Sermons on Isaiah 11:1-10, Title page – Errata

Sermons on Isaiah 11:1-10 · Title page – Errata

THE RIGHTEOUS BRANCH Growing out of the Root of Jeſſe, and healing the Nations.

Held forth in ſeveral Sermons upon Iſai. Chap. 11. from verſ. 1. to 10.

Together with ſome few Sermons relating to all who live under the ſhadow of the BRANCH.

By Mr. William Colvill Miniſter of the Goſpel, and Primair of King James's Colledge in Edinburgh.

Jer. 23.5. Behold, the dayes come, that I will raiſe unto David a righteous Branch; and a King ſhall reign and proſper, and ſhall execute judgement and juſtice in the earth.

Zech. 6.12. — Behold the man, whoſe name is the BRANCH, and he ſhall grow up out of his place, and he ſhall build the temple of the Lord.

Edinburgh, Printed by George Swintoun, James Glen, and Thomas Brown, Anno DOM. 1673.

To the Religious and truly Noble Ladies, my Lady Napier, and to my Lady Mary Erskine, Aunts to my Noble Lord, the Earl of Marr.

Noble Ladies,

IT is a true ſaying of the wiſe Solomon, Train up a child in the way he ſhould go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it. The firſt part of this, was made out by your gracious and noble Mother of bleſſed memory; who trained you up from your Child-hood in the holy Scriptures, and in the fear of the Lord, as alſo in all vertue beſeeming your Quality and Sex; whereof I have had the honour and happineſs to be a witneſs for many years. I know it is a Chriſtian duty, in the due time to make honourable mention of the vertues of the deceaſed Saints, to the end theſe who ſurvive them, may in a godly emulation follow their good example. Your Noble Mother, was like to Annah in her privat and publick Devotions; like to Dorcas in her Chriſtian compaſſion and ſupply to the neceſſitous; like to Sarah in her dutiful deportment toward her Noble Lord your Father; and like to Eunice, in the Chriſtian and tender education of her Children. The other part of that Golden Sentence, ye your ſelves endeavour, through Gods grace to make good; by reſembling her in her Graces and Vertues; and by tranſmitting the ſame in your careful education of theſe hopeful young Ladies, happy in your example and breeding.

The like great obligation of Gratitude, that ſtrongly inclined me to dedicat a Book to your gracious Mother, hath alſo prompted me to preſent this ſmall Treatiſe unto your Ladiſhips, and to honour the ſame by prefixing your Names thereto. The main ſubject and deſign of both Books is the ſame: In the firſt, were ſome refreſhing ſtreams flowing forth from the fountain opened to the houſe of David, for refreſhing weary and thirſty ſouls; and in this, is held forth the Righteous BRANCH, even the bleſſed Lord Jeſus Chriſt alſo, for the reviving of fainting ſouls, by the ſweet ſavour of his grace and power, to convert and ſave loſt man.

It is not in ſuch a dreſs, as will pleaſe the fancy of ſome others; but I know well, if the ſtuff be upright and ſolid, your ſober minds can eaſily diſpenſe with the want of embroideries of Humane Eloquence: That it may be profitable to your Ladyſhips, and to all who ſhall be pleaſed to peruſe the ſame, is the humble prayer of him, who is in all duty,

Noble Ladies, Your moſt humble and devouted Servant, Mr. Wil. Colvill.

TO THE READER.

THe deſire of light and knowledge to the underſtanding, is natural unto every man; as by the outward light, things viſible are ſeen by the eye of the body, So things intelligible, are perceived by the light and the knowledge in the mind: but of all knowledge, the knowledge of God in Jeſus Chriſt his bleſſed Son our Mediator, is moſt to be deſired. It is moſt neceſſar, becauſe the ſpecular knowledge of this in the holy Scriptures, is the Rudiment of that full and perfect knowledge the Saints have in Heaven; for to know this, is life eternal, Joh 17.3. It is the foundation of our ſpiritual practical duties; without it, man cannot believe in God and whom he ſent Jeſus Chriſt; for, how ſhall they believe in him, of whom they have not heard? Rom. 10.14. without this knowledge, we cannot deſire nor ſeek after Chriſt and his benefits; therefore our bleſsed Lord ſaid to that poor ſinful woman, Joh. 4.10. If thou kneweſt the gift of God, and who it is that ſaith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldeſt have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. For, the will cannot love and chuſe Chriſt for our portion, till firſt he be repreſented in his beauty of holineſs by light and knowledge in the underſtanding. This knowledge is moſt excellent in reſpect of the ſubject, who is the brightneſs of the Fathers glory, in whom are hid the treaſures of wiſdom and knowledge: All natural knowledge, though never ſo profound, as was that of Solomon, who knew and ſpoke of all Trees from the Cedar to the Hyſop; yet, if we be ignorant of the true Vine, and of the righteous BRANCH that healeth the Nations, all our ſecular knowledge will prove unſavory and guſtleſs at the hour of death: but if we know, love and obey in ſincerity the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, then at the end of our life, we ſhall rejoyce in our longing deſire, and lively hope to be with him after death, and to know him as now we are known of him. This knowledge is not dull, but active; by our knowledge of him, we are juſtified, Iſ. 53.11. Saving faith, whereof knowledge is a ſpecial and firſt ingredient, receiveth Chriſt wholly in all his Offices, and with him pardon of our ſins; as all who were ſtung in the wilderneſs, if they looked to the braſen Serpent, were healed; So whoſoever believeth in him, ſhall not periſh, but have eternal life. This knowledge is active alſo for our Sanctification; becauſe this knowledge, by the obſignation of the holy Spirit, maketh ſuch a deep impreſſion of Chriſt known, upon the minds and hearts of believers, that they become like and conform unto him, 2 Pet. 1.4. and by the knowledge and light of the Goſpel, repreſenting him, they are changed from glory to glory, 2 Cor. 3.18. that is, from one degree of grace to another in the courſe and progreſs of Sanctification, which is no other thing, but the commencement of that glory we look for in heaven. This ſaving knowledge, which true believers have of Chriſt, is an humbling and encreaſing knowledge; Paul became very humble, thinking himſelf the chief of ſinners, and leaſt of Saints; it is a growing light and knowledge, the more they know him, they love him the more; and the more they love him, they deſire to know the more of him. When they grow old, and the natural faculty of underſtanding waxeth weak and dim, though they grow not in the knowledge of the literal apprehenſion, yet they grow in the knowledge of appretiation and eſtimation; as the motion of every thing, the nearer it comes to its center, is the ſwifter; So the ſound believer, the nearer he draws to the term of his life and the hoped for fruition, the center of all his deſires and hopes, the motion of his heart toward God is the greater, and he vehemently deſires to be diſſolved and to be with Chriſt, which is beſt of all.

This knowledge, in ſome abſtruſe and ſupernatural myſteries, is but confuſe and general; we know from divine revelation ſomething of the matter, but little or nothing of the manner; It is our duty to acquieſce on divine teſtimony, and refer the knowledge of the manner unto that day, wherein we ſhall ſee God face to face. It is with us here in this dark valley of Baca, as it was with that blind man of Bethſaida, Mark 9. who at the firſt touch of his eyes by Chriſt, did ſee objects more generally and confuſedly, but afterward at the ſecond touch, more particularly and diſtinctly: So here in this life, by his firſt touch and illumination of our mind with the light of faith, we ſee ſomething of theſe great myſteries in a confuſed and general notion but at his ſecond touch in heaven, by the beatifick viſion, we ſhall know diſtinctly and more particularly, at the leaſt we ſhall know ſo much in theſe high myſteries, as will ſatisfie the deſire of the ſoul, and will rejoyce the heart, without all anxious or painful deſire to know more.

Therefore (Chriſtian Reader) I made choice to ſpeak in the publick Congregation, for ſome time, on this portion of Scripture, wherein the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, the Righteous BRANCH, is held forth to us, that coming to him, we may be healed, both of ſin, in our juſtification through him, who is JEHOVAH our Righteouſneſs; and that we may be ſanctified, and daily purified from all uncleanneſs of the fleſh and ſpirit by him, who alſo is made of God, ſanctification unto us, who bare our ſins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to ſin, ſhould live unto righteouſneſs. This knowledge is moſt to be ſought after; for as the faſhion of this world paſseth away, ſo certainly, the knowledge of things worldly will be out of faſhion after death: but the knowledge of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, begun in the Elect here by faith unto the Goſpel, will be perfect and everlaſting in that day of eternity, when the Lamb will be our light for ever.

If thou (ingenuous Reader) ſhall reap, as I pray God thou mayeſt, any ſpiritual benefit by this ſmall Treatiſe, publiſhed at the deſire of ſome pious and ſober minded hearers, give all praiſe to the Righteous BRANCH, who, as he is in himſelf moſt precious, ſo he maketh himſelf ſavoury and precious to believers: And that it may be ſeen he is ſo to thee, let thy converſation ſmell of the BRANCH. What eſcapes thou perceiveſt (as in the multitude of words there want not failings) impute them meerly to the weakneſs of the trembling hand here, that holds forth the BRANCH, but no wayes to the BRANCH it ſelf. Though poſſibly thou cannot conſtruct ſome expreſsions in this Treatiſe, with thine own ſentiment and opinion; yet certainly, the intention of the Author, to magnifie the riches and power of Goſpel-grace in the converſion of chief ſinners, and his earneſt endeavours to ſtir up Converts unto a ſuitable converſation in Chriſtian duties, and unto Chriſtian communion in love and peace among themſelves, cannot be diſrelliſhed by any perſon of the Goſpel-ſpirit. Farewell.

ERRATA.