The Deliverance of the Kirk
"In those days and in that time, says the Lord, The children of Israel
shall come, They and the children of Judah together; with continual weeping
they shall come, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion,
with their faces toward it, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord
in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten." Jeremiah 50:4,5. [A
controversy had arisen in the General Assembly concerning the lawfulness of
home meetings for Bible study and prayer.]
In this Scripture, beloved in
our Lord, we have a prophecy of the fall of Babylon, the golden city. And in it
we have a description of the full and final wrath that shall fasten upon all
the enemies of Zion, and the enemies of all them who have such a bill to give
in to the Lord's court as the Kirk has in this chapter. "The violence done to
Me and to My flesh be upon the inhabitants of Babylon." There is a violence
done to the Kirk of God by Babylon, and their complaint is put in before the
Lord; and the complaint is heard by Him, and there is a prophecy given here
before the people of Israel be carried away to their captivity, for this
prophecy is given out in the time while they were in the way of carrying away
captive.
And the Lord here He gives out a prophecy first, of the
ruin of Babylon; and, secondly, He has another prophecy here of the
deliverance of Jerusalem.
Now to take the words as they lie in order.
(1) The time of the deliverance is set down: "At that time and in these days
saith the Lord."
(2) We have the parties that are delivered: these of
Israel and the ten tribes, and with them the children of Judah.
(3) We have
the union and sweet fellowship of a divided Kirk and the people of God who
before could not join with either: "The children of Israel shall come, they and
the children of Judah together." They were separate from others for many years,
because the ten tribes they had desertion from the true religion, as that is
the thing that makes a separation among people; and, upon the other hand, there
is nothing that is such a needle to sew people together as when people join all
together in the truth of God'when we have all one Lord, and faith, and baptism,
and hope, and inheritance, &c. The
(4) particular is, What shall be the
thankfulness when they are delivered from their captivity' And this is set down
unto us in many particulars. The first is, they shall take a journey
from Babylon towards Zion. Second: We have the manner how they go to
Zion'they shall go weeping while they are going there. Third: The errand
wherefore they shall go to Zion, shall be to seek the Lord their God.
Fourth: They shall ask the way to Zion, and while they are asking for it,
their faces shall be towards the same.
And then, lastly, while they are
thus going to Zion together, there is a conference between them, and, in their
conference, they resolve both of them upon this: "Come and let us join
ourselves in a perpetual covenant to the Lord that shall not be forgotten." Now
for the first, To wit 'The time when the Lord will deliver His people from
their captivity and bondage. Look unto the time when this prophecy is given
out, and that is, They are not well come to Babylon at this time, and yet there
is a triumph promised even before they be sent away. And there is in this
chapter a prophecy of the destruction of Babylon, and that is for the
encouragement of the people of God, who were carried thither; and before utter
misery and desolation come upon them, there is a prophecy of their delivery and
of the destruction of their enemies.
The first doctrine arising from this
point is, The Kirk of God never sooner enters in any trouble, but they have the
Lord's bond given unto them that they shall be brought out of it again; and
they, have a guarantee and caution of the Lord that death, hell, and all sort
of trouble shall not work upon them to destroy them (Psa. 16:10). When our Lord
Christ is put to that strait that they get Him put dead into the grave, that
any would think He is gone now for evermore, He has it backed with that
promise: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in grave, neither wilt thou suffer Thine
Holy One to see corruption." Happy may that subject be to go into prison who
beforehand has his king's pardon and assurance that he shall not die in the
prison. And the Kirk and children of God, they have this much for them when
they go under any strait or trouble, or, as it were, to prison, that they shall
not die into that prison, but Christ shall bring them safe out of it again. And
there are two special reasons wherefore this is that the children of God,
albeit they be under trouble, yet they succumb not under the same. The one is,
If there be anything in the world that sees over the water, it is faith and so
it sees over beyond the trouble, and therefore succumbs not under it; as ye see
it is said (Mic. 7:8): "Rejoice not over me, O mine enemy: when I shall fall, I
shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me." There
is a stout look of faith looking over to the other side of the trouble, and
taking the answer before the answer come, and gathering faith that all shall be
well, albeit, for the present, it stand hard with them. The 118th Psalm, it was
penned when the servant of God was in very great trouble; and yet in it he
promises to himself in the Lord's name: "I shall not die but live, and declare
the works of the Lord." There faith on the one side, and yet looking to the
other shore and believing life in death And he believes salvation when all is
black about, and that foul winter will turn in a fair, clear summer. He
believes, and the Kirk of God in trouble believes, that He that will come, will
come, and shall not tarry, believing this, that none shall die in prison who
look out at the window of their prison to God.
And this, indeed, should
hearten us, and make us not to cast down our hearts for any appearance of ill
that yet we see, although they were greater than they are. But this I speak
only to the children of God, who when they are in trouble, or it is in coming
on them, they can send letters to their friends, as faith does and say, "I
shall live, and not die, and declare the works of the Lord."
Another reason
of this promise of delivery beforehand is by reason of that fair promise made
to the Kirk and people of God, that the waters shall not drown them, the fire
shall not burn them, nor the flame kindle upon them'a promise made that even
death itself, which has so awesome a grip, and so strait, yet it shall not slay
them, as our Saviour says (John 11:26): "He that believeth in Me shall never
see death." And having such promises as these, it is no wonder that good news
He preached to the Kirk beforehand that their King and their Lord lives and so
His salvation is near to them who wait on Him. Now the second thing we observe
upon the time, it is said "in these days." What days were these' Days wherein
the vengeance of the Lord fastens upon Bablyon and upon the enemies of the
Kirk. Then Israel and Judah shall come back to their own land to seek the Lord
and to join in a covenant with Him.
So that the second doctrine is this,
that the fall of the enemies of the Kirk of God, and the rising of the fallen
Kirk, these go together; for the enemies and we laugh not together, and weep
not together, but when we weep they laugh, and when we laugh they weep. When
the Lord drowns Pharaoh and his chariots and all his army in the midst of the
Red Sea, then Moses and the people of God they are set safe upon the shore to
sing of the praises of the Lord. When the land of Canaan spews out the
inhabitants thereof, as a foul stomach spews out the meat that is in it that
troubles it, then the Lord He plants His people into the land, and as it is in
Psalm 42:4, the Lord has a safe house to keep His children in, while there is a
pit digged for the wicked (Psalm 94:13). When Haman's cup is full, and he is at
the top of the ladder in his court, that he must fall down again, then Mordecai
and the people of God they must be delivered. It is even here as it is in war.
When a soldier has stood his watch, and has remained over the night standing in
the cold, when his watch is over, another is put in his place, and he is sent
to his warm bed.
Even so is it here. When the people of God get rest, then
the enemies of God they fall, and these go always together, the rest of the
people of God, and the trouble of the wicked. And therefore a word of terror to
those who are the enemies of the Kirk of God. You, who are enemies to the Kirk
of God, laugh as ye will before noon, I will assure you there will be a change
after noon. I would not have your next day in another life, and be in your case
after days, for all the world. Albeit they have a fair-like blink in the
morning, yet it is but beguiling, for they will have a foul afternoon of it.
Sorrow and indignation will come upon them.
And therefore, I beseech you,
eat none of their dainties, nor take no part with them, for the Lord laughs at
them, as it is Psa. 37:13: He laughs at the wicked, for He sees their end afar
off; He knows what will be the end of all their good cheer and all their merry
days. And therefore woe is that man who has no more, but only a part of the
laughter of the wicked, for that is but like the crackling of thorns under a
pot, that is but a blaze and away. This looks very much like us and our time,
that wicked men and the enemies of the Lord, they must come into the place of
the Kirk of God and His people, who before were in distress and calamity, and
yet He will perform that word (Jer. 20:12, and Isa. 10:12). When the Lord has
performed His work in Zion, then He will fall to and punish the stout heart of
the king of Babylon.
When the Lord has humbled His Kirk, and done His work
with His fire there, then the wicked they must fall on it and be consumed
thereby, that we may know that it is good for the children of God to wait upon
Him. And that is the second part of the use, that faith and hope are evermore
waiting for good at God's hand and for daylight. We never heard of any who
waited upon the Lord, but at last they might say: "This poor man cried unto the
Lord, and the Lord heard him, and delivered him out of all his troubles."
Again, thirdly, that the delivery of the Kirk of God is not for the
present, but "in those days and at that time." We learn here, that there are
none who wait upon God but they must prove Him, and as men prove well so God
pays well that which is proved. It is not salvation in hand, but an onwaiting
life that the Kirk of God has while they are here. And this is to meet with a
doubt and a knot that these people could not loose for the present. They might
say, for all that the Lord says of the destruction of Babylon, yet we are there
captives, albeit the wrath of God be pronounced against them, yet the sparks
thereof have come upon us. And we have sore drink of that cup, and, for the
present, we have sad days; for the temple of the Lord is burnt, our princes are
hanged, our priests massacred, and we ourselves are carried away captive from
mount Zion. How shall this then be that Babylon shall be destroyed and we
restored' The Lord answers this, that the deliverance is coming, but it would
not come until that day that He had appointed for it. To teach the Kirk of God
to give God that much 'as alas! He gets but little of that kind of us' that He
will do for His own people at length, though not for the present, and to look
to that word in Psalm 25:22, that the Lord will redeem Israel out of all his
troubles, and Psalm 62:5: "My soul wait thou only upon the Lord, for my
expectation is from Him," even to make God's omnipotence the object of their
faith and of their hope, and learn to wait upon God only. "I would do that,"
says some, "but I have nothing in hand."
But we must remember that all
their stock is in God's hand who hope rightly in Him; for if they had anything
in hand, it were not hope, as it is, Rom. 8:24: "Hope that is seen is not
hope." But the thing which one sees not is properly the thing that he hopes
for. And so the less we have in hand we have the greater reason of hope. That
no man may be troubled with this, I have nothing for the present; but in such a
case learn to believe in God, and then ye have the more. How many rich men are
there in the world who have no more but only pieces of paper for all that they
have, and yet men will account them rich, albeit there be not two pence in
their purse. The hoper and onwaiter upon God is this way rich, yet all his sums
are in God's hands, who pays His annual rents well, so that His annual rents
they are better than the world's principal sum. A third objection: "I have
waited long for deliverance but it cometh not." The text answers, "At that time
and in these days," to teach us to set no time to the Lord the creator of time,
for His time is always best, and as it is Hab. 2:3, "Albeit it tarry, wait for
it; for it will surely come; "and as it is 2 Peter 3:9, speaking of the Lord's
general coming to judgment, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as
some men count slackness," &c.
The Kirk says that the Lord is long in
coming, and slack of His promise; but He says He is not slack as men count
slackness, but will come and will show mercy to His people and deliver them. As
much then as we prove God as much faith and hope indeed have we. He that will
go to heaven and have nothing at all in hand, his faith and his hope are
strongest; he that believes in Him when he sees not, but believes in the
darkness, that is likest faith. Let no man then call godliness fancy, or say,
"What have the children of God for the present' They have more weary hearts
here than the strong cattle of Bashan, and more tears than they who laugh and
rejoice in the world." Let it be so, yet it is an unseen heaven and happiness
which the children of God believe. And, indeed, the thing that is seen is not
believed. If they saw heaven they could not be said to believe it. As the man
that sees Rome, he cannot say that he hears only of it but by report. But
believe life, and what is said of it without any more, and that is true faith.
To say I believe in God, and I love Him, albeit I never saw Him, as the Apostle
Peter speaks, "Whom not having seen, yet ye believe with joy unspeakable and
glorious." And ye know the Lord's word He spake to Thomas, "Blessed are they
which have not seen, and yet have believed." Blessed are they, blessed are they
who believe when they see nothing but contrary appearances; who will die, and
yet will hope and wait for the salvation of God, and were at that, as it is in
Psalm 23:4: "Albeit I should walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
yet will I fear none ill." When a man is under the shadow of a tree he is near
it then, so when a man is within the shadow of death, that is, to be near
death, it is faith then to believe in God.
Now the second particular in the
text is, the parties that are delivered, and these are Israel and Judah. Israel
that was hardly handled by proud Assyria, that was the rod of the Lord's anger
and indignation, as ye may read Isaiah 10:5; and poor Judah that was carried
away captive to Chaldea by that proud tyrant who was the hammer of the devil to
beat them. What nation would have said that ever they should be a kingdom' 'the
one of them being in Assyria, and the other of them in Chaldea, the temple
burnt, their city sacked, the land spoiled, and more, the anger and indignation
of God lying upon His people; where we learn this shortly'he is in a weak
estate whom the Lord cannot help; he is near death whom He will not quicken.
Fatherless! and will not the Lord be a Father to you' Comfortless! and will not
the Lord comfort you' Lot Israel and Judah be in as hard and miserable a case
as they will, the Lord, who is the help of the poor and needy, He will deliver
them.
The third particular is the union that is between Israel and Judah at
this time. And there is a number of marks of this union. First: That
they shall come together to Zion. Second: That they shall serve the Lord
together. Third: That they shall ask the way to Zion, weeping.
Fourth: That their faces shall be thitherwards while they ask the way to
Zion. And, lastly, that they shall all of them have this common
resolution: Let us be joined in a perpetual covenant with the Lord, never to be
forgotten.
So then here the Lord giving unto us a proof that when He sews a
Kirk together, that not only people of sundry families, but even people of
sundry tribes and of sundry kingdoms, their fellowship shall be seen, and
especially in this that they shall worship God together. They shall both have
their faces one way, and shall ask the way to Zion together, seek the Lord
together. And they shall have a common covenant and band with the Lord, never
to be forgotten. Now, whether or no was this ever historically true that Israel
and Judah took such a journey as this towards Zion after such a manner and for
such an end, there is no necessity to stand upon it now, because many of these
prophecies they are accomplished in the Messiah. But there is a ground here to
prove the lawfulness of that private service and worship that Israel and Judah
performed to the Lord together, albeit they were of sundry kingdoms. And before
this they were of contrary worship, for Israel was filled with idolatry, had a
calf at Dan, and another at Bethel, and corrupted and changed the whole true
worship; yet now they come together and say, "Let us join ourselves in a
perpetual covenant with the Lord, never to be forgotten."
Now that not only
they of sundry towns and of sundry families, but even those of sundry kingdoms,
may meet together this way, this text will bear; and that they may, worship the
Lord privately, it will bear that also; for some to come from one politic
kingdom to another, and join together this way, for them to come to Zion, and
each one of them to ask the way of another, and to make a covenant and to have
conference amongst themselves: "Let us be joined in a perpetual covenant with
the Lord, never to be forgotten." Now in the public worship of God there is no
such speeches among private persons: "Let us be joined in a perpetual covenant
with the Lord." Neither, as Calvin says, is there in the public worship by
words a public spurring up one of another. So, then, this text it will warrant
that which all our interpreters and our divines allow, that those who are of
diverse kingdoms and diverse families, when they meet together, they may speak
one to another, exhort, comfort, instruct and admonish every one another in the
mutual duties of the worship of God, each one of them lending their shoulder to
another before they come to the part where the public worship of God is. It may
be said that this concerns not us much, that the kingdom of Israel and the
kingdom they shall worship God together, and shall speak good words one to
another, that they shall enter in a covenant together, but what is that to us'
We are another kirk than they were. And so it concerns not us. But remember
what the apostle says, "What is written is written for our instruction upon
whom the ends of the world are fallen." And howbeit this prophecy should never
be historically fulfilled in the persons of Israel and Judah, yet it will serve
to warrant the children of God on this point, to exhort, instruct, comfort,
rebuke, and to speak of those duties that the Lord requires of His children,
and of them toward another before they come to the public worship of God.
Now for the better understanding of this, the Lord would have private
Christians to be considered in a threefold relation. The first is as they are a
master of a family. Second, as they are fellow-members of the grace of God.
Third, as they are extraordinarily favoured of God above others. For the third
and last of these, we need not to speak much of it; for a private Christian so
graced and qualified it has not been found fault with that they write
commentaries, and do other things of that kind.
And for the first again,
the duty of a private Christian as he is a master of a family, that is also far
out of controversy, that a Christian as he is the head of a family, and so has
the charge of them who are within the same, ought to discharge himself in this.
To say nothing of that place (Deut. 6:7) which warrants this point, and of the
Lord's commendation of Abraham (Gen. 18:19): "I know that He will command His
children and His household after Him, that they shall keep the way of the
Lord," &c., and (Exod. 12:26) where the master of the family is commanded
when the children shall ask him what the Passover means, the Lord says, Ye
shall tell them it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the
houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians and
delivered our houses. There the master of the family, albeit he be not a
minister, nor a public man, has a charge to expound the doctrine of the
sacrament of the Passover to his family, Psa. 78:5: "The Lord established a
testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our
fathers that they should make them known to their children, that the generation
to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should
arise and declare them, to their children."
So that the fathers they are
bound to teach the children, and the rest of those who are in the family. Now
under the name of a family, ye know we must expound it according to the fourth
command, when that is set down that masters of families should be careful to
have those within their families keeping the service of God. Ye know there is
set down "the manservant," "the maidservant," "the stranger that is within the
gates." So when the charge is laid on masters for their families, it is laid on
them for all the members of the family, and for all the strangers that are in
the same; for while he is there, he is a fellow and joint-member with the rest
of the family. Now all the question is about the duty which the Lord requires
of private Christians, as they are fellow-members of the same body one with
another; as they are hands, feet, eyes, &c., of the blessed body of Christ.
What seeks the Word of God in this case' Hear the Word of God. It is clear
also' Lev. 19:17: "Rebuking one another;" Col. 3:16: "To teach and exhort;"
Mal. 3:16: "To speak often one to another;" Heb. 3:13: "To exhort one another
daily, while it is called to-day."
And that is recommended as a special
means for preventing hardness of heart; and there are none, I am sure, but they
will acknowledge that whatever is recommended as a means to prevent hardness of
heart, it is a duty commanded and ordained of God. But so it is that this duty
of exhorting one another is recommended as a means for preventing hardness of
heart, and therefore it is a duty commanded of God, and so, lawful and
necessary. And 1 Thess. 5:11: "Comfort yourselves together, and edify one
another as ye also do." "Warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded,
support the weak." Now these places they will not only warrant the master of a
family to do so, but also all Christians as they have commerce with others,
that they join with others in such a manner, and the more coals be together the
hotter will the fire be. And there is another place not far from this 'Psa.
37:30: "The righteous man he speaketh of wisdom and of judgment, and the law of
God is in his heart;" and Prov. 10:21: "The lips of the righteous feed many."
This is not to be understood of a pastoral feeding, that because one is a
righteous man he should go to the pulpit and take the charge of souls upon him;
but he feeds many in a private way, and it is a meaning unknown to the text to
restrain it that otherways.
Anything that can be said against this is, that
it is very like the public teaching, that if they may exhort, instruct,
comfort, rebuke, admonish, &c., one another, what difference is there
between this and the public teaching, except only in the place, that the one is
done in public and the other is done in a house. For answer: This is not so
much against us as it is against the Scriptures of God, and yet the difference
is clear; for every Christian is commanded to exhort, instruct, rebuke,
comfort, &c., one another; but for the other it is said, none can preach
except he be sent.
And so the conclusion of this argument it is as much
against the Scriptures of God as against these who defend the lawfulness of
this ordinance. And this argument will be as much against these who speak one
to one, as against him who speaks one to twenty. And, thirdly, there is very
great difference between private exhortation and public preaching; even as when
a common soldier gives warning to the army that the enemy is coming on them,
and he who is appointed watchman, he gives also warning of the same.
Now
ask the difference between these warnings. It is clear the one has a calling to
it, and authority from the general and the army, to give warning. The other,
again, is not so bound. But yet, as he is a part of the army, he is obliged to
give warning when he sees them in any danger though not in such a public, and
failing therein, he does wrong. And as the difference is between a master, who
is clad with public authority for teaching of scholars, and one of the other
disciples teaches another on that same lesson that he teaches.
Now there is
none who will say that either the one usurps the watchman's place or the other
the master's charge; but the one does what he does by a special designation for
that effect, and the other as he is a member of that body. Again, the one has
his place by public authority; and there are two wrongs done when he is
disobeyed, one against the Lord's calling and authority, and another against
his message and that which he bears. But disobedience to the other is not so
great. Again, the public watchman he is ordained to use all means ordinary and
possible for the good of people; but the other is only to do in an ordinary
way. A private Christian he ought to help others in the way to heaven; but he
ought not to make that his study'to study divinity for that effect. Again,
another objection is that this is like interpreting of Scripture, and this is a
thing that is altogether unlawful for any but for them who are authorized
persons.
For answer to this: All who know the controversy between us and
the Papists, know that Bellarmine he lays this to the charge of the heretics,
as he calls us, that they will not have the interpreting of the Scriptures
bound to any kind of men as to pastors, but they will have it a thing common to
all. And another of no less note than Bellarmine, to wit, Becan, says, while he
is reasoning about the Scriptures: "Wherefore would the Lord have the
Scriptures to be obscure, but only because He would have the order of pastors
and teachers and doctors and people to be kept and observed."
And in his 1
tom. quest. 10, he makes that question, "To whom belongs the interpreting of
the Scriptures' And answers, "Only to the Kirk, that is, only to Kirkmen." But
this is our judgment in this point, that the power of interpreting the
Scriptures in public is due to the pastor only and to no other; but for the
private spirit of interpretation of the Scriptures it is a thing that belongs
not only to pastors, but also to all Christians. And this is not a thing that
is only my device, but that which our divines do approve; for Junius says,, in
the third chapter of his book, these: "We will not have interpreting the
Scripture bound to particular men, but to be a thing belonging to omnibus
fidelibus (all the faithful) in a private way and manner." Trelcatius he says
also the like, and also Rivetus. And Luther and Calvin agree unto this while
they are expounding that place. They say of ministers their public
interpretation of the Scriptures is not to say that none has power of
interpreting the Scriptures but Kirkmen, but all have power and yet
difference'the private interpretation from the public. And all our divines,
they acknowledge thus far; and Rivetus, while he is answering that Jesuit, he
says: "There is a twofold interpreting of the Scripture. The first is public
only belonging to pastors, a second is private belonging to omnibus fidelibus;
and the professors of Leyden they agree unto this also." And yet this is not to
put private persons, whosoever they be, in the chair of ministers, but only
this it is impossible for them to believe the Scriptures unless they can apply
such Scriptures for rebuking, comforting, instructing, &c., one another,
and to reclaim such as are wandering out of the way.
Now if this be true,
that the, word of God thus gives place to exhort one another for comforting one
another, rebuking one another, &c., then the meeting of Christians together
for that end cannot be unlawful, for there is none who will meet that way but
those who are bairns of that same house. Again, it is objected that this
rebuking, comforting, instructing, &c., is but only of one to one, and no
further. But if ye will compare this form of speaking with the original, both
in Greek and Hebrew language, and ye will find that it comes very far short of
their mind who say so. If ye will look for the Greek language (Rom. 8), you
will find the apostle says there: "Owe nothing to any man but love one to one."
Now will any think that the law of God will bind one to love only and no more;
or rather does it not bind us to love all these who are called our neighbour'
And Gal. 5:13 the apostle says, "Serve one another in love." The meaning of
that place is not that only one man should serve another man, but the law of
God it binds more. And sick like, "Bear ye burdens one of another." Is that
only meant of one man' The Word of God will carry it towards all men in so far
as a good conscience will permit; and James 5:16: "Pray one for another, and
confess your faults one to another." The meaning there is for all the members
of Christ's body, so that the Word of God it will not bear us to this, that it
is only one to one this duty belongs.
And then, if ye will come to the Old
Testament, ye will find the word not so strict. As Gen. 42:21: "And they said
one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the
anguish of his soul," &c. The word is that every one of them spake to his
brother. The text there is about Joseph's brethren. When they saw the hand of
God upon them they spake thus. Now will any think that this was one to one, or
rather not every one of them to another; and 2 Kings 6:we will find the like
also. There was a whole army there, and will any man believe that one of them
only spake at once, speaking such a word as they do''there so that this is
nothing else but a subterfuge and a way of escaping. And so they will find no
face for this, that this duty it should be only of one to one.
A second
objection is, that anything that is done in this, it must be done but by way of
occasion, for it is not a direct command that we should be about any such
thing, and have set time and place for the same, but only as it is occasioned
by the way. Answer. Anything is called occasional that is occasioned by us and
by our blindness and ignorance, and this way the preaching of the word is a
thing occasional, and a worthy divine, Rollock, he said this, and so in this
sense men might imprison public preaching. Again, secondly, the meaning is, Ye
shall not intend such a thing, but what ye do therein ye shall do it by your
intention. And certainly, that cannot be a fair way, as the philosopher could
say. They failed in this who said, Men should do anything that is good by their
intention. And they who write of moral philosophy, they say thus far, that a
good action is the better that it be intended, and where a good action is [not]
done by the intention it is so much the worse. A third objection is that it is
not lawful to appoint such a set time, and a set place for such actions.
Certainly if it was lawful for Job's friends to meet together to comfort
him, then this was not unlawful, neither that they made a meeting to come
together for that effect. I believe that that place says that both the time and
the place were appointed beforehand; and is the action the worse of it' No,
certainly; for if the ordinance of God be lawful, then the fore-setting of time
and place for the same cannot make it unlawful, except they will put religious
worship to be used in an unlawful time and place. As to preach upon a day of
man's invention to make it holy, that must not be. But for the other part,
again, the appointing of time and place for a religious action makes it not
worse but rather better. And we should beware of that, to distinguish in these
things where the law of God distinguishes not. If it be lawful for a man to
pray in private, there is none who will say that for him to appoint six hours
in the morning, and such a house [to] pray in at that time, makes his prayer
unlawful; and sicklike for preaching in the week time, will that make it
unlawful to appoint Tuesday and Thursday for preaching'
Another objection
is about the number of those who may together discharge this duty. Say they,
"If two or three or some more may meet together for such an exercise, then why
may not as well three hundred or a whole congregation meet that way'" That is
an objection soon answered. Solomon he might have houses to dwell in, but he
might not exceed in the number of his houses. So Christians, they may thus meet
in a private way. But if numbers of them meet together, then it is not a
private worship, but a public. A man is bound to give to the poor, but he is
not tied to give all that he has to them; that is superIfluity and ostentation.
The last objection is: "All that is yet said," say they, will not authorize a
manner of conference that has been used by some, that two or three private
Christians should meet together, and that every one of them should pray about."
I believe there be none against this. But they say there is no warrant for
three or four persons to pray after one another. And the argument they use is
this: say they, "What ever point of worship wants either promise, practice, or
command of God, that is an unlawful point of worship. But so it is, that
praying thus one after another is a point of worship that wants practice,
promise, or precept, and therefore it is unlawful.
But I would answer this
with retortion to them who object, the same praying privately is not commanded,
and is therefore unlawful to pray in private. No man will say that, I believe.
And, again, if it be a thing lawful to preach, will that make it unlawful that
one preach after another' A third reason is, because all the public actions of
the worshippers of God, they are this way ordered by the public worshippers,
even so are the private actions of his worship by the private worshippers. If
this were retorted to us: "What Scripture have we for that in our public
worship, to have first prayer, then singing of Psalms, then prayer, then
preaching, then prayer, then singing, &c.," I believe no man would think it
needful to give particular Scripture for that, for it belongs to the
office-bearers in the house of God to order these things. So if it be lawful
for one to pray in private with another, why may not as well one pray after
another' And we will find preaching thus allowed (1 Cor. 14:31, and Acts 15.).
Peter begins, and then Barabas, and Paul, and then James. So that all this
proves clear enough that there is no necessity of objecting against this point
of worship, providing that all things be done in the right manner, as the Word
of God allows.
Now a word of the manner of their seeking to Zion. They go
weeping to seek the Lord. They weep because they had angered the Lord, and weep
for the desolation of the holy city, and truly a work of reformation it
requires weeping. And it should not have so much rejoicing and so much security
joined therewith. And it looks the liker a judgment, that so few are drawn to
repentance by this work of reformation, for the former breach of our covenant
and our turning away from the Lord. The work of reformation should draw us to
this, as the harlot wife who has been put out from her husband for her
harlotry, when she is brought home again to her provoked husband, and he
delivers to her again the keys of the house. If she be honest, it grieves her
and makes her heart to melt, that she should have provoked such a loving
husband. Even so; when the Lord has dealt so graciously with us after our
falling away from Him, should there be so many dry cheeks among us as there
are' It is not becoming. But withal' "They asked the way to Zion." All the
tears in the world without this, they are but like to Esau's tears, for he
resolved in the days of mourning to kill his brother; and like Judas's tears of
desperation. But these are better tears that are spoken of Acts 20:19, when the
apostle was there leaving the Ephesians to serve the Lord, with many tears and
temptations. It is nothing to weep for sin for a time, but to have their faces
towards Zion, and asking the way to it, and to weep, that is more. That is an
excellent stance their face has. While they are serving the Lord, and know not
where to find Him, yet they have their faces towards Him. There is nothing more
easily describes the seekers of Zion and of the Lord than their right look.
They know not the way to Zion, and yet they have their face there away, and so
ask the way thereto.
There are three excellent looks spoken of in the Word
of God: Psa. 69:3: "My eyes fail while I wait for God;" and David's comparison
that he uses' "As the eyes of the watchmen wait for the morning, so wait we for
Thee, O God." And then to wait upon God in the day of trouble, that is an
honest look also, that look spoken of Isa. 17:7: "At that day shall a man look
to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel." What
day is that spoken of there' That day when the Lord shall visit Zion, and the
Kirk shall be left desolate, and there shall be only as it were gleaning grapes
in it; even that which is spoken of, Isa. 8:17: "I will wait upon the Lord that
hideth His face, and I will look for Him." To look to the Lord when the wind
blows motes and sand in your eyes, that is an honest look, and then to look to
the kingdom of heaven, and farther than time into eternity; as it is, Heb.
11:9, Abraham, content to dwell in tents, and to seek no abiding city here,
because he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is
God. And to have Moses' look in the twenty-sixth verse of that chapter. He
esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,
because he had respect to the recompense of reward. Moses looked higher than
all the courtiers in Pharaoh's court did'beyond time to eternity.
And a
third good look is to look to slain Christ. When the Lord shall refine the
house of David, and pour the spirit of supplications upon them, then they shall
mourn when they look upon Him whom they have pierced. This condemns all the
distorted looks that sinners in the world have, whatever they be. There is a
look, Prov. 21:4, a high look, the Lord cannot endure it. And Prov. 23, for the
eyes to behold strange women; and Isa. 56:2, "They all look to their own way,
every one for his gain from his quarter; "and that look, Ezek. 18:15, that the
house of Israel has its eyes toward the mountains and the hills. They look not
to the Lord, but to their own gods. The Lord condemns all those who look not to
Himself. And that is sure, every man who in faith looks to God and Christ and
heaven, he will follow his look. O! that we had hearts and eyes to seek Him,
and to look after Him, and to Him who is able to do this for us, 'to draw our
hearts and eyes towards Himself; to that Lord, only wise, eternal, immortal,
invisible, to Christ's Father and our Father, and Himself and the Holy Spirit,
be all praise, glory, and honour now and for ever.'Amen.
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