the Psalmist declaring their inward sentiments The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it Lastly The sinner slights the power of God This attribute renders God a dreadful Judge He has a right to punish and power to revenge every transgression of his Law His judicial power is supreme his executive is irresistible He can with one stroke dispatch the Body to the Grave and the Soul to Hell and make Men as miserable as they are sinful Yet sinners as boldly provoke him as if there were no danger We read of the infatuated Syrians that they thought that God the Protector of Israel had only power on the Hills and not in the Vallies and renewed the War to their destruction Thus sinners enter into the lists with God and range an Army of lusts against the Armies of Heaven and blindly bold run upon their own destruction They neither believe his all-seeing Eye nor all-mighty Hand They change the glory of the living God into a dead Idol that has Eyes and sees not and Hands and handles not and accordingly his threatnings make no impression upon them Thus I have presented a true view of the evil of sin consider'd in it self but as Job saith of God how little a portion of him is known May be said of the evil of sin how little of it is known For in proportion as our apprehensions are defective and below the greatness of God so are they of the evil of sin that contradicts his Sovereign will and dishonours his excellent perfections 2. Sin relatively to us is the most pernicious and destructive Evil. If we compare it with temporal Evils it preponderates all that Men are liable to in the present World Diseases in our Bodies disasters in our Estates disgrace in our Reputation are in just esteem far less evil than the evil of sin for that corrupts and destroys our more excellent and immortal part The vile Body is of no account in comparison of the precious Soul Therefore the Apostle enforces his exhortation Dearly beloved brethren abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the Soul The issue of this War is infinitely more woful than of the most cruel against our Bodies and Goods our Liberties and Lives for our Estates and Freedom if lost may be recover'd if the present Life be lost for the cause of God it shall be restor'd in greater lustre and perfection but if the Soul be lost 't is lost for ever All temporal Evils are consistent with the love of God Job on the dunghil roughcast with Ulcers was most precious in Gods sight Lazarus in the lowest poverty and wasted with loathsom Sores was dear to his affections a guard of Angels was sent to convey his departing Soul to the Divine Presence But sin separates between God and us who is the fountain of felicity and the center of rest to the Soul Other evils God who is our wise and compassionate Father and Physitian makes use of as Medicinal preparations for the cure of sin and certainly the Disease which would be the death of the Soul is worse than the Remedy tho' never so bitter and afflicting to sense Sin is an evil of that malignity that the least degree of it is fatal If it be conceiv'd in the Soul tho' not actually finisht 't is deadly One sin corrupted in an instant angelical excellencies and turn'd the glorious Spirits of Heaven into Devils 'T is a poison so strong that the first taste of it shed a deadly taint and malignity into the veins of all mankind Sin is such an exceeding Evil that 't is the severest punishment Divine Justice inflicts on sinners on this side Hell The giving Men over to the power of their lusts is the most fearful judgment not only with respect to the cause Gods unrelenting and unquenchable anger and the issue everlasting destruction but in the quality of the judgment Nay did sin appear as odious in our Eyes as it does in Gods we should account it the worst part of Hell it self the pollutions of the damned to be an evil exceeding the torments superadded to them Sin is pregnant with all kinds of Evils the seeds of it are big with Judgments The evils that are obvious to sense or that are Spiritual and Inward Temporal and Eternal Evils all proceed from sin often as the Natural cause and always as the Meritorious And many times the same punishment is produc'd by the efficiency of sin as well as inflicted for its guilt Thus uncleanness without the miraculous waters of Jealousie rots the Body and the pleasure of sin is revenged by a loathsom consuming Disease the natural consequence of it Thus intemperance and luxury shorten the lives of Men and accelerate damnation Fierce desires and wild rage are fewel for the everlasting fire in Hell The same evils considered Physically are from the efficiency of sin consider'd legally are from the guilt of sin and the justice of God This being a point of great usefulness that I may be more instructive I will consider the evils that are consequential to sin under these two Heads 1. Such as proceed immediately from it by Emanation 2. Those evils and all other as the effects of Gods justice and sentence 1. The evils that proceed immediately by emanation from it and tho' some of them are not resented with feeling apprehensions by sinners yet they are of a fearful nature Sin has deprived Man of the purity nobility and peace of his innocent state 1. It has stain'd and tainted him with an universal intimate and permanent pollution Man in his first Creation was holy and righteous a beam of beauty derived from Heaven was shed upon his Soul in comparison of which sensitive beauty is but as the clearness of Glass to the lustre of a Diamond His understanding was light in the Lord his will and affections were regular and pure the Divine Image was imprest upon all his faculties that attracted the love and complacency of God himself Sin has blotted out all his aimiable excellencies and superinduc'd the most foul deformity the original of which was fetcht from Hell Sinners are the natural Children of Satan of a near resemblance to him The Scripture borrows comparisons to represent the defiling quality of sin from pollutions that are most loathsom to our senses from pestilential Vlcers putrifying Sores filthy Vomit and defiling Mire This pollution is universal through the whole Man Spirit Soul and Body It darkens the mind our supreme faculty with a cloud of Corruption it depraves the will and vitiates the affections 'T is a pollution so deep and permanent that the Deluge that swept away a World of sinners did not wash away their sins and the fire at the last day that shall devour the dross of the visible World and renew the Heavens and the Earth shall not purge away the sins of the guilty Inhabitants This pollution hath so defil'd and disfigur'd Man who was a fair and lovely type wherein
and before God who feedeth them with Christ the Bread of Life especially every Sabbath day Were this or some such course taken from week to week would not this hook into your practice all the great Duties of Religion And so you would give a good account of your hearing but 3. My third Direction is this Do not only satisfie your selves but carry on your enquiry that it may thrô grace satisfie Christ My Text is a question proposed by Christ and to him must we give our answer You may give a plausible account to Ministers but 'pray ' remember you must give an account to Christ You may by leading questions mislead Ministers as persons that go to Law do their Lawyers and they lose their Cause by it but when by studied Hypocrisie you mislead Ministers to gratifie you with a mistaken judgment you lose your Souls by it 'T is Christ that asks the question not to be informed by you for he knows what is in man better than they themselves Christ would have you to be plain-hearted and ingenuous that wherein you see cause to complain he may help you When the trembling Soul after the hearing of such Ministers as would undeceive them is like Jeremy for his peoples being deceived by false Prophets (u) Jer. 23. ◠My heart within me is broken because of the Prophets all my bones shake I am like a drunken man and like a man whom wine hath overcome because of the Lord and because of the words of his Holiness q. d. Fear and trembling takes hold of me I am ashamed I am at my Wits end the word of God calls for so much Holiness and I have so little Thou enquirest Lord what I hear for I dare not say that my intentions and ends are so serious as they should be I am afraid to own any thing that is good Christ in a way of compassion is ready to encourage such a Soul Canst thou but sincerely say thou comest to meet Christ and to learn of Christ Jesus Christ welcomes such to him and they may answer him with comfort Under this head consider 1. Christ asks thee here in this World that thou mayst now be able to give such an answer as thou mayst stand by at the last day when there will be neither Hopes nor Time to rectifie it if it be insufficient 'T is in this something like our Pleadings in Courts of Judicature we must put in our Plea and stand to it Thou knowest Lord there is through Grace something of sincerity but for any thing else do thou Lord answe◠for me 'Pray ' mark this when once the Soul can bring the question back again to Christ thus Thou askest me what I come for Lord I come for thee to answer for me I can't satisfie my own Conscience 't is ready to fly in my Face much less can I satisfie my Jealous Master unless tho◠compassionately answer for me Lord thou usest to answer for thine own May we then suppose Christ thus to enquire Who shall lay any thing to the charge of any one who sincerely comes to wait for me in mine Ordinances Can we suppose any one to be so daring as to perk up and say I charge all these to be a company of proud conceited Hypocrites they 'll needs be wiser than their Neighbours they spend their time in running up and down to hear Sermons Christ doth as it were answer Dost thou make this a Crime What he did 't was out of Love to me and Obedience to me He hath chosen that good (w) Luk. 10.42 part which shall not be taken away from him and for you who are so ready to accuse others and excuse your selves for slighting or ill managing all the means offered for your Salvation (x) Mat. 22.13 Bind him hand and foot that he may make no resistance take him away that he may neither make an escape nor have any hopes of Mercy and cast him into outer darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth 2. If you do not give Christ an answer which he will accept of 't is in vain to expect relief from any other If the Father be offended Christ interposeth himself bears the wrath of God and prevents it from us Christ is the days-man between God and us If the Spirit be grieved by our quenching his motions and striving against his striving with us to hear and obey the Lord Jesus provided that rise not to THE Sin against the Holy Ghost which the greatest part of trembling Christians often fear they have committed though by the way let me tell them that their fear they have committed it yields them sufficient assurance they have not committed it for this sin is always attended with such hardness of Heart that they sin without remorse So that while the Spirit overcomes their resistances and prevails with them to comply with Christ through Christ their sins against the Spirit shall be pardoned But (y) Exod. 23.20 21. when the Angel of the Covenant Jesus Christ was promised to be sent before the Israelites in the Wilderness to keep them in the way and to bring them into the place prepared for them they are expresly charged to beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your Transgressions but severely punish them Not that sins against Christ shall never be pardoned though repented of but to keep us from adventuring upon sin as if it should easily be pardoned whereas the Apostle tells us (z) Heb. 10.26 If we sin wilfully there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin i. e. Those that reject and renounce Christs Sacrifice for sin there 's no other Sacrifice can atone God for them I grant that this Text chiefly concerns the unpardonable sin But I pray you consider those that do not make it the main business of their Lives to give Christ such an account as he will accept of what improvement they have made of his Word if they live and dye in that neglect they shall as certainly perish as they who commit the sin against the Holy Ghost There are but very few can commit that sin but an incredible number commit this without considering the danger of it Now Christians is your time to make up such an account as you must stand or fall by to Eternity Oh that I had but one Minutes such conception of Eternity as 't is possible to be had in this World I reckon 't would influence my whole Life Christs Sentence at last will be according to 〈◊〉 account we give him here and if his Sentence ben't as you would have it there will be no altering of it Your Repentance then will be no small part of your Torment Object I can't think that Christ will be so sharp and severe This affrights me more than any thing This is the most terrible Consideration that ever I heard I expected relief from Christ at last and that Christ should hear me at my
tongues that devise mischief like a sharp Razour working deceitfully Ver. 4. Thou lovest all devouring words O thou deceitfull Tongue I should somewhat suspect their Divinity whose Ethicks are no better Thus you see the manifold Sinfulness and base Vileness of this sin truly but imperfectly described And now 2. Consider the Certainty and Sadness of the Danger You were assured of the Certainty of Ruine from these Contentions in the fourth Proposition that it is in vain to expect safety to be exempted from the calamity threatned Do but weigh this very Scripture and that determination of our Saviour Matth. 12. and you will conclude That nothing but a miraculous interposition of God's Power and Mercy can prevent it As when a Disease is in its nature and degree mortal the Physician adviseth the Man to settle his Conscience and Estate for his danger is imminent so when we see that Charity broken which is the Girdle that binds a Nation together when we see the black and blew spots of Rancour and Revenge on the faces and looks and in the words and carriage of so many it sufficiently proclaims our danger that if we escape more sudden and violent destruction yet we are sure of a Consumption Take heed ye be not consumed one of other And though you may be dead in your own Persons before this denunciation take effect yet you will so far as guilty herein intail ruine upon the Generation to come And if you would but consider that you must be sick and dye your selves at which time in all likelihood you will have different apprehensions of these controversies when Conscience shews you the History of your sinfull Life and discovers an Holy God before whom you must immediately appear and the strict account which you must presently give and the Ocean of Eternity which is just before you then you 'l see that these other points were but of small moment in comparison and not worth that heat and vigour you spent upon them And as the Danger signified by this word Consumed is sure so it is very sad and great For 1. It includes the Ruine of our outward Comforts We know not when we are well To have Houses Plenty Liberty Peace and Quiet are to be reputed for very great mercies but these fewds and quarrels tend to dispossess you of them Our sad Experience shews us how our Body politick languisheth by reason of the uncharitable Contentions of the Members thereof What Decay of Trade what breaking of Trades-men what sinking of the Rents of Land and what a general Consumption invades us The Judgments of God are already as a mouth to us well if they break not forth as a Lion upon us as was once threatned and fulfilled upon Ephraim Hos 12.14 We are rendred by our Contentions suspitious of one anothers Integrity doubtfull of one anothers Ability and some have proceeded to that height of Animosity as to forbear all dealing and commerce with those of an opposite Party Whither must this tend where must this end but in Desolation If the blood do not circulate the whole body will suffer for it and if but a part be miserable the whole cannot be happy And if all your present Adversaries were ruin'd and gone yet consider that the Benjamites were all save six hundred destroyed and that for maintaining a bad Cause and the Men of Israel had sworn in their fury that none of them would give his Daughter to Wife to any of them yet when their hot blood was cooled they lamented and said There is one Tribe cut off from Israel this day and then they used all their wits and policy to restore that Tribe again We shall be worse than Jews if we have not such like Resentments 2. It threatens the Ruine of our Religion the only true and safe Religion on Earth which should be dearer to every man than his Life Upon the occasion of such Distempers in his time Greg. Nazianzen cried out I fear Antichrist will come upon us And they drew from him that pathetical expression whereby he wisht that he might with Jonah be thrown into the Sea if thereby the tempests then in the Church might be calmed Our common Enemies are Powerfull Cunning and Malicious and they gape for our destruction This Island is the great shelter and bulwark of the Protestant Religion what madness then seizeth us to destroy our selves Who hath bewitched us Every wise woman buildeth her house but the foolish plucketh it down with her own hands Prov. 14.1 Would to God that we had but the honest policy of Aristides and Themistocles who though they were often jarring yet being imploy'd abroad together about their Countreys affairs made an agreement to leave their quarrels upon the Mountains which they were then travelling over till the common business was dispatcht which they wenâ— about and then agreed afterwards to examine them Let us be so wise and charitable as to let fall our contests against one another till our common Profession be out of imminent danger and then we may with more leisure and safety adjust our differences How shall we bite our Nails yea our very Tongues for indignation if we shall first exasperate and then weaken one another to that degree that the cruel Enemies of both shall have made an easie conquest of us It is no new thing for Truth like Christ John 5.13 to slip away in the throng of mens Contentions 3. This Destruction inferrs the Ruine of our Posterity They are imbark'd with us in the same Vessel and are in a fair likelihood to be sunk with us And this must greatly affect any considering person That your sinfulness should not only provoke God to deliver his Ark into his Enemies hands and deprive you of the Gospel but also that your Children and Posterity who have been faultless herein should be left to live in Egyptian darkness Inherit your Estates and the Curse that is intail'd upon them We have been contending about the Shadow of Religion and they must fuâ—â—er for the Substance of it The Providence of God hath several times most expresly called us to Unity to Charity and to Concord In the Year 1660. our general Union in Civils and our general Flexibleness to a mutual agreement in Religious matters was a plain direction of Providence to us to bury our debate and strife and to put up the Temporal and Spiritual Sword together But we have been biting and devouring one another ever since now almost thirty years When it pleased God to contend from Heaven with us by the Plague and Fire and to permit men to contend with us by Warr it was a sufficient Item to us to make our Peace with God and to be at peace among our selves but we have been biting and devouring one another for all that In the Year 1678 when there appeared deep and strong designs and endeavours to subvert Religion and to bury both Parties in the same grave Divine Providence did thereby
to Condemnation as by the whole of St. Paul to the Romans ch 8.33 may appear Now we must suppose that the convinced Sinner sets himself as in God's sight and having seriously considered what the Law threatens dreading that Curse and Wrath to come hearing his Conscience pleading guilty to the Accusations of the Law against him he seems to hear the Judge asking of him what he hath to say for himself why the sentence of death should not pass upon him here it is that he names Christ and remembers in Prayer unto God what the Blessed Jesus did and suffered unto the utmost for him he became sin for him he could not be a Sinner but he was dealt withall as if he had been one because he was in the Sinners stead Now the convinc'd Sinner urges God's Promise and Covenant with Christ that He should see of the travel of his Soul c. Thus the Name of Christ is the Souls strong Tower Isa 53.11 Prov. 18.10 Isa 44.24 he runneth unto it and is safe and in Christ who is also the Lord Jehovah he hath righteousness and strength Again Is the penitent Sinner so oppress'd that words fail him only sighs and groans which in his case are never wanting are frequent with him the Name of Christ upholds him for he knows as God said of Aaron that he can speak well Exod. 4.14 Heb. 7.25 and he ever lives to make intercession for him I do not wonder that our being thus made whole only thro the Name of Christ should be by so many gainsayed and ridiculed Rom. 10.3 2 Cor. 5.21 for 't is hard to bring our Thoughts into subjection unto the Kingdom of God and Jesus Christ and when I read it so often call'd the Righteousness of God in Scripture as surely he alone could find out the Ransom c. I know it must be something beyond the ordinary apprehension of Man for no man knows the things of God but the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.11 and Nil diurnum nox capit May this suffice concerning the Subject of my Text viz. He that nameth the Name of Christ We must now speak of the Injunction that is laid upon him or the Direction given unto him Let every such an One depart from Iniquity In which we shall have cause to enquire how it consists with the naming of Christ especially for our Justification as I have explained it and these four Particulars I shall offer to your consideration 1. That departing from Iniquity or Holiness is no Cause of our Justification properly taken notwithstanding 2. Holiness hath an Influence upon our Salvation and also 3. Holiness is indispensibly necessary to all justified Persons 4. Nay more Free Justification or Justification by God's Free Grace in Jesus Christ is the best and most forcible Incentive unto Holiness Departing from Iniquity is no cause of Justification Reason 1 1. It will appear that Holiness is no Cause of our Justification It did neither move God when foreseen to choose us or when actually existing to justifie us Mercy is only from something in God 1. For all God's Works of Mercy arise from something in God himself who is the fountain of Mercy or of living waters and Judgments are said to be his strange Work because he never proceeds to them but when he is necessitated to vindicate the Glory of his injur'd Attributes that is Jer. 17.13 the cause of all God's severities is out of himself and only to be found in the provocations of his Creatures The Cause of all his Mercies are his own Bowels and Compassions and wholly in and from himself O Israel Hos 13.9 thy destruction is from thy self but in me is thy help Nay when God says unto the Soul Live Ezek. 16.6 he sees it in its Blood and it remains in its Blood untill he says unto it Live for in the Apostles Phrase Rom. 4.5 6. he justifies the ungodly and the sinners that is God does for Christ's sake discharge and acquit Sinners who flee unto him and desire Pardon and Acceptance thro the Blood of his Son The Lamb of God that thus taketh away the sin of the World And yet thus the Judge of all the Earth does right too when he makes Christ to become Righteousness unto the believing and penitent Sinners for by the same Reason and Justice that they fell in one Adam they may be made alive in another and where is the Disputer Rom. 5.19 2. There is no commutative Justice betwixt God and his Creature 2. Reason There is no commutative Justice between God and his Creature We can give no Equivalent for the least mercy the least crumb the least drop to be sure as coming from God The giver puts a suitable price upon the Gift as the Giver is in excellency so is the Gift in esteem what a Prince or a King gives is much magnified tho many times otherwise a trifle but here is Eternal Life and a Crown immortal given by the great King of Heaven and Earth to such as know themselves to be but dust and ashes and to be sure they cry Grace Zech. 4.7 Grace unto it God gets nothing by all our holiest Performances devoutest Prayers Job 22.2 and most spiritual Duties Our righeousness cannot profit him Can a Man be profitable unto God that is he cannot by any ways be profitable unto his Maker no 't is for our sakes that God hath given us his Commandments and Institutions that we might by them mend the frame and temper of our hearts and be fitted for to enjoy him to all Eternity in the mean while to stay our longing after him he affords us to see him thus tho as in a glass darkly But if God could be promerited as they speak and obliged it must be by some things that are our own and Secondly It must be by such things as are not due upon any other account whatsoever 1 Cor. 4.7 Now what hast thou which thou hast not received Thy Faculties and Powers thy Grace and Goodness a Heart and Will to do good every Enlargement of Prayer and Exercise of Faith or any other Grace is his it is he that works in us to will and to do accord-to his own good pleasure Phil. 2.13 Luke 17.9 and if thanks be not due to a Servant when he does what he is bidden as our Saviour expresses what can be due to a Creature from his Creator who gives him Food and Rayment Life and Breath and all things Where is there any proportion betwixt these and any returns we can make In all Trading or Exchanging there 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quid for quo which cannot be given to God by us 2. Departing from Iniquity hath an Influence upon our Salvation tho it be not a Cause of our Salvation Departing from Iniquity hath its influence upon tho no cause of our salvation And tho it cannot
here the feast is reserved for hereafter wrath to come and life to come are unconceivable and therefore unexpressible we can neither order our Speech by reason of our inward darkness nor of that ineffable Light thoughts fail us words fail us we are lost in the thoughts of future blessedness as well as in those of our former misery What therefore we cannot perfectly understand let us silently and reverently Admire and Adore What a prodigious height did Man fall from when he fell from his God What a desperate Abyss of misery did he fall into when he fell into sin And therefore what a stupendious height is that which Love shall raise him to in Glory All we can do is to put no bounds to our Love to Christ The true measure of our Love to Christ should be to Love him without measure and the true degree of our Love to a Redeemer is to Love him in the highest Degree But alas Where is our Love to Christ How weakly do we express our Love to him who has given us the fullest clearest demonstrations of his to us beyond all expressions His was stronger then death ours ready to die the water-floods coulds not quench his a few drops extinguish ours he shed blood for us with more freedom than we a few tears over him and his bleeding almost dying interest in the World he loved sinners better than we can love Saints he died for us with more flame of zeal than we can live to and for him Let us be ashamed that we can find a love so vehement for our perishing comforts nay for our killing corruptions and yet have so indifferent affections for a Saviour How shall we be able to Love our enemies for his sake when we can neither Love him with an intense Love for his sake nor our own Let us mourn therefore bitterly that the Love of Christ should be unconceivable and invisible and that our Love to him should be so too upon such different accounts his for the greatness of it ours for its smallness II. Prop. There is a sufficiency of the Love of Christ to us that may be known The Love of Christ to sinners may be considered either in the cause or as in the effects in the Spring and Fountain or in the streams that flow from thence into Souls Love as it was in the heart of Christ is unmeasurable the Spring the original cause and reason of it was his own unaccountable Love and can only be measured by the Love of the Father to his Son which is equally unmeasurable John 15.9 As the Father has loved me so I have loved you But Christs Love in the effects that it has been pleas'd to produce in and upon our Souls may be understood and in some good measure apprehended If we cannot fix our eyes immediately upon the body of the Sun in its meridian glory yet we may comfortably refresh our selves with its beams and feel the healing warmth of the Sun of righteousness arising and shining upon our Souls If we cannot measure Christs Love when it dealt with God in making his Soul an offering for sin nor what that Love was wherewith he loved us and gave himself for us Gal. 2.20 yet we may know that Love wherewith he loved us and washt us from our sins Rev. 1.5 The Love of Satisfaction passes knowledge the Love of Sanctification may be known As that poor Man John 9.15 tho' he could not give a Philosophical account to the Scribes and Pharisees how Clay and Spittle should contribute to the opening his Eyes yet could say This one thing I know that whereas I was born blind I now see So may a renewed Soul say Tho' I know not from what unmeasurable Fountain this Grace and Mercy did proceed tho' I am ignorant of the manner of its working yet this one thing I can say Whereas I was a lover of sin I now hate it and whereas I have been a despiser of Christ I now prize and love him as the chiefest of Ten thousand I can say That that vanity that corruption which sometime had a mighty power over me is now subdued and conquered More particularly 1. Altho' we cannot perfectly know the Love of Christ yet may we know so much of it as may raise our desires to know more As he that meets with a Vein of precious Metal tho' it be small yet it gives him hopes of meeting with more and those hopes encourage his labours to dig deeper and search further so that little we can attain of the knowledge of Christs Love in our wayfaring state makes the Soul labour and strive and hope and pray that it may come to fuller knowledge of that love in its own Country As that sight which Moses had of God encouraged him to pray Exod. 33.18 I beseech thee shew me thy glory So that view we have of Christ in a glass darkly serves to engage our endeavours and sharpen our desires to see him face to face in glory As we gain upon the knowledge of Christ so we grow and as it were encroach upon him still if God will condescend and come down to visit the Soul the Soul will make an argument from thence that he would take it up to himself A taste of Christs Love whets the Spiritual appetite after a feast 1 Pet. 2.2 As new born babes desire ye the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious 2. However our knowledge of Christs Love is imperfect yet we may know so much as may shame us that we have loved him no better we know the Love of Christ carried him out to suffer most dreadful things upon our account and may hence reflect upon our selves with great shame that our love has been so weak as not to carry us out to suffer for his Name he endured the cross we are terrified at the sight of it The argument is very strong 1 John 3.16 Thus if Christ laid down his life for us we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren But how weakly does it work upon us How little a matter can this love constrain us to lay down for their sakes And it s a most concluding argument Col. 3.13 that we should forbear and forgive one another if any man have a quarrel against any as Christ forgave us but alas how little does this instance of the Love of Christ prevail upon us That Love which prevail'd with him to forgive us Talents will not does not prevail with us to forgive our brethren a few Pence Matth. 18.27 28. The Love of Christ was a conquering a triumphant Love it bore down what-ever stood in its way It grapled with the displeasure of God with the malice of Devils the fury of unreasonable Men and with the unkindness of his Friends it broke through all Discouragements and trampled upon all Oppositions the waters could not quench it the floods could not drown
Of Man's wickedness in both these thieves who had spent all their time in sin even to the last hour of their lives but especially in the impenitent thief whom neither Bonds nor Tryal nor Condemnation had humbled or mollified or brought to repentance but being still under the power of an hardned heart we find him at the last gasp railing on a Saviour instead of believing in him and belching out his blasphemies in the very mouth of Hell vers 39. If thou be Christ save thy self and us II. Of Divine grace in the penitent thief First Converting grace and that 1. In the power and efficacy of it for how powerful must that grace needs be which had wrought so great a change had suppled that heart in an instant which had been hardning in sin for so many years overcome so many stubborn inveterate lusts at once and made the Man all on a suddain commence one of the most eminent Saints the World had ever yet had and act faith to such an hight as might not only have become the chiefest of the Apostles but did really exceed any they had hitherto shewn The Disciples of Christ who had sat so long at their Masters feet yet were hardly induced to believe his Resurrection even after he was risen Luke 24.25 When this thief who hitherto had been a stranger to him and now saw him hanging on a Cross and dying yet by faith sees him in his Kingdom triumphing over his Cross and Death too 2. In the freeness of it for 1. Gods grace did not wait for his preparations good moods good dispositions these were all over if ever he had any but it takes hold of him when at the hight of sin and not only was void of grace but seemed past grace i. e. never like to come to it by any ordinary methods 2. It seised on him and passed by the other though no worse that we know of than himself Grace makes a difference where none was before of these two in the like case it takes one and leaves the other II. Pardoning grace This appears in our Lords answer and carriage to him vers 43. He doth not upbraid him with the abominations of his forepast life his Theft or Rapine or Violence his hardness of Heart or long Impenitence but easily readily gently receives him and is so far from denying him a pardon that he assures him of a present Salvation To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The case of these two thieves doth in a good measure parallel the case of other dying sinners though dying upon their beds They were in the extremity of their lives drawing their last breath both full of pain and anguish in their Bodies and very likely full of shame and confusion in their Minds considering their death was not only cruel and grievous but reproachful in the eyes of Men and accursed by the sentence of God So that here was much to interrupt disturb and distract them in so great so close and serious a work as Repentance is And is it not so with others who live in sin all their days and pretend to Repent at last They are taking their leave of the World groaning under their Diseases racked with pains and have many things tho not the same the thieves had to discompose disquiet and divert them from or hinder them in the like work But if we look to the issue the parallel will not reach so far Here is Man for Man one of the thieves humble believing repenting and accordingly accepted the other unbroken unbelieving impenitent and dying like a reprobate This equality is not to be found among other dying sinners as hereafter we shall see However from the example of these two thieves we may safely infer this Proposition Doctrin That tho a very late even a death-bed repentance may be sincere yet it is not safe to run the hazard of it Two parts there are of this Proposition 1. That even a death-bed repeentance may be sincere this I shall speak to by way of Concession 2. That yet it is dangerous running the hazard of it by deferring repentance till such a time this I shall handle by way of Assertion I. It is possible that a death-bed repentance may be sincere In speaking to this I shall briefly 1. Premise something in general concerning the nature of Repentance 2. Lay down the reasons of this Concession First For the former Repentance may be considered either I. In the Act or exercise of it which the Scripture usually expresses by turning or returning implying that sinners are out of the way to God and their own happiness till by repentance they return into it If we speak distinctly of it we may consider 1. The Essence of repentance which is the turning mentioned a turning from sin to God i. e. from all sin both of Heart and Life as to the love and allowance of it and subjection to it and a turning to God as our Sovereign Lord from whom we had revolted to walk with him in all known ways of obedience and holiness And tho we cannot attain to a legal perfection in this Life either as to freedom from all Sin or the practice of all Duty yet there is not meerly a temporary and transient but a peremptory fixed and setled purpose for the one and against the other which is more than a promise de futuro and amounts to a present breach with all sin and an actual will to engage in every duty a respect to all Gods Comandments Psal 119.6 in the degree of our obedience to which we notwithstanding may oftentimes fail 2. The causes from which it proceeds First A right sence of sin as to the guilt defilement and dominion of it It s being offensive and odious to God Jer. 44.4 as well as hurtful to our selves in the danger to which it exposeth us the blot it leaves upon us and the tyranny it exerciseth over us Secondly An apprehension and belief of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus to them that do repent This is always the principle from which Evangelical repentance proceeds Tho the terrors of the Law may help to drive Men from sin yet there must be Gospel attractives to draw them to God either in a way of faith or repentance Who will dare to trust him from whom he expects no mercy or care for serving him from whom he looks for no acceptance Hence it is that Gods mercy is used as the grand motive to perswade Men to repentance Matth. 3.2 The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and Isa 55.7 From these proceed both that Godly sorrow for sin and that hatred of it which always accompanies Gospel repentance and in a good measure promotes it Paul seems to place Godly sorrow among the causes of repentance 2 Cor. 7.10 II. If we consider repentance in the habit I need say no more but that it is that grace of the Holy Spirit which he infuseth into the Soul as the immediate
as Euscbius and Pliny also saith Vsed early to sing Psalms and Praise to Christ Administer the Sacraments in the very words of Christ But guard the Door that the grosly ignorant and profane may not come in 1 Cor. 5.11 If any degenerate so as first and second admonition reclaim not shut the Door upon him Let him be to you as an Heathen or a Publican for so is the rule of Christ Matth. 18.17 Every Natural Body and Civil Body or Society hath a power to take in or cast out such as are for the Benefit or Damage of the Community to Infranchise or Disfranchise when there is just cause The Church is Christs Body and a Society of visible Saints Most Epistles to the Churches in Scripture were directed to the Saints at Rome Rom. 1.7 at Corinth 1 Epist 1.2 and so on Now if out of Custom carnal Policy Flattery or other ill motive the whole World must come into the Church and the Church and the World which lieth in wickedness 1 John 5.19 are one thing then in cometh also the god of this World too And will Christ have fellowship with Devils If Swearers Drunkards and Unclean persons come in it may be a Market-house or House for Merchants but not the Lords-house John 2.16 A Drunken Saint an Unclean Saint a Swearing Saint if they be not contradictions yet they sound very harshly No sin hath less tentation of gain or pleasure than Swearing and Cursing and no sin more debaucheth the Conscience and strips it even to Atheism of all reverence and for Men to have no more pity on them than to let them cram damnation down their Throats as soon as they have made the imprecation on themselves is dreadful I remember an Ear-witness told me he heard Dr. Ham. preach before King Charles the First at Oxford when his Affairs were at a low ebb and he told him While God-dam-me led the Van and the Devil confound me brought up the Rear he would be routed in all his designs And they are very unlikely to be good Subjects to Princes who are open Rebels to the Laws of God and Men and their own reason But let us keep to the Rule the Principles of Christs Kingdom are Rock and Steel not calculated for the soft Meridians of this World but can abide and stand in all times the same they need not load the secular Arm to hold them up Let us be faithful Executors of our Lords Will not Law-makers or Testament-makers for untempered Morter will be always falling and fowling them who daub it up Let us therefore stand fast in that liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free he and his Truth only can make us free from all Errors and mistakes John 8.36 Let us be of the same mind which was in Christ Jesus Phil. 2.5 then nothing will be done out of contention or vain-glory But God will make good his own Promise all his shall have one Heart and one way Jer. 32.39 then our Lords Prayer shall be answered Joh. 17.21 That all his may be one as he and his Father are One. One in the World that is impossible but let them be one in us in our appointments and then the World will believe that thou hast sent me otherwise Divisions will breed such tentations as if Christianity was no reality Now what can any Man say against this method Who are they that make Divisions but they that make more Duties in Religion and Worship than Christ hath made They who build upright on the foundations or they who will jet over and drop upon their Neighbours 2. As we should keep to our rule so practise accordingly let the one Foot of the Compass keep the Center and the other walk the rounds let us live so as M. Felix says Non magna loquimur sed vivimus We do not talk great things but live them Exact walking would be as a miracle in this loose age to confirm the Faith we do profess Catechize your Children and Servants as Abraham did Gen. 18.19 to walk in the way of the Lord so most excellent Theophilus was Cathechized and instructed in the things of Christ Luke 1.4 Pray in your Families dayly bread you have twice at least then you are directed to dayly prayer for it If Nations and Kingdoms have Gods wrath poured out upon them that call not on his Name Psal 79.6 then surely Families much less can escape We and our Families need dayly Grace dayly Pardon as well as dayly Bread therefore unless we dare die in our Sins we should dayly pray for in Gods hands is our breath and his are all our ways Dan. 7.23 who then dare breath a day without compassing him about with Prayer and Praises And let us adorn our Profession of Godliness with honesty Tit. 2.10 1 Tim. 2.2 Labour to think as near to the truth of things and actions as you can and as they are in themselves Job 26.3 then speak and declare the thing as it is in your mind Jos 14.7 then do as you speak Psal 15.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simplifie your self in Epictetus's phrase from all composition of Frauds Policies and Hypocrisie then besure you be just and do as you would have others do to you the grand skale of Righteousness if Men would but weigh their Thoughts Words and Actions by this standard of equity Matth. 7.12 how would this make Ministers Lawyers Physicians and all others take as much care of Peoples Souls Bodies and Estates as of their own then would come that golden age wherein they would have if not so many dirty Fees yet a cleaner and a greater reward of Peace of Conscience and joy in God Let us all be humble meek and patient as our Lord modest in Apparel and all civil Conversation as those that resolve to walk in Christ as they have received him Col. 2.6 and to wear him as they have put him on Rom. 13.14 1 Tim. 2.9 This Primitive simplicity would revive charity which is frozen to pieces in this cold Age this being the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 All the commands of God must needs be broken by the very want of it When all is done live so accurately Ephes 5.15 as if you were to be justified by your works and then as unprofitable Servants cast your selves wholly on Free-grace in Christ Luke 17.10 least by the conceit of any merit when you have anointed our Saviours feet you fling the box at his Head and rob him of his Priestly Office and Crown As for disputing of Controversies let your discourses be rather in private than before others that you argue in Love to the Souls of your Brethren not for Victory and Triumphing over their infirmities The Jewish Rabbins say He deserveth Hell-fire who putteth his Brother to the blush Therefore in meekness of Wisdom argue with your week Brethren that Christ was faithful in Gods House or Church Heb. 3.2 in commanding all things necessary for Salvation and the Worshiping of
Entertain Accommodate and Improve to the great ends and benefit of the exhortation given 4. And the actuated knowledge of the approaching day must quicken us to and in the more serious and intense performance of these duties Exhorting by so much the more by how much the more as ye see the day approaching Let me but touch a little upon these things 1. Let us consider one another for this provoking work or in order to this Provocation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word here in the Text imports strict observation of and great sollicitousness of thoughts about each other as to great matters for their Good So that we have 1. The Objects each other 2. The Act or Duty towards them Let us Consider 3. The end and scope To a provocation unto love and to Good works 1. The Objects One another 1. As to the great and Stated ends of our Creation and Redemption Such as the Divine nature and Life and Joy Gods image in us service from us and the delightful blissful and that eternal presence with us in the glorious discoveries and Communications of himself to us in heaven And as we are recovered redeemed by Jesus Christ So our loyalty gratitude and fruitfulness to him in all acknowledgements and improvements of his kind Conduct Government Providence and Grace unto the Fathers Glory through him As we are related to the Holy Ghost it is our correspondent Temper and Practice with Improvement of and our fit returns unto the Offered Accepted and Profest relations of the Spirit and his Communications to us his Operations in us and his Effects upon our Spirits that he might thereby suit us to the Concerns Priviledges of our Christian state and that we might be built up furnisht and possest as the Eternal Temple of the living God Linked and laid together and so related and obliged to each other dependant each on other and consequently useful and delightful in being heartily and practically faithful each to other unto the Edification of the whole in love that so God three in One may be eternally and evidently All to Universal Satisfaction For we were made and bought and are committed to the care of Christ and of the Spirit and we are accordingly entrusted with Gospel helps and means that we might hereby be the Mirrours of Divine Communicable excellencies and perfections the Monuments of prosperous and rich Grace and Instruments of special Service For these ends God Created and Redeemed us and in respect hereto are we to be considered each by other 2. As to our capacity of serving and reaching such Great Ends and Purposes The powers of our Souls the members of our Bodies and all our natural accommodations for these Ends. For we are men and so have faculties and powers naturally capable of and formed to a propenseness and appetite to the Supream Good and thereupon receptive of all the attractive influences of the first cause and were it not for our moral depravations and Corruptions and alienations of heart herefrom which we have sinfully contracted espoused and indulged considering Divine Discoveries Assistances and Encouragements procured for us and dispensed to us by Jesus Christ what hinders our return to God and unto those reciprocations of Endearments betwixt him and us to which by our rational Frame and Constitution we are so admirably suited Are we not capable of discerning what may excite enflame preserve and regulate our love and of the fixing and managing it accordingly We are capable of judgment choice and motion and reposes right objects being set before us in their apt illustrations and addresses So that we cannot speak to bruits and stones as we may do to men For nothing but sinful ignorance prejudice negligence and malignity or sad delusions and mistakes through inconsiderateness and unreasonable avocations and diversions can prevent the return of our first love and all these things may be redrest by our judicious well advised and warm discourses about these things duly attended to impartially considered and prudently and pertinently applied unto our selves Thus mistakes may be Rectified known Truths and Notions actuated Hearts affected Lives reformed and Love restored to its regular Fervours and Productions of Good works He that is capable of knowing what he is to do and why and of doing and being what most concerns and best becomes him deserves to be accordingly considered by us 3. As to our obligations and advantages as we are Creatures Subjects Favourites As we are redeemed to God by Christ so our obligations to the returns of Gratitude should be considered by us ii Cor. v. 14 15. We are Christs and Gods by him and so he must be glorified in the whole man i Cor. vi 20. And all the vast advantages of our Gospel day as they are talents and encouraging advantages put into our hands must be considered by us too and our selves and one another as Steward 's entrusted and accountable ii Pet. i. 3 4. i 4.11 So that we must regard each other as under ties and bonds to God and Christ and as greatly helped and furnished to be provoked thus if well considered and managed accordingly 4. As to our Spirits and behaviour according to our Christian Claims and Helps Relations Obligations and Professions Whether we foot it right or not Gal. ii 14. Whether professours value their Souls to their just worth or not in keeping them intent upon their great concern whether their furniture discipline temper and behaviour bear evidently their fit and full proportion hereunto How Gospel transforming and reforming work goes on with them Whether the Christian name and interest the Gospel and its Patron be credited and promoted or disgraced and hindred by us and whether our proficiency and improvements be answerable indeed to our advantages obligations and professions 5. Wherein our helps and hopefulness or our dangers mainly lye their Gifts and Graces and Encouragements and Advantages on the one hand Their Constitutions Customs Callings Company Temptations and secular Concerns and Hindrances on the other hand are all to be considered 2. The Act or Duty towards these Objects 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us Consider 1. Bend your minds to observation of one another that ye may understand how matters are with one another concern your selves about the right knowledge of the principles tempers actions circumstances and concerns of persons so far as your duty towards them calls you to it For this injunction doth not countenance what we find elsewhere forbidden ii Thes iii. 11 12. i Tim. v. 13. i Pet. iv 15. So far as you may do or get Good prevent redress or allay evil under such circumstances relations and advantages as may notify that God then calls you to it and so encourages your expectations and endeavours of doing Good or preventing the sin and mischief which God would have prevented by you So far may others be inspected enquired after and observed by you But when it is and evidently appears to be to
necessary to our Common Weale Let us all cry Turn us O Lord and we shall or will be turned Frame your doings as men determined to turn unto the Lord. Set heartily to it with all your might for it 's hard work delay it not a moment Oh God bow our wills that the Land may jointly answer Lo we come unto thee Jer. 3.22 for thou art the Lord our God Can you pretend wherein shall we return Alas Mal. 3.7 wherein have we not departed from him All in a manner is out of frame every thing every person considerably needs amendment Let us all Unite in this and God will bless us with Light and Love for Union in other things This work needs all our hands let us make up that wherein others will be defective all striving to begin and outdo each other Oh that all emulation and strife were reduced to this which of us shall first and most Reform 3. If the generality will not be perswaded to repent of National Sins let not particular persons neglect it I am loath to descend so low yet this is better than none Who knows how many may be convinced by the Repentance of a few At least you may preserve your selves Ez. 9.4 6. and view the publick Calamity with more composure than other Men as having done your utmost to prevent them We know not but God may delay Judgments for the sake of a few remarkable Penitents though we may not commonly expect it Shall there be so great cause and none set themselves to it Hath God none among us that regard his loudest Calls Can there be so little Love to his Name and Honour in England that even a few will not afflict their Souls that he is so provoked that a few will not testifie against this common Apostacy Poor Nation that hast none that love thy wellfare that all will lose showers of Mercy for thee rather than sow in Righteousness Ezek. 22.30 Oh that some would resolve this day Let not God say I fought for a man but I found none Repent of your Personal Sins otherwise how can you repent of National Sins Examine thy self how far thou art infected with the National Provocations What hast thou contributed thereto Charge thy Soul therewith Say the measure is so much the fuller for my sake Bewail thy share mourn over the faults of others thou mayest grieve for what thou canst not reform but be sure to reform thy self to thy utmost reform thy Family yea set thy self to bring all thou art in thy place capable to amendment Do not judge of faults by the common Opinion let not the Example of others be thy Standard but set the Divine Rule before thee and review things thereby Resolve to stem the Tide and to judge and act in the face of it What though the multitude be against thee what though Bigots rail what though many Professors yea Men of thy own Party condemn thee All is nothing whiles God will accept and approve thee A Man must be singular that will reform himself in a degenerate Age he must be resolved that will attempt to reform others 2. Let us enquire whether we may expect National Mercies from our present frame and state I believe God will not forsake us but in time he will do us good But the Enquiry is meant thus Whether Mercy will be immediately enjoyed is the wrath of God turned away and will his progress in a way of Judgments be stopped Can we reasonably conclude though the Sword hath been furbished it shall not destroy Our Warfare is accomplished the Clouds are past the bitterness of Death is over Dare I say rejoyce O Land in the favour of a reconciled God For good only good shall presently be unto thee I shall by way of Objections give you what is matter of Hopes and in the Answer to those Objections give you the ground of my Fears and in the end declare my Thoughts Object 1. Are there not some Testimonies of National Repentance from whence we may hope Mercy is towards us As 1. Penal Laws against the Worship of God are as good as disannulled and Persecution is at a stop Answ 1. I wish the general remains of Malignity argue not a sorrow for that Liberty 2. I find most of them that were guilty of Persecution instead of repenting of it do justifie it as a just Prosecution though it was an Usurpation of the Rights of People as Men and as Christians 3. Are the Sacrament Test and Act of Uniformity removed 2. We had a publick Fast-day kept with outward Solemnity Answ I 'll judge of no Mans Heart yet I cannot but observe 1. The most polluting Sins of the Land were not solemnly owned much less bewailed Where was a publick acknowledgment of the sinful Silencing Two Thousand Ministers because they durst not profane their Office and plainly Lye and Perjure themselves I might name many such other sins alas general Confessions avail little 2. What publick Reformation in Life and Manners appears since that day What fewer Oaths Profaneness is no way abated Men are returned with the Dog to the vomit Now Fastings without amendment are but a mockery with God and profit not a people 3. Men are so far from Repentance that they cannot endure to be reproved for their sins They say you irritate if you mention their offences They like to hear others accused but abhor the least hint against their own faults Tell the imposer on the Church that uninstituted terms of Communion are sinful and rage is awakened Perswade the bitter Spirit to be Peaceable and his Tongue is soon envenomed and you shall be railed on as the great disturber Object 2. But a great part of the Land is innocent of some of the most notorious Crimes the sober Persons are many who share not in the Profaneness of the Land The persecuted and ejected cannot be guilty of the oppressions they were under and many of the Church of England never agreed thereto Answ 1. How little do such truly mourn for those sins of other Men How much more common is it to hear the better sort scoff and laugh at Profaneness than bewail it Persecutors are more railed at than mourned for By this we become guilty 2. Are not there iniquities with the soberer part of the Nation impenitently continued in to this day Do we see backslidings healed how much more Mortified Heavenly Circumspect Charitable or Fruitful are the hopefullest persons in the Land by all our Calls Yea our Complaints though so general little tend to alter us Isa 64.6 7. Our Righteousness is as filthy rags we fade as a leaf Object 3. But if we consider the Sovereign dealings of God with us may not we expect Mercy though we see not Repentance As 1. God hath lately wrought a great Deliverance when we were on the brink of ruin and that by a series of Miracles when we were as unworthy as we are now Answ