punishments makes them see and discern, AU Christ's admonitions could not make Judas see his sin of covetousness, which the weight of a burdened conscience afterward so wrought, as could not be pacified. Let us look therefore on the afflictions of other men, of our own persons and estates, and know the least crosses comes not without a just cause. Direct. 6, Lastly, Let us,pray to God to give us tender hearts ; not to deUver us up to a hard impenetrable heart, and to spiritual judgments, but to keep us continually sensible of our sins and least infirmities. Doct. 7. In the next place, out of the manner of delivery of this speech, we may gather thus much, that sin once truly felt is ever unsupportable, none can stand under it. There are three impotencies in sinners : first, they cannot see sin : Ps, xix. 12, ' Who can understand his errors,' Secondly, when the Lord causes them to see their sins, they cannot justify themselves ; and then, in the third place, they cannot bear the burden of them ; for death, the wages thereof, none can bear or endure ; nay, God himself cannot endure sin, Amos ii, 13 — nay, the wounded conscience, which is but a part of the wages thereof in this Ufe, none can endure — but is ' pressed under them as a cart leaden with sheaves,' Christ he could not endure them, but had such sense of them as if he had been quite forsaken : ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ' And angels could not bear the burden, but were thrown down to hell thereby, and so angels of light became angels of infernal darkness, Adam could not endure it, tUl Christ raised him up by the promise of the blessed seed ; and therefore much less can we since the fall, as it appears in Cain, Saul, Ahithophel, Judas, The earth could not bear Korah and his company, and neither would it bear us if we had our due. Sin is a debt we cannot answer : Job ix, 8, ' We cannot answer one of a thousand,' Use 1. This therefore confutes the papists, who say that Christ hath endured the great punishments ; but there are other lighter punishments, which we also must undergo, as purgatory and the like ; to whom we say the wages of the least sin is death. That which the angels could not satisfy for, how shall we weak creatures. Use 2, Secondly, This may put a just defence into the mouths of careful Christians. Let others term them by what names of scorn they list, such have good ground for what they do. They know what sin is, and have felt the sting thereof; and what they do, they do it in love to their souls. As for them that scorn, they know there is more cause to pity them than envy their estate. Though they can outswagger and outface sin now, which none could undergo heretofore, and though they can with a grace and authority, as they think, censure those that are careful, and themselves swear and profane the holy name of God, shewing thereby a heart full of unbelief and of unreverence, — which is more odious than the sin of swearing, — yet there is a time coming, when God wiU set their sins in order before them, in such manner that they shaU melt away in the sense of the multi tude and greatness of them, without hope of relief; when they shall see nothing but vengeance and death before their eyes, andwithout aU manner of hope they shaU die. Quest. But how comes it to pass, wiU some say, that many nevertheless seem to bear their sins well enough, and live and die without tears ? Ans. I answer, The estate of such may be dangerous, for Christ is not 172 THE saint's comforts: sweet tiU sin be bitter. But God is infinite in wisdom, not presently bur dening every sinner, nor comforting those that shaU desire it. For then who would not be good, and who would be iU ? And4f evermore comforts were present, what need were there of faith ? And therefore, this is most especially trae at the day of judgment, when the wicked shaU be blown away as chaff, Ps, i. 4-6 ; when there wUl be a guilty conscience, watch ing devils, and an angry God. Where shaU the wicked then appear ? And there must be a hell hereafter, that men may then feel what now they will not believe. Use of direction. Wherefore let us learn to submit ourselves to the correct ing hand of Ood, saying, ' It is thy mercy we are not consumed,' Lam, ui, 22 ; considering that this light affliction is nothing to that we deserve, or that Christ suffered for us, or that the damned suffer in hell, or to that joy we have laid up for us in heaven ; and therefore as it is in Micah vU. 9, 'Let us bear the indignation of the Lord, because we have sinned against him,' Secondly, Let us justify God. We have deserved affliction,. He hath dealt justly with us: Neh, ix, 31, seq., 'Righteousness belongeth to him, but to us shame and confusion of face,' Dan, ix, 7, Thirdly, Let us moderate our censure of those that are dejected and out of heart, through sense of sin : Prov, xvUi, 19, ' A wounded spirit, who can bear?' Impute it not therefore to melancholy, or despair andlmadness, or as EU unadvisedly did, to drunkenness, when he reprehended Hannah, 1 Sam, i, 14 ; for can we think it strange, when God sees sin in his chil dren, that he causes them to see it, and that when they see it they should shew it in their outward gestures ? No ; it is no light burden, that a man may run away with. Ver, 4, ' But there is forgiveness with thee,' This verse contains a blessed appeal, God hath a court of justice, and a tribunal of mercy. If God should examine in justice what we have done, we could not stand : ' but there is mercy or forgiveness with the Lord,' Therefore it is an appeal from the throne of justice to the mercy-seat; and yet this is not so properly an appeal but it admits of limitations. For, first, appeals are used in aid of those that are innocent. Now we by nature are all unclean. Again, appeals are grounded for the most part upon discovery of insufficiency, or of violent indirect courses in the managing of the cause. This can no ways be attributed to God, who is not rigorous nor insufficient, or swayed by indirect means ; for he accepts the person of none. Again, an appeal is from an inferior court to a higher. But here it is not so, for we appeal from God to God ; from God armed with justice, examining by law, to God a father armed with love, looking' upon us in the comfortable promises of the gospel; from Sinai to Sion, from Moses to Christ. And in this appeal, as in others, the former sentence of the law, whereby we are ' cursed,' is utterly disannulled, so as ' no condemnation is to those that are in Christ,' Rom, viU, 1. But this belongs to such (as it is in other appeals) who must see themselves condemned, before they can have the benefit of this appeal. There is no flying to mercy unless we find ourselves in need. But to come to some observations. In the first place, we may see by this example that the soul of a Christian apprehends Ood according to its estate, to comfort itself, and therefore beholds him as a forgiving God. And therefore the children of God, when they are at the lowest, they recover themselves with something they find in God's nature and promise, AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX. 173 and to that end have a spirit of faith to trust and rely upon God ; and those "that have it not, sink lower and lower, Doct. 1. Here we -may observe, that the Christian soul, once stung with sin, flies to the free mercy of God for ease. Let a sinner be in Haman's estate, tell him of all pleasures, whatever they be, he cares not ; nothing but pardon delights his soul. David, a king, a prophet, a man after God's own heart. Acts xiii. 22, beloved of his people, wonderfully graced, yet being troubled with his sin, could not stand. He respects not his outward privileges, prerogatives, majesty, and the like. No; he is the blessed man to whom God imputes no sin, Ps, xxxii, 1, And this is the reason why so much is attributed still to tlie blood of Christ, everywhere, in the Scripture ; because the soul once pricked, finds no ease nor cure but in it principally, yet not excluding the other merits and obedience of Christ. And David, when he would raise up his soul to praise God, describes him to be a God ' forgiving sin and healing infirmities,' Ps, ciii, 8 ; and there fore we should, when our consciences are burdened, go as Joab did and catch hold on the horns of the altar, to the mercy of God, There live and there die. And though the confiict be never so great, we shall at length find that, as Jacob, we shall be chUdren of Israel, and such as shall prevail with God, and that for our depth of misery, he hath a depth also of mercy ; and this mercy wUl appear either in preserving us from sin, before we are fallen into it, or rescuing us from it if once we be fallen into it. Quest. But how comes it, may some say, that God forgives ? Doth he it without satisfactions ? Ans. I answer, No, Quest. How then is it done, seeing he hath decreed that without blood shaU be no remission ? Heb, ix, 22, Ans. I answer. This is done in Christ, Quest. But why is he not mentioned here, nor in the Old Testament neither ? Ans. I answer. He was laid down to us in the Old Testament, in types and promises ; for what other was the paschal lamb but ' the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world,' by sprinkling our hearts with his blood ? He was the priest that, before he could open an entrance into the holy of hoUes for us, must first shed blood and offer sacrifice. What signified the. ark with the law covered within it, the mercy- seat upon it, and over them two cherubins covering one another, but Christ our ark covering the curses of the law, in whom is the ground of aU mercy ? ' which things the angels desire to pry into,' 1 Pet. i, 12, as into the pat tern of God's deep wisdom. And whenas any prayed in the temple they looked towards the mercy- seat, what meaneth it other than that, whenever we do pray to God, we should behold Christ, through whom God appears to be merciful and gracious ? What signified the temple, towards which they looked when they prayed, 2 Chron, vi, 88, Dan. vi. 10, but that we in our prayers should evermore have reference to our temple Christ Jesus ? And being thus assured, we may safely pass the fiamiug fire of God's jus tice. If there were any other to be trusted besides Christ, there would be no peace of conscience. The sinner would argue, I am a creature, my sin is infinite ; no creature can satisfy, they are not infinite ; angels cannot stand • it must be an infinite majesty that must satisfy, and it must be with blood' Now Christ by his blood hath obtained eternal redemption for us, and therefore none but Christ, none but Christ ! He is God-man, making 174 THE saint's comforts: God and man at one. It is his nature, and it is his office. So as God is just as well as merciful ; for as it is Rom. Ui. 24th and 25th verses, ' God the Father hath proposed or set forth Christ ' in types and figures ' to be a propitiation,' aUuding to the mercy-seat, ' to declare his righteousness and justice, that he may be just in punishing sin,' that is in Christ ; ' and a justifier of the sinner that believes in Christ Jesus,' because he accepted of Christ's satisfaction, so as his mercy devised a remedy to satisfy his justice. Thus much in general ; now to come to particulars. First, take it exclusively, and we may observe, Doct. 1. That only Ood can release a guilty conscience ; only he can speak peace to a soul in distress. Ministers indeed have keys to open and shut heaven ; but they use them only ministerially, as they find persons dis posed, but Christ independently. Now, then, whenas man assumes this prerogative to himself, as the popes were wont to do, giving indulgences, it is no other than to set them in the place of God. ' I, even I, forgive sin,' saith God, Jer. xxxi. 34. None can quiet the conscience but one that is above the conscience, which is God, who is only* the party offended ; though there be also an offence against men. This ought to comfort us, that we have to do with a forgiving God, Neh, ix, 31. There is none like to him, to whom it is natural to remit and forgive sin. It is his name : Exod. xxxiv. 6, ' Forgiving iniquities, transgressions, and sins,' all manner of sins ; sins against knowledge and against conscience ; with him is plentiful forgiveness. Doct. 2, Secondly, Observe that as Ood only forgives sin, so he ever forgives sin. It is always his nature, as the fire always burns ; as he is Jehovah, he is merciful, John i, 29, Christ he is ' the Lamb of God,' that doth take away the sins of the world. It is a perpetual act ; as we say the sun doth shine, the spring doth ran. He is, Zech, xiii, 1, that 'fountain that is opened for sin and uncleanness,' Mercy is his nature, and forgive ness is an effect of his mercy, Obj. Therefore it is no satisfying objection that the distressed soul wiU be ready to make, that God was merciful to David and Peter, but how can he be to me, miserable sinner ? For God, as he forgave Peter, Paul, David, so he forgives now. He is a fountain of mercy never drawn dry. He is unchangeable; and therefore we are not consumed, Mai, Ui, 6 ; and Christ is the same ' yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.' The consideration of this should be as a pei-petual picture in our hearts, Doct. 3, Thirdly, Hence we may gather, that God's mercy is free, and from himself. Though in us is sin and iniquity, yet in thee is mercy ; and therefore God saith, I do not this for your sakes, but for mine own sake, Ezek. xxxvi. 22, Yet must not this be understood so as' if it were freely and only from God the Father, excluding Christ. But therefore it is, in that we shall stand in need of no satisfactory merits of our own. Away therefore with popish doctrines of satisfactions by our own works. The holy man saith not, with thee is justice to take my works as satisfaction for my sin. No ; though this holy man were a gracious man, yet mercy is aU his plea. And if the question be, how the sinner stands free from punishment and entitled to aU good, it is from forgiveness, which is from God's mercy, grounded on Christ's satisfaction. AU is laid upon him, Isa. liU. 5. He was wounded for our transgressions ; he bore our sorrows ; he was made sin for us, that knew no sin, 2 Cor. v. 21. The nature of man wiU hardly stoop to this divine truth. But the Spirit teacheth us to rely * That is, ' alone is.'— G. AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM OXXX. 175 on the free forgiveness of God in Christ ; and therefore Christ and his apostles bid such ' believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. , We may think this an easy lesson. But hereafter, when God shaU open our sms and lay them upon our consciences, they wUl then tell us fearful things. There is no hope ! thou must be damned ! Ac^ainst such times lay up grounds of comfort ; and let this text be a haven to resort to. It is true, ' if thou markest what is done amiss, who can stand? but there is mercy with thee that thou be feared,' Doct. 4. Fourthly, We may from hence observe, that the best Christian and most gracious man alive needs forgiveness of his sins; for where the con science is enUghtened it will discover what corruption it finds, and so the necessity of being delivered. So 1 John U, 1, ' If any man sin, we have an advocate ; ' that is, such as I am, have need of an advocate ; and one reason may be, because indeed such see in their sins much more ingratitude than others, for they sin against the knowledge of God's love to their souls in forgiving former sins ; and then to fall into sin again, it is as broken bones, Ps, Ii, 8. And the apostle, 2 Cor. v, 20, speaking to the believing Corinthians, ' I beseech you to be reconciled to God ; ' for Christ was made sin for us ; for you, and for me. Even we sin daily, and stand in need of reconcihation. We must daily pray, ' Forgive us our sins,' yea, the best of the disciples must do it. If we come not with this petition, ' our sins are written with a pen of iron, and with the claw of an adamant,' Job xix, 24.* Doct. 5. Fifthly, This mercy and forgiveness is general to all that cast them selves on his free mercy. It is Satan's subtilty to persuade us at the first, that sin is nothing ; but when it is committed and cannot be recalled, then he tells us it is greater than can be pardoned. No. The gospel is the power of God to salvation to all that do believe. Let none despair. It is a greater sin than the former, Deus non est desperantium pater, sed judex. God's pardon is general, to all persons, that repent of all sin, whereby he frees them from all evU, He pardons all persons : Manasses the sorcerer, Cornelius, Zaccheus, persecuting Paul. The parable of the lost sheep, the lost groat, the prodigal son, testifies it, God offers it freely, ' Why will you die, 0 house of Israel'? Jer, xxvii, 13, He complains when it is neglected : ' 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered you together ' ! Mat, xxiU. 37. ' He threatens ' because men will not hear, and ' he pardons all sins.' There is no disease above the skiU of this Physician. He healeth all thy sins and all thy infirmities, Ps, ciii, 1-8, Yea, if it were possible that, the sinner against the Holy Ghost could repent, there were hope in Israel concerning this ! He hath pardon for sin long lived in, ' At what time soever a sinner repenteth, he will blot out his wicked ness,' 2 Chron, xx. 9, What though they be never so enormous ? God's thoughts are not as ours, Isa, Iv. 8. Conscience may be overcharged with sin. We may play the harlot with many lovers ; yet return to me, saith the Lord, Jer, iii, 1. He that bids Peter forgive seventy-seven times,t shaU not he have plenteous redemption ? , What proportion is there be tween the sin of a creature, and the mercy of an infinite Majesty ? He frees from aU UI, from all punishment. His forgiveness is perfect. Though we be as red as crimson with sin, he wiU make us white as snow, Isa. i. 18. He removes our sins from his presence as ' far as the east is from the west,' Ps. ciU. 12. Quest. But some wiU say, Why corrects he then his children ? * Gf, A. B. Davidson's ' Commentary' in loc, and also Caryl.— G, t Eather seventy seven-times ; that is, seventy times seven times,— G, 176 THE saint's comforts: Ans. I answer, not from revenging justice, for he is our Father ; and what he does, it comes from love, and is mingled with love and moderated with love to our strength, and are turned by love to our good. When he follows us with prosperity, he is our alluring Father ; and when he corrects us, he is our correcting, not punishing. Father, Heb, xii. from 8d to the 12th, Yet let not this be sinisterly taken. It is spoken only to the humble heart, that is broken with sin, which is the sixth general observation ; there must he first sight of sin, then sense of misery, then confession of sin and begging pardon, or else none is granted. For God bestows pardon so as may be most for his glory and our comfort. 'What glory can he reap by pardoning those that will sin, ' because grace may abound,' Rom, vi, 1, and so ' will turn the grace of God into wantonness ' ? Jude 4. And what comfort can we have of the pardon of our sins tiU we see our sins, and feel what it is to want pardon ? Sight of sin and mercy are inseparable. Sometimes the sense of pardon is delayed, to make us hunger after it ; sometimes it/oUows suddenly after sight of sin, as it did to Matthew and Zaccheus, Mat, xi. 28, But one must go before the other : first, must the wind of the sight of God's anger come breaking and rending the rocky hard hearts that are within us ; then comes the soft still voice speaking peace to the humble soul. The reasons may be, first, to set an edge on our prayers for forgiveness, else who would care for it. Secondly, to make us highly to esteem forgiveness of sin. The promises are sweet to the dejected soul, as a pardon is to the con demned person. Thirdly, that Ood might have the more glory and thanks. When we find the bitterness of sin, as it is Jer. ii. 19, to be sweetened by God's mercy, then ' My soul, praise thou the Lord ; and all that is within me, praise his holy name.' He forgives all my sin, and heals all my infirmities, Ps, ciii, 1, 2, 8, And, lastly, because our sins unrepented keep good from us, and us from the fountain of all good, and must be removed before there can be any way for mercy. This therefore justifies those ministers that in these days of the gospel do enforce the law ; and people must not be offended thereat, but suffer their consciences to be laid open, that the word may come close and home to them ; and secondly, they must use the means, to come to a sense and feeling of their sin. To which end let ms make sin as odious and dangerous in our eyes as we can. It is odious to God, To us it is poison and leprosy though we cherish it, and hate ministers and Mends for touching it. It is abomination to God. It thrusts him out of our hearts, and puts in the devU, God's arch enemy. It causes us to prefer base pleasure, fading pro fits, before the favour and mercy and love of God. Must not this needs be hateful to God ? But then how much more intolerable are those sins that bring neither profit nor pleasure, but causes us to thrust out God, even because we will ? But this is not all, for as it is abominable to God, so it is dangerous to us ; for whence comes judgments ? Whence is it that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven ? Rom, i, 18, Whence is sickness, disgrace, troubles ? All these are the fruits of sin. Nothing makes us miserable but sin. Take a man when he lies a-dying. Ask him what troubles him ? Oh ! he cries out of sin, of the wrath of God, He feels not sickness, even as the gout is not felt by one that hath a fit of the stone upon him. Let us think of this in time ; let us shame the devU, shame ourselves. But is this aU ? No. Judas saw his sin and confessed, yet was he never the better. He wanted that which should make his repent ance perfect. He wanted faith to lay hold on pardon, A poor man is fit for treasure, but unless he lay hold on treasure, he shaU never be rich. AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX, 177 Therefore faith and repentance are ever joined in the gospel. Repent and beheve the gospel, as was said to the jailor. So Christ saith, ' Come to me,' Mat, xi, 28, Christ came to satisfy for aU sin, to cure aU diseases, but they must first come to him, and say, ' Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make me clean,' Mat, viu, 2 ; and to such as these I may say, as they said to the blind man, ' Be of comfort, for Christ caUs thee,' Mark x, 49. ' That thou mayest be feared,' Fear in this place is taken for the spiritual worship of God, arising from a reverential fear mingled with love, ' Fear God and keep his command ments,' Eccles, xii, 18, is the whole duty of man. So that these words being considered with the former, brings this observation to our con sideration. Doct. That God's goodness, forgiveness, grace, and mercy, is a means to stir up his children to all duties ; and therefore we are commanded to do all things in fear : to ' work out our salvation with fear,' PhUip, ii, 12, eat and drink with fear ; and in Jude 12, the wicked are branded with this, ' that they eat without fear,' So as whatever we do, we must do it in fear, shew ing the reverence of God continually, and jealousy over ourselves, lest we should stop the light of God's countenance from us. Quest. But it will be said, How is it then said ' that we should serve him without fear,' 1 Cor. xvi. 10, being redeemed firom our enemies? Ans. I answer. There is a twofold fear : one a slavish fear, whereof that place is meant. We should serve him without fear of damnation, of punish ment, and of judgment. But the fear that we speak of here is a fear of reverence and love, that stirs us up to worship him. Quest. But how doth it stir to duty ? may some say. I Ans. I answer, first, it stirs up faith in our hearts. Hope of forgiveness Iwill cause us to cast ourselves into their arms whom we have offended, f Where no hope of mercy is, there follows nothing but fear, causing us to [fly away ; even as we see proclamation of pardon to rebels causes them to come in, but the contrary makes them run away. Again, sense of forgive ness works more love. David's murder, Paul's persecution, Peter's denial, caused abundance of love. Where many sins are forgiven, there will be much love, Luke vii, 47 ; and where much love is, there will be obedience to aU God's commandments, for ' love is the fulfilling of the law,' Rom. xiU. 10. Contrarily, desperation is the ground of all sin. This is the ground of aU hate. The devUs they hate God, Because they know there is no remedy left for them, therefore they cannot endure the remembrance of him. Contrariwise, as it is Ps, Ixv, 2, ' Unto thee shaU aU flesh come.' Why ? ' For thou hearest prayer,' Again, fear and forgiveness are joined in the new covenant. ' 1 wUl put my fear in thy heart, and thou shalt not depart from me,' Jer, xxxU, 40 ; and Christ, to aU his, is both king, priest, and prophet. He comes to all by water as weU as blood. He is become righteoiisness, wisdom, and holiness, 1 Cor. i, 30, Again, a Christian he will, hy reason, enforce this on himself, as Paul did, 2 Cor, v, 15, Christ died for us ; therefore must we live to him, and not to ourselves. Use 1. This therefore should cause us to take heed of all thoughts of despair. Let it be enough that we have broken the law ; let us not puU a greater sin on us by denying the gospel, the mercies and truths of God. Let us by any means take heed, for Satan wUl join with guilty consciences, speaking with cursed Cain, ' My sin is greater than can be pardoned,' Gen. iv. 13. No article of our creed is so much opposed by him, as that of the forgiveness of sin by Christ's merits, which is the very Ufe and soul of a vol,. VI. '"^ 178 THE saint's comforts: church. All the former articles of the creed are perfected in this, and aU the following articles are effects hereof. Use 2, Secondly, This doctrine furnishes an answer to the papists, who lay scandals * on the doctrine of free justification by the merits of Christ, without our own works ; saying that we nourish thereby carelessness in a Christian life, whenas the Scripture, and the Spirit of God in the hearts of those that are truly regenerate, do reason quite contrary. ' There is mercy with thee, that thou mayest be feared ;' not that we may live as we list, for whom God forgives, he first truly humbles ; whom he washes, he gives hearts to keep themselves clean ; so as with the burnt child, they dread the fire ever after. No ; it is themselves that overthrow good works, while they ground them on false grounds. For either they do them to satisfy God's wrath, which is slavish, or to merit by them, which is a token of a hireling ; and most of their works are such, as if God should ask them, ' Who required them at their hands ? ' Isa, i, 12, they could never be able to answer. They, while they talk of good works, in the mean time over throw faith and love, which should be the ground of a good work. What can they do more than a Cain or a Judas, or the wickedest man alive. Secondly, We may hence gather a ground of discerning our estate, whereby we shall know whether God's mercy and forgiveness belong to us or not ; for it is impossible, where there is no inward worship of God in the heart, where there is no fear and jealousy of sin, where there is no con science of swearing, blaspheming, and such abominations, that ever such yet had any true taste of God's mercy and forgiveness. Let them not take comfort by the example of the thief on the cross, that cried for mercy and had it ; for there is a time of grace, and there are some sinners, as those that flatter themselves in a course of sin, thinking to repent when they wiU, against which the wrath of God will smoke, Deut. xxix. 20. Therefore let not such soothe up themselves. Those that have their sins forgiven do fear God, Such fear not God, and therefore their sins are not forgiven. Many shaU say in that day, ' Lord, Lord,' to whom Christ wUl profess, • he never knew them,' Mat. vU. 28 ; and therefore let us never assure our selves of forgiveness, farther than we find in us a hatred of sin. For a man to live ui a course of known sin, it stops the current of God's mercy ; who wiU wound the ' hairy scalp of such as despise the patience and long-suffer ing of God,' Rom, U, 4. While we have time, therefore, and are young, before lusts settle themselves in us, serve the Lord with fear ; deny him not the service due to him. If we do, it is just with God to take us away suddenly, or to deUver us over to an impenetrable hard heart ; and when we die, that God should take away from us our senses, or to give over our consciences to such a horror and trembling fear, as shall not suffer us to come so near as to have any hope of mercy, but die in despair. Let us pray, therefore, against a careless heart, and say to him, Lord, thou earnest to redeem and set me free from the works of the devil ! Lord, deliver me from the power of sin and of my own corruption. For we may assure our selves, he that never discerned this hatred of sin in him, never asked par don from his heart ; and he that never asks it shaU never have it. Use. Let us in the next place learn thereby to go the right way, to work assurance of forgiveness : first, leam to see our misery ; then, get persuasion that there is a remedy ; then, get knowledge thereof ; and then beg it. It is a preposterous course that many men take. They wiU change their UI courses, but without confession or acknowledgment of sin ; and therefore they turn * That is, ' take offence at.'— G, AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX, 179 indeed, but it is from one sin to another : from being dissolute they will become covetous, and so change to the worse ; for they change not from right grounds ; not from love to God and hatred of sin, but ever from the love of one reigning sin to another. For aU such, and all other, that either find* their sin, or think not of it, this Scripture is of exceUent use ; and we may speak of it as St Paul, 2 Tim, iU. 16, speaks of all the Scrip ture, ' It is profitable for doctrine,' teaching us what we are by nature since the faU ; wherein we may have remedy of our misery ; how and in what manner to attain the remedy. It is profitable for ' reproof of the doctrine of justification by works ; and it is profitable for ' correction' of our lives, teaching us to avoid despair, and yet withal to avoid security. It is pro fitable for ' comfort' to all those that are dejected by sin, by considering the mercy of God in Christ, which is more and greater than sin in us, if we have faith to lay hold on it ; so that we may say with St Augustine, Ego admisi, unde tu damnare potes me, sed non amisisti unde tu salvare potes me. Ver. 5. ' I wait for the Lord, yea, my soiU waiteth. These words do shew the estate and disposition of the holy man after his prayer. Though he had formerly sense of mercy and pardon, yet he waits for more full and sweet apprehension thereof. In them we may observe, first, though God be exceeding gracious, yet there is matter of waiting, so long as we live here on earth, for he gives not all the fulness of his blessing at once. Though he may give taste of pardon of sin in present, yet not presently deliverance out of danger, ' The light of the righteous shineth more and more unto the perfect day,' Prov, iv, 18, There is no day that is perfected in an instant ; and the reasons hereof may be. Reason 1. First, To force us to search our souls, whether we be fit for blessing; whether we be thoroughly humbled, and have thoroughly repented or not. Thus dealt he with Jonas, and thus with the children of Israel for Achan's cause. Reason 2. Secondly, It may be a means to stir us up to more earnestness in seeking : to make us like the woman of Canaan, more earnest the more she was repelled. Reason 8. Thirdly, He gives us occasion of waiting, to shew the truth and soundness of his graces in us ; otherwise should we have no means to try how the grace in us would serve us in time of need. Reason 4. Fourthly, Hereby God doth endear those favours that we want, that it may come the more welcome to us, and we he the more thankful for it. Thus God dealt with this holy man ; and thus doth he with his church. For while we live here we are always children of hope ; not miserable, because we have a sweet taste of what we hope for, and not perfectly happy, because we want fulness. Before Christ they hoped for his coming in the flesh ; since Christ, we look for his ' second coming in glory ;' in grace we look for glory ; and when our souls are in glory, they look for the redemp tion of the bodies, and for the day of restoring of aU things. ' How long, Lord, how long ?' Rev, vi, 10. Else would this life be heaven to us ; and we should not desire or pray, ' Lord, let thy kingdom come.' Use. And for use. This should whet in us our desires and prayers for our heavenly estate ; and not make our heaven here on earth, but desire ear nestly the full harvest, by considering how exceUent the first-fruits of glory m this life are ; and with the creature, Rom. viu. 19, ' wait, and expect, • Qu. ' hide ' ?— Ed. 180 THE saint's comforts. and long, and groan for the time of the dissolution of all things ;' and make this a note to discern of our estate ; for it is a certain infallible token of a good frame of spirit in us, if we can long for that better life in the fulness, that we have here ; that we can desire to be with Christ. Further more, note this as a difference between the estates of the vdched and the godly. The wicked must look for worse and worse continually. His best is here, and whUe he hath this world ; but the godly, their worst is here, their bes^ is to come. THE CHURCH'S COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCE. 9 THE CHURCH'S COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCE. NOTE. ' The Church's Complaint ' forms a portion of ' The Beams of Divine Light ' (4to, 1639). Us separate title-page will be found below.* For general title-page, see Vol. V. page 220. G. * tu E CHVRCHES Complaint and Confidence. In three Sermons, By the late Reverend and Learned Divine Richard Sibs, Doctor in Divinity, Master of Katherine Hall iu Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher at Grayes-Inne. Lam. 1. 20. Behold 0 Lord for I am in distresse, my bowells are troubled, mine heart is turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled, abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death. LONDON, Printed by 0. M. for Nicholas Bourne and Rapha Harford, 1639. THE CHURCH'S COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCE. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags ; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee : for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. But now, 0 Lord, thou art our Father : we are the clay, and thou our potter ; and we are all the work of thine hands. — Isaiah LXIV. 6-8. The words are part of a blessed form of prayer prescribed to the church long before they were in captivity. It begins at the 15th verse of the former chapter, ' Look down from heaven ; behold from the habitation of thy holiness,' &c. The blessed prophet Isaiah was carried with the wings of prophetical spirit over many years, and sees the time to come, the time of the captivity ; and God by his Spirit doth direct them a prayer, and this is part of the form. For God in mercy to his people, as he foresaw before what would become of them, so he vouchsafes them comfort before hand, and likewise he prescribes a form of prayer beforehand. It is very useful to use forms. The 102d Psalm, it is a form of pouring out the soul to God when any man is in misery, as you see in the preface. But that by the way. These verses are a part of a form prescribed for the pouring forth an afflicted soul ; ' We are aU as an unclean thing, and all our right eousness,' &c. The words they are, First, An humble confession of sin. And first, of the sins of their nature, of their persons themselves, ' We are all as an unclean thing.' And then, of the sins of actions : ' aU our righteousness is as filthy rags,' And then, in the third place, a confession of the sin of non-proficiency, of obduration, and senselessness, that notwithstanding the corrections of God, they were Uttle the better : ' There is none that caUeth upon thy name, or that stirs up himself to take hold of thee.' In the second place, there is an humble complaint of the miserable estate they were in by their sins : ' We all fade as a leaf ; our iniquities, Uke the wind, have taken us away : thou hast hid thy face from us, and consumed us, because of our iniquities,' The complaint is set forth in these four clauses. 184 THE church's complaint and confidence. And then an humble supplication and deprecation to God, in ver, 8, and so forward. ' Now, Lord, thou art our Father : we are the clay, thou art the potter ; we are aU the work of thy hands,' &c. These be the parcels of this portion of Scripture. ' But we are all as an unclean thing,' &c. Here is, first, an humble confession. And first, observe in general what afflictions wiU do, especially afflictions sanctified. That which all the prophetical sermons could not do, that which aU the threatenings could not do, affliction now doth. Now when they were in captivity and base estate, they fall a humbUng themselves. So the prodigal, nothing could humble him but afflictions, ' By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept,' Ps, cxxxvii, 1, All the denunciations of judgments before they came to the waters of Babylon could not make them weep. One affliction will do more than twenty sermons. When God teacheth and chastiseth too, when together with teaching there is correction, then it is effectual. And this is the reason of God's course ; why, when nothing else will do, he humbles his people with afflictions, because he cannot otherwise teach them. Affliction withdraws that which is the fuel of sin ; for what doth our sinful disposition feed on ? Upon pleasures, and vanities, upon the honours of this life, and riches, &c. Now when affliction either takes these things away, or embitters them if we have them, then that which sin carried us to, and that we fed our own base earthly lusts with, being gone, when a man is stripped of these, he begins to know himself what he is, he was drunk before. I deem a man in prosperity little better than drunk. He knows neither God, nor himself, nor the world. He knows it not to be as a vain world. He knows not himself to be vanity, to be an empty creature, except he consist* in God, and make his peace with him. He knows not God to be such a holy God, and such an angry God for sin. But when affliction comes, and withdraws and strips him of those things that made him fierce against God, then he begins to know God, and to tremble at the judgments of God when he begins to smart. He begins to know himself to be a madman, and a fool, and a sot. He did not know himself before in his jollity. And then he knows the world indeed as a vain world. Blessed be that affliction that makes us know a gracious and good God, and the creature to be a vain creature, and ourselves out of the favour of God to be nothing. You see what afflictions will do, God doth use to break men, as men use to break horses. They ride them over hedge and ditch, and over ploughed lands, uneven grounds, and gall them with the spur and with the bit, and all to make them tractable ; and then afterward they ride them gently and meekly, and rather so than otherwise. So God is fain to carry his children over ploughed lands ; he is fain to break them in their wickedness, to bring their ways upon their heads ; he is fain to gall them, and humble them every kind of way, that they may carry him, that he may bring their spirits under him, that he may lead them in the ways that lead to their own comfort. Use. Let us never murmur, therefore, at God's hand, but willingly yield at the first. What doth a stubborn horse get, but the spur and stripes ? And what doth a man get, that stands out when God comes to humble him by affliction, and intends his good ? Nothing but more stripes. To come to the parts, ' We are all as an unclean thing,' &c, * That is, = stand.— G. the church's complaint and confidence. 185 Here, first, you see there is an humble confession, I will not enlarge myself in the point of humiUation, but speak a Uttle, because this is the day of humiliation : the occasion is for humiliation. All this is to bring us low, to humble us, to make us know ourselves. Without humiliation, Christ will never be sweet unto us, and the benefit of health, &c., will never be precious to us, I mean by humiliation, when God humbles us, and we humble ourselves ; when we join with God. When God's humbling of us and our humbling of ourselves go together, then mercy is sweet, and favour and protection is sweet, when God pours his judgments on others, and spares us. Now humiliation, it is either real (or inward), or verbal. Real humiliation indeed, that is, our humbling ourselves by fasting, especially when it is joined with reformation of our wicked ways, or else it is a mockery of God, as it is in Isa, Iviii., ' to hang down the head for a while,' and in the mean time to have a hard heart, to shut up our bowels to our brethren ; but that is a real kind of humiliation, when we think our selves unworthy of the creatures, of meat or drink, of any refreshing, for this humiliation of fasting is a kind of profession, though we speak not so, that we are unworthy of these things. But all is nothing, without inward humiliation of the soul. Verbal humiliation is in words, as we shall see after in confession ; and it must come from inward humiliation of spirit. Use. Therefore, considering it is here the first disposition of God's people, j let us labour to work upon ourselves those considerations that may make j us humble, I will name a few, 1, First, To bring ourselves to the glass of the law. Examine ourselves how short we have been of every commandment. j 2. But especially bring ourselves to the gospel. We hope to be saved by I Christ ; and have we mourned for our sins ' as one mourneth for his first born ' ? Zech, xii, 10, Our sins have wounded Christ, Have we preferred Christ, in our thoughts, above all the things in the world ? Have they all been dung to us ? Have we had that blessed esteem of the gracious pro mises of the gospel, and the prerogatives therein set forth, that they have been so precious to us, that we have undervalued all to them, as St Paul did ? A base esteem of the gospel is a great sin : ' How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation ?' Heb, ii, 8, Put case we be not enemies to the ministry and to holiness of life, expressed in the gospel, as many cursed creatures are ; yet a base esteem and undervaluing in our thoughts is a thing punishable, ' How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salva tion ? ' Have we walked worthy of the dignity we are called to by the gospel ? Have we carried ourselves so in spiritual things, as to rule our base lusts ? Have we been careful of private prayer, to offer ourselves to God as priests ? Are we not pressed in St Paul's epistles, ' to carry our selves worthy of our profession ?' Eph, iv, 1 ; and have we done so ? Let us bring our carriage, and see how proportionable it is to God's advancing of us in these glorious times of the gospel, and this wiU bring us on our knees. We are ashamed of a little unkindness to men. But when we consider how unkind we have been to God, that thought not his dear Son, and heaven and happiness, too much for us ; besides other favours, that he protects, and clothes, and feeds us every day, and yet we have not been answerable : these considerations would humble us, proportionable to our carriage to men. Can we be ashamed to offer an unkindness to men, and are we not ashamed, cannot we be abashed with this, that we have carried 186 THE church's complaint and confidence. ourselves so towards God ? It comes from atheism and infidelity of heart, that either we beUeve not these things to be good, or else that we have not our part and portion in them. Could we ever be so dead and dull-hearted else? 8. Again, That we may be humbled, let us call to mind, now in this day of humUiation, our special sins. We may soon know them. Our consciences and our enemies wiU upbraid us for them, and we are loath to hear of them above aU, either by the ministry or by our friends. We wish, above all, that the preacher would not speak of them, and fret if he do ; and our hearts run upon them above aU, So let us search our false hearts, which way they run ; and now, in the day of our abasement, let us think what would lie heaviest on our conscience, if God should take us now with sickness or sudden death. Let us think with ourselves. What is the sin that would afflict me most ? that would stagger me most ? that would shake my faith most ? whether it be filthiness, or profaneness, or swearing, or injustice ; and whether have I made satisfaction or no ? Let me examine, if God should strike me with his arrow now, what sin would rob me of my com fort, and make me afraid to yield my soul to God ? Now think of it._ This IS the way to be humbled. You may now bring yourselves to consider of that that at other times you will not give yourselves leisure to do. What are days of fasting for, but to give ourselves leisure, that we may not think of meat, and drink, and business ? These days should be days of rest, that we may think of that which concerns our souls. Take the advantage when thou restest from thinking of other business. Think with thine own soul, what wUl lie heaviest upon thy soul. This is required to humiUation. This real humiUation that is outward, it is a protestation of the inward ; and verbal humiUation is but an expression of what we do inwardly. There are two things wondrous necessary, before the soul can be in the right frame it should be in. First, The soul must apprehend deeply what distance it hath from God, what alienates it from Ood, before it can be wise ; and it must be estranged from that before ever it can come to couple and join with God. When the soul apprehends what separates it from God, and conceives as it should do of that, then it will be the readier to apprehend God ; and then all duties will come off easily. Therefore let us first of all work upon our own souls to be humbled, and by all the helps that can be. 4. And to help it, consider now at this time how uncertain our life is. We know not who may be stricken next. And consider what the dangerous issue is, if we humble not ourselves here before God humble us in our graves. Let us help humUiation by all that may be ; for where this is, all will follow easily, A man will go out of himself to God when he is abased in himself, and sees no comfort in heaven or earth but in God ; that there is nothing to be stuck to in the world, but all is vanity, and he may be stripped of life and of all these comforts ere long. When a man is abased, faith and obedience will come off easily. What is the reason that Christ is not relished more, and that many fall off ? They were never deeply humbled. According to the depth of humUiation is the growth of hoUness of life and the height of faith. All graces rise higher as the soul is more deeply humbled. The more we descend deeply in digging and rending up our hearts, the more the word of God sinks into the ' good ground ' that suffers the plough to rend it up and to cut off the weeds. The more deeply we are humbled, the more the fruits of God's word appear in our hearts and lives, the more fruitful is our conversation. AU THE church's complaint AND CONFIDENCE. 187 comes indeed upon the truth of our humiUation ; and when that is not deep and true, aU the rest is shaUow and counterfeit. There[fore] we should work it upon our own hearts. 5. And labour to be humble and low in all the powers of our souls ; to ha,ve humble judgments, to think of ourselves as God thinks of us. God thinks of us as sinners ; God and Christ think of us that we are such as must deny aU in us before we be fit for heaven. Let us judge of ourselves as he that must be our judge doth and wiU judge of us ere long. Labour to have low judgments of ourselves ; what we are in ourselves, empty of aU good, defiled with aU iU. And this will breed poverty of spirit in our judgments. Then let us labour for humiUty in our affections ; to bring ourselves more to God ; to stoop to him in fear and reverence ; and humility in our obedience and conversation to God and to men every way. Let humility spread itself over aU the parts and powers of the soul and body, and over our whole lives. I cannot stand further upon that. Now, here is verbal humUiation, that is, by confession, expressing our humiUation by our words ; as the people of God do here by confession, laying open our sins that God may cover them. What we hide God wUl never cure ; therefore we should take heed that now we are to deal with God, we lay open the bottom of our souls to him ; let not the iron be in the wound. You know a chirurgeon can heal nothing if the iron or poisoned arrow stick there. If there be corruption in the stomach, it must up. If it be ill-gotten goods, it wUl not digest, up it must all to God. For men, except there be scruples that a man cannot free his con science, there is no necessity, though great conveniency; but between God and thy soul open all by confession, and give not over till thou hast brought pardon to thy heart of that sin thou hast confessed. Every slight confession is not enough, but it must be a resolved, downright confession, without guile of spirit, as it is in Ps. xxxii, 4, This is the course that David takes there, UntU he dealt roundly with his soul, without guUe, ' his moisture was as the drought of summer.' He was in some dangerous disease that could not be cured. And do we look to be preserved from falling into sickness ? or if we be sick, to be cured ? We must begin the cure in our souls ; lay open the wound to God : ' I said, I will confess my sin, and thou forgavest me,' He begins with confession. So all persons that either fear or are under any judgment, let them begin with laying open their souls to God, When the soul is healed, he will heal the body presently after, for he lays sickness upon the body for the soul ; and when the wound is healed, the plaster wiU faU off of itself. Therefore let us lay open our sins by confession, and shame our souls all that we can. This is the way to give glory to God, Let us join both together, our own ease and glory to God. When we have laid open our souls to God, and laid as much against ourselves as the devil could do that way — for let us think what the devil would lay to our charge at the hour of death and the day of judgment, he would lay hard to our charge this and that — let us accuse ourselves as he would, and as he will ere long. The more we accuse and judge ourselves, and set up a tribunal in our hearts, certainly there will follow an incredible ease, Jonah was cast into the sea, and there was ease in the ship ; Achan was stoned, and the plague was stayed. Out with Jonah, out with Achan, and there will foUow ease and quiet in the soul presently ; conscience wUl receive wonderful ease. It must needs be so, for when God is honoured conscience is purified. God is honoured 188 THE church's complaint and confidence. by confession of sin every way. It honours his omniscience ; that he is all-seeing, that he sees our sins and searcheth the hearts. Our secrets are not hid from him. It honours his power. What makes us confess our sins, but that we are afraid of his power, lest he should execute it ? And what makes us confess our sins, but that we know there is ' mercy with him that he may be feared,' Ps, cxxx, 4, and that there is pardon for sin ? We would not confess our sins else. With men it is confess and have execution, but with God confess and have mercy. It is his own protesta tion. We should never lay open our sins but for mercy. So it honours God ; and when he is honoured, he honours the soul with inward peace and tranquUlity, We can never have peace in our souls till we have dealt roundly with our sins, and favour them not a whit ; till we have ripened our confession to be a thorough confession. What is the difference between a Christian and another man ? Another person slubbers over his sins ; God is merciful, &c, ; and he thinks if he come to the congregation, and foUow the minister, it wUl serve the turn. But a Christian knows that religion is another manner of matter, another kind of work than so. He must deal thoroughly and seriously, and lay open his sin as the chief enemy in the world, and labour to raise aU the hatred he can against it, and make it the object of his bitter displeasure, as being that that hath done him more hurt than all the world besides ; and so he confesseth it with all the aggravations of hatred and envy that he can. But to come more particularly to the confession here spoken of : ' We all are as an unclean thing,' &c, ' We aU.' We see here holy men themselves confess their sins, and rank themselves among sinners in their confessions. So we learn hence this, That we in our confessions (in our fastings especially) ought to rank our selves among the rest of sinners, and not to exempt ourselves from other sinners. Perhaps we are not guilty of some sins that they have been guilty of, God hath been merciful to us and kept us in obedience in some things. But, alas ! there is none of us all but we have had a hand in the sins of the times. The best of all conditions are guilty of them. Therefore we have cause to rank ourselves among others, as he saith here, ' We are all as an unclean thing ; ' and as Daniel, he makes a confession of the sins of all, ' we are all of us guilty.' How are we all guilty ? (1.) We are aU guilty in this respect, we receive some taint and soil from the times we live in. Either our zeal is weakened ; we do not grieve so much for the sins of the times ; and who is not guilty in this respect ? We do not grieve and lament as we should ; as St Paul teUs the Corinthians, they should have been sorry and humbled, 1 Cor. v. 6. They were guilty of the sin of the incestuous person, because they were not humbled for it. We are thus far guilty at least, the best of us, that we do not sorrow for the common sins, Alas ! how many sins are there that everybody may see in the times in aU ranks ! In pastors, what unfaithfulness, and in governors and in places of justice ; what crying of the poor and men oppressed ; and in aU ranks of people we see a general security ; we see filthiness and hear oaths, ' for which the land mourns,' as Jeremiah saith, Jer, xxiii, 10, These and such like sins provoke God and soUcit the ven geance of God ; and wiU have no nay tiU they have puUed down vengeance. Who hath been so much humbled for these sins as he ought ? Perhaps ourselves are not personally guilty of them. But are they not our sins, so THE church's complaint and confidence, 189 far as we are not abased for them, and oppose them, and repress them as we should in our places and standings, whether we be ministers or magis trates ? Thus far we are guilty aU, Therefore the prophet might well say, ' We all are as an unclean thing,' &c, (2,) Then again, there is great sympathy in the hearts of good men. They are fuU of pity and compassion ; and therefore they join themselves with others, partly knowing that they are guilty in some degree with others, and partly because they are members of the same body politic and ecclesiastical. They live in the same church and commonwealth. Therefore aU join their confession together, ' We aU are as an unclean thing,' &c. Use. Let us make this use of it, every one of us to be humbled. Do not every one of us bring sticks to the common fire ? Do we not add some thing to the common judgment ? If there be two malefactors that have committed a trespass, one of them is taken and used in his kind ; he is executed. Will it not grieve the other ? He will think, was it not my case ? I was a wretched sinner as well as he. If there be divers traitors, and the king is merciful to one, and the other he executes, will it not grieve him that is spared, if he have any bowels of good nature, besides good ness in other kinds ? WUl he not think, it was my own case ? There was no difference between me and them, only the mercy of the king ? So the best of us may think, have I not a corrupt nature, and for the sins of the times, am not I soiled with them ? Others have been stricken ; might not the same arrow have stricken me ? Certainly this consideration, that we bring something to the pubUc sins, it wUl make us humbled for the public, as the church here confesseth, ' We are all as an unclean thing,' &c. To come to the particulars of the confession. ' We are all as an unclean thing.' Here is a confession of their persons. Their persons were tainted. We are all a tainted seed and generation in nature. What the wickedest is whoUy, the best are in part. Therefore it is no error that we should say so and so of ourselves in our confessions ; as Saint Paul saith of himself, ' I am sold under sin,' Rom, vii, 14, One would wonder that he should confess so. Alas ! blessed man, he felt that in part that others in the state of nature are wholly. So we are all filthy. The best, as far as they are not renewed, are as other men are, ' Unclean,' It is a comparison taken from the leprosy, or some other contagious disease. Those that were tainted of them were separated from the con gregation seven days, or some set time. So it is with sin, especially the sins of this people. They had sinned grievously, and were severed from their land ; not seven days, but seventy years, the leprosy and filthiness of their sins and lives was such. Indeed, sin, especially the sin of nature, it is a leprosy, contagious, pesti- 1 lential ; and as a leprosy it spreads over aU the parts and powers of body' and soul. Take a man that is not changed; he hath a leprous eye, full of adultery ; he hath a leprous, uncircumcised ear. Ask him how he judgeth of discourses and sermons. He relisheth nothing but that which is frothy and vain. Plain, substantial, solid discourses, either in hearing or read ing, will not down with him. He hath a leprous judgment. His eyes, and ears, and tongue are defiled and corrupt. He is vUe and abominable in his speeches. He is uncircumcised in all. AU are unclean. All his powers are defiled by nature. All the washings in the law did signify this, the corruption and defile- 190 THE church's complaint and confidence. ment of our natures, which needs another washing which they typified, a washing by the blood and Spirit of Christ. ' Christ came by water and blood,' 1 John v. 6, both in justification and sanctification. ' There is a fountain opened for Judah and Jerusalem to wash in,' Zech. xiii, 1. All those washings shewed a defilement spirituaUy, that needed a spiritual washing. This sin is a leprous, contagious sin ; therefore by nature we may all cry as the leper, ' Unclean, unclean.' The best of us may take up that complaint as far as we are not renewed. A leprous man defiled the things that he touched. So it is with sin, tUl it be forgiven ;' we defile everything, A proud man, especially when he is set out in his bravery, he thinks himself a jolly man, a brave creature, Alas ! he is a filthy creature ; not only in himself, but in everything he puts his hand unto. He taints and defiles everything, even civil actions. He sins in eating and drinking ; not that they in the substance of them are sins, but he stains everything ; for he forgets God in them ; he forgets himself exceedingly ; and he returns not thanks to God, So in moral, civU actions, much more in religious. He defiles himself in everything. He is defiled to all things, and all things are defiled to him. This is our state by nature, ' We are all as an unclean thing,' iUse. This should enforce a necessity of cleansing ourselves in the blood of Christ ; that is, in the death'^of Christ, who hath satisfied the justice of God. Our natures are so foul in regard of the guilt and stain, that the blood of \ God-man, that is, the satisfactory * death of God-man, was necessary to breed reconciliation and atonement between God and us. ' And the blood of Christ, which by the eternal Spirit offered himself, must purge our con sciences,' &e., Heb. ix. 14. Our consciences will not otherwise be pacified and cleansed in regard of guUt, but wiU clamour and cry stiU, much less will God be appeased. Neither God nor conscience will be pacified, but by the blood of him who by the eternal Spirit offered up himself ; and then it wiU in regard of the guilt and stain, then God and conscience wiU both be appeased. Therefore in Zech, xiii, 1, ' There is a fountain opened for Judah and Jerusalem to wash in,' And ' The blood of Christ cleanseth us from aU sin,' 1 John i, 7. Blood is of a defiling nature ; but the blood of Christ cleanseth because it is a satisfactory blood. He died, and was a sacrifice as a public person for us aU. Then again, considering that we are aU defiled, besides this cleansing from the guilt of sin, let us get our natures cleansed by the Spirit of Christ more and more. We are all defiled. Use. And take heed of those that are defiled ; take heed of sinners. 'Who would wUlingly Ue with a leprous person ? Yet notwithstanding, for matter of marriage and intimate society there is a littlef conscience made ; men con verse with leprous company, they join in the most intimate society with those that are leprous in their judgments. The life of nature we know, and are careful to avoid what may impair it ; but it is a sign we have not the life of grace begun in us, because we do not value it. If we had, we would be more careful to preserve it, and to take heed of contagious com pany. Who would go to the pest-house, or to one that hath ' Lord, have mercy upon us ' on the door ? (a) None but a madman. He might do so. And surely those that join with swearers and drunkards and filthy persons, and go to filthy places and houses (as many do, the more shame for them), they think they have no souls nor no account to make, they go to these places and infect themselves. It is a sign they have no life of grace ; aU * That is, = satisfaction-giving.— G, ¦)¦ Qu. < mtle ' ?— En, ' THE CHURCH S COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCE. 191 companies are alike to them. Is this strength of grace ? No. They have no life of grace, they have nothing to lose ; for if they had the life of grace, they would preserve it better. Sin is a filthy thing, more filthy than the leprosy, nay, than the plague itself ; for the plague or leprosy makes but the body loathsome, but the sin that we cherish and are loath to hear of makes the soul loathsome. The one makes unfit for the company of men ; but the other, sin and corruption and lusts, unfit us for the kingdom of God, for heaven, for life or death. Therefore it is worse. The leprosy of the body makes a man not a whit odious to God ; but the leprosy of the soul makes us hateful to him. We may have more intimate communion with God in the plague than out of the plague, because God supplies the want of outward comforts ; but in sin we can have no comfortable communion and society with God. Therefore this plague of the soul is many ways worse than the pestilence. But we want faith. God hath not opened our eyes to see that that we shall see and know ere long, and it is happy if we consider it in time. To conclude this point concerning the corruption of nature. Take David's course, Ps. Ii. 1, seq. When sinful actions come from us, or unsavoury words, or beastly thoughts, or unchaste and noisome desires that grieve the .Spirit of God, let us go to the fountain, Alas ! my nature is leprous as far as it is not purged, ' I was conceived in sin, my mother brought me forth in iniquity,' The more we take occasion every day to see and observe the corruption of our nature, the less it is, and we cannot better take occasion than upon every actual sin to run to the fountain, the filthy puddle from whence all comes, and be more humble for that than for particular sins. It is a mistake in men ; they are ashamed of an action of injustice, &o,, but they should go to their nature and think I have a false, unclean nature, whereby I am ready to commit a thousand such if God should let me alone, I have the spawn of all sin as far as the Spirit hath not subdued it. It is a defect of judgment to be more humbled for parti cular sins. Nature is more tainted than any action. That sowing, breeding sin, as the apostle saith, it is worse than the action, it breeds the rest. So much for that. They confess here, ' We are all as an unclean thing ' in ourselves. But what comes from us ? That that aggravates to the utmost a sinful state, • All our righteousness is as filthy rags,' He doth not say we have filthy actions, but our best actions are stained ; and not one, but all, Mark how strong the place is, ' we all,' the people of God. He includes all, as Daniel saith, ' I confess my sins, and the sins of my people.' And there is no man in the church but he might have this confession in his mouth, ' we,' the people of God, and ' all we ;' in all our actions, ' all our righteousness,' &c. So aU the actions of all the. right eous, the best actions of the best men, and aU the best actions of the best men are defiled and stained. It is as great an aggravation as may be. Some would have it to intend the legal righteousness, yet notwithstanding it is true of all. And when we now humble ourselves, it is good to think of aU. So we may say, ' AU our righteousness,' 'Whatsoever comes from us it is stained and defiled. As for their legal performances, there is no question of them ; for, alas ! they trusted too much to them. In Isaiah i. and Isaiah last, they thought God was beholding to them for them : ' Away with them, away with your new moons,' &c. They were abominable to God 192 THE church's COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCE, as ' the cutting off a dog's neck,' as it is Isaiah the last, Isa Ixvi, 8, So all their righteousness, their ceremonial performances, were abominable. But I say we may raise it higher. It is not only true of them, but in greater matters, in our best moral performances, they are aU as tainted Obj. How can this be ? It is strange it should be so. The papists cry out here that we discourage men from good works. If all our righteousness be as filthy rags, why should we perform good works ? .4ms, Put case a man be sick, all the meat he eats it strengthens his sickness, shall he therefore not eat at all ? Yes. He must eat somewhat. There is nature in him to strengthen as well as his disease. Thy best per formances are stained ; wilt thou do none therefore ? Yes. Though they be stained, yet there is some goodness in them. Thou mayest honour God, and do good to others. Besides the ill there is good. There is gold in the ore. There is some good in every good action. Nay, there is so much good as that God pardons the iU, and accepts the good. So though our good actions be ill, yet for their kind, and matter, and stuff, they are good, they are commanded of God, For their original and spring they are wrought by the Spirit of God ; for the person, the workman, it is one in the state of grace ; and for acceptance God rewards them. But it is another thing when we come before God to humble ourselves. Then we must see what stains and sins are in them. There is no good action so good, but there are wants and weaknesses, and stains and blemishes in it as it comes from us. The Spirit of God indeed is effectual to stir us up to good actions ; but we hinder the work of the Holy Ghost, and do not do them so thoroughly as we should. Therefore, besides our wants and weaknesses, there is a tainture of them. Either we have false aims, they are not so direct, or our resolutions are not so strong. False aims creep in for a while, though we do not allow them ; and then there are some coolers of our devotion. Our love is cold, our hatred of sin is not so strong, our prayers are not so fervent, our actions are not so carried without interruption, but are hindered with many by- thoughts. Who cannot complain of these things ? Who is not brought upon his knees for the weakness of his best actions ? Nay, I say more, a Christian is more humbled for the imperfections and stains of his best actions, than a civil* carnal person is for his outward enormities ; for he turns over all his outward delinquencies, and makes the matter but a trick of youth ; when a poor Christian is abased for his dulness, and dead ness, and coldness, 'for false aims that creep into his actions, for interraptions in his duties, that his thoughts wiU not suffer him to serve God with that intentionf that he would, but puts him off with motions and suggestions and temptations in his best performances ; Ihis abaseth him more than outward gross sins doth a carnal person. When we deal with God, ' our righteousness it is as menstruous cloths,' Isa, xxx, 22, " ¦ Know this for a ground, that there is a double principle in a Christian in all things that he doth. There is flesh and spirit ; and these two issue out in whatsoever comes from him. In his good words, there is flesh as weU as spirit ; in his thoughts and desires ; in his prayer, his prayer itself stands in contraries. So everything that comes from him it is tainted with that that is contrary. The flesh opposeth and hinders the work of the Spirit, and so it stains our good works. Therefore contraries are true of a Christian, which seem strange to another man. A Christian at the same time is deformed and well-favoured. ' He is black and comely,' • I am * That is, ' merely moral.'— G, t That is, ' intentness.'— En, THE church's COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCE. 193 clack but yet well-favoured,' saith the spouse, Cant, i, 5 ; black in regard of sin, but well-favoured in regard of the Spirit of God and the acceptation of Christ. He is a saint and a sinner : a sinner in respect that sin hath f spread over all parts, and a saint in respect of Christ's acceptance, ' My ' love and my dove,' Christ makes love to his church as if she had no defilement ; but he looks on her better part ; he looks on her as she is in his love, and as he means to bring her after. But the church looking upon herself as she is in herself, she is much abased. The ground of it is the imperfection of sanctification in this world. The best of our works are ' as menstruous cloths,' When we think of the corruption of the best things as they come from us, when we come to humble ourselves before God, we must down with proud styles and pharisaical thoughts, although there be somewhat that is good. Yet let us think of all the ill that may abase us. There is a season for every thing, when we are tempted to be overcome by Satan. Then think of the good, as Job when he was tempted. ' I have done this and this ; you cannot take away mine innocency,' Job xxxiii, 9, In false temptations from the world and Satan, then stand upon our innocency. But when we humble ourselves before God — ' Alas ! I am dust and ashes,' ' I abhor myself,' as Job and Abraham said, Gen, xviii, 27, Job xiii, 6 — ^lay all proud apprehensions of ourselves aside ; and all good works, especially in one kind, in matter of justification, ' all is dung in comparison of Christ,' Philip, iii, 8, All must be sold for the pearl, the righteousness of Christ. There is no reckoning must be had of good works by way of merit in justification and our title to heaven. What gives us title to heaven and frees us from hell ? The death of Christ, the obedi ence and satisfaction of Christ, God by it hath redeemed us perfectly without anything in ourselves, and accepts us to life everlasting only by the righteousness of Christ. Therefore it is called God's righteousness, because it was done by Christ, it was wrought by God, Our righteousness is as ' a menstruous cloth,' It is spotted and stained and defiled. It wUl not do the deed. It will not satisfy conscience, much less the exact piercing judgment of God. That is the righteousness that must stay our souls in life and death, and we must oppose it to all temptations, as a satisfying thing that will set down conscience to be quiet. It must be righteousness of God-man ; nothing else will do it. ' AU our righteousness is as filthy rags,' That is the confession of their sinful actions. The next thing he confesseth is senselessness. ' There is none that calls upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.' There be other words betv/een concerning the complaint of their miserable estate ; but I wUl handle them that concern their sins first. ' There is none that calls upon thy name,' In a word, he means that none worshipped him ; because prayer is put for the whole worship of God, as indeed it may well be put for the whole, for it exerciseth all the graces of the Spirit, What one grace is not set on work in prayer ? It is put for all the inward worship of God, If it be faith, prayer is the flame of faith. When there is faith in the heart there wiU be prayer in^the mouth. The knowledge of God : prayer is grounded upon a promise. ' So it comes from that part of spiritual worship. Hope : hope makes a man pray. No man would pour out his supplications but to him that he hath hope in. And for love : God's love and mercy draws us into his presence ; and joy and delight in the presence of God draws us to pray. We give God the honour of all his attributes in prayer ; of his truth, VOL. VI. M 194 THE church's COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCE. of his goodness, of his mercy, of his presence everywhere, &c. So it sets aU graces on work, and gives God the honour of all. It is the worship of God every way ; for though it be an outward verbal worship of itself, yet it expresseth the worship of God inward. It gives God the honour of aU. Therefore, those that pray not, what kind of persons are they ? Wretched persons. The sickness is now among us. If a man should ask now. What family is Ukeliest to have the vengeance of God on it ? — though I speak not to censure those that have it, but I speak in God's ordinary course — surely those that do not exercise the duty of prayer. ' Pour out thy wrath upon those that call not upon thy name,' Ps. Ixxix. 6. Those famUies that caU not upon God humbly morning and evening, or that person that doth not morning and evening reverently call upon God, they are fit objects for the vengeance of God, for the plague or the like. ' Pour out thy wrath upon the families and persons that call not upon thy name,' insinuating that the Lord wUl spare us if we do caU upon his name and humble our selves. If thou wilt needs pour out thy vengeance, let it be on them that have not grace humbly to caU upon thy name. Let us make conscience of this duty, except we wUl prove atheists, and lie open to all the vengeance of God. ' There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.' He represents God to us as a great person, that would bestow some benefits, and is ready to turn away himself ; yet none lays hold of him or desires him to stay. So, saith he, there is none that lays hold on God, to keep him that he should not go away. Therefore, when he saith, ' None calls upon thy name, or stirs up himself to take hold of thee,' he means there are none that pray earnestly. Incense was to be burnt, or else it cast no sweet smell. Our prayers must have fire and zeal in them. Our prayers must be cries that must pierce heaven. ' Out of the deep have I cried unto thee, Lord,' Ps. cxxx. 1. We must stir up ourselves ; we must waken ourselves to waken God. Indeed, before we can waken God we must waken ourselves. ' There is none stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.' Insinuating that if we would lay hold of God he wiU be stayed. To speak a little more particularly of this. God is so gracious that he wiU be stayed even by prayer. The way to stay God in his judgments, and to lay hold of him and keep him among us, it is prayer. Let us take notice now of the hand of God upon us ; what is the means to stop his hand, that he come not among us with his public judgments ? It is prayer. The way to stop God, and the angel that hath his sword now drawn over our heads, it is prayer. God so condescends that he wUl be stopped by prayer ; as we see in Exod, xxxii, 10. He saith to Moses, ' Let me alone.' Moses prayed, and aUeged arguments to God that he should not confound his people. ' Let me alone,' saith he, insinuating that prayer binds God's hands. So powerful is prayer, that it binds the Almighty. It makes the Omnipotent in some sort impotent. He cannot do that he would, he can not execute his wrath ; prayer binds him. When a company of Christians lay hold on him by prayer, he cannot do that he threateneth. The only way to lay hold of God is by prayer. In Ezek. xiu. 5, there is a complaint that ' none stood in the gap,' insinuating that if any had stood in the gap when the vengeance of God was coming abroad, they might have prevented the wrath. The way to stand in the gap and to keep God is to pray, and to pray heartily. THE church's COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCE. 195 Now that God may be held by our prayers, they must be strong prayers. Every prayer wiU not hold God. They must be strong prayers that must bind such a Sampson that hath his strength. Therefore there must be a stirring up of ourselves. He saith here, ' There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.' So it is the duty of Christians to stir up themselves in these times. Quest. How shall we stir up ourselves ? Ans. 1. First, By considering the danger we are in. Danger felt or feared, it will make a man lay hold. When a chUd feels the smart of the rod, he lays hold upon his father or his mother's hand. Strike no more ! When the children of God feel the smart of his judgments, then they cry, ' Oh no more !' The cry of the child prevaUs with the mother, though it cannot speak ofttimes. So when in the sense of sin and misery we cry to God, we move his bowels with crying. There is no question but the serious apprehension of danger felt doth awaken the soul and stir it up. It is so also in danger feared. A danger feared, with beUef, wiU work as if it were present ; for a man that hath a spirit of faith to see that unless God be appeased with good courses, he wiU punish, as surely as if the judgment were upon him. Faith makes things present, both good and iU ; and it makes a man sensible of things that are not yet upon him. This is the difference between a Christian and another man. Another man ' puts the evil day far off from him ;' but a believing Christian, by a spirit of faith, sees God, except he be turned away by hearty and humble repentance, ready to seize upon him ; and so he walks humbly in aU his courses. So that danger felt or feared by a spirit of faith awakens and stirs up the soul to lay hold on God. Therefore in spiritual dangers we should especially waken our souls to see in what need we stand of Christ and the pardoning mercy of God in Christ, that we may waken him and give him no rest tiU we find peace in our consciences, 2, Then again, that that we may stir up ourselves withal, is meditation of the necessity and excellency of grace, and of the good things we beg. The serious consideration of that wiU make us stir up ourselves to lay hold on God, and give him no rest tUl we have it. When a man thinks the ' loving- kindness of God is better than life,' Ps. IxiU. 3, and if I have not that, my life is nothing to me. It is not only better than corn and wine and oil, but than life itself. Pardon of sin, and a heart to do good, is better than life itself, than anything in the world. If one should offer such a man this, a heart patiently to bear ill, and large to do good, and strength against tempta tions, he would rather have this gracious disposition than anything in the world ; he had rather have the pardon of sin with the sense of God's favour than anything in the world. This wiU stir up a man, as we see in David, Ps, U. 1, seq., ' Mercy, mercy;' it binds God and lays hold on him, together with pardoning mercy, to have a heart enlarged with spiritual joy. There is nothing spiritual, but it is so exceUent, that if we had the eyes of our spirits awakened to see them, we would bind God and lay hold of him. He should not go further tUl he had shined on us, 3, Therefore let us offer violence to God this way ; never give him rest till we obtain. You see when the two disciples were going to Emmaus, Christ made as though he would have gone further, but they ' compelled' him, Luke xxiv, 29. Now there is a semblance as if God threatened war, and would take away the gospel. There are dangers toward. When God makes such a semblance, let us lay hold on him ; let him go no further. 196 , THE church's complaint and CONFIDENCE. Lord, night approacheth and affliction approacheth. Lord, stay ; thou shalt go no further. Let us stop God with importunity. The consideration of danger, and the necessity and excellency of the things we beg, will make us lay hold on God. There is an hypocrisy among men, among a company of formalists, that are the bane of the times, that God will spue out. They are as iU as a pro fane person in his nostrils. They think that aU devotion is in prostrating themselves, which is good, and more than profane men will do, and yield a dead sacrifice to God, They will come and hear, and yield the outward act in outward humiUation, Is this to rouse thyself? Outward things are never current but when they express outwardly the inward truth. There fore take another course, man ; God cares not for the dead, empty carcase thou bringest him. Work upon thine own heart by meditation of the danger thou art in, and of the excellency of the things thou art to beg, and meditate of the majesty of God whom thou appearest before, of his good ness and truth, &c. Affect thy heart deeply with these apprehensions ; let these serious thoughts draw outward expressions of humiliation. And then it is excellent when the outward expression foUows the inward impression ; when there is somewhat inward that shews itself outward ; when we stir up ourselves, and not to think that all devotion consists in a comely, outward carriage — ^which is commendable of itself — but because men usually rest in it, it is prejudicial to their soul's good. We must offer a reasonable sacri fice to God ; we must love him in our hearts ; we must work upon our hearts and carry ourselves so in our inward man, as that we may stir up our whole man and awaken our souls : ' Praise the Lord, 0 my soul, and all that is within me, praise his holy name,' Ps, ciii, 1, We should stir up ourselves by speaking to om* own souls, that we may waken and take hold of God, 4, This again will help it, A man should never come to pray, but he should have an answer before he hath done, either at that time or another. Never give over till thou hast an answer. This will make us stir up ourselves indeed. How do you know a prayer from a formal lip-labour ? A man that prays conscionably* marks what he doth, and expects a return, as a man that soweth his seed. He that doth a thing with hope of issue will do it throughly. Therefore never pray to perform an empty duty to God ; but mark what you pray for, if it be forgiveness of sins, or for grace, or protection, &c,, and do it with that earnestness that you may hope for an issue answerable ; and this going about it will make us do it to purpose. Do we think to serve God with the deed done ? God hath appointed prayer for our good, and to convey blessings to us. Let us pray so as we may expect a blessing by it. Now that prayer that expects a blessing to be con veyed, it wiU be a prayer to purpose. It will make a man stir up himself.. ' There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.' The complaint of this holy man of God may be taken up at this time of many of us now. How few are those that rouse and stir up themselves, but put off God with an empty compliment 1 Nay, in these times of danger, have ye not a company of idle persons that wiU not vouchsafe to hear the word, nor to come and humble themselves, but walk and talk offensively, as if they would dare God ; or if they come here, they come not with a reso lution to hear the issue of their prayers, to rouse up themselves ' to lay hold on God,' Because, as there is a great deal of atheism in regard of God, so there is much dead flesh in regard of men. Who is so pitiful of • That is, ' conscientiously,'— G. THE church's complaint AND CONFIDENCE. 197 our brethren round about as he ought? We had need to stir up ourselves. The danger is present. We are beset round about, yet who is stirred up to earnest prayer? We want bowels of compassion. Those that have hearts compassionate, it is a sign that God intends good to them. But of the most we may take up this complaint, we are dead-hearted in regard of our sins against God, and in regard of the contagion among us, A man may see it by men's discourses. There is inquiry how the sickness spreads ? how many dies ? But men do not labour with God to make their accounts even with him ; nor we are not compassionate to men : for that would be a means to stir and to rouse us up ' to lay hold of God,' to stay his hand out of love and pity and compassion to our brethren which are our flesh, though it should never seize on us, I say, I fear this com plaint is too justly on many of us, I beseech you, let us labour to amend it as we tender* our own salvation — perhaps that we do not regard so much, we shaU ere long, but then — as we tender the health of our bodies, which we prefer before our souls, let us humble ourselves more than ordinary now. Some devils are not driven out but by prayer and fasting. Mat, xvii, 21. So some judgments, they will not away without prayer and fasting ; not only public, but private fasting and prayer. Sometimes there must be more than ordinary humUiation for some sins ; for some kind of tempta tions there must be prayer and fasting; for some maladies prayer and fasting, and more than ordinary stirring and rousing up of ourselves to lay hold upon God, God will not be held with ordinary humiliation. That will not do it ; but there must be a resolution against, and a hatred of all sin, and to please God in all things. We must do it with extraordinary humiliation now, because the judgment is extraordinary. There is ordinary humiliation and extraordinary : as there are ordinary feasts and extra ordinary, so there is ordinary humiUation for daily trespasses ; but in extra ordinary judgments, extraordinary fasting and humiliation. As there is ordinary washing daily, but there is washing and scouring at good times. God calls for extraordinary humiliation now ; not only prayers, but stirring and rousing up of ourselves. We should apprehend the danger as seizing on ourselves. This night it may seize upon us, for aught we know. It should affect us and make us stir up ourselves. This is the way to hold God by prayer ; and if we hold him, he will hold the destroying angel. He hath all creatures at his command. Thus you see how we should confess the sins of our persons, the sins of our good actions, our want of calling upon God, ' There is none that calls upon thy name, that stirs up himself to take hold of thee,' Thus far proceed the branches of their sinful dis position in those times. Now he complains likewise of the judgments of God, ' We all fade as a leaf; our iniquities, as the wind, have taken us away. Thou hast hid thy face, and we are consumed because of our iniquities.' The complaint hath these four branches ; a Uttle of each. ' We aU fade as a leaf,' Wicked men are ' as leaves ; ' and worse, they are ' as chaff.' Godly men, because they have a consistence, and are rooted in Christ, and set in a good soil, they are ' trees of righteousness.' But godly men in the state of their nature, and in regard of this life, they are as leaves. Wicked men are as leaves every way, and as ' chaff which the wind bloweth away,' as we shall see afterwards. » That is, = ' care for.'— G. 198 THE church's COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCB, ' We all fade as a leaf,' 1. He means, first, in regard of ceremonial performances that were without vigour aud spirit of true devotion. There was no spirit in their legal perfor mances. They were dead empty things. Therefore when judgment came they were as leaves. So an idle careless hearer, when judgment comes, aU is as leaves. When conscience nips him, as his atheistical heart wiU do ere long, then he is as a leaf, all fades away. The Jews, when they were in trouble, aU their legal performances faded, they were aU as a leaf, 2, So it is trae in regard of mortality, the vanity of health and strength. We aU as a leaf fade away when God's judgments come to nip us. Men are as leaves ; as the leaves now in autumn faU, and there is a new gene ration in the spring ; and then they fall away, and a new generation conies again ; so it is with men : some are blown off, and some come on again. ' We all fade as a leaf.' Not to be large in the point, at this time we are aU as leaves. In this city now, there is a kind of wind that nips a world of men, many hundreds in the head,* It is an autumn wind that nips the leaves. Our autumn wind with us is before the time — a kind of autumn wind in the spring, in summer, that nips the leaves and takes away the vigour of health. 3, And so, as I said, /or all idle performances, that have not a foundation in substantial piety, they are all as leaves. When trouble of conscience comes, they are as Adam's fig-leaves. When God comes to search and examine, they all fall off, both in respect of our performances and in respect of our lives. We are all as leaves when God comes in judgment. This is one part of the complaint, ' We are all as leaves,' The like we have of Moses, the man of God, Ps. xc, 6, When God blows upon us with the wind of his displeasure, we faU off as leaves. Then another expression is, , ' Our iniquities, as the wind, have taken us away.' As chaff, or things that have no solidity in them, are blown away with a puff of wind, so it is with a man if he be not a Christian, set into and gathered unto Christ, By the fall we all feU from God, and were scattered from him. Sin blew the angels out of heaven. It blew Adam out of paradise ; and now Christ, the ' second Adam,' gathers us to him again by his word and Spirit, and so we have a solid and eternal being in him. But out of Christ, our iniquities, as a wind, and God's judgments, ' blow us all away first or last. Wicked men settle on their dregs a great while, but when God's judgment comes, it blows them in this world to this part and that part ofttimes, when it pleaseth him to .exercise his out^ ward judgments. But if he do not blow them away here, he wiU give them a blast that shall send them to hell, their centre. Out of Christ there is no solidity, no consistence or being for any man. Therefore, when God's j.udgment comes, it blows them away in this world, and at the hour of death sends them to heU. This is the state of aU. ' Our iniquities, Uke the wind, take us away,' He means here, they were blown out of Jewry to Babylon. It was a strong blast that blew them out of their own country. May not we say, 'Our iniquities have blown us away?' What hath blown us from our callings and employments? Is it not the pestilence?' And what brings that ? Is it not our iniquities ? So that we may aU com plain of this, ' Our iniquities have blown us away.' We see here he lays the blame upon their iniquities. Did not the Babylonians carry them away ? Alas ! they were but God's instruments. » Qu. ' day ' ?— Ed, THE church's COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCB, 199 God was displeased by their sins ; his wrath blew them away. So you may see here the chUd of God in aU judgments looks to his sins. He justifies God, He murmurs not, and says this and that. No, But, it was my sins : ' We have sinned against the Lord,' Lam, v, 16 ; Micah vii, 9, ' I wiU bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him ; ' and Lam. in, 39, ' Man suffers for his sins ; ' and every one of us may say, 'It is our iniquities have taken us away.' A gracious heart justifies God and condemns itself. The children of God may complain sometimes of God's hand, but they will never censure God's hand. They justify God alway, though they may complain of the bitterness of his hand. Here they complain of the bitterness of the judgment. They were blown into another country, into captivity. They do not complain of God. God wUl have us complain ; but as he will have us complain, so we must justify him and condemn ourselves ; just are thy judgments. An hypocrite thinks God is beholding to him for his outward perfor mances, and when judgments befall him, he frets and censures God, Either he thinks there is no God, or he frets and fumes against God : he is dis contented. But a Christian justifies God, and condemns himself, ' Our iniquities have blown us away,' Our sins keep good things from us. Use. Therefore, let us now lay the blame where it is. Search out oub sins, personal and particular, and complain of them. They have a hand in this plague, God is no tyrant. He delights not to confound his crea' tures ; but sin makes him out of love with his creatures, the workmanship of his own hands. It is our sins. Therefore, let us lament the sins of the times. So far we may without hypocrisy, and ought to take to heart, and mourn for the sins of the times that we hear by others and see ourselves, and mourn for our own hearts that we cannot mourn. We must mourn for the sins of the times, as Daniel and Nehemiah, and all the blessed men of God have done. It is not the plague that hurts us. That is but God's messenger. Sin doth us more harm than aU the devils in hell and all the plagues in the world. It is not outward evils we need to fear. Let us fear sin, and lay hold on God. He is the Lord of hosts. He hath all the creatures at his command. Let us get sin away, that doth all the mischief. It is that that makes bate between God and us, and then God makes a controversy between us and the creatures. It is our sins. ; And that is the reason of the necessity of humUiation for our sins, because sin breeds a separation between God and us, and between the creatures and us. When God is offended, the creatures are infected. Let us see our sins ; by them we infect the air : by our vain speeches, and oaths, and our filthiness. Our sins infect the air, and that breeds infection in our bodies. Our sins cry. They have a voice to cry to God, if our prayers do not outcry them. Therefore, let us cry to God to hear the cry of our prayers, and not of our sins. How many voices have crying sins ! There is the voice of the people oppressed, the voice of filthiness, &o. Sins clamour in God's ears. They clamour for wages due, ' and the wages of sin is death,' Rom, vi, 23. Sin cries, though it says nothing in words. It cries in God's ears, and it wiU not rest tiU he hath poured out his vengeance. The filthiness and oaths, and atheism and profaneness, the suffering of the dishonour of his name : these suis of the times are those that pull miseries upon us. ' Our iniquities have taken us away as the wind.' So much for that. ' For thou hast hid thy face from us, and we are consumed because of our iniquities.' 200 THE church's COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCE. Sin makes God hide his face from us, and then ' we are consumed, because of our iniquities,' ' We melt away in the hands of our iniquities,' as the word is (ft). Indeed, sin is a cruel tyrant. When God leaves us in I the hand of our sins, he leaves us in a cruel hand, Christ came to redeem j us from our sins. Our sins are they that torment us. It is very signifi' j cant in the original, ' We are melted,' We melt away as wax before the fire, as snow before the sun, ' because of our iniquities,' when God gives up men to be handled as their own sins will handle them. Nations melt before the hands of sin, and kings, and kingdoms, and all. Let God give up men to deUght in sin, kingdoms or persons, they melt and moulder away in the hand of their sins. But to speak a little more of the next words. ' Thou hast hid thy face from us,' That is, thou hast hid thy comfort from us, God hath a double face : a face that shines on our souls in peace, and joy, and comfort, when he saith to the soul, ' I am thy salvation,' Ps. xxxv, 3 ; and his face that shines on the outward estate, that keeps misery, and sickness, and danger from us, and bestows good things on us. And God takes away his face from us in regard of the inward man, when he gives us no peace, but leaves us to spiritual desertion. In regard of the outward man, God hides his face when he gives us up to pestilence, and war, and sickness, and miseries in this life ; when he gives us up to outward desertion. Sometimes God shines on wicked men in outward things, but he hides his face for peace, of conscience ; and sometimes God's children have his face shining on their conscience, but he hides his face in respect of outward things. Sometimes he shines in neither of both : as at this time he neither shined on these blessed men in outward favours, for they were in captivity, nor in the sense of his love and favour, for they were in desolation, and eclipsed every way. The face of God, it is as the sun to the creatures. When the sun hides his face, what is there but darkness and night ? What makes the night, but the absence of the sun ? What makes winter, but the absence of the sun, when he grows low, and cannot heat the earth ? So what makes winter in the soul, deadness, and darkness, and dulness in God's service ? The absence of the face of God ; God shines not on the soul. What makes night in the soul, when the soul is benighted with ignorance, that it cannot see itself, nor see the judgments of God ? God shines not. ' The Sun of righteousness ' shines not on that soul. God is the Sun of the creature. He gives life to the creature. What] will become of the creature, when God neither shines outwardly nor inwardly on it ? As at the day of judgment, he shall take away outward comforts ; — there shaU be no outward shining ; — and aU inward comforts, they shaU have no hope : he shall altogether hide his face. When God, the Fountain of all good, shaU hide his face altogether from the creature, that is hell; The place where God shines not outwardly with comforts, nor inwardly, nor there shaU be no hope of neither, but a place of horror and despair,: that is heU, as the hell of this life is when God shines not on our souls. Now, these holy men they complain, yet they pray : ' Thou hast hid thy face,' Ps, Ixxxix, 46, Here is the conflict of faith, that sees God hide his face, and yet will follow God, It sees God ready to turn away himself, and yet it will lay hold of him, and have a glance of him. It will wrestle with him, and not let him go without a blessing. So there be degrees of God's hiding of his face. Though God seem to hide his face, and to with- THE church's COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCE., 201 draw outward comforts, and perhaps in some to withdraw his favour from their hearts inwardly. What shall they do ? Droop ? No. Wrestle with God as Jacob. See through the cloud that is between God and thy soul. Break thorough by faith ; and with Job say, ' Though he kill me, yet wiU I trast in him,' Job. xiU, 15, Let us stir up ourselves ' to lay hold on God' when he seems to turn away his face ; and imitate good Jacob, never give over seeking the face of God. How shall we seek the face of God ? _ 1, By praijer; for that brings us to the face of God, though he seem to hide his face, as Jeremiah complains, Jer, xiv, 8, ' Why art thou as a stranger ? ' And yet he prays. Seek him by prayer, 2. Seek him in his ordinances. Hear the word of God, ' Thy face, Lord, will I seek,' Ps, xxvii, 8, God invites you to seek his fa'ce now by fasting and humiUation," Seek his face in this ordinance. Here is the blessed Trinity, ' Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,' Though outwardly God hide his face in some regards, yet when he offers outward liberties refuse them not. He offers his face to us now in Christ. Seek, by prayer and other means, holy communion with him still ; and never leave seeking tUl you have got a, glance of him ; and stir up yourselves to lay hold on him, that he would shew his loving countenance upon you. Those that turn their backs on God's ordinances, and in rebellion to hia commandments, live in sins against conscience — can they wonder that he hides his face from them, when they turn their backs on him ? Rebellious persons, that will not yield meekly to God's ordinances, and submit to his commandments, do they wonder that God takes good things from them ? When we sin we turn our backs upon God and our face to the devil, and the world, and pleasures. When men turn their faces to sin, to pleasures and vanity, and their backs on God, do they wonder that he suffers them to melt and pine away ? Let us do as the flowers do, the marigold, &c. They turn themselves to the sun. Let our souls do so. Let us turn ourselves to God in meditation and prayers, striving and wrestling with him. Look to him, eye him in his ordinances and promises ; and have communion with him all the ways we can. Let our souls open and shut with him. When he hides his face, let us droop, as the flowers do till the sun come again. When the waters faU, the flowers droop and hold down their heads. When the sun riseth the next morning, up they go again, as if there had been never a shower. So when we have not daily comfort of spirit in peace of conscience, let us never rest seeking God's face in his ordinances and by prayer, and that will cheer a drooping soul, as the sunbeams do the flagging fiowers, Theu you may know that God's face shines upon you in some measure, when he gives you means and gives you hearts to use those means, and comfort in your consciences, that whether you live or die you are God's, This is a beam of that sunshine on the soul when God vouch safes joy and comfort, A little of this will banish all fears. If you have one glimpse of his countenance, you shall not need to fear the plague, or war, or death. If he shine on you, one glance will take away all fear. Paul, when he was in the stocks, one beam of God's countenance made him sing at midnight. Acts xvi, 25. ' Let thy countenance shine on us, and we shall be safe,' Ps, Ixxx, 3, let what wUl become of us outwardly. If God shine not on us for outward favours, if he shine on our souls and release them from fears and guilt, and speak peace to them, and say unto them, ' he is their salvation,' Ps. xxxv, 3, and as he saith in the gospel, ' Thy sins are forgiven thee,' all will be well whatsoever shall become of us. 202 THE church's COMPLAINT AND CONFIDENCE. ' Let us seek the Lord while he may be found,' Isa, Iv. 6. Hold him before he go; let him not depart. Attend upon the means; never miss good means of seeking his face till we- have got a sweet answer from heaven that he is our God. Now follows the supplication. ' But now, 0 Lord, thou art our Father,' &c. Here is a prayer which is a kind of holding God by the relation of a Father. This is one way of stirring up our souls, to consider the relation of a father. It stirs up bowels when a chUd is beaten by his father, ' 0 stay, father, spare.' It works upon the bowels. There is a world of rhe toric in this one word ' Father.' Why, Lord, thou art my Father. ShaU I be destroyed ? Let us lay hold on God by this relation that he puts upon himself; and he wiU not lay it aside, though we be unworthy to be sons. He doth not say. Thou art our Father, and we are thy sons ; because he thought they were unworthy, as the prodigal saith, ' I am unworthy to be caUed thy son,' Luke xv, 19 ; but instead of saying we are thy sons, he saith, ' We are the clay, thou art the potter.' Yet he is a Father conti nually ; and though in Christ you cannot caU him Father, yet you may by creation and initiation, being brought up in the church. Go to him with the encouragements you have, and cast yourselves upon him,- There is a bond for you by creation ; and there is his command. He bids you call him Father, He is a Father by creation. Look not upon this or that sin, but go to him and call him Father, as you may call him. Say, Thou art my Father, thou hast given me a being in the church. Wrestle with him as you may, though as sound Christians you cannot call him Father. Be weary of your courses. Are you wiUing to come under God's hands, to be sons ? You are sons by creation already. Offer thyself to be of his family for the time to come, and God will give a sweet report to thy soul. Stand not out at the stave's end. ' Thou art our Father, Lord.' If you have a purpose to live in sin, the devil is your father, and not God, ' You are of your father the devil,' John viii. 44 ; but if we be wiUing to submit, we may say, ' Doubtless thou art our Father,' Isa. Ixiii. 16. ' We are the clay, thou art the potter.' Here is a resignation of themselves to God in this term, ' thou art the potter, we are the clay.' Indeed, we are but earthen vessels, the best of us, in regard of the bodily life we have ; and we are at the liberty of God to dispose of as he pleaseth. So, before he comes to put forth this prayer to God, he useth this resignation of themselves into the hand of God : we are as clay in thy hands, Lord, ' dispose of us as thou wilt.' Let us remember this when we come to pray to God. Use all means of abasement that can be. Lay aside all terms other than abasing terms. ' We are the clay,' Isa, Ixiv, 8 ; and as Job saith, ' I abhor myself in dust and ashes,' Job xUi. 6, So the saints have done in all times, ' I am not worthy to be caUed thy son,' Luke xv. 19 ; and ' I am less than the least of thy mercies,' Gen, xxxU. 10. Let us lay aside proud and lofty terms, and ' cast down our crowns' at the foot of Christ, as the saints in Rev. iv. 10, cast down all our exceUencies. Let us have no thought of outward excellencies — of beauty, or strength, or riches, or high dignity. When we come to God, we must come with low thoughts to the high God. Can the creature be too low in his presence ? And then come with resignation. ' We are the clay, thou art the potter.' Do with us as thou wUt, If thou dash us in pieces as a potter's vessel, thou mayest do it. That is the way to escape. That is weU committed;' the church's complaint and CONFIDENCE. 203 that is committed into God's hand. Some men shift by their wits, and wiU not trust God with then- health and strength. They ' be double-minded,' as St James saith, i. 8. They wUl have two strings to then: bow ; if law ful means wiU not serve, unlawful shaU. No. But we ' must commit our selves to God as to a faithful creator,' 1 Pet. iv. 19 ; and then see what he wiU do. Then it stands with his honour. ' H(5 wiU look to the lowly.' ' I am the clay, thou art the potter.' Here I am ; do as thou wilt. As David saith, it is a blessed estate thus to resign ourselves into God's hands. If the devil and reprobates could be brought to this, they should never come there where they are in terrors of conscience. Let us labour to practise this duty : Lord, I commit to thy hands my body and soul. I cast myself into thy bosom ; do with me as thou wilt. Some that have stood out at the stave's end with temptations many years, have gotten comfort by this resignation. ' We are the clay, thou art the potter.' Thou mayest mould and break us as thou wilt. The way now to escape the plague is not alto gether to use tricks of wit and policy (though lawful means must be used), but labour to get into Christ, and resign ourselves into God's hands abso lutely, and say thus, ' We are the clay,' &c. Lord, thou mayest dash us if thou wilt, as thou doest many hundreds weekly. Thou mayest dash us in that fashion if thou wilt. Only we may have a desire that God would make our lives and health precious to him, that we may serve him as if we were now in heaven, and that we may have grace to make good use of all. But if God have determined and decreed to take us away, let us resign our selves into his hands. It is no matter though the body be ' sown in dis honour, they shall be raised in honour,' 1 Cor. xv. 43, ' We are the clay, he is the potter,' let him do what he will with our carcases and bodies, BO he be merciful to our souls. These vessels of clay, when they are turned to earth, they shall be renewed of better stuff, like the glorious body of Christ. Then our souls and bodies shall be glorious by him that took a piece of flesh and clay for us. Oh the humUity of Christ ! We wonder that the soul should animate a piece of clay, so excellent a thing as the soul is ; much more may we wonder that the Son of God should take a piece of flesh and clay upon him ; to take our nature of base earth, to make us eternally glorious as himself. Let it comfort us, though God dash our clay as a potter. Yet Christ, that took our clay to the unity of his person, our nature being engrafted into him, he will make our bodies eternal and everlasting as his own glorious body. Let us resign ourselves into God's hands, as the church here, ' Thou art the potter, and we are the clay,' and then we shaU never miscarry. NOTES. (a) P. 190. — ' Wlio would go to the pest-house, or to one that hath " Lord, have mercy upon us," on the door?' The allusion is to the marks placed upon the ' pest- houses,' and the dwellings of those sick during the plague in London — a visitation very often and very solemnly referred to by Sibbes, who twice witnessed its devasta tion — viz., in 1603-4, and the subsequent one of 1624-5, Having died in 1635, he did not pass through the ' Pestilence' of 1636, (4) P. 200.—' " We melt away," . , , as the word is.' Dr Joseph Addison Alexander renders the phrase, ' For thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast melted us, because of (or by means of] our iniquities.' It will generally be found that Sibbes's critical remarks harmonise with the results of the highest modern scholarship. Cf, Note c. Vol. I, page 31, G, GfOD'8 IMFISITION, GOD'S INQUISITION. NOTE. ' God's Inquisition' forms part of the ' Beams of Divine Light' (4to, 1639), The separate title-page is below,* For general title of the volume, see Vol. V, page 220. G. GOD'S INQVISITION, In two Sermons By the late Reverend and Learned Divine Richakd Sibs, Doctor in Divinity, Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher at Geayes Inne. Gen. 18. 21. 1 will goe downe now and see whether they have done altogether accor ding to the cry of it, which is come unto me ; and if not, I will know. Psal. 14. 3. They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy, there is none that doth good no not one. [A wood-cut here of an angel, surrounded with a glory, leaning upon a cross ; his right hand holding an open Bible, and his feet trampling upon the usual skeleton- representation of death.] LONDON. Printed by O. M. for Nicholas Bourne and Rapha Harford. MDCXXXIX. GOD'S INQUISITION I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying. What have I done ? every one turned to his course, ns the horse rusheth into the battle. Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord. — Jer, Vin. 6, 7. Upon the sins of people it hath been alway God's course to send his pro phets to warn them beforehand, and afterwards, upon that, to observe how they profit by that warning ; and thereupon he takes occasion to proceed answerably. God usually exerciseth a great deal of patience ere he strikes. He made the world in six days, but he is six thousand years in destroy ing it. In this verse, after the holy prophet had menaced the judgment of God upon them, there is set down what use they made of it, Alas ! ' They spake not aright : no man repented him of his wickedness, saying. What have I done ? ' And lest they should object, How do you know this ? He saith here it is upon inquisition, ' I hearkened and heard.' So the words contain Ood's inquisition or inquiry, and then God's evidence upon that inquiry, together with a complaint. His inquiry, ' T hearkened and heard.' For we must apply these words to God. There is the same phrase, Mai, iU, 16, ' The Lord hearkened, and heard ; and a book of remembrance was written before him ; ' so here, ' I hearkened and heard,' Here is the inquiry. Then, secondly, the evidence upon the inquiry, ' they spake not aright.' And, thirdly, the complaint upon that evidence set down. 1. First, Positively, ' They repented not of their wickedness,' which ia amplified, 1. From the generality of this their impenitency, 'No man repented him ; ' and 2. From the cause of it : want of consideration. They did not say, ' What have I done ? ' If they had called themselves to account concerning what they had done, certainly they would have repented, 2. Comparatively, ' They turned to their course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.' 3, Lastly, Superlatively, preferring the skiU of the poor storks and cranes, and the turtle and swaUow, before the judgment of his senseless and stupid 208 god's inquisition. people : ' The stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed time ; and the turtle, the crane, and the swaUow ; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord.' This is the sum of the words. 1. First, Of God's inquiry, ' I hearkened and heard,' Ere Sodom was destroyed, the Lord came down to see whether there was just cause or no. Gen, xviii, 21, God is most just. He wiU see cause for his judgments. He hath no delight in punishing. When he judgeth, it is not out of his sovereignty, but out of his justice. He doth it not as a sovereign Lord, but as a just judge. Now, a judge must do aU upon inquisition and evi dence ; therefore saith he, ' I hearkened and heard : ' where, by the way, the gods of the earth, to whom he hath communicated his name, should learn hence, not to be rash in their judgments, but to have sound evidence before they pass sentence, '1 heaikened and heard,' To 'hearken' is more than to hear: to apply one's self with some affection to hear a thing, God is all ear, as he is all eye. He hath an ear everywhere. He hath an ear in our hearts. He hears what we think, what we desire. He sees all the secret corners of our hearts. Therefore, when he saith here, ' I hearkened and heard,' it is by way of condescending to our capacity. We may learn hence, briefij', that Ood hath an ear and an eye to our carriage and dispositions, to our speeches and courses. If we had one alway at our backs that would inform such a man and such a man what we say, one that should book our words, and after lay them to our charge, it would make us careful of our words. Now, though we be never so much alone, there are two always that hear us, God hearkens and hears, and God'^ deputy in us, conscience, ' hearkens and hears,' God books it, and con science books it. As God hath a book wherein he wrote us before aU worlds, and the book of his providence for our bones, and all things that concern us, so he hath a book for our works and words, Mai, iU, 16, ' They that feared the Lord spake often one to another ; and the Lord hearkened, and heard it ; and a book of remembrance was written before 'him,' &c. So here, ' I hearkened and heard,' God and conscience note and observe everything. This doth impose upon us the duty of careful and reverent walking with God, Would we speak carelessly or ill of any man if he heard us ? When we slight a man, we say we care not if he heard us himself. But shall we slight God so ? ShaU we swear, and lie, and blaspheme, and say we care not though God hear us, that will lay everything to our charge, not only words but thoughts, ' We shall give an account for every idle word, and for every idle thought,' Mat, xii, 36, and shall we not regard it? It is from the horrible profaneness of the poisonful, rebeUious heart of man, that men do not consider these things, ' God hearkens and hears,' He is at our studies ; he is at our windows ; he hears us in our chambers, when we are in company, when we meet together, when we take liberty to censure and detract, when we swear and revile. What if men hear not ! yet conscience hears, and God hears. And when God shall lay open the book of conscience, and lay before a man all his naughty* speeches and wicked works, what will become of him then for not making use of this principle, that ' God hearkens and hears ' ? God sees now with what minds and affections we come about this business, whether it be formally to put off God, to make it a cover for our sinful courses after, as if God were beholding to us for what we do now, and therefore might the better bear * That is, ' wicked.'— G. god's inquisition, 209 with us, though we make bold with him hereafter. He not only hears what we say, but sees our minds and purposes, nay, he ' knows our thoughts long before they are,' This is the cause why godly men have alway walked so carefully and circumspectly. They knew that God's eye and ear was over them ; as Enoch and Noah, it is said in this regard that they ' walked with God,' Gen. v, 24, vi, 9 ; and Joseph when he was tempted, ' Shall I do this,' saith he, ' and sin against God ?' Gen, xxxix, 9 ; and shall jjuot God see if I do this ? ' Doth not he see my ways and count all my steps,' saith Job, Job, xiv, 16. So again, What makes wicked men so loose ? The prophet tells, Ps, xciv, 7, they say, ' The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it,' Or as it is. Job xxii, 12, &c,, ' Is not God in the height of heaven ? How doth God know ? can he judge through the dark cloud ? Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he sees not ; and he walketh not in the circuit of the heavens,' Tush ! he regardeth not ; he is immured and shut up there. But to such atheists we see what the prophet answers, Ps, Ixiv, 8, &c. Ye brutish, foolish people, shall he that makes others hear not hear himself? ' He that planted the ear,' he that is all ear, ' shall not he hear ? ' As it makes good men walk holily and reverently, to consider of this, that God is present, and present as an ! observer and a judge, so the want of taking this to heart makes wicked/, and carnal persons do as they do. So much briefly for these words, ' Ijf hearkened'and heard.' ' No man spake aright,' But what evidence doth he give upon this inquisition ? ' They spake not aright,' which is ampUfied from the generality of this sin, ' No man spake aright,' The meaning is especially that ' they spake not aright con cerning the judgments of God threatened,' When God had threatened judgments, he hearkened and heard what use they made of them, but ' they spake not aright.' Quest. In how many respects do we not speak aright in regard of the judgments of God ? Ans. 1. First, In regard of God, men speak not aright when they do not see him in the judgment, but look to the creature, to the second causes ; as now in the time of the plague, to look to the air and weather, and this and that, which is a good providence, and to forget him that is the chief; to kiU dogs and oats, and to let sin alone ; to cry out. Oh what air there is this year ! and what weather it is ! to talk of the second causes altogether, and to forget God : this is to talk amiss of God's judgments threatened, in regard of God, 2. Again, We talk amiss in regard of others, when we begin to slight them in our thoughts and speeches. Oh they were careless people ; they adventured into company, and it was the carelessness of the magistrates ; they were not well looked to ; they were unmerciful persons, &c. Is it not God's hand ? Put case there might be some oversight ; art thou secure from God's arrow? He that struck them, may he not strike thee ? This is to talk amiss of the judgment of God in regard of others ; when we think that God hath smgled them out as sinners above the rest ; as the disciples thought of the GaUleans, ' whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifice,' Luke xiu. 1. No, no, saith he; 'think not they were greater sinners than the rest ; ' do not add your bitter censure of the judgment of God on them, and make it heavier (there is a woe to such persons as add afflictions to the afflicted, Prov. xx. 22, PhU. i. 16) : ' Except ye repent, ye shaU aU VOL. VI. 0 210 god's inquisition, likewise perish,' Is not the ripest corn cut first ? God ofttimes takes those away that are fittest for him, and leaves others to the cruelty of men. Therefore by this rash judgment there maybe great wrong to men, and to wrong men in our censures, it is to talk amiss of God's judgments in regard of others. 3. Again, We talk amiss of God's judgments in regard of ourselves. (1.) When we murmur and fret any way against Ood, and do not submit ourselves under his mighty hand as we should. (2.) Again, We sin against the judgments of God abroad, when we take liberty to inquire of the judgments of God abroad, and never make use of them ; as now to be asking what number die of the plague weekly, and our hearts tremble not at it, we lift not up our hearts to God, ' God be merci ful to us,' ' Lord forgive our sins,' ' What wiU become of us ?' We had need to make our accounts even. This is to talk amiss of God's judg ments. It is a vein that men have naturally, to inquire after news of aU sorts, be it the sharpest and bitterest that maybe; though it be the destruction, and ruin, and death of other men ; whatsoever it be they desire to hear it, if news. In the mean time there is no care to make use of it, which is directly that for which these men here are said to have talked amiss, ' No man spake aright.' Why ? ' No man repented him of his wickedness,' &c., as we shall see afterwards. We should talk of the judg ments of God to be bettered by them. We should ' leam righteousness when the judgments of God are abroad,' Isa. xxvi. 9, and the arrows that wound others we should make warning arrows to ourselves. Now when we trifiingly only inquire of these things, and are not moved ourselves, we talk amiss of God's judgments. Use. Let us labour to talk of the judgments of God, when they are abroad, as we should. In regard of God, to raise our hearts above all second causes, to see him in it. It is the hand of God, as the Scripture caUs the plague, whatsoever the second causes are, whether it be the air, and the devil mingling himself ofttimes to corrupt the air, all is by God's permission and providence. We should look to the first wheel that leads the rest and sets them going. We should see God in all, and therefore speak reverently of him. And in regard of our brethren, to speak charitably of them, and think, it is the goodness of God that he hath not stricken us as he hath them. And when we speak of ourselves, when the judgments of God are on us, let us humble ourselves and justify God, We may complain, but it must be of ourselves and of our sins, that have brought judgments upon us, of our want of making use of the judgment of God upon others or upon ourselves. Lesser judgments would not serve turn ; therefore God is fain t'b follow us with greater. Let us alway justify God and complain of our selves, and then in regard of ourselves we ' speak aright' of the judgments of God. Let us never speak of the judgments of God but with affections fit for judgments, with awful affections. ' Shall the Uon roar, and shall not the beasts of the forest tremble ? ' Hos, xi, 10. Shall we hear God roar in his judgments, ' and hear the trumpet blown,' and not be affected ? We see here how God complains, that when ' he hearkened and heard, they spake not aright.' Let us therefore make conscience of all our words. We shall, if not now, yet at the day of judgment, ' give account for every idle word,' Mat. xii. 36, for every cruel word, as it is in the prophecy of Enoch, cited in the Epistle of Jude. But especially let us take heed of our words when we speak of God's judgments ; for it is the not speaking aright of them that is here especially meant. ' I hearkened and heard, but god s inquisition, 211 they spake not aright.' So much for the evidence. Come we now to the next clause, God's complaint upon this evidence, ' No man repented him of his wickedness,' They did not repent of their wickedness, and the fault was general : ' No man repented,' The first yields this instruction, Doct. That it is a state much offending Ood, not to repent when his judg ments are threatened. God will not suffer it long unpunished, to be impenitent when his judg ments are abroad and threatened, much more when they have ah-eady seized* upon our brethren. For that is the end of aU his judgments, to draw us near to him, to draw us out of the world, and out of our sinful courses. When therefore we answer not, God must take another course. What is the plague and other judgments but so many messengers sent to every one of us to knock? -And our answer must be, ' Lord, I will repent of my evil ways,' ' I will turn from my evil courses and turn to thee,' If we give this answer, God will take away his judgments, or sanctify them, and that is better ; but when there is no answer, the messenger will not be gone ; God will add plagues upon plagues till we give our answer, tiU we repent and turn from our wicked ways. Now that we may do this, we must be convinced thoroughly that the courses we live in are unprofitable, dangerous, hateful courses, and that the contrary state is better. For repentance is an after- wit,f and man being a reasonable creature, will turnj from his way except he see great reason why. Therefore there must be sound conviction that ' it is a bitter thing to offend God,' Jer. ii. 19, We must indeed be convinced by the Spirit of God ; and the Spirit of God usually takes the benefit of affliction, affliction together with instruction. Instruction without affliction will do little good. Stripes and the word must go together, else we will not give God the hear ing as we should. Therefore that we may be soundly convinced of our sins, we should desire God, especially in the hour of afSiction, to help our souls by his Spirit, that we may be convinced that our courses are naught, that they are courses dishonourable to God and dangerous to ourselves ; that sin defiles our souls ; that it hinders our communion with God, which is the sweetest thing in the world ; that sin puts a sting into all our troubles ; that sin makes us afraid of that that should be comfortable to us, of death •and judgment, and God's presence ; that sin grieves the good Spirit of God, that would take up his lodging in us ; that it quencheth the motions of the Spirit, that are sent as sweet messengers to us, to allure and comfort us ; that sin grieves the good Spirit of God in others ; that it grieves the good angels that are about us ; that it gratifies none but the devU, the enemy of our salvation ; that it defiles and stains our souls, wherein the image of God should shine ; that it doth us more harm than all the things in the world besides — indeed, nothing hurts us but sin, because nothing but sin sepa rates us from God ; that it shuts heaven and opens hell, and so makes us afraid of death, lest death should open the gate to let us into heU ; in a word, that it hinders aU good, and is the cause of all iU. Let us consider of this, and work it on our hearts. And consider withal our former courses, rip up our lives from our child hood, consider the sins of our youth, together with our present sins, that so we may the better stir up and awaken our consciences. Let us consider * Spelled ' ceazed.'— G. t Qu. ' will not turn ' ?— Ed. t That is, ' after-thought,'— G. 212 god's inquisition. whether we are now in a state wherein we could be content that God should send his judgments upon us. Consider how we have been scandalous* to others, how we have drawn others to sin, that the guilt of other men's sins will lie upon us. It may be we have repented, but have they ? Consider the repetition of our sins, if we have not committed them again and again, and other circumstances that may aggravate them. Let us labour to work these things on our hearts, and desire the Spirit of God to convince our souls of the foulness and dangerousness of sin. When we sin against con science, what do we but set the devil in the place of God ? We make our selves wiser than God. 'We leave God's ways, as if we could find better and more profitable and more gainful courses than his. Sound conviction of this will move us to repentance. And let us be stirred up to repent presently. Doth not God now warn you ? Is it not dangerous living one hour in a state that we would not die in ? May not God justly strike us on the sudden ? Do but purpose to live in sin one quarter of an hour ; may we not be taken away in that quarter ? Is not repentance the gift of God, and are not gifts given according to the good pleasure of the giver ? Wait therefore for the gales of grace, and take them when they are offered, Grace is not like the tide, that ebbs and flows, that we know when it will come again when we see it go. No, God gives the gales of grace according to his good pleasure ; \,' therefore take the advantage of the present motions of the blessed Spirit, The longer we live in any sin unrepented of, the more our hearts wiU be hardened ; the more Satan takes advantage against us, the more hardly he is driven out of his old possession, the more just it may be with God to give us up from one sin to another. The understanding will be more dark upon every repetition of sin, and conscience will be more dulled and deaded. Those that are young, therefore, let them take the advantage of the youth, and strength, and freshness of their years to serve God, That which is blasted in the bud, what frait may we look for from it afterwards ? Alas ! when we see the younger sort given to blaspheme and swear, to loose- uess and licentiousness, what old age may we look for there ? Again, what welcome shall we expect, when we have sacrificed the best of our strength and the marrow of our years to our lusts, to bring our old age to God ? Can this be any other than self-love ? Such late repentance is seldom sound. It comes, I say, from self-love, and not from any change of heart. As in the humility of wretched persons, a little before the judge comes, though they have carried themselves as rebels before, yet then th«y wiU humble themselves, not out of any hatred to their courses, but out of fear of the judge. So it may be now thou art arraigned by God's judg ments!; thou forsakest thy sinful courses, not out of the hatred of thy sins — for if thou couldst thou wouldst sin eternally, and that is the reason sinners are punished eternally, because they would sin everlastingly— but thou seest thou art in danger to be puUed away by God's judgments. It is not out of love to grace, it is not from any change of nature that thou desirest to be a new creature, that thou admirest grace to be the best state, but it is ' to avoid danger ; not that thou carest for the face of God, to be reconcUed to him, but to avoid the present judgment. _ And what a staggering wiU this be to conscience, when a man shall defer his repentance till God's judgments seize upon him ! We see it is false for the most part, because such persons that are then humbled, when they recover they are as bad or worse than ever they were. Therefore an * That is, ' stumblingblocks.'— G. god's inquisition, 213 ancient saith well, ' He that is good only under the cross is never , good ' (a). It comes not from any change that God works, but merely from self-love, j ¦^ Therefore presently let us repent of those ways that God convinceth our conscience to be evil ways ; God may strike us suddenly. Those that forget God, and care not for him now, it may be just with God to make them forget themselves, to strike them with frenzy, to take away the use of their memories then ; and when sickness comes we shall have enough to do to confiict with sickness, we shaUhave enough to do to answer the doubts of conscience. Oh, it would upbraid them ! We shall think it a hard matter then to have favour from God, whose worship we have despised, the motions of whose Spirit we have neglected and resisted. Con science, after long hardening in sin, will hardly admit of comfort. It is a harder matter than it is taken for. Therefore, even to-day, presently, you that are young, now in the days of your youth, now in the spring of your years, repent you of your sins before old age comes, which indeed, as Solo mon describes it, ' is an ill time' to repent in, Eccles. xU, 1. Alas ! then a man can hardly perform civU duties ; as we see in BarziUai, he complains that in his old age he could not take the comfort of the creatures, 2 Sam, xix, 32, seq. Therefore put not off this duty tiU then. And all, both young and old, now when the judgments of God are abroad in the world, take the advantage}; return to God, renew your covenants, make your peace now. Now this danger doth warm our hearts a little, let us strike the iron now while it is hot ; let us take the advantage of the Spirit now awakening us with this danger. Our hearts are so false and so dull, we have need to take all advantages of withdrawing ourselves from our sinful courses. And to encourage us to do it, let us consider, if we do this, and do it in time, we shaU have the sweetness of the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. You will say. We shall lose the sweetness of sin ; ay, but 1 . You shall have a most sweet communion with God. One day of a repentant sinner, that is reconciled to God, is more comfortable than a thousand years of another man that is in continual fear of death and judgment. Oh, the sweet Ufe of a Christian that hath made his peace with God ! He is fit for aU conditions : for life, for death, for everything. Now by this we shall have this grace and favour of God, The Lord wiU say unto us by his Spirit, ' I am your salvation,' Ps, xxxv, 3, And besides, you shaU have his grace renewing and altering and changing you, framing you to a better course of life. And he wUl be so/ar from misliking any for their former sins, that he will give them cause to love him the more, as we see Luke vii, 47, ' She loved much, because she had much forgiven her,' Christ, we see, upbraided not any of his followers with their former sins. He regarded not what they had been formerly • Zaccheus the extortioner, Mary Magdalene, Matthew the publican, Peter that denied him. We never hear that he upbraided any of them. He doth not only vouchsafe mercy to Peter repenting, but advanceth him to his former office apostolical. So sweet a God have we to deal with ! Let this encourage us, 2. Again, It is the way to prevent God's judgments, as we see in Nineveh and others. Put case we repent not : we cannot go safe in the city nor any where, but God may meet with us, and strike us with his arrow. The only way to prevent his judgments is to meet him speedily by repentance. This is the way, not only to turn away the wrath of God concerning eternal damnation, but outward judgments, as we see Joel ii, 12, seq., and many other places. 3. Then again, should we be stricken, if we have made our peace with God, 214 god's inquisition, if we have repented, all shall be welcome, all shall he turned to our good. We know the sting is pulled out. If the sting of death be pulled out, if . the malignity and poison of any sickness, be it the plague or whatsoever, be pulled out, why should we fear it ? It comes in love, and shaU be turned to our good ; and in the mean time- God sweetens it. Here is a grand dif ference between the chUdren of God and others. If the judgment of God light upon a repentant person, it comes from favour and love, to correct him for his former sins. It is turned to good, and in the mean time it is sweetened with love, and mixed with comfort, and moderated, as it is Isa, xxvii. 7, ' Hath he afflicted thee as I afflicted others ?' No. He moderates his judgments to his children ; and not only moderates them, but sweetens them with comfort. If God do correct a repentant person, he is no loser by it, nay, he is a gainer. ' It is good for me that I have been afflicted,' Ps. cxix. 67. Oh the blessed estate of that person that repents and turns from his evil ways ! But if a man do not repent, but live still in sin, what a state is he in ! God cares not for his prayers. ' If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear my prayers,' Ps. Ixvi. 18. And what a state is a man in, when his prayers, that should beg for blessings, and avoid judgments, and procure deliverance, are not heard, ' but shall be turned into sin !' When God, that is ' a God hearing prayer,' shall not regard his prayer, what a case is this ! Yet if we regard iniquity in our hearts, if we repent not of our sins, God will not regard our prayers. Then, besides that, there is a noise of fear in the unrepentant person's heart. Wheresoever he goes, he is afraid of the plague, afraid of sickness, afraid of death, afraid of everybody. He knows he hath his heaven here : he hath not the sting of evils pulled out, therefore he is afraid he shall go from the terrors of conscience to the torments of hell. His conscience speaks terrible things to him. What a cursed state is this ? How can he look with comfort any way ? If he look to heaven, God' is ready to pour the vials of his wrath, to ( execute his vengeance on him. If he look to the earth, he knows not how ' soon he shall be laid there, or that the earth may swallow him up. If he think of death, it strikes terror to him. Everything is uncomfortable to an unrepentant sinner. Let all this stir us up to this duty of repentance. It is the end why God sends his judgments. First, he warns us by his word. And if we neglect that, he sends judgments, and they seize on us. That is a second warning. And if lesser judgments will not warn us, then he sends greater, and all to make us repent. If we repent, we give the judg ments their answer, and he wUl either remove them or sanctify them. So much for that, A word of the generality, 'No man.' ' No man repented of his evil ways,' We see, then, Doct. That generality is no plea. ' We must not foUow a multitude to do evU,' Exod. xxiU, 2, We must not foUow the stream, to do as the world doth. Will any man reason thus ? Now there die so many weekly of the plague. It is no matter whither I go. I will go now into any place, without any respect to my company, &c, WiU he not reason, on the contrary. Therefore I will take heed, I will carry preservatives about me, and look to my company ? Self-love wiU teach a man to reason so. The infection is great, therefore I wiU take the more heed. And wiU not spiritual wisdom teach us, the more spreading and ' ¦ infectious sin is, the more heed to take ? ' When all fiesh had corrupted their way, then came the fiood,' Gen, vi,_12. Generality of sin makes way GOD S INQUISITION. 215 for sweeping judgments that takes all away. Therefore we have more reason to tremble when the infection of sin hath seized upon all, when ' no man repents of his wickedness,' A man should resolve. Surely I wiU come out of such company, as we see Lot departed out of Sodom, and David in his time 'was as a pelican in the wilderness,' Ps, cii. 6, I wiU rather go to heaven alone, than go to hell and be damned with a multitude. Mul titude is no plea to a wise man. ShaU we think it a means to increase danger in worldly things ? and shaU we think it a plea in spiritual things ? It hath been the commendation of God's children, that they have striven against the stream and been good in evil times. ' Redeem the time, be cause the days are evU,' saith the apostle, Eph. v. 16, A carnal Christian saith, Do as the rest do ; but saith David, ' Mine eyes gush out with rivers of waters, because men keep not thy law,' Ps, cxix. 186, Do not fear that you shall pass unrespected if you be careful to look to yourselves this way. If there be but one Lot in Sodom, one Noah and his family in the old world, he shaU be looked to as a jewel among much dross, God wiU single him out as a man doth his jewels, when the rubbish is burnt, God wiU have a special care to gather his jewels. When a man makes conscience of his ways in iU times and iU company, God regards him the more for witnessing to his, truth and standing for and owning his cause in ill times. It shews sincerity and strength of grace, when a man is not tainted with the common corruptions, ' No man repented,' What was the cause of all this, that they were thus unrepentant, and that generaUy ' no man said,' ' What have I done ?' They did not say in their hearts and tongues, ' What have I done ?' They were inconsiderate, they did not examine, and search, and try their ways. Here we see. First, That a man can return upon himself ; he can search and try his own ways, and cite, and arrest, and arraign himself, ' What have I done ?' 'This is a prerogative that God hath given to the understanding creature. The reasonable soul, it can refiect upon itself, which is an act of judgment. The brute creatures look forward to present objects ; they are carried to present things, and cannot reflect. But man hath judgment to know what he hath done and spoken, to sit upon his own doings, to judge of his own actions. God hath erected a tribunal in every man ; he hath set up conscience for a register, and witness, and judge, &c. There are aU the parts of judicial proceeding in the soul of man. This shews the dignity of man ; and considering that God hath set up a throne and seat of judgment in the heart, we should labour to exercise this judgment. Secondly, God having given man this excellent prerogative to cite himself and to judge his own courses, when man doth not this, it is tlie cause of all mischief, of all sin and misery. Alas ! the vile heart of man is prone to think, it may be God hath decreed my damnation, and he might make me better if he would. But why dost thou speak thus ? 0 wicked man, the fault is in thyself, because thou dost not what thou mightst do. Hath not God set up a judgment-seat in thy heart, to deliberate of thine own courses, whether thou dost well or ill? And thy own conscience, if thoU be not an atheist and besotted, tells thee thou dost ill, and accuseth thee for it. An ordinary swearer, that by atheistical acquaintance and poisonful breeding is accustomed to that sin, if he did consider. What good shall I get by this ? by provoking God, who hath threatened that I shaU not go guiltless, and 216 god's INQUISITION, that ' I shaU give an account for every idle word,' much more of every idle oath? the consideration of this would make him judge and condemn himself, and repent and amend his ways. Thirdly. The exercising of this judgment, it makes a man's life lightsome. He knows who he is and whither he goes. It makes him able to answer for what he doth at the judgment-seat of God. It makes him do what he doth in confidence, it perfects the soul every wfty. Fourthly, Again, Whatsoever we do without this consideration, it is not put upon our account for comfort. When we do things upon judgment,^ it is with examination whether it be according to the rule or no. Our service of God is especially in our affections, when we joy, and fear, and delight aright. Now how can a man do this without consideration ? _ For the affections, wheresoever they are ordinate and good, they are raised up by judgment. They are never good but when they are regular and according to judgment. When judgment raiseth up the affections, and we see cause why we should delight in God, and love him and fear him more than any thing in the world, they are then an effectual part of divine worship ; but else they are flat, and dead, and dull, if we waken them not with considera tion. The heart foUows the judgment. The brain and the heart sympathise, when we see cause and reason to love, and fear, and worship God. _We must ' love God with aU our mind,' that is, with our best understanding. We must see reason why we do so. Therefore let us labour to use our understanding more this way. Is our understanding and judgment given us to plot for the world, to be judicious for the things of this life only ? No ; but to be wise for the main end, to glorify God, to save our souls, to get out of the corruption of nature, to maintain our communion with God every day more and more. The end of our living in the world is to begin heaven upon earth ; so to live here as that we may live for ever in heaven. Whatsoever is done in order to this end is good ; but nothing can be done to this end but upon due con sideration. Let us improve our judgments for that end. They are princi pally given us, not for particular ends, to get this or that man's favour, to get wealth, &c,, but to use all as they may serve the main. We know not how short a time we shall enjoy these things ; and further than they serve for the main, we shall have no comfort of them ere long. Our projects should be to gain glory to God, and to bring ourselves and others to heaven. There is exceUent use of this consideration. This way it is one main way to repentance. We see here, ' No man repenteth,' because ' no man said, What have I done ? ' Now if we would practise this duty, we must labour to avoid the hin drances. The main hindrances of this consideration are, * (1,) The rage of lusts, that will not give the judgment leave to consider of a man's ways ; but they are impetuous, commanding, and tyrannous, carrying men, as we shall see in the next clause, ' as the horse rusheth into the battle,' We see many carried to hell that never enjoyed them selves, but are alway under some base pleasure. When the devil hath filled them with one pleasure, then they project for another, and never take time to say, ' What have I done ? ' Oh the tyranny of original corruption ! If we had in our eye the vile picture of our nature, that carries us to things present, to profits and pleasures, and gives us not Uberty and leisure to bethink ourselves, would we do as we do ? Alas ! we see some men so haunted with their lusts that they cannot be alone, they cannot sleep ; and when they are awake they must have music, as that king when he mas- god's INQUISITION, 217 sacred a world of men, he could not be quiet a whit, conscience raged so.* When men follow their pleasures, they rob them of themselves. Therefore they are said in Scripture to be madmen, and fools without wit. They are so taken up with the rage of their lusts that they have not liberty to enjoy themselves, they have no time for consideration, (2.) And then another hindrance is too much business, when men are distracted with the things of this life. They are overloaded with cares, with Martha's part, and so neglect Mary's part. This makes men toil and droUf for the world, and never consider where they are nor whither they go, how it shall be with them when they go hence, how the case stands with them before God, whether they be gotten out of the cursed state of nature that we are all born in. They never think of this, but all the marrow and strength of their souls is eaten out with the world. Those that in their youth followed their lusts, when they come to years are taken up with the world, and sUght religion. Their minds are employed how to get the favour of this man and that, and so have not leisure to consider what wUl become of their souls. Therefore too much distraction with the things of the world is joined with drunkenness : ' Be not overcome with the cares of this life, with surfeiting and drunkenness,' saith Christ, Luke xxi, 84, (8,) Then, it is a secret and hard action; because it is to work upon a man's self. It is an easy matter to talk of others, to consider other men's ways. You shall have men's tongues ready to speak of other men ; they do so and so. And thus they feed themselves with talking of other men, and in the mean time neglect the consideration of their own state. And again, it is a plausible thing. He that talks of other men's faults gives an inti mation that he is innocent, and he had need be so. It is easy and plausible. Men glory in it. It feeds corrupt nature to talk of other men's faults, but to come home to a man's self, that is a hard thing. It is without ostentation or applause. The world doth not applaud a man for speaking of his own faults. Men are not given to retired actions. They care not for them, unless they have sound hearts ; and this being a retired action, that hath no glory nor credit with it, men are loath to come to it. (4.) Then, again, it is not only hard and secret, but this returning upon a man's self, it presents to a man a spectacle that is unwelcome. If a man consider his own ways, it will present to him a terible object. Therefore as the elephant troubles the waters, that he may not see his own visage, so men trouble their souls, that they may not see what they are. They shall see such a deal of malice and self-love, and fear and distrust, that they would not have others in the world to see for anything. But it is good to see it ; for repentance and consideration it is physic, it is sharp but, whole some. It is better to have the physic a day than to have the sickness and disease all the year. So this consideration and repentance, though it be sharp, yet take it down, for it wiU prevent God's eternal judgment ; as the apostle saith, ' If we would judge and condemn ourselves, we should not be condemned with the world,' 1 Cor, xi. 31, What an exceUent thing is this, that we may keep sessions in our own souls, and so need not be called to God's assizes ! Men are caUed to that, because they slubber over and neglect this. Men wUl not keep this sessions in their own hearts — which they might do not only quarterly, but daily — and thereby they make work for God. Is it not better now to unrip our consciences by consideration and repentance, than to have aU ripped up then, when the devil shaU stand « Cf, note. Vol, I, page 149.— G, t That is, ' drudge.'— G. 218 god's inquisition, by to accuse us, who wiU say. This was done by my instigation ; and it is so ; and our own consciences shaU take part with the devil, and accuse us also ? It will be little for our ease to make God our judge. We might save the labour by putting conscience to its office now, to_ examine our ways every day, especially now, when God calls for it by his judgments. Repentance is the covenant of the gospel, and repentance depends upon this consideration. So much for that, ' No man repented him of his , wickedness, saying. What have I done ? ' But did they stay here ? No ; it follows, ' Every one turns to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle,' Every one hath his course, his way, whether good or evU, The course of a wicked man it is a smooth way perhaps, but it is a going from God ; it leads from him. And where doth it end ? for every way hath its end. It is a going from God to hell. There all the courses of wicked men end. Examine, then, where thy course begins, and where it ends ; from what thou walkest, and to what ; whither thy course aims ; consider where thy speeches and actions are like to end. The specification and denomination of our ways to be good or evil is especially from the end. The wicked they take their courses, smooth wide courses, the broad beaten way, where they may have elbow-room enough, though it end in hell and destruction. But the wicked and their ways are both hated of God, Otherwise it is with God's children. They may sometimes step into ill ways, but they have not an ill course ; and God doth not judge a man by a step, but by his course and way. Therefore consider what is the tenor of thy life. Is thy way good ? Oh, it is an excellent thing to be in a good way ! for a man every day to repent of his sins, to make his peace with God, to practise the duties of Christianity in his general calling, and in his particular call ing to call upon God for a blessing. Such a man's way is good ; it hath a good end. Perhaps he may step out of his way by the temptations of Satan, but that is not his course. The best man in the world for a passion on the sudden may step into an ill way ; as David, when he determined to kill Nabal, but it was not David's way. Therefore we see how soon he was put off with a little counsel, and how thankful he was : ' Blessed be the Lord, and blessed be thou, and blessed be thy counsel,' &c,, 1 Sam, xxv, 32, His way and course was another way. And so on the other side the wickedest man in the world may set a step in a good way for a fit, a very Saul may be amongst the prophets, and speak excellently and divinely ; but all this whUe he is out of his way. His way is a course of wickedness, to which therefore he will soon betake himself again ; as it is here said of these men, ' They turned to their own courses.' ' As the horse rusheth into the battle,' Here it is comparatively set dovm. If you would see how the ' horse rusheth into the battle,' it is lively and divinely expressed. Job xxxix, 19, by God himself : ' Hast thou given the horse strength ? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder ? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper ? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength ; he goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted ; neither turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage ; neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha ! and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.' There GOD S INQUISITION. 219 you have an exceUent description of this creature's fierceness — the wit of man hath not such expressions — and how ' he rusheth into the battle, ' God, to abase wicked men, compares them here to the horse ; not for that which is good in him, but for their violence in UI courses, 'They rush into them ' as the horse rusheth into the battle,' Now, the horse "rusheth into the battle, (1,) eagerly, as you see him described in the place of Job; and (2.) desperately, he wiU not be puUed away by any means ; and then (8.) dangerously, for he rusheth upon the pikes, and ofttimes falls down suddenly dead. He regards not the pikes, nor guns, nor nothing, but rusheth on the danger. Herein wicked men are like unto the horse, going on in their course eagerly, desperately, dangerously, 1, They go on eagerly. It is meat and drink unto them : 'they cannot sleep until they have done wickedness,' They plot and study it ; it is their deUght, They are not in their element but when they are talking wickedly and corruptly, or deceiving, or satisfying their desires, the ambi tion and lusts of their corrupt nature. They can no more live out of these courses than the fish can live out of the water. Therefore they go eagerly upon them, 2, And as they go eagerly, so desperately and irreclaimahly too ; nothing will restrain them, no thorns nor troubles that can lie in their way. Though God hedge in their ways with thorns, they break through all, Hosea U, 6, Even as Balaam, he would go on though there were a sword drawn before him, he was more brutish and unreasonable than his poor beast ; the very sword of the angel could not move that covetous wretch to go back. So it is with every wicked man, he goes on desperately, nothing wiU keep him back and reclaim him. Though G od take many courses to do it, by his ministers, magistrates, by the motions of his Spirit, by his judgments threatened, by judgments executed upon others, and upon themselves sometimes, yet they are so eager upon their sins, all this will not beat them off. They love their sins better than their souls ; nor is it only open riotous persons that thus rush into sins, but civil * rebellious persons also, that bless themselves in their ways, and it may be live as irreligiously as the other. Take a covetous or an ambitious man : he sacrificeth all to get such a place, &c. Such a man mocks Christ, as the Pharisees mocked him, notwithstanding all his good sermons and miracles. He goes on desperately, nothing will hold him. He breaks through all bars and opposi tions. He cracks his conscience, grieves the good motions of the Spirit, despiseth good counsel, and will venture upon the outward breach of laws sometimes, rather than he will be defeated of his designs, 8, And as they go eagerly and desperately, so dangerously too ; for is it not dangerous to provoke God ? to rush upon the pikes ? to run against* thorns ? ' Do you provoke me to jealousy,' saith God, ' and not your selves to destruction ' ? 1 Cor, x, 22, No. They go both together. If you provoke me to anger, it will be to your own ruin. In Lev, xxvi, 28, ' God will walk stubbornly to them as they have done to him ; and he will be froward with the froward,' Ps. xviii. 26, Those that are rebellious sinners, whom no bonds will hold, no counsel, that break all laws, as the man possessed with the devU brake his chains, the time will come that when God executes his wrath he wUl be too good for them, the devil will be too good for them, hell will be too good for them, conscience wiU tear them in pieces, and the judgment of God will seize on them. The way of wicked men is a wretched, a desperate, and dangerous course. Thou art * That is, ' moral.'— G. 220 god's INQUISITION. stubborn against God, and he is so against thee.. He wiU do to thee as thou doest to him. Who are we ? ' Are we stronger than God ' ? 1 Cor. x. 28. Careless, atheistical persons think they are. Tush ! they can wind out well enough : but they wUl find it otherwise. ' Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he' ? saith the apostle. Let us lay this to heart. We see here again how sin hath clean defaced the image of God in man. ' Man being in honour,' he would become like God. He was weary of his subordination. He would be absolute ; and because he would be like God, God made him like the beast ; and it is worse to be like the beast than to be a beast. For the beast in his own condition foUows the instinct of nature ; but to be like a beast, is for a man to unman himself, to degrade himself to a baser condition than God made him in ; and when a man doth this, he is either in maUce Uke the devU, or in licentiousness as the beast is. He is alway like the devU or a beast tiU he be a new creature, _ And that our nature is come to this, we are beholding to our own yielding to Satan and his counsel. We ' rush as the horse into the battle,' There fore let us beware of this, ' Be ye not as the horse and mule,' &c,, saith David, Ps, xxxH, 9, Who would not labour to be in a better condition ? to be a new creature, to be changed by the powerful ordinances and Spirit of God ? So much for that briefly. Come we now to the last clause. ' Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times ; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming ; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord.' Here is another expression comparative, or rather superlative. He com pares them to the 'stork and turtle, the crane and swaUow ; and prefers these poor creatures, in wisdom and providence, as going before men, ' But my people know not the judgment of the Lord.' There needs no great explication of the words. Judgment is directive or corrective. The directive is the law of God ; setting down God's judicious* course. This you shall do, or if you do not this you shall be punished. When we obey not God's directive course, we meet with his corrective ; for judg ment is the stablishing of judgment. Judgment of correction is the stab- lishing of judgment of direction. God's laws must be performed. They are not scare-crows. If we avoid the one, we shall run into the other. If we do not meet him in the judgment of his directive law, we must be met with in his law corrective — if we be good men — or destructive if we be bad men. Now here, I take it, he means especially the judgment of correctionj the time of visitation. It was a dangerous time, as it is now among us, *They were already under several heavy judgments, as famine, &c. We see in the next verse, ' there was no vines, no grapes,' &c,, all failed. And besides, a far heavier judgment was ready to come upon them. They were ready to be carried into Babylon, ' and they knew not the judgment of the Lord.' ' They knew not ; ' that is, they did not make use of it ; for in divinity, things are not known when they are not affected.f God knoweth all things, but when he doth not affect and delight in us, he is said ' not to know us,' So we are said not to know, when we do not affect and make use of things, ' They know not the judgnient of the Ijord.' They were not ignorant.^ He had told them of vengeance ; he had told them that they should be carried into captivity ; but they made not that use they should of it. Therefore they * That is, 'judicial.'— G, -l" That is, ' chosen,' = attended to,— G, god's INQUISITION, 221 are said not to know it. So the old world. It is said they did not know of the flood. Certainly Noah had told them of it. But when they made not a right use of it, but went on brutishly, they knew it not. It is all one not to know it at all, and not to make use of it. Wicked men think they know God, and they know reUgion well enough ; ay, but what use do they make of it in their particular course ? That which we do not use we do not know in reUgion. If iU be discovered, and be not avoided by thee, thou art a brutish, senseless creature. Thou dost not know it, and so thou shalt be dealt with, ' They know not the judgment of the Lord ; ' that is, they will not know it ; it was affected ignorance. The words being thus unfolded, here, first, we see. That Ood confounds the proud dispositions of wicked men hy poor, silly creatures — tlie crane, the turtle, the swallow, and the like. What their wisdom is we see by experience. In winter, to fly from hard and cold parts to those where there is a spring. They are here in the moderate season ; and when the summer is gone, they go to a more mode rate air, where they may live better. For the life is the chief good of such poor creatures, and their happiness being determined in their Ufe, they labour to keep that. They have an instinct put in them by God to pre serve their being by removing from place to place, and to use that that may keep life. Now, man is made for a better life ; and there be dangers concerning the soul in another world, yet he is not so wise for his soul and his best being as the poor creatures are to preserve their being by the instinct of nature. When sharp weather comes they avoid it, and go where a better season is, and a better temper of the air; but man, when God's judgments are threatened and sent on him, and God would have him part with his sinful courses, and is ready to fire him, and to force him out of them, yet he is not so careful as the creatures. He wUl rather perish and die, and rot in his sins, and settle upon his dregs, than alter his course. So he is more sottish than the silly creatures. He will not go into a better estate, to the heat, to the sunbeams to warm him. He will not seek for the favour of God, to be cherished with^the assurance of his love, as the poor creature goeth to the sun to warm it till it be over hot for it, Man should know what is good and what is evil. The new creature doth so. For with the change of nature there is a divine wisdom put into the soul of a Chris tian, that teacheth him what is good and what is evil ; that he may be careful to avoid the evU ; that he may discern of things that differ ; that be may say. This is good for my soul, and aU the world shall not scoff me out of that that I know to be good. With their profane jesting, they shall not drive me from that is good ; and for courses that are iU, they shall not draw me with all thefr allurements. I know what belongs to the good of my soul better than so. It should be thus with Christians, to be wise for their spiritual being, as the poor creatures, the stork, and the crane, and the turtle, are to preserve their poor life here with as much comfort as they can. God takes out of the book of nature things useful, to insert them into his divine book ; because now no man shall be ashamed to learn of the creatures. Now, since the fall, man must learn of the poor creatures, and such a dunce is man, it is well for him if he can learn of the ant, and crane, and turtle ; and therefore doth God take lessons out of the book of nature, and put them into his book, to teach us to furnish ourselves with divine mysteries and instructions from the creatures. And indeed a gracious heart 222 god's INQUISITION. wiU make use of everything, and have his thoughts, raised with them. As the prophet Jeremiah here, he shames them by the example of the creatures. But of this by the way. The thing most material, with which I wiU end, is this : Doct. That Ood, after long patience, hath judgments to come on people ; and it should he the part of people to know when the judgment is coming. There is a season when God will forbear no longer in this world, ' They know not the judgment of the Lord,' The meaning is not, in heU, though that may come in : that is impUed in aU ; but ' they know not the judgment of the Lord,' that is, they know not the judgments that are coming. When judgments are coming, God opens the hearts and understandings of his people to know them ; as there is an instinct in the creatures to know when there will be hard weather. Quest. But how shall we know when a judgment is near hand ? Ans. 1, By comparing the sins with the judgments. If there be such sins that such judgments are threatened for, then as the thread foUoweth the needle, and the shadow the body, so those judgments follow such and such courses. For God hath knit and linked these together. All the power in the world and hell cannot unlink them, sin and judgment ; judgment either correcting us to amendment, or confounding us to perdition. God, there fore, having threatened in the Scriptures such judgments to such sins ; if we live in such and such sins, we may look for such judgments. Thus a wise man, by laying things together, the sins with the judgments, though he cannot tell the particular, yet he may know that some heavy judgment is at hand, 2. Again, There is a nearer way to know a judgment, when it hath seized on us in part already. He that is not brutish and sottish, and drank with cares and sensuality, must needs know a judgment when it is already inflicted, when part of the house is on fire. We see judgment hath seized now on the places where we live, and therefore we cannot be ignorant of it, 8, Again, We may know it by the example of others. God keeps his old walks. Therefore it is said, ' As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of man comes : they were eating, and drinking, and marry ing, and knew not till the fiood came and took them away,' Mat. xxiv. 38, 89. God wiU be like himself, if sinners be like themselves. He wUl not change, if they change not ; but will deal alike with them in his judgments, as he hath dealt with others. What ground have we to hope for immunity more than others ? We may rather expect it less, because we have their examples ; and so they wanted those examples to teach them which we have. In Jer, vU, 12, saith God, ' Consider, look to Shiloh, and see what I did there : so will I do to you,' So likewise the judgments on Jerusalem are a fearful spectacle for us. These and other examples may help us to judge of our condition in regard of approaching judgments, 4, Again, General security is a great sign of some judgment coming. In the days of Noah, there was a general sensual security. Notwithstanding the prophet foretold them of the deluge, they were eating, &c,, and knew not till the flood came and took them away. So likewise, if we eat, and drink, and marry, and build, and be negligent and careless of making our peace with God, especially when warning is given us, it is a sign that some judgment, either personal on ourselves, or generally on the place we live in, will come upon us. There is never more cause of fear, than when there is least fear. The reason is, want of fear springs from infidelity, for faith stirs up fearfulness and care to please God : ' By faith Noah, moved with god's inquisition, 223 fear,' or reverence, ' buUded the ark,' Heb, xi, 7. It proceeds from infi delity, not to be afraid when there is cause. Again, where there is no fear, there is no care. So the root of the want of fear is infidelity, and the spring that comes from it is carelessness, which always goes before destruction. When men care not what becomes of them : if God be pleased, so it is ; if judgment come, so it is ; the care* is taken, ' When men thus say, Peace, peace, then cometh destraction,' It is a terrible thing for a state or a city, or a particular person, to be careless ; for the life of a Christian it is a watching, as well as a warring, condition. He must be alway on his guard. Therefore he must not be careless, ' and say, Peace, when God speaks no peace.' 5, Again, We may know that some judgment is coming, by the universality and generality of sin, when it spreads over all. When there is a general infection of sin, we may well fear the infection of the air. Sin hath infected the souls of men ; therefore no wonder if God, in the plague, have a hand in infecting their bodies. We see here, before the prophet threatened this destruction, there was a generality of sin. In the 10th verse of this chap ter, he cries out against the covetousness and false dealing of the priests and prophets, and men of all estates. And so also chapter v, ver, 4, ' The poor they were naught :' they were poor in grace and goodness, as well as in condition. Then saith he, ' I will see if there be any goodness in the great ones : I will get me to the great men,' Ver, 5, &c., ' They have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God ; but they have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds,' When poor and rich, great and smaU, when all are sottish and brutish, ' when all fiesh had corrupted their ways,' Gen, vi, 12, as it was before the fiood, then judgment must needs come. Surely generality of sin makes way for generality of judgment. As the deluge of sin made way for the deluge of water, so the overflow of sin will make way for a flood of fire. God will one day purge the world with fire. But now for particular sins, whereby we may know when judgment is coming. These they are : (1,) First, Injustice and formality in religion. When men are generally unjust, destraction is near ; and indeed, how can a Christian soul look upon men's courses abroad in these regards, ' but he shall weep in secret,' Lam, i, 16 ? Is there' not a general injustice ? Will not men get any cause, so they have a good purse ? Is not innocency trodden down ofttimes ? 2. And so for religion. It is generally neglected. Indifferency and formality they are the sins of the times. Here is a sweet progress. In Queen EUzabeth's time, we began with zeal and eamestness ; but now we begin to stagger whether religion is the better. We will join and put them together, that God hath put an eternal difference between, ' light and dark ness.' Is this our progress after so much teaching, to put off God with formality, and deny the power ? (3,) Again, Another particular sin foreshowing judgment, is persecution of religion and religious men. When God is worshipped with conscience as he should be, what imputations are laid on it ! I need not speak. The world knows well enough. Can God endure this, when conscience of his service shall go under the brand of opposition ? God is much beholding to the times, when there is nothing so heartUy hated as that. There are many things loathsome, as deboishness,-]- &c. But what is so eagerly and heartily hated as the power of godliness ? That which they have been known to do * Qu. ' no care ' ? — Ed, t That is, ' debauchery.' — G, 224 god's inquisition, for conscience, hath been matter of reproach and ruin almost to many men. If a man wUl not prostitute his conscience to a creature, to make an idol of him, to set him highest, if he wUl not be buxom, and crack his conscience for a creature, he is scarce thought fit to live in the world, WiU God suffer this, if these things be not amended ? If anything be good in reU gion, the more the better, the more exact Christian the better. Exactness in other things is best. Is to be best in the best naught, when to be best ¦ in that which is not so good carries away the commendations ? In 1 Thess. U. 16, ' The wrath of God is come on them to the utmost ; God they hate and they are contrary to aU men.' This is a forerunner of destruction, the spiteful opposing of goodness. God wiU not endure it long. (4.) And so when men wiU go on incorrigibly in sin, as these here, ' they rush as the horse into the battle ;' when they wiU not be reclaimed, it is a forerunner of destruction, Alas ! the ministers of God strive with men, ' but they break off the cords,' Ps. ii. 3, and cry. Tush ! they are siUy men ; shaU we yield to them ? We know what is for our gain, and profit, and credit in the world better than so. Let us look to that, and not be hampered in these religious bonds. No ; we are wiser than so. Thus when men are incorrigible, and account the wisdom of God stark folly, it is a sign of destruction. There is an excellent place for this, Ezek, xxiv, 12-14, ' She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not out of her : she would not have her filthiness taken from her. In her filthiness is lewdness ; because I would have purged thee,' with the word and the preaching of judgments, ' and thou wouldst not be purged ; therefore thou shalt not be purged till thou die, untU I cause my fury to rest upon thee, I the Lord have spoken it : it shall come to pass, I wUl do it,' When God goes about to purge us by his word, and we wiU not amend our ways, we will not stoop, but ' strengthen an iron sinew, and a whore's forehead,' Jer, iii, 3, We will not be purged, nay, saith God, thou shalt not be purged till I purge thee out of the world to heU, till my fury rest on thee, I the Lord have spoken it, it shaU come to pass, Isa, xlvi, 11, There is another notable place, Prov, xxix. 1, ' He that is a man of reproof,' that is, a man that is sermon-proof, that is often reproved and yet carries himself impudently and hardens his heart, and stiffens his neck, ' he shall suddenly be destroyed,' He doth not mean but that he had warning enough ; but because after long warning he hardens his neck, he shaU suddenly be destroyed, when he looks not for it, ' and that without remedy.' There is the same phrase in 2 Chron, xxxvi, 16, • There was no remedy,' when they did not regard God's ministers, that directed them the way to heaven, but would live in rebeUion against the means of salvation. Then saith God, ' there was no remedy.' God sent his messengers betimes, and had com passion on his people. He would not have had them perish. ' They trifled with him and mocked his messengers,' accounted them weak men. They despised his word, and misused his prophets ; and then the Lord's wrath , rose against his people, and ' there was no remedy.' So when people are as those here in the text, that ' they rush as the horse into the battle,' that they are sermon-proof, that when every sermon they hear, as the hammer on the smith's anvU, makes them harder and harder, as Moses speaking to Pharaoh increased the hardness of his heart, it is a sign of destruction. Now whether it be so or no, I leave it to your particular consciences. We that are ministers tell you of your filthiness, of your profaning the name of God, and contempt of God's word. Whether have we gained upon you god's inquisition. 225 or no ? Who hath left an oath ? Who hath left his wicked courses and entered into a nearer communion with God for all our teaching ? Blessed is that man. It is a sign God wiU not destroy him. It is a sign that in the general visitation God will regard that man. But, alas ! we may almost complain with Jeremiah in his prophecy, Jer. v, 1, where he runs up and down to seek a man. Alas ! they are very few. They are thick sown, but come thin up, that obey the ordinance of God, It is some comfort that men will submit to the ordinance, that they will come to hear. Some good may be learned. It is better than to keep out of the compass of God's law, as those men do that pretend they can read sermons at home, and so wiU teach God a course to bring men to heaven. There is hope of men when they submit to God's ordinance. But, I beseech you, how are you affected now for the present ? How do you come now into the presence of God, if you will not amend and resolve to enter into a new course ? He that is often reproved and will not come in, ' judgment wUl come suddenly on him without all remedy.' And it is good it should be without remedy ; because it is without excuse. You cannot plead, and say that there were not prophets among you. If the heathens were hardened and given up to destruction, — ' the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against them,' Rom i, 18, because they lived in a course of rebellion against the light of nature ; — shall you, that have the light of nature, and the word of God, and the motions of his Spirit too, think to Uve in rebelUon and not be accountable for it ? It shall be easier for them that never heard of the word of God, Where God hath magnified his mercy, he wUl exalt judgment. Those that are Uft up to heaven in privUeges, shall be cast down to hell, ' Woe unto thee, Capernaum,' &c,. Mat, xi, 21, The more in privUeges, the more in judgment if they be abused, (5.) Again, Another particular sin whereby we may discern a judgment coming is, unfruitfulness under the means ; as the fig-tree, when it was digged and dunged, and yet was unfruitful, then it was near a curse. In Heb, vi. 3, the ground that is tiUed and manured, and hath the rain falling on it, it is then ' near unto cursing' if it bring not forth. Perhaps a heathen, a pagan, if he were under the means, would be fruitful ; therefore there might be hope of him. But those that are under the means, under the sunshine of the gospel, under the infiuence of it, the Spirit working on their hearts ; and yet they live in the sin of unfruitfulness, it makes way for judgment, ' The axe is laid to the root,' Mat, iii, 10, When men are taught, then the instrument of vengeance is laid to the root, and down they go if they bring not forth good fruit. Sins of omission, when that all hath been taught, are sufficient to bring a man to judgment. At the last judgment, ' you have not visited me in prison, you have not relieved the poor,' &c., wUl be evidence enough to cast a man into heU, Mat, xxv, 48, And the like may be said of the omission of other duties. When a man is called to place, when he hath opportunity to do good, ' he hath a price in his hand, and yet hath no heart to lay it out to his power,' God hath made him a steward, and yet he is unfruit ful, and labours to undermine and rain the state of others. What can such a man look for but the judgment of God to light on him first or last? If not present judgment on his body, yet to be given up to hardness of heart, and so to hell, which is worst of aU, (6.) Nay more, decay in our first love is a forerunner of judgment, when we love not God as we were wont. In Rev, u, 5, ' I wUl take away thy aandlestick, because thou hast left thy first love,' Is there not such a VOL. VI. P 226 god's INQUISITION, plenty and depth in good things, especially of the gospel, whereby our sins are pardoned, and grace is given ? Is there not that sweetness in them whereby to gain our love more and more ? Is there not a necessity to renew our peace ? Why should we decay in our love ? The things of the gospel are so exceUent and so necessary, that when God sees them under valued, it is a forerunner of judgment. Let us take heed of decay in our affections. When there is no zeal for the truth, it is an iU sign. It is a good sign for the present that God hath some blessing for us, that now in our public meetings there is regard to religion ; and that, in the first place, there is some zeal for the cause of God against those that would wrong the cause of religion. We have some cause to hope in respect of that. And let every one labour to stir up the Spirit of God, and study how he may do and receive good, and be fruitful and warm in his affections, considering what exceUent blessings we enjoy in the gospel. What is the glory of the kingdom we live in above popery ? Our religion that we have, the sunshine of the gospel. Now the riches of Christ are unfolded ; we have the key of heaven, heaven opened ; what glorious times are these ! The glory of the times is the manifestation of the gospel ; and shall we grow in the decay of our love ? Is there not cause to grow in love to the gospel, when God hath taken it from others and hath given it to us? Now, idolatry is where true religion was ; and the mass is said where God was religiously worshipped in other places and countries. Shall God so deal with us, and shaU we not be in love with that truth ? Since we have had the truth, what peace and plenty have we had ! And if ever we lose it, it will go with other things. If God takes away the truth, away goes our peace and prosperity. He will not take it away alone. It came not alone, and he will not take it away alone. Doubtless it must needs make way for judgment, when our love to so precious a jewel as the gospel shall begin to die and decay, when we shall begin to slight and disregard it. And so for any particular man that hath had good things in him. If they now begin to decay, it is an ill sign, that God is fitting him for judgment. Well, but what shall we do when judgments are coming ? We see judg ments are like to come, nay, are in part come. The plague of pestilence hath seized on us already ; and then war is threatened, and that by ene mies that have been foiled before. Foiled enemies are dangerous enemies, if they be proud. Now we have proud enemies that have been foiled, and idolatrous withal, and what mercy can we look for from them ? God fought against them for us from heaven in some measure, and they being cruel provoked enemies, are the less likely to shew any mercy.* God is indeed so merciful to us yet, that he hath taken us into his own hands, rather than to give us up to the malice and fury of idolatrous enemies. But yet those that can lay things together, and consider the times, they shall see there is more cause of fear than is taken to heart. Well, and in this case, what shall we do ? 1, First, In the interim between the threatening and the execution. There are some judgments in the cloud, and the storm seems to hang over us, and the sword of the pestilence is drawn over our heads by the destroy- , ing angel, though he hath not yet stricken us in our particular. Now in the 1 time between the threatening and the execution ; oh improve it, make use I of this little time; get into covenant with God; hide yourselves in the provi- | dence and promises of God ; make your peace, defer it no longer. 2, And secondly. Mourn for the sins of the time, that when any judg- j * Spain.— G. ¦' GOD S INQUISITION, 227 1 ment shaU come, you may be marked with those that mourn. Take heed i of the errors and sins of the times, lest, when a judgment comes, you be I swept away in the general judgments. But let us rather have our part with those that mourn, that God may give us our lives for a prey, ! 8, And thirdly, Be watchful. Practise that duty. We have the plague to put us in mind of it, besides the threatening of dangers by enemies abroad. If we will not watch now and stand upon our guard, when wUI we ? Let us be watchful to do aU the good we can, to be fruitful, to be good stewards, to have large hearts. The time may come that we may be stripped of aU, and we know not how soon. Having but a little time, let us do good in it ; study aU opportunities in these times ; rouse up our sluggish souls. Fear, it is a waking affection, Jacob, when his brother Esau was ready to seize on him, ' he could not sleep that night,' We know not how soon the hand and arrow of God may strike us, besides other judgments. Let us shake off security, and do everything we do sin cerely to God, We may come to God to make our account, we know not how soon. Let us do everything as in his presence, and to him. In our particular callings, let us be conscionable,* and careful, and fruitful. Let us do all in our places to God, and not to the world, or to our own parti cular gain, but do it as those that must give account ere long to God. Now, God threateneth us to come and give our account ; who can be secure he shaU have Ufe for a week, or for one day ? We cannot. ' Our times are in God's hands,' Ps, xxxi. 15, We came into the world in his time, and we must go out in his time. But now we have less cause to hope for long life. This is to make a right use of the judgment of God, to be watchful in this kind. And withal, let us be good husbands now in the interim. Between the threatening and the execution of the judgment, let us store up comforts from the promises of God, and store up the comforts of a good life. We shaU have more comfort of the means we have bestowed wisely than of that we shaU leave behind us. Thus if we do, come what will, we are prepared. Many holy and heavenly men have been visited with pestilential sickness. Hezekiah was a king, and his was a pestilential sickness ; and many holy divines of late, and other Christians, have been swept away by the sickness — Junius, and other rare men of excellent use in the church (b). Therefore let us labour to get into the favour of God ; make use of our renewing our covenant for the time to come. That is one end of fasting now, to renew our covenants, to remake them for the time to come. And then come what wiU, and welcome, life or death ; for there is a blessing hid in the most loathsome sickness and death. If we come to heaven, it is no matter by what way, though the body ' be sown in dishonour,' We may die of a noisome disease, that we cannot have our friends near us, yet ' the body shall rise again in honour,' 1 Cor. xv. 48, What matter, saith St Paul, ' if by any means I may come to the resurrection of the dead ; ' by fair death or foul death, it is no matter. And if so be that God makes not good his promise of particular protection of our bodies from contagion, &c., it is no matter. We have a general promise ' that he will be our God,' ' He is the God of Abraham,' the God of the dead as well as of the living, Mat, xxii, 32, He is a God that is everlasting in the covenant of grace, in life and death, and for ever. If we be entered into the covenant of grace, it holds for ever. And when all other promises fail, and all things in the world fail, stick to the main promise of forgiveness of sins, ' and life everlasting,' * That is, ' conscientious.' — G, 228 god's INQUISITION, When aU things in the world will fail, we must leave them shortly, wealth and whatsoever, what a comfort is in that grand promise that God wiU for give us our sins, and give us life everlasting for Christ ! Therefore, when all things else are gone, let us wrap ourselves in the gracious promises of Christ, and then we shall live and die with comfort. NOTES. (a) P. 213. — ' Therefore an ancient saith, " He that is good only under the cross is never good."' Qu. Bernard ? (b) P. 227, — ' Junius.' The allusion to the ' plague' shews that Sibbes speaks of Francis Du Jou or Junius of Leyden, an eminent theologian who was swept off by the plague there in 1602. He is sometimes confounded with a contemporary Baldwinus Junius, and sometimes with his own son and namesake. There are others of the sa^je na/me more or less distinguished. 6, THE EICH POYERTY. THE RICH POVERTY, NOTE. 'Rich Poverty forms the last of the four treatises included in 'Light from Heaven' {4to, 1638). The title-page is given below.* For general title-page see Vol. IV. p. 490, G. * THE RICH POVERTY: OR TUB POORE MANS RICHES. By the late Learned and Reverend Divine, RICHARD SIBBS, D"^. in Divinity, Master of Katharine Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher at GRAIES-INNE. Matth. 5. 3. Blessed are the poore in spirit. lames 2. 5. Hath not God chosen the poore of this world, rich in faith ? LONDON, Printed by R. Badger for N. Bourne at the Boyall Exchange, and R. Harford at the gilt Bible in Queenes-head Alley in Paier-Noster Row. 16 38. THE RICH POVERTY; OE, THE POOE MAN'S EICHES. I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. — Zeph. Ill, 12. Before the captivity in Babylon, God sent prophets to his people, as Jeremiah ; and among the rest Zephaniah likewise, who lived in the time of Josiah, to forewarn and forearm them against worse times. And as the contents of all other prophecies are for the most part these three, so of this : they are either such expressions and prophecies as set forth the sins of the people ; or, secondly, the judgments of God ; or, thirdly, com fort to the remnant, to God's people. So these be the parts of this pro phecy : a laying open of the sins of the time, under so good a prince as Josiah was ; and likewise the judgments of God denounced ; and then in this third chapter especially, here is comfort set down for the good people that then lived. The comfort begins at the ninth verse. This particular verse is a branch of the comfort, that however God dealt with the world, he would be sure to have a care of his own : ' I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord,' The whole Scripture is for consolation and com fort. When God ' puUs down,' it is that he may buUd up ; when he purgeth, it is that he may cure and heal. He is ' the father of comfort,' 2 Cor, i, 3, Whatsoever he doth, it is for comfort. Therefore he hath a special care in his prophets and ministers and ambassadors, that those that belong to him may be raised up with comfort, and not be over-much dejected and cast down. But to come to the words, ' I wiU also leave in the midst of thee,' &c. In the words these three general heads : First, God's dealings with his poor church when he comes to visit the world: ' I wUl leave in the midst of thee,' Secondly, Their condition and disposition : they are ' an afflicted and poor people.' Thirdly, Their practice and carriage towards God : ' They shall trust in the name of the Lord,' 232 THE EICH POVEETY ; OE, From the first, God's dealing with his people in the worst times, we may observe, first, that Obs. 1. There is a difference of the people, both in regard of providence in this world, and in regard of that love that tends to the world to come. For God hath a more special care, as we shall see afterwards, of some, than he hath of others ; and he loves some to eternal life, and not others ; ' I wiU leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people,' refusing others, God will leave some. He will purge away others ; as he saith in the verse before, ' I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride ; and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy moun tain.' He wUl take away them, ' but I will leave in the midst of thee,' &c. There is a difference, AU are not alike, as the proverb is, as white lines upon a white stone, that we cannot see a difference. It is not alike with all men, for we see a difference in this world ; but not much here, because God's government is veiled. It will appear at the last day ; and whatso ever appears at the last day, it had a ground before. There is a difference in regard of grace and inward qualification, and in regard of the care of God, Even as there is a difference in the creatures ; there be precious stones and common stones ; and in plants, there be fruitful trees and barren trees ; and as there is a difference likewise in the living creatures, so among men there is a difference. The next thing is, that Obs. 2, Ood will havesome in the worst times. He will have some in aU times, that are his, a remnant, as he saith here, ' The remnant of Israel shall do no iniquity ; ' and as in the text, ' I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people,' &c. God will have alway some that are his in the world. Reason 1. For it is an article of our faith, ' We believe the holy catholic church.' There must not be an article of faith and no object to believe. If there be faith to believe a thing, there must be somewhat to be believed. If I believe that at all times there shall be an ' holy catholic church,' there must be such a church in the world, that is the object of my belief, or else there were no foundation for that article of faith. Therefore there must always be a church to the end of the world ; sometimes more, sometimes fewer, even as the discovery of Christ is. From whence comes the abundance of the Spirit ? The Spirit foUows the manifestation of the knowledge of Christ, who is the head of the church. Then is the church most glorious, when the riches of Christ are more gloriously discovered. Those times wherein there is most discovery of Christ, and the mercy and love of God in him, there are more ' elect' of God in those times than in other. There will be alway a church in the world. That is the object of our belief. What is the meaning of it ? I beUeve that in aU times to the end of the world there wiU be a company of people spread over the world, gathered out of the rest of mankind, whom Christ hath knit to him self by faith, and themselves together in a holy spirit of love, of which com pany I believe myself tp be one ; therefore there must be such a company, or else there would be faith without an object of faith, which were a great absurdity in divinity and reason too. Reason 2, Then again, The world should not stand, were it not for a com pany in the world that are his. For what are others ? A company of swearers and blasphemers, profane persons, belly-gods, ambitious bubbles, that care for nothing but the vanities of the world. What glory hath God by them ? What tribute do they give to God ? What credit to religion ? They are the shame of the times. They are such as pull God's vengeance THE POOK man's EICHES, 233 upon the times and places they live in. Such is the UI disposition and poisonful nature of men, if they have not the Spirit of God, that God would not endure the world to stand a moment, unless there were some to with hold his wrath, to be objects of his love, and to stay his hand ; and when they are aU gathered, there shaU be an end of this wretched and sinful world. Some there must be while the world endures, and for their sakes God continues the world. Those that keep God's wrath from the world are those that are his ; and tiU aU those be gathered the world shaU stand. There shall alway be some. Use 1, It is a point not altogether fruitless. It yields some comfort to know, that when we are taken hence, others shall stand up when we are gone. The church shall not die with us. Is not that a comfort, when a Christian yields his soul to God, to think : yet God will have a church and people, if not amongst us, yet in some other part of the world. He wiU have some that shall glorify him in this world, that shall adorn and beautify religion, and shall for ever be glorified with him in heaven, till he have made an end of these sinful days. It is some comfort, I say, that good ness shall Uve after us, that the gospel shall continue after us. There shall be a posterity to the end of the world, that shall stand for the truth and cause of God. The world was not, nor ever shall be so bad, but God hath had, and wUl have, a party in the world that shall stand for him, and he for them. Now the children of God, as they know God hath a purpose to glorify them world without end ; so they have a desire that God may be glorified world without end ; and from this desire comes joy, when they think that there will be a people on earth to glorify God still when they are taken hence : for it is a disposition wrought from God's peculiar love, to wish that God may ever have his praise here in the world, while it is a world, and for ever in the world to come. Therefore it is a comfort to them to think that God wUl always have a church. But these are but a few, called by Isaiah a remnant : ' a remnant according to election,' as it is, Rom, xi, 5, A handful in comparison of the world, yet they are a world in respect of themselves ; for they are a world taken out of the world. But compared with the rest of mankind, they are but as a ' few grapes after the vintage, as the gleanings after the harvest, one of a city, and two of a tribe,' Jer, in, 14, The prophets, every one of them have special phrases to set out the fewness of those that God hath a special care of. He caUs them in the next verse the ' remnant of Israel,' God wiU have some continually; but those are but a few that are his. His flock is but ' a little flock.' It is a point not mainly aimed at here ; but it is very useful. Use 2,* Is there but a few, but a remnant in aU times ? Am I one of I those ? What have I to evidence to me that I am of that little flock that is I Christ's ? What have I in me to evidence that God hath set his stamp upon me to be his ? that I shaU not go the broad way to destruction ? This should force such quceres to our souls. When we hear of the few that shaU be saved, we should make that use that Christ makes of that curiousf question of the fewness of them that should be saved. ' Oh strive to enter in at the strait gate,' Luke xiii, 24, Stand not on many or few, Ma,ke this use of it. Strive to enter in at the strait gate. Take up and practise the duties of religion, that are contrary to the corruption of nature, and contrary to the times. Avoid the sins and courses of the times, and then * In margin here, ' To examine if we be of those few.' — G. t That is, = ' vainly inquisitive.' — G, 234 THE EICH POVEETY ; OE, we shaU know and evidence to ourselves that we are of that few number. Somewhat must be done to shew that we are not of those that go the broad way. We hear that there are few that go the other way ; and indeed it wUl make a man look about him, the very consideration that there are but few that shall be saved. Use 3, And it wiU make a man wondrous thankful, ' Who am I, and what is my father's house ?' 2 Sam, vii, 18, What is there in me ? What could God see in me to single me out of the rest, out of a great number that go the broad way to destruction, to set his love upon me ? It wiU infiame the heart with thankfulness to God, It wiU not make a man proud to despise others. That is pharisaical. But it wUl inflame the heart to be thankful in a peculiar manner to God, and 'to single out God in a pecuUar manner to be our God, as he hath singled us out to be his. For always he works somewhat in us, like to that he works for us. Those that God hath singled out to be his, he wiU give them grace to single out him again, God shaU be my God, religion shaU be my care, and that that God respects shall be that that I wiU respect. Since God so respects me, shaU not I love and respect all that God respects ? And shall I not grieve when anything goes amiss with that that God hath a care of? Certainly it wUl work this dis position, when we come to perceive, by grounded evidence, that we are of that few company, of that remnant here spoken of, that God wiU leave alway to trast in his name, Obs. In the next place, though they be few, yet God hath a special care of them. Why? There is good reason; for they are his in a peculiar manner. A governor of an house, he cares for all his cattle, but he cares for his children more. A man hath some care for all the lumber and trash in his house ; he sees them useful at some time or other, but he cares more for his jewels. If fire come, he will be sure to carry away his jewels, what soever Ijecome of the lumber, God's children are his after a peculiar man ner. Therefore he hath an answerable peculiar care of them in all times. And indeed when they are once his, as he makes them have a peculiar care of him, so he looks upon them as such as he hath wrought upon to be good, and to witness for him ; that have a care to stand for him and his honour, to own him and the cause of religion ; he will have a care of them. Not that they have this of themselves to win his love, but he works in them a care to witness for him ; he works in them a care to stand for him and his glory in all times ; and therefore he will be sure to stand for them in the worst times. He will not be beholding to any man. What we have, we have it from him ; and then he crowns his own graces after. He will have a special care of those that are his. This might be instanced from the beginning of the world, from the infancy of the church to this present time. When he would consume the old world, Noah must come into the ark. And Lot must come forth of Sodom when it was to be destroyed ; the angel could do nothing else. Gen, xix. 22. So he had a care for Jeremiah and Baruk, he gave them their lives for a prey. He will have a care of his own in the worst times, for they are sealed ; he hath set his seal upon them. Those things that are sealed we have a special care of ; now in Rev, vii, 3, there are a number that are sealed, sealed inwardly by the Spirit of God, they are marked out for God ; they are a marked, sealed number, all those that God will have a special care of. As in Ezek, ix. 4, those that were marked in the fore head, they were looked unto and cared for before the destruction came. So in Mai, in, 17, God had jewels that he saith he would gather. When THE POOE man's biches. 235 he brings a general destruction, he wiU be sure to gather his jewels; his first care is of them. ' A book of remembrance was written for them.' He hath a book of providence to write their names in. He hath their limbs, all the parts of them written ; not a hair of them can miscarry : their tears, their steps, their days are numbered, ' My times are in thy hands,' saith David, Ps, xxxi, 15, All things are numbered exactly of those that belong to God, He hath a care of them and all theirs to a hair ; as our Saviour Christ saith, they shall not lose so much as a hair of their heads, God hath an exact care of his remnant at all times, Obj. But you will say. Sometimes it falls out otherwise. Ans. Indeed, so it doth, for sometimes God's children are taken away in common judgments, perhaps for too much correspondency with the sins of the times ; therefore they are wrapped in the destruction of the times. But yet there is a main difference between them, Jonathan and Saul died by the sword, both of them ; Josiah and others died in the field. But there is a main difference, Jonathan was a good man ; Saul, for aught the Scripture saith of him, we have no ground to judge charitably of him, but leave him to his judge. But sure it is in general, though the same things befall good and bad outwardly, yet there is a difference between Lazarus and Dives when they die. Dives goes to his place, and Lazarus to heaven. But for the most part this is true : in regard of the body of the church (though, some few members, God hath hidden ways to bring them to heaven and happiness ; but for the body of his church and dear children), ' he will give them their lives for a prey,' Jer. xxi, 9, He wiU have a special care of them and be a sanctuary to them. Nay, so far he will do it, that the world shall know that he hath a special care of them in the world ; as it is in the psalm, the heathen shall say, ' God hath done great things for them,' Ps, cxxvi. 2. Men that have no religion shall say. Certainly God doth great things for these men. Though he suffer them to be carried captive and to be in affliction, yet in that very affliction shall be the glory of the church, in that very bondage and abasement. Was the church ever more glorious than in Babylon, when Daniel was there, and the ' three young men ' were put into the fire ? The glory of the church ofttimes is in outward abasement. The world shall see that God hath a special care of them more than of others. God so magnifies himself, and is so marvellous to his church and children, to do good to them sometimes, to the envy of the enemies, and admiration of all the world that take notice of them, as at the return from the captivity ; and the like shall be at the conversion of the Jews, Use. The use of it may be, to comfort us against evil times, against the time to come. ' Let us cast our care upon God ; he will care for us,' 1 Pet, V, 7, He wiU be with us and stand by us ; he wiU never forsake us in the worst times. Nay, his fashion is to deal with his children as becometh his infinite wisdom, that they shall find most comfort and sweetest communion with him in the hardest times. Therefore let us fear nothing that shaU befall us with slavish fear, let ns fear nothing whatsoever in this world, as long as we are in covenant with God, come what will. It is a great honour to God to trust him with all for the time to come. Let us do our duty, and not be afraid of this or that, as long, I say, as we have God in covenant with us, who is aU-sufiicient. What should we be afraid of? ' Can a mother forget her child?' saith the prophet ; ' If she should, yet wiU I not forget thee ; thou art written on the palms of my hands,' Isa. xlix. 16, Those thmgs that are in the palms of our hands we have ever 236 the EICH POVERTY ; OE, in our eye, God hath us in his eye. He sets his children before him alway. How can he forget them ? How can Christ forget his church ? He carries them in his breast, as the high priest had the names of the twelve tribes on his breast in twelve precious stones, when he went into the holy of hoUes, Christ carries our names in his heart ; how can he forget us then ? Let kingdoms dash one against another, and let the world tumble upon heaps ; let there be what confusion of states there wiU, God certainly will have a care of his jewels, ' I will leave,' in spite of aU the world, ' in the midst of thee, an afflicted and poor people,' &o, Qu-est. You will say. When is this performed ? Ans. ' In that day,' saith he in the verse before my text. You must know it is the Scripture's fashion, when it saith, ' In that day,' to take it indefinitely, not to tie it to a certain day ; though there is a certain ^day wherein there shall be an accomplishment of all prophecies and a perform ance of all promises, that is, at the last day. In the mean time, there is a gradual performance of promises, and the accomplishment of them is in several knots and points of time, so much as shall give content to God's chUdren, yet always leading to a further and further performance. As, for example, God shewed mercy to these Israelites when they were in cap tivity. He brought them home again. They were a poor and afflicted people, and were much bettered by their abasement. There was a degree of performance then. And then there was a degree of performance in Christ's time, when he joined the Gentiles to them, and both made one church. There will be a more glorious performance at the conversion of the Jews, when God shall make his people ' trust in the name of the Lord,' and the Gentiles shall come in and join with them, and they with the Gen tiles. But that which follows in the verse after, ver, 18, ' The remnant shall do none iniquity, nor speak lies ; a deceitful tongue shall not be found in their mouth,' these things shall have their time, when the people shall be more thoroughly purged than ever they were ; and certainly these glorious portions of Scripture cannot have performance but in such days as are to come. But the accomplishment of all shall be at the day of judgment. Indeed, in the mean time, as I say, there is a comfortable performance, leaving us in expectation of further and further still ; because, while we live here, we are in a life of hope and expectation, and always we are under somewhat unperformed. So much for that, I come now to the state and condition of these people : ' An afflicted and poor people,' This is their state and condition, wherein is implied also their disposition. Their state is, they are ' an afflicted and poor people,' So it is answerable to the original, ' an afflicted and impoverished people,' a weakened people. However, God hath a special care of his church in this world. Yet it is with exception of some crosses and afflictions, ' You shall have an hundred fold,' saith Christ, ' in this life ;' but ' with tribulations and afflictions;' that must come in. But yet, notwithstanding, here is a blessing in this : for howsoever he leave them ' an afflicted and poor people,' yet he leaves them a people ; and though they be a people afflicted and poor, yet they are a people that are rich in God, They shall ' trust in the name of the Lord ;' of which I shall speak afterward. In that he calls them ' an afflicted and poor people,' hence we see, in the first place, that, . Doct. The state of God's church and children in this world, for the most ] part, is to be afflicted and poor in their outward condition. the POOE man's EICHES. 237 I say, for the most part, we must not make it a general rule. It is a point rather to comfort us when it is so, than that it is alway so with the church. For howsoever they are always in some respects afflicted, they have alway something to abase them; yet the times of the church are sometimes more glorious in the eyes of the world. They have the upper hand of the world sometimes. And sometimes again the children of God, they walk in the abundance of the comforts of the Holy Ghost, and increase and multiply, as it is in Acts ix, 31, When Saul was converted to be Paul, ' the church increased and grew, and went on in the fear of the Lord, and the comforts of the Holy Ghost,' There be good days and times for the church sometimes ; but for the most part in this world, God's church and children are under some cloud, I will not enter into the common-place of it, but only touch it in a word or two. Reason 1. God will have it so, because it is fit the body should he con formable to the head. You know our blessed Saviour, when he wrought our salvation, he wrought it in a state of abasement, and we ' in working out that salvation,' in going to that salvation that he hath wrought for us, we must go to it, for the most part, in a state of abasement in one kind or other ; for we are chosen to be conformable to our head, and we are as well chosen to our portion in afflictions as to grace and glory, God hath set us apart to bear such a share and portion of troubles in this world, to suffer as weU as to do, ' From my youth up,' saith the church, ' they have afflicted me; the ploughers have ploughed upon my back and make long furrows,' Ps, cxxix, 8 ; that is, from the infancy of the church, in all the growth of it, this hath been the state of the church, for the most part, to be afflicted ¦' and poor. Reason 2, And indeed, if we look to ourselves, by reason of the remainder of our corruptions, it is needful it should be so, God in wisdom sees it fit it should be so, that we should be afflicted and poor, because he sees that we can hardly digest any flourishing condition in this world. It is as strong waters to a weak stomach. However strong waters intoxicate them not, to make them drunk, yet they weaken the brain. So, however a good condition in the world doth not altogether besot men, yet it weakens them without a great measure of faith, and makes them forget God, and the con dition of worldly things, how empty and vain they are ; and forget them selves and their own mortality ; and forget others, what respect is due to them, as if the world were made only for them to toss and tumble in at their pleasure, to have all at their will, as if other men were scarce* men to them. You see when men are trusted with great matters, they deal witfil other men as if they were not men, as if all were made for their pleasure,! This is the nature of man in great eminency. It sets up its own desire forj a ' god,' as if aU other were beasts, and base, and nothing. It is a pitiful thing to consider what our nature is in this kind. Nay, take the best. Hezekiah, in his prosperity, he would needs shew his treasures to the king of Babylon, a fair booty for him. You know what it cost him afterward. Naturally we are prone to outward carnal excellency, too, too much. God knows it well enough, David would be numbering the people, that he might be conceited what a goodly number he had to fight against his ene mies, God punished him you see in that kind. He took away that people^ that he made his confidence. God deals thus with his chUdren in this] world, because he sees a disposition in them that cannot digest, and manage J *¦ That is, ' scarcely ' not = rare. — G. 238 THE EICH POVEETY ; OE, and overcome prosperity. They cannot command it as they should do, but are slaves to their own lusts, though they have a good measure of grace. We are prone to surfeit of the things of this life, and God is forced ; as it is in Ps, cxix. 75, ' of very faithfulness thou hast corrected me,' God, of very faithfulness, because he wiU be true to our souls and save them, he is forced to diet us and to keep us short of the things of this life ; to take away matter of pride and matter of conceitedness in carnal excellencies ; to make us know ourselves, and him, and the world, what it is ; the vanity of the world and worldly things. You see, then, God hath some cause to do it. Use. And ive may justify God when he any way abaseth us in this world. He knows what he hath to do with us : let us leave that to him, so he save our souls, and sanctify them, and delight in us to heaven and happiness. If his pleasure be to diet us in this world, in regard of riches and greatness, that he do not answer our desires, but keep us under hatches, let us leave it to his will. He knows what to do with us, as the physician knows better what concerns the sick than the sick doth. Therefore, let us take in good part the wise dispensation of God, But why doth he join ' afflicted and poor' together ? Because poverty is affliction, and because affliction goes with poverty ? Poverty brings affliction. It brings abasement with it, and it is an affliction itself. For the poor man is trod on at all hands. Men go over the hedge where it is lowest. It is an affliction, and it goes with affliction. Therefore the apostle St Paul, Philip, iv. 12, he joins them together : ' I have learned to want and to be abased.' Why ? Because a man that is in want in the world is usually abased. Every man scorns him that is in want. They look haughty and high over a man that hath any use of them. So that affliction and poverty usually go together. Those that God doth abase in this kind, let them consider that it is no otherwise with them than it hath been with God's people before. And let them labour for true riches : take advantage from their outward estate to be rich in a better way. In the next place, we may observe hence, that Doct. God sanctifies outward affliction and poverty, to help inward poverty of spirit. Poverty in outward condition helps poverty in the inward disposition. In their state and condition is implied their disposition : poor for condition, and Ukewise in inward disposition, for that is implied here. The prophet doth not mean he will leave poor people that shall only be poor, for we see a world of poor and proud, A man, as he goes along in the streets, shaU hear a company of poor that are the greatest rebels in the world against God ; that blaspheme and swear, that rail against magistrates and gover nors. They are the most unbroken people in the world, the poorest and beggarliest, the refuse of mankind. As they are in condition, so they are in disposition. The Scripture speaks here of God's poor, not of the devil's poor, such as are poor every way, outwardly and inwardly, and have their poverty as a just punishment of their wicked lives, and continue in that wicked life, having it not sanctified to them to make them desire better riches. Doth God esteem such poor ? No, But such poor and afflicted as, together with the meanness of their outward condition, have it sanctified to them ; so as they grow to be low and poor in their own esteem of them selves, they grow to inward poverty of spirit, and so to seek to God, to seek for better riches, ' to be rich in faith,' as the Scripture speaks, James ii, 5 ; THE POOE man's EICHES, 239 especially such, and only such, are here meant. So then, mark the point here, that God sanctifies affliction and poverty for the inward good of the souls of his children. Reason 1. This is the reason of it : outward poverty and affliction takes away the fuel that feeds pride, that is an opposite to spiritual poverty and humility, and sight of our wants. That which pride feeds upon, it is some outward thing, some outward excellency, that the fiesh takes occasion 'by to swell, to over- ween itself, and to overlook all others. Now, when the fuel is taken away, the fire goes out. When the fodder and nourishment is taken away, those wanton steeds, you know, that grew fierce with pamper ing, they grow more tractable. So it is with the nature of man. Take away that that makes him fierce, and then, when his fierce and high con ceits are taken away, he will be tame. Take away that that feeds his carnal disposition, and he grows tractable and gentle. Thus then, affliction and poverty, outward in our condition, it helps to inward poverty of spirit and disposition ; for it takes away that which inflames the fancy of a carnal man, A carnal man thinks himself as great and as good as he hath pos sessions of the things of this life ; and the devil enlargeth his conceit more upon the imagination, to think these things to be a great deal greater than they are. We come afterward, by experience, to see them nothing but vanity. But this is in man without grace : we are prone, as I said, to surfeit of them. They are too strong for us to digest and overcome ; and therefore God takes them away, that he may help the inward disposition of our souls, Affiictions and poverty sanctified, they have a power to bring us to God, and to keep us in and to recover us when we are fallen. They bring us in, as we see in Manasseh and in the prodigal son. Affliction and poverty they brought him to know himself. They brought him home. He was not himself before. They brought him to inward poverty. When he could not be satisfied so much as with husks abroad, it was time for him to look home again. So when we are in the state of grace, it keeps and pales us in: 'God hedgeth us in with thorns,' Hosea ii. 6, that we may not run out. And then, if we fall, it recovers us, and fetcheth us in again, by embittering sinful courses to us. We see, then, affliction and poverty is sanctified to God's chUdren, to work an inward sight of their spiritual wants. Use 1, Take notice, hence, of the poison and sinfulness of our corrupit nature, that defiles itself in the blessings of God ; so that God cannot otherwise fit us for grace, but by stripping of us of those things that are good in themselves. This should abase us very much, considering that those things that should be rises to us, to raise us up to God, that should be glasses to see the love of God in, our nature useth them as clouds to keep God from us, and to fasten and fix upon the things themselves ; so that there is no other remedy, but God must strip us naked of them. This consideration should humble us. Use 2, And let us make this use of it : let us know, when any abasement is sanctified to us, it comes from Ood's love. If we find any affliction make us inwardly more humble and tractable, and more pliable, certainly it comes from love and is directed to our good ; and therefore it is in love, because it is directed to our good. For it is well taken away in earthly things, that is supplied in heavenly and spiritual. What if God takes away such out ward honours, and respects, and riches, if God make it up in graces that 240 THE EICH POVEETY ; OE, are eternal, that make us truly and inwardly good, which all the outward things in the world cannot do ! All the empires in the world cannot make a man an honest man. They may make him worse ; they may be snares to make him forget God and hipiself ; they may be a means of his damna tion, without wondrous care,. What if God take away a great deal of these things, and make them up in favours of a higher kind ! Therefore, if we find God sanctify any outward abasement for the inward good of our souls, let us bless him for it, and take it in good part as an evidence of his love ; for God thus deals with his children. He sanctifies their outward abase ments for their inward good, to draw them nearer to himself. Use 8. Therefore, those that are weak in their condition, for a man may be poor in regard of his condition, though not inwardly poor, those that are broken in their condition outwardly, they may know whether it be in love or no, if they find this condition sanctified to a better disposition. For as all things in general work to the best ' to them that love God,' Rom, viii, 28, so this is one : especial affliction and poverty work for good to them that love God, God sanctifies it to them for that end. Therefore we should examine when we are under any cross, see how it works upon us, whether by it we are humbled or no, whether we join with God or no ; for those that belong to God have the grace of the Spirit to join with him in the work. When he afflicts them, they labour to afflict themselves ; when he goes to humble them outwardly, they humble them selves ; when he goes about to make them poor, to wean them from the love of the world, they wean themselves and join with God, As we see the physician by his art and skill, when he sees nature working away, then he wiU help nature till the cure be wrought ; so God gives his Spirit to those that are his, -to work with him. When God goes about to take them down, they will take down themselves too, and so they grow inwardly better, together with their outward abasement. Those therefore that sweU, and storm, and murmur, and rage, what do they get but more stripes ! They get not out of trouble by it, but if they belong to God, they get stripes upon stripes. What doth the horse get at last by shaking off' his rider that is skilful ? More spurring and more strokes. So when men are under God's hand, afflicted any way, and labour not to make a good use of it, but will puU the rod out of God's hand and sweU and pine, if they belong to God they get more stripes. Therefore let us kiss the rod, and the hand that holds it, God is about a good work, let him alone ; desire him rather to sanctify the visitation and abasement than remove it. A gracious heart desires rather the sanctification th^n the removal. Use 3, Again, Hence we learn not to ' despise the brother of low degree,' James i, 9, nor we should ' not have the faith of Christ in respect of per sons,' James ii, 9, We should not take scandal at the church, that it is usually in a mean condition in this world, for the church is alway rich in another kind of riches. The church is rich in reversion. It hath heaven and happiness, and the church is rich in biUs and promises. The church is rich in an apparent pledge, that is worth aU the world besides ; that is, Christ, 'If he have given us his Son, will he not with him give us aU things else ? ' Rom, vni, 32, The church is rich in this world indeed, ' for aU things are yours, and you are Christ's,' 1 Cor, iii, 28, Christ carries riches for the church, and dispenseth them to the church as occasion serves. Indeed, Christ's riches are the church's riches. The church cannot be pool if Christ be rich. It is only a medicinal poverty. It is God's dispensation THE POOE man's EICHES, 241 to fit them for better riches. As a wise physician he purgeth a foul body, tiU he bring it almost to skin and bone ; but why ? That having made it poor, there may be a spring of better blood and spirits. Let us take no offence therefore at God's dispensation, either towards others or ourselves, if we find him by his Holy Spirit sanctifying that out ward condition to a holy inward bent and disposition of soul to God-ward. It is a happy affliction and poverty and abasement, whatsoever it be that draws us nearer to God, in whom we have more supply than we can want in the world, God never takes away anything from his children in this world, but he gives them more in better things. That is always his course. ' The poor receive the gospel,' Mat, xi, 5, The gospel is preached to them, and they receive it ; those that by their outward abasements are brought to a sight of their spiritual wants, and thereupon to hunger after Christ. Again, In that this outward poverty helps to inward poverty of the soul, outward afflictions help the inward disposition ; hence we see likewise this truth that Obs. Providence is serviceable to predestination and election. God in election hath a purpose to call us out of the world, to save our souls. Providence, that is a general government of all things in the world. Election is in order to salvation ; he hath chosen us to a supernatural end, and fits us for it by calling and sanctification. Now how doth providence serve the decree of election ? Thus ; whom God purposeth to save, to bring to an end above nature, he directs providence, so that all things shall serve for that end ; therefore he encourageth them with outward things, or takes outward things from them in his providence, as may serve his purpose in election to save their souls. He hath a purpose to save them, there fore providence works all things for their good, Rom, viii. 28. All things, by the overruling providence of God, are serviceable to a higher degree of love that God bears to his children, to serve his purpose to bring them to heaven. Thereupon comes the dispensation of riches or poverty, honour or abasement. He takes liberty for outward things concerning this life? to give or take them as they may serve the spiritual and best good of his children. Use. Therefore God's children, when they see God intends their good in taking away the things of this Ufe, in letting them blood, as it were, for their health, they should bless Ood as well for taking as for giving, as Job did. Job i, 21, And there is as great mercy and love hid in taking away blessings as in conveying of them, ' I will leave an afflicted and poor people,' In the original it is poor and mild and gentle (a). Poverty of estate, and poverty of spirit, the disposition of soul, come almost in one word, and indeed in God's children they are joined together. For he sanctifies aU dispensations and carriages of himself towards them. When God hath a purpose to save a man, everything shall help him homeward. And it is not a better outward argument to know a man's state in grace, than to see how the carriage of things serve God's purpose to do good to his soul, when we ourselves are bettered in our inward man by whatsoever befalls us. God complains of the Jews ; they were as ' reprobate sUver,' Jer, vi, 30, because he had melted them, and they were never a whit the better ; they were like dross consumed in the melting, God's children are as gold refined. Those that find themselves refined and bettered, it is an evidence that they are God's ; because there is a providence serving their spiritual good, directing all things to that end. But from their condition, we come to the disposition impUed, inward and spiritual poverty. VOL, VI. Q 242 THE EICH POVEETY ; OE, 1, Now this poverty is not a mere want of grace. To be poor in spirit is not to be poor of that spirit, or to be of a poor spirit. To be of a poor spirit is to have no goodness, no worth at aU, but to be of a dejected, base mind. God's children are not so. There are none more courageous than they, when they are caUed to it. It is not this poverty of spirit to have no goodness at all. But to be ' poor in spirit,' is a state and disposition of soul, that hath some goodness, wherein they see a want of farther goodness. They have so much goodness and worth, as to see an unworthiness in theni- selves, and a greater worthiness out of themselves. They are sensible of their own want, and see they have no means of supply in themselves ; and they see an all-sufficiency out of themselves, in God, in Christ ; they see & necessity of dependence for supply out of themselves, in their whole condition tiU they come to heaven. In a word, this poverty is a sight of our own nothingness in ourselves, and besides that, our own inabUity, and a sight of sufficiency out of ourselves, and a desire of it ; and likewise a hope of supply from thence, which hope carries us to endeavour and to waiting till we have supply. 2, This wUl better appear, if we distmguish of this poverty in. spirit by I the two degrees of it. There is a poverty of spirit before we are in the state ! of grace, before we are in Christ ; and a poverty after. The poverty before we are in the state of grace, is, when God by his Spirit, together with his word and work of correction, doth open the eyes of our souls to see what we are by nature, what we are in ourselves. It is a work of God's convincing Spirit, to give us a trae view into our own con dition, and with the sight to work a sense ; and from a sight and sense and thorough conviction, comes a wondrous abasement, and a desire to be otherwise than we are. There is some hope in spiritual poverty in God's chUdren before their conversion, which stirs them up to look upon Christ, and to the mercy of God in Christ ; and this stirs them up to beg, and to use all means ; and at length God is gracious and answers all the desires of their souls. This is before they were in grace ; for before a Christian is a | sound Christian, he must be driven out of himself. Naturally we are prone \ to cleave to something, either out of ourselves or in ourselves, and we must ' be fired out by a sight and sense of the misery we are in. We see God hath taken, this course alway in Scripture, This course he took with Adam. He cites him, arraigns him, condemns him. He lets him see what a miserable creature he was ; as no man on earth was ever so miserable, till he felt the sweetness of the promised seed. He that had been in so great happiness as he was, to have his conscience so gaUed as his was afterward, to feel such misery for the present as he did, he must needs be very miserable, as indeed he was the most miserable man that ever was since his'time. It is the greatest unhappiness for a man to have been happy ; for his former happiness makes his present unhappiness more sensible.* When God had prepared him thoroughly, then he raised him up with the promised seed, God deals as he dealt with Elijah; first, he casts him down with earthquakes and storms, and then he comes in a stiller voice. It is for that end that John Baptist comes before Christ, to level all, to cast down the ' mountains and fill up the valleys ;' Luke iii, 5, for all must be laid flat to Christ, We must lay ourselves at his feet, and be content to be disposed of by him, before we know what belongs to being in Christ, There must be poverty of spirit antecedent therefore. We see this lively set out in the prodigal son, that while he had anything in the world to content him, he never looks homeward ; but when he saw such an * This idea is largely dwelt upon in Pascal's ' Thoughts.' — Ed, THE POOR man's EICHES, 243 emptiness in all things he met with, that he could not be satisfied with husks, then he began to think of going home, and that there was some hope he had a father that would receive him, I wiU be short in this, because the other is mainly intended. If we would know and discern by some evidences whether we have been poor in spirit, in this preparative poverty or no, 1, Let us consider ivhat we have judged of our condition by nature; whether ever we have been convinced of the ill condition we are in ; for if there be not conviction of sin, there will not be conviction of righteousness, as you have it, John xvi. 8, There are three works of the Spirit, ' to convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment,' of spiritual government. The Spirit, before it convinceth us that we have the righteousness of Christ, and convinceth us 'of the necessity of government and holy life in Christ, which is called there judgment, he convinceth of sin, which is an antecedent work. Let us examine ourselves whether the Spirit have had such a work or no, 2, Where this conviction and poverty is, a man sees an emptiness and vanity in all things in the world whatsoever, hut in Christ. 3. And there is a desire of the grace and favour of Ood above all things. Ask a poor man what he would have ; he would have that that may supply his poverty and want. Ask a man that is spirituaUy poor before he be in Christ ; what would you have ? Oh, mercy and pardon. Offer him any thing else in the world, it contents him not. But that will content him, the sense and persuasion of God's love and mercy in Christ Jesus, 4, Where this poverty of spirit is, there will be a wondrous earnestness after pardon and mercy, and after grace. To be in another condition a man will labour, even as for life. If you come to a poor man that labours for his living, and ask him. Why do you labour so ? he will wonder at your idle question, I may starve else, he will say,. A man that is spiritually poor, and sees what a state he is in, he labours in the use of means to have an inward sense of God's love, to find some beginnings of the new creature, to find a change, to be otherwise than he is ; he sees he must perish else. There is a prizing and estimation in him of mercy and pardon above all things in the world, and a making after it, 5, It is alway joined likewise with a wondrous abasing of himself. He thinks himself not worth the ground he goes on, till God hath mercy on him in Jesus Christ, This is not so sensible in those that are brought up in the church, or that have religious thoughts put into them continually in both kinds ; both concerning their own estate by nature, and withal con cerning grace and mercy in Christ, Therefore grace is instilled into them by little and Uttle, and the change is not so sensible. But where the conver sion is anything sudden, from an ill course of life to a better, God works such a poverty of spirit before he bring a man to Christ, In Mat, v, 8, it is the beginning of all happiness, the blessedness that leads to the rest, ' Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,' And indeed, those that are poor in spirit are blessed, though they have not yet the sense of God's love so much as they desire ; for this draws on all the rest, as I shall shew afterwards. To be poor in spirit therefore, is to see that we have no good in ourselves ; that we are beggars and bankrapts, and have no means to pay or satisfy ; and this stirs up desire and the use of means, and all the qualifications that follow there, ' hungering and thirsting after righteousness, mourning, and meekness,' For this will follow, A man that is poor in spirit, say what you will to him, he is so tractable and meek, let God do what he will with him so he give him grace ; if he wiU cast him 244 THE EIOH POVERTY ; OR, down, so be it. ' What shaU we do to be saved ?' Acts xvi. 80, implying a pUableness to take any course ; he is wUUng to do or to suffer anything. And indeed there must be such a poverty of spirit, before we can believe in Christ, whereby we may be convinced of our debts and of our unability to pay those debts, and our misery ; that we are in danger to be cast into eternal bondage for them. 1, There must be this before ; for else, (1,) We will never repair to Christ nor Ood's mercy in him. ' The full stomach despiseth an honey comb,' Prov. xxvU. 7. We wiU not reUsh Christ, nor value him as we should. (2.) Then again, without this, we will not be thankful to God as we should be. Who is thankful to God but he that sees before what need he stands in of mercy and of every drop of the blood of Christ ? (3,) And then we will not be fruitful ; for who is so fruitful a Christian as he that is thankful ? And this depends upon the other, A Christian that was never truly cast down and laid low by the spirit of bondage, he is a barren Christian. The other having tasted of the love of God in Christ, the very ' love of Christ constrains him,' 2 Cor. v, 14, and he studies to be ' abundant in the work of the Lord,' 1 Cor, xv, 58, as St Paul saith, and every way to ' shew forth the virtues of him that hath called him out of darkness into marvellous light,' 1 Peter ii, 9, (4.) Again, this is the ground, when men are not sufficiently humbled before, that they fall away dangerously. It is the ground of apostasy, be cause they did not feel the smart of sin. He that hath smarted for his estate before, and knows what it is to be in such a condition, he will be loath ever to come into the prison again. Therefore the ground of careful walk ing is a sense of our unworthiness and misery. The more we are convinced of this, the more careful and watchful we wiU be, that we never come into that cursed condition again. (5.) And indeed it is an error in the foundation which is not mended in the fabric, as we say, when there is an error in poverty of spirit at the first, when the work of humUiation is not kindly wrought ; hence is the defect in all the whole carriage of a Christian. The foundation of God's buUding lies low ; he digs deep, God lays his foundation ofttimes as low as hell itself in a manner ; he brings his children to see that that he means they shall never feel, to see his wrath against sin, that so he may build upon this foundation. For Christianity it is an excellent frame ; it is a frame for etemity, a building for ever. Therefore it must have a sure founda tion, which must be laid in humiliation and poverty of spirit. An error in the fiirst digestion is not amended in the second ; if that be not good, the rest are naught. If there be not sound humiUation, nothing will be sound afterward. " Therefore we should desire that God by his Spirit would help us more and more to know what we are in ourselves, that we may get to be what we are in Christ. 2. But there is a continual frame and disposition of soul, which is a poverty in spirit that accompanies God's children all the days of their life tiU they be in heaven, tiU they enjoy that riches that is laid up there for them ; and that is especially here meant. And indeed it is an ingredient into all the passages of salvation. (1.) For in justification there must be a poverty of spirit, to make us see that there is no righteousness in ourselves, or that can come from us, that is able to stand against the law and against the justice of God ; all is defiled and spotted and unanswerable. And upon this poverty and apprehension THE POOR man's RICHES. 245 of what is defective in ourselves, comes an admiration of that righteousness of God in Christ — for it is of God's devising, and of God's approving, and of God's working, Christ being God and man — to force us every day to renew our right in the righteousness of Christ, and to be ' found in him.' There is such a poverty of spirit as to account aU ' loss, and dross,' Phil, iu. 8, and nothing ; to be wilUng to part with all to be found in Christ, ' not having our own righteousness, but that which is of God in Christ,' as Paul divinely speaks, ver, 9, So it is necessary in that main passage, of justification, to be ' poor in spirit ;' that is, to see a defect in our own righteousness, to stand opposite to God's justice, who is ' a consuming fire.' It is requisite in regard of our daily living by faith in justification. (2.) In the whole course of sanctification there must of necessity be poverty of spirit ; that is, a sense that we have no sanctifying grace of our selves, but we must fetch it from the fulness of Christ, whose fulness is for us : 'of his fulness we receive grace for grace,' John i, 16. The ground of this is, that now in the covenant of grace all is of grace, both in justification and sanctification ; all is of grace, nothing but grace, God hath set himself to get the glory of his free grace and mercy now in I Jesus Christ, Therefore as our salvation is wrought out of us altogether j by our surety, the ' second Adam,' Christ ; so our righteousness is alto- I gether out of ourselves, whereby we appear righteous before God, It is I his, and given to us by marriage ; being one with him, his righteousness I i.5-QH£S. And likewise in him we have the principle of all grace. He is the principle of our life, the root and foundation of spiritual life and sanc tification : ' Without me you can do nothing,' John xv, 5, So that in Christ we have all that concerns our spiritual life in sanctification and jus tification, because it is a stg,te of grace, Adam liad it in himself. Though God at the first clothed him with his image, yet notwithstanding he had r not such a necessity as we have to go to Christ for all ; but now in the ' second Adam,' Christ, we must fetch grace for everything from him, ' Therefore there must be poverty in regard of our knowledge — we have no . spiritual knowledge of ourselves — and poverty in regard of our affections,/ We have no joy, no peace, no comfort of ourselves, no delight in good things, nor no strength to them ; we have all from Christ, ' By grace,' saith the apostle, ' I am what I am,' 1 Cor, xv, 10 ; as if grace had given him his being, his form, as we say. Indeed, so it doth ; grace gives a Christian his form and being, his work and his working, for all working is from the inward being and form of things. By grace we are what we are in justification, and work what we work in sanctification. It is by what we have freely from Christ. Therefore in that respect there must be poverty of spirit. Nay, I say more ; in every action when we are in the state of grace, and have had the beginnings of the new creature in us, there needs poverty of spirit, in regard of our own inability to perform every action. For even as it is in our form — the life and soul, there is need of it in every moving and stirring — so there is a need of the spirit of grace, which is as the form and life and being of a Christian, to every holy action, ' In him we live, and move, and have our being,' saith the apostle. Acts xvii, 28, ' In him,' that is, iu ' God reconcUed to Christ,' we have not only our being, that is, our form, but in him we ' live and move ' to every particular act. We are no wiser in particular things than God makes us on the sudden ; the wisest man wUl be a fool if God leave him to his own wit. We are no stronger i n every particular act that needs strength than God supplies us with spiri- 216 THE RICH POVEETY ; OE, tual strength. We are no holier than God by his Spirit shines on us, and raises our souls in particular actions. So that it is not only necessary that we have grace at the first to make us Christians, but we must have a per petual regiment* of the Spirit, from whence we must have an influence to every particular act. Though we have grace, yet we cannot bring forth that grace to act without new grace. Even as trees, though they be fitted to bear frait, as the vine, &c,, yet without the influence of the heavens they cannot put forth that fitness in fruits ; so though we be fitted by the Spirit of God, yet we cannot put it forth to particular acts when occasion serves, without the infiuence of Heaven to promote and further that grace ; and applying our spirits to every holy action by removing the impediments: that would hinder it, adding new supply and strength to help grace. If the temptations be too strong, as sometimes they are, former grace will not serve, without a new supply of strength. As he that may carry a lesser burden cannot carry a greater without new strength, so in every tempta tion there is required more strength than the former; and in every new action there is required not only a continuance of grace, but a fresh supply of stronger grace. And for want of this, the best of God's saints have fallen foully. Though they have had grace in them, yet, notwithstanding, the Spirit had left them to themselves in regard of new supply, because they have been conceited ; they have not been poor enough in spirit. As Peter, he was conceited of his own strength : ' Though all men forsake thee, yet I will not,' Mat, xxvi, 83, This conceit moved God in mercy, as weU as in justice, to leave him to himself, that by his fall he might learn to stand another time, and not trust his own strength. The best of us all, I say, when there is any thing to be done, we had need of a fresh influence of grace, and a fresh light to shine upon us. It should force perpetual poverty of spirit, to see the want that is in ourselves, and the supply that is out of ourselves, and to make use of that by going out of ourselves, and making towards him in whom is all our supply. In all our communion we have with God, which is the happiness of our estates, this frame and disposition of soul, to be poor in spirit, it is necessary in every act. Even in our very prayers for grace, we are so void of it, that we want ability to call for what we want. We must have that from the Spirit, not only grace, but that disposition of soul which carries 'us to God, A spirit fitting us to pray, that must be also given us ; we know not what to call for. We of ourselves are so poor, that we not only want grace and abiUty to action, but we have not ability to ask ; but God's Spirit must dictate our prayers, and give us motions, and make us sensible of our wants, and must enable our faith to cherish those graces, and make us go out of ourselves even in our very prayers. What a state is this, then ! Had we not need to be ' poor in spirit ' all our lifetime, that have not so much as ability to go out of ourselves for supply from another, but [that must come from Christ too? As St Augustine, who was a great advancer of the grace of God, and an abaser of man ; he had indeed St Paul's spirit, saith he, ' We should boast and glory of nothing, because nothing is ours ' (b). We have need of this poverty of spirit in the whole tenure of our Christian life. Again, in the actions of this life, how pitifully do we miscarry, because we think we have witf and strength enough, and set upon things in our own wit and strength, we speed and have success answerable. Where the * That is, ' government.'— G. t That is, ' wisdom.— G, THE POOE man's EICHES, 247 beginning is confidence, the end is shame, of any business even of this life. What is the reason that ofttimes the great and weighty business of this life have not answerable success ? Many times it falls out so ; as one said of general councUs, they seldom were successful, because men came with confidence and wit for victory rather than truth,* Certainly there is less success in great matters, because men come with self-confidence. There fore it is a good sign that God means to bless great businesses, when he puts it into the hearts of those that are agents in them to seek him in the affairs of this life. We must be poor in spirit to see that the carriage and success comes from him. Well, so it is in suffering likewise. We cannot suffer the least cross of ourselves but with murmuring and repining, without strength from him. When Moses came to the 'waters of strife,' Moses' spirit was discovered. He could not endure the harshness and rebellion of the people. Num. xx, 13. A Christian comes sometimes to such opposition that his spirit is moved, and he discovers much corruption. It is so with the best men. Even Moses, a meek man, when he had such temptations and provocations, it moved him. We must labour to get a greater spirit than our own, to have the Spirit of God to work this spiritual poverty in us. This poverty of spirit, as we call it, is spirituale vacuum, spiritual empti ness. You know in philosophy there is nothing empty in the world, but it is filled either with air or some kind of body, and to avoid the enemy of nature, emptiness, things will change their seat ; heavy things will go up ward, and things that are above will come below to avoid emptiness ; that is contrary to nature, there being a fulness of things with one body or other. So, I say, spiritual poverty, it is an emptying of the soul, which of 1 force alway bring better things in. Wheresoever this emptying of the soul j is, this making of ourselves poor, it is upon good ground by this course. It is always such a vacuum and emptiness of one thing that brings in another better. The soul can never be altogether empty. When wind and vain stuff is out, then comes better things in, which St Paul calls ' the ful ness of God.' He prays and wishes that they might ' be filled with the fulness of God,' Col, ii, 9, Then comes fulness of knowledge and under standing, and fulness of affection, and fulness of contentment, and com placency in the will ; and all the soul hath an answerable fulness to the proportion of the emptying itself of itself. In the next place, let us come to discover this disposition of poverty of spirit where it is, and then shew some helps to it, 1, First, To discover where this blessed frame of soul is. Surely those that are thus poor in spirit they are full of prayer. ' The poor man speaks suppUcations,' as the wise man saith, Prov, xvUi, 23 ; that is his dialect. The poor man is much in prayer. He that is ' poor in spirit ' is much in supplication ; for prayers, they are the ambassadors of the poor soul to God to supply it with the riches of his grace. Therefore where there is no prayer there is no sense of poverty, but there is a Laodicean temper, as if they were rich enough. You have a company of men, they say they can not pray privately, their spirits are barren. They intimate much pride of spirit, for if a man be sensible of his wants you need not supply him with words. If a poor tenant came to a landlord, and find he hath a hard bargain, let him alone for teUing his tale ; I warrant you he wUl lay open the state of his wife and chUdren, and the iU year he hath had ; he wiU be eloquent enough. Take any man that is sensible of his wants, and you . Vol. HI. p. 436.— G. 248 THE EICH POVEETY ; OE, shall not need to dictate words to him. There is no man that hath a humble and broken heart, though he be never so illiterate, but he will have a large heart to God in this kind, 2. Again, there is a care of using all means. Where poverty is, there will be a making out of ourselves unto places where God bestows any riches. They that are poor, and have no victuals at home, they wiU go to/ market rather than they will starve ; and those that find in themselves' want of grace and comfort, surely they wiU go out of themselves : they will go to God's market, they will attend upon the means. He that is like to be arrested for debt, and hath nothing at home, it is time for him to seek abroad for supply. So, when a man is poor spiritually, ready to be' snared and catched in everything for want of spiritual grace, he will labour for strength in the use of all means. Therefore those that are of a Lao dicean stamp, that think there is too much preaching, and too much hear ing, and too much reading, and what need all this ado ? alas ! they were never humbled ; they were never sensible of their state by nature ; nor are not yet in the state of grace. For the soul of a true Christian is alway in the state of spiritual poverty, as that it relisheth spiritual means and is not fed with husks, A soul that is spiritually poor will discern in the use of means, this is flourishing ; this is for the ear ; this is conceits ; alas 1 it comes for food for supply, A poor soul that finds the want of grace, and strength, and comfort, it judgeth of the means by what it finds. There wUl be a use of all means, and likewise some ability to taste where there is true poverty of spirit, . 8, Again, Where this inward poverty of spirit is, it wUl make God's children wondrous thankful, and thankful for a little grace. A poor man that is sensible of his poverty will be more thankful for a penny, than another man for a pound that hath money of his own, A soul that sees the want of grace, and withal sees the excellency of grace, is thankful to God that he will work anything in such a poor defiled soul as he is ; that he wiU work any good motions, any good affections, any degree of faith, that he will give him any assurance of salvation. Oh he thinks what a good God is this ! He breaks out with the apostles, Peter and Paul, that had both been sinners themselves and found grace ; oh they were much, in thankfulness ! ' Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,' &c.* A thankful soul is a poor soul, and a poor soul is alway a thankful soul. He that is poor he knows he hath little and deserves little ; therefore knowing that he deserves nothing, he is thankful for and content with anything, A humble man is alway thankful, and that is the reason that God may have his glory from him. He is forced sometimes to humble and abase him. He should have no sacrifice from him else, A proud man, a conceited man, so doats upon his own worth ; he forgets the giver, he makes himself an idol to him. Therefore such, they are usurpers of what they have, they enter upon God's blessings, not considering from whom they have them, nor for what end they have them. They deny God his tribute of thankfulness because they are proud. But a man that is poor in spirit, he enters upon all by title of gift, and receives all from God in the form of a poor man. Therefore whatsoever he hath he returns thanks for it again. An unthankful soul, therefore, is a proud soul, A thankful soul is an humble abased soul alway ; and the more humble and empty the soul is, the more thankful it is for every degree of grace and comfort, 4, Again, A soul that is thus disposed, that is poor in spirit, it is wiUing * Cf. Eph. i. 8, and 1 Peter i. 3.— G, THE POOR man's RICHES. 249 to resign itself to Christ's government, with self-denial of anything it is able to do of itself. It is ready to say, ' Lord, I have neither witf of mine own to govern myself, nor any strength and ability of mine own ; therefore I put myself upon thy government, I desire to follow thy Ught and to go on in thy strength.' There is alway a resignation to Christ's government, and that in fear and trembling ; for whom we resign ourselves unto, surely we will have a care not to displease them. A dependent life is alway an awfulf life ; for when a man hath resigned himself to the government of another, and knows he must depend upon him, he will have a care not to displease such an one ; for he thinks, if I displease him he wUl withdraw his main tenance and countenance from me, and then what am I ? So the soul that thinks it hath all from God, and from the Spirit of Christ, it resigns itself to the Spirit of Christ, and withal it is wondrous fearful not to grieve and displease the Spirit, For he thinks with himself, my life is but a depen dent life, my graces are but dependent ; let God but withdraw the beams of his Spirit and I sink ; let him withdraw his comfort and his strength, what am I ? Nothing but darkness, and deadness, and confusion. Those therefore that give not themselves up to Christ's government, but are governed by rules of policy, by the example of others, and have base dependence upon others, they know not what spiritual poverty is. They see there is a sufficiency in themselves to rule and govern themselves, as if Christ's wisdom were not sufficient. They are not so disposed as the apostle requires ; they ' work not out their salvation with fear and trem bling, because God gives the wiU and the deed,' Philip, ii, 12. The meaning is this, we should work out our salvation with a holy fear and trembling, a jealous fear, a son-like fear, lest we displease God, Why ? ' He gives both the wiU and the deed,' PhUip, ii, 13, He gives both the wiU to do good ; and when he hath done that, he gives the ability of the deed itself. We cannot do anything, therefore we had need to walk in an awful condi tion, and not displease him in anything, lest he withdraw the assistance of his Spirit and leave us to ourselves ; and then we shall faU, to his dishonour, to the discredit of religion, to the wasting of our own comfort, and the advantage of Satan, This is the temper of a man that is poor in spirit. He gives himself up to Christ's government, and depends upon it ; and thereupon he is wondrous fearful to displease him in anything. There are a company that know not what belong to this, that hope to be saved by Christ, and yet they wiU grieve the Spirit ; they wiU venture into any place, upon any sight, into any company : but if ever they had been acquainted with the government of Christ's Spirit, they would know what it was to grieve the Spirit, and the Spirit would grieve them too. It is a sign they have not the Spirit of God, because he doth not check them when they have done. Therefore your adventurous careless persons, that are indifl'erent for aU things, for all companies and places, that do not watch over themselves, and over their words and carriages, they have not this poverty of spirit. For then they would know what it were to displease God in anything, to walk and to speak loosely, because hereby they grieve the Spirit; and would presently find either want in grace or comfort. There is not one of many that are acquainted with the nature of this spiritual communion with God, and therefore they do not enjoy the happi ness that those do, who are thus qualified, that are ' poor in spirit.' 5. Again, A man that is poor in spirit is very tractable, as it is in Isaiah : ' A child shaU lead them,' ' The lamb and the Uon shaU feed together,' » That ia, ' wisdom.'— G. t That is, ' a life full of awe.'— G, 250 THE EIOH POVERTY ; OR, &c., ' and a chUd shaU lead them,' Isa, xi, 6 ; that is, such an one, you shaU lead him with any counsel, let the person be never so mean ; having smarted for his sins, and his own counsel and ways, ' a child shall lead him,' that is, any man shall lead and move him to that which is good, he stands not upon terms, 6. And alway he that is poor in spirit, he is no uphraider of other men's wants. He is more sensible of his own than that he sees in other men. He is not prone to upbraid and object against them their wants and con ditions, he is so taken up with the sense of his own. 7, And lastly. He that is poor in spirit is humbled in himself for spiritual wants ; not so much for outward things, but because he hath not a large heart to God, because he finds impatience, because he finds not that heavenly-mindedness and strength to go through the duties that God requires, that his flesh is so backward ; these things abase him and bring him on his knees, and not so much outward things ; and answerably he looks for spiritual supply. When a man is humble and poor in spirit he is not abased with any outward thing, that that he would have is mercy and grace. The apostle, when he would pray for all happiness to the churches, he prays for grace, mercy, and peace ; for as they are more sensible of their spiritual wants, so they are carried in their desires after that that may give them satisfaction that way. Use. Let us labour to bring our souls to this blessed temper, to be poor in spirit; the happy temper that our Saviour began his preaching withal. The first thing that he faUs upon is, ' Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,' Mat, v, 3, But before I come to any directions for the getting this spiritual poverty, we must know and pre mise this caution, that we must not be so ' poor in spirit,' as to deny the work of grace in our hearts. It is one thing to be ' poor in spirit,' and to see our wants ; and it is another thing to be unthankful and unkind ; to deny the work of grace, and so to gratify Satan, We must not give false witness against ourselves, and so deny the work of God's Spirit in us. It is not poverty, but darkness of spirit. We are not acquainted with that grace that God hath enriched us with. Therefore where the soul is in a right temper, there is a double eye, one to see the defects and the stains of those graces we have ; to see what we are wanting in of what we should be, and to see how our graces are stained, and that there is a mingling of our corruptions with them. The viewing with the one eye, that we have any grace, that should make us cheerful, and thankful, and comfortably go on, considering that there are some beginnings that God will perfect ; for he never repents of his beginnings. And then a sight of the want, and of the stains of those graces that we mingle our corruptions with them ; that works again this poverty of spirit to go on stiU out of ourselves, to desire grace, to purge and cleanse ourselves more and more. Therefore, I beseech you, let us remember that, that we do not unthankfuUy deny the work of grace, and think that to be poverty of spirit, as some do out of covetous ness, because they have not that they would have, they think thsy have nothing at all ; that is a spiritual covetousness. But let us be wise to discern what God hath wrought in our hearts, what he hath done for and in our souls, A holy jnan, you shall have him much in mourning and complaining, but it is of himself, not of God, as if God were wanting to him. You shall have a holy man in a perpetual kind of despair, but it is in himself ; he hopes in God still. Remember this caution, that as we complain, so let us be sure it be of ourselves ; alway justify God in his THE POOR man's RICHES. 251 mercy ; and if we despair, let us despair of ourselves, that we can do nothing of ourselves. But be sure to maintain, all we can, the hope of God's rich mercy in Christ, Now, having premised this caution, the way to come to spiritual poverty among many others is : first, to bring ourselves into the presence of God, to the presence of greater lights than our own. Men that think themselves somebody when they are alone ; yet when they consider God sees them, whose eyes are a thousand times brighter than the sun, then they learn to abhor themselves in ' dust and ashes,' as we see Job did when God talked with him, when he saw God, Job xUi, 6 ; and Abraham when he talked with God, he accounts himself dust and ashes. Gen, xviU, 27, Let us bring ourselves into the presence of God ; consider his hoUness, his justice. And withal let us bring ourselves to greater lights than our own ; that is, oft come into the company of those that have greater grace than ourselves. The stars give no light when the sun is up. The stars are somebody in the night, but they are nothing in the day. And those that are conceited of their own excellencies, when they come into the pre sence and company, and converse with those that are better than them selves, their spirits fall down, they are abased. It is a good course therefore not to love alway to be best in the company, as is some men's vanity, because they will be conceited of their own worth, but to present ourselves before God in his ordinances, and present ourselves in communion and fellowship with others that are greater and richer in grace than ourselves, and so we may see our own wants. This is one direction to get spiritual poverty, 2, Again, That we may come to be poor in spirit, let us consider what we are, that we are creatures. The term whence creation begins is just nothing. It is so in the creatures in the world, God made all of nothing, and is it not so in the new creature much more ? Therefore if I will be anything in myself as of myself, surely I must look to no creature of God's making. For grace is God's creatm-e. Therefore it must rise of nothing ; there must be a sight of our own nothingness. Indeed a Christian in him self is nothing now .in the state of grace. Whatsoever he is for grace or glory, it is out of himself. He hath nothing in himself as of himself ; all that he hath he hath from Christ, He is poor in himself, but he hath riches enough in Christ, if he sees his own poverty. He is a sinner in himself, but he hath righteousness enough in Christ, if he sees his sins. Let us know that this is a qualification to interest us in the good that is in Christ, We renew our right in Christ no otherwise than we renew the sense of our own poverty and want. Would we see all in Christ, that we have riches, and wisdom, and happiness, and favour, and Ufe, and all in him ? With the same spiritual eye of the soul, let us see that we have nothing in ourselves ; for I can no otherwise renew that right and interest I have in Christ, but by renewing this sight. We altogether shine in the beams of our husband. The consideration of this will be a means to work our care and endeavour towards it ; that we are creatures, ' new creatures ;' and therefore we must rise of nothing in ourselves, and we must be main tained and supported by the new Adam, ' the second Adam,' and have fresh grace from him continually, ' We move and live in him,' as I said before, 3, Again, That we may be poor in spirit, help ourselves with presenting to ourselves abasing, emptying considerations. What be they ? Among the rest reflect our minds back to what we were before God shewed mercy upon 252 THE RICH POVEETY ; OE, us ; how unprofitably we spent our days ; what a deal of good we left undone that we might have done. For the present, consider the imper fections that hang upon us, whereby we even defile the best performances that come from us. Let us have in the eye of our soul presented our special corruptions for the present. For the time to come let us present to our souls what wiU become of us ere long; that for outward things, that nature is prone to be highly conceited of, they shaU lie in the dust. These bodies of ours must lie low in the dust ; aU other things must be taken from us, and we from them, we know not how soon. Let us oft think and consider of the vanity of aU things, what wUl aU things be ere long. ^ They must aU come to nothing, The fire wUl consume aU that is glorious in the world. There wUl be no exceUency but the exceUency of Christ, and his church and children ; and think of the day of judgment. What wUl stand for current then ? Think of the time of our dissolution, how we shall appear before Christ ; what we have in us that will give us confidence at that day and time, to look upon him with comfort ; that those thoughts of the time to come, of death, and judgment, .and eternity may not be frightful to us. The consideration of these things will make us to look about us, and make us indeed ' poor in spirit,' EspeciaUy let us consider what our profession requires of us ; not by thfe law, let that go ; but what in the covenant of grace we should be, and are not, it will shame the best of us, Alas ! how much good might we have done that we have not ! How have we failed in bringing honour and credit to our profession ! How barren have we been in good works ! How unwatchful over our thoughts and speeches, whereby we have stained our religion and our consciences, and grieved the Spirit of God. Let us consider how short we are of that we might have been ; and this will bring inward shame and confusion of spirit, from whence this temper of poverty of spirit comes. Consider of these things, and enlarge them in your own meditations. There is not a more fruitful spending of our thoughts, next to the consideration of Christ, and the riches we have in him, than to consider what we are in ourselves ; that we may be in a perpetual disposition of soul, fit to receive the good that is to be had in Christ. Two graces are the main graces that must go along with us all the days of our lives ; this grace to go out of ourselves ; and another grace to go to another that is better than ourselves, in whom lies our happiness. That we may go out of ourselves and the creature, and all that is in the creature, poverty of spirit is necessary, to see that there is not that in ourselves that will yield a foundation of comfort, and poverty of spirit sees that there is not that that we possess in the creature that will stand out. The creature, that is a particular good, for a particular case, to supply a particular want, and but for a time, it is fading and outward ; but the comfort we must have it must be spiritual and universal, to give contentment to the soul. The consideration of these things will force us to go out of ourselves ; this poverty of spirit, that we have not enough to make us happy. The heathen men, by the use of discretion and knowledge, had so much to see that there is nothing in the world to make man happy ; the negative part they knew well enough. But there must be another grace to carry us to a positive happiness where that lies, and that is the grace of trust that follows. ' I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people,' that shall be disposed and prepared by their outward poverty to inward spiritual poverty ; to go out of themselves to Christ, to trust in him. THE POOR man's RICHES. 253 ' And they shall trust in the name of the Lord,' This is the carriage of these poor and afflicted people. ' They shall trust in the name of the Lord.' God hath no delight in afflicting his children ; he joys and deUghts in the_ prosperity of his children. It is our sinful nature that forceth him to afflict us, that he may wean us from the world, because we are prone to surfeit upon things here below. All that God doth is that we may trust in him, which we would never do unless he did afflict us, and make us ' poor in spirit ;' but when we are afflicted and poor in spirit, and have nothing at home, we wiU make out abroad, as people in necessity wiU do. Supply must be had, either at home or from without ; and when the soul is beaten and driven out of itself, which requires much ado, then we are fit for this blessed act here spoken of, to ' trust in the name of the Lord,' And the one is an evidence of the other. How shall we know that we are suffi ciently humbled and made poor in spirit ? When we trust in the name of the Lord. In the unfolding of these words, take these for grounds ; which I wUl but name. First, That naturally every man will have a trast, in himself, or out of himself. Secondly, That God is the trust of the poor man ; what he wants in himself he hath in God. God is the rock or the castle to which he retires. He hath supply in him. The third is, that Obs. Ood is trusted as he is known. They shaU ' trust in the name of the Lord,' For God can be no otherwise trusted than he hath made his will known. It is presumptuous boldness to challenge anything of God that we have not a promise for ; or to attribute that to him that he is not, God is therefore trusted as he hath made himself by some name known to us. He hath made himself known by his attributes, by his nature and essence, Jehovah ; and by his word, and the promises in his word. For his word is one of the best and sweetest names whereby he hath made him self known. The name of God is glorious in all the world, iu the creation ; and every creature hath a tongue to shew forth the power, and wisdom, and goodness of God. But what is this to us, if we know not the will of God toward us ? There is the name of God discovered ; what he is in himself ; something of his power and wisdom, &c. But what he is to us, gracious, and merciful, and sweet ; that we must gather out of the discovery of his own breast. He must come out of that ' light that none can attain unto,' 1 Tim, vi, 16, and discover himself as he hath done in his word ; and by this name of God, his word, we come to make use of his other names. The next thing I will speak of is the improvement of God when he is known, to trust in him, to pitch our trust and confidence upon him, ' They shall trast in the name of the Lord.' Ohs. For there must he an application of the soul to God. We must lay our souls upon God, Though he be a rock, yet we must lay our souls upon him • and though he be a foundation, yet we must build upon him and his truth revealed. There is an adequate comfort in God and in the Scrip tures, and superabundant too to all our necessities whatsoever. It transcends them all. There is more in the spring than we want ourselves. Yet not- standing there must be grace in the soul to repair to God, There must be an hand, an empty beggar's hand, such as faith is, to reach that help that God yields. There must be a wing to fly to our tower. The wing of the 254 THE RICH POVERTY ; OR, soul is this trust and faith ; and when these two meet, faith or trust, and God, what a sweet meeting is there ! For emptiness and fulness, poverty and riches, weakness and strength, to meet together, these will grasp sweetly ; for the excellency and all-sufficiency of the one, and the necessity of the other meeting together, breeds a sweet correspondency. We must ' trust,' therefore, in the name of the Lord. That is the way to improve whatsoever is in God for our good. Faith, the nature of it is, after it hath applied itself to the grounds of comfort, to draw virtue and strength from God. Of itself it is the most beggarly grace of all. Love is a rich grace, but yet notwithstanding in the covenant of grace, wherein grace and mercy must have the glory, God hath established such a grace to rule there as ascribes all out of itself, and is an empty grace of itself, to make use of the riches that is out of itself ; there fore God hath made choice of this trusting instead of all other graces, as indeed leading to all other graces whatsoever, God brings us home by a contrary way to that we fell from him. How did we fall from God at the first, that was our rock, our defence, and trust ? We fell from him by dis trust, by having him in a jealousy, as if he aimed more at himself than at our goods. So the devil persuaded our first parents. The next way, there fore, to come back again to God, it must be to have a good conceit of God, not to have him in jealousy, but to be convinced in our souls that he loves us better than we can love ourselves, in spite, of the devil and all his temptations. So to trust God is to rely upon him in life and death. Therefore God hath appointed this grace, as he saith here, ' They shall trust in the name of the Lord,' Now, because we all pretend we trust in the name of the Lord, we will first examine our trust. Let us try our trust a little, that we may see whether it be true trust or no. And then upon that we will give some directions how to come to this blessed condition, to trust ' in the name of the Lord,' For the first : I do not take trust here for the first faith, which is the grace of union to receive Christ ; but for the exercise of faith afterwards in a Christian's life. So we speak of it as a fruit rather that comes from faith. And we may know our trust in the name of the Lord, being now conceived as a gracious Father in Christ, clothed with the relation of a father : for so we must trust him, not God absolutely, for there is no com fort in an absolute God, distinct from his relations ; but when we appre hend him in relation as a sweet Father in Christ, in that name, then the nature of God is lovely to us, between whom and us there was an infinite distance before. Now Christ being Immanuel, God with us, has brought God and us together in terms of league. Now our nature is lovely to God in Christ, because it is taken to the unity of his person ; and God's nature is lovely to us, having made himself a Father in Christ his beloved. Son. Therefore, when we speak of God, our thoughts must run upon God as thus conceived, as clothing himself with a sweet term of Father, our God in covenant, we must so apprehend him, 1, Now one evidence of this trust in this our God, is a care to please him in aU things. When we depend upon any men, we have a care to please them. A tenant that fears to be thrust out, wUl strive to please his land lord. We that hold aU upon this tenure, upon faith and trust in God, we should fear to displease him, 2. And there wUl be likewise an use of all means to serve God's provi dence and care of us, if we trust in him ; or else it is a tempting and not a THE POOE man's EICHES. 255 trusting. There are no men more careful of the use of means than those that are surest of a good issue and conclusion ; for the one stirs up dUi- gence in the other. Assurance of the end stirs up diligence in the means. For the soul of a believing Christian knows that God hath decreed both ; both fall under the same decree : when God purposed to do such a thing, he purposed to do it by such and such means. Trust, therefore, is with diligence in the use of all means that God hath ordained. He that trusts a physician's skill, will be very careful to observe what was prescribed, and wUl omit nothing. It is but presumption ; it is not trust where there is not a care in the use of means, as we see many pretend to trust in God and sever the means from the end ; they are regardless of the means of salvation. 3, Again, Those that trust in God, they are quiet when they have used the means. Faith hath a quieting power. It hath a power to still the soul and to take up the quarrels, and murmuring, and grudgings that are there, and to set the soul down quiet ; because it proposeth to the soul greater grounds of comfort, than the soul can see any cause of discomfort. The soul being reasonable, yields to the strength of the reason. Now, when faith propounds grand comforts against all discouragements whatsoever, that overcomes them, that is greater in the way of comfort than other things in the way of discouragement, the soul is quiet. It hopes comfort will be had. The soul is silent and at rest. We see in Ps. xiii. 11, when there was a mutiny in David's soul, by reason of the perplexed state he was in, he falls a-chiding downright with his soul, ' Why art thou disquieted, O my soul ! and why art thou troubled ?' v, 11, But how doth he take up the contention ? ' Trust in God, he is thy God.' So that wheresoever there is faith, there is a quiet soul first or last. There will be stirring at the first ; the waters of the soul will not be quiet presently. As in a pair of balances there will be a little stirring when the_,weight is put in till there wiU be poise ; so in the soul there will be some stirring and moving ; it comes not to a quiet consistence till there be some victory of faith with some conflict, tiU at length it rest and stay the soul. For this power faith has to quiet the soul, because it bottoms the soul so strongly. There is reason for it ; it sets the soul upon God, and upon his promises, ' There fore he that trusts in God is as mount Sion,' Ps, cxxv, 1, You may stir him sometime and move him, but you cannot remove him. The soul is quiet, because it is pitched upon a quiet object. Therefore, where there is cherishing of disturbance in the soul, and cherishing of doubts, there is no faith, or very little faith ; because it is the property of faith to silence the soul and to make quiet where it comes. This is one evidence and sign of true faith. And this is discerned especially in times of great trouble ; for then the soul of the righteous is not dis quieted, as you have it in Ps, cxii, 7, 8, ' His heart is fixed, therefore he is not afraid of UI tidings,' 4, And therefore this evidence to the rest, that faith as it hath a quieting power, so it hath a power to free the soul from all base fears, from the tyranny of base fear. There wUl some fear arise. We carry flesh about us, and flesh wUl alway be full of objections and trouble our peace; but, notwith standing, it wiU free the soul — this trusting in God — from 'the tyranny and dominion of base fears. If any news or tidings be of any great hard matter, I beseech you, who hath his soul best composed at that time ? A sound Christian, that hath made his peace with God, that hath his trast in God, that knows what it is to make use of God, to repair to him. But for 256 THE EICH POVEETY ; OE, another man, in the time of extremity and trouble, he runs hither and thither, he hath not a tower to go unto, he hath no place of refuge to repair to. Therefore he is worse than the poor silly creatures. There is not a creature but hath a retiring place. The poor conies have the rocks to go unto, and the birds have their nests, and every creature, when night or danger approacheth, they have their hiding places. Only a wicked, careless man that hath not acquainted himself with God, when troubles come, he hath no hiding, nor no abiding place, but lies open to the storm of God's displeasure. Therefore he is surprised with fears and cares, and pulled in pieces with distractions. He is as a meteor that hangs in the clouds ; he cannot tell which way to fall. But a Christian is not such a meteor, he falls square which way soever he faUs, cast him which way you wiU. For his soul is fixed, he hath laid his soul upon his God, We see the differ ence in this between Saul and David, When David was in trouble, ' he trusted in the Lord his God,' when he was ready to be stoned. What doth Saul when he was in trouble ? He |bes to the witch ; and from thence to the sword's point,* 6, Again, Where there is this excellent grace of trusting in God, and the soul is calmed by the Spirit of God, to rely upon God in covenant as a Father in Christ, it will rely upon Ood without means and when all things seem contrary. So the Spirit of God will difference a Christian from a natural man, that will go so far as his brain can reach. If he can see how things can be compassed, he will trust God, as if God had not a larger com prehension than he. Where he sees no way or means to contrive a deli verance, nor no means to satisfy his desire, there the soul of a natural man sinks and falls down : a politician will go as far as reason can carry him. But a Christian, when he sees no means, he knows God can make means. Now, when all things are opposite, if he hath a word of God, he will trast God, even against the present state and face of things, as Job saith, ' Though he kill me, yet will I trust in him,' Job xiii, 15, Therefore in the sense of sin, because there is a promise to sinners that, if they confess their sins, God will pardon them ; he will believe the forgiveness of sins, though he feel the guilt of sin. And in misery he will believe an evasion,f and escape, and that God wUl support him in it, because God hath so promised. And in ' darkness, when he sees no light,' as it is Isa. 1. 10 ; in such a state ' he will trust in God,' As a child in the dark clasps about his father, so a chUd of God in darkness when he sees no Ught, he wiU clasp about his God, and break thorough the clouds that are between God and his soul ; as indeed faith hath a piercing eye. It pulls off the vizor of God's face. Though he seem angry, yet he wiU believe he is in covenant and he is a Father, Therefore though God shew himself in his dealing as offended, yet he argues God may be offended with me, but he cannot hate me ; there is hope. Faith, where it is in any strength, it wiU believe in contraries. In death, when a man is turned to rottenness and dust, faith apprehends life and resurrection, and glory to come. It wiU trust in God's means, or no means, if it hath a promise. 6, Again, He that trusts in God txxAywill trust him for all things, and at all times. , For all things ; for faith never chooseth and singleth out its object, to believe this and not that, for all comes from the same God. Therefore he that trusts God for one thing, wUl trast him for aU things. If I wiU trust a man for many pounds, surely I wiU trust him for a shUling, * Cf. Ps. xiii. 15, xxvi. 1, with 1 Sam. xxviii. 9, seq., and xxxi. 4. — G. t That is, = ' a way out.' Cf. 1 Coi. x. 18.— G. THE POOR man's RICHES. 257 He that pretends he wUl trust God — God wUl save me, God is merciful — and yet notwithstanding wUl not trast him for common things, it is an abusive delusion and flattering of his own soul in vain. There is no such trust in him, because he that trusts God for the main wiU trast him for the less. Therefore true trust is for all things. He that trusts God for for^veness of sins, which is the main, and hath wrestled with God for the forgiveness of sins, and found peace with God there, he wiU easily wrestle in other baser and less temptations. As God saith to Jacob, ' Thou art Israel, thou hast prevaUed with God, and shalt prevaU over men,' Gen. XXXU. 28, so a true Christian, that in the grand point of forgiveness of sins, when his conscience is surprised with the fear of God's wrath, hath gotten assurance of the pardon of his sins, when he is to set upon other lesser temptations, he overcomes them easily. 1. Therefore a Christian wiU trust God, as for forgiveness of sins and life everlasting, so with his good name. Oh, wiU some say, you will be reported of thus_ and thus. He cares not. He knows the cause is just. He wiU trust his good name with God, ' who wUl bring a man's righteousness forth clear as the noonday,' as David speaks, Ps. xxxvii, 6. He that wUl not trust God with his good name is of a base spirit, and fear of disgrace keeps many men from many just actions, 2. He that truly trusts God, wiU trust him with the righting of his cause. He wUl not pull God's office out of his hands. He wUl not revenge him self, but he wiU trust God, God certainly wiU right me first or last. He wUl only use the legal means, and that quietly. But a man that is not acquainted with the Spirit of God is presently moved with revenge,;andhath not learned to overcome himself in this conflict. A man hath gone indeed very far in religion, that can conquer himself in this conflict, that can trust his cause with God when he is wronged and overcome by might, &e. So our Saviour Christ committed his cause to him ' that was able to judge righteously,' 1 Peter ii, 23, Every true Christian hath the spfrit of Christ, He, ' when he was revUed, retorted not again, but committed the cause to him that was able to judge righteously,' Shall I be able to commit my soul to God in the hour of death ? and shaU I not, in case of revenge, be able to commit my case to God, when I have done that that peaceably I may do ? I may suspect that I am but yet an hypocrite ; I have not true trast in God, 3. Again, He that hath learned truly to trast God for the grand mam matters, he wiU trust him likewise with his posterity, with his children, with out using indirect means to make them rich, as if they could not be blessed unless they have such a portion put into their hand when we die ; as if God had not stock enough for them, ' for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof,' Ps. xxiv. 1. And he is the ' God of the faithful, and of their seed,' Gen. xvii. 19. Is he so ? Then let us labour to leave our chUdren in covenant, leave them in a gracious frame and state of soul, that they may be God's chUdren ; and then we leave them rich, for we leave them | God aU-sufficient ' to be their portion. Therefore those that pretend, I do this but for my posterity and children, when they are unjust and unconscionable* in their getting, they make this defence for their unbelief. If they had trae faith, as they trast God with their souls, as they pretend at least, so they would with their children and posterity. 4. Again, He that trasts God traly, wiU trust God with his gifts, with the distribution of his alms, with parting with that he hath for the present, when he sees it like seed cast upon the water. When seed is cast upon the * That is, ' unconscientious,' — G. VOL. VI. ^ 258 THE EICH POVERTY ; OR, water, we are Ukely never to see it again. Oh, but saith the wise man, ' cast thy bread upon the water, and thou shaU see it after a certain time.' He that hath learned to trast God wiU beUeve this. Though he cast away his bounty, yet he hath cast it upon God and Christ, that wUl return it again ; he knows he doth but lend to the Lord. Therefore those that think their bounty and alms and good deeds to be lost, because they see not a present return, a present crop of that seed, they have not a spfrit of trust in God ; for he that hath wiU endeavour to be ' rich in good works ; ' nay, he wiU account it a special favour, a greater favour, to have a heart to do good, than to have means. A reprobate may have means, abundance to do good ; but only a child of God hath a -heart to do good, and when he hath gotten a large and gracious heart to do good, it pleaseth him. Then he sees he hath an evidence that he is the chUd of God. He knows he shaU not lose a cup of cold water, not the least thing that he doth in the name of Christ. The apprehension of this should make us more fruitful, and ' abound in the work of the Lord,' 1 Cor. xv. 58. It is for want of trust and faith that we are so barren as we are in good works. 5. Again, He that wiU trust God with the greatest matters, vriU trust God with his ways for direction. He will not trust his own wit and vrisdom, but God. God shaU be wise for him. He wiU foUow God's directions, and whatsoever is contrary to God's direction he wUl not do. He will acknow ledge God in all his ways. Prov. iii. 5, ' Acknowledge God in all thy ways,' acknowledge him to be thy guide, thy defender, thy light, to direct thee ; acknowledge him to be able and willing to give thee success ; acknowledge God in aU thy ways and consultations ; and when we have especiaUy any great matters in hand, oh, I beseech you, let us learn to acknowledge God. What is it to acknowledge him ? To go to him for direction and protection in doing our duty, that we seek to him for strength and for success ; this is to acknowledge God in our ways. What makes men so unfortunate and successless in their consultations ? Because they are so faithless ; they do not acknowledge God in their ways, but trust too much to seeming things and appearance of things ; they are carried too much with that. Though things seem to go never so weU, yet let nothing make us give over to acknowledge God ; nay, when things are never so UI, let us acknowledge God, for God can set all straight and at rights again. Alas ! what a small matter is it for him that rules heaven and earth, and turns this great wheel of all things, to turn the lesser wheels to order lesser businesses, and bring them to a happy issue and conclusion ! It is .but a little matter with his command, seeing he rules all things. It is but trasting in him and praying to him, and then using the means with dependence upon him. Let us therefore acknowledge God this way, by committing our ways and affairs to him. We need knowledge and strength, and a comfortable issue for all that is necessary in our affairs ; let us aclmowledge God, and fetch aU these from him. 6. WeU, the last thing that we have any use of trusting God withal is, when we are dying, to trust our souls, to commit them to Ood, and yield them up to him, our depositum, to lay it with him. He that hath inured himself to trust God all his Ufe, and to live by faith, he will be able at length with some comfort to die by faith. He that hath trusted God aU his life with all things that God hath trusted him, he can easily trust God with his soul ; and he that hath not inured himself to trust God in this Ufe, undoubtedly he wiU never trast God with his soul when he dies. It is but a forced trust. Thus you see in aU the passages of our lives we must learn to trust God, THE POOE man's EICHES. 259 and to make use of God, for God is so abundant that he is never drawn dry. He joys when he is made use of. It is an honour to him. Let us try ourselves by that I have said, whether we truly trust God or no. Let us not deceive our own souls, but labour to trust God for aU things. Let it be our daUy practice in the use of means. Look to the course that he prescribes us, and then look up to him for strength and blessing and success. This ought to be the life of a Christian, Ooulus ad ccelum, as they say of the governor of a ship. He hath his hand to the stern, and his eye to the pole-star, to be directed by that. So the life of a Christian. He must have his hand to the stem, he must be doing that that God prescribes him, and he must have his eye to the star, to be guided m his course by God's direction. He that hath not this knows not what it is to trust in God, How shaU we bring our souls to this so necessary a duty ? Indeed, it is a very hard matter. We know what it is to Uve by our wits, by our wealth, by our lands ; but what it is to live by faith in depending upon God, few souls are acquainted vdth that. Therefore, in the first place, leam to know Ood. You see here, we must trast in his name. We know men by their names, God and his name are aU one. His name is himself, and himself is his name. Therefore, let us learn to know God as he hath discovered himself : know him in his works, but especiaUy in his word ; know him by that work, as he hath dis covered himself in his word. Let us know his promises, and have them in store for all assays * whatsoever ; promises for grace and for direction in this world, God wiU not ' faU us, nor forsake us,' John xiv, 18, He wiU be in aU extremities with us, ' in the fire and in the water,' Isa. xliU. 2 ; and the promises of issue, 'All things shaU work for good to them that love God,' Rom, vni, 28 ; and the promise of his Spirit, ' He wiU give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him,' Luke xi, 13, Besides particular promises, a world of them in Scripture, let us know God in these promises ; they are our inheritance, our portion. And if we should go to God, and not be acquainted with these, he wiU ask us upon what ground ? How shaU we be able to go to God ? But when we have his promise, we may say boldly with the psalmist, ' Lord, remember thy promise, wherein thou hast caused thy servant to trust,' We may put God in remembrance : not that he forgets, but he will have us mindful of what he promiseth, and put him in mind. And it is an evidence to our souls that he will grant any thing, when we have faith to put him in mind of his promise : ' Lord, remember thy promise, wherein thou hast caused thy servant to trust.' Lord, thou canst not deny thy word, and thy truth, and thyself, and thy promise, and thy name by which thou hast made thyself known. Thus we should know God in his word ; as it is Ps, ix, 10, ' They that know thy name will trast in thee, O Lord,' We never trast a man till we know him ; and those that are not good, we say they are better known than trusted ; but the more we know God, the more we shall trust him. And know him in his special attributes that the word sets him out in, besides the promises, that we may know that he is able to make good all these promises ; and then we shall trast him. What are those attributes ? He hath made himself known to be all-sufficient. What a world of comfort is in that. He saith to Abraham, ' I am God all-sufficient : walk before me, and be perfect,' Gen. xvii, 1. Take thou no thought for any other thing : ' I am God aU-sufficient.' There is in him whatsoever may be for an object of trast. He is aU-sufficient. He hath power. ' Our trust is in the name * That is, ' essays,' endeavours, = undertakings.' — G. 260 THE EIOH POVERTY ; OE, of the Lord, that made heaven and earth,' Ps. cxv. 15. There is a con sideration to strengthen faith : there is power enough. We believe in a God that made heaven and earth ; and there is wiU to help us, he is our God ; and there is skiU to help us : as St Peter saith, ' He knows howto deUver,' 2 Pet. U. 9. It is his practice. He hath used it from the begin ning of the church, and wiU tothe end. He knows how to deliver them, to protect and stand by them ; he hath power, and wiU, and skiU to do it. And then again, he is everywhere. He is such a castle, and tower, and defence. We have him near us in aU times : he is ' a present help in trouble,' as it is Ps, xlvi, 1. What an object of trust is here, if we had but faith to make use of it. Let us therefore know God in his word, in his attributes, and this wiU be a means to strengthen trust ; as it is Ps. xxxvi. 7, ' How sweet is thy goodness ; therefore shall the sons of men trast under the shadow of thy wings,' Why come we under the shadow of God's wing ? Because his goodness is sweet : he is a fit object for trast. The things of this world, the more we know them, the less we trust them, for they are but vain. But there is such infiniteness in God, that the more we know him, the more we shall trast him. Therefore, let us grow in the knowledge of God's word and truth. And add experimental knowledge. It helps trust marvellously : the experience of others, and our own experience. When we see God hath helped his church in all times, especially when they have sought him by fasting and prayer : ' Our fathers trusted in thee, and were not confounded,' Ps, xxU, 4, 5, Therefore, if we trust in thee, we shaU not be confounded. So for our own experience : ' Thou hast been my God from my mother's womb ; I have depended upon thee from my mother's breast : forsake me not in mine old years, in my grey hairs, when my strength faileth me,' Ps. Ixxi, 18, Thus we may gather upon God from former experience, that God will not now forsake us, because we have had experience of his kind ness in former times. He hath been my God from my childhood ; there fore he vrill be now. This is a good argument, because God is as he was ; he is the same, he is never drawn dry : ' Where he loves, he loves to the end,' John xiu. 1. Where he begins, he wiU end. Therefore, this should strengthen our'faith, to gather experience from former things. Thus David allegeth the lion and the bear ; and so St Paul, ' He hath delivered me, therefore he wiU deliver me,' 2 Tim. Ui, 11. It is ordinary with the saints of God. Again, If we would trust in God, labour every day to be acquainted with God in daily prayer, in hearing, and reading, and meditation. We trust friends with whom we are much acquainted ; and those that are not acquainted with God, in that communion which belongs to Christians, that do not often talk with God by prayer and meditation, when they go to God in extremity, what wiU God say to them ? Upon what acquaintance ? You are strangers to me, and I will be a stranger to you ; and ' Wisdom itself wiU laugh at their destruction,' Prov. i. 26, when they wiU force acquaint ance upon God when they have use of him, and never care for him in the time of .peace. Therefore, if we would trust God, and go to God boldly, as who is there here now that wiU not have need of him ? We have need of him continually, but sometimes more than others. Therefore, I say, let us be acquainted with him, that we may after trast him. Those that have not the care to be acquainted with God, either they have not the heart to go to God, or if they have, they have but a cold answer. But indeed, for the most part, they have no heart to go to God, for their hearts misgive them, THE POOE man's EICHES, 261 and tell them they have been careless of God, they have neglected God. Therefore, God wiU not regard them : ' Go to the gods ye have trusted,' as it is Judges x. 14. Answerable to our care, beloved, in the time of peace, wiU our comfort be when we are in trouble. Therefore I beseech you, let us remember this, as one means to strengthen our trust, our daily acquaint ance with God ; and acquaint ourselves so with him, as to keep him our friend, not to offend him, for if we offend him, we shall not trast him, A galled conscience is afraid of God, as a sore eye is of light. A comfortable conscience* is from a conscience to please God. ' This is our boldness and confidence,' saith Paul, that we have laboured to ' keep a good conscience,' that we may have him our friend, 2 Cor. i, 15, Heb, xUi, 18, Again, Let us labour to exercise our trust upon all occasions ; for things that are exercised are the brighter and the stronger. Let us inure our selves to trust in God for all things, and to trust him with all things ; with our bodies, with our souls, with our estates, with our children, with our ways, with our good name, with our credit and reputation, with all ; as I said before in the signs of trust. Faith it grows in the exercise, as we see Ps. ku,, a psalm 'expressing David's trast in God, and the conflict with his soul in trusting. He begins, ' Yet my soul waits upon the Lord,' &c, ; and in verse 2d, ' I shall not be greatly moved,' saith he ; but when he had gone on, and exercised his faith stUl, then he saith in verse 6th, ' He is my rook, and my Saviour, and defence ; I shall not be moved,' He that at the beginning saith, • I shall not greatly be moved,' afterward, working upon his heart and soul, and exercising his faith, saith, ' I shall not be moved ; he is my rock, my Saviour and defence,' Faith it is the engine by which we do all, by which we prevail with God and overcome the world, and all the snares on the right hand and on the left ; it is that whereby we do all. Therefore we had need to keep it in exercise, and inure it, that we may have it to manage and use upon all occasions. It is not enough to have faith in us, but we must live by it. It must not only live in us, but we must live by it. This [is another way to strengthen this faith, and assurance, and trusting in God, The next is to practise that I spake of in the forenoon, to grow ' poor in spirit,' ' for they shall trust in the name of the Lord,' Let us labour more and more to see our own wants, A Christian should have a double eye : one to look to himself and to his own wants, to be abased ; another eye to God's promise, to God's nature, to trust in God ; and thus we should pass our days. The more we can empty ourselves, the more we shall be fiUed with God, We see here in the text the way to trust in God, to be ' poor in spirit,' The reason is in nature. Whosoever is not poor in himself, and sees a necessity, he wiU never go out of himself, for he hath some other supply. Therefore, if we would learn to trust in God, we must learn to empty ourselves of all self-confidence, by observing our weakness and wants ; by taking notice, not so much of our graces, as of our wants. When Moses came from the mount, his face shone ; he knew not of it. AU the world about him knew it besides himself, but he observed it not, saith the Scripture, Exod. xxxiv, 29. So when a Christian considers not, especially in temptations to pride, what he hath, but what he wants — how little good he hath done, how many evil thoughts and actions have passed from him, how short he is in fruitfuhiess and thankfulness to God — this is the way to trust in God, for then we will keep close to God when we do see our own weakness. * Qu, ' confidence ' ?— Ed, 262 THE RICH POVERTY ; OE, And let us labour to have a spirit of sanctification, to have our souls more and more renewed to trust in God, or else aU other courses are nothing ; for when it comes to particulars, if the soul be not sanctified there is no correspondency and harmony between it and God. How can an unsancti- fied soul close with a holy God ? Therefore we must labour to be good and to do good ; as the apostle Peter saith, ' to commit our souls to God in doing good,' 1 Pet. iv, 19. Let us labour to be good, to get grace, and then there wiU be a harmony, a connaturalness between a holy God and a holy soul ; and then we shall trast and rely upon him easUy. Where there is not grace in the heart subduing corruptions, when it comes to particulars, whether to trust in God or man, then the soul wiU rebel, and scorn as it were trasting in God. It wiU go to wits, to friends, to favours, and other helps. Let a man be never such a scholar, of never so great parts, when he comes to any shift, if he have not grace in him, he wiU disdain out of pride of spirit, as every man naturaUy is deeply proud, to rely upon con science, and upon the truth and promises of the word, and upon such terms. These be weak things. No ; he will stir heU rather, and earth, and aU means. He accounts it greatness that he can do so. It is only the holy man that wiU cleave fast to God, and to his truth and word, for he relisheth it. The Spirit that penned the Scriptures and the promises, it rules in his heart, and therefore he relisheth them. Oh these promises are sweet I And as he can trust the promises, so he can trast God ; be cause, as I said before, he is acquainted with them. Where there is not a gracious heart, there wUl never be a beUeving, trusting heart. There is in God infiniteness of ways of supply, let us labour therefore for a prudent heart, to learn the skUl of fetching out of God for aU neces sities. As our want is, so let ns fetch supply from some attribute of God, and some promise answerable. This is the wisdom of the saints of God. Are we in extremity ? Then with Jehoshaphat say, ' We know not, Lord, what to do : but our eyes are toward thee,' 2 Chron, xx, 12, Are we per plexed that we want wisdom ? Then go to God, who is infinitely wise. Consider him so, for he is fit for the soul ; nay, he exceeds all the maladies and wants of the soul. There is not only abundance in God, but redun dance and overflowing abundance. Therefore there wants but skill to make use of what is in him for our turn. Are we wronged ? Go to God, that 'judgeth righteously,' Jer. xi. 20 ; consider him in that relation, as a God ' to whom vengeance belongeth,' Ps, xciv, 1. Are we overpowered ? Go to God, ' that made heaven and earth,' to the Almighty God, Ps. cxv. 15. Are we troubled with the sense of sin ? Go to God, that is « the Father of aU mercy, and God of aU comfort,' Rom. xv. 5. Are we cast down, and no man regards us ? Go to God, that styles himself ' the comforter of the abject,' 2 Cor. vu. 6. This is the skiU that faith learns, not only in gross to think of God, but to think of God answerable to all occasions ; as indeed there is somewhat in God to satisfy the soul in aU extremities whatsoever. I beseech you, let us leam to do this. What a happy condition is he in that hath learned to inure his soul to trust in God for the removal of aU iU, and for the obtaining of all good 1 He is sure of aU. ' For God is a sun and a shield ;' a sun for aU that is good, and a shield to defend us from aU ill. He is so to all that trust in him. He is a ' buckler, and an exceeding great reward,' Ps. xvUi. 80. He is a buckler to award* and shield UI from us, and an exceeding great reward for all * That is, = 'ward off,'— G. THE POOR man's RICHES. 263 that is good. Therefore in how happy a condition is the soul that is acquainted with this blessed exercise of trusting and believing in God ! It is a state wherein we shall be kept from all ill — I mean from the iU of iUs : not from the iU of sense, but from the iU of iUs, and from the poison of all UI. Whatsoever UI we endure, there shall be comfort mixed with it ; and it is better to have it than the comfort. What a comfort is this ! ' They that trust in the Lord shaU want nothing that is good. He that trusts in the Lord is as a tree planted by the river side,' Jer. xvu. 7, 8. He shaU alway have his leaf flourishing and bear fruit, because he is at the weU- head. He that hath the spring can never want water, and he that is in the sun can never want light. He that is at the great feast can never want pro vision. He that hath learned to trast in God, and can improve what is in him, what can he want ? Oh it is the scarceness of our faith that we want comfort ! As our faith is, so is our comfort ; and if we could bring a thou sand times larger faith to grasp the promises, we should carry away larger comfort and strength. NOTES. (a) P, 241, — ' In the original it is poor, and mUd, and gentle,' Cf, Dr Henderson in loc. (i) P, 246. — 'As St Augustine , , , . saith, "We should boast and glory of no thing, because nothing is ours," ' A frequent acknowledgment in the ' Confessions,' with varying phraseology, G, SPIEITUAL MOUENING. SPIRITUAL MOURNING. NOTE. ' Spiritual mourning' forms Nos, 14 and 15 of the Saint's Cordials in first edition, 1629, It was withdrawn from the after-editions along with others, to give room for another series which had been published in the intervals. The title-page will be found below,* Of, notes Vol, IV. page 76, and V, page 176, Q, * SPIRITVAL MOVRNING : In Two Sermons, Wherein is laid open. Who are spirituall mourners, and what it is to moume spiritually. That all godly mourning is attended with comfort. How spirituall mourning is known and discerned from other mournings. Together with the Tneanes to attaine it, and the tryall thereof, in sundry instances, ^c. [Wood-cut here, as described in Vol. IV. p. 60.] Vpeightnes Hath Boldnes, LONDON, Printed in the yeare 1629. SPIRITUAL MOURNING THE FIRST SERMON. Blessed are they that moum, for they shall be comforted. — ^Mat. V. 4. We have spoken of spiritual poverty the last day, when we shewed you that it is a grace especially in the understanding,* We must now come to the affections, Aad first, our Saviour begins with mourning, which fol lows immediately from poverty of spirit. Mourning is a wringing or pinching of the soul upon the apprehension of some evU present, whether it be privative or positive, as we speak ; that is, when a man finds that absent that he desires, and that present which he abhors, then the soul shrinks and contracts itself, and is pinched and wringed ; and this is that we call mourning. Now this always comes to pass in poverty. Such as the poverty is, such is the mourning ; and therefore our blessed Saviour's order is very good in joining mourning to that poverty of which we have spoken. Thus much for the order. Now for the words. There are, you see, two things in this verse. 1. A point. 2. Aliproof. Our Saviour's point shall be our point of doctrine at this time, because we would not speak one thing twice. Therefore we will lay down the point in our Saviour's own words, and that is this, that spiritual mourners are blessed men. He is an happy man that is a good mourner. He that can moum for his sins, he is in an happy case. That is the point. Now in the prosecution of this, we must first expound it ; secondly, prove it ; and then apply it to you, as our Saviour doth to his hearers, Luke vi. 2ll, • Blessed are ye that mourn.' 1. For the first, I may expound the point and the text both under one. You see the proposition what it is, every good mourner is in an happy con dition. Here let us consider a little the terms to explicate them. Who is the party in speech ? ' Blessed is the mourner,' saith Christ in Matthew ; * Blessed,' saith he in Luke vi. 21, ' are the weepers.' Both these, moum- ing and weeping, they are fruits of the same tree and root. The root is sorrow and sadness, opposite to joy ; the bud mourning, opposite to mirth ; * The reference is probably to ' Rich Poverty,' from Zephaniah iii. 12, in the present volume, — G. 268 SPIRITUAL MOURNING. the blossoms weeping, opposite to laughter. The matter then is this, that they that are spiritual mourners are happy men ; that is, those men that have not only cause and matter of sorrow and mourning, for so all have, but have also a heart to mourn. There is in them a disposition of mourn ing, they can do it, they wiU do it occasionally, they do perform it inwardly, they bleed, which is termed mourning outwardly, they demonstrate it, as our Saviour mstanceth in weeping. These be the parties here spoken of that are mourners. Now what is the thing that is affirmed of them ? that is, blessedness and happiness ; the moumers are blessed and happy. As mourning is in [itlself, it is not simply good, but because it makes way for happiness. To call mourning happiness simply, were to speak a contra diction, to term misery feUcity, and to make felicity misery. But he that mourns aright, is happy in a sense, he is in a happy estate and condition. A mournful state is a happy estate ; happy, because this mourning is an argument of some happiness and goodness for the present, and a pledge of more for the future. It makes way for comfort and future happiness, and therefore he is happy. Obj. You see the proposition now, how it is mournful men are happy men. But now for the quantity and extent of this proposition.. Is this, will some men say, universally true ? Are all men that mourn blessed men? Ans. Nothing less. There is a carnal mourning, when a man mourns for the presence of goodness, and for the absence of sin, because he is restrained and cannot be so bad as he would be. There is a natural mourning, when a man mourns upon natural motives, when natural losses and crosses are upon him. There is a spiritual mourning, when a man mourns in a spiritual manner, for spiritual things, upon spiritual motives, as afterwards we shall shew ; when he mourns, because good things that are spiritually good are so far from him, and spiritual ills are so near to him. This is the mourner that Christ here speaks of, and this is the mourning that hath the blessing. Other mourning may occasion this through God's blessing, and may give some overture to this mourning, but the blessing belongs to the spiritual mourner and the spiritual mourning. Mourning must be expounded as poverty. Every poor man is not a blessed man, except his outward poverty bring him to spiritual poverty. So every mourner and every weeper is not therein blessed, except his outward losses, and crosses, and occasions, be an occasion through God's blessing and a means to bring him to spiritual sorrow and mourning. Thus now you see then the meaning of the proposition ; it is thus much, that he that mourns spiritually and holily, why he is in an happy estate and condition. This is the meaning of the point. 2. Now let us proceed to the second thing, the proving of it. For proof we need go no further than our Saviour's own testimony ; yet we have besides his testimony some proofs and some reasons to give. For his testimony : ' Blessed,' saith oui: Saviour's own mouth, ' are they that mourn ;' and Luke vi. 21, ' Blessed are they that weep.' This weeping and this mourning must be understood of spiritual weeping and spiritual mourning, as we told you, and then the testimony is very clear, every man that so moums is an happy man. Our Saviour doth not only speak this, but prove it, 1. By an argument drawn from the contrary : Luke vi, 25, ' Woe be to you that laugh now.' These carnal mirth-mongers are in a miserable estate, and therefore spiritual moumers are in an happy estate. 2. He confirms and backs this by a reason here in the text : ' Blessed are SPIRITUAL MOURNING. 269 the moumers, for they shaU be comforted.' This reason wiU not hold in aU kind of mourning and aU kind of comfort. It is no good argument to say. Blessed is the man that is in pain, for he shall be refreshed and reUeved ; blessed is the man that is hungry, for he shall be fed and have his wants BuppUed, But yet this argument holds good, ' Blessed are they that mourn, for they shaU be comforted ;' namely, with God's comforts, with the comforts of the Spirit, with the comforts of the word, the comforts of heaven. The comforts of God are beyond all the miseries and sorrows that a man can endure in this life ; and though he do mourn and weep for them, yet not withstanding, the comforts, the wages, wUl so far exceed all his sorrows that he is happy in this. He cannot buy spiritual comforts too dear, he cannot have them upon hard terms possibly. Though they cost him never so many tears, never so much grief, and sorrow, and heart-breaking, yet if he have them, he is happy in having them upon what rate soever. Yea, further, spiritual mourning carries comfort with it, besides the harvest of comfort that abides the mourner afterwards. There are first- fruits of comfort here to be reaped, so it is that the more a man moums spiritually, the more he rejoiceth ; the more his sorrow is, the more his comfort is. His heart is never so light, so cheerful, and so comfortable, as when he can pour forth himself with some sighs, groans, and tears, before God. So that then our Saviour clears the point, that they are happy men that moum in an holy manner. Howsoever mourning be not comfort, and misery be not happiness, yet notwithstanding, affliction and mourning may argue an happy estate and blessed condition, and that in these respects foUowing, which we shall name to you, which shaU serve for reasons of the point. 1. First, He that moums spirituaUy Aai^ a good judgment, and therefore is happy. Spiritual affection it argues a spiritual judgment and under standing. For the affections they work according as they receive informa tion. A creature that is led by fancy, hath brutish affections ; a man that is guided with matter of reason hath rational affections, as we term them ; but a man that hath his mind enlightened and sanctified hath holy affec tions. So that holy mourning and holy affections argues a sound mind, a holy, settled, and spiritual judgment, and that is an happiness. 2, Secondly, It argues a good heart too. (1,) First, A tender and soft heart. For a stone cannot moum, only the fleshy heart it is that can bleed. He that then can moum spiritually, he hath an evidence to his heart, that his heart is soft, that he hath a tender heart, and that is a blessing, and makes a man a blessed man, (2,) As his heart is tender, so also it is sound. It is a healthful soul and an healthful temper, as I may speak, that he hath. For mourning proceeds out of love and hatred ; out of agreement, if it be a spiritual mourning, with that which is good, and out of a contrariety and opposition between us and that which is bad. So that he that can mourn after good ness, and moum for sin and badness, if it be spiritual mourning, this man shews he hath a good heart, his heart agrees with that which is good, his heart disagrees, and stands in opposition, and hath an antipathy to that which is bad. And this is a right constitution and temper of soul, that makes a man happy. There is one reason then why he that mourns spiritually may well be deemed an happy man, because he hath a sound judgment, and because he hath a sound and a soft heart too. 2. Secondly, As he is happy in the cause, so he will be happy in the ^ect too of his godly mourning. For godly sorrow and mourning brmgs 270 SPIRITUAL MOURNING. forth blessed fruits and effects ; the apostle in 2 Cor. vii. 10, seq., delivers divers of them, as there you see. (1.) First, this is one thing in spiritual mourning ; it secures and excludes a man from carnal and hellish mourning ; yea, this orders him and saves him harmless from all other griefs. A gracious mourning, it moderates natural grief, and expels and drives out carnal and heUish grief and sorrow, like good physic, that heals and strengthens nature, and expels that poison that is hurtful to nature. The more a man can mourn for his sins, the less he wiU moum for other matters ; the more heavy sin Ues upon his soul, the more lightly he can bear other losses and crosses, whatsoever they be. So that this mourning prevents a great deal of unprofitable mourning. When a man bleeds unseasonably and unsatiably, the way to divert it is to open a vein and to let him blood elsewhere, and so you save the man. When a man pours forth himself unseasonably and unprofitably in needless tears, griefs, and cares, the only way is to turn his tears into a right channel, to make him mourn for that which is mournful, and to set him to weep for that which deserves tears. If he weep in an holy and spiritual manner, he shall be secured and preserved from poisonful and hurtful tears. (2,) Secondly, This is another happy effect of godly mourning, that spiritual and godly mourning alway doth a man good and never any hurt. Worldly sorrow, saith the apostle, causeth death. It hurts the soul, it hurts the life, it hurts the body of a man ; but spiritual sorrow, on the other side, causeth life. The more a man dies this way, the more he lives ; the more he weeps, the more he laughs ; and the more he can weep over Jesus Christ, the more lightsome and gladsome his heart is, and the more comfortably he spends his time. This brings him joy, this brings him peace, this brings him evidence of God's love, this brings assurance of pardon, and so this makes way for life, and doth a man no hurt at all.,' (8,) Thirdly, This spiritual and godly sorrow and mourning is a sorrow never to be repented of, as the apostle there implies. AU other sorrow a man must unsorrow again. When a man hath wept and blubbered, and spent a great deal of time in passionate tears, in cursed tears, in froward tears, in revengeful stomachful tears, he must blot out these tears with new tears ; he must unweep this weeping, and undo his mourning because he hath thus mourned ; he hath reason to repent for his sorrow. But when a man sets himself apart to weep over Christ, and sees his sins for the dishonour that is offered to God's name, and that his mourning is holy and spiritual mourning, he shall never have cause to repent of this time that is so spent, although he have spent many days and hours in that action. (4.) Last of aU, spiritual mourning works repentance, saith the apostle : that is to say, it works reformation and amendment ; it sets a man further from his sin, and brings him nearer to God, and nearer to goodness ; it works in himself partly, and m. regard of others partly, those fruits that the apostle there mentions in the Corinthians. Saith he, what striving, what dUigence and speed did you make, namely, to find out and to censure the incestuous person ; and then this sorrow wiU make a man nimble to find out sin, to reform and redress abuses in himself, in his house, and his place in what he can. In the second place, it gives a man defence and apology to speak for himself, and to say. Though I live amongst a polluted people of uncircumcised hearts, yet I join not with them in their sins, I mourn for them, I censure them, I blame them, as the Corinthians did the incestuous person. And for himself, he is able to hold up his head with SPIRITUAL MOURNING, 271 comfort, and to say. It is true I have corruptions, but here is my apology, I bewaU them. It is true I have thus and thus sinned, but here is my defence, I am sorry. I found place for sin, I find place for sorrow also, I confess it, I bewail it, I repent of my sin. Thus he clears himself. (5.) Further, Spiritual sorrow, it works indignation against sin in himself and in others ; a zeal against aU impediments in himself and in others, the desire to God's ministers and word ; that revenge that the apostle speaks of there, and that fear of hazarding one's self into the like occasions of sin for the time to come. In short, the fraits and effects of godly sorrow are exceeding blessed, exceeding many, and therefore in this sense, in this respect, he that mourns spiritually is an happy man. 8. Thirdly, He is happy in regard of the event and issue of his mourning, because all shall end well with him, and all his tears shall one day be wiped away, and joy and gladness shaU come in place ; yea, he is happy in this, that spiritual mourning it is always accompanied with joy : that is an happy estate that tends to happiness. Things are termed from the term in their motion. That is an happy estate that is attended with comfort, that ends in comfort, and shall be swallowed up of it at the last. Now this is the state of the spiritual mourner ; while he doth mourn he hath comfort, and comfort because he can mourn. This doth a Christian heart more good than aU the good of this world, when he can get himself apart and shed tears for his sins, and bewail the miseries and the sins of the time, and take to heart the dishonour of God's name. This, I say, doth more refresh and glad his soul than any outward comfort in the world. There is a laughter which Solomon speaks of, that makes a man sad, a carnal laughter ; the heart is sad whilst the face laughs. So I may say the contrary, as there is joined sadness in some laughter, so there is laughter in some sad ness. Carnal laughter makes a man sad while he laughs ; but spiritual mourning, it makes a man merry when he mourns ; the more he moums, the more merry he is. Again, as for the present his mourning is attended with comfort, so in the end it shaU end in comfort. There is a sorrow that shall end in darkness, that wastes a man as fire and heat wastes a candle, and so goes out of itself and vanisheth into smoke, into nothing. There is a sorrow and grief that ends in a greater sorrow, and that empties itself into eternal misery, but this spiritual sorrow shall have an end, Foi; there shaU be an end of our sorrow. If it be holy sorrow, we shaU not ever mourn, but the tears shall one day be wiped from all our eyes, it shall have an end, and an happy end too. For aU our sorrow shaU end in joy. For our garments of ashes we shaU have garments of light and gladness, and ' everlasting joy shall be upon our heads,' Isa. xxxv, 10. So then, whether we respect the cause of our mourning, or the fraits and effects of it, whether we respect the close and event of it, it is clear that every man that can mourn spfritually is in that respect in a very happy and blessed estate and condition. We have given you now the point. You hear what our Saviour speaks is but reason, though he seem to speak a paradox to flesh and blood when he saith, every spiritual moumer is an happy man. Now then, my brethren, let us apply the point a Uttle. Use 1. If it be an happy man that moums aright, we have reason, first, to bewail our unhappiness ; unhappy time and unhappy men may we well say, touching ourselves, that vary so much from the mmd and prescription of our blessed Saviour. 'Blessed,' saith our Saviour Christ, ' are they that mourn, for they shaU be comforted.' ' Woe to you,' saith he, ' that now laugh.' We, on the other side, say, Woe to them that here moum ; happy 272 SPIRITUAL MOUENING. are they that can here laugh and be merry. And as we vary in our judg ment from our Saviour, so much more we vary in our practice from his direction and counsel. The Lord, when he gives direction that wiU bring joy and comfort, he bids us humble ourselves, cast down ourselves, afflict ourselves, &c,, James iv. 10. God saith, ' Humble yourselves that you may be exalted,' , We on the other side say, Exalt ourselves, and we shall not be humbled. God saith. Throw down yourselves; we say. Secure our selves. God saith. Afflict yourselves, and then you shaU have comfort. The Lord saith. Let your laughter be turned into mourning, that so you may laugh. We on the other say. Let our mourning be turned into laughter, that so we may not moum. And therefore when any grief, natu ral or spiritual, begins to breed or to grow on us, presently we betake our selves to company, to sports and exercises, that may drown the noise of conscience, that may put out of our minds motives to spiritual grief and sorrow, and that may provoke us to carnal, or at the best to natural mirth and rejoicing. Thus we vary from Christ's directions quite in our practice; nay more, vary further from the practice of the saints of God, We vary from the very time and season in which we live. For behold, it is a time of darkness and blackness ; it is the year of God's visitation, as the pro phet speaks ; it is the time of Jacob's trouble, as Jeremiah speaks. For howsoever we have peace at home, the church hath war abroad ; howsoever we have health, yet the pestilence rageth abroad. Though we have plenty, there is poverty and misery abroad in the bowels of the church in other nations. Now then, when the time calls for mourning, and weeping, and lamentation, we vary quite, and are like to them in the prophecy of Isaiah. ' In that day,' saith God, Isa, xxii, 12, seq., ' did I call for mourning and sackcloth : and behold here is slaying of oxen, and killing of sheep, and making merry, and provoking ourselves to all kind of jollity and security,' Further, we vary from the practice of God's chUdren in like cases. They gave themselves to spiritual mourning upon due occasion. We read of Nehemiah, when he heard that the church was distressed and afflicted abroad, though he lived in credit, and in honour, and in safety himself at the court, yet he betakes himself to God in private, and there he fasts, and prays, and mourns, and there he sues to the Lord to be merciful unto Jerusalem. We read of good honest Uriah, he refused to go to his house and to refresh himself with meat and drink, upon this reason, because the ark of God and the captain of the host lay in the field in tents. This was the affection and the mind of God's servants of old : they wept with those that wept, and they mourned in the mourning and lamentation of the church. But now, my brethren, we forget the afflictions of Joseph abroad. And, as it is said of them in Amos, ' We drink wine in bowls, we stretch ourselves on our beds,' vi. 7 ; we give ourselves to music and mirth, and we take not to heart the distresses of the church. So likewise for the sins of the time, we see what the saints did of old. Ezra, chap, ix, 10, when he heard of the sins that were committed among the people — the holy seed had mingled themselves with the cursed nations, whom the Lord had cursed — he betakes himself to prayer, and to mourning, and fasting ; and there assembled to him many well affected men, and they trembled before the Lord, they cast down themselves, and wept in a solemn manner. Thus the saints of God did for the sins of their time. But now, my brethren, what do we ? We look on other men, and wonder that ralers and magistrates and public persons do no more. But what do we ourselves in private ? My brethren, do we lay to heart our own sins, the sins of our SPIRITUAL MOUENING, 273 kindred and acquaintance, of our families, the sins of our neighbours, of our towns, of our places where we dwell and have our abode ? Had David lived in these days, he would have washed our streets with rivers of tears, as he speaks of himself, Ps, cxix, 136, to have seen such pride, such im piety ; to hear such oaths and blasphemies so frequent and so rife amongst us. We, on the other side, my brethren, see, nay, we act and commit, gross sins ; we hear, nay, we utter, cursed speeches and blasphemies and oaths, and commit abominable sins, and yet there are not rivers of tears, nay, not a tear almost shed amongst us. This is that we are to complain of now, that we do what we can to put off mourning, and to bereave our selves of true comfort ; and this dryness and emptiness of tears, were it only of temper of body, and not from distemper of soul, the matter were more sufferable and more pardonable. But what shaU we say for ourselves, when we have tears at command for every trifie, for every bauble, and have not tears for sin and for the dishonour of God ? If a friend cross us, we can weep ; if an unkind word be uttered, we sob and grow sullen ; if a loss or a cross befall us, we can pour out ourselves in carnal weeping and lamentation : but for the sins of our souls, for the sins of our friends, for the sins of our nation, for the unkindness that we offer to God, for the contempt that is cast upon his name, we cannot shed a tear ; and were it now that we were ashamed of these things, the matter were less. But, alas ! we take not to heart that we have not hearts to rhourn, and we labour not so much as to grieve because we cannot grieve. In our carnal natural grief, we stand and plead, we think we have reason to mourn : I have lost such a friend and such a friend. We think we have cause to bewail our estate in regard of such outward misery as befaUs us. But we see no cause, no reason to weep over Christ for the sins we have committed against God, We think many times carnal sorrow, which in truth is but poison, will do us good, a great deal of ease ; and when men have crossed us, and dis appointed us, or dealt unkindly with us, we think we will go and weep it out ; and when we have cried and blubbered a whUe, we think that we give ease to our souls, and content to our hearts. But when we come to spiritual mourning, which only is comfortable mourning, we think that undoes us. Many a man thinks he forfeits all his joy, aU his peace, aU his liberty, aU his happiness, and he shaU never see a merry day again in this world if he gives way to mourning for sin, to sound repentance, to works of humUiation, and examination of his own heart and ways, _ And hence it is that we do what we can to hold possession against the Spirit in sorrow and mourning. Oh misery! Oh unhappiness of ours ! When we take things in this manner, when we take poison for cordial, and cordials to be no better than poison, no marvel though we have no more comfort of our tears and of our mourning ; for certainly our mourning for the most part is not a blessed mourning. We mourn not for sin, but for sorrow ; we mourn not for corruption, but for crosses : not because we have dealt unkindly with God, but because men deal unkindly with us. This is not a blessed mourning, and therefore it is that we find no comfort in it. Use 2. WeU, in the next place, we have another use, to take Christ's direction for comfort. Who would, who can be without it? Life is death without comfort. Every man's ajm is to lead a comfortable Ufe. Mark the way that Christ chalks out: 'Blessed are they that mourn, for they shaU be comforted.' Do you beUeve Christ's word ? Do you beUeye that he knows what he saith ? Can you rest in Christ's testimony and in his pro ven. VI. s 274 SPIEITUAL MOUENING. mise ? Then, if ever you wiU have comfort in your hearts, or in your lives, or in your ends, begin here, begin with spiritual mourning. Now that this you may do, we must, 1. First shew you how spiritual mouming differs, and is discerned from other mourning, 2, How it is gotten, 3, How it is exercised. 1 , For the first of this : Spiritual mouming is known by the objects. _ Such as the object is, such is the faculty. Spiritual mourning hath spiritual objects, either materially or formally, as they speak in schools. This spiritual mouming is busied about spiritual goods and spiritual iUs, Spi ritual good, either the chief or universal good, which is God ; or subordi- nately good, as grace and comfort, the ordinance and worship of God. Spiritual Uls, whether they be simply iU, as sin and impiety ; or painfully ill, yet with relation to sin, as a fruit of sin, and as a pledge of God's wrath and displeasure against it. We will instance in this first. For, first, if a man would know whether his sorrow be spiritual sorrow or no, let him see how he mourns for the absence of spiritual good things, how he mourns for the absence of God, the chief good. That is spiritual sorrow, when a man mourns because he hath lost God in his graces, in his communion, and in his comforts. This was a proof of David's sorrow that it was spiritual, because, as the Scripture speaks elsewhere, he lamented after the Lord, and mourned after God, ' My soul,' saith he, ' thirsteth after the living God,' Ps. xlU, 2. He hungered after God, he was pained, and pinched at his soul when he could not see God, and enjoy God as for merly he did. This was the reason of that idolater. Judges xviii, 24, seq., when his idols were taken from him, he cried after them : when a rude fel low asked him what he ailed, ' What ail I ? ' saith he ; ' you have stolen away my gods, and taken away my ephod, and do you ask what I ail ? what more have you left me ?' What he speaks of his false gods, a true Christian heart may conclude much more of the true God, If the true God be departed from him, — stolen he cannot be ; — but if he be departed from him, that he have driven away God in Christ by his sinful and rude behaviour, that God hides his face, that he communicates not himself in his comforts and graces as formerly he hath done, this goes to his heart, this punisheth him, and grieves him more than any thing in the world. And so for inferior goods, a man that mourns spirituaUy, he mourns because he sees the want of good things, the want of faith, the want of grace, he finds a spiritual want, the absence of things spirituaUy good. A man that mourns spiritually, he naourns because the means of grace is taken from him, because he sees not his teachers, as the prophet saith, because there is no vision ; there is none to say. How long ? as it is in Haggai i. 4 : ' How long shaU the house of God Ue waste ? the ways of Zion are unfrequented : the Sabbaths of the Lord are despised,' He mourns because he is kept away from the house of God, where he used to taste of the fat things of God's house, and where he used to see him in his beauty and in his glory. So this is spiritual mouming, when a man mourns because God in hia love and in his comforts leaves him, and his countenance shines not upon him ; because the word of God and the gi-ace of God spreads not, that it stirs not sensibly within him, as formerjy it hath done. And so likewise for Uls. A man that moums spiritually, he mourns for spiritual Uls, to find so much corruption, so much pride, so much hypocrisy, so much self- love, so much worldliness, so much naughtiness in his own heart. This is SPIEITUAL MOURNING. 275 his grief, as it was Paul's, He cries, 0 tired, ' 0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death ?' Rom. vii, 24, He weeps, and takes on more for the corruption of his nature, for the sins in himself, and in the people of God, than for persecution and disgrace, than for losses and crosses that befall him. So when a man mourns for sin, that he takes to heart the sins of his family, the sins of the state and of the church that he lives in, this is spiritual mourning. And so also when a man mourns for outward things spiritually, say he be poor, say he be afflicted, say he be famished, say he be persecuted, he turns all his griefs to godly grief; he apprehends God's displeasure. In these he apprehends and sees sin : in these he considers his crosses, in the cause, and in the root of them, in sin ; and so he mourns for sin and the cause. This is spiritual mouming. Now when a man thus mourneth for the absence of spiritual good things, and for the presence of spiritual ills that lie upon him and others, then he is said to mourn spiritually, and so he is a blessed man. This is all we can stay to say for the point. Quest. Now, in the next place, how shall a man do to get this spiritual mourning ? Ans. First, He must labom* to have an heart capable of grief and sorrow i that is spiritual, a tender and soft heart. He must see that he have a J disposition to holy mourning, able and inclinable so to do, when just opportunity and occasion is offered. Now how shall a man get this tender heart ? Why surely he must go to God in his means and ordinances, who hath promised, as you heard, in the covenant, to take ' the stone out, of our hearts, and to give us soft and fleshy hearts,' This a man must do, for it. Withal he must be ready in the next place, when God hath given him a tender heart, to stir up the graces of the Spirit that are in him, to raise up his affections and his sorrow, and to provoke himself to mourn and to lament upon due occasion. Thus that he may do, he must, 1, First, Consider of a method that he must use ; and then, 2, Of motives to stir him up thereunto, 1. For method. (1.) First, He must have respect to the time, that he do not let his heart lie fallow too long, Jer, iv, 8, it is said, ' Plough up your fallow ground,' Ground, if it lie long unploughed, it wiU require much pains to rear it and fetch it up, but if it be oft done, it wUl be the easier. So it is with the heart of man ; he must not let his heart be fallow too long, but take it into task ever and anon, and labour to keep the flesh ten der, and raw, and fresh, as we may say ; and then upon every occasion it wiU be ready to bleed and to pour forth itself. To this end a man should every day be exercised in the duty of a godly mourning, every night reckon for the passage of that day, and say with thyself, V^at sin have I commit ted ? What have I done ? What have I said ? What have I seen this day ? What have I heard this day, that might be matter of humiUation and grief to me ? And so work this upon the heart, that it may be turned to tears of godly sorrow. (2,) Secondly, For the time, a man must he sure to take Ood's time. When God caUs on him, when God gives them the heart, and is ready to close and to join with him, then take the advantage, set upon godly moum ing, when the Lord hath ransacked thy heart, when the Lord hath dealt with thee in the ministry of his word, when he hath applied himself to tiiy soul and conscience, and detected thy corruption, and shewed thee thy sin, and hath wounded thy heart in pubUc with afflictions, in private with terrors and fears. So when the nature of grief is stirred by the occasion 276 SPIRITUAL MOURNING. of the word, then take the advantage of this, seize upon this for the king's use ; set upon sorrow whilst it is there, turn it into the right stream, into the right channel ; turn it for sin, weep for sm, and no;t for outward losses and crosses. Thus much for the time, 2, Secondly, There is another thing to be done for the order, and that is this, that a man must be sure to give over carnal mirth and carnal mourn ing, if he wUl mourn spiritually. His carnal laughter must be turned into mourning, as James speaks, iv. 9 ; and his carnal mirth must be turned into spiritual mouming too, or else he will never come to spiritual mourn ing. But we cannot stand upon that. We wUl only touch the motives, because the time is run out, and so conclude for this time. Consider weU what are the motives to set us to work to mourn, and to moum spiritually. The motives are many. He that wUl mourn must look to these. There is one rule generally for mourning, and that is this : He that will mourn spiritually, he must apply himself to God's means and motives only. There be that tell us of a course of getting of sackcloth and haircloth, and I know not what, to work godly mourning. This makes men superstitious, and not humble. He that is an holy moumer, he wUl foUow God's directions, he will work upon his motives and reasons, and no other ; and therefore he mourns, because God bids him so mourn, for the Scripture bids us look upon Christ, not as he is in pictures, but in the word, presented upon the cross, and to weep, and to mourn, and to bleed out our souls there for our sins committed against him, and so to look upon him whom we have pierced, and to weep for him, as it is Zech, xii, 10. That is in general. Now, in particular, consider these motives. 1. It is needful for us to moum, 2, It is seasonable for us to mourn, 3, It is profitable. And, 4, It is comfortable. Of these we should have said something more largely if the time and strength had given leave, but seeing both fail, we wUl only touch them now, and leave them till we can further prosecute them, 1. First, It is needful to mourn in a spiritual manner. Whosoever hath sin must mourn. Let him take his time and place, whether he wiU do it in this life or in that which is to come. Sin must have sorrow, that is a ruled case ; and he that will not willingly moum, shall, will he or niU he, in another place. And therefore, my brethren, we see there is a necessity laid upon us in regard of our sins. It is needful also in regard of others, to draw them to it by our example and practice, I know not how it comes to pass, but we are all fallen into a wondrous sleepy age, a time of security. Men bless themselves in their courses. They secure themselves in a formal, ordinary kind of religion and profession, with an ordinary stint of holy duties, when there is no powerful, hearty, sanctifying actions done in secret for our own sins, and the sins of the times. Why, sith* that aU men sleep, let us be wakeful, and since others have need of provoking to this duty, let Christian men lead them the way. Let their faces, and apparel, and enter tainment, and all their carriage and behaviour, speak mourning and lamen tation to other men. Secondly, As it is needful in regard of others, so also it is needful in regard of ourselves too ; for who doth not find in him self a wondrous proneness to sin, and aptness to take infection from others ? Who finds not in himself a readiness to close with others in their * That is, ' since,' — G, SPIEITUAL MOUENING, 277 sins ? The way to preserve us is to mourn. That will preserve us from the infection now, and from judgment hereafter. How was Lot preserved in Sodom ? By hearing and seeing they vexed his righteous soul, &c. While Lot mourned for their sin, he was free from sin ; while he mourned for their impiety, he was free from the judgment. Because he did not partake of their wickedness, therefore he was not plagued with the wicked. If then we would not be infected by sin, if we would not be wrapped up in the common calamities and judgments, this course we had need to take, we must fall to mourning for our own sins and for their sins. 2. Secondly, As it is needful, so also it is very seasonable. The very time tends that way, as it were ; the season is the time of weeping ; the church of God weeps abroad. It is the time, as I told you, of Jacob's trouble. Oh the sighs, oh the tears, oh the griefs and sorrows that cover and overwhelm the people of God in other nations, and other places ! The prophet David could say, his right hand should forget to play, rather than he would forget Jerusalem, Ps, cxxxvii, 5 ; but I know not how, what for play, and for sport, and for ease, and feasting, and one thing or other, we forget Jerusalem, we forget the misery of the church in other places. Well, now they pray, and call upon us, as far as Prague, as far as Heidelberg, as far as France, that we would take notice of their afflictions, and of their miseries ; at the least, that we would comfort them so far as to mourn for them,* As it is seasonable in regard of the afflictions of the church, so in respect of provoking of others of this nation. For sin is now grown to a fulness, to a ripeness. Oh the oaths that are sworn in one day, in one city, and in one town ! Oh the lies that are uttered in one fair, in one market daily ! Oh the sins that are committed by high and low of all degrees within the compass of twenty-four hours ! Who is able to reckon them ? And the sins that are committed with an high hand against the knowledge, and against the light of the gospel, and against the express letter of the law, the word of God, should not these things cause us to ipourn ? They would cause a David to weep rivers of tears, and shall not we weep at all ? 8, Thirdly, As it is seasonable, so it is profitable ; for godly mourning it never hurts, it alway helps. Carnal sorrow leaves a man worse than it finds him. It makes him more sick, and more weak, than it finds him. Spi ritual sorrow leaves him better. He that can pour forth his heart before God, he that can go charged and loaden to heaven, with his heart full of fear and fuU of grief and fuU of sorrow, as ever it can hold, that man shall return back again loaden with joy, and peace, and comfort. Thou shalt never in thy life go before the Lord in sorrow and grief, and there spend but one quarter of an hour in tears, and prayer, and lamenting before the Lord, but thou shalt find thy heart somewhat lightened, somewhat eased and refreshed in so doing. Well then, since it is profitable for us, let us do it. As it is profitable for the soul, so it is for the body. This is the only means that is left to save ourselves. In Ezek, ix, 2, you know one was sent, with a pen and inkhorn, to mark out the moumers, that they might be saved in the common plague and judgment ; and that God might be gracious and merciful to them. It is the only thing that is now left us. We must betake ourselves to prayer, and tears, and to lamentation, if we would not have judgments to faU upon us. This is profitable for the whole state, if there be some righteous men. If there had been but ten of these mourners in five cities of the plague,t they had been upheld all for their sakes. The * Cf, Memoir, Vol. I. pp. lvij,-lix,— Q. t Qi. ' plain '?— En. 278 SPIRITUAL MOUENING. righteous man upholds the land and nation ; they do beat back the judg ments ; and therefore, for the common good, let us moum. 4, Lastly, It is very comfortable. It doth wondrously refresh a man. It is that that kUls a Christian man, when he remembers many times the com forts he hath had heretofore when his heart was enlarged ; and if he could pour forth himself, and weep as once he could have done before the Lord, he would part with all the world for an heart so tender, and so soft, and so enlarged. There is no comfort to this in a Christian, he prizeth it above aU other comforts in this world. Then he thinks himself in a safe estate, in the best case, in a comfortable estate and condition, when he can mourn best, when he can weep and sorrow for his sins, and weep over Christ, Well, my brethren, let us consider these things, and now apply them to ourselves, and say, 0 my heart, thou hast need to mourn, it is time for thee to mourn ! 0 my soul, it is profitable for thee to mourn ! 0 my soul, it is comfortable for thee to mourn ! If thou desire thine own profit, thine own ease, thine own comfort and safety, if thou desire life and salva tion, betake thyself to this course ; gather thyself from company ; go alone, and set before thee thy sins thou hast committed, how bad thou hast been to God, how good he hath been to thee, what a kind Father he hath been, and what a froward child thou hast been. Lay these together tiU thou hast provoked thyself to some sorrow and tears. Thus if we could do, we should find comfort more than worldlings find in laughter, and in their merriment and sports ; we should find more comfort this way than we shaU in cold and comfortless weeping for crosses, and lamenting for afflictions ; but, for that and other uses of the point, I am enforced, whether I wiU or no, to defer till next time. SPIRITUAL MOURNING. THE SECOND SERMON. Blessed are they that moum, for they shall be comforted. — ^Mat, V, 4, The lesson here is thus much, they that mourn in an holy manner, they are in an happy case. The proof of this doctrine is this, ' they shall be com forted,' We heard the last day, he is an happy man that can mourn in an holy manner ; he is happy in his judgment, A holy affection argues an holy understanding. He is happy in his heart and inward temper, for holy mourning comes from a kind of spiritual softness and tenderness. He is happy in the effect of his mourning. Holy mourning will keep out carnal and worldly sorrow. It is a sorrow that a man needs never to sorrow for again ; it is such a sorrow that tends to life and salvation. Worldly sorrow tends to death. He is happy in the issue of his mourn ing, for mourning makes way for rejoicing. He that now weeps shall one day laugh. Nay, for the present, the more he mourns in an holy manner, the more solid and substantial is his present comfort. It is our folly and misery both, therefore, that we so utterly mistake the matter. We give way to a sorrow that will hurt us, and keep possession against that which wiU do us good. We see reason, as we imagine, why we should grieve in a passionate manner ; we can see no reason why we should mourn in a spiritual manner. It is our unhappiness we can find time and leisure for the taking in of poison, that tends to death ; we can find no place fit, no time, no opportunity for the receiving of a preservative that will bound and keep the heart against all poison. Of this point we have already said something too. What remains to be spoken of it in further uses we wUl gather in anon, and touch upon it in the prosecution of a new point if we can. We pass therefore from the doctrine here delivered, ' Blessed are the mourners,' and come to the reason of it, ' for they shaU be comforted.' Let us join these together, and see how they do depend. The pouit wiU be thus much — Doct. 1, That spiritual mouming it ends in spiritual mirth. He that can mourn spiritually and holily, he shaU undoubtedly and certainly be com forted. Holy tears, they are the seeds of holy joy. You see our ground 280 SPIRITUAL MOURNING. in the text for this point. For the clearing of it further, let us know that we have good security for it. 1, The promise of God ; and then, 2. The experience of God's people. The best proofs that may be. First, the Lord undertakes in his promise two things touching our comforts : 1, That aU our godly sorrow shaU end in trae comfort. The next is, 2, That aU our godly mournings are attended and accompanied with com fort for the present, 1, For the first of these, you know the promise, sorrow and weeping shall fly away, and joy and gladness shaU come in place, Isa, xxxv,, last verse, which place wiU refer you to many more, God hath made a succession of these things, as of day and night. His chUdren's day begins in the night and in darkness, and ends in the day. After sorrow comes comfort ; after they have mourned in a holy manner their sorrow shaU be taken from them, and gladness shaU come in the stead, Isa, Ixi, 3, The Lord Jesus is appointed of his Father to give beauty for ashes, the garment of glad ness for the garment of sackcloth and mourning, God hath promised it shaU be so ; God hath appointed Christ, and fitted him, and enabled him to this word, that so it may be. Not to insist on this, our mourning shaU not only end in comfort, but it carries comfort along with it for the present, God hath undertaken it shall be so, speaking of the afflictions that should come upon the state : ' And my servants shaU be full, but he,' the wicked and hypocrite, ' shall be hungry : my servants shall rejoice, but he shall moum : my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shaU howl for heaviness of heart,' Isa. Ixv, 18, Lo, when afflictions come upon a state, such afflictions as make the wicked cry and howl, then God in judg ment remembers mercy for his. They shall have matter of joy and triumph even then. So in Isaiah Ix,, the beginning, he tells them, calling on his church, 'Arise,' saith he, 'and shine; put on brightness and glory; the Lord shall be a light unto thee in darkness,' When the church is enclosed with darkness, nothing but misery and affliction round about her, then the Lord shall shine* light, that is, he shall give comfort to his church, AU their mourning and sorrow, their outward afflictions, shall cause them in wardly to mourn in spirit, God will take off the garment of mourning, and put on the garment of gladness in his due time. In the mean time, he will be a light to them in the midst of darkness. Thus God undertakes, this is the promise. Now, God promiseth nothing but what he purposeth, and God purposeth and promiseth no more than he will perform. Hath he said it, and shall he not do it ? It shall certainly come to pass, AU the counsels of God shall stand ; every word of God is pure. All the promises of God are ' yea and amen,' They are certainly made good to the hearts and consciences of all God's people through Christ, Since therefore God hath said it, it shall be thus ; sith Christ hath said, ' Mourn, and you shall be comforted,' we may buUd upon it that so it shall be, 2, To this promise of God let us add the experience of Ood's people. We will speak of the church in the bulk, and the particular members of the church they have all found this true, they have reported it by their own experience, and passed their word for God that it shall be thus with God's people. Thus the church is brought speaking in Micah vU, 8, ' Rejoice not against me, 0 mine enemy : though I be fallen, yet shaU I rise ;' com fort wUl come at the last. Nay, while I sit in darkness, the Lord for the present will be a light and comfort to me. Thus you know again what the * Qu, 'send'?— 6, SPIRITUAL MOURNING. 281 church speaks, Ps, cxxvi, 6, from their own experience, ' They that sow in tears_ shall reap in joy,' There is a seed that doth fail sometimes and dis appoint our hopes, but this seed it never fails, it faUs upon good ground, it wiU take root. If the seed-time be wot, the harvest wUl be dry, ' They that sow in tears shaU reap in joy ;' and in another, Ps, xcv,, the latter end, 'Ught is sown to the righteous,' and he expounds what he means by light, joy to the upright in heart. So that though this seed lie covered for a time, yet notwithstanding there is light sown for the righteous, and they shaU be sure to have it. Thus the chui-ch speaks and gives her word for God, So likewise you may see it in particular Christians, David always found this ; Ps, xciv, 19 saith he, ' In the muUitude of the thoughts of my heart, thy comforts did glad my soul : ' when I was perplexed in my thoughts, my thoughts were tossed and tumbled up and down in mine own meditations, seeking here and there for comfort. Even then in this distress, and dis traction, thy comforts, thy double comforts, as the word impUes,* these comforts did refresh and glad this soul. So likewise Saint Paul, in 2 Cor, i, 4, he tells us that God did comfort him in all his tribulations ; and as his sorrows did abound, so his consolations did overtop and superabound. And hence we may say, as it were, of the saints of God, that which they extracted from thefr own experience and particular case, that God comfort's the abject, those that are cast down, as Paul saith, 2 Cor, vii, 6, and that of David, Ps, xxx, 5, ' Heaviness may continue for a night, but joy comes to the righteous in the morning.' We see then that if we look to the experience of God's people, they from their own experience give testimony to this truth, and give us to understand that true spiritual mourning shall end in trae spfritual joy and comfort. If aU this suffice not, let us consider of these reasons, and then we shaU see that it is but reason that we should do so. 1, The first reason is drawn from the nature of sorrow and mouming. Sorrow is a kind of an imperfect thing, as it were. It is not made for itself, but for an higher and for a further end, to do service to something else, as it fares with all those that we call the declining affections. Hatred is servant to love ; fear doth service to confidence ; so likewise doth sorrow to joy. For God hath not appointed sorrow for sorrow's sake, but to make way for joy and true comfort. The physician doth not make a man sick for sickness sake, but for health's sake. Many men's lives have been hazarded by carnal joy, as well as by worldly sorrow. And they that know anything in stories, they know many a man hath been taken away, his life hath leaped out of his mouth, as it were, by reason of extraordinary laughter and carnal joy. But now, the joy of a Christian man, a spiritual joy, it is a safe joy. It hurts no man, but doth a man good ; it settles a man's mind, it strengthens his thoughts, it per fects his wits and understanding. It makes him to have a sound judgment ; it makes for the health of his body ; it makes for the preservation of his Ufe ; it doth a man good every way. There is no provocation in it, there is no danger in it. Thirdly, as a Christian's joy is best in that respect, that it is the safest, so in this, that it is the surest joy. For this joy is an everlasting joy. The rejoicing of the wicked it is for a season, it lasts not long ; but the joy of the righteous, it is a constant joy in the root, and in the cause and in the matter of it. It shall never be taken from him. Indeed, everlastingness stands at the end of both kinds of joy. The wicked hath a joy, and there comes something after it that is ever- * The word being Tl^Qin^i^, consolationes tuoe in the plural. — G, 282 SPIRITUAL MOUENING. lasting ; but that is everlasting shame, everlasting pain and anguish. The righteous he hath some joy here, and there is something that is everlasting that follows at the end of that ; but that is everiasting gloiy, everlasting joy. It is swaUowed up of eternity. Further, the joy of the righteous is a more rational joy than the joy of the wicked : that is but brutish, as it were._ A righteous man rejoiceth in matters that are worthy of his joy, those things that he hath reason to be glad of. He rejoiceth that his name is written in heaven ; he rejoiceth that Christ hath taken upon him his nature ; that the Spirit of God the Comforter dweUs in him in the graces of the Spirit, &c. But now the wicked man, his is an unreasonable joy ; he rejoiceth where he hath no matter nor cause of joy. You see many times madmen sing, and dance, and leap, and shout, and take on, WiU you term this joy ? Alas ! this proceeds from distemper ; not that they have cause to be merry, but it is from distemper that they so rejoice, if you term it mfrth. That which Solomon saith you may say of the laughter of the wicked, ' it is madness,' He laughs, and he can give no reason for it ; he rejoiceth for that which he hath no reason to rejoice in ; he rejoiceth in the creature, he rejoiceth in himself, in his own wit, in his own worth, in his own strength. He rejoiceth many times in his shame, in his torment, in those things that tend to his utter ruin and destruction. The righteous, then, hath the start of the wicked for matter of comfort and joy. He hath a more solid, a more safe and sure joy, a more sweet joy, a more reasonable joy a great deal than the other hath. As he is beyond him in his joy, — So, in the next place, he istieyond him in his sorrow too. Our Ufe must have comfort and sorrow. It is compounded of sweet and sour. As the year is compounded of winter and summer, and the day of day and night, so every man's life is made up of these two. He hath some fair and some foul days, some joy and some sorrow. Now as the righteous is beyond the wicked in his joy and comfort, so he is beyond him in his sorrow. First, his sorrow is far better ; it is a more gainful, a more comfortable sorrow than others' is. They are beyond the sorrows of the wicked in all the causes and in all the circumstances of them, (1,) First, The sorrow of the righteous it proceeds from a hetter spring and fountain than the sorrow of the wicked. The sorrow of the godly, it comes from a sound mind, from a pure heart, from an inside that is puri fied from hypocrisy, from self-love, from private respects. Whereas, on the other side, the sorrow of the wicked comes from distemper of brain, from an utter mistake. He takes that to be matter of sorrow, which is no matter of grief ; he takes that to be matter of great grief that deserveth but a few tears, &c. Again, his sorrow comes from distemper of heart, from pride, from passion, from cursedness of heart and spirit, that he cannot stoop. It proceeds not from love to God or to mankind, but out of self-love, and from the miry puddle and filthy spring of pride and passion and error, &c. (2.) Secondly, The sorrow of the righteous, as it hath a better spring, so it is busied and taken up about better objects, about better matters. A wicked man howls and cries, and takes on many times for a trifle, for a bauble ; yea, many times, because he is disappointed and crossed in his lusts, in his base sins. The child of God finds himself somewhat else to do than to weep and to cry, and take on for trifles and vanities. He looks up to God, and is sorry he hath displeased him. He turns his tears into the right channel, and sets them upon his sin. He weeps for spiritual losses and crosses, for public miseries and calamities, and he takes to heart such things as are worthy of a man's sorrow, and such as wiU perfect the affeo- SPIEITUAL MOURNING, 288 tions, as every affection is perfected from the goodness of the object about which he works, (3,) Thirdly, The sorrow of the righteous is better than the sorrow of the wicked in regard of the manner of their mouming. For the mourning of the righteous is a composed kind of sorrow. He mourns in silence ; he weeps to the Lord ; he carries it with judgment and discretion. His sorrow is a moderated sorrow ; he holds it within banks and bounds. Whereas the sorrow of the wicked is a tempestuous, a boisterous, a furious kind of mourning and lamenting. He knows no mean. It is without hope. He observes no decorum. He forgets himself what he is, what he saith, what he doth almost. His mourning is little better than frenzy or madness. (4.) Last of all, they differ much in the end and upshot of their mourning. Godly sorrow, it doth a man good. It humbles him, as we said. It drives him from all purpose, from all practice of sin ; it makes him resolute against sin. On the other side, it draws him into the presence of God ; it brings him before the Lord in the ordinance of prayer, in the ordinance of fasting and humiUation, This is his sorrow, and therefore it shaU end well ; whereas, on the other side, the sorrow of the wicked, it is a kind of vexing, tormenting sorrow, a painful sorrow, a despairing sorrow ; a sorrow that drives a man from God, and is mingled many times with much murmuring, sometimes with cursing, sometimes with oaths and blasphemies. This sorrow of the wicked, it hath not so good an issue. There is great differ ence when a woman breeds a disease, and when she breeds a child. When a woman breeds a disease, there is no good comes of that : there is much pain, and no ease'foUows ; there is much sickness, and no comfort in the close. But when she breeds a chUd, though there be much pain, yet it quits the cost when the child is born : ' She forgets her pain, because a child is born into the world,' John xvi, 21. So it is in the state of the godly and the wicked. The wicked are ever in travail, as we read in Job, viii, 22 ; he is always travailing with fear and with grief, with passion, discontent, and horror, &c,, but then he never brings forth any fruit ; and this travaU, it never ends in comfortable birth. But it is contrary with the godly. He travails with pain, and with sorrow, and with fears ; and some tears, and sighs, and groans he hath for the present ; but in the end there is a deliverance. He is delivered of his fears, and of his pain, and his sorrows ; and then comes joy and peace, and all his tears are wiped away ; and then his sorrows are forgotten, and joy comes, and takes possession. So that the joy of the godly it is far better than the wicked's joy ; and the sorrow that faUs upon the good and the bad is far different. Both must needs sorrow in this vale of misery. But the sorrow of the godly, it is^ an hopeful sorrow, it is an heaUng sorrow, it is a comfortable sorrow, it is a fruitful sorrow ; whereas the sorrow of the wicked is fuU of despair and vexation, and the further he wades in, the more danger he is in of drowning. StiU, the righteous begins in the night, but ends in the day : saith David, ' Heaviness may continue for a night, but joy cometh in the morning,' Ps. xxx, 5, The wicked sets forth in the morning, but then there_ comes dark ness at night ; he begins merrily and happily, but then the issue is most miserable, WeU then, to shut up this first reason, for information —upon which we have stood the longer, because carnal judgment will not credit this point, — it is clear, the righteous man in prosperity is better than the wicked, and in adversity better. Whence he hath occasion to rejoice. A surgeon doth not lance and sear men because he would put them to 284 , SPIRITUAL MOURNING, pain, but because he would give them ease. The Lord of heaven delights not in wounding and grieving of his chUdren ; but therefore he calls them to sorrow, that so they might come to comfort. Sorrow, then, never comes to its full end that it was made for ; it obtains not its perfection, tiU such time as it convey a man to joy. And therefore, since it is appointed and ordained to this end by God, it is certain it shall arrive at joy, and obtain it in the end ; for God doth nothing in vain, he wiU bring aU to perfection. 2. The second reason may be drawn from the nature of this spiritual comfort and joy that we speak of. For spiritual joy is very strong : ' The joy of the Lord is your strength,' as he saith, Neh. viii. 10. A strong thing is spiritual joy, and therefore it wiU overmatch, and overcome, and drink up, as it were, aU our sorrows and fears in due time, as the sun overcomes the darkness of the night, and the fogginess of the mist in the morning. Indeed, natural joy may be overmatched with natural grief, at the least with some grief, because we are more sensible of grief than we a,re of those comforts : they more infect the sense. And because natural grief weakens nature, therefore it is not able to make resistance ; and therefore we say many times, natural grief overmatcheth natural comforts ; much more will carnal grief, and other grief, overcome carnal joy, because these are weaker than natural, having less root in nature, and less subsistence in that way. But it is not so with spiritual joy and comfort, for these now have their root in God, and come from his strength ; and therefore these wUl bear down before them all sorrow, all heart-breaking, all grievance whatsoever in due time. This is a joy that cannot be taken from us. It is a joy invincible, it is a joy impregnable. No sorrow, no affliction on the outside, no grief on the inside, can strip a man of spiritual joy and comfort, if it be in any strength. So then there be two reasons why we should think that aU our spiritual mourning will end in joy and comfort : for joy wiU swallow it up at the last, it will be too hard for it ; and because, again, mourning is made but for joy. Therefore, when joy comes in place, that must give place. 8. A third reason may be dravm/TOm the cause of our spiritual mourning and spiritual joy ; for these are fruits that grow both from the same root. Spiritual joy and spiritual mourning, they come from the same fountain, from the same Spirit. The same Spirit it causeth us to weep over him whom we have pierced, and it causeth us also to rejoice in the Lord whom we have pierced : ' The fruit of the Spirit is joy,' saith the apostle. Gal. V. 22. The same Spirit manageth and guideth both the one and the other. Carnal passions and affections they oppose one another, they fight one with another, because they are carried on headlong, without any guide or order at all. But spiritual affections they are subordinate and subservient one to another ; the one labours to further and to advance another. Thus the more a man joys, the more he grieves ; and the more he grieves, the more he joys. Joy melts the heart, and gives it a kindly thaw ; grief, on the other side, it easeth the heart, and makes it cheerful and lightsome. 4. Lastly, a reason may be drawn from the effects of godly mourning. If they be considered, it will be cleared, that he that moums spfritually shall end in comfort at the last ; for this spfritual mourning, what will it do ? First, it takes off the power and strength of corruption. It weakens sin, it pricks the bladder of pride, and lets out our corruption. Spiritual mourning it takes down a man, it humbles him ; and an humble heart is always a cheerful heart, so far as it is humbled. Spiritual mourning, again, makes way for prayer. For spiritual mourning sends a man to God. It SPIRITUAL MOURNING. 285 causeth him to utter himself in petition, in confession, and complaints to his Father ; to pour out himself to the bosom of his God in speeches, in sighs, and tears, in lamenting one way or other. All this tends to comfort. The more a man prays, the more he hath comfort, ' Pray,' saith Christ, ' that your joy may be fuU,' John xvi, 24, If a man wUl have fulness of joy, he must be frequent in prayer. Now, the more a man mourns spiritually, the more he prays ; and therefore the more he is filled with true joy. Again, this spfritual mouming, it is a wondrous help of faith. It is an hopeful mourning ; it helps a man's faith in the promises touching remission of sins. He weeps for it ; he sues out his pardon in Christ's name. It helps his faith in the promises of our Saviour : ' Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.' If they ' sow in tears, they shall reap in joy,' &c. Now, the more a man's faith and hope is furthered, the more his joy is furthered. Still, the apostle speaks that they should rejoice in believing. The more a man believes and reposeth himself upon the promises, the precious promises of the word, the more his heart is joyed and comforted stiU. Now, the more he mourns, the more reason he hath to believe that that furthers his faith ; and therefore it advanceth his joy and comfort. Let us look, then, upon the reasons that hath been given, and the case is clear enough. Whosoever he be that moums in an holy manner, that man shall certainly, first or last, be comforted. This mourning tends to comfort. It is made to draw it on. His joy wUl overtop his sorrow, and overcome all at last. Joy and mourning go together. They are branches of the same root, and therefore the more we do the one, the more we have the other. This godly mourning it makes way for prayer, it makes way for faith ; and therefore it makes way for comfort and consolation. This point then being thus cleared, let us a little make some use of it to ourselves. The use is threefold. Use 1. Ffrst, Here is one use of information touching others. Since those men are certain to have comfort in the end that mourn hoUly, here we may leam to determine now that grand question that hath been so long controverted, namely, who is the happiest man in the world ? And for the deciding of this question, we must not go with it to Solon, to Plato, or to the philosophers, but come to a judge, the Lord Jesus, And what saith he to;^the point ? Blessed and happy, saith he, are they that moum. His reason is, ' for they shall be comforted,' So that here, then, is the trial of a man's state that is blessed. The signs of a blessed estate are these two in this verse. The first is, if so be he moum weU ; the second, if he speed well for his comfort. So that that man, then, that hath the best sorrow and the best joy, that man then is the happiest man. Now the Christian man is this man. He hath the advantage of aU other men, in his joy and in his sorrow ; and therefore he is the only happy man in this world. First, for his joy, happy is he, saith Christ, ' he shaUbe comforted' with those comforts that a man cannot buy too dear, though he shed many tears for them, though he spend many nights in sighing and mourn ing and lamenting. Though it cost him much he cannot over-rate it, he cannot over-prize it. This comfort cannot be bought at too high a rate. Now what is this comfort ? What is the Christian's joy better than another man's joy ? In many respects, (1.) First This joy is a more solid joy than the joy of the wicked. The wicked man rejoiceth in face, but not in heart ; the wicked's joy is but a blaze, it is but a flash ; his rejoicmg is lUie the crackling of thorns under a pot' that the Holy Ghost tells us makes a blaze and is gone in an instant. 286 SPIRITUAL MOURNING. This joy is rather in show than in substance. His joy is not rooted in himself. It is not bottomed upon any sure foundation, but it is rooted out of himself, in the creature. A wicked man hath no matter of comfort within himself, but his comforts they hang upon outward things. His comfort sometimes lies in the bottom of a pot ; sometimes it lies in the bottom of a dish ; sometimes in the heels of an horse ; sometimes in the wings of a bird ; sometimes in some base lust, or in some such filthy sin. Here Ues the comfort of a wicked man ; but now the comfort of the godly is not so. The joy of the righteous, it is a massy and a substantial joy. His afflictions indeed are light and momentany, but then his joy is everlasting, as I shall shew anon. It is a joy that hath substance in it. The joy of the wicked, at the best, it is but a little glazed, it is but gilt over, but it is naught within ; but the joy of the righteous it is a golden joy, it is beaten gold, it is massy and substantial and precious. As we said before, the root of his joy he hath it in himself, he hath matter of comfort in himself. There is faith and grace, there is truth. Nay, it is not rooted in himself only, but the root of it is in heaven, in his head, in Christ, He pitcheth his joy upon God, and therefore his joy is such a joy, as will hold out in the wetting, and will bear him through all pressures, aU burdens, and all discouragements whatsoever. (2.) Secondly, The joy of the righteous, as it is a more solid, so it is a more safe joy than the joy of the wicked, A carnal joy is many times prejudicial to a man in his safety, therefore we may safely conclude, the godliest man is the happiest man. He is in the best estate and condition, that gives most way to godly sorrow, and that gives least way to carnal sor row. That is one use. Use 2, Now the next use is to the godly. First, a word of exhortation, and then a word of consolation. A word of exhortation to God's people. That since all their sorrow shall end in comfort, and is attended with com fort, that therefore God's people should lay open themselves and give way to godly sorrow as much as possibly they can. Stop up, my brethren, all the passages, dam them up if you can, that make way for worldly sorrow and for carnal grief, for this will come but too fast upon you ; but, on the other side, pluck up the floodgates, and open all the passages, and give all the way to spfritual mourning and to godly tears. Do this even for your own sakes. Conceive that it is your happiness to mourn in an holy manner, since your Saviour tells you, that they are happy and blessed that do so mourn. Con ceive that your comfort Ues in your godly sorrow, as our Saviour saith ; ' blessed' are they in this, namely, in this respect, because ' they shaU be comforted for their mourning,' BeUeve it, brethren, one day, one hour spent in godly mourning, a few tears shed over Jesus Christ, and over a man's sin, when he is in health, when he is in peace, when he hath no out ward cause to move him to tears and sorrow, it wiU more satisfy the soul, and more quiet the conscience, and more relieve and refresh the heart, than all the mfrth, and all the delights, and all the treasures, and all the comforts of this world wiU do. Why, then, if you would be comforted, mourn ; if you would laugh, weep ; if you would have cheerful hearts and lightsome spirits, if you would live comfortably and die comfortably, give way to this mourning, so it be spiritual mourning, as much as you can. Ay, but what is spiritual mourning ? We spake somewhat of it the last day. Thus, in short, because I see the time will much prevent us. (1.) Ffrst, Labour to moum after spiritual things and spiritual persons. That is spfritual mourning when it hath spiritual objects. First, for persons. SPIRITUAL MOUENING. 287 Is it SO, that the Lord withdraws himself from thee in his comforts, that thy soul doth not feel them, doth not find them, as sometimes thou had done ? Lament after the Lord, weep and cry after him, and say, 0 unhappy man, where have I lost my peace ? How have I behaved myself, that my Father will not speak to me ! that he wiU not look to me ! And as you see a little child that hath lost the mother, it follows crying. My mother is gone, I know not what to do, so let God's children do in this case, weep and take to heart this loss of losses, when thy rude, and unkind, and unholy behaviour hath alienated and estranged thy Father from thee, that Ije will not look on thee. (2,) Again, Is it so, that the Lord withdraws himself in his ordinances, that we hear not the voice of his word, that we see not our signs ? ' Thfere is not a prophet among us to teU us how long,' Ps, Ixxiv, 9 ; let us then set ourselves to moum, as the church in that psalm, ' Lord, we see not our signs,' Lo, how a man may be free from his misery, whatsoever befaUs, (8,) Is it so, again, that in our mourning, we see the church of God, those sorrowful-spirited men, that they are distressed and afflicted 1 Let us weep for these too. Is the church of God carried into captivity ? Let us cry out with the prophet of the Lord, ' My belly, my belly, I cannot be quiet ; give me way to weep ! Oh that I could shed rivers of tears ! Oh that my head were a fountain of waters, that I could weep day and night for the daughter of my people !' &c,, as in Jeremiah everywhere, (4,) Is it so, that the church of God is foiled at any time hy the adver saries ? Let us take on, as Joshua did, ' rend your garments, and cast down ourselves before the Lord, and say. What shaU we say, when Israel shaU turn their backs and fly before their enemies ? ' Joshua vii, 8, Is it so, that the host of the living God is reproached and railed on by the Rabshakehs of this world ? Take the matter to heart, as Hezekiah did. He goes before the Lord, and rends his clothes, and spreads the blasphemies before him, ' Lord,' saith he, ' it is a day of darkness, and blackness : the chUdren are come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth,' Isa, xxxvii, 3, (5,) In short, is the church of God in heaviness and lamentation ? Are the armies of God in the field in danger and distress ? Let every man, that takes himself to be a member of the church, and a member of Christ, take the business to heart, and weep with them that weep, and lament with them that moum. Let your mirth and your peace, which is carnal, in these days, be turned into mourning and lamenting, bear a part with the church of God, with that Uriah say, ' ShaU I eat and drink, and solace, when the ark of God, and the camp, and the captain of the host lies in dis tress, and misery in the camp ?' 2 Sam, xi. 11. So for spiritual matters. Is it so, that we hear that sin reigns everywhere ? that we hear blasphemies, that we see pride and oppression, that we are eye-witnesses, or others report to us the horrible injustice, the monstrous filthiness, the unsufferable iUs that cry mightily to heaven against our dweUing and against our nation ? Let us here give way to mourning, and say with the prophet. Oh that I could weep ! ' Oh that my head were a fountain of tears !' and with David, ' I shed rivers of tears, because men kept not thy law,' Ps, cxix, 186, Thus, my brethren, let us labour to be much in spiritual mourning, to moum for the loss and for the absence of holy things, and to mourn for the pre sence and confluence of sinful persons and sinful things, to mourn for the sins of our land, for the sins of the church abroad, for the sins of our neighbours ; mourn for the sins of our towns, mourn for the sins of our own 288 SPIRITUAL MOUENING, families, mourn for the sins of our yoke-fellows, mourn for the sins of our children, mourn for our own sins. Oh happy is that man that can pour forth himself in godly tears. The more he mourns thus, the more he shall be comforted. 2, Secondly, Your mourning wiU be spiritual mourning, in case you draw your tears from a good fountain : that they come from a good rise, a good spring. When a man's zeal is for the zeal of God's glory, out of love, and mercy, and compassion to men's souls, out of a desfre of men's salvation, of his own, and others' ; and when he mourns out of hatred of ill, and of sin, and mourns for the love of grace and goodness, this is a spiritual mourning. Mourn now, and work upon these motives, and not upon private motives and respects ; but let our sorrow come out of hatred of sin, and out of love to goodness, out of zeal to God's name, out of love, mercy, and compassion to men's souls. And this is holy and spfritual mourning, 3, Thfrdly, Your mourning will be spiritual, in case it have spiritual effects. Let us look to those. Holy mouming, it sets a man further from sin. Holy mourning, it draws a man nearer to God, It makes him pray, as it is said of them. Judges ii. 4, 5, they wept ; and the place bare the name of weepers: 'Bochim,' 'they wept' and offered sacrifice. Prayer and tears go together. Sacrifice and sorrow go together. Now when our mourning is such mom-ning that it makes us not sit in a corner in a sullen manner, but makes us bestir ourselves in praying and running to the Lord, it makes us wrestle with God, as Jacob did, in tears and sorrow, this is holy and spiritual mourning. This is the mourning that we describe to you from the objects, from the causes of it, and from the effects of it. This mourning is an healing mourning. It is a sweetening mouming. It is a comfortable mourning. It is a hopeful mourning. It will do a man much good. Therefore give way to this to the utmost of your power, as I said before. Let every man say to himself, I must mourn, I may mourn, and I will mourn, (1,) First, I must, because God bids me, because the time calls for it. Therefore I must. Because my own need requires it, therefore I must weep, I find I am dead, and drowsy, and sluggish ; and carelessness and sleepiness will creep upon me except I stir up myself to mourn. And then, as I must, so (2.) I may. David, and Paul, and Jeremiah could weep upon spiritual occasions. So may we in case we will go to the same means, to the same God, Our nature is capable of godly sorrow. We see in them who was thefr Father, even God, who gave them a tender heart. He can give it us. You know the Spirit of God is a spirit of weeping. It is a Spirit of sup plication. It will make us to look to him whom we have pierced, and to weep, &o,, as it is Zech. xii, 10, Now Christ hath promised that he that asks for this Spirit shall have it. Let us go to the Lord, and say. It is possible that we should have so fit and tender hearts to shed tears for our own sins and the sins of others, as David and others before us have done. It is possible for me so to do if I go to God and ask such a heart. God hath promised that he wUl give his Spirit if we caU for it ; and therefore let us call and desire the Lord to smite our rocky hearts, as Moses smote the rock, that he would cause water to gush out of thee as he did out ,of the rock. (3.) Thirdly, As we may, so let us resolve that we will do it. Let us come to resolve, WeU, I see the time caUs for it ; I see my brethren and myself have need of it, I wiU do it, I wiU set upon it ; I wiU take a time SPIEITUAL MOUENING, 289 when I will cast up aU my reckonings between God and myself; I wUl take a time to unweep my former carnal sorrow ; I wUl take some time from my carnal laughter for this. Take the time now, defer it not ; now it is a fit time. You use to cast up your shops at this time of the year, then come and reckon how your estate stands, my brethren ; cast up your shop with God ; rifle your souls and see how matters stand between God and you ; see whether you go backwards or forwards. Mourn there, and bewail your sins that you have committed against God, and the sins of the time ; and one day spent in this manner between God and thy soul will do thee more good than all the feastings and merriments, and all the sports that you meet withal this time. That is for the second use. Use 3, Now there foUoweth a third. Here is a word of comfort to those that mourn- — ^comfort in regard of the whole church, and comfort in regard of the particular members of the church. For the whole church ; here is comfort for the people of God in affliction. It is the time of Jacob's trouble, saith Jeremiah, but he shall come out, Jer, xxx, 7, He hath a time of trouble, but he shall be delivered, he shall have a time of comfort ; he is weak, but then his Redeemer is strong, Jacob hath strong friends and strong means. All that is in heaven is for Jacob, for the church, I mean ; all the saints in earth pray, and these prayers are not in vain. There will come comfort out of them at the last. Fear not, then, 0 worm Jacob, saith the prophet, fear not ; though thou be as a worm, be not afraid, Isa, xii, 14, Obj. Oh, but Jacob's grief is more than his fear, Ans. Why should the people of God grieve ? Do they grieve because the enemies insult ? Let them answer the enemies in the words of the church: 'Rejoice not against me, 0 mine enemies : for though I be fallen, yet shall I rise again ; and whUe I sit in darkness, God shaU be a light to me,' Do they grieve because they are in darkness, and are encompassed with many sorrows and distresses? Hear what the Lord saith, Isa, Ix, 1, ' Arise, and shine ; put on glory ; I will cause light to shine in darkness,' And saith another place, ' 0 thou tossed and afflicted with tempest, I will make thee walls of carbuncles,' Isa, liv, 11, They were before of ordinary stone, now they shall be made of precious stones ; the Lord will make the conclusion of his children an happy conclusion, Mark the righteous, the end of his life is peace ; and so the end of every particular temptation, of every particular affliction, is peace. AU shall end weU with him. It shall be weU on his side. Here, then, is comfort for the church. The church of God is afflicted, but she shall be comforted. She is despised, but she shaU be honourable and magnified, and her enemies shaU lick the dust of her feet. The church of God is opposed and put hard to it. But her Redeemer is mighty, and her hoofs are made of brass, and her feet of iron, to trample to dust and powder all the enemies that rise up against her. She is in the everlasting arms, as Moses speaks of the almighty God there, Deut, xxxiU, 27_, She finds rest there ; she finds peace and comfort. In the greatest miseries, this is comfort for the church. The Lord wiU comfort her and her mourners too : Isa, Ivii, 18, ' He will comfort Sion and her mourners,' AU Sion, the church of God, shall be comforted ; all the friends of the church that mourn in her mourning, and that take to heart her sorrows and desolation, they shaU be comforted too. All that mourn with her shaU be comforted. This is comfort for the church in general. Now, for every Christian, for every member in particular, here is comfort. VOL, VI. ' 290 SPIEITUAL MOUENING. Are we, my brethren, such as do mourn, and mourn spirituaUy ? Do we moum for the breach of God's Sabbath? for the contempt of his word? for the abuse of his sacraments ? for the contempt of his name ? Do we mourn for the church that is under captivity, under the sword ? Do we mourn that Christians be under temptations, under misery, under afflic tions ? Do we mourn because the work of grace goes on no better in the hearts of God's people and in our own hearts ? Do we mourn for our sins, and for the sins of our brethren ? especially those that profess reUgion, is this the matter of our sorrow, my brethren ? Here is comfort, you shall be comforted ; the Lord hath passed his word that it shaU be so. All these tears are registered and put into the bottle of God, He keeps them as a precious water, and there is not a tear shaU be forgotten, AU this is seed sown. If we sow in tears, we shall reap in joy. Harvest follows seed time, so joy foUows tears. It shaU be so. ' There is light sown for the righteous,' Ps. xcvU. 11. It may be under the clods, it may be buried for a time, it may seem lost, but it will sprout at the last, and there wiU come a crop out of it. WeU, here is comfort. All the sorrows of the godly, aU his griefs, aU his sighs, all his wants, all his heart-breaks, if all these turn to spiritual mourning, they shall all turn to his advantage and comfort in the end. Nay, his sorrow for the present hath comfort along with it, and the more he sorrows, the more he rejoiceth, and the more trae comfort he hath stUl. The more a man can weep over Christ, the more bitterly he can weep, the more sweet Christ wUl relish to him. The more grief and sorrow he brings to the word and to the ordinances of God, the more true sweetness he fiuds in the word and carries from the word. And the more he can bewail himself before the Lord in his wants, in his bankraptness in grace, the more he is advanced, and enlarged to comfort and joy by the Lord. But for the wicked, woe to him ; for ' in laughter his heart is sad,' saith the text ; he laughs in the face, but his heart moums. On the other side, happy is the spfritual mourner ; in his mouming, his heart laughs, as it were. He hath matter of joy in sorrow, as the wicked hath matter of mourning in mirth. Woe be to the wicked, for aU his joy shall end in sorrow ; the end of that mfrth is sadness in spirit, saith Solomon ; but happy is the holy mourner. All his tears shall be wiped away, all his sorrows, aU his griefs, all his fears shaU end in comfort and consolation at the last, Obj. Oh, but how shall I know that my mouming is spiritual moum ing ? I suspect it much this way. And why ? First of all, my sorrow begins in the flesh ; I never mourned, I never went to God in prayer and fasting, or any exercise of religion, tiU God tamed me and took me down with crosses and afflictions ; then when he laid load on me, I went to it, and not before. ¦ Sol. WeU, my brethren, thus it may be : Thy sorrow may begin in the flesh ; but, if it end in the Spirit, aU is weU. It may be a Christian's sorrow was first occasioned by crosses, by worldly sorrow, and worldly respects ; but if he improve his sorrow, and turn it to holy sorrow, if he turn the stream into the right channel, if he set his grief, his indignations, his tears upon sin, all shall end well at the last, though the beginning were not so good. Olj. Ay, but, wiU some say, my sorrow is more for outward things than for spiritual matters. I grieve when I am sick, but it is for pain more than for sin. I moum when I am poor, but it is because I am poor in purse, because I am poor in state, rather than in regard of my spfritual wants ; and BO for other matters too. SPIEITUAL MOURNING. 291 Ans. My brethren, this is easily granted. There is no floor here, but there is chaff as weU as wheat with it. There is no precious mine here so rich, but there is some dross as weU as good gold, as well as good metal. So it is with a Christian. There is a mixture of flesh and spirit. They run both in the same channel, and they run within the veins of the same soul and spirit, as it were ; the question is not, therefore, whether there be any fleshy sorrow, any carnal sorrow, grief, and mourning; but whether there be any holy and spiritual sorrow. How much there is of the one is not the point, but whether there be any of the other. And if it be so, it is spiritual sorrow, that thou canst shed some tears, vent some sighs and groans to God in spiritual respects, for spiritual losses, for spiritual evils. Here is matter of comfort, there is so much spiritual comfort, so much spfritual joy belongs to thee. Obj. But how shall I know that my mourning is spfritual mourning, when I cannot mourn for sin ? I have abundance of tears for losses, and for crosses, and unkindnesses ; but I am dry, and barren, and tearless, when it comes to matter of sin and offence, and trespass against God, Is this well, that a man should have tears at command for outward losses and crosses, and not shed a tear in prayer, and in repentance for sin ? Ans. No, my brethren, it is not well ; but how shaU we do to amend this ? Surely, even go to God and confess how it is ; complain of thyself, and desire him to amend it ; and, if we condemn ourselves, God is ready to receive us, Ohj. Ay, but the children of God are more plentiful in tears for sin than for outward things. Ans. Ay, in what sense ? Not in regard of the bulk, but in regard of the worth, in regard of the value of their tears. One tear spent for sin is worth rivers of tears for outward matters. In the regard of the price and excellency, it is more, because God accepts of a man's endeavour and desire in this kind, and he looks what his desire, and intention, and endeavour is. They are more also in regard of our esteem, that we would gladly weep more for sin than for other matters. Otherwise, the children of God are more plentiful many times in tears for the loss of children, as David was for Absalom ; or for some cross that befaUs them, as at Ziklag he wept so much that he could weep no more, than for sin against God, and yet they would weep most for that. They think that a matter of greatest sorrow, and they desire to be more plentiful in tears for it, and then God accepts it, according to that a man would do, and not according to that which he cannot do, and which he hath not, Obj. Further, it wiU be said, How shaU I know my sorrow to be spfritual sorrow ? I answer in a word : Ans. 1. First, Look to the object, that it he universal. So in spfritual things, he that is spirituaUy sorry he moums for the want of goodness wheresoever he seeth it, be it in himself or in other men, nay, be it in his enemies. David saith, Ps. cxix. 53, sorrow seized on him, ' because his adversaries kept not the law of God.' Spfritual mouming, it makes a man Borry for painful evils that fall upon his brethren as well as himself; and on himself as weU as them. Do we mourn for other men's faults as well as for our own ? Do we mourn that our enemies do overshoot themselves, and that they disgrace themselves, as well, though not so much, as if our friends had done it ? If our sorrow be universal, then it is spiritual. Ans. 2. Secondly, Our sorrow will be spiritual and holy, if it he accom panied with prayer; for holy mouming makes way for prayer. Sometimes 292 SPIRITUAL MOUENING. a man is so surprised and overwhelmed, as David saith, that he is not able to speak a word, notwithstanding there may be a mental real prayer. His eyes may be towards heaven, he may sigh, and groan, and lament, and bemoan his own estate, that he cannot speak and pour forth himself in prayer to God as he would do, and as he should do. Now, if our sorrow be such sorrow, that it sends us to God, that it brings us on our knees, that it makes us either speak or chatter, as Hezekiah did, it makes a man moum, groan, as the dove doth, as he saith of himself ; if it be such sor row as this, it is spiritual sorrow. You know that it is said of Jacob, Hos. xii. 4, that he wrestled with the angel with tears, and sued to him with supplication. Tears and supplication went together. He begged apace, and cried apace ; he hanged on him, and would not let him go without a blessing, Ans. 3. Again, It is spiritual sorrow, when it is accompanied with thank fulness. A camal man, when he is pinched and twinged, and knows not which way to turn himself, he will be glad to cry, when he sees there is no other refuge in the world, but either he must cry or sink. But a man that is a spiritual moumer, he wiU be thankftJ as well as prayerful. This is a comfortable kind of mourning. There is hope in it, there is sweetness and comfort in it ; and that man that can so mourn, he blesseth God that he can mourn, that God hath given him time and leisure, that he may set him self apart to provoke himself to moum. He blesseth God that God hath given him a word that can work upon him, that God hath given him friends to deal faithfully, that God hath applied this word to his heart, that it hath wounded him and made him bleed ; he is thankful for the mercy, and thinks it a great promotion, when he can shed tears, when his heart yields under the stroke of the word of God, and of the hand of God that is upon him. Nay, he is thankful whatsoever it costs him. ' The child of God, when he sees his heart is enlarged to weep over Christ for his sins, he cares not how dear he pays for this sorrow, for this mourning, though he lose some of his estate, some of his credit with men ; though he lose some of his wealth, some of his comforts, some of his friends ; yet, notwithstanding, if he can weep and mourn, he thinks he hath a good bargain, a good pur chase. Though God afflict him, though he pain him, though he cross him and cast him down, yet if he see that his heart can weep for his sin, that he can lament after the Lord, and can take to heart his corruptions, this man can rejoice in this estate, he can bless God's name, that hath given him an heart to moum spirituaUy, though he pay dear for it in regard of outward losses and outward smart. Now, then, if you have such a mouming as this, that you do moum for spfritual things ; and you so moum that your mouming fit you for prayer, that it make way for praise and thanksgiving ; then take comfort in your mouming, and know that it wUl end weU. After night will come a day ; after darkness there wiU come light ; after seed-time there shaU be an har vest, you shall have a crop. The more you mourn, the more you shaU rejoice. Blessed are they that moum for themselves and for others. Blessed are they, they shall be comforted. They are comforted, and they will be more comforted afterwards. So saith the mouth that cannot lie. It is the speech of Christ himself. Thus we have done with the point, and can no further proceed at this time. YIOLENCE YICTOEIOUS. VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS. NOTE, ' Violence Victorious ' appeared originally in ' The Beams of Divine Light ' (4to, 1639). The separate title-page wiU be found below.* For general title, see Vol. V. page 220. G, *VIOLENOE VICTOEIOVS : In two Sermons, By the late Reverend and Learned Divine EicuAEn Sibs, Doctor in Divinity, Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher at Grayes-Inne. Gen, 32, 26, / will not let thee goe except thou blesse mee. 1 Con, 15, 57, Thankes be unto God which giveth us the victory through lesus Christ our Lord. LONDON, Printed by G. M. for Nicholas Bourne and Rapha Harford, 1639. VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS. From the days of John Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it hy force, — Mat, XI, 12, John Baptist and our blessed Saviour gave mutual testimonies one of another. He witnessed of Christ before he came, and our Saviour Christ gives witness of him here. The occasion of this you have in the second verse, John being in prison, sends two of his disciples to Christ, to know whether he were the Christ or no ; not that John did doubt, but to confirm his disciples. Christ returns a real and a verbal answer, ' TeU John,' saith he, ' what ye have seen and heard,' &c, ; and then he closeth up aU, ' Blessed is he that is not offended with me,' Upon this occasion Christ enters into a commendation of blessed St John Baptist, even unto a com parative commendation, ' Amongst them that were born of women there had not yet risen a greater than John the Baptist ; ' not so much in eminency of grace, though that may have a trath, as in regard of the dispensation of his ministry, John Uving in more glorious times. For the excellency of the church is from Christ, He doth ennoble and advance times, and places, and persons, Bethlehem, a little city, yet not a little city in regard that Christ was born there ; and saith Christ, ' Happy are the eyes that see that which your eyes see,' Luke x, 28, Everything is advanced by Christ. So John Baptist, in regard of his office, being the immediate forerunner of Christ, was greater than aU that were before him ; yet he saith, ' The least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he ; ' not in grace, but in prerogative, in regard of the revelation and manifestation of more things. For John Baptist died before he saw the death, and resurrection, and ascen sion of Christ accomplished, before he was glorified. Therefore in regard of these prerogatives, the least in the kingdom of heaven, that is, in the church of the New Testament, is greater than he. It is a rule that the least of the greater is greater than the greatest of the less, John was greater than the greatest of them that were before him, but lesser than the least of those that were after him. Then Christ commends John from the efficacy of his ministry : ' From the days of John Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.' So you see how the words depend upon the former. For the points we are to consider in them. First, Here you have the state of the church in the New Testament. It is 296 VIOLENCE VICTOEIOUS, a kingdom, and the kingdom of heaven ; together with the quality of the means whereby it comes to be a kingdom, the means of grace, the gospel. The gospel and the people that are wrought on by the gospel in the New- Testament, they are both caUed the ' kingdom of heaven,' Then, secondly, here is set down the affection of those people that seek this kingdom at that time, and so forward to the end of the world. The dis position of the persons is, ' They are violent,' The thfrd is, the issue or success of this eagerness and violence. Though the manner be violent, yet the success is good, ' The violent take it by force,' The fourth is, the date or time when ifbegins, aiid how long it continues. It bears date from the preaching of Saint John Baptist to the end of the world, ' Until now ; ' that is, to the end of the world. As it was said, ' till now,' in the evangelist's time, so posterity may say, ' Until now,' from the first coming of Christ till his second coming. While there is a gospel preached, which is the ministry of the Spirit, the Spirit will be working ; and there are such glorious things in the gospel, that there will be violence offered. So whUe there is a people to be gathered, and a gospel to be preached to gather them, and a Spirit that works by that gospel, there wUl be violence in the church offered to the means of salvation, Doct. 1, Ffrst, The state of the church, together with the means, the gospel preached, it is called the kingdom of heaven. Besides others, there are three main significations of these words, ' The kingdom of heaven,' First, The famous, leading, proper signification is the state and place where God himself and his people are most glorious, ' the kingdom of heaven.' All the other significations end in that. But, secondly, because all that shall come into that glorious kingdom, they must be kings here first, in the state of the kingdom of grace, which consists ' in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost,' Gal, v. 22, in the graces and comforts of the Spirit, therefore the state of grace comes to have the name too of ' the kingdom of heaven,' And thirdly. Because grace in this world cannot be attained without an order, and means, and dispensations from God, hereupon the dispensation of the means whereby we come to have grace is also called ' the kingdom,' The unfolding the mysteries of salvation in the gospel is caUed the kingdom of God. As Christ saith, ' The kingdom of God shall be taken from you ; ' that is, the preaching of the gospel ; therefore ' the gospel ' is caUed ' the gospel of the kingdom,' and ' the word of the kingdom,' because by this word we come to have grace, and by grace, glory. There is no glory without grace, and no grace without the word. ( One makes way for another. The preaching of the gospel doth cause a church, which is the kingdom of Christ, wherein he rules by the sceptre of his word; by which word Christ and all his riches, and glory, and prerogatives are unfolded ; and thereby grace is wrought, and grace leads to glory. This connection and subordination is to be observed, 1, First, For the conviction of those who do not indeed belong to the king dom of heaven. Every man is ready to talk of the kingdom of heaven, and the glory there ; ay, but there is a subordination of grace, and of the means of graCe. How standest thou affected to the means of salvation, to the _' word of the kingdom,' the ' word of Ufe,' the ' word of reconcihation ' ? for it hath the name from aU the excellencies to which it brings us ; to shew that as we value life, a kingdom, reconciUation, and aU that is good, so we must value this gospel, or else it is a presumptuous confidence. If the VIOLENCE VICTOEIOUS, 297 privileges of grace and glory belong to us, we must come to them by these steps. Those that regard not the gospel and means of salvation, they have nothing to do with grace nor glory. They are hereby convinced of arrogant folly. 2. Again, It is a ground to comfort weak Christians that regard the means of salvation, and yet fear their falling away. Be of good comfort whosoever thou art, God hath knit and linked these together ; aU the power of earth and hell cannot break one link of this chain. Conscionable* attending upon the means, and grace, and glory, will go together. Therefore hold on, attend upon the means of salvation, and wait with comfort. The gospel of the kingdom will bring thee to grape ; and grace, though it be but a Uttle measure, wiU bring thee to glory. Where God hath begun a good work he will finish it ; he will second one benefit with another ; dUigent attending on the means with grace, and grace with glory. In Scripture, works have their denomination from that they aim at, as the apostle saith, ' Ye have crucified the old man,' Rom. vi. 6, and ' ye are crucified with Christ,' Gal, ii, 20, because ye are in doing it, and ye shall do it perfectly. So we are saints, because we shall be so. We are kings now, because we are in part so, and we shall be so fully hereafter. So grace is called the kingdom of heaven, because it is the undoubted way to the kingdom of heaven and glory. God would help our faith by the very title ; for we are not elected to the beginnings only of glory, but to the perfection, as it is excellently set down Eph, i, 6, ' We are elected to glory by means and beginnings,' Therefore undoubtedly we may hope for the accomplishment when we see the beginnings. Quest. Why is the state of grace, and the means of grace, and glory itself, called ' the kingdom of heaven ' ? Ans. Because they are all of and from heaven. The one is in heaven the kingdom of glory, and the other the kingdom of the word here ; and truth and grace which are by it are from heaven. The truth we have and grace from that trath come fi'om heaven ; yea, and Christ, the author of all, is from heaven, and they all lead to heaven. Which should teach jis with what minds to converse in the hearing and reading of these things with heavenly affections. And it shews likewise why worldlings and base people are no more affected with the things of the gospel, because it is ' the kingdom of heaven.' If it were of the world, we should have it sought with eagerness enough, though it were a less matter than a kingdom ; but it is a ' kingdom of heaven' remote from flesh and blood. There must be a new Spirit to work a new sight and a new taste, to work a change in the heart of man, and then he shall know the things of ' the kingdom of heaven.' He must come out of the world that wiU see this kingdom, as in Rev. xviii. 4, ' Come out of Babylon.' A man must come out of antichrist's kingdom to see the baseness of it. He cannot see it in the midst of it. So we must come out of the world if we would see the glorious kingdom of Christ, It is a heavenly kingdom. Therefore the greatest potentates of the world must abase themselves. There is no great ness in the world can help them to this heavenly kingdom. Quest. But why should the gospel and the state of the church in the New Testament be called the kingdom of heaven, and receive the date now ? was it not the kingdom of heaven before ? Ans. I answer. It is the manner of the Scripture to give titles to things from the glorious manifestation of them. Things are said to be when they * That is, ' conscientious.' — G, 298 VIOLENCE VICTOEIOUS. are gloriously manifested. The mystery of Christ is said to be revealed now in the time of the gospel. It was known before to Adam and Abraham and the rest. But now there was a more apparent glorious manifestation of it. Therefore now the manifestation of Christ, and the good things by him, they are caUed ' a kingdom.' Before it was kept enclosed in the pale of the Jewish church, it was veiled under types, it was hid in promises that were dark and obscure. But when Christ came, aU was taken off and Christ was unveiled. It is said in the gospel, ' The Holy Ghost was not given yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified,' John vii. 39, The Holy Ghost was given before, but not so fully and plentifully. So there was a state of heaven before men were saved, before the coming of Christ ; but it was not called ' the kingdom of heaven,' It was not a state of Uberty and freedom from the bondage of ceremonies, &c. And there is reason that there should be violence offered to this state, and means, and grace wrought by it. It is a kingdom. It is no great wonder that a kingdom should suffer violence, especially such a kingdom as ' the kingdom of heaven.' What is in a kingdom ? There is, first of all, freedom from slavery and danger. A kingdom is an independent state. There is none above it. He that is a king is free, independent, and supreme. Then again, a kingdom is a full state. There is abundance and plenty of people and good things in a kingdom. Again, In a kingdom there is glory and excellency — where is it to be had , else ? — all the glory, and sufficiency, and contentment that earth can afford. Now in that the state of the church by reason of the glorious gospel is caUed a kingdom. First, It is a free state, as indeed the ' word doth make us free' from former bondage. In particular, the gospel of Christ it frees us from Jewish bondage, and from all kind of bondage spfritual, ' If the Son make you free, ye are free indeed,' John viU, 36, A Christian is above aU, He js over sin, and Satan, and the law. He is free, and supreme, and indepen dent. All are under him. A Christian, as a Christian, he is under none but Christ, under no creature. ' The spiritual man judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man,' 1 Cor. ii. 15. I speak not of civil differences ; but as a Christian is a member of Christ, and a citizen of the ^kingdom of heaven, he hath a kind of independent state. His conscience is only subject to God and Christ, But all earthly things he commands, they are under him. And second. The state of a Christian is a full state. God is his, Christ is his, ' all things are his,' 1 Cor iii, 21, so much as shall serve to bring him to heaven. That which is truly good is directly his, and indirectly all other things are made his by Christ, who hath the authority, and power, and strength of a king to command all things to work together for his good, Rom, viii, 28, Death, and sin, and aU that befalls him, are thus his. And then he hath a spfrit of contentment in the want of good, and of patience in the suffering of iU, that he ' can do all things,' as St Paul saith, ' through Christ that streugtheneth him,' PhU, iv, 13, What he wants in outward things he can fetch supply from the promises of the gospel, he can fetch supply from Christ, and from the state to come ; and what he wants in other things he hath in grace, which is better. Third, It is a State likewise of glory and excellency. But it is a spfritual glory, and therefore it consists together with outward baseness and mean ness. It is a glorious state to be the ' Son of God,' to be ' heirs of heaven,' VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS. 299 heirs of all things in Christ ; by the Spirit of Christ in him he rales over aU. How glorious is the Spfrit of God in a Christian in the time of temptation and affliction, when he hath a Spirit ruUng in him that is stronger than the world and all oppositions whatsoever? 1 John iv. 4. The state of a Christian is glorious even in this world in the beginnings of it. What then is the glory that is to be revealed on the sons of God ' in the day of revelation ? ' Rom, U, 5, It cannot enter into our thoughts, it IS above our expression, nay, it is above our imagination and conceit. Thus ypu see there is great cause why ' the kingdom of heaven should suffer violence,' When crowns and kingdoms are laid open to people with hope of getting them, especially such an one as ' the kingdom of heaven is,' it is no wonder if there be ' violence' offered to get them. The next thing is the affection of those that seek after this kingdom. It is violent. ' The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence.' How doth the ' kingdom of heaven,' the gospel and means of grace, ' suffer violence.' 1. Ffrst, Because when these good things were revealed by John Baptist, and then by Christ, and after hy the disciples and apostles, many thronged into the church, which is the gate of ' the kingdom of heaven,' They all pressed to he of the church, to hear the word of Ood, They hung, as it were, upon the word of Christ, upon his mouth. They pressed so, that ' they trod one upon another,' Luke xii, 1 ; and it is said they all came out to hear John Baptist : ' Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan,' Matt, iU, 5. So that in regard of the multitude there was violence, 2. And then in regard of their affections, their zeal to the good things of the gospel was eager and earnest. To be citizens of a kingdom, to partake of the means of salvation, to come to grace and so to glory, it made them wondrous violent, . 3, In regard Ukewise of the persons, ' the kingdom of heaven suffered violence,' the persons being such as might be judged to have no right unto it, . Alas ! for poor wretched sinful men and women, that had been notorious sinners, to come to receive a kingdom, to become kings, this was strange ! What had sinners to do with grace ? This doctrine was not heard of in the law, that there should be hope for such wretched persons as these. If such might be admitted, surely there must needs be great violence. Then again, they were poor and mean people, ' The poor receive the gospel,' Luke vU. 22. For beggars to become kings ; poor men that were advantaged by their outward abasement to come to spiritual poverty ! Jn 4. Again, they were Gentiles, ' aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise,' Eph, ii, 12, heathen people. ' The Jews were the chUdren of the kingdom,' Mat, vUi, 12, the Gentiles were foreigners and strangers. Now for these to come in, and ' the children of the kingdom' to be shut out, it must needs suppose violence. Where there is no apparent right, there is force. Now what right had the Gen tiles, that were little better than dogs ? Could they have anything to do with the kmgdom ? Ay, saith Christ, they take it by violence ; and the Jews, and the proud scribes and Pharisees that seem to be the apparent ' children of the kingdom,' shaU at length be shut out, ' They that were first,' in outward prerogatives, ' shaU be last ; and they that were last,' the GentUes, sinners, mean people, that take the advantage of their baseness and sinfulness, to see their unworthiness, and to magnify the grace of God in Christ, ' shaU be first,' Mat, xx, 16, In these respects the kingdom of 300 VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS, heaven is said to suffer violence,' People will to heaven, whatever come of it ; when these good things are discovered they wiU have no nay. Hence, we may learn this, Doct. That it is the disposition of those that are the true members of the church of Ood to be eager and violent. Those that intend to enter into the kingdom, they must throng and strive to enter ; and when they are in, they must keep the fort, and keep it with violence. There is indeed a violence of iniquity and injustice ; and so the people of God, of all others, ought not to be a violent people. ' Do violence to no man,' saith the Baptist to the soldiers, Luke iU. 14. Violence rather debars out of the kingdom of heaven than is any qualification for it. But this is another manner of violence which our Saviour here speaks of, neces sary for all that desire to enter into the kingdom of heaven ; and that for these reasons : I. First, Betwixt us and the blessed state we aim at there is much opposi tion ; and therefore there must be violence. The state of the church here, the state of grace and the enjoyment of the means of grace, it is a state of opposition. Good persons and good things they are opposed in the world. Christ rules in this world, ' in the midst of his enemies.' He must have enemies therefore to rule in the midst of; he must be opposed ; and where there is opposition between us and the good things that we must of neces sity have, we must break through the opposition, which cannot be done without violence. Now the means and graces of salvation they are opposed every way, within us and without us, (1,) They are opposed from within us; and that is the worst opposition. For Satan hath a party within us that holds correspondency with him, our own traitorous flesh. In all the degrees of salvation there is violence. Hence, in effectual calling, when we are called out of the kingdom of Satan, he is not wUling to let us go ; he will keep us there stiU ; and when we come to have our sins forgiven in justification, there is opposition ; proud flesh and blood will not yield to the righteousness of the gospel ; it wUl not rest in Christ ; it wUl seek somewhat in itself. In sanctification there is opposi tion between ' the flesh and the Spirit.' Every good work we do it is got ten out of the fire, as it were, it is gotten by violence. In every good action, whether it be to get grace, or to give thanks to God, how many car nal reasonings are there ! If a man be to give to others, the flesh sug gests, I may want myself. If he be to reform abuses in others, he is ready to think, others will have somewhat to say to me ; and I shall be offensive to such and such men. And then the affection of earthly things chains us to the things below, and self-love prompts a man to sleep in a whole skin. We love our wealth, and peace, and favour with men. So that a man can not come to the state of grace without breaking through these ; and here upon comes the necessity of violence, from the opposition from within us. We must offer violence to ourselves, to our own reason, to our own wUls and affections, ' You have not yet resisted unto blood,' saith the apostle, Heb, xii, 4, We do not resist by kUling others, but we ourselves resist to death, when, rather than we will miss heaven and happiness, and rather than we will not stand for the truth, we wiU suffer death, (2,) Again, There is opposition /rom the world : on the right hand, by the snares and delights of the world-, to quench the delight in the good things of the Spirit ; and on the left hand, by fears, and terrors, and scandals, to scare us from doing what we ought to do. VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS, 801 (3,) And then there is opposition from Satan, in every good action. He besets us in prayer with distracted thoughts ; and in every duty, for he knows they tend to the ruin of him and of his kingdom. There is no good action but it is opposed from within us and without us. The means of salvation, and the attending on them, they are not without slander and dis grace in the world, God will have this violence therefore, because there is opposition to the means, to the attendance on them, to grace, to every good action, to everything that is spiritually good. Nay, sometimes God himself becomes a personated enemy ;* in spiritual desertions he seems to forsake and leave us ; and not only to forsake us, but to be an enemy, ' to write bitter things against us,' Job xiii, 26 ; and that is a hea-yy temptation. II. Again, God wUl have this violence and stri-ving, as a character of dif ference, to shew who are bastard professors and who are not ; who will go to the price of Christianity, and who will not. If men will go to heaven they must be violent, they must be at the cost and charges, sometimes to venture life itself, and whatsoever is dear and precious in the world, A man must be so violent, that he must go through all, even death itself, though it be a bloody death, to Christ, This discards all lukewarm, carnal professors, who shake off this violence. In all estates of the church, it is almost equally difficult to be a sound Christian ; for God requfres this -violence even in the most peaceable times. Now, the truth and religion are counte nanced by the laws, yet the power of it is by many much opposed. There fore he now that in spite of reproach, in spite of slander, will bear the scorns cast upon the gospel, that will ' go with Christ without the gate, bearing his reproach,' Heb, xiii, 13, such a man may be said to be thus ¦violent. It is an easy thing to have so much Christianity as will stand -with our commodity or with pleasure, &c, ; but to have so much as will bring us to heaven, I say, it is equally hard in all times of the church, it requires violence to carry us through these lesser oppositions, in. Again, God will have us get these things with violence, that we may set a greater price on them when we have them. When we have things that are gotten by violence, that are gotten hardly, Qh we value them much ! Heaven is heaven then. Things that are hardly gotten and hardly kept are highly prized. IV. Again, The excellency of the thing enforceth violence. It is fit that excellent things should have answerable affections. Now, it being a king dom, and the kingdom of heaven, what affection is answerable but a violent, strong affection ? v. Again, Together with the excellency, the necessity requires it; for the kingdom of heaven it is a place of refuge as well as a kingdom to enrich us. There were cities of refuge among the Jews. When a man was fol lowed by the avenger of blood, he would ran as fast as he could to the city of refuge, and there he was safe. So when a guilty conscience pursues us, when there is a noise of fear in the heart, when God's judgments awaken us and heU is open, when a man apprehends his estate and is convinced what a one he is and what he deserves, of necessity he wiU fly to the city of refuge; and where is that but in the 'kingdom of heaven,' in the church ? Happy is he that can but get in at the gate of this kingdom, there is no doubt of his going in further. But there must be a striving ' to enter in at the gate,' Luke xiu. 24. And then there he shaU be hid in his sanctuary ; as the pursued doves get into their nests, and the conies * That is, one who performs the part of an enemy. — Ed. 302 VIOLENCE VICTOEIOUS. hide them in the rock, when they get that over their heads then they are safe. So a Christian, when he is pursued with conscience and with the temptations of Satan, he flies to his sanctuary. Do you wonder that a guilty man should flee to his sanctuary, and the pursued creatures to their hold and refuge ? In this respect ' the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence.' Herein it is compared to some great, rich city, that hath some great treasure and riches in it ; and it must be besieged and beleagured a long time, and those that can enter into it they are made for ever. Or it is Uke the entrance or gate of a city where there is striving and thronging, and where besides enemies are, that if, men strive not they are cut, and mangled, and kUled. So it is in the state of this kingdom. When a man's eyes be opened, he sees the devil and heU behind him, and either he must enter or be damned ; and being entered, it makes him rich and advanceth him for ever. So he is strongly moved to offer violence on both sides. If he look behind him there is the kingdom of Satan, darkness and misery and damnation ; for as Pharaoh pursued the Israelites when they were gone out of his kingdom, so the devil pursues a man when he is broken out of his dominion : and then before him there is the kingdom of happiness and glory. The fear of that that follows them, and the hope of that that is set before them, both make them strive to enter into the gate of that city. Use. What should this teach us ? First, Let it be a rule of trial to know and judge of our estate, whether we he entered into this gate of heaven or no. Our lives are very short, very uncertain ; let us consider if we be in the way to heaven. What striving, what struggling, what violence have we ever offered ? There are a com pany that regard not the means of salvation at all, either in private or public. Some come to the word and hear, but they do not hear it as the word of God, to be ruled by it, but as a discourse to deUght themselves for the time ; to have matter to speak of and to censure, not -with a spirit of obedience to be guided by it as the sceptre of the kingdom. What ' -violence' is this, now and then to hear a sermon, now and then to read a chapter, now and then to utter a yawning prayer between sleeping and waking, perhaps when thou knowest not what thyself sayest ? How then wouldst thou have God to regard it ? What violence is in the lives of most Christians ? what strength to enforce good actions ? How do they improve the means of salvation? Many means are wholly neglected. Some perhaps they use, that may stand with their convenience, now and then ; whereas there must be an universal care of all the means. There cannot one be neglected without the loss of grace, and there must be attendance on them with violence. There is none of the means can profit us without rousing and stirring up our spirits. We cannot hear nor pray without drawing up and raising up our souls. The flesh will stop the com fortable performance of any action else, and Satan wUl kill them in the very birth if he can. To search a little deeper, do hut compare your courses toward these good things of heaven with your courses towards the world. If there be hope of preferment, the doors of great men are sure to suffer violence with favourites. The courts of justice suffer violence to have our right in earthly things. The stages and such places are thronged, and suffer violence. Ii a man could but overlook the courses of men abroad in the city, he should see one violent for his pleasures, ranning to the house of the harlot ' as a fool VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS, 803 to the stocks,' Prov. vii. 22 ; another to the exchange, to increase his estate ; another to the place of justice, to detract his neighbour, or to get his own right, perhaps neglecting his title to heaven in the mean time ; another to the court, to get favour to rise to some place of preferment. These places suffer violence. But what violence doth the poor gospel endure ? Alas ! it is sUghted ; and men will regard that when they can spare time, &c. It is not regarded according to the worth and value of it. If ever we look to have good by the gospel, our dispositions must be violent, in some proportion answerable to the exceUency of it, Alas ! we may justly turn the complaint on ourselves, that whilst we spend our strength in violence about the base and mean things of this life, the kingdom of heaven it offereth violence to us, and yet we will none of it. How doth God beseech us in the ministry ! ' We beseech you to be reconciled,' 2 Cor, v, 20 ; and ' Why wUl ye die, 0 house of Israel?' Ezek, xviii, 31, As if the gospel and grace were commodities that God were weary of, he comes and puts them upon us whether we will or no, and yet we refuse them. We are so far from offering violence to the gospel and to grace, that God offers violence to us, as if we should do him a favour to receive the gospel, and to do good to our own souls ; and yet the vile, proud, base heart of man will not regard and receive these heavenly things. How -wiU it justify God's sentence at the day of judgment, -when he shall aUege there was a discovery of such things unto you, and instead of violence in seeking them, you sUghted and neglected them ? Nay, there is a worse sort of men than these, those that oppose the ' kingdom of heaven ' in the means of it, in the persons of it ; what kind of men are these, think you ? Again, We see here that there is a blessed violence that may stand with judgment. A man cannot be violent and wise in the things of this world, because the things are mean ; and eagerness is above the proportion of them, A man cannot be violent after honom* or riches, and be as he should be. These are things that he must leave behind him, and they are worse than himself. Much less after filthy pleasures can a man be -violent and ¦wise ; a man ' must become a fool in this respect,' as the Scripture saith, 1 Cor, iii, 18, But in respect of heavenly things, a man may be violent and wise ; for there is such a degree of excellency in the things that no violence can be too much. Men talk of being too strict and too holy. Can there be too much of that which we can never have enough of in this world ? I speak it the rather to confound the base judgment that the world hath of a holy disposition, which is carried with a sweet, eager violence to these things. They are thought to be frantic, to be out of their wits, as they thought St Paul was ; but he answers, ' If we be out of our wits, beside ourselves, it is to God,' 2 Cor, v, 18, Christ himself was sometimes laid hands on, as if he had been out of himself, John x, 20 ; and as Festus told blessed St Paul, ' that much leaming had made him mad,' Acts xxvi, 24, when he saw him eager in the cause of Christ, so many, when they see a man earnest in the matters of God, they think surely these men have lost thefr discretion. No ; it is the highest discretion in the world to be eager and violent for things that are invaluable ; and if men be not eager for these, they are fools. They know not how to prize things. The most judicious men here are most violent. So that it be violence that hath eyes in its head, violence guided with judgment, from the knowledge of the exceUency of the good things of the gospel, I speak of such a -violence as that. Away, then, with base reproaches I Let us not be a&ightedwith the iU 304 VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS. reports of idle brains and rotten hearts of people, that know not the things that belong to the ' kingdom of heaven.' Alas ! they know not what they say ; they are to be pitied, and not censured. Is there anything that a man should be earnest for if not for these things ? Were our souls made to pursue things that are earthly and base, worse than ourselves ? Were our -wits made only to plod in our temporal, and to neglect our heavenly, calling? If anything may chaUenge the best of our endeavours, the marrow of our labours, the utmost of our spirits and wits, certainly it is these : grace and glory, that wUl stand by us when all things wUl fail us. Therefore let not your own hearts besot you, nor the vain speeches of others affright you. It wiU be acknowledged by every one ere long that there is nothing worth a man's eagerness but these things. The worldling is -violent and eager ; he troubleth himself and his house about ' a vain shadow,' Eccles, vi, 12, for pleasm-es and profit, &c, ; and what comes of all his violence ? He is turned naked into his grave, and thence into hell ; and there is an end of all the violence about all other things besides these. We see then the disposition of trae professors, they are violent in respect of heavenly things. Those therefore that are not earnest in the cause of religion, when the state of things requires it, they have no religion in them, they are not in the state of grace. We must be earnest, first of aU, against our own sins. Violence must begin there, to subdue all to the Spirit of Christ, to suffer nothing else to rule there ; and after that, violence to maintain the cause of Christ, ' To contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints,' Jude 8 ; to contend with botji hands ; not to suffer it to be wrested from us or to be betrayed ; and if it be opposed, to vindicate it. We must be violent both to propagate the truth of God, and, in case of opposition, to vindicate it, ' He that is not with me,' saith Christ, ' is against me,' Mat, xii, 30, If a man be not with Christ, he is against him. It may seem a strange speech, but Christ cannot abide lukewarm neuters. He cannot abide nullifidians.'^- He cannot endure cold persons. His stomach cannot brook them, ' He will cast them up,' as he saith Rev. iii, 15, 16, ' I would thou wert hot or cold,' A man had better be nothing in religion than be lukewarm. The reason is, if a man will have good by any religion, he must be in earnest in it : ' If Baal be God, stand for him, if you would have good by him : if the Lord be God, stand for him,' 1 Kings xviii, 21. Be earnest in his cause. If popery be good, then stand for that, if you hope for good by it ; and if our reUgion be good, then stand for that, if you hope for good by it. There is no good received by religion if we be not earnest for it. Religion is not a matter to be dalUed in. Therefore they are hitter, sour, profane, scoffing atheists, that trifie with religion, as if it were no great matter what it be. They will be earnest in all things else ; earnest to scrape riches, to satisfy thefr base lusts. But for religion, it is no matter what it be ; it is a thing not worthy the seeking after ; the old religion or the new, or both or none. These are persons to be taken heed of, breeding a temper opposite to reUgion more than any other. Christ can least brook f them. There is great reason for it. Who can brook any favour to be neglected and slighted ? Especially for these exceUent things to be undervalued and slighted, it cannot be that God can endure it. There wiU be a faction in the world whUe the world stands — Christ and Antichrist, good and evil, light and darkness. But a man cannot be of both ; he must shew himself of one side or other in case of opposition. Therefore the temper of the trae professor is to be earnest • That ia, persons of no faith. — Ed, f That is, ' bear,' ' endure,' ' suffer,' — G. ¦VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS. 305 in case of opposition of religion, and in C9,se of opportunity tp advance his religion. In civil conversation, and deaUng with men that are subject to infirmities, he must be gentle and meek : ' the Spirit of God descended in the shape of a dove ' upon Christ, as well as in ' fiery tongues ' upon the apostles. Mat. iU, 16, Acts U. 3, But in the cause of Christ, in the cause of reUgion, he must be fiery and fervent. No m9,n more mild in his own cause than Moses — ^he was a meek man, Exod, xxxU, 19 — but -when occa sion served, when God was offended, down he throws the tables of stone. He forgat himself, though he were the meekest man in the world otherwise in his own matters. So, I say, the Spirit is both meek and gentle as a dove, and earnest, and zealous, and hot as fire. In Acts ii, 2, the Spirit of God comes down as a ' mighty wind.' The wind is a powerful thing, if it be in a man's body. There is no torment like to windy sickness, as their complaints witness well enough that feel them. And if a little wind be enclosed in the earth, it shakes the whole vast body of the earth. The Spirit is like wind : it makes men bold ; it fills them with a great deal of eagerness in the cause of God, Again, the Spirit appeared to the apostles in the likeness of fire. It infiamed their zeal, and made them fervent, that were cold before ; as we see in Peter, the voice of a damsel terrified and affrighted him. Mat. xxvi. 69, 70 ; but when the Spirit came upon him, it so fired him that he accounted it his glory. Acts v, 41, ' to suffer anything for the cause of Christ,' Therefore, those that hope for anything by religion, let them labour to be for that re ligion in good earnest. They shall find God in good earnest with them also. Again, Hence we see that religion takes not away the earnestness of the affections. It doth direct them to better things ; it changeth them in regard of the object. It takes not away anything in us, but turns the stream another way. Violence requfres the height and strength of the affections. Religion taketh them not away, but turns them that way that they should go. If a stream run violently one way, if it be derived* by skill and cunning another way, it will run as fast that way when it is turned as it did before. So it is with the heart of man. Religion takes nothing away that is good, but lifts it up ; it elevateth and advanceth it to better objects. There are riches, and honours, and pleasures when a man is in Christ, but they are in a higher kind. Therefore they draw affections, and greater affections than other things. But these affections are purified, they run in a better, in a clearer channel. Whereas before they ran amain to earthly, dfrty things below, the same affections, of love, of desire, and zeal, do remain stiU, He that was violent before is as violent still, only the stream is turned. For example, take St Paul for an instance, , He was as earnest when he was a Christian as before. He was never more eager after the shedding of the blood of Christians, and breathing out slaughter against them, as he was afterwards in breathing after the salvation of God's people and a desire to enlarge the gospel, Zaccheus was never so covetous of the world before, as he was covetous of heaven when he became a Christian, I say religion takes not away anything, only it turns the stream. But it is a miracle for the stream to be turned. It was God that turned Jordan, So it is a greater work than man can do to turn the streams of man's affections, that ran amain to earthly things, to make them run upward. it is only God's work. This is the exceUency of religion. It ennobles our nature. That which is natural it makes it heavenly and spiritual ; that a man shall be as eamest for God and good things as ever he was before after the things of this life. So much for that point, * That is, = ' conveyed.' — G. VOL, VI, U 306 -VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS, The third thing is the success. ' The ¦yiolent take it by force.' The earnestness of affection and violence, it is successful. ' They take' it.' The good things of God, they are here compared to a fort, or to a weU- fenced and well-armed city, strengthened with bulwarks and munition, that is a long time besieged, and at length is taken; for this clause, 'The violent take it by force,' it doth as well shew the issue of the violent ones stri-ving for the kingdom of heaven, to wit, that they do at length take it, as the manner how it is taken, namely, by force, Doct. The violent, and only the violent, and all the violent, do at length certainly obtain what they strive for, the kingdom of heaven. Why? 1. Because it is promised to the violent. ' Knock, and it shall be opened unto you,' Mat, vii. 7. ' Be zealous, and repent ' (that is the means to cure aU former transgressions, 'repent'), ' and be zealous, and do the former works,' and ' To him that overcometh,' Rev, iii, 19, 21 (that is, he that is eamest, that -wUl never leave off tiU he hath overcome), ' to him -will I grant to sit with me on the throne ; and to him that overcometh wiU I give to eat of the tree of life,' Rev, ii, 7, All the promises are to him that overcomes, to him that is zealous and earnest. 2, Then again. The Spirit whereby a man is eamest is a victorious Spirit. As Christians have the word and promise to build on, that leads them on, and encourageth them, so they are led by a mighty Spirit, that hath the force of wind and fire, that beats down all before it, that breaks through all oppositions and difficulties. Being led with a divine Spfrit, what earthly thing can oppose that which is divine ? It brings under and subdues all. Therefore ' the violent take it,' the Spirit of God seizing upon and pos sessing the heart, and carrying it with strength after these things, 3, And then only the violent take it, because God hath set it at this rate. ' He that heareth and doth,' ' he that perseveres to the end,' ' he that sells all for the pearl,' for the treasure in the field ; there must be nothing retained ; all must be parted -with ; we must be at any cost and charge and peril, and all Uttle enough. It is offered to us upon these terms, of parting with aU, of enduring anything, of breaking through all difficulties. Only such, and aU such, shall obtain it by force. 4. And again, Only the -violent, because only they can prize it when they have it. They only can prize grace and heaven. They know how they come by it. It cost them thefr pleasures and profits, it cost them labour, and danger, and loss of favour with men ; and this pains, and cost, and loss, it endears the state of grace and glory to them ; for God wiU never bring any man to heaven tUl he have raised his affections to that pitch, to value grace and glory above aU things in the world. Therefore only those shaU take it by -violence ; for only those shew that they set a right price on the best things. They weigh them ' in the balance of the sanctuary,' Dan, V, 27. They value things as God would have them valued. i Obj. But is not the kingdom of heaven and grace free ? Therefore what needs violence to a thing that is free, and freely offered ? Ans. 1 answer, Because it is free, therefore it is -violently taken. For, alas ! if it were offered to us upon condition of our exact performing of the law, it might damp the spfrits of men, as indeed usually such, if they be not better informed, they end thefr days in despair. But being freely offered, ' the publicans and harlots,' saith Christ, ' go into the kingdom of God before the proud Pharisees,' Mat, xxi, 31, Because it is free, it is VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS, 307 free to sinners that feel the burden of their sins, ' Come unto me, aU ye that are weary and heavy laden,' &c,. Mat, xi, 28. ' Blessed are the poor in spirit, for thefrs is the kmgdom of heaven. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness : they shaU be satisfied,' Mat. v. 8-6. Thereupon he that hath a guilty conscience, he makes haste, and offers violence, when he hears of free pardon. What makes the condition of the devUs so desperate ? There is no hope of free pardon to them. What makes men so eagerly to embrace the gospel, notwithstanding their sins ? Because it is freely offered. Thereupon it was that the GentUes were so glad of it, that had been sinners and under Satan's kingdom before ; and that makes miserable persons, that are humbled with afflic tions and abasement in the world, glad of it — it being so great a thing, the kingdom of heaven, the favour of God, and freedom from misery, and so freely offered. It is so far from hindering violence because it is free, that therefore the humble afflicted souls that desfre grace are the more eager after it. The proud Pharisees thought the kingdom of heaven belonged only to them ; and therefore they despised Christ, and despised the gospel, because it was propounded to sinners, and to such mean persons that they thought were viler than themselves. But now when the meaner sort of people, and others that were abased with crosses in the world, saw what a kind of gospel it was, what great matters were offered, and that it was offered freely, they justified wisdom. Mat. xi, 19, and the counsel of God which others despised, and pressed for it with violence, Luke vU, 29, 30, J It is Uttle comfort to hear of the excellency and necessity of these hea venly things, if there were not hope of them, Hope stfrs up diligence and endeavour in the things of this world. What makes men adventure to the Indies, east and west ? They hope for a voyage that shall enrich them aU their life, Hope in doubtful things stfrs up industry. What makes the poor husbandman dUigent to plough and to sow ? The hope that he shaU have a harvest ; yet this is under a providence that may guide it another way. But spfritual things are more certain. Therefore hope in spiritual things must needs stir up endeavour, '' We need not call them into question. And as it stirs up to dUigence, so it stirs up in the use of the means ; not to give over tUl we see our hopes accomplished. Then, in the third place, hope of success, that we shall not lose our labour, it enables and strength eneth us to bear the tediousness of the time and the incumbrance of afflic tions, and whatsoever is between us and the thing we expect. Though we have not that comfort from God that we would have, yet it makes us wait upon God. Therefore when he saith, ' the violent take it by force,' it is to encourage us. The ¦violent, eager, strong endeavours of a Christian in the ways of God, in the means of salvation, they are no successless endeavours. He labours for that he knows he shall have ; his ¦violence is not in vain. He that is violent in good things hath a promise. He that wrestleth with God shall overcome, and he that overcometh shall have a crown. Here is a promise to build on. Therefore here is encouragement to be earnest and violent, ' he shall overcome,' he shaU enter the castle at the last, if he con tinue striving, and give not over. Hence there is a difference to be observed between the endeavours of a Christian and of three sorts of other men. (1.) First of aU, If those only that offer violence to the kingdom of heaven, that set on it with encouragement, shall get it, and that by force, what a great difference then is between them and those that in a contrary way offer violence to the kingdom of heaven ; that is, those that wrong Christ in 308 VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS. his members, and hinder the means of salvation. What promise have they to speed ? Surely they, have no promise nor hope at aU. Only their maUce carries them amain in spite. Because the gospel reveals thefr hol- lowness and hypocrisy to all men, and forceth upon them a necessity to be other men than they list to be for the present, therefore they are eager in hating the gospel. There are threatenings enough against such as are violent against the gospel. They are violent in vain, for they ' kick against the pricks,' Acts ix, 5 ; they run themselves against a stone waU, and they shaU dash themselves against it. Those that have UI wUl to Sion shaU perish. There is one ' sits in heaven that laughs ' aU their attempts ' to scom,' Ps, U, 4. A Christian hath comfort in his endeavours, _ There is hope of good success, though there be inward and outward opposition. He shaU prevaU, Those that are enemies have nothing but discouragement. They .shall be ' as grass on the house-top,' Ps, cxxix, 6, &c., that no man blesseth, but is cursed of every one. No man bestows a good word on them. It is a fruitless endeavour. They are under a curse, (2.) Again, It shews us how to judge of the courses of other men, that are violent in other courses, about the world. A Christian he takes his kingdom at the last and enjoys it for ever ; but those that are -violent for the world, after pleasures, after baser things than themselves, alas ! when they have it, they have but a shadow, and they become shadows in embracing it. Vanity embraceth vanity, and how soon are they stripped of all ! If a man by violence scrape a great estate, he must leave it shortly. Here he found it, and here he must leave it, in spite of his heart, ere long ; and ' all is but vanity' in the censure of him that knew aU things the best of any man, even Solomon, that had gone through the variety of all things. And oft- times they miss of that they labour for ; ' they do not roast that they get in hunting,' Prov, xU, 27, They hunt after preferment and after riches, but ofttimes they do not enjoy them ; and if they do, they get the curse of God with them, and ere long they are stripped of aU, But here is that that may strengthen our endeavours,. ' The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it.' It is not an endeavour that is lost, (3.) Then again. This shews that the state of true Christians is different from the state of persons that are carried to good things, but not violently. ' The -violent take it,' He surpriseth the city at the last, he lays his siege, and will not remove till death. He wUl not give over till he have it. He wiU have it, or he will die in the business, and so at last he obtains his desfre. The sluggish careless man he goes a little way. As Agrippa said to Paul, ' he was almost persuaded to be a Christian,' Acts xxvi, 28, so it is -with such men. In some things they will be Christians, but there they are at a stand. They wUl go no farther, ' The sluggard desireth and wisheth, but his soul hath nothing,' Prov, xiii, 4, A sluggish, cold, lazy Christian he loseth aU his pains. If a man be to go ten miles, and go but nine, and there sit down, he shall never come to his journey's end. If a man will give but seven or eight shiUings for that which is worth ten, he shall go without it. Grace and glory are set at this price. There is requfred such strength of labour and endeavour and violence. Therefore without this, a man shaU never attain it, unless he stretch himself to such a pitch. ' He shall never come to the end of his faith, to the salvation of his soul, to the high caUing of God in Christ Jesus,' 1 Pet. i. 9. ' The sluggard wisheth and gets nothing.' The reason is, because he is a sluggard ; be cause he wUl not strive ; but the striver gets the fort, and hath all in it, and is a man made for ever. VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS. S09 ' The sluggard thinks himself wiser than many men 'that can give a reason,' Ps, xxvi, 16. The sluggish discreef^ Christian, I warrant you, he hath reasons for what he doth ! It is not good to be too eamest 1 It will mcur the disfavour of such a man or such a man! I shall be accounted so and so for my pains ! But a -wise man he seeth the excellency of the things, and he knows that his courses and his conscience wiU justify him at the last, and therefore he goes on, whatever comes of it. God is not so weary of these precious things, these precious jewels of grace and glory, as to force them upon us. Is ' the kingdom of heaven' such a slight thing, that it should be obtruded to us whether we wiU or no ? Shall we think to have it when our hearts tell us we esteem other things better ? No. There are none ever come to heaven but their hearts are wrought to such an admiration of grace and glory, that they undervalue aU things to it. Therefore there is no hope for any to obtain it, but he that takes it -by violence. We see Moses esteemed the basest thing in the church better than the greatest exceUencies in the world, that men are so violent after. He esteemed the very afflictions of God's people better than the treasures and pleasures of sin for a season, nay, than the pleasures of a court, Heb. xi, 25, When men shaU esteem the base things of the world above aU the treasures of heaven, above the state of Christianity, they have no hope of coming there. They may pretend God is merciful, and Christ died,^ &c, ^ Ay, but whosoever he brings to salvation, he works such a sense of misery in them, and such an apprehension of grace, and of the means of grace, that there is an undervaluing of aU other things, God wiU not bring them to heaven that shaU not glorify him when they come there ; and how shall they glorify him here or there when they value the world and these base things that they must leave behind them more than the things of heaven ? This is the reason that few are saved, because they content themselves with easy, duU, and drowsy performances, and never consider with what proportion they are carried to things. When they had rather lose the advantage of that which wiU bring everlasting good to their souls, than lose the petty commodities of this world, and yet think themselves good Christians, what a delusion is this ! It is the violent only that are successful, ' they take it by force,' Obj. Ay, but what if the opposition grow more and more ? Ans. Then the grace of God and courage will grow and increase more and more. As Luther said well, ' The more -violent the adversaries were, the more free and bold was he' (a). So the more the enemies rage, the more the Spirit of grace grows in God's people. It increaseth by opposi tion. As Noah's Ark, the higher the waters were, the nearer stUl it was carried to heaven. So we are nearer to God, and nearer to the ' kingdom of heaven,' the more opposition swells and rages. True courage grows with opposition. As the palm-tree riseth up against the burden that presseth it down, so the divine Spirit being a heavenly thing, and all opposition below of the devil and deviUsh-minded men being but earthly, what are they to the divine Spirit which sets us on and encourageth us ? They cannot quell it, but the Spirit grows more and more in opposition. The apostles they ran all from Christ when he was to be crucified. They had but a little measure of the Spirit, but when the Holy Ghost was shed more plentifully on them, they began to stand courageously for the cause of Christ, When there was more opposition the Spirit grew more and more, tiU they sealed the truth with their blood. Therefore though opposition * That is, ' oner-prudent, cautious,' — G, 310 -VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS, of enemies and their fury and rage grow, let us know whose cause we manage, and with what assurance of success>. The violent at length ' shall take it by force,' Let us meditate upon this, that success is tied to violence. Therefore when you pray to God, if he seem to deny your request, offer -violence, -wrestle with him, let him not go without a blessing. When he seems to be an enemy, as sometimes he doth to try our strength, we must use an holy violence. When we are dull, and not fit to pray, nor fit for holy things, let us stfr up the Spfrit of God in us, and labour to get out of that estate ; let us use violence, and violence wUl overcome at the last. A man that hath the Spfrit of God gets the victory of whatsoever opposeth him. If there be snares offered from the world, he withstands them ; if Satan come -with his temptations, he resists him. He hath a promise for it : ' Resist the devil, and he wiU flee,' James iv. 7. Let us hold out and we shall get the victory, and overcome even God himself. How much more all other things ! Therefore when either opposition without, or indisposition within, sets upon us in the course of religion and piety, let us think here, now is time and place for -violence. I know, if I set myself about it, I shall have the victory and the crown. A Christian is alway in a hopeful state and condition, he hath somewhat to encourage him, he hath arguments to prevail over the state of opposition ; he knows he shaU win all at last if he go on, and that makes him courageous in what estate soever he is. Let us not be discouraged to hear of opposition. And let us be encouraged when we hear of good things, when we hear that the kingdom of heaven and grace is offered in the preaching of the gospel. ' Let us attend upon the posts of Wisdom's doors,' Prov. viU, 3, 4, and not give over till ' we come to peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost,' Rom, xiv, 17, If we hear of comfort in the word of God against distress of con science, let us never give over tiU we flnd it. If we hear that God is a God ' hearing prayer,' let us never leave knocking at heaven-gate, never leave -wrestling, till our prayers be heard. When we hear what ill is to be avoided, and what good is offered, let us not cease till we avoid the one and obtain the other. ' The violent take it by force.' The last point is the date of time from whence this kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, ' From the days of John Baptist untU now,' Quest. Was there not a kingdom of heaven that suffered -violence before John Baptist's time? Did the kingdom of God begin then? Was Christ a king, and was heaven opened only then ? Ans. I answer. No, But now the things of God were more gloriously dis covered. Therefore, John i, 51, ' henceforth you shall see heaven opened,' The kingdom of heaven was opened now by the preaching of the gospel more gloriously than before. Therefore the state of the gospel is caUed the ' kingdom of heaven,' partly in regard of the times before, and partly in regard of the times after. The law was full of servile bondage to ceremonies. It was a hea-vy dark state. They were laden with a multitude of ceremonies, which were but cold things to the spirit of a man that desires peace. 'Though they were ceremonies of God's appointing, yet they were but outward empty things in comparison : ' weak and beggarly elements,' as the apostle saith, Gal, iv, 9, They were costiy and painful and cold things, that had not the efficacy of spirit in them. And secondly. Then it was entailed to the Jews only. Now, since Christ's VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS. 311 time, it is enlarged ; and being more large and free, this blessed estate is called ' a kingdom,' John Baptist now opening Christ clearly, and a better state than the church had yet enjoyed, when people saw an end of the cere monies, and the beginning of the glorious liberty ia Christ, this made them violently set on them. Again, John Baptist made way for Christ, levelling the souls of men by his powerful preaching and his holy life. He taught them in what need they stood of Christ. He was the messenger sent before Christ for that end. He was as the morning star to the sun. He was powerful in his preaching, and holy in bis life. He told every man his. own. He told the Pharisees that they were a ' generation of vipers,' He shewed men thefr state by nature, and told them of a better state, that ' the kingdom of heaven was at hand,' Mat, iii, 2. And although he wrought no miracles, yet himself was a miracle. To teach such holy doctrine, and to live an austere holy life in those evil days, it was no less than a miracle. Therefore this violence to the kingdom of heaven, it hath the date from John Baptist's time ; from his preaching, not from his birth. He being so exceUent a preacher, no wonder there should be violence. This shews the reason why the gospel in later times was embraced so greedily when Luther began to preach. Alas, people had been in a worse condition than Jewish in respect of ceremonies ; and otherwise foolish idle men they wUl set God to school, they will have some fooleries alway that they wUI make as much of as of the worship of God ; and so it had been in the times before Luther. In Saint . Austin's time he was pestered -with many vain ceremonies ; and, good man, he yielded to the stream and custom in many things, though he could hardly endm-e the slavery of those things. Now when the times grew better, it is no wonder the world embraced the gospel with violence, as in Luther's time, when there was a freedom pro claimed from those beggarly rudiments and traditions. Antichrist had hampered the consciences of men with an intolerable mass of foolish, groundless ceremonies, making them equal with the word of God, as we see in the Council of Trent, (6) and this vexed the consciences of people like scorpions, as it is Rev. ix, 9, They oppressed the people with a multi tude of weights and burdens, which when people could not assent unto, it stung their consciences. No wonder then if people thronged after Luther when he opened the doctrine of free justification by faith, that the con sciences of men were not to be hampered with these things. He taught that God's people were only to have a few ceremonies for present order ; but for the rest, to trouble men's consciences, and to make them of equal value with the word of God, he shewed it was an abominable doctrine, and wrote against it learnedly and sweetly. And therefore it is no marvel though the truths he taught were soon and cheerfully by multitudes embraced. And the reason why now the gospel begins to be so little embraced and esteemed, is because, by reason of the long continuance of it, -we are weary of this heavenly manna. As the people in Saint John Baptist's time, as eager as they were after John's preaching, yet it was but for a time that they rejoiced in his light. They grew weary of him. We never felt the burden of those Romish ceremonies, and therefore now grow weary of our liberty. Whereas in the beginning of Luther's time, because they were eased from many beggarly, and which is worse, tyrannical ceremonies of Rome, there fore -with much joy and eagerness they embraced the truth when it came to be preached amongst them. Therefore we are to praise God for the Uberty of the church at this time, 812 VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS. that we have the word of God to rule otir consciences, and that other matters are not pressed on us but as matters of decency and order. Alas, if we were in bondage to those proiid popish wretches, our consciences would be enthralled to a world of snares. Last of aU, ' From the days of the Baptist,' and so forward, ' the kingdom of heaven did suffer violence,' because from that time forward the Spirit began to he more plentifully given. Christ comes with his Spfrit, which is soul of our soul, and the life of our life. The Spirit is Uke a ' mighty wind,' that moves the ship in the water. The ship is becalmed. It cannot move unless there be a wind. So the soul cannot move to that which is good without the Spirit, Now there is more abundance of the Spirit since the coming of Christ, Christ, who is the king of his church, the Lord of heaven and earth, he reserved the abundance of the Spirit tiU his own coming, especially tiU he entered into heaven. Then the Spirit came in abundance. ' It was poured upon aU flesh,' Joel U. 28. It was but, as it were, dropped before, but then it was ' poured out,' Then the Gentiles came in, and the apostles received the Spirit in abundance. Therefore no wonder that there was -violence offered to the kingdom of heaven. Then hence we may observe. That the more clearly Christ and the blessed mysteries of Christ are opened, the more effectual the Spirit is, and the more heavenly men are, and more eagerly disposed to spiritual things. (1,) The reason and ground of it is in nature. The affections follow the discovery of the excellency of things. When first the necessity of being in Christ is laid open ; that there are but two kingdoms, the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of the devil, and that a man must either enter into the kingdom of Christ, or be of the devil's kingdom stUl ; (2.) And when, secondly, together with the necessity, tlie excellency of Chiist's kingdom, is discovered, that it is a state that will make us all kings ; a state wherein we shall at length overcome all opposition of hell, sin, death, the wrath of God ; that whereas earthly kingdoms are opposed, and enthraUed, and one dash against another, the kingdom of heaven is a state that subdues all that is against it by little and little. As Christ overcame death and the wrath of his Father, and now rules in heaven in his person, so all his members shall overcome all in time. When the exceUency of this kingdom is laid open to the understandings of men, is it a wonder that their affections are set on fire ? Will anything do it more than such a kingdom ? (3,) Then, in the third place, when it is hopeful, too ; when, together with the necessity and excellency of it, there is assurance given us that we shall obtain it if we strive for it ; when it is offered freely, even grace and gloiy, and we are entreated to receive grace : ' Come unto me, ye that are weary,' &c,. Mat, xi, 28, Nay, we are threatened if w6 do not come, and we have example of the worst sort of people : of Zaccheus, and the poor woman out of whom the de-yils were cast ; of Peter, that denied Christ ; of Paul, that persecuted him ; such as had been wretched persons, that have come out of Satan's kingdom; when these things are propounded, and understood, and apprehended, men that are in their wits, that are not besotted by the devil, men that are not in love with damnation, and hate their own souls, they will embrace them. When they see a state discovered in Christ wherein they are above angels, in some sort, above death and heU, that they triumph over all in Christ, that because it is as sure that they shall be crowned conquerors with Christ in heaven, as if they were there -VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS, 813 already; when it is propounded thus hopefully, who would not offer violence to this kingdom ? When John Baptist laid it open so clearly to them,' This is the Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world,' John i, 29, it made them offer violence to it. And this is another reason why in the latter, the second spring of the gospel — ^for there was a winter in the time of popery, it being a kingdom of darkness, keeping people in ignorance — so many nations so suddenly embraced the truth. Luther was a man that was wondrously exercised and afflicted in conscience. This made him relish the doctrine of justifi cation by grace in Christ, and thereupon to lay open the mysteries of Christ and the bondage -of popery ; and this being once a-foot, the people's minds being prepared out of the sense of their former bondage, whole king doms came in presently. As in the spring time, when there comes a fine sunshine day, the prisoners are let loose out of the earth after a cold winter, so after the -winter of affliction and persecution, inward and out ward, came the sunshine of the gospel, and made all come forth and flourish presently. Wheresoever Christ is taught powerfully and plainly, and the exceUency and necessity of the state we have by him, and that men may partake of it, if they be not false to their own souls, there is always violence offered to these things, because where the riches of Christ are opened, the Spirit goes with it, and goes with violence, that it carries aU before it. Hence, again, we may see that popish spirits are witty* in opposing the unfolding of the gospel in the ministry, especially where there is conscience and skill to unfold Christ plainly. They know when Christ is opened, all their fopperies and inventions will grow base. The more Christ is un folded, the more people wUl grow in hatred of antichrist. The more they see the light, the more they will hate darkness. For this cause they oppose the unfolding of the gospel to the understanding of the people ; they would keep people in ignorance that they may make them doat upon them. It argueth a disposition dangerous, that shaU never taste of the good things of God, to be in a bitter temper against the unfolding of the gospel of Christ, For we see here the discovery of it makes it wondrous effectual, John Baptist laying open Christ clearer than he was discovered before, 'the Mngdom of heaven suffereth violence,' Here we are instructed what way we should take if we would bring ourselves or others into a temper fit for heaven, to an earnest temper after holy things, not to begin with dead outward actions, but to begin, as becomes the condi tion of reasonable men, as God deals with man, befitting the nature of man ; begin with the understanding. Let us meditate seriously of the truth of Christ's coming in the flesh, of the end of his coming, ' to dissolve the works of the de-vil,' 1 John iU, 8, to bring us out of the state of nature to a better con dition. Meditate of the exceUency of the state of grace, of the etemity 'and excellency of the state of glory. Let us warm our hearts with these things. -When a man hath once these things and believes them, let him be cold and dull if he can. And so, if we would gain others to a flt disposition for heaven, let us labour to instruct them what their state by nature is ; what kingdom they are bom in ; that they are liable to hell and damnation ; that they are under the possession of the ' strong man,' the devU, if the stronger man bring them not out and dispossess him ; and let them know withal the infinite love and mercy of God in Christ, offering a better state, giving the gospel and promising his Spirit with his truth ; and if they be- * That is, 'wise.'— G. 314 VIOLENCE VICTORIOUS, long to God, this wiU work upon them, or else nothing wiU,_ Other courses, to punish men in their purse, or imprison them, or the like, may subdue them to outward conformity, but if we would bring their souls to heaven, let us endeavour to enlighten their understandings to see the danger they are in, and to see the riches of grace and salvation that is proffered in Christ, and this wUl ' compel them to come in,' Luke xiv, 33, There -wUl be no need of any other compulsion, no more than there can be need^ to bid a man escape away that sees wUd beasts about him, or to bid a guilty person to flee to the city of refuge and take hold of the horns of the altar. Let John Baptist come before Christ to make way for him, and_ presently ' the kingdom of heaven suffers violence ; ' and after Christ's time, when the Spfrit was more abundantly given, and the gospel more clearly opened, the world stooped to the gospel. The gospel at length overcame the proud sceptre of the Roman empire. They laid their crowns down before Christ's gospel. The cross of Christ got above the crown in the preaching of the gospel, it was so powerful. Thus, if we would have the number of heaven enlarged, let us desire that God's trath may be opened plainly and power fully, John Baptist was a plain and powerful preacher ; a man of holyj|life. They aU reverenced John as a holy man. Thereupon his doctrine came to be so effectual. This is the way whereby God wiU do good to those he delights in. For others that are bitter atheists, whom God hath appointed to damnation, the gospel hardens them and makes them worse. The Pharisees were the worse by the preaching of Christ, When the gospel is preached, some are made worse by it, and malign, and persecute it as far as they dare. As the apostle saith, God is glorified in the damnation of such bitter opposers, Rom, iii, 8, tWe are not to look to gain aU by preaching. Those that withstand it are sent by it with the more just damnation to hell, but those that do belong to him are gained this way. Let us labour, therefore, for a clear manifestation of Christ. There is the treasure of all goodness in Christ, whatsoever is necessary to bring us to heaven. And the more he is discovered and applied, the more we are enriched with grace and comfort. Times of change may come ; and if times of opposition and persecution come not, yet temptations will come, and the hour of death will come, when we shall have occasion to use all the strength and comfort we have ; and the more dangerous the times are, the more sound and clear knowledge of Christ we should labour for, and that vrill breed this holy violence, that shall break thorough all oppositions whatsoever. NOTES. (a) P. 309. — ' As Luther said well, " The more violent the adversaries were, the more free and bold was he.'" An often-repeated saying of his 'Table-talk' and letters. Cf. note uu. Vol. III. page 533 ; also Vol. I. page 126. (6) P. 311. — ' As we see in the Council of Trent.' For history of this celebrated Council, see note-references in JJ, Vol. III. page 532, I take the present opportunity of correcting a mistake of Sibbes" in relation to this Council. See note uuu. Vol. III. page 536. He there makes Luther observe ,that ' if they [the Papists] live and die peremptorily in all the points professed in the Tridentine Council, they cannot be saved.' Sibbes gives no authority ; but it is plain that Luther could not adduce the Tridentine Council, as the foUovsdng brief quotation from Bungener's History of the Council of Trent (by Scott, page 66) will shew : ' For the first time (it was now the 22d of February) the Council met to deliberate in good earnest. The legates appeared radiant with smiles, "Why so ? , , Luther was dead.' — G. ANGELS' ACCLAMATIONS. ANGELS' ACCLAMATIONS, NOTE, The ' Angels' Acclamations ' forms the second of the four treatises which com pose 'Light from Heaven' (4to, 1638), Its separate title-page is given below.* For general title-page, see Vol. IV. page 490. G. » ANGELS Acclamations : OB, THE NATIVITY of Christ, celebrated by the heavenly Host. BY The late learned, and reverend Divine Richard Sibs, Doctor iu Divinity, Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher at Grayes-Inne. IsAi 9. 6, To us a Child is borne, to us a Sonne is given. 1 Pet. 1. 12, Which things the Angels desire to looks into. London, Printed by E. P. for N. Bourne, at the Royall Exchange, and Rapha Harford, at the gilt Bible, in Queenes head Alley, iu Pater-noster-Row, 16 38. ANGELS' ACCLAMATIONS. Atid suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host prais ing Ood, and saying. Glory to Ood in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men. — Luke II, 13, 14. The words are few and pregnant, very precious, having much exceUency in a Uttle quantity. The heavens never opened but to great purpose. When God opens his mouth, it is for some special end ; and when the angels appeared, it was upon some extraordinary occasion. This was the most glorious apparition that ever was, setting aside that it was at Christ's baptism, when the heavens opened, and the Father spake, and the Holy Ghost appeared in the likeness of a dove upon the head of Christ,' Mat. iU, 16, when all the Trinity appeared. But there never was such an appa rition of angels as at this time ; and there was great cause, for, 1, There was never such a ground for it, whether we regard the matter itself, the incarnation of Christ, There was never such a thing from the beginning of the world, nor never shall be in this world : for God to take man's nature on him ; for heaven and earth to join together ; for the Creator to become a creature, 2, Or whether we regard the benefit that comes to us thereby. Christ by this means brings God and man together since the fall, Christ is the accomplishment of all the prophecies, of all the promises. They were made in him and for him. Therefore he was the expectation of the Gentiles, Before he was born, he was revealed by degrees, Ffrst, generally, ' the seed of the woman,' &c,. Gen, iii, 15, Then, more particularly, ' to Abraham and his seed,' and then to one tribe, ' Judah,' that he should come to him ; then to one family, the house of David ; and then, more particularly, ' a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,' Isa, vii, 14, and the place, ' Bethlehem,' Micah v. 2 ; tUl at last John Baptist pointed him out with the finger, ' Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world,' John i. 29, Even as after midnight, the sun grows up by little and little, till his beams strike forth in the morning, and after it appears in glory, so it was with the ' Sun of righteousness ;' as he came uearer, so he discovers himself more gloriously by degrees, tiU he was bom indeed ; and then you see here a multitude of angels celebrate his nativity. 318 ANGELs' ACCLAMATIONS. Now, as before his birth he was revealed by degrees, so after his incar nation he was revealed to aU sorts : to the old, in Simeon ; to women, in Anna, a prophetess ; to wise men and to silly shepherds ; to aU ranks of men ; and to whomsoever the incarnation of Christ was revealed when he was bom, they aU entertained it with joy. The angels they sang and praised God ; Simeon was even content then to die ; and Zechariah, you see, beforehand breaks forth, ' Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,' &c., Luke i. 68 ; and the shepherds went away rejoicing. There is a special passage of divine pro-vidence in the carriage of this manifestation ; for Christ was revealed to the wise men that were Gentiles by a star, because they were given to star-gazing. He was discovered to the shepherds by the appari tion of angels. The scribes that were conversant in Scripture, they found it out by searching the Scriptures. God applies himself to every man's condition. ' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude,' &c. You see here, however, Christ lay in the cratch,* in the manger, yet not withstanding there were some circumstances that shewed the greatness of his person, that he was no ordinary person. He lay in the cratch indeed, but the -wise men came and adored him ; and he appeared to the shep herds, poor men ; yet notwithstanding, here is an host of angels that praise him. So likewise at his death he converted the good thief, and shadowed the sun itself, and then he gloriously rose again. So that there were some beams of his divine nature that broke forth in all his abasements. We see here an apparition of angels. In the words consider these things. Here is, first of all, an apparition of heavenly angels. And then their celebration of Christ's birth. The apparition : ' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,' The celebration of it : ' praising God, and saying,' The matter of the celebration and praising God, ' Glory to God in the highest, ' In earth peace, ' Good will towards men,' I shaU especially stand upon those words ; but somewhat is to be touched concerning the apparition of these angels, 1. The circumstances of their apparition. They appear to poor shep herds, God respects no callings. He wiU confound the pride of men, that set so much by that that God so Uttle respects ; and to comfort men in all conditions. 2. Again, The angels appeared to them in the midst of their business and eaUings; and indeed God's people, as Moses and others, have had the sweetest intercourse with God in thefr affairs ; and ofttimes it is the fittest way to hinder Satan's temptations, and to take him off, to be employed in business, rather than to struggle with temptations. We many times meet with comfort in our business, in our caUings, that without f it, in specula tion and otherwise, we should never have. 3, And then they appeared to them in the night, Ood discovers himself in the night of affliction. Our sweetest and strongest comforts are in our greatest miseries, God's * That is, ' cradle,' Consult Haliwell, mb voce.—G. t That is, ' outside of,' = apart from. — G. angels' ACCLAMATIONS, 319 chUdren find Ught in darkness ; nay, God brings light out of darkness itself. We see the circumstances then of this apparition. He caUs these angels ' a heavenly host,' in divers respects ; especially in these : (1,) An host /or number. Here are a number set down, A multitude is distinct from an host ; but in that they are an host, they are a multi tude ; as in Dan, vii, 10, ' Ten thousand times ten thousand angels attend upon God,' And so. Rev, v, 11, there are a world of angels about the church. In Heb, xii, 22, we are come to have communion with an ' innu merable company of angels,' He sets not down the number ; and here appears ' a multitude of angels,' Worldly, sottish men that live here below, they think there is no other state of things than they see ; they are only taken up with sense, and pleasures, and goodly shows of things, Alas ! poor souls ! There is another manner of state and frame of things, if they had spfritual eyes to see the glory of God, and of Christ our Saviour, and thefr attendants there — an host, a multitude of heavenly angels, (2,) An host Uke-wise implies order; or else it is a rout, not an host or army, ' God is the God of order, not of confusion,' 1 Cor, xiv, 33, If you would see disorder, go to hell. Surely disordered places and com panies are rather hells than anything else ; nay, in some respects worse ; for there is a kind of order even among the devUs themselves. They join together to destroy the church, and the members thereof, I note this by the way. Here was an host of angels ; that is, they are an orderly com pany. What that order is, I confess with St Austin, is undetermined in Scripture ; we must not rashly presume to look into these things {a). (8,) Again, Here is consent; an host all joining together in praising God : ' Glory to God on high,' And sure it is a heaven upon earth, when a com pany of Christians, led with one Spirit, shall join in one work to praise God ; to help one another in some spiritual way. When they meet together to hear the word, and to pray to God, aU with one consent, their prayers meet in heaven. Christ commends union and consent. ' Where two or three are met together in my name, I will be in the midst of them,' Mat, xviU. 20 ; and ' whatsoever two or three shall ask in my name, if they agree' (if there be no jarring, nor schism, nor breach among them), ' I will grant it,' Mat. xviii, 19, Agreement in good is a notable resem blance of that glorious condition we shaU enjoy in heaven. This multitude of angels they aU agree with one consent, (4,) An host of angels, it shews likewise their employment. An host is for defence or offence. That is the employment of angels here below espe cially, for the defence of the church, and for the offence of the enemies of the church. It is a great comfort to the church and children of God. The church is in the midst of devils here. We are aU strangers m the way to heaven. We live in the midst of devils, and devils incamate, devilish- minded men, that are led with the spirit of the devil. But here is our comfort, we have a multitude, an host of angels, whose offlce is to defend the church, and to offend the enemies of the church, as we see in Scripture. (5.) Again, An host implies strength. We have a strong garrison and guard. We are kings in Christ, and we have need of a guard ; and God hath appointed us a strong guard, a guard of angels. Angels severally are strong creatures. We see one of them destroyed all the first-bom in Egypt ; one of them destroyed the host of Sennacherib the Assyrian in one night. If one angel destroyed a whole host, consisting of many thousands, what can a multitude of heavenly angels do ? Yet all are for the service of 320 angels' acclamations. Christ and of his church. These and such like observations we may gather hence, that they are said to be an host of angels. Beloved, we have need of such comforts ; and let it not seem slight unto us to hear of angels because we see them not. It is a thing forgotten of us too much. Why are we so cold, and dead, and dull, and distrustful in dangers ? We forget our strength and comfort in this way. There ia now at this time an earthly host against the church, men led with anti- christian spirits. Let us comfort ourselves, we have an heavenly host with us ; as Elisha said to his servant, ' There are more with us than against us,' 2 Kings vi. 16. If God see it good, this outward host of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, he can make them flght for his church, as in Sisera's case, Judges v. 20, But there is another host, that see the face of God ; that is, that observe and wait on his will and command. We have an heavenly host within the heavens, that ha-ving a command from God, can come down quickly for the defence of the church, and for every particular Christian, not only one angel. That is but an opinion, that every one hath his angel ; but even as God sees good, one or two, or more, a multitude, an host of angels, God useth angels, not for any defect of power in himself to do things, that he must have such an host, but for the further demonstration of his good ness. He is so diffusive in goodness, he will have a multitude of creatures, that they may be. a means to diffuse his goodness : angels to the church, and the church to others. It is for the spreading of his goodness, for he is aU in all in himself. Let it take impression in us, that we have such glorious creatures for our service. We see here this host of heavenly angels, they attend upon the Lord of hosts at his birth, for Christ is the creator of angels, the Lord of them ; not only as God, but as Mediator. As God, he is the creator of angels; as Mediator, he is the head of angels. Col, i, 16, It was fit therefore that an host of angels should attend upon the Lord of angels ; it was for the honour of Christ, God would, let the world know — although they heeded it not, there was no such thought in Augustus's court at that time — that there was an excellent, glorious person bom into the world, God himself took, our nature : Christ, Immanuel, Though he were neglected of the world, and fain to lie in a manger, yet God took better notice of him than so. Heaven took notice of him when earth regarded him not. Therefore God, to shew that he had another manner of respect and regard to Christ than the world had, he sends a multitude, an host of heavenly angels, to celebrate the nativity of Christ, There is much solemnity at the bfrth of princes ; and God, that is King of kings and Lord of lords, he makes a solemnity likewise at the birth of his Son, the greatest solemnity that ever was, an host of heavenly angels. But these things I do but touch, ' And suddenly there was,' &c. ' Suddenly,' in an unperceivable time, yet in time ; for there is no motion in a moment, no creature moves from place to place in a moment. God is everywhere, ' Suddenly :' it not only shews us, 1, Somewhat exemplary from the quick despatch of the angels in their busi ness — we pray to God in the Lord's prayer, ' Thy wUl be done on earth as it is in heaven ;' that is, wUlingly, ' suddenly,' cheerfully — 2, But also it serves /or comfort. If we be in any sudden danger, God can despatch an angel, ' a multitude' of angels, to encamp about us ' sud denly.' Therefore, though the danger be present, and the devU present. angels' acclamations, 821 and deviUsh-minded men present to hurt us, God hath a multitude, an host of angels as present to defend us ; nay, as himself is everywhere, so in the midst of his church he is present more than angels can be. He is not only among us, but he is in us by his Spirit, to comfort and strengthen us. Therefore let us stfr up the Spirit of God in us, in all difficulties and dan gers whatsoever, considering we have such grounds of comfort every way. What is the use and end of this glorious apparition ? In regard of the poor shepherds, to confirm their faith, and in them ours ; for if one or two witnesses confirm a thing, what shall a multitude do ? If one or two men confirm a truth, much more an host of heavenly angels. Therefore it is base infidelity to call this in question, that is confirmed by a multitude of angels. And to comfort them likewise in this apparition. We see by the way that for one Christian to confirm and comfort another, it is the work of an angel, an angelical work ; for one man to discourage another, it is the work of a devil. When Christ was in his agony, the angels appeared to comfort him, Luke xxii, 48, We may take notice how willing and ready these glorious spirits were to attend upon our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, in aU the passages from his incarnation to his glory. We see they appeared here at his incarnation ; they ministered unto him after his temptation ; at his resurrection, then they were ready to attend him ; and at his ascension, they were ready then ; but oh the welcome when he entered into heaven ! There was the glorious embracings, when all the host of heaven enter tained him at his ascension. In the garden, as I said, they comforted him. Let us imitate them in this blessed work, if there be any in distress that need comfort and confirmation. We love examples of great, noted persons. Here you have an example above yourselves, the example of angels ; who, to confirm and comfort the poor shepherds, appear in an host, ' a multitude of heavenly angels,' The angels, as they attend upon Christ, so for his sake they attend upon us too ; for he is that Jacob's ladder, Jacob's ladder, you know, stood upon the earth, but it reached to heaven, and the angels went up and down upon the ladder ; that is, it is Christ that knits heaven and earth together, God and man ; and the angels by Christ, having communion and fellowship with us, as I noted out of the place, Heb, xii, 22, ' we are come to an innumerable company of angels ;' so that they attend upon us for Christ's sake, whose members we are. They attend upon Christ mystical as weU as Christ natural : ' For they are ministering spfrits for the sakes of them that shall be saved,' Heb, i, 7, And therefore in our chUdhood and tender years they have the custody of us committed to them ; as Christ saith, ' thefr angels behold the face of God ; ' and in our dangers they pitch their tents about us, and at our death they carry our souls to the place of happiness, as they carried Lazarus's soul mto Abraham's bosom, and at the resurrection they shaU gather our dead bodies together. So that as they never left our blessed Saviour from his birth to his ascension, so they always attend upon his members, his spouse. For his sake we have communion with the blessed angels. These things may be of some use. But it is not that I mamly intend. Thus much for the apparition. 2. Now the celebration is ' a multitude of the heavenly host praising God.' The word signifies ' singing,' * as well as praise. It implies praise expressed in that manner ; and indeed ' praising God,' it is the best expres sion of the affection of joy. The angels were joyful at the birth of Christ thefr Lord, Joy is no way better expressed than in ' praising God ; ' and it * See any good Lexicon, under the word aiviu. — G, VOL, VI. X 322 angels' acclamations, is pity that such a sweet affection as joy should run in any other stream, if it were possible, than the ' praising of God,' God hath planted this affection of joy in the creature, and it is fit he should reap the fruit of his own garden. It is pity a clear stream should run into a puddle, it should rather run into a garden ; and so sweet and excellent [an] affection as joy, it is pity it should be employed otherwise than ' in praising God' and doing good to men. They express thefr joy in a suitable expression ' in praising God,' The sweetest affection in man should have the sweetest employment. The sweetest employment that joy can have is to be enlarged in love, ' to praise God,' and for God's sake to do good to others. See here the pure nature of angels. They praise God for us. We have more good by the incarnation of Christ than they have ; yet notwithstand ing, such is their humility, that they come down with great delight from heaven, and praise and glorify God for the bfrth of Christ, who is not their, but our Redeemer, Some strength they have. There is no creature but hath some good by the incarnation of Christ ; to the angels themselves, yet however they have some strength from Christ, in the increase of the num ber of the Church ; yet he is not the Redeemer of angels. In some sort he is the head of angels, but he is our Redeemer, ' To us a, child is born ; to us a Son is given,' Isa, ix, 6, And yet see, their nature is so pure and so clear from en-vy and pride, that they even glorify God for the goodness shewed to us — meaner creatures than themselves ; and they envy not us, though we be advanced, by the incarnation of Christ, to a higher place than they. For, beloved ! the very angels have not such affinity to Christ in this as we. They are not the spouse of Christ, They make not up mys tical Christ, The church doth. The church is the queen, as Christ is the king of all. It is married to Christ, Angels are not ; and yet although they see us advanced in divers respects above them, yet they are so pure and free from envy, that they join in ' praising God ' here in love to us. Let us labour therefore for dispositions angelical ; that is, such as may delight in the good of others, and the good of other meaner than ourselves. And learn this also from them: shall they glorify God for our good espe cially ? and shall we be dull and cold in praising God on our own behalf ? Shall they come ' suddenly from heaven,' and cheerfully, and wUlingly, and ' to praise God ' for his goodness to us, and shall we be frozen and cold in this duty, that is for our good more especially ? I hasten to that that follows : What is the matter of their celebration and gratulation ? ' Glory to God in the highest, ' In earth peace, ' Good will towards men,' There is some difference in the readings. Some copies have it, ' On earth peace to men of good wUl,' to men of God's good wiU ; and so they would have it two branches, not three. If the word be rightly understood, it is no great matter (b). 1, First, The angels begin with the main and chief end of all. It is God's I end ; it was the angels' end, and it should be ours too, ' Glory to God on high,' 2, Then they -wish the chief good of all, that whereby we are fitted for ' the main end, ' peace,' God cannot be glorified on earth unless there be ' peace wrought. For man else conceives God as an enemy. By this peace \ we are fitted to glorify God. If we find reconciUation with God through j angels' acclamations, 823 Jesus Christ, then the sense of God's love in the work of reconciUation will inflame our hearts to glorify God. Therefore, next to the glory of God, they wish ' peace on earth,' 3, Then, thirdly, here is the ground of all happiness from whence this peace comes : from God's good will ; from his good pleasure or free grace, ' to men of God's good will,' So if we go back again, the good wiU and pleasure of God is the cause and ground of peace in Christ ; and peace in Christ puts us into a condition and stirs up to glorify God, So we see there is an order in these three. To begin with the first : ' Glory to God in the highest,' The angels, those blessed and holy spfrits, they begin with that which is the end of all. It is God's end in aU things, his own glory. He hath none above himself whose glory to aim at. And they wish ' glory to God in the highest heavens,' Indeed, he is more glorified there than anywhere in the world. It is the place where his majesty most appears ; and the truth is, we cannot per fectly glorify God till we be in heaven. There is pure glory given to God in heaven. There is no corruption there in those perfect souls. There is perfect glory given to God in heaven. Here upon earth God is not glori fied at all by many. The whole life of many being nothing but a dis honouring of God, by abusing his ordinances, trampling upon his church and children, by slighting his word and sacraments, there is little honour given to God in the world, but only by a few, whom he intends to glorify for ever. And indeed, if we will glorify God here, we must raise our thoughts to heaven at that time ; raise them above the world, to heaven, where we shall for ever glorify him ; where we shall join with the blessed saints and angels, and sing, ' Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of hosts,' &c. In the mean time, let me add this by the way, that in some sort we may glorify God more on earth than in heaven. It may seem a paradox, but it is true. That is thus : here upon earth we glorify God in the midst of enemies ; he hath no enemies in heaven, they are all of one spirit. Here upon earth we live not only among devUs, but among men led with the spirit of the devil, where God is dishonoured ; and if here we take God's side, and the truth, and gospel's side, and stand for God's cause, in some sort, we honour God here more than we are capable to do it in heaven, where there is no opposition. In this respect, let us be encouraged to glorify God, what we can here : for if we begin to glorify God here, it is a sign we are of the number that he intends to glorify with him for ever. The verb is not set down here ; whether it should be. Glory is given to God ; or whether, by way of -wishing, ' Let glory be given to God ; or by way of prediction or prophecy for the time to come, ' Glory shall be to God,' from hence to the end of the world. The verb being wanting, all have a truth. For, first, it cannot be a wish, unless it were a positive doctrinal truth, that all glory is due to God in the incarnation of Christ ; and because all glory is due to him, thereupon comes the ground of wishing and of prayer, ' Let God be glorified,' Why ? Because it is due. If it were not a positive doctrinal truth, there could be no foundation to raise a wish or a prayer : for what is a prayer, but the turning of a promise or truth into a prayer ? And what is praise, but the turning of a trath into praise ? So it is a doctrinal truth ; first, that God is to be glorified especially in Christ; and in Christ, in this particular, in the incarnation of Christ. And it is a wish for the time to come, let him be glorified ; and a prediction, God shall 824 angels' acclamations, be glorified in the church. He shaU alway have some to glorify him for Christ, and especially for his incarnation, ' Glory to God on high,' Glory is exceUency, greatness, and goodness, with the eminency of it, so as it may be discovered. There is a fundamental glory in thuigs, that are not discovered at all times, God is always glorious, but, alas ! few have eyes to see it. But here I take it for the excellency and eminency of the goodness and greatness of God discovered and taken notice of, ^ In the former part of the chapter ' light' is caUed the ' glory of the Lord,' ver, 9, Light is a glorious creature, Nothmg expresseth glory so much as light. It is a sweet creature, but it is a glorious creature. It carries its evidence in itself, it discovers aU other things and itself too. So exceUency and eminency wiU discover itself to those that have eyes to see it ; and being manifested, and withal taken notice of, is glory. In that the angels begin with the glory of God, I might speak of this doctrine, that The glory of Ood, the setting forth of the excellencies and eminencies of the Lord, should be the end of our lives, the chief thing we should aim at. The angels here begin with it, and we begin with it in the Lord's prayer, ' haUowed be thy name,' It should be our main employment, ' Of him and by him are all things, therefore to him be glory,' Rom, xi, 36, There fore we should give God that which is his own ; ' Thine is the glory,' as it is in the conclusion of the Lord's prayer. But this being a general point, I wUl pass it by and come to the particular, in which it will more comfort ably appear, as this glory shines in Christ, in the incarnation of Christ, there is matter of glorifjdng God, both the * angels and men. And here I do not take the incarnation of Christ abstractively from other things in Christ, but I take the incarnation of Christ as a foundation and prerequisite to all the other good we have by Christ ; ' Glory to God on high, now Christ is born,' Why ? Only that he is born ? No, But by reason of this incarnation there is a union of the two natures, God and man. So that by the incarnation, now Christ is man, and holy man. The human nature in Christ is pure and holy, being sanctified by the Spirit and united to God, Now Christ being not only man, but pure man and God- man, God taking our nature to the unity of his person, hence it is that he comes to be qualified for all that he did, and suffered after. It was from hence that they had their worth. What was the reason that his being made a curse, and to die for us, should be of such worth ? It came from a person that was God-man ; nay, so near is the manhood to God, that what the manhood did God did, because the person was God ; the second person taking the nature of man, and what he suffered in his human nature, God suffered according to man's nature. Hence comes that phrase of the com munication of properties. Whatever was done or suffered in man's nature, God did as a mediator, God did it in that nature. Thereupon comes the price of it. Thus the incarnation is a prerequisite and foundation to all other benefits by Christ, Therefore take it conjoined, his incarnation, and his death, and resurrection, and ascension, and all. Well then, the incarnation of Christ, together with the benefits to us hy it, that is, redemption, adoption, dc, it is that wherein Ood will shew his glory mast of all. That is the doctrinal truth. The glory and excellency of God doth most shine in his love and mercy in Christ, Every excellency of God hath its proper place or theatre where it is seen, as his power in the crea- ¦*- Qu, 'by'?— Ed, angels' acclamations, 325 tion, his wisdom in his providence and ruUng of the world, his justice in hell, his majesty in heaven ; but his mercy and kindness, his bowels of tender mercy, do most of all appear in his church among his people, God shews the exceUency of his goodness and mercy in the incamation of Christ, and the benefits we have by it. Many attributes and excellencies of God shine in Christ, as. His truth : ' All the promises of God are yea and amen in' Christ,' 2 Cor, i, 20, There is an accomplishment of all the promises. And then his wisdom, that he could reconcile justice and mercy, by join ing two natures together. This plot was in heaven by God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the Trinity, that God and man should be joined together. To join and knit two attributes seeming contrary, justice and mercy ; to reconcile man by reconcUing justice and mercy, and by such an excellent way that God should become man, Emmanuel, this was a great wisdom — to reconcile justice and mercy by such a person as should satisfy justice and give way to mercy, that is, by Christ. God wiU lose none of his attributes. His justice must be satisfied, that his mercy might be manifested. The wisdom of God found out that way. It is a plot the angels study in. Likewise here is justice, justice fully satisfied in Christ, He became our surety who is God as well as man. If no creature can satisfy God, God can ; when the second person took our nature, and was our surety, and died for us, he was the glory of his justice. And of his holiness, that he would be no otherwise satisfied for sin. It was so foul a thing, that to shew his hatred of it he punished it in his own Son, when he became our surety. How holy and pure is God, That is, what a separation is there in the nature of God from sin, considering that he so punished it in his Son, our surety, that he made him cry out, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ' Mark xv,. 34, We cannot see the nature of God in anything in the world so much as in Christ, In Christ we see, as in a glass, his infinite sweet wisdom, his justice and , hoUness in hating and loathing of sin. But the main of all is his mercy and goodness, which set him on work to contrive this great work of redemption by the incarnation and death of Christ, The infinite, rich, glorious, abundant mercy — that is the main thing wherein God is glorious now in Christ, Therefore everywhere you have these and the like titles put to his goodness and mercy. The bounty of God appeared, and the riches of his mercy, and the exceeding great height, and breadth, and depth of his love. There are no words large enough to set out the goodness and mercy of God in Jesus Christ, There fore I will only speak of this attribute, because this bears the mastery among all the other attributes, though God be equally powerful and just ; and yet he expresseth his mercy and grace most of all in Jesus Christ, towards poor wretched man. For after the fall man being miserable and sinful, what attribute can exalt itself, but mercy to misery, and grace to sinful man in pardoning his sin ? Considering in what terms man stood, there was no other attribute could exalt itself but grace and mercy, to triumph over misery and sin. As it is in a city, those that are otherwise equal in honour, yet sometimes one bears rule above another ; and he that is now magistrate and chief, take him at another time he is inferior to others ; so since the fall the mercy of God bears offlce, and is chief governor and commander over all the attributes of God, For as I said, what moved God to set his -wisdom on work to contrive such a thing as the salvation of man- 826 angels acclamations. kind, to reconcile God and man in one person ? His mercy moved him. What moved him to satisfy his justice ? It was that an excellent way might be made, without prejudice to any other of his attributes, for his free grace and mercy , That is it that set all the other on work. That is the main triumphing attribute, considering man now standing in that exigence of mercy. Therefore ' glory to God in the highest heavens,' especially for his free grace and mercy in Christ, Now that you may understand this sweet point, which is very comfort able, and indeed the grand comfort to a Christian, do but compare the glory of God, that is, the excellency and eminency of God's mercy, and goodness, and greatness of this work of redemption by Christ, with other things, 1, God is glorious in the work of creation. 'The heavens declare the glory of God,' and the earth manifests the glory of God. Every creature indeed hath a beam of the glory of God, especially those celestial bodies in the heavens, they praise God in their kinds, but with our mouths ; they give us matter of praise. And if we have gracious hearts we take notice of it, and magnify him for his goodness. His goodness appears in the use of the creatures, and his greatness in the bulk of the creatures ; his wis dom, in ordering and ranking of them. So that his mercy shines in all things in heaven and earth marvellously. Oh but, beloved, heaven and earth shall come to nothing ere long ; and what is all this glory of the goodness and greatness of God to us, if we be sent to hell after this short life is ended ? What comfort is it that we go on the earth, and enjoy the comforts that God gives us in this world, and then to perish for ever ? Therefore the. glory and goodness of God doth not so gloriously appear in the creation of the world, 2, Nay, the glory of God's love and mercy shined not to us so, when we were in Adam ; not in Adam, for there God did good to a good man : he created him good, and shewed goodness to him. That was not so much wonder. But for God to shew mercy to an enemy, to a creature that was in opposition to him, that was in a state of rebeUion against him, it is a greater wonder and more glory. It was a marvellous mercy for God to make man out of the earth ; but here God was made man, he became man himself. There all was done with one word, ' Let us make man,' It was easily done. But in this, for Christ to become man for us, and to suffer many things, to be ' made a curse for us,' it was not so easy a matter. Therefore herein there is a great manifestation of the glory of God's good ness and mercy to us. For God hath set himself to be glorious in his mercy, and goodness, and grace, in Christ, He hath set himself to triumph over the greatest iU in man, which is sin, in the glorious work of redemp tion. So that you see here the greatest glory and mercy of God appears in our redemption by Jesus Christ, the foundation of which is his incarna tion. In Exod, xxxiv, 6, God doth make an answer to Moses, who desired to see the glory of God, that he might have it manifested to him, not out of curiosity, but that he might love God the more, how doth God manifest his glory to him? ' Jehovah, strong, merciful, glorious, pardoning sin and iniquity,' When God would set himself to shew his glory in answering Moses's petition, he doth it in setting out his glorious mercy and grace, and lo-ving-kindness, in pardoning sin and iniquity, to shew that he wiU now have his glory most appear in the sweet attribute of mercy and compassion in the forgiveness of sins, &o. In Titus u, 12, ' The grace of God hath appeared, teaching us to deny ungodUness and worldly lusts,' &c. The grace of God hath appeared, Grace hath not a body to appear visibly; ay, angels' acclamations, 827 but Christ appeared ; and when he appeared it was as if grace and love had i been incarnate, and took a body. So that grace and mercy most of aU I shines in the incarnation of Christ, I need not clear the point further, but only make a little use of it, and so end. Doth the grace, and love, and mercy of God, those sweet attri butes, now appear and shew themselves in Jesus Christ ? I beseech you, let us remember it — there is no point of divinity of more use and comfort — especially in the greatest plunges and extremities ; for it answereth all objections, the greatest and strongest that can be made. The sinner wUl object. My sins are great, of long continuance and stand ing ; they are of a deep dye. Look then upon God in Christ, and consider his end in the incarnation of Christ, It was that his mercy, and goodness, and grace should be exalted, and triumph over all man's unworthiness. The greater thy sin, the greater wUl be the glory of his mercy ; and that is it God seeks for now, to be glorious in his mercy. Again, Thy heart tells thee, that if there be any mercy shewed to such a wretch as thou art, it must be no ordinary mercy. It is true, God's mercy is no ordinary thing. Of aU attributes he will triumph in that. The glory of his mercy and goodness is that he seeks to have of men, by the incamation and redemption wrought by Christ, above all things whatsoever, Obj. Thou wouldst have infinite mercy, Ans. Thou hast it in Christ. Obj. Thy sins have abounded, Ans. God's grace abounds much more, Obj. Thy sins are mountains, Ans. God's mercy is as the ocean, to cover those mountains, Obj. But is it possible for God to forgive such a wretched sinner, that hath been a blasphemer, &c, ? Ans. It were not with men ; but, saith God, ' My thoughts are not as your thoughts,' Isa, Iv, 8, You are vindictive in your dispositions, and will not pardon ; but my thoughts are as far above yours as the heavens are above the earth. Therefore bound not the infinite mercy of God, wherein he will triumph, with thy narrow thoughts, but let it have its scope, especially in plunges and assaults, and at such times as the best of us may be brought unto. In Hosea xi. 9, ' I am God, and not man,' implying that if he were man, we might have mean thoughts of him, confined thoughts ; but ' I am God, and not man,' therefore comfort yourselves in this, consider how God sets himself to be glorious in his love and mercy to poor, miser able, wretched man in Jesus Christ. You see the mercy of God in Christ, even in the sacrament. He doth not only give Christ to us — ' So God loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,' John iU, 16, to be bom and to die for us — but his mercy is a boundless mercy. We see he labours to strengthen our faith by these pledges, that we make use of this. What if God be merciful in Christ ! and what if Christ be gracious, and there is nothing but grace and mercy ! If there be not an application, if there be not an interest, what benefit have we by it ? We must interest ourselves in this glorious person, interest ourselves in Christ, for it is founded upon Christ. All the glorious mercy of God is grounded upon satisfaction of justice ; that is, in Christ. But this is nothing except we interest ourselves in Christ, and in the mercy of God; for our approbation is the ground of all comfort. God out of Christ 328 angels' acclamations, is a ' fountain sealed.' He is a fountain of mercy, but he is sealed up. He is a ' consuming fire,' but in Christ he is a cheering, comforting fire. But this is nothing to us, unless we be in Christ, We must have interest in Christ, We must be ' bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh,' He hath married our nature, that we might be married to him. We have no benefit by his incarnation else. Now aU our comfort is by this union and communion with Christ, by marrying ourselves to Christ, by strength ening our faith in this union and communion, that so we may make use of the boundless mercy of God in Christ, Therefore how should we be encouraged to come to the sacrament, to enjoy this comfort ! You have heard, beloved, of the joy of the angels, of their manner of celebrating the bfrth of Christ ; and if the angels should leave heaven, and come down upon earth, and take upon them bodies, how would they cele brate the incarnation of Christ !* You see here, ' Glory to God on high.' This would be the course wherein they would carry themselves to glorify God, answerable to their song. So should we do, if we will be like the blessed angels. We see how to celebrate the nativity of Christ, We need not go to fetch joy from heU to celebrate it. If the de-vil should be incar nate, and come to live among men, how would he celebrate the incarnation of Christ otherwise than in many places it is ? If we do not love to have our portion with devils, surely we should not imitate those whose state and condition we are afraid of. The angels saw matter enough in the thing itself to make them sing, ' Glory to God on high, on earth peace, good will towards men,' What ! Hath God been so rich in love to us in Christ, so wondrous in mercy, as to take our miserable nature, not at the best, but at the worst, and to take our condition upon him ? Here is matter of joy ; and shall we be beholden to the devil for joy, when we should rejoice for Christ ? Will not the thing itself yield matter of rejoicing ? Oh base dispositions, that we should not content ourselves with homogeneal, uniform joy to the thing itself, I desire repentance, and reformation of what hath been amiss. If there be any that have been guilty in this kind, that intend to come near God in these holy mysteries, let them know, that God will be honoured of all that come near him ; let them take it to heart. As Ter tuUian said in his time. What ! shall we celebrate that which is a public matter of joy to all the church, for a public shame, in a disgraceful way? (c) I beseech you, consider of these things, ' Repent, for the kingdom of God is near,' saith the Baptist, Mat. iv. 17, What ! shall we therefore give carnal liberty to all looseness, as if Christ came to bring Christians liberty to Ucentiousness ? ShaU we, instead of repenting, run further and further into guilt, and indispose ourselves to aU goodness ? ' Is that the reasoning of the Scriptures ? No, ' Repent, for lie kingdom of God is at hand,' Change your lives, for Christ and the fruits of the gospel are at hand, ' The grace of God hath appeared in Christ,' What ! to teach us to live as we list, and to be more disordered than at other times ? Oh no, ' To Uve soberly and justly,' Titus ii, 12, not to wrong any body, and holy and godly in this present world. This is the Scripture reasoning, and thus, if ever we look for comfort from God and Christ, we must reason too. Let none think it too late to speak of these things now ; but those that have not had the grace of God to keep -them innocent, let them make use of the grace of God to repent ; and as the phrase of some of the ancients ia, repentance is a board to escape to the shore, after we have made ship- * In margin here, 'These sermons were preached at the feast of Christ's nativity.' angels' acclamations, 329 wreck, and done things amiss {d). Therefore, as I said, those that have not had the grace before to be innocent, let them make use of the grace of God, that now invites them to repentance, or not presume to come to these holy things, I speak it, not only to free mine own soul, but to free you frona contracting further guUt ; for do you think to make amends by coming to the sacrament, without repentance of what you have done before ? ' What hast thou to do,' saith God, ' to take my name into thy mouth,' Ps, 1, 16 — to take my sacrament into thy mouth — ' when thou hatest to be reformed ? ' God accounted his cwn service as the ' cutting off a dog's head,' when they came indisposed and unprepared, Isa, Ixvi, 3, The sacrament is bane and poison to us, if we come without repentance. What saith the apostle ? ' For this cause,' — because you come unreverently to the things of God — ' some are sick, and some weak, and some sleep,' 1 Cor, xi, 80, " God struck them with death for it. And it is a great cause why many are hardened in their sins, and go on still ; because God executes these spiritual judgments for profaning these holy things, thinking to daub with God,* and to compliment with him in an easy performance, I know those that belong to God are suffered sometimes to do things amiss, and to fall into errors and miscarriages, that they may know them selves better. And indeed, much of our spiritual wisdom is gotten by the sight of our o-wn errors. We grow more stablished after, against the like temptations, for the time to come ; and we can say by experience. It is good that I know the foolishness of my own heart, &c. But he that God hath no delight in, he swells and rages against any admonition, though it be in love to his soul, I hope there are none such here. Therefore, those that have made their peace with God, let them come to these holy mysteries with comfort, notwithstanding any thing before ; for God hath prepared these things, not for angels, but for weak men, whose faith stands in need to be strengthened. And let us not think that Christianity is a matter of compliment ; that because we are baptized, and come to hear the word, and receive the sacra ment, aU is well. For we may do all this, and yet be greater sinners than Turks, or Jews, or pagans ; for the most horrible sins are committed in the church. Where is the sin against the Holy Ghost committed ? sins against light and against conscience, but where the conscience and understanding is most enlightened ? There be the horrible, provoking sins, where there is more light and direction to live in another way. When the grace of God and the riches of Christ are opened, and yet men live in their sins, against conscience and the light of the gospel, so far is the outward performance from excusing in sickness and at the hour of death, that it aggravates our guilt and damnation when we make not a right use of the holy things of God, That which I shall next stand upon, shall be to shew, 1, How we may know whether we glorify God for Christ or no ; 2, And then the hindrances that keep us from glorifying God for this exceUent good ; 3, And the means how we may come to glorify God, 1, For the first, of glorifying Ood in general, I will not speak much. It would be large ; and the point of glorifying God is most sweetly considered, as invested in such a benefit as this, when we think of it, not as an idea only, but think of it in Christ, for whom we have cause to glorify God, and for all the good we have by him, (1.) Ffrst, then, we hold tune with the blessed angels in giving glory to * Cf, Ezek, xxii. 28.— G, 830 angels' acclamations, God, when we exalt Ood in our souls above all creatures and things in the world ; when we Uft him up in his own place, and let him be in our souls, as he is in himself, in the most holy, God is glorious, especially in his mercy and goodness. Let him be so in our hearts, in these sweet attri butes, above aU our unworthiness and sin. For God hath not glory from us tiU we give him the highest place in our love and joy and delight, and aU those affections that are set upon good, when they are set upon him as the chief good; then we give him his due place in our souls, we ascribe to him that divinity, and excellency, and eminency that is due to him. And this especially appears in competition and opposition of other things, when we wiU not offend God for any creature, when we can say as the psalmist, ' Whom have I in heaven but thee, and what is there in earth in comparison of thee ?' Ps, Ixxiii. 25, Therefore let us ask our own thoughts often what that is, that our affections of delight and joy and love, and aU the sweetness and marrow of our souls, is spent on, and runs after. Is it the sweet love of God in Christ, the exceUent state we have in Christ ? It is an excellent sign. Surely the blessed saints in heaven, and those that are in earth that look for heaven, ar§ thus disposed for the most part, especially when they set themselves in thefr devotions before God, Let us examine what is highest in our souls, ' The loving-kindness of the Lord is better than life itself,' saith the psalmist, Ps, IxiU, 8, Then we give God glory, when we set light by Ufe itself, as holy Saint Paul could say. What ! do you teU me of suffering at Jerasalem ? ' I am not only ready ' to do that, but to ' die for the name of Christ,' Acts xx, 24, and in PhiUp, i. 20, ' so God may be magnified by my life or death,' I am at a point; so if the question be whether we shall sacrifice this blood and life of ours, or dishonour God and wrong the gospel, or be any way prejudicial to the trath known, when we are ready to part with all, with father and mother, and houses and lands, and all for Christ, then with the angels we say, ' Glory be to God on high.' Therefore in a state of opposition, when we cannot enjoy both, let us leave the creature and cleave to God. (2,) Then again, we give glory to God for Christ, when we take all the favours we have from God in Christ, when we see Christ in everything, ' All things are ours because we are Christ's,' 1 Cor, Ui, 23, It is by Christ that we are heirs, that we have any comfortable interest. Therefore, when we accept all in Christ, and give God in Christ the glory of all, we practise this that the angels do here ; we give glory to God, (3.) Then again, we give glory to God when we stir up others. AU the angels consent. There was no discord in this harmony of the angels. When we all join together and stir up one another, and labour to promote the knowledge of God in Christ all the ways we can — every one in our place and calling, magistrates and ministers, and every one in our famUies — labour that Christ may rule there, that God in Christ may be known. In Ps, ciii, 20, seq., there the psalmist stirs up himself to glorify God, and he stirs up the angels, and here the angels stir up men, ' Glory to God on high,' &c. When there is a zeal of God's glory, and a disposition fit to glorify God, there will be a stirring up one of another — angels men, and men angels — and a wishing that God may have glory in heaven and earth. Therefore those that labour not in their places that the truth may be made knovm, that for base and worldly ends are opposers of the publishing of the gospel any way — as it is the fashion now, they wUl not appear openly, but cunningly undermine the gospel under pretences — they bear no tune with these blessed angels. For those that have dispositions like them wiU study angels' acclamations, 881 how this blessed truth may be promoted and propagated, and spread even over the world. Therefore we should labour every one to spread the glori ous gospel of Christ, especiaUy those that are ministers, whose office it is to unfold and open the ' unsearchable riches of Christ.' • (4.) Again, We glorify God in Christ, when we see such glory and mercy of Christ, as it doth transform us and change us, and from an inward change we have alway a blessed disposition to glorify God, as I shewed out of 2 Cor, iii. 18,* This is the difference between the glass of the gospel and the glass of the law and of the creatures. In the law we see the beams of the justice of God, ' Cursed is every one that continueth not in aU,' &c.. Gal, iii. 10, and the beams of his power and goodness in the creature. But it doth not change and transform us to be good and gracious. But when we see the glory of God, of his goodness and infinite mercy, shining in the face of Jesus Christ — for we dare not look upon God immediately — it changeth the soul to be gracious like unto Christ. Therefore if we find that the knowledge of God in Christ hath changed our dispositions, it is a sign then we give glory to God indeed. For to glorify God is an action that cannot proceed but from a disposition of nature that is altered and changed. The instrument must be set in tune before it can yield this excellent music, to glorify God as the angels do ; that is, all the powers of the soul must be set in order with grace by the Spirit of God, If the meditations and thoughts of the gospel have altered our dispositions to love God, and that that pleaseth God, to do good to men, to delight in goodness, it is a sign we are instruments in tune to glorify God, and that we have an apprehension of the love and mercy of God in Christ as we should. For it hath a transforming power to work this. ' The grace of God will teach us to deny ungodliness and wordly lusts, and to live holily,' Titus ii, 12, When the grace of God, that is, the free love of God in Christ, in the forgiving our sins and advancing us to heaven, hath this effect in our souls, it is a sign we have a true notion and apprehension of the excellency and eminency of God's grace. Otherwise, if we ' turn the grace of God into wantonness,' Jude 4, to make the benefits by Christ a pretence and covering for our wicked and loose lives, we know not what it is to glorify God ; but though in words we say, ' Glory be to God,' yet in our lives we deny it, as the apostle saith, Titus i, 16, The hypocrites in Isa, Ixvi, 5, they had good speeches in their mouths, Saith God, ' Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word : your brethren that hated you, and cast you out for my name's sake, said. Let the Lord be glorified,' So you shall find those that are opposers and persecutors, and haters of sincerity, wUl sing ' Gloria Patri,' ' God be glorified ;' but what good will this do them if they have diaboUcal, Satanical dispositions, if they be like the devil in opposing the truth, and hating that that is good ? The devils in the gospel could glorify God for thefr own ends : ' We know that thou art the Son of God,' Luke iv, 41, So devils incarnate can come to church and receive the sacraments, and seem to praise God. Oh, but there must be a change ; for to glorify God is a work of the whole man, especially of the Spirit, ' All that is within me, praise his holy name,' Ps, cUi, 1, It came from the heart-root of a sanctified judgment, out of grounds why we do it. The wish of the angels here, ' Glory to God on high,' it came from a good ground, because they knew God is to be glorified in Christ, For judicious phrases are founded upon truths. So there must be a sanctified judgment to be the ground of it, and the affections must be in tune answerable to those * Cf. ' ExceUency of the Gospel above the Law,' Vol. IV, page 201, eeq.—Q. 832 ANGELS ACCLAMATIONS, truths, T Then we are fit to glorify God, And aU this is by the power of the gospel transforming us, ;::^ (5,) Again, We glorify God wlien we take to heart anything that may hinder, or stop, or eclipse God's truth, and obscure it; when it works zeal in us in our places, as far as we can ; when it affects us deeply to see the cause of religion hindered any way. If there be any desfre J of glorifying God, there wUl be zeal. The heart wiU move with a kind of indignation when God is dishonoured, and his truth eclipsed with false doctrine or by ill practice. It cannot be otherwise. It is out of the nature of the thing itself. Therefore those that either are instruments of stopping or obscur ing the truth, or causing it to be reproached by their wicked lives, or if they be not instruments, yet they do not take it to heart when they see God dishonoured, surely they can speak little comfort to themselves. They have neither angelical nor evangelical dispositions ; for if they had the knowledge of the gospel it would work this in them, (6,) Again, If we apprehend this glorious mystery of Christ in the gospel aright, it will work in us a glorious joy ; for joy is a disposition especially that fits us to glorify God, Then we are fit to ' glorify God,' when our hearts are enlarged with joy ; when we think of God in Christ ; when we think of the day of judgment ; when we think of heaven ; when we think of hell with joy, as being subdued ; and bless God for Christ ; when we can think of all that is opposite as conquered in Christ, So that our joy is enlarged in the apprehension of our own blessed condition. It is a good sign we are in a disposition to ' glorify God,' But I will not enlarge my self further in this point, 2, This being so excellent a duty, to which we are stirred by the angels, ' Glory to God on high,' &c,, what are the main hindrances of it, that we give not God more glory ? (1.) The main hindrances are, a double veil of ignorance and unbelief, that we do not see the glorious Ught of God shining in Jesus Christ ; or else if we do not know it, we do not believe it ; and thereupon, instead of that blessed disposition that should be in the soul, there comes an admiration of carnal excellencies, a delighting in base things. This ignorance is partly from the darkness of our own hearts, being overcast sometimes, that such great things are too good to be true. Our hearts have a hell of unbelief in them. And sometimes the policy of Satan, who casts dust in our eyes, and labours that we may not see the glory of God in the gospel : 2 Cor, iv, 4, ' The God of this world hath blinded thefr eyes,' &c. Ignorance arising from within or without is a great cause why we do not see the excellencies of God, Therefore no wonder if, where the gospel is not preached, that the devil hath a kind of reign, and God is not honoured at all, because the devU is the prince of darkness, and rules in darkness. That is one cause, ignorance, (2.) So likewise unbelief, when we hear and see and know the notion of mercy and of Christ, and can dispute of these things, like men that talk of that they never tasted of. The devils know aU these things better than any man ; yet they do not ' glorify God,' because they do not believe that these things pertain to them. Men want a Ught suitable to the truth of the things themselves, A man may see them with a natural Ught, or with the light of education, or by books or the like ; but not in a spiritual and pro per light. He sees not spiritual, heavenly things, in a spiritual light. And that is the reason he believes them not. These two veUs are the cause why angels' ACCLAMATIONS, 833 we see not the light of God shining in the gospel, and why we do not glo rify him. Light is a glorious creature. It was the first creature. It is not only glorious in itself, but it shews the glory of aU other things too. If we had all the sights in the world presented to us, if there were no Ught to discover them, or no sight in our eyes, if either be wanting, all the glory of them would be lost. So it is in the gospel. Though there be wondrous admirable things there, if we want either light or sight ; if the light shine round about us, ' and the god of this world have blinded our eyes,' and infidelity have blinded us, how can we ' glorify God,' wanting a heavenly, proper, peculiar, spiritual light, suitable to the things ? For a natural man, by the light that he hath, cannot judge of them. These are the main hindrances, the veil of ignorance and unbelief, (3.) And, on the contrary, there is another hindrance ; that is, too much light ; either want of light altogether, or too much Ught, when by the preach ing of the word of God, awaking our conscience, and shewing our sins so enormous, so transcendent, so odious, that we forget mercy in Christ, and so dishonour Christ, to set the sins of the creature above the infinite mercy of the Creator ; as those that doubt, and from doubting, proceed to despair of the mercy of God, seeing the vileness of their sins in the true colours of them, and seeing and feeling God's anger and wrath, together with their sins in the conscience ; here is too much Ught one way, and not look ing to the other light, this excellent, glorious, infinite light of God's mercy, shining in the gospel. They look not on God in ' the face of Christ,' Out of some stubbornness and pride they flatter themselves ; they wiU not believe ; they will not receive the consolations due to them, but dwell upon the consideration of their unworthiness and sins ; and Satan holds them in that slavery and bondage. This is a great hindrance of glorifying of God, when we lift up our sins above the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, This is to take away God and Christ altogether ; for if the mercy, and rich and bountiful goodness of God, wherein he will be infinitely glorious, were not greater than our sins, it were not the mercy and bounty of a God, God should not be glorious in it. But there are but few of these that miscarry ; God usually shines upon them at the last. There are three ranks of men. Some are in the first profane, dead, loose Christans, that were never under the law, that never understood the corruption of nature, nor themselves. Some are brought from that to understand themselves a little too much, that are under the law, and feel the flashes of God's wrath. And some, in the third place, are brought from hence to be under grace. That is the only happy condition, to be under the grace of God in Christ, Some men never come to the second step. They never understand what sin is, and what the anger and wrath of God is. They wUl give their conscience no leisure to teU them what their condition is. There is hope of the second that they will come to the third rank ; but for a company of pro fane persons, opposers of goodness, to talk of the mercy of God in Christ, they are not in the next step to it, A man must be sensible of his sins and of his misery before he can have grace. Therefore, for those that have too much Ught, though it be a great fault in some, and hinders God of much glory, and themselves of much comfort, out of this peevish stub bornness of thefrs, yet there are not many of them, and, as I said, few of them miscarry. Now, from these two veUs that hinder the glory of God, there come other hindrances ; for the soul of man wiU wonder and admfre at some what. It wiU have somewhat in the eye of it. Hereupon, not seeing or 384 angels' acclamations, not believing the mercy, and goodness, and love of God, and the exceUent prerogatives of a Christian issuing from the goodness of God, and the fruits of it, they doat upon some worldly excellency ; either they are proud of their parts, and so God is robbed of his honour, or on creatures meaner than themselves. For the base nature of man, since the fall, it doats upon earth, upon gold and silver, mean and base things, not to be compared to the exceUency of man, or else upon some duties they perform, upon thefr own works, as if God should be beholden to them. For not knowing them selves well, and the infinite glory of God in Christ, that God must have all the glory, not only of happiness, but of grace that brings us to happiness, they glory in that they have done ; as in popery, they think they merit much by thefr performance. In the night time a torch seems a goodly thing ; and sometimes rotten wood will shine ; but in the day time, when the sun appears, the very stars shine not ; we care not for meaner lights. For what good do they then ? So the soul, when it wants a sight of the greatest excellency, it doats upon rotten wood, upon every torch-light. Many vain things seem to be great, A man may see by the dispositions of many what they admire and stand upon most. Their carriages shews it weU enough. It argues a corrupt and weak judgment. You see what are the main hindrances, 8. Now, the way to attain to this glorious duty, to glorify God. The next thing shall be to give some directions, because it is a most necessary duty. Is it not that we pray for in the Lord's prayer, ' HaUowed be thy name' ? And what is the end that we were created and redeemed for, but that God may have some glory by us ? Therefore, being a necessary absolute duty, let us hearken to some directions that may help us that way. (1.) First, Therefore, if we would glorify God, we m.ust redeem some time to think of these things, and bestow the strength of our thoughts this way. The soul being the most excellent thing in the world, it is fit it should be set on the excellentest duty. Man being in such an excellent condition, being heir of heaven, and having an understanding soul, it is fit the most excel lent part of the most excellent creature should be set upon the most excel lent object. Now, the most excellent part of the soul is the understanding. It kindles aU the affections, and leads all the rest. Therefore let us take some time to meditate and think of these things. What we are by nature, and the misery we are exposed to by sin, that whatsoever we have more than hell is more than we deserve ; and then withal, think what we are advanced to in Christ ; what we are freed from, — that cursed condition ; and what we shall be freed from, — the sting of death ; and all that we fear for the time to come. Think of what we are freed from, and what we are advanced to, and by whom. By God becoming man : a mystery that might, nay, that doth ravish the very angels themselves ; God-man, now in heaven, making good what he did on earth, by his intercession. And then the ground of aU, the infinite love, and mercy, and bounty of God to poor dis tressed man. The thought of these things wUl inflame the heart. Now, they never work upon the heart thoroughly tiU they end in admiration ; and indeed the Scripture sets it down in terms of admiration, ' So God. loved the world,' ' So.' How ? ' So, as I cannot teU how, I cannot express it ; and ' what love hath God shewed us, that we should be caUed the sons of God !' 1 John Ui, 1, And then the fruits that we have by this incar nation of Christ, and by his death, they are admirable : ' peace that passeth understanding,' Philip, iv, 7, ' joy unspeakable and glorious,' 1 Pet, i, 8, So that the mystery is wonderful, and the dignity wonderful, and the fruits, angels' acclamations, 335 the comfort, and peace, and joy, wonderful ; everything is an object of admfration. Therefore when we think and meditate of these things, let us never end tiU our souls be wound up to admiration of the excellent love of God, We wonder at things that are new, and rare, and great. Is there anything more new and rare than that that never was the like, for God to become man ? Is there anything more excellent than the benefits we have by Christ becoming man, to free us from so great misery, and to advance us to so great happiness ? If anything be an object of admiration, surely it must be this. Therefore the apostle doth well to give all the dimensions to the love of God in Christ, ' height, and breadth, and depth, and length.' It is a love ' passing knowledge,' Eph, iii, 19, Quest. What good will come by this ? Ans. When the soul is thus exercised, then it will be fit to ' glorify Ood.' When it is in this frame, it wUl think itself too good for any base service of sin. Eagles will not catch at flies. When the soul is lift up to con sider God's love and. mercy in Christ, will it be catching at every base thing in this world ? No, It will not. The soul never sins, but when it loseth this frame, to have a judgment suitable to things. When our judgment and affections are lost of the best things, then comes in a judg ment and affection to other things as better. So losing that frame the soul should be in, we faU to the creature, to commit spiritual fornication with that. Let us labour to keep our souls in this temper, begin every day with this meditation, to think what we were, what we are now in Christ, what we shall be, and by what glorious means all this was wrought, that so the soul may be warmed with the love of God in Christ, This frame of spfrit will not suffer the soul to sin, to stoop to base sinful lusts, (2,) Now, to help this, in the next place, beg of God the ' Spirit of revela tion ' to discover to us these things in their own proper light, ' for they are spiritually discerned,' Now the Spirit knows the breast of God, what the love of God is to every one in particular, and he knows our hearts too. Therefore the apostle desires of God 'the Spirit of wisdom and revelation,' Eph, i, 17, to discover these things to us, not only that they are truths, but that they are truths to us. For unless we know these things belong to us in particular, we cannot glorify God as we should. They are in themselves glorious things : to hear of God's mercy in Christ; of God becoming man ; to hear of kingdoms and crowns. Oh, but when there is a spirit of appro priation to make these our own, that God in Christ loves us — ' who loved me, and gave himself for me,' Gal. ii. 20 — then the soul cannot but break forth with the angels here, ' Glory to God on high,' Therefore beg the Spfrit to reveal to us om- .part and portion, that he would shew his face to us, that he is to us a Father in Christ, Surely in hearing, meditation, and prayer, &c,, we shall find a secret whispering and report from heaven, that God is our Saviour, and that our sins are forgiven, especially when we stand in most need of this comfort. Let us therefore beg of God to take away the veUs of ignorance and unbelief, and openly to reveal his fatherly bowels and tender mercy to us in Christ ; to discover to us in particular more and more our interest in the same by his Spirit, that only knows the secret of our hearts, and being above our hearts can settle our doubts. Only the Spirit can do it. For as God only works salvation, so the Spirit only can seal to our souls our salvation. This is one excellent way to help us to glorify God. And add this as motive, as a plea, not to move God so much as to 836 angels' acclamations. move and to satisfy our hearts, and to strengthen our faith, that it is the end of our lives and the pritch of our desires to ' glorify God.' Therefore we desfre God to reveal himself so far to us, to be our Father in Christ, that we may glorify him. Surely it is a forcible plea, God wUl do that that is suitable to his end, ' He hath made all things for his own glory,' Prov. xvi. 4, Especially the work of redemption in Christ is for the glory of his rich mercy ; and we desire the sense of his mercy and love for this end, that we may be fitter to glorify God, It is a prevailing argument, fetched from God's own end, (8,) And let us labour daily more and more to see the vanity of all things in the world. Put the case we have honours and large possessions in the world, that we wanted nothing ; if this were severed from God's love in Christ for life everlasting, what comfort could we have in this, especially at the hour of death? Let us see, therefore, the vanity and emptiness of aU things else out of Christ, and the good we have by Christ, what all will be ere long. The daily thoughts of that will be a good means ; for we must empty ourselves of that we are, that we may be filled with that we are not ; and we must daily consider the emptiness of the creature where with we labour to support ourselves. For when men have no goodness in themselves, they will have an excellency in the creature. Therefore, when we see ourselves out of Christ, to be nothing but fuel for God's vengeance, and see that the creature can afford us nothing but vexation, these thoughts that these things are so, and out of experience, will make us draw near to God upon all occasions. It wiU make us glorify him and abase ourselves. What made Job abase himself and glorify God ? When he drew near to God, and God drew near to him, ' I abhor myself,' Job xiii, 6 ; and so we see in Abraham, Gen. xviii, 27, Let us draw near to God upon all occasions, in the word and prayer, and in the sacraments, and this will make us see our own nothingness and God's greatness ; for that is the way to honour him, to see his greatness, and a nothingness in the creature ; that all things in him are so excellent, and out of him nothing, and worse than nothing. Now we are to draw near to God in the sacrament ; and the nearer to God, the more we honour him. Who honours God most ? Surely Christ, because he is so near him, being God and man in one person ; and next to him the blessed angels ' glorify God,' They are near him. Therefore, in Isa, vi, 2, they ' cover their faces,' it being impossible for the creature to comprehend the great majesty of God ; and they cover their feet in modesty. The nearer we draw to God in the meditation and consideration of his excellency in the ordinances, the more humble and abased we shaU be in ourselves ; and the more we shall honour God, seeing his excellency, especially of his love. So next to the angels the saints : ' aU thy works praise thee,' Ps, cxlv, 10 ; they give matter and occasion, but ' thy saints bless thee,' If it were not for a few saints on earth, though all the works of God are matter of praise, they could not praise God : ' thf saints bless thee,' And the nearer we come to God, the fitter we are for this. Now, there is a wondrous near-coming to God in the sacrament. If we come prepared, we come to have communion and strengthening in Christ, He is both the inviter and the feast itself. We come to be made one with him : ' bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh,' Therefore, if we come prepared, this is the way to bring us to a disposition to glorify God, You see here the wondrous, infinite love of God in the sacrament, to stoop so low to his creature, to strengthen our faith by giving us these things. God had been angels' acclamations, 837 good to us whether he had given us his oath and his seal or no, but he knows we are weak, and unbelieving, and doubting ; therefore to help us he hath given us not only his promise, but his oath, and besides his oath he hath given us signs and seals. Here is wondrous mercy. Let us be encouraged to come in and admire the love of God, not only in giving his Son Christ for us, but in affording us other means to strengthen our faith. Let none be discouraged in the sight and sense of their own sins ; but let them come in, and they shall glorify God the more. ' Where sin hath abounded' in their sense and feeling, there 'grace shall more abound,' And those that have been good, and have slipped any way, let them con sider God's infinite love in Christ, It is not a cistern, but a spring, God's mercy in Christ, and the blood of Christ, is a ' fountain opened for Judah,' &c,, Zech, xiii. 1 ; that is, it serves not for our first conversion only, but every day, upon every occasion, when we have made any breach with God, we may come and wash in that bath, Christ's blood, ' The blood of Christ purgeth,' 1 John i. 7, It is in the present tense. It runs continually in the vigour of it. There is a spring of corruption in us ; there is a spring of mercy in God, There is a spring of Christ's blood, that hath a perfect efficacy to wash our souls. Therefore, if we have not yet been converted, and humbled, and cast down for our sins, let us now come in and give God the glory of his mercy ; and if we have fallen again, consider there is a fountain opened for ' Judah and Jerusalem to wash in,' and let us come and renew our repentance and faith at this time, ' Peace on earth,' The same holy affection in the angels that moved them to wish God to have his due of glory from the creature, it moves them to wish peace to men likewise ; to shew this, by the way, that There can he no true zeal of Ood's glory hut with love to mankind. They were not so ravished with the glory of God as to forget poor man on earth. Oh no ! They have sweet, pure affections to man, a poorer creature than themselves. Therefore let them that are injurious and violent in their dispositions, and insolent in their carriage, never talk of glorifying God, when they despise and wrong men. There are some that overthrow all peace in the earth for their own glory, but he that seeks God's glory will procure peace what he can ; for they go both together, as we see here, ' Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth,' Now, their end of wishing peace upon earth, it is that men might thereby glorify God, that God being reconcUed, and peace being stablished in men's consciences, they might glorify God, Hence observe this likewise, that ' We cannot glorify Ood till we have some knowledge of our peace with him in Christ. We must have the first act, to cast ourselves upon God's mercy in Christ, and adhere and cleave to that mercy ; and then we shall feel so much com fort as shall make us glorify God, though we may question it in desertion sometimes. Here the angels, intending that God should have glory of aU, they wish peace on earth, in the consciences of men especially. The reason is, peace comes from righteousness, Christ is first the ' King of righteousness,' and then ' King of peace ;' righteousness causeth peace. Now, unless the soul be assured of righteousness in Christ, it can have no peace. What saith the Virgin Mary ? ' My soul doth mag nify the Lord, and my spfrit rejoiceth in God my Saviour,' She begins with magnifying the Lord, But what was the ground ? She rejoiced in VOL, VI, ^ 888 angels' acclamations. God as a Saviour ; therefore she magnified him. So In the Lord's Prayer we say ' Our Father,' which is a word of the covenant of grace, when the soul conceives of God as a gracious Father, reconciled in Christ, And then comes ' Hallowed be thy name,' insinuating that, tiU we know in some measure God to be our Father, we cannot with a gracious spirit say, ' hal lowed be thy name,' For can we heartily wish for the manifestation of the glory of him that we think is our enemy, and him that we have no interest in his greatness and goodness ? The heart of man wiU never do it, therefore God must first speak peace to the soul ; — the angels knew that weU enough ; — and then we are fit to glorify God, ' Peace on earth,' What is peace ? It is the best thing that man can attain unto, to have peace with his Maker and Creator, Peace, in general, is a harmony and an agreement of different things. This peace here ypu may know what it is by the contrary, as the apostle saith, Eph, i, 10, The word there is very significant, Anakephaliosis {avaxt^aXaiaiaig). There is a recapitulation or gathering all to a head in Christ, Out of Christ there is a division, a separation and a scattering, a breach, that is five-fold, (1,) First, There is a scattering and a division from Ood, the fountain of good, with whom we had communion in our first creation, and his delight was in his creature. We lost that blessed communion, and our sins have separated between God and us, as the prophet saith. j (2,) Then there is a separation between the good angels and us ; for they being good subjects, take part with their prince, and therefore join against' rebels, as we are. Hence it is, that upon the sight of angels, the very hearts of good men have sometimes been stricken, considering that there is no very good terms between us and the angels, till we come to Christ again. , (8,) Then there is a division and scattering between man and man. No common Spirit of God will keep men together till they be in Christ, as iti is said, God sent an evil spirit, ' a spirit of division,' between the men of| Shechem, Judges ix, 28, So, since the faU, there is an UI spfrit of divisioni among men, till the gospel again bring peace ; especially there is no sound; peace between men in the state of nature and others that are God's children,! nor with the ordinances of God. For men apprehend the ordinances of God as enemies. The word cuts and laneeth him. It is as the sentence of a judge to condemn him. Therefore he fears and trembles at the power ful opening of the word. The ordinance of God speaks no comfort to a carnal man. He is as Ahab, He never had a word of peace from the prophet. The word alway speaks ill to him. He is under the law, and it speaks nothing but terror and curses to him. (4.) And then there is a division and separation between a man and the \ creature, which is ready to be in arms against any man that is in the state j of nature, to take God's quarrel, as we see in the plagues of Egypt and 1 other examples. If God do but give them leave, they presently make an 1 end of sinful man ; and they would glory in it too, to serve thefr Creator. I It is part of their vanity to be subject to wicked men. They have no peace with the creature. (5,) And they have no peace with themselves. They speak peace to them- j selves, but, alas ! God speaks none to them. They make a covenant with death and hell, but death and hell make no covenant with them. So it is 5 a forced, sleepy peace. It is a dead sleep. The peace they have, it is but a diversion to other things. They consider not themselves and the war they are in with God, with themselves, and with the creature ; it is but a angels' acclamations. 839 truce that they take up for a time. When God opens their conscience, there is a hell in their hearts and souls, that when it is loosed, makes them to suffer a heU upon earth. They enter into the pains of hell before their time. So there is ' no peace to the wicked' at all, Isa, Ivii, 21, There is, since the fall, a separation between God and man, between angels and man, between man and the creatures, between man and himself. Now, Christ at his coming, taking our nature upon him, brings all into one again. He brings God and man together again, by offering himself a sacrifice, by making full satisfaction to the justice of God ; and sin, which is the cause of his displeasure, being taken away, God being gracious and merciful, his mercy rans amain on us. Sin only separates between God and us, and that Christ takes away. Therefore he is called by St Paul, ' Christ our peace,' Eph, u. 14, and ' the Prince of peace,' Heb, vU, 2, He was qualified to be our peace. He was a friend to both parties, ha-ving married our nature of purpose, that he might in our nature bring God and us together, as it is 1 Peter Ui, 18, His whole work was to ' bring us back again to God,' from whom we fell at the first. Then if we be at peace with God, all other peace will follow ; for good subjects wiU be at peace with rebels, when they are brought in subjection to their king, and aU join in one obedience. Therefore the angels are brought to God again by Christ. And so for men, there is a spirit of union between them. The same Spirit that knits us to God by faith, knits us one to another by love. And we have peace vrith the creature, for when God, who is the Lord of hosts, is made peaceful to us, he makes all other things peaceable. The heathen could say, Tranquillus Deus, tranquillat omnia (e), when God is at peace, he makes all so. So there is peace in our own hearts. We are assured by the Spirit of God that he is our Father. He seals it to our conscience by his Spirit, because the blood of Christ is set on by the Spirit of God, and not by our own, so that now God and we are brought to one, and angels and we, and all other things. Therefore now the angels say, ' Peace on earth,' when Christ was bom. Now, we will shew that this blessed peace, in all the branches of it, is founded in Christ. Christ is the cause and the foundation of it. For though these words were spoken at the incamation of Christ, yet we refer them to the whole work of his mediatorship, in the state of his abasement and his state of exaltation. Our peace is wholly founded upon him. For he was bom and became man, and became sin ; that is, a sacrifice for sin for us ; he became ' a curse for us,' to stabUsh a peace and to satisfy God's anger ; and then he rose again, to shew that he had fully satisfied God's anger, and that peace was fuUy estabUshed. Therefore the Holy Ghost was sent after the resurrection, as a testimony that God was appeased ; and now in heaven, he is ever there as a priest, to make intercession for us. So that Christ is our peace from his incarnation to his death, from thence to his resurrection, and ascension, and intercession ; aU peace with God, with angels, and with creatures is stablished in Christ. Quest. And why in Christ ? Ans. Christ is every way fitted for it, for he is the mediator between God and man ; therefore by office he is fit to make peace between God and man. He is Emmanuel, himself God and man in one nature ;* therefore his office is to bring God and man together. * Qu ' person ' ? — Ed. 340 angels' acclamations. (1,) It is fit it should be so in regard of Ood, who being a. ' consuming fire,' wiU no peace with the creature without a mediator. It stands not with his majesty, neither can there ever be peace with us otherwise. Now Christ is a fit mediator, being a friend to God as the Son of God, and a friend to us, taking our nature upon him, to be a merciful Redeemer. (2,) It was also fit, in respect of us, it should be so, Alas ! ' who can dweU with everiasting bumings ?' Isa, xxxiU, 14, Who can have com munion with God, who is a ' consuming fire ?' No, We cannot endure the sight of an angel The Israelites could not endure the sight of Moses when he came from the mount, his face shone so ; and can we endure the glorious presence of God, ' who dwelleth in light that none can attain unto' ? 1 Tim, vi, 16, Therefore God derives all good to us in our flesh, that though we cannot see God directly in himself, yet in the flesh we can see God incarnate. We may see the sun in the water, though we cannot directly look on that creature without hazard. It was a comfort to the patriarchs, that they had Joseph their brother the second man in the king dom. So it may be to every Christian, that now we have the second person in heaven, our brother in our nature. He is the steward of heaven and earth, to dispense all God's treasures to us. Will not he acknowledge us, that are ' bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh,' when he took our nature for this end, to be a merciful Redeemer? It is most suitable to our condi tion, that Christ should be the foundation of our peace, 8, If we look to Christ himself, he being God's Son, and the Son of his love, for him to make us sons, and sons of God's love. Is it not most agreeable, that he that is the image of God, should again renew the image of God that we lost ? Jacob's ladder knit heaven and earth together ; so Christ knits heaven and earth, God and us, together. You kno-w if a ladder Ue upon the ground, it doth no good, or if it be kept above, it serves for nothing ; so if Christ were only God, or only man, there could be no union wrought between God and man ; but now, being both, he is a fit mediator between both, Christ is the foundation of our peace, in the gracious cove- I nant that God hath made with us, in aU his offlces. For as a prophet, he proclaims peace. He preached before in the time of Noah, He published peace as the prophet of his church in himself, when he lived, and by his ministers when he left the world. And as a priest, he did work our recon- cUiation, offering himself a sacrifice. He made a peace between God and us, and is now in heaven, to make intercession between God and us. And as a king, he subdues the corruptions of our souls, he puUs down the pride of our thoughts, to bring the heart into subjection to him by his mighty power, which indeed requires an almighty power ; also by his kingly office, he rules, and governs, and subdues all the enemies of his church, without and within. You see then, without further illustration, that Christ is the foundation of our peace, by his incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension. This should teach us, first, that whatsoever intercourse we have with God the Father, we should take Christ, take our Benjamin, our Beloved, with us. We must not offer sacrifice without the High Priest. Let us offer nothing to God without Christ. There is no intercourse between God and us, till we be reconcUed in Christ, in whom we must offer all our sacri fices and endeavours. Therefore, let us not own an absolute God in our devotions : let us think of God ' reconciled ' in Christ, and at peace with us, and a father in covenant in Christ ; and' then our persons, and prayers, and aU, shall be accepted for the sacrifice of Christ, in whom he smeUs a angels' acclamations, ' 841 Sweet savour. As it is said concerning Noah, he offered a sacrifice to God, ' a sweet smelling sacrifice of rest,' Eph, v, 2. So doth God in Christ, He is the true mercy- seat in Christ, in looking to whom, God frees us from the curse of the law, Jerusalem was the glory of the world, and the temple was the glory of Jerusalem ; but the mercy-seat was the glory of the temple, because that pointed to Christ, the Mercy-seat, in whom we have intercourse with God the Father, We conceive not high enough of the majesty of God, when we go to him immediately. We must go to him in his Son, whom he hath sent, and anointed, and set forth, ' as the propitiation for our sins,' Rom, iii, 25, and ' him hath God the Father sealed,' John vi, 27. He cometh with authority. Therefore God wUl be reconciled in Christ, We may bind God himself, when we offer Christ, He is the foundation of reconciliation and peace, by God's appointment. He is ' the Prince of peace,' of his own anointing. Therefore we may go boldly to God, to the throne of grace in Christ, And let us often seriously meditate of the sweet favour and reconciliation stablished now between God and us through Christ. It is the sweetest meditation. First, To think in what ill terms we are with God by nature ; and then think how near we are now to God in Christ, that we are at peace with him, Methinks the word is too short. There is more meant than is spoken. At peace with God in Christ : nay, now we are friends ; nay, we are sons and heirs, fellow-heirs, fellow-kings with Christ ; for God's favours are complete. As a God he stablisheth not a peace as men do, only to do them no harm that they are at peace with ; but where he makes a peace, he confers all that is good : reconcUiation, adoption, giving us the liberty of sons and friends, to go boldly to God as a Father in all our wants. Let us think more of this, and improve this blessed privilege every day, ' Peace upon earth,' Quest. Why doth he say, ' peace on earth ' ? Ans. Because peace was here wrought upon earth by Christ in the days of his flesh, when he offered himself ' a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour to his Father,' Because here in earth we must be partakers of it. We ofttimes defer to make our peace with God from time to time, and think there will be peace made in another world. Oh, beloved, our peace must be made on earth, ' We must Uve godly, and righteously, and soberly in this present world,' Titus U, 12, We niust enter ' into the kingdom of heaven' here. Further entrance ' must be ministered here, by growing in grace daily more and more,' 2 Pet. ui, 18, If heaven be not entered into here, it shall never be entered afterwards ; for the church is the seminary of the heavenly paradise. All that are taken to heaven, to be set there for ever, they are set in the church before they are planted, and grow up there a whUe, under the means of salvation. Therefore, labour to have this ' peace on earth,' or else we can never glorify God on earth ; and if we glorify him not on earth, we shall never do it in heaven. But to come to some trials, whether we have this peace made or no ; whether we can say in spirit and trath, there is a peace established between God and us, 1, For a ground of this, that may lead us to further trial, know that Christ hath reconciled God and us together, not only by obtaining peace, by way of satisfaction, but by way of appUcation also. Whom he died for 312 angels' acclamations, to obtain 'peace,' he gives a spirit of application to improve that peace, to im prove ' Christ, the prince of peace,' as their own. For there is a mutual commerce between God and man, who is an understanding creature ; and there is nothing that God doth for man, if we look to the general and head of benefits, but there is somewhat in man wrought by the Spirit to answer it again, God is reconcUed to man in Christ, Man must be reconcUed to God in Christ ; in 2 Cor, v, 19, ' God was m Christ, reconciling the world,' When he was on the cross, God was there reconciled in Christ, Is that all ? No. God by us entreats you to be reconciled to God. A strange condescending, that God should entreat us to be good to our own souls by his ministers. ' We entreat you to be reconciled,' 2 Cor, v. 20 ; that is, to accept of the reconciUation wrought by Christ, and to lay aside all weapons of rebeUion, whereby you fought against God in the course of your vanity. We beseech you to be reconciled, and to ' repent, because the kingdom of God is at hand,' Mat. iii. 2. So that except there be reconciliation wrought by a spirit of application on man's part, it is not sufficient that God is reconcUed in Christ, because God will alway have a reflex act from man. As he chooseth man, so man by grace chooseth him. As he loves and delights in man, so he will have man, by a spirit of sweetness, deUght in him again above all the world, ' Whom have I in heaven but thee ?' Ps, IxxiU, 25, So there is somewhat wrought by the Spirit to God again. Why should God be at good terms with us, but to enjoy the friendship of his poor creature ? Unless, therefore, there be a gracious disposition wrought in the creature, to look back, to love and delight in God, as God doth in him, there is no actual reconciliation. There must be a forcible application by the Spirit, If God should not give a spirit of appUcation, as well as Christ obtain heaven for us, those that are in the covenant of grace should not be stablished ; but God by this means brings them so near, that he, loving them, loves them for ever, and they have an everlasting covenant and an everlasting union. The carnal heart of man is a poison ful thing, and hates God naturally. It wishes that there were no God to judge him. He may think well of God for the good things of this life, but when he thinks of God as a judge to cast him into hell, he wisheth with all his heart. Oh that there were no God ! that I might have my full of the pleasures of sin. Now the soul when it is at peace with God, when God by his Spirit speaks to the soul, and saith, ' I am thy salvation,' Ps, xxxv, 8, ' Thy sins are forgiven thee,' Mat, ix, 2 ; and as Christ to the good thief on the cross, ' This day shalt thou be with me in paradise,' Luke xxiii, 48 ; when he whispers to the soul, ' Thou art mine, and I am thine,' Cant, ii, 16 ; then the soul becomes sweet and peaceable to God again, and studies to advance the glory of God's mercy by all means, and to advance the gospel of peace. It becomes friendly to God. To come to some more familiar evidences, whether we be at peace with God, and whether we have the comfort of this peace, established by Christ, or no. 2. Those that are reconciled one to another have common friends and common enemies. If therefore there be ' peace ' between God and us, it is so -with us. We love all where we see any evidence of God's love. We love Christians as Christians, And whom God loves not, we love not ; what God hates we hate in ourselves and others. We hate corruptions in ourselves and others, though we love their persons, 8, Another evidence of ' peace ' made in Christ between God and us, is a boldness of spirit and acquaintance with Ood. ' Acquaint_thyself with angels' acclamations, 843 God, and be at peace with him,' Job xxii, 21. A Christian being at ' peace ' with God in Christ Jesus, he goes boldly to the throne of grace in aU his necessities, as a poor child goes boldly to his father, and moves the bowels of his father by his petitions. When two kingdoms are at ' peace,' there is trading set up afresh again. So when God is at ' peace ' with the soul, there is a heavenly intercourse and trading set up. There is no man that is at ' peace ' with God, but he calls upon God in his person, in his family. He sets up the worship of God there. He labours to bring all to God that he can. He thinks it the most gainful trade in the world. In the want of grace and spiritual comfort he goes to the fountain of grace, and improves that blessed prerogative we have by peace in Christ. Those that have not the Spirit of God to improve it in communion and trading with God, it is a sign there is no peace. Strangeness shews that there is no peace, Alas, how strangely do many walk towards God, that from Sunday to Sunday scarce lift up their hearts to heaven for a blessing, but walk in the strength of their own mother- wit, and support themselves with the success of second causes, and bless themselves ; they are strangers from the ' God of peace,' Let us take notice of this, and account it a great prerogative, that we may go to God with boldness, that it is not now as it was in paradise. There is no angel with a sword to shut us from heaven. But now there is an entrance to the throne of grace. We may go boldly in the name of Christ, to offer ourselves and all our endeavours, I 4, A Christian that hath made his ' peace ' with God, will never allow him- self in any sin against conscience, because he knows sin is odious in itself, j loathsome to God, and hurtful to his soul ; therefore he will not be in league f with any sinful, unjust course. What ! to be in league with God, and to be at ' peace ' with that that God hates more than the devil himself ! He hates sin more than the devil, for he hates him for sin. Therefore a man that allows himself in known sins, there can be no peace between God and him, as he saith, ' Why do you talk of peace, as long as the witchcrafts and whoredoms of Jezebel remain ?' 2 Kings ix. 22, A man that lives in sins against conscience, that is an open swearer, an unjust person, that cares not by what means he advanceth himself, what doth he talk of peace with God, when he is in league with God's enemy ? Therefore, though such men, — out of ' the hardness of their hearts, which are harder than the nether miUstone,' Job xU. 24, and God seals them up under a hard heart to damnation, except some terrible judgment awake them, — ^force a peace upon themselves, they ought to speak none, and they shall find it to their cost ere long. Therefore let us examine our own hearts how we stand affected to any sinful course. There may be infirmities and weaknesses hang upon the best that are besides* their purposes and resolutions, but for a man resolvedly to set himself in an ill way, how can he be at peace with God and with Satan at the same time ? Let us take notice of these things, and not daub-|- with our own consciences, 5, Again, Where there is a trae peace established, there is a high esteem of the word of peace, the gospel of reconciliation, as St Paul calls it, 2 Cor, V, 18, ' He hath committed to us the word of reconciliation.' Those that find this peace, there is stirred up by the Spirit in thefr breasts a high esteem of the ordinance of God, as being the word of their ' peace,' How come we to have peace between God and us ? Is it not by opening the riches of God's love in Christ in the Scriptures ? Therefore, saith Ihe Scripture, ' blessed are the feet of them that bring glad tidings,' Isa. Iu. 7. » That is, ' beside.'— G, t Cf. Ezekiel xxii. 28.— 844 angels' acclamations. The meanest part of thefr body, thefr feet, are blessed. Therefore those that have despicable conceits of the ministry of the word, and placetheir happiness in depraving''' the labour and pains of that office and calling, it is a sign that they have profane hearts ; for whosoever hath had any grace -wrought by the word of reconcUiation and of peace, they wiU highly esteem it, and respect them for their office sake. It cannot be otherwise, 6, Lastly, Those that have found peace are peaceable. It is universally true God doth make an impression of the same disposition in us to others. We apprehending God in Christ to be peaceable to us, we are peaceable to others. Therefore, in Isa, xi, 6, seq., the knowledge of God in Christ, it alters and changeth men's dispositions. It makes wolves and lions_ -to be of a milder disposition and temper. Harsh, proud, sturdy dispositions, they never felt ' peace' and mercy themselves ; therefore they are not ready to shew it to others. In the nature of the thing itself it is impos sible for the soul to apprehend peace in the love of God, and not to have the disposition wrought upon to shew what it hafh felt. Let us think of these and such Uke evidences daily, to keep our hearts from speaking false ' peace,' The greatest danger in the world, in this regard, is in the church ; for people under the gospel speak false ' peace ' to themselves. There is a spirit of delusion that carries them along to their death, and deceives them also in death ; and so they are in hell before they be aware, and then too late. They see that they were never in good terms with God in all their life, because they looked on Christ making peace, without any consideration of the spirit of application. There must be a sprinkling of the blood of Christ on our souls to make it our own : ' We are come to the blood of sprinkling,' Heb, xii, 24, It is not the blood of Christ that makes our peace only as blood ; but as it is sprinkled by the hand of faith, that is as the hyssop that sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice upon the people. We must not think to have any good by the blood of Christ, when we want the blood of sprinkling, that is, this particular faith : ' Christ loved me, and hath chosen me,' Gal, ii, 20 ; and I choose him, and love him again ; and so go with boldness to God as a Father, Unless there be this passage of the soul, between God and us, let us not talk of peace. For if we might have good by Christ, without a spirit of application, and if there were not a necessity of sprinkling the blood of Christ upon our souls by faith, all the world should be saved. In the next place, to give a few directions to maintain this peace actually and continually every day, 1, To walk with God, and to keep our daily peace with God, it requires a great deal of watchfulness over our thoughts, — for he is a Spirit, over our words and actions. Watchfulness is the preserver of peace. Where there is a great distance between two that are at peace, it is not kept without acknow ledgment of that distance, and without watchfulness. It is not here as it is in a peace that is between two kings that are co-ordinate with one another ; but it is a peace between the King of heaven and rebels that are taken to be subjects ; therefore we must walk in humble, low terms, ' Humble thyself, and walk with thy God,' 1 Pet, v, 6, We must watch over our carriage, that we do not ' grieve the Spirit of God ;' for then, however the first peace established in conversion should be never taken away, yet God interdicts our comfort. We cannot daily enjoy our daily peace without watchfulness. But God suffers our knowledge, and our former illumination, to lash our conscience, and to be more miserable in our * That is, ' undervaluing.' — G, angels' acclamations, 345 inward man, than a carnal man that never had sight of goodness. Oh the misery of a man that is fallen into UI terms with God, that had peace before ! Of all men such a man hath most horror tUl he have made his peace again. Watchfulness will prevent this, 2, And because it is a difficult thing to maintain terms of peace with God, in regard of our indisposition, we fall into breaches with God daily ; therefore we should often renew our covenants and purposes every day. And if we have fallen into any sin, let us make use of our great peace maker, Christ, who is in heaven to make peace between God and us. Let us desire God, for his sake, to be reconcUed unto us, ' for God is, in Christ, reconcUing us unto him,' 2 Cor. v, 19, stiU, The frait of Christ's death remains stiU, Let us desire him to testify it unto us by his Holy Spirit, 3, And take that direction of the apostle, in Philip, iv, 6, when we find any trouble in the world, not to trouble ourselves over much, ' In nothing be careful,' &c. No, Shall we cast away all care ? Cast your care upon God ; let your requests be made known to God with thanks giving ; let your prayers be made to God ; and let him have his tribute of thanksgiving for what you have received already. What then ? ' The peace of God, that passeth all understanding, shall keep and preserve your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus,' Philip, iv, 7, Perhaps we shaU not have what we pray for, when we have made our requests known to God, If we have not that we pray for presently, yet we shall have the ' peace of God, that passeth all understanding,' [which] shall ' keep our hearts and minds,' Therefore, when any thing troubles us, let us consider there is peace made between God and us, and put up our requests in the name of Christ, and we shall find that peace that passeth understanding, 4, Again, If we would maintain this peace, let us be alway doing some what that is good and pleasing to God. In the same chapter, PhUip, iv, 8, ' Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,' &c,, ' think of these things ;' and what then ? ' The God of peace shaU be with you,' The peace of God and the God of peace shall be with you. There must be a thinking of whatsoever is good. The thoughts must be exercised that way, and there must be a practice of what we think of. This is one means to maintain this peace with God. The very heathen had this reward of God, I mean in this life, that when they did good to their country, and one to another, they had content of conscience, they had a peace suitable. For in this world there is a suitable pleasure of conscience and contentment upon everything that is good, God rewards it in this world. For as the heat foUoweth the fire alway — naturally it cannot be without heat — so the thinking and prac tising of that which is good, especially when it is joined with some opposi tion of corrupt nature, when the light of nature is above the corruption of nature. If a man be a pagan, he shall have this reward in this world, a kind of inward peace ; for we see how comfortably they speak sometimes upon some notahle performance for their country (/), Now, the God of peace will be with us much more when we have laid the foundation of our peace aright, in the mercy of God in Christ, besides what is reserved, heaven and happiness. In this world we shall find the peace of God in the doing that which is good. As for those that live in the church, and are not yet in the state of grace, that have lived wicked Uves, let them consider that yet the day of grace continues, as yet the sceptre of mercy is held forth in the ministry ; there is a day of jubUee for them to return from thefr former captivity. Let 346 angels' acclamations. them not abuse the patience of God, and think to do it afterward ; for that is the way to harden the heart more and more. And this Scripture puts an effectual argument into the hearts of aU that are in iU terms with God, that have not made their peace, or that have had peace and have broken it. Here is an effectual way of pleading with God. ' Glory to God on high,' &c. If the soul can say, I consider my folly and madness in ranning into sin ; thou mightest justly damn me if thou wouldst ; it is thy mercy I am not sent to hell. Oh, but thou shalt have the greater glory ! If I find mercy therefore that I may say, ' Glory to God on high,' let me find peace on earth ; speak peace by thy Spirit to my soul ; say, ' I am thy salva tion,' This was the end of thy sending of Christ, the end of creation, the end of providence, all to bring thee glory. Thou mightest have the glory of thy justice to damn me. Oh, but it wiU be the glory of thy mercy to save me ; that as my sins have abounded, so thy glory shall more abound. 0 Lord, extend the bowels of thy mercy. WiU not the Lord be jealous 'of his glory' when you aUege it? Certainly he wiU. You see the angels here cry, ' Glory to God on high, peace on earth,' The way to bring ' peace' is to aUege the glory of God's mercy in Christ, It is a pre vailing way. Now, to stir us up more and more to search the grounds of our peace, I beseech you, let us, 1. Consider the fearful estate of a m.an that hath not made his peace with God. However Christ have died, that wUl not serve the turn. But if Christ be food, if he be not eaten ; if he be a garment, and not be put on ; if Christ be a foundation, if we do not build on him, what benefit is it to us ? Therefore those that have not been brought by the Spirit of God to communion with Christ, alas! they are under the wrath of God, however God doth use them ; as princes do traitors in the Tower, he gives them the liberty of the prison, yet the sentence of death is not revoked. All the delights of a prisoner in the Tower doth not content him ; he knows he is in ill terms with his prince. So, till we have made our peace with God, by hearty confession of our sins, by shaming of ourselves, by a parti cular faith, believing the forgiveness of our sins, and a resolution against all sin for the time to come, alas ! we have not sued out our pardon ; all our delights are but as those of a prisoner in the Tower. Therefore, ask thy soul. Hast thou sued out thy pardon ? Is there reconciliation wrought between God and thee, and accounts made even ? ' If we confess and for sake our sins, we shall find mercy,' 1 Kings viii, 35 and 1 John i, 9, It is the word of the God of heaven, who is truth itself. He hath pa-wned his fidelity and truth on it, to forgive us, if we confess. He is content to be thought unjust and unfaithful if he do not forgive, if we ingenuously, without all guile of spirit, lay open our sins, and take shame to ourselves, 2, If we do not make our peace with God, what a case are we in ! God himself ere long will appear our enemy, Christ, whom we think will save us, will he our judge, and a terrible judge. The Lamb will be angry, ' Who shall cover us from the wrath of the Lamb ? ' Rev, ii. 12, We think of Christ as an innocent, meek lamb only, that will not be angry. The rebellious kings and potentates, that fight against Christ and his church, they think to trample on Christ and his gospel ; but the time wiU come when they shaU ' desire the mountains to cover them,' Rev, vi, 16 ; and ' if his wrath be kindled, who shall abide it ? ' Ps, ii, 12, He speaks there of Christ : ' Happy are they that trust in him,' 3, As for the Holy Ghost, how can they look for comfort from him ? angels' acclamations. 347 Thoy have grieved him,' therefore he wiU grieve their conscience. The Holy Ghost, as he is the God of all comfort and consolation, so he is the ground of all terror to -wicked men ; when he hath knocked at thefr hearts, by the ministry of his word, to open and to let him in, but they would not. 4, And the angels are ready executioners of Ood's vengeance' upon any occasion ; and others, creatures, wait but for a command from God to execute his wrath upon sinners. The heavens are ready to rain upon them as in the fiood, and the earth is ready to swallow them as it did Korah ; jthe beasts that carry us, the creatures we use, wait for a command from God to destroy us ; our meat to choke us, the air to infect us, the water to dro-wn us. They are aU ready to serve the Lord of hosts against his enemies ; as he saith, Isa, i, 24, ' Ah, I will be avenged on mine ememies,' Indeed, here God shews his patience ; and our long life, that we think a great favour, ' it is a treasuring up of wrath against the day of wrath,' Rom, ii. 5, And then, when God's wrath comes at the day of judgment, when God hath forsaken sinful men, when God the judge of all hath said, ' Depart, ye cursed,' Mat, xxv, 41, no creature shall minister them the least comfort. The sun shall shine upon them no more ; the earth shall bear them no longer ; as we see Dives {g), he had not a drop of water to comfort him in those flames, Luke xvi. 24, Therefore, if we be not at peace -with the Lord of hosts, every creature is ready to be in arms against us, 5, As for the devils, they wiU be ready to be tormentors. They that are incentives to sin wUl be tormentors for sin afterwards. 6, As for the church, what comfprt can a wicked man look for from the church, whom he hath despised, and whose ministry he hath rejected ? 7, And for the damned spirits, they are all in that cursed condition with himself. Therefore, ' where shaU the ungodly appear ? ' 1 Pet, iv, 18, Ere long whence shaU he hope for comfort ? Neither from God, nor angels, nor de-vils, nor wicked men, nor good men. None of them all will yield him a dram of comfort. Let us not therefore delude ourselves, hut get into Christ, get into the ark in time, that when any public calamity shall come, we may be safe in Christ, If we be at peace with God, by repentance of sms, and by faith in Christ, everything will minister thoughts of comfort to us. We cannot thmk of God, but as our Father ; of Christ as our Redeemer and recon- cUer, that hath brought God and us together. The Holy Ghost takes upon him the term of a Comforter for such. Angels, they are ministering spfrits. As for the church itself, God's people, they aU have a common stock of prayers for us. Every one that saith, ' Our Father,' thinks of us; and aU other things, they are at peace with us, as Job saith, ' The stones in the street,' Job v, 23; nay, the stone in a man's body, the terrible pangs that comes from that disease, they have a blessing upon them. In the greatest extremities, a soul that is at peace with God, however God do not deliver him from the trouble, yet he deUvers and supports him in the trouble ; and as the troubles increase, so his comforts increase ; and the very troubles are peace with him, ' AU work for the best to them that love God,' Rom, viU, 28, And in the greatest confusions and tumults of states, yet ' the righteous is afraid of no iU tidings,' Ps, cxii, 7, because his heart is fixed upon God's love in Christ, The wicked, when war and desolation, and signs of God's anger appear from heaven, they ' shake as the trees of the forest,' as a wicked Ahaz, Isa, vii, 2 ; as a Belshazzar, when there is but a fear of trouble. How did he know that the hand- 848 angels' acclamations, writing was against him ? It was nothing but this naughty conscience. He knew not what it was tiU it was expounded. So when any troubles comes upon wicked men, their consciences upbraid them with their former life. Their knees knock together, and they grow pale as Belshazzar, Oh the misery of a man that hath not made his peace with God, in the evil day, and the comfort of a man that hath ! There is the difference between godly and ungodly man. Consider them in calamities. The one is at peace with God, in the midst of all calamities and troubles ; nay, as I said, even troubles themselves are peaceable to him. Yea, when death comes, which is the upshot of all, the sting of it is taken away, and it is for our greatest good. He that hath made his peace with God, he can say, with old Simeon, ' Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,' Luke ii, 80, Mine eyes have seen Christ with the eye of faith. He is willing to yield his soul to God, because he is at peace with God, Their graves are their beds, and their souls rest with God, They die in peace, and commend their souls to God, ' as to a faithful Creator,' 1 Peter iv, 19, with a great deal of con fidence : as Saint Paul saith, ' I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, I have run my race ; henceforth is reserved for me a crown of righteousness ; and not for me only, but for all those that love the blessed and glorious appearing of Christ,' Oh the comfort of a gracious soul in the hour of death, that hath made its peace with God, Job xviii, 14, when ' the king of fears,' death, shall look with a ghastly, terrible look upon men that have not made their peace. But to the other it is the end of misery, the inlet to eternal happiness, ' Blessed are those that die in the Lord,' in the peace of the Lord; 'they rest from their labours,' from the labour of sin, of caUings, of afflictions. Rev, xiv, 13, There is no resting till then. Saint Paul himself was troubled with the remainders of sin, with afflic tions and troubles of his calling; but blessed are they that die in the peace of God in Christ, They rest from their labours. And after death, what comfort are those in that have made their peace with God in Christ ! Then their Saviour is to be their Judge, He that makes intercession for them in heaven will be their Judge ; and will the head give sentence against the members, the husband against the wife and spouse ? Oh no ! There fore the godly have comfortable and sweet thoughts of those blessed times, that astonisheth wicked men. They have a glorious expectation of the times to come. They cannot think of death and judgment, when their souls are in a good frame, without much comfort. ' Lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near,' Luke xxi. 28, Therefore let us not con ceive slightly of this peace. It is not a freedom from petty ills, and an advancement to a little good ; but it is a freedom from ills that are above nature ; from the wrath of God, before which no creature can stand ; no, not the angels themselves ; from hell and damnation ; the curse of God ; from the kingdom of Satan, It is a freedom from that condition that all the powers of the world shall tremble at. How can they stand before the anger of God ? And it is an advancement to the greatest good ; a free dom from bondage ; an advancement to sonship. Therefore let us have high thoughts of this peace ; as the angels had, when they sang, ' Glory to God on high, on earth peace,' ' Good will towards men,' Divers copies have it otherwise, ' On earth peace to men of good will,' Some have it, ' Good wiU towards men,' The sense is not much diffe- angels acclamations, 349 rent,* Peace on earth, ' To men of God's good wiU, of God's good pleasure,' That God hath a pleasure to save, or ' good wUl towards men,' of God's good pleasure ; ' Peace on earth,' to men of God's good wiU and pleasure; or God's good pleasure towards men. ' Good will towards men.' This is the spring and root of aU, The angels begin with ' Glory to God,' and then they come to ' peace among men,' because without peace and reconciUation with God the heart of man cannot be enlarged to glorify God, The angels would have men glorify God as well as themselves. Therefore they desire peace on earth, that God may be glorified in heaven. Now there is no peace but issues from grace, Grace is God's free good will and pleasure. Therefore the angels say, ' Good will towards men,' The holy apostles, they could not have better teachers for their salutations in their epistles than to learn of the angels ; as you have Saint Paul's pre faces, the same with this evangelical celebration and gratulation here to men, ' Grace, mercy, and peace,' so here, ' Peace on earth, good will towards men,' Only the apostles they begin, ' grace and peace ; ' and here the angels, ' peace and grace,' But the meaning of the angels and apostles is all one ; for the angels, when they wish ' peace on earth,' they go to the spring of it, ' good will towai'ds men,' The apostles, they begin with grace, the spring, and then go to peace after. ' Good will towards men.' The words need not further to be explicated. There is no great difficulty in them. The points considerable are these. 1. God now hath a gracious good wUl towards men. 2. This good will is the foundation of all good, 3. And this is founded upon Christ, The first of these I wiU but touch, because it doth but make way to the other, 1, Ood shews now good pleasure towards men. The love that God bears towards man hath divers terms, from divers relations. As it is a propension in him to do good, so it is love. As it is his free, so it is his good, pleasure or grace. As it is to persons in misery, it is mercy. The fountain of all is love. But as the object is diversely considered, so the terms be divers. Good pleasure and grace imply freedom in the party loving, and mercy implies misery in the party loved. Now this fi'ce good wUl and grace, it is towards men, towards mankind. He saith not, towards angels. It is more towards men, than even to good angels, in some sort. For now man is taken to be the spouse of Christ. Good angels are not so. Neither is it good will to evil angels ; for thefr state is determined. There is no altering of their condition. Therefore God is called Philanthropos, not Philangelos ; and the Scripture calls this Philanthropia, the love that God hath shewed to men in Christ,f There fore we should have thoughts of God as gracious, loving our nature more than the angelical nature in some respects. And leam this for imitation, to love mankind, God loved mankind ; and surely there is none that is born of God, but he loves the nature of man, wheresoever he finds it. He will not stand altogether, whether it be good or bad, &c. But because we are now in the way, and our state is not determined, and because God loves the nature of man, therefore every * Cf, note a,— G, t That is, (piXaviguda.—Q. 850 angels' acclamations. man that hath the Spirit of God loves mankind. He will labour to gain Turks, or Indians, &c., if he can, because he loves the very nature of man. But I pass from this point to the second. 2, This ivdoxia, ' good will of Ood ' to restore lapsed man by the sending of his Son, is the ground of all good to man, and hath no ground but itself. God's grace and love to the creature is altogether independent in regard of the creature. God fetcheth not reasons of his love from the creature, but from his own bowels. What can he foresee in ' persons that were dead ' ? nay, in persons that were in a contrary disposition to goodness ? There is nothing but enmity in our nature to supernatural goodness. Can God foresee grounds of love in enmity ? As Moses tells the people of Israel in divers places, Deut. vii, 8, ' that it was not for any foresight of good in them,' they were the stubbornest people under heaven, therefore God, to shew his free love, he chose a stubborn people, and singled them out to be the object of his mercy. So God'ofttimes takes the unlikeliest men in the world, and passeth by many, otherwise of sweet natures. So we see, even the means themselves, they are of God's free mercy and love. We have whatsoever we have by virtue of the covenant ; for what could j we look for from God but in covenant, wherein he hath bound himself ? Now, since the fall, this covenant is caUed the covenant of grace ; that now, ' if we believe in Christ, we shaU not perish, but have life and salvation,' John iii, 15, In all the parts of it, it is of God's free grace (and good pleasure. What is the foundation of the covenant ? Christ. Christ is of free grace, ' God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,' verse 16, There is nothing freer than gift, Christ is a gift,''the' greatest gift. He came freely from God; he 'gave him to death for us all,'' Rom. viii. 32. And then whatsoever good thing we have in Christ, it comes freely too. He that gave Christ freely, shall he not ' with him give us aU things too ? ' Rom. viii. 32. Then the very grace to keep the covenant, repentance and faith, they are I the gift of God. ' I wUl take away your stony heart, and give you new hearts, and cause you to walk in my statutes ; I wiU circumcise your hearts,' Exek, xi, 19, So the grace to walk in the covenant of grace, it comes from God. God doth his part and ours too, to shew not only that the covenant of grace is a covenant of wondrous love, to give us grace here and glory hereafter, but that the foundation is of grace, and the perform ance on our part is of grace. Nay, it is of grace that he would enter into covenant at all. He humbled himself wondrously to vouchsafe to enter into covenant. It was humiliation on God's part, and exaltation to us. Therefore, as it is in Zechariah, we may cry, ' Grace, grace,' There is nothing but grace and free love in the whole carriage of our salvation. If whatsoever good come to man be merely from God's good will, let us empty ourselves, and give him the glory of aU. It is easily spoken and heard, but not so easily done. For man naturally is proud, and for flesh and blood to be brought to go out of itself and acknowledge nothing in itself, to give the glory of all goodness and happiness to God's free grace and goodness, it is hard to bring proud nature to do this. But we must beg grace of God to work our hearts to this more and more, to empty ourselves of ourselves, and to give God the glory of aU. But, I come to the last point, because I would end this text at this time. 13. This free love and grace of Ood is only in Christ. angels' acclamations. 351 Therefore the angels pronounce it now at the birth of Christ, 'good will to men.' All these agree very weU : Christ's free grace, and faith. For what we have by grace, we have only by Christ; because he hath given satisfaction to God's justice, that so grace may [be conveyed and derived unto us without prejudice to any other attribute in God ; and then the embracing power and grace in us is faith. So these three agree. I say, whatsoever we have from God's free love now, we have it in Christ. The free love of God is grounded in Christ. We in ourselves, especially f considered in the corrupt mass, cannot be the object of God's love, God cannot look upon us, but in him, the best beloved, first. Therefore all is in Christ in the carriage of it. We are elected in Christ, called in Christ, justified by Christ, sanctified by the Spirit of Christ, glorified in Christ, ' We are blessed with aU spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ,' Eph, i. 3, ' This is my beloved Son ; I am well pleased in him,' Mat, iii, 17. It is the same word there, i\ihmri(Sa, ' in whom I delight,' Isa. xiii. 1, out of which the Father takes his speech, ' This is the Son I deUght in,' Now, aU God's delight is first fixed in his Son and in us, because we must have communion with the Son, So the first object of God's free love is Christ, and then he looks upon us in him. The Trinity have a wondrous complacency in looking upon mankind. Now in Christ God loves us, as redeemed by Christ ; Christ loves us as elected by the Father, and given by the Father's choice to him to redeem. The Holy Ghost hath a special liking to us, as seeing the love of the Father in choosing us, and of the Son in redeeming us. And surely if we would see likewise those sweet interviews of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, it should be our main delight too, to see how God hath chosen us and given us to Christ to save ; how Christ hath redeemed us, from this very respect, that the Father hath chosen us and given us to him, as it is in John xvu. 6, ' Thine they were, thou gavest them me ;' and how ihe Holy Ghost is a Spirit of communion — the ' communion of the Holy Ghost,' 2 Cor. xiii, 14 — that hath communion with the Father and the Son, and issues and proceeds from them both ; how he witnesseth this love to our souls, and applies it to us. The Holy Ghost applies all. The Father decreed and ordained aU. The Son works and dispenseth all. The con sideration of the point is wondrous comfortable. Whatsoever good wUl the Father hath to us, it is as we are in Christ. Quest. And why in Christ ? Ans. Because Christ is the first thing that God can love. He is ' the only begotten Son of God.' Whosoever is loved to glory in a spiritual order, is loved in the first beloved. Christ is loved of God as the character of his own image. The Son represents the Father, He is loved of God, as mediator by office. So God looks upon us in Christ as the ' Son of his love.' So he is caUed by Saint Paul, Col, i, 13, Then if we consider ourselves, this must be so, Alas ! we are not objects of God's love in ourselves, nor cannot be ; but in some other that is loved first. For what are we ? And what is the glory to which God loves us ? To love such as we to such glory, and to free us from such misery due, it must be by another foundation than ourselves. Therefore God's good pleasure is founded upon his Son Christ, This is a clear point. The Scripture beats much upon it. He is our elder brother, and we must be conformed to him. Use. To make some use of it. First of all, then, we see here that aU that are not in Christ lie open to 852 angels' acclamations. the vengeance and wrath of God. His good will towards men is only in Christ, Again, If all God's good will and pleasure be in Christ, as our high priest, without whom we can offer no sacrifice, as we know whatsoever was not offered by the high priest it was abominable, therefore we should look to God in Christ, love God in Christ, perform service to God in Christ, pray to God in Christ, give thanks to God in Christ, desire God in Christ to make all things acceptable for Christ's sake, because it is in Christ that God hath any good will and pleasure to us. It is a point of marveUous comfort, that God's love and good pleasure is so well founded, as in Christ, He loves Christ eternally, and sweetly, and strongly. Is not God's love to us the same ? Doth he not love us with the same love that he loves his Son ? He loves his mystical body with one love, that is Christ, head and members : John xvii, 23, ' That the love thou bearest to me may be in them,' What a sweet comfort is this ! God loves Christ and me with one love. He loves me strongly, and sweetly, and constantly, as he doth his own Son, His love to me is eternal, because the foundation of it is eternal. It is founded upon Christ. The.love of a prince, if it be founded on a favourite he loves dearly, must needs be firm and strong. Now God's love to Christ is ardent, and strong, and sweet, as possibly can be conceived. Therefore it is so to us, his good will to us being founded on Christ, Why should a believer fear that God wiU cast him away ? He wUl as soon leave his love to his own Son, as to us, if we continue members of his Son, It is an undefeasible love. It is a point of wondrous comfort. ' What shall separate us,' saith the apostle, Rom, viii, 35, ' from the love of God founded in Christ ? neither things present, northings to come, nor life, nor death, nor anything,' Many things may sever the soul and body, but there is nothing in the world but sin, that shall sever either soul or body from the love of God in Christ, because both body and soul are mem bers of Christ. Therefore let us treasure it up as a point wondrous com fortable. To come to an use of trial, how shall we know whether God's good will be to us in Christ or no ? How shall I know that he loves my person, that I am in the state of grace and love with him ? The Holy Ghost must ascertain this. For as the work of salvation was so great, that only God could satisfy God, so the doubts of man's heart, and the guilt of his conscience when it is upon him, and the fear of God's wrath upon just guilt, is such that God must assure him that God is recon ciled to him, God the Son must reconcile God the Father, and God the Holy Ghost must seal and ascertain this to the soul. The soul wiU never be quiet, before it see and know in particular God reconciled in Christ. The Spirit that is God, that is above conscience, must seal it to the soul, being above conscience. He can set down and quiet our conscience. Now this Spirit that worketh this in us, and assures us of God's good pleasure, it alters and changeth our dispositions, that we shall have a good pleasure in God, for there is a mutual good pleasure. God hath a good pleasure in us as his, and we have a good pleasure in God wrought by the Spirit. The Spirit not only witnesseth, but worketh this sweet and gracious disposition to God, God delights in us, and we in God. God delights in the church above all things. The church is his wife and spouse, his body, his friends, his children, and those that have the Spirit of God delight in them too. Ps. xvi. 3, ' AU my delight is in the excellent;' and Prov. vui. 31, ' My angels' acclamations. 353 delight is in the sons of men,' saith Christ ; which he shewed by taking the base nature of man upon him. So aU that have the Spirit of Christ delight in the church and people of God : ' AU my delight is in the safrits on earth,' Hosea U, God saith his delight is in his church. So all that have the Spirit of God, they delight in the people of God, God delights in obedience more than sacrifice, God's people, that he delights in, they yield their bodies and souls a sacrifice to God : Rom, xii, 1, ' They will seek out what is well-pleasing and acceptable to God,' God accepts them in Christ, and he is acceptable to them in Christ Jesus, and they seek out what pleaseth him and is acceptable to him. As the sons of Isaac sought out what might please thefr old father, what he could relish, so God's chUdren seek out what duties God relisheth best. Thanks giving is a sacrifice ' -with which God is well pleased.' Is it so ? Then they wUl seek out that that may please him. God by his Spirit will work in them a disposition to please him in all things. Therefore the people of God are said to be a voluntary, free people, ' zealous of good works,' Titus ii, 14, being set at liberty, "The Spirit infusing and conveying the love and good pleasure of God in Christ to them, it sets their wUls at liberty, to devise to please God in all things. They have, as David prays, Ps, Ii, 12, ' a free Spirit,' As God, not out of any respect from us, but freely from his own bowels loved us, and gave Christ to us, and delighted in us, so the soul freely, without any base respects, loves God again. Those, there fore, that do duties for base aims, and forced, as fire out of a flint, not as water out of a spring, that duty comes not naturally and sweetly from them, God hath no pleasure in them, because they have none in God ; but the good they do is extorted and drawn from them. Let us try ourselves therefore. If we have tasted God's good will towards us, we will have a good pleasure to him again. Whatsoever is God's pleasure shaU be our pleasure ; what pleaseth him shall please us. If it please him to exercise us with crosses, and afflictions, and losses, what pleaseth God shall please me ; for when he hath once loved me freely in Christ, every thing that comes from him tastes of that free love. If he correct me, it is out of free love and mercy. All the ways of God ' are mercy and truth,' His way of correction and sharp dealing, it is a way of love and free mercy. Therefore, if it please him, it shall please me ; my will shall be his -will. Again, If we flnd the free love of God to us in Christ, it will quicken us to all duties, and strengthen us in all conditions. But these evidences shall suffice. Let us search our hearts how we stand affected to God, and to the best things. We delight in them, if God delight in us. And if we do not find ourselves yet to be the people of God's delight, towards whom God hath thoughts of love, as the prophet speaks, Jer. xxix, 11, what shaU we do ? Attend upon the means of salvation, the gospel of peace and reconcUia tion, and wait the good time, and do not stand disputing. This is that that hinders many, thefr disputing and caviUing, that perhaps God hath not a purpose to save me, and that the greatest part of mankind go the broad way, &c. Leave disputing, and fall to obeying, God hath a gra cious purpose to save all that repent of their sins and beUeve in Christ, This is gospel, ' I wiU leave secret things,' ' They belong to God, revealed things belong to me,' Deut, xxix, 29, I wiU desire of God his Spirit, to repent of my sins, and to believe and cast myself in the anus of his mercy in Christ, and then let God do as he please. If I perish, I wUl VOL, VI, z 854 angels' acclamations. perish in the arms of Christ. Let us labour to bring our hearts to wait in the use of the means, for God's good Spirit to enable me to see my state by nature, and to get out of it, by casting myself upon God's love in Christ, And object not the greatness of any sin to hinder the comfort of God's mercy. It is a free mercy. The ground of it is from himself, and not from thee. It was free to Manassas, that had sinned, no man more. Being a king, and being the son of a good father, his sins spread further than ours can do, answerable to the greatness of his person. Being an infinite and free mercy, it extends to the greatest sinners. Let no man pretend any sin or unworthiness, if he seriously repent. If any sin or unworthiness could keep it back, it were something ; but it is a free mercy and love from God's own bowels in Christ, And consider how God offers this in the gospel, and lays a command. It is thy duty to have a good conceit of God in Christ, We ought not to suspect a man that is an honest man ; and will God take it well at our hands to suspect him that he is so and so ? He makes a show of his love and mercy in Christ, but perhaps he intends it not. Put it out of question by believing. If thou have grace to believe the mercy of God in Christ, thou makest thyself a member of Christ and an heir of heaven. Thou questionest whether thou be one that Christ died for or no ? Believe in him, and obey him, and thou puttest that question out of the question. Thou doubtest whether God love thee or no ? Cast thyself upon the love of God in Christ, and then it is out of question. Whosoever hath grace to cast himself upon the free love of God, he fulfils the covenant of grace. Stand not disputing and wrangling, but desire grace to obey ; and then aU questions concerning thy eternal estate are resolved ; all is clear. If these things will not move you, then let all men know, that live in a sinful condition, that they had better have lived in any part of the world than in these glorious times and places of light ; for when they hear the love of God in Christ laid open to them, if they will come in and receive Christ, and cast themselves upon him, and be ruled by him, and they will not, it shaU be easier for Sodom and Gomorrha, for Jews, and Turks, and pagans, and those that worship devils, than for us. For when God offers his free love and mercy in Christ if we will entertain it, and we wUl none of it, then justice alone shall not condemn us, but mercy shall condemn us ; we will none of mercy. There is not the worst man but would have par doning mercy. He is content to have God pardon his sin ; but he wiU not take the whole mercy and love of God in Christ, curing, healing mercy. There are those that live in filthy courses, in profaneness, in swearing, &c. It is food to them to be malicious, to deprave the best things. Serpents feed on poison. They are content to have their sins pardoned, if God will let their filthy nature alone, — their poisonful, blasphemous disposition, that exalts itself against God, — and let them go on in their course. They wUl have one mercy but not another. But we shaU never be saved without entire mercy, heaUng as weU as pardoning. Whom God loves, he doth not only pardon thefr sins, but heals their nature, and makes it like unto Christ's, holy and pure. Those that have not the Spirit in them, desiring, altering, and changing, and healing grace, as well as pardoning grace, they are hypocrites. Let us remember this especially, because it is most useful ; and most men are deceived in this. They think. Oh, God is merciful, and his love is free in Christ ; and though I be unworthy, yet God wiU have mercy angels' acclamations. 355 upon me. But hast thou a secret desire to partake of God's whole mercy and love, to make thee good, as well as to make thee his son, and entitle thee to heaven, to have thy nature altered, to see the deformity of sin and the beauty of grace ? If thou hadst rather to have the image of God upon thee more than any favour in the world, that thou hadst rather be free from the bondage of sin than any other deUverance : if it be thus, thy state is good. To hasten ; considering God's free love opened now in Jesus Christ, I beseech you, let us study Christ, and labour to get into Christ daily more and more, that we may be members of Christ ; and desire God, daily more and more, to reveal himself in Christ to us, that we may see his face in Christ, that we may know him in the sweet relations he hath put on him in the gospel. To know God in general as a Creator and doing good, &c,, the heathens did that by the light of nature ; but we should labour to see him in the face of Christ ; that is, to see him appeased and loving us, wishing us weU, Concerning eternal glory, that must be by the light of the gospel, and by the Spirit. Therefore in hearing of the word, and reading and meditating, desfre God above all to reveal by his Spirit his gracious face in Christ ; that in Christ we may see him as a Father, as a husband, as a friend, in those sweet relations of love that he hath taken upon him. It should be our daily desfre of God to manifest his love more to us in Christ Jesus than in any other fruits of his love ; for there be common fruits, as to give us health, and friends, and liberty, and quiet government, which are great favours that we see denied to many nations. Oh, but the soul that is touched with the Spfrit of God, and the sense of his own condition by nature, is thus disposed: Lord, I desire that thou wouldst shew the fruits of thy love to me ; but I desire not so much those common fruits, that the reprobates may have as well as I, Oh shew me by thy Holy Spirit that thou hast a particular and peculiar love to me in Christ ; and for this end give me grace to know the mystery of Christ more and more, and the mystery of my natural corruption, that knowledge that may drive me to make much of thy love and grace in Christ ! Now, the Spfrit that knows the deep things of God, the depth of God's love to any one in par ticular, and the depth of our hearts, if we beg the Spirit to reveal the good pleasure of God to us, in time God wiU shew unto our souls that he delights in us, and that he is our salvation. This shews that the soul is [in] an ex ceUent temper, that it sets a right price and value on things, that it prizeth God's favour above all things. That is the nature of faith ; for what is faith ? Only to believe in general that Christ died, &c, ? No, But to •esteem God's love better than all the world ; for God's love is entfre in pardoning and curing too. By this the soul is raised up to esteem the love and mercy of God in pardoning and healing sin above life itself : Ps, IxiU, 3, ' Thy loving-kindness is better than life,' To conclude all with this one motive, the loving -kindness of Ood ; when we have it once, it is no barren, complimental kindness. It is a loving- kindness that reacheth from everlasting to everlasting, from God's love in choosing to his love in glorifying us. It is a love that reacheth to the filling of nature with all the happiness it is capable of. In this world, in aU misery, one beam of God's loving-kindness will scatter all clouds, what soever. What raised the spirit of Daniel in the lions' den ? of the ' three young men ' in the midst of the furnace ? of St Paul in the dungeon ? The beams of God's love in Christ brake into the prison, into the dun- 856 angels' acclamations, geon, A few beams of that wiU enlarge the heart more than any affliction in the world can cast it down. It is excellent that Moses saith, Deut, xxxiii, 16, ' The good pleasure of him that dwelt fri the bush,' &c. You know that God appeared in the bush, when it was flaming. The flaming bush shewed the state of Israel, in the midst of the furnace of persecution ; yet notwithstanding the bush was not consumed. Why ? Because the good wUl of God was in the bush. So let us be in any persecution; put case we be Uke Moses's bush, aU on fire ; yet the fire shaU not consume nor hurt us. Why ? The good pleasure of him that dwelt in the bush is with us. In Isa, xliU, 2, ' I wiU be with thee in the fire, and m the water;' not to keep thee out, but I wiU be with thee in it. So that in the greatest persecutions that can be, in the fiery trial, as St Peter caUs it, ' the good wiU of him that dwelt in the bush will be with us,' So that we shaU not be consumed, though we be in the fire ; ' afflicted, but not de spair,' 2 Cor, iv, 8, Why ? The good pleasure of God dweUs in the bush, in the church. In the midst of afflictions and persecutions he is with us. Who can be miserable that hath the presence of God, the favour and good wUl of God ? But this shall be sufficient for this time and text. NOTES, (ffl) P. 319. — ' What that order is, I confess with St Austin, is undetermined in Scripture ; we must not rashly presume to look into these things.' There are well- nigh innumerable allusions to the angels, scattered through the writings of this Father, all distinguished by that reverence and modesty of speculation, so charac teristic of him in treating of the ' secret things ' of God. Cf. Indices of Benedictine edition, sub voce. (b) P, 322. — ' There is some difference in the readings.' The Vulgate reads liiSo- xiag, its version being ' hominibus bonse voluntatis.' The reading is found in some of the Fathers, The Syriac version renders ' good tidings to the sons of men.' Sibbes refers probably to both the Vulgate and Syriac, Dean Alford has a pungent note on the the popish adoption of iiidoTilag. (c) P. 328. — ' As TertuUian said in his time : " What ! shall we celebrate that which is a public matter of joy to all the church, for a public shame, in a disgraceful way"?' There are many such remonstrances and ' rebukes ' in this Father, Cf. • Apology,' c. xxxix, (d) P. 329. — ' As the phrase of some of the ancients is, repentance is a board to escape to the shore, after we have made shipwreck, and done things amiss.' The allusion is to Acts xxvii. 44, a very frequent accommodation with the Puritans, (e) P, 339. — ' The heathen could say, Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia.' We have not fallen in with this expression. Similar ones occur in Seneca, Cicero, and other heathen writers, (/) P. 345. — ' For we see how comfortably they speak sometimes upon some no table performance for their country.' Cicero, and Seneca, and later, the ' Thoughts' of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, which have been admirably rendered and interpreted by George Long, M.A, (1 vol. fc, 8vo, Bell and Daldy), furnish examples. (g) P. 347. — ' As we see Dives,' It is singular how the un-named ' rich man ' of the parable has gone down to posterity as Dives, the Anglicised form of the Vulgate rendering of irkoijeios. THE FRUITFUL LABOUR FOR ETERNAL FOOD. THE FRUITFUL LABOUR FOR ETERNAL FOOD. NOTE. ' The Fruitful Labour ' appeared originally in ' The Beams of Divine Light (4to, 1639). Its separate title-page will be found below.* For general title-page see Vol, V. page 220. G. * the FEVITFULL LABOVR FOB Eternall Foode. In two Sermons, By the late Reverend and Learned Divine Richaed Sibs, Doctor in Divinity, Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher at Orayes-Inne. E s a T. 55. 2, Why doe you spend money for that which is not Bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken di ligently unto mee, and eate yee that which is good, and let your soule delight it selfe in fatnesse. John 6, 55, For my flesh is meate indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. LONDON, Printed by G. M. for Nicholas Bourne and Rapha Harford, 1639, THE FRUITFUL LABOUR FOR ETERNAL FOOD. Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for the meat that endureth to ever lasting life, which the Son of man shall give you: for him hath God the Father sealed. — John YI, 27. OuB blessed Saviour was mighty in word and deed. Witness what he did, what he taught, and both in this chapter. What he did. He fed many with a few loaves. He came over the water ¦without any help. What he taught. Witness from this part of the chapter to the end. The words are part of an answer of our blessed Saviour to his hypocri tical followers, that foUowed him for the loaves, and not for any confirma tion of their faith by his miracles. For upon occasion of those two miracles — mentioned in the former part of the chapter — they followed him ; and perceiving that he was miraculously come over the water, they began to ask him, ' Rabbi, how earnest thou here ? Our Saviour perceives that they meant to compliment with him. He sees with what hearts they came after him. Therefore, as most befitting the exigence of their state, because they were hypocrites, he answers, not to their question, but to their persons, ' Verily, verily, ye seek me, not because of the miracles, but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat that perisheth,' &c, , The verses together contain a conviction, and an injunction or direction. A conviction, and that is serious and loving. Serious, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me, not because of the miracles, but because ye ate of the loaves,' &c. He convinceth them of their fault, of their hypo crisy, of their wicked and carnal aims in holy business. They come flattering of Christ : but as he was too holy to flatter, so he was too wise to be flattered. He deals therefore directly with them, thoroughly con vinceth them of their hypocrisy and corrupt aims in following after him. We are all naturally prone to these carnal ends in holy actions. We must take heed with what minds, with what hearts, we come before God, whose eyes are brighter than the sun, who regards not so much what we do, as with what minds we do it. As his conviction is serious, so it is loving ; for with the conviction or reproof follows the injunction or direction, ' Labour not for the meat that perisheth,' In the injunction there are two things : 360 ' THE FBUITFtTL LABOUR I'frst, He shews them what they should not follow. He takes them off from labouring after ' the meat that perisheth.' And then, secondly, he instracts them in what they should follow, what they should seek after : ' but labour for the meat that endureth to everlast ing life,' &c. , There are arguments in both. In the first, there is an argument dis-- suasive, and that is unfolded : ' Labour not for the meat that perisheth, because it is meat that perisheth. In the second, there are arguments persuasive, or enforcing to the duty, and they are three. The necessity. The exceUency, The possibUlity of attaining. The necessity. It is meat ; and what so necessary as meat ? The exceUency ; and that is set forth, first, by the continuance. It is ' meat that endures,' Secondly, by the fruit or effect of it. It is ' meat that endures to everlasting Ufe,' It is meat to Ufe, and it is meat that tends to an everlasting, to a glorious life. The possibiUty of attaining it, ' The Son of man shaU give it you: for him hath the Father sealed,' There are three things that must concur to make a thing attainable, and to be had: A willingness in the giver. Power and strength to give it. And then authority with power. Here are all these. Here is will to bestow it. He will give it. What freer than a gift ? The Son of God became the Son of man upon purpose to give it. He will give it, and he will give it freely. Here is power and strength to give it ; for he is the Son of God as well as the Son of man. And then here is authority joined with that power, for ' the Father hath sealed him,' The Father that created heaven and earth, that hath all power in his hands, that is King of kings and Lord of lords, ' he hath sealed him,' He hath given him full commission to be the Saviour of all that trust in him, Christ came not without authority from God the Father. He came out with God's broad seal as his commission. So you see the arguments, both dissuasive, ' Labom- not for the meat that perisheth,' and persuasive, ' but for the meat that endureth to ever lasting life,' I shaU but touch the former, and principally insist upon the latter branch," To speak a little for the explication or the words. What is here meant by the ' meat that perisheth '? We must enlarge the sense according to our Saviour's meaning. By ' the meat that perisheth,' he doth not intend only outward food, but all out ward things whatsoever, they are the ' meat that perisheth,' All earthly and outward things are the food that the soul of a natural man feeds upon. The soul of a covetous man feeds upon his money, applauding himself that he is worth so much and so much. The ambitious man, chameleon-like, feeds upon the air, upon the airy applause of the people. The sensual man feeds upon base and sensual pleasures. In a word, all carnal men, natural men, are condemned to that sentence of the serpent, ' to eat dust,' to feed upon outward, earthly, perishing things. So that everything that is not grace and glory, or the means that lead to it, is a perishing thing. FOE ETEENAL FOOD, 861 ^ Nay, to raise it a little higher, learning and knowledge, if it be only of perishing things, is food that perisheth ; for as the frame of nature and the civil frame of the world must have an end and perish, so the knowledge of natural and civil things must needs be perishing also. And to say no more, the very knowledge, the speculative and con templative knowledge of religious things, if we have only the knowledge of the things in us, and are not turned into the things we know, is a perishing thing. The truths of God indeed are the food of the soul, but unless the goodness of those traths be the food of the will and affections, unless we are moulded and fashioned into the very form of those traths, unless we are framed to a love and liking of that which we know, that those truths be rooted and planted in us, it is ' food that perisheth.' In a religious discourse, in preaching, all your ornaments, besides that which quickeneth and strengtheneth the soul to holy duties, is ' food that perisheth.' And your hearing, if it be only to hear witty sentences and turnings of speech, without regard to the truth itself, is ' food that perisheth,' Thus you see what a great latitude this food that perisheth hath in Christ's meaning. Now our blessed Saviour takes them off from labouring for this by a strong argument. Would you have a greater argument ? ' It is food that perisheth,' We do not regard the lustre of things, but their continuance. Why do we esteem of crystal more than glass ? Because it continues. Flowers have a goodly gloss, but we regard them little, because they are fresh in the morning, and cast away at evening. And so it is with all excellencies, unless it be grace or glory, AU fiesh is grass, and the excellentest things of nature, wit, and honour, and learning, and all, though they be not as grass so common, yet they are as ' the fiower of the grass ; they are aU fading and withering ; but the word of God endureth for ever ;' that is, the grace and comfort that we get by the blessed truths of God, ' that endures for ever,' and it makes us endure for ever. But all other things are food that perisheth, and we perish in the use of them, ' The world passeth away, and the concupiscence of it ;' the world, the things lusted after perish ; and in lusting after the world, the lust perisheth, and we perish too in the pursuit of them ; nay, which is worse, the immoderate seeking after these things destroy us : we eternally perish. For by placing our affections on earthly things we turn earthly. Therefore in divinity we have our denomination from our affections. We are called good or ill, not from our knowledge, but from our affections. The devU knows good, but he is not good. It is loving, and joying, and delighting in good or ill that makes us good or UI. We have our form and being in religion from our affections. Now by seeking after and placing our affections, that are ordained to close with better things — which shaU make us happy in another world — by plant ing them on earthly things, we become like the things, earthly ; by placing them on the world, we become the world, we become earthly. Therefore they are not only perishing in themselves, but we perish in the pursuit of them. It is a strong argument that is here used, AU earthly things are ' food that perisheth,' For, alas ! he that is rich to-day may be poor to-morrow. He may be as rich as Job in the morning, and as poor as Job at night. He may be in credit now with Haman, and be in discredit ere soon. He may be in health now, and sick ere long. We need not Scrip ture for this. Experience reads us this lecture enough ; but we are so desperately set on earthly things, that neither faith nor experience, nor the 362 THE FKUITFUL LABOUR strength of discourse, nor reason, is sufficient to take us off, tiU God by his Spirit convince us thoroughly of this. Therefore Moses prays that ' God would teach them to number their days,' Ps. xc, 12, So, though there is a sufficient argument in the discovery of these earthly things to be perishing things to enforce a dissuasion, yet we cannot loosen our affections to them, nor know the uncertainty of them till God teach us. To make some use of this in a word, and so to go on to that which I more intend. If all things here below be grass, and as the flower of the grass, perishing and fading things, why then we should take heed that we do not redeeem any perishing thing with the loss of that which doth not perish, with the loss of this soul of ours, which is an eternal spiritual substance, breathed in by God in the creation, and redeemed by Christ ; which is capable of immortality, capable of happiness, capable of the blessed im pression of the image of God, ' What if one should gain the whole world,' saith Christ, that knows the price of a soul best, ' and should lose his own soul !' It is an argument sufficient even to a man that is led but with the strength of natural reason, not to labour for that which will perish, when he hath a soul that wUl not perish. To labour after that thing as his main chief good, that is of shorter continuance than himself, is extremity of folly. Therefore no carnal man, that seeks after these perishing things, can ever be a wise man, because he hath an end inferior to himself. He may be wise for particular ends, to be rich, to have great places, to get his pleasure. This is to be wise for particular ends. But he cannot be wise for the chief, and last, and best end, for his soul, for eternity. He cannot direct his course that way, that labours for the ' food that perisheth,' And again, we should not pass * to neglect any earthly thing, to gain advantage of our souls, because they are perishing things. We should force ourselves to contentment in the loss of earthly things for the gain of spiritual. The loss of things perishing is an easy matter. We lose things that will perish whether we lose them or not, AU earthly things perish either in our time or after us. We should not therefore be over-eager in getting of these earthly things. Let us leave things that perish to men that perish. You see therefore how strong a reason our Saviour Christ allegeth here, ' Labour not for the meat that perisheth, because it perisheth,' And leam here from our blessed Saviour a point of heavenly wisdom. You see when he would take us off and dissuade us from the pursuit of earthly things, he takes an argument from the nature of them. They are perishing things ; and therefore, when we look upon the outward lustre of earthly things, we should withal consider the perishing nature of them. When we are tempted to too much delight in the creature, we should present to ourselves the perishing and fading nature of outward things. When we are tempted to sin, either to commit or to leave that which is good for anything that is outward, we should consider. What do I now ? I stain my soul, I crack my conscience, I contract guilt and grounds of terror for the time to come for that which is perishing, i It is always good to have present to our souls and to our fancies the nature of earthly things, that they may be as present as the temptation that Satan from them urgeth and forceth upon the soul. It is good always [to remember that they are perishing things, and that as they are perishing in themselves, so they wiU destroy us, cause us to perish in the pursuit of them. But my meaning is not to dwell long upon this, * That is, = ' hesitate.'— Q, FOR ETEENAL FOOD, 863 • ' Labour not for the meat that perisheth,' What 1 Doth Christ mean that we should not^labour at all for earthly things ? Doth he read a lecture of ill husbandry, and unthriftiness, and negligence ? No. He doth as we do. When we would set a crooked thing straight, we bend it as much the contrary way. Our Saviour saw that they were desperately addicted to earthly things, that they followed him for their beUies, sought him for the loaves, therefore he bends the stick the con trary way : ' Labour not for the meat that perisheth ; ' that is, labour not for it in comparison of better things ; labour not so inordinately, so im moderately, labour not so unseasonably. It is said of the Israelites that they brought Egypt into the wilderness, because they brought the love of the garlic and onions of Egypt with them, Num, xi, 5, We have many come to the church, to these holy exercises, to this holy place, but they bring the world with them. They come with carnal affections. Labour not so unseasonably. It should be our heavenly wisdom to lay aside im portunate earthly thoughts of earthly things ; to drive them away, as Abra ham did the birds from the sacrifice. Gen, xv. 11, We should leave them as he did the beasts and his servants, at the bottom of the mount, when he went up to sacrifice unto God, Gen, xxU, 5, Thus, labour not; labour not immoderately ; labour not inordinately ; labour not unseasonably, | But how shall we know when our labour is immoderate, unseasonable, and inordinate after earthly things ? I answer. In a word, when they either hinder us from, or hinder us in, holy things ; when they keep us from holy duties, as from the sanctifying of the Lord's day, or from any other service of God ; or when they hinder us in them ; when they fill us fuU of distractions ; when, they turn the soul from the business in hand, &o. Thus, when they do either hinder us from or hinder us in better things, we may know we offend against this dissuasion of Christ, ' Labour not for the meat that perisheth,' But why doth our Saviour begin first with his dissuasion, ' Labour not for the meat that perisheth,' and then enjoin what they should seek after, but ' for the meat that endureth to everlasting life ' ? Because he saw that their souls were corrupted, and desperately set upon the seeking after earthly things ; and when the soul is invested to anything, there must first be a removal of that ; as in ground, the thorns must first be rooted out before there be any sowing of seed ; and in bodily distempers, there must first be a purging of the malignant humour before there be any cordials given. So Christ, he first takes them off from an immoderate and inordinate seeking after the world and earthly things, and then he directs them what they should do, what they should seek after : ' Seek the food that endures to everlasting life,' Here is the prerogative of Christianity. A heathen man, out of the strength of moral discourse and outward experience, can teach the negative part, can tell you that all earthly things are vain and perishing, A stoic will declaim wittily' and gravely from moral principles and daUy experience upon these things ; that these earthly things of themselves are all vain and fading, and that it is our conceit of them only that bewitcheth us to theiji : it is that only that renders them to us green and fresh. But now for the affirmative part, what we should seek after ; here paganism is blind. That is only to be learned in the church of Christ, It is proper to Christianity to direct us here, as I shall discover better to you when I come to speak of the duty enjoined, which is that I especially aim at. 364 THE FEUITFUL LABOUR But before I come to enforce the act or duty which our Saviour here exhorts unto, I must unfold the object of that act : what is meant here by the ' meat that endures to everlasting life.' The 'meat that endures to everlasting life' is our blessed Saviour Christ Jesus, as he is contained and wrapped up in the means of salvation, with all the blessed Uberties, privileges, and prerogatives, graces, and comforts, that we have by him and in him. For our blessed Saviour never goesj alone. He is never embraced naked ; but with him goes his graces, com-] forts, prerogatives, and liberties. We have him not now as we shaU see' him ' face to face ' hereafter in heaven ; but he is to be considered as •wrapped up in the word and sacraments. So is Christ the food that lasts to everlasting life. And in this latitude we must take it, or else we mis take and straiten the Holy Ghost, But why is our blessed Saviour so considered, and the comforts, and prerogatives, and good things we have by him, termed food ? In divers respects. To instance in a few. But, first, you must know that as the soul hath a life as well as the body, so it hath a taste as well as the body ; and as God, lest the body should pine away, hath planted in it an appetite, which is the body's longing after that which refresheth it — for if it were not for appetite, if it were not for hunger and thirst, who would care for meat and drink ? — so God hath planted in the soul, lest it should pine away, a spiritual appetite, an earnest longing and desiring after that which is the most necessary good of the soul; for the soul hath that which the body hath, taste, and smell, &c,, though in a more sublime and di-vine sense, but as really and traly, as we shall see afterwards, No-W our blessed Saviour is this spiritual food of the soul. He is the bread of life that came down from heaven ; he is the true manna ; he is the true tree of life in paradise, in the church of God, the true paradise. He is the true shew- bread ; he is the true Lamb of God, He, considered -with all the blessed prerogatives, and privileges, and comforts we have by him, is called meat or food for divers respects. First, Whatsoever sweetness, or comfort, or strength there is in meat, it is for the comfort, and strength, and good of the body ; so whatsoever is com fortable and cherishing in Christ, as indeed all comfort and cherishing is in him, it is for our good ; to us he is given, for us he was born : ' To us a chUd is bom, to us a Son is given,' Isa, ix, 6 ; all is for us, for us men, for us sinners. There is nothing in his natures, in his state and condition, both of abasement and exaltation, nothing in his offlces, but it is all for our good. Consider him in his human nature, and join with his nature his abasement : that he was man, that he took upon him our nature, that he was abased in it, that he humbled himself to death, even to the death of the cross, to be a sacrifice for our sins; how doth the soul feed on this, on the wonderful love of God in giving Christ to be incarnate, and then to die for us ! How doth the soul feed upon the death of Christ, because by that God's wrath is appeased, and he reconciled ! ' Where the dead body is, there the eagles resort,' Mat, xxiv, 28, So doth the soul prey and feed upon the dead body of Christ, Christ crucified is the special food of the soul. Consider him in his exaltation, in his glorious resurrection and ascen sion into heaven ; how doth the soul feed upon that ? Christ our surety has risen again. Therefore our debt is discharged, the justice of God is satis fied to the fuU, So for his ascension. When the soul is basely-minded on earthly things, it ascends to Christ, who is taken up to heaven for us. FOR ETERNAL FOOD, 865 So his sitting at the right hand of God, The soul feeds on that, because he sits there till he have triumphed over all his enemies, tiU he have trod them all under foot. Consider him in his offices. In ignorance the soul feeds on him as a prophet to instruct it. In the sense of -wrath and anger, the soul feeds on him as a priest to make peace and reconciliation. In want of righteous ness, the soul feeds on [his righteousness : ' he is our righteousness,' In the sense of corruption, the soul feeds on him as a king, that by his Spirit will ere long work out all corruption ; that as he will tread down all our enemies without, so he -will tread down all corruption within. He will never leave the soul till he have made it a glorious house, fit for himself. So the prerogatives we have by him, the soul feeds on them, feeds on his redemption ; that by his redemption we are freed from our enemies and all that hate us, and all that we feared ; that we are set at liberty from the law, from sin, and from death ; and notwithstanding all the debasements of this world, we are ' the sons of God and heirs of heaven,' In a word, whatsoever is in Christ is for our good. He is all mine ; his Ufe is mine ; his death is mine ; his resurrection is mine ; his ascension is mine ; aU is mine. He is expended and laid open for my good. That is the first. Again, As in the bodily life there is a stomach, a power to work out of the meat that which is for strength and nourishment, so in the soul there is faith, the spiritual mouth and stomach of the soul, to work and draw out of Christ whatsoever is for the comfort and nourishment of it. As there is comfort in Christ, so the Spirit of God gives a man a hand, a mouth, as it were ; gives a man faith to work out of Christ somewhat for comfort. What were food if there were not a stomach to digest it, to make it a man's own? So what were Christ if we had not faith to lay hold on him? Again, thirdly. As our life is nourished and maintained with that which is dead, with dead things, so the chief dish that maintaineth and nourisheth the Ufe of the soul, as I said before, is ' Christ crucified,' ' God forbid,' saith the apostle, ' that I should rejoice in anything but in Christ crucified,' When the soul of a poor sinner is pursued with accusations from Satan and his own conscience, when they take part with God against him, whither rans it ? To the city of refuge. It runs to Christ, to Christ crucified. Thither the soul flies, being pursued with the guilt of sin; ' to the horns of the altar,' as Joab did when he was pursued, but with better success, for he was pulled from thence, 1 Kings ii, 28, But the soul that flies to Christ crucified, to the death of Christ, to Christ abased, to his satisfy ing the wrath of God by his death, and making of us friends with God, there it holds ; there it lives ; and there it will continue for ever. This keeps the soul alive. And then again, as in meat, before it can nourish us, there must be an union, an assimilation, a turning of it into us, so Christ, except he be made one with us by faith, unless there be an union between him and us, he can never nourish and comfort us savingly. Again, As we oft eat, and after we have received food once, yet we eat again every day, because there is a decay of strength — and there are still new busi nesses, new occasions that require new strength — and therefore there is need of a continual repairing of our strength by food, even so there is a perpetual exigence, a continual need that the soul hath to feed upon Christ, upon the promises of Christ, and the prerogatives by Christ, because every day we 366 THE FRUITFUL LABOUR have fresh impediments, fresh assaults, and therefore we have need to fetch fresh supplies and refreshment from Christ, to have meat from Christ every day ; to live on Christ not only at the first, but continually ; that as our corruptions, and temptations, and infirmities return every day, so every day to feed on Christ for the repairing of our spiritual strength. Especially we are to make daily use of the death of Christ ; for howsoever the death of Christ be transient in respect of the act of it, as one of the ancients saith (a), yet the frait of it remains for our daily comfort and refreshment. His blood runs every day in the church afresh, like a fountain always poured out, for Judah and Jerusalem to wash in, Zech, xiii, 1, It always runs ; that is, in regard of God's imputation, in regard of the fruit that comes to the soul ; and therefore we should make daily use of it for the comfort and strength of our souls upon all occasions, ' We have an advo cate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous : and he is the propitiation for our sins,' 1 John ii, 1, He is now an intercessor in heavenj; he con tinually applies the fruit of his death now by his intercession in heaven. Again, As, after meat received and eaten, there is strength and comfort gotten for the affairs of this life, so likewise after the soul hath digested and relished Christ, and the benefits and prerogatives that come by him, after we have made the heavenly truths of Christ our own, the soul is strength ened to holy duties. It is fit to do ; it is fit to suffer ; it is fit to resist temptations ; it is fit to perform all the ser-vices of Christianity, In these and divers other respects Christ is the blessed meat here men tioned ; not himself alone, but considered with all the blessed good things which we have by him. For Christ, as I said before, is never alone. If we have him, we are sons in him ; we are heirs in him ; we are free in him ; we are redeemed in him ; we are kings in him ; priests in him ; prophets in him ; we are all in him ; we have with him aU the good things that he hath ; for as we have not them without him, so we have not him without them. Those that have the field, have the pearl in the field ; and they that have the pearl in the field, have the field. They that have Christ, have Christ clothed with aU his blessed prerogatives, and privi leges, and comforts. But wherein Ueth the difference between this meat, this food of the soul, and other meat ? In these things. First of all, Christ, as he is from heaven, so all the graces and comforts that we have by him are all from heaven, and they carry us to heaven, AU the other things are earthly. Secondly, All earthly food doth not give, hut maintain life where it is; but Christ he is such a food as gives life. He is as well life as food ; 'I am the life,' John xi. 25, Again, thirdly. The nourishment we have from this outward food, we turn to ourselves; but Christ, this spiritual 'meat, turns us into himself, transforms us into his own likeness ; for Christ offered to us in the gospel being digested by faith, doth by his Spirit change us every way into his own likeness. Lastly, All other meats are consumed in the spending, and there will a tim» come when we shall not he able to relish any worldly thing ; our mouth wiU he out of taste with the^e outward things. But Christ, the food of the soul, is never consumed, but grows more and more ; and when we can relish no other, we may reUsh this food that endures to everlasting life. It always satisfies the soul, AU earthly thmgs are as salt water, that increase the appetite, but satisfy not. Only Christ and grace, and the comforts we have by him, satisfy, and that everlastingly. They are as a spring that never dies. FOE ETEENAL FOOD, 867 As he himself in his own person endures to everlasting Ufe, so all that we have by him is everlasting, Grace is everlasting. Grace ends in glory. Christ always satisfies, though not wholly here, because there must be a continual recourse to him ; yet he wiU satisfy hereafter. ' Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied,' Mat, V, 6. Thus you see what is meant by the ' food that endures to everlasting life,' and the reason of the resemblance and the difference that is between this and other meat. Here are arguments enough then to enforce us to a labouring after this meat that endures to everlasting life, that is so agreeable to the best part of us, that is able to make us happy ; to labour by faith to get them to be our own. Now the labour required is especially to get a stomach to this meat. God requires nothing of us when we come to his delicacies but that we bring a good stomach with us, I wUl therefore speak a little of that, what we must do to get an appetite to this spiritual meat, A good stomach, we know, is procured by sharp things. The paschal lamb was ' to be eaten with sour herbs,' Exod, xii. 8, If we would have an appetite after Christ, labour daily to consider what a cursed estate we are in without Christ, God hath left the law, as for other purposes, so for this, that we should feed upon the threatenings of it, that it should drive us to Christ, A legal faith is the way to evangelical. Labour therefore thoroughly to be con-vinced of the need thou standest in of Christ, and then I need not bid thee to labour for the food that endures to everlasting life. That will sharpen thy appetite after it. And beg of God illumination to see the ill that is in thee, and the ill that belongs to thee, God hath left infirmities and corruptions in us on purpose for this end, and likewise we have temptations without us. We carry not only a hell within us, which if God should not keep in would carry us to despair ; but there is a hell without us, the temptations of Satan, the accusations of the law, the anger and wrath of God, Thus we should labour to be convinced of our wretched estate without Christ, the danger we are in if God should take us hence on a sudden. This wUl force every day a fresh appetite and stomach in the soul to feed on Christ, Secondly, If we would sharpen our appetites to this food, we must purge our stomachs, which naturally surfeit of earthly things. Purge the soul by a consideration of the vanity of all other things that draw us from Christ, The reason why we have no better relish of Christ and heavenly things is, because we cleave in our affections so much to earthly things. We set up idols in our hearts instead of Christ, and we cleave in an adulterous and false affection unto them. Let us set before us arguments of the vanity of all things but Christ ; and there can be no better argument than here is set down, ' they are all perishing things,' That which the soul neglects Christ, and heaven, and happiness for, and is so madly set upon, alas ! they are aU base in respect of the soul. The whole world is not worth a soul. They are all perishing things, of less continuance than the soul is. We should purge our souls by such considerations as these. Then again, thirdly, exercise getting a stomach. Let us every day spend our spfritual strength in spiritual exercises, in resisting temptations, in withstanding the snares of Satan, in bearing those daily crosses that God lays upon us. Live as Christians should live, and the exercise of a Christian life wiU enforce us to go unto Christ tf feed on him, to fetch 368 THE FEUITFUL LABOUR from him spiritual strength. When in our daily exercise we shall see the continual need we have of pardon for daily sins, of comfort and strength against daily corruptions and infirmities, this will make us feed on Christ and on the promises made in him — not only on the promise of forgiveness, but on the promise of a supply of necessary grace, on that sweet promise, that ' he wUl not quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed,' Mat, xii, 20 — feed on him as a King to subdue our corruptions, &c. The daily exercise of a Christian life will force us unto Christ. Again, To whet our appetite after Christ, consider the necessity we have of spiritual strength and comfort. When a man considers that he hath a jour ney to take, he will eat to enable him to his journey ; as Elias was bid to rise up and eat, because he had a journey to go, 1 Kings xix, 7, We are all to take a journey as far as heaven, and we are to travel through the wilderness of this world ; and we shall be daily assaulted, besides our inward corruptions, with divers temptations ; and therefore we had need every day to fetch strength from Christ, And consider that sickness will come, and death will surprise us ; and if we have not Christ, we are wretched creatures without him. And though we have applied Christ to ourselves, and made him our own, yet a time of desertion, a time of trial, will come. Thus the necessity of spiritual strength wiU force us to feed upon Christ, Again, To get us a stomach to these things, let us converse with those that are spiritual, with those that are heavenly-minded, ' that have tasted of heavenly things,' Heb, vi, 4, When we see them delight in reading, delight in hearing ; when we see them contemplate of heaven and heavenly things, on Christ and the benefits we have by Christ, on the blessed condition of a better life, and of the world to come ; when we see these persons that are better than ourselves, that have less cause than we, take such pains for thefr souls, we wUl be ashamed of our own neglect ; and it will be the dis course of a soul presently -with itself. Surely there is some excellent strength and comfort in these things, some extraordinary sweetness and refreshment that these men find, that they so fall to them. It is a great advantage to converse with those that are spiritual. And lastly. To put an edge to our dull appetites after this food, consider we know not how soon this table that Christ hath spread, these dainties that wisdom hath provided for us in the ministry of the word, may be taken from us. Therefore, let us fall to while we have them. We should do as those do, that, being at a feast, and have neglected feeding, at the latter end, when they see all ready to be taken away, fall to afresh. We know not how long we may enjoy these blessed opportunities. Therefore now with Joseph, let us lay up against a time of scarcity. There will a hard winter come. Therefore, let us imitate the -wisdom of that poor creature the ant, to pro vide against winter, Prov. vi. 6. Now, whUe the jubilee is, let us take out a pardon. There is a time of spending to come ; now let us ' get oil in our lamps,' Mat, xxv, 4, Now is the seed time ; now are the waters stirred in the pool of Bethesda ; now is the acceptable time of grace. We know not how long it shaU continue. Therefore, now let us labour for the food ' that endureth to everlasting life,' I never knew any repent of the pains they had taken for their souls ; but many that have lamented and bewaUed the precious time they have spent, and that they have not been good hus bands for their souls. It is one special point of heavenly wisdom to take advantage of our precious time, to fiU it up with holy exercises. Let us often offer this consideration to our souls. Wherefore was I sent hither into FOE ETERNAL FOOD, 369 this world ? What is the end why I live here ? Is it to scrape together perishing things, and so to perish with them ? Or am I not rather sent hither to get out of the state of corruption wherein we all are by nature ? to get into Christ, to make him mine own, to be turned into him, to feed on him, to get joy, and comfort, and strength from him ? Is not this the end why I live here ? But to go on, and to make an use of trial, whether we have, as we should do, relished and tasted Christ, whether we have fed on this meat or no. How shall we know that ? I answer. We may easily know it. For, first of all, if we have reUshed Christ and the good things by him, we disrelish all other things ; we begin to have a baser esteem of all earthly things. It is with the soul as it is with a balance. When Christ is high in the soul, other things are low ; and when other things are high, Christ is low in the soul. Christ was high in Paul's soul ; therefore he esteemed all as ' dung' in comparison of the excellent knowledge of Christ, Philip, iU, 8, The poor woman of Samaria, when she had heard Christ, and tasted the sweetness that was in him, down goes her water-pot, and she runs to the city and teUs them, ' I have seen a man that hath told me aU things ; is not this the Messiah ?' John iv, 29, Zaccheus, when he had tasted of grace, and had the pardon of his sins by Christ, ' half my goods I give to the poor,' &c,, Luke xix, 8, When grace is planted in the soul, when the soul hath tasted once of better things, there will be a mean and base esteem of earthly things. The more the soul feeds on heavenly things, the less respect it hath to temporal things. The soul is a finite essence, and it cannot spend itself on all things. The more it runs into severals, the more shaUow it is to others ; as in a stream, when it is cut into many channels it runs weakly in the several, whereas it runs strongly in the main. So it is with the soul : when it is scattered, as the poor Israelites were about the land of Egypt to gather straw, to gather these perishing earthly things, it is weak to heavenly things ; it hath Uttle strength to those. But when the course of it is wholly bent to those, there are but weak or no desfres running to these earthly things. When once the soul of a Christian hath had a true taste and relish of the things of heaven, it looks with a despising eye upon whatsoever is here below. When once it hath tasted of Christ, then especially it grows out of relish with poison ; then away with popery ! away with false doctrine ! away with hypocrisy and formality in religion ! Again, secondly. We may know that we have tasted Christ, and fed on him, and on the good things that are by him, when we are strengthened by our feeding ; when we are strengthened to duties ; strengthened against tenta tions* and against corruptions. Thou sayest thou beUevest on Christ, and hast made him thine o-wn ; what comfort and strength feelest thou by Christ ? Art thou able to encounter a tentation ? Art thou able to resist a lust ? Art thou able to perform holy services ? If there be no strength in thee, but every tentation turns thee over, and thou yieldest to every base lust, where is Christ ? Canst thou believe Christ to be thy King, and yet suffer thy lusts to bear sway in thee ? Canst thou believe that Christ is a priest that died for thy sins, and yet cherishest and lovest sin ? Canst thou beUeve that Christ is in heaven, and that thou art in heavenly places with Christ, and yet hast no mind of heavenly things, but art carried away ¦with every earthly thing ? No- Thou hast not yet tasted howjgood and gracious the Lord is ; thou hast not relished the heavenly manna. The * That is, ' temptations.' — G. TOL, VI, A a 370 THE FEUITFUL LABOUR Boul that feeds on Christ is strengthened from spiritual reasons, and super natural grounds, and divine principles drawn from Christ, to duty, so that it is enabled even with a holy violence to do anything for Christ's sake ; for the soul reasons thus : Christ gave himself to death for me ; I wiU therefore, if need be, give myself to death for him. Christ thought nothing too dear for me, I wiU think nothing too dear for him. This pride, this vanity that I am tempted to, these were the spears that were the death of my Saviour. Thus the soul fetches reasons from the death of Christ to strengthen it against temptations, to strengthen it to duty ; and so for the matter of comfort. After meat hath been received we are refreshed. If the soul be sweetly refreshed with the comforts that are to be had in Christ, and in the word of Christ, it is a sign we have tasted Christ. Those that have trembling and discouraging hearts and souls, that cannot rest nor receive comfort, it is a sign they have not rightly tasted Christ. ' Come unto me,' saith Christ, ' aU ye that are weary and heavy laden, and ye shaU find rest to your souls,' Mat. xi. 28. In Christ there is rest, out of Christ there is no rest. And so likewise those that have corruptions bearing sway in them. It is a sign they have not so much as touched Christ, for if they had but touched Christ, he would stop the issue of their corruptions. The poor woman in the gospel, as soon as she had touched Christ, her bloody issue was stayed ; so, upon the least touch of Christ by faith, there will be an abating of corruption. Thfrdly, In the bodily life, we know after a good meal the desire and appetite is satisfied, so the soul that tastes of Christ, it hath sweet satisfac tion and contentment. Oh the sweet satisfaction that a Christian soul hath above a heathen ! A Christian, that hath Christ, need not go out of him for anything. It hath fulness and satisfaction in him in all estates, both in Ufe and in death. Dost thou find Christ, and the pri-vileges and preroga tives we have by him ; dost thou find the word of Christ and the promises of the word fully and sufficiently satisfy thee ? Then it argues that thou hast fed on Christ ; for Christ being received by faith into the soul, gives it fulness and contentment. Lastly, To name no more, as men, if they have the grace of God in thefr hearts, will give thanks for their bodily food, so it is an evidence that we have fed on Christ, when our hearts and tongues are enlarged to praise God for Christ,. for the comforts, and contentment, and satisfaction that we find in him and in religion. Therefore St Paul begins his epistle to the Ephesians with ' Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,' Eph, i. 3, And St Peter, being led by the same blessed Spirit, his heart being fuU, his mouth is full of thanks : ' Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us again to an inheritance immortal, that fadeth not away, reserved for you in the heavens,' 1 Peter i, 4, for you that are reserved by faith to salvation. So, undoubtedly, the soul that tastes the sweet comforts of religion in Christ will be much in sweet en largements of heart in thanksgi-ring. It cannot be otherwise. It is an universal reason. The more belie-ving a soul is, the more thankful a soul is. Where there is no praise, there is no faith. Thus you see how we may try whether we have tasted and relished, whether we have fed upon 'the food that endures to everlasting life ' or no. Taste is the most necessary sense of aU, saith a wise searcher of the mysteries of nature : our life is maintained by taste (6). Every creature sees not, every creature hears not, but every creature hath taste. You may FOR ETEENAL FOOD. 371 judge of yourselves by your taste and reUsh ; and if once you have tasted and relished Christ, all the world cannot persuade you to faU from him. If all should say there were no sweetness in religion, that it were better to be a worldling, &c., you would defy* it ; you would never believe it. There is no disputing against what a man tastes. If all men should say sugar were sharp, if I once tasted it I would say otherwise, ' Labour for the meat that endures to everlasting life,' The arguments enforcing this act upon the object to labour for Christ are, that he is food, and food that endures ; ' and food that endures to everlasting life,' Let me from these arguments here in the text, for I will draw no other, enforce what I have said before. I have shewed you what this labour is, and rules how you may know whether you rightly labour for this food or no. Now to enforce this act, consider, first, the necessity of that our Saviour here enjoins us to ; it is food. It is a strange thing that persons should persuade themselves that they are Christians, and yet go from day to day without refreshing themselves with Christ, and with the meditation of the blessed estate they are in by him, both in respect of this world and that which is to come ; without getting strength from Christ against tentations and against corruptions. Christ is food, and the promises and prerogatives we have by him are food. We should labour after it every day, feed on it every day. If a man should ask a man in his calling. Why do you take such pains, morning and evening, rising early and going to bed late ? he would answer. It is to get bread ; it is to get food to maintain my family. So should it be our answer to any that wonder why we take such pains for our souls, why we labour so after Christ, Oh, remember we take pains for life ; to get and maintain life ; and what is so necessary as life ? And if life be so necessary, food which preserves it must be necessary. We see the patriarchs for food left their country ; and the poor Egyptians sold themselves and their cattle, and all to get food to keep life. We famish eternally except we feed on Christ ; except we have so much faith as makes us one with him ; except by faith we digest him and get nourishment and strength from him. It will appear to be so when it is too late. Ere long nothing in the world will relish us ; and then if we have not Christ and the things of another Ufe to relish us, what will become of us ? I beseech you, consider what opinion and judg ment we shaU have ere long of these earthly things, and of the better things of another world. At the hour of death, our judgments wUl be convinced that the things of heaven are the best things ; and if it be true that they wiU be so then, why is it not true that they are so now ? Labour to -have the same judgment now. With the necessity our blessed Saviour joineth the excellency of this food, ' It is food that endures to everlasting life.' Christ and the good things we have by him are of equal extent and of equal time with our souls. If we labour for earthly things, we labour after that which is of shorter con tinuance than our souls. We may outlive our happiness, and what a miserable state is that ! But if we labour for the food that endures to everlasting life, our happiness is of the same continuance with our souls, and that is only true happiness. K there were such a tree upon the earth now as there was in paradise, a tree of life, that whosoever should taste of the fruit of it should Uve, • That is, in the literal sense, = disbelieve. — En, 872 THE FRUITFUL LABOUR though but on the earth here to enjoy his sensual pleasures, oh what would not men give for a little fruit of that tree, though it were to redeem a little time, and to lengthen out a fading, base life on earth, but much more to live for ever ! Here is food ' that endures to everlasting life,' to such a life as is heavenly and glorious. Now, blessed be God that since we are cast out of the first paradise by sin, that'now in our relapsed estate God is so merciful to us as to provide another manner of tree of life. That in paradise was but a typical tree. The trae tree of life is Christ ; and -who soever feeds on him shaU not perish, but have everlasting life. Certainly if we believed this, it could not be, but it would wondrously set us on to labour after this meat, because it is not only food that tends to the preser vation of life, but to life everlastmg, to a life that endures as long as our souls. And let us know that if we do not labour for this meat that brings to this Ufe, look what degree of excellency we have had in the rank of the creatures, the same degree we shall have in misery ; for as the angels in the degree of excellency were the most excellent creatm-es, but being fallen they are in the same degree of misery that they were in happiness, and are now the most accursed creatures of all others, so man, as he is a most excellent creature, if he feed on the food that endures to everlasting life ; so if like Nebuchadnezzar he feed as a beast on earthly things, and forget his soul and affections, which are made to close and feed on Christ and better things, he shall have the same degree of misery that he hath in happiness, even next to the devils, the most wretched creature that can be. What if a man were clad as Aaron was in all his pontificality, in his priestly robes ! What if he should feed deliciously every day as Dives ! What and if he had the -wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Samson ! What and if he had all the kingdoms of the world ! If he have not the ' food that endures to everlasting life,' he should be stripped of all these ere long. It is only Christ, and the good things that are to be had in him and by him, that con tinue everlastingly. This should enforce us to labour after this food in the use of aU good means. And before I leave the point, consider the reality, the truth of these heavenly things, of these things we have by Christ, ' the second Adam,' aU things else are shadows. The food that nourisheth the body is not food in comparison of that. Earthly kingdoms are not kingdoms in respect of that; earthly sonship is not sonship to that; earthly riches they are nothing, they are vanity in comparison of that. Earthly inheritance is no inheritance in comparison of the inheritance we have by Christ, All other things are but titles of things. They are but empty things. There is a reaUty in Christ, a truth in the kingdom of grace. Alas ! what is riches, what are pleasures, what are honours, what is son- ship, what are aU earthly things, in comparison of the soul, which is an immortal, a spiritual, an eternal substance ? They are but shadows. Those things that are of equal extent and continuance with the soul ; and not only of equal extent, but that raise the soul to have communion with God in heaven, with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; there is the reality, there is the trath, if we wiU have the truth of thmgs. ' I am that bread,' saith Christ afterwards in this chapter, ' and my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drmk indeed,' as if other meat and other drink refreshed not indeed, but were only shadows of things. Labour therefore for this meat; and certainly, if so be the Spfrit of God once convince your judgments that these things which I say are true, both FOE ETEENAL FOOD, 373 for the necessity and exceUency of this food, they wiU be effectual to stir you up to labour more after this food that endures to everlasting life. So much for that, ' Which the Son of man shall give you, for him hath God the Father sealed,' To come now to the possibility of attaining this food, which is the third argument our blessed Saviour useth to enforce upon us this injunction, to ' labour for the food that endures to everlasting life,' Hope stirreth up endeavour, as we see in merchandizing. Though when we venture beyond the seas we commit all to wind and water, as they say, and it is doubtful what the issue may be, yet we hope, and that sets us on work. So the poor husbandman, but that he hopes to have a comfortable issue, to have a harvest, he would never set himself to work. Now here is hope ; and hope on a better ground a great deal ; for he that makes other things successful, he hath given Christ for this purpose ; and Christ, you see here, he gives himself, ' which the Son of man shall give you,' Here is all that we may ground and found our hope upon. Here is will, here is power, and here is authority to give it. Here is wiU ; Christ will give it. Why ? Because he is the Son of man. What use is there of these words in this place ? Why doth he not say, ' which the Son of God shaU give you' ? Oh, the Son of God without the Son of man is indeed a fountain of good things, but he is a sealed fountain ; alas ! of no comfort. Our comfort is in Immanuel, God-man, All our comfort is to be brought back to God, from whom we feU in paradise, and we must be brought back again to God by God, But unless God had become man, man had never come back again to God, Therefore aU the union and communion we have with God, it depends on this first union of Christ with our nature, that the Son of God became the Son of man, as St Austin saith (c) ; for now the next union, that we become the sons of God, it comes from this, that God became man. And therefore he saith here, ' the Son of man shall give it you,' You need not climb up to heaven to fetch this food that endures to everlasting life, for the Son of God is come down from heaven to earth to take the nature of man ; and in that to die, in that to satisfy God's wrath, and so to become this blessed and everlasting food ; the Son of man, ' the second Adam,' As by one man we all come to misery, so by the ' second Adam,' by man, we are restored to a blessed condition again. Therefore he saith here ' the Son of man,' because in the human nature aU our salvation was wrought. Indeed, the worth and efficacy of our sal vation comes from the divine nature ; but it was wrought in man's nature, the divine nature could not work it alone. But I wiU not dwell on this, _ 'The Son of man shaU give it you,' You need not fear it, God is become man on purpose to give it you. We may now boldly go to a mediator which is made bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. We should have feared and trembled if he had only been God, but now aU grace and comfort is h^d in this nature of ours in Christ, If Christ had not took this poor, wretched nature of ours upon him, it had been a hate ful nature to God. God hated the nature of man ; but now, because the Son of God is become the Son of man, our nature is become lovely in the eyes of God; and not only lovely, but it is fiUed in him with aU grace, and of his ' fulness we receive grace for grace,' John i, 16, He wiU give it therefore, because he is ' the Son of man,' 374 THE FEUITFUL LABOUR Here is wiU ; ay, but what power and strength hath he to give it ? He is so the Son of man as that he is also the Son of God, Therefore we are said. Acts xx, 28, ' to be redeemed with the blood of God,' Christ by his eternal Spirit, by his Godhead, offered himself a sacrifice for sin. So that he can give it because he is God. But what authority hath he ? He is ' sealed' to do it. That is the third ; that is, he hath authority, for authority is here expressed by ' sealing.' Now, Christ is said to be ' sealed,' first, because there is the impression of Ood upon him,. _ Even as the seal imprints in the wax the likeness of that which is in it, so God hath imprinted in Christ his own likeness. He is the image of God, for Christ as he is God is the character* of his Father ; and his human nature is likewise as like God as nature can express, ' We saw,' saith the apostle, ' his glory, the glory as of the only begottenJSon of God,' John i, 14, We saw a kind of divinity in him, as much as human nature could receive ; the likeness of God sparkled in him ; therefore he is said to be ' sealed,' But that is not all, nor the principal here meant. Again, secondly. The use of a seal is to appropriate and distinguish from other things; so Christ is sealed, that is, God hath appropriated him to be his own Son, and to be a mediator of his own appointing, and hath distin guished him from all others by a blessed anointing and qualification of him above aU, He is as Saul among the rest, higher than all ; he is as Aaron, anointed with the oU of gladness, but above his fellows, and yet for his fellows. From him distils the blessed ointment of grace. It is poured on his head first, and descends from him down to aU the skirts of his garment, to all his members. So here is in this sealing likeness, distinction, and appropriation. But especially by sealing here is meant authority : for a thing sealed is not only to distinguish and appropriate to a man's use, but to authorise also. As a magistrate that hath the king's broad seal, he is authorised ; so Christ he hath God's seal, God hath authorised him to be a mediator ; and as he was foreordained before all worlds, aS the apostle Peter saith, ' to be the head of them that should be saved, and to be their mediator,' 1 Pet, i, 9, seq., so when the fulness of time was come, when he came in the flesh, he was authorised by the greatest testimony that ever was, by the blessed Trinity, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, at his bap tism, ' This is my beloved Son, hear him,' saith a voice from heaven. Mat, iii, 17, There was the Father, the Son in the voice, the Holy Ghost in the dove. There was the whole Trinity. So he was authorised from heaven. And then he was authorised by his miracles, God gave him power to work those works which none could do but a Mediator, Therefore he saith, ' If you believe not me, yet believe me for my works' sake,' John x, 38, He was authorised also by his resurrection, as the apostle saith, in Rom. i, 4 : 'He mightily declared himself to be the Son of God by the resurrec tion from the dead,' The angels from heaven brought witness of him. He was witnessed by aU kind of persons on earth, yea, by the devils them selves. So he is ' sealed ' and authorised every way, by aU kind of wit nesses, to be a mediator. This is set out in other phrases in the Scripture. In Ps. ii. 7, ' This my Son have I set upon my holy hiU of Sion ;' and Rom, iii., toward the latter end, ver, 25 : ' Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation,' God * That is, ;^aja;C7!]j, the ' express image.'— En, FOR ETERNAL FOOD. 375 hath set him forth as the shewbread was set out under the law. And then again in another place, ' Whom he hath sent,' 1 John iv, 9, 10 ; and in 1 Cor, i, 80, ' He is made of God unto us wisdom,' &c, ' He is made of God;' that is, he is ' sealed,' appointed, authorised by God for that purpose. So you see why Christ is said to be sealed, especially because he is authorised by God the Father, ' made,' ' sent,' ' set forth,' ' whom the Father hath sealed ;' that is, the party offended by our sins, he hath sealed and authorised Christ to be a mediator. If this be so, let us learn this use of it, to bless God the Father as well as Christ, ' Blessed be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ; ' and ' Blessed be Christ,' for him hath the Father ' sealed' by the Spirit, The blessed Trinity have all a hand in our salvation. And then again consider, if we despise Christ, whom we despise. We despise the Father that hath ' sealed ' him. It is a weighty matter. Read the second psalm, and you shall see there what it is to despise Christ, not to ' kiss the Son ;' that is, when God hath anointed and sent forth a Saviour, and ' sealed him,' and authorised him by all the testimonies that can be, to be a mediator, not to receive him for our king, for our priest and prophet. It is a rebellion, not against Christ only, but against the Father who hath ' sealed' him. And likewise it serveth -wonderfully to strengthen our [faith when we go to God for forgiveness of sins. Offer him his own broad seal, offer him Christ as a mediator authorised by himself. Lord, I am thus and thus- a sinner, but notwithstanding, thou hast sent thy blessed Son and set him forth to be a Saviour for me, and him I offer to thee. Thou canst not deny or refuse thy own ' sealed ' Mediator and Redeemer. If he had been a mediator of my own appointing and of my own sealing, it were another matter ; but I offer thy own mediator, look on the death of him whom thou hast ' sealed ' to be my intercessor. It is a wondrous prevailing argument with God. He cannot deny that which he hath devised himself, him whom he chose before all worlds for this great office. But how shall I know whether he be ' sealed' for my good or no ? Saith the soul that hears this, we hear much of an authorised Saviour, of an au thorised mediator to be all-sufficient, but what is that to me ? Why ? For whom is he ' sealed ? ' Is he ' sealed ' for angels or for men ? And amongst men is he ' sealed' for holy men or sinners ? ' I come not to seek or to save whole men, or men that never were lost,' Mat, xviU. 11. No. He came to seek and to save men, but they are lost men, sick men ; and it is a faithful saying, and worthy of aU means to be em braced, ' that Christ came into the world to save sinners,' saith blessed Paul, 1 Tim. i, 15, Therefore he is 'sealed' to save thee if thou art a sinner, to save thee if thou wilt receive him ; and thou art bound to receive him, under pain of the punishment of rebellion. Is it not rebelUon not to receive a magistrate whom the prince has authorised under his broad seal ? It is another manner of matter not to receive Christ, It is a greater sin than to sin against the law ; for if a man sin against the law there is the gospel to help him, but if a man sin against the gospel there is not another gospel to him. Now to refuse Christ offered in the gospel is a sin against the gospel. Where then can there be hope of salvation ? Salvation itself cannot save him that wUl not be saved, that refuses the remedy ' sealed ' by God the Father, the party offended. Who can heal him that casts down the potion that is brought to heal him ? that refuseth the physician that comes to cure him ? I say he is ' sealed ' to save thee if thou wilt be saved ; 376 THE FRUITFUL LABOUR if thou wilt receive him ; receive him not only to be thy Saviour, but to be thy king to rule thee, and thy prophet to teach and instruct thee, as we shall see afterwards. But, to clear this a little better, we must know that there are three dis tinct sealings. Th6re is God's sealing of Christ, which I have unfolded to you. i And there is our sealing of God ; that is, our sealing of God's truth. And then again, there is God's sealing of us by his Spfrit. And these i follow one the other. ' Why hath God sealed Christ, but that we hereupon should be stirred up to believe and to receive Christ, and so by consequence to seal, that God is trae in sending such a blessed Mediator, as St John saith, ' He that beUeves in the Son hath set to his seal that God is true,' John Ui. 33, God hath sealed him, that we, by receiving him, should seal God's truth. Beloved, God comes to us for our testimonials, for our hands and seals. Oh how wondrously doth God condescend to weak man ! He hath sealed Christ for the office of a mediator, and he offers him unto us, and he comes to us likewise that we would set to our seals too, that Christ is the Son of God, He counts it not sufficient that he hath sealed him himself, but he will have us seal too ; and we seal him when we receive him. He that receives him hath set to his seal that God is true. He that doth not receive him, ' he makes God a liar,' saith St John, 1 John v, 10, And what comes of this, when we receive Christ, and set to our seal that God in the promise of salvation by Christ is true ? Then we having honoured him, he honours us by his Spirit, as the apostle saith, Eph, i, 13, ' In whom, after ye believed, ye were sealed,' So when we beUeve and set to our seal that God is true, God seals us by his Spirit ; ' after ye be lieved you were sealed,' But what is this seal of the Spfrit whereby God seals us after we believe ? I answer, God seals us when he sets the stamp of his Spirit upon us ; when the work and witness of his Spirit is wrought in us. For as in a seal the wax hath all in it, the whole likeness of the image that is in the seal, so the soul that is sealed by the Spirit hath the likeness of the Spirit of Christ stamped on it, God imprints in their spirits the likeness of his Son ; that is to say, he makes them loving souls, humble souls, obe dient as Christ was in all things, patient, meek, &c. You may see in the spirit of a believing man an expression of the spirit of Christ, So that if you would see Christ in his excellencies, look on the spirit of a true Chris tian, There you shall see a resemblance of Christ Jesus, not perfectly, but in some comfortable* measure. You shall see the very image of Christ. You shall see how full of love he is, how patient in crosses, how humble, how meek, how obedient to God in all things, both in a passive and active obedience. This is the stamp of the Spirit ; when a man believes, God honours him by setting his image on him. And yet this is not aU, Besides this, we are sealed with the witness and comfort of the Spirit as well as with the work of the Spirit, the Spirit of God sweetly witnessing that we are the sons of God, And this sweet wit ness of the Spirit especially comes after we have honoured God by believing in temptation, when we are able to hold out and say as Job said, ' Though he kill me, yet will I trust in him,' Job xiii, 15, So when we can, after conflicts of doubting and despair, say, ' Though he kill me, yet will I trust in him,' I will set to my seal that he is true. Well, wiU you so? God, to * Qu. ' conformable ' ?— Ed, FOR ETERNAL FOOD, 377 honour such a soul, seals him to the day of redemption ; that is, he gives to the soul of such a one a sweet evidence and testimonv that he is the Son of God, And this seal of the Spirit is double : not only done by the witness and work of the Spirit inwardly, which I have shewed, but likewise the Spirit doth seal them outwardly, enabUng them to make an outward confession of Christ and his truth ; and therefore, in Rev. vii, 8, seq.. Christians are said to be ' sealed in the forehead,' that is, as they are marked and singled out in UI times, to be such as God hath set his special favour upon, so they are ' sealed ' with a spirit of boldness, wUlingly and with forwardness to confess the trath of Christ in ill times. Now, to apply it to our purpose, wouldst thou know whether thou be such a one, for the present, as for whom Christ is ' sealed ' a mediator ? Examine, first of all, whether thou hast put to thy seal that God is true, by receiving and believing Christ, and the promise of salvation through him. If thou hast done so, then thou wilt find another seal from God, even the work of the Spirit in sanctifying of thee, and conforming of thee to the image and likeness of Christ ; and thou wilt find the witness and comfort able testimony of the Spirit, in telling thee that thou art the son of God ; and withal thou wilt have a spirit of boldness, and readiness, and forward ness to confess Christ, Thou wilt not care for all that the world saith ; but -wilt, if need be, stand to the profession of religion to the death. If thou canst find this in thyself, undoubtedly thou art not only such a one as Christ came to seal, but for the present thou mayest be assured that thou hast interest in this mediator, sealed by God for that purpose. Thus you see that here is ' food that endures to everlasting life,' which is Christ and the benefits we have by him. You see that that blessed meat is attainable, because he is willing to give it ; for he is become man for that purpose. He is able to give it, for he is God as well as man, and he hath authority to give it, for God the Father hath sealed him and fitted him for that office. If we receive him, he will seal us with his blessed Spirit ; that is, the same Spirit that furnished Christ with grace, that sanctified him in the womb, will sanctify all those that are his members, will work a likeness and conformity in them to his blessed image ; for the same Spirit that was in the natural Son is in aU the adopted sons of God, And he wiU likewise give us the comfortable evidence and assurance that we are the sons of God, furnish us with boldness and resolution to profess Christ in all times. Let me then, I beseech you, come again to re-enforce this exhortation. Take heed you refuse not Christ, Consider with what authority he comes, ' He is sealed,' It is no presumption therefore to receive him, though you be never such sinners, to receive him ; I mean not only to be a priest to reconcile you to God, but to be a king to rule you, and a prophet to instruct you by his Spirit ; to receive him on this manner is no presumption. To receive him indeed as a Saviour, but to neglect him as king, to refuse to come under his govemment, is great presumption ; but to receive whole Christ is obedience and faith, and no presumption ; nay, if you do not receive him you sin damnably, you commit the greatest sin that can be. He came to save all that will come under his blessed government, that will kiss the Son, ' Whosoever will, let him come and drink of the waters of life,' Rev, xxU, 17, All the good promised by Christ is promised upon our recei-ving of him, upon the obedience of our faith. There is nothing requfred but a wUl to embrace him, and to be under his government. There 378 THE FEUITFUL LABOUE is no exception made of sins, or persons, or times, ' At what time soever j a sinner repent,' 1 Kings viU. 30, seq., whatsoever sinner, whatsoever ( time, or whatsoever the sins be, if he repents, Christ is ready to receive him. If you pretend your unworthiness and want of excellencies, he takes away that objection, ' Come unto me, aU that are weary and heavy laden,' Mat, xi. 28 ; ' Come, buy without money,' Isa. Iv. 1 ; and here in the text, ' The Son of man shall give ;' and what so free as gift ? If you pretend you have sinned since your calUng, and that you have sinned against conscience and knowledge, and therefore now you have no further hope of Christ, remember that Paul, 2 Cor, v, 20, speaks to the Corinthians that were in the state of grace, ' I beseech you to be recon ciled to God ;' and in Jer, iU, 6, seq., ' Return again, you backsliding Israel, and I wiU heal your backsliding ;' and again, ' WUl a man receive a wife that hath played the harlot, and broken the band of marriage ? Yet return, 0 house of Israel, and I wiU receive you,' Therefore run not away from God, Though thou hast sinned after thou art in the state of grace, conie again, I beseech you, StiU Christ is to be received ; the door of grace is always held open, and the golden sceptre continually held out as long as we Uve in this world. But yet it is not good to neglect the time of grace. Receive Christ pre sently ; defer not to come under his government; and receive him whoUy, or else there is no receiving of him at aU, And to press this a littie further; I beseech you, consider that if you leave not your sinful courses, and come under the blessed government of Christ, if you receive not this ' sealed ' king, this ' sealed ' priest and prophet, this ' sealed ' mediator, whom God hath ' sealed ' and sent unto you for salva tion, there is not anything in the world that wUl one day more torment you than your refusal of him. Oh that we should ever Uve to hear of salvation so freely offered, and of a Saviour so authorised, yet notwithstanding that we should respect our sins more than our souls ! and because we could not have him to be our Saviour except we came under his government and be ruled by him as a king, we refused him wholly altogether. Indeed, if we might have had salvation by him and the forgiveness of sins, and withal have remained under the rule and sway of our own lusts, and been led by them, we would have been contented to have had him ; but rather than we would leave our blasphemous, our unclean, injurious, and covetous courses of Ufe, we were content to let Christ go if he would. Oh that we should reject this ' sealed ' Saviour ! Oh that we should refuse salvation offered on such loving terms, when God was so loving as to seal and authorise his Son ; when the Son was so loving as to give himself when he was ' sealed ;' to refuse this and that for such base respects, wiU certainly one day, when the conscience is wakened, prove the greatest torment that can be ! See how the apostle notably enforceth this in the second of the Hebrews, ver, 8 : ' If so be they did not escape that despised Moses' law, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ?' He doth not say, How shall we escape if we oppose Christ, if we rail on him, if we despise his image in his children, as many cursed wretches do ? but. How shall we escape if we do but ' neglect so great salvation,' so witnessed and authorised with all the signs, so offered and tendered with all the terms of love that may be ? And therefore, if there be any here that have lived in sinful courses, and have a purpose to break them off, that are weary of the government of thefr lusts, and of Satan that rules them by their lusts, — for all are under one government or other, either under the ' sealed' government of Christ, or FOE ETEENAL FOOD. 879 under the base govemment of Satan that tends to damnation, — Oh leave it, and come under this governor ' sealed' by God the Father, authorised from heaven by the blessed Trinity, by mfracles, and by all the arguments that can be ; come xmder his blessed government and you shall do weU, God the Father, the party offended with your sins, he hath ' sealed' him ; and he cannot refuse a mediator of his own sealing. And do not say your sins have been thus and thus ; for consider what were these parties that he offers himself to here, that he saith to, ' Labour for the meat that endures to everlasting life,' Were they not cursed hypo crites, that followed him for the loaves, and yet he saith to them, ' Labour for the meat that endures,' &o, I am ' sealed' even for your salvation, if you wUl come out of your hypocrisy and be raled by me. Therefore let none stand out from coming under the government of Christ, for he offers mercy, you see here, to the worst of men, even to cursed hypocrites. And, to conclude with a word of comfort, if there be any poor distressed soul frighted in conscience with the sight of his sins and Satan's temptations, Oh let such consider the love of God in Christ. Satan pictures out God as a terrible judge ; and so he is indeed to men that go on in their sins, ' a consuming fire,' But art thou weary of thy courses ? art thou willing to come under a better covenant ? Let not Satan abuse thee by setting God before thee as a terrible judge, and Christ as one that would not save thee. No. Come in, kiss the Son, ' for him hath the Father sealed,' ' sealed' for thee if thou be weary of thy sins. Enforce not upon thy soul any unwillingness to be in God, Wherefore doth God stoop so low, and labour by all these arguments here, as that Christ is the Son of man, and that he shall give it you, and that the Father hath sealed him for that end ; where fore is all this, but to shew his wiUingness to receive thee ? Wherefore hath the Father ' sealed' Christ but in love to thee ? Come in, therefore, and then, if you wiU seal to his truth, if you will believe and cast yourselves on God's gracious promise, even against doubting and distrust, you shall find God sealing you by his Spirit ; you shall find his Spirit witnessing to your spirits that you are the ' sons of God,' Here then you see is sure footing for poor doubting souls to fasten upon, God the Father, the party offended, hath ' sealed' his Son ; hath authorised him to save thee, if thou repent and come in. What are all thy sins and unworthiness to Christ, God-man, ' sealed' and authorised by the Father, who is the party offended ? If thou art willing to come in, bring all thy sins and oppose them to Christ, God-man, ' sealed' by the Father, and they will vanish as a cloud. But, as I said before, if thou wilt not come in and accept of this Saviour, if thou wUt not submit thyself to his government, thou sealest thy damnation. Thus you see I have unfolded this blessed portion of Scripture, Christ Jesus, and all the prerogatives and benefits that come by him, is the food that endureth to everlasting life. You see the arguments our blessed Saviour useth to enforce us to labour after this food. It is ' food,' It is food that ' endures,' and it is food that ' endures to everlasting life ;' and he ' will give it,' for ' him the Father hath sealed' and authorised so to do. He is both the gift and the giver ; both the food and the inviter to the food ; both the priest and the sacrifice. Labour therefore after this food. There is an objection which I will briefly answer, and so end. Labour after it. Why ? Christ wiU give it ; if he wUl give it, why must we labour after it ? And if we must labour for it, how doth he give it ? How can these two, gift and labour, stand together ? 880 THE FEUITFUL LABOUE I answer. Very weU ; Christ wiU give himself, and forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting, and yet we must labour too. But we must know for what we must labour. We must not labour for any merit to the title unto heaven and happiness, Christ indeed gives that. But labour in the use of aU good means to get knowledge and faith to receive this gift, to get the knowledge of Christ, what he is in his natures and offices, what he hath promised, what he hath done and what he hath suffered, what the intent of the gospel is ; what the giver is ; and what the authority is, that his Father hath given him. This requires labour. It is a labour to crack the sheU, to understand the letter of the Scripture ; to know what the gift and what the giver is. And it is likewise a labour to get faith to receive this gift ; to get the soul emptied of all self-confidence ; of all worth in itself and in the creature ; for Christ must be received with a beggar's hand ; and it wiU ask much labour to deny a man's self; for proud flesh wiU always have somewhat to trust to either in itself or in the creature. So that these two may well stand together, labour and gift. We are taught to pray, ' Give us this day our daily bread,' God wiU give us our daily bread. We must not therefore stand still and do nothing ; but though God will give it, yet he will give it in the use of means, in the use of our lawful caUings, So here, God will give us this spiritual food ; yet he will give it in labour. It is his ordinance ; and whatsoever he gives, he gives not in idleness, but in obedience to his ordinance. He will have us to labour in the use of the means, in reading, hearing, receiving the sacrament, praying, meditating, and the like, to have a part iu Christ this blessed gift. Nay, because he will give Christ, therefore labour. The one enforceth the other. The like reason Moses giveth the Israelites: 'Fight,' saith he, ' for the Lord hath given them into your hand,' Joshua x, 19, They might say. If our enemies be given into our hand, why should we fight ? Yes ; fight the rather, be encouraged to fight, because you shaU be sure to conquer. So here, ' Labour for the meat that endures to ever lasting life, for the Son of man will give it.' Therefore labour, because he wUl give it. In labouring we shall be sure to have it ; do that which be longs to thee, and thou shalt be sure to have that which belongs to God ; thou shalt find Christ, and heaven, and glory, and all in the use of the means. But he gives nothing without labour. There can be no good done in earthly things without labour ; and do you think to have heaven without labour ? No, Spiritual things are against the stream. Heaven is up the hiU, There must be labour, there must be striving against cor ruptions within, and against temptations without ; and our labour it is a happy labour. It is not a barren labour ; ' Our labour is not in vain in the Lord,' as the apostle saith, 1 Cor, xv, 58, We that labour for the food that endures to everlasting life, we labour for somewhat ; but worldlings that beat their brains, and tire their spirits, and rack their consciences, and wear out their bodies, it is all for nothing ; it is for that which is ' vanity and vexation of spfrit,' Eccles, i, 14 ; for that which they must leave be hind them, A true Christian, to encourage him to take all the pains that may be, he labours for something ; it is a hopeful and not a barren labour. And, beloved, blessed are we that we can have this food for our labour ; that since the fall we can recover by the ' second Adam ' a better estate than we had by the first. And our blessed Saviour, to the end he might distinguish true Christians from hypocrites, enjoins this duty of labouring so much the more ; for we have many in the church that think to have Christ and his benefits without FOR ETERNAL FOOD. 381 labour, as if heaven would drop into their mouths. They can say that God is merciful, and Christ died for us ; but you shall in the mean time find them careless of reading, of hearing, of praying, of the communion of saints, &c., are idle in working out their salvation with fear and trembling, negligent in selling all that they have for the pearl, wUl part with nothing for Christ, I say, to distinguish these hypocrites from trae Christians, therefore he saith, ' Labour,' to shew to us that only they that- labour for Christ in the use of aU good means ; that labour for the true knowledge of him, and for faith to receive him ; that seU aU for him ; that take pains to grow in grace and in union with Christ ; that make him their best portion in the world, and delight in him : it is they only that have interest in Christ ; only the painful* Christian is the true Christian, Therefore, I beseech you, as you would have it discerned that you are not hypocrites in the church, be stirred up to use all sanctified means to know Christ, to beUeve in him, to know that you are in communion -with him, that you belong unto him. Be not discouraged. You shall have rest ere long. ' There is a rest for the people of God,' as the apostle saith to the Hebrews, Heb, iv, 9, Indeed, so long as we are here below, there is labour joined with weariness ; for we have great conflicts with corrup tions and temptations, with enemies within and enemies without ; but be of good comfort, we shall at last come to a rest, to a rest perpetual and everlasting. It is true, in heaven there shall be labour, for we shaU be alway praising God ; but it shall be labour without weariness, labour with out conflict. There shall be no corruption within, nor no devil without, Satan could enter into paradise below, but he shall never enter into that heavenly paradise. Therefore be encouraged to labour for a while. Though it be tedious, because of corruptions and temptations, ' yet there is a rest for the people of God, an etemal rest, * That is, ' painstaking.' — G, (a) P. 366. — ' Especially are we to make daily use of the death of Christ ; for howsoever the death of Christ be transient in respect of the act of it, as one of the ancients saith ; yet , , . ,' The thought is common to Bernard and Augustine, (6) P. 370. — ' Taste is the most necessary sense of all, saith a wise searcher of the mysteries of nature ; our life is maintained by taste.' Query, Bacon ? (c) P. 373. — ' All , . . depends . . , as Saint Austin saith, for novr . . .' This great fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith, is constantly dwelt upon through out the works of Augustine. G. TM MATCHLESS LOYE AND INBEING. THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING, NOTE, ' The Matchless Love and Inbeing ' appeared in the first edition of The Saint's Cordials, 1629. It will be observed from the full recapitulation in the commence ment of the first of these sermons, that the two so designated formed part of a series, expository, in all probability, of the whole chapter. These not having been preserved, accounts perhaps for the withdrawal of ' The Matchless Love and In-Being ' from the after editions, of 1637 and 1658, of the ' Cordials.' The title-page will be found below.* G. * THE MATCHLES LOVE, AND IN-BEING. In two Sermons, Wherein is shewed, ¦ That we may be Assured of Gods loue -vnto vs : Helpes for Weake Christians how to attaine vnto this loue : Helps how to know that we haue it in vs : That Christ is in all beleeuers : How to know that Christ is in vs : How in a seeming absence he is discouered to be in the Soule : _ How to keepe Christ there, and how to recouer him being lost, &c, [Woodcut here, as described iu Vol. IV. page 60.] Vpeightnes Hath Boldnes, Ephes. 3. 17, 18, 19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in loue. May be able to comprehend with all Saints, what is the bredth and length, and dmth and height : And to know the loue of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulnesse of God. LONDON, Printed in the yeare 1629, THE MATCHLESS LOYE AND INBEING. SERMON L I have declared unto them thy name, and Iwill declare it; that the love where with thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. — John XVII, 26, , The dependence we have heard heretofore, when I entered upon the first part of this verse. Our Saviour intending to have committed his disciples to the love of his Father, that they might be the fitter objects of his love, he sets down here his own care for the present, and for the time to come ; for it is hypocrisy in prayer when we pray for that that we endeavour not. For as he prays the Father to take them into his charge, so he sets down his own care about them : ' I have manifested thy name, and I will,' &o. The verse contains this blessed act of Christ, 1, What he hath done, 2, WhathewiUdo, 8, The end of it, ' I have declared thy name, and wUl declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them,' ' I have declared, and wUl declare.' This I unfolded at large the last day. Among many other things, this one I observed, that we are in a perpetual proficiency in this life. We never know so much, but we may know more, and we ought to know more. So that by consequence there is a perpetual necessity of Christ's prophetical office, ' I have declared, and I will declare,' &c. We see tlie church in general grew to knowledge by degrees, till Christ, the Sun of righteousness, came gloriously in the flesh ; tUl John pointed at him with the finger, ' This is the Lamb of God,' &c,, John i, 29, And as the whole body mystical, so every member ; we grow to knowledge by degrees, ' I have declared,' &c, Christ doth fit his work to our exigents. We need further knowledge, and he is bountiful to promise a further declaration, ' I have, and I will,' He is never weary of well-doing. As his love is infinite, so his expression is unwearied that comes from his love. A ground of special comfort, as we shewed, to all Christians, especially to the labouring, weak Christians, that their beginnings are pledges of further degrees. For Christ, where he is Alpha, he will be Omega ; and where he is the author, he will be the finisher of our faith ; where he hath laid the first stone, ho will set up the roof at length. ' He hath declared, and he will declare,' VOL, VI, B b 886 THE matchless love and INBEING, He is not such an unwise buUder as wiU leave his work,' He knows what he can do, and therefore we may enter upon aU the means of saving know ledge, with this confidence, that we have a teacher that wiU carry us along from one degree of knowledge to another. And let us never despair for any insufficiency of parts. It is no matter what the capacity or the incapacity of the scholar he, when there is such a teacher. When God is the teacher, it is no matter how dull the learner is, for Christ doth not only bring doctrine, but he brings wit, grace, and ability to the inward man ; that is, not only a declaration, as man doth teach the outward man, but he unlocks and opens the heart, the ears of the inward man, as he opened Lydia's heart, &c.. Acts xvi. 14, Let none distrust if they be conscionable* and careful in the use of good means. Many' other things, I observed hence, which I -wiU not be large in unfolding, ' I have declared to them thy name,' &c, ; that is, that whereby thou mightest be known. Now in the covenant of grace, God would be known by the sweet name of Father, by the attributes of mercy and love. That whereby he wiU be known is his name, his mercy fri the covenant of grace in condescending to be our Father in Jesus Christ, together with the sweet attributes of love and mercy, from whence aU spring. This is his name. Now he will not be known only to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; the God that brought them out of the land of Egypt, or out of the North; but he wiU be known by the name of ' the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,' and our Father ; to be the Father of mercy, and the God of all comfort. Thus we must labour to present God to us now in his right name. This name makes all other names sweet that he hath. For being once gracious and merciful, and a Father in covenant, his power is ours, his wisdom is ours, and all is ours. Then this name of God is set forth at large : ' Jehovah, Jehovah, merciful, forgiving iniquity,' &c,, Exod, xxxiv. 7, 'I have declared thy name,' &c. But this I stood at large on. What was the end of our blessed Saviour in this his gracious dealing ? ¦ ' That the love wherewith thou lovest me may be in them, and I in them,' In unfolding of which words, I propounded these general heads, to omit other things. First, That God doth love Christ, because he is the first object of his love, his own image ; for he represents God's attributes, and whatsoever is good in him, every way exactly. He is the Jedidiah, the beloved of the Lord, He is the true Isaac, the trae matter of joy. He is the first Son, the first beloved. This was the first thing we unfolded and made use of. The second was this. That after Christ, God loves all that are Christ's with that love wherewith he loves Christ. There is a former love, indeed, of God, to give us unto Christ ; but I speak of the carriage of our salvation, all which is in Christ, He loves Christ, and he loves us in Christ, and not otherwise. There is a love that moved him to give Christ, but this love must concur with the other attributes. It must be such love and mercy, and so apprehended, as must be without offering -violence or wrong to other attributes. His justice and his holiness must not be wronged. And there fore though he bare love to those whom he kne-w before all worlds ; yet in the carriage of salvation he intended actually so to set his love upon them, as that it should be in one that should make satisfaction for them, being considered as sinners in themselves. And God would have, in our salvation, the glory, as of infinite love to man, so of infinite hatred of sin, and likewise of infinite wisdom, in reconciling these together. His infinite hatred to sin, how could he shew it more, than that rather than he would ¦« That is, ' conscientious.' — G, THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING. 887 not have it punished, his Son must become incarnate, to be a surety for sin and to take it away ? How could he shew his infinite love more, than by giving sucha gift as Christ, and his infinite wisdom, than to devise such a way as to bring these two together, justice and love, to reconcUe them ? So though God loved a certain company whom he foreknew to everlasting life, yet he fritended, in the carriage of their salvation, to do it with the manifestation and glory of his attributes, that no attribute might be wronged nor complain, and that justice might fuUy be satisfied ; but especiaUy that his mercy and love might triumph. For what in God stfrred up a fatherly heart ? What stirred him up to reconcile justice and mercy, but love, that set on work aU other attributes, his mercy, and love, and goodness ? God loves us in Christ therefore, and only in Christ ; because in Christ only his wrath is satisfied, Christ only is the mediator, the only treasury of the church to convey all to us. The adopted sons have their excellency, and all that they have, in the -virtue of the natural Son, But this I have unfolded at large heretofore, and shewed the use of it last day ; this was the second thing. The thfrd general thing out of the text is this, that the love of Ood to us is in Christ, loving us in him, as electing us, and doing all good to us in him. It is the ground of aU other favours and graces whatsoever. And therefore he sets it here for aU in aU, ' I have declared, &c,, that the love wherewith thou lovest me may be in them,' &c. What ! doth he not say, that I might be merciful to them and pitiful, and that they may have other graces that love me ? What needs all this ? He sets down the spring of all, ' I have manifested thy name,' thy gracious name, that in the apprehension of that they may find my love. And so, when we feel the love of God and of Christ, know that all other graces flow from thence ; for indeed aU graces wrought in us issue from God's love to us first. Whence comes pity, and mercy, and love, but from God's shining in our hearts first by his love, that doth mould and frame the heart to all duties and graces whatsoever, and to the first grace to love God ? For how can we love him unless we have an apprehension of his love first ? You know iron, and stones, and things that are cold of nature, if they have any heat, we say it is the sun that hath heated them, or the fire that hath warmed them, because intrinsecally they have no heat. So when there is any good ness in the creature, any pity, mercy, or love to God, or to those that are his, it implies, that there hath been fiirst the fire, the Ught of God's love to us. And therefore, saith Christ, ' I have manifested thy name to them, that thy love may be in them,' This love in them will be enough to set them on fire on all good things whatsoever, ' We love him, because he loves us first,' 1 John iv, 19, We know him, because he knows us first. Gal iv. 9, and we choose him, because he chooseth us first. We joy and delight in him, because he joys and delights in us first, AU is a reflex from him, whatsoever of good comes from us. This was the third thing. We made thence use of it, and so brake off. To go on. The fourth thing which I propounded to speak of out of the words is this, that this love of God to us may he known, and ought to be known of us. It may be known with an experimental and with an applicatory know ledge. The next was, that the way to know God's love to us, is the mani festing of his name in the gospel : that foUows by the connection of them two together ; and the last is, Christ being in us, which I cannot come to at this time. So then now, to clear this point, that we may, and it is our duty to do it, to labour to know Ood's love io us. We ought to labour that 888 THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING. God's love may be in us, and that we may know it, not generally that he loves us, but that his love is in us, that it is mcorporate and invested into us, to have a taste and be sensible of it. For this is the end of Christ a prayer, ' That the love wherewith thou lovest me may be in them,' &o. And the next way to know it, which we shall speak of at this time among the rest, it is this, ' The manifesting of God's name by Christ.' For the first then. . Doct. 1, That we may, and ought to know God's love to us m Christ. That we ought to know it ; what need I be large in the point ? I wiU not, because it is so clear. For if it be, as I shewed the last day at large, the spring of aU duties, of aU other graces, which sets aU on work, then surely we ought to labour for that which may make us good, and not only good, but comfortable. Now aU our goodness, and comfort, it comes from this original, the knowledge of God's love to us, when that is in us, for we have no love to him untU we know that we are beloved of him. 1, We cannot be thankful to Ood till we know that he loves us in Christ. I speak of his pecuUar love as a chUd, Who can be thankful for that which he knows not ? It overthrows aU thankfulness and denies it. We ought to labour for the assurance of the love of God in Christ, For it is a duty to joy in the Lord as our portion. Now we must be certain of his love first. How else can we practise this duty of rejoicing in the Lord alway ? What joy and cheerfulness can come without the love of God shining upon us and enlarging our hearts to joy ? As the shining of the sun enlargeth the spirit of the poor creatures, the bfrds, in the spring time, to sing, so proportionably the apprehension of the sweet love of God in Christ enlargeth the spirit of a man, and makes him full of joy and thanks-^ giving. He breaks forth into joy, so that his whole life is matter of joy and thanksgiving, 2, Again, In suffering any cross, any opposition, who will endure to lose his temporal goods, his life and liberty, to be restrained any way, that knows not Ood's love ? Who vrill abide anything for him that he loves not ? What doth set us to suffer all things that may be for God ? The appre hension that he loves us. What makes a man wUling to end his life, and to yield up his soul to God ? He knows he shall yield his soul to him as to a father that loves him, that will save his soul. Can a man be willing to leave his home here, when he knows not whether he shall have a better or no ? Can a man commend his soul to one that he knows not to be his friend ? No. Can he commend such a jewel to one that he knows not but to be an enemy ? Can he say with Simeon, ' Lord, let thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation'? Luke U. 29. Doth not all joy and comfort come from the love of God in Christ? What should I enlarge the point? We can neither have grace, nor joy, nor suffer anything with thankfulness, nor end our days with joy and comfort, till we get assurance that we are in the covenant of grace, and that God's love is in us. And therefore it is clear to anybody that knows anything in religion, or desires anything, that we ought to labour that God's love may be in us, I beseech you, therefore, make use of it to see the abominable doctrine of popery— I cannot speak too hardly of it — which teacheth that we ought to doubt of God's love. It cuts the sinews of endeavour. Who will endea vour after the attaining of the love of God, and this assurance, when this is laid in the way, that we ought not to do it ? Are we not prone enough to distrust, but we must be taught it ? Is not Satan malicious enough. THE MATCHLESS LQ-VE AND INBEING. 389 but we must Ught a candle to him, and arm his malice with this doctrine, that we ought to doubt ? He is the master of doubtings ; for the works of darkness, and all the discomfort and sin that he brings on us is in dark ness, in this particular darkness, that we know not whether we be the children of God or no. And therefore, say some, why should we leave our gain, our profit, and our present pleasures that we have ? And what doth he aim at by the sins he tempts us to, but to shake our assurance of God's love ? Well, they teach the doctrine of devUs in divers things, amongst which this is one that strengthens the kingdom of Satan much, that people ought to doubt, and that there is no way or means to get assurance of God's love. This is to overthrow the intent of Christ's prayer. Wherefore doth he pray here, and what doth he promise in his prayer ? That God would shew them his love, and that he may do it: 'I have declared thy love,' &c. So it is clear that we ought to answer Christ's aim. Why doth Christ declare his Father's name ? And why are aU the means of salvation, but that we may have God's love in us ? Is it not our duty, then, to answer Christ's course, and his promise, and his love ? Taking that, then, for a ground, that we ought to labour to have God's love to be in us, we will shew that we may attain to it, and come to know that God loves us, I will not be long in it, it is a clear point, which heretofore, upon another occasion, I have spoken of. We may attain to it. Here is the way, as I shall shew in the next point, ' By the declaration of God's name.' For what is faith, which is the work of the gospel and grace of the new covenant, but the apprehension of the love of God in Christ ? It is nothing else ; and therefore we may attain to it in the covenant of grace. Faith is nothing but the act whereby we apprehend this effectual love of God to us in Christ, Therefore we that are Christians may attain to it, because we have the Spirit of God, which ' searcheth the deep things of God,' 1 Cor, iii, 10, Our spirit knows what is in us, and God's Spirit knows what is in God, and we have the Spirit of God to shew us the things of God, and all the benefits and fruits of his love, with the affection itself. The Spirit searcheth the deep things of God, as it is in 1 Cor, ii, 10, It is a point I have heretofore followed at large, I A Christian in the covenant of grace, he knows that God loves him. There j is no truth in the world so illustrious, so gloriously and apparently* true, I as this. Would you have a better pledge of his love than Jesus Christ, the Son of his love, to be given for us, the dearest thing that God hath ? He would not have us doubt of his love that hath given such an invaluable thing as his own Son to assure us of it, besides all that comes from this ; for if he have given him once, he gives all things with him. He that hath given us his Son for our Redeemer and Saviour, he gives us heaven for our inheritance, and his Spirit for our conduct, guide, and sanotifier, Rom, -viU, 82, He hath given angels for our attendants. He gives us peace, and joy, and aU things. In Christ, we have aU. But here, because it is a main point, I will enlarge myself a little, and speak as familiarly as I can to every conscience. Quest. 1, How shaU a sinner, that is not yet converted, be persuaded of God's love to him ? Quest. 2, And how shall we, in the time of temptation, deal with sinners in the state of grace ? I speak of the ordinary course, how a Christian may be persuaded of it. For the first, which is, how those that are unconverted may be drawn to the sense of the love of God, to find that they have any * That is, ' manifestly,' — G, 390 THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING, portion in it at aU, that they may have it for the time to come, though they feel not yet any goodness in them, Ans. 1, I answer. We must draw them to a sense that they are not yet in the love of Ood, by those things, that their corruptions suggest to them to mea sure the love of Ood by. As, for example, you have a company that think their case is good, because God hath given them outward blessings, and accompanies his blessings with patience and long-suffering; gives them parts and gifts, and preferments in the church ; gives them place, great estimation, and such things. Hereupon they begin to reason, Certainly God is in love with me ; though, if a man should search thefr lives and examine them, you shall find that there is no act, no evidence of God's special love to them at all. Such, therefore, must be convinced, that they must not measure God's love by these things ; that that which is common to castaways cannot be a character and sign of God's love ; but these things are common to castaways. Did Abraham give Ishmael, and the rest of his children, moveable things ? but Isaac had the inheritance. Gen, xxv, 6, seq. Esau had his portion in the things of this life, but Jacob goes away with the blessing. The blessings of the left hand, castaways and repro bates may have in abundant measure, God fills their bellies with abun dance of outward things, whose hearts he never fiUs with his love, as in Dives, Luke xvi. 25, Not to enlarge myself, look on such instances. What tend they to, but to shew that these outward things are no evidences of God's love ? and for God's patience in enduring me in such a state as I am in, that is no argument. For God in his patience endures the vessels of -wrath, who treasure up ' wrath against the day of wrath,' Rom, ii, 4, 5, God suffering them to prolong their days in judgment, that so he may pour the full vials of his wrath upon them. He suffers them, to lead them unto repentance ; and they, not making a right use of it, God after justifies his vengeance and judgment the ' more, when he pours it upon them, so that plenty in outward things, accompanied with patience, is no true sign of God's love. Like think of parts and gifts. Had not Judas exceUent parts ? Nay, the devil himself, who comes near him in the depth of understanding and policy ? &o, Judas had a place in the church, he was an apostle. And for gifts, Ahithophel and Saul had gifts of government, AU these are no evidences- of the love of God to be in us as yet, or that he hath any interest in us. The way, therefore, to bring those that have not the love of God to love God, is to shew them their vain confidence, that they trust to a broken reed, and to that which in the time of sickness, the hour of death, and the day of judgment, wiU deceive them, seeing they trust unto a cracked title, WeU, if the consciences of such as are not yet in the state of grace be once awaked, we may thus draw them to be within the compass of the love of God, Otherwise, when they see the vanities of other things, and likewise that there is sin in them, somewhat that lays them open to the wrath of God, then Satan wiU help their conscience, Satan and thefr con science wiU teU them ofttimes all, and make them reason, As for such a wretch as I, there is no hope ; I had as good go on in a sinful course, and have somewhat in this world, as to want heaven and the comforts of this life too. And so Satan keeps them in darkness, because they think it is to no purpose to go about another course, and that it is impossible they should come to assurance. Such kind of conceits he hath. But we must know, that in the covenant of grace now in the gospel, this' is not put as a bar of God's love, that I am a sinner, that I have committed! THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING. 391 j any degree of sin whatsoever. None are shut out but those that wiU be as j they are. And therefore all objections are taken away in the promulgation of the gospel. Ay, but I am guilty, and Oh, I am laden with sin ! ' Be of good comfort, thou art called, thou art the man. Come unto me aU ye that are weary and heavy laden,' Mat, xi, 28, Oh that I might find mercy, says one. Why, ' Blessed are the hungry and thirsty ; blessed are the poor in spirit ; blessed are the moumers,' Mat, v, 3, 4 ; and ' Ho, every one that thirsteth, come,' Isa, Iv, 1, There is hope for thee. He keeps open house for every one. He shuts out none but those that shut out themselves, that think these things are too good to be true, and there fore will enjoy their pleasures, and go on still and daub with their con science. But if thefr hearts be awakened, if they wiU go to God and cast themselves upon his mercy, whosoever is weary, whosoever is athirst, who soever is hea-vy laden, God is no accepter of persons, but at ' what time soever any sinner whatsoever repents of any sin whatsoever,' God will shew mercy, if he come in and accept of the proclamation of pardon, Ezek, xviii, 22, If he come in, and will not continue in his rebellion still, but cast himself upon his mercy, and resign, and yield himself to God and to Christ's government, to be ruled by him, as a subject should be, he shall find mercy. Let the devil, therefore, keep none in bondage, in the dun geon of ignorance and unbelief, for the end of the gospel is to bring in all such, if they will. But to come more particularly to such as have true goodness in them, and yet the de-vil takes all advantages to hinder the apprehension of God's love to them in Christ, Quest. 2, How shall we in divers states and cases bring men to be persuaded of God's love in Christ, when conscience and Satan, together with some out ward occurrents, urge them to unbelief and to stagger ? For instance, a sinner that is converted and in the state of grace, he may ofttimes fall into some great sin ; hereupon Satan, taking advantage of the sin, together with conscience, which always helps Satan in this case, speaks bitter things, Ans. 1, Thus we must answer such as are drawn by Satan to sin, and after accused by Satan for sin, and to whom God is presented as a hateful God, &c,, that notwithstanding they should not he discouraged. We have many examples in Scripture : ' If* we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Christ Jesus,' &c,, 1 John ii, 1 ; and he is the propitiation for our sins. We ought not, therefore, to be discouraged from going to God, humbled as we ought to be. Here is place for humiliation, but there is no place for base discouragement, and calling God's love into question, A son under anger is a son ; and therefore, though Satan presents to him an angry God for sin — for this temptation is then sharpened indeed, when it ismade a weapon by Satan, by reason that God accompanies the sinner that is fallen into sin, with some judgment as a punishment— yet he ought to lay hold on the rich mercies of God in Christ, What should he else do ? ShaU he run away from God ? No, A bastard, a slave, wiU do so ; but he runs to God, Even as a chUd, when he hath offended his father, doth not run away from him ; but, knowing ,that his father is merciful and loving, though he have offended him, and that he is now a son, though under his wrath, he goes and studies to appease his father, casts himself upon his favour and mercy, and wiU endure his correction gently. Thus ought we to do, Satan, when he hath gotten us to sin, he saith. Now you had as good run on stiU, for God foUows you with judgments ; you have offended 392 ' THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING, God, and there is no hope for you. So he keeps us without comfort,'and God without service, by that means ; whereby we ran deeper and deeper into God's books. Oh come m betimes, and repent. It wiU be easier. Thy comfort wiU be stronger. God wiU be sooner pacified. Thy heart wiU not be so hardened. Do not caU in- question God's love to thee ;_ for Satan tempts, and corrupts, and draws thee to sin, for that end, to caU it m question, God may love thee, though he foUow thee with shows of anger ; for he may be angry, and yet love thee too, as we shaU see afterwards, Ans. 2, Again, Satan doth use as a weapon, to shake our sonship or adoption, and our estate in God's love, manifold temptations and crosses, and such like, to discourage us. He comes with ' If,' ' If thou wert in the love of God, and the love of God in thee, and did belong to thee any , way, would God foUow thee thus and thus, with these declarations of wrath and anger ?' I answer, A man may retort that upon Satan the tempter, and upon his own heart. The spirit retorts that upon the fiesh : ' God corrects eveiy son, and he is a bastard that hath not correction,' Heb, xii, 8, In this world, to thrive in a course of sin, when a man hath offended God, it is a sign of reprobation rather than otherwise. Every child God corrects ; and for poverty, shame, and the like, we must not measure God's love by these, for God loves us as he loved Christ. Mark here Christ's prayer : ' That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them,' Quest. How was God's love in Christ ? To fence him from poverty, from disgrace, from persecution, from the sense of God's wrath ? No. But the first-begotten Son, the natural Son, he was persecuted as soon as he was born ; he was disgraced, calumniated, slandered, and abused to the death. Nay, and he felt the wrath of God, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ' Mat, xxvii, 46, We then may be in the love of God if we be no otherwise than. the natural Son was, in whom the love of God was when he was at the worst. In the lowest degree of his abase ment, God loved him then as much as at any other time, even when he was accompanied with the sense of the wrath of God, And therefore reject and beat back all temptations with this invincible argument. It is no other wise with me than it was with his natural Son. Shall I desfre to be loved any otherwise of God than Christ was loved ? His love to Christ did not exempt him fr-om slander, from disgrace, from abasement, from the sense of his wrath, when yet he was the Son of God always ; and I, being in this case, shall I doubt of my adoption ? Shall I dishonour God ? Shall I add this sin to the rest of my sins ? Satan is wonderful prone to take these weapons, to sharpen them, as I said before, of sin, desertions, sometime of temptations and outward afflic tions; and so he comes with his 'If,' ' If thou wert the Son of God, would he deal thus and thus with thee ? ' It was alway his course. We must therefore have present, to repel all such temptations, that God loves us as he loves his Son, that he chastiseth every son ; and that God's love is not always and only manifested in exempting of us from these things. Let us measure God's love that he bears to us in Christ, by the best fruits of his love. What are those ? An heart to seek him ; to fear his name ; love to his majesty ; love to his children ; delight in good things ; hatred of that which is evil. None but his can esteem and value his love by these things. By these therefore, and the like peculiar marks and stamps of the Spirit that are in us, let us judge of his love, and not by any outward thing whatsoever ; for all outward crosses whatsoever befell his own Son, And THE MATCHLESS LO-VE AND INBEING. 393 can we desire that he should love us otherwise than he loved him ? We are predestinate to be conformable unto him, Rom. viii. 29, and why should we refuse to be conformable to him in abasement, with whom we hope to be conformable in glory ? Let faith therefore plead against aU the sugges tions of Satan and accusations of conscience. By faith in the word of God persuade we ourselves that we are in the love of God, If we find any evidences of his love in our spirits, we shaU come to them by and by. But, first, I will name one or two directions how we may come to have God's love in us, and how to know that his love is in us, 1, We may come to have his love in us, if we be careful to preserve our selves under the means of salvation, and if so we do present Ood to ourselves, as he is presented in our glorious gospel. When we are convinced of sin first (I speak of such as are convinced thoroughly of a sinful state, such may come to the knowledge of God's love in Christ by the gospel, and by pre senting God to their souls as he is presented in the gospel, to be the Father of mercy and the Father of Christ, The devU he puts other colours upon God : he presents him as a tyrant, as a judge, as a revenger, as one that hates him, 2, Again, Labour to be such as Ood may love us. God loves his own image. Wherefore doth he love Christ, but because he perfectly repre sents him ? If we would come to have God's love in us, beg of him, that by his Spirit he would stamp his Ukeness in us ; that as he is Ught, we may be light ; as he is love, so we may have love ; as he is pitiful, so we may have our hearts enlarged ; as he is free in love, so we may be free in love ; and that we may be holy, as he is holy ; that as he hates sin, so we may hate it ; that we may joy in him, affect what he doth affect, hate that which he hates ; that so he may look upon us, as his own image, and deUght in us, as the representation of his own likeness, 3, Again, We may come to have God's love, by more and more sequester ing ourselves and our affections from conformity with his enemies ; for this helps the other. If we would be like to God, and so come to have him delight and solace himself in us, we must withal labour to be unlike the world and wicked persons, that are yet in the state of corruption and dan ger of damnation. Let us labour not to conform ourselves to them, but to frame ourselves clean of another fashion ; for you know, if we fashion our selves to the world, the world is not of God, but it is God's enemy. How shall God delight in us, when we deUght in courses that are sinful, wretched, and worldly ? The world must perish, be condemned, as Paul saith, ' God afflicts us that we should not be condemned with the world,' 1 Cor, xi, 32. The world lies in mischief. Our especial care, therefore, must be, that we have no correspondency with it, 4, But especially, to come to that which I intend to make a distinct point, hy the Spirit, and Christ's manifesting of Ood himself in the gospel : ' I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them.' Exhortation. Beg of Christ, therefore, the spirit of revelation, as it is Eph, i, 17, that you may know what is the exceeding love of God in Christ ; and see the height, and breadth, and depth of God's love in him. Beg of Christ to shew the Father to us. You know what that holy man said in the gospel, ' Shew us the Father, and it is sufficient,' John xiv, 8, So desire we no more but to see the Father once. We must go to Christ, that he would shew us the Father ; and we must go to God the Father to dis cover his Son, For either or both discover the other, God draws us to 394 THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING, Christ, ' There is none come to me,' saith Christ, ' but the Father draws them,' And Christ opens and discovers the Father to us, and the Holy Ghost discovers them both ; for as he proceeds from both, so he shews us the love of both. He shews us the love of the Father and the Son, Labour, therefore, for the manifestation of Christ, that Christ would manifest his Father's love to us, and that God would manifest Christ by his Spirit : that the Father would give us his Spirit, and the Son would give us his Spirit, which is his love. For God's love is always with God's Spirit, This Spirit comes from him, and his love is always with his Spfrit, The same Spirit that sanctifieth us, that witnesseth, is the Spirit of love. Now Christ doth manifest this. We must not only pray, but we must know how Christ manifests himself. Christ doth manifest God's name to us, as I said before, which is his truth. He opens the understanding by his Spfrit, and then he speaks to every man's particular soul by his Spirit. ' I am thy salvation ;' he gives faith, &c., Luke xxiv, 45, AU knowledge of God's love is from the know ledge of the gospel, together with his Spfrit, For how can I know that God loves me, but by his own word and Spirit, by his own Son, Christ ? I say, the Spirit and the word, which are divine, they persuade me of God's love. That must be above nature, above Satan, and above all opposition whatsoever, that convinces my heart of God's love in Christ, The arguments must be divine, taken out of God's truth ; and those traths must be set on by the Spirit of God, which is above my spirit, and by Christ, God and man, who sends his Spirit, This will silence aU objections whatsoever that the heart can make, as indeed our hearts are full of cavUs against the love of God, God's Spirit wiU do it by Christ, together with the truth, the word and Spirit going together. And therefore, because I cannot enlarge myself, beg the Spirit of revelation ; and because the Spirit and word go together, attend always upon the word, and think the pro mises are God's promises, and desire that Christ would set the promises upon our hearts, that we may know the things that belong to us in par ticular. ' Use. Well, if this be so, that the declaring of God's favour and mercy is the way that his love may be in us, as it is, then what shall we think of those that are enemies to the declaration of the name of God, the preaching of the gospel, to the reading of Scripture ? They are enemies of our comfort and of God's glory. For how shall I know that God loves me, but by declaring his name by the word, and by the Spirit ? Christ by the Spfrit and by the word declares his Father's name, and so I come to know the Father's love to me. How pitiful is the estate of those souls that Uve where there is no means, no word of God, no declaring of God's name ? Can the love of God be in them ? No ; this manifesting of God's love, it is with the manifestation of the truths of the gospel, ' I have manifested thy name in the teaching of the word, that thy love may be in them,' Let us therefore be persuaded to attend upon the means of salvation, and upon the Spirit of God, together with the means, God will work together with the means of salvation, and persuade our hearts of his love to us in Christ, if we attend meekly upon them, at one time or other. Obj. Oh, but I have attended long upon the meai^s, and have prayed, and yet I cannot find the love of God to me. Ans. 1. Wait, wait a while ; aU are not caUed at one hour. Josias was caUed when he was young, 2 Chron, xxxiv, 2 ; and so Timothy, 2 Tim. THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING. 395 IU, 15, and Joseph when they were young ; Paul when he was old. Those that were converted at Peter's sermon were men of years. Acts ii, 38. Wait ; the good hour wiU come. God perhaps wUl have thee under the law a little longer before thou come under grace. He will con-vince ,thee of thy cursed estate thou art in by nature, make thee see thyself more vUe ; and when he hath wrought and perfected the work of humiUation, then in time call thee. Leave not the porch of wisdom's house, leave not the manifestation of God's truth ; for in time God wUl speak to thee, and will say to thy soul that he is thy salvation. To come -to an evidence or two of this estate, 1. We may know that we have the love of God in us, among other things, if we come by this love by the manifestation of Ood's name, the mani festation of the truth of God, which is his name revealed in the gospel ; if we have the love that we pretend we have of God in us, we can say it came by the declaration and manifestation of God's trath with his Spirit ; from thence I came to know God's love to me. 2, I may know it likewise in that I love God again freely. He hath loved me, and therefore I love him, I wiU not offend him, if it were to save my life. I love his truth so, I value it as a pearl, above all things, I could sell aU, I could part with aU, rather than with that. Therefore God's love hath been heretofore certainly made known to me, in that I so love God and value his truth, 8, Seasonable afflictions (which the devU moves us to think evidences of God's hatred), they are evidences of his love, if they he sanctified, to make us jealous of our ways, and to see the depth of our corruptions the more, that we can never see sufficiently in this life. They are arguments of God's love. But especiaUy this, 4, If our love to Ood come from the word and Spirit, and from good things, that are manifested from thence. When thou dost find God's love in thee in regard of some beginnings of faith, hope, love, hatred of evil, and that there is peace, and joy, and such like things in thee, which are peculiar, then comfort thyself in thy portion, whosoever thou art, whatsoever estate thou art in for outward things, St Paul, we see, for outward matters, what a kind of man he was. He reckons up his own afflictions and abase ments ; but how full of thankfulness was he, because he knew that God loved him in Christ, that God's love was in him ! 2 Cor, xi. 26. Our Saviour, Christ, what did he care for all these outward things ? He knew his Father loved him. Let us therefore labour to have our part and por tion in this peculiar love of God, and to be assured that God's love is in us ; and for other matters, let us leave them to God's wisdom, who knows what is good for us, and beg of God thus : Lord, I do not ask of thee riches, I ask not glory, I ask not preferment in the world, I ask none of these : I ask thy love, in which all is that is good. For the love of God it is a rich love, as that love that he bears to his Son, If he love me once, he loves me as he loves his Son, Now, he loves him freely, and richly, and un changeably, and with an incomparable love, God's love both to him and us, it is an incomparable love. For what is the love of a father but a drop from his love ? And what is the love of a mother ? ' Can a mother forget her child ? Yet if she could, I would not forget thee,' saith God, Isa, xlix, 15, So David, ' When my father and mother forsook me, God took me up,' Ps, xxvii, 10, Behold the incomparable love of God to us ! And therefore if we have that, we have all that is good. The love of God, though with afflictions, with crosses, with whatsoever 396 THE MATCHLESS LO-VE AND INBEING. in the world is contrary, yet it is the most desirable estate ; for one gUmpse of God's fatherly countenance in Christ, it will make us in such a case as we shaU not care for any affliction whatsoever, Paul in the dungeon, God gave him a taste of his love, and what did he care for whipping? for the darksomeness, for the nastiness and noisomeness of the prison ? Acts xvi, 25, He was, as it were, in paradise, God's love was in him. If God's love be in us, if we be with Daniel in the Uons' den, the den shaU be a kind of paradise, I say, where God is, there is paradise ; yea, indeed, where God's love is, there is heaven itself, _ So we have God's love, it is no matter what we want ; nay, it is no matter in what- state of misery we are in this world. If God have kindled love in us, there is no such sweet estate. If it come from God, it wiU make us digest anything. Love it will put such life in us, that we shaU want or suffer anything quietly. When we feel the love of God in us, that he loves us to immortality, that he loves us to Ufe everlasting, to an inheritance immortal and undefiled, that he loves us in things that accompany salvation, peculiar blessings, this will swallow up all discouragements whatsoever, it will make us be in heaven before our time. The sense of the love of God, when it is shed into our hearts, as it is Rom, V. 5, what will it do ? It will make all tribulations, afflictions, crosses, and wants sweet unto us. ' The love of God,' saith he, ' is shed into our hearts by the Spirit,' When the Spirit of Christ Jesus is shed into our hearts, and witnesseth to us the love of God and of Christ, it makes us rejoice under hope, triumph in all tribulation, in all estates whatsoever, as he saith excellently, Rom, v, 8-5, But now to add one thing. Quest. When doth Christ manifest his Father's love most to us by the Spirit? Ans. I answer. This is not at all times alike. For it is with a Christian's soul as it is with the days of the year, or the seasons of the day. There is foul and fair, there is darkness and light, there is an intercourse, not always an even apprehension to us of God's love in Christ at all times, God sees reasons why it should not be so. Among many there are these, 1, To sharpen our desires of heaven, which is a constant, immutable, unchangeable estate, 2, And Ukewise to make us watchfid, that when we have tasted of God's love we do not lose it, 3, To make us observe how we lose it at first, that so we may recover it again, 4, To be a correction to us likewise for our boldness to sin, and keeping carnal company, Sc. Many ends God hath to withhold the taste and sense of his love to us, that we may fear him at one time as well as at another. Quest. But when is it most of aU ? Ans. God's love is in us most when we stand most in need of it, in extremities. When no creature can help us, when we stand most in need of the manifestation of God's love, we have it. When do parents shew their love most of aU ? Is it not in the extremities of their children ? Then they [bejmoan them, and pity them, whom before in the time of health they corrected sharply. But now they see the child is sick and distempered, now they shew all love to it. So when all comforts are taken away, then God's comforts come in place, and then especially; for then they are known to be God's, who doth all things as shaU be most for his glory. Then it is most for his glory to help when none else can, and then it is most for the THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING, 397 comfort of a poor distressed Christian ; for then God comes, as it were, immediately, and doth help even to the ravishing of the soul. If a prince or a king, not sending any messenger, should come to a man immediately, in his own person, and should say to him. Fear not, you shall want nothing, you shall have the best encouragement I can, &c,. Oh what a comfort would it be to any man ! Yet what are aU these to the sweet report of God's love in Jesus Christ? When nothing else can help us, then God's Spirit comes immediately to us, and tells us, Be of good comfort, heaven is yours, God is yours, Christ is yours : all is yours to work for your good. And he doth not only feed them with promises, but enlargeth the soul with present comfort. Who would therefore be discouraged from enduring anything for God's name, being cast into extremity, when that is the time specially to feel God's love more than at other times ? the sense and feeling whereof in Christ is the best estate in the world. There is no estate comparable to the sense of God's love. What makes heaven heaven, as it were, but the sense of his love ? of his sweet fatherly face in Christ shining upon us in his Son, and persuading of us that we are his sons ? Why, this divine comfort that comes from the favour of God, it is that that makes all nothing, commands all the creatures, rebukes all, Satan and all. The beams of such a rich and gracious God is above aU discouragements ; for they are human or diabolical ; they go no higher ; and if they be discouragements from the sense of the wrath of God, from divine desertion, when God shews himself an enemy, yet when he discovers himself a friend and a father in Christ, they all vanish, even as a cloud, as a mist, before the sun. What are all earthly discouragements to the sense of God's love in Christ ? Thus we see how God's love is manifested to us by manifesting of God's name by Christ, and when especially, and to what end : ' That thy love may be in them,' saith Christ, Use 1, Do but raise these thoughts in your meditations, what a compre hensive thing this is that Christ aims at in his prayer, and in his endeavour ; ' I have declared thy name, and I will,' &c. Is not this therefore a main thing that we should aim at, that Christ aims at? Must not this needs be an excellent state, to have the love of God in us ? Let us therefore, to conclude all for this time, have it in our thoughts, and in our aims, that God's love may be in us. It is no matter who hates us, if God loves us ; if God and his love be present with us, it is no matter what troubles be present. Though we be in the valley of the shadow of death, if God be with us, and the assurance of his love to our hearts, it is an heaven upon earth. Rejoice in your portion, whosoever you be, that find the love of God to you in regard of the best things. We see it is the aim of Christ's prayer, and of his endeavour. It is the aim of the declaration of the gospel, that God's love may be in you ; that when God, in regard of his Spirit, and grace, and comfort, is in you, you may have a rich portion. Would you have more than God himself, and his love ? What if you want a beam ? You have the sun itself, God's love. You want perhaps riches or friends ; ay, but you have God's love, which is a wise love. If he saw it were for your good, you should not want them. If you want a stream, you have the spring itself. Rejoice there fore in this your portion ; let it be an argument to comfort you, and an argument and motive of endeavour to us all, to labour to find this love of God in us ; and to root and purge out of your souls aU other things that cannot stand with the love of God. Desire God by his Spirit to subdue 398 THE MATCHLESS LQ-VE AND INBEING, in US, and to work out of us mightily, by the strong operation of his blessed Spirit, whatsoever cannot stand with his love in Christ ; that he would reign and rule in us by his blessed Spirit ; that he would make us such, that he might, as it were, keep his court in us ; that he would make our hearts, as it were, an heaven for himself to dwell in ; that he would cast down aU high and proud thoughts whatsoever; that his love may be in us. Use 2, And when we want any grace, pitiful hearts, love to men or God, we must take the method here laid down. I know all this comes from the want of the feeling of God's love to me ; for if God's love were rooted in my heart, if it were as hard as steel, it would make it flexible, pliable, piti ful, and tender to others, and I should love God again. My heart is cold and dead ; what is the reason of it ? I feel not God's love, and therefore it should edge our prayers thus : ' Lord, let me feel thy love in Christ ; I cannot love holy duties without the manifestation of thy love ; and there fore manifest thy love to my soul,' ' I give you a new commandment,' saith Christ, ' that ye love one another,' John xiii, 34, Quest. Why, whence comes this commandment of love to the brethren in the gospel to be a new commandment ? Sol. Because the declaring of the name of God, of his mercy, and of his love in Christ, gives us new hearts ; and where there is more manifestation of God's mercy, there is more love to others ; and therefore, because there is a new enlargement of God's love in Christ, therefore it is a new com mandment. The heart is set on fire now with the love of God, which is manifested in Christ, which was not declared before. And therefore, if we would have new hearts for this new commandment, this love to God and to others, let us labour to have the declaration of the name of God ; more of the mercy of God in Christ ; more declaration by his word and Spirit ; that so by his sanctified means, having his love in us, we may have new hearts, new love, and new affections to one another. This is the way, in the want of grace, to come to get the love of God in Christ ; desfre him that he would by his Spirit reveal himself, and reveal Christ to us ; and that we may see the dimensions of his love, ' the height, and breadth, &c., of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,' Eph, iii, 19, and then all our grace and comfort will follow. When we are in darkness we are glad to come into the light of the sun ; so when we have any distemper in our souls, let us come to this light of God's love in Christ, and by oft meditation of God's word, see there how ' he presents himself to ns a father in covenant ; not only a friend, but a | father, a gracious father; beg with all means, with reading, with hearing,! with conference, with God's Spirit, to reveal his fatherly affection in Christ, and for other things they will be easy. I speak this the rather, because men go plodding upon duties, and take not a right method. When we find any distemper and deadness of spirit, search what is the cause of it. If it be negligence, irreverence, or any such thing, let us repent, and do the first works. But let us always take this in : ' Lord, shew thyself, shew thy love ; thy pardoning love first, and then thy curing love ; thy forgiving love, and then thy giving love, I am in a sinful state, forgive that which is amiss, and give me that which I want ; shew thy large love every way, both in giving and forgiving ; heal me and cure me ; let me feel this thy love in the sweetest peculiar fruits of it ;' and then reformation wiU foUow upon aU, then our care wUl be continual, when we have the love of God so to walk as that we may abide in that love, and that love in us, that we do not displease him, nor give occasion of distaste. THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING, 899 Therefore there must be a great deal of reverence and love, much humility and watchfulness, if we would preserve ourselves in the love of God, For when one hath once tasted of his love, it is his desire alway to taste it, to taste how gracious the Lord is, Ps, xxxiv, 8. If we therefore would so do, let us watch narrowly, as he that would keep his acquaintance and love with a great person. For we must know the distance between the great God and us. There must be humility. Humble thyself, and walk with thy God, and ' make an end of your salvation with fear and trembling,' Philip,ii, 12, With a fear of jealousy, especially that we grieve not the Spfrit, that ' seals us to the day of redemption,' Ephes. iv, 80, And there fore, if we have the Spirit witnessing this love, which is the cause of all comfort and aU grace, grieve not the Spirit, quench not the Spfrit, When the motions of it come, resist not the gracious Spirit with carnal delights ; let the Spirit have a full work ; let us lie open to the Spirit of God, God's love reigns in us then, when we will do nothing contrary to it. Now the sweetest fruit of it in us is his Spirit, Let us not quench nor resist the Spirit, but cherish it by all duties, and by all holy means. One day led thus by a Christian, though with some conflict with corruption, in the taste and sense of God's love to him in Christ, is worth all contentment that this world can afford. And therefore David knew well enough -what he wished, Ps, iv, 6, when he desires ' neither corn, nor wine, nor oil,' Let them, saith he, desire what they will, but, ' Lord, shew me the light of thy countenance,' and in it I shall have all that I desire to have ; and without that I care neither for corn, nor wine, nor oil, nor any thing. So let it be our prayer that God would shew his love and mercy, that he would shew his love to us in Christ, which is better than life itself. And then for other things, be at a point, be indifferent. We see the apostles' prayers in thefr epistles, all of them being led by the same Spirit, They pray for grace, and mercy, and peace. Why do they not pray for all other things ? To shew if they had grace, and mercy, and the love of God, they have all. If we have not that, it is no matter what we have. But some other things there are to be unfolded, which must be referred till another time. THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING. SERMON II, That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. — John XVII, 26, I HAVE spoken at several times of this verse. We propounded formerly out of it these points to be handled : First, That the love wherewith God loves his own Son is the love where with he loves those that be in him. Secondly, That God loves his own Son best and first. Thirdly, That the love of God is the cause of all good to us. Fourthly, That this love of God may be known. Fifthly, 'That one way and ground to know that God loves us with that love he loves his own Son, is the manifestation of God's name : the mani festation of God's truth in the gospel. By that we come to know that God loves us ; for this is the coherence of the text, ' I have manifested thy name to them, that thy love may be in them,' So then, the scope, as we see hence, of the gospel, and the manifesting of it, is to lay open the riches of God's love to us, that we may know that God loves us in his beloved Son Christ Jesus, Indeed, so it is. For we have a throne of grace discovered to us in the gospel — God reconciled in Jesus Christ, All is love and mercy to those that are in Christ, ' I have manifested thy name, that thy love may be in them,' The more, therefore, God's name is manifested, God's truth and the covenant of grace, his love and mercy, his name whereby he is now known in the gospel, the more, I say, it is discovered and laid open, surely the more we know God's love, which is as a banner. Cant, ii, 4, ' displayed over us' in the gospel. The use of a banner, you know, was to draw swords under it. Now God's love in the gospel is displayed as a banner ; and therefore it hath an attractive, drawing force, to bring us under the sweet government of God in the gospel, because there we are under God's love ; and his love, where it is displayed, is like a banner. But this I shall have occasion to touch hereafter. The point that I am now to take in hand is this : That Christ doth mani fest his Father's name, his love, his mercy, his goodness and truth, ' that Ood's love may be in them, and himself in them.' We see, then, that God's love and Christ do go together. Wheresoever THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING. 401 his love is in the best things, there it is in Christ, and with Christ : ' That thy love may be in them, and I in them, ' This is etemal Ufe,'to know thee, and whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ,' John xvii, 3. AU comes from God's love to us, together with Christ and in Christ, Where Christ is not, there is not the love of God ; and where the love of God is, there is Christ, The sweet combination of the Trinity is not only a pattern of love and agreement to us, that we should love one another, but a main ground of comfort likewise ; for they join in love for our good. The Father loves us as he loves his Son, and with his Son, Where Christ is, there is his Father's love ; and where his Father's love is, there is Christ, ' I am in the Father, and the Father in me,' John x, 38, AU that the Father hath is mine, and all that I have is the Father's, I say, it is not only a pattern of agreement, that we should labour to agree as the Trinity, which is an exact form of unity, but it is a ground of special comfort ; they agree in our good and eternal salvation. The Father looks upon us as we are in his Son ; as he hath given us to him to bring us to salvation by his merit and passion, Christ looks on us as we are in the Father's love, ' Thou gavest them me ; ' and we look on ourselves, first, in Christ, and then in God's love, when we see ourselves in Christ. So that there is this mutual interview, God loves us as we are in his Son : he is in the Father, and we in Christ. We see ourselves in Christ, know ourselves in him, and love ourselves in him, as having our being and living in him, ^nd we are known by him, and his love is known by us, because they go both together, ' That thy love may be in them, and I in them,' ' And I in them,' We are in Christ, as the branch in the vine, as the members in the head, knit to it in the body ; and he is in us as the vine is in every particular branch ; as the head is in the members by his influence, imparting unto them life, regiment,* and motion, ' In them; ' that is, for the explication of the term, ' that I may be in them,' and dwell in them as in a temple, in a house ; that I may infuse strength into them, as the vine into the branches ; that I may impart spiritual life into them, as the head into the members. This is the end of my manifesting thy name, that I may be in them, that so thy love may be in them, I might hence observe — I will but touch it — that whosoever knows not Christ, nor hath a being in him, hath nothing to do with the Father, by combining of these two parts to gether, ' That thy love may be in them, and I in them,' ' I in them,' Doct. The end of Christ's manifesting his Father's name is, that he may ha in them, and that his Father's love may be in them. To unfold the connec tion a little, ' Quest. How doth this hang together, ' I have manifested thy name to them, that I may be in them ' ? As thus : Sol. God's mercy and truth in the gospel, the covenant of grace, are all in Christ, and for Christ. This being discovered and manifested to the soul, the soul sees the love of God in the gospel. There it is opened and discovered. There is offered God's love and mercy in forgiving sins, and in giving all privileges in Christ, not only discovered, but offered to aU beUevers that wiU receive Christ, Thus aU the good in him being dis covered and offered to the soul, hereupon it comes to lay hold upon Christ, » That is, ' government.' — G, VOL, VI. c c 402 THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING. and to embrace him, as offered of the Father, and presented unto it by the Spirit of God, given together with the gospel and the manifestation of it. The Spfrit works faith and belief in the heart, which closeth with Christ thus offered ; so Christ dweUs in the heart by faith. Faith ascends to heaven, and lays hold on Christ ; faith goes back to Christ crucified, and Christ dweUs in the heart by faith, Eph, iu, 17, Upon the manifestation and discovery of the Spfrit, it being given with manifestation, faith is wrought, by which Christ dweUs in the heart, ' I have manifested thy name, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them,' &c. Now, for some observable points, observe this, Doct. 2, Christ is in all believers. His further dweUing and discovering himself to believers is the end of this manifestation of God's name in the gospel, Christ is in them, as the vine is in the branches ; as the head is in the members, Christ is in them aU. Christ is in all believers. Here is a notable bond of union between them, Christ by his Spirit is in them aU, therefore they should all labour to be one, Christ is one in them all, not divided ; his Spirit is the same spirit in them all. It were an excel lent thing, if all the men in the world had the same thoughts, the same religion, the same aims, the same affection to good things, aU as one man. How strongly would they then be carried against any opposition whatso ever ! And how comfortable would they be in themselves, if aU had one heart, one aflection, one aim ! This should be, and this is the end of Christ's prayer. It is the end of all, to bring us aU to be one in ourselves, to be one in him and in the Father, Now here is one argument to enforce it, that all may agree in good things, in our aims, love, and affections. There is one Christ, there is one head of aU the members, ' I ia them,' We must take heed that we do not think this phrase to be a shallow phrase, as it is in common life. We say of two friends, there is one soul in two bodies, because the soul lives in the party loved ; and so to make it nothing but a matter of affection,* No ; ' I in them ;' that is, I dweU in them, because I love them ; so it would be, that we are in Christ because we love him ; and so Christ and we make one soul in two bodies, as though it were nothing but an unity, a dwelling in regard of the affection he bears to us. No ; I am in them, and I have manifested thy truth, that I may be further in them. It argues more than union in affection, as in marriage there is more than the union of love, there is the bond that interesteth the -wife in all the goods of her husband, Christ is in us more than in love, for he is in us indeed. Quest. Ay, but is he in us body and soul, and Godhead, and all ? What need this, as the papists will have him in the sacrament ? Sol. No ; but he is in us in regard of his human nature, because his Spirit is in us, and the same Spfrit that sanctified that nature, the same Spirit sanctifieth us. So there is an union between us and his human nature, though it be in heaven. As I said, the last day, of the sun ; the sun is in the house when the beams of the sun is there ; so when we find the efficacy of Christ, that Christ dweUs in us by his Spirit, though his human nature be not there, yet, notwithstanding, the power of the grace of Christ is there, because the same Spirit that sanctified his human nature sanctifies and comforts us, and doth aU, It is a wonderful working and operative being when Christ is said to be in us. Even as the vine doth • Cf, note b, Vol, II, p. 194,— G. THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING, 403 transfuse juice and life to the branch, whereupon it comes to be fruitful, so we must conceive deeply of this phrase, ' I in them,' To omit other things ; Quest. How shall we know that Christ is in us ? Sol. 1, This is one way, if Christ be bom in us once. If he.be in us by his Spfrit, he will work great matters in vs, there vrill presently he tumults in the soul. For Christ when he is in us, he comes not to friends, but he finds all in rebellion and in opposition ; when he is in us therefore, pre sently there are stirs in the soul. Even as, as soon as ever he was bom into the world, you know Herod was mightily troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Mat, ii, 3, Herod had Uttle cause, but much troubled he was. He thought one was bom that would have dispossessed him, and therefore he -was jealous, much troubled, and labours to kiU him if he could. So it is when Christ is bom in the soul, there are tumults. Those lusts that bare sway before, those desfres, do-wn they go, they plead prescription, and are loath to yield. Natural desires, that have been from before, are loath to yield to Christ, a new comer. He is as a new conqueror that comes with new laws, fundamentally new. He overturns all the laws of lust and of ¦the flesh. He comes in more strongly ; and thereupon in conversion, wheresoever Christ is bom, there is first a strife, the soul doth not presently yield to him. This is spoken of those that have not been converted from the beginning. There are some now in the bosom of the church, that have no violent conversion from a -wicked estate to a good. But from a less degree to a greater, they grow more and more. They have the Spirit of Christ from the beginning. They are not much troubled with such inward oppositions, 2. Where Christ is, he will drive out all that is contrary. As when he entered into the temple, he drave out the money-changers, and -whipped out those corrupt persons there. Mat, i, 12, so, as soon as ever he comes into the soul by his Spirit, out go those lusts, those desires that were there before, worldliness, profaneness, fury, and rage, wherewith the soul was transported before, that possessed the habitation that God should dwell in. When Christ comes in, he scourgeth out aU, Where these there fore are in any force, there certainly Christ is not, 3, Again, Where Christ is, he doth rule ; for he takes the keys of the house himself, and governs all in some measure. He gets into the heart, rules, and sets up a throne there. For I make account* if he go no deeper than the brain and tongue ; that is, to give him no better entertainment than he had when he was bom, to be put in a manger. No ; where he is — I mean, where he is in the heart and affections — there he rules ; and where he takes not his lodging in the affections and in the heart, in the joy, desire, and delight, he is not at all to any purpose. To have him in the brain to talk, and in the tongue to discourse, and to keep the heart for worldly lusts and such things, I account not this an inbeing of Christ to any purpose, to any comfort. Where Christ is comfortably, he takes his throne and lodging in the heart, he dwells in it by faith. By heart, I mean, especially, the will and affections. He draws the vriU to cleave to him, to choose him for the best good. And therefore where Christ dwells, there is an admiring of the exceUencies, and of the good things that are in him, and contentment in him above all things in the world. For he dweUs in the heart and affec tions, especially in the wiU, The wiU chooseth him to be an head and husband. It cleaves to him as the chief good. The affection of joy, it * Qu. ' no account ' ?— En. 404 THE MATCHLESS LQ-VE AND INBEING, joys in him above aU things. The affection of love and desire, of zeal in his cause, is strong against those that oppose him and his truth. Thus he takes up his seat and his throne in the heart wheresoever he is in truth, 4, And, therefore, this foUows upon that too. Where Christ is in the heart by faith, and takes up the affections, there is a base esteem, of all the excellencies in this world whatsoever. Moses did but see afar off the excel lency that came by Christ, and he accounted aU the pleasures of sin for a season to be nothing, Heb, xi, 27, and took upon him the rebuke of Christ rather. St Paul accounted all but dung and dross, PhUip, Ui, 8 ; all his former works, aU his pharisaical exceUency, and all things else he accounted as nothing, and of no value, having in his heart and soul an admiration of the all-sufficiency and exceUency in Christ, Zaccheus, as soon as ever Christ came once into his house— but he was in his heart before he was in his house, or else he had never done it — he grew liberal : ' Half my goods,' saith he, ' I give unto the poor,' Luke xix. 8, He loved extortion and base courses before, but now down they go, he will be no base dealer, no oppressor any more. No ; the half of his goods he gives to the poor, and he satisfies those whom he had wronged. And so the disciples, howsoever they were busied before, when Christ once took up his lodging in their hearts, and opened their spirits by his Spfrit, to see wherefore he came into the world ' to save sinners,' and opened their eyes to see the exceUency that was in him, away goes all the trash that they were exercised in before, that they might follow Christ. Matthew follows him presently, Luke v. 27 ; and so the rest. It is impos sible that the heart which entertains our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ into it, should have in over-much admiration any earthly excellency whatsoever. For it is the nature of the soul, upon the discovery of better things, to let the estimation of other things of less value to fall down presently. As we see in civil things, children, when they come to be men, they are ashamed of childish toys. So it is with a man that is converted : when Christ enters he so opens the understanding, and enlargeth the heart to see and admire better things, that presently it begins to care nothing for this world in com parison. Thus we see how we may know whether Christ hath taken his seat and lodging in us or no, 5, To go on a little further. If Christ be in us, he doth frame us to him self. He doth transform us to his own likeness, where he rules by the Spirit ; for he is such a head as changeth his members, such an husband as changeth his spouse, 2 Cor. Ui, 18, Moses could not change the com plexion of his Ethiopian wife : she was black, and he left her black. But Christ renews and changeth his spouse. He is such a head as quickens his members ; such a vine as puts Ufe in the branches. And therefore you may know by this altering,'changing, transforming power, whether he b6 in you or not. He alters and changeth us to his own likeness, that as he is set down in the gospel in his life, conversation, and disposition, so, if we have entertained him and he be in us, we should have the same disposition, the same mind, and the same wUl with him ; for he wiU alter us to him self, that he may take the more deUght in us. We shaU judge of things as he judgeth of them, we shaU judge meanly of outward things. There wiU be a delight to do our Father's wUl, as it was his meat and drink to do his Father's wiU, John iv, 34. We shaU have a spirit of obedience, as he had, to look to our Father's glory, and to his commandment in all things. We shall have compassion and melting hearts to the misery of others, as he had bowels yearning to see sheep without a shepherd. We shaU have humble THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING. 405 and meek hearts, as he had. ' Come, learn of me, for I am humble and meek,' Mat, xi, 29, For where he dwells, I say, and takes up his throne, he alters and changes the disposition in all things to be like his own. For when he comes to the soul, he takes up all the parts thereof, and keeps out all that may hinder his work. He takes up the eyes, the ears, the under standing, and the affections ; and even as we shut up the doors and windows against aU that is contrary to us, so the Spirit of Christ, where he is, shuts the door of the senses both to Satan and all his suggestions, and whatso ever else might hurt us, 6, Where he enters likewise, he possesseth the whole inward and outward man to himself. He changeth it like to himself ; he rules the eyes, the ears, the hands ; he renews all, that our delights are clean other than they were before. If there be such a power in his truth, that, like a scion engraffed, it doth change us into itself, certainly where Christ dweUs, he hath as much power as his word. His word is like leaven, which alters the_ whole lump to be Uke itself. For the word engraffed makes the soul that believes it heavenly like itself, 1 Cor. v, 6, How is this ? Because Christ comes with his word, leavens, alters, changeth, and turns the soul, Christ by his Spirit and word is said to do it, because the Spirit of Christ comes with the word, which doth all. Those therefore whose dispositions are contrary to Christ, Christ is not begotten in them. For certainly he doth alter and change and fit his temple for himself, and. drives out and chaseth thence, as I said before, all that is contrary ; and keeps the door of the senses, and possession against all. He useth every member as an instru ment of the Spirit and weapon of defence, 7, Again, You may know who dwells within, by what servants come out of the house, and who comes in. Would you know who dwells in the soul ? See what comes from within the house : filthy thoughts, blasphemous words, oaths, rotten discourse ; eyes full of adultery, ears open to receive that which may taint the soul. Who dwells here ? Christ ? No ; where nothing but filth comes out, the devil dwells there. These two are imme diate opposites ; there is no third ; either Christ or the devil dwells in us. Now when nothing comes out of a man but scorning of goodness, and that which is rotten and offensive — if there be other things, they come from the brain, and not from the heart ; they have no seat there — the devil is there ; Christ and his messengers are not there. There come no good thoughts, no good desires, no good speeches ; and is Christ there ? Is Christ in the heart, that drinks in corruption at all the senses ? that lets open all the senses to aU that is naught,* to hear all kinds of things that may cherish corraption, that wUl be at these corrupting exercises, that will see all that may blow up the flesh ? What is this within that is thus cherished ? Is Christ fed with filthy discourse, with filthy spectacles ? Doth Christ, in us, deUght in these things ? Oh no ! Who dweUs there, then, that is thus fed ? Sure the spirit that is there fed is the devil. The devU dweUs in our spirits, and in our corruptions, which are like the devil, in that pro portion that he dwells in us, and stirs us up to feed him with these things, to the destraction of the soul. No, no, from the heart where Christ is proceed often prayer, sighs, and groans to God, and fruitful discourses to others ; and aU the senses and passages of the body are open for good things. He hath desires to see that which is good, which may edify. He desires to speak, and to have others to speak, that which may feed the soul. The lips of the wise feed many,' saith Solomon, Prov. x, 21, So where * That is, ' naughty,' wicked.- G, 406 THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING. Christ is, Christ's Spirit is thus fed. Thus famiUarly have I discovered to you how you may know whether Christ be in you or no. Quest. What if he be not ? Sol. He must be, or else you are reprobates. So saith the apostle, 2 Cor, xiU, 5, ' Know you not that Christ is in you, except you be repro bates ?' He means not eternal reprobates, but this. If Christ be not myou, the devU and corruption are. Anatomise a camal man, and what is m him ? In his brain, a company of wicked plots and devices of the worid ; in his heart, a deal of love of the worid, and of money ; in his memory, matter of revenge ; in his conscience, that which wiU stare upon him at the day of death, and that which wiU damn him unless he repent. Examine yourselves, therefore. If Christ be not in you, you are reprobates ; and he that hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. I beseech you, there fore, take a trial, and enlarge the point in your own meditations. Examine what spirit is in you. If we find the Spirit of Christ to be in us,_as, indeed, he is in all his in some measure, what a comfortable state is this ! He is the best guest that ever we could entertain in this world, for he doth that to the soul that the soul doth to the body. What doth the soul to the body ? Whence hath the body the beauty that it hath ? whence the vigour that it hath to work with ? to move from place to place ? whence hath it government to rule itself? whence aU that is exceUent, good and useful ? From the guest that dweUs in it, the soul — ^the reasonable, understanding soul. For as soon as the soul is out of the body, the body is an ugly, deformed thing, a dead creature, unfit for anything. It cannot stir itself, a loathsome thing ; it cannot rule itself, a mere lump of earth. Now, as the soul is to the body, so is Christ to the soul, if he dweU there. For he gives beauty and loveliness unto it. He transforms it to his own Uke ness and image, that it may be the object of God's love ; that he may love us, not only because we are in his Son, but because his Son's image is in us. We have not only beauty from Christ dweUing in us, but where he is he works and stirs us to all holy and heavenly duties. 8. Where the Spirit is, there is often prayer, as Christ often prayed ; a perpetual endeavour of doing good, as his Spirit in him stirred him to go from place to place to do good. Where his Spirit is, there is holiness. If we consider what a sweet guest Christ is, where he is there is all beauty, work, comfort, strength, and all. And where he is, he is for ever. He never forsakes his lodging, he never forsakes his house and temple. He had two temples built with stone ; one by Solomon, and another after the captivity. Both lie now in the rubbish, and are demolished for ever, and shall never be repafred again. But his spfritual temples he never leaves wholly ; for whose souls he now dwells in, he will take them by that Spfrit that dwells in them, and carry them to heaven, to be where he is. The divine Spirit, that dwells in our souls now, shall quicken our dead bodies, and make them like to his glorious body. What an excellent honour and happiness is this, to entertain such an one as will rule, govern, and adorn our souls while we live, and carry them to himself and to his Father in heaven, and will quicken our bodies likewise ! An everlasting inhabitant he is. If Christ be in us, therefore, we may com fort ourselves. But here must be an objection answered, Obj. Christ doth seem oftentimes to be absent from the soul to which he was present before; he seems to leave his house and his temple sometimes. Sol. I answer. He is said to leave that soul into which, shutting the door to his knocks, and resisting the sweet motions of his Holy Spirit, he THE MATCHLESS LQ-VE AND INBEING. 407 never actually entered. But he never leaves that soul into which he is once entered to dwell. Indeed, sometimes he conveys himself into a cor ner of the soul ; for when he does not entertain him and respect him as he should, and preserve the motions, comforts, and graces of his Spfrit, but give way to the suggestions and temptations of the de-vil and ill company, &c,, then he retires himself; but he is still iu the soul. For even as God the Father, when he would have his own beloved Son Christ Jesus to be abased on the cross, withdrew not his divinity, but the sense and comforts thereof from Christ's human nature, that he might suffer for us on the cross. Matt, xxvii. 46 — Gloving him still notwithstanding, so that the di-vi- nity did not forsake him, but only did rest and cease to support and com fort him at that time, that he might perform the work of satisfaction for our sins — so it is with us, though it be a different case, when God humbles us for our rashness, want of reverence, of careful walking before God, and preserving the sweet work of his Holy Spirit : then Christ hides himself only, takes not himself away. Christ was God on the cross, but the comfort was withdrawn, that he might suffer. So the comfort of Christ's presence is withdrawn, that he may humble us for our former sins ; that we might make more of this guest than we did before ; that we may be stfrred up to entertain him better, and might be more careful for the time to come, to cleave closer unto him. So much for the answer of that, that Christ is oftentimes in the soul, when he discovers not himself to be there ; as he was near unto Mary, though her eyes being full of tears, she could not discern him, John xx, 15, Quest. But how shall I know that he is there by any discovery at aU, that he hath any being at aU in the soul at such a time ? Sol. 1, Yes ; a man may know he is there. There will be some pulses, some beating of the soul. Where Christ and the love of God is, they ever go together. Is there any love of God, any love to him ? Again, Is there a longing after Christ's presence ? Is there a grieving, when we feel not the comfort we had before ? Oh this is a sign he hath been there. He hath left somewhat there by his Spirit, Though he be retired into a cor ner of the soul, yet he hath left somewhat behind him to work a desire of further communion and fellowship with him. As it is Cant, v, 5, when he left knocking at the door, when the spouse would not open, he left some what behind, the droppings of his fingers, that drew the love of the spouse to him. So that he never leaves us, no, not for to humble and abase us for our bold walking, but he leaves somewhat in the soul, some desires, some sense of his love, that they think their estate is not good tUl they have recovered their former estate. They Unger after him, they are never pleased with earthly contentments in this temper of the soul. In deser tion they are not themselves, they are not quiet, because they think Christ is lost. As Christ's mother, when she thought he was lost, was full of woe, Luke ii, 48, so a Christian soul, when it conceits that it hath lost Christ, it is never quiet till it have found him again, Sol. 2, Again, Christ may be very near, and dwell in us sometimes, and we see him not : because we may so dwell upon corruption, and be so full [of] grief in affliction, that we forget Christ ; as Mary, who, though Christ was near her, yet could not discern him, her eyes were so full of tears, John XX, 15 ; and as Hagar, who was so fuU of grief, that she could not see the fountain appear, Gen, xxi, 16, There may be, I say, in desertion of soul such grief for our other things, crosses, losses, fears, &c., that a man may forget Christ, tiU he recover himself by meditation, prayer, and 408 THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING. conference with others ftfat are more skilful than himself, that can tell what is in him by his pulses, discourse, and desires. Sometimes wemust trust the judgment of others better than our own, to know what is in us. But I wiU not enlarge myself in this. Thus we may know that Christ is in us, which is a point of especial comfort, Obj. But the soul thinks. Is the Spirit of Christ in us ? WiU such an Holy Spirit, as that we cannot conceive him in the height of his holiness and greatness, vouchsafe to dwell in such sinful spfrits ? We cannot con ceive how the Spirit of Christ should dweU in us, that are so corrupt as we are, Sol. Indeed, I must needs say, it is an argument of wonderful love, that infinite holiness should be joined with such corruption, that greatness will be in such narrow straits, that glory wiU be in such an obscure place and habitation as our souls. Here is a wondrous condescending ; admirable mercy it must needs be. But let us not be discouraged ; Christ by his Spirit is in us, notwithstanding our corruption, because he cannot be a whit corrupted by it. The Spirit is an active thing, it suffers nothing. The spirit is as fire, which endures nothing : it is always doing, always in action, it is an active element. So the Spirit of Christ in us, though it be in us, yet it joins not with our corruptions. As the sunbeams are pure stiU, though they shine upon impure and filthy places, so Christ's Spirit, it is a working, fiery thing. As fire consumes dross, so the Spirit, being like fire, though it be where corraption is, yet it is there, as an enemy to it, opposing, consuming, and wasting it by little and little. Quest. But why doth he not do it all at once ? Sol. There are divers reasons : GodJwUl have us to have matter of abase ment here, to make us desire to be with him. Yet in the mean time Christ will be so in the Church his spouse, cleansing and fitting her for himself, as that by his Spirit dweUing in her she shall daily oppose, and by little and little subdue and bring under all corraption whatsoever, till at last she have gotten a full and perfect conquest and triumph over all. All the ima ginations, desires, and lusts, that exalt themselves against the Spirit of Christ, shall be brought down at last ; the Spirit will subdue aU, Stronger is the Spirit that is in us, than the spirit that is in the world, 1 John iv, 4, though it be in never so little a measure ; and therefore by little and little will conquer all within us, without us, the devil and aU at the last. Thus much to answer that doubt. Use 1, That which further ariseth from hence, that Christ is in us, is not only matter of comfort, but likewise it shews and directs us how to look on other Christians ; to look upon them as the temples and houses where Christ dwells. Why should we not reverence and respect Christians for the guest that is in them, the Spirit of Christ ? If Christ vouchsafe to dwell in such a man, shall he not dwell in our love ? Shall not one place contain us here, that heaven must contain ere long ? We shall be all together in heaven, and shall we not be loving together here ? Thus considering that Christ is in all his, how should we respect Christians, that are the habita tion of Christ, the second heaven ? For Christ hath but two heavens ; the heaven where he is, and the heart of a believing Christian, where Christ is, and rules in a comfortable measure, and will rule more and more. How should we value such ! Not as many cursed devilish spirits, that dis grace and oppose Christ in his members. That which they do to his image in his chUdren, that they would to him himself, if they had him in thefr power. THE MATCHLESS LO-VE AND INBEING, 409 Use 2, The last use shall be an use of direction, how to keep Christ, and to preserve him, and the sense of his being in us with comfort, seeing it is so comfortable an estate to have Christ in us, and that yet ofttimes we want the sweet comfort of his presence. In a word, mark here the dependence, ' I have manifested thy name, that thy love may be in them and I in them,' Christ is in us then, by manifesting of divine truth. He conveys himself into our hearts, by our understandings ; he manifests his truth, the means of salvation, by his ordinance ; he manifests divine truths to the under standing by his Spirit, which goes together with his word. From the understanding he goes to the heart, and there he dwells ; for manifesting of divine truths, and Christ being in us, go together, 1, Those that care not for the discovery and manifesting of Christ's truth in the gospel, let them never think to entertain Christ into their hearts, for he will come with his word and with his own ordinance ; his word and Spirit always go together. Therefore let this be one chief direction. If we wUl have Christ to be in us, to fill our hearts, and remain with us, let us attend upon the blessed means of salvation, and be where he is, and then he will be with us. He is in the church, and he is in every particular member; but especially where his ordinance is, there is he with the Spirit, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are all there if we have Christ in us. And therefore oft attend upon the ordinances of God, and communion of saints, and then you shall find experience of Christ, Christ joined with the two disciples when they were talking of him, as they were going to Emmaus, Luke xxiv. 15; so let us oft stir up the grace of Christ in us by conferring of good things, and Christ wUl be with us, joining with good company, &c. 2, Again, Would we preserve Christ's presence in us ? Labour then that he may dwell largely in our hearts. Now that which enlargeth the soul is humility. For it empties the soul, and makes it large, • Pride swells the soul up, and drives out Christ, God gives grace to the humble ; Christ dwells in the humble soul. You know he was bom in an humble virgin's womb, and he is new born in the womb of an humble soul. Preserve therefore humble, base conceits of ourselves ; that in us there is nothing that is good, nothing worthy to be respected, that so Christ may dwell largely in our hearts. Let us have no wit, no reason of our own, contrary to Christ, Let us have no wiUs, no desires contrary to his. Let us even give up the keys and the regiment* of our souls to him, and then he wiU dweU largely there, HumiUty keeps him there. If his word be our reason, his commandment our will, and his comfort our joy and delight, then he will dwell largely in us, for there is nothing in us to oppose him. But if we have several states of soul, distinct from his govemment, it is no -Wonder we banish him, when we will not live by faith in him, but by our wits, shifts, tricks, lusts, the examples of others, and by the spirit of the world. It is no wonder, I say, that we savour only of earthly things if we live thus. It is no wonder that Christ is not preserved in us if we be not raled by his Spirit, It is no wonder that he departs from us when we set ourselves contrary to him, and have wiUs and reasons of our own repugnant and disagreeable to his, and ways to get wealth, and to raise ourselves con trary to his gospel and truth, WiU Christ rule in such a soul? No, He subdues all. The Spirit of Christ is Uke a mighty wind, as it is compared by Christ to Nicodemus, John iU, 8, that beats all down before it. If we cherish contrary desires and contrary deUghts to Christ, it is no wonder if he deUght not to dweU in such a soul, * That is, ' government,' — G, 410 THE MATCHLESS LQ-VE AND INBEING. 3. Beg of Christ likewise that he would stay with us; as they in the gospel, when he made as if he would have gone forward from them, Luke xxiv, 29, constrained him to stay, saying, ' Abide with us : for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent ; ' and he went in to tarry with them. So, lay we hold on Christ, by the means of salvation; stay him with us by prayer and importunity, especially when the night of death, and error, and superstition comes. Say, ' Lord, night is near, stay with us, depart not from us,'^ Lay an holy violence upon God, as Jacob did: ' Thou shaU not go hence,' Lay hold on him by prayer, and do not leave him tUl we have drawn virtue and got some blessing from him ; he must be kept by entreaty, 4, And then desire him to perfume our souls for his dwelling, as the church, Cant, iv, 16, ' Arise, 0 north wind ; and blow, 0 south ; that my beloved may come into his garden,' Desire Christ by his Spirit to blow upon us, that our beloved may come into his garden, that he may find somewhat there to solace himself withal — humility, love, pity, large and loving hearts, as himself had, to do aU good. Desire him to plant those blessed spices of grace in our hearts, and that he would blow upon them by his Spirit, that they may prosper and thrive, that so he may come into his garden and solace himself. Let us still desire further and further com munion with him; never be content. As the church. Cant, i, 1, 'Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,' He hath been famUiar, but I desire more stUl, So every Christian soul that hath once entertained Christ is never content till it be with Christ in heaven, but still desires a fuller measure of comfort, grace, strength, and assurance. And why doth the soul thus desire after him ? ' Oh his love is better than wine,' Cant, i, 2, So saith the church, having had a sense and feeling of his love, ' Thy love is sweeter than wine,' and therefore ' let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.' Desire therefore a more nearer communion in his love ; for it is sweeter than wine, being once tasted. 5, And having got enjoyment of communion with God, shut the soul to other things. The comfort of his presence is a heaven upon earth, sweeter than wine, and above all other things to be desired. Take we heed there fore that we grieve not his good Spirit, and force him to retfre himself; that we quench not his sweet motions by anything contrary to him. Those that have guests which they respect will do notiiing that may be offensive to them. So let us watch over our souls, that nothing come in that may grieve Christ, nor anything come forth to grieve his Spirit in us. Let us not thrust ourselves into such occasions and company as may do or speak such things as may grieve the Spirit of God in us. Let us neither grieve the Spirit in ourselves, by cherishing that which is evU in our own hearts, nor by thrasting ourselves into the company of those whom we know by experience wiU grieve the Spirit, A man cannot go into bad company, but he must either be grieved, or tainted, and corrupted. Who would redeem familiarity and favour with them ? exchange comfort and sense of Christ's Spirit for the favour of such men as grieve the Spirit in us ? No ; a soul that walks in the strength of the comfort of Christ's dwelling in him must be watchful and jealous over himself, and preserve heavenly motions, cherish them, and make them strong, and banish aU that is contrary. Quest. But how shall I recover him again, if I have grieved the Spirit, and lost the sense of his being in me ? Sol. I will name but one means. Observe how thou lost it, and recover him by the contrary. If thou wilt renew the experience of his love, and his. dwelUng in thee comfortably, consider how didst thou lose him ? Was it THE MATCHLESS LOVE AND INBEING. 411 by negUgence ? by omission of duties ? Didst thou not read when thou mightest, or hear when thou mightest ? or gavest thou thy thoughts liberty to range ? or didst thou not w^ with God as thou shouldst ? didst thou cast thyself into UI company, or cherish camal desfres ? Take a contrary- course then ; converse with those that are good ; stir up the grace of God in thee by meditation, and by renewing thy purposes and resolutions ; hear as much as thou canst ; speak to God as much as thou canst ; maintain communion with saints, &c. As thou lost it, so endeavour the recovery by a contrary way, and then Christ wUl come again to the soul. We see. Cant, V, 3-6, that after Christ had stood knocking and caUing to his spouse, ' Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled,' tUl his head was fiUed with dew, and his locks with the drops of the night, but foxmd no entrance, he retired, and withdrew himself, because she would not rise and put on her coat. But afterward, when she endeavoured herself, and used contrary means to her former sluggishness, seeking him, and saying, 'What is become of my beloved?' &c., then Christ came again into his garden, returned to his spouse, and forgat the former unkindness. We deal with such a Saviour, that though we lose the sense of his presence for a time, yet if we use contrary means, and knit ourselves to his ordi nances, at last we shaU refind his love to our souls. Nay, he is so loving, so indulgent, that he never upbraids us with our former sins ; as we see in Peter, whom he upbraided not with his former denial. Who would not maintain love, respect, and communion with such a Saviour as this, especiaUy considering what a sweet estate it is to have Christ with us at all times, and in all estates, and so to have the love of God, for both go together ? And what are all discouragements where the love of God in Christ is ? What are all the creatures to God's love, to Christ ? Where the soul is persuaded that it is in covenant and peace with God through Christ, and when it knows that Christ's Spirit is in it, this is a comfort above aU discouragements whatsoever. Discouragements are carnal, out ward things ; the comforts are the presence of divine things. The Spirit of Christ, whose presence drowns aU things, it is precious above all creatures, strength, beauty, wit, &c,, yea, and prevalent above aU the afflictions and sufferings in the world, AU afflictions cannot hinder the Ufe of reason, and can they hinder the Ufe of grace ? No. Paul saith exceUently, the more ' our outward man decays,' the more we suffer in our outward man, ' the more the life of Christ is manifest in us,' 2 Cor, iv, 16, So far are we from being hurt by any outward sufferings in the world, or discouraged by them, that the life and presence of Christ in us is thereby made more glorious, Christ triumphs and rules the more, by how much the more outward opposition we have. If God's love, and consequently Christ, be in us, what if all the creatures were against us ? Is there not more in God and Christ, than in all the creatures ? Made he not aU things of nothfrig ? What made the martyrs in the prfroitive church to sacrifice their blood so willingly and cheerfully ? Because the love of God was manifested to them in Christ Jesus, His name was manifested and declared as a sweet ointment poured forth, which caused those -virgins to foUow him. The sense and apprehension of the love of God, manifested by the Spfrit of Christ, begat in them such a love to God again, that was strong even to death. It engendered such an heat withni, that made them endure all the heat and flame without ; so that aU the tor ments which the malice and wit of persecutors could devise, could not daunt 412 THE MATCHLESS LQ-VE AND INBEING. their invincible spirit ; but in all these things they were more than con querors, through him that loved them. A sweet state it is. I beseech you, therefore, every day examine whether Christ be in you, and in what measure he is in you ; and labour to give him more room in your hearts. WiU not the contrary daunt us ? else we are reprobates, refuse creatures, and the devil is in us. But contrariwise, if he be in us, he wUl fit us to be with him. He comes to us, that we may come to be with him ; for why doth he dwell in us ? One main reason is, to fit us for heaven. Let us labour, then, that he may be in us, that he may fit us for himself, to dwell with him in heaven. Labour that none may rule us but his Spfrit. In death, what a comfort will it be, that Christ is in us. The Spirit of Christ, that hath ruled me all my life, shall carry my soul to heaven, and shaU raise'my dead body. If Christ be in us, what need we fear judg ment ? Will the head condemn the members ? Christ is in us while we live, and therefore joyfully we may expect judgment. Why ? Our Redeemer, our Saviour, our Head, our Husband, will be our Judge, Therefore, of all estates in the world, get into Christ, and labour by all means to get Christ into us, by prayer, by getting grace, &c,, that he may delight and solace himself in us. It is the best estate in the world. Out of Christ, a man is as a branch cut from the vine, subject to the fire. Out of him) a man is as a member cut from the head, cut from the body, good for nothing, neither lively nor fruitful. Get into Christ : it is a state of all grace, for aU grace is derived to us from him. It is a state of com fort in life and death, and for ever. He is the ' second Adam ;' and as all our misery is derived and communicated by being born of the first, from whom sin and corruption is derived, and misery with sin, mortal diseases, and all other misery, so, as soon as the ' second Adam,' Christ, is got into us, his Spirit reigns to glory with us : he never leaves us till he have made us as himself. It should be our main endeavour in this world, therefore, to get out of the cursed estate we are in by nature, and to get into Christ, the ' second Adam,' and then we are safe. For there is more comfort in him than there was sin and misery in the first. A HEAYENLY CONEEEENCE. A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE. NOTE. The ' Heavenly Conference between Christ and Mary' appeared originally in a small 18mo volume in 1654. A second edition in 4to appeared in 1656. The title- page of the latter will be found below.* It is usually appended to the Commentary upon 2 Corinthians Chap. IV., 4to, 1656, Cf, Note, Vol. IV. page 308. Q. »A HEAVENLY CONFEEENCE BETWEEN CHRIST AND M A E T Aftee His EESUEEECTION WHEREIN, The intimate familiarity, and near relation between Christ and a Beleever is discovered. By the Eeverend Eiohaed Sibbs, D.D. LONDON, Printed by ;S'. G. for John Rothwell, and are to be sold at the Fountain and Bear in Clieapside, 16 56. TO .THE READER The scope and business of this epistle is not so much to commend the workman — ^whose name is a sweet savour in the church — as to give thee a short summary- view of the generals handled in this treatise. Though much might be said of this eminent saint, if either detraction had fastened her venomous nails in his precious name, or the testimony of the subscribers of this epistle might give the book a freer admission into thy hands. This only we shaU crave leave to mind the reader of, that this bright star, who sometimes with his Ught refreshed the souls of God's people while he shone in the horizon of our church, set, as we may say, between the even ing of many shadows and the morning of a bright hoped-for Reformation ; which, though it be for the present overcast, yet being so agreeable to the mind of Jesus Christ, and ushered in with the groans and prayers of so many of his saints, we doubt not but -will in God's own time break forth gloriously, to the dissipating of those clouds and fogs which at the present do eclipse and darken it. Now, as it is the -wisdom of God, in bringing about his own designs, to raise up fit and suitable instruments for the work of every'generation, so it is also the gracious dispensation of God to put seasonable words into the mouths of those his servants, who by faith do fix their eyes on him for the guidance of his blessed Spirit ; as every judicious reader may observe in the works of this reverend divine, who foreseeing, as it were, what a degeneracy of spfrit professors in his time were falling apace into, that itch of questions and disputings, like a noxious humour, beginning then to break forth among professors,* Uke a skilful physician, applied himself to preserve the vitals and essentials of religion, that the souls of his hearers, being captivated with the inward beauty and glory of Christ, and being led into an experimental knowledge of heavenly truths, their spirits might not evaporate and discharge themselves iu endless, gainless, soul-unedifying, and conscience-perplexing questions. For as it is in nature, a man that hath tasted the sweetness of honey will not easily be persuaded that honey is bitter, but he that hath only taken it up upon credit may soon be baffled out of it, because no act can go higher than its principles ; and so it is in religion. For those good souls that have embraced the truths of Jesus Christ upon a supematm-al principle, and experimented not only the trath, but the goodness of them in their own souls, they are the clinched Christians, the good hold-fast men, as Mr Fox styles some Christians ui his * In margin here, Pruritae disputandi scabies ecclesi and their very excrements of their parts. He knew her, and acknowledged her too : ' Mary,' 1, It is a word of knowledge, and famiUar acquaintance, and acknow ledgment, 2, It is a word of compassion ; because he had held her long, and now could not longer. He pitieth the state she was in. He saw her ready to sink for grief and melt for sorrow, and therefore he said, ' Mary.' 8. As it is a word of compassion, so it is a word full of exceeding love. 4, And it is a word of peculiar appropriation, ' Mary,' whom I have so much respected heretofore. And a word of satisfaction on his part, out of his pity, and out of his love, and former famUiarity and acquaintance, ' Mary,' I am the man that thou seekest ; I know what all thy seekings tend to. Thou wantest him whom thou lovest ; thou wantest n;ie ; I am he whom thou seekest, . She answered him again, ' Rabboni,' which is interpreted. Master. She 422 A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, returned him an answer again ; she spake to him. He first began, then she foUows, She found the virtue of his speech in her heart. There was an infiuence of it to her heart ; and his love witnessing to her heart, raised her love to him again. So it was an answer of Christ's speech, and from the same affection : an answer of love, and an answer of exceeding large affection and satisfaction to her soul, 0 my ' Rabboni,' the soul of my soul, the life of my life, my joy, my rock, my aU that can' be dear to me, ' Rabboni,' I have enough. As he desired to give her satisfaction, so she takes satisfaction in the word. And yet it was not full satisfaction ; for after she clasps about him, and would not let him go. It was an affection that stirred up much desire more and more to have communion with him, so that he was fain to check her afterward : ' Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father,' She had not enough ; as indeed a beUeving, affectionate soul hath never enough till it be in heaven. And thus you see the sweet intercourse upon the apparition and first discovery of Christ to Mary, He spake to her, and she answered him again with the same affection. And it is a word of dependence, as it is fit, ' Rabboni, my Master.' It is not only a word of honour, not any superior, but a superior in way of teaching. There was submission of conscience to the ' Rabboni,' as the ' Rabboni,' labouring to sit in the con sciences of people. It is a Syriac word, which signifieth in the original, ' multiplication of knowledge ' in him that speaketh, and that laboureth to breed much knowledge in him that is spoken to ; and therefore it is a word of great respect and dependence {d). She might well call him ' Rabboni,' for he was ' Master of masters,' ' Rabboni of rabbonis,' the angel of the covenant, the great doctor of the church, the great ' Gamaliel,' at whose feet all must sit and be taught. So you see what sense and affections are in these little words. The ful ness of heart that was in this couple cannot be expressed, were it possible to say all that could be said. And therefore we leave the hypothesis, and come to make application of it to ourselves, Obs. 1, First, We may learn liere, that till Christ himself discovers himself, no teaching will serve the turn. No, The teaching of angels wiU not serve the turn, till Christ himself by his Holy Spirit discovers himself. When Christ doth it, it is done. And therefore it should teach us so to attend upon the ministry as to look up to the great doctor that hath his chafr in heaven, and teacheth the heart,* If he teach, it is no matter how dull the scholar is. He is able to make any scholar, if he instruct. I will not enlarge the point, because there be particular places wherein they wiU be enlarged, Obs. 2, The second thing I will observe is this, that Christ, when he teacheth, he doth it by words, not hy crucifixes, not hy sights. We lost our salvation and all our happiness by the ear, and we must come to it by the ear again, Adam, by hearkening to Eve, and Eve to the serpent, lost aU ; and we must recover salvation therefore by the ear. As we have heard, so we shaU see. We must first hear, and then see. Life cometh in at the ear as weU as death. Faith, you know, is the quickening of a Chris tian, the spiritual life of a Christian, Now, faith comes by hearing ; and therefore I beseech you in the bowels of Christ, set aside prejudice, and meekly attend God's ordinances. Do not consider who we are; we are but poor ministers, frail men as yourselves. But consider the Lord, that is pleased to convey life, and salvation, and grace, and whatsoever is fit to * In margin here, ' Cathedram habet in coelis qui corda docet.' — G, A HEA-VENLY CONFERENCE. 425 bring to heaven, this way. Therefore they that despise this way, set light by salvation ; as the apostle saith. Acts xUi, 46, ' They judge themselves unworthy of the kingdom of heaven,' They can read at home, but is that the way God hath sanctified ? Did not the manna stink when gathered on the Sabbath day? There is a curse upon aU private industry and de votion when it is with neglect of pubUc ordinances. She could have no comfort tiU Christ spake. Nay, the very sight of Christ could not com fort her. Let this, I pray you, be enough, that I may not enlarge the point any further. This is the way for comfort. We must hear him in his ministers here, if we wUl hear him comfortably speaking to us hereafter, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father,' &c,. Mat, xxv, 34. Obs. 3, It was but one word, ' Mary ;' and is there so much force in one word ? Yea, when it is uttered by Christ, One word coming from Christ, and set on the heart by the Spirit of Christ, hath a mighty efficacy. The word hath an efficacy in creating aU things, ,/iat, /mi*. Let it be done:. it was done ; ' Let there be light : there was Ught,' So let there be light in the understanding, and there it shall be presently. So in all Christ's cures, he said the word, and it was done. So in all spfritual cures, let him say the word, it is done. Nay, a very look of Christ, if the Spfrit go along with it, is able to convert the soul, Respexit Christus, flevit Petrus amarS : Christ looked on Peter, he wept bitterly. What will his word do, when his look -will do so much ? It was but a word, and but one word : ' Say but the word,' saith he in the gospel, ' and my servant shaU be healed,' Mat, viii, 8, This should make us desfre that Christ would speak though but few words to the soul ; that he would clothe the words of men mightily with his word and with his Spfrit ; and then they wUl be mighty in operation and works. One word, but it was a pregnant word. It was full of affection. She knew it weU enough : ' Mary,' What ! to call her so familiarly, so sweetly, by her accustomed name ? It wrought on her bowels presently. Obs. 4. But to go on. You see here again, that Christ must begin to us before we can answer him. He began to ' Mary,' and then she said ' Rabboni.' All the passages of salvation are done by way of covenant, by way of com merce and intercourse between God and man, but God begins first. In election, indeed, we choose him ; but he chooseth us first. And he knoweth who are his, and we know him ; but he knows us first. And in caUing, we answer. Ay ; but he calleth first, and we do but echo to his call. In justi fication, forgiveness of sins, we accept of justification, and submit to the righteousness of Christ, and God's purpose of saving man that way ; but he giveth faith first, for faith is the gift of God. We glorify him here on earth, but it is from a result of God's glorifying us in heaven. Some ear nests we have, but they are of God's giving, AU we do is but reflection of his love first, or his knowledge first. The Christian soul saith, ' Thou art my God ;' ay, but he saith first, ' I am thy salvation,' Ps, xxxv. 3. As Austin saith, Non frustra dicit anima, Deus salus tua : when God saith, ' I am thy salvation,' it is easy for the soul to say, ' Thou art my God' («). And this may teach us in our devo tions, when we are to deal with God, when we are to bring to him any request, to desire him first to reveal himself to us, desfre Christ to reveal himself by his Spirit to us. It is an error in the case of men's devotions. They think to bring something of their own strength, and to break in, as it were, upon God, -without his discovery first. But Paul saith. Gal, iv, 9, • We know God, or rather, are kno-wn of him,' We must desfre that he 424 A HEA-VENLY CONFERENCE, would make known his heart to us first, and then we shaU know him again ; that he would speak to us by his Spirit, and then we shaU answer to him again. That he would say to our souls, he ' is our salvation ; ' and then we may lay claim to him, ' he is our God,' Desire the ' Spirit of revela tion,' to reveal his bowels and love to us in Christ by his Holy Spirit ; for certainly, in every return of ours to Christ, God begins to us, aU m aU, though not sensibly. But we ought to pray, every day more andmore, for a sensible revelation, that God would reveal his love to us in Christ, And we cannot but answer. If Christ saith, ¦ Mary,' Mary cannot but answer, ' Rabboni,' Obj. But you wiU say then. It is not our fault, but Christ's fault, if he must begin. If God begins, we shall answer. Ans. I answer briefiy, that God doth always begin to us, and is before hand with us in aU dealings with ourselves. He giveth us many motions, and never withdraweth himself from us, but when he is despised and slighted first ; therefore, let us take heed that we labour to answer Christ's caU when he doth caU, If we slight it, then in a judicious* course he ceaseth to speak further to us, if we slight his beginnings of revelations. There be many degrees and passages to faith and assurance. If we do not observe the beginning, how God begins to reveal himself to us by little and Uttle, speaking to us by his Spfrit in our hearts when he begins, then in a spiritual judgment sometimes he leaves us to ourselves. And therefore let us regard all the motions of the Spirit, and aU the speeches of the Spirit of Christ, for he begins by little and little, else our consciences wUl say afterward, we are not saved, because we would not be saved. We would not yield to all the passages of salvation ; but when he was before hand with us, and offered many sweet motions, yet we loved our sins better than our souls, and so repelled all. Therefore, I beseech you, do not refuse the sweet messages from heaven, the gracious and sweet motions of the Spirit of Christ.f Make much of them, God hath begun to you, be sure to answer, Leam it of Mary, When Christ began, she set not her heart and infidelity against it, but she opened her heart, and said, ' Rabboni ; ' learn, therefore, the duty of spiritual obedience. When God speaks, ' Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth,' 1 Sam, iii, 10, Do not shut your ears to the motions of God's blessed Spirit ; do not harden your hearts against his voice, but open your hearts as she did : ' Rabboni,' Our Saviour Christ here saith, ' Mary ; ' but when ? After he had con cealed himself from her a long time. It is not presently ' Mary,' nor ' Rabboni,' He had concealed himself a great while, Christ doth not usuaUy open himself fully at first, though at first he doth in some degree ; but he observeth degrees, as in the church in general. You see how that he discovers himself in his gracious promises by little and little ; darkly at first, and at last the Sun of righteousness ariseth clearly. So the day-star ariseth in our hearts by degrees. It is a great whUe before Mary heareth the satisfying speech of Christ, ' Mary.' Quest. But why doth Christ thus conceal himself in regard of his fuUer manifestation ? It is partly to try and exercise our faith and other graces ; and therefore God doth seem to withdraw himself in the sense of his love, 1, To see whether we can live by faith, or whether we be altogether addicted to sense, as the world is, who live altogether by sense, and not by faith, * Qu. 'judicial' ?— G, t In margin here, ' Alloquenti Christo fideles respondent.'— Q. A HEA-VENLY CONFERENCE, 425 2, He would have our patience tried to tlie utmost. He would have 'patience have its perfect work,' James i, 4, She had much patience to endure aU this. But her patience had not a perfect work tUl Christ spake. 3. Christ will stir up and quicken zeal and fervency in his children ; and therefore he seemed to deny the woman of Canaan, Mat. xv. 21, seq., and Mark vii, 27, 28 ; first, he giveth no answer but an harsh answer, ' A dog,' And she works upon it : ' Though I am a dog, yet dogs have crumbs,' All which denial was only to stfr up zeal and earnestness. And therefore though Christ doth not manifest himself to us at first, yet it is to stir up zeal and affection to seek after him more earnestly, A notable passage there is of this, Cant, iU, 16. The soul sought Christ, and sought long, and sought in the use of aU means ; but at length she waited, and in waiting she found him, 4, Christ doth this to set a better pice upon his presence when he comes ; to make his presence highly valued when he doth discover himself. Desiderata diu magis placent: things long desired please more sweetly. And things, when wanted, are ingratiated to us, as warmth after cold, and meat after hunger ; and so in every particular of this life. And therefore God, to set a greater price on his presence, and that he would be held more strongly when he doth reveal himself, he defers a long time. That is one reason why he did defer revealing himself to Mary, that she might have the more sweet contentment in him when he did reveal himself, as indeed she had. Long deferring of a thing doth but enlarge the soul. Want enlargeth the desire and capacity of the soul, so doth love. Now, when we want that we love, that emptieth the soul marvellously much ; it mortifieth affection. When God keeps off a long time, and we see it is God only must do it, then the affection is taken off from earthly things, and the heart enlarged to God by love, and the want of the thing we love. And [therefore we set a price on the thing, so that we are wonderfully pleasing to God, It is very beneficial to ourselves. What lost Mary by it ? So shaU we lose nothing. We have it at last more abundantly. We have it as a mighty favour. Mary taketh this as a new blessing altogether. When things are kept long from us, and God only must discover, when the heart is kept from second causes, the heart is enlarged. Certainly this comes from God, and God should have aU the glory of it, God is wise ; and therefore makes us to stay a long time for that we do desire, : We all of us are in Mary's case in a spiritual sense. Some times or other we miss Christ, I mean the sweet sense of Christ, Lay this down for a rule, that Christians ought to walk in sweet communion with God and Christ, and that it ought to be the life of a Christian to maintain the communion that Christ hath vouchsafed between us and himself. Then, certainly, we lose Christ wonderfully; and not against our minds, but wilUngly, by our own slighting of him, and by our own undervaluing of him, or by our negligence or presumption, Christ, though he be low, yet he is great, and he wiU have us to know his greatness. There must be communion with due respect. One way or other we deprive ourselves of the sense and sweetness of communion with Christ. What must we do, then ? We must do as the woman did : turn over every stone ; use all kind of means ; leave not one tiU we find him ; and when all means are used, wait stUl. Persevere in waiting, as Peter speaks. Believers, wait ; hold out in waiting, for Christ in his time wiU come. He cannot hold long. As Joseph did suppress his love and affection for politic ends a 426 A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE. great while, Gen, xiv, 8, but his pity towards his brethren was such that his bowels would not suffer him to conceal himself longer; his passion was above his poUcy : ' I am Joseph,' And so let us in the use of all things seek Christ and the sweet sense of his love, which is better than life itself. And, indeed, what is aU without Christ ? Christ is so fuU of compassion, he wiU not long suffer us to be prolonged, but wiU at length satisfy the hungry soul, Ps, IxiU, 6, How many promises have we to this end ! Take heed of such a temper of soul, as cares not whether we find Christ or no. Oh take heed of that ! If we wiU seek him, seek him as Mary. She sought him early in the morning ; she brake her sleep and sought him with tears. If anything be to be sought with tears, it is Christ and com munion with him. She sought him instantly and constantly. She sought him so, that no impediment could hinder her, she was so fuU of grief and love.* She sought him with her whole heart, she waited in seeking. _ That is the way to find Christ. Seek him early, in our younger times, in the morning of our years. Oh that we could seek Christ as we seek our plea sures. We should find more pleasure in Christ than in all the pleasures of the world, if we could persuade our base hearts so much. Seek him above all other things. Awake with this resolution in our hearts, to_ find Christ, never to be quiet tiU we may say with some comfort, ' I am Christ's, and Christ is mine,' When we have him, we have all. Seek him with tears, at length we are sure to find him. He hath bound himself, that if we knock he will open ; and if we seek we shall find : if we seek wisdom early with our whole hearts, entirely, sincerely. Seek Christ for Christ, and then we shaU be sure to find him, as she did. Thus seek him in the word and sacraments, wherein he discovers himself familiarly. Seek him in the temple — ' Christ was found in the temple,' Luke ii, 46 — and then we shall be sure to find him both here and hereafter. Specially we shaU find him in our hearts. You see how familiarly he comes to us in the word, speaks to us by a man like ourselves. And how familiarly by the sacrament, by common bread and common wine, sanctified to do great matters above nature, to strengthen faith. He cometh to us through our faces, into our souls in the sacrament. He cometh to us, through our ears in hearing the word, through our sight in seeing the bread broken. He comes by familiar things, and by a familiar manner of conveying, as if he should name every one, ' I come to thee, and give thee my body.' Think -with ourselves. Now Christ cometh to me ; when the minister reacheth the bread and comes to me, think of heavenly bread, and of the gift of Christ to me by means. And can he do it more familiarly ? Is it not as if he would say, ' Mary '? And that is the excellency of the sacrament. It conveyeth Christ to all the saints, and to every one in particular, as if he named every one. And what an encouragement is this to answer again, to open our hearts to receive him, together with the elements ! to embrace Christ, join with Christ, and then to keep him when we have him ! Do not lose him. He will not be so dealt withal. Remember the covenant we have made to him. I beseech you, let these sweet considerations of Christ dwell in us, and work on every one of our hearts. If they do good on us here on earth, if we by faith lay hold on him, and have intercourse with him, what wUl it be in the day of judgment ! How comfortable will it be to hear him say to every one in particular, ' Come thou, and thou, stand on my right hand, sit and judge the world with me ?' 1 Cor. vi. 2, Doth he know our names now on earth, and giveth to every one particularly by * In margin here, ' Mat, xxviii, 1, Mark xvi. 9, Luke xxiv. 1, John xx, 25,' — G, A HEA-VENLY CONFERENCE, 427 himself, if we come worthily ? and wiU not he know us then ? Oh, that is far more worth than the world's good, to know us then and to caU us by our names ! Therefore, I beseech you, be acquainted with Christ, Have intercourse, all we can, with him in the word and sacraments, and never rest tiU we find this sweet result in the use of the means, ' that he is ours, and we are his,' Take heed therefore in these times, desperately addicted to formality and popery, I say, take heed, we do depend not upon any outward thing, but look to Christ in aU his ordinances, look to the Spfrit, All God's chUdren, the church of the first-born, they are kohlhayiTog, such as are ' taught of God,' Who can take away the opposite disposition of man's nature to goodness, but God by his Spirit ? Who can shine into the soul, and quicken the soul, but Christ by his Spirit? Who is above the heart and con science, but Christ by his Spirit ? Therefore take heed of formality ; sub mit your hearts to the great prophet of the church, that Moses speaketh of, Deut, xviU. 18, who shall be the great teacher of the church ; lift up our hearts to him, that he would teach our hearts, and remove the natural dis position that is in us ; that he would ' take off the veU from our hearts,' and teach not only what to do, but teach the very doing of them. Teach us to hate what is UI, teach us to believe, and to resist all Satan's tempta tions. Who can teach but the great teacher, whose chair is in heaven ? Therefore take heed of depending on formal things. Lift your hearts to God, that he would join his teaching with all other teachings. This cannot be too much stood upon, I beseech you, therefore, take it to heart. Give me leave, therefore, to add a few things more. If Christ speaketh in general to Mary, she answereth in general ; and when he speaks aloof to her, she answereth aloof to him, afar off, and never gave him a direct answer, tiU he gave a direct word to her. When he said, ' Mary,' she gave him a direct answer, ' Rabboni ;' not before, I beseech you, therefore, let us not rest in general promises and the general graces, that be so much stood on by some, that God hath a like respect to all, Trast not to that. We must not enter into his secrets, but let us obey his precepts and com mandments. And withal remember this, when we hear of a general mercy and commandment for all nations to beUeve, and that Christ came to save a world of sinners, alas ! what is that to me, unless thou by thy Holy Spirit speakest to my soul; and sayest in particular, ' I am thy salvation,' and speakest famiUarly to my soul ? Generals are in some degrees comfortable. But if I find not particular interest by the witness of thy Holy Spirit to my soul, if thou sayest not to my soul, ' I am thine, and thou art mine,' aU is to little purpose. Therefore in the desires of our souls in prayer, let us desire the Lord to reveal himself in particular. We trust too much in generals. God is merciful, and Christ came to redeem the world. They be truths, and good foundations for to found faith upon, but they wiU not do the deed, till by daUy prayer we seek to the Lord, that he would in a particular manner reveal himself to us. This doth Paul pray for, Eph. i. 17, ' that God would vouchsafe to them the Spirit of revelation,' And this is the office of the Holy Spirit, His special office is, to reveal to every one in particular his estate and condition God-ward, The Holy Ghost knoweth the secrets in the breast of God, and in our own hearts,* Now the Holy Ghost can reveal the particular love that Ueth in God's breast to our particular souls. And therefore we should desire God, that the Holy Spirit may be sent to seal to us our particular salvation, and never * In margin here, ' Spiritus Dei, et Dei et hominis seereta cognoscit.' — G, 428 A HEAVENLY CONFEEENCE, be quiet tUl we be sealed in particular assurance, that we be they whom Christ came to save. This we ought to labour for. If we labour for it, we shaU have it some time or other, for God loveth to be famUiar with his children. He loveth not to be strange to them, if they seek his love, but to reveal himself first or last. And few seek it, but God revealeth himself by his Spfrit to them before they die ; if he doth not, they are sure of it in heaven. And therefore they that be against particulars, they are enemies to their own salvation, Mary regarded not, while Christ spake of generals, but when he came to particulars, th^n ' Rabboni,' and not before, ' Jesus saith unto her. Touch me not ; I am not yet ascended to my Father,' &c. This verse containeth Christ's prohibition, or Christ's commission or charge. His prohibition, ' Touch me not ;' and his reason, ' for I am not yet ascended to my Father,' His charge, ' Go to my brethren ;' and then directeth what to say to them : ' I ascend to my Father, and your Father ; to my God, and your God.' The words be very natural, and need no breaking up to you. But I shall handle them, as they follow one another, ' Jesus said to her. Touch me not,' ' Touch me not.' Why ? He would have Thomas not only touch, -hut to put his finger into his side ; that is more than touching him, John xx, 27. But our Saviour's intent is to meet with a disposition in Mary something carnal, something low and mean, in regard of this glorious occasion, Christ being now risen and glorified, for his resurrection was the first degree of his glorification. And therefore, ' Touch me not,' She came with too much a carnal mind to touch him, when she said, Rabboni, It was not satisfaction enough for her to answer, ' Rabboni,' but she runneth to him, and claspeth him, and clingeth about him, as the affection of love did dictate to her. But saith he, ' Touch me not' in such a manner. This is not a fit manner for thee to touch me in, now I am risen again. In a word, she had thought to converse with Christ in as familiar a manner as before, when she poured ointment on his head. He was the same person, but the case is altered. That was in the days of his humiliation ; now he was risen again, and it was the first degree of his glorification. There was another manner of converse due to him ; and therefore, ' Touch me not,' Thou thinkest to touch me as thou didst before, but thou must not do it. She was too much addicted to his bodily presence, 1. It is that that men will labour after, and have laboured for, even, from the beginning of the world, to be too much addicted to present things, and to sense. They wiU worship Christ, but they must have a picture before them. They will adore Christ, but they must bring his body down to a piece of bread ; they must have a presence. And so instead of raising their hearts to God and Christ in a heavenly manner, they pull down God and Christ to them. This the pride and base earthliness of man will do. And therefore saith Christ, ' Touch me not' in that manner ; it is not with me now as it was before. We must take heed of mean and base con ceits of Christ. What saith Paul, 2 Cor v. 16 ? ' I know no man now, according to the flesh ; no, not Christ himself, now he is risen.' Christ was of such a tribe, stature, had such gifts and qualities. What is that to me ? Christ is now Lord of lords, and King of kings. He is glorious in heaven, and so I conceive of him : ' I know no man after the flesh ; no, not Christ himself.' I forget what he was on earth, and think of him what he is now in heaven. Therefore to bring him down to our base con- A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE. 429 ceits, to sense, and the like, this is the humour of men that labour to cross the scope of the gospel. For why are men so addicted to outward things, outward compliments ? It is pride, it is Satanical pride. They think that God is delighted vrith whatsoever their folly is delighted withal. Because amongst men there must be a deal a-doing, therefore they think God is well pleased with such things, God is a Spirit, and though out ward things be necessary, yet all must not be turned outward, as in popery. We must not bring God down to our foolish conceits, as if he were delighted as we are, Joshua iv, 24, 2, It is wonderful easy too. All outward things, any naughty* men have them with their sins.f Let a man perform a little outward compliment, he may be what he will be, let him live as he will, and be possessed that outward things will serve the turn. He is safe ; his conscience is daubed up, till God by sense of wrath awakeneth conscience ; and then they shaU find it another matter to deal with God than by compliment, 3, There is also a great glory in outward things. There is commenda tions, and men's observance of them, as in the Pharisees, and in popery. But the spiritual worship of Christ hath no observance to the eye of the world. It is between God and the soul. Men naturally love those things that be glorious. It is said of Ephraim, that he loved to tread out the corn, but not to plough, Hosea x, 11 ; that is, Ephraim wUl take that which is easy, but not that in God's worship which is hard. There be two things in God's service : an easy thing, which is outward compliment ; an hard thing, which is to trust him, to deny ourselves, to rely upon him and Uve by faith,]; And that Ephraim wUl not do, Ephraim will tread the corn, because the heifer may eat corn ; but there be hard things in religion which he will not practise. He wUl not plough, ' Touch me not,' saith Christ, Thou hast not conceits spiritual enough to deal* with me, now I am risen. But what is the reason ? ' Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended to my Father,' That seemeth to be a strong reason. But it seemeth to be a contrary reason. Touch me not now, when my body is present ; but touch me when I am gone, and removed out of sight of all flesh. Touch me not now, when thou mayest touch me ; and touch me when there is an impossibilitj- of touching me. This is seemingly strange. But indeed there is no contrariety in it : ' Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended to the Father,' There is a double meaning of the words. First of all, ' Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended,' &c. Thou needest not clasp and cling about me, as if I would stay no more with you below ; ' I am not yet ascended to the Father,' There wiU be time enough afterwards. For the word ' touch,' in the original, doth not signify merely to touch, but clasp, asso ciate, join, and solder with a thing (/),§ The Scripture speaking of the evU man, you shall not touch him ; that is, not make him one with him. The devU shall not take him from Christ and make him one with himself. It is a strange word in the original : ' Thou claspest about me, thou dost more than touch me, thou clingest to me and wilt not leave me, as if I would go presently to the Father; but I am not yet ascended to the Father.' That is one part of the meaning. -* That is 'wicked.' G. -f In raa.rgin'heTe, 'Externa Deo placerenequeunt.' — G. ± In margin here, ' Arduum et difficile est in fide vivere.' — G. § In margin here, ' Non solum tignificat tangere, sed adhoerere, conglutinari, Isa. Ui, 11 2 Cor, vi. 17. A tabernaculo impiorum hominum recedite. Num. xvi. 27.' — G, 480 A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, But there is a farther than that, ' I am not yet ascended to the Father; touch me not,' That is, it is another manner of touch that I look for — better for thee, and in some regard for me — to touch me by the hand of faith when I am ascended to the Father, Then touch me, and take thy fuU of touching me. But for the present I am not ascended ; I have not done aU ; I have not manifested myself to my disciples in full. When I am ascended, all is done, and then there is place for touch. And that I take is meant here, I am not yet ascended to the Father. Thou thinkest I have done all that is to be done, but thou art deceived. I must ascend to the Father, and when I am there I expect to be touched after another manner, after a gracious, spfritual manner, which is by faith ; as Augus tine saith weU, ' Send up thy faith to heaven, and then thou touchest Christ,' * As he said in the sacrament, ' Quid paras dentem et ventrem f Crede, et nianducasti : What dost thou prepare thy teeth and stomach for ? BeUeve, and thou hast eaten' {g). So the best communion with Christ is to believe, tiU we come to heaven to have eternal communion with him. This touch wiU do thee little good, and it pleaseth me as little. When I am ascended to the Father, then touch me at the full. So you see what Christ meaneth. The life of a Christian here, and the manner of the dispensation of Christ here, is by promise, and by his Spirit ; that we should live by faith, and not by sense. The life of sight is reserved for another world, when we are fitted for it. She was not fit for a life of sense, but was to expect the Holy Ghost from heaven ; to be filled with that, and then to be filled with faith and love ; and then to have an holy communion with him in heaven. But ' I am not yet ascended,' Thus you see the meaning, ' Touch me not,' There be two reasons of Christ's prohibition. 1. Her respects were too carnal and ordinary, considering he was in the state of glory. And then, 2, For that there will he time enough. Do not stand embracing of me, there is a greater work for thee to do, Christ preferred the great work of giving notice to his disciples of his resurrection, before the office of respect and service to himself. Go about a duty, that I more regard a great deal : • Go, teU my brethren I ascend,' &c. So that every part of the text yields satisfaction to that prohibition. ' Go,' saith he, ' to my brethren.' I have another work for thee to do, ' Touch me not,' Thou clasps about me as if thou hadst nothing to do. There is another work to do that pleaseth me better, and more fit for thee : to comfort them that are in distress, my poor brethren and disciples. And therefore ' go to my brethren, and say unto them.' So that Christ prefers a work of charity to his poor disciples before a work of compliment to his own person. She clingeth about him ; but ' this is not it I would have.' Those poor souls are mouming and disconsolate for me, as if I were clean taken away ; go to them, and prevent thefr farther sorrow. God hath a wonderful respect to others. It is strange that Christ should say, ' Go and be reconciled to thy brethren, and then offer thy sacrifice,' Mat, V, 24, As if he would have his own sacrifice neglected, rather than we should not be reconcUed to others. And so a work of charity and love is preferred before an officium and compliment to himself. Let us shew our love to the first table in the second, our love to God by our love to inan. Everything hath its measure and time. Away therefore with this over-much embracing and^touching. Go thy way, thou hast another work * In margin here, ' Mittefidem in ccelum et tetigisti.' — G, A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, 431 to do : ' Go to my brethren.' And so you see, as I take it, the fuU mean ing of the words. Observe the circumstances. Who must go ? Here is a commission and command. And to whom ? To the disciples of Christ, And when doth Christ bid her go ? When he was risen, and in the first estate of glory. What is the message ? ' Tell my brethren I am ascending to my Father, and your Father ; to my God, and your God.' It is worth your consider ing a little, 1. Who is sent ? A woman, A woman to' be the apostle of apostles, to be the teacher of the great teachers in the world, Mary Magdalene was sent to instruct the apostles in the great articles of Christ's resurrection and ascension to heaven. By a woman death came into the world, and by a woman life was preached to the apostles ; because indeed she was more affectionate, and affection taketh all. And that makes that sex more addicted to religion, by the advantage of their affection ; for religion is merely a matter of affection. Though it must have judgment shine before it, yet it is specially in the heart and affections. And she had shewed a great deal of affection. She stood out when the rest went away, John xix, 25, She was constant, and broke through all difficulties ; and then God honoured her to be the first preacher of his resurrection. God's course is to trust secrets in earthen vessels, that earthen vessels should carry heavenly treasure ; and therefore stick not at the vessel, but look to the treasure, 2 Cor. iv. 7. A woman may teach the greatest apostle. Look not to the man, but to the message, Elias will not refuse the meat because the raven brought it, 1 Kings xvii, 4. And a condemned man will not refuse a pardon, because a mean man bringeth it. Take off pride in spiritual respects. When God honours any man to bring news of reconciliation, stoop to him, of what condition soever he be, 2, To whom must she go ? ' Go, teU my brethren,' the apostles. Go to the apostles, that are disconsolate men, now orphans, deprived of their Master and Lord, Disconsolate men, and not in vain, so not without cause ; for they had reason to be discomforted, not only for their want of Christ, but for their own ill carriage towards Christ, One of them denieth him, and the rest forsake him ; and yet '-my brethren,' ' go teU my brethren,' 3, When did he speak this ? After his resurrection, in the state of glory ; in the beginning of it, and when he is ascending to heaven ; and yet he owneth them as brethren, though such brethren as had dealt most un- brotherly with him. But how came they to be his brethren ? And how come we to be Christ's brother, Christ is the first-born of many brethren, Rom, vui, 29. He is the Son of God by nature ; and aU others now, by grace and adop tion, Rom. vui. 17. Christ is the primo-genitus amongst many brethren ; and in Christ we have one Father with Christ. We have one honour, and we shaU be all kings and hefrs of heaven, as he is, 'If sons, then hefrs,' Gal, iv, 7 ; the apostle makes the coherence. Now we are aU in Christ sons of God, heirs with him. To go to the condition of nature that he took, our nature ; and therefore having our flesh, heis our brother, Heb, ii, 14, The very reprobate may say so. Yet that is a ground of comfort, that he is a man as we are. But that is not the main thing con siderable. He is our brother in a spfritual respect, in regard of adoption. He is the first Son of God, and we in him sons. He is the first hefr of God, and we in him are heirs. And therefore ' go to my brethren,' 432 A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, Beloved, it is a point of marveUous comfort, that Christ was not ashamed to caU them brethren, Ps, xxii, 22 : ' I wiU declare thy name amongst thy brethren,' saith Christ, Our Saviour Christ alluded to that psalm in this passage ; and so it is read, Heb, U, 12, out of that psalm, Christ hath taken all relations, that are comfortable, upon him towards us, ' He is the ever lasting Father, the Prince of peace,' Isa, ix, 6. He is 'a second Adam,' and therefore a father in that regard. The first Adam is the father of aU that perish ; the second Adam is the father of aU that shaU be saved. As he is our brother, so our husband. He could not be our husband, except he were our brother. He must take our nature, and be one with us, before we can be one with him. He is our friend. Before this time he called them friends, as you see in John : ' I wiU caU you friends,' John xv, 15, But here is a sweeter term, ' brethren.' There is no relation that hath any comfort in it, but Christ hath taken it on him. He is our head, husband, friend, father, brother, and whatsoever can convey comfort to us,* And the truth of it is, he is these things more truly than any relation is made trae on earth. For these relations of husband and wife, and brother and sister, and father and chUd, are but shadows of that everlasting relation that Christ hath taken upon him ; the reality and truth itself is in Christ, We think there is no brother, but the brother in flesh ; no father, but the father in fiesh, Alas ! these are but shadows, and quickly cease : ' the fashion of the world passeth away,' 1 Cor, vii, 31, Brother is another relation, whereof these are but shadows. These do but represent the best things that are in heaven, Christ is the father, brother, friend, and what soever is comfortable in heaven ; therefore ' go tell my brethren,' Ohj. Ay, but saith the poor soul, I that have been so sinful, so unworthy a wretch, shall I have comfort in this, that Christ is my brother, and I am Christ's ? I cannot do it, Ans. 1, I profess thou canst not do it, ' fiesh and blood must not teach it thee,' thou must be taught by the Spirit of Christ, But consider how the apostles used Christ, Thou canst not call Christ brother, because thou hast been a sinner, and hast carried thyself unkindly to Christ, And did not the disciples so ? Did not they leave him, and one of them deny him, and that with oaths ? Therefore, whatsoever our sins have been, deny not our relation to Christ, The poor prodigal said, ' I am not worthy to be caUed a son,' I am not worthy to be called a servant, Luke xv, 21, He denied not that he was a son, but he was unworthy of it. And so I am unworthy to be a spouse and brother of Christ, yet do not our unfaith ful hearts so much pleasure, as to deny our relation. The apostles were so dignified, as to be called the ' pillars of the world,' Gal, ii, 9, But these left him, and yet for all that, in this time of thefr desertion of him, ' go tell my brethren.' Therefore be not discouraged. Go to Christ in our worst condition, in our greatest temptations, when our hearts misgive us most that we have used God most unkindly, and Satan plied us most with desperate temptations ; yet own' him for our brother, who owned his disciples when they dealt most unkindly with him.f I beseech you, count it a comfort unvaluable, which no tongue is able to express, that Christ after his resurrection should call ' brethren.' He might well call them brethren after his resurrection, because then aU debts * In margin here, ' 1 Cor, xi, 3 ; 1 Cor, xii. 27 ; Eph, v, 23 ; 1 John ii. 2, seq. ; Eev. xxii. 3, seq.' — G, t In margin here, ' Tentaiio est ad Christum eundi opporiunitas, ut nobis succurrat.' A HEA-VENLY CONFERENCE. 433 were discharged by his death. He had paid their debts, and now the acquittance was due to them, because Christ as surety had paid all. Now I am risen, ' go and tell my brethren so,' If we can make use of the death and resurrection of Christ, and say, Christ hath died for my sins, and rose again for my justification ; I will interest myself in his death, I will claim the virtue of his resurrection ; then take the comfort of this. In popery, they had much comfort in those dark times, when a company of proud, camal, beastly men ruled the roast according to their own lusts. These clergymen made a great pother with fraternity and brotherhood. And if they were of such a fraternity of Dominic or Francis, or merely in a friar's cowl, it was not only satisfactory, but meritorious, they could not do amiss. Away with these shadows. Here is the brotherhood that must comfort Christians, that Christ owned us for brethren after his resurrection. He paid dear for it, alas ! Are we worth so much, that God should become man to die for us, to rise again for us, to justify us, and make us brethren ? That infinite love, that God became man and died for us, and rose again to own us for his brethren, will satisfy all doubts. Shall we doubt any thing of that love ? When he out of his free love wiU own us as brethren, shaU not we own him ? I confess it is a marvellous thing, in times of temptation it is difficult to make use of it. Oh, but pray with the good apostle, ' Lord, increase our faith,' Luke xvii, 5 ; with the poor man in the gospel, ' I believe ; Lord, help my unbelief,' Mark ix, 24, So when any temptation cometh for our unworthiness and our undeserving, then think Christ after his resurrection caUed his apostles ' brethren,' and he wiU be content to be my brother, if I wUl believe he died for me, and I will cast myself upon him ; therefore away with all doubts. There be many other observations out of the words, (1.) Will you have the first words in estate of glory, his first words after death ? ' Go and tell my brethren,' Think in a desperate extremity, think of the sweet message he sent by Mary Magdalene to his unworthy ' brethren,' that he died for, and [had] given his blood to make them his brethren. Think of his free love to you. It is not for your worthiness or unworthi ness, but of his own free love, that he came from heaven to take your nature. It is his own free love that he came to die ; and therefore conceive not of worthiness nor unworthiness, but consider the command of God to believe ; and if we perish, perish there. Cast ourselves on our brother, that wUl own us in our worst condition. That is the grand use. (2,) Again, If God owns us in his glorious condition, shall we te ashamed of the doctrine of Christ, of the children of God, to own them ? What saith Christ ? It is a terrible thunderbolt, '' He that is ashamed of me and of my word before men, I will be ashamed of him before my heavenly Father,' Mark viii, 88, Take heed of being ashamed to stand out a good cause, in matters of religion, Christ was not ashamed to call us brethren when we were at the worst, and he himself in a glorious condition"; he was in glory, and the disciples drooping in consideration of their guilt, that they had forsaken him, and yet ' brethren' stUl, And shaU not we own him, that owneth us in state of glory ? How shaU we look that he wiU own us here after, when he trusteth us with his cause and glory, and we betray all to pleasure such and such ? Can we look Christ in the face with comfort, if we neglect his cause, his truth, and his church ? (3,) Again, Make this use of it, Christ is our brother, and will not he take our parts 1 Absalom was a disobedient son, yet Absalom would not let his sister Tamar be abused ; he would be revenged of that. And wUl Christ VOL. VI. E e 484 A' HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, suffer his sister, his spouse, his church to be abused long? Nay, will he leave his ' dove, his love, his undefiled one,' Cant, v, 2, where he hath placed aU his joy and contentment, to the maUce and fury of the enemy long ? Certainly he wiU not. Certainly he wiU be avenged on his enemies. If nature, that he hath put into the wicked, sinful men, teach them to revenge indignities offered to their kindred, wUl Christ suffer his brethren, his sisters, to be abused ? ' Saul, Saul,, why persecutest thou me ?' Acts ix, 4, Now he is in heaven, the church's case is his own. And therefore comfort ourselves with that sweet relation, Christ hath undertaken to be our brother in state of glory. What a comfort is it that we have a brother in heaven ! What a comfort was it to the poor patriarchs, when they thought with themselves, we have a brother, Joseph, that is the second man in.the kingdom ! And so, what a great comfort is it for poor Chris tians to' think, that the second in heaven, that sitteth at God's right hand, that is King of kings and Lord of lords, and that ruleth all, is our brother ! Is not this a main comfort, yea, beyond aU expression, if we could make use of it by faith answerable to our trouble ? Therefore go to Joseph, that hath laid up comfort for us. He hath comfort enough for us, he hath treasures of comfort. Whatsoever is necessary for us, we may have in Christ our elder brother. And therefore ' go to my brethren.' I beseech you, let us make a use of exhortation, to be stirred up, to labour by faith to be .one with Christ ; and then he will be our head, our husband, our brother, our friend, our aU, Say what you can, Christ will be ' aU in all 'to aU his. He hath enough in him : ' Of his fulness we shall receive, and grace for grace,' Oh labour to be one with Christ, Do not lose such a comfort as is offered. He offereth himself first to be our Saviour and Redeemer, and then our brother ; never rest therefore till we have part in Christ. And then labour to make use of, in all temptations catch fast hold of, everything that is useful, as it is the nature of faith to do, like Benhadad's servants, who made use of that word ' brother,' He is my ' brother,' said the king of Israel, as common offices make kindred, 1 Kings xx, 88, He had but let pass the term of ' brother,' and they would not let it go, but catch at it : ' Thy brother Benhadad,' We • see what wisdom flesh and blood can teach, to make an improvement of any comfort in the world, if by kindred, or office, or any relation in the world, th§y make use of them. And when we be in Christ, shall not we make use of them, when we be troubled with sense of sin, or in despe rate conditions ? When Christ calleth us brother, shall not we answer, * I am thy brother' ? Blessed be thy mercy and love, that descended so low as to make me thy brother! 1 beseech you, let us not lose the com forts we may have in the disciples' being called Christ's brethren, when they were in some sort enemies. But he knew their hearts were sound, and it was but their weakness ; therefore let no weakness discourage thee. He wUl not ' quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed,' Mat. xii. 20. Is thy heart right to Christ ? art thou not a false hypocrite, a spcret traitor to Christ, and to his cause and church ? Then be of good comfort ; thou mayest go to Christ as to thy brother. Though Peter denied him with his mouth, yet he confessed him with his heart. And therefore ' go teU my disciples,' and Peter — he hath most guilt, and therefore he hath most nfeed of comfort. Be thy guilt never so great, if thou wilt come into covenant with God, here is mercy for thee, and therefore make this use of it. v"Never forget, in your worst condition that may be, since Christ wUl A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, 435 stoop SO low to own you to be brethren, to make use of it, if your hearts be right towards him. ' Go to my brethren,' Now I come to the commission or charge given to her, 'Go to my brethren,' Who is the party charged? 'Mary,' And what is her charge ? To go to the apostles under the sweet term of ' brethren,' When doth he caU them so ? After his resurrection ; when he was in the state of glory. What is the message ? It is very sweet. Go, say to them, ' I ascend to my Father, and your Father ; to my God, and your God,' ' I ascend ;' that is, I presently am to ascend, in a very short time I shall ascend. It was but forty days between Easter and Ascension, and all that time Christ appeared now and then. It is the nature of faith, where it is glorious, for to present future things as if present, especially when they be near. ' I ascend ; ' that is, I shall very shortly ascend, and it is aU one as if I ascend presently. To whom do I ascend ? ' I ascend to my Father.' To ' my Father.' That is not com fort enough. Therefore ' to your Father too,' ' I ascend to God,' That is not comfort enough. Therefore 'to my God, and your God,' We shaU unfold the words as we come at them. First, Mary Magdalene, a woman, a sinner, is used in the great work of an apostle, to be an apostle to the apostles, I would there were that love in all men to teach what they know ; and that humility in others, to be instructed in what they know not. It were a sweet conjunction if it were so. She was a mean person to instruct the great apostles. But, beloved, where there is a great deal of love, there they will teach what they know ; and where there is humility, there they will be taught what they know not, though they be never so great. And God will humble the greatest to learn of the meanest sometimes. Therefore he sendeth Mary to the apostles. I beseech you, in matters of salvation, stand not on terms. Let us take truth from Christ, let us see God and Christ in it, see our own comfort in it, not stand upon persons. Aquila and PrisciUa teach the great men knowledge. Acts xviii, 2, seq. And so it is. Sometimes mean persons are honoured to be instruments of great comforts to persons greater than them selves. She is to go to the apostles under the name of brethren : ' Go teU my brethren.' And she must go to the apostles that were Christ's brethren, and o-wned to be so now, when he was in glory, when he was risen and exempt from all abasements of the cross and grave, where he was held captive three days under the dominion of sin, when he was freed from all enemies of salvation, and had triumphed over all, ' Go tell my brethren.' So you see there is a sweet affinity and nearness between Christ and his. Christ took our nature on him for this end : he became flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone, that we spiritually might be flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. It is no comfort at all ; an inducing comfort it is, but no actual, present comfort, that Christ was incarnate for us ; for all the world might have comfort in that, Turks, Jews, Pagans, that had the nature of man in them. And all have some comfort in it, as their nature is dignified ; and that he took not on him the nature of angels, but the nature of man, his spouse, his church it is that hath the comfort of it. Therefore it is not sufficient that he be bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh ; but we must be bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. We must be ingraffed and bap tised into him by faith, and then the term holdeth, and never tiU then ; so that there is a sweet nearness between Christ and his. ' Brother ' is a most comfortable relation. It is a comfort that he took our nature upon 436 A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, him, that God would take ' dust and ashes,' earth, into the unity of his per son. For God to become man is a great dignifying of man's nature. But to take not only our nature on him, but to take our person particularly near to him ; thou and thou to be a member of Christ, there is the honour of it. It induceth us to come to Christ that hath loved our nature so much. But the other is an actual, present comfort, when we can say, ' I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine,' Our hearts are too narrow a great deal to embrace the whole comfort that, this word affords unto ns, that Christ should own us as his brother after his resurrection, for that sheweth a reconcUiation, ' Brother ' is a term of friendship, nay, more than a term of reconciUation, for a man may be recon cUed to an enemy ; but it is a term of amity, to shew that when we beUeve in Christ and are one with him, our sins are quitted ; death is overcome ; Satan's head is crushed when God is reconcUed, What have they to do with us ? They are only to serve our turns to bring us to heaven, and fit us for it, I beseech you, consider of the exceUent freedom and dignity of a Christian ; his freedom in that he is the brother of Christ _; free from all, being owned by Christ after his resurrection, aU being quit by his death who was our surety, else he should be in the grave to this day. And then think of our dignity, to be brother to him that is King of heaven. Lord of lords, ruler of the whole world ; that hath aU things subject to him. Oh that our hearts were enlarged to conceive the wonderful comfort that every Christian hath in this relation ! ' Go teU my aposties,' under the sweet term of ' brethren,' Who art thou, wiU Satan say, flesh and blood, a piece of earth, wretched sot ; wilt thou claim kindred of Christ ? Ay, saith the Christian, believing soul, it is true. If it were my own worthiness it were another matter, but I will give him the lie. When he owned me for his brother after his resurrection, shall I deny the relation ? Therefore never believe Satan's tempting words and sinful flesh ; for Satan cometh to us in our own flesh, and maketh us think God and Christ to be such and such. Ay, but what saith Christ himself ? Believe him and not Satan, that cometh to thee in thy own despairing, dark, doubting flesh. Believe the word of Christ, who calleth thee brother, if thou beUevest on him, and castest thyself upon him. This sheweth the dignity of a Christian when he is once in Christ, the excellent, superexcellent, transcendent glory of a Christian, When they told our Saviour Christ that his mother and brethren were to speak with him, saith he, ' They that hear my word and do it, they are my brother, and sister, and my mother,' Luke viii, 21. This is the exceUency of a Christian, that he is of so near a kin to Christ. When we believe Christ, it is all one as if we conceived Christ, as if we were brothers to Christ, as if we were of the nearest kindred to him. Nay, it is more ; he preferreth mother before mother, brother before brother ; mother in spirit before mother in the flesh, and brother in spirit before all other brothers. Therefore an excellent thing to be a Christian ! When once a Christian giveth himself to Christ, and denieth his own doubting, despairing heart, which is the greatest enemy he hath, 1, Then what belongeth to him ? Then God is his, and Christ is his ; he must have an inheritance ; he is fellow -heir without ;* all are his. 2. What carrieth he in him ? He carrieth in him the Spfrit of the Father and the Son, and the graces of the Spfrit, which make him lovely to God. 3, What cometh from him ? Having the precious graces of the * Qu, ' without doubt ' ?— En, A HEA-VENLY CONFERENCE, 437 Holy Ghost in him, what can come from him as a Christian but grace and comfort to others ? He is a tree of righteousness ; and what can come from a good tree but good fruit ? So far he is so. So if you regard what belongeth to them, what is in them, the inherit ance they shaU have, or what cometh from a Christian, that is, brother of Christ, he is an excellent person, more excellent than his neighbour. There is no man in the world, never so great, but is a base person in comparison of a Christian, What wUl all be ere long ? If a man be not in Christ, these things will add to our vexation. It will be a misery to have had happiness ; the greater will be the misery when they must be parted withal. And therefore raise your hearts to consider of the excellent condition of a Christian when he is once the brother of Christ, I confess it is an hidden dignity ; as Paul saith, ' Our life is hid with Christ in God,' Col, iU, 8, We have a life, a glorious life, but it is hid. It is dark ; sometimes under melancholy, sometimes under temptations, sometimes under the afflictions of the world and disgrace, and so it is an hidden excellency, but it is a true exceUency, The world knoweth us not more than they know God and Christ, But it is no matter, God knoweth us by name. He knew Mary by name, as it is said in Isaiah, ' I have called thee by name,' xiv, 8, He is a shepherd, that knoweth his sheep by name, and is known of them. He knoweth thee, and thee, and thee, by name ; yea, and the hairs of thy head are numbered ; and therefore it matters not though thy dignities be hid with the world. Yet God knoweth them. He hath written aU thy members in a book, and he hath a, book of remembrance of thee. And therefore it is no matter though it be an hidden dignity. It is a true dignity to be a brother of Christ. Let us oppose this to the disgrace of the world, and to all temptations of discouragement whatsoever. What are aU discouragements to this ? They faU aU before this, that we are the sons of God and brethren of Christ, What can discourage a man that is thus apprehensive of this excellency upon good terms ? I wiU enlarge the point no further, but leave it to your own meditations, and the Spirit of God work with it ! ' Go to my brethren,' When doth he bid her go ? Now after his resurrection, when he was to ascend to heaven. The first degree of his glory was his resurrection, after his lowest abasement in the grave. You see that honour doth not change Christ's disposition, as it doth amongst men. When they be advanced to great places, they wiU not look on their old friends and acquaintance ; but Christ hath no such disposition, he owneth his poor disciples in their greatest abasements : ' Go tell my brethren,' Now when he was in a state of glory, ready to go to heaven, and he giveth them a more comfortable title now than ever before. In the gospel he called them ' servants,' and ' friends,' and ' apostles,' and ' disciples ;' but now ' brethren,' a word of aU sweetness, and nothing but sweetness, ' Go teU my brethren' presently ; Christ would have no delay, for he saw they had present need. Christ's love is a quickening love, and the fruits of it are very speedy. There is more than angelical swiftness in Christ when there is need of him. God helpeth at need, in the most seasonable time, and he knoweth the time best of aU, He did but rise in the morning, and the very same day, ' Go teU my brethren,' Ye have Cant, U, 8, that Christ cometh ' leaping upon the mountains,' When he was to help his church, ' he leaped over the mountains ;' as in the eighth verse, ' The voice of my beloved ! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hUls,' He cometh from heaven to earth. 488 A HEAVENLY CONFEEENCE, from earth to the grave ; and now he is risen, he is all in haste, he maketh no stay, because his manner of despatch is, to help and comfort by the ministry of others. Go. quickly ; do not stand embracing of me, but ' go and tell my brethren,' Obj. But why then do not we find comfort sooner, that are afflicted ? Ans. Beloved, where is the fault ? Is it in Christ ? You stand out at staves-end* with Christ; you wiU not embrace comforts when they be offered, or else you be not sufficiently humbled ; for he is wise as he is swift, he knoweth which be the best times. You see then that Christ, so soon as ever it is fit for him, he wiU come. If he should come sooner, he would come too soon ; if afterward, it would be too late. He is the best discerner of times and seasons that can be, and therefore wait his leisure. If thou want comfort, humble soul, whoso ever thou art, wait his leisure. Certainly he knoweth the best time, and when the time is come, he wiU come, ' He that wiU come shaU come,' Heb, X, 37, there is no question of that. Now as he sent her in all haste, preferring it before any compliment to his own person, so it is a constant love. As it is a quick love that God bears to his children, so it is a constant, invincible love. They had dealt most unbrotherly with him, for every one had forsaken- him, and Peter had denied him ; yet, ' Go tell my brethren,' One would think this water would have quenched this fire ; this unkind and unbrotherly dealing would have quenched this love in Christ's breast. It is true, if it had been the mere love of man, it had been something ; but it was the love of an infinite person, that took our nature out of love, and therefore it was a constant and invincible love. Nothing could conquer it, not the thoughts of their unkind dealings, no, not their denying and forsaking of him. But still, ' Go tell my brethren,' ' Love is strong as death,' Cant, viii, 6, Death could not hold Christ in the grave, but love held him on the cross. When he came to the work of our redemption, love then held him on earth ; but when he was in the grave, it brake through all there. Indeed, it was stronger than death, in Christ. Quest. Why is Christ's love so constant, so in-vincible, that nothing can alter it ? Resolution. The ground of it is, it is free love. He fetcheth the ground of his love from his own heart ; not from our worthiness or unworthiness, but from his own freedom, and God's eternal purpose. God hath purposed to save so many, and those and no more he giveth to Christ to save, And God looketh on his own purpose, Christ's free love, and that is the ground of all. And therefore whom he loveth he loveth to the end, because he looked on us in his election. The Lord knoweth who are his ; the founda tion is so sure, if once we be God's we are ever God's.f For Christ looks on us in God's election. Therefore, if ever he sheweth his love to us, once his love and for ever his love. If anything in man could hinder it, it would have hindered it at our first conversion, when we were at worst, even enemies ; if nothing could hinder it then, what can hinder it afterwards ? as the apostle reasoneth strongly : Rom. v. 10, if we be reconciled by his death, much more will he save us by his Ufe. 'If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, now much more, being reconcUed, shall we be saved by his life,' If when we had no goodness, but opposition and rebelUon in us, we were saved by his death, * That is, = at a distance, or on ceremony. — G, t In margin here, ' Fundamenta tamen slant inconcussa Syonis.' — G. A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, 439 Christ is much more able to save us now by his life, triumphing over death and being glorious in the heavens, Obj. Oh but, saith the poor soul, I am a poor weak creature, and ready to fall away every day, Ans. Ay but Christ's love is constant. ' Whom he loveth he loveth to the end.' What saith the apostle ? Rom. viii, 38, ' Neither things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of Christ ;' and therefore be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might ; do not, trust to yourselves, nor trouble yourselves for things to come. If you be free from guilt of former sins, never question time to come, God is unchangeable in his nature, unchangeable in his love. He is ' Jehovah, I am,' always ; not ' I was or wiU be,' but ' I am always,' If ever he loved thee, he will love thee for ever. You see the constancy of Christ's love, ' Go tell my brethren,' Now when they had most deeply offended him, they were renegadoes, having all left him ; and then when he had most need of their comfort, being in greatest extremity ; and yet ' Go teU my brethren,' Beloved, let us not lose the comfort of the constancy and immuta- bUity of Christ's love. Let us conceive that all the sweet links of salvation are held on God's part strong, not on ours ; the firmness is on God's part, not on ours. Election is firm on God's part, not on ours. We choose indeed as he chooseth us, but the firmness is of his choosing ; so he caUeth us, we answer, but the firmness is of his action. He justifieth ; we are made righteous, but the firmness is of his imputation. Will he forgive sins to-day, and bring us into court and damn us to-morrow ? No, The firmness is of his action. We are ready to run into new debts every day, but whom he justifieth he will glorify. The whole chain so holdeth, that aU the creatures in heaven and earth cannot break a link of it. Whom he calleth he wiU justify and glorify. Therefore never doubt of continuance, for it holds firm on God's part, not thine, God embraceth us in the arms of his everlasting love, not that we embraced him first. When the child faileth not, it is from the mother's holding the chUd, and not from the child's holding the mother. So it is God's holding of us, knowing of us, embracing of us, and justifying of us that maketh the state firm, and not ours ; for ours is but a reflection and result of his, which is unvariable. The sight of the sun varieth, but the sun in the firmament keepeth always his constant course. So God's love is as the sun, invari able, and for ever the same, I only touch it, as the foundation of wonderful comfort, which they undermine that hold the contrary. The next point is, that Christ chose Mary to go teU his brethren, and under the sweet title of ' brethren,' to deliver this sweet message, ' I am going to my Father, and your Father ; to my God, and your God,' He telleth them the sweetest words in the worst times. This point differeth from the former thus. The former was, that Christ's love is constant, and always the same. But now Christ most sheweth his love when we are most cast down : in the worst times, if our casting down be with repentance. He never said 'brethren' before, but reserved the term of ' brethren' for the worst t^me of all. The sweetest discoveries of Christ are m the worst times of aU to his children. Mothers wUl bring out any thing to their children, that is sweet and comfortable to them, in their sickness. Though they frowned on them before, yet the exigency of the child requires it. When there is need, any thing cometh out that may please the chUd. The poor disciples were not only in affliction, being the scorn of the world, the shepherd being smitten and the sheep scattered, but 440 A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE. thefr inward grief was greater. They were inwardly confounded and ashamed to see Christ come to such an end. They were fuU of unbelief. Though Christ had told them he would rise again, they could not believe ; and so what with fear, and what with doubt, and what with grief for their using of Christ so unkindly and leaving him, certainly they were in a perplexed and disconsolate condition ; yet now, ' Go and teU my brethren,' We see, then, that after relapses, when we be in state of grace, to deal unkindly with Christ, must needs be matter of grief and shame ; yet if we be humbled for it and cast down, even then Christ hath a sweet message for us by his Holy Spirit : ' Go, tell my brethren,' In the Canticles, the church, the spouse of Christ, had dealt unkindly with Christ, by losing him and forsaking him, chap, Ui, 5, In the third chapter," she had lost him, and sought him on her bed, but found him not. She rose, and went to the watchmen, and then went through the city, but found him not. At length she found him whom her soul loved. Then Christ speaks most sweetly and comfortably to her in the beginning of the fourth chapter, but especially in the sixth chapter, after she had dealt most unkindly with Christ, He standeth at the door knocking and waiting, tiU his locks dropped with rain, in resem blance of a lover that standeth at the door, and is not suffered to come in. Afterwards he leaveth her for this unkindness, yet not so, but that there was some sweet relish left upon the door, God always leaveth something in his children to long after him ; and at length, after much longing, Christ manifesteth himself sweetly to her, chap, vi, 4, and breaketh out, ' Thou art beautiful, 0 my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners ; turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me ; thy hair is as a flock of goats,' &c., and so goeth on, ' My love, my dove, my undefiled one,' He could not satisfy himself in the commenda tions of his church, being, as it were, overcome with love. And this sheweth, that after we have dealt unkindly with Christ, and our consciences are ashamed and abashed with it, as it is fit they should, yet if we will wait a while, and be content, nor be desperate, nor yield to temptation, if we stay but a while, Christ will manifest himself to us, and shew that he valueth and prizeth the hidden graces we cannot see. He can see gold in ore. He can see hidden love, and hidden faith and grace, that we cannot see in temptations ; and he will manifest all at length, and shew his love when we stand most in need of it. We see it in David, who was deeply humbled for his folly with Bathsheba, for there was not one, but many sins, as murder and adultery, &c. ; yet being now humbled, God sent him and Bathsheba wise Solomon, to succeed him in his kingdom. He forgetteth all ; and so you see our Saviour Christ forgetteth all their unkindness. He biddeth her not ' Go, tell my renegade disciples, that owned not me ; they care not for me : I care not for them ; I am above death and all, and now will use them as they did me,' Oh no. But ' Go, tell my brethren,' without men tioning any thing that they have done unkindly. What is the reason ? It is sufficient to a gracious soul that it is thus ; it is the course of God, But there be reasons to give satisfaction. Reason 1. First, The love of Christ to a poor, disconsolate, afflicted soul is most seasonable. When they have relapsed and dealt unkindly with Christ, then Christ not only forgiveth, but forgets all ; nay, and caUeth them under the term of ' brethren,' which is more than forgiving or forgetting. Oh now it is seasonable. For there is a wonderful dejection of spirit after unkind usage of Christ, in a soul that knows what Christ means. It is as a shower of rain after great drought. It faileth weighty upon the soul. A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, 441 *Reason 2, Secondly, The freedom of Christ's love most appeareth then, when no desert of ours can move it. For is not that love free, when we have dealt unkindly -with him, and joined with the world and with the flesh, and dealt slipperily with him, that then he would speak kindly to us and make love to us ? Lord, if I had had my due, what would have become of me ? If he had sent them word according to their deserts, he might have said, ' Go, tell the apostate, base people that have dealt unworthily with me, whom I wiU send to heU.' Oh no. But ' teU my brethren,' His free love appeareth most at such times, when our souls are most dejected. Reason 8. Thirdly, Satan roareth then most, then he most of all sheweth his horns, when we are relapsed. Oh, saith he, if thou hadst never found kindness, it had been something ; but thou hast dealt unworthily that hast had so many favours, and dost thou so requite the Lord of glory ? Now this love of Christ doth exceedingly confound Satan, and trouble his plots. He knoweth then that God leaveth men, and he joineth with a guilty con science, and a guilty conscience maketh them to fear all they have deserved. Shall I look God in the face, and Christ in the face when I have used them thus ? Shall I receive the sacrament and join with God's people ? Now Satan doth join with guilt of conscience, and carrieth it further ; and when God seeth them dejected and humbled for this, he speaketh more comfort to them than ever before. There is none of us all, I can except none, but had need of this. Have we dealt so unkindly with Christ since our conversion ? Have not we dealt proudly, and unkindly, and carelessly with him ? And if we have the love of Christ in our breasts, it will shame and abash us. Now if we have joined with a temptation, Satan will say. Will you go to God, and to prayer, that have served God thus ? Shall I yield to this temptation ? If we can shame ourselves and say. Lord, I take all shame to myself, I have dealt most unworthily with thee, we shall hear a voice of comfort presently. And therefore whatsoever our conditions be, be invited to repentance, though thou hast fallen and fallen again, ' I have dealt unkindly,' Did not Peter so ? and yet, • Go, tell my disciples, and tell Peter,' The pope wiU have him head of the church, I am sure he was head in forsaking of Christ, and indeed Christ never* upbraided Peter with forsaking of him. Now only he biddeth him feed, feed, feed, that he might take more notice of it ; but he was so kind that he never cast it into his teeth, John xxi, 15-17, Ohj. But saith the poor drooping soul. If I had never tasted of mercy it had been something. Ans. But object not that, for though Peter's offence was great, yet his repentance was great ; and though thy sins be great, yet if thy repentance and humiliation be answerable, thou shalt have most comfort of aU, And therefore let no man be discouraged. If we go on in sinful, desperate courses, as the fashion of the world is, speak what we can, if we speak out our lungs, many will not leave an oath, nor their profane base courses and filthy ways ; ill they have been afready, and iU they wiU be tiU they come to heU, Some such there be, but better we are to speak too. Whosoever thou art, that are weary of thy profane, base, godless courses, be humbled for them. When thou art humbled and broken-hearted, then think of Christ, as he offers himself; think of nothing but love, nothing but mercy, Satan wUl picture him thus and thus, but when thou beest humbled and broken-hearted, he is • Misprinted ' ever.' — G, 442 A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, readier to entertain thee than thou art to fly to him. And therefore at sueh times consider how Christ offereth himself to thee. He that died for his enemies, and seeks them that never sought him, that is found of them that sought him not, wiU he refuse them that seek him ? If thou hast an heart humbled, and hast a desire of favour, wUl he refuse thee, that receiveth many in the world. Therefore do not despair. We as ambassadors beseech you, saith the apostle. Thou desirest God's favour and Christ's love. Thou desirest them, and Christ entreateth thee, and then thou art weU met. Thou wouldst fain have pardon and mercy, so would Christ fain bestow it upon thee. Therefore join not to Satan, Take heed of temptations in such a case as this is. Take heed of refusing our own mercies. When God offers mercy in the bowels of his compassion, refuse it not, Christ is ready to shew great kindness in our greatest unkindness, if we be humbled for it. But this belongeth to those that be broken-hearted, that can prize and value Christ, They that go on in presumptuous courses shall find Christ in another manner of majesty. They shall find him as a judge whom they despised as a brother ; and they that will not come iu and subject them selves to his mercy, they shall find his justice. If they will not come under this sceptre, they shall find his rod of iroft to crush them to pieces. And therefore let no corrupt, careless person, that will go on, fortify their presumption from hence. It belongeth only to them to be humbled and abased with the sight of sin, and consideration of their unkindness and unworthy dealing with Christ, I know such as are most subject to dis couragement, and Satan is most ready to close with them in strong temp tations above all. Oh, but never let them despair, but consider what the apostle saith : ' While sin aboundeth, grace aboundeth much more,' Rom, V, 20, If there be height, depth, and breadth of sin in us, there is now more height, and depth, and breadth of mercy in Christ ; yea, more than we can receive, I have faUen from God, saith the soul. What if thou hast ? but God is not fallen from thee, Peter denied Christ, but did Christ deny Peter ? No, Christ hath not denied thee. What saith the Lord in Jeremiah ? ' WiU the husband take the wife when she hath been naught ? no ; yet return to me, 0 Israel,' Jer, iii, 1. But say, thou hast been false, and committed such and such sins ; whatsoever they be, though adultery, yet return to me. Quest. Oh, but is it possible God should do it ? Resol. Yea, it is possible with him : ' His thoughts are not as thy thoughts ; his thoughts ai-e as far above thine as heaven is above earth,' Isa, Iv, 8. Obj. Why, no man will do it, Ans. Ay, but here is the mercy of a God, ' I am God, and not man ;' therefore his comforts fail not. If he were so, he would not regard one that hath been so unkind ; but he is God, and not man. ' Go to my brethren.' I come now to the matter , of the commission. TeU them, ' I ascend to my Father, and your Father ; to my God, and your God,' which is aU included in ' brethren ;' for if we be God's in Christ, then God is our Father. But we must not deal in few words with disconsolate souls, but come again and again with the same words. As how many times have you the comfort of the Messiah in Isaiah and the rest of the prophets, again and again ? Our hearts are so prone to doubt of God's mercy, of Christ's love, especially after guilt, that aU is Uttie A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, 443 enough ; and therefore our Sa-viour studieth to speak sweetly to the heart, 'Go, tell my brethren,' That which a carnal heart and curious* head would count tautology and superfluity of words, a gracious heart thinks to be scantiness. Oh, more of that stiU ; I have not enough ! This is the pride of men, that wUl have aU things to satisfy the curious ear ; but a gracious heart hath never enough. And therefore Christ addeth comfort to comfort : ' Go, tell my brethren, I ascend to my Father, and their Father; to my God, and thefr God,' The message itself is Christ's ascension. The place whither is to the Father, a common Father to him and them. Every word hath comfort, ' I ascend,' I ascend to the Father, and to my Father and your Father too. Now I have quitted myself of death, and sin imputed to me as a surety, and I am going lo heaven to make an end of all there : ' I ascend to God, to my God and to your God,' We have all one common Father, and one com mon God. First, For his ascension. He did not yet ascend. Why then doth he speak for the present ? ' I ascend ;' that is, I am shortly so to do. And it was in his mind, it was certainly so to be ; and therefore he speaks of it in present. It is the phrase of faith, to speak of things to come as if they were present. Faith makes them so to the soul, for it looketh on the word and all things as they are in that Word, who will make good whatsoever he saith. And therefore it is the evidence of things that are not yet, yet they be evident to a faithful soul. If we could learn this aright, to make things to come present, what kind of people should we be ! Could we think of our resurrection and ascension and glory to come as present, they would be present to our faith ; the things present, or sense, could not withdraw us. If we could set hell before us, could the pleasures of heU bewitch us ? If the time to come were present, could anything in the world withdraw us ? It could not be. And therefore it is an excellent skill of faith to set things to come before us as present. He ascendeth. He implieth that he was risen. That was past, and therefore he nameth it not. All Christ's mind was on ascending. Those that are risen together with Christ, their mind is all on ascension, all on heaven. And this is one main reason, because where anything is imper fect, there the spfrit resteth not till it attaineth to that perfection that it is destinated unto. When anything hath a proper element and place where it must rest, it resteth not tUl it be in its own proper place and element. The perfection of the soul is in heaven, to see Christ face to face, and God in Christ, Heaven is the element of a Christian, It is his proper region. He is never well tiU there ; and there is his rest, his solace and content ment, and there all his desfres are satiated to the utmost. Till we be in heaven, we be under desires; for we be under imperfections, AU the while we are in imperfections we are in an uncomfortable estate ; and whUe we be so, we are not as we should be. And therefore wheresoever any are partakers of Christ's resurrection, they mind the ascension as pre sent. Where any grace is, there the thoughts are for heaven presently. Let us take a scantingf of our dispositions from hence. There be many that think it good to be here always ; they never think of ascending. If they could Uve here always, they would with aU their hearts, but it is not 80 with a Christian, It is his desire to be where his happiness, his Saviour, his God and Father is, where his countiy and inheritance is, * That is, ' over-curious.'— G, t Ttiat is, ' proportion ' = measure.— G. 444 A HEAVENLY CONFEKENOE. and therefore he mindeth ascension and things to come. When anything is done, he thinks that what is done is not yet enough. As your great conquerors in the world, they forget what they have conquered, and remember what they have yet to do ; so Christ, having got conquest over death, he thinks now of ascension, to conquer in the eyes of all ; for it is not enough to conquer in the field, but he wiU conquer in the city ; he wiU conquer to heaven, and make show of his conquest. I ascend to lead captivity captive, ' to make a show,' as it is expressed. Col. ii, 15, While anything is to do or receive, our souls should not be satisfied, but stiU stretched out to desire further and further stiU, more and more stiU, tiU we be there where our souls shaU be filled to the uttermost ; and there is no place of further desire, as heaven is the place to satiate, and fiU aU the comers of the soul. Quest. But how shaU we know whether we be risen with Christ or no ? Resol. Partly we may know it by our former courses, Christ when he was risen, aU the clothes werd laid together in the grave. He left them behmd, and rose with an earthquake. There was a commotion ; and after his resurrection he minded heaven. So if ye be risen with Christ, your former vile courses lie in the grave ; your oaths are gone ; profaneness and wicked ness of life gone. Tell you me, you are risen, while you.carry the bonds of your sins about you ? You profane, wretched, swearing, ungodly persons, filthy speakers, that have an heart more filthy, vile in body and soul, can they have any part in Christ ? Where is that that bound you before ? You carry it about stiU, Therefore you be in the bonds of the devil ; you be in the grave of sin ; there is no rising. Resurrection is with commotion. There was an earthquake when Christ arose ; and there is an heartquake when the soul riseth. Can the soul rise from sin without com motion ? In the inward man there will* be division between fiesh and spirit, without any ado at all ? And therefore they that find nothing to do in their spirits, where is their rising again ? But that which is proper to the occasion in hand is the third. Where grace is begun, there will be an inward proceeding and ascending with Christ. How shall I know therefore whether I ascend ? 1, First, By minding things above. The apostle telleth us directly, Col, iii, 1, ' Mind things above,' be heavenly-minded in some sort, live the life that Christ did, after his resurrection. All his discourse was, after his resurrection, of the kingdom of heaven, and his mind was on the place whither he was to go ; and so a true Christian indeed, that is truly risen, his thoughts and discourse is, when he is himself, heavenly. Other things he useth as if he did not ; as whUe we be in the world, we must deal with worldly things ; but we must deal with them as that which is not our proper element, 1 Cor, vii, 87, ' They used the world, as if they used it not ; and they married, as if they did not ; for they knew the fashion of this world passeth away,' And therefore they that affect earthly glory, carnal affections and delights, they cannot think of these things with any comfort. They be moles which grovel in the earth. Some make a pro fession, and they ascend higher as kites do, but they look low ; they make high professions, but their aims are low. The true eagles that ascend to Christ, as they ascend, so they look upward and upward stUl. They do not mind things below ; they do not take a high pitch, and stiU continue earthly-minded ; but they look high, as well as ascend high. Therefore let us not deceive ourselves. * Qu. ' will there ' ?— En. A HEA-VENLY CONFERENCE. 445 2, Yet more particularly, those that ascend with' Christ, they that are in heaven and they that are on earth do the same things, though in diff'erent degrees and measure. What do they in heaven ? There they meddle not with defilements of the world ; and so, though a Christian be on earth, he defileth himself not with the world, or ill company. He will converse with them, but not defile himself with them. They that be in heaven are praising God, and so be they much in praising of God here. They that be in heaven love to see the face of God, they joy in it. And they that be heavenly-minded here joy in the presence of God, in the word, the sacra ments, and his children. If they be ascended in any degree and measure, this they will do. And then they will joy in communion with God aU they 6an, as they do in heaven. You have some carnal dispositions that are never themselves but in carnal company like themselves. If ever we mean to be in heaven, we mustjjoy in heaven on earth ; that is, in them that be heavenly in thefr dispositions. If we cannot endure them here, how shall we ever live with them in heaven ? What was Christ to ascend for ? What is the end of his ascension ? The end of his ascension was to take possession of heaven in his body, which had never been there before ? 1, And he was to take possession of heaven in his body for his church ; that is, his mystical body. So he ascended to heaven, carried his blessed body that he took in the vfrgin's womb with him. 2, And Ukewise he ascended to heaven, to take up heaven in behalf of his spouse, his church ; as the husband takes up land in another country in behalf of his wife, therefore he did ascend. 8, And likewise he ascended to leave his Spirit, that he might send the Comforter, He taketh away himself, that was the great Comforter, wwhile he was below. He was the bridegroom ; and while the bridegroom was present, they had^not such a measure of the Spirit, Christ's presence supplied all. But Christ ascended to heaven that his departure from them might not be prejudicial to them, but that they might have comfort through the God of comfort, the Spirit of comfort, the Holy Ghost : ' I will send the Comforter,' John xiv, 16, seq. And though there was no loss by the ascension of Christ, they might fear by losing of Christ that all their comfort was gone. Ay, but Christ teUeth them, ' I go to prepare a place for you,' He goeth to take up heaven for his church, and then to send his Spirit, What a blessed intercourse is there now, since Christ's ascension, between heaven and earth ! Our body is in heaven, and the Spirit of God is here on earth. The flesh that he hath taken into heaven is a pledge that all our flesh and bodies shall be where he is ere long. In the mean time, we have the Spirit to comfort us, and never to leave us till we be brought to the place where Christ is. This is great comfort, and this is the main end why Christ ascended to the Father, that he might send the Comforter, And comfort might weU come how in more abundance than before, because by the death of Christ all enemies were conquered, and by the resurrection of Christ it was discovered that God was appeased. The resurrection of Christ manifested to the world what was done by death ; and now, all enemies being conquered, and God being appeased, what remains but the sweetest gift next to Christ, the Holy Ghost ? And that is the reason why the Holy Ghost was more abundant after Christ's resurrection, because God was fully satisfied, and declared by the rising of Christ to be fully satisfied, and all enemies to be conquered. 446 A HEAVENLY CONFEEENCE, 4, One end likewise of his resurrection was ' to make a show of his con quest,' There is a double victory over the enemy. There is a victory in the field, and triumph together with it. And then there is triumphing in civitate regia, a triumphing in the kingly city. So Christ did conquer in his death, and shewed his conquest by resurrection ; but he did not lead captivity captive and make show thereof tUl he ascended ; and then he made open show of his victorious triumph in civitate regia. 5, One special end, likewise, why he would have this message sent, that he was to ascend, was that he might appear there in heaven for us, as Heb, ix, 11, seq., ' He appears for ever in heaven for us, and maketh interces sion for us,' When the high priest was to enter into the holy of holies, which was a type of heaven, he carried the names of the twelve tribes engraven in stone upon his breast. Christ, our true high priest, being entered into the holy of holies, carried the names of all his elect in his breast into heaven, and there appeareth before God for us. He carrieth us in his heart. Christ doth fulfil that which in John xvii, he prayeth for, appearing in heaven before his Father by virtue of his blood shed, and that blood that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel, It speaks mercy and pardon. The blood of Abel crieth for vengeance and justice ; but the blood of Christ saith. Here is one that I shed my blood for. And when we pray to God, God accepts of our prayers ; and by virtue of Christ's blood shed, there is mercy, and pardon, and favour procured, which is sprinkled by faith upon the soul ; God rnanifesting to the soul by his Spirit, that Christ died in particular for such a soul, which soul praying to God in the name of Christ, that blood not only in heaven, but sprinkled upon the soul, speaketh peace there. The Spirit saith that to the soul, which Christ doth in heaven, Christ saith in heaven, I died for such a soul ; the Spirit saith in the soul, Christ died for me ; and the blood of Christ is- sprinkled on every particular soul. As Christ in heaven appears and intercedeth for me, so the Spirit intercedeth in mine own guilty heart, that always speaks discomfort, tiU it be satisfied with particular assurance, Christ died for me, and God is mine, and Christ is mine. Thus particular faith sprinkleth the blood of Christ upon the soul. So that now my sins are not only pardoned in heaven, but in my soul. There is not only inter cession in heaven, but in my soul. My soul goeth to God for pardon and for mercy, and rejoiceth in aU the mercies it hath and hopeth to have. What is done in heaven, is done in a man's soul by the Spirit in some measure, 6, The last end is, that he might shew that our salvation is exactly v?rought, that God is perfectly satisfied to the fuU, else he should never have risen, much less ascended to heaven. And therefore if we once believe in Christ for forgiveness of sins, and yet say, I doubt of salvation, it is all one as if you should go about to pluck Christ from heaven. The doubtful, distrustful heart, till it be subdued by a spirit of faith, saith, ' Who shall ascend to heaven, to tell me whether I shall go to heaven ?' or ' Who shall enter into the deep, to tell me I am freed from hell ?' I am afraid I shaU be damned, saith the guilty heart, tiU the Spfrit of God hath brought it under and persuaded it of God's love in Christ, Say not, ' Who shall ascend up to heaven ? for that is to bring Christ down from heaven,' Rom. X, 7. And what an injurious thing is it to bring Christ down from heaven, to suffer on the cross ! This is a great indignity, though we think not of it, to doubt of our salvation, and not cast ourselves on his mercy. For as verUy as he is there, we shaU be there. He is gone to take up a place A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, 447 for us. He is there in our name, as the husband taketh a place for his spouse. And if we doubt whether we shall come there or no, we doubt whether he be there or no. And if we doubt of that, we doubt whether he hath wrought salvation or no, and so we bring him down to the cross again. Who shall descend to the deep ? that is, to bring Christ from the dead again, Sueh is the danger of a distrustful heart. So that by Christ's ascending into;heaven, we may know all is done and accomplished ; all our enemies are subdued ; God is appeased and fully satisfied, heaven is taken up in our room, and therefore labour for a large heart answerable to the large unchangeable grounds we have, for faith to pitch and bottom itself upon it. Therefore make this farther use of this ascension of Christ, and thereupon his intercession in heaven for us. He is there to plead our cause. He is there as our surety to appear for us, and not only so, but as a coun sellor to plead for us ; and not only so, but one of us, as if a brother should plead for a brother ; and not only so, but a favourite there too. All favourites are not so excellent at counselling perhaps, but we have one that is favourite in heaven, and is excellent at pleading, that can non-suit all accusations laid against us by the devil. He is the Son of God, and he is one of us ; he appeareth not as a stranger, for a stranger, as the counsellor is perhaps for his client, but he appears as our brother, Apoc, xii, 10, Let us think of the comforts of it. He appears for us to plead our cause, with acceptation of his person and cause. For he, before whom he pleadeth, God the Father, sent him to take our nature, die, and ascend into heaven for us, to sustain the persons of particular offenders. He must needs hear Christ, that sent him for that purpose. Where the judge appoints a counsel, it is a sign he favoureth the cause. Perhaps we cannot pray, are disconsolate, and vexed with Satan's temptations. The poor client hath a good cause, but cannot make a good cause of it. But if he get a skiUul lawyer, that is favourable to him, and before a favourable judge, his com fort is, his advocate can make his cause good. If we would confess our sins, as that we must do, we must take shame to ourselves in aU our dis tress and disconsolation of spfrit ; and we must lay open our estates to God, and complain ; and then desire God to look upon us, and Christ to plead our cause for us and answer Satan ; and when Satan is very malicious and subtUe, as he is a very cunning enemy to allege all advantages against us, to make us despair, remember this, we have one in heaven that is more skilful than he ' that is the accuser of brethren,' Rev. xU. 10, that accuseth us to God and to our own souls, that accuseth every man to himself and maketh him an enemy to himself. But we have a pleader in heaven that will take our part against the accuser of our brethren, and quiet us at length in our consciences. Perhaps we may be troubled a while, to humble us ; but remember that he is in heaven purposely to plead our cause. It is a good plea to God, ' Lord, I know not what to say ; my sins are more than the hairs of my head. Satan layeth hard to me. I cannot answer one of a thousand. I confess all my sins. Hear me, and hear thy Son for my sake. He is now at thy right hand, and pleadeth for me,' And desfre Christ to plead for us. We have not only aU the church to pray for us, ' Our Father ;' but we have Christ himself to plead for us and make our cause good, if Christ saith, I shed my blood for this person, Bud [he] appears now by -virtue of my redemption. And the_ condition of the covenant is, if we confess our sins, he is merciful to forgive. And if we sin, we have an advocate in heaven, to whom we must lay claim, 1 John ii. 1. The party hath confessed the debt; and therefore the bond must 448 A HEA-VENLY CONFERENCE, be cancelled. He hath performed the conditions on his part ; and there-t fore make it good on thine own part. And being* the Spirit hath shamed thee for thy sins, what can the devil say ? What saith Paul ? ' It is God that justifieth ; who shall condemn ?' Rom, viU, 38, If God, the party offended, do justify, who shall condemn ? It is Christ that died. That is not enough, ' That is risen again,' That is not enough. It is Christ that rose again, ' and sitteth at the right hand of God for us,' and maketh intercession for us, ' Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ?' Let the devil accuse what he will, Christ is risen, to shew that he hath satisfied ; and is now in heaven, there appearing for us. Oh that we had hearts large enough for- these comforts ! then should we never yield to base temptations. It is against the pleasure of God that we should be disconsolate ? There fore we wrong our own souls, and sin against our own comfort, when we let the reins loose by inordinate and extreme sorrow. We lose that sweet ness that we might enjoy, by giving way to discomfortable thoughts. Indeed, if a man examine his life from the beginning of his conversion to the end thereof, he may thank himself for all his trouble. The sin against the holy gospel is a kind of rebellion against God, though we think not so, when we will not be comforted, nor embrace grounds of comfort when we have them. The comforts of God ought not to be of smaU esteem to us. The sweet comforts, large, exceeding, eternal comforts of God, we ought to esteem of them as they be ; and therefore our Saviour Christ sendeth to them speedily. All Scripture is to this end, for consolation, even the Scripture that tendeth to instruction and direction, that so men may be in a state of com fort ; for cordials are not good, but where there is purgation before. So all Scriptures that are purging, to teU us our faults, they be to bring us unto a comfortable condition. Other Scriptures, that tend to instruct our judgments and settle us in faith, what is the end of all, if we walk not comfortably towards God and strongly in our places ? Therefore, when we look not to comfort and joy in all conditions, we abuse the intendmentst of God. But, I beseech you, make not a bad use of it ; for if you know it to be so, if it worketh not graciously in you, and winneth you to respect God the more, and love him that is thus indulgent and gracious, but go on in offending conscience, and break peace off, then at length conscience wUl admit no comfort. Many that have excellent comforts have made havoc of their consciences, and wiU go on in spite of ministers, in spite of their consciences and God's Spirit joined with conscience. At length it is just with God to give them up to despair, wicked sinners that trample the blood of Christ under their feet. But for aU other that strive against corruption, and would be better, it is a ground of marvellous comfort, I shaU pome to the message itself, TeU them, ' I ascend,' He speak eth of that as present which was surely to be. So we should think of our future estate as if we were presently to go to heaven. Faith hath this force, to make things to come present. If we could keep it in us, and exercise it, could we live in any sin ? But that it is distant, that is the cause of sinning. We put off things in a distance. If it be at the day of judg ment, that is far off; and therefore they wiU not leave their present plea sure for that that shaU not be, they know not when. But look on things in the word of a God that is Jehovah, that giveth a being to aU, who * That is, ' seeing,' or ' it being so that.'— G. f That ia, ' intentions'— G, A HEAVENLY CONFEEENCE, 449 hath spoken of things to come as if present, and then you wUl be of another mind. Faith is the privilege of a Christian, which maketh things afar off present. No wicked man but would leave his swearing and profane ness if he saw the joys of heaven and pains of hell ; and it were no thanks to him. But to believe God on his word, that these things shall be, that is the commendations of a man, and the excellency of a Christian above another man. Another man doth all by sense ; but the Christian willtrust God on his word. ' I ascend,' saith Christ, We must not think of the ascension of Christ as a severed thing from us, but if we would have the comfort of it, we must think of it as ourselves ascending with him. Think of Christ as a public person and surety for us, and then we shall have great comfort in that, that he saith, ' I ascend,' God prepared paradise before he made the creature. He would have him to come into a place of honour and pleasure. And so God, before ever we were born, provided a place and paradise for us in heaven, that we might end our days with greater comfort. We may be straitened here. Many a good Christian hath scarce where to lay his head ; but Christ is gone to prepare a place for them in heaven. And this may comfort us in the con sideration of all our sins ; for sin past, and for corruption present, and sin that we may commit for time to come. For any thing that is past, if we confess our sins to God, he will forgive them, ' The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sins,' 1 John i, 7, even from the present corruptions that attend on us. We have one that stands between God and us as a surety ; and he will give us his Spirit to subdue our corruptions, and at length make us like himself, a glorious spouse, Eph, v, 27, If we were perfect men, we need not a mediator ; and this may teach us comfort, rather because we are sinners, and daily subject to offend God, We have one to make our peace for time to come ; if we sin, we have an advocate, 1 John ii, 1, When Christ taught us to pray, ' Forgive us our daily tres passes,' he supposed we should run daily into sins. Mat, vi, 12, We have an advocate in heaven every day to stand between God and us, to answer God,|to undertake that at length we should cease to offend him ; and for the present, we are such as he shed his precious blood for; and he appeareth for us by virtue of his death, which is a marvellous comfort. We think if we commit sin there is no hope. But what needs a media tor, but to make peace between the parties disagreeing ? If aU things were made up between God and us, what need of an intercessor ? But God knoweth well enougji we run into daily sins, by reason of a spring of corruption in us, which is never idle, ' And therefore we may daily go to God in the name of our advocate, and desfre God for Christ's sake to pardon, and desfre Christ to intercede for us. Let us therefore shame ourselves. There is not a Christian but wiU be in himself apprehensive of being thrown into hell every day. There is a spring of corruption in him, and should God take a forfeiture of * his daily rebellions, his conscience tells him it were just. And therefore we must every day live upon this branch of his priestly office, his mediation. We must live by faith in this branch of Christ, and make use of it continually, for this wUl keep us from heU, And therefore if we sin every day, go to God in the name of Christ, and desfre him to pardon us. This is to feed on Christ; and therefore we should more -willmgly come to the sacrament. When we be in heaven, we • That is, ' from,' = should God regard his rebellion as a ' forfeiture,' &c.— G. VOL. VI. *¦ f 450 A HEA-VENLY CONFERENCE. shaU need a mediator no longer, for we shaU be perfectly holy. We can not think of these things too much. They be the life of religion and of comforts ; and it may teach us to make a true use of Christ in all our conditions. Poor souls that are not acquainted with the gospel, they think God wiU cast them into heU for every sin, and they live as if they had not an high priest in heaven to appear for them. The matter of the message is, Christ ascended to God, as a common Father and God to him and them. He doth not say, I ascend to the Father, That were no great comfort ; for what were that to them ? or to my Father only. Neither doth he say, ' I ascend to our Father,' for that is true in the order of it : for he is not in equal respect the God and Father of Christ, and the God and Father of us. And therefore he speaks of himself in the first place : ' I go to my God and your God.' For he is first and specially Christ's Father and Christ's God, and then ours ; as we shall see in the particulars. We have a common Father and a common God with Christ, God the Father is Christ's Father by eternal generation, as he is God and man. We have therefore the nature of Christ as he is God and man. There is this difference between God's being Christ's Father and the Father of any else. First of aU, God is Christ's Father from eternity, God had a being and was a Father from all eternity. There is no man of equal standing with his father. He is born after his father cometh to be a man. But Christ is of God from all eternity. His generation is eternal ; and therefore there is a grand difference. Then Christ is co-equal with the Father in glory and majesty every day. The son is not equal with the father, but Christ is with his Father, Again, The son in other generations comes of the father, and is like the father, taken out of his substance, but of a different substance from the father. But Christ and the Father, both the persons are in one substance, in one essence. The essence of the Father differeth not from the essence of the Son, We must remember this, to give Christ the prerogative and pre-eminency, that God is his Father in another manner than ours. He is his Father by nature, ours by adoption. What he is by nature, we are by grace. Though Christ was intent upon his ascension, yet he forgetteth not this grand difference here, but mentioneth it : 'Go to my brethren,' We must not call him brother again. We may think of him as our brother ; but ' My God and my Lord,' as Thomas saith, John xx, 28, If the greatest person should ^eall us brother, yet it is most behoveful for the inferior to say, ' My God, my Lord ; ' to acknowledge Christ as a great person, and to make use of his love to strengthen our faith, not to diminish our respect to him in any way. It is his infinite mercy to term us brethren. But when we go to him we must have other terms. Thus we see how to conceive of Christ after his resurrection. When he hath triumphed over aU his enemies, and reconciled God by his death, then ' I go to my Father and your Father,' Then he is a common Father, by virtue of Christ's satisfaction to divine .wrath and justice, and victory and triumphing over all his enemies. So we must not conceive of God as our Father, but in reference to Christ's victory over death, God is our Father by virtue of Christ's satisfaction to justice and conquest over all our ene mies. ' The God of peace, 'saith the holy apostle Paul in the epistle to the Hebrews, in the conclusion of that excellent epistle, ' that brought you from death to life through our Lord Jesus Christ,' John v. 24. How A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE. 451 cometh he to be the God of peace to us, which brought us from death to life by our Lord Jesus ? Why, the resurrection of Christ makes him the God of peace. Who raised him? He raised himself. But who together with himself? The Father raised him. And could the Father raise him if he were not reconcUed ? But now he is the ' God of peace ; ' for peace is made by the cross and blood of Christ, Col, iu. 15, the great peace-maker of heaven and earth ; now we may conceive of God under the sweet relation of a Father, Now this relation of a father teacheth us as what we may expect from God, so what we ought to return to God again, and how we ought to carry ourselves one towards another, I I, What we may expect from Ood being a Father. I (1,) We may expect whatsoever a child may expect from a father. God taketh not upon him empty names. He saith he wUl be a Father, not only caUed a Father, 'but I wiU be your Father, and you shall be my sons,' 2 Cor, vi, 18, All the fatherhood, and all the kindred in heaven and earth that is spiritual, the comfort of it cometh from God the Father, reconcUed to us in Christ, The word in the original is so strong that we cannot express it in English, Fathers on earth are but poor fathers, and they be but beams of the fatherly affection that is in God, God will let us see by these beams of compassion that is in a father to a child, what real compassion he heareth to us. The true reality of fatherhood is in God. And therefore, when we hear of father, think of whatsoever Ueth in the bowels of a father to a child ; and that we may expect from God our Father, and infinite more. It is a great indulgence ; as a father pitieth his child, so God will pity us, Mai, iii, 17, Will a father cast off his child.? Indeed, he will cleanse the child. So God will take away our abominations, and purge us when we defile ourselves. It is because of an eternal relation he casteth us not off. We may expect from him indulgence ; and it is an indulgence of indulgence, God needed no son when he made us sons. Yet he had his Son and angels to praise himself withal. Can we pity and pardon a chUd ? and wiU not God pardon and pity us ? Why should we conceive worse of him than of ourselves ? Will we give pity to a father, and not pity to the Father of all bowels and compassion ? And therefore think not that God will cast us off, God pardons us, and healeth our infirmities, and pitieth us as a father pitieth his own child, Ps. ciU, 18, It is a name under which no man must despafr. What ! Despair under the name of a father ? Despair of mercy when we have a Father to go to ? The poor prodigal, when he had spent his patrimony, his body, his good name, had lost all, and nothing left, yet he had a father, and ' I will go to him,' Luke xv, 18, And so, when we be at the last cast, and have spent all, we have a Father. There-r fore go to him. What saith the church ? Isa, Ixiii. Ixiv., ' Doubtless thou art our Father,' when the church was in a poor condition ; ' Though our righteousness be as a menstruous cloth, and we be defiled, yet thou art our Father ; we are the clay, thou art the potter,' &c. So that it is a name of his indulgence. You have his disposition set down by the father of the prodigal. The son saith, he wiU go to the father ; the father runneth to him and meeteth him when he is coming, God runneth to us, and is ready to meet us, when we .begin to repent of sin, and are sensible of our faults. He is more ready to pardon, than we to ask pardon. I touch only some principal things, that you may remember against the evil day and hour of temptation. He taketh not on him the relation of a 452 A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE. , Father for nought, but wiU fiU it up to the uttermost. It is no empty relation. (2,) It is a name likewise of comfort. It is the speech of a natural man, ' A littie punishment is enough from a father.' ' He knoweth whereof we are made, he remembers we are but dust,' Ps. ciU, 14, and Heb, xii. 6 ; he knoweth we are not iron or steel ; he knoweth our making ; and there fore he wiU deal gently with us when he doth correct us. It is as neces sary as our daily bread to have gentle correction, to wean us from the world ; yet he doth it gently. A littie punishment wiU serve from a gra cious &ther. (8,) It is a name likewise of provision, that we may expect from God ; that he wiU in all our exigences and necessities provide for us whatsoever shaU be needful. What saith our Saviour Christ to the poor disciples doubting of want ? ' It is your Father's good wiU to give you the king dom,' What then ? ' Fear not, littie flock,' Luke xU, 82, He that wiU give you a kingdom, wiU not he give you daily bread, viaticum, provision for a journey ? He that intendeth us heaven, certainly he will provide for us here. And therefore in the Lord's prayer, before all petitions, as a ground of all, he putteth in 'our Father' ; and therefore, ' Give us our daily bread, our Father,' And therefore he will give us grace to sanctify hia name, and do his will, and forgive us our sins. Expect all from our Father, which is the ground of all. Christ had much ado to persuade his disciples that they should not want necessaries ; and therefore he makes whole ser mons to strengthen their faith in this : ' Your heavenly Father knoweth what you stand in need of,' Mat, vi, 8, The son cannot ask, but the Father can interpret any sigh, any groan, and knoweth what we would have. And therefore being God's children, we may fetch provision from him in all conditions, (4,) And with provisions, protection likewise ; and therefore make this use i of it. In the temptations of Satan, lie under the wing of our Father, We have a Father to go to ; make use of him, make use of his protection, that God would shield us, that he would be a tower, as he is a tower, and ' the righteous man may fly to him,' Prov, xi, 8, Lie under his wings. He is a gracious Father, and he hath taken this sweet relation on him for this purpose, that we may have comfort in all conditions. You see then what we may expect from God, by this sweet relation he hath taken on him in Christ, to be our Father, II, This word, it is a word of relation. It bindeth God to us and us to God, We are to honour him as our Father, This one word is sufficient to express our duty to a father, and that is a word of reverence ; for it in- cludeth a mixed affection of fear and love. And it is an affection of an inferior to a superior. He is great, therefore we ought to fear him. He is good, therefore we ought to love him. There is with him beams of majesty and bowels of compassion. As there is beams of majesty, we ought to fear hhn ; as bowels of compassion, we ought to love him. So that fear and love mixed together is the affection we owe to God as our Father. If we tremble, and are afraid to go to him, we know not he is loving. If we go to him over-boldly and saucily, we forget that he is great. There fore we must think of his greatness, that we forget not his goodness. We must so think of his goodness, that we forget not his greatness. There fore go boldly to him, with reverence to the throne of Christ. In the word ' Father,' there is more saving power than in ten thousand. It toucheth his very bowels. When a chUd wanteth anything, and is in distress, let it A HEA-VENLY CONFERENCE, 453 but say. Father, or Mother, and the parents yearn upon him. If God be our Father, go to him boldly ; but with reverence go with affiance* to his bowels. Oh, it is a persuasive word ! What cannot we look from-|- that majesty that hath condescended to be caUed ' Father,' and to be a Father to us in aU our necessities ? Either we shaU have what we want and lack, or else we shall have that which is better. He is a wise Father. He answereth not always according to our wUls, but always according to our good. He seeth it is for our good that we are not presently comforted. The physician giveth a sharp potion. Oh, I cannot endure ! And the chirurgeon laneeth. Oh, I cannot endure it ! But the chirurgeon knoweth it is not healing time. Even so we would be presently taken off from under crosses ; but God is a wise Father, and knoweth how long it is fit for us to continue under the cross. Come to him boldly therefore, under the name of a father, that he may move his bowels, and surely vrill hear us. For in Ps, xxvii, 10, when all forsook me, ' My father and mother forsook me, but the Lord took me up,' Fathers in the flesh, and mothers, die, but the Lord taketh us up. He is an eternal Father, and therefore a ground of eternal boldness with God, and of everlasting comfort. He was our Father before we had a father in the world, and he will be our Father when we shall cease to be in the world, They be but instruments under God to bring us into the world, God is our true Father. Our other fathers are but under God, to give us a being, to fit us for heaven. He provideth the best inheritance and paternity for us in heaven. And therefore never be disconsolate, but remember, ' I go to my Father and your Father,' which is a word of eternal comfort. He was our Father from eternity in election ; he will be our Father to eternity in glorification. ' Can a mother forget her child ? yea, though she should, yet can I not forget thee, thou art written in the palm of my hand,' Isa. xlix. 15, 16. God hath us always in his eye, A mother cannot always think of her chUd, She sleepeth sometimes ; but God is a Father that never sleepeth, « The keeper of Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth,' Ps, cxxi, 4, And this is our comfort in aU times and for eternity. And therefore we ought to carry ourselves to God reverently, and go boldly to him, and always make use of him. And this we should learn likewise, to maintain a sweet frame between God and us, ShaU God open such an advantage to us ? ShaU God be our Father, and bear the gracious eternal affection of a father ? and shall not we, by prayer and faith, fetch from our Father aU we stand in need of? As our Saviour saith, ' You that be earthly fathers, when your children ask such a thing, wUl you deny ?' Mat, vii, 9, 10, And have we a Father so rich, so loving, and shaU not we have intercourse with him in our daily necessities ? What a trade is open to us, if we know what a comfort is laid up in the sweet relation of a father ! ' Your Father knoweth what we stand in need of,' Mat, -vi, 8, and he will give thee the spring of aU graces, not only a broken heart, a spirit of Ufe and vigour in his service, but go to God and he wUl give thee his Holy Spirit, which is the best thing next Christ that can be. And therefore be encouraged to make intercourse between thee and God, considering we have a brother in heaven, our nature is there, and our spirit is below. We have the best things in heaven, next Christ, on earth, and God hath our flesh in heaven by Christ ; and there fore why should we not be much in prayer, and much in praises in all our necessities ? Beloved, it is a comfort of that largeness that I cannot express * That is, ' trust.'— G, t Qm. ' look for him ' ?— Ed, 454 A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, it, I rather leave it to your admiration, that you may see what use to make of this sweet relation of a father, (1,) But we must know, that every one cannot say, ' my Father,' for there are a company of men in the world that may say, in some respects, ' our Father ;' but in other respects they cannot. As our Saviour Christ saith peremptorily, John vin, 44, ' You are of your father the devU,' They bragged of. God thefr Father, and they were of their 'father the devil,' Therefore, consider who is fit to take this name into thefr mouths, ' My Father,' Mark the disposition of the Scribes and Pharisees, and then you shall see who be fit to brag of God as thefr Father, They be very formal men, look to their outward devotion, who so devout as they? They studied it ; but what were they for the inside ? They were malicious men, they were Satanical men, men opposite to the power of religion, arrant hypocrites, painted sepulchres, |It is no matter for compUment or formality. All hypocrite may have much of that in the eyes of the world, yet may be a chUd of the devil for aU that, and a Pharisee for all that. Thou mayest be malicious against the truth, as the Pharisees sought Christ's blood, A man may be like Herod, seeking the blood of Christ in his members, per secuting Christ, as all cruel men do. They seek to devour Christ in his professors. What they can, they disparage and dishearten them. They are enemies to the power of religion and to the ordinances of God, They be the children of the devil, and therefore have no reason at aU to brag that God is their Father, Indeed, an inward bitter disposition against the power of reUgion, though Under any formality, is a character of a Satanical spirit; and such cannot say, ' Our Father,' If they do, it is an usurpation, for their true father is the devil, (2.) Who can say. Our Father ? Those that by the Spirit of the Father and the Son, by the Holy Ghost, are ingraffed into Christ by a spirit of adoption, and have the stamp of the Father upon them. The Ukeness of the Father and of Christ, whom God begets to his own likeness, that are, in a word, like Christ, Christ is the first Son, and in him, and for his sake, we are sons. He is the natural Son, and they may say ' Our Father' that labour to express the disposition of Christ, who is the first Son, See this disposition of Christ in the gospel, how marvellously patient he was under the hand of his Father, obedient to the death of his cross, humbled, fuU of love, full of goodness, ' He went about doing good,' Acts x. 88, Do we then walk as Christ did ? Carry we the image of the ' second Adam ' ? Have we the patient, humble, meek disposition of Christ in our measure ? Do we love Christ in his members, God in his image ? Do we love the ordinances and the power of religion ? This sheweth what we are. And is our conversation suitable to our inward disposition ? Do we walk in light ? Do we shew by our conversation whose children we are ? Do our speeches give a character of the inward man ? If this be in us, though in never so small a measure, with comfort we may say, ' Our Father,' But may not another man, that is not in Christ, come to God under the sweet name of ' our Father ?' Yea, he may come to him as his father by creation and providence, or sacramentally a father, or as brought into the church, and having God to create him and to provide for him. Lord, thou hast shewed thyself a gracious Father thus far, though I cannot from any inward persuasion say, ' My Father,' Thus far as I can I say, ' My Father,' Strive against our spiritual infidelity, beUeve God and cast ourselves on his gracious promises in Christ, God wiU meet us at the same time, and he A HEAVENLY CONFERENCE, 455 wiU send us his Spirit to make us his sons. And therefore let no man that hath been a wicked liver be discouraged from going to God in the name of a father, in that wherein he is a father. Lord, thou hast created me and preserved me, and it is thy mercy I am not in heU. Yet thou offerest to be my Father in Christ — thou hast made gracious promises anil invited me ; and upon this, when the heart yieldeth to the gracious appre hensions of God as a Father, there is a spirit of faith wrought in the heart presently. Therefore think of the name of a father, and the very thoughts of it will bring the spirit of adoption. Only it speaks no comfort to the bitter malicious satanical enemies of Christ, and the power of religion. They be children of the devU, But now poor souls, that groan under the burden of sin, let them think that God is a Father, and of the mercies of God, though they do not see they be interested in them. By the very contemplation of the mercies of God in Christ, and his inviting them to receive them, the Spirit of God will be wrought in the soul, whereby they may have confidence to come to God as a Father, I desire you therefore to remember this. It is the first sermon of our Saviour Christ after his resurrection, and therefore forget not to think of God as a Father and Christ as a Brother, Indeed, whatsoever comfort is in any relation, God and Christ have taken it on them, A father is more comprehensive than any other title : Christ is Father, and Husband, and Spouse, And God is our Rock and Shield ; and whatsoever is comfortable he hath taken on him, and in Christ we may command him to be so. And if we had ten thousand worlds, they could not be compared to the comforts that arise from hence, that we can call God, Father, It is more to us, if we could improve it in our spiritual trade for heaven, than if we had a thousand worlds, especiaUy in days of affiiction and in the hour of death. For it improveth whatsoever is in the bowels of God for poor distressed souls. When nothing else -wUl comfort, this will comfort, if we can say to God, ' Father,' Though we cannot make a distinct prayer, yet if we can say ' Father,' God can pick matter out of our broken language. Now Christ is ascended up to heaven, he doth us more good than he did when he was upon the earth. The sun in the firmament yieldeth us heat and comfort ; but if it were nearer it would do us hurt, or if further off it would not do us so much good, God hath placed it, being a common light of the world, high, to enlighten inferior bodies, and to convey infiuence by means into them. And so Christ, the Sun of righteousness, being ascended and advanced to heaven, doth more good than on earth. And therefore saith he, ' It is for your good that I ascend,' It is for our good that we have Christ in heaven, to appear there for us, ' I ascend to my Father, and to your Father,' ' Father' is here taken personaUy, not essentially ; though it be true in that sense, ' to my Father,' as the first person of the Trinity especially, Christ may well say, ' I ascend to my Father' now; for he was risen again, and was mightily declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, ' Thou art my Son ; this day I have begotten thee ;' that is, this day have I declared thee, Rom, i, 4, and Heb, i, 5, It is said of things, fiunt, cum patefiunt, they are done when they be open, and declared to be done, Christ was the Son of God when he rose again, because he was discovered by his glorious resurrection to be so indeed. And therefore Christ may well say after his resurrection, ' I go to my Father, and your Father,' Observe from hence, that God in Christ is our Father, We say, relations are 456 A HEA-VENLY CONFEEENCE. minimm entitatis,* they are little entities founded upon others, but they are maximcB consequentia, of great concernment. I beseech you, before I leave the point, give me leave to go on a little further in this, to shew that wonderful mercy, that admirable goodness which the tongues and hearts of aU the men in the world, and angels hi heaven, are not able to express ; that love of God which is contafried in the relation he hath taken on him in Christ to be our Father. (1,) Consider who, and whom. Who, the great God, that hath the Son to solace himself in. He did not adopt us because he wanted sons. He had sons of his own, and sons of his love to solace himself in. What need he have took traitors, rebels, enemies, to make them his sons ? Oh it is a marveUous advancement of our nature, that God should in. Christ become our ' Father,' It is said, Ps, cxiU. 6, ' God abaseth himself to behold things below ;' and indeed so he doth, with reverence be it spoken to his great majesty : he abaseth himself in regard of things below, in regard of us worms of the earth, that be enemies, yea, devils by nature. For many, ye shaU see the devil in them, in their lying and opposing of goodness. And God will always have some amongst men, to shew others what they would be, if God left them to themselves, God abaseth himself to behold things below. Not that it is a diminution of majesty to do it, but God in Christ hath stooped so low, that he could go no lower, and he is advanced as high in our nature as can be. How could God become a man, a curse, God in the second person with us, God in the first person to be so near to us as a Father, and God in the second person to make him a Father, to be so low as Christ was, which is to be as low as heU itself, (2.) Consider to whom this message is sent. He is your Father, even a Father to you the disciples, now you are disconsolate, God owneth us for his children at the worst. He took our condition notwithstanding all our infirmities. When we be pronest by a work of the Spirit to condemn ourselves, then God is nearest to justify us. When the poor prodigal said, ' I am unworthy to be a son, make me an household servant,' you see how the father entertaineth him, Luke xv, 19, - So the poor publican dareth not lift up his eyes, and yet went away justified, Luke xviii. 13, David, when he could not pray, but murmur and rebel, and said in his heart all men are liars, ' yet thou heardest the voice of my prayer,' Ps, cxvi, 11 ; even then, when he could not pray, but groan and sigh to God : ' I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet thou regardest the voice of my prayers ;' when he said, out of a murmuring spirit and rebelliousness of nature, I am cast out of thy' sight — a speech that tended to desperation, — yet God heard the voice of his prayer. When Job said, ' I clothed myself in dust and ashes,' God said to him, ' I have accepted thee,' Job xiii, 6, 8, When we by the Spirit think ourselves unworthy to be accepted, or to look to heaven, or to tread upon the earth, then God looketh on us worthy in his Son ; and never more worthy than when we acknowledge our own unworthiness, ' Go tell my disciples,' at this time when they had dealt so unworthily, ' I go to their Father,' It is from his own bowels, and not any goodness in us, that he loveth us. He loveth the work of his own Spirit, his own nature, that that is of his own. Though the child hath many infirmities, yet the Father seeth the nature of the child, and therefore loveth it, God seeth his image of holiness in us in^^some poor measure, and he loveth his own in us. And he loveth our love to him, which is in some measure. Though the disciples * Qu, ' entitates ' ?— Ed. A HEA-VENLY CONFEEENCE, 457 had got into corners, after their unkind dealing with Christ, yet he knew they loved him. As where there is love, there will be a reflection of his love back again. And then God knoweth if he should not shew mercy to sinners, he should have none to serve him on earth. And therefore saith the psalmist, Ps. cxxx. ver, 4, ' There is mercy with thee that thou mayest be feared ;' that is, worshipped. If God were not merciful to sinners, where should he have any to worship him ? And therefore God sheweth himself to be a Father, even to sinful creatures ; even in their wickedness, he seeth his own nature in them. He seeth some love, some work of respect in them, and if he should not love them, he would have none to fear him. Beloved, live upon this. I spake before of the love of Christ, Here is the love of God the Father, who is content to be a Father even in our sinful condition. If God be a Father to us, as to Christ, then let not our hearts be discouraged in afflictions, persecutions, temptations, God was a Father to Christ in his desertion, God leaveth us to ourselves sometimes, and we fear his love. Did not he leave his own Son upon the cross — ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?' Mat, xxvii, 46 — and yet he ceased not to be a Father, For persecution of enemies : was not Christ's whole Ufe filled up with persecution, and yet a Son ? For temptations : thou art tempted, and thinkest thou art none of God's children, Satan did tempt our blessed Saviour, that he might be a merciful Saviour, and know how to succour thee in times of temptation. Therefore, be not discouraged. Say not, when thou art deserted, persecuted, afflicted, tempted, God is not thy Father ; for by that reason thou mayest argue, God was none of Christ's Father, God was Christ's Father, notwithstanding his desertion for a time ; and notwithstanding his afflictions in the world, his persecutions of all sorts of men, and notwithstanding his temptations, God was his Father stUl, This we must observe, ' father ' is not a relation to-day, none to-morrow. It is an eternal relation, ' Dum percutis, pater es ; dum castigas, pater es,' saith Austin .(h) : ' While thou strikest us, thou art our Father ; whilst thou correctest us, thou art our Father.' Parents are tender to their weakest and sick chUdren ; and God is most tender of all to them that be weak. ' Go, tell Peter.' And therefore, never be out of conceit of God or Christ. We cannot be in a condition wherein, on any sound grounds, we may run from God. But if this be so, let us learn of God to be indulgent. If I were to speak to ministers, I should be large to advise them to preach the law and the gospel. The very law is preached in mercy. The Lord taketh a severe course, but it is to order us. All God's severity is reducible to mercy and Christ ; aU his afflictions, humiliations, and abasements, do they come from unfatherly affection ? No ; but to draw us home to him. And therefore, never be terrible to any, but with a bowel of compassion, but -with a mind that they may see themselves, and see the comforts they have in Christ, We ought to be of his affection, the great Pastor and Bishop of the church. And so for ordinary Christians ; they should be indulgent one to another. Some are always cutting in ulcers ; always wounding and tearing themselves ¦with iU usage and misconstruction ; keeping themselves from growing up in a better life, by observing the infirmities of them that be better than themselves. Oh, but ' go, teU my brethren ' that my Father owneth them for his children, which may be a use of marvellous comfort to us. Shall a child be always prowUng for itself ? We think there is neither 458 A HEA-VENLY CONFERENCE, father nor mother to take care for it : your heavenly Father knoweth what you need. We ought to labour for contentment in aU conditions ; for God is our Father. And for others, if God be our Father, let us look to others that be our brethren ; own them, and carry ourselves to them as brethren. Let the strong carry themselves lowly to the weak. It is a sign of greatest strength to be most indulgent. Many account it great commendations on their part to be censorious and to be severe. Ay, but that is the greatest part of their weakness, if they have any goodness in them. For who was more indulgent to the disciples than Christ, who saw their weakness ? He bore with all their infirmities. Where we see any goodness, let us bear with many weaknesses. We ought to be peaceable men : Beati sunt pacifici.* They that be appeased m their consciences, in sense of thefr own pardon, are ready to shew mercy to others. Busy, contentious, quarrelsome dispositions argue they never found comfort from God himself. If God be a Father, and we are brethren, it is a leveUing word ; it bringeth mountains down and filleth up valleys, AU are brethren, take them in what condition you wUl, If they be great in the world, brethren of high degree ; yet ' brother' levelleth them. If they be of low degree, yet it fflleth them up, and raiseth them to the height in this brotherhood. And therefore, ' Go, teU my brethren ; ' teU them aU, for they be aU equally brethren. If I were to speak to persons of quaUty and great parts, as I am to speak to mean, let them be put in mmd of their condition. Nothing should raise us up so high, as to forget the everlasting relation of brother. Infirmity should not so far prevaU with us, as to forget that which the children of God have to eternity. And for other persons more eminent, if he be a king, let him not so mind that, as to forget aU other. For aU relations determine in death, and must be laid in the dust ; all must stand on equal ground before God's bar, and they that have most to answer for, have the highest account of all, and therefore it is ground of humUity to all. Let them that are in greatest eminency consider this, Paul, after conversion, could say, ' Henceforth, I know no man after the flesh,' 2 Cor, v, 16, There is a great deal of humanity in the world : compliment is very ordinary, which is the picture and outside of humanity ; but Christian love, which is a degree above humanity, the apostle caUeth it <^ikabik