due operation upon the heart and conscience * Generalia non pungunt unless it be brought home by a personal and particular appropriation to a mans self When a sinner is wrought upon so as to turn savingly from his iniquities he is made to do it understandingly God working upon a mans heart answerably to mans nature He doth not force him to cast off his sins against his will but maketh him ready and willing to abandon them and to that purpose he giveth the sinner a sight of the guilt he is under He maketh him to know what a contempt sin is of the Majesty of heaven what a slighting of an holy and just and righteous Law what a despising of the goodness and compassion of the Lord and consequently a provocation of his wrath that so there may be raised in the soul a regular abhorrence of it and detestation against it and the sinner may be willing to sue out a divorce Will the person think when he is throughly convinced of sin What a fool was I thus to serve these base lusts and pleasures What madness possessed me that I should depart from the Lord and follow after lying vanities For mark it Sirs When the affections act regularly in closing with or rejecting and refusing any spiritual object there must alwayes precede a competent knowledge of the good or evil of that object And the reason is plain because the will and affections are blind and dependent faculties they depend in their operations upon the information of the understanding So that the heart cannot hate the evil of sin nor will the person loath himself upon the account of it till the judgment be convinced of the nature and greatness of that evil You read of this as one of the first works of the Spirit Joh. 16.8 When the comforter is come he will convince the world of sin He will make them to see clearly what an ugly deformed nature it is of what a bitter thing it is to rebel against the most high He will discover unto them the guilt which lieth upon their souls and that by such evident concluding arguments as will take away from them all excuses whatsoever whereby they were apt to cover their transgressions * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore it followeth that he will convince them of their unbelief which is the great damning sin and that whereby other transgressions are fast bound upon the soul To this end God doth sometimes bring the sinner into sore afflictions and tribulations that he may thereby taste the bitterness and malignity of departing from him which before was accounted but a trivial matter little to be regarded Job 36.8 9 10. When they be bound in fetters and holden in the cords of affliction then he sheweth them their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded He openeth their ear also to discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity * Jer. 2.19 To this purpose the holy Ghost doth set the Law before a mans face in the spiritualness equity and excellency of it that the sinner may behold himself in that glass and pass judgment upon the evils of his heart and wayes according to that rule For when the commandment cometh then sin will revive indeed and be seen in its proper colours Rom. 7.9 Before the person is mistaken concerning the evil of it he reckoneth it a small matter and wondereth that Ministers and Precisians should make such an ado against sin because he judgeth of it by false rules by the opinion which the generality of the world have concerning it by the pleasure and worldly advantage that are attendant upon it and the like But when the Law cometh his mistakes are rectified and he seeth sin as it is And to this end the Spirit of God doth make discoveries unto the soul of the holiness and purity and infinite and spotless perfections of the nature of God himself against whom sin is committed When Job saw the Lord then he did abhor himself as in dust and ashes Job 42.4 5. When Isaiah had a full sight of the infinite power and holiness and glorious perfections of God then he cried out Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips Isa 6.3 4 5. This is a certain rule and if you will observe your hearts anddemeanour the truth of it will every day further appear to you by experience That as your apprehensions of God are so the manner of your applications unto God will be and so your apprehensions of the evil of sin against God will be likewise This is the first act in order unto a divorce from sin An act of Conviction 2. There is an act of Consideration wherein the heart is awakened to weigh the sad consequents of the evil of sin What will be the issue of these things What will become of my precious and immortal soul if I go on in this course There is no way thinketh the sinner to escape the damnation of hell without conversion and the torments thereof will be endless and everlasting torments If I am once cast into that lake there is no deliverance out of it Therefore you read of confidering and turning from sin Ezek. 18.27 28. When the wicked turneth from his wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his soul alive Because he considereth and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed he shall surely live he shall not die And the truth is the reason why men and women do still hug their sins in their bosoms and roll them as a sweet morsel under their tongues is for want of consideration If they did sit down and consult what would become of them did they lay it seriously to heart and revolve it in their thoughts what precious souls their lusts are destroying what insupportable wrath they are pulling down upon their heads what rich grace they are abusing what an incomprehensible Majesty they are setting against and what a dismal condition it will without a speedy repentance reduce them unto would they harbour sin any longer in their hearts would they not flie from it as from a Serpent certainly they would cast it away with indignation and say Get ye hence ye filthy accursed lusts you have brought me into a wretched estate and should I follow you still I must be undone forever Isa 47.7 Thou didst not lay these things to thine heart neither didst thou remember the latter end of it As if the holy Ghost had said the cause of your continuance in sin is want of consideration if you had laid the end of it to heart it would have put a stop to your carier in a course of impiety This will appear in the return of the prodigal Luk. 15.17 18. When he came to himself he said How many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger I will arise and go to my father When he came to himself that is when he entered into debate with his own spirit
knâ—w the least iniquity so as to be tainted therewith in the smallest degree but his Disciples and followers whilst they are in their pilgrimage here even the best of them have much corruption * Habitat peccatum in regenitiâ— sed non regnat manet sed non dominatur Evulsum quodaâ—modo nec tamen expâ—lsum dejectum sed not proâ—siâ— ejâ—â—â—um Bern. still abiding in their natures and are under manifold imperfections For their union with him is not a confornding of their beings as if they were made one physical person with Christ but it lieth in their neer relation unto Christ There hath been much poyson of late years vomited by wretches of profligate principles who turn the grace of God into wantonness Let them commit never so many cursed abominations yet they will plead that they sin not because Christ is in them But though Christ be in the godly not in such whose heart walketh after their detestable things and the godly are united to him in a spiritual way yet they do not lose thereby their personal beings and operations This oneness with the Son of God doth necessarily suppose a mans freedom from the reign of sin and the allowed practise of it but it may stand together with the remainders of corruption it is not altogether inconsistent with many failings and infirmities in the conversation 1 Joh. 1.6 8. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness if any sin be our way and course wherein we travel and allow our selves we lie and do not the truth And on the other hand If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 3. Remember this in the third place that although we call this oneness of the godly with Christ their neer relation unto him yet there is a great deal of reality in it Christ and his people are united truly and verily though not corporally You must not look upon this grace of Union as if it were a bare notion and imagination that hath its existence and being only in the fancies of men but there is an oneness indeed between the Lord Christ and his servants Joh. 15.1 I am the true vine q. d. As truly as there is a natural union bed tween the vine and the branches so there is an Union spiritual betwixt me and my Disciples And again Joh. 6.55 My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed This is not a meer speculation or the product of mens brains it is not an Ens râ—tionis only fabricated and invented by the wit of man but there is much truth and reality in the thing Nay it is a very closs and intimate Union What expressions could be used of a fuller significancy than those Eph. 5.30 For we are memberâ— of his body and of his flesh and of his bones But still understand it not grosly and carnally but in a spiritual way and manner Relationes sunt minimae entitatis maximae verò efficaciae So there is a real ground on which it is bottomed and many glorious effects produced by it it is the inlet into all other Covenant-blessings and hath much reality in it self That 's the first branch of the description As to the general nature of this grace It is a persons relation to the Lord Jesus 2. Here is a note of difference whereby it is distingued from other relations unto Christ therefore I call it That special relation which Christians have to him as Mediator of the Covenant of grace as he is the Redeemer of Gods elect and as they are persons knit unto him that they may partake of the redemption which he hath purchased Such a relation as is appropriated unto them that are sanctified and whereunto the rest of the world are utterly strangers As there are special qualifications put into the godly and special work and service performed by the godly so there are special priviledges conferred upon them and this Union is one of those distinguishing priviledges whereby they have relation to Christ as he is the Redeemer that cometh to Zion Isa 54.5 Fear not for thy Maker is thine Husband and thy Redeemer the holy one of Israel the God of the whole earth he shall be called For the right apprehending of my meaning herein you must observe that there is a threefold relation which the children of men may be said to have to the Lord Christ and upon each of them in a sense to be in him There is the relation of 1. Creatures to Christ as The eternal God 2. Men. to Christ as The Son of man 3. Saints or Christians to Christ as The Mediator of the Covenant of grace 1. There is the relation of creatures to Christ as the eternal God of the same essence and substance with the Father and equal unto the Father by whom they were made and preserved from whom they received their being and continuation in their being For Sirs as Christ was appointed to transact matters with the Father so he is coessential and coequal with him God blessed for ever Rom 9.5 As in respect to his incarnation he was born in the fulness of time so upon the account of his divine nature he is the Father of eternity Isa 9.6 The man that is Gods fellow Zech. 13.7 As he came to be the Saviour of the world so by him the world was made and all things therein and by him they are upheld Joh. 1.1 3. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made Heb. 1.3 He upholdeth all things by the word of his power Now from hence doth arise a relation unto Christ as creatures are related unto the Creator as dependent beings unto that infinite Majesty upon whom they have dependance Causâ— Procreans Esse Causâ— quae dat Porrò Causâ— Conservans Esse And the holy Ghost stileth it a being in him as the effect is in the cause both of creation and conservation Act. 17.28 For in him * Or by him as it may be reâ—dred For I understand nothing further by this in-existence than Dependentiae ereatura à creatore tam in esse quam in operari we live and move and have our being For we are all his off-spring This relation is common to the vilest of people nay to the very devils There are some poor ignorant souls delude themselves from hence they hope God will save them because he made them Will Christ damn his creatures the workmanship of his hands it can never enter into their hearts to believe it But O vain man if thou continuest ignorant or unregenerate and walkest in a course of ungodliness God that made thee will shew no mercy towards thee Christ that formed thee will send thee to hell Isa 27.11 God may refuse to own thee for the creature that he made he made thee holy
only that we may be provoked thereby to live in a constant dependance upon God for further grace to help in the time of need but likewise that we may be stirred up to give all the glory of There is Actual 1. Exciting grace 2. Co-operating grace 3. Resisting grace 4. Supporting grace 5. Restoring grace 6. Increasing grace 7. Stablishing grace 1. There is Exciting grace whereby the principle of holiness is awakened and stirred up and put into a readiness unto that which is good For although there are habits of grace alwayes resident in the hearts of the godly yet those habits are not alwayes in a present aptness and preparedness unto the matters of godliness What a listlessness and heaviness is oftentimes upon the heart of a sincere Christian So that he hath grace to seek when he is called to the exercise of it he is not in a readiness to bring it forth into act And therefore we have need frequently to quicken our hearts and to awaken and stir up the grace of God that is within us It was the complaint of the Lord against his people that they did not stir up themselves to take hold of him Isa 64.7 There needeth exciting grace and assistance to stir us up unto practical holiness that our loyns may be girt and our lamps burning and our selves in procinctu in a readiness to every good work as the exhortation is Luk. 12.35 Tit. 3.1 How much is David in prayer that God would quicken him Psal 119.37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity and quicken thou me in thy way Psal 80.18 Quicken us and we will call upon thy name Psal 86.11 Vnite mine heart to fear thy name q. d. Gather the forces of my soul together that they may conspire as 〈…〉 be wandring and out of the way when I have use for them then they are to seek O Lord call them in and put them into a readiness Now this exciting influence proceedeth from Christ and is given forth unto them that are ingraffed into him It is he that knocketh at the door of the heart to awaken believers out of their security and to put them into a posture that they may be ready to follow him whithersoever he shall lead them Cant. 5.2 2. There is Co-operating grace or assistance to do the will of God whereby the new creature is set on work and inabled to walk in the way of Gods commandments For Sirs herein lieth a vast difference between the principles of sin which are naturally seated in the soul and the habits of holiness which in the new birth are introduced into the soul The principles of sin can work of themselves without any forreign assistance to reduce them into act If there were no devil to tempt us unto ungodliness the corrupt heart of man would be a tempter to it self Jam. 1.14 and would rush on into wickedness of its own accord But the habits of grace cannot act of themselves there must be renewed strength imparted to set them on work which we may fitly call co-operating grace Psal 119.35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments for therein do I delight Though David had a spirit of new life within him yet he could not actually walk in the path of God's precepts till by an additional force he was set a going Cant. 4.16 Awake O North wind and come thou South-wind blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out By the garden understand a sanctified soul and by the spices in this garden may be meant the 〈…〉 〈…〉 sistance of the Spirit it is educed into act And this co-operating assistance is in Christ and issued forth unto them that are one with him 2 Tim. 2.1 Thon therefore my Son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus That is Get assistance from him out of his fulness to strengthen thee to the discharge of the work of the Lord. 3. There is resisting grace to oppose temptations unto sin and to vanquish and overcome the assaults of the devil Although in the first work of conversion there is a secret antipathy set up in the spirit against sin yet if you would be actually free from the taint of it there must be further strength to help you in grapling with temptations unto sin And this also is in Christ to be communicated unto his members Eph. 6.10 The Apostle doth exhort us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Not to enter the lists in our own strength but to put on the whole armour of God that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil And the spiritual combate maintained by a child of God is called The fight of faith because sin is especially opposed by the exercise of faith and the victory obtained through faith in Jesus by which fresh supplies of strength are fetcht down from him 1 Tim. 6.12 4. The fourth sort of actual strength is supporting grace for the bearing such burdens as are laid upon us Strength to inable us with an holy quietness and submission to endure afflictions and hardships 〈…〉 thy to suffer in his cause and you have ability miniffred to carry you through sufferings to keep your hearts from sinking in the day of tribulation and adversity As you are called to suffer so through the supplies of Christ's Spirit you are impowered and fortified thereunto 5. Restoring grace To recover us out of that deadness into which we are apt to fall and to call us back from those decayes unto which believers are subject For though habitual grace shall never be quite lost yet the vigour of it may be much abated in which respect a Believer may be said to lose his first love Rev. 2.4 And though grace remain yet in this sense it may be said to be ready to die Rev. 3 2. Now for the restoring of a mans soul to its former life and activity and reviving upon the new man its ancient lustre and beauty there must be fresh strength communicated Which reviving strength is stored up in the Son and given forth to them that have the Son It is by the fresh beams of the Sun of righteousness that the clouds are dispelled and the mists are driven away and the soul of a Christian is made to look forth as the morning according as it is expressed Cant. 6.10 6. There is increasing grace for augmentation of the principle of holiness that the new man may artive at his full growth and stature unto which he is appointed And it is by grace which is in Jesus Christ the head and by fresh influence out of his fulness that the body maketh increase unto the edifying of it self Eph. 4.16 7. Lastly establishing and confirming grace whereby Believers are fixed and settled unto the end And this likewise is from Christ by vertue of union with him It is in Jesus Christ we are preserved Jude 1. Being rooted in him we become established in the
God that it may prove a certain evidence of conversion and consequently of our union with Christ Jesus It must of necessity have these six properties and each of them must be enquired after in the business of self-examination It must be 1. Spiritual 2. Vniversal 3. Evangelical 4. Sincere 5. Thriving 6. Stedfast obedience 1. It must be spiritual obedience answerable to the nature of that God whom we wait upon and whose servants we are His essence is spiritual and such must our obedience to him be if we will serve the Lord acceptably and make it appear that we are of the number of his peculiar people Bodily exercise and a meer external devotion will strike a great stroke in making up the form of godliness but the power of it consisteth in that which is spiritual Joh. 4.23 The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him These are the true worshippers that is such as are so in Gods account whom he will graciously receive and own in their performances When people serve him in a bare external bodily manner he reckoneth them as his greatest enemies their service is but a piece of dissimulation which hath only the shadow of worship For the substance lieth in what is spiritual And such the Father seeketh to worship him i.e. such worship he commandeth and his soul is well pleased with Although it seemeth to be spoken here with a peculiar reference to instituted worship yet it holds strongly as to natural worship also even of all the parts and particulars of his service For the reason which is rendred v. 24. is comprehensive of all Because God is a Spirit So that our obedience if it prove us a chosen generation whom God hath set apart for himself must be spiritual And that in a threefold respect In respect of the 1. Principle from whence it floweth 2. Extent how far it reacheth 3. Subject whereon it is terminated 1. In respect of the principle from whence it proceedeth It must be such obedience as cometh from the heart and wherein the soul and spirit is ingaged Not an honouring him with the lips and drawing neer to him with the mouth when the heart is removed far from him Not a serving him only by a kind of compulsion under some terrible apprehensions of the judgments of God not in a slothful careless and lukewarm manner as if Religion were a weariness to us and we had no mind to our work But when we serve him aright our hearts must be ingaged to approach unto him Jer. 30.21 22. we must be fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.11 And our inward parts must be employed in the works of holiness When a mans tongue doth speak forth the praises of God and his heart joyneth with him in the business when his hands do act in the works of piety and his spirit concurreth in the action and carry him on thereunto this is to serve the Lord with the Spirit Although he calleth for the body also to be imployed in his service as indeed he deserveth the whole man yet not as a picture or image without life and soul but as animated by the heart Prov. 23.26 My son give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my wayes q.d. A slave will give me his hands and feet and the strength of his body an hypocrite will offer up the outward man but if thou be a son I must have the heart and spirit 2. It must be spiritual obedience in respect of the extent of it how far it reacheth Such as sets us in opposition against spiritual sins as well as fleshly such as causeth us to fight against secret pride and envy and earthliness and unbelief and malice and double-mindedness and the like as well as to obstain from rotten communication and gross outward pollutions It must be such obedience as is exercised in spiritual duties as meditation on the word of the Lord and frequent contemplation of the excellencies of God adoring his Majesty and admiring his works and setting the affections on things above as well as in pleading the cause of holiness and openly walking in the profession of it It must carry us to such works as are performed in the secret recesses of the Spirit and sets us a striving against such corruptions as are forged and fabricated in the spirit which no eye can observe but God and our own consciences 2 Cor. 7.1 Let us cleanse our selves from all the filthiness both of the flesh and spirit Rom. 8.5 They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit Psal 73.1 Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are clean of heart See further Psal 24.3 4. Mat. 6.21 3. In respect of the subject whereon it is terminated It endeth in the further renewing and purifying the spirit and getting more degrees of habitual grace into the heart When we are not only contented to be kept free from the acts of sin but do mourn and lament under the principle of sin and labour to deaden that principle When we do not think it enough to do much for God but fain would have our spirits transformed every day more and more into the image of God Thus it will be if you are converted If a carnal person resist the temptation he thinks his work is done and is apt to glory in himself as if the whole business were dispatched But a convert layeth the ax to the root of the tree he followeth the corrupt stream to the poysonous fountain whence it is derived and nothing will satisfie him but cleansing the fountain and taking revenge upon his lusts that lodge within him Rom. 7.23 24. Paul's actual sins cause him to have an eye upon his heart by which he was turned aside I see saith he another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity unto the law of sin which is in my members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death This is the first qualification It must be spiritual obedience 2. If you would prove your conversion and consequentially your union with Christ by your obedience It must be universal obedience Not a partial and restrictive serving of God but a following him fully as far as the whole circuit of holiness reacheth As it is said of Caleh Num. 14.24 He followed the Lord fully and that proved him to be a man of another spirit and of a gracious temper indeed sanctified by the holy Ghost because his obedience was universal There is a threefold universality must go to the right qualifying our obedience that it may be evidential of a converted estate It must be universal in relation to the 1. Agent or person obeying 2. Rule of obedience 3. Times and seasons of the performance 1. In relation to the agent or person
the God of heaven Their tongues will make mention of the praises of his name and sing aloud of his righteousness Psal 149.6 Their hearts will be filled with an holy admiration of his greatness and majesty and wonderful goodness in their redemption 2 Thes 1.10 He will be glorified in his Saints and admired in them that do believe Their lives also will be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1.11 2. God is glorified upon believers in more of his attributes and excellencies Peculiarly in his free grace and tender mercy which is the attribute that he delighteth to magnifie and taketh singular pleasure in the exercise of Mic. 7.18 God doth shew forth his truth and justice and declare his power and holiness in the ruine of the ungodly but there are no prints or footsteps of his free grace and compassion Their portion is wrath without mixture Rev. 14.10 But what saith the Prophet of them that are saved Mark that notable Text Isa 63.7 8. I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed upon us and the great goodness towards the house of Israel which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses For he said surely they are my people children that will not lye So he was their Saviour Here is a discovery of grace rich inexpressible grace herein is manifest the goodness of God nay the great goodnesses of the Lord here is mercy and loving-kindness yea a multitude of mercies loving-kindnesses 3. In some of his attributes God is more transcendently glorified viz. in his wisdom and power It was a work of infinite skill and wisdom to find out a way to redeem lost sinners from the jaws of eternal death to execute vengeance upon the transgression and yet to save the transgressors O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Rom. 11.33 It is a work of greater power to pull a soul out of the hands of the Devil than to give him over to the will of Satan Eph. 1.19 20. Nay the very justice of God is better satisfied by believers through their surety than in the damnation of such as perish in their unbelief Here the price paid is the death of a creature but there the precious bloud of the Son of God as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.18 The wicked that perish are ever satisfying and have never given full satisfaction for the wrong which they have done their debt is paying as it were by driblets But in the behalf of believers the work is compleated and finished the utmost farthing was paid together upon the nail and there is nothing further to be demanded For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 Now if God be more glorified in the salvation of such as are in Christ undoubtedly he is willing that you should come unto Christ and is ready to receive you when ye come So much for the third direction Direct 4. To stir you up to a closure with this advice and diligent prosecution of this work of getting into Christ Often revolve in your thoughts and lay seriously to heart this following consideration viz. That if you perish for ever in a separation from the Lord Jesus and for want of being in him that you may partake of his righteousness it will wholly proceed from your own default and your bloud will be upon your own heads And what anguish and horror will this bring to thy conscience in the day of accounts to bethink thy self thus I might have been saved by the bloud of the covenant but I would not and now I must lie bound for ever in the chains of darkness For it is a sinners willful rejecting of the tenders of mercy upon the terms of the Gospel which is the cause of his falling short of the mercy tendred Although it is Gods free grace and not mans free will that doth conduct believers un o the kingdom of heaven yet it is the perverseness and obstinacy of the will of unbelievers which hindereth their deliverance from the damnation of hell Jo. 5.40 Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life Hos 5.4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto the Lord Ezek. 18.31 Why will ye die O house of Israel q. d. If you are destroyed for ever you may thank your selves you are the blame-worthy cause of your own eternal ruine by refusing the terms on which salvation is offered And I pray think of it often what an unspeakable torment it will be to thy spirit for ever to reflect upon this very thing I have been wooed and intreated to lay down the arms of my rebellion and to submit to the government of Christ that I might be saved and I would not How often hath the spirit of God strived with me and I still resisted the Holy Ghost The word of God hath called upon me and I have broken through the convictions of the word With what confusion wilt thou be filled when the Lord Jesus shall say unto thee how often would I have gathered thee into the number of my servants and thou wouldest not be gathered and now depart from me thou accursed wretch into everlasting fire Mat. 23 37. Thus I have ended the first head of exhortations directed unto the wicked who are yet strangers unto Christ 2. Let me speak unto the godly who are through rich mercy and grace ingraffed into Christ and made partakers of this priviledge of union with the Son Be exhorted 1. To be much in blessing the name of God for his signal saving and differencing mercy Adore him for advancing you to this high dignity Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon you that you should be called the sons of God! Nay that he should take you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ and intimately knit you unto him 1 Jo. 3.1 Will you bless God for temporal mercies and not be ravished with the contemplation of this super-eminent blessing Certainly my brethren eternity itself will be little enough to admire the wonderful and unsearchable grace of the Lord. 2. Be exhorted moreover rightly to improve the consideration of this unspeakable gift And that especially in these six cases 1. Improve it in case of transgressions to humble you and to fill you with an holy shame and self-abhorrence in the sense of your miscarriages Not only to fill you with hatred against sin but with a loathing and detestation of your selves because of sin Let your thoughts be set on work in this Evangelical manner Hath God advanced me to this high dignity and shall I be so unworthy as to rise up against him Am I a person closely joyned unto Christ and in covenant with God through Christ