left such an Instinct and Inclination upon her which doth sufficiently excite her to do it 2. The near Preparation is called Promptitude and Readiness for every good Work or a ready Obedience to every good Work Tit. 3. 1. So 1 Tim. 6. 18. Ready to distribute Heb. 13. 16. Ready to communicate So Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 21. 13. This is beyond Inclination The Fire hath an Inclination to ascend upwards yet something may violently keep it down so a Christian may have a Will to Good a strong not a remiss Will but yet there are some Impediments Rom. 7. 18. Inclination implieth a remote Power but Readiness the next and immediate Power therefore a Christian ought to keep himself in a readiness or fitness of Disposition for his Duty whether it concerneth God our selves or others This is seen in Zeal that beareth down all Impediments All Graces are operative and Zeal is that earnest Impulsion and Activity of every Grace where it is in strength and vigour Faith worketh Gal. 5. 6. Love constraineth 2 Cor. 5. 14. Hope quickneth 1 Pet. 1. 3. A lively Hope This proceedeth from the new Nature when it is in right Frame and Strength We need not only make Conscience of our Duty or have some mind to it but our Hearts will not let us have any Quiet and Rest without it 2 Pet. 1. 8. They make you that you shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledg of our Lord Iesus Christ. Christians must be zealous of good Works Tit. 2. 14. Paul was pressed in Spirit Acts 17. 10. Acts 18. 5. The Benefits that come by it are 1. We do good Works more easily as being inclined thereunto Exod. 35. 29. The Children of Israel brought a willing Offering unto the Lord. Psal. 110. 3. Thy People shall be willing in the Day of thy Power There is a great deal of Difference between doing things by Compulsion and doing things from an Inclination between Israel's making Brick in Egypt and building the Wall in Nehemiah's Time Neh. 4. 6. 2. With more Delight and Alacrity 1 Iohn 5. 3. His Commandments are not grievous Psal. 112. 1. Blessed is the Man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandments It is a Pleasure to them to do a good Work to others a Toil. 3. With Constancy That which is forced lasts not long Upon the first occasion we break out cast off the Burden which pincheth and galleth us A Man is never constant to his Duty till he be held to it by his Heart and the Byass of the Heart is not Fear but Love You cannot easily perswade him against his Love and Inclination though you may overcome his Fears Cant. 8. 6 7. Set me as a Seal upon thine Arm for Love is strong as Death Iealousy is cruel as the Grave Many Waters cannot quench Love neither can the Floods drown it If a Man would give all the Substance of his House for Love it would utterly be contemned The Uses are 1. For Reproof of many professing Christians who are not more prepared for the Lord and made ready for every good Work Alas some are to every good Work reprobate Tit. 1. 16. unfit for any Christian Practice In others all their Holiness standeth in being less vitious or wicked than others If they avoid the greater Crimes though they freely practise the less they are accounted good Men. Some talk but do nothing like Cypress-Trees tall and beautiful but unfruitful or the Carbuncle afar off seeming all on fire but the Touch discovers it to be key-cold their Zeal is more in their Tongues than their Actions Others are very unready arguing for a Mediocrity disputing every inch with God beating down the price of Religion as low as they can as little Worship and Charity as may be and will do no more than needeth and it is well if they do that True Goodness like live-Honey droppeth of its own accord 2 Cor. 8. 2. and is always desirous to do more for God Psal. 71. 14. I will praise thee more and more Phil. 1. 9. I pray that your Love may abound yet more and more in Knowledg and in all Iudgment 1 Thess. 4. 1. Furthermore we exhort you Brethren That as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more But little of this Temper is to be found 2d Use of Information First Observe the Deduction of good Works from their proper Causes viz. The Will of God requiring our Regeneration fitting the one determineth our Duty the other maketh us ready to perform it While carnal that which we do is but the Image of a good Work not really and spiritually good 2dly The Necessity of good Works 1. Necessitate Consequentis as the Fruit and End of Regeneration All things are valued by their use What doth the new Creature serve for but that we may walk in newness of Life otherwise it is but a Notion It is not given us to lie hid in the Heart as a sluggish idle quality but that we may act by it and improve it for God The Lord made no Creature in vain Inded all that we have from God both in Nature and Grace was that we might be fruitful in Holiness In Nature we have Life Health and Parts for nothing else but that by our present Duty we may prepare our selves for everlasting Joys All God's Mercies bind us to Diligence all his Ordinances are Means to help us all his Graces are Power to enable us and there is over and above the holy Spirit to excite and quicken that Power Ioh. 4. 10. Ezek. 36. 27. 2. Necessitate Praecepti God hath required them at our hands Now we must make Conscience of what God hath required especially when all his Commandments are holy just and good If some greater thing were required ought we not to have done it 2 Kin. 5. 13. But when he hath required such noble Work shall we refuse There is nothing in his Law but what becometh his Nature preserveth and makes happy ours 3. Necessitate Medii as the Way to Heaven Good Works are indispensibly required of grown Persons if they mean to be saved Heb. 12. 14. Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see God A Christian shall be judged at the last day by what he hath done Rev. 20. 12. I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which was the Book of Life and the Dead were judged out of those things that were written in the Books according to their Works 1 Pet. 1. 17. If ye call on the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth every Man according to his Work Profession will not carry it but our Works come into the Judgment So Rev. 14. 13. Their Works follow them that is They have the Fruit and Comfort of them in another World and without them we cannot be
God for the clear and open Discovery of this Truth and free Offer of Grace by Jesus Christ. The 2d Use is to quicken us to put in for a Share in this blessed Priviledge I have spent my time in presenting to you what a blessed thing it is to have our Sins pardoned Christians A Man that flows in Wealth and Honour till he be pardoned is not a happy Man A Man that lives afflicted contemned not taken notice of in the World if he be a pardoned Sinner O the Blessedness of that Man They are not happy that have least Trouble but they that have least Cause not they that have a benummed Conscience but they that have a Conscience sound established and setled in the Grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and bottom'd upon his holy Covenant and that Peace and Grace he offers to us this is the happy Man By these and such like Arguments I would have you put in for a Share of this Priviledge But what must be required I would fain send you away with some Directions Let me intreat you if this be such a blessed thing to make it your daily your earnest your hearty Prayer to God that your Sins may be pardoned Mat. 6. 12. Our Lord hath taught us to pray for we make but too much work for pardoning Mercy every day Every day forgive us our Trespasses To day in one of the Petitions is common to all that follow as we beg daily Bread we must beg daily Pardon daily Grace against Temptations Under the Law they had a Lamb every Morning and every Evening offered to God for a daily Sacrifice Numb 28. 4 5 6. We are all invited to look to the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World Surely we have as much need as they more Cause than they because now all is clear and openly made known unto us God came to Adam in the cool of the Day he would not let him sleep in his Sins before Night came he comes and rouseth his Conscience and then gives out the Promise of the Seed of the Woman that should break the Serpent's Head In Reconciliation with God let not the Sun go down upon God's Wrath Eph. 4. 26. A Man should not sleep in his Anger nor out of Charity with Man surely we should make our Peace with God every day If a Man under the Law had contracted any Uncleanness he was to wash his Cloaths before Evening that he might notly a Night in his Uncleanness We should daily earnestly come to God with this Request Lord pardon our Sins But what must those that are already adopted into God's Family and taken into his Grace and Favour daily pray for Pardon of Sin Though upon our first Faith our State be changed and we are indeed made Children of God and Heirs of Eternal Life by Faith in Christ Jesus yet he that is clean need wash his Feet We contract a great deal of sinful defilement and pollution by walking up and down here in a dirty World and we must every day be cleansing our Consciences before God and begging that we may be made Partakers of this Benefit The Lord may for our unthankfulness our negligence our stupid security revive the memory of old Sins and make us look into the Debt-book that hath been cancelled with horrour and make us possess the Sins of our Youth An old Bruise is felt upon every Change of Weather When we prove unthankful and careless and stupid and negligent and do not keep our watch the Lord may suffer these things to return upon our Consciences with great amazement Guilt raked out of its Grave is more frightful than a Ghost or one risen from the dead Few Believers have upon right terms the Assurance of their own Sincerity and though God may blot Sins out of the Book of his Remembrance yet he will not blot them out of our Consciences The Worm of Conscience is killed still by the Application of the Blood of Christ and the Spirit This short Exhortation I would give you the other would take up too much time SERMON II. PSAL. 32. 1 2. Blessed is he whose Transgression is forgiven whose Sin is covered Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity and in whose Spirit there is no Guile IN this Text I observed That it is a great degree and step towards yea a considerable part of our Blessedness to obtain pardon of our Sins upon the account of Christ's Righteousness I shewed the necessity which lies upon Men who are all become guilty before God to look after this Pardon And thereupon took occasion to represent the Excellency of the Christian Religion that hath provided a Salve for the great Sore that runs upon all Mankind above that of the Pagans and also that of the Jews to whom this Mystery was but darkly revealed To proceed to another use To exhort you to put in for a share in this Blessedness To perswade you to it let me use a few Motives 1. Till you are pardoned you are never blessed there is an obstacle and impediment in the way hinders your Blessedness What though you flow in Wealth Ease and Plenty yet as long as this black Storm hangs over your head and you know not how soon it will drop upon you you cannot be accounted happy Men. Do you account him an happy Man who is condemned to die because he hath a plentifull allowance till his Execution Or him an happy Man that makes a fair shew abroad and puts a good face upon his ruinous and breaking Condition but at home is pinch'd with want and misery which is ready to come upon him like an Armed-Man Or him an happy Man that revels it out in all manner of pleasure but is to die at night Then those that remain in the guilt of their Sins may be happy But now on the other side a pardoned Sinner is blessed whatever befals him If he be afflicted the sting of his Affliction is gone that is Sin If he be prosperous the curse of his Blessings is taken away the Wrath of God is appeased and so every Condition is made tolerable or comfortable to him 2. Nothing less than a Pardon will serve the turn Not Forbearance on God's side nor Forgetfulness on ours 1. It is not a Forbearance of the Punishment on God's part but a dissolving the Obligation to the Punishment God may be angry with us when he doth not actually strike us As the Psalmist says Psal. 7. 11 12 13. God is angry with the Wicked every day If he turn not he will whet his Sword he hath bent his Bow and made it ready He hath also prepared for him the Instruments of Death he ordaineth his Arrows against the Persecutors In the day of his Patience he doth for a while spare but God is ready to deal with them hand to hand for he is sharpning his Sword at a distance he is bending his Bow the Arrow is
Use of it for the time As though he did not destroy the property of the Fire yet he suspended the burning when the three Children were in the Furnace So of a sudden can he blast our Strength Psal. 26. 5 6. The Stout-hearted are spoiled they have slept their Sleep none of the Men of Might have found their Hands at thy Rebuke the Chariot and Horses are cast into a dead Sleep Whatsoever Strength Courage Wit or any other Point of Perfection any Man hath God who gave it can take it away when he pleaseth or suspend the Use of it All this God can do with a Rebuke with a Word of his Mouth Now as the Strong cannot find their Hands so the Wise cannot find their Hearts Iob 5. 14. They meet with Darkness in the Day-time and grope in the Noon-day as in the Night Who were these The Wise and the Crafty whom he speaketh of in the foregoing Verses In the clearest Cases they are to seek and so their well contrived Plots come to nothing There is a Blast and Plague upon their Judgments so that they do involve and confound themselves and what by self-conceit and froward self-will they drive on their Designs so precipitantly and furiously that they must needs miscarry They do not seem to have the Judgment of ordinary Men. Thus though Men be endowed with good Gifts and Qualities both of Wisdom and Strength God can easily take away their Power and Will to use them 2. From without By casting in some casual Event which we foresaw not and could not think of Man cannot foresee all the Wheels which move in a Business if he did he is not able to turn them So that besides taking away his Wisdom Courage and Strength when the Work is to be done God puts some Impediment in his way which was unexpected There are certain sudden Accidents which none can foresee and prevent any of them able to turn the Enterprize another way The most casual fortuitous things are ordered by God for the great Ends of his Providence As for Instance Haman travailed with a Design to cut off all the People of the Iews but his chief Spite was against Mordecai Now by chance the King could not sleep that Night and calleth for the Book of Memorials Esth. 6. 1. and found the Discovery of a Treason by Mordecai there recorded which spoiled all the deep Plots of Haman against the Iews Ahab intended to avenge himself upon Micaiah and to escape in the Battel changed his Robes and Royal Apparel and counselled Iehoshaphat to put on his And a Man drew a Bow at a Venture 1 Kin. 22. 34. God directed the Arrow to the Heart of the King of Israel Iehoshaphat escapeth and he is slain So that notable Instance the Sun-shine upon the Water 2 Kin. 3. 22 23 24. When the Moabites came to distress Iehoshaphat when they cried Moab to the Spoil it was indeed Moab to a sore Destruction Now these and many such like Instances teach us That the most casual and fortuitous things do certainly and infallibly fall out by God's Providence and Heavenly Government And again That there is some Occurrence which Providence casteth in by the way to disappoint the most likely Means and whatever Gifts and Qualities Men are endowed withal yet Events are not in their Power but depend on the free Concurrence of God I speak nothing now of the Influence of Angels upon Human Affairs whom God maketh use of in the Government of the World III. The most able Instruments do often provoke God to disappoint them whilst their Abilities of Counsel and Strength are a Means of hardening their Hearts in carnal Confidence and often engage in Business that proves mischievous to them I say In the most lawful Businesses they provoke God to disappoint them because they undertake them without God but too too often being unrenewed and unsanctified their Wit and Power is used against God 1. It is a great Crime to go about any Business without God Prov. 3. 5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thy Heart and lean not to thine own Understanding In all thy Ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy Paths When our Wisdom and Strength is set up as an Idol or Image of Jealousy God is obliged to blast it Therefore they that make their Bosom their Oracle their Wit their Counsellor they seldom carve out to themselves a good Portion In all serious Business we must ask his Leave Counsel Blessing 2. But many times Men of great Abilities being unsanctified employ them against God They are ordinarily the Devils greatest Agents and Factors for his Kingdom In seducing our first Parents he made use of the Serpent which was more subtil than any Beast of the Field Gen. 3. 1. Now these make God their opposite Party that engage in any such Enterprize upon the Confidence of their Wisdom and Strength and then they are snared by the work of their own Hands Psal. 9. 16. God delighteth to be seen to put Rubs and Stumbling-blocks in their Way that they may fall by some miserable Disappointment and their Craft and Power may turn to their own Ruin IV. To say and do or to make a thing to be is the Act and Name of Jehovah which Glory he will not communicate to any other Lam. 3. 37. Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not that is Who is able to bring about what he speaketh and purposetn unless God permit and give way thereunto Therefore whatever Preparation of Means or Likelihoods there are we must not be too confident of future Events We cannot bring them to pass by our own Power and God doth not always work by likely means he hides Events from Men Isa. 48. 7. Lest thou shouldst say I know them Now the Event could not be hidden if the Lord went on in a constant Course giving the Race to the Swift c. God carrieth on his Providence so as to leave no Footsteps behind him He goeth not one Way so often as to make a Path of it that Men may see the plain Tendency thereof The USES follow It teaches us I. The Nothingness of the Creature and the All-sufficiency of God That is a great Lesson indeed and mightily useful to us throughout the whole Spiritual Life First It is a Notion which the Scripture much delighteth in to represent God as all and the Creature as Nothing At first when Moses enquired God's distinctive Name God giveth him no other but I AM Exod. 3. 14. And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I AM And I AM hath sent me unto you What thing is there under the Cope of Heaven that cannot say I am that I am The least Worm hath its own Being But this as God's distinctive Name implieth that he encloseth all Being within Himself Secondly The Creature is nothing Isa. 40. 17. All Nations before him are nothing they are accounted less than nothing and Vanity