yet Eph. 1.3.5.7 Forgiveness of Sins is there specify'd as the distinct Priviledge of Adopted Sons in these words God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ having predestinated us unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good pleasure of his Will in him we have Redemption through his Blood the Forgiveness of Sins according to the Riches of his Grace And Thirdly which is an Appendage to this same Priviledge III. To the Children of God is granted an easier Access by Prayer to the Throne of Grace for Pardon of Sins and other Mercies A Child of God upon the Score of such his Relation is permitted to have an easy Access to the Throne of Grace and is admitted to Address himself in Prayer to God as for whatever other Mercies he stands in need of so for Pardon of Sins when he has Transgrest with a full Assurance of a gracious Answer The Gentiles who serv'd no Gods but what their own Imaginations created did it after a Slavish manner for how could they be sure the Offended Deity was to be Entreated when he had Reveal'd no such thing unto ' em And so did the Jews also who serv'd the True God it was in a Servile manner too for when they had committed an Offence against the Law they were to provide their Sacrifice and bring it to the Priest and he was to Offer it for 'em whilst they stood at a distance But now the Veil of the Sanctuary being broke upon the Death of our High-Priest We have therefore the Liberty to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus by a New and Living way which he hath Consecrated for us through the Veil that is to say his Flesh And having him our High Priest over the House of God we may hence-forward draw near with a true Heart in full Assurance of Faith having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience Heb. 10.19 20 21 22. that is Every Christian provided he comes not with the guilt of any unrepented Sin upon his Conscience may himself now Offer up his own Prayers to God through Christ without the Mediation of any other Priest or Sacrifice and that with a full Assurance of being graciously heard and answer'd And that this Faith and full Assurance with which we may Approach unto God to Pray to him for the Forgiveness of Sins is our Priviledge only as we are the Sons of God by Adoption is plain from St. Paul Rom. 8.15 Ye have not received the Spirit of Bondage again unto fear as under the Law but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry unto God Abba Father And again Gal. 4.6 Because ye are thus made his Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father And now Lastly If there be any other very considerable Priviledge Lastly A Child of God is more surely instated in the Inheritance of Heaven than others accruing to a Child of God from such his Relation it is That God will more surely Instate him in the Inheritance of Heaven than he will do others that have no such Relation to him And indeed if Children of God then Heirs we are told Heirs of God and Joint-Heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 But the Vastness of this will be best consider'd by us when we come to the Explication of that Third and the last of those Priviledges made over to us on God's Part in the Covenant of Grace viz. What it is Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven â—he infinite â—sen we â—son we â—veto praise â—d for these â—dvantages And now upon the Review of what has been said in the Exposition of this present Article In what Admiration of God's Goodness may we all of us cry out with St. John 1 Epist 3.1 Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestow'd upon us that we should be call'd the Sons of God And what infinite Reason have we â—he infinite â—â—son we â—ve to praise â—d for these â—dvantages with St. Paul thankfully to Praise him for it Eph. 1.3.5 Blessed le the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath Blessed us Christians with all Spiritual Blessings in and concerning Heavenly Places and Concerns of the World to come through Christ having Predestinated us to the Adoption and Priviledges of Children by Jesus Christ unto himself according to the good Pleasure of his Will He Adopted us to be his Children according to the good Pleasure of his Will This Priviledge that we should be his Children is Attended with very rich Advantages all which have accru'd to us not from any Merit and Desert of ours being suppos'd Enemies unto him but only from his free Goodness towards us which was pleas'd so to determine it And as it is both Great and Free we ought certainly with all possible Acknowledgments to Magnify and Extol both his infinite Condescension and Goodness and our owa unspeakable Priviledge and Dignity therein Indeed for God to be a Father by Creation and Providence as One observes tho' it be a Mercy yet it is no Priviledge for in that Sence he is Parens rerum the common Parent of all things But that God should be thy Father by Adoption that he should make thee his Son through his only Begotten Son that he should rake up Dirt and Filth as thou art and lay it in his Bosom that he should take Aliens and Strangers near unto himself and Adopt Enemies and Rebels into his Family Register their Names in the Book of Life make them Heirs of Glory Co-heirs with Jesus Christ his Eternal Son as the Apostle doth admiringly re-count it Rom. 8.17 This is Mercy and Miracle both It is indeed an invaluable Grace and Favour that we should be Adopted his Children were it only for this that he will be ready to Pardon our Sins and Infirmities and will Admit us favourably to Address our Selves and Prayers to him But this Priviledge of being his Children will farther appear to be beyond all Expression Great since if Children as the Apostle infers Rom. 8.17 then Heirs Heirs of God and Joint-Heirs with Christ If a Child of God then which Crowns all the rest of his Covenanted Mercies Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven which yet it is said we shall be But what and how Great that Third and Last Priviledge of the Covenant is I am in the Explication of the next Article to declare unto you THE Eighth Lecture And an Inheritour of the Kingdom of Heaven HAving hitherto spoke to the Two First Priviledges made over to us in the Covenant of Grace that thereby we are First made Members of Christ and Secondly Children of God Having both Explain'd to you the Meaning and Importance of those Two Articles and laid out to you the Vastness of those Priviledges and Advantages contain'd therein I come now in like manner to Explain to you the Third which is that we are made thereby Inheritours of the Kingdom
hinder a Governour especially thus to Tempt any one and therefore to Tempt a Man to this End To Tempt a Person in order to prove his Vertue or discover his Corruption consistent w th the Justice Wisdom and Goodness of a Governour and thus God â—dâ—es Tempt Men. may very well consist with the Wisdom Justice and Goodness of God And accordingly we find in Scripture Two Eminent Instances of God's Tempting Persons to both these Purposes And First we find That God Tempted Abraham to try his Faith and to Reward him for it And he did it to as high a degree as was ever heard of bidding him to Take his Son his only Son Isaac whom he loved and to get him into the Land of Moriah and to offer him there for a Burnt Offering Gen. 22.12 The Tryal was severe enough but God did put Abraham upon it with no other design but that he might have occasion given him to exercise his Faith in God And by giving such a Noble Demonstration thereof as to Resign up his own Son to be Sacrificed at God's Command and with his own Hands too I. Thus he Tempted Abraham to try his Faith to Reward him for it he might thereby Testify both to God and Man how much he Trusted in his Maker and thereupon might obtain the Honour upon Earth to be accounted the Father of the Faithful among all Generations of Men and in Heaven to be the Highest in the Ranks of all Humane Inhabitants it being the Priviledge of the greatest Saints to be Lodg'd in Abraham's Bosom And to the same Gracious Purposes it is that he does Tempt his Faithful Servants when at any time he lets loose the Enemy of the Church upon 'em to persecute and destroy 'em It is to the Intent that giving an extraordinary Proof of their Faith and Constancy and Patience and Love to him he may extraordinarily Reward ' em Every one that hath forsaken Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for his Names sake being certain to receive an Hundred Fold and to Inherit everlasting Life Matth. 19.29 II. Hezekiah to discover his Hypocrisy and to Humble him in the sight thereof Secondly We find That God Tempted Hezekiah in order to discover to him his own Hypocrisy and Corruption and the Pride of his own Heart that he might be humbled in the Sight and Sence thereof For Hezekiah being lately Recover'd from a mortal Sickness by the miraculous Providence of God The Princes of Babylon sent their Ambassadors unto him to enquire of the Wonder that was done in the Land and God left him to try him that he might Know all that was in his Heart 2 Chron. 32.31 that is God did Providentially order the Coming of those Forreign Ambassadors upon this Errand to try Hezekiah whether he would take this occasion before those Idolaters who put their Trust in those which were no Gods to Glorify the True God of Israel for so miraculously Recovering of him But he being more Intent upon setting out his own Grandeur than God's Glory took care only To shew them all the House of his precious Things the Silver and the Gold and the Spices and the precious Ointment and all the house of his Armour and all the house of his Treasures 2 Kings 20.13 Upon which God did severely Reprove and Humble him by the Mouth of his Prophet Isaiah ver 17 18 19. for such his Ingratitude Pride and Vanity And so it is with every One of us There is a great deal of Pride and Vanity and other Corruptions and secret Hypocrisies which ly lurking in our Hearts and we our selves are Ignorant thereof and how we shall prove till we are try'd and some Providential Occasion draws it out And then if God's Word or Ministers or the Rebukes of our own Consciences make us sensible thereof we are much Better'd and God has his Gracious Ends in our Amendment So that thus you see to what gracious Ends God does Tempt us namely Either to prove our Vertue that he may Reward us the better for it or to discover our Hypocrisy and Insincerity that we might be Humbled in the Sight and Sence thereof and be thereby amended â—hese Tempâ—ations of God â—e therefore 〈◊〉 no sâ—nce to 〈◊〉 Renoâ—â—ced but to be Rejoyced in because for ouâ— Good And these therefore are such Temptations as we are in no Sence to Renounce But indeed We have reason to count it all Joy when we fall into these divers Temptations of God's ordering Knowing this that the Trying of our Fa th worketh Patience Jam. 1.2 3. They give us an Opportunity of Exercising the Noblest Vertues of Christianity Faith and Patience and such exalted Strains and glorious Heights of Religion as cannot be Exercised but in a State of Temptation and Tryal and consequently they give us an Opportunity of Treasuring up to our selves the greatest Rewards in Heaven which we shall be sure to Obtain if we come off clearly and innocently from under Temptation it being declared Jam. 1.12 that Blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to those that love him Or if they are Tryals for the Discovery of our Corruptions they prick the Bladder of Vanity let out the Corruption and we become better and sounder for it ever after These Tryals of us are not made by God for his own better Satisfaction and Knowledge of us for he is the Searcher of the Hearts and the Tryer of the Reins and Knows what is in Man But for our own Conviction and the Discovery of us and our own Sinfulness to our selves than which Knowledge nothing certainly can be more useful to us To such gracious Ends you see are God's Temptations which are not therefore in any sence to be Renounc'd by us Well But Secondly A Temptation to Ensnare a Person into some Sin that so God's Anger may be kindled against him There is quite a different End in some sort of Temptations and They are meerly to Enforce or Ensnare a Person into some Sin that so God's Anger may be Kindled against him and the Person may be punisht for his Transgression and in this Sence Let no Man say when he is Tempted I am Tempted of God for God cannot be Tempted with Evil neither Tempteth he any Man Jam. 1.13 No the Temptations that are made to this End do arise from other Authors than God either from our own Lusts and so it follows ver 14. Every Man is Tempted when he is drawn aside of his own Lusts and Enticed And the Person punished for this Transgression is Wicked Malicious and so the Devil together with the World and the Flesh do Tempt us Jam. 1.14 Or from the World particularly from wicked Persons in it And thus the whorish Woman Tempted the young Fool Prov. 7.18 Or chiefly and originally from Satan Hence in
inflames their Lusts and Appetites after the Enjoyment of ' em But he draws a dark shade over the deformed Part of the World that we may not perceive those manifold Troubles and Vexations and Disappointments and Punishments attending these Things in the unlawful getting of 'em and the never-failing Remorses and Regrets of Conscience Amazing and Distracting and stinging with a Venom more inflam'd and furious than that of Scorpions the Souls who wickedly pursue and attain to those Things All this dark Part he reserves till this World's Goods are so unjustly got to work upon their Shame and Despair in order to promote his farther Designs upon 'em as you will see in his following Temptations IX â—â—ving preâ—il'd thereâ— upon Perâ—s to comâ— some greâ—us Sin to â—ain them 〈◊〉 then lays 〈◊〉 shame and â—grace of â—ir Sins beâ—e 'em perâ—ading 'em 〈◊〉 commit aâ—her horrid â—ckedness to â—e from the â—s of Men 〈◊〉 shame of â—e former As Ninthly When any have been once prevail'd upon by the Conveniency the Beauty the Honour or the Pleasure of any of these Outward things which the Devil has presented to their Fancies to commit Sin to obtain them Then he fails not to lay the Shame and Disgrace of their Sins before them and will perswade them to commit another horrid Wickedness to hide from the Eyes of Men the Shame of the former Thus when he had Tempted David to commit Adultery with Bathsheba the Wife of Vriah then must the Injur'd Husband be made Drunk that his Lying with his Wife might not be Discover'd when he return'd from the Battle but that He and the World might think the Child Begotten was his own And when that would not make Vriah go in unto his Wife then at last he must be Murder'd by being put into the Front of the Battle and then Treacherously left to be Cut off by the Enemy that she being freed of her former Husband he might without Scandal to the Eye of the world Enjoy her as his own Wife And how often do we see the like Device to draw Men into Sin Acted over and over at this Day and many lewd ungodly Persons after they have committed Uncleanness privately to Murder their own Off-spring to prevent the Shame and Disgrace that will follow the Fact being known And when Children and Servants have done amiss how commonly are they prompted to tell a Lye nay and sometimes to Swear to it that it may not be Discover'd The Devil well knows that Sin is like laying a Train of Gun-powder which if you Fire but One Corn it will presently give Flame to all the Rest So one Sin committed the shame of that will engage you to commit another to hide the former And therefore it is I say the usual Policy of Satan when he has Tempted any Person to commit a Wickedness then to lay the Shame and Disgrace thereof so sensibly before him that he shall again commit a worse on purpose to cover the Knowledge of the former from the Eyes of Men. And then Tenthly X. Having once Engaged a Person into many Sins he either lulls him in Security or drives him into Despair When he has once Engag'd a Person into many Sins either he will lull him into a fatal Security whereby he foolishly perswades himself that God will deal more mercifully with him than he has declared in his Word or else Satan will not fail to present at last to such an enormous Sinner's Conscience the infinite Guilt and Horrour of his Crimes to make him despair if he can that ever they will be Forgiven they are so many and Monstrous That so he may never endeavour to Repent or so much as fly to God in Prayer to have Mercy on him At first he presented to the Sinner's Fancy nothing but the Beauty the Conveniency the Pleasure the Glory of the Things of this World as of the Pleasures Riches and the Honours of this Life with all their Advantages without any thing of that Sting and Remorse and Trouble that must necessarily attend them if unlawfully pursued and obtain'd But when by this Means the Sinner has run on without the least stop or stay into a vast Number of wasting Sins some of them perhaps of such a Nature that no Reparation or Restitution can be made for them as Adultery and Murder Then will he pour in all of a sudden whole Broad-sides such an Horrour and such an amazing sence of Guilt into the Soul of such a Sinner that thinking it to no purpose to Retreat he shall push on to commit the most outragious Villanies till at length when Death seizes him he goes down into Hell desperately Cursing the Day he was Born and Blaspheming that God who gave him a Being And now Lastly I shall not mention any other way Lastly there are those whom God does in a great Measure give up to the Delusion of Satan Others whom he does wholly Abandon to the Power of the Devil wherein Satan tempts Men except it be when God in Punishment to some sort of Sinners does abandon them to the Devil to be wholly in a manner Ordered and Acted by him And there are Three sorts of Sinners that do seem to be thus abandon'd by God and given up some in a great measure others wholly to the Management of Satan First Such ill-dispos'd Minds as out of Hatred to the Ways of God and out of Love to their own Lusts do endeavour to possess their Minds with such Principles and do seek such Teachers as will make Sin easy to their Consciences and will reconcile the Hopes of Heaven and a bad Life together And such are in danger of being justly left in a great measure to the Delusion of the Devil As to such Men I. Such ill dispos'd Minds as out of love to their Lusts seek after such Principles Teachers as will make sin easy to their Consciences are justly left to the Delusions of Satan because They receive not the Love of the Truth that they might be Saved God does threaten to send them strong Delusions that they should believe a Lye 2 Thes 2.10 11. And because the Generality of the World is so ill-dispos'd that it cannot endure sound Doctrine which would discover or hinder or gall their Consciences in their evil Practices God does therefore most justly permit so many to be deluded by Satan into the most vile Principles and Practices Hence no doubt has the Church of Rome in these latter Days as 't was foretold it would 1 Tim. 4.1 Departed from the Faith giving heed to Seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils And hence also amongst our selves do so many particular Persons When they will not endure sound Doctrines heap to themselves Teachers having itching Ears and do turn away their Ears from the Truth and are turned unto Fables 2 Tim. 4.3 4. There are a Second sort of Sinners II. Such as by a long Course of many Damnâ—â—g Sins have â—id wast