you

You have three

Christ, but will still hang upon him, still wait upon him; you have not only faith, but you may have strong faith, a great faith, as this woman had. And let me tell this for your comfort at the last the Lord will make a report of your faith unto your own heart; yea, he will make a report answerable to your temptation; for you may observe here, that as the wound was made, so the plaster was laid. great temptations: answerably, now, the Lord Jesus Christ does testify of this woman. First of all," He answered her not a word," would not own her, would not speak to her: now, says he, "O woman." Then he said that " he was not sent but unto the lost sheep :" now he does own her for a sheep, and he says she hath faith. Before, he says, "It is not meet to cast children's bread to dogs:" this did argue that she was a dog, one most unworthy: now, he says, that she is most worthy; O woman, thou hast not only faith, but thou hast a great faith; "O woman, great is thy faith." So that, I say, still hang upon Christ; in all your temptations, in the midst of all your discouragements, still hang upon Christ; and the Lord Jesus, he will not only make a report of your faith unto ye, but, according as your temptations rise, so shall the report of your grace be from the Lord Christ unto your poor soul: therefore hang upon Christ.

He does not only here give a testimony of her faith, and the greatness of her faith, but now he does give the thing: "Be it unto thee as thou wilt." Christ can deny nothing to a true believer. A believer may have what he will of Christ at last. Christ cannot hold: though he do hide himself from his brethren, as Joseph did, for a time, he cannot hold it out always, he cannot hold out the siege always, but he will give up himself to a poor believer; O poor believer, be it according as thou wilt; thou wouldest have grace, thou wouldest have this or that mercy, be it unto thee even as thou wilt.

I will only take one lesson from all and so conclude. And the great lesson that we should all learn from this whole story is, to believe in the face of all discouragement, of all opposition, all temptation; still to hang upon Jesus Christ. The very reading of this story provokes us hereunto. Whatsoever your temptations be, whatever your discouragements be, yet hang on Christ, never away, still wait upon him.

You say, it may be, But I fear Christ and the promise does not belong to me.

But did Jesus Christ ever say unto ye with his own mouth, “I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep," and thou art none? He said so to this woman, and yet she did hang upon him, and he commended her for her faith.

But you will say unto me, I have been at prayer, I have prayed long, and I hear nothing of all my prayers.

This woman did pray to Christ, he answered her not a word, and yet she did hang upon him, yet she did believe: and she is commended for her believing.

You will say, I am one that have been a great sinner, an unclean wretch, even as a dog; surely there is no hope and no mercy for me.

Did the Lord Jesus Christ ever himself say to you, as he said to this woman, seeming to call her dog? yet she did hang upon him, yet she did wait upon him, yet she did believe, and the Lord commended her for her faith.

I pray, indeed, but it is my necessities make me go unto God in prayer; and when I go unto God in prayer, my necessities put me on.

And was it not so with this woman? Her daughter was grievously vexed with a devil, and thereupon her necessity drave her unto Christ; and yet, poor woman, she is welcome. But I do not go unto Jesus Christ: I go not unto Christ at all.

But Jesus Christ yet will come to you. This woman did not come to Jerusalem, Christ went down unto the coasts of Tyre and Sidon; Christ came to her, and yet she believed this stood with faith, and Christ commended her faith.

I have no assurance of Christ's love and mercy towards me. Tell me, Had this woman any assurance of this mercy that she prayed for? She only brings in her wants, propounds them to Jesus Christ, lays them at his feet, hangs upon him; and this was her faith, and she is commended for her faith, and the greatness of her faith: "O woman, great is thy faith." So that, do but now hang on Christ, though thou hast not assurance of thy salvation, or of the love of God, yet in the face of all temptations, and all discouragement, hang on Christ, never away, never be beaten off by

any discouragement, hang on Christ, wait on Christ, and the Lord Christ will at last commend thee as thou wilt. How shall people that go on in a continued way of doubting and unbelief, ever look this poor woman in the face at the great day of judgment, this poor Canaanitish woman? How will you be able, you that go on in a continual way of doubting and unbelief, to look the Lord Jesus Christ in the face? Stir up yourselves, stir up yourselves, I beseech you, to this great work of believing. I confess it is a hard thing to believe, and harder to believe than to keep all the ten commandments. There is something in nature to contribute towards the keeping of the ten commandments, but there is nothing in nature to contribute to thy believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a very hard thing to believe truly; and those that make it an easy matter, they do not know what it is to believe. But read over this story, and your hearts will be provoked to believe, to hang upon Jesus Christ. Do it, and the Lord will commend your faith, and own you and your faith.

SERMON VII.

A VINDICATION OF ORDINANCES.

PREACHED AT STEPNEY, JULY 15, 1649.

PREFACE.

GOOD READER.-The Jews say, that there is not the least letter of the word, upon which huge mountains do not hang. Luther saith, That one tittle of the word is greater than heaven and earth. But our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ saith, "That heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.' Shall we then stand still, behold and see the ordinances of Christ wrested from us, and not bear witness against it? Upon this account, though the entreaties of divers friends have been very pressing, I am not unwilling that this Sermon concerning ordinances be brought into public view.

You may read in the Scripture, that in the times next before Christ and his glorious coming, professors shall not keep their garments which they were used to wear with honour. Therefore saith our Saviour, "Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame," Rev. xvi. 15. When shall this be? In the time of the pouring out of the sixth vial, which is immediately before the coming of Christ: for he saith, then, "Behold I come as a thief, blessed is he that watcheth," &c. In Matt. xxiv. it is said, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall appear the sign of the Son of Man," ver. 29, 30. What days are those? Even the days when men shall say of Christ, "Behold he is in the desert, behold he is in the secret chamber," ver. 26. Gone from the public ordinances, only to be enjoyed in private. Who shall those be that shall say thus ? Such as would fain be reputed prophets, such as have had a hand in the great works of God in those times, and such as have been great and high professors; for saith our Saviour, "There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as, if it be possible, they shall deceive the very elect," ver. 24. But when shall these things be? Immediately before Christ's coming, ver. 29, for saith he, " Verily this generation," that is, the generation on which he spake of, not which he spake to, "shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." So that immediately before the glorious coming of Christ, men shall depart from, and cast away the precious ordinances of Jesus Christ: which is as well grief as comfort to us: grief, that there should be such declinings; comfort, that our Lord is at hand. This declining is an ill sin, but a good sign: as an ill sin, it is grief; as a good sign of Christ's coming, so it is comfort. And if our Lord and Saviour be at hand, even at the door, who would not watch and keep his garments? Shall we not watch with him one hour? The scope and drift of this Sermon is, to call upon your's and mine own soul to watch. Wherein is proved, both in the general, that ordinances, and in particular, that such and such ordinances ought to be still continued, and that new testament believers are still to live under the same; not that they should not live beyond them, in the use of them; for in the way of nature we are to use our daily bread, though we

do live beyond it. Living under an ordinance as Christ's appointment, and living beyond it in regard of divine enjoyment, are not repugnant: but that believers should so live beyond the ordinances, as that they are not bound to the use thereof, is the thing which this Sermon lies against.

I have not spoken of the Lord's day herein. There are divers treatises abroad which do prove that an ordinance of Christ to be still continued; and the clearing and proving thereof, requires more time than an hour or two in preaching would admit. Neither have I spoken much unto that objection, namely, That all the ordinances of Christ do hang upon the ministry, and there can be no ministry now, because those extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost are wanting for the question before me was not, Whether the ordinances may or can possibly continue? but, Whether they ought to continue? Yet as to that objection, I add, if you look into 1 Tim. i. 3, where the apostle Paul doth set down the qualifications of one who is fit to be a minister of the gospel; ye shall not find one word declaring that those extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, are any part of the essential qualification of an elder or bishop. The apostle shews how a man should be qualified that is made a deacon, ver. 8-12; how a widow should be qualified who is to be taken into that number, chap. v. 9, 10; and how a bishop or elder should be qualified, chap. iii.: but though he set down many particulars of the qualifications of a man fit for that office, yet not one word of these extraordinary gifts, plainly speaking this truth, that those gifts are not of the essence of a minister of the gospel; yea, where do we find that those ordinary elders chosen in the apostles' time, Acts xiii.; Titus i., were endued with such gifts? Apostles and evangelists, who were extraordinary officers, and not to continue, had those gifts; we read they had them, but where do we read that the ordinary elders, who were to continue, had these extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost constantly? We find that baptism was administered to those persons who had none of these gifts, Acts viii. 15, 16, 17; that the Lord's Supper was administered to Christ's disciples, before the Holy Ghost in those gifts fell upon them, Matt. xxvi.; and that the church's censure requires no such gifts, Matt. xviii. Now therefore if the ordinances may be received without them, and they are not of the essence of the ministry; why should any man think that the ordinances of Jesus Christ do so hang upon these, that if these be wanting, the ordinances cannot be used or administered?

And as for the Lord's day, which is called the Lord's day, as the Lord's Supper is, because of the Lord's appointment and institution; who doth not see how the power of godliness hath grown and thriven under the droppings thereof? What nation or kingdom is there under all the heavens, where the power of godliness hath flourished more than in England? Why? Not excluding other reasons of God's grace and free love to us, but because the Lord's day hath lived more institution-wise in England, than in any other part of the world. And what gracious man is there in all this nation who may not rise up and say to this day, Blessed art thou amongst the days of the week: my soul doth, yea, and all generations shall call thee blessed.

The other Sermon (the eighth in this volume) is about Grace and Gifts; the excellency of grace and love above gifts; whereunto we shall do well that we take heed, for if our gifts do wax wanton, they will despise ordinances, and kick against grace itself, which they have the more cause to nourish, because they live plentifully under the roof of grace. Happy is the man whose gifts do cherish his graces, and whose graces do produce gifts: and as diversities of gifts should not make us disagree or envy one another, but rather bind us in love to one another; so extraordinary enjoyments should not draw us from ordinary means, VOL. IV.

K