upon this Account He is known among his People not so much by acts of Power as acts of Grace and the greatness of his Mercy in pardoning Sins for Christ's sake 3. He is willing to dispence a Pardon Miâ— 7. 18. He delighteth in Mercy God delighteth in himself and all his Attributes and the Manifestation of them in the World but above all in his Mercy Justice is his strange act Isa. 28. 21. There is not any thing more pleasing to him 'T is the Mercy of God that he hath drawn up a Petition for us he would never have taught us to have asked Mercy by Prayer if he had not been willing to shew us Mercy 4. God will do it for his own sake and not for any forreign Reasons Isa. 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions for mine own sake and out of a respect to his own Honour See how God casts up his Accounts It is Mercy Jer. 3. 12. I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep Anger for ever So his Truth Psal. 106. 45. He remembred for them his Covenant and repented according to the Multitude of his Mercies Not from any desert of theirs who do so neglect him and wrong him God will do it upon his own Reasons 5. He will do it in such a way as Man doth not in a way of infinite Mercy Hos. 11. 9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine Anger for I am God and not Man 'T is the great Advantage of us Sinners that we have to do with God and not Man in our Miscarriages For Man's Pity and Mercy may be exhausted be it never so great What seven times a Day But God is Infinite Man may think it dishonourable to agree with an Inferior when he stoops not to him but God is so far above the Creature that we are below his Indignation Man is soon wearied but not God Isa. 55. 8 9. For my Thoughts are not your Thoughts neither are your Ways my Ways saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my Ways higher than your Ways and my Thoughts than your Thoughts I now come to the fourth and last Consideration IV. That Forgiveness of Sins is one great Benefit that we must ask of God in Prayer Here it will be needful to shew First The Necessity of treating with God about Forgiveness Secondly The Nature of this Benefit Thirdly The Terms how God dispenseth it First The Necessity will appear in these Propositions 1. Man hath a Conscience Rom. 2. 15. Thoughts accusing or excusing c. A Beast cannot reflect 2. A Conscience inferreth a Law 3. A Law inferreth a Sanction 4. A Sanction inferreth a Judgment 5. A Judgment a Condemnation to the fall'n Creature 6. There is no avoiding this Condemnation unless God set up a Chancery or another Court of Grace 7. If God set up another Court our Plea must be Grace Of this see more at large 20. Serm. 1 Serm. on Psal. 32. 1 2. Secondly The Nature of this Benefit or manner how God forgiveth 1. Freely 2. Fully 1. Freely and meerly upon the Impulsions of his own Grace Isa. 43. 25. I even I am he that forgiveth your Iniquities for my Name sake Nothing else could move him to it but his own Mercy and he could have chosen whether he would have done so yea or no For he spared not the Angels but offereth Pardon to Man and all Men are not actually pardoned And therefore the only reason why he sheweth us Mercy and not others is meerly his own Grace The Intervention of Christ's Merit doth not hinder the Freedom of it Tho dearly purchased by Christ yet freely bestowed on us For 't is said Rom. 3. 24. Iustified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ. Why partly because it was Mercy that he would not prosecute his Right against us Partly because he found out the way how to recompense the wrong done by Sin unto his Majesty and out of his Love sent his Son to make this Recompence for us Ioh. 3. 16. 'T was Love set all a-work And lastly not excited hereunto by any worth on our parts but the external moving cause was only our Misery and the internal moving cause his own Grace Nor is the Freedom of this Act infringed by requiring Faith and Repentance on our part because that only sheweth the way and order wherein this Grace is dispensed not the cause why 'T is not for the worth of our Repentance or as if there were any Merit in it A Malefactor that beggeth his Pardon on his Knees doth not deserve a Pardon only the Majesty of the Prince requireth that it should be submissively asked These are not Conditions of Merit but Order not the Cause but the way of Grace's working And these Conditions are wrought in us by Grace Acts 5. 31. not required only but given In all other Covenants the Party contracting is bound to perform what he promiseth by his own strength But in the Covenant of Grace God doth not only require that we should Believe and Repent but causeth it in us Conditions of the Covenant are Conditions in the Covenant God requireth Faith and Repentance and giveth Faith and Repentance compare Isa. 59. 20. with Rom. 11. 26. 'T is Christ's Gift as well as his Precept So that when we come about pardon of Sin we have only to do with Grace We beg Pardon and a Heart to receive it 'T is a Free Pardon 2. 'T is a Full Pardon 'T is Full in several respects 1. Because where the Party is forgiven he is accepted with God as if he had never sinned Psal. 103. 12. As far as the East is from the VVest so far hath he removed our Transgressions from us And Mich. 7. 19. Thou wilt cast all their Sins into the depth of the Sea Isa. 38. 17. Thou hast cast all my Sins behind thy Back It shall not be remembred nor laid to their charge any more 'T is true for a while after they may trouble the Conscience as when the Storm ceaseth the Waves rowl for a while afterwards So may Sin in the Consciences of God's Children work trouble after the fiducial Application of the Blood of Christ But the Storm ceaseth by degrees And 't is possible that the commitment of new Sins may revive old Guilt as a new Strain may make us sensible of an old Bruise Yet we must distinguish between the full Grant of a Pardon From the full sense of it when we are not Thankful Humble Fruitful former Sins may come into remembrance and God may permit it as matter of Humiliation to us and to quicken us to seek after new Confirmation of our Right and Interest Yet God's Pardon is never reversed nor will the Sin be charged again or put in suit against him to the final condemnation of the Person so pardoned Once more though the Sins of the Justified should be remembred at the Day
a Gardiner withholds his hand the Ground is soon grown over with Weeds Restrain Prayer and neglect God and noisom Lusts will abound Our Hearts are fill'd with Distempers when once we cease to be frequent with God in private It is said of Iob chap. 15. 4. Thou restrainest Prayer before God That Passage is notable Psal. 14. 4. They eat up my People as they eat Bread and call not upon the Lord. Omit secret Prayer and some great Sin will follow within a little while you will be given up to some evil Course or other Either brutish Lusts Oppression or Violence to hate the People of God to join in a Confederacy with them which cry up a Confederacy against God The less we converse with God in private the more is the Awe of God lessen'd But now a Man which is often with God dareth not offend him so freely as others do As they which are often with Princes and great Persons are better cloathed and more neat in their Apparel and Carriage So they which are often conversing with God grow more heavenly holy watchful than others are and when we are not with God not only all this is lost but a great many Evils to be found It is plainly seen by Mens Conversations how little they converse with God But now to avoid the Stroke of this Reproof what will Men do Either deny the Guilt or excuse themselves First Some will deny the Guilt They do call upon God and use private Prayer therefore think themselves to be free from this Reproof Yea but are you as often with God as you should be There are three sorts of Persons 1. Some there are that omit it totally cannot speak of redeeming any Time for this Work These are practical Atheists without God in the World Eph. 2. 12. They are Heathens and Pagans under a Christian Name and Profession We should pray without ceasing 1 Thess. 5. 17. that is take all praying Occasions Therefore they which pray not at all all the Week long God hears not from them surely come under the force of this Reproof 2. There are some which perform it seldom O how many Days and Weeks pass over their Heads and God never hears from them The Lord complains of it Ier. 2. 32. They have forgotten me Days without number It was Time out of mind since they were last with God 3. The most do not perform it so often as they should And therefore that I may speak with Evidence and Conviction I shall answer the Case what Rules may be given how often we should be with God and when we are said to neglect God 1. Every day something should be done in this kind Acts 10. 2. Corneliuâ— pray'd to God always every day he had his Times of Familiarity with God Daniel tho with the hazard of his Life would not omit praying three times a day Dan. 6. 10. And David speaks of Morning Evening and Noon Psal. 55. 17. Tho we cannot bind all Men absolutely to these Hours beause of the difference of Conditions Employments and Occasions yet thus much we may gather from hence That surely they which are most holy will be most frequent in this Work 2. Love will direct you They which love one another will not be strange one to another a Man cannot be long out of the Company of him whom he loveth Christ loved Lazarus and Mary and Martha Iohn 11. 5. and therefore his great Resort was to Bethany to Lazarus's House Surely they which love God will have frequent recourse to him In the Times of the Gospel God trusts Love we are not bound to such particular Rules as under the Law Why for Love is a liberal Grace and will put us upon frequent Visits and tell us when we should pray to God 3 The Spirit of God will direct you There are certain Times when God hath Business with you alone when he doth as it were speak to you as to the Prophet in another Case Ezek. 3. 22. Go forth into the Plain in the Desart and there I will talk with thee So get you to your Closets I have some Business to speak with you Thou saidst Seek ye my Face my Heart answered Thy Face Lord will I seek Psal. 27. 8. God invites you to Privacy and Retirement You are sent into your Closet to deal with God about the Things you heard from the Pulpit This is the actual Profit we get by a Sermon when we deal seriously with God about what we have heard When God sends for us as it were by his Spirit and invites us into his Presence by these Motions it is spiritual Clownishness to refuse to come to him 4. Your own inward and outward Necessities will put you in mind of it God hath not stated what Hours we shall eat and drink the Seasons and Quantity of it are left to our Choice God hath left many Wants upon us to bring us into his presence Sometimes we want Wisdom and Counsel in Darkness Iam. 1. 5. If any lack Wisdom let him ask of God which giveth to all Men liberally It is an Occasion to bring us to God God is the best Casuist to resolve our Doubts and guide us in our Way Sometimes we lack Strength to withstand Temptations the Throne of Grace was set up for a Time of Need Heb. 4. 16. when any Case is to be resolved and Comfort to be obtained We want Comfort Quickning Counsel and all to bring us to God So for outward Necessities too Certainly if a Man doth but observe the Temper of his own Heart he cannot neglect God but will find some occasion or other to bring him into his presence some Errand to bring him to the Throne of Grace We are daily to beg Pardon of Sin and daily to beg Supplies Now certainly when you do not observe these Things you neglect God Secondly Others to avoid it will excuse themselves Why they would pray to God in private but either they want Time or they want a convenient Place or want Parts and Abilities But the truth is they want a Heart and that 's the Cause of all and indeed when a Man hath no Heart to the Work then something is out of the way 1 Some plead they want Time Why if you have Time for other Things you should have a Time for God Shall we have a Season for all Things and not for the most necessary Work Hast thou time to eat drink sleep follow thy Trading how dost thou live else and no time to be saved no time to be familiar with God which is the greatest Business of all Get it from your Sleep and Food rather than be without this necessary Duty Jesus Christ who had no such Necessity as we have yet it is said Mark 1. 35. He arose a great while before day and went out and departed into a solitary Place and there prayed Therefore must God only be encroached upon the lean Kine devour the fat Sarah thrust out instead
the Devil's work in us 1 John 3. 8. He that committeth Sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the beginning For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the Works of the Devil And Joh. 8. 34. Whosoever committeth Sin is the Servant of Sin The one cometh from a just God the other from our corrupt Hearts The one is the Act of an Holy God the other the Act of a sinful Creature 4. The Death of Christ falls more directly upon this Benefit exemption from Sin Mat. 1. 21. He shall save his People from their Sins Acts 3. 26. God having raised up his Son Iesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his Iniquities not Troubles or Sorrows but Sins 5. Affliction is a more particular temporal Evil but Sin is an infinite universal Evil Sickness depriveth us of Health Poverty of Wealth c. And every adverse Providence doth but oppose some particular temporal Good But Sin depriveth us of God who is the Fountain of our Comfort the other but of some limited Comfort 6. Afflictions are sent to remove Sin Heb. 12. 11. Now no chastning for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable Fruit of Righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby Isa. 26. 9. When thy Iudgments are in the Earth the Inhabitants of the World will learn Righteousness But Sin is not sent to remove Affliction Now the End must be greater than the Means both as to Prosecution and Aversation As to Prosecution To dig for Iron with Mattocks of Gold and Silver So in Aversation If Death were not worse than the Pain of Physick no Man would take Physick to avoid Death 7. Affliction is the Effect of God's Love Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth he chastneth But to be left to Sin is an Effect of God's Anger God doth not always exempt from Troubles yet if he keep from Spiritual hurt thereby if he sanctify the Trouble support us with sufficient Grace 2 Cor. 12. 9. if preserved from Evil howsoever tempted and exercised 't is enough Vse 1. To reprove our Folly We complain of other Things but we do not complain of Sin which is the greatest Evil. This is contrary to the Spirit of God's Children who rejoice in Troubles but not in Sins 2 Cor. 12. 9. Most gladly therefore will I rejoice in Infirmities that the Power of Christ may rest upon me They groan bitterly under Sins Rom. 7. 23. O wretched Man c. If any Man had cause to complain of Afflictions Paul had In Perils often Whipped Persecuted Stoned But the Body of Sin and Death was the greatest Burden Lusts troubled him more than Scourges his Captivity to the Law of Sin more than Prisons When Affliction sitteth too close Sin sits loose In Affliction there is some Offence done us but in Sin the wrong is done to God And what are we to God Afflictions may be good but Sin is never good The Body suffereth by Affliction but the Soul suffereth by Sin loss of Grace and Comfort which are not to be valued by all the World's Enjoyments The Evil of Affliction is but for a moment like Rain it drieth up of its own accord But the Evil of Sin is for ever unless it be pardoned and taken away Sin is the Cause of all the Evils of Affliction therefore when we complain we should complain not so much of the Smart as of the Cause of it 2. It directeth us 1. How to pray to God against Sin rather than Trouble This is indeed to be delivered from Evil 2 Tim. 4. 18. Paul reckoned upon that He will deliver me from every evil Work When afflicted you should rather desire to have the Affliction sanctified than removed you will be most careful for that Saints do not pray for the Interests of the Old Man rather than the New Man To be freed from Trouble is a common Mercy but to have it sanctified is a special Mercy Carnal Men may be without Affliction but Carnal Men cannot have experience of Grace Bare deliverance is no sign of special Love 2. In our choice 'T was an heavy Charge they put upon Iob Job 36. 21. Thou hast chosen Iniquity rather than Affliction Sometimes we are put upon the trial To loose the Favour of God or the Favour of Men Duty and Danger Here content my self gratify my Lusts and Interests there offend God Out of the Temptation we could easily judg that all the Misery in the World is to be endured rather than commit the least Sin But how is it upon a trial when a Worldly Convenience and a Spiritual Inconvenience is proposed By chusing Sin a Man cannot altogether escape Affliction here or hereafter Wickedness though it prosper a while yet at length it proveth a Snare 3. It directeth us to submit to God's Providence and to own Mercy in it Though God doth not exempt us from Troubles yet if he keep us from Hurt thereby if he sanctify the Trouble and support us with Grace sufficient 't is his Mercy to us For Daniel to be put into the Lion's Den was not so great a Judgment as for Nebuchadnezzar to have the Heart of a Beast To be given up to our own Hearts Lusts to commit any Sin 't is a greater Cross than any Misery that can light upon us therefore let us be patient under Affliction Our great Care should be not to dishonour God in any Condition God hath promised to be with his People in their Afflictions to comfort them but hath never promised to be with his People in their Sins I will be with you in the Fire and in the Water as the Son of God was with the three Childrâ—â— in the fiery Furnace But God is departed whâ— they siâ— I will go to my own place Sin hindreth Prayer but Afflictions quicken it Isa. 26. 16. Lord in Trouble have they visited thee they poured out a Prayer when thy chastning was upon them In Affliction 't is a time to put the Promises in suit it doth not hinder our access to God and the Throne of Grace but driveth us to it But Sin increaseth our Bondage maketh us stand at a distance and grow â—hy of God The Fruit of Sin is Shame Rom. â— 21. 4. It teaches us how to wait and hope for the issue of our Prayers Pray that ye enter not into Temptation yet be not absolute in that but to be kept from Evil that what way soever we are tried we may be kept from the Evil of Sin For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever Amen IN these words we have the Conclusion of all and that which giveth us confidence in the Requests we make to God First The Confirmation is taken from the Excellency of God to whom we pray where there is a declaration of what belongeth to God Secondly The Duration and Perpetuity for Ever Three things are mentioned