Of Christian's tears,
Good men are apt to weep, 1. for sin ries of others.
We ought to weep, and yet to rejoice
God will wape away all tears,
God is a God of tender mercy,
Christians are not to be judged by appearance, and by their sufferings, .....
Christians have a mixed condition and a mixed disposition,
There was no sorrow in paradise, and shall be none in heaven
Sin is the greatest cause of sorrow, .
Mourning accepted fi-om them that cannot weep,
Then a Christian's tears are right, when, 1. they spring from the love of God ; 2. when we weep for our own sins ; 3 when they are secret ; 4. when they are refonning,
Of the rebukes and reproaches of God's people,
Christ and his members subject unto reproaches.
Wicked reproach the godly from the enmity of the seeds,
We must not be scandals to rehgion, nor scandaUsed at the re proaches of it, .
Christ will take away reproaches from his people ; and will vindicate them, . . ; . .
Directions how to carry ourselves under reproaches, 1. be patient ; 2. innocent ; 3. courageous ; 4. sincere ; 5. pray much to God ; 6. rejoice and glory in them,
Of the Holy Scriptures, — God is the author of them.
The Scriptures sole and supreme judge of controversies,
The Scriptures may be known to be God's word by, 1. the ma- jesty of them ; 2, their mysteriousness ; 3, from reason ; 4. from experience ; 5. from the witness of the Spirit ; 6. from their efficacy, (1.) in warning, (2.) changing, (3.) casting down, (4.) searching, (5.) and comforting the soul,
The Holy Scriptures are, and have been, preserved from cor ruption, . . .
We ought to hear the word as the word of God,
God will make good all his promises, if we beheve, .
We must pray for the Spirit that indited the Scriptures, that so we may relish them.
Of God's promises, and the performance of them,
God's promises are full and free, and spring from his bounty, and are our greatest treasure, ...
We ought to be ashamed of infidelity in God's promises,
It is sometimes long between the promise and performance, 1
to exercise our faith ; 2. to wean us from creatures ; 3. t(
endear the thing promised; 4. and to fit us for the enjoy
ment, ......
Of waiting upon God, ....
We have but a taste here of what we shall have hereafter,
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489
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CONTENTS.
Page
Waiting carries with it all other graces, 1. patience ; 2. long- suffering ; 3. contentment ; 4. silence from murmuring ; 5. watchfulness ; 6. faithfulness, .... 502
Want of waiting cause of much wickedness, . . . 502
All is overcome with waiting, .... 503, 504
God will perform his words to all true waiters, . . 504
God keeps the time of performance in his own hands, . 504
God fully performs his promises in heaven, . . . 505
The things hoped for uphold the heart in waiting, . . 506
God will have his people continue waiting, 1. that they may Uve by faith, and not by sight ; 2. when we are fitted for what is promised, we shall then enjoy it ; 3. God will have ns have the best at last, ..... 506—508
As there is a time of our waiting, so there will be a time of
God's performance, ..... 509
The present grace we have is an earnest of what we shall have, 510
Encouragements to wait upon God, 1. God's time is best, and it is set ; 2. God will effect the thing promised, though by contraries, ...... 510
What we should do when God hath performed promise, 1. be
thankful to the Lord ; 2. be joyful in the Lord, . . 511, 512
Interest in God is the cause of aU our joy, . . . 512-517
Notes, . . . . . . . 517, 518
PEEFATORT NOTE.
Having embraced in Volume I. the whole of the works of Sibbes published b}^ himself, together with related portions restored to their proper places (e. g., ' The Description of Christ,' and ' The Sword of the Wicked '), the present volume contains his larger Treatises from the Old Testament, together with lesser kindred ' Sermons,' which will be followed by his Commentaries on por- tions of the New Testament.
A, KG.
BOWELS OPENED,
BEING EXPOSITOEY SEEMONS ON CANT. IV. 16, V., TI.
VOL. n.
NOTE.
The expository sermons which compose the treatise, entitled, in the quaint phrase- ology of the age, ' Bowels Opened,' (no doubt derived from the Hebraic idea of the seat of the aflfections being in the ' bowels,' Cant. v. 4 ; and compare 1 John iii. 17) passed through thiee editions, as follows : —
(a) 1st edition, 4to, 1639.
(b) 2d edition, 4to, 1641. There is no intimation of its being a ' 2d edition ;' but it really was so. '~ The pagination is wholly different from a.