make says David thy face shine upon thy servant and teach me thy statutes and according to thy loving kindness hear me quicken me c. yea that blessed man of God for effecting all his good and for salvation and deliverance out of all his distress he desires but this that God would send out his light and his truth O send Psalm 43. 3. out thy light and thy truth that is the light of thy countenance vouchsafe me but thy favour Per lucem intelligitur favor veritatem adjungit quia lucem nonnisi ex Dei promissionibus sperabat Calvin in locum and perform but thy promise i. e. made thereof and all the darkness of my present so sad and gloomy condition shall be dispelled Let them lead me says he let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles i. e. to thy Sanctuary to the place of thy publick worship where Ilong so much to be O whither will not the light of God's favour lead us and bring us it will bring us to be happy here and blessed for ever hereafter it will bring us into the way of all our weal to the enjoyment of God in his ordinances Lucem veritatem appellat favorem auxilium omnibus piis promissum à Deo quibus rebus pelluntur tenebrae calamitatum c. and then above ordinances even to the full and immediate enjoyment of himself for ever it will guide us with his counsels and after receive us to his glory Lead us in the path of life and then bring us to the place of life lead us in the way everlasting and then bring us to the life everlasting in the paths of righteousness and then bring us to those new heavens and new earth wherein dwels righteousness uphold us in integrity here and then set us before his face for ever hereafter it will Ad illud templum immortale ubinumen ipsius augustissimum perpetuis hymnis celebrent mentes beatae make us fit and meet for heaven and then bring us to heaven lead us in safety through these bottoms of death and this valley of misery and tears here below and then bring us and exalt us to those mountains of Spices and those hills of Myrrhe and Frankincense above it will cause God to follow us with goodness all the days of our life here and then to bring us to partake of that goodness which he hath laid up for those that fear him elsewhere Which because David cannot express he admires Psalm 31. 19. O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee 3. As it will accomplish all so it is all God's favour his face all that is truely excellent amiable profitable and desireable 1. It is light Psalm 43. 3. Send out thy light Psalm 89. 15. They shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance And how sweetly and comfortably must they needs walk who walk in that light for with thee is the fountain of life and in thy light i. e. in thy favour Psalm 36. 9. when thou art pleased to shew us thy face and fatherly countenance in thy son shall we see light that is enjoy lively comfort and joy and gladness of heart So Job 29. 3. When his Lamp shined upon my head and when by his light I walked through darkness that is when he abode with me by his favour and by it I passed through and overcame the miseries and adversities of this life 2. It is life Psalm 30. 5. In his favour is Ps 63. 3. life Many live but no soul truly lives but in his favour in his sight and in the light of his countenance Hâ—s 6. 2. and we shall live in his sight yea it is better than life For 1. people 119. 88. may live yea and have all accommodations of life and yet be miserable but a soul cannot have the favour of God but be happy 2. It is better than life for it is the very life and happiness Vitam reddit verè vitalem of our life and without it life is no better than a kind of death 3. Life soon fades away Jam. 4. 14. and fails it is even but as a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanishes but the favour Ps 103. 15 16 17. of God is for ever it is everlasting 4. Life is common to all but God's favour peculiar only to a few 5. Life may become a burden and Ps 106. 4. people may grow weary of it but never of God's favour 6. The favour of God is absolutely and indispensably necessary but so is not life c. 3. It is felicity Hence while others make out after other goods David seeks after this as Psalm 4. 6. the onely happiness and as that alone which could render him blessed There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us 4. It is safety and security And hence the Lord is said to shield us therewith For thou Lord 5. 12. wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield And Fear not Mary Luke 1. 30. for thou hast found favour with God Make thy face to shine upon thy servant save me for Psalm 31. 16. thy mercies sake 5. It is health Psalm 42. 11. Hope thou Obtexisti faciem tuam aegrotavimus illumina faciem salvi erimus Austin in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God God and his favour is our health and makes the countenance look healthful and cheerful whereas its want or withdrawing is the souls sickness as it were and makes the countenance sad heavy and cast down like the look of one that is sick 6. It is strength For the joy of the Lord is Neh. 8. 10. your strength i. e. the joy of his face that he favours you This is your strength that which fortifies Levavit pedes â—uos Phrasi Hebraicâ emphaticè significat cum alacriter instar cursoris indefessi perrexisse Pareus in loc you it makes to go from strength to strength and causes a man to lift up his feet as Jacob after he had met with God at Bethel And Jacob went on his journey Hebr. lift up his feet that is being strengthned by the late vision he went on cheerfully and couragiously in his journey 7. It is joy yea exceeding joy Psalm 43. 4. Then will I go to the Altar of God unto God my exceeding joy the Hebrew is the gladness of my joy the Lord and his favour is not onely our joy but exceeding joy the joy of our joy that is the chief the choice the cream the crown the top the head of our joy Psalm 16. 11. In thy presence i. e. in thy special and gracious presence or in or with thy face is fulness Psal 16. 11. 4.
of their Prayer so the great importance excellency and necessity of the things prayed for that they were infinitely concern'd in them and that the want of them as to their being saved could not be dispens'd with namely God's turning them again to himself and causing his face to shine So that these words are not onely the burden but the very beauty and blessing of the Psalm It s very marrow and sweetness consists and is concentred in them and hence do they so often repeat them not knowing how to be denied what is contained in them viz. God's turning them again and causing his face to shine but beg them again and again and make them their fixed petition and importunate prayer in which prayer take notice of these three things 1. The person whom they direct their prayer to and that is God to whom alone all prayer is to be directed and him they stile here the Lord God of Hosts and so though their case was dark and seem'd even desperate yet looking to God's power as being the Lord God of Hosts this gives them light and hope of relief for what is or can be too hard for him to do 2. The subject matter of their prayer and that is 1. that God would turn them again and 2. cause his face to shine and then 3. we have here the blessed fruit and happy effect which they promise to themselves upon audience and that is that they shall be saved Turn us again O Lord God of Hosts cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved This prayer is but short but exceeding sweet the words few but very full For we have contained in them 1. The great Gospel-blessing and that of Jesus being raised up by his Father which is the turning of us away from our iniquities Act. 3. 26. Vnto you first God having raised up his son Jesus sent him to bless you but how in turning away every one of you from his iniquities 2. We have contain'd in them man's chief happiness and his true and onely felicity viz. God's favour the light of his countenance for God to cause his face to shine 3. Man's being saved which is very comprehensive and does denote not onely freedom from Enemies and evils of all sorts though that most properly but fruition also of all good CHAP. II. The Explication of the Words Turn us again or convert us i. e. from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Converte nos our sins and iniquities to thy self from our own wayes which have not been good to thine from which we have turned aside and gone astray And well do they begin and continue so earnest for this for as all our misery did at first and does still come in by our Apostacy and turnings aside and turning away from God so our happiness cannot be recovered again but in our returns to him Look as that was and is the very spring and foundation of all our woe so this of our weal and in all our miseries and calamities the very first step to our cure and recovery begins here and hence is it that the Church and people of God are here so urgent upon this again and again yea and hence is this held forth as the great business and design of Christ in suffering for our sins that he might bring us to God for otherwise we could never have been brought again to be happy 1 Pet. 3. 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God c. This turning again may refer either to those of them that were never as yet turned or to those who being once turn'd had in some measure at least turn'd again aside made some defection as indeed the best are very prone to do Hos 11. 7. My people are bent to backsliding from me and Exod. 32. 8. They have turn'd aside quickly out of the way c. And thus they here beg of God to turn them again and to heal their backslidings and though this is and ought to be our endeavour yet it being God's work as unable to turn themselves they apply themselves to him and this turn we ought to endeavour and to pray for still more and more it being the work and business of our whole lives to turn to God more and more the last step of repentance being the first step of Glory and the last step of turning the first step of triumphing Some indeed do render this turn us again return us or restore us recover us i. e. say they from our Captivity to our former state c. And many go this way but surely it is more than such a turning that the Church here is so importunate for viz. a spiritual and gracious Kimchi idem esse dicit quod dirige corda nostra ad te hanc lectionem our rejicere mus non apparu it â—lla ratio Musc turn a saving conversion a turning from sin to God that God would make them true Penitents sound converts new men they pray for amendment as the very essence of repentance and without this what would the other signifie or avail or what true comfort could it afford to have their outward condition turn'd and hearts unturn'd or how unless they were turned by repentance could they ever expect that the Lord should shew them the evidence of his favour and besides as to their recovery from their present miseries and calamities that they had prayed for in other verses in this Psalm and in praying for these first they therein take the readiest and most effectual course for the other and therefore this turning here again we are mainly and chiefly to understand of turning to God by repentance as we find the same word elsewhere understood and taken as Lament 5. 21. Turn thou us unto thee O Lord c. and Jer. 31. 18. Turn thou me and I shall be turned c. and so frequently elsewhere the same word is made use of and thus several Expositors carry it and this says a Learned Interpreter is the special petition here insisted upon that God by giving repentance would reclaim them from their Apostacy and grant the evidence of his favour unto them and so deliver and save them So that Repentance Reconciliation and Salvation is that which is here prayed for that God would turn their hearts by unfeigned repentance that so they might be fit for deliverance O Lord God of Hosts Thus they stile God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominus Deus exercituum and under this notion eye him and consider him the more to strengthen their faith and hope as concerning the things they prayed for and for gaining the more firm assurance of obtaining them In the 3. v. they pray O God in the 7. O God of Hosts and then here in this verse O Lord God of Hosts Thus by degrees they rise higher and higher and get more and more ground for the strengthning of their faith What
them requires it and may command it they being things which are so precious and of so great importance and so absolutely and indispensably necessary that what should be sought with earnestness if not these as God and his face and favour and grace and pardon It is reported of the Macedonians that Alexander being displeased with them they not onely laid by their Arms and put on mourning apparrel and came running in Troups to his Tent but that there they remained almost for three days together beseeching his pardon which at last they obtained How much more should we implore God's pardon But to instance onely in these two in my Text as 1. for God to turn us again to himself what an excellent thing is this to be turned from darkness to light from Satan to God from sin to grace and holiness from evill to good from misery to felicity from hell to heaven Who would not be thus turned And then of such absolute and indispensable necessity is it that we be turn'd that we dye else we are undone and perish else either we must be converted or destroyed and then for God to cause his face to shine how precious how excellent is his favour Psalm 36. 7. How excellent is thy loving kindness O God c. therein is life yea it is better than life Psalm 30. 5. 63. 3. and so necessary that though many live no soul truly lives but in the enjoyment of it Deut. 32. 20. God said there he would hide his face from that people he would see what their end should be But O how sad must their end be that he hides his face from that he takes no pleasure in Psalm 30. 7. Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled Job 34. 29. When he giveth quietness who then can make trouble and when he hideth his face who then can behold him whether it be done against a nation or against a man onely And things of such excellency and such necessity do not they require and may they not command importunity I remember a story that one relates of a poor woman in Essex that being condemned to dye she fell a crying and scrieching as if she meant to pierce the heavens and the Judg and those on the Bench bidding her hold her peace she cryes O my Lord it is for my life I beg I beseech you it is for my life So when thou goest to God to beg for such mercies it is for thy life yea for what is better than thy life it is for the life of thy life the life of thy soul for that without which thou losest thy soul and dyest eternally perishest everlastingly and wilt not be earnest for this and as blind Bartimeus cry out and the Mark 10. 46 47 48 c. more others bid thee hold thy peace cry the more a great deal Prov. 2. 3. Yea if thou criest after wisdom and liftest up thy voice for understanding c. And what should we cry after or lift up our voice for if not for such mercies R. 4. Because this shews that we are earnest for them and that our desires are real and not indifferent when we are importunate for them and are resolved not to go away without them as the Prophet David was for mercy Psalm 57. 1. Be merciful to me O God be merciful to me c. So for pardon Psalm 51. Wash me cleanse me purge me and again wash me Genes 30. 1. So Rachel for children Give me children or else I dye So that woman of Canaan for her Math. 15. 21 22 23 c. daughter she would not be said nay and Paul that the thorn in the flesh might depart 2 Cor. 12. 8. for this thing I besought the Lord thrice And when we are thus earnest and importunate we manifest and make appear our desires are real and that we pray in truth and such the Lord is nigh unto Psalm 145. 18. R. 5. Because this shews us to be in a fit posture and capacity to receive them For this declares 1. that we need them that we want them I mean that we have a due sense of our want of them when we are importunate for them and will not be said without them For take a beggar that comes to your door for an Almes if he be soon said and presently goes his way what do you say surely he had no great need for if he had he would not so soon have taken an answer 2. This declares that we value them and set an high price and esteem on them when we are importunate for them and these two bring us into a fit posture and capacity for to receive them but else we shew no great need that we see of them and withall a kind of slighting of them As if a man was to ask some great matter and he should ask it frigidly coldly carelesly what would he say that he askt it of what is it no more worth than so O when you go to seek spiritual mercies you go to seek what is of great worth of more worth than a whole world and if ever you have them God will have them valued and have you see your want of them and so be brought into a capacity for them R. 6. Because we are so unworthy of them of so great things and therefore we must the more earnestly and importunately ask them and seek them by how much the more unworthy we are of them Psal 34. 6. This poor man cried unto the Lord. Truly we are all of us such poor and unworthy creatures that we had need not onely pray but cry Thus that poor woman of Canaan being in her own sense Math. 15. 21 22. c. and apprehension so unworthy but a meer dog as it were how earnest is she why as Jacob said so may we say more truly we are not worthy of the least of all God's mercies or we are Genes 32. 10. less than the least of all God's mercies We partake indeed of many mercies as we have whole bundles of them but if we search into them we can find none so little so small but we are less our selves and if we are not worthy of the least how much more unworthy of so great and therefore when we that are so unworthy of any the least mercies go to God for so great is there not cause we should be earnest and importunate and so the sight and sense of our so great unworthiness should so much the more stir up and increase our earnestness as it hath done in others So great matters begg'd of so great a Majesty and by such as are so mean and unworthy had need be begg'd with all importunity and earnestness Majesty and greatness considered with our weakness and unworthiness should much excite earnestness Jesus Christ himself though so worthy and without sin yet how earnest was he in prayer Hebr. 5. 7. it is said he offered up prayers and supplications with strong
being every where obvious So John the Baptist Christ's harbinger and forerunner and afterward Jesus Christ himself whose great business in their preachings was no other then that sinners might be sav'd and that it might be well with them what did they preach it was Repentance And so when he sent forth the twelve it is said they went out and Matth. 3. 2. 4. 17. preached and what did they preach why that Mark 6. 12. men should repent Now had there been any more effectual way or course to have been taken for furthering the good of these they went or were sent to preach to surely they would have taken it but they taking this course and going this way clearly demonstrates that this is indeed the way R. 7. Because true repentance sound Evangelical conversion does presuppose faith yea and Poenitentia ad desperationem trahit nisi fulciatur verá fide de remissione peccati ut est videre in Caino Judâ Saule c. Aretius is a happy fruit and effect thereof faith being that which dissolves and melts the heart into kindly sorrow and grief for former sins and rebellions whereby so good a God hath been grieved and makes the soul to hate and abominate and resolve against them for the future And now true faith is every where held forth as saving He that believeth shall be saved and Mark 16. 16. believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt Acts 16. 31. Ephes 2. 8. Heb. 10. 39. 1 Pet. 1. 9. be saved and we are of them that believe to the saving of the Soul so receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls c. And now true conversion must needs be the onely effectual way for a people to be sav'd because where this is faith is yea in order of nature as I said before faith precedes it as the ground and root thereof Indeed in order of time they are both together and so neither of them is one before the other but in the manifestation of them Repentance is first As the Thunder and Lightning are both at one and the same time yet is one discerned before the other and so is repentance both to a man's self and also to others sooner discerned and discovered than faith one as the sap lying hid within but the other as the bud springing forth and shewing it self without but in order of nature faith is first for 1. God's favour is first apprehended and remission of sins upon repentance believed and then upon that comes repentance and conversion and alteration of heart and life And 2. true repentance being a grace and being repentance unto life Zach. 12. 10. whence should it be had but from the fountain thereof and how should it be had thence but by faith union being the ground of communion and interest of influence So that Jesus Christ must first be received himself before saving conversion or any grace can be received hence our Saviour tells us without him we can John 15. 5. do nothing or severed from him much less so great a thing as to repent and turn to God Some preparations to repentance and preparatory Fides nisi praeluceat nulla vera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esse potest licèt adsit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qualis fuit in Juda. Tossanus beginnings and introductions there are indeed before faith as Legal fears and terrors but no true Evangelical repentance for 3. that is pleasing and acceptable to God and therefore cannot be without faith for without faith it is impossible to please God or that any work should please him that does not arise thence And besides Sine fide omnis poenitentia non solum ociosa est sed expeditum iter ad desperationem Mentzerus 4. without faith we are spiritually dead for the just do live by faith Heb. 2. 4. and repentance is the work of the living But if repentance be after faith how is it may some say that we find repentance put before it as Mark 1. 15. Repent ye and believe the Gospel and Acts 20. 21. To this I answer that the placing of things in Scripture is not always according to Credendo in Christum convertuntur quia fides est praevia conversionis nec ulla est vera conversio sine fide Tossanus in locum the order of nature but sometimes the cause is placed after the effect to shew how we should obtain the effect as 1. repent and then that ye may repent believe Again 2. in other places we find it put after faith as Acts 12. 21. And a great number believed and turn'd to the Lord. Thus the goodness of God and remission of sins by Jesus Christ being apprehended and imbraced by faith this brings on conversion And His duobus summa doctrinae Evangelicae comprehendi solet Non hîc praeponitur poenitentia fidei quasi prior dignitate vel tempore hence these two are made the summe of the Gospel and of Christian doctrine and the Apostles preaching Acts 20. 20. And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you v. 21. Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ and this he calls v. 27. the whole counsel of God viz. which God hath revealed and manifested as concerning our salvation and how we may come to obtain it And this by the way may comfort all true converts as concerning their having had some tasts and particular apprehensions of the mercy of God in Christ and so some measure of faith this being an evident sign thereof and an happy effect which flows therefrom and therefore this must needs be the soveraign way for a people to be saved for God to turn them again it presupposing always this true saving faith R. 8. That this is the onely way for a people to be saved for God to turn them again and cause his face to shine appears from the nature excellency and happy effects of these and from what follows upon these As 1. as to conversion and being turn'd again this must needs be the way to be sav'd yea everlastingly sav'd For 1. such as are indeed turn'd again are turn'd from that which is and indeed onely is destructive which alone does and can indeed destroy and that is sin and iniquity and being turn'd from that which is alone destructive they must needs be in the way to be sav'd he indeed that pursueth Prov. 11. 16. evil pursues it to his own death to his own eternal ruine but now the true convert he turns from it and forsakes it and how then should it be his ruine And hence says the Lord God to Ezek. 18. 30. the house of Israel repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine For you are now turn'd from that which else would and indeed onely could have been your ruine there being
Story converted of his Atheism so though repentance seem never so difficult at first to corrupt nature yet frequently occasioning your hearts that way might much help you if you would but be still haunting your hearts with what might further it as with precepts promises threatnings judgments mercies Law Gospel c. and never giving over 'till something comes of it for occasions are to be prest and urg'd to the utmost and throughly to be improv'd as it is said of those Jews I do but allude to it that they said unto Nehemiah and the Premenda est occâsio rest that were building ten times that is very often in all ways that ye passe to and again the Nehem. 4. 12. enemy will be upon you and thus still haunting them with warnings at length they looked about and set guards in every place And so deal with your hearts and warn them often again and again tell them O! if you do not repent the enemy will be upon you the wrath and curse of God will be upon you hardness of heart will be upon you all those judgments threatened will be upon you but if you repent the blessing and favour of God will be upon you grace and mercy and peace will be upon you all the good promised will be upon you yea God himself will dwell in you and his Angels will guard you and minister unto you c. and tell your hearts such and such things often yea never give over 'till you have brought it to some good issue Thus as others occasion their hearts sin-ward hell-ward vanity-ward world-ward so do you grace-ward heaven-ward repentanceward conversion-ward and so salvation-ward 7. Remember God of his promises and in your prayers plead and press and urge the same Lord hast thou not in thy Word of free grace made promises not only to grace but of grace and do Lord as thou hast said be as good as thy word O remember thy promise Thus turn promises into prayers as these and the like Turn you at my reproof behold I Prov. 1. 23. Is 44. 3. will pour out my Spirit unto you c. and I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and not onely so but floods upon the dry ground that is my Spirit upon barren and fruitless hearts that have neither saving knowledg nor are able to perform any good work I will pour my Spirit upon thy Is 35. 5 6 7. seed and my blessing upon thy off-spring Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened c. and in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desart that is the Spirit shall be abundantly poured out upon all sorts even upon such as were as a wilderness and as a dry and barren heath And the parched ground shall become Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. a poole and the thirstly land springs of water in the habitation of Dragons where each lay shall be grass with reeds and rushes Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I clense you A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments Jer. 3. 19. and do them But I said how shall I put thee among the children and give thee a pleasant land c. that is being spoken of God after the manner of men I thus thought and considered with my self how shall I put thee among the children c. How shall I make such as you my people who are so vile and unworthy and adopt you to be my children and so make you heirs of that heavenly and glorious Canaan of which the other was but a type Now to this God himself makes answer within himself and the more to express the greatness of his mercy and the riches of his free grace against their unworthiness he says Thou shalt call me my father and shalt not turn away from me that is I will by my Spirit being a Spirit of conversion and adoption cause thee to return and to cry unto me in faith Abba father and thou shalt not depart from me Now remember God of these and the like promises and press them and plead them and urge them turn them into prayers 'till God turn them into performances So I might mention others I will heal their back-sliding I will love them freely and they shall return to me with their whole heart and Hos 14. 4. Jer. 24. 7. Psalm 22. 27. all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord c. And because knowledg and understanding is as I said initial and so influential as to conversion urge the promises thereof as these and the like For the earth shall be full of the knowledg of the Lord as the waters Is 11. 9. cover the Sea and They shall all know me from Jer. 31. 34. the least of them to the greatest c. and they shall be all taught of God Is 54. 13. Joh. 6. 45. c. 8. Follow after faith labour to believe for Non rectè possit agere poenitentiam nsi qui speraverit indulgentiam true kindly Evangelical repentance and saving conversion does as I said arise and flow from faith and is an happy effect and fruit thereof and faith at least in some measure must go before it as the ground and root thereof A true repenting sinner is a believing sinner that hath had some apprehensions and perswasions of the mercy of God in Christ and of forgiveness of sin in and through him to such as are penitent And without the root how should you partake of the fruit or without the cause of the effect it is said A great number believed and turned to Acts 11. 21. the Lord if ever we would turn to the Lord indeed we must first believe which should make us therefore the more to study and endeavour by all possible ways and means to obtain that precious grace of faith as the Apostle Peter calls 2 Pet. 1. 1. it precious indeed for what is there that is precious but faith brings us to obtain it and this we must in some measure have if ever we repent and turn to God to purpose for an unbelieving Conversio ad Deum complectitur praecipuè fidem quâ homo in solo vero Deo fiduciam collocat c. Winckelm heart is ever an hard evil and impenitent heart Paul speaking of such as live godly and so are true converts he speaks of them as being in Christ Jesus that is interested in him united to him by faith as branches into the Vine members to the head and such must all be that Joh. 15. 5. live godly for
sacrifices of God in the plural number as denoting the peculiar gratefulness and singular acceptableness of this above all other There were many sacrifices under the Law but none of them all so pleasing as this nor any without this this is the sacrifice of sacrifices and this God will not despise But is that all no there is more intended than spoken the meaning is Thou wilt highly esteem and account thereof it is the most acceptable It is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 endearedst frame under heaven not onely above all sacrifices but above all meer moral performances and Pharisaical duties and perfections this made the poor Publican accepted when the proud Pharisee was rejected The spirit is the best of man and a kindly broken spirit is the best of spirits for such a spirit is ever a believing spirit they shall look upon Christ c. Zach. 12. 10. there 's faith and mourn for him there 's repentance and faith wonderfully pleases God as highly honouring his Son whom he so delights in for it makes to him and leans upon him and clasps fast to him as its peculiar object it goes into the presence of God with him and presents and urges him and him alone and his righteousness and satisfaction for acceptation and propitiation of its sins counting all but loss for the excellency of the knowledg of him and this exceedingly pleases the father that his Son so dear to him should be thus honoured in the Souls having recourse to him and relying on him and such a soul seals to the truth of what the Word says as concerning the greatness of God the vileness of sin and the excellency usefulness and all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ and the Lord cannot but have choice thoughts and an high esteem of such a frame The heaven he says is his throne and the earth is his footstool c. but Is 66. 1 2. to him will he look that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at his Word that is not only with a look of bare intuition but dear affection and gracious acceptation yea such a one is the very home and habitation of God himself though so high and holy For thus says 57. 15. the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place there 's one of his dwellings with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones there 's his other It is not said the Angels shall dwell with him or grace and peace and joy onely though these are sweet companions but God himself and where God dwels all good dwells there dwels light life joy peace comfort happiness yea heaven it self and how acceptable must he needs be to God whom he thus honours 6. The comfortableness of it to our selves not onely to others but to our own souls It is very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iniquitas molestia quae laborem afflictionem parit observable that as the same word that signifies iniquity signifies also pain and sorrow as occasioning the same and as being that whereof comes trouble grief misery and at last confusion and hence some render it painful iniquity or sorrowful sin so the same word in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doluit consolationem invenit that signifies to repent and mourn for sin signifies also to comfort and the reason may be this because such repenting and mourning is the way to comfort and true comfort arises out of Verus poenitens de peccatis dolet de dolore gaudet it and follows upon it Worldly sorrow indeed and joy are contraries but not godly for these effect and help one the other or 2. the reason may be because there is joy even in such sorrow and not onely does comfort follow it but accompany it The true penitent grieves for his sins and rejoyceth for his grief certainly there is an hundred times more true comfort in the sorrow of a truly repenting sinner than there is in all the mirth of a sinner who yet goes on in his sins how refreshing are April showers to the earth and so and much more are true penitential tears to the soul they do not only moisten and mellow the soul as it were for the reception of the word but occasion mirth Musick sounds sweetest upon the waters and sweetest is that joy that accompanies such mourning All true mirth is from a rectitude and right frame of the soul from a being well set and dispos'd as that word implies made use of by the Apostle James for being merry Is any merry the Greek is is any of a good or James 5. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aequo animo est aliquis right mind or well dispos'd is he right set or hung as we say implying that all true mirth ariseth thence and now then and only then that we repent and turn to God are our minds and hearts right and in a right frame or rightly hung or dispos'd And therefore this must needs render our state comfortable indeed when hearts are at rights and ways at rights and besides we are then turn'd to the God of all comfort to the Sun of all refreshings and the fountain of all consolations and therefore can no more want comfort than such as turn to the Sun light or to the fountain water or to the fire heat and as such sorrow is accompanied with joy so shall it be turn'd and end in joy Blessed are they that mourn for they shall Matth. 5. 4. be comforted that is with a godly sorrow for sin they that sow in such tears shall be sure to Psal 126. 5 6. reap in joy and they who so go forth weeping bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again rejoicing bringing their sheaves with them And then such have infinite cause matter and ground of joy as being blest as having Gods favour pardon of sin audience of prayer inheritance among them that are sanctified c. yea over such God himself rejoiceth with joy Zeph. 3. 17. Psal 71. 21. lia 61. 2 3. â—â—b 38. 26. c. Yea rests in his love and joyes over them with singing and shall comfort them on every side Such Jesus Christ himself was anointed to comfort and to them belong the promises of comfort â—sa 65. 13. and what cause and ground then have such to rejoice and again to rejoice Yea to shout for joy but till sinners repent and turn to God they have nothing to do with joy neither have they any true cause or ground for it but we may well say of their laughter it is mad and â—celes 2. 2. of their mirth what doth it such rejoice as are in a state of perdition and in the very gall of bitterness and whose portion in the state they are in is nothing but wrath and death and
both our selves and him and the Lord remember us that we may at length thus remember both our selves and him which till we do we forget both 2. We not onely forget our selves but while we yet go on in our sins we are not our selves but as it were besides our selves not onely out of our way but are as it were out of our wits not onely gone off from religion but right reason for to turn to the Lord is every way so much our concern and so infinitly for our good that were we but our selves or in our right minds we could not but resolve upon it as it is said of the Prodigal that as soon as Luk. 15. 17 ever he came to himself he presently resolv'd to arise and go to his Father so that before he was not it seems himself no more are any till they repent and turn to God but are and Matth. ◠◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 resipiscite act as mad men and thus much the Greek word made use of by the Holy Ghost for repentance doth import it signifies to be after wise or to recover wisdom after folly to recover ones wits and come to himself and a right mind All the ways of sin are ways of folly ways of silliness and madness and they stamp him to be so who persists in them hence as in Scripture the godly the true convert is every where called wise and prudent so the wicked and impenitent foolish simple silly Sin especially persistency in sin being pure folly and madness How long ye simple ones will ye love Prov. 1. 22 32. 22. 3. simplicity The turning away of the simple shall slay them The simple pass on and are punished Job 5. 2. Prov. 14. 9. Eccles 9. 3 c. and envy slayeth the silly one Fools make a mock at sin c. and madness is in their heart c. And they act indeed as such as simple silly ones as fools and mad men and as such as are not themselves nor in their right minds for 1. they cut as it were and gash and wound themselves 1 Tim. 6. 10. Prov. 8. 36. 1. 18. pierce themselves yea offer violence to their own souls and love death that is act at that rate as if they loved death so they are said to lye in wait for their own blood to despise 15. 32. their own souls to love cursing And do not Psal 109. 17. these act fillily and madly shall we count him besides himself that offers violence but to his own body and not him much more which offers it to his own soul yea destroies his own Prov. 11. 19. c. soul that pursues what will be his own death Whosoever committeth adultery with a woman 6. 32. it is said he lacketh or is void of understanding How wise soever he may think himself or may be in wordly affairs he hath not the least spark of true spiritual wisdom but is besotted mad Demens Pisc Junius c. Stultus terque quaterque Remus so Junius Piscator and others read it He acts not only against the dictates of Religion but Reason and why because he destroyeth his own soul his own life says Diodate before men and his own soul before God he is a self-murderer a soul-murderer and he himself and not others is the proper cause of his own ruin and is not he void of understanding is not he mad if not who then is others read it he that would destroy his own soul let him do it but who except a mad man or one out of his wits would do that 2. They strike at others even at God himself fight against him for he stretcheth out his hand against God and Job 15. 25 26. strengtheneth himself against the Almighty He runneth upon him c. and this without cause nay notwithstanding the greatest reason to the contrary what iniquity have your Fathers Jer. 2. 5. c. found in me and what have I done unto thee c. and are these themselves But I do but name things 3. They are not at all affected with their own misery nor the greatest wrong they offer to themselves or others They are in their bloud in the very gall of bitterness under God's wrath and curse vassals of sin and Satan and guilty of eternal damnation and in as great danger of it as a Traitor apprehended is of being executed and yet they are not at all affected therewith but make light of it They say they Rev. 3. 17. are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing when they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked as mad men you know fancy sometimes strange things of themselves as that they are some great persons when it is quite otherwise And though by going on still in their sins they offer to themselves the greatest wrong casting themselves as it were into the water and into the fire and piercing themselves through with many sorrows yea offer the greatest wrong even to God himself They do not onely transgress his Law cross and oppose and thwart his will darken his glory affront his majesty but strike at his very being c. and yet all this is but a light matter with these Is it a light thing says God that they do so Ezek. 8. 17. Is 57. 4. and so implying they thought it so and against whom says he do ye sport your selves c. And is not this madness and folly for any to offer such wrong to themselves yea to God himself and yet make light of it what to sport with poyson to make a recreation of destruction a mock of self-murder nay of God-murder Peccatum est Deicidium as much as in them lyes why if such be not fools and Bedlams and besides themselves who are I do not mean natural fools but spiritual which of all are the greatest certainly he that goes about with a whistle a coat and a bable is in a far better case than such It is a sport but to whom to a fool to do mischief Prov. 10. 23. 26. 18 19. And As a mad-man who casteth fire-brands arrows and death so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour and saith am I not in sport or in jest in play sad play like that of those young men who thrust their swords in one anothers sides 2 Sam 2. 14 16 4. They provoke and wage war even with God himself enter the lists as it were with him and is not this madness and folly for is he a match for them what weakness contend with strength impotency with omnipotency a thistle with a Cedar thorns with a consuming fire a weak worm with an almighty God Do we says the 1 Cor. 10. 22. Apostle provoke the Lord are we stronger than he or do we think to carry it against him as if he had said what desperate folly and madness is this for is it not he that
he hath set first our bodies as it were a fire and then afterwards our houses and estates This he expects and shall we still frustrate his expectation shall he count upon it in vain and when for our own weal what may we think then but that he will frustrate ours and while we look for peace no good come Jer. 14. 19. and for a time of healing but behold trouble 7. This is that which the want of is the great matter and ground of God's complaint and of his controversy with and against a people not so much their departures as their refusals to return This is that which roles so much in his thoughts as that he knows not how as it were to digest it to do evil is bad but still to persist in it that is saddest and worst of all How often does the Lord complain of this five times at Amos 4. 5 6 8 c. least in one chapter that though he had sent Hos 7. 9 10 Is 1. 4 5. 9. 13. such and such judgments among them yet had they not return'd unto him and so in many other places besides We are ready indeed to Jer. 5. 3. 8. 4 5. 6. 28 29. c. complain of God's punishments but he of our impenitency and his matter of complaint is the saddest impenitency under judgments being a thousand times worse than the judgments themselves and sinners not returning far more sinful than all their sins besides And let not the Lord then still have cause of this sad complaint against us after such a multiplicity of rods that he hath scorged us with alate for what height of defection will that argue and how greatly will it incense his displeasure 8. Not turning to God when he smites puts him upon greater severities yea makes him resolve Lev. 26. 18. 21. 29. upon final ruine How often does he threaten See also Ps 7. 12 13. in Leviticus that if they would not reform he would yet punish them seven times more and Is 9. 12 13 14. Ezek. 24. 12 13. Job 9. 4. Prov. 11. 21. c. bring seven times more plagues upon them yea he tells them they should eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters sad meat but God will overcome when he judges and the stoutest sinners must not think to carry it against him But God Psal 68. 21. will wound the head of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one that goes on still in his trespasses Those in Amos for all those judgments inflicted on them not returning unto the Lord he resolves therefore thus will I do unto thee Amos 4. 12. what why worse than ever I have done yet I will take a severer course and come with my last and heaviest stroke or the Lord hereby Duriùs nunc tecum agam quia cogit me tua obstinatio ultimam poenam infligam absque ulla mitigatione c. Calv. in locum would the better as some think decipher out to them the dreadfulness of this stroke it being such as could not be exprest and therefore wraps it up in silence and leaves it to them to think what it might be Thus it is not so much sinning but persisting still in sin and that notwithstanding God's judgments that brings final ruine this seals the stone of destruction upon nations and persons And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds c. Seeing thou our God hast punisht us less than our iniquities deserve Ezra 9. 13 14. and hast given such deliverance as this should we again break thy commandements c. wouldst not thou be angry with us 'till thou hast consumed us so that there shall be no remnant nor escpaing When winds sent to fan and clense lie without success then must be expected a dry wind from the wilderness not to fan Jer. 4. 11. nor to clense but utterly to lay wast and for God to resolve that his eye shall not spare neither will he have pity but to say as he did of those Jews cast them out of my sight and let them go forth such as are for death to death and such as are for Jer. 15. 1 2. the sword to the sword c. This brought final ruine upon Israel and after upon Jerusalem and so hath done upon other nations as Germany which Brentius expounding upon Is 9. 12 13. foretold And how can we think but it will bring the same upon England unless we speedily return It was a notable speech of a friend in a letter out of New England to one here Our hearts are full of fears for Old England and that which makes us fear most it is that God's visitations bring forth no better fruit than increase of sin we may fear lest that God should visit seven times more the Lord give repentance and turning to God that God may in mercy turn to his people c. And how can it be otherwise this being the great end of God in all his judgments whether publick or private to reduce people to himself and for God to lose his end and smite in vain how sad is it and it being also a magnifying of the creature that he will debate with Job 7. 17 18. it which Job admires that he should condescend so low as not onely to speak but strike and so make use of all ways and means to reclaim And Amos 4. 6. I also have given you cleanness of teeth and want of bread c. as if the Lord had said And in that also I have not been wanting neither in words nor blows neither by speaking nor smiting and to have all slighted and nothing regarded And besides this it is God's last remedy he speaks once and again yea often and when that will not do he strikes and that with gentler and then severer strokes but when these will not do he rejects moreover God then in a more special manner commanding sinners to return And if they be bound in fetters and holden in cords of Job 36. 8 10. affliction then he commandeth that they return from iniquity c. and yet they not returning what does it argue but stubborness and rebellion and what is it but to contemn God and his rod as if we car'd not what he did in the world yea what is it but to bid as it were open defiance to heaven or as if we bid him do his worst and God knows not how as it were to bear such any longer they are such a burthen to him and therefore resolves to ease himself of them Ah I will ease me of mine Adversaries Is 1. 24. c. this makes sin rebellion and out of measure sinful when though God afflicts sinners will still hold fast their sins and though they cannot hold fast other things as their health strength estates liberties relations outward comforts yet they will hold fast them and not let them go whatever
goes and though God does then as it were hedg up sinners ways with thorns yet they break through This was that which set such a brand and Emphasis of disgrace upon Ahaz that all might observe and take notice of And in the times of his distress yet did he trespass more against the Lord this is 2 Chr. 28. 22. that King Ahaz And so will the Lord say another day of others this is that man that woman that family that people that person who when God afflicted yet trespass'd more and more and this does so incense God's wrath as to blow it up into a consuming flame and such a flame as shall not be quencht And therefore Jer. 4. 4. what now remains but that with all seriousness and earnestness we forthwith set our selves to and about this great work and concern both of our selves and the Nation that with all vehemency we implore it with our utmost endeavours prosecute it making use of all ways and means whereby we may attain it and not stand it out still 'till inevitable destruction overtake us else we must take what follows we must either remove our sins or God will for ever remove himself and his mercies CHAP. XIV To incourage one another to turn to God AND this work now being so blessed a work and of such infinite importance let us encourage one another unto it let us say as those in Hosea come and let us return unto the Hos 6. 1 2. Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us c. as if they had said And this it is the wisest course we can take it being our own happiness and good and not God's who is all-sufficient as if a man be warm'd and refresh'd by the Sun he is benefited himself but not the Sun and if a man drinks of the fountain he profits himself not the fountain so God needs not our conversion if we turn what does it advantage him not at all the profit and advantage is our own and upon this account he desires it not for any need he hath of us but for the need we have of him And shall we not then incourage one another to this and say as those in the Lamentations Wherefore doth a living man complain a Lam. 3. 39 40 man for the punishment of his sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord c. As if they had said What do we complaining who are yet living it is sad indeed with us but it is a mercy it is no worse that our Bodies are not in the Grave and our Souls in Hell for whatever is on this side Hell is Mercy and alive and complain and when for the punishment of Sin the evil of punishment being little to the evil of sin the bitterness for sin to the bitterness in sin one strikes at us the other at God one at the Creature the other at the Creatour the one at what is finite the other at what is infinite and the worst that punishment does or can do to us is little to what Sin does to or against God the Sinner gives worse gall and wormwood to God to drink than he does to the Sinner hence the Church resolves to bear the indignation of the Lord because she had sinned against him and hence says the Micah 7. 9. Lord to a people who would plead with him about his proceedings as if he had been rigorous towards them Wherefore saies he will ye plead with me plead with me Come then Jer. 2. 29. saies God and I will plead with you and stop your mouths with one word I will say but this and it is enough for ever to silence you for ever opening your mouths more against me Ye all have transgressed against me saith the Lord and do but sit down and seriously weigh what you have done in doing that and against whom you have done it and there 's enough to silence you As to what ever I have done to you it 's little to what you do against me and O! that Sinners would but consider this Ye have transgressed against me and Is 43. 24. thereby what have ye done even broken my law crossed and contradicted my will darken'd my glory griv'd and embitter'd my Spirit turned the back to me and not the face and wearied me and made me even to serve though a God of such infinite majesty and shall we now complain or plead with the Lord no let us rather incourage one another to return come and let us return We read indeed of other comes incouraging comes to that which is evil and destructive and these have been too too much the Comes of England which hath made things come to that pass as they are Come ye Is 56 12. say they I will fetch wine and we will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundantly Come and Jer. 18. 18. let us devise devices against Jeremiah c. come and let us smite him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words c. Come and let us lay wait for bloud let us lurk privily for Prov. 1. 11. the innocent without cause c. But these are hellish pernicious comes and have occasioned so many great and heavy judgments to come upon us one on the neck of another let us therefore now at length change our comes and let them be come and let us repent come and let us turn again unto the Lord come and let us amend our ways and our doings and get our hearts and ways right with God that so things may be right with us come and let all our other strifes end now in this who should be first herein in turning to God and so in promoting our own and the Nations weal. Others are striving for worldly precedency but let us for spiritual and it is no pride here to go one before another but he is humblest that goes first And these are blessed comes and calls indeed to call one another to the most high to incourage one another to turn to God the chief good and to come off from sin so exceeding evil yea the greatest and chiefest and indeed onely true evil and the cause of all other evils which is it self a punishment yea the worst of punishments the work of the Devil and worse than hell and Devils and all other evils whatsoever which threw down Angels to hell and has more evil in it than all the Angels in heaven have good which was Christ's great work in coming into the world to save from and which nothing but his bloud can make Matth. 1. 21. Hebr. 9. 22. expiation of which not onely offends and dishonours and offers the greatest injury to the blessed God but exceedingly wrongs our selves our own souls which debases distresses defiles befools hardens destroys spoyls our good things is the sting of our evil things