Mountains Verse 16. And said to the Mountains and Rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Verse 17. For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Thirdly The State of an Impenitent Sinner 1. In respect of original corruption Job 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Not one Chap. 15.14 What is man that he should be clean and he that is born of a Woman that he should be righteous Verse 15. The Heavens are not clean in his sight verse 16. How much more abominable and filthy is Man that drinketh iniquity like water Chap. 25.4 How then can Man be justified with God Or how can he be clean that is born of a Woman Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in wickedness and in sin hath my Mother conceived me John 3.5 Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Verse 6. That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Rom. 5.18 By the offence of one judgment came upon all men unto condemnation 2. In respect of actual sin Exod. 32.33 Whosoever hath sinn'd against me him will I blot out of my Book 2 Kings 17.18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight there was none left but the Tribe of Judah only Verse 19 Also Judah kept not the Commandments of the Lord their God but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made Verse 20. And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of spoilers till he had cast them out of his sight Job 4.8 They that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same Verse 9. By the blast of God they perish and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed Chap. 8.11 Can the Rush grow up without mire can the Flag grow without water Verse 12. Whilst it is yet in its greenness and not cut down it withereth before any other herb Verse 13. So are the paths of all that forget God and the hypocrites hope shall perish Jer. 22.24 As I live saith the Lord though Coniah the Son of Jehoiakim King of Judah were the signet upon my right hand yet would I pluck thee thence Verse 25. And I will give thee into the hand of them who seek thy life Verse 26. And I will cast thee out and thy Mother that bare thee into another Country where ye were not born and there shall ye dye Mat. 7.26 Every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them not shall be likened unto a foolish Man which built his house upon the sand Verse 27. And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it Gal. 5.19 The works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witcheraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murders drunkenness revellings and such like they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 2 Thes 1.7 The Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Rev. 14.9 10 11. If any man worship the Beast and his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb and the smoak of their torment ascended up for ever and ever Secondly When the Minister finds not in the sick person a total hardness and impenitency he must wisely mingle Threatnings and Comforts together To which purpose such-like passages of Scripture will be useful Deut. 7.9 10. Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandements to a Thousand generations And repayeth them that hate him to their face to destroy them He will not be slack to him that hateth him he will repay him to his face Jer. 32.18 19. Thou shewest loving kindness unto thousands and recompensest the iniquity of the Fathers into the bosom of their Children after them the great the mighty God the Lord of Hosts is his Name Great in Counsel and mighty in works for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men to give every one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings Psal 89.31 32 33. If his Children forsake my Law and walk not in my judgments If they break my statutes and keep not my Commandements I will visit their offence with rods and their sin with scourges Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my truth to fail Rev. 2.4 5. I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come against thee quickly and will remove thy Candlestick out of his place except thou repent Thirdly When the Sick Person is fallen into the other extream and is sensible of little or no comfort the passages of Scripture relating to such a condition are those which set forth 1. The excellency and goodness of the Divine Nature Exod. 34.6 7. The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed The LORD the LORD GOD merciful and gracious longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth Keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin Psalm 86.15 16. Thou O Lord God art full of compassion and mercy longsuffering plenteous in goodness and truth O turn thee then unto me and have mercy upon me Give thy strength unto thy servant and help the son of thine handmaid Psalm 103.8 9 c. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy Longsuffering and of great goodness He will not alway be chiding neither keepeth he his anger for ever He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our wickedness For look how high the Heaven is in comparison of the Earth So great is his mercy also toward them that fear him Look how wide also the East is from the West So far hath he set our sins from us Yea like as a Father pittieth his own Children Even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him For he knoweth whereof we are made he remembreth that we are but dust Hos 11.3 4. I taught
it came to pass on the third day in the Morning that there were Thunderings and Lightnings and a thick Cloud upon the Mount and the voice of the Trumpet exceeding loud so that all the people that was in the Camp trembled Vers 18. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoak because the Lord descended upon it in fire And the smoak thereof ascended as the smoak of a furnace and the whole Mount quaked greatly Chapt 20.18 And all the People saw the Thunderings and the Lightnings and the noise of the Trumpet and the Mountain smoaking And when the peope saw it they remov'd and stood afar off And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Heb. 12.21 Chap. 33.20 Thou Moses canst not see my face for there shall no Man see me and live Vers 21. Behold there is a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a Rock Vers 22. And it shall come to pass whil'st my glory passeth by that I will put thee in a clift of the Rock and will cover thee with my hand whil'st I pass by Vers 23. And I will take away mine hand and thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seen Isa 40.22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the Earth and the Inhabitants thereof are as Grashoppers That stretcheth out the Heavens as a Curtain and spreadeth them out as a Tent to dwell in Vers 23. That bringeth the Princes to nothing and maketh the Judges of the Earth as vanity Heb. 12.28 Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly ear Vers 29. For our God is a consuming fire Secondly The Divine Attributes especially of his 1. Holiness 2. Justice 3. Power Holiness Gen. 28.16 17. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep and he said surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not And he was afraid and said how dreadful is this place This is none other but the House of God and this is the Gate of Heaven Exod. 3.5 Draw not nigh hither put off thy Shoes from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground Chap. 19.12 Take heed to your solves that ye go not up into the Mount or touch the border of it Whosoever toucheth the Mount shall be surely put to death 13. There shall not a hand touch it but he shall surely be stoned or shot through whether it be beast or man it shall not live 1 Sam. 6.19 And he the Lord smote the men of Bethshemesh because they had looked into the Ark of the Lord even he smote of the People Fifty thousand and threescore and ten men vers 20. And the men of Bethshemesh said Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God 2 Sam. 6.6 Uzzah put forth his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it for the Oxen shook it Vers 7. And God smote him there for his errour and there he dyed by the Ark of God vers 9. And David was afraid of the Lord that day and said how shall the Ark of the Lord come to me 1 Pet. 1.15 As he who hath called you is Holy so be ye Holy in all manner of conversation 16. Because it is written be ye holy for I am holy Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. 2. Justice Gen. 18.25 Shall not the Judg of all the Earth do right Exod. 20.5 I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate me vers 26. And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandments Psal 89.15 Righteousness and equity are the habitation of thy seat And 119.137 Righteous art thou O Lord and true are thy judgments Rom. 2.2 We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things vers 6. Who will render to every man according to his deeds vers 7. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life vers 8. But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath vers 9. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil vers 10. But glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good Rev. 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be 3. Power Gen. 18.14 Is any thing too hard for the Lord Jer. 5.22 Fear ye not me saith the Lord will ye not tremble at my presence which have placed the sand for a bound of the sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass and though the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it And Chap. 10.7 Who would not fear thee O King of Nations For to thee doth it appertain Dan. 2.20 Blessed be the Name of God for ever and ever for wisdom and might are his vers 21. He changeth the times and the seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings Rev. 15.4 Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorisie thy Name for thou only art holy for all Nations shall come and worship before thee for thy judgments are made manifest Acknowledged and fear'd by the enemies of Religion themselves Exod. 9.27 The Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked Dan. 3.29 Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said Blessed be the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego who hath sent his Angel and delivered his Servants that trusted in him and have chang'd the Kings word and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any God except their own God vers 29. Therefore I make a Decree that every People Nation and Language which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made a dunghil because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort Chap. 6.25 Then Darius wrote unto all People Nations and Languages that dwelt in all the earth vers 26. I make a decree that in every Dominion of my Kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel for he is the living God and stedfast for ever and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his Dominion shall be even unto the end Vers 27. He delivereth and rescueth and he worketh signs and wonders in Heaven and in Earth Who hath delivered Daniel from the Power of the Lions Acts 24.25 And as Paul reasoned of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come Felix trembled Rev. 6.15 And the Kings of the Earth and the great men and the Rich men and the chief Captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every freeman hid themselves in the Dens and in the Rocks of the
thoughts and intents of the heart Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do James 1.25 Whoso looketh into the perfect Law of liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed Rev. 3.1 2. I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain that are ready to dye for I have not found thy works perfect before God Verse 17. Thou sayest I am rich and encreased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Fourthly Calling upon God for assistance 1 Sam. 16.7 The Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart Psal 139.23 24. Try me O God and seek the ground of my heart prove me and examine my thoughts Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me and lead me in the way everlasting Jer. 10.23 O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Chap. 17.10 I the Lord search the heart I try the reins even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings James 1.5 If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him The examination and Trial of his State must be governed by such rules of Scripture as relate to the consideration First Of his life past with respect First To the Law of God as it is opened and expounded by our Blessed Saviour in the 5th 6th and 7th Chap. of St. Matthew Secondly The duty of furnishing his soul with Divine graces and habits of virtue Psal 45.14 The Kings daughter is all glorious within her clothing is of wrought Gold Jer. 31.33 34. I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts For they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them Ezek. 36.27 I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them Mat. 5.3 to 13. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Chap. 13.12 Whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath Chap. 18.3 Verily I say unto you except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven 2 Pet. 1.5 to 11. Besides this giving all diligence add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledg And to knowledg temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness And to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Wherefore the rather Brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fall Thirdly The Performance of particular duties in his several Relations and Profession Acts 13.36 David after he had served his own generation by the will of God fell on sleep and was laid unto his fathers Rom. 12.4 5 6 7. As we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office so we being many are one body in Christ and every one members one of another Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us whether prophesie let us prophesie according to the proportion of faith Or ministry let us wait on our ministring Or he that teacheth on teaching Ephes 6.1 4 5 6. Children obey your Parents in the Lord. Fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Servants be obedient to them that are your Masters Not with eye-service as menpleasures but as the servants of Christ Masters do the same things to them 1 Pet. 2.13 Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake Chap. 3.1 7. Wives be in subjection unto your Husbands Likewise Husbands dwell with their Wives according to knowledg giving them honour as unto the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life Secondly His present condition in reference to their duties 1. Of Restitution and Satisfaction Gen. 43.12 Take double money in your hand and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks peradventure it was an oversight Exod. 22.5 If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten and shall put in his beast and shall feed in another mans field of the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard shall he make restitution Levit. 24.18 And he that killeth a Beast shall make it good Beast for Beast Nehem. 5.9 10 11. It is not good that ye do I likewise and my brethren and my servants might exact of them money and corn I pray you let us leave off this usury Restore I pray you to them even this day their lands their vineyards their oliveyards and their houses also the hundred part of the money and of the corn the wine the oyl that you exact of them Then said they we will restore it Isa 61.8 I the Lord love judgment I hate robbery for burntoffering Mich. 2.1 2. Wo unto them that devise iniquity They covet fields and take them by violence and houses and take them away So they oppress a man and his house even a man and his heritage Hab. 2.6 Wo unto him that increaseth that which is not his Zech. 5.1 3 4. I looked and behold a flying Roll. This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth and it shall enter into the house of the thief and into the house of him that sweareth falsly by my Name and it shall remain in the middest of his house
and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof 1 Thes 4.3 6. This is the will of God That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because the Lord is the avenger of all such 2. Remission of injuries suffered by him and hearty reconciliation Mat. 5.23 24. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Chap. 18.33 Shouldst thou not also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant even as I had pity on thee Mark 11. When ye stand praying forgive if ye have ought against any that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses But if you do not forgive neither will your Father which is in Heaven forgive your trespasses Joh. 13.35 By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples that ye love one another Acts 4.32 The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul 1 Cor. 12.27 Ye are the body of Christ and members in particular Col. 3.12 13. Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind meekness longsuffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any Even as Christ forgave you so also do ye 3 Almesgiving if of ability Deut. 15.7 8 10 11. If there be among you a poor man of one of thy Brethren thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother But thou shalt open thy hand wide unto him and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth Thou shalt surely give him and thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto For the poor shall never cease out of the land therefore I command thee saying thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy Brother to thy poor and to thy needy in the land Psal 41. Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble The Lord preserve him and keep him alive that he may be blessed upon earth and deliver thou not him into the will of his enemies The Lord comfort him when he lyeth sick upon his bed make thou all his bed in his sickness Prov. 3.27 Withold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thine hand to do it Chap. 11.24 There is that scattereth and yet increaseth and there is that withholdeth more then is meet and it tendeth to poverty Eccl. 11.1 Cast thy bread upon the waters for thou shalt find it after many days Mat. 25.37 to 41. Then shall the righteous answer him saying Lord when saw we thee an hungred and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in or naked and cloathed thee Or when saw we thee sick or in prison and came unto thee And the King shall answer and say unto them verily I say unto you in as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Acts 10.4 Thy prayers and thine almes are come up for a memorial before God 1 Tim. 6.17 18 19. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God who giveth us all things richly to enjoy That they do good that they be rich in good works ready to stribute willing to communicate Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life 4. Vnfeigned Repentance for the Errours of his life past Psal 51.1 c. Have mercy upon me O God after thy great goodness according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences Wash me throughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin For I acknowledg my faults and my sin is ever before me Turn thy face from my sins and put out all my misdeeds Make me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me Fourthly If the sick person be troubled from the occasion or by reason of some circumstances relating to his sickness the Scriptures proper for that condition are such as set forth 1. The duty of reflecting on his former course of life 2 Chron. 21.12 to the 16. And there came a writing to Jehoram from Elijah the Prophet saying thus saith the Lord God of David thy Father Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy Father nor in the ways of Asa King of Judah But hast walked in the ways of the Kings of Israel and hast made Judah and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab and also hast slain thy brethren of thy fathers house which were better than thy self Behold with a great plague will the Lord smite thy People and thy Children and thy Wives and all thy Goods And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy Bowels until thy Bowels fall out by reason of thy sickness day by day And it came to pass that in process of time after the end of two years his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness so he died of sore diseases Chap. 26.19 And whil'st Vzziah was wroth with the Priests the Leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the Priests in the house of the Lord from besides the incense-Altar Psal 25.6 O remember not the sins and offences of my youth But according to thy mercy think thou upon me O Lord for thy goodness Psal 25.6 O remember not our old sins but have mercy upon us and that soon for we are come to great misery Help us O God of our salvation for the glory of thy Name O deliver us and be merciful to our sins for thy Names sake Job 13.26 Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth 2. The promiscuous dispensing out these things both to good and bad in this life Gen. 35.16 18 19. And Rachel travelled and she had hard labour And the midwife said unto her fear not thou shalt have thy son also And as her soul was in departing she called his name Benoni and Rachel died Lev. 10.1 2. And Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron offered strange fire before the Lord which he commanded not And there went out a fire from the Lord and devoured them Numb 20.12 And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron because ye believe me not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel