hungry man, if I have but clothed a naked child, if I have but comforted a sad soul, or instructed an ignorant soul, if I have but preached a sermon, and then printed that sermon, that is, first preached it, and then lived according to it, (for the subsequent life is the best printing, and the most useful and profitable publishing of a sermon) all those things that I have done for God's glory, shall follow me, shall accompany me, shall be in heaven before me, and meet with their testimony, that as I did not serve God for nothing, (God gave me his blessings with a large hand, and in overflowing measures) so I did not nothing for the service of God; though it be, as it ought to be, nothing in mine own eyes, nothing in respect of my duty, yet to them who have received any good by it, it must not seem nothing; for then they are unthankful to God, who gave it, by whose hand soever. This shall be my praise to heaven, my recommendation thither; and then my praise in heaven shall be my preferment in heaven. Then those blessed angels, that rejoiced at my conversion before, shall praise my perseverance in that profession, and admit me to a part in all their hymns and Hosannas, and Hallelujahs; which Hallelujah is a word produced from the very word of this text, halal; my Hallelujah shall be my halal, my praising of God shall be my praise. And from this testimony I shall come to the accomplishment of all, to receive from my Saviour's own mouth, that glorious, that victorious, that harmonious praise, that dissolving, and that recollecting testimony, that shall melt my bowels, and yet fix me, pour me out, and yet gather me into his bosom, that Euge bone serve, Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into thy Master's joy". And when he hath sealed me with his euge, and accepted my service, who shall stamp a væ quod non, upon me? Who shall say, Woe be unto thee, that thou didst not preach, this or that day, in this or that place? When he shall have styled me Bone et fidelis, Good and faithful servant, who shall upbraid me with a late undertaking this calling, or a slack pursuing, or a lazy intermitting the function thereof? When he shall have entered me into my Master's joy, what fortune, what sin can cast any cloud of sadness upon me? This is that that makes heaven, heaven, that this retribution, which is 40 future now, shall be present then, and when it is then present, it shall be future again, and present and future for ever, ever enjoyed, and expected ever. The upright in heart shall have, whatsoever all translations can enlarge and extend themselves unto; they shall rejoice, they shall glory, they shall praise, and they shall be praised, and all these in an everlasting future, for ever. Which everlastingness is such a term, as God himself cannot enlarge; as God cannot make himself a better God than he is, because he is infinitely good, infinite goodness, already; so God himself cannot make our term in heaven longer than it is; for it is infinite everlastingness, infinite eternity. That that we are to beg of him is, that as that state shall never end, so he will be pleased to hasten the beginning thereof, that so we may be numbered with his saints in glory everlasting. Amen. THE FOURTH OF MY PREBEND SERMONS UPON MY FIVE PSALMS. SERMON LXVIII. PREACHED AT ST. PAUL'S, JANUARY 28, 1626. PSALM LXV. 5. By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off, upon the sea. GOD makes nothing of nothing now; God eased himself of that incomprehensible work, and ended it in the first Sabbath. But God makes great things of little still; and in that kind he works most upon the Sabbath; when by the foolishness of preaching1 he infatuates the wisdom of the world, and by the word, in the mouth of a weak man, he enfeebles the power of sin, and Satan in the world, and by but so much breath as blows out an hourglass, gathers three thousand souls at a sermon, and five thousand souls at a sermon, as upon Peter's preaching, in the second, and 1 1 Cor. i. 21. in the fourth of the Acts. And this work of his, to make much of little, and to do much by little, is most properly a miracle. For, the creation, (which was a production of all out of nothing) was not properly a miracle: a miracle is a thing done against nature; when something in the course of nature resists that work, then that work is a miracle; but in the creation, there was no reluctation, no resistance, no nature, nothing to resist. But to do great works by small means, to bring men to heaven by preaching in the church, this is a miracle. When Christ intended a miraculous feeding of a great multitude, he asked, Quot panes habetis? first he would know, how many loaves they had; and when he found they had some, though they were but five, he multiplied them, to a sufficiency for five thousand persons. This Psalm is one of my five loaves, which I bring; one of those five Psalms, which by the institution of our ancestors in this church, are made mine, appropriated especially to my daily meditation, as there are five other Psalms to every other person of our church. And, by so poor means as this, (my speaking) his blessing upon his ordinance may multiply to the advancement, and furtherance of all your salvations. He multiplies now, farther than in those loaves; not only to feed you all, (as he did all that multitude) but to feed you all three meals. In this Psalm (and especially in this text) God satisfies you with this threefold knowledge: first, what he hath done for man, in the light and law of nature; then, how much more he had done for his chosen people, the Jews, in affording them a law; and lastly, what he had reserved for man after, in the establishment of the Christian church. The first, (in this metaphor, and miracle of feeding) works as a breakfast; for though there be not a full meal, there is something to stay the stomach, in the light of nature. The second, that which God did for the Jews in their law, and sacrifices, and types, and ceremonies, is as that dinner, which was spoken of in the Gospel, which was plentifully prepared, but prepared for some certain guests, that were bidden, and no more; better means than were in nature, they had in the law, but yet only appropriated to them that were bidden, to that nation, and no more. But in the third meal, God's plentiful 2 Mark vi. 38. refection in the Christian church, and means of salvation there; first, Christ comes in the visitation of his Spirit, (Behold I come, and knock, and will sup with him) he sups with us, in the private visitation of his Spirit; and then, (as it is added there) he invites us to sup with him, he calls us home to his house, and there makes us partakers of his blessed sacraments; and by those means we are brought at last to that blessedness which he proclaims, Blessed are all they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, in the kingdom of heaven. For all these three meals, we say grace in this text, By terrible things, in righteousness, wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; for all these ways of coming to the knowledge and worship of God, we bless God in this text, Thou art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off, upon the sea. The consideration of the means of salvation afforded by God to the Jews in their law, inanimates the whole Psalm, and is transfused through every part thereof; and so it falls upon this verse too, as it doth upon all the rest; and then, for that, that God had done before in nature, and for all, is in the later part of this verse, (Who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off, upon the sea) and lastly, that that he hath reserved for the Christian church, God hath centred, and embowelled in the womb and bosom of the text, in that compilation, (0 God of our salvation) for there the word salvation, is rooted in Jashang, which Jashang is the very name of Jesus, the foundation, and the whole building of the Christian church. So then our three parts will be these; what God hath done in nature, what in the law, what in the Gospel. And when in our order we shall come to that last part, which is that, that we drive all too, (the advantage which we have in the Gospel, above nature, and the law) we shall then propose, and stop upon the Holy Ghost's manner of expressing it in this place, By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation: but first, look we a little into the other two, nature, and law. First then, the last words settle us upon our first consideration, what God hath done for man in nature, He is the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off, upon the sea, that is, of all the world, all places, all persons in the world; all, at all times, every where, have declarations enough of his power, demonstrations enough of his goodness, to confide in him, to rely upon him. The Holy Ghost seems to have delighted in the metaphor of building. I know no figurative speech so often iterated in the Scriptures, as the name of a house; heaven and earth are called by that name, and we, who being upon earth, have our conversation in heaven', are called so too (Christ hath a house, which house we are) and as God builds his house, (The Lord builds up Jerusalem, saith David') so he furnishes it, he plants vineyards, gardens, and orchards about it, he lays out a way to it, (Christ is the way) he opens a gate into it, (Christ is the gate') and when he hath done all this, (built his house, furnished it, planted about it, made it accessible, and opened the gate) then he keeps house, as well as builds a house, he feeds us, and feasts us in his house, as well as he lodges us, and places us in it. And as Christ professes what his own diet was, what he fed upon, (My meat is to do the will of my Father 10) so our meat is to know the will of the Father; every man, even in nature, hath that appetite, that desire, to know God. And therefore if God have made any man, and not given him means to know him, he is but a good builder, he is no good housekeeper, he gives him lodging, but he gives him no meat; but the eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season". All, (not only we) wait upon God; and he gives them their meat, though not our meat, (the word and the sacraments) yet their meat, such as they are able to digest and endue. Even in nature, He is the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off, upon the sea. That is his daily bread, which even the natural man begs at God's hand, and God affords it him. The most precious and costly dishes are always reserved for the last services, but yet there is wholesome meat before too. The clear light is in the Gospel, but there is light in nature too. At the last supper, (the supper of the Lamb in heaven) there is no bill of fare, there are no particular dishes named there. It is impossible to tell us what we shall feed upon, what we shall be 5 Phi. iii. 20. Matt. vii. 13. 6 • Heb. iii. 6. 7 Psalm CXLVii. 2. 10 John iv. 34. John xiv. 6. 11 Psalm CXLV. 15. |