England Faithfully Watched, Lecture 53
COLOSSIANS 1.22. In the body of his fleſh.
CHriſt can make worke with any inſtrument, out of the duſt can he raiſe ſeed to Abraham: he aſſumes a body of fleſh like ours, and in this body ſaves the ſoules of men. Earth is the baſeſt Element, and yet out of this Chriſt makes a body, and doth by it the nobleſt things. The meane and low wayes that God goes in, to bring about the greateſt and braveſt workes, is wonderfull: he chooſeth weake things, and with theſe deſtroys ſtrong. Fleſh is weake, and with this he deſtroys ſpirits, the ſtrongeſt ſpirits, principalities, powers, all the enemies of our ſalvation: Yea he taketh things which are not, to bring to naught things which are. One is not, meaning Joſeph, which was ſlaine, and by this one which was not, by this deſpiſed perſon, were all the reſt made to ſtoop, yea by this one that was not, was all the reſt, father and children ſav'd. Joſeph was in this a type of Chriſt, by taking a body, a humane body, he was ſold into bondage, ſlaine; one that was not, and by this brought to nought things that are, ſin, Satan, hell, and made the way open to heaven, which was ſhut with everlaſting dores.
'Tis no matter what the inſtrument is, ſo the power uſed be vaſt. Sampſon with a jaw-bone of an Aſſe, ſlew heapes upon heapes: the arme was mightie, though the inſtrument was weake and unlikely. The power Chriſt hath, to worke with, is abſolute, he hath much within him, he needeth little without him, whether he hath any or none, it is all one, he is himſelfe ſo mightie, he is a Sampſon, every haire of his head ſtronger then a Goliah, every finger ſtronger then an arme, every glo…e of his eye, more terrible then legions of devills. Chriſt is the power of God, the great power of God, as they falſly ſaid of the Sorcerer, he can with his own hand worke ſalvation. That which can doe a thing alone, can doe it with a ſmall concurrence; if the hand be the hand of Sampſon, then whether a bone or feather be in that hand, 'tis all one, the worke intended, will be accompliſhed, Sampſon will be mortall to his enemies, and accompliſh his will, what ever inſtrument he workes by. The things wee uſe muſt contribute joyntly with us, to the worke we ſet upon, becauſe we are too weak for it, we take up no inſtrument, but wee borrow ſomething from it which we need, and therefore picke and chooſe when wee take up tooles, leſt we faile in our end. 'Tis not ſo with Chriſt, he takes up no inſtrument from neceſſitie, he is ſo compleat himſelfe, and therefore any thing that comes next to hand, a jaw-bone, a ſling, a nayle, a clod of earth, a body of fleſh like ours, weapon enough to overthrow all the powers of darkneſſe.
'Tis no matter what the inſtrument be, ſo that it hath but the advantage of divine ordination to ſuch an end. All the means that God uſeth are effectuall to his end, becauſe he hath appointed them, and not for any cauſe or reaſon naturally in themſelves. If there be no likely power in an inſtituted means, yet it ſhall accompliſh its end, becauſe inſtituted. I am not aſhamed of the Goſpel of Chriſt, 'tis the power of God unto ſalvation. To ſpeak a few plain words of a deſpiſed perſon, and think by this to convert the ſouls of men from their wicked wayes, and to bring them to heaven, and to wave a lofty ſtrain of humane wiſdome, more likely to take, I am not aſhamed to do this; this courſe may ſeem folly, yet certainly it ſhall accompliſh its work, 'twill be the power of God to ſalvation, becauſe the will of God hath inſtituted it. That Chriſt ſhould have ſuch a frail inſtrument, and no other, to wit, a body of fleſh, a ſubſtance capable of death, to conquer death withall, was of Gods appointment; a body haſt thou prepared for me, and therefore effectuall to ſuch an end.
God eyes himſelf in all he doth by us: He doth ſo order action and inſtrument, as may moſt advance his own glory. When the inſtrument is great, God is little; we cannot ſee much of Chriſt, when he takes up much of any thing here below to do his will by. Mans argumentation generally, is very deſtructive to the glory of God: That hand which is moſt viſible ſtill, that did all. Saul hath ſlain his thouſand, David his ten thouſand, God none. God therefore leaves all which we ſo much look upon, and goes alone, and doth work with poor deſpiſed ones, which we caſt off. The Stone which the builders refuſed, he muſt be head: Weak and unlikely things to ſenſe, are trampled upon by us; Can death bring about heaven? Can baſe things bring about glory? Thus we reject and refuſe things, and then God uſes them, and then he is ſeen as God. The humanity of Chriſt was the fitteſt medium in the world, to demonſtrate the Divinity of Chriſt by, to all the world. For ſuch an organ as ours to be made do mighty things, made beholders put that queſtion, What manner of man Chriſt was. We admire power, wiſdome, and every attribute elſe, when they put forth themſelves by poore and unlikely things, and not elſe. If means be likely to ſuch an end, according to our reaſon, we uſually never look at God, but bury the glory of all that is done, in inſtruments.
Enemies to Chriſt ſhould tremble at this point. The kingdome of the Devill is ſtrong, men are confident and rage, Round-heads ſhall not live a man of them: God ſuddenly blaſt this pride with a little power. Men deſpiſed for valour and skill, God makes to drink the blood of deſpiſers, ſo he will do, 'tis his way. Great men, and great ſpirits, ſhould abaſe themſelves, if they will not, weak things, Worms, Flies, Frogs, ſhall devoure a king. The heart ſecretly riſeth, but the man is openly puld down; the ruine of the ſtout-hearted is very notorious by two circumſtances, in that it is done openly and utterly; that God uſeth weak means to overthrow ſtrong, and ſo, as never to riſe more: They ſank as a ſtone, ſaith the Text. Doth a ſtone riſe again? Jael nails Siſera to the ground, could he riſe again? Ah! what is become of many thouſands of the Lords enemies in this Land, which were mighty in battell? Are they not ſunk as a ſtone, pinned to the ground, gone to their center, to their place, whence they cannot return, and this by poor deſpiſed means? With weake inſtruments God doth through work: David ſtrikes down the Philiſtine, and that is not all, he is uſed to make ſure work with him, he runs and cuts off his head, which ſhadowed out the utter ruine of the kingdome of the Devill by Chriſt a deſpiſed man. God is upon a deſign the world will not believe; not a man ſhall ſtand before him that ſtands againſt him: The baiers of the Lord ſhall be deſtroyed, that is, all of them. If any ask how this ſhall be, becauſe things are ſo unlikely. I anſwer, The Lord creates evill; he can take any thing, a hailſtone, a wounded man, and form them into deadly inſtruments for his enemies. The fan in Chriſts hand, 'tis but a weak thing, a deſpiſed company, yet he will throughly purge his floore, he will out with all that offends. When ſome bad humors are let out, they gather and ſwell again, there is no end of action in an evill heart, till there be an utter end of the man. 'Tis ſad to behold, how enemies gather ino a head again, when blaſted from heaven; we ſhall prevaile, we ſhall prevaile. The Devill befools wiſe men; How can ye prevaile, and cannot conquer the weakneſſe of God? Poor weak things, if you cannot conquer an army of men, how will you conquer a legion of Angels? God hath a reſerve which you are not aware of; you chooſe out your ſtouteſt for a forlorn, but God his weakeſt, and yet theſe are too hard for you, and yet you feed your fancy, that you ſhall prevaile: The Devill is in this (would bloody wretches were aware of it,) that he may have all; he would not have a man ſit down in an evill way, till he come to his journeys end, which is Hell, the deſtruction of the body and ſoul.
Chriſt hath many ſorts of enemies, all ſhould tremble at this point, that God doth great things with ſmall means. There is a corporall war, and a ſpirituall war in England, and both bloody, in both Chriſt will conquer, how weak, and poor, and deſpiſed ſoever his inſtruments be, which he uſeth. When Chriſt drew out a party to go out againſt the kingdome of the Devill, obſerve how he furniſhed him with munition: Go, ſaith he, and take neither ſword, nor ſtaffe, nor money, yet theſe carried it in the buſineſſe they went about. Externall advantages about internall works, are much lookt at, and much ſway with ſenſe: what power, what honour and wealth goes along with the wayes which are profeſt; Chriſt takes neither, and yet raiſeth up his Kingdome in the world; ſends out men not a whit ſeconded from ſecular advantage, no power from man, but the ſword of men againſt them; no honour from men, but the frownes of all againſt them, and yet turnes the world thus oppoſite, with two or three, upſide down. Theſe are they which turn the world upſide down. The world is a vaſt body, and holds very hard in its way, and yet this turned upſide down by two or three deſpiſed ones: Thus hath Chriſt done, thus doth Chriſt do, and thus will he. Choller is a ſcurvie humor, it burns black mens throats and tongues. The Devill hath ſhot thouſands in the mouth, if not in the heart, in this war, between Presbyterians and Independants. O how wickedly do ſome good men talk now! and yet Chriſt will live, and every tittle of his will ſhall live, though bad and good ſhoot at it. Satan hath as large an army in the field now, as ever was known, bad men, good men; Satan is got into Judas, yea, and he is got into Peter, Maſter, drive gently, drive warily, ſave your skin, and avoid the bloody cup, and yet Chriſt will be too hard for both. Chriſt wants wit, and wants learning, and many things elſe, in the eyes of ſtanders by, and yet though ſo weak, conquers: God hath choſe, the fooliſh things of the world, to confound the wiſe.
God ſhould be honoured in his way: the Pſalmiſt breaks forth ſweetly into bleſſing God from this ground, that God out of the mouth of babes, ſhould ordain ſtrength. And ſo Deborah notes it in her ſong, ſpecially and ſweetly, how Jael a woman, did a mans work, and uſed a mans inſtrument She put her hand to the nail, and her righ hand to the [work-mans] hammer. Women are uſuall very aucherd at mans work, left-handed, but Jael is right-handed at it, ſhe put her right hand, &c. and that which was a work-mans hammer, is now a work-womans hammer, and ſhe bleſſes God, and extols him, that …us trode down ſtrength by weakneſſe, and turn'd a woman into a man, and a man into a beaſt, and butchered him on the ground: So ſhould we now, that children are turned into men, little prentiſe boyes, made valiant to cut off the mighty, and do the great works of the kingdome, and little towns and villages, to waſte great forces. Certainly, we of this Land are very much behinde hand with God, in honouring and praiſing of him, according to this admirable way of working. Things that are precious, you will loſe none of them, you ſave the very duſt of gold. The manifeſtations of God, are the moſt precious things in all the world; the very duſt of Gods feet, in every path of his, we ſhould carefully keep, we ſhould talk of all his doings, how much more therefore of his wonderfull doings, when he doth much with nothing, and much for nothing, for worſe then nothing, to wit, ſinfull man. How God goes in the Sanctuary, and how he goes out of the Sanctuary, in the family, in the city, in the countrey, in the army, upon what weak legs, and with what little toes, ſhould be all written down in the heart firſt, and then carried up to heaven for God to reade. Our father loves to have his children brought home to him often, to ſee them and their Nurſe, how well they proſper together. You cannot preſent God with a more taking ſight in all the world, then with one of his own actions, with its ſpeciall circumſtances. They were under the Law, to lay their hand of the head of ſome offerings, that was to point out Chriſt, on whom they truſted. Bring an offering to God, any action of God with its ſpeciall circumſtances, and you lay your hand on the head of the offering, you point out Chriſt to all the world, as he whom you truſted on in your way, and as he whom you would have all elſe, to do the like, and on none elſe, and this is very ſweet to God, he loves to lie high in the breaſt of all. God hath done things in England ſo, me thinks, as to be crowned for ever in every Engliſh heart: by a very noiſe amongſt the Mulberry trees, he makes the mighty run and fall: Not by might, nor by power, but my Spirit, ſaith God. 'Tis by how much God gains in your hearts, that you are to meaſure his love to you in his works. With little God doth much for you, if with much you do little for him, in ſpeaking of him, and living to him, all will end ſadly at laſt. If nothing will ſet an inſtrument in tune, you break it and burn it, this makes me feare our ſtate in the midſt of hope: God is very good to thee England, but thou continueſt very bad, dead inwardly, dead ſpiritually, which according to reaſon, one would think, ſhould make death corporally.
Finally, this way of God ſhould be truſted in; or this God, which can thus work, ſhould be firmly reſted on. When extremities are great, and little means appearing, then our hearts ſink; now miſery is mortall, but of our own making, for 'tis all one with God, to ſave with few, as with many. Nothing kills the man, ſo long as faith keeps alive, and faith can never die, if the ſoul well conſider the point in hand, that any thing is enough for God to work ſalvation by. I am much in debt, but a little oile in the cruce left. God can bleſſe a little, to riſe to a ſubſiſtance, and to diſcharge off all ingagements. A little of God is enough to make one very rich, very ſtrong, very wiſe, very bleſſed in all conditions, let miſery be as much as 'twill. Some are diſheartened from duty, becauſe oppoſites before them are many, viſible advantages very few, theſe ſoules lie inſnared in their own devices, and dye at a diſtance from God, which they have ſet themſelves, to keepe their body ſafe: with a little light and an honeſt heart, God can enable to doe much, to fight with the Prince of darkneſſe, very learned heads, and very malicious hearts. Did not God inable many poore women, and illiterate men, to befoole the bloudy Clergie of the former ages of the world, and to hold faith and a good conſcience, in deſpight of all? Were not them we read of in the Hebrewes, out of weakneſſe made ſtrong; and the point in hand tells us, that this is the way of God. Reſolution ſhould carry on to dutie, and then let God alone to carry on in it, how weake ſoever you are, or how ſtrong ſoever your enemies are. A great dore was opened to Paul, and there were many enemies at it, he but one and weake, and yet along he would, and venter upon Chriſt, to make way through them, which makes one weake one, ſtronger then a thouſand.