Works Volume 4, Sermon 5
The V. SERMON.
GEN. 31. beginning of ver. 13.
I am the God of Bethel.
THE ſtory of God's appearing to Jacob at Luz, Gen. 28. is ſo known a paſſage, ſo remarkable even to children by that memorative topick, the Ladder and the Angels, that I ſhall not need aſſiſt your memories, but only tell you that that paſſage at large, that viſion and the conſequents of it, from the 12 ver. of the 28. to the end of the Chap. is the particular foundation of the words of this Text, and the riſe which I am obliged to take in the handling of them. That hard pillow which the benighted Jacob had choſen for himſelf in Luz, (and became ſo memorable to him by the viſion afforded him there) he anointed and chriſtned, as it were, named it anew, on that occaſion, into Bethel, the houſe or reſidence of God, conſecrated it into a Temple, ſolemnized that Conſecration, endow'd that Temple with a vow and reſolution of all the Minchahs and Nedabahs, acts of obedience and free-will-offerings, duty and piety imaginable; and the whole buſineſs was ſo pleaſurable and acceptable to God, God's appearing to him, and his returns to God, that in the words of my Text (twenty years after that paſſage) God puts him in mind of what there paſs'd and deſires to be no otherwiſe acknowledg'd by him than as he there appeared and revealed himſelf, I am the God of Bethel, &c.
For the clear underſtanding of which, it will be neceſſary to recollect the chief remarkable paſſages that are recorded in that ſtory, and ſeem to be principally refer'd to here; and then I ſhall be able to give you the ſurvey and the full dimenſions of Bethel, the adequate importance of this Text.
And the paſſages are more generally but three.
1. God's ſignal promiſes of mercy and bounty to Jacob, emblematically reſembled by the Ladder from Earth to Heaven, God ſtanding on the top of that, and the Angels buſie on their attendance, aſcending and deſcending on it; and then in plain words the embleme interpreted, the hieroglyphick explained, v. 13, 14, 15. I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Iſaac: the land whereon thou lieſt, to thee will I give it, &c. And thy ſeed ſhall be as the duſt of the earth, &c. And behold (there is the ſignal Promiſe I told you of, that belongs to every Pilgrim Patriarch, every toſs'd itinerant ſervant and favourite of Heaven, that carries the ſimplicity and piety of Jacob along with him, though he be for the preſent, in that other title of his, the poor Syrian ready to periſh) behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goeſt, and will bring thee again into this Land: for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have ſpoken to thee of.
The ſecond paſſage is, Jacob's conſecrating of this place of God's appearance, anointing the Pillar, and naming it Bethel, in the 18 and 19. verſes.
The third and laſt is, Jacob's vow unto God on condition of that his bleſſing him, ver. 20. And Jacob vowed a vow, ſaying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, ſo that I come to my Father's houſe in peace, then ſhall the Lord be my God, and this ſtone which I have ſet for a pillar ſhall be God's houſe, and of all that thou ſhalt give me, I will ſurely give the tenth unto thee.
Theſe are the three principal paſſages in that ſtory; and in relation to each of theſe, I am now obliged to handle the words, and conſequently to divide them, not into parts, but conſiderations, and ſo look on them as they ſtand.
Firſt, in relation to God's promiſe there made; and ſo firſt, God is the God of Bethel.
Secondly, in relation to this dreadful, this conſecrated Place, as Bethel ſignifies the reſidence, the houſe of God; and ſo ſecondly, God is the God of Bethel.
Thirdly, in relation to Jacob's vow there made; and ſo thirdly and eſpecially and moſt eminently God is the God of Bethel, as it follows in the verſe, I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointed'ſt a pillar, and vowed'ſt a vow unto me.
I begin firſt with the firſt of theſe, The relation of the words to God's appearing, and making promiſe to Jacob; ſo Ego Deus Bethelis, God is the God of Bethel.
And in that firſt view you will have tender of three ſeverals: I will give you them as they riſe.
1. That God takes a great deal of delight in making, and recounting of promiſes made to his Children: the free omnipotent Donour of all the treaſures of the world, is better pleaſed to behold himſelf our Debtor than our Prince, triumphs more in his punctual fidelity, than his ſuperabundant mercy towards us; he that loves us paſſionately, that once put himſelf into a dropping ſweat in a mere agony of love, pour'd out his heart blood in that paſſion, that delights to do us good, joying more in diſpenſing favours and obligations, than any man living in receiving them, doth yet more affectionately rejoyce and triumph in ſeeing himſelf engaged and obliged to us, in being faithful and juſt, (which relates to his performing his engagements, that which by promiſe he hath bound himſelf to do, and ſo becomes his righteouſneſs, and his payment of dues) then in the honour of being unlimitedly free to pour out acts of all mercy and unexpected bounty, matters of abſolute choice whether he will do them or no. In the very ſtory of which this Text is a part, God certainly might have inriched Jacob by what means he pleaſed, conducted him home to his Country upon that one ſcore of his free mercy, (as well as he may bring his choſen to Heaven merely by acts of free Grace) but you ſee, he chuſes to do it on that other ſtyle, as he is the God of Bethel, that ever ſince the mutual compact betwixt him and Jacob there, hath ſtood obliged to this poor Syrian, and muſt deny himſelf if he be not conſtant to Jacob. Thus Deut. 7.9. The Lord thy God he is God: and the only attribute that there he proclaims him in, is that of the faithful God; the faithful, and that further inſiſted on, which keepeth Covenant and Mercy; firſt Covenant, and then Mercy: and ſo Iſa. 49.7. Becauſe of the Lord that is faithful. And how many times is this ſtyle repeated in the New Teſtament, God is faithful, who will not ſuffer you to be tempted above what you are able; and, God is faithful, which will not forget your labour of love, &c. is as exact and punctual in performing Covenants, as ſtrictly accurate in fulfilling of bargains, as the moſt covetous griping Merchant on earth would require his Chapman to be? And the reaſon or deſign of this method of Heaven, the aim of this oeconomy, is preſently diſcernible alſo.
Firſt, to regulate and moderate the expectations and hopes of men, which are apt to be very ſanguine and very precipitous, hoping proportionably to God's power, i. e. infinitely, unlimitedly, whatſoever our carnal hearts can aſpire to, to have ſins pardon'd before they are mortified, to ſee God without any kind of purifying. Whereas this God of Bethel, that will be look'd upon only as ſuch, muſt be required to do no more than he hath promiſed to do; our hopes muſt be terminated in his revelations of his will, not whatever he may do by his infinite free Power, and Grace, but what he in wiſdom hath thought good to promiſe, as the Rector of the Univerſe, not as an abſolute irreſpective Donor; and that is ſo far from a confinement or reſtraint, that it is a mighty inhancement of the mercy. His promiſes being generally conditional promiſes, and ſo exacting all manner of ſincere honeſt endeavours towards cleanſing, reach out to us, together with the mercy offer'd, an ingagement of that purity and that ſanctity, which, if it may be wrought in our hearts, is far the greater bleſſing of the two, hath more of divine and heavenly treaſure in it, than the reſcuing out of a ſullen Laban's clutches: and ſo, as 'tis obſerved of Pomponius Atticus, that by lending to the poor, and requiring payment again of the loan at the day appointed, he did more good than if he had abſolutely and freely given, taught them Juſtice and induſtry, as well as reliev'd their wants, (and the two former the far richer Donatives;) ſo God by this courſe of promiſes, conditional promiſes, conditional liberality, gives us duty and piety alſo into the bargain, all manner of obligations to it; and ſo is a through Paraclet, an exhorter and comforter both, puts Jacob in mind of his vow'd neceſſary obedience, by the mention of the promiſes made in Bethel: and that is one prime aim of this method, of God's magnifying himſelf in this relation.
A ſecond (benefit at leaſt to us, and conſequently) aim in God there is, to teach us by this copy, diſcipline us by this example, that we take care to allow God our proportionable returns, to be as juſt with God, as punctually faithful in all our promiſes to him, as forward to put God in mind of what we have obliged our ſelves to perform to him, as he by proclaiming himſelf here the God of the Promiſes in Bethel, and in ſo many other places, the God of Abraham, i. e. that God that made ſo many promiſes to Abraham, (in which all the people of the world are concern'd) hath done unto us. This were an admirable leſſon from hence to be tranſcribed into our hearts, to have our frequent ſet (weekly or monthly) audits with God, to tell him freely how much we are in his debt: not only to recount thoſe deſperate arrears, the ſins committed for which we come now for pardon, but eſpecially the obligations enter'd, which we might ſet our ſelves bodily to perform, moſt freely and chearfully commemorating before him, not only the foreign & foreign, the Divine admonitions and holy laws, whiſper'd inarticulately in our hearts, which the heathen Porphyry tells of, the obligations that lie upon us as men and creatures, and muſt be diſcharg'd by us, if ever we aſpire to the dignity of Chriſtians or Saints, foreign, we muſt approve our ſelves Men firſt, and then Chriſtians, live a reaſonable, before we are ever capable of the Angelical life, (firſt, that which is natural, and after that which is ſpiritual;) but alſo the promiſes and engagements of an higher indenture, thoſe of the Chriſtian, either that one ſtanding obligation entred at the Font, which muſt be reſolv'd to have a cloſe influence upon every minute of the Age after, or moreover all the many penitential reſolutions, all the occaſional quarrels againſt ſin, the indignations and vow'd revenges on thoſe boutefeux that have ſo diſturb'd our peace with Heaven. Would we but ſpend our time in this recounting and diſcharging of promiſes and obligations, pay God his plain dues of obedience, that which we are moſt ſtrictly bound to by the law of Chriſt, and for which our hands are ſo many times producible againſt us, we ſhould not need much to take up our thoughts with the pride or confidence of our free-will oblations, the boaſts of our charities and alms toward Heaven: he that would but conſider that to be faithful (as in God toward men, ſo in man toward God) ſignifies not ſo much to believe the promiſes of others, as to perform our own, that the Faith by which the juſt do live, conſiſts in the paying of our vows to Chriſt, as well as depending on his blood or promiſe for Salvation, would endeavour to recover Chriſtianity and Faith to a better reputation in the world than now ordinarily ſeems to belong to it, would live more juſtly and more Chriſtianly than he doth. And let that ſerve for the firſt part of your proſpect, the firſt obſervable in the firſt view.
The ſecond thing from this Title of God's, as it refers to his promiſes of mercy to Jacob, made in Bethel, and repeated now at his departure from Laban, is this, That God would have us conſider the bleſſings we enjoy, and obſerve particularly how and whence they deſcend to us. This is the direct end of this viſion to Jacob, ver. 11, 12. Lift up now thy eyes, and ſee, All the rams, &c. The thriving of that ſtratagem of Jacob's, the invention of the peeled rods, whereby he was grown ſo rich, Chap. 30. in deſpite of Laban's malice, God will have ponderingly conſidered, and imputed as an act of his ſpecial interpoſition or providence, partly in juſtice, that the covetous Laban ſhould not too much oppreſs him, [I have ſeen all that Laban doth unto thee] partly to make good his promiſe at Bethel, made then, and now moſt particularly perform'd, I am the God of Bethel. And, believe it there is not a duty more neceſſary, and yet more negligently perform'd, more fruitful, and nutritive of piety, and yet more wretchleſly deſpiſed and intermitted, than this; this of obſerving this Ladder from Heaven to earth, of beholding all the good things that we lawfully enjoy, deſcending in an Angel's hand, and that fill'd (as the pitcher out of the well, or as Aaron's Son's hands from his Father at the entering on the high Prieſt's office) from the hand of God ſtanding on the top of the Ladder. He that would thus critically examine his eſtate upon interrogatories, put every part of it upon the rack and torture, to confeſs without any diſguiſe from whence it came, whether down the ladder from Heaven, or up out of the deep, (for there, it ſeems by the Poets, Plutus or Riches hath a reſidence alſo) by what means it was convey'd, by whoſe directions it travell'd into that coaſt, and what the end of its coming is, and ſo learn the genealogy, as it were, of all his wealth, would certainly acknowledge that he were fall'n upon a moſt profitable enquiry. For beſide that he would find out all the ill-gotten treaſure, (that Gold of Tholouſe, that is ſo ſure to help melt all the reſt, that which is gotten by ſacriledge, by oppreſſion, by extortion, and ſo take timely advice to purge his lawful inheritance from ſuch noiſome, unwholſome acquiſitions, and thrive the better for ever after the taking ſo neceſſary a purgation) he will, I ſay, over and above, ſee the original of all his wealth, all that is worthy to be called ſuch, either immediately or mediately from God: immediately, without any cooperation of ours, as that which is left us by inheritance from honeſt Parents, (our fortunes and our Chriſtianity together;) mediately, as that which our lawful labour, our planting and watering, hath brought down upon us, wholly from God's foreign or foreign, his proſpering or giving of increaſe. And when we have once thus diſcern'd the peculiarity of our tenure, only that of allodium, not from any, foreign, but from God, (as the Lawyers have derived that word) all that we have held in capite from Heaven; As this will be the ſweetning of our wealth to us, give it a flavor or an high taſt, whenſoever we feed on it, more joy in one well-gotten morſel (the feſtival of a good Conſcience) than all the foreign or foreign, the portions fetcht from the bloudy polluted Heathen idol-Altars ever would afford us; ſo will it inflame our Souls toward ſo Royal a benefactor, teach us Piety from our fields and coffers, (as even Ariſtotle can talk of his foreign, that rich men will love God, if for nothing elſe, yet becauſe he hath done them good turns; and Hippocrates, that though the poor did generally murmure and complain, yet the wealthy would be offering ſacrifice) yea and inſpire our whole lives with an active vital gratitude, by the uſe of this wealth to demonſtrate and acknowledge whence we have received it, by refunding and imploying it not on our own wayes, our own humours, our own vanities, but as that which God hath convey'd into our hands as into an Eccleſiaſtick treaſury or Corban, a ſtore-houſe of God's, whence all his poor family is to be victual'd; that which God pours out of Heaven into our hands, being as particularly markt out for charitable, pious, i. e. heavenly uſes, as that which by the bounty of men is intruſted to us particularly for thoſe ends, and every rich man as directly and properly a Steward of God's, to feed his houſhold when they want it, and as ſtrictly reſponſible for this Stewardſhip, as ever the foreign & foreign were, the auxiliary Governments, the Deacons in the ancient Church, ordain'd by the Apoſtles for that charitable Miniſtery. You remember the foreign, the poor man's tithing among the Jews every third year, and till that was paid in Deut. 26.12. and given to the Levite, the ſtranger, the fatherleſs, and the widow, that they may …at within thy gates and be filled, their eſtates are to be counted profane and unhallowed, no looking for a bleſſing from God's holy habitation verſe 15. He that ſacrifices all to his own deſires, be they in the eye of the world never ſo blameleſs and juſtifiable, to his own belly, his own back, nay his own bowels, (as his own good nature and not Chriſtian charity ſuggeſts to him) he that hath not a month Abib, a green ſtalk, a firſt-fruits for Heaven, an effuſion of bounty, to conſecrate and bleſs all that is kept for his own neceſſities, is either very unkind or very imprudent; either ſees not from whence he hath receiv'd, and that is Atheiſtical ſtupidity; or elſe never thinks of ſecuring his tenure by the payment of his homage, of making ſo much as acknowledgment to this God, whoſe providence hath ſo wholly enrich'd him, the God of this Bethel in the Text, and that is the unthriftieſt piece of ingratitude, the wildeſt and moſt irrational ill-husbandry in the world.
The third and laſt obſervable in the firſt view, in order to the promiſes of Bethel, is this, that our prayers and humble dependence on God, is the means required to actuate God's promiſes, to bring down his bleſſings upon us. In Bethel there were aſcending Angels, parallel to which muſt be thoſe two Ambaſſadours or Nuncio's (i. e. Angels) of every honeſt Chriſtian heart, before any meſſages from God, any deſcending Angels are to be expected thence; and as it was then typified there, ſo God ever loves and appoints to have it ſtill, I am the God of Bethel: and therefore whatever we want of either outward or inward accompliſhments, ſecular or ſpiritual good ſucceſſes, proſperities of Kingdoms or of Souls, would we but look critically into our ſelves, we ſhould go near to find imputable to the want in us of one or both theſe aſcending Angels; either that the things we would have, we dare not juſtifie the asking or expecting them from God, becauſe they are ſuch only as we deſire to ſpend on our luſts, and then we have not, becauſe we ask amiſs; or elſe we are ſo over-haſty in purſuit of them, that we utterly forget the dependance and waiting upon God, the [Stand ſtill and ſee the ſalvation of the Lord.] If he be not ready with his Auxiliaries on our firſt call, deliverance ſhall come in ſome other way; the Witch muſt prevent and ſupply the Samuel's place, the firſt creature that will look a little kindly upon us, ſhall get away all the applications from Heaven, (as in ſome Countries, whatſoever they chanced to ſee firſt every morning, they ſolemnly worſhipp'd all the day after;) the moſt aiery appearances of relief from the improbableſt Coaſt, ſhall be able to attract our hopes and truſts, and unbottom us utterly from God, as Socrates is brought in by the Comedian with his [foreign,] a making his addreſſes to the air or clouds, when he had turn'd out all other worſhips out of his heart. The thing that makes a worldling ſuch a piteous creature, ſuch a Meteor in Chriſt's, ſuch an unſtable wave of the Sea in St. James's ſtyle, toſs'd perpetually betwixt ebbs and floats of hopes, (even without the aſſociation of any wind to drive him) while the only poor, patient, waiting Chriſtian, that hath ſent out his good genius on his meſſage up the Ladder, and waits contentedly and calmly for his return again, is the only fix'd Star in this lower Firmament, his feet ſtand faſt, be the pavement never ſo ſlippery, he believeth in the Lord. That Orpheus that in his life-time had made his applications to as many gods as there be days in the year, (and thence perhaps it was that Mexico had ſo many Temples) grew wiſer by more obſervation, and left in his Will foreign, that there was but one. 'Twere well if we might do ſo too, profit by his experience, deveſt our ſelves of all our aiery poetick dependances betimes, and roll our ſelves wholly upon God; 'twere the only probable thriving policy in the world.
I have detained you too long in the firſt Iſle of this Bethel, that which gives you a view of God's promiſes there made: I haſten to the ſecond, the atrium interius, to conſider God in relation to this dreadful, this conſecrated place, as Bethel literally ſignifies Beth El, the Houſe, the Temple of God; and ſo God hath a peculiarity of reſpect to that, I am the God of Bethel, in the ſecond ſenſe, i. e. the God of God's houſe.
And here were a copious Theme indeed, ſhould we take a view of the material Bethel, and in it obſerve,
1. The voluntary inſtitution and dedication of Temples, even before the Law was given to the Jews, (as after it the foreign or Feaſt of dedication, being of a mere humane original, inſtituted (as the Feaſt of Purim, and the Faſt of the fifth and ſeventh month in Zachary) by the Jews themſelves, 1 Mac. 4. and not by God's immediate appointment, was yet celebrated, and conſequently approved by Chriſt in the 10. of John;) and after the Jewiſh Law was laid aſleep, yet the building and ſetting apart of Synagogues, and Oratories, and Upper-rooms; and ſince Baſilicae and foreign, (the parallels of the Bethel here) the Palaces of the great King and Lord, appropriate to his publick worſhip, whenever Perſecution did not drive it thence.
2. The vow'd dedication and paiment of Tithes toward the endowing of Bethel, before there was any ſuch thing as Judaiſm in the world, which therefore 'twere ſtrange that God's ſubſequent command to the Jews his own people, ſhould make unlawful to a Chriſtian, which otherwiſe, had he not commanded it, muſt have been as commendable now, as it was in Jacob.
Theſe, I ſay, with divers others, are the ſo many Branches of this ſecond Conſideration of theſe words, of the relation of God to Bethel: But I have not that unkindneſs to my Auditory as to purſue them with ſuch a ſhole of unſeaſonable ſubjects.
There is another Bethel, the fleſh of man, wherein God himſelf was pleaſed to inhabit, foreign, ſaith St. John, to pitch his Tent or Tabernacle there, to conſecrate it into a very Temple; our bodies are the Temples of that holy Ghoſt, by which Chriſt was ſo long ago conceived among us: and thence it is that his eyes and his heart are ſet ſo particularly upon this fleſh of ours, to cleanſe, and to drain, and to ſpiritualize it, to expoſtulate with us whenever we put it to any common profane uſes, as if we violated and raviſhed Chriſt himſelf, and forcibly joyned him to an Harlot, and at laſt (if it prove capable of ſuch dignity) to array it in all holineſs and glory, to cloath it upon with beauty and with bliſs immortal: And ſo God is the God of this Bethel alſo.
Beſide this, there is yet one more inviſible Houſe of God wherein he delights to be inthron'd, and, by God's own confeſſion, Iſa. 66. more than either in the Temple of his own building, or the Heaven of his own exalting, even the poor contemptible [this man] for whom no body elſe hath any kind looks; He that is poor, and of a contrite ſpirit, and that trembleth at his word: this is that lovely dreſs that is ſo raviſhing in God's eyes, that ſets out every Cottage into a Temple, the pooreſt Peaſant into the conſecrated delight of Chriſt, the moſt abject ſtones in Luz (once anointed with this grace) into an awful royal Bethel, the ornament of a meek and quiet ſpirit, which is in the ſight of God of great price, foreign. God is content to be at a great deal of charge in the purchaſe of it, to pardon the abſence of a great many other excellencies, which may poſſibly exalt us above meaſure, ſo he may acquire but this one deſired, beloved meekneſs inſtead of all. Let us but poſſeſs our ſelves of this one Jewel, the [meek] in oppoſition to the proud, the [quiet] in oppoſition to the tragical or turbulent, murmuring, impatient, Atheiſtical ſpirit, and the God of Bethel hath a peculiar propriety to us: he that owns and defends his Temples, that is the refuge of the very Sanctuary it ſelf, and never, but for the pride and inſolencies and provocations of his Church, ſuffers the Philiſtins to ſeiſe on the Ark of his glory, will be a refuge and ſanctuary to us; the Angels at Bethel ſhall become thy guardians, the Cherubim-wings thy over-ſhadowing, until this tempeſt, this tyranny be over-paſt.
I have done with the ſecond view alſo, as the Bethel here, is the dreadful Houſe of God; though it be not the dread of it that hath made our ſtay ſo ſhort there, but only my deſire to haſten to my laſt, as my principally-deſign'd particular, as Bethel refers to Jacob's vow there made, as it follows in the verſe, Where thou vowedſt a vow unto me; and God hath a moſt particular reſpect and relation to ſuch vows, and ſo in the chief, though laſt, place, Ego Deus Bethelis, I am the God of Bethel.
A Vow is a holy Reſolution, and ſomewhat more: The matter of both is the ſame, a piece of holy valour or courage, entring under God's colours into a conſtant defiance of all the temptations and affrightments, invitations and terrours in nature: only the bare Reſolution hath not the formality of a Vow in it, is not made ſo immediately and directly to God, with ſuch a particular invocation of him as is required to the formality of a Vow. Yet will not this difference be ſo great, but that in all reaſon the good Reſolution ought to be allow'd its title of pretenſion to God's owning, (as he is the God of Bethel) as well as the Vow, i. e. the material as well as the formal Vow; God is a God of all ſuch of either kind. I ſhall conſider them undiſtinctly: Whether Reſolutions or Vows, they are of two ſorts; either the general neceſſary vow or reſolution, that God ſhall be our God, as in the 21. verſe of that 28. chapter, And Jacob vowed a vow, ſaying, If God will be with me, &c. then ſhall the Lord be my God; a vow'd reſolution of univerſal obedience unto God: or whether the matter of it be particularly qualifi'd and reſtrained to free-will-offerings, things that he was not otherwiſe bound abſolutely to have done, but yet were very fit matter of reſolution and vow, eſpecially in ſuch caſe as this, If God will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, ſo that I come again to my father's houſe in peace; then this Stone ſhall be God's Houſe, and of all that thou ſhalt give me I will ſurely give a tenth to thee; a free-will-liberality this, the buſineſs of this Vow.
We ſhall look upon theſe two ſeparately; and, firſt, on the former kind of them, and ſhew you how God is the God of ſuch, the near reſpect and cloſe relation he beareth to them, and that moſt eminently expreſt in three particulars. 1. In approving and applauding the making of them. 2. In proſpering them when they are made. 3. In looking after them as his own property and goods, moſt ſeverely requiring the payment, the performance of them.
For the firſt ſort then, the general neceſſary reſolution or vow that God ſhall be our God, the ſolemn ceremonious entring our ſelves into his family, the giving up our ears to this new Maſter to be open'd, in the Pſalmiſt's, bored, in Moſes phraſe, to part from the benefit of all Sabbatical years or Jubilees, to diſclaim all deſire of manumiſſion, and to become his vow'd ſervants for ever; this is that great duty of Repentance, or Converſion, or New-birth, that is the ſum of all Chriſtianity, that ſpiritual Proſelytiſm, to which the Jew was wont to be waſh'd, as the Chriſtian is baptized, and both to take upon them new names, new kindreds and relations, as if they had entred into the mother's womb again, and come out in new Families, new Countries, born neither of blood, nor of the will of the fleſh, nor of the will of man, i. e. none of the principles of this world, foreign, the natural, the carnal, nay, nor the moral virtuous philoſophical elements, but of God, of a ſupernatural, heavenly origination.
In a word, the cordial renouncing of all the impure, ſcandalous doubtful ways that either our ſelves or any of the vicious company about us (the Lacedemonian ſervants that God hath permitted to be drunk and beſtial before us, to practiſe all villanies in our preſence, that we might deteſt and abominate them the more) have at any time formerly been guilty of: ſuch was Job's covenant with the eye, that that ſhould not run its riotous courſes over the beauties or wealth of others; ſuch the covenant with the tongue, to break it off its cuſtomary oaths and looſe language.
It were infinite to number up the ſeveral branches of theſe ſo neceſſary reſolutions: That this God of Bethel is the God of ſuch, is the thing that we are obliged to demonſtrate. And 1. in reſpect of God's approbation of ſuch reſolutions as theſe. There is no ſuch ſnare or artifice of taking and obliging God to us, as our dedicating and conſecrating our ſelves to God. If Solomon conſecrate a Temple to God, God binds himſelf to be preſent there, to hear and hearken, and anſwer what prayers or ſupplications ſoever any ſinner ſhall make toward that Temple. And ſure the ſame privilege belongs to the animate as well as dead Temple, to the Temple of fleſh as well as of ſtone, to the anointed Pillar at Luz, when that turns Bethel, I mean, to the ſtony heart of man, when by the unction of the Spirit that is mollifi'd and fitted and ſquared, vow'd and conſecrated into an habitation for God, when out of theſe ſtones, a child of Abraham, the faithful reſolv'd new creature, is raiſed up. No ſuch good news to Heaven as this; not only approbation, but joy in heaven over one ſuch convert Prodigal: the muſick that Pythagoras talks of in the Orbs, was that of the Minſtrels which our Saviour mentions at the return of that Prodigal, to ſolemnize the Euge's, the paſſionate welcomes of Heaven pour'd out on Penitents.
And if you pleaſe, I can do more than the Pythagorean would pretend to, make you auditors of one of thoſe Aires. No ſooner doth the poor penitent Votary begin to God in the Pſalmiſt's Note, [Then ſaid I, Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God,] (and let me tell you, could you hear thoſe words in the language that David ſang them, there were without a Figure, Rhythm and Harmony, Numbers and Muſick in them) but you may preſently hear God himſelf anſwering in the foreign or counter-part, echoing back a Venite, one in Iſa. 55.1. Ho every one that thirſteth, come, &c. another in the Goſpel, Chriſt taking up his part in the Conſort, Come unto me all ye, &c. yea, and to make up the Anthem complete, the Third Perſon comes in alſo, Revel. 1.17. The Spirit ſaith, Come; and after that, all the inferiour Orbs are call'd in to bear their part in the Chorus, The Bride ſaith, Come: and let him that heareth ſay, Come, and let him that is a-thirſt, Come: and Quicunque vult is the Title of the Hymn that they all joyn in, Whoſoever will thus come, (let him be ſure of the hoſpitable reception) Let him take the water of life freely. One ſignal evidence we have of God's ſpecial approbation of ſuch Vows, in Abraham's circumciſing himſelf and poſterity: that, you know, was the ſolemnity of his coming to God, the ceremony of his Proſelytiſm, the Sacrament and Seal of his reſolute vow'd obedience unto God, of his renouncing that foreign, thoſe abominable Gentile impurities, the foreign, the unnatural excreſcencies of luſt, which the reſt of his idolatrous Countrey-men had long been guilty of, and which brought that fire and brimſtone from heaven before his eyes upon ſome of them. Abraham it ſeems reſolv'd and vow'd againſt thoſe heathen abominations, covenanted with God a life of Purity, and to that end a going out of that polluted Country; then ſeal'd this Covenant to God, (as the cuſtom of the Eaſtern Nations was in leagues and bargains) ſeal'd it with blood: and ſee what an obligation this proves to God, not only to call him and account him a friend of God, to ſtyle himſelf by him, as he doth here by Bethel, I am the God of Abraham, through the whole Book of God; but the obligation goes higher upon God, it prevails ſo far that he comes down himſelf, and aſſumes fleſh on purpoſe to ſeal back the counterpart of that indenture to Abraham in blood alſo, and in that, that he is his ſhield, and an exceeding great reward to all that ſhall but reſemble him to the end of the world, in that faithful coming, that vow'd reſolution of obedience to his commands. The ſhort of it is, theſe reſolutions and vows, if they be ſincere, not the light tranſient gleam, the ſighs only that we are ſo ill, or wiſhes that we were better, but the volunt as firma & rata, the ratified, radicated, firm purpoſe of new life, even before it grow to that perfection as to bring forth the foreign, the worthy, meet, proportionable fruits of ſuch change, are inſtantly accepted and rewarded by God, with pardon of ſin and juſtification: and ſo God is the God of Bethel, hath a particular reſpect to theſe vows and reſolutions at the very making of them; and that was the firſt thing.
And ſo again, ſecondly, for the proſpering them when they are made. He that gives himſelf up to God, becomes by that act his Pupil, his Client, part of his charge and Family, an Orphan laid at his gates, that he is bound to provide for, engaged by that application (if once accepted) to be his Patron-guardian; as among the Romans, he that anſwers to the foreign, to the Clients calling him Father, is ſuppoſed to adopt, undertakes the protection of the Haeredipeta, obliges himſelf to the office and real duty of a Father. And I remember the ſtory of the Campanians, that could not get any aid from the Romans againſt a puiſſant enemy; they ſolemnly came and deliver'd themſelves up into the Romans hands by way of ſurrender, that by that policy they might oblige the Romans to defend them, and eſpouſe their cauſe, with a ſi noſtra tueri non vultis, at veſtra defendetis, if you will not lend us your help, preſerve our region, yet now we are your own, you are obliged to do it, quicquid paſſuri ſumus, dedititii veſtri patientur, whatſoever from henceforth we ſuffer, it will be ſuffer'd by your Clients and Subjects: and ſo certainly the reſigning our ſelves up into God's hands, the penitent ſober reſolution of [The Lord ſhall be my Lord,] giving our ſelves up not as Confederates, but Subjects, to be ruled as well as to be aided by him, no ſuch way in the world as that, to engage God's protecting and proſpering hand, to extort his care and watchfulneſs over us. He that comes out but reſolutely into the field to fight God's battels againſt the common Enemy, God and the Angels of Heaven are ready to furniſh and fortifie that man. Reſolution it ſelf, courage but upon its own ſcore, is able to break through moſt difficulties, and the want of that, is the betraying of moſt Souls that come into Satan's power: But then over and above, the proſpering influence of Heaven that is ſtill ready to aſſiſt ſuch Champions, the foreign, which the LXXII. puts in into the laſt verſe of the 17. of Exod. the ſecret inviſible hand, by which God will aſſiſt the cordial Joſhua, and have war againſt Amalek for ever, fight with him, as long as Joſhua fights, the co-operation of the ſpirit of God with all that ſet reſolutely about ſuch enterpriſes of valour, his foreign to our foreign, this is a ſure fountain of relief and aſſiſtance to ſuch reſolutions. Do but try God and your own Souls in this particular, for the vanquiſhing of any ſin that your nature and temper is moſt inclin'd to. Take but the method of this Text; Come into God's preſence, reſolve ſadly and adviſedly in that Bethel, never to yield to that ſin again; reſolve not only on the end, but the means alſo that are proper to lead thither; foreſee and vow the ſame reſiſtance to the pleaſant bait, that to the barbed hook under it, to the fair temptation, that to the horrid ſin it ſelf: and then thoſe weapons that may be uſeful for the reſiſtance, the faſting and the watching (that are proper to the exorciſing that kind of devil) be ſure to carry out into the field with thee; and in every motion of the battel let the Moſes as well as the Joſhuah's hands be held up, the ſword of the Lord with that of Gideon, implore and importune that help of God's which hath given thee to will, to reſolve, that he will continue his interpoſition, and give thee to do alſo, that having begun the good work in thee, he will not loſe the pledge, but go on alſo to perfect it: And whenever thou art next tempted to that ſin, recal and remember this reſolution of thine, bid that very remembrance of thine ſtand by on thy guard, and, if you pleaſe, by that token that this day I adviſed you to do ſo; and withal conſider the temptation, that it is an expreſs come juſt from Satan, that ſworn enemy of Souls, againſt which in God's preſence the firſt time thou ever cam'ſt into the Church, thou didſt thus vow and profeſs open defiance and hoſtility, that this diſguiſed Fiend ſhakes a chain in Hell, be his addreſs to thee never ſo formal, and is now come on purpoſe to ſupplant or ſurpriſe thy conſtancy, to ſee whether thou conſidereſt thy reputation with God or no, whether thou makeſt ſcruple of breaking vows and reſolutions: and then, in ſtead of treating with that ſin, cry out to God to defend thee againſt it, either to give ſtrength, or remove the temptation; and deal honeſtly and ſincerely with thine own Soul, betray not thoſe helps that God thus gives thee in this exigence: and then come and tell me how it hath prov'd with thee. In the mean time, till thou haſt made this experiment, be not too querulous of thine own weakneſs or the irreſiſtableneſs of ſin. Believe it, a few ſuch ſober trials and practiſings upon anger, luſt, and the like, and the benefit that would infallibly redound from thence, might bring the ancient Church-order of Epiſcopal Confirmation into faſhion and credit again; which had it but its due ingredients and advantages reſtored to it, (every ſingle Chriſtian, come to years of knowledge and temptations, in the preſence of God and Angels and fellow-Chriſtians repeating that Vow in his own name which was made by his Proxies at the Font, and the bleſſings of Heaven powerfully called down by thoſe who have a title to the promiſe of being thus heard) as it would by the way fully ſatisfie all the pretenſions and arguments of the Anabaptiſt, ſo would it alſo be a more probable effectual reſtraint for ſin, than thoſe which have ſo ſolemnly decried, or but formally practiſed, that inſtitution, have taken care to afford us in its ſtead.
But then, 3. God is a God of reſolutions, to exact performance of them. The paultring trifler in this kind hath all the vengeance of the God of Bethel belonging to him, all that pertains to the ſacrilegious profaner of that Temple which himſelf had conſecrated, the cenſure and reward not only of the impious, but the fools; Eccleſ. 5.3. When thou voweſt a vow, defer not to pay; God hath no pleaſure in fools: and Prov. 20.25. It is a ſnare to a man to devour that which is holy, to profane that heart which is once conſecrated to God, and after vows to make enquiry. To doubt of the performing, faulter in the execution of what is thus ſolemnly reſolv'd in God's ſervice, is the fetching the ſacrifice from the Altar, and is ſure to bring the coal of fire along with it, the perfecteſt treachery to a Soul that any ſacrilegious enterpriſe can deſign it. And yet God knows how many ſuch fools there be in the world, that ſolemnly reſolve themſelves to his ſervice, come to the Font to make, to the Table of the Lord to repeat theſe Vows, and all their lives after do but buſie themſelves to wipe off the water of one, vomit up, diſgorge the other; bequeath themſelves to Heaven in the preſence of Angels, and then repent of the fact, and labour all their lives long to retrive and recover themſelves back again: and the Apoſtle hath given thoſe men their doom, It had been ſure better for them not to have known the way of righteouſneſs, never to have raiſed an expectation in Heaven that they meant any kindneſs to it, than thus to cheapen it, and not come to the price of a little perſeverance and conſtancy to go through the purchace. Had they never undertaken God's buſineſs, never put in for the title of Friends and Votaries, with a Lord, I will follow thee whitherſoever thou goeſt, they had not been perjur'd, though they had been profane: but now the affront is ſuperadded to the crime, the contumely to the impiety, and all the ſpiritual deſertion, with-holding, and with-drawing of grace, and conſequently the foreign, the impoſſibility for ſuch to renew or recover themſelves, without ſome prodigy of new bounty from Heaven, (which provokers have little grounds to expect) is directly become their portion.
I have dwelt too long on the Portal to Bethel, the general neceſſary Reſolutions or Vows that are precurſory to thoſe other particularly qualified; I muſt in the laſt place be ſo juſt to the Text and Auditory, as to reſerve a few minutes for thoſe Vows of building and endowing a Houſe for God, which was but a free-will-offering in Jacob, deſign'd by him as a return of acknowledgment for God's care over him, if he ſhall bring him again to his father's houſe in peace: and ſo God hath a peculiar reſpect to ſuch Vows beyond all others, and in that relation, in the laſt place, Ego Deus Bethelis, I am the God of Bethel.
He that hath a long and a doubtful journey before him, a voyage of uncertainty and danger, and conſiders how little he hath of his own to contribute towards his convoy, how nothing but the benign gale from Heaven to waft him ſafely thither, (and ſuch certainly is the condition of ſome of us here at this time) may well be allowed to call in and conſult at Bethel, take directions from old Jacob here, how to ſet out and begin his journey; and that is with vowing a Vow unto the Lord. This, I confeſs, was the main of my errand, which hath been thus prepared for and prefac'd unto you all this while: and there is not a more prudent at once and Chriſtian courſe, that hath more of piety and ſtratagem in it, not a more agreeable, ſeaſonable, proper uſe of the preſent diſtreſs, and an engagement on God to deliver us out of it, than thus to take our ſelves now in the pliable ſeaſon, and indent ſome acts of voluntary piety with Heaven, moſt certainly and ſolemnly to be paid him hereafter, whenever God ſhall ſo be with us as to return us home in peace, to reſtore us thoſe halcyon days after which we are all ſo impatiently gaſping. I ſay not with Jacob literally to build Houſes for God, material Bethels; (to deſign ſuch ſtately Structures in an Age of deſtroying, were but a Romance-project for any of us; nay, bleſſed be God, we need not a Solomon to erect, or Zorobabel to reſtore; a Prop to preſerve from falling will yet ſerve the turn:) but from this bleſſed Copy every emulous, though weak, hand to tranſcribe ſomewhat at the diſtance and in proportion to ſtrength: One to undertake the building one room of ſuch an houſe, a private foreign or oratory for God; I mean, to vow unto God the ſo many daily cloſe retirements, by confeſſion of ſins and deliverances, to acknowledge in proſtration of Soul (if not of body alſo, to bear it company) the provocations that have whet God's glittering ſword againſt us, (every man the plague of his own heart, the foreign, in the ſtyle of the ancient Liturgies, my fault, my exceeding great fault) and the fatherly goodneſs that ſhall have ſheath'd it again; and never to give over thoſe conſtant returns of devotion (with Daniel, three? nay,) with David, ſeven times a day, to keep ſome poor kind of proportion with ſuch a deliverance: Another, to vow the building a Porch of ſuch an houſe, when God ſhall furniſh him with materials, where the poor may have but a dining place ſometimes; I mean, not the looſe formal ſcattering of the crums of the table among them, but ſequeſtring a ſet, and that a liberal, part of all the revenue that God ſhall ever beſtow, or now reſcue out of the devourer's hand, and provide or preſerve for us, that God in his poor members may have a firſt-fruits, a twentieth, a tenth, a fifth of all; every man out of the good treaſure of his heart, not in obedience to any preſcript quotum, (I ſhall be ſorry to wrong any man ſo much, as ſo to change it from being his perfect free-will-offering) but as out of a heart attracted by Heaven, a liberal, chearful, heaven-like effuſion; the conſtancy and equability of which, yea, and the performing it upon vow or promiſe; will yet be no blemiſh to it, or make it leſs like that of Heaven, of Divinity it ſelf. But among all the Epitome's of this Bethel, the domicilia, little (tents rather than) houſes of God, which we are thus to conſecrate and vow unto him, here was one at Bethel that would never be wanting, never left out in our thriving'ſt ſparing'ſt vows, I mean that pure cryſtal breaſt of Jacob's that God ſo delighted to dwell in, (as he was by the Poet ſuppoſed to do in poor Pyramus's cottage) that plain, honeſt, well-natur'd, undiſguiſed heart both toward men and God, emblematically expreſs'd by thoſe ſmooth hands of Jacob, the fair open Campania of even, clear, unintricated deſigns, far from the Groves and Maeanders, the dark depths, the intrigues, the dexterities and ſubtilties and falſeneſſes of the Merchant-worldling. Might but this Judgment that hath prey'd and gnaw'd ſo long upon the bowels of the Kingdom, but pare the heart of the Engliſhman into ſuch a plain equable figure, leave never an angle or involution in it, make us but thoſe direct-dealing honeſt fools that we are reproach'd to be, (but God knows are not guilty of that gracious Jacob-like quality;) might it but have that benign influence upon us here preſent; might it return us home with this one vow in every of our mouths and hearts, to be for the reſt of our lives the Engliſh Nathanaels, the true Iſraelites, in whom there is no guile; might but this laſt minute of my hour make this one impreſſion, I ſhall not hope on a rude multitude, but I ſay on my preſent Auditory, to be content to live and die with down-right honeſt Jacob, thrive or periſh on clear direct Iſraelitiſh principles, (which will, I doubt not, one day have the turn of thriving in this world, when every thing elſe hath the reproach of imprudent and improſperous, as well as unchriſtian, the Dove advanced, when the Serpent is a licking the duſt) and with Druſus in Paterculus, in ſtead of the Artificer that would provide for the deep privacy, (that ſaevi animi indicium in the Orator) ſend for him that could deſign the diaphanous houſe, wherein there might be all evidence, every man thought fit to behold that, without an optick or perſpective, which will, never be diſguiſed or concealed from the eye of Heaven; might we by the help of a faſt Vow now ſtricken, and, with the bleſſing of God, practiſed every hour of our lives after, come home to our Father's houſe, old honeſt Jacob's plain Tent, with peace and ſimplicity, cleanneſs, uncompoundedneſs of ſpirit, (a quality that would be able to commend and improve, Chriſtianize and bleſs that peace to us, and make it like that of God, a true and durable one;) I ſhould then with all chearfulneſs diſmiſs you with old Jacob, into the hands of this God of Bethel, the God of Abraham and of Iſaac and of Jacob, that own'd and bleſſed the ſimplicity and fidelity, the plainneſs and the truſtineſs of thoſe three Patriarchs, before all the glorious wiſdom and politicks of the world: Whoſe ſincerity and whoſe reward, whoſe uprightneſs and acceptation, integrity and crown, God of his infinite mercy grant us all; To whom, with the Son, &c.