Mercy Magnified, Sermon 3
SERMON III.
4. VVE are in the next place to conſider of the Fathers conceding act, or yeelding unto the unreaſonble demand of his Son; in theſe words, And he divided unto them his living. To argue from hence that there is a Portion due from God to any men, is a ſtraining the Parable beyond our Saviours meaning: This action of the Father is brought in here, only to expreſs and ſignifie to us, Gods bounty, that by comparing of it, we may thereby be better advantaged to diſcover the greatneſs of mans impiety, and withal to give us to ſee and conſider, how far the Providence of God can, without deſerving any juſt imputation, indulge wicked men, and forward them in their ſinful wayes. Hence,
DOCT. God ſometime grants wicked men large Portions of common favours, and leavs them to uſe them at their own pleaſure, without controle.
He gives them their Portion, and lets them go and do what they will with it: gratifies their ſinful deſires by giving them what they would have, and leaving them to take ſuch courſes in the improveing thereof, as their own curſed inclination leads them to. In the Explication of this truth, we may conſider. 1. The evidence that it is ſo. 2. Anſwer ſome doubts about it. 3. Give the reaſons of the Doctrine.
1. For the evidencing of the truth we may Conſider.
1. That all the affairs of the world are ordered & diſpoſed of by Divine Providence. Whatſoever any of the Children of men have or enjoy, it is of God. The univerſal extent of the Providence of God to all affairs, and things in the world, is a principle whereof there is no liberty for any man to make a queſtion, the denial whereof, even in the ſound judgment of Meer Ethnicks was branded with the deſerved note of Atheiſm: and the confirmation of this truth is fully eſtabliſted in Scripture, aſſigning to all Creatures an abſolute dependence upon the diſpoſal hereof: See Pſal. 145. 15, 16. The eyes all wait upon thee &c. and in many other places.
2. That in the courſe of this Providence many wicked men enjoy all favours in abundance. This is ſo notorious a truth, that the ſo frequent, and almoſt conſtant obſervation of it, hath ſometimes dazled the weak eyes of the People of God, and put them to a demurre in their thoughts. In Job's time it was not a thing ſo obſcure as his friends would have made of it; hence Job. in his own vindication amply deſcribes it, Job 21. begin. David or Aſaph, gives no leſs a pathetical deſcription of it, and his own imbecillity in thoſe offenſes which he had taken at the obſervation of it, Pſal. 73. begin, Jeremiah alſo ſeems to be in ſome ſuſpenſe about it, Chap. 12. 1. What power, honour, and and dominion had Nebuchadnezzer conferred upon him? What an oracle of Wit and Policy for his time was Achitophel? What eloquent curious language had Herod and Tertullus; yea, and we may ſtill obſerve men to be fulleſt fraught with theſe common favours, who neither glorifie God, nor have any deſire to glorifie him therewithal.
3. That theſe men are left of God to uſe theſe, or rather abuſe them, at their ſinful pleaſure, is evident in thoſe divers wayes wherein he ſo leaves them. For though it is true that God doth reſtrain wicked men unto ſuch limits as he ſees meet even ſuch as ſhall make all ſerviceable to his Glory at laſt, yet they are in very high meaſures given up by God; For,
1. That they do abuſe them is manifeſt, by the evil improvment which they make of them: Obſerve but what courſe men of greateſt advantages do uſually ſteer in this world; doth not all drive at the advancing of the intereſt of Satans Kingdom, and not of Chriſts? And how few great men improve their power for his Glory? the moſt do it for his diſhonour; hear the Apoſtle, 1 Cor. 1. 16. Not many wiſemen after the fleſh, not many mighty, &c. Theſe carnal things for the moſt part ſerve but to ſtrengthen the enmity of the heart againſt God; poor, weak, and baſe things are they which for the moſt part follow Chriſt:
2. Gods leaving them thus to do diſcovers it ſelf in three things.
1. His withholding his ſpirit, and not affording to them his renewing or aſſiſting Grace, without which no man can improve any thing to the Glory of God. When God doth not give a man an heart to be for him, he thereby leaves him to himſelf, and it is a Judgment; Moſes bewails it, Deut. 29. 4. The Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, &c. And there needs no more but this ſuſpenſion, the conſequent upon which is for men to go in the wayes of their own heart, and ſight of their eyes: When God intends that a People ſhall go in his wayes, he promiſeth them his Spirit, Ezek. 36. 27- I will put my ſpirit into you, and cauſe you to walk in my ſtatutes. The ſpirit of God is the inward guide of the Children of God, they that are deſerted by him, are conſequently given up to their own guidance.
2. His laying no outward check or reſtrain upon them to hinder them, or ſtop their courſe. When God would no longer leave Iſrael to himſelf, he hedgeth up his way with thornes, that he ſhall not find the way to come at his luſts and lovers, Hoſ. 2: 6, 7: But where he lets men have a large range, liberty and opportunity, when he afflicts them not, but they proſper and have all at will, and there is no outward controle, this is a leaving men: thus God did to Ephraim, Hoſ. 4. 7. Ephraim is joyned to Idols, let him alone:
3. His turning of theſe favours into ſnare and provocations of their luſts, to allure and draw them after them: There are many luſts in the heart of man and theſe outward mercies are ſutable matter for them to wor… upon: and when God lets it be ſo; yea, judicially orders it to be ſo; when he gives them their table to be a ſnare, their wealth a ſnare their health and ſtrength a ſnare, their wi… and knowledge a ſnare; when pride, prophaneneſs, and ſenſuality are promoved and nouriſhed by theſe things, then God gives men up to their own hearts luſt, and lets them walk on in their own wayes, Pſal. 81. 12. He puts their Portion into their own hand, and lets them go whither they will, and do what they pleaſe with it.
2. To anſwer ſome doubts which may here ariſe;
1. Whether this doth not caſt imputation upon Gods Holineſs, in giving men his favours, and leaving them to themſelves, when he knows they will both abuſe them, and diſhonour him by their ſo doing; whereas his Holineſs engageth him to ſeek his own Glory in all his works of Providence?
Anſ. That God will be no loſer of his Glory by any of his Creatures, in any of his works which he doth to or for them, is a truth not to be queſtioned; but the wayes in which he will be a ſaver, and no loſer, are to be commended to the management of his own infinite wiſdom, which doubtleſs will not fail in the execution, and though he may for a while ſeem to be on the loſing hand, whiles men are running on the ſcore with him, and meditating nothing of payment; yet if we can let God alone till his day and time of reckoning with men, he will then make it to appear that he will be glorified in all the Pharaoh's and wicked men of this world, whom he hath raiſed up, and ſuffered at preſent to abuſe his manifold mercies to their own ruine; and were it not that God knows how to get his penny worths out of them, he would never credit them ſo far as he doth: God will be glorified in Zidon, as well as in Zion.
2. But God ſeems by this to be an encourager of wickedneſs, and promoter of mans vile deſigns: Is not this to put a Sword in a madmans hand, that he may deſtroy himſelf therewithal? And if God hateth ſin, why would he thus give men advantage to ſin againſt him?
Anſ. The wisdom of God in ordering of althings according to his own counſels, is not for us mortals to call in queſtion: God hath other Attributes beſides his Juſtice to make known, and they are his bounty, patience, goodneſs, long ſufferance; and this he can do upon the veſſels of wrath, and thereby makes way for the glorious manifeſtation of his Juſtice upon them that are not led to repentance by it, but abuſe his goodneſs, Rom. 2. 4, 5. Neither doth God by this encourage ſin, ſince by his holy Law (which is man's rule, and a diſcovery of his righteous Judgment) he ſtrictly forbids, and ſeverely denounceth threatnings againſt all ſin: Neither is God's bounty the moral cauſe of promoting of ſin, but hath argument in it to prompt men to holineſs and obedience; but it is man's corrupt heart abuſing it to ſuch ends; whereas an holy heart is encouraged by all God's benefits to ſtudy his Glory and praiſe, Pſal. 116. 12. And yet God may righteouſly leave man to follow his own wicked heart, and ſo to misimprove all his beneficence to his own juſt condemnation; yea, he may raiſe up Pharaoh to that very end, Exod. 9. 16. But I come to the Reaſons of the Doctrine, which will ſerve further to clear the truth from imputation; and they are taken from the ends which God deſign in thus doing; which though they are at preſent ſecret in regard of the individual perſons who are thus left, till God of his Providence ſhall be pleaſed to make more full and clear diſcovery of them, yet in themſelves they are alwayes one of theſe two, for all Gods dealings with mankind do ultimately center in the one or the other viz. either.
1. That thus way may be made for the more illuſtrious manifeſtation of revenging Juſtice, in the deſtruction of ſinners: They are thus made veſſels of wrath fitted to deſtruction, Rom. 9. 22. Where much is given, there is much expected: The more that men have abuſed, the more wrath awaits them: Doubtleſs a man of great parts and underſtanding, hath more to account with God for than a fool, the rich and wealthy man, then the poor, a Magiſtrate, or a Miniſter, then a private Man: The more advantage Men have put into their hands to ſerve God withal, the more they have to anſwer for, you may ſee what endictments God draws up againſt Babylon, Iſa. 14. Tyrus, Ezek: 27. which had the advantage of other Nations, of worldly pomp and wiſdom: For ſuch God hath wonderful plagues: This patience, and goodneſs, as they are largely diſplayed before ſuch at the preſent, ſo they, by mens abuſing of them, open a way for the more notable executions of Juſtice.
2. That he may prepare a way to make his Grace notably appear to be Grace, the truth is, Gods wayes are very myſterious, and paſt mans finding out; and oftentimes, when we may have reaſon juſtly to fear, that ſuch a ſinner is mounted on Horſe-back, to run the ſwifter to his own utter ruine, yet even then God hath gracious deſigns in all this: God ſometimes allows a ſinner a long Tedder, and lets him run to the end of it, and then pulls him back: God ſuffers him to lay a ſcene for his own ruine, and then diſplayes his riches of his grace in ſaving him from it, when he hath uſed all poſſible means utterly to have undone himſelf: Manaſſeth in the old, and Paul in the New-Teſtament ſtand for eminent examples of this, and the latter of theſe ſpeaks thus of it, 1 Tim. 1. 13, 14. Who was before a blaſphemer. &c. But I obtained mercy, &c. and the grace of our Lord Jeſus was exceeding abundant, &c.
USE, 1. To teach us not too much to bleſs our ſelves in our enjoyment of outward favours. God's love is not from hence to be poſitively concluded: It is the wiſe mans obſervation, Eccl. 9. begin. No man knows love or hatred by all that is before him. And yet there is nothing more common than for men to be be proud and ſelf conceited in theſe things whereas they are indeed nothing elſe but ſome of the offals of God's favours, which he can ſpare to the ſwine of the world, and often throws out to them in a plentiful meaſure: Things common to the Elect and Reprobate are not juſt matter of boaſting; if you have all theſe bleſſings, and are wicked in the enjoyment of them, you are not happy but miſerable in that enjoyment.
USE, 2. It may alſo teach us not to grudge at, or envy wicked men, for their great parts, and large eſtates, or whatever other worldly bleſſings they enjoy in a more liberal meaſure than other men: and the more we ought to beware of this, inaſmuch as good men have ſometimes been prone to be envious at theſe things, Pſal. 73. begin. Yea, the Prophet had a mind to have impleaded God about it, Jer. 12. 1. If God leave them to themſelves they will but abuſe and fooliſhly ſquander them away, and then you know, the more Talents any have received, the more are to be reckoned for, and if he fared ſo ill that did but hide his one in a napkin, what account ſhall he be called to, that ſquanders many away upon his luſt, and diſhonours God with them? It would have been better for ſuch men if they had been the veryeſt fools, and the moſt obſcure perſons in the world: And as you have leſs of theſe things, ſo you have the leſs to reckon for; beſides, this will not hinder your happineſs in the end, but if you have the grace to be faithfull in a little, you ſhall ſurely enter into your Lords joy.
USE, 3. It may afford encouragement not to deſpare of unregenerate men, although they may at preſent be left to themſelves, and wickedly to abuſe all God's favours which they enjoy: God knows how to take them in their months: The poor Prodigal, left to himſelf, went far, but yet he returns at laſt, and is graciouſly welcomed by his Father: If men are bad at preſent, it doth not hence neceſſarily follow that they ſhall never be good: Hence be not put out of heart, do not think your prayers and tears are thrown away, which are laid out for their converſion; yea, but be the more earneſt, by how much you ſee that they may be more ſerviceable to the glory of God than many others; how much their rich parts, abilities, advantages would bring into the Treaſury of the Temple, if God ſhould be pleaſed to convert them.
USE, 4. It may counſel us all to beware how we deſire to be at our own will and diſpoſe; to be left to our ſelves, to have our own portion in our own hand: God may grant ſuch unreaſonable deſires, but if he do, we ſhall ſmart for it: Know therefore that every Child of Adam left to himſelf, will prove a Prodigal: If we are not willing to be under the direction of Gods Law, and conduct of his ſpirit, he may righteouſly leave us, and then we ſhall certainly do as this yonger Son did, which is the next thing we are to enquire into.
Verſ. 13. And not many dayes after, the yonger Son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far Country, and there waſted his ſubſtance with riotous living.
In which words is deſcribed to us the ſecond point of his folly, appearing in his improvident and waſtful miſſimprovment of his Portion; and this diſcovers it ſelf in two things. 1. His getting as far as he could, with his Portion, from his fathers care and inſpection. 2. His improvident and fooliſh expenſe of his Eſtate there, where he was out of ſight as he hoped.
1. We are to obſerve his getting as far away with his portion, as he could, from his father care and overſight, in which there are three things obſervable. 1. The haſt that he make expreſſed in theſe words, not many dayes after 2. that he takes all with him: He gathered a… together. 3. The place whither he carried it, into a farr Countrey. I begin with the firſt.
1. The haſt that he makes, as ſoon as he hath gotten his Portion, now he will be gone; he gets as much as he can out of his father, and when he can expect no more, now he leaves him, makes all ſpeed to be gone, not many dayes after.
DOCT. Natural men will ſerve God no longer than may anſwer their own carnall ends.
Religion is to an unregenerate man nothing but a pander to his luſts: As long as men hope they can get any thing to further their worldly intereſt, they can be (with Jehu) zealous for God: Jehu could deſtroy Ahab's wicked houſe, and plead preſcription from God for ſo doing, as though he was afraid to come a whit ſhort of the command and threatning: but now when he hath what he would, all the competitours for the Crown are by this means removed out of the way, now he grows cold in Religion at once, and Gods precepts neglected, a further reformation refuſed, Jeroboam's poli…ick ſin adhered to: and if we obſerve, we ſhall find that many there are who for by-ends make fair pretences, and are huge ſticklers for God and his wayes for a while, who, when once they have gotten ſome worldly advantage or advancements by it, of a ſudden they become other men.
Reaſ. Becauſe the moſt Religious natural men have choſen the ſervice of God, not as their end, but only as a medium to attain ſome other end by: Now a mean is uſeful but in order to the end for which it is uſed, but the end is good for it ſelf: Religion was appointed to be mans end, who was deſigned by the will of God, for his Glory: But carnal men have gotten ſome other end, which they think better than that which God hath appointed them, and finding (many times) that Religion is a needful ſtep thereunto, they uſe it as a man doth a Ladder to climb upon, but when they are gotten up it is now of no more ſervice to them, and now Religion is as eaſily thrown off again as ever it was taken up: It was an imputation which Satan would have caſt upon Job, but the event proved it evidently a ſlander, after he had been upon the greateſt tryal, that he did not ſerve God for nought but it will be found a truth concerning multitudes of our outſide Profeſſors: There were many of Chriſt's followed that were ſo for nothing but the loaves, Job 6. 26.
USE, 1. This may diſcover to us a Reaſon of the Apoſtaſie of many in theſe times a… places. It is not to be doubted, but that he… where Religion hath had the precedency, and men have been eſteemed of according to the Profeſſion which they have made, that ma… have taken it up clearly upon this account, viz. to get into credit, favour, priviledge, preferment, and hence no wonder, if either whe… men have been fruſtrated of what they expected, or have gotten as much as they can probabl… hope to get by it, it grows an out-dated and uſeleſs thing with them: This is an hour of tryal and he that can maintain his Profeſſion, whe… to all appearance of ſenſe, it is a loſing bargain gives us reaſon to hope that that man is buil… upon a more ſtable foundation.
USE, 2. It may put us upon it to take a ſtrickt account and tryal of our profeſſion, to ſee what foundation it is built upon: If it be Sandy, a ſhock of temptation will overthrown it: If it be for by and carnal ends, thoſe ends, either hopleſly diſappointed, or obtained as far as we can hope, will turn us off it: Such a Profeſſion is dead indeed, and moves only by external weights; and if they be either taken off, or run down to the ground, it will ceaſe. The Vitals of Religion conſiſt only in an heart throughly perſwaded of the glorious excellency of the wayes and fear of God, and this is that which will hold out to the end; whereas the other will laſt but till men have tryed to the outſide how much they can get to ſatisfie their luſts with, by profeſſing God and his Service, and when their expectations on that ſcore ceaſe, …t will not be many dayes ere we hear of them, that they have truſſed up all, and are gone: …ee then to the foundation upon which you are built, if ever you hope to ſtand.