Mercy Magnified, Sermon 2
SERMON II.
TOuching the Party of whom he makes the demand, and title which he puts upon him, Father, whiles he ſtudies ingratitude and proud ſelf-dependence, he puts on a cloak of ſubmiſſion, he acknowledgeth his Father …y his title, although he is not willing to be at …is diſpoſe; Hence we may obſerve.
Doct. 1. That the moſt wicked intentions are ſometimes cloathed with the faireſt pretences.
Men are not content to diſſemble one with another, but with God too. The name Father, …s a name of honour, and when the Son calls him Father, he makes a ſhew of acknowledging him in all that dignity, power, priviledg which a Father hath of his Children: he comes mannerly, as if he would not grieve him, while yet he is plotting his greateſt diſgrace, and how to carry himſelf moſt unworthily.
Reaſ. From the naturally remaining activity of Conſcience which is in men, and hath in all ſome power, excepting ſuch conſciences as are cauterized.
men have ſomething in them accuſing or excuſing, Rom. 2. 15. Whence it comes to paſs that though the hearts and wills of fallen me… readily cloſe with and approve of Wickedneſs yet their natural ſhame, fear, ſelf-condemnation makes them to palliate and ſhadow it under ſelf-cheating and deceiving pretences: thus they hide their ſin from themſelves, and think they do ſo from God too.
USE. To Admoniſh us to look to our own hearts, and in ſpecial to beware to our ſelves in our Prayers: we often ſeem to go fairly to God and call him Father, to ask things of him which to us may ſeem rational: thus the younger Son thought it but fair, that being (as he ſuppoſed) at age and diſcretion to diſpoſe o… his own, he might without fault demand his Portion: we many times ask theſe and thoſe things in prayer mannerly in expreſſion, but let us beware leſt for all that the wickedneſs o… our hearts be in it: we ask gifts, but poſſible to be proud of, and get applauſe by, and not t… ſerve God with them; we ask comforts o… this life, but not to encourage our chearful ſerving of God with them, but to ſpend them upon our Luſts: and when it is ſo, it is Gods greater love to deny us: Jam. 4. 3.
DOCT. II. Wicked men are apt to challenge ſpecial propriety in God.
The Prodigal accoſts his Father with a title of neareſt relation: the degenerate and prophane Jews, that had caſt off the fear of God, yet muſt needs challenge him to be their Father: Joh. 8. 41. We have one Father, even God. Oftentimes there are none more confident then ſuch; God is their God, they profeſs him, own and acknowledge him.
Reaſ. 1. From the conviction which every natural man carries upon his mind of his Abſolute dependence upon God, and that he alone can make him happy or miſerable: for, although this be a truth which man by his ſinful courſes practically contradicts, and a light which he is not unwilling to extinguiſh, it is yet ſo riveted in the mind of man, that he cannot wholly evade it; it ſticks as cloſe to him as his being; and hence it follows that though he neither loveth, nor careth for ſerving of God, yet he would maintain an hope, which may uphold his ſpirits from ſinking, though it be but a rotten hope.
Reaſ. 2. From the carnal confidence that is in the hearts of many ungodly men: they are not willing to believe themſelves ſuch and ſo bad as they are, but preſume that they are as much as any in the favour of God: the Jews thought themſelves the Temple, though fallen into the depth of Apoſtacy, Jer. 7. 4. Men build upon falſe Grounds, and place their truſt in lying words; and ſuppoſe that if they can but fairly diſſemble with God, he muſt needs believe them.
USE. This may put us upon it to try our hopes, and prove what it is that our confidence is grounded upon: we ſay we call God Father, and if we would do ſo rightly, Conſider 1 Pet. 1. 17. If ye call on the Father,—paſs the time of your ſojcurning here in fear. It will little avail us to challenge him to be our Father, if he refuſeth to own us as his Children: and let us be aſſured, that if we do not bear his image, we ſhall notwithſtanding all our pretences be looked upon as Baſtards and not Sons: it is not verbal calling of God our Father, but a careful doing the will of our Heavenly Father, that will render us bleſſed.
3. We come to conſider the demand it ſelf: Give me the portion of Goods that falleth to me. This I call his unreaſonable demand: for though at firſt bluſh it may look as if it were rational, he asks but his Portion, his Share, that which falls to him by the right of Sonſhip, and he ſaith give, ſeeming to acknowledge his Fathers power, and that it is his bounty which he depends upon: although the word [Give] doth not alwayes intimate a free favour, but ſometimes a delivering of a thing out of our hands to another, which is his by right: but the unreaſonableneſs of the demand appears in theſe things.
1. The poſitiveneſs of it: Though he calls him Father, yet he asks in a way of challenge, as though his father had ſtood obliged to do it upon his asking; as though the Eſtate were his during his fathers life: he doth not beg, but as it were command.
2. His asking is under the notion or conſideration of an intereſt in it, he calls it therefore the Portion falling to him: the word foreign ſignifies, quod eonting it, that which befel him of it ſelf, q. d. that which providence hath made mine, as if he were not beholen to his fathers courteſy; yea, as if it would have been an injury in his father to have denyed him.
3. His diſcontent in being at his fathers diſpoſal and providing, and deſire to be at his own pleaſure: he ſeeks to ſhake off the yoke of his fathers Government, will be ordered by him no longer, and proudly thinks himſelf wiſer than he; he can order things better for his own benefit than his father hath done: The ſubſtance is, he would be from under command, and have all in his own hands.
4. Inſtead of relieving his father in his old age, he would not only leave him, but leave him as poor and bare as he can, would rake and ſcrape all from him that he can come at, but do him no ſervice at all. What our Saviour alludes to by this portion is the main enquiry. Some there be who referr it to all that furniture of Grace which God beſtowed upon man when he created him: but this interpretation cannot ſute to the ſtate of Publicans and ſinners which is here alluded to, though we had all in Adam, and bear the woful puniſhment of his loſs. I rather judge it to aim at all that which God beſtowes upon natural men, to ſome of whom he gives more, and to ſome leſs: It may include all God's common favours, all but ſaving Grace; whatſoever it is that doth providentially fall to their ſhare, in God's ſovereign diſtribution, as Wit, underſtanding, good natural diſpoſitions, and all the comforts of this life, a… health, ſtrength, wealth, honour, &c. For ſuch things as theſe is God pleaſed to make the portion of unregenerate men in this life, Pſal. 1…. 14: The men of the World which have their portion in this life. See how large it ſometimes is Job 21. begin. Pſal. 73. begin.
Hence then we may obſerve.
DOCT. I. That all the common gifts and graces, and worldly favours which men enjoy i… this life, are the gifts of God.
The ſon, however otherwiſe wicked, yet in this did expreſs that which was true, by acknowledging that his father had his portion in his hand, and at his diſpoſe, & that by a power of ſoveraignty, although he did not acknowledge the juſtice of it, as will be ſeen in the next Doctrine. And truly nature it ſelf teacheth this leſſon, and the providence of God in the arbitrary and unaccountable diſpoſal of theſe things, evidently affirms it; ſo that a man muſt firſt blot out the remains of the Law of nature, and put out the eyes of his experience before he can deny it. It is God who gives to men all their natural faculties, and the power of them, he makes not only the eye, but the ſeeing eye: Mens underſtandings and affections, wits and wills, parts and diſpoſitions, and all the benefits and bleſſings that in this world they are accomodated withal, are the proper fruits of God's bounty to the Children of men. They are God's gifts in ſeveral reſpects.
1. They have their Original from his power and goodneſs: God formed the eye, he planted the ear, &c. Pſal. 94. 9: God was under no natural obligation to the creature, he owed him not ſo much as his being, nor any either internal or external ornament of it; he ſtood no more engaged to give Wiſdom to the wiſeman, than he did to the fool: Nabal had as much right, and as good a claim to counſel and underſtanding as Achitophel, &c. Whatever men have they had it of him, and it was his bounty that beſtowed it; it is he that gives life, breath, and being to all; and he gives it as he will: He gives men their Songs in the night, i. e. their conveniences and comforts, and he teacheth them more than the beaſts of the field, though they practically forget, or do not regard whence all this comes, as Elihu complains, Job 35. 10, 11.
2. They are preſerved and upheld in being by him: It is he alone who maintains that which he had before conferred upon us: He keeps our ſoul in life, eye from tears, foot from ſliding, Pſal. 116. 8. He is called the preſerver of men, Job 7. 20. Mens wits, abilities, powers, comforts and delights laſt no longer than he ſees meet to maintain them, it is his hand underneath that keeps them up from ſinking, and when he plucks it away, they dy and periſh, nor can they draw breath one moment longer than his ſuſteining providence ſupports them, Pſal. 104. 29. Thou hideſt thy face, they are troubled, thou takeſt away their breath, they dy.
3. The power of improving or making uſe of any of them is from him: Obſervable is that paſſage of the wiſemans, Pro. 20. 12. The hearear, and the ſeeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them. Both the faculty and operation wholly depends upon him; we not only live but move alſo in him: If he at any time ſuſpend his concourſe, that very ſuſpenſe gives ſufficient check to our operations, Pro. 16. 1. The preparations of the heart, and the anſwer of the tongue is from the Lord. A man may have a great eſtate, but without him a man hath no power to make uſe of, or take any comfort in it, Eccl. 6. 2:
4. God is by no natural neceſſity bound to give or continue theſe favours to the Children of men: Whatſoever he doth upon this ſcore is meer bounty; though men may call it the portion of goods that belongeth to them, and ſeem to challenge it as due debt, yet God might, had he ſo ſeen meet, have given it all away from them, and done them no wrong: He cannot owe the creature any thing, except he voluntarily become a debtor by free promiſe, which puts upon the thing promiſed the proper quality of a gift.
5. And he either withholds or taketh them away according to his Sovereign pleaſure; yea, and beſtows them too in what degree he ſees meet, without being accountable unto us: Hence proceeds the various diſtribution of theſe gifts and favours of God: One is born a natural, another with excellent endowments; one is rich, powerful, highly honoured, another poor, ignoble and deſpiſed; yea, and the ſame men are now up and then down; Job in the morning the moſt opulent and flouriſhing of the Eaſt, at night, poor to a Proverb: Yea, and we can give no reaſon of the diſtribution, wicked Dives is rich, and abounds in all worldly delights; honeſt Lazarus, is a beggar and full of ſores; and if a reaſon of all this be demanded, Solomon will give us the anſwer, Eccleſ. 9. 11. yea, and our Saviour Chriſt in Joh. 9. 3.
USE, 1. This affords us a wholſome caveat, that none of us pride our ſelves in our inward or outward, natural or moral endowments; theſe are not things to be gloried in, Jer. 9. 23. Remember you purchaſed them not to your ſelves, you have nothing but what you received: Are you tempted to deſpiſe others? Reflect and think who it is that hath made you to differ: Have you excellent wits and parts? Remember that it was of God that you and the verieſt fools did not exchange places: Have you wealth? Had God ſeen meet, this might have been the beggars portion, and his yours; God made both; it's Solomon's note: Pro. 22. 2. And if once you come to pride your ſelves in theſe things, God can blaſt them in a moment, and put a diſgrace upon your glory: Be not high minded, but fear.
USE, 2. Here ſee what great reaſon there is why we ſhould improve all that we have and are to the glory of God: as alſo the greatneſs of their ſin that miſuſe them to his diſhonour. Be we then exhorted to beware to ourſelves what improvement we make of them. It was a convincing reproof which God gave unto them, Hoſ. 2. 8, 9. She did not know that I gave her Corn, &c. I will therefore return and take away my Corn, &c. God claims all the common gifts which you have received, as his; he ſaith it is my corn, my flax, he counts your knowledge, your good natural diſpoſitions, your wealth, your power, to be his, and expects that you uſe them for him; and if you ſhall do otherwiſe, he will let you know of it, and it will be a ſad reckoning that he will call you unto. God's goodneſs leads men to Repentance, Rom. 2. 4. And withal know that God deſigns his own Glory by whatever he doth and if you do not ſo do too in your improvment of all, he will in a judicial way recover it at your hands, and get himſelf a great name upon you: God will not be a loſer by any of his Creatures: Let this humble and awaken ſuch as have a more liberal portion than others, conſidering that where much is given, much is expected.
DOCT. II. Sinful man counts all thoſe natural and acquired favours which God beſtowes upon him, to be his own, and would have them at his own diſpoſe.
There are two aſſertions contained in this Doctrine.
1. He reckons upon them to be his own: the Son claims a Portion as due to him, he pretends ſuch a right thereto as by the rule of eequity he may challenge, and though upon Sovereignty he may withhold it, yet he deems it injuſtice if he deny him: Thus, whatſoever God is pleaſed to do for ſinful men, they are ſo far from acknowledging his immerited beneficence therein, that they account it a debt. I know there is ſomething Connexively or Hypothetically belongs to the Creature, but ſtill the whole depends upon God's good pleaſure. If God will have ſuch a Creature, ſerve to ſuch an end, there muſt be a capacity and ſutableneſs put in to it unto this ſervice and end, elſe it can never reach it, but all this is only Hypothetical, for God properly ows to the creature neither its being nor its end: & yet vain man thinks he holds all in capite, that he is a natural and rightful heir to all the Wit, Wiſdom, Wealth, &c. that he hath. Thus Nebuchadnazzar, boaſts of his Babylon, he made it, and for his glory, Dan. 4. 30. and thus they, Pſal. 12. 4. Our Lips are our own, who is Lord over us? Reaſon for this there is none, for if men knew themſelves, or would eye the work of Creation and Providence, they would find full conviction of their low & depending eſtate, and deep obligations unto God for diſtinguiſhing undeſerved favours: But the Reaſon of it is from the pride which is in the heart of man, and hath been there ever ſince he aſpired to be as God, whence he doth not willingly acknowledge any ſubordination or dependence; and is ſo farr from owning of that condition which Creation placed him in, viz. of a ſubordinate depending Creature, that he counts himſelf a Lord, and beholden to none, much leſs then will he yeild the merit of that miſerable ſtate which ſin hath reduced him unto, in which all the ſubordinate Covenant-right, whatever it was which before the fatal Apoſtacy he had, is forfeited. And that men do thus account of theſe things appears in this one invincible Demonſtration: viz. That as they do not thank God for theſe things, ſo neither do they aim higher than at themſelves in the improvement of them. Have natural men Wit, Wealth, &c. they ſeek their own glory and not God's: Thus did Herod, Act. 12. 21. Hence they aſcribe all to themſelves, Hab. 1. 16. They ſacrifice to their net, and burn incenſe to their drag.
USE. To convince and reprove this folly in the Children of men: Are theſe things your own? how came you by them? what did they coſt you? whence had you to pay for them? did you put them into, or procure them for your ſelves? who was it that taught you more than the beaſts of the field, you your ſelves, or God? what did that little piece of common Maſs or matter merit of God to be made into a man, and not a bruit? have you any thing which God did not beſtow upon you? and what obligation had you laid upon him to do it? wherein ſtood he more engaged to you than to others? can you keep them as long as you pleaſe? or can you entaile them upon your poſterity? nay, can you ſay they ſhall be yours the next houre? if you can do none of all this, why then do you boaſt and pride your ſelves in theſe things? be aſſured if you are grown too proud to confeſs them to be God's it's the ready way not to have them long yours: If Nebuchadnazzar will not give God the honour of making him a man, he can ſoon let him know how eaſily he can change him into a beaſt.
2. He would fain have all theſe favours at his own diſpoſe: He is not content unleſs he may have them in his own hands; like a child, who, when he begins to grow up to years, preſently grows weary of Family Government, and cannot bear to be limited or controlled in any thing by his Parents, but muſt have his Eſtate given him, and ſet up for himſelf: This truth is evident by the lives of men; For,
1. They are not content to be reſtrained and directed by the Laws of God, in the improvement of theſe gifts; the bounds of the precepts are too narrow for them, they muſt walk at large; tell them of the Command, they regard it not, and their lives ſay as they did with their tongues, Jer. 44. 16. As for the word which thou hast ſpoken to us in the Name of the Lord we will not hearken unto thee.
2. Men do not manage themſelves in the uſe of theſe things to the advancement of the honour and glory of God in the world: They do not ſerve God with their gifts, and eſtates, but ſerve divers luſts; they make panders of them for their corruptions: Great Wits are uſually looſe and licentious, great Eſtates are mens ſecurity to ſin againſt God with the more boldneſs: It is a rare thing to ſee men that have the greateſt viſible advantages for it, to be very zealous for God.
Reaſ. 1. From the rebellion of the nature of fallen man: Man in his Apoſtaſie ſhook off the yoke of obedience, and cannot endure to take it on him again: Ephraim profeſſeth himſelf as an untamed heifer, that, not being accoſtumed to, knew not how to ſtoop under the yoke, Jer. 31. 18. Man is therefore ſaid to be born as the wild Aſs-colt, Job 11. 12. which never keeps in the incloſures, but hath the Wilderneſs for his range: Mans heart is become rebellious, and filled with a principle of enmity againſt, which makes him hate ſubjection to the law of God, Rom. 8. 7:
Reaſ. 2. From the miſtaken opinion which he hath taken up of liberty. Liberty is, if truly known, a moſt deſireable good, and a great part of a Believers happineſs, but the heart of ſinful man hath fooliſhly put that glorious title upon the worſt of licentiouſneſs, and hereupon he accounts himſelf to be under intolerable reſtraint, ſo long as he may not take his ſwindge in the world: and hence he eſteems the law to be no better than a priſon, which is indeed a perfect law of liberty.
Reaſon. 3. For Mans fond apprehenſion of of his own wiſdom, Job 11. 12. Vain man would be wiſe. Every natural man is fondly opinionated of his own diſcretion, though he is indeed a meer fool and Child, yet he thinks he knows better than his Lord and Maſter: Gods Laws are not ſuted with mens carnal principles; they apprehend they ſee a great deal of weakneſs in them, and needleſs hazards in obeying of them; they are impolitick, and they can preſcribe to themſelves a better way to attain their ends than that which God hath laid out.
USE, 1. We ſee here the reaſon why men of large parts and abilities uſe them ſo little to the glory of God, the moſt part of ſuch men improve their wit to invent ſin, and find out vain, carnal, and fleſhly devices, and worldly ſtratagems to advance their own by-ends: others uſe their eſtates to feed and humour their luſts, to pamper their pride, voluptuouſneſs, or covetous humors: the reaſon of all this is, becauſe man being turned away from God, and fallen upon other objects, is not willing to be ruled by God: Had men been free to have lived like Children, and kept their own place, God would have taught them to have better improved his gift. By this therefore you may diſcover a natural man, he is like a young novice, that is broken away from Family Goverment, with his reins on his neck, and lives like one that hath none to rule him.
USE, 2. To admoniſh us that we beware of giving way to this inclination: Our nature is prone to it, and we have therefore reaſon to be the more watchful againſt it: and there are two things which if well weighed, will be helpful here:
1. That we cannot of our ſelves order any thing well, Jer. 10. 13. I know that the way of man is not in himſelf, it is not in man that walketh, to direct his ſteps. Man ever, when left to himſelf, proves himſelf but a fool; he is like a poor young Child, who, if he be not carefully watched by his vigilant Parents, will run himſelf into every miſchief that is before him.
2. That except God guide and rule us, we ſhall but provoke him, and, the more he lends us of his favours, the more exorbitances we ſhall run into, and thereby make our account the greater and more dreadful; let every one then receive this conviction, and be there upon awakened to go to God and ſubmit to him, entreating him to take us under his watch, care and rule; then only are we ſafe when he undertakes to manage us by his fatherly counſel.