IN the history of faith the apostle passeth from Enoch to Noah. He is fitly subjoined as being the next person of eminency in the line of the church. Enoch was famous for walking with God, and so was Noah: Gen. vi. 9, 'Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generation; and Noah walked with God.' Enoch received a testimony that he pleased God, and so did Noah; he is said, 'to find grace in the eyes of the Lord,' Gen. vi. 8. And therefore Noah is the fittest instance that could be mentioned, next to Enoch, as being the inheritor and successor of his graces and privileges. Besides, the former verse spoke of the respects of faith to the rewards of religion, ver. 6, 'He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.' Therefore now the apostle would bring an instance of the respects of faith to the threatening and commination of the word - 'By faith Noah,' &c. The person then whose faith we are now to consider is Noah, the true Janus, with a double face, looking forward and backward; the last of the patriarchs of the old world, and the first of the new. In the commendation of his faith we may take notice of many circumstances -
1. The ground of his faith - Noah being warned of God.
2. The strength of it, intimated in the object - of things not seen as yet, or of things that by no means could be seen.
3. The consequents and the fruits of his faith, and they are four - (1.) He was moved with fear, or out of a religious respect to God (so the word signifies); (2.) He prepared an ark; (3.) He condemned the world; (4.) He became an heir of the righteousness which is by faith. I shall open each part in this order and method proposed.
But before I discuss the parts, let me premise somewhat. That we have not only to do with a private instance and example of faith, but such as is of public use and accommodation. God's dealing with Noah, and the world in his time, was a pledge and a type of his dealing with the world in all after ages. To amplify this -
[1.] It was a pledge, or a public evident testimony of future dispensations; this was a document God would give to the world. In the destruction of the old world he would show his displeasure against sin, and in the preservation of Noah the privileges of the godly.
(1.) The destruction of the old world was a pledge of his vengeance and recompense upon sinners in all ages. It is notable that in the book of Job, those that denied providence, that God took notice of human affairs, they are called to look upon this instance, the example of the old world: Job xxii. 15, 16, 'Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overthrown with a flood.' God's first dispensations were visible pledges and testimonies: his dispensation to Sodom was a pledge of hell-fire; and his drowning of the world, it being a more universal instance of his displeasure, was a pledge of the general judgment. Here we may read several things: the severity of his justice, the verity of his threatenings, and the greatness of his power and majesty. The severity of his justice: oh, what a dreadful instance was this of God's displeasure against sin and sinners! Luther saith, Moses vix sine lachrymis scripsit, et nos esse saxeos, si siccis oculis ista legere possumus - Moses could not write it without tears, and we have stony hearts if we can read it with dry eyes. The whole world perished in the deluge of water which sin vomited out; men, women, infants, beasts, and all things in the world perished. For forty days together nothing but rain, rain, rain; and the great deep opened its mouth, and sent forth floods. It would have melted a heart of stone to hear the cries and shrieks of parents, women, and children. God now had rained 'a horrible tempest' upon sinners, Ps. xi. 6; the whole world was become now as one great river, and all things in the world were now afloat. Again, we have a pledge of the verity of the threatenings, what would come of their carnal course. The foolish world thought this was but a dream of the good old man, but see how the Lord made good Noah's word. It is said, Hos. vii. 12, 'I will chastise them as their congregation hath heard.' God would have us mark not only his justice, but his truth in all his dispensations; he will not only chastise them as they had deserved, but as their congregation had heard. There is a double conviction, and such as may keep the soul in more awe and obedience. And then it is an evidence of the power and majesty of God, that he cannot want instruments of vengeance; fire and water are at his beck and command. He that punished the old world with water to quench their heat of lusts, can punish the new world with fire because of the coldness of love that shall be in the latter days. Whenever the Lord will dissolve the confederacies of nature, what can poor creatures do? Oh, let us regard the power and majesty of God, and the rather because we are kept by a continual miracle: the water is above the earth, as may be proved by undoubted arguments, and the whole world would become but as one great pool were it not for the restraint of providence.
(2.) The preservation of Noah was a pledge of God's mercy in the preservation of his people. In general and common judgments God can make a distinction. In the primitive times the christians were troubled how God should punish those seducers by whom religion was scandalised and yet save the godly; and what doth the apostle say to this? 2 Peter ii. 9, 'The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and reserve the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished.' The Lord knows he is versed in the art, it hath been his practice for many thousands of years; and there he brings the instance of Lot, how he was delivered out of Sodom, ver. 7; how the good angels were preserved when the bad were tumbled down into the place of darkness, ver. 4; and he brings the instance of the old world, how God could rescue Noah, and avenge the disobedience of the old world, ver. 5. Especially this is a pledge of the different recompenses that shall be made at the last day, when all the ungodly world shall perish, but the elect shall be taken into glory. You shall see vengeance executed upon the ungodly. Christ will have it done not only in his own sight: Luke xix. 27, 'Those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me,' - Christ will see execution done himself in his own person; but it shall be done in the sight of the godly. The wicked are first punished in the sight of the godly, before the godly are taken into glory: Mat. xxv. 46, 'These shall go away into everlasting punishment,' and then 'the righteous into life eternal.' You shall first see the wicked have their doom, then you shall receive your privilege. Thus you see it was a pledge of God's general dispensations both to the godly and the wicked.
[2.] It was a type, too; for all things happened to the fathers by way of type and symbol, and so did this.
(1.) There is a great similitude between the day of judgment and the drowning of the world in several cases. It is good, I know, to be wary in allegories, yet we find in scripture the flood is mystically applied. There is a resemblance between the destruction of the old world, and the day of judgment when Christ shall come in glory. And that is the reason why the days of Noah and the day of the general judgment are often compared together; the flood was to them as the general judgment is to us: 2 Peter iii. 6, 'Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished;' so Mat. xxiv. 37 - 39, 'As in the days of Noah they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the Son of man be;' and in Luke xvii. 26, 27, the like comparison is made. The comparison holds true in several cases. Those that lived in Noah's time a little before the flood, were extremely secure; their ears were sealed up with their bellies, they nourished their heart with pleasure; they ate and they drank, they married, they gave in marriage; as if they had said, Come let us eat, drink, and enjoy the pleasures of the flesh while we may; if this scrupulous fellow's words be true, we shall surely die; they looked upon him as an old doting man that dreamed of destruction. Just such kind of men shall there be at the last day, men of a secure luxury, that shall scoff at the ministers of the gospel when they press strictness and holiness, and propound the threatenings of God. It is said of the men in Noah's time: Mat. xxiv. 39, 'They knew not till the flood came, and took them all away.' They knew it well enough; Noah gave them warning; but they took no notice of any such threatenings; they behaved themselves as if they had known no such matter, though they knew there was such a thing threatened. The scripture measures our thoughts by our practice. So carnal men, the day of the Lord comes upon them, and they know not till the judgment takes them away; they do not believe in the great day of. accounts, for they live as if there were no such day when they securely give themselves up to secular business, and neglect their poor souls. And look, as it was with sinners at the coming of the flood, so will it be with those carnal wretches at the judgment day; when the great deep had opened its mouth, and all the world was like a deep river swiftly flowing, the waters prevailed and increased greatly. They that did not fear before, how did they run to and fro - from the lower rooms to the higher, from the floors to the tops of the houses, from the houses to the trees, from the valleys to the hills, and yet still the waters increased upon them. Some possibly might swim towards the ark, and desire that refuge which before they despised; but still the waters prevailed over them, and so they were drowned. Such will be the consternation of the wicked in the great day. The hypocrites in Zion shall be afraid, and they shall cry, Who shall hide us? and, Where shall we go from the wrath of the Lamb: Rev. vi. 15 - 17, 'And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?' Then they shall cry out, Oh, that I had accepted Christ, and that I had gotten into the ark! All the wolves shall tremble then at the presence of the glorious Lamb, when he shall come in majesty and power.
(2.) In the preservation of Noah and his family there was a type. Noah and those that were of his household were under the oath and covenant that they should be safe: Gen. vi. 18, 'With thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.' God had passed his word. God made two covenants with Noah: one when he went into the ark, that he should be safe; and another, when he came out of the ark, that the waters should no more return: Gen. viii. 21, 'I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake,' &c. This may be spiritually applied of God's oath to believers as soon as they close with Christ. See how the Spirit of the Lord applies it: Isa. liv. 9, 'As I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee;' it is an allusion to the later covenant. God invites us by his promise and covenant to come to Christ, and we shall have security there; then he plighteth his oath that a deluge of wrath shall never return more; they shall be safe for the present, and happy hereafter. Again, as there was no safety but in the ark, the only means of salvation was the ark, and then the ark must not only be looked upon, but entered into; so there is no safety but in Jesus Christ; and it is not enough to know Christ, and to have a naked contemplation of his sufficiency to save sinners, but our safety by Christ is by virtue of our union with him: Rom. viii. 1, 'There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.' As they that were in the ark were safe, so those that are in Christ, united to him, are secured. Again, look upon the ark as an instituted means, which preserved them in the midst of the deluge. God, by his absolute power, could have preserved Noah upon the waters or in the waters as well as in the ark, as he saved the fishes in the water; yet he is pleased to prescribe some probable and likely means of safety, and the means prescribed must be used. So if we would be saved, we must use the means of salvation, however derided, as baptism and the word. For the word: 1 Cor. i. 21, 'It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.' Though the world opposeth and despiseth it, yet this is the way and means. So also for baptism, for so the apostle applies it, 1 Peter iii. 20, 21, 'Which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us.' Look, as those eight souls that were in the ark were saved, the ark being borne up by the water; so God hath appointed the water of baptism, and other means, to be the means of our salvation. Again, the carpenters that made the ark had no entertainment in the ark; for they wrought as Noah's workmen for their hire, not as the servants of providence for the ends of God. And so there may be some men that are employed and minister in holy things, that may build up an ark wherein others may enter and be safe, but after preaching to others themselves may be cast away, as the apostle seems to imply, 1 Cor. ix. 27, 'Lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.'
Now I come to the words themselves - 'By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not yet seen, moved with fear, prepared an ark,' &c.
First, I shall take notice of the ground of his faith - 'He was warned of God.' In the original it is chrèmatistheis, warned by an oracle; the word is proper to those dispensations which God used in the primitive times in the planting of the church. It is said of the wise men chrèmatisthentes kat' onar, Mat. ii. 12, 'Being warned of God in a dream;' so of St Paul, Acts x. 22, echrèmatisthè hup' angelou hagiou, 'Being warned from God by a holy angel.' Now in this warning of God I shall observe several things.
First, I observe God's condescension, in that he would be pleased to give warning. He acquainted Noah with his purpose that he might acquaint the world. Oh, what a slow progress doth God make in his judgments! Though the pace of mercy be swift and earnest, yet judgment walketh with leaden feet. When God comes to refresh a sinner, he comes 'skipping over the mountains,' Cant. ii. 8, as if he never could be soon enough. And the father 'ran to meet his son,' Luke xv. 20. But yet now in the progress of his judgments God's motion is slow, and he comes on by degrees. The apostle takes notice of this, 2 Peter iii. 20, 'The long-suffering of God waited as in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing,' God waited long, and Noah gives warning; there were one hundred and twenty years respite for repentance, and all the while Noah is building the ark, and he is preaching of righteousness to the ungodly, to see if he could move them to repentance. Nay, when the time was expired, God allows seven days more, Gen. vii. 4; and when those seven days were expired, the heavens did not pour out of a sudden, but the rain was increasing till it came to the height - forty days and forty nights. When God would discover his goodness and power, he did it in a small time; he perfectly made the world in six days: but now, to show his pity and patience when he would destroy the world, he allows forty days, to see if any of them would then repent; though they were drowned, yet they might be saved eternally hereafter. Thus still is God wont to give his people warning of their approaching dangers. Judgment seldom takes the world by surprise; but first there is notice given. It was the law of arms which God established among the Israelites; when they came before any city to assault it, they were first to offer terms of peace Deut. xx. 10, 'When thou comest nigh unto any city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it;' so still the Lord observes the same course. God first summons a parley, and would fain capitulate with sinners; gives warning of his purpose, that they might prevent their ruin by repentance: Jer. xviii. 11, 'Behold I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you; return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.' God would fain be prevented, Behold, I tell you what I am doing; if you be wise, repent. If God threatens, it is that he may not punish; and when he punisheth, it is that he may not punish for ever. God is still giving warning. But you will say, How doth he give warning now oracles are ceased? Why, by the threatenings of the word; and this should be as forcible a warning as if the Lord had given you a solemn prediction. Certainly, there is a great deal of keenness in Elisha's sword: 1 Kings xix. 17, 'Those that escape from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.' The prophets, they have a sword: Hos vi. 5, 'I have hewed them by the prophets: I have slain them by the words of my mouth.' It is true, we do not speak by oracle, and so sensible an inspiration as the old prophets did; but when the practice is threatened in scripture, and condemned by the word, it is as much as if we had a particular oracle: the constitutions of heaven will not be violated.
To apply this hint.
Use 1. Take notice of the rich mercy and patience of God, and aggravate it by his great hatred of sin. Though God hates sin exceedingly, yet how long doth he bear with sinners? how long doth he protract his wrath? and how many courses doth he take to reclaim you from the evil of your ways? You may sooner reconcile fire and water than God and sin: Ps. 1. 21, 'These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.' He is no favourer of your sins, but only gracious. Under the law, the mercy-seat was the cover of the ark; and there was the book of the law, where all God's curses were kept, that was put into the ark: Exod. xxv. 21, 'And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee,' - to show that mercy hath the moderation of all threatenings; and therefore is it that we are not consumed. Mercy suspends the execution of his just revenge: we wrest destruction out of God's hands, judgment is called his strange work.
Use 2. Again, whenever you are warned of the evil of your ways, lay it to heart. We cannot determine the actual events; God hath put times and seasons in his own hands. We may show you the merits of the fact, a storm in the black cloud, and then you should tremble; and therefore do not think slightly of reproof and threatening. When Lot told them of the wrath of God against Sodom, 'He seemed to his sons-in-law as one that mocked,' Gen. xix. 14; so men think we work ourselves into a passion and rage. But when warning is neglected, wrath is exasperated. This will be your great torment in hell, to think you were warned of the evil of your courses, and you would not regard it. Look, as Reuben said to his brethren, Gen. xlii. 22, 'Did not I warn you to do nothing against the child?' So will the Lord say when you are under torment, Did not I warn you? Your own heart will return upon you, as the heart of him that dreamt he was boiling in a kettle of scalding lead, and his heart cried to him, It is I that have been the cause of all this; so your hearts, when in torment, will upbraid you with the frequent warnings you have had.
Secondly, I observe again, that this warning was immediately made to Noah, who was a prophet and a righteous man, and by him it was delivered to the world at second-hand. God usually revealed himself to holy and righteous persons; they are his familiars, and you know it is a part of friendship to communicate secrets; and therefore the Lord will communicate his secret to them that fear him: Ps. xxv. 14, 'The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant;' Gen. xviii. 17, 'Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do?' God looks upon it as a violation of friendship to Abraham to conceal this matter from him; and so to his prophets, as it is expressly said: Amos iii. 7, 'Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets,' God's messengers are as his heralds, to offer terms of peace, and to proclaim war to the world; and he gives them commission to go of his errand. It is true there is no necessity laid upon God that he should do it always; but this is the course which he usually takes, and this was the way he often used in the old testament, oftener than in the new. What should be the reason of this? not because his grace is straitened: it is more enlarged in the gospel, for the defect of prophecy is recompensed by the clearness of saving truths. God opened his mind to them about particular events and successes, because evangelical truths were not so open and clear as they now are, and the eternal recompenses were more darkly delivered to the patriarchs. But now, God having opened his good treasure to us, we have higher arguments of piety, a larger measure of gifts, clearer discerning and understanding of the truths of the word, therefore prophecy ceaseth. Yet now, in the times of the gospel, he doth not altogether fail his people; for though they can have no certain knowledge of future contingencies, yet he begets some strong instinct in the mind of his children, puts it into their hearts to avoid this and avoid that: we have no infallibility of the event, yet we may discern much of the providence of God.
To apply this hint.
Use 1. When the generality of holy men are apprehensive of judgments, it is a sad omen; when they have ill thoughts of the times, it is a sad presage. When the prophet was making up his stuff, it was a prognostic of ruin to Jerusalem, Ezek. xii. 3 - 7. When you see them ready to depart, it is a sad thing, for God is wont to communicate his secret to them that fear him. Then again -
Use 2. It presseth us, if we would know the secret of the Lord, be holy. Grace opens the eyes, and a man discerns things more clearly. A holy man hath a greater insight into truth than a carnal man, for lusts are the clouds of the mind. He that is encumbered with lusts is blind: 2 Peter i. 9, 'He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off.' Grace will be an advantage to you in point of knowledge.
Thirdly, I observe, in Noah being warned by God that this warning was by oracle and special revelation; from whence I note that revelation is the ground of faith; for faith relates to some divine testimony. What we know by reason is knowledge or opinion, but not faith, which supposes a revelation and a testimony. Now divine revelations can only be the object of faith, because they are certain infallible truths, and cannot deceive us, and such whereunto men absolutely give credit. But you will say What revelations have we now oracles are ceased? I answer, It is true, these are God's ancient ways. Of old time, God spake - polumeroos kai polutropoos - ' at sundry times and in divers manners' to his people, Heb. i. 1. Sometimes he spake to them by voice, sometimes by vision, sometimes by dream, sometimes by miraculous inspiration, or by urim and thummim, or by a sign from heaven, or by an angel; now God speaks to us by his Son. God's mind is fully revealed and disposed into a settled course. Enthusiasts may delude themselves with their own imaginations. Christians now have but two revelations; the one is ancient, and the other is new, and happens every day: there is the light of the word and the light of the Spirit.
1. The light of the word; this is our oracle, arid therefore it is called, 'The oracles of God,' Rom. iii. 2. This is our urim and thummim, God tries us by that; the standing rule of justice is settled in the word, and this is more sure and less liable to deceit than an oracle, voice, or angel; for the devil may transform himself into an angel of light. Saith the apostle: 2 Peter i. 19, 'We have a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well to take heed, as unto a light shining in a: dark place' - more sure than what? He speaks of the voice upon the holy mount, the voice that came from the excellent glory, that said, 'This is my well-beloved Son,' Mat. xvii. 5. Oracles and voices as to us are more liable to deceit. The apostle doth not say, We have a more true word, but a more sure word. The oracle was true, because it came from God; but a standing rule is not so liable to deceit and mistake as a transient voice.
2. We have the light of the Spirit in our hearts, by which our understandings are opened; we cannot be able to understand the word without this inward revelation of the Spirit. 'When we are reading and hearing the word, we cannot discern it with any favour, till the Spirit opens our eyes. As Christ, when he came to his disciples - first he opened the scripture, then he opened their understandings, Luke xxiv. 44, 45. And it is the Spirit that gives us a constant revelation, that reveals the secrets of God to us - all his purposes of grace concerning our souls: Rom. viii. 15, 'Ye have not received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.' The Spirit of God, by inward suggestions, tells us God is our Father. By this voice God saith, I am thy salvation, as David prays, Ps. xxxv. 3, 'Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.' It is the Spirit that comes and reveals to us when it is a fit season to come and call upon God; and when the arms of mercy are ready and open to receive us; and what are the answers of our prayers? 1 John v. 6, 'It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.'
Use, Learn hence whereon to bottom faith - upon the word of God. Let us be contented with this dispensation. Foolish creatures would give laws to heaven, and we would indent with God upon our own terms and conditions. Look, as the devil comes and indents with Christ Mat. iv. 3, 'If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread;' he would have him do a miracle, else he would not believe him. And the Jews would indent with Christ: Mat. xxvii. 40, 'If thou be Christ, come down from the cross and we will believe.' So carnal men indent with God. We think if God did speak by miraculous inspiration, then things would not be so doubtful. Oh, let us be contented with our light! the Lord hath stated our salvation in an excellent way. Chrysostom saith, The saints do never complain of the darkness of the word, but of the darkness of their own heart: Ps. cxix. 18, 'Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things. out of thy law:' David doth not say, Lord make a plainer law; but, Lord, open mine eyes. If things be dark to you, do not accuse the' scriptures, as if they were an uncertain rule, but desire the Lord to open your eyes that you may look into them. We would have Christ. speak to us from heaven, as he did to Paul. Men that neglect ordinances require miracles; they would have all things decided by voice, oracles, and miracles, because they would save the pains of study, prayer, and discourse. If men were not drowned in lusts and pleasures, all would be clear. When the church was destitute of outward helps, God used the way of miracles and oracles; but that dispensation is not continued, because we have a better way: providence, the Spirit, and the word, take them all together, do exceedingly open the mind of God to us. We have the advantage of the revelations and miracles of former ages, and we have a supply by ordinary and standing means. Instead of new miracles, we have the testimony of the church, who hath had experience of the power and force of the word for many ages, and invites us to believe. Observe, every age of the church hath sufficient means so proportioned to the diversity of times that no age could have better than the present; but we affect the extraordinary signs and revelations of former generations. In this case, it is all as God will; and God's wisdom knows what is best for us. When miracles were most rife, they were not exercised at the will of man. The apostle saith: Heb. ii. 4, 'God bearing them witness with signs and wonders, and diverse miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will;' it was not as the apostles would. The Lord is a wise God, and he knows what dispensation is fit for every age. There are a great many reasons why God should use the way of miracle and oracle then; as that there might be some external motive to draw the world to hearken to the doctrine of the gospel. The apostles' work was to lay the canon and foundation, but we do but explain it. Saith St Paul, 1 Cor. iii. 10, 'As a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereupon.' We only explain what the apostles had laid down; our duty is only to build upon the apostles' foundation. Now we know explication and inference need the confirmation of reason and discourse rather than of miracle. It is true, for the apostles' part of their work was to explain the old testament; but that was somewhat obscure, and that was not acknowledged of all nations, only received among the Jews; therefore there was need of miracle to make their interpretation authentic, and that they might lay a clear foundation of faith for all nations; and besides, the church then was not armed with magistracy, and therefore much of the coercive discipline which God then used was by miracle. Ananias was struck dead with a miracle: Acts v. 5, 'And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost.' But now, when magistrates should be nursing-fathers, the dispensation ceaseth. Besides, this should be a consideration to content us. Those that had miracles were not merely converted by the miracle, but by the hearing of the word; the miracle was only the occasion, not the cause of conversion. The bells may call the people together to hear the word, but the word converts. Miracles were as bells to draw the heart to hearken to the doctrine of Christ. The fowler's pipe may allure the birds, but they are caught by the net. Let it suffice, then, that you have the word of God confirmed by miracle, sealed by the blood of so many martyrs, manifested to your consciences by such divine force. All the miracles we have now are either inward and spiritual; they are miracles of grace in changing the heart. The children of God have testimony enough within themselves; they feel the force and power of the word upon their consciences: John viii. 32, 'You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.' When the word doth help to disentangle us from lust, we cannot have a more clear revelation and warrant from God concerning the truth of it: John xvii. 17, 'Sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is truth.' When God sanctifies the heart by the word, then we know it is truth, or else outward miracles; God's wonderful providence in maintaining the church by suffering and martyrdom, not by the power of an outward sword. This is the finger of God: Neh. vi. 16, 'It came to pass, when all our enemies heard thereof, they were much cast down in their own eyes; for they perceived that the work was wrought by our God.' These are the miracles and oracles we are to expect.
Here is an objection. It is said: Acts ii. 17, 'It shall come to pass, that in the last days I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams,' &c; so that it seems God would still continue the dispensation in the last days, that he will give us visions, dreams, and oracles again.
I answer, These are but figurative expressions, to signify the gifts. of the Holy Ghost, which we receive by virtue of Christ's ascension, abundance of knowledge, faith, and holiness, for mark, the words are quoted out of a prophet. Now the prophet speaks according to the dispensation of his own age, or else how should he be understood by the men of his time. Dreams and visions were the ordinary means whereby God then revealed himself to his prophets, and therefore the prophet useth words calculated to the Jewish dispensation. In the prophetical writings, whenever they spake of the worship in the new testament, they used words suited to the then present worship; as altars, sacrifices, incense, and the like, which are words proper to the legal rites; so when they speak of the gifts of the new testament, then they use the words - prophecy, vision, and dreams. All the meaning is, God in the latter days would give them abundance of light and knowledge, for, take the words literally, they were not made good in the case to which he applyeth the prophecy. The apostle applies it to take off the reproach of the people that said they were filled with new wine. Now they could not be said then to see visions and dream dreams; but the words set out the excellent gifts of the Spirit in the new testament. But if you would more particularly know why the Spirit of God should use these words of prophecy, visions, and dreams; that sons and daughters should prophesy, &c., I answer then, By prophecy you may understand the gifts of illumination; by vision, gifts of consolation; and by dreams, the gifts of sanctification.
1. By prophecy, the gifts of illumination, or a clear understanding of God's will in Christ, which should be in the new testament above the old testament - 'Your sons and daughters shall prophesy;' that is, the little boy and girl shall be able to understand the mysteries of salvation in scripture; they need not run to the prophet for the meaning of such a ceremony and rite.
2. Then by vision understand a more intimate apprehension of the truth, or a manifestation of things to the conscience, gifts of consolation. We have a kind of vision here, when we have a lively sense of divine grace: here we see as in a glass; hereafter we shall see face to face.
3. Then by dreams you may understand the more inward instincts and motions of the Holy Ghost, by which the soul, being severed from worldly desires and objects, is raised to the contemplation of heaven and spiritual things; as dreams are the thoughts and commotions of the soul, which are framed when the outward senses are shut up. When a man neither seeth, heareth, smelleth, toucheth, nor tasteth, then the soul worketh on things at the greatest distance; so, possibly, it signifies those spiritual instincts, those sanctifying motions, by which the soul is raised up to the contemplation of heavenly mysteries: then there is such a distribution of the persons to amplify the clause that went before - 'I will pour my Spirit upon all flesh.' 'Old men,' to show that no condition is excluded from the communion of the Spirit, your 'sons and daughters,' that is, your children, they shall have their memory sanctified to retain prophecy; your 'young men' shall have visions, their consciences sanctified, to feel the force of what is in their heads; and your 'old men' shall dream dreams; they who are deadened to the world shall have their affections raised to heaven, and God will clearly manifest himself to them.
Hebrews
contents
Home | Writings | Links