Praver bosom, and wait for the answer which he will send. and praises are the vessels, in which we send to heaven: faith, meditation, study of the scriptures, attendance of the ministry, vessels by which we hear from heaven. "He shall receive of mine," saith our Saviour of the Holy Spirit," and shall shew it unto you." (John xvi. 14) This intercourse we must keep continually open and unobstructed, that Christ may daily hear from us, and we daily receive from him, that so we may be filled with all the fulness of God, and may have all the store-houses of the soul replenished from heaven with all abundance of necessary graces and comforts. 7. A wise merchant doth provide for losses, and yet though he venture much, will assure the main: so should we resolve beforehand upon many troubles in the way to heaven, sit down and consider the cost' of our holy profession. (Luke xiv. 26, 28) The ship wherein Christ is, is not secured from a storm). His crown of thorns went before his crown of glory; and so must ours. There is a sea and a wilderness between Egypt and Canaan. Through many tribulations, we must enter into the kingdom of heaven. But this is our comfort, that there is an assurance-office, wherein all our losses will be repaid an hundred fold, and that upon God's own security, whereof we have a record, Mark x. 29, 30: "Verily, I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's; but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this life, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecution," (as comforts, supports, encouragements in the midst of his persecutions)" and, in the world to come, eternal life." There is no aged Christian but will love us in such a case with the love of a father; no young Christian but will reverence us with the love of a son; no fellow Christian but will tender us with the love of a brother; every good man's house and heart shall be open unto us. "Whosoever doth the will of God, will be our brother, and sister, and mother," as our Saviour speaks, Mat. xii. 50. 8. The wisest merchants must live by faith and deal much in credit, waiting long for a good return out of remote countries; as the husbandman plougheth in hope, and soweth in tears, (1 Cor. ix. 10. Psalm cxxvi. 5) having God's promise there shall be harvest. (Gen. viii. 22) So the merchant trafficketh, in hope to enjoy that which the prophet calls the "harvest of the river." (Isai. xxiii. 3) Such is the life of a true Christian: he doth not estimate his wealth by the things in his own possession, but lives by faith, reckons upon a great stock going in another country, is richer in obligations and promises than he is in present graces. There is a mutual trust between God and him. 1. He takes upon trust; receives from God many talents of time, health, wealth, power, wisdom, learning, grace, precepts, and improves them to his master's service. (Mat. xxv. 16, 17. 1 Tim. vi. 20) 2. He gives upon trust, lends to the Lord: (Prov. xix. 17) dedicates his merchandise to the Lord: (Isai. xxiii. 18) trusts God with his name and innocency, as Joseph did, as Christ did; (1 Pet. ii, 23) with his life and interests, as David did; (Psalm xxxi. 3, 15. 1 Sam. xxx. 6) with his children, as Jacob did; (Gen. xliii. 13, 14) with his soul, as Paul did. (2 Tim. i. 12) He is not anxiously solicitous how to escape this danger; how to repair this loss; how to advance this gain; how to recover the hundred talents: he knows that God is a father full of love, a heavenly father full of power, an omniscient father full of providence. If his eye see our wants, and his heart pity them, and his treasures abound towards them, how can his hand forbear to supply them? Lastly, A wise merchant is very exact in his books of account, preserving a distinct knowledge of his gains and losses, his improvements or decays. Such is the care of a wise Christian to acquaint himself with his spiritual estate, to make his calling and election sure; (2 Pet. i. 10) to prove whether he be in the faith; (1 Cor. xiii. 5) to examine how his soul prospers, to preserve his peace of conscience, and interest in the love of God. He shall never have over much work to do, who is daily doing something. There is something in it that the laver of brass is said to have been made of looking-glasses, Exod. xxxviii. 8. Seeing of our faces, and acquaintance with our estates, is a good preparation to the cleansing of ourselves. "I thought on my ways, and turned," saith David. (Psalm cxix. 59) try our ways, and turn to the Lord our God," saith the church. (Lam. iii. 40) "Let us search and To conclude all, the life of a merchant, in order unto gain, stands in these four things: In wisdom, and forecast, to contrive; in labour, to transact business; in patience, to wait; and in thriftiness, to preserve what his labours gain: so our Christian merchant labours, 1. For that wisdom which is unto salvation, (2 Tim. iii. 15) which is the foundation of all duties (Col. i. 9, 10) considers the field wherein the treasure is, and buys it. (Prov. xxxi. 16) 2. He prosecutes the dictates of spiritual wisdom, with a work of faith, and labour of love. It is not empty wishes, and velleities, yawning and drowsy desires, that can make a merchant or a Christian rich: much pains must be taken with an evil heart, with a sluggish spirit, with a stubborn will, with impetuous passions, with strong lusts, with active enemies. 3. He endures with patience, gives not over the trade of piety, if his expectations be not presently answered; but, by patient continuance in well doing, comes to glory and honour at the last. (Rom. ii. 7. Heb. x. 37) 4. He hides the word in his heart, stores up precepts, promises, examples, experiments; what with wisdom, labour, and patience he hath gotten, he doth with all care and diligence preserve, that he may go forward, and not backward, in his holy profession. PEACE OF JERUSALEM, 1657. HONORATISSIMIS, AMPLISSIMIS, CONSULTISSIMIS, D. d. CONCIONEM HANC DE PACE ECCLESIÆ ALTERAM, IN HONORIS ET HUMILLIMI OBSEQUII TESTIMONIUM D. D. C. E. R. AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER. GOOD READER, A sad and sudden sickness befalling my loving friend the stationer, in whose hand this Sermon was, to take care of the printing of it, hath been the cause why the publication thereof hath been thus long retarded: which I thought fit to give an account of, for the satisfaction of those who have too long expected it. THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM; A SERMON Preached in the Parliament-House, Jan. 9, 1656. Being a day of private Humiliation kept by the Members thereof. PSALM CXXII. 6, 8, 9. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper, that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sake I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good. THE whole world is divided into two congregations of men; the church malignant, under Satan their head,-and the city of God, under Christ their head: the general universality of natural men descending from the first Adam; and the special universality of believers, descending from the second Adam. This city of God was collected at first in the people of Israel, therefore called the first-born, Erod. iv. 22; and holy to God, as the first-born, Jer. ii. 3. b That which they were called from the rest of the world unto, was to know, to serve, and to enjoy God. Know him they could not, but as he had revealed; serve him they may not, but as he had enjoined. God's service was prescribed both quoad modum,' and 'quoad locum;' the manner how, the place where, he would be worshipped; the manner deliver a Civitas mundi, civitas Dei: illa, rege diabolo; hæc, Rege Christo: Aug. Retract. lib. 2. cap. 43. De Civ. Dei, 1. 11. c. 1. 1. 14. c. 1. 1. 15. c. 1. De Gen. ad lit. 1. 11. c. 15. in Psalm 61. b In electis specialis quædam censetur unimundus liberatus, et ex omnibus hominibus : versitas ut de toto mundo totus omnes homines videantur assumpti. Prosp. de Vocat. Gent. lib. 1. cap. 3. Vid. Torn. Annal. An. mundi 2940. et Tarnov. Exercit. Bib. |