man's Heart did entertain his Motions embrace his Suggestions Sin could not be engendred by them So that in vain doth the corrupt spirit of a man accuse things or persons without himself as the Authours or Causes of his sinfull Evils the Judge of Heaven will lay it at his own door and endite him as guilty of the Crime And so do all wise and holy persons We all do fade as a leaf and our Iniquities like the wind have taken us away Behold thou art wroth for we have sinned Isa 64.5 6. Nor do they lessen the Fault but aggravate it as David doth here which was the Second thing observable in an humble Penitent II. OBSERVATION The Penitent Sinner makes not a light matter of his Sin but acknowledgeth the Grievousness of it This is manifest by all the Examples of humble Penitents in the Scripture We have sinned saith holy Daniel Dan. 9.5 and have committed Iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from thy Precepts and from thy Judgments And holy Ezra 9.6 O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God for our Iniquities are increased over our heads and our Trespass is grown up unto the Heavens Thus when the justified Publican prays he dares not lift up his eyes to Heaven but smites on his breast saying God be mercifull to me a Sinner And S. Paul censures himself as the chief of Sinners for those Sins he committed in Ignorance and Unbelief He knows that God sees more evil in his Sins then he himself can discern that Sins are not to be censured according to mens estimation but God's most pure Law and righteous Judgment that God is of purer eyes then to behold Evil and that he cannot look on Iniquity with the least approbation or connivence that what is highly prized in mens eyes or made a venial Sin by men is counted a foul Abomination with God that the least Sin is against an Infinite Majesty and cost no less then the Bloud of the Son of God to expiate it that there is no Venial Sin in its own nature to say Raca Thou fool to our Brother makes a man liable to Hell-fire that every Sin is of the Devil who sinned from the beginning that the wages of Sin every Sin is Death even that Death which is opposite to everlasting Life Hence it is that David makes not a small matter of the Sins of his youth but prays God not to remember them and Job complaineth that God wrote bitter things against him and made him to possess the Sins of his youth And Christ makes idle words such as that for them men are to be accountable at the day of Judgment Popish Doctrine of Venial Sins Resolutions of Cases of Conscience after Popish Casuists Dictates are not found in the expressions of Scripture-Penitents much less Pharisaicall Vauntings of Self-righteousness or Monkish Ostentation of their own Merits or Quakers Opinions of Innocency and Perfection but Acknowledgment of their Transgressions and Sins with the hainous Degree and Circumstances of them Which was David's profession here and is an instance of an humble Penitent's practice III. OBSERVATION He freely confesseth and acknowledgeth his Sin at least to God and sometimes to men Though David often professeth his Innocency in respect of the Criminations which were cast upon him in Saul's Court as if he had conspired against him though he alledge his Integrity before God as being upright in heart in promoting God's Worship not going after any other gods but in the choice of his Soul preferring the Observance of God's Laws before any Ends of his own yet he still acknowledgeth his Sins to God without any arrogant vaunting of Perfection or opinion of unspotted Holiness I acknowledge my Sin unto thee and mine Iniquity have I not hid saith he Psalm 32.5 And holy Job although he could not be beaten out of his hold the conscience of his Integrity before God and his Innocence from any Oppression of men with which his Antagonists charged him yet disclaims the Covering of his Transgressions as Adam by hiding his Iniquity in his bosome Job 31.33 And Chap. 7.20 he bespeaks God thus I have sinned what shall I doe unto thee O thou Preserver of men And again Chap. 40.4 Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth All Holy persons do subscribe to that of Bildad Job 25.4 5 6. that in comparison of God in his sight no man living can be justified How can he be clean that is born of a woman They know that God searcheth the Heart discerns the windings and turnings of their deceitfull Hearts that they have secret Sins which neither other men nor themselves perceive S. Paul once conceived himself touching the Righteousness of the Law blameless while he was ignorant of its Spirituality he observed not how the Law forbade Coveting the very first Motions of Lust But when he knew how holy and perfect the Law was how imperfect he was when he found a Law in his Members rebelling against the Law of his Mind and leading him into captivity to the Law of Sin which was in his Members he then cries out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7. Such is the Affection of the most inlightned Saints who have been best acquainted with God's Purity the Perfection of his Law their own Impurity and the Defect in their ways that they have always cried out of themselves as the Lepers in the Law We are unclean we are unclean In their Supplications to God they have bemoaned their sinfull Thoughts their most hidden Transgressions yea in their Transgressions against men when doing right to them and giving glory to God hath required it they have not stuck in full Congregations to confess their Errours and to bewail their Transgressions Which thing hath been always necessary 1. To justifie God in his Sentence and Judgments that he might be justified in his sayings and be clear when he is judged as it is in the next verse to my Text. 2. To abase Man that he may lie prostrate at his feet and not proudly lift up his head before God Both which Ends are discernible in that humble Confession of Daniel and his speech to God Dan. 9.7 O Lord Righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us Confusion of faces because of our Trespass committed against thee For which Ends as God sets our Iniquities before us so the humble Penitent always sets his Sins before his face as David did here IV. OBSERVATION He makes not this a short transient Action but his Sins are ever before him There is indeed a setting our Iniquities before our faces which is pernicious when we look upon our Sins as of so horrid a Guilt that they are unpardonable as when Cain told God Gen. 4.13 My Punishment is greater then I can bear or Mine Iniquity is greater then that it may be
Sins have withholden good things from you Jer. 5.25 We may then thank our selves for all the Evils that come upon us we must not cast them upon Destiny Stars or any other Cause and leave out the principal Cause which is the plague of our own hearts God is neither the Authour of Sin nor the Punisher of Sin without cause It is the Devil's property to rejoyce in Evil and therefore as he tempts to Sin so he delights to torment It is otherwise with God Afflictions are Opus alienum his strange work He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth Lament 3.33 34. Is God unrighteous who taketh Vengeance I speak as a man God forbid for then how shall God judge the world saith the Apostle Rom. 3.5 6. We deny not that God might impose Sufferings on him that had no Sin of himself He made his Son to be Sin for us who knew no Sin 2 Cor. 5.21 Job's Calamities came on him by God's Permission though he were an upright man one that feared God and eschewed Evil Job 1.8 that he might prove his Integrity by his great Patience Of the Son who was born blind Christ saith Joh. 9.3 Neither hath this man sinned nor his Parents that is there was no special Sin committed by either of them as his Disciples deemed which was the immediate cause of his Blindness but it came to pass that the works of God should be made manifest in him The Holy Martyrs suffered for Righteousness sake and were therefore to count it all Joy when they fell into manifold Temptations But in such Evils as their Circumstances demonstrate to be from a more then common Hand of God specially when they are publick and universal as we are to acknowledge the Finger of God in them so we are to discern them to be the fruit of our doings and the work of our hands The Scripture styles them God's Judgments and we are sure saith the Apostle Rom. 2.2 that the Judgment of God is according to truth against them that commit such things And therefore though we are not allowed to judge of the afflicted as greater Sinners then others and point out them as the Causes of common Calamities yet we are to judge our selves and impute the Evil what-ever it be to our own Sins Moses the man of God in the 109. Psalm which was made in a time of great Mortality such as is now with us having said to God vers 7. We are consumed by thine Anger and by thy Wrath we are troubled addes vers 8. Thou hast set our Iniquities before thee and our secret Sins in the light of thy countenance It is true that all outward things happen alike to all there is in publick Calamities especially one event to the Righteous and to the Wicked No man knoweth love or hatred by all that is before him Eccles. 9.1 2. Yet even in these and all other that of the Prophet Lament 3.39 40. is necessary for every person to mind Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his Sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again unto the Lord. Though in this day of God's Visitation we may discern many common and open Sins the increase of which may be judged the Cause wherefore God brings this sore Scourge of the Pestilence in such a manner at such a time in those places on which it lights considering that God shoots not at Rovers but at a certain Mark and so the consideration of the Practices of the Persons and Places may justly lead us to determine that such Sins as have been by them and there committed are the Sins God punisheth for instance the Uncleanness Riot Profaneness and other Sins committed among us have brought down this Vengeance on our great City yet since there are particular Sins also with us and there is never a one of us but hath his secret Sins perhaps our Security putting far from us the Evil day living in Ease and Pleasure Unmercifulness and Insensibleness of the Afflictions of others secret Atheism Lukewarmness in Religion leaving our first Love Backsliding from our Profession secret Hypocrisie Formality without the Power of Godliness which may cause Christ to spue us out of his mouth it is necessary that the best of us make a strict Enquiry into our own Bosome-sins and resolve that God by this his Judgment on others calls our Sins to Remembrance and presseth us to justifie him and to betake our selves to his Mercy as the Psalmist here Let thy Mercy speedily prevent us Which leads me to the II. OBSERVATION That the Removing of the Calamities which are inflicted by God when he remembers mens Sins is the effect of God's tender Mercies So it is expresly said Lament 3.22 23. It is of the Lord's Mercies that we are not consumed because his Compassions fail not They are new every morning great is thy Faithfulness Vers 32. Though he cause Grief yet will he have Compassion according to the multitude of his Mercies And hereto accord very many speeches of God concerning himself That he is the Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin as he says in his solemn Proclamation to Moses Exod. 34.6 7. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of the Remnant of his Heritage He retaineth not his Anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Mic. 7.18 Hence it is that the Holy Writers and all the Saints do still celebrate his Mercies as being tender abundant free rejoycing against Judgment and to instance in no other there is a whole Psalm 136. in which the close of every verse is this For his Mercy endureth for ever And this Mercy of his is the Reason of all those works of Goodness he doeth as to the World in general in causing his Sun to rise on the Just and Vnjust and being kind to the Vnthankfull and to the Evil Luk. 6.35 so as that his tender Mercies are over all his works Psal 145.9 so chiefly to his own people all whose Deliverances and Benefits are made the fruits of his Mercy Above all the great Redemption in Christ of which the Apostle thus speaks Eph. 2.4 5. God who is rich in Mercy out of the great Love wherewith he hath loved us even when we were dead in Sins hath quickned us together with Christ is the effect of the highest most transcendent and everlasting Mercy Hence in all their Praises the Godly remember his Mercies as the Prophet Isa 63.7 I will mention the Loving-kindness of the Lord and the Praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us and the great Goodness towards the house of Israel which he hath bestowed on them according to his Mercies and according to the multitude of his Loving-kindnesses
in Christ In God's Favour and Presence are the real Joys though obscured from the World by the mean Condition upon Earth of those that possess them 2. Oh then you who have heard what Joys there are in God be persuaded to quicken and comfort your selves by them Let not the Scoffs or Censures of the profane Carnalist affright you from your Choice Place your Hope in the pursuance of those Joys that are Spiritual that are Heavenly David Moses S. Paul and He who was the wisest of men our Lord Christ slighted all the Contents on Earth and patiently underwent all Afflictions all the Reproaches and Persecutions of men that they might attain the Fulness of Joys in God's Presence Surely should all your days on Earth be spent with never so much Mirth yet you would be great Losers should you lose the Joys of Heaven Yea the want of the Peace of Conscience and Joy in the Spirit on Earth will so damp the Joys of the most Atheistical Voluptuaries on Earth that they will find them to be far short of that Sweetness they imagine in them and in the end to be as Gall and Wormwood in their Bowells On the other side the Joys of Christ and Christians in present fruition and future hope will countervail all those bitter Potions they drink here and fill them with endless and unmeasurable Satisfaction hereafter Let then the Joy of the Lord be your strength Nehem. 8.10 your Encouragement to follow all the Holy ones of God chiefly our Lord Christ running with patience the Race set before you and looking unto Jesus the Authour and Finisher of your Faith Amen LAVS DEO MAN'S Guide to Glory The Twenty-third SERMON PSAL. lxxiij 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsell and afterwards receive me to Glory WE have in this Psalm whether composed by or for Asaph to sing a Skirmish between the Flesh and the Spirit with the Victory of the Spirit thereby strengthened to stand for God and to adhere to his Party The Combat arose from the Quarrel that humane Reason had against Divine Providence as either unequall or impotent in that the Wicked prospered in the world when the Godly as poor Abjects were depressed and trampled upon by the Nimrods of the Earth As if this did argue either that God was ignorant of humane Affairs that he saw not through the thick Clouds that according to the Epicurean Fancy he followed his Pleasure in Heaven and let things below run at randome leaving them to Chance or that he would not or could not remedy such Irregularities as fell out in the Government of this lower World To which the Spirit opposeth after some Staggering this Defence That the Prosperity of the Wicked was but for a moment an empty Bitter-sweet a fansied Dream a meer Vanity ending in Terrours which suddenly and irresistibly cast them down like a Hurricane and so carry them away to Destruction and Consumption That on the other side the Godly are preserved and guided to Glory And thence is the Spirit 's Io Paean its triumphant Song ascribing Happiness to men of pure Hearts and expressing a Resolution to hold fast to God as being well assured of Divine Guidance and Advancement in the words read to you Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsell and afterwards receive me to Glory In which words the Psalmist expresseth the Foundation of his future Happiness as in the Verse before he declares the Cause of his present Standing notwithstanding the Storm of Temptation that was upon him upon what Bottom he secures his Soul notwithstanding such Onsets and Perills of wandering out of his way to Blessedness For attaining of which Felicity he ascribes nothing to a fansied Light within him or power of Free will but to that special efficacious Grace which is preventing and sustaining that worketh in God's people both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 His Tuition and his Guidance is the entire and onely Cause of a Saint's assured Beatitude And this the Authour of the Psalm doth acknowledge whilst he expresses the sense he had of his own nearness to Ruine when as it is vers 2. he found that as for him his Feet were almost gone his Steps had well-nigh slipt had not God been with him continually and held him by the right hand guided him with his Counsell and led him to Glory From whence these Observations offer themselves 1. That when God leaves a person to his own Counsell it is a Forerunner of his Perdition 2. That it is the Safety of God's Servants that they are guided by his Counsell 3. That those whom God guides by his Counsell he doth bring to Glory I. OBSERVATION That when God leaves a person to his own Counsell it is a Forerunner of his Perdition That which is said Psal 81.12 that God gave the people of Israel up unto their own hearts Lust and they walked in their own Counsells and therefore he did not subdue their Enemies nor turn his hand against their Adversaries vers 14. doth sufficiently intimate that the Cause of their wasting and spoiling by their Enemies was God's leaving them to their own Hearts Lusts and their walking in their own Counsells The like Speech we have in the New Testament in that Sermon which was made by S. Paul and Barnabas at Lystra when to take them off from their intention of sacrificing to themselves they told them of the Evil of their doings and of the pernicious Consequence of their practices in sacrificing to them that were but Vanities and how that God in times past suffered all Nations to walk in their own Ways Which Passages do evince that the reason why both Jews and Gentiles were under Sin all the World were become guilty before God all had sinned and came short of the Glory of God Rom. 3.9 19 23. were under Wrath and Condemnation was because they were left to their own Counsells For in that case as it is Rom. 1.18 they held the Truth in Vnrighteousness vers 22. professing themselves wise they became fools Wherefore God also gave them up to Vncleanness through the Lusts of their own Hearts to dishonour their own bodies between themselves Who changed the Truth of God into a Lie and worshipped and served the Creature more then the Creatour who is blessed for ever Amen vers 24 25. For this cause God gave them up unto vile Affections And even as they did not like to retain God in their Knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate mind to doe those things which are not convenient vers 26 28. which brought upon them the Judgment of God And to like purpose is that Prediction which is upon cogent reason conceived to be verified in the Roman Apostasie 2 Thess 2.10 11 12. Because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong Delusions that they should believe a Lie That they all might be damned who believed
to know Wisedom and to know Madness and Folly I perceived that this also is Vexation of spirit For in much Wisedom is much Grief and he that increaseth Knowledge increaseth Sorrow Be he the wisest Statesman or profoundest Scholar be he Doctor profundus Angelicus Seraphicus though he have gotten those glorious Titles wherewith some have set out them whom they have esteemed yet if he review his Projects his Writings he will find cause to repent of them to say Non putâram This I considered not to make Retractations with S. Austin to charge himself with Folly and Errour That which we reade Prov. 9.10 is a Maxime aeternae veritatis of eternal truth The Knowledge of the Holy is Vnderstanding That Knowledge which is of God and his Will that is practical as well as speculative is the true Understanding 1. Because it is the Knowledge of the most excellent Object We much prize the Knowledge of the most abstruse things the things most abstract from sense The Knowledge of Transcendents Stars Motions Influences of the Heavens Angels and Spirits is with much Curiosity inquired into and they are rare Doctours who can discover such sublime things But the Knowledge of God his Properties Ways Precepts and Counsels is far more excellent as being of more glorious things We think the Knowledge of Reasons of State Arcana Imperii the Art of Governing Men and Kingdoms more excellent then the Knowledge of Husbandry how to order Beasts to plough and sow and plant to be a wise Statesman more excellent then to be a skilfull Rustick But Theology is much to be preferred before any of these yea a Doctour in Divinity before a Physician or a Lawyer as teaching the things of God which are most abstruse and of highest Speculation To be wise in these things is to be wise as Daniel who is made the Pattern of a wise man Ezek. 28.3 because the Spirit of God was in him Light and Vnderstanding to reveal the Secrets of God Yea it is to be wise as an Angel of God Angels being proverbially made the Exemplar of Wisedom 2 Sam. 14.17 whose excellency of Knowledge stands in their beholding God's Face by which though not as in a natural Glass according to the Conceit of them that talk of Speculum Trinitatis a Glass of the Trinity as if he that sees God must know all things by seeing him that sees all things that 's an Errour for then the Angels should be Omniscient but in a free clear Glass they see more of his Glory and Works receive more immediate Orders from him understand more of the affairs of Heaven and Divine Mysteries then men that dwell in houses of Clay and the more is revealed unto them of God's Actings Intendments or Appointments the more do they increase in Wisedom 2. Because this Knowledge of God is the most true clear certain satisfying Knowledge There is Imperfection in all other Knowledge as there is in the things that are known He that knows most and best of other matters yet finds no Rest or Satisfaction in them There is Uncertainty even in some things in the Mathematicks and in those things that are known best there is no great Content to the mind by their Knowledge because it is but of things that shall end Knowledge of humane things shall vanish away 1 Cor. 13.8 How many thousands of Learned men have at last after all their Studying Arguing Writing Reading come to Socrates his Determination Hoc unum scio quòd Nihil scio I know this one thing that I know Nothing How many the more they plod on the things of Nature and Art are the more puzzled One that was counted a great Wit of the world when he had studied the Cause of the Sea's Motions but could not comprehend it threw himself into it with this Saying Quoniam ego non capio te tu capies me Because I cannot perceive thee thou shalt receive me But in the Knowledge of God his Will his Laws and Counsels is Perfection Quietat Intellectum The Clearness Truth Beauty Stability of the Knowledge and things known satisfie the Mind I have seen an end of all Perfection but thy Commandment is exceeding broad saith David Psal 119.96 There are wonderous things in God's Law vers 18. There is no Sophistry or Fallacy in any of God's Words there is none of the Poison of the old Serpent which deceiveth the whole world But as it is Psal 19.7 8 9. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting or restoring the Soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the Simple The Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the Heart the Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the Eyes The Fear of the Lord is clean enduring for ever the Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether 3. The Knowledge of God and his Law is most desirable because it is that Knowledge which pleaseth God most 'T is true all the Works of God are worth the knowing The Works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein Psal 111.2 God allows us to search out the Secrets of Nature and it is a great Excellency in men to find out the hidden Qualities and Virtues of Natural Bodies but to terminate our Knowledge on them and not to have respect to the Maker of them not to look unto him that fashioned the World long agoe as the Prophet speaks Isa 22.11 much more to deny his Work to ascribe it to a casual Concourse of Atoms to the Nature of the things themselves without acknowledging the First Cause Primum Motorem the First Mover and Universall Efficient is monstrous Madness and a thing extremely odious to the Divine Majesty Yea they that are the greatest Philosophers if they know not God's Will have not Understanding how to worship God and to doe his Pleasure are usually more brutish then others they are given up to vile Affections to a reprobate Mind to doe those things which are not convenient but against Nature such as Beasts doe not and none but besotted or bewitched men would doe Some kind of Knowledge is utterly forbidden us Well did those Converts mentioned Act. 19.19 who used curious Arts when they brought their Books together and burned them before all men though counting the Price of them they found it fifty thousand pieces of Silver All Knowledge of infernall Magick is abominable to God Then our Knowledge pleaseth God when we follow on to know the Lord Hos 6.3 when we understand what he reveals to us for our Duty and his Honour The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and our Children for ever that we may doe all the words of his Law Deut. 29.29 4. Because the Understanding of God and his Law or Will is that which is of greatest Advantage to us and therefore most to be desired by us It is true which Solomon saith Eccles. 2.13 14.
shall enquire 1. What is this Walking in a man's Vprightness 2. How this demonstrates the Fear of the Lord 3. What Advantage accrues to a man that walketh in his Uprightness and feareth the Lord. Of these in their order I. What it is for a man to walk in his Vprightness Walking in the primitive acception thereof imports a natural progressive Motion of the Body and Vprightness is that Position of the Body according to which it is so placed as not to incline to one hand more then the other but to be even set between both But in the Metaphorical sense in which hundreds of times this Expression is used in Holy Scripture it signifies the moral Motion of the Mind and Members of a Man as he is a rational Being to be regulated by the Law of his Maker And so it supposeth the Actings of the Understanding Will Affections and Members of a man in an orderly and constant Course out of a vital spiritual Principle in him by a certain Rule from one term of his Motion to another for the attaining of his End Whence it is evident that as to Bodily Walking there are many things requisite or presupposed so to the Spiritual Walking of the Soul or Man in his Uprightness there belong sundry things either as presupposed or required without which he cannot be said to walk in his Uprightness As it is with our Body while we live on Earth there will still be some Motion Man is born to Labour as the Sparks fly upward God hath given to the sons of men sore Travail to be exercised therewith so it is also with the Soul there are stirrings of Thoughts Desires which cause elicit Acts of the Will in its Purposes and imperate Acts in setting the Members of the Body on work for avoiding Evil or obtaining some supposed Good And as corporal Motion is not in an instant but requires Time more or less so for the contriving and prosecuting such Designs as the Will pitches upon the whole Life of man is imployed Likewise as there is in Walking some Place or Person from which or from whom the Motion begins and to which or whom it tends which are called in Philosophy the Terminus à quo the bound from whence and the Terminus ad quem the bound to which it is directed so are there in the moral Actions of the Soul and Members some like Bounds persons are either turned from God after Satan or they are turned from the power of Satan unto God they either move from or to Heaven or Hell Life or Death And as there is a Way in all Walking of the Body in which the Motion is performed Motus est super immobile there must be some fixt and settled thing which men ordinarily walk upon they do not move as Fishes in the Sea or Birds in the Air whose Way hath no fixed Path so it is in mens Walking spiritually there is a broad Way which leadeth to Destruction or a narrow Way which leadeth to Life a Way of Satan's or a Way of God's in which every man walks And as there is in man's Walking a vital locomotive Principle which is well or ill ordered according to the Sight and the state of the Members and such Guidance as is from others Direction so that sometimes for want of Sight or Light a person stumbles and falls or by reason of Mistakes from himself or Mis-direction of other persons he errs and never attains to that which he moves towards sometimes he prospers in his Motion seeing his Way aright heeding it not fainting but holding on to the end of his Journey So it is in mens Spiritual Walking there is a wrong and a right Principle which moves their Mind and Will they walk after the Flesh or after the Spirit their Way is either Satan's or God's his Dictates or God's Precepts they walk in Darkness or in the Light either they are weary of well-doing and goe back to Perdition and turn aside to crooked Ways or else they discern the Errour of their ways chuse the Way of Life goe on with Alacrity and liveliness therein and persevere to the end Also as in Bodily Walking the Motion is not per Saltum one Step or Leap doth not begin and end it but it is progressive there is Step after Step one slower another quicker one part of the Way is sooner and with less trouble and danger passed over then the other So it is in the Spiritual Walking the Actings of the Mind and Will are not performed all together neither the immanent nor transient Acts of a man whether right or wrong are done at once but some one hour some another with various Success with diversity of Ability and Speed and Event by reason of the Assistence or Hindrance of concurrent Accidents or Causes which do frequently alter both the Motion and the Consequence of it such as are the Temptations of Satan or the Influence of God's Spirit the Society of evil Company or the Converse with Godly persons corrupt Teachers or holy Pastours outward estate of Prosperity or Adversity with many other things which occasion mens Progress to be more or less expedite either to the better or the worse Thus I have somewhat opened to you what this Walking is in general It is now farther necessary that I shew you more specially what is this Walking of a man in his Uprightness which shews he fears the Lord. 1. For a man who feareth the Lord to walk in his Uprightness it is necessary that he set his face towards God that is that he propound God's Glory and the obtaining of his Favour as his End In all such Actions as are rational it is the End propounded by the Doer which hath a chief sway in the denominating of them good Finis dat Mediis Amabilitatem Many brave Exploits done by heroical men onely to immortalize their Names to spread their Fame though they were advantageous to the people of their Generation yet being not acted out of Dutifulness to God as the impulsive to exalt God as the final Cause they were but splendida Peccata glistering Sins like Gloe-worms or Wood that seems to shine in the dark but is nothing else but rotten matter or mere Dirt. He that walks uprightly stoops not down to the Earth nor pores on his own Cloaths but looks upwards to something higher then himself towards Heaven Pharisees Alms Fasting Prayers though much esteemed by themselves and other men were not regarded by God as being done for themselves not for God But such Actions as are done without Ostentation with an eye to God's Approbation though in secret and of no account with men yet are they in the sight of God of great price as S. Peter saith 1 Pet. 3.4 of the hidden man of the Heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit The Rectitude of the Heart is most conducible to a man's upright walking which emboldned Hezekiah thus to
thee Make the best thou canst of thine own Righteousness thou shalt find the way to Salvation by thine own Works a way unknown to the holy Saints untroden by them none there ever got thither that way That is not Scala Caeli the Ladder of Heaven by which the Saints climbed thither but Scala Gehennae the Precipice by which proud Pharisees superstitious Monks and Friers ignorant Quakers and formal Protestants that trust to their own Devotions and Good deeds tumble down to Hell I beseech you then as you love the Salvation of your Souls seriously examine your selves whether you that have sinned with David do repent with David Complain of your Sins be sensible of them as your most heavy Burthen confess them to God with detestation be instant for Cleansing from Sin through the multitude of God's Mercies hope for Pardon and Righteousness onely through Christ's Atonement by the Sacrifice of himself and his Intercession in Heaven have a settled purpose of Amendment of life be impatiently importunate with God for a new Heart and a new Spirit and expect these things and whatever Good your Souls want onely through the Loving-kindness and free Grace of God in Christ If it be so with you I may assure you of Blessedness and tell you from the Spirit of God that Blessed is he whose Transgression is forgiven and whose Sin is covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile Psal 32.1 2. cited by S. Paul Rom. 4.7 8. to prove the Blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works I may tell you from him Rom. 8.1 There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit But if you be insensible of Sins unhumbled for them neither confess them freely nor bewail them mournfully fly not to the multitude of God's Mercies for Pardon trust to other things for Salvation then Christ's Merits find no change of your Hearts nor alteration of your Lives nor work of renewing Grace in your minds nor beg it of God as a thing most necessary for you I may truly say you stumble at the Stumbling-stone and that you will unless God awaken you and change your minds die in your Sins and perish for ever Be perswaded then to follow the Example of David S. Paul and other holy Saints find out by God's Law your Sins confess them to God bemoan them with hatred beg for Mercy in the Forgiveness of them trust to the Obedience of Christ in his dying for you his appearing with his Bloud before God magnify God's Grace and Christ's Love pray for a new Heart and study to live a holy Life and thou shalt be blessed Amen LAVS DEO THE TRUE PENITENT The Fifth SERMON PSALM li. 3. For I acknowledge my Transgression and my Sin is ever before me THIS Psalm is one of the Penitentials occasioned by the greatest Sins which David committed the greatest Rebuke which ever he underwent and therefore penned with the greatest Compunction of spirit and most vehement Deprecation of his Guilt and Punishment of any which he composed After the Inscription of the Psalm which shews that it was framed after his Conviction by Nathan the Prophet and the Denunciation of Divine Vengeance for his Adultery and Murther he instantly craves Pardon with variety of Expressions and most prevalent Motives doubling and redoubling his Petitions and adding this forcible Reason which the words of my Text yield For I acknowledge my Transgression c. Wherein 1. He professeth ingenuously his Agnition of his Transgressions as most hainous of deep dye Crimson Scarlet Sins Red Sins Bloud-guiltiness and damnable Uncleanness 2. That he did not slightly take notice thereof but that as his Sin stared in his face to his great Horrour so he set it before him for his deep Humiliation and that not onely for a fit while the Prophet's Conviction was fresh in his memory but for a continuance it was ever before him he mourned and intended to mourn for it all or most of his days to repent and abhor himself in dust and ashes God had set it before his face by his Prophet and he did set it continually before his face as an humble Penitent And therefore he importunes God with strong hope for mercifull Forgiveness In the Text we have many considerable things to be observed concerning the estate of an holy and humble Penitent As 1. He owns his Transgressions and his Sins as by and from himself My Transgression and My Sin 2. He doth not extenuate but aggravate them by various terms denoting their Criminousness Transgressions and Sin 3. He doth freely acknowledge and confess them to God and Men. 4. He makes not this a short transient Action but his Sin is ever before him He continues this Humiliation as just and equall by reason of the greatness of his Iniquity 5. He pleads this as a Reason to induce God to a compassionate relenting towards him and a gracious Condonation Of these briefly in their Order I. OBSERVATION A Penitent Sinner owns his Sin as from himself He doth not as Eve did father it on the Serpent or as Adam on Eve but imputes the acting of it to his own innate Pravity as the fountain and spring out of which it did issue And that is indeed a right derivation of it Every man saith S. James 1.14 15. is tempted when he is drawn away by his own Lusts and enticed Then when Lust hath conceived it bringeth forth Sin and Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death Perditio tua ex te O Israel said God to Israel Thy destruction is of thy self And the same may be said of all Sinners The Providence of God orders the Occasions of Sin but it is Man 's own Free will that chuseth to sin upon these Occasions God ordered Bathsheba's washing her self and David's walking on the roof of the house but he put not Lust into David's heart or the wicked contrivance of her Defilement Vriah's assaulting Rabbah and the Souldiers falling upon Vriah were by Divine Providence but the Plot of David and execution of it by Joab were of humane Maliciousness Impenitent Sinners charge their Wickedness on their ill Fortune unhappy Destiny unlucky Planet which is done with the like reason as if the Knife were to be blamed for a man's Self-murther or the Bread he eats as the cause that he is choaked or the Girdle he wears that he was strangled by it Planets and other natural Agents though they have Influence on the Body which may provoke to Evil yet they cannot necessitate the Mind to assent to it or to act accordingly Casual Concurrence of things may prompt but not compell to Sin Evil Company bad Counsel cruel Tyrants may have power on the Members not the Will It is true the Devil is the Father of Lies He that committeth Sin is of the Devil but were it not that