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that Time that is measured out in God's Counfel: And what a rediculous Thing must that be to him, if it be not done with fubmiffive and humble Dependence on him? In a Word, Time is with Child of innumerable Things, conceived by the eternal Counsel of God; infinite and inconceivably various are thefe Conceptions which the Womb of Time fhall at length bring forth to Light; every Day, every Hour, every Minute is travelling in Pain, as it were, and is

tho' the Mine be never fo well prepared, and all ready for the fireing of it; Yet the Counsel of the Lord, that ball fand, Prov. xix. 21. and xvi. 9. That higher Determination may blow up our beft Confultations or drown them, for Man's Goings is of the Lord, how then can a Man understand his Paths, Prov. xx. 24. And yet the moft Part of Men in all thefe Things lofe the Re membrance of this fatal and invincible Subordination to God, and propofe their own Affairs and Actions, as if them-delivered of fome one Birth or another; felves were to difpofe of them; and when and no Creature can open its Womb their own Resolutions and Projects feem fooner, or shut it longer than the appoinprobable, they begin to please themselves ted and prefixed Seafon: There is no in them, in the Forethought of what they miscarrying as to him whole Decrees do will do, or what they may have or enjoy properly conceive them, tho' to us they To-morrow afterward: There is a pre- leem often abortive. Now, join unto fent fecret Complacency and Gloriation, this to make the Allufion full, as long as without any ferious reminding the ab- they are carried in the Womb of Time, folute Dependence of all Things upon the they are hid from all the World; the Will of God, and their Independence Womb is a dark Lodging, and no Unupon our Counfels, without forecafting derftanding nor Eye can pierce into it, and often ruminating upon the perpetual to tell what is in it, till it break forth; Fluctuation and conftant Inconftancy of and therefore, Children born are faid to humane Affairs; but, as if we were come to the Light; for till then, they the fupreme Moderators in Heaven and are to us in a Cloud of Darkness, that Earth, fo we act and tranfact our own we cannot tell what they are: So then, Bufinefs in a deep Forgetfulness of him every Day, every Hour, every Moment who fits in Heaven, and laughs at all our is about to bring forth that which all Projects and Practices; and therefore, the World is ignorant of, till they fee the Holy Ghost would have this fecret it; and Oh that then they understood it. but ferious Thought to feafon all our We know not whether the Morrow's or other Purposes and Confultations, If the next Hour's Birth may be a proportioned Lord will, &c. Whereas we ought to Child, or a Monfter; whether it will fay and think this, it is fcarce minded; answer the Figure and Mould that is in and then we know not what shall be our Mind, or be mishapen and deformed Tc-morrow, for our Life itself is a Va to our Senfe. Man's. Defires and Depour. Herein is a ftrong Argument, you figns may be faid to conceive, for they lay your Designs for To-morrow, for a form an inward Image and Idea within Year, for many Years, and yet ye know themselves, to which they labour to make not if ye fhall be To-morrow. How the Product and, Birth of Time conformmany Mens Projects are caft beyond able; and when it aufwers our preconceived

conceived Form, then we rejoice as for a Man-child. But for the moft Part it is a Monster as to our Conception, it is an Aberration from our Rule; it is either mutilate and defective of what we defire, or fuperfluous or deformed, which turns our Expectation into Vex ation, and our Boafting into LamentatiBut the Truth is, Time brings forth no Monsters as to the Lord's Deerees, which are the only juft Measures of all Things: It may be faid of every Thing under the Sun, as David fpeaks of himself in the Womb; My. Subftance

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was not bid from thee, when I was made in Secret, and curiously formed in the lowest Parts of the Earth, &c. Pfal. cxxxix. 15. His Eyes fee all their Subftance, yet being imperfect, and in his everlafting Book all their Members. are written; the Portraicture of every Thing is drawn there to- the Life, and thefe in Continuance are fashioned, juft as they were written and drawn, and fo they exactly correfpond to his Preconception of them; whatever Deformity they may have as to us, yet they are perfect Works and beautiful to him..

SERMON VIII

Ifa. i. 10, 11. &c. Hear the Word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodom, give ear unto the Word of the Lord ye People: of Gomorrah, &c.

IT

Tis ftrange to think what Mercy is mixed with the moft Wrath-like Strokes and Threatnings: There is no Prophet whofe Office and Commiffion is only for Judgment; nay, to fpeak the Truth, it is Mercy that premifes Threatnings. The entering of the Law, both in the Commands and Curfes, is to make Sin abound, that Grace may fuperabound, fo that both Rods and Threat nings are the Meffengers of Jefus Chrift, to bring Sinners to him for Salvation: Evesy Thing (hould be meafured and named by its End; fo, call Threatnings Promises, call Rods and Judgments Mersies name all Good, and Good to you,

if fo be ye understand the Purpose of God in thefe. The fhorteft Preaching. in the Bible ufeth to express itself what it means, tho' it be never fo terrible. This is a fad and lamentable Beginning of a Propher's Miniftry; the first Word is to the Heavens and to the Earth. A weighty and horrible Regrate of this People, as if none of them were to hear, as if the Earth could be more easily. affected than they. The. Creatures are taken Witneffes by God of their Ingratitude, and then who fhall fpeak for them. If Heaven and Earth be againft them, who fhall fpeak Good of them? Will their own Confcience? No cer-

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tainly, it will in the Day of wineffing and judging precipitate its Sentence, and Spare the Judge the Labour of Probation; a Man's Enemy shall be within his own House, tho' now your Confciences agree with you: Nay, why doth the Lord fpeak to them? Because the People confider not, because Confcience have given over speaking to them, therefore the Lord directs his Word to the dumb Earth: Yet how gracious is he, as to direct a fecond Word even to the People, tho' a fad Word? It is a Complaint of Iniquity and Backfliding, and fuch as cannot be uttered; yet it is Mercy to challenge them, yea to chaften them. If the Lord would threaten a Man with pure and unmixed Judgments, if he would frame a Threatning of a Rod of pure Juftice, I think it fhould be this, I will no more reprove thee, nor chaften thee; and he is not far from it, when he says, why shall ye be ftricken any more? &c. Ver. 5. As if he would fay, it is in vain now to fend a Rod, ye receive no Correction; I fent the Rod, that it might open your Hearts and Ears to the Word, and feal your Inftruction. but to what Purpofe is it? Ye grow worfe and worfe: Well, the Prophet compares here Sin and Judgment, and the one far furmounts the other. Ye would think a defolate Country, burnt Cities, Defolation made by Strangers, a fufficient Recompence of their Corruption and Misorders, of their Forfaking and Backfliding. Ye would think now, if your prefent Condition and the Lands preffed you to utter Jeremiah's Lamentation, a fader than which is not almost imaginable, ye would think, I say, that you had received double for all your Sins: And yet alas, how are your Iniquities of infinite more Defert; all that

were Mercy, which is behind infinite and eternal Punishment; that there is Room left for Complaint, it is Mercy; that there is a Remnant left, it is Mercy.

Now, to proclaim unto this People, and to convince them that their Judg ment was not fevere, he gives them one Word from God. And indeed it is ftrange, that when the Rod is fent, becaufe of the defpifing of the Word; that after the defpifing of both Word and Rod, another Word fhould come.. Always this Word is a convincing Word, a directing Word, and a comforting Word; thefe ufe to be conjoined, and if they be not always expreffed, we may lawfully understand them: We may join a Confolation to a Conviction, and clofe a Threatning with a Promise, if we take with a Threatning: Jonab's Preaching expreffed no more but a Threatning and Denounciation of Judgment; but the People understood it according to God's Meaning, and made it a Rule of Direction, and fo a Ground of Confolation. How inexcufable are we, who have all culcated, Line upon Line, and Prethefe expreffed unto us, and often incept upon Precept, and yet fo often divides the Word of Truth, or neglects it altogether. Moft Part fancy a Belief of the Promises, and neither confider Threatnings nor Commands: Some believing the Threatnings, are not fo wife for their own Salvation, as to consider what God fays more, but takes it for his laft Word. Shall not Nineveh life up in Judgment against this Generation; they repented at one Preaching, and that a fhort one, and in Appearance very defective; and yet we have many Preachings of the Son of God, and his Apofties in this Bible, both Law and Gofpel, holden forth diftinctly, and thefe fpoken

daily in our Audience, and yet we repent not.

Baptism or Unbaptifm availeth nothing, but a new Creature. A baptized Chriftian and an unbaptized Turk are alike before God, if their Hearts and Ways be one, Gal. vi. 15. All Chriftians profefs Faith and Glory in Baptism, but it avails nothing, except it work by Love, Gal. v. 6.

Now, what Name shall we give you? How fhall our Rulers be called? How fhall ye the People be called? If we shall fpeak the Truth, we fear it instruct you not, but irritate you; yet the Truth we muft fpeak, whether ye chufe, or whether ye refufe. Ye would all be called Chriftians, the People of God:

This is a strange Preface going before this Preaching, and more ftrange in that it is before the first Preaching of a young Prophet. He speaks both to Rulers and People, but he gives them a Name, fuch as certainly they would not take to themfelves; but feeing he is to speak the Word of the Lord, he must not flatter them, as they did themfelves. Is not this the Lord's People, his Portion and Inheritance which he choose out of the Nations? Are not thefe Rulers the Princes of Judab, and the Lord's Anointed? Were they not both in Covenant with God, and feparated from the Na-But we may not call you so, except we tions both in Privileges and Profeffion? How then are they Rulers of Sodom, and People of Gomorrah? Likened to the worst of the Nations, and not likened to them, but fpoken of, as if they were indeed all one. When ye hear the Preface, ye would think that the Prophet were about to direct his Speech to Sodom and Gommorrab: But when ye look upon the Preaching, ye find he means by Judah and Jerufalem, and thefe are the Rulers and People he fpeaks of Certainly, according as Men walk, fo fhall they be named and ranked; external Privileges and Profeffion may give a Name before Men, and feparate Men from Men before the World; but they give no Name, make no Difference before God, if all other Things be not fuitable to thefe. He is not a Jew, (faith Paul) who is not one inwardly, but be who bath that Circumcifion in the Heart, in the Spirit, and not in the Letter. Outward Profeffion and Signs may have Praife of Men, but it is this that bath Praife of God, Rom. ii. 28, 29. Circumcifion and Uncircumcifion,

would flatter you, and deceive you by flattering, and murder you by deceiving. We would gladly name you Chriftians. in the Spirit, Saints chofen and precious. Oh, that we might fpeak fo to the Rulers and People: But alas, we may not call you fo, except ye were fo indeed; we may not call you Chriftians, least ye be-lieve yourselves to be fo. And yet alas,. ye will think yourselves fuch, speak what we can. Would ye know your Name then? I perceive you liften to hear what it is. But understand, that it is your Name before God, which bears his Ac count of you: What matter of a Nameamong Men? It is often a Shadow without Substance, a Name without the Thing. If God name you otherwise, you hall have little either Honour or Comfort in it: When Men bless you and praise you, if the Lord reckon thee among the Beafts that perifh, are ye honoured indeed? Well then, hear your Name before God, what Account hath he of you? Ye Rulers, are Rulers of Sodom, and ye People, are People of Gomorrab. And if ye think this a hard

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Saying, I defire you will notice the Way that the Prophet Ifaiab takes to prove bis Challenge against them, and the fame may be alledged against Rulers and People now. We need no Proof but one of both. See Ver. 23. Thy Princes are rebellious, becaufe, tho' they hear nuch against their Sins, yet they never amend them, they pull away the Shoulder; if they hear, yet they harden their Heart. Is there any of them hath fet too to pray in their Families, tho' earneftly preffed? Well, what follows? Every one loves Gifts. Covetoufnefs then and Oppreffion proves Rulers to be Rulers of Sodom. Shall their Houfes ftand, fbalt thou reign, because thou clofeft thyself with Cedar, Jer. xx. 13. No certainly, Men fhall one Day take up a Proverb against them; Wo to him that encreases that which is not his, and loadeth himself with thick Clay; they fhall be for Booties to the Lord's fpoilers, Hab. i. 6. Wo to them, for they have confulted Shame to their Houses, and finned against their own Soul. Their Design is to establish their House, and make it eminent, but they take a compendious Way to fhame and ruin it. Alas, it is too publick that Rulers feek their own Things, for themselves and their Friends; and for Jefus and his Interefts, they are not concerned: But are ye the People any Whit better? Oh that it were fo. But alas, when ye are involved in the fame Guiltinefs, I fear ye partake of their Plagues. What are ye then? People of Gomorrah. Is not the Name of God blafphemed daily be caufe of you? Are not the Abominations of the Gentiles the common Disease of the Multitude, and the very Reproach of Chriftianity. Set apart your publick Services and Profeffions, and is there

any Thing behind in your Converfation, but Drunkenness, Lying, Swearing, Contention, Envy, Deceit, Wrath, Covetou nefs, and such like? Have not the Mul titude of them been as civil, and carried themselves as blamelefly, and without Offence, as the Throng of our visible Church? What have ye more than they? It is true, ye are called Chriftians, and ye boast in it. Ye know his Will, and can fpeak of Points of Religion, can teach and instruct others, and fo bath, as it were, in your Minds a Form and Method of Knowledge, the best of you are but fuch: But I ask, as Paul did the Jews in fuch a Cafe, Thou that teacheft another, teacheft thou not thy felf; thou that makeft a Boaft of the Law, through breaking of it, difbo noureft thou God, Rom. ii. 17. &c. 23. Why then, certainly all thy Profeffion and Baptifm avails nothing, and will never extract thee from the Pagans, with whom thou art one in Converfation; thy Profeffion is so far from helping thee in such a Case, that it fall be the most bitter Ingredient in thy Cup of Judgment, for it is the greatest Aggravation of thy Sin, for through it, God's Name is blafphemed; If they bad not known, they bad not bad Sin. Pagan's Sin is no Sin in respect of Chriftians: If ye confider Chrift's Sermon, Mat. xi. ye will fay, Ifaiab is a meek and moderate Man in regard of him; Ifaiah calls them People of Go morrab, but Chrift will have them worse, and their Judgment more intolerable than · theirs. And that not only the profane of them, but the civil and religious like, who believed not in him: Well then, here is the Advantage ye get of your Name of Chriftianity, of your Privilege of hearing his Word daily; ye who

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