A Farewell SERMON Preached in WAKE-FIELD, January 1, 1655. By Thomas Parker, Master of Arts, late Minister of that Church. Published upon the importunity, and for the satisfaction of the good People of Wakefield. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Heb. 11.4. LONDON: Printed by J. M. for Richard Lownds, at his Shop, at the White Lion in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1656. To the ever Honoured, and my very good friend, Mrs. Frances Hustler, at Lupset. Madam, IT was not any Ambition to be seen in the Press, but the daily importunities of my ever dear people, which brought this Sermon to see the light; when I Preached it, I had no other thoughts of Printing it, th●n in your breasts; I shall think my pains well bestowed, if the eye may so second the ear, that both may be an advantage to the Soul, and leave so deep an impression of the true fear of God in your hearts, that you may be the Epistle of Christ, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. Madam, You will meet here with the words of truth and soberness, in a plain and homely dress, that which an age never more wanted, nor could less endure: Truth is like Beauty, never more fair, then when she goes the plainest: This discourse will meet with my Adversaries, but be welcome to my friends; to whose Consciences, rather they their Closets, I desire to commend it: For my own part, I desire to refer myself to the wisdom of God, who knows how to choose best for me, and through his blessing, whatever it cost me, to run the Ermin's fate (fall into the hands of the Hunter, rather than foul her body) The great share that New-Years day had in your tears, makes me bold to beg some interest in your Prayers; and I shall not despair, in God's good time, of my restauration to the Vineyard: In the mean time, I commend you and yours, to that blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel, Madam, I am Your affectionate friend and servant in Christ Jesus, Tho. Parker. From my study at Northgate-head, June 24. 1656. ECCLES. 12.13. I Am this day to take my leave, not only of you (my good people) but of the Pulpit also; To bid farewell to that High Calling, the great Harvest of Heaven, wherein I have for these eighteen years, painfully and faithfully, and I bless my God, fruitfully laboured. I do not herein strive to justify myself, God knoweth my heart; if there be any glory, it is the Lords, I know the Apostles Rule very well; Not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth: 2 Cor. 10.18. I know not well upon what account to commend this Sermon this day whether as a Farewell to you, or a Funeral to myself; for so indeed it is: To impede the execution of that Calling wherein we are employed, and whereby we should do God that service for which he hath Commissionated us; To force the rusting of the Talents, which our great Master hath commanded us to put to usury: To stop our mouths, and put out our eyes, when our hands are at the Plough: What is it, but to bury a man alive, or to leave him like that wounded Pilgrim in the Gospel, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉? Luk. 10.30. How bitter would this Cup be, if the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ had not sweetened it? What an excellent saying that is? The servant is not greater than his Lord, nor the Disciple above his Master; If they have persecuted me; they will also persecute you, etc. And lest they should forget so necessary and useful a Doctrine, he puts a special Memento upon it, Joh. 15.20. Remember the words that I have said to you, etc. What ever shall befall me, or any of my fellow Labourers, We shall ever pray that God may bless his Church; and I doubt not but he will in his good time restore her to her Purity, and her Peace. Old Mercies, thankfully received, are strong engagements for new: Your spirit will witness with me this day, what cause I have to bless God, as much, I think, as any man that ever laboured in his Vaneyard. First for my persecutions; It is an excellent saying of St. Paul, 2 Cor. 12.10. I take pleasure in persecutions; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the words is a Gospel Expression, and signifies a willing, pleasing Approbation, not without much inward contentment: The most precious thing that good Apostle ever desired to receive, he expresseth by this word, namely, to be present with the Lord. 2 Cor. 5.8. And the most precious thing that ever he desired to give, he expresseth by the same words, namely, The Gospel of Christ, and his own soul, 1. Thes. 2.8. and here he makes use of it to show how well he was pleased, and how much he did approve of himself and his Doctrine, because of these persecutions, as being undoubted evidences of the truth of Christ. I should for my own part have suspected myself, yea, and my Doctrine too, if both had not been persecuted; I look upon my persecutions as love Tokens from Heaven, Pledges of God's love, and Badges of my own Sonship: Let me tell you (my good people) there is no condition in the world, so highly , as that of suffering for, and with Christ, Jam. 6.11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, this was Divinity in St. James his days; Was it not the minute of his sufferings, wherein Steven saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at his right hand? Shall we think ourselves worthy to be styled the Disciples of Christ, and run away, or deny him, when he comes to the Crucifying? When she who is the Mother of us all is abused, branded, and struggles under pangs and agonies, with the most hellish and unthankful children, that ever Mother bare; shall we therefore forget to be Sons, or be ashamed or afraid to suffer? I mean, the Church of England, which every knowing and moderate Spirit, not biased, with factions or self-interest, must needs acknowledge to be the brightest, and most glorious resemblance of Primitive purity, that ancient and holy faith, which for these twelve hundred years, any man ever had the honour of contending or suffering for: Tell me, have not I great cause to look upon it as a blessing, or have you any cause to be ashamed of my troubles? What my persecutions have been, and of what nature, in relation not to my person only, but my Doctrine also; (the proper work of Hell) with what bitterness, violence and injustice they have been carried on, your own eyes and ears can sufficiently witness; I bless God this day for the innocency of my own heart, and shall have another day more cause to rejoice in my sufferings, 2 Cor. 1.12 than my Persecutors in their victory; Our rejoicing is this the Testimony of our Conscience. The second Mercy I desire we may take notice of, is the support and constant supplies of the Spirit of grace, in and under all these sufferings; a high and unexpressible Mercy! Psal. 61, 2. When my soul was overwhelmed, he laid my hands upon a Rock, a Rock that was higher than I The more my persecutions grew, the more did the hand of the Lord appear, in, with, and for me: when the wickedness of my Persecutors grew so high, and their sin so shameless, that they durst appear like those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, those Noon-day-Divels, and declare their sin as Sodom: when they durst come into Bethel itself, a House of Prayer, a place set a part for divine Worship; and there with faces harder than flint, outdare the God and Master of that House, and being Whores, to out face Angels, the Attendants of that Place; when neither the sacredness, nor dreadfulness of the place, nor my own performance of public Duties, could safeguard me from their hellish practices, (whose only capacity is like Machiavels undertakers, to be wicked enough) even then the Angel of the Covenant, whose I am, and whom I serve, stood by me; Then was the grace of the Lord with me, to uphold and support me; What shall I render to my God for these his mercies? I will take the Cup of Salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord: The third Mercy to be remembered by us, is the continuance of mutual love, betwixt Minister and People; a Divine love doubtless, because lasting unto the end: The reproaches and scandals daily heaped upon me, could never alienate the heart of any one of my hearers, so far, as to a desertion of me: Must we not needs say, this was the work of God? Love built upon human foundation, is as the foundation itself, changeable. But here was more than the work of man, God himself herein owning my integrity, and approving my Doctrine: I look upon all this, as a fruit of that Sacramental love, wherein our foundation was laid at my first coming to you: I cannot, as I have desired, longer serve you in my Preaching yet my Prayers shall never be wanting for you, to that God, who is love; that for those Bowels of love wherewith you have refreshed me, you may find mercy in that day when you shall most stand in need of it. But I must to my Text: My first entrance to you was in love, and the main end of my undertaking here, was this; That among this great people, I might be an Instrument of gaining some poor souls to God, (God is my Record, I lie not:) I cannot say but there were some other Considerations went along with it, but they were all subservient to this: How far I was from that sin of Covetousness, wherewith the people too much brand the Clergy, and sometimes deservedly; I appeal to yourselves, I never made any Compact or Covenant with you, upon that account; your offerings have been of free will, and God hath blessed them: What my Conversation, and Deportment hath been amongst you, notwithstanding the many provocations I have had, I refer to you all; I have not made the Pulpit (where the glory of God, and the riches of Christ, and the salvation of poor souls is concerned) a Stage or Theatre to act my own parts and passions in: I have endeavoured to walk inoffensively towards God, and towards man: This also was the Lords work. Such was my Entrance, and such hath my progress been, your Tears do abundantly witness this day, the sad parting of a Minister and his people, God forgive them (if at least it be lawful to pray for them) who have rob us one of another, where there was so much love, and so much delight in each other, that we have found God delighting in us all, to do us good: We are now come to the Conclusion, and to that purpose I have made choice of a plain Text, and I shall speak to it with as much plainness. You have it ECCLES. 12.13. Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole matter; Fear God, and keep his Commandments; this is the whole duty of man. THat Solomon the Son of David, was the Penman of this Book, I think, is without dispute; the Style is his, and there was no other Son of David, King in Jerusalem, but he: The dispute is of the Title Choheleth, which the Lxx. render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: We, the Preacher: and concerning that, there is a double Query. First, Why it is used in the Feminine Gender; some say the word Nephesh is to be understood, and so it must signify a Preaching soul: but how that can hold (it being a proper name, and never used but in this Book, as Drusius observes upon the place) I see not; Others tell us it is usual with the Hebrews to put Feminines names upon men; so the Gospel Preachers are called Mebaseroth, Psal. 68.11. The Lord spoke the words, great was the company of Preachers or Publishers; Annunciatricum; But whether they did this to set forth the purity of the Preachers of Christ, Prov. 9.3. Where they are called Wisdoms Maids; or those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to which the Apostle relates, Gal. 4.19. thereby making out, not only the great Throws, but the tender and motherly affection of a faithful Preacher to his people: I shall not now stand to inquire. But the second and main Query is, why it is called Sepher Choheleth, a Book of Gatherings or Congregations: Some will have it to be one of the names of Solomon; as Jedidiah, or Lemuel: Some say, because it was publicly delivered by Solomon himself to the Congregation; and so it is in his Father's stile, giving God the glory in the great Congregation, Psal. 40.10. We read of his blessings, prayers and sacrifices, 1 Reg. 8. here of his preaching; Petagl. upon the words. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thus Schindler seems to expound it, of a gathering of men; Others will have it so called, from Solomon's being gathered, or reuniting himself after his foul Idolatry and Apostasy from the Church; and the Book to be the words of a soul or person brought back to the unity of the Church, or Congregation of the Saints: But I rather think, without any straining of the words, it relates to the subject or matter of the Book. It is a Book of Observations, experimentally gathered from Natural, Moral, Political, Domestical, and Divine things: Wisdom is the souls great Endowment, nothing more precious, more sweet, more coveted, Read Eccl. cap. 2. especially such as Solomon's was; it pursueth such high objects as may improve, and not vitiate the intelectuals; yet he tells us what the fruit of of it frequently is; hellish policy pride, violence, oppression and cruelty, wisdom to do evil: Pleasures suit well with the inferior and brutish part of man, but in the exact enjoyment of them, there is a mixture either of folly or want, they grow in time loathsome and tedious to the possessors; he tells you of buildings and Vineyards and Orchards, and Fishponds, and Music, Vocal, and Instrumental; and he concludes upon the survey, all is vanity: Riches, the great Idol of the world, the Gold and Silver, the mighty Herds of , which himself possessed in abundance; he tells us they are but Snares and Thorns, either to entangle or torment us; gotten with labour, kept with fear, and lost with sorrow: All external forms of worship, where Christ is not in the heart, or not met with in the Ordinance, is no more than a fools Sacrifice; or as the word carries it, the service of hypocritical, light, and unconstant men: These and many other gatherings he makes out from his own experience. After these discoveries, he prescribes many excellent rules for the settlement of the soul, in reference both to its present and future good: An humble acknowledgement under, and dependence upon, the providence of God, in all events; singleness and sincerity of heart▪ in his worship and service: The right use of wisdom in discerning times, and judgements; contentedness, and sweet reposedness of soul in every condition of life: Obedience and Loyalty to Superiors; Conscientious walking in our particular Callings: Preparedness of spirit against all trials and afflictions; Moderation in the use of comforts in this life; and preparation through the fear of God, and obedience, for death and judgement, in the words of my Text: Hence he may well be styled a Gatherer, and his Book a Book of gatherings. The grand enquiry of the whole Book, is that Summum Bonum, that puzzled all our blind Philosophers; The Preacher here discovers that Stone, that turns all things into Gold, which they have long tired themselves in seeking for, and could never find to this day. Observe I pray you how he gins this Book, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and how he ends it; He gins it with Vanity of vanities; All is vanity: Idols, light, vile, things of naught, as the breath of ones mouth, or the bubble in the water, vapours soon vanishing: Vanity of vanities; vain vanity, or extreme superlative vanity: This our first Parents saw, and therefore called their second Son Hebel, or vanity; David confirms it, Psal. 144 4 Adam is as Abel, or man is like to vanity; there is an Allusion in the Original to both their names: And herein he makes out the insufficiency and disability of the Creature, to confer any true happiness upon the Soul. And secondly, observe how he ends his book, Fear God, and keep his Commandments, methinks it is not much unlike to that of Christ to Martha; thou art troubled about many things, Luke 10.41, 42. but one thing is needful, Mary hath chosen the good part, etc. He gins you see, with nothing, he ends with all things; he shows us what our first estate is, an observance of lying vanities, and forsaking our own mercies, he shows us what our best estate is; Fear God, etc. We begin at Idols, and vanity, and never know what our beginning was, till we come to this end, never know that we are vain, till we arrive at the true fear of God. My dear people, whom I love and must ever love in the bowels of Christ Jesus, and must ever call you so, though now unhappily torn from you, let not my words this day fall to the ground, lay them up in your hearts; let it suffice that you have spent your time past, in vanities and Idols, things of emptiness and torment; let us not be like the people of those countries, that whatsoever they chance to see first every morning, they worship solemnly all the day after; if sin have had the morning, let the evening be Gods, it is time we should come home to that only true happiness the Lord Jesus Christ: Content not yourselves with any outward blessings till you be sure you enjoy him to the Salvation of your souls: other excellencies may set you out in the eyes of men, generosity, obligingness, wisdom, learning, valour, etc. every one of these, is sufficient to be a sober man's Idol, render a man praise worthy, but it is Christ only that makes us blessed; other blessings you may enjoy and perish with them, but he that enjoys Christ by true faith, joh. 3.16. shall never perish, but hath everlasting life. The Text is Solomon's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, after a solicitous inquiry, or the treasure of true happiness discovered; it is in itself an exhortation or a duty, you may call it whether you please, the substance is the same: There is not any thing remarkable in the Preface, save that in the Original it gins with a Capital Letter, as pointing out some high subject, and stirring up the more serious attention to the matter in hand; which indeed, rightly weighed, is an Epitome of the whole Gospel: Would you know after my long observations, what you are to trust to? What is the sum and substance of the whole matter; Where true and durable felicity may be found? It is in this, Fear God and keep his Commandments: without this, man is but as one calls him, praestantissimum brutum; which puts me in mind of that saying, Job 28.28. where the holy man concludes his speech, as the Preacher here doth his book, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to departed from evil, is understanding; man then becomes wise when he fears God, when Christ the wisdom of the fathers dwells in him. We shall not need, neither did I ever love to name a Text, the conclusion riseth plainly and naturally from it: To fear God and keep his Commandments, is the whole duty of man; or as it is in the Hebrew, the whole man, and so the LXX render it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; where the true fear of God is once planted, it carries the whole man with it, spirit, soul, and body, guide's and directs the whole man, rectifies and reforms the whole man; it is all in all, and through all, sets a price and worth upon the whole man in this life, and crowns and glorifies the whole man in the life to come. There is a natural fear arising from the sense of humane weakness, which is not in itself sinful; we have examples of it in the Saints, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. yea, and in Christ himself, Mat. 26.38. Heb. 5.7. he was heard in that he feared, which though the Rhemists translate for his reverence, and charge us with the corrupting of the Text contrary to the version and sense of Antiquity, and the ordinary use of the Greek words; yet I find it, signifying as well a natural as a pious fear, Acts 23.10. where a commotion being raised, the chief Captain or Tribune, is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, afraid lest Paul should be torn in pieces, which could not be a pious fear in him that was a Pagan, but a natural civil fear, lest a Roman, a Prisoner, and under his present charge should have been violently and tumultuously murdered between the Pharisees and the Sadduces. 2. There is a carnal fear, I may call it a fear of diffidence, because arising from unbelief, Apoc. 21.8 They are liable to the second death, and joined with unbelievers. the Apostles are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Mat, 8.26. carnally fearful, so the word signifies, if you look Revel. 21.8. and why? because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, they were of little faith; and this fear is directly sinful, when we fear the creature more than the Creator, blessed for ever. This is that fear the Lord speaks of Isa. 8.12. Fear not their fear; and our blessed Saviour, Luke 12.4, 5. Fear not them that kill the body, etc. And though this fear may have, and frequently hath, natural weakness for its foundation, yet it is only then sinful, where nature outvies grace, and self interests are more valued than the glory of God: I deny not but there is a fear due to man upon God's account, Rom. 13.6. Fear to whom fear, etc. there is a reverence due to the persons, and a regard to be had to the Laws of men: But God being alone the proper object of our fear, makes that fear which is due to man, due to him only, in, and for the Lord, whose image he beareth in a more high and eminent manner, by virtue of some Authority or dignity derived to him from God, who is the Fountain of honour, and whose sole propriety it is to ordain powers, the words implying both invention and ratification, Rom. 13.1. the Powers that be, are ordained of God. 3. There is a spiritual fear, and that is a filial, reverential fear of God, arising partly from a sense of want in ourselves (which fear commonly supposeth) and partly from the apprehension of God's excellency, not in his greatness only, but also in its goodness: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. This is that fear which keeps the whole man in a religious respect, a holy dreadfulness, a sweet dependence upon God, that commands him to walk as in the presence of God, that his whole conversation seems one undiscontinued holy and religious adoration; take that one example of Joseph Gen. 30. This is that we call the grace of fear; the affection of fear is in all men naturally, but the grace of the fear of God, is a part of Sanctification, and is not found but in the elect: natural and carnal fear betray the succours of the soul, but this strengthens and confirms it: I call it spiritual, first from the Object, which is God; second, from the efficient or working cause of this fear, which is the Spirit of God, called therefore the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord, Isay 11.2. Thirdly, from the Subject, the inward or spiritual man, hence is the fear of God inward and spiritual, the worship of the mind, the heart, the conscience, will, and affections, all hereby carried out to God. Fourthly, From that spiritual work or effect it hath upon the soul, spiritualizing and sanctifying both ourselves and our sacrifices, changing the whole man, from a carnal, worldly, sensual, selfish interest, to a holy, heavenly, spiritual frame of heart. Now this spiritual fear may either be taken generally, and so it includes all graces and gracious dispositions of spirit: As faith includes all Evangelical graces in the New-Testament, so doth the fear of God in the Old, compare Prov. 13.14. with Prov. 14.27. Or else more particularly, for that single grace, whereby the Soul is overawed with the excellencies of God, the greatness of God, working the fear of him, as a Judge; and the goodness of God, working the same fear as a father. It would be a task too large for the small time I have to spend, to run through all the branches, properties, and effects of this fear: I shall now speak only to a few of them, and those the most useful for you, in reference to the present times, and your present wants; there are no words like those in due season, Pro. 25.11 or upon their wheels; you shall have them without niceness or affectation (the common itch of the Pulpit) according to my wont manner, with all plainness; plain instructions best beseem a dying father, and are the best remembered by his children; I shall now wave all other accounts, and present it to you as a New-year's gift, a rich Ring set with precious stones, which I shall desire may be continually worn, and carried about with you. And first, to fear God, is to have faith in him; a precious stone: this is called by St. Peter precious faith; without this we can neither fear him nor please him. 2 Pet. 1.1 What the Apostle says, Rom. 10.14. how shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? the like we may say of other graces, how can we either love or serve, or fear, or glorify God, except we believe in him? it was faith that made Enoch's work acceptable, and was the ground of the translating there spoken of whether the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Heb. 11.5. mean exemption from death, as Elias is said to have been under the Moral Law, or some other deliverance, it matters not, certainly it was through faith the Emblem of the Gospel; it is sometimes called the mouth and the ear, Crede & mandu casti, August 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. but most properly the eye of the Soul; hereby we see through the things of this world, and above them, we meet with an object worth our loving and looking on: we see Christ, and God in Christ, and in him mercy, peace, salvation; we look out of ourselves, Heb. 12.2. and meet with Gospel truth, righteousness, in another, a Surety, a Mediator; we see the brazen Serpent that cures out wounded souls, John 3.14. therefore the words here used for fear, is by the LXX. in the seventh verse of this Chapter, rendered to see; noting, that to fear God and have faith in him, is to see God; and beyond reason to have an insight into those Mysteries, which were denied to the Angels, 2 Pet. 1.12. As the eye in the body is the Organ by which we see things visible, so is faith in the soul, to see the things of God; hereby we peep through the Curtains of earth and mortality, and take a view of Heavens Treasures: Hence come our great privileges, union with Christ, Eph. 3.17. and consequently, an intimate and familiar communion with him in his promises, Sonship, Victories, Intercessions: Faith is that spiritual Ligament that makes us one with Christ; Other graces, as Love, Patience, Meekness, &c may be the grounds of a moral Union; and make a man like Christ, but it is faith only that is the foundation of a mystical Union, and makes a Believer one with Christ. I do not intent to insist upon the Nature, Properties and Effects of Faith. I have heretofore made them out to you: My present Task relates to the present times, and your-both present and future benefit: There is not any grace more disesteemed and misesteemed slighted, and mis-judged, than this branch of Divine fear: Let me therefore commend to you, two main Remembrances to be treasured up by you, when your eyes shall be deprived of your Teacher. And First, I would advise you, ever to set a high esteem upon this grace to look upon it as the most glorious Stone in the Ring: The rest have their lustre, this is both resplendent and medicinal, heals broken souls; It is no wonder if St. Judas give it the pre-eminence, since it is both the leading grace, and brings the first glad tidings of salvation; and also the Mother grace, whence all others have their birth and original: Without this what are all our works and duties, but as we say of the virtues of Heathens, Splendida peccata? Where faith is not laid as the foundation, all our devotions, acts of piety, charity, observance of Sabbaths, Ordinances; nay, that great performance of Prayer, are but like that structure built on the sand, Mat. 7.26. Without this we can no more appear before the Tribunal of God's justice, than stubble before a consuming fire: In the word, it is faith that must make us profitable, in obedience it is faith that must make us cheerful; in prayer it is faith that makes us successful; and in all performances it is faith that makes us acceptable: This is that wisdom, Job 28.16, 17, 18, 19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 1.8. the price whereof is above Rubies, the Topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, it cannot be valued with pure Gold: This will give comfort, joy, and peace under all distractions, make the soul skip like a Lamb, leap and dance for joy: Other divine qualifications may make you confident, but it is faith only that must give you your assurance: There cannot be such an abasement where faith will not lift up the head, and render you victorious: Justice gives every man his own; temperance will restrain lusts; magnanimity will bear, and go through any hardship, prudence is an excellent guide to our actions, but it is faith that overcometh the world: in this Paul insults and triumphs over men and Angels, Heaven and Earth, Rom. 8.38, 39 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I am confident or persuaded That neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, etc. shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You will have a better heart, both to the price and the esteem of it, if you seriously advise with these considerations: The Author: The Offices; and the Effects of it. First, Look upon it as God's gift, from whom every good and perfect gift cometh, as a fruit of his Spirit, Gal. 5.22. This will make it excellent and lovely: Let us a little view it in that great interest of our souls, the high act of justification; we shall there find it to justify, Infundendo creat creando infundit. not as man's faith, but as the work of God in in the soul: It is an excellent place, Eph. 2.8. By grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; faith may be in us, but it is not of us; that is, not from any power of our own, but it is a mere gift of God, both in the habit, and in the act of it: Justification is is a free Act, of, and from eternity, without any condition on our parts: and that Evangelical righteousness by which we are justified, is without us in Christ: It is the finger of God that works faith in the soul, and having wrought it, puts it upon acting, thereby to evidence justification to the soul. As a father having laid up for his son a great Treasure, in some secret place, tells him of it, and bestows it freely upon him, but wanting the possession and enjoyment of it, the son is no richer for it, till the father lights a Torch, guides his son to the hidden Treasure, and puts him into the actual possession of it: Thus is Faith God's Instrument, by which he discovers to our souls the unvaluable riches of Christ (which in the minds and purpose of the Donor was ours from Eternity) and evidenceth us to be freely justified, lending us that light of faith, whereby we apprehend, enjoy and apply Christ to our souls: It is called the evidence of things not seen, Heb. 11.1. Whose evidence? God's evidence given us, by which he declareth and manifesteth to our consciences those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the invisible things of our justification and salvation, and when given, it is our evidence also, by which we possess Christ, and pleads our actual justification against all the accusations of the Law, sin and Satan, than we have the witness in ourselves, 1 Joh. 5.10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, God's witness; so it is sometimes read, witnessing to our spirits, that we are the children of God, we are justified freely by his grace, Rom. 3.24: The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there, answering to the Hebrew Chinnam, excluding all, both hope of advantage on God's part, and preceding desert in man, upon any account whether of faith or works, excluding as well merit as rewards; hereby intimating, that all our works are the works of God in us; yea faith itself in that great and high Act of justifying, is God's gift: I have here made a little digression to acquaint you with the excellency of this grace, that you may set a higher value upon it, not only because it is God's gift, but so high and precious a gift of his right hand, whereby he gives us an interest to Christ, and all his promises, and evidenceth eternal life to our souls. 2. Consider the Offices of faith (which besides union to, and communion with Christ formerly named) are these two: First, acceptance; whereby we are made willing to receive Christ upon Christ's own terms; what his terms are he himself tells you, Luke 9.23. If any man will come after me, he must deny himself and take up his Cross daily, and follow me: This is the receiving act of faith, and is therefore called the hand of the Soul, not for its working quality purifying the heart, reviving the dead spirit, working by love, carrying the Soul through all discouragements; these are indeed the works of faith, but for its receiving and accepting quality, accepting righteousness in Christ, receiving him as a gift of his father's love, embracing the promises afar off, and laying hold on eternal life: The working righteousness is Christ's, the Office or act of faith, is accepting, applying, receiving, yielding consent to that righteousness. The other Office or Act, of Faith, is resignation, whereby we give ourselves wholly up to Christ, spirit, soul, and body, to be guided and biased by him, this is that spiritual marriage, Eph. 5.17. betwixt Christ and the Soul, by which, as the soul hath a propriety and right to the body, name, goods, table, possessions and purchase of Christ; so she doth reciprocally become all his, by an unconstrained resignation of her will, ways, and desires, unto his guidance and government; we become the servants of Christ to be ruled, as well as to be aided and protected by him; then doth Christ own us, and he stands engaged to watch over and care for us: Then must the Soul have all Christ, and Christ the whole soul, no sharing, no competition with any lust, but Jesus Christ becomes all in all to us, and we are made willing to follow the Lamb whither soever he goeth. 3. Consider the admirable virtues or effects of faith, this also will help to put a high esteem upon it. Faith dissolves the Plots of all our spiritual enemies, it will give you a conquest over sin, the Devil, and the World, it will quicken your souls, Gal. 2.20. Sanctify and Purify your hearts, Acts 15.9. hereby you shall obtain whatever you stand in need of, and God hath promised; it will bear you up in all dangers, discouragements, desertions, deaths; hereby you shall stand, live, walk, be saved, etc. this will bring you to God, to whom no man comes but by Christ, nor to Christ, but by faith. I could be large in these things, if I had not formerly made them out to you: The Lord bring them home to the hearts of every one of you: This is the first main remembrance; To have a high and precious esteem of Faith. Secondly, I would advise you ever to have a right judgement of Faith; Every fancy in these days is pretended for faith and light; and the soul easily mistakes presumption or credulity for this great grace: therefore it will much concern you to know, and ever to remember, that is not a bare acknowledgement or assent to divine truths, and the promises of Christ, as the Socinians would have it, but an application or closing with Christ in those truths and promises; for not the promises of Christ barely, but the person of Christ, is the object of faith: It is a resting upon Jehovah, a rolling a man's self upon God; as one tired under his burden, casts both himself and his burden upon something that sustains it. Prov. 3.5. Isai. 10.20. As Saul tired with fight, leaned upon his Spear, 2 Sam. 1.6. I do not mean in this place, that inferior Act of faith, the trusting God with our temporal well being (though even this be a believers prerogative, and makes all those dreams and wishes of the old Philosophers, the Sceptics, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; the Stoics, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; and the Epicures, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to become the reality and acquisition of a Christian, a holy Epicurism, which faith, and only faith furnisheth us with) but I mean that faith which closes with the blood of Christ, for eternal life and salvation: There is an excellent place in Rom 10.10, where man is said to believe with the heart, noting that it is not a bare closing with divine truths in our understandings; Jews and Devils will do that, but a consent or walking up to the goodness of God in Christ, whereby he is loved above all things, longed for, and trusted to above all things, becomes food, raiment, life, all things to us: And this you must look upon as Gods work too, None can thus close with him, but they whose hearts the Lord openeth. Acts 16. Before I pass this Branch of divine fear, there is one thing I would put you in mind of; it will much help your judgement of faith, and it is this; That true faith is ever waited on with self denial; where this is not, there is no faith nor fear of God; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Luke 9.23. Faith carries with it an Abdication, not only of natural but spiritual self; the soul finds vanity and nothingness, not in reason only, but in duty also without Christ: In joseph's vision, the Sun, Moon, Genesis 37 and Stars, did obeisance to him, and all the sheaves in the field, bowed to his sheaf: In the soul, life, way and work of a regenerate man, all moral abilities and endowments, all natural powers and faculties of the soul; nay, all supernatural gifts and graces prostrate themselves at the feet of Christ: Then will the soul follow Christ in the knowledge of his will, in the belief of his promises, in the love of his truth, in the obedience of his commands, then wilt thou lay aside thine own wisdom as an empty Lamp, thine own will as an evil commander; thine own reason as a false rule; thine own affections as corrupt Counsellors; thine own ends as base and corrupt marks to be aimed at: Not a hoof shall be left in Egypt, Exo. 10.26 thou wilt empty thyself, that thou mayst be capable of Christ, go out of thyself, that thou mayst come to Christ: Christ will reign as that Centurion, Mat 8.8, 9 come or go, the poor heart is ready for him; take away this, your faith is no more than a pretence, a self flattery; you must go quite out of yourselves, before you can enjoy a Saviour: The LXX. have not cast Adam into a sleep (as the Hebrew Text) but into an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Gen. 2.21. a being hurried out of himself to make him capable of an helper; if you shall not meet with this upon inquiry into your own spirits, your faith is naught, and all your service and worship of God, and affront to your Redeemer, or to give it the best language, plain Pharisaism and Hypocrisy, and God will one day cast all your duties as dung and dirt in your faces and say, Who required these things at your hand? The Lord give you selfdenying hearts; The Lord increase faith in every one of you: This is the first Jewel or Stone in the Ring: He that fears God, believes in him. To fear God, is to wait on him and for him, an excellent and useful Lecture, frequently inculcated by the Prophet in the Psalms, as a fruit of the true fear of God; he doubles his expression, Psal. 27.14. Wait on the Lord, wait I say on the Lord: He joins waiting upon God, and keeping his way, Psal. 37.34. Observe what high promises the Scripture makes to this waiting: Immunity from shame, Psal. 25.3. The inheritance of the earth, Psal. 37.9 Renewing of strength, mounting up with wings as Eagles, etc. Is. 40.31 New supplies of spirit, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when they seem to be quite spent and lost, a change to be better conditioned, flying over all difficulties they meet with; Isa. 40.31. deliverance from enemies, Prov. 20.22. The fulfiling the desires of our hearts, etc. But how or wherein you should wait upon God, and express your true fear of him, is my task now to acquaint you: Much of this I shall from my own experience commend to you, and I hope you will not forget my words another day; They will be of great use to you: Wait upon God in his ways, and wait upon him in his time: I cannot commend any thing more advantageous to you, whether you look at the present distempers and distractions of the world, or the future comfort and settlement of your spirits upon all accounts. First, wait upon him in his own ways, the ways of his Ordinances, and the ways of his Dispensations: First in the ways of his Ordinances, in hearing the word, attending at the Gates of Wisdom, in the honour and use of the Sacrament, in prayer, and other Divine Institutions: This is the way Christ hath prescribed and in all ages wonderfully blessed to his Church: I have experimentally found it in myself, and to my great comfort have had the acknowledgement of it from many of you, by, and under my Ministry: These are the Channels of grace, the Conduit-pipes by which God conveys himself, and the waters of life to his people; here will your souls meet with God, and find the enjoyment of him, and the due observation of them is a strong Test of your obedience: I know that after my departure, you will meet with Foxes and Wolves, some crying down all Ordinances, as things carnal, and below a spiritual and raised estate; they will tell you they are weak and low administrations, no more than walking by Moon light; they will tell you that Seraphical men, are above: and beyond all Ordinances, and their Enthusiasms of greater concernment than the Ordinances of Christ: you will meet on the other hand with those, who so far cry up Ordinances, that they make Idols of them, slighting him who is the substance, men of Pharisaical Spirits and Interests, who while they should preach Christ and him crucified, will preach themselves, their own parts, passions and interests, whereby you may probably be made weary both of them and their preaching: My ever dear people, let none of these things drive you from the Church of God, or deter or discourage you from following Christ in those ways he hath prescribed; let it be your care to wait on him: I have known some who taking offence at these things (woe in the mean time to him by whom the offence cometh) have in these times declined either to Popery or Atheism; I beseech God bless you: I hope better things of you, and should be hearty grieved to see such sad failings in any of you: I have two things to commend to you in this Point, for your better satisfaction. First, Rest not in a bare formal attendance upon the Ordinance. The Harlot can say, I have made my peace offerings to day, the Ordinance is but the means, the end is Communion with Christ, and fruition of him: The Jews promised themselves much from the naked presence of the Temple, jer. 7.4. though they had but small honour for the Lord of it: judges 17.13. Micah promised himself mountains when he had got a Levite to be his Priest, though he still retained his Idols: The Pharisees boasted they were the seed of Abraham, when they did the works of the Devil; joh. 8.33.44. How many poor souls have thus turned the means of salvation into the means of destruction, feeds upon busks instead of the true bread: nay turned their food into person, not finding Christ in the Ordinances, nor being led home to Christ by them? My good people, think it not enough that you hav● Geheza with his master's staff; that you have Christ's Minister, and Christ's word, but as that Shunamite, 2 King 4.30. lay hold on Christ himself, where every faithful soul sees, casts, receives, enjoys in these Ordinances. Secondly, when thou hast done thy best and purest service, and met with Christ in the Ordinances, rest not in the work done, loathe yourselves, with a sincere acknowledgement of your ownunworthinesse, and the unprofitableness, imperfections and iniquities of your most holy things, ever resting upon freegrace: Be so careful of duty, as if there were no grace to justify you, and so rest upon grace, as if no work were to be done by you. And then secondly, wait upon God in the ways of his providence and dispensations, this is that excellent grace, a fruit of the sanctifying spirit of God, whereby the soul freely submits not to the will only, but to the wisdom of God, in all the cross acts of Providence we meet with in this life, enabling us to bear our own burdens without inordinate sorrow, or fretting discontent: As by faith we enjoy God, and by love we enjoy our neighbour; so through humble waiting, and submission to the wisdom of God, we possess our own souls; This is an excellent lesson, but hard for flesh and blood to learn, to believe that God can choose best for us, better than we ourselves: Are not Abanah and Parphar Rivers of Damascus, better than all the Waters of Israel 2 R●g 5.12. Kind's of age, a few fatherly kisses and embraces, a portion in my hand, this nature cries out for, and would be well pleased with; but the soul that fears God, hath learned with Paul, to be content in every condition of life, hath learned that sublime Philosophy of subscribing to God's wisdom, not to his will only (that he will force us to, and he is a kind of mad Atheist that should deny it) but to his wisdom, to acknowledge God the best chooser for us, the stripes he sends more suitable to us, than all the blessings we pray for, his denying our demands, the most divine way of granting them, resolving whatever he imposes upon us, is best for us: his thoughts are not like our thoughts, Heaven and Earth are not always of one opinion; Good is the Word of the Lord, says good Hezekiah, when destruction was denounced to his whole family: It is the Lord jet him do what seemeth him good, says old Eli, when besides the loss of both his children in one day, God tells him, there should not be an old man in his house for ever: All things (saith Paul) work together for good to them that love God: This submission to the Wisdom of God, and the consequent of it, Rejoicing in Tribulation, is that waiting upon God, which I would now instruct you in, that better days may teach you humbleness, which is a part of this fear, Prov. 22.4. and worse days may teach you that Christian patience, whereby you shall be enabled to undergo the hands of heaven, to look after deliverance in the ways, and accept it upon the terms of God. My dear people, you are my glory, and crown of rejoicing, let me commend the serious remembrance of this to your Spirit; It was never of more use than in these times of the Church's persecution: You shall see men strangely and severally wrestling and tugging under God's Dispensations: In one man a supine stupidity; in another the relieving his melancholy thoughts in a cup of Lethe, a sleeping Pill of good fellowship; like saul's sending to the Minstrel when the evil spirit came upon him, or his second address to the Witch, to charm the judgement that was ready to invade him; you shall see a third multiplying his sins as fast as God his judgements, like the Elephants in the Maccabees, whom the blood of the Mulberries more enraged, hardening like Pharaoh under the rod; like Ahab, and Ahaz, growing worse under the judgement: you will meet with more plausible effects than these, in one, a contempt of the world, his experience having acquainted him with the vanity, and his miseries with the vexation of it; In another, perhaps a contempt or weariness of his life, like a discontented Jonah; Take, I beseech thee my life from me; or Elias under the Juniper Tree, it is enough, etc. and this is sometimes accounted a special piece of piety and mortification: A third falls to his prayers, oftener than usual, and is importunate in the duty, as the tempest in Jonah cast the Heathen Mariners upon their knees; A fourth making some progress towards reformation, wish and woulding, that he were a better man, but all these make not up this breach of divine fear, this true waiting upon God, and submission to his wisdom: I shall now desire for your future good to commend these Instructions to you. 1. Be sure to eye God in all his dispensations, whether of mercy or judgement, for all mercies spiritual and temporal return thanks to him from whom every good and perfect gift cometh, as a Present both to humbleness and thankfulness; but that which I would now commend to you, is, the eyeing of God in the several dispensations of his judgements; whosoever be the instrument, look upon him as the author of the punishment; there is the hand and counsel of God, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Acts 4.28. All the sin and furies, guilt and damnation of Hell, may be in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the doing or executing Gods Will (Satan alone having the Patent of persecution, and every Persecutor entrenching upon Hell for his Commission) but then all the mercy, and all wisdom, sometimes the redeeming of a World in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the thing being done; Paul calls his suffering, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the brands or prints of Christ, not only the transcripts of his suffering, but the works of his hands also: I dare commend this to you from my own experience, I have found it a strong support to me under my sad persecutions, and I have cause to bless God this day, that he made me a sufferer, and punished me immediately for my sins (a fair step to future Salvation) and not a Persecutor, whereby adding affliction to God's anger, my own hellish spirit had wrapped me up to eternal destruction. Secondly, That you may rightly wait on him, you must not only look upon these dispensations, as God's hand, but as his right hand, the hand of love, look upon your afflictions, as caustick Plasters, preparatory to the incarnative, the Knife and the Lance reckoned by Hypocrates among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the mollifying Preparations, which the Physician must ever carry about with him; as your new Artists tells us of a Fever, it is not properly a disease, but an endeavour or strife of nature to cure herself; ever look upon your afflictions, as designed for your good, for the humiliation of your untamed spirits, to bring you to a nearer sight of your God, a nearer sight of yourselves, a stricter inquiry into your own hearts, to deal near to God, to make your Peace with him and the like: Look not upon them, as things from chance or malice, those two heathen principles of Theology, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but as sent on purpose from love, and pondering from judgement and bowels, sent not as a curse to you for sin, that is already satisfied, to, and for the elect in Christ, but as trials and fatherly chastizements to bring you to himself. Secondly, as we are to wait upon God in his ways, so it is a part of his fear to wait upon him in his times: It is recorded as an error of Gods own people, that they limited the holy one of Israel, Psalm 78.41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they would sign, design, circumscribe God, writ or determine for or instead of God, bring him down and confine him to their own times, and their own ways; a folly we are all naturally inclined to, whether in case of judgement inflicted, or mercies promised and expected, we are all for the present time; but God's times are not our times, My times are in thy hands, says David, Psal. 31.15. as well the time of removing as aying on the burden; we have met with evil times (God fit us for the worst) and we are prone to murmur both at the weight and continuance of our Pressures, and to expostulare with God, and charge his ways as unequal and unreasonable; let me therefore commend this to you, wait God's times in all events, learn to stand still, and you will see the salvation of the Lord, you will reap in due season, if you faint not, Gal. 6.9. though it be troublesome, you will find it comfortable and useful to your spirits, when your rebellious hearts shall put you on to murmuring and impatience remember this, God hath his time to have mercy upon Zion, and he will assuredly come, when the sins of his enemies are come to maturity, become impudent and incorrigible, when our own spirits are throughly humbled, and all hopes and helps in man so far removed, that we have neither hope nor help but in God, then may we look for him, in the mean time I will wait: Thus he that feareth the Lord, waits contentedly and calmly for his return, he believeth in the Lord, and his feet stand fast; This is that time I would entreat you to wait for; and it is the second precious stone in the ring, to wait God in his ways and in his times. The third is to walk with him, which is here in the Text called, Keeping his Commandments. The word Schamar, signifies not only to Keep, but to lay up, and hid, or treasure in the heart; as Jacob is said to have observed, or laid up in his heart the saying of Joseph: It is translated to take heed, 1 King. 2.4. to observe or keep their ways, Psal. 105.45. A comparison taken from a Watchman in a City, or the Garrison in a Fortress; all these expressing that care, diligence, and solicitude which all those that fear God have in and about their obedience: This is that yoke of Christ I have often commended to you, an easy yoke, Matth. 11.30. all pleasure and profit made up in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a yoke not like that of the Law, a weight and burden, but fitted and smoothed by Christ to be an instrument of advantage, and make the burden more easy and supportable; a yoke wherein Christ himself draws with and for us, that we may the better undergo it: I know this part of the fear of God will relish harshly with such spirits as are unaccustomed to this yoke, unacquainted with the sweetness of it: To take leave of our old acquaintance, to carry out the whole body of our lusts to their Funeral; it goes heavy with a heart under the power of sin, to spiritualise the flesh, rack it, fetch it from the lees, to put on the yoke, enter the traces, and harness for the future race; these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the childbirth pangs of dying to sin; but to those that fear God, the yoke is easy, and the burden light: No life like that of dying to sin, no way so pleasant as that of walking with God, no treasure so as to be rich in faith and good works, no comfort like that secret contentment a true Believer hath in his conscionable walking with God: Remember this my good people, Hereby you shall much honour that Gospel which I have taught, and you have received, it is that very use which the Apostle every where makes of the Gospel of Christ, that we should walk as becometh the Gospel, that we should in all things adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour, that we should walk worthy of him who hath called us to his Kingdom, and to his glory, show forth the virtues and praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light, in all these making out the necessity of walking with God in all those that fear his Name. The haft Stone or Diamond in this Ring, is the sincere love of God without hypocrisy, giving him what is his own, the whole heart, without any reserve for Satan, Mammon, or ourselves: No man can truly fear God, but he that loves him, nor can any man truly love God, whose soul is not first ravished with the apprehension of the love of Christ to him: We love God, because he first loved us: This is that high heroical improvement and elevation of the soul, the want whereof, whether to God or man, is as great a punishment, as it is a sin: There is as much of hell in the quenching of the one flame, as in the raging of the other. The Devil cannot possibly pick out, or design to his most hated enemy, a greater curse than the want of love: My ever dear people, let me entreat you to remember this, Amor non nisi donum amantis in amatum. Guil. Paris. you will find many heavenly and comfortable fruits of it, it will call you out of yourselves, to the desire of an union, vision, and participation of the glory and presence of God; the Soul will go to God, like Noah's Dove to the Ark, and with infinite sweetness and security repose itself in him, it will cause you to resign the whole heart to God, to give up yourselves wholly to him, to conform affections and actions to his Will, to love every thing wherein your souls shall find Christ, his ways, his words, his Ordinances, his Ministers, when the root is thus seasoned, you will find all corruptions and lusts falling off like dead branches: Timor transit in charitatem Greg. A good man is a good Angel, always beholding the face of God, and the more he sees him, the more he loves him; and the more he loves him, the more he fears him; he loves him in that fear, and fears him in that love. It is said of the two Ave-maries, Mat. 28.8. That they went from the Sepulchre with fear, and great joy: A rare composition of so different affections! All other fear being pain, the fear of God brings joy, and love with it. That which I would principally at present urge to you, is that Christian Brotherly love, which the Gospel frequently makes out, and this Age hath almost forgotten, which ariseth from, and is accompanied with our true love to God; Every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him, 1 Joh. 5.1.2. How close a connexion there is of the love of God, and the love of our Brethren? Be kindly affectioned Rom. 12.10; the word is very Emphatical, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and signifies such a natural binding love and affection, as is betwixt Parents and children, a real, compassionate, fervent melting love; The Lord Jesus hath lest this both to be our duty and our reward, the loving of the Brethren: would you know the rule you must walk by, love them as yourselves, thou wouldst not be hurt, hurt not thy Neighbour, thou wouldst not be reviled, revile no man, thou wouldst not be ill spoken of, speak not ill of others, thou wouldst not be persecuted, persecute no man, this is the Golden Rule; whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, Mat. 7.12. do ye even so to them, this is the Law and the Prophets, or on these two hang the Law and the Prophets Matth. 22, 40. This was sure that fire in the Poet stolen from Heaven to inspire and warm the Lower World with; It is said to be a speech of Christ, which the Nazarene Gospel hath recorded, though our Bible's have it not, Nunquam laeti sitis n●si cum fratrem in charitate videritis; There is no other badge to difference a disciple of Christ from any other man but this, Ecce ut se invicem diligunt; nay, the Devil cannot so far be an Hypocrite, as to counterfeit this; All glorious Appearances without love are but empty shadows, hereby we become like the Saints in Heaven, of whose blessed estate all we understand is only this, that they are happy and love one another, and in that eternally happy, that they eternally love one another, Charity never faileth, and so their bliss faileth not. You see, my good people, what times we are fallen into, what wrath, clamour, malice, bitterness, raylings, revile there are among men, what disaffections, divisions, persecutions of the Church, even by those that profess they have given up their Names to Christ. So far from being Christian, that they walk as men, nay they have put off man in exchange for Wolves, Panthers, and Tigers, nay worse than Wild Beasts, who are not Beast enough to devour those of their own kind, as Erasmus observes. So Act as if they had made a solemn Covernant with Hell and Death. Let these daily examples from the Father of malice provoke you to love and good works, to follow God who is love, and to walk in love as Christ also hath loved us. It will be hereafter a great rejoicing to my Spirit, to see you have thus learned Christ, live in love and peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. There are many more branches of this fear of God, every Religious Performance is a part of it, that of prayer especially, as beneficial to the ●oule as the rest. But I have not long ago treated of it, and cannot stand now to make it out. I have already tired you with Preaching that, I should rather have prayed for you, that God would plant his fear in the hearts of every one of you. I have but two words more to speak in relation to 2. extremes or rocks, upon which this fear of God may be in danger to be spsits, and I shall give them you by way of Caution. First in the defect, beware of carnal security in sin, promising yourselves mercy and impunity, upon false and empty bottoms, blessing yourselves in your hearts, Deutr 27.19. till your iniquity be found hateful, it will bring you at last to that dead and dedolent disposition of Spirit, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4.11. that being past feeling, ye shall work all uncleanness with greediness, if we shall thus out dare God in his threaten, and like that Behemoth, esteem those iron weapons as straw, or as they say of the old Italians, shoot off our great Ordnance, and Ring our bells, to drown the noise of Heaven's thunder, if we thus presume, Deut. 29.20. God will not spare us, but the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against us, etc. remember that saying Eccl. 8.12. Though a Sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely it shall be well with them that sear the Lord. This is a dangerous and common rock, upon which many a poor soul splits itself, and the more common it is, the more let it be your care to avoid it. The other is in the excess, and that is a servile infernal fear of God as a Judge or Tyrant, whence arise in the soul hard thoughts of God, Quos mctacule odcrint. hatred of him, a secret rising up against him, a wishing there were no God, and the like. This is that great Engine wherewith Satan labours to batter our faith, when he cannot rob you of grace, and make you wicked, he will endeavour to rob you of comfort and bring you to despair, make you miserable. He will assault you with doubts and fears, touching your Election, conversion, adoption, perseverance, with the greatness and number of your sins, with the Curse and horror of the Law, the Majesty and Justice of an offended God, who is a consuming fire. In all these and such like temptations, let your eyes ever be fixed upon Christ and his blood, the satisfaction given to the Justice of God by his death, that redemption from the Curse of the Law, himself being made a curse for us; then will your souls say, Let the Lord live; then will your desires be to the remembrance of his name; then will your hearts love him, and say, I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me, Psalm 23.6. This is the foundation against which the Gates of Hell shall not prevail, when there is no light nor issue, nor possibility to esdape, here will a do, of deliverance fly open to you. Remember this also, I pray you, if once you come to slight or undervalue this great mercy to tread under foot the Son of God, there remains no more, no other sacrifice for you; you may as much offend God by despairing, as by presuming of his mercy, Heb. 10.29 both are destructive to the true fear of God: lay these things up in your hearts, the Lord of his mercy bless them to you. To all you that thus fear the Lord, Mal. 4.2. shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing under his wings, joy in that day when all the Elect shall behold their King and Redeemer in his Majesty and Glory. For all those that thus fear the Lord, there is a book of remembrance written: It is said of Tamerlane the Scythian, that he had always by him a Catalogue of the names and good deserts of his servants, which he daily perused, and whom he duly rewarded; Mal. 3.16. how much more shall the Lord, who bottles up the tears of his people, puts their Prayers as upon the File, and records all their devotions. All those that thus fear the Lord, he will own in that day when he makes up his Jewels, makes them up for himself, and takes them away from the misusages and malignities of the World. When one desired to see Alexander's Treasure, show him (said he to his Servant) not my Gold or Monies, Plate or Jewels, but my friends: Henceforth, says Christ, I call you not servants, but friends, John 15.15. These are Gods Jewels, his dearest friends, his chief Treasure; none can plunder or pluck them out of his hands: They are called, the dearly beloved of his Soul, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jer. 12.7. the LXX read it, his dearly beloved Soul, noting Gods Saints to be as dear to him, as a man's life or his Soul is: All these, and these only, will the Lord pity and spare at that day, as a father spareth his own son that serveth him. I have now done both with the Text and the Times; I have presented you with a New-years-gift of an inestimable value and worth, All I require from you is but this, That I may see you wear it; that as great Personages are known by their Rings and rich Jewels; so you may be by the fear of the Lord: This Ring truly worn, will seal to your souls assurance of salvation in this life, and be to every one of you at your death a wedding Ring to marry you to the Lamb for evermore: Your tears at this time sufficiently witness, how sadly you receive it from my hands; God will I hope put your tears into his bottle; and that Fountain which he hath opened in your eyes this day, shall swell into Rivers of comfort and salvation at that day, when God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes: All I can do, is to pray for you, since I must no longer Preach to you; I pray God bless his Church; I pray God bless you all, and that God of Peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting Covenant, make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory, and honour, now, and evermore. FINIS.