If it be so, let us every day pray that God would keep this thing
CHRISTIAN DUTY UNDER DIVINE WARNINGS. 405
in the imagination of the thoughts of our hearts; not only of our- selves, but of one another. Observe the phrase of the Holy Ghost : when you come to " the thoughts of the heart/' you think you can go no farther; but saith David, " I pray, O Lord, preserve this ' in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people;'" that is, " in the first internal framing of our thoughts." There must be a frame acting and coining thoughts (if I may so say) continually in us to this purpose. But I recommend this to you, — that if this be a truth, and we are convinced it is our duty to labour to affect our hearts with a sense of the unanswerableness of our souls, and the frame of our minds unto the will of God and the holiness of Christ, who is coming to visit his churches, — "What manner of persons ought we to be V Not such as we have been. We should labour for a deep sense of this, and I hope it may not be unsuitable unto you ; for if any of us have any corruption, temptation, or disorder in our spirits and ways to conflict withal, in vain, believe me, shall we contend against it, unless we lay this foundation.
I know one great means for the beginning and carrying on of this work, is by earnest crying unto God, — by prayers and supplications, and humiliations. I am loath to issue it there; I have seen so many days of humiliation without reformation, that I dare not issue it there: we shall make use of them as God shall help us. I desire the church would do so, if they find in themselves a sense of duty, and a heart crying to God in sincerity and truth. I have now been very long, though very unprofitable, in the ministration of the word ; and I have observed the beginning of churches, and wish I do not see the end of them in this their confidence of mere profession, and the observation of these duties of humiliation. God knows, I have thought often of this thing ; and I say I dare not issue it there. Let us have as many as we have hearts for, and no more ; and as many as shall end with reformation, but no more. But let us all begin among ourselves ; and who knows but that God may give wisdom to this church? I am ready to faint, and give over, and to beg of the church they would think of some other person to conduct them in my room, without these disadvantages. The last day will discover I have nothing but a heart to lead you in the ways of God, — to the enjoyment of God.
POSTHUMOUS SERMONS.
PART III.
SEBMONS PUBLISHED
M.DCC.LVI.
He bc:ns rteaci yet speiketh."— Hcb. xi- 4.
PREFATORY NOTE.
All the information needed in regard to the following thirteen Discourses is given in an advertisement prefixed to them when they were first published, in 1756. It is as follows : —
" To the Reader, — The following Discourses were preached by that truly vener- able divine in the last century, Dr John Owen: and, in order to be fully satisfied they are genuine, Mrs Cooke of Stoke Newington, by this means informs the reader that her pious grandfather, Sir John Hartopp, Bart., wrote them in short- hand from the Doctor's own mouth, and then took the pains to transcribe them into long-hand; as thinking them worthy of being transmitted down to posterity. It is from his manuscripts this collection is now made public."
With the exception of the fourth and fifth, which are given in connection with the third, as these three Discourses relate to the origin, qualifications, and duties of the Christian minister, the rest of the Discourses under this division appear in chronological order. The division thus contains two Sermons on " the Ever- lasting Covenant the Believer's Support under Distress;" three Sermons preached at the ordination of ministers; four on " the Excellency of Christ;" and four on " the Use and Advantage of Faith." — Ed.
POSTHUMOUS SERMONS.
SERMON I.1
THE EVERLASTING COVENANT, THE BELIEVER'S SUPFORT UNDER
DISTRESS.
"Although my house he not so with God; yet he hath made with mean everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow." — 2 Sam. xxiii. 5.
Before I open these words, I shall read the whole context, from the 1st verse unto the end of the 7th: " Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was," etc.
" Now these be the last words of David;" — not absolutely, for you will find, both in the book of Samuel and also in the book of Chro- nicles, that David spake many words after these: but these were the last prophetical words of David ; or this is the last prophecy of David. And he gives an account in this prophecy of all the faith and experience he had had in the world; and it comprises also the sum and substance of all he had prophesied of; — prophesied of as a king, the anointed of the God of Jacob; and prophesied of as a psalmist, as he was " The sweet psalmist of Israel/'