purchase you and might justly condemn you upon the first denial or demur behold I stand this is the Suitor 2. His posture and action I stand at the door and knock the word is in the Preter Tense I have stood but being here joyned with another Verb of the Present Tense it is fitly translated I stand yet so as that it notes a continued action I have stood and do still stand with unwearied patience I once stood personally and bodily among you in the days of my flesh and I still stand spiritually and representatively in my Ambassadors at the door i. e. the mind and conscience the faculties and powers which are introductive into the whole soul. The word Door is here improperly put to signify those introductive faculties of the soul which are of a like use to it as the Door is to the House This is the Redeemer's posture his action is knocking i. e. his powerful essays and gracious attempts to open the heart to give him admission The word Knock signifies a strong and powerful knock he stands patiently and knocks powerfully by the Word outwardly by the convictions motions impulses strivings and instigations of his Spirit inwardly 3. The design and end of the Suit it is for opening i. e. consenting receiving embracing and hearty accepting of him by faith Acts 16. 14. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia i. e. perswaded her soul to believe implying that the heart by nature is strongly barr'd and lock'd up against Christ and that nothing but a power from him can open it Secondly The powerful Arguments and Motives used by Christ to obtain his Suit and get a grant from the Sinners heart and they are drawn from two inestimable benefits accrewing to the opening or believing soul. viz. 1. Union 2. Communion with Christ. 1. Vnion I will come in to him that is I will unite my self with the opening believing soul he shall be mystically one with me and I with him 2. Communion I will sup with him and he with me that is I will feast the believing soul with the delicates of Heaven Such comforts such joys such pleasures as none in the World but Believers are capable of And to set home all these special benefits are proposed by Christ to all sorts of Sinners great and small old and young if any man hear my voice and open the door that so no soul might be discouraged from believing by the greatness or multitude of his sins but the vilest of Sinners may see free grace triumphing over all their unworthiness upon their consent to take Christ according to the gracious offers of the Gospel The words thus opened afford many great and useful points of Doctrine comprehending in them the very sum and substance of the Gospel The first which ariseth from the solemn and remarkable Preface Behold will be this I. DOCTRINE That every offer of Christ to the Souls of Sinners is recorded and witnessed with respect to the day of account and râ—ckoning Here we shall enquire into three things 1. Who are Gods Witnesses to all Gospel tenders 2. What are the object matters they witness to 3. Why God records every offer of Christ and takes witness thereof First Who are Gods Witnesses to all the tenders and offers made of Christ by the Gospel and they will be found to be more than a strict legal number for 1. His Ministers by whom he makes them are all Witnesses as well as Officers of Christ to the People Acts 26. 16. I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a Minister and a Witness Here you see Ministers have a double office to propose and offer Christ and then to bear witness for or against those to whom he is thus offered They are expresly called Gods Witnesses Rev. 11. 6 7. Their labours witness their sufferings witness their solemn appeals to God witness yea the very dust of their feet shaken off against the refusers of Christ turns to a testimony against them Mark 6. 11. Every groan and sigh every drop of sweat much more of blood are placed in Gods Book as Marginal Notes by all their Sermons and Prayers and will be produced and read in the great day against all the refusers and despisers of Christ. 2. The Gospel it self which is preached to you is a Testimony or Witness for God for or against every one that hears it Iohn 12. 48. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day And this is the sense of Christs words Matth. 24. 14. And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the World for a Witness to all Nations and then shall the end come Ah Lord what a solemn record is here Every Sermon you hear yea every reproof perswasion and conviction is a Witness for God to cast and condemn every Soul in Judgement that complies not obediently with the calls of the Gospel So many Sermons so many Witnesses 3. Every mans own conscience is a Witness for God that he hath a fair offer once made him the very consciences of the Heathens that never saw a Bible that had no other Preachers but the Sun Moon and Stars and other works of Nature yet of them the Apostle saith Rom. 2. 15. That they shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or excusing one another Certainly if such vigour and activity was put into the consciences of Heathens who could only read the will of God by the dim Moon-light of natural reason how much more vigorous and active will conscience be in its accusing office against all that live under the bright beams of Gospel light Their consciences will be swift Witnesses and will ring sad Peals in their ears another day You shall know that there hath been a Prophet among you Ezek. 2. 5. This single Witness is instead of a thousand Witnesses for God. 4. The examples of all those that do believe and obey the Gospel are so many Witnesses for God against the despisers and neglecters of the great Salvation Every mourning trembling Soul among you is a Witness against all the dead hearted unbelieving disobedient ones that sit with them under the same ordinances Hence it is said 1 Cor. 6. 7. Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the World They shall be Assessors with Christ in the great day and condemn the world by their examples as Noah did the old world and thus Matth. 21. 32. John came unto you in the way of righteousness and ye believed him not but the Publicans and Harlots believed him and ye when ye had seen it repented not afterward that ye might believe him q. d. What shift did you make to quiet your consciences and stifle your convictions when you saw Publicans the worst of men and Harlots the worst of women repenting
last farewel of thee when they bid this World and all its Inhabitants farewel at Death And what had become of all the Sufferers and Martyrs when shut up from Friends in Dungeons had it not been for thy chearing Cordials and Comforts thou there administredst to support them 'T is certainly the best of Friends or the worst of Enemies in the whole Creation This is Conscience these are its Powers and Offices which was the first thing Secondly Our next enquiry must be into the Light of Conscience and the various kinds of that Light. The Lord did not frame such an excellent Structure as the Soul of Man without Windows to let in light nor doth he deny the benefit of light to any Soul But there is a twofold Light which Men have to inform and guide their Consciences 1. The Light of Natural Reason which is common 2. The Light of Scripture Revelation which is special 1 There is the common light of Natural Reason which is connate called by Solomon Prov. 20. 27 The Candle of the Lord. The Spirit of Man is the Candle of the Lord. This is affirmed by him that had an extraordinary portion of intellectuals a brighter lamp of Reason and Wisdom than other Men And this is not only true of the Soul in general but of that special Power of it which is called Conscience which is Gods Spie and Mans Overseer The Heathens had this Light shining in their Minds and Consciences Some of them by the alone help of this Natural Light made wonderful discoveries of the Mysteries of Nature yea they found its Efficacy and Power great in their Consciences to raise their hopes or fears according to the good or evil they had done Conscia mens ut cuique sua est ita concipit intra Pectora pro facto spemque metumque suo Ovid. And to the shame of many that are called Christians some among them pay'd great Reverence to their own Consciences Imprimis reverere teipsum Turpe quid ausurus te sine teste time But however the generality of them did not so and are taxed for it in the Text And besides this Light can make no discoveries of Christ and of the way of Salvation by him The most Eagle-ey'd Philosophers among them were in the dark here And therefore 2. God hath afforded Men a more clear and excellent Light to shine into their Minds and Consciences even the Light of the Gospel which compared with the Light of Natural Reason is as the Light of the Sun to the dim Moonlight Psal. 147. 20. He sheweth his word to Iacob his Statutes and his Iudgments to Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation and for his Iudgments they have not known them Praise ye the Lord. Every Creature hath the Name of God engraven on it but he hath magnified his Word above all his Name Psal. 138. 2. God who best knows the rate and value of his own Mercies accounts this a singular favour and priviledge to any Nation Without Revelation we could never have known the cause of our Misery the fall of Adam or the only way and means of our recovery by Christ By this a People are lifted up to Heaven Matth. 11. 21. in respect of means and advantages of Salvation and consequently the contempt or neglect of such Light and Love will certainly plunge the guilty into proportionable misery Iohn 3. 19. This is the condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather than Light. Moreover God doth not only afford the Light of Natural Reason and External Gospel Revelation to some Men in an eminent degree but to both these he superadds the internal illumination of his Spirit which is the clearest and most glorious Light in the whole World. He shineth into their hearts to give the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. 6. These are the three sorts of Light that God makes to shine into the Soules and Consciences of Men to direct and guide them the first a common and general Light the two last the most clear and transcendent in Excellency especially that of the Spirit with the Gospel For though the Sun be risen yet men may draw the Curtains about them and lie in darkness but the Spirit opens them and makes it shine in 3. How this Light shining into the Consciences of Men obligeth them to Obedience and how Mens Lusts struggle against the Obligations of an enlightned Conscience is the next thing to be spoken to 'T is manifest and beyond all Controversie that an enlightned Conscience lays strong and indispensable Obligations and Engagements on the Soul to Obedience For the Will of God is the Supream Law 1 Tim. 6. 15 't is the Will of the only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords And the promulgation and manifestation of it so binds the Conscience of the Creature to Obedience as no Authority or Power on Earth can loose those bands no Man can grant a supersedeas in this case or relieve the Soul so bound by a noli prosequi for Conscience as Gods Vicegerent in his Name requireth Obedience and the Man that heareth the Voice of God from the Mouth of his own Conscience presently thereupon becomes a Debtor Rom. 1. 14. put under a necessity 1 Cor. 9 16. Now Conscience by reason of the Light that shineth into it feeling it self under such strong bands and necessities stimulates and urgeth the Soul to Obedience warnes commands and presses the Soul to its duty against the contrary Interests and inclinations of the Flesh And hence arise those Combats and conflicts in the bosoms of Men as the struggles of the Child in the Womb at the fullness of time causes the throws and pangs of Travail Sometimes Conscience prevails and sometimes Lusts and Corruptions prevail and that with great difficulty for 't is not alike easie to all Men to shake off or burst the bands of their own Consciences though others can do it easily What an hard tugg had Saul to conquer his own Conscience I forced my self saith he 1 Sam. 13. 12. He knew it belonged not to him to offer Sacrifice his Conscience plainly told him it would be his Sin but yet the fear of the Philistins being stronger than the fear of God he adventured upon it renitente conscientiâ against the plain dictates of his own Conscience Thus Herod gives Sentence to put Iohn to death Matth. 14. 9. The King was sorry nevertheless for his Oaths sake and them which sate with him at meat he commanded it to be given her His Honour weighed up all his fears of sin his own Word weighed more with him than Gods Word Nemo ita perplexus tenetur inter duo vitia quin exitus pateat absque tertio No man is held so perplexed between two Vices but he may find an issue without falling into a third Pilates Conscience was convinced of Christ's Innocency Matth. 27.
reluctancy of the Will by the efficacy of his Grace which some Divines call victrix delectatio a sweet and pleasant victory and so the door of the Will still opens freely Hosea 11. 4. I drew them with the cords of a Man with the bands of Love. I drew them there 's Almighty Power but how did this Power draw them With the cords of a Man i. e. with rational arguments convincing the Judgment Beasts are driven and forced but Men are drawn by reason and will not move without it if they act like themselves it must be confessed that when the day of God's Power is come for the bringing home of a poor sinner to Christ he cannot resist the Power of God's Spirit that draws him effectually Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me yet still the Soul comes freely by the consent of his Will for this is the method of Christ in drawing Souls to him There is in the day of a sinners Conversion a kid an offer made for the Will both by Satan and Christ. Satan bids Riches Honours and Pleasures with ease and quietness to the flesh in the enjoyment of them abide where thou art saith Satan remain with me and thou shalt escape all the Persecutions losses and troubles of the World which Conscience entangles other Men in thou shalt draw thy life through peace and pleasure to thy dying day O saith the flesh this is a good motion what can be better for me But then saith Christ dost thou not consider that all these enjoyments will quickly be at an end and what shall become of thee then Behold I offer thee the free full and final pardon of thy sins Peace and reconciliation with God treasures in Heaven all these shall be thine with Troubles Reproaches and Persecutions in this World. The Understanding and Conscience of a sinner being convinced of the vanity of earthly things and the indispensable necessity of pardon and peace with God I say when a convinced Judgment hath duly ballanced these things and laid them before the Will and the Spirit of God put forth his Power in the renovation of it it moves towards Christ freely and yet cannot according to its natural order act otherwise than it doth And doubtless this is the true meaning of that expression so often mistaken and abused in Luke 14. 23. Compel them to come in What! by forcing Men against the light of their Consciences No no to the shame of many Protestants let us hear the Gloss of Stella a Popish Commentator upon the place Christ saith he compels Men to come in by shewing to their Will such an excelling good as it cannot but embrace for volunt as natur aliter fertur in bonum The Will is naturally carried to the choice of the best good And thus the Spirit works upon the Soul harmoniously and agreeably to its own Nature That 's the Third thing implied in Christ's knocking Fouthly Christ's knocking at the door of the Soul manifestly implies the immediate access of the Spirit of God unto the Soul of Man that he can come to the very innermost door of the Soul at his pleasure and make what impressions upon it he pleaseth As for other instruments used in this Work they have no such privilege or Power Ministers can but knock at the external door of the senses Thine Eyes shall see thy Teachers we can see their persons and hear their voices we can reason with sinners and plead with their Souls but awaken them we cannot open their Hearts we cannot We can only lodge our message in their Ears and leave it to the Spirit of God to make it effectual This is a Royalty belonging unto the Spirit of God incommunicable to Angels or Men. If an Angel from Heaven were the Preacher he could not give one immediate stroak to the Conscience much less can Man we have no dominion over your Consciences The keys of the doors of your Souls hang not at our girdles but are in the Hands of Christ Revel 3. 7. He hath the key of David he openeth and no Man shutteth and he shutteth and no Man openeth The Consciences and all the faculties lye naked and open to the stroak of God's Spirit he can wound them and heal them and make what impressions he pleaseth upon them Learn hence what need there is both for Ministers and People before they enter upon the solemn Ordinances of God to lift up their Hearts by Prayer for the blessing and Power of the Spirit upon them Lord send forth thy Spirit pour it forth upon and with thy Word Ah how many Sermons have we Preach'd and you heard and yet there is no opening These are the four things implied in Christ's knocking at the door viz. Condescending Grace All first motions begin in God The motions of his Spirit are congruous and agreeable to the nature of the Soul And that his Spirit can have immedate access to the innermost faculties and Powers of the Soul at his pleasure Now in the next place let us consider Thirdly By what Instruments Christ knocks at the Doors that is the Judgment Conscience and Will of a sinner And these are two viz. By 1. His Word 2. His Providence Here my Work will be to shew you how the Spirit of God makes use both of the Word and Works of God to rouse and open the Consciences and Hearts of Sinners These are the two Hammers or instruments of the Spirit by which he knocks at the door of the Heart 1. The Word written or preached but especially preached to this Christ gives the preference to all other instruments imployed about this Work and answerably the Word is called God's Hammer Ier. 23. 29. Is not my Word like fire and as the Hammer which breaketh the rocks in pieces By this Hammer Christ raps at the door of a sinners Soul to give warning that he is there The Spirit of God can open the Heart immediately if he pleaseth but he will honour his Word in this Work. And therefore when Lydias Heart was to be opened Paul the great Gospel Preacher must be invited even by an Angel to come over to Macedonia and assist in that blessed Work Acts 16. 9. Lydia was to be converted her Heart must be opened to Christ the Angel could not do it but calls for the help of the Apostle Gods appointed Instrument to carry on that Work. I have made thee saith God to Paul a Minister and a witness to open their Eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God Acts 26. 18. Now there be three ways in which the Spirit uses the Word as his Hammer in knocking at the door of the Soul. 1. He knocks by the particular convictions of of the Word upon the Conscience this knock by conviction rings and sounds through all the rooms and chambers of the Soul particular and effectual conviction wounds to the very centre of the Soul. Ah when
have had some slight ineffectual vanishing Convictions upon you formerly the Lord Jesus once more renews his call will you now at last hear his voice 'T is an infinite mercy to have a second call I doubt not but there are many among you whilst you have sat under the Word have had such thoughts as these in your Hearts sure my condition is not right nor safe there must another manner of work pass upon my Soul or I am lost for ever External duties of Religion I do perform but I am a stranger to Regeneration Such inward convictions as these were the Knocks and Calls of Christ but they passed away and were forgotten your Convictions are dead and your Hearts the more hardned for it is in puting a Soul under Conviction as it is in puting Iron into the Fire and quenching it again which hardens it the more You have been near the Kingdom of God but the more miserable for that if you be shut out at last The quicknings of your Convictions is the right way to the saving of your Souls The Lord make you this day to hear his Voice Seventhly Such as have come hither upon vain or vile accounts for meer novelty or worse ends to catch advantages or reproach the truths of God. Scoffing at the most solemn and awful Voice of Christ. The Word that you have slighted and reproached the same shall Judge you in that great Day except the Lord give you Repentance unto Life and make the Heart tremble under it that hath scoffed at it Be not mockers lest your bands be made strong Isa. 28. 22. Eighthly To Conclude Let all whose Hearts the Lord hath opened this day for the enjoyment of the Gospel the blessed instrument of their Salvation bless the Lord that hath made it a Key by Regeneration to open the door of Salvation to your Souls And as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him AN APPENDIX To the Foregoing TREATISE FROM ROMANS 1. 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness IN all the foregoing Sermons I have been pleading and wooing for Christ. And as Abrahams Servant to win the Damsels Consent told her what Treasures his Masters Son had so have I laboured to shew you some part of the unsearchable Riches of Christ if by any means I might allure your hearts and be instrumental to close the happy Match betwixt him and you and as the Apostle speaks espouse you to one Husband even to Christ. But alas How few stir towards him The most seem to be immovably fixed in their Natural State and sinful Courses All our Arguments and Intreaties return to us again and effect nothing 'T is amazing to think what is the matter that Souls which have in them the inbred Hopes and Fears of the World to come and self reflecting Powers cannot for all this be prevailed with to quit the way of sin and to embrace the way of Holiness though their Consciences mean while stand convinced that Eternal Damnation is the issue and result of the one Life Peace and Eternal Joyes of the other This hath put me upon a serious search what may be the cause and reason of this fixed and unreasonable obstinacy and in this it seems evidently to lye with most that live in an unregenerate state under the Gospel that they put a force upon their own Consciences and do imprison and hold the Truth in unrighteousness though the Wrath of God be revealed from Heaven against all that do so If by this Discourse I can but set truth at Liberty and loose the Lords Prisoners which lye bound in your Souls I shall not doubt but the value of Christ will quickly rise among you and free Convictions will make the work of your Ministers much more easie and successful than they now find it 'T is hardly imaginable but the things you have heard must leave your Souls under Convictions but if you suppress and stifle them they produce nothing but aggravations of Sin and Misery Now in order to the free and effectual working of all your Convictions and begetting that reverence which is due to them from every Soul as to the Voice of God I have chosen this Scripture the scope and sense whereof I shall next give you The true scope and aim of this Context is to prove the Justification of Sinners to be only by the imputed Righteousness of Christ in the way of Faith. To make this evident he distributes the whole World into Gentiles and Iews the one seeking Righteousness by the dim Light of Nature or the Law written in their Hearts the other viz. the Iews by the works of the Law or External Conformity to the Law of Moses but that neither can find what they seek he distinctly and fully proves He proves it first upon the Gentiles from this verse to the 17th verse of the second Chapter and then he proves it upon the Iews also from thence to the end of the third Chapter As for the Gentiles he acknowledges that they had inbred Notions of God imprinted in their Nature they had also the Book of the Creatures before them enough to leave them without Excuse ver 20. they have no pretence of ignorance but these common Notices of God and of Good and Evil they did not obey and put in practise but acted against the very Light and Dictates of their Natural Consciences For which cause the Wrath of God was revealed from Heaven against them as the Text speaks Wherein note 1. A clear and dreadful Revelation of Divine Wrath. 2. The Object or impulsive Cause thereof Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness 3. The special aggravation of this their Ungodliness and Unrighteousness that they held the truth in unrighteousness 1. Here is a clear and dreadful Revelation of Divine Wrath the wrath of God saith the Apostle is revealed from Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the indignation or vengeance of God. 'T is a word of deep and dreadful signification the Damned that feel the weight of it have the fullest sense ot it 'T is said in Psal. 90. 11. Who knows the power of thine anger according to thy fear so is thy wrath That is the fears of an incensed Deity are no vain Bug-bears Nor the effects of Ignorance and Superstition as Atheists Fancy but let mens Fears of it be what they will they shall find except they repent the Wrath of God to be according to yea and far above their Fears of it If the Wrath of a King be as the Messengers of Death what then is the Wrath of the great and terrible God This Wrath is here said to be revealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 discovered or made manifest and so it is divers wayes it was revealed to them by the light of Nature their own Consciences gave them notice and warning of it Thus it was revealed to them by an internal Testimony
18 19. yet the fear of Coesar hurries him on to the greatest of wickednesses even to give Sentence against Innocent Blood yea the Blood of the Son of God. Darius in like manner Dan. 6. 14. He knew that Daniel was not only an excellent Person but that he was entrapt by the Nobles merely for his Conscience and that to put him to Death was to sacrifice him to their Malice this he and his Conscience debated all the day many encounters he had with it for the Text saith He was sore displeased with himself and set his Heart on Daniel to deliver him and laboured until the going down of the Sun to deliver him but after a days sharp fight betwixt him and his Conscience Lust prevails at last against Light and returns Victor out of the Field in the Evening So it was with poor Spira he seemed to hear as it were an inward Voice Don't write Spira don't write but the love of his Estate Wife and Children drew his Hand to the Paper though Conscience struggled hard to hold it back Thus as the restless Sea strives to beat down or break over its bounds so do impetuous Lusts strive to overbear Light and Conviction video meliora proboque deteriora sequor They know this or that to be a Sin and that they hazard their Souls by it but yet they will adventure on it and rush into Sin as the Horse into the Battle 4. I promised to give you some instances of the Conflicts betwixt Mens Consciences and their Corruptions wherein Conscience is vanquisht and overborn and by what Weapons the Victory over Conscience is obtained Now the Convictions of Men are two-fold viz. I. General Respecting their State. II. Particular Respecting this or that Action I. There are general Convictions and Notices given to some Men and Women by their Consciences that their Condition or State of Soul is neither right nor safe that they want the main thing which constitutes a Christian viz. Regeneration or a gracious change of Heart and Life They hear and read the signs and effects of these things but their Conscience plainly tells them it cannot find them in them that they enjoy the External priviledges of the Saints but they belong not to them that something is still wanting and that the main thing too O my Soul thou art not right thou hast gifts thou hast a Name to live but for all that thou art dead Some further work must be done upon thee or thou art undone to Eternity thou passest for a good Christian among Men but wo to thee if thou die in the State thou art These and such as these are the whispers of some Mens Consciences in their Ears and yet they cannot yield themselves up into the hands of their Convictions so as to confess and bewail their Hypocrisie and gross mistakes and seek for a better foundation to build their hope on Foelix his Conscience gave him such a terrible rouze and monition as this and made him to tremble whilst Paul reason'd with him about Righteousness and Temperance and Judgment to come Acts 24. 25. it whispered in his Ear such Language as this O poor Soul how shall such an Oppressor such an intemperate wretch as thou art stand before God in this day of Judgment which Paul proves in thy face is certainly future for as Tacitus sayeth of him He was inexplebilis Gurges an insatiable gulph of Covetousness so it was with Agrippa Acts 26. 28. He stood at half bent dubious and unresolved what to do He saw the Heavenly Doctrine of Christianity evidently confirmed by Doctrine and Miracles his Conscience pleaded hard with him to embrance it and had almost prevailed Almost or within a little as the word is thou perswadest me to be a Christian but Agrippa had too much Wealth and Honours to deny and forsake for Christ the Love of the present World overbore both the hopes and fears of the World to come And thus that Excellent Fisher for Souls who had throughly converted so many to Christ caught but a piece of Agrippa almost is a great deal for so great a person The Gospel is a Drag-net and brings up all sorts whole Christians and half Christians The Conscience is caught and the Will begins to incline but oh the power and prevalence of Sin which like the Rudder commands all to a contrary course If we come a little nearer and enquire what are those remoraes that stop Conscience in its course bind and imprison stifle and suppress its Convictions that although a Man strongly suspect his foundation to be but Sand his hopes for Heaven a strong delusion yet he will throw up his vain hopes consfess his self deceits and begin all anew What is it which overbears Conscience in this cafe Let Men impartially examine their hearts and it will be found that these three things bind and imprison these Convictions of Conscience and hold the truth in unrighteousness viz. shame fear and pride of Heart I. Shame Men that have been Professors and of good esteem in the World are ashamed the World should know the Mistakes and Errors of all their life past and what deluded Fools and self-deceivers they have been This is a powerful restraint upon Conviction how shall they look their Acquaintance in the face What will Men think and say of them How can ye believe which receive Honour one of another Saith Christ Iohn 5. 44. q. d. What you be Christians and yet not able to endure a censure or a scoff upon your Names That stand more upon your Reputation than your Salvation How can you believe Oh what Madness and exalted Folly appears in this Case Men will chuse rather to go on though Conscience tells them the end of that way will be Death than suffer the shame of a just and necessary retraction which yet indeed is not their shame but their Duty and Glory You that are so tender of the shame of men how will you be able to endure the contempt and shame that shall be cast on you from God Angels and Men in the great Day Luk 9 26. 'T is no shame to acknowledge your mistake but persist in it after Conviction is shameful Madness I knew an excellent Minister who proved an eminent Instrument in the Church of God who in the beginning of his Ministerial Course was not upon the right Foundation of Regeneration This Man had rare Abilities excellent Natural and Acquired Gifts and could Preach of Regeneration Faith and Heavenly-mindedness though he felt nothing of these things in his own Experience His Life was very unblameable and he had no mean Interest and esteem among good men It pleased the Lord whilst this Man was studying an excellent Spiritual Point to preach to others his Conscience first preach'd it in his Study to himself and that with such a close and rousing Application as made him to tremble at it telling him that though he had Gifts above many and sobriety in his Conversation
Honour than Gods. The Lord regards not Oratory in Prayer your broken Expressions yea your Groans and Sighs please him more than all the Eloquence in the VVorld Thirdly But the principal thing that restrains Men from obeying their Convictions as to Family and Closet Prayer is A disinclined Heart That 's the root and true cause of these sinful neglects and Omissions You favour not the sweetness of these things and what a man relishes no sweetness in or finds no necessity of is easily omitted and let pass But wo to you that go from day to day self condemned for the neglect of so known so sweet and so necessary a Duty If our Hearts condemn us God is greater than our hearts I Ioh. 3. 20. He that lives without Prayer is dead whilst he lives and let men talk what they please of secret Communion with God I am sure if Religion did thrive in the Closet it could never be banished out of the Family The time is coming also when death will disband and break up your Families separate the VVife from the Husband the Child from the Parent the Servant from the Master and then where you shall find relief and comfort who have spent your time together so sinfully and vainly I cannot tell nor what account you can give to God in the great day Think sadly on these things they are worth thinking on II. Instance A second Instance of Vngodliness continued in under the Convictions of Conscience is Formaliâ—y in all the external duties of Religion and Ordinances of God. Have not some of your Consciences often and plainly told you that though you be often ingaged in the publick duties of Hearing Prayer c. yet your hearts are not with God in those duties They do not work after communion and fellowship with him therein 'T is nothing but the force of Education Custom and care of Reputation brings you there Such a conviction as this could it work home and do its work throughly would be the salvation of thy Soul. Were power added to the form as Conscience would have it thou wert then a real Christian and out of the danger of Hell. The want of this thy Conscience sees will be thy ruin and accordingly gives thee plain warning of it O what pity is it such a conviction as this should be held in Unrighteousness but so it is in very many souls and that on several accounts First Because Hypocrisie is so odious and abominable a sin that men are loath to own and acknowledge it how guilty so ever they be of it What dissemble with God and play the Hypocrite with him 't is so black and foul a Crime that men cannot easily be brought to charge themselves with it They may have the infirmities which are common to the best of men but yet they are no hypocrites thus Pride of Heart casts a chain upon this conviction and binds it that it cannot do its work Secondly 'T is a cheap and easie way to give God the external Service and Worship of the Body but Heart-work is hard work To sit or kneel an hour or two is no great matter but to search humble and break the Heart for sin to work up the dead and earthly Affections into a spiritual heavenly frame this will cost many an hard tugg 'T is no severe task to sit before God as his people whilst the fancy and thoughts are left at liberty to wander which way they please as the thoughts of formal Hypocrites use to do Ezek. 33. 31. but to set a watch upon the heart to summon in the Thoughts to God to retract every wandering thought with a sigh this is difficult and the difficulty overpowers conviction of duty Thirdly The Atheisme of the heart quenches this conviction in mens Souls Formality is a secret invisible sin not discernable by man the outside of Religion looks fair to mans eye and so long it s well enough as if there were not a God that trieth the hearts and the reins This when a beam of light and conviction shines into the Soul a cloud of natural Atheism overshaddows and darkens it But poor self-couzening-hypocrite these things must not pass so thy Conscience as well as the Word tell thee that it is not the place of Worship but the spirituality of it that God regards Ioh. 4. 23 24. That they are Hypocrites in Scripture account who have God in their mouthes but he is far from their reins Ier. 12. 2. and that hypocrites will have the hottest place in Hell Matth. 24. 51. III. Instance A Third instance of Convictions of ungodliness held in unrighteousness is in declining or denying to consfess the known truths of God which we our selves have professed when the confession of them infers danger In times of danger conscience struggles hard with men to appear for the Truths of God and upon no account whatsoever to dissemble or deny them and enforceth its Counsels and VVarnings upon us with such awful Scriptures as these Luk. 9. 62. No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. And Matth. 10. 33. But whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my father which is in heaven In this case Conscience useth to struggle hard with men yet is many times over-born by the prevalent Temptations of the Flesh as First By Carnal Fears The fear of Suffering gets the ascendant of the fear of God. Men chuse rather to adventure their Souls upon Wrath to come than the present VVrath of incensed Enemies They vainly hope to find mercy with God but expect none from men Thus the fear of man brings a snare Prov. 29. 25. and so the voice of conscience is drowned by the louder clamours and threats of Adversaries Secondly As the fear of mans Threatenings so the distrust of Gods Promises defeats the design of Conscience If men believed the promises they would never be afraid of their duties Faith in a promise would make men as bold as Lions If such a word as that Isa. 57. 11. Of whom hast thou been afraid or feared that thou hast lyed and hast not remembred me Men would say as Zuinglius did in the like case what Death would I not rather chuse to dye what punishment would I not rather undergo yea into what vault of Hell would I not rather chuse to be cast than to witness against my own conscience Thirdly The immoderate and inordinate Love of the VVorld overpowers conscience and drowns its voice in such an hour of Temptation So Demas found it 2 Tim. 4. 10. O what a dangerous conflict is there in an hour of Temptation betwixt an enlightned head and a worldly heart Lastly The Examples of others who comply and embrace the sinful termes of Liberty to escape the danger emboldens men to follow their Examples and Satan will not be wanting to improve their Examples Don't you see such and such men beating the road before you
this life 't is the love of the World that makes men warp from the Rules of their own Consciences 2 Tim. 4. 10 't is this that makes men strain hard to get loose from the ties and bonds of their own Consciences The young man was convinced but the world was too hard for his Convictions Luk. 18. 23. the degree of his Sorrow was according to the degree of his Love to the Creature 'T is not the having but the overloving of the world that ruins us 'T is a worldly Heart which makes men twist and turn shuffle and dissemble at that rate they do in time of Temptation Could you once dethrone this Idol how secure and safe would your Consciences be The Church is described Rev. 12. 1. as clothed with the Sun and the Moon under her Feet The most zealous Age of the Church was the Age of Poverty Try these few considerations upon your hearts to loose them from the inordinate love of the World. 1. What good will the World do you when you have lost your Integrity for its sake and peace is taken away from the inner man VVhat joy of the world had Iudas and what comfort had Spira If you part with your integrity for it God will blast it and it shall yield you no joy 2. Except you renounce the world you are renounced by Christ. Disclaim it or he will disclaim you Luke 14. 33. No man can be admitted into Christs Service but by fealing those Indentures with him 3. VVhat ever loss or dammage you shall sustain for Christ and Conscience sake he stands obliged to repair it to you and that with an infinite overplus Mark 10. 29. 30. 4. In a word all the Riches Pleasures Honours and Liberties in the world are not able to give you that Joy and heart-refreshing Comfort that the acquitting and chearing voice of your own Consciences can do Settle these things in your hearts as defensatives against this danger VII Direction Lastly Beg of God and labour to get more Christian Courage and Magnanimity for want of this Conscience is often overborn against its own Light and Conviction Christian magnanimity is Consciences security 'T is excellent and becoming a Christian to be able to face any thing but the frowns of God and his own Conscience All the famous Champions of Truth and VVitnesses for God that came victorious out of the Field of Temptation with safe and unwounded Consciences were men of Courage and Resolution see Dan. 3. 16. Heb. 11. 27. Acts 21. 13. and what is this Christian Courage but the fixed resolution of the Soul to Encounter all dangers all sufferings all reproaches pains and losses in the strength of assisting Grace that shall assault us in the ways of our duty and so it stands opposed in Scripture to the Spirit of Fear Heb. 11. 27. to Shame Mark 8. 38. to Apostacy Heb. 10. 39. He must neither be afraid nor ashamed nor lose one inch of ground for the sake of what dangers he meets with and that because he hath embraced Christianity upon those terms and was told of all this before Ioh. 16. 1. because there 's no retreating but to our own ruin Heb. 10. 38. because he owes all this and much more than this to Christ Phil. 1. 29. because he understands the value of his Soul above his Body and of Eternals above and beyond all temporals Matth. 10. 28 and in a word because he believes the Promises of Gods Assistance and rewards Heb 11. 25 26 27. O my Friends were our fears thus subdued and our Faith thus exalted how free and safe would Truth be in our Consciences He that owns any Truth to live upon it or accommodate a carnal Interest by it will disown that Truth when it comes to live upon him let Conscience plead and say what it will but he that hath agreed with Christ upon these Terms to be content to be miserable for ever if there be not enough in Christ to make him happy this man will be a steddy Christian and will rather lie in the worst of the Prisons than to imprison Gods known Truths in Unrighteousness The Conclusion I have now done my Message I have set before you the Lord Jesus in the glory of his Free Grace and condescending Love to Sinners Oh that I had skill and ability to have done it better I have woed and expostulated with you on Christs behalf I have laboured according to my little measure of strength to cast up and prepare the way by removing the stumbling Blocks and Discouragements out of it This hath been a time of Conviction to many of you some have not been able to hold their Convictions any longer under restraints but many I fear do so and therefore I have in the close of all handled this startling and awakening Scripture among you to shew you what an horrid evil it is to detain Gods Truths in Unrighteousness I have also in the Name and Authority of God demanded all the Lords Prisoners his suppressed and restrained Truths at your hands If you will unbind your Convictions this day cut as under the bonds of carnal fear shame c. with which you restrain them those Truths you shall so make free will make you free If not but you will still go on stifling and suppressing them in your own Bosomes remember that there are so many VVitnesses prepared to give evidence against you in the Great Day And Oh that whilst you delay this Duty the sound of this Text may never out of your ears nor suffer you to rest For the wrath â—f God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness FINIS â—act lib. 70. de divina praemio p. 578 579. Secundo Lact. de justitia l. 5. p. 382 383. Bernardi Sermo 33 in â—antic Casus Consc. lib. 3 p. 116. S. Ford. Ambitio Sac. Animalis homâ— Durham in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cornu sic fit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per syncoâ—en 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doct. â— â— Reason 2. Reason Mr. Anth. Burgesse on 1 Cor. 3. Object Answ. Object Sol. Isa. 48. 8 9. 1. Reas. Isa. 27. 4. 2. Reas. 3. Reas. 4. Reas. 5. Reas. Mr. Lockier in Colos. 1. Consid. 2. Consid. 3. Consid. 4. Consid. 1. Motive 2. Motive 3. Motive 4. Motive Ephes. 1. 7. 5. Motive 6. Motive 1. Obj. Answ. 2. Obj. Answ. 1. Demonst. 2. Demonst. 3. 〈◊〉 4. Demonst Isa. 44. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qualiscunque fuerit peccator Hypocrita qui diu obstitit Evangelio 7. Doct. Object Sol. â— Iâ—fer II. Infer III. Infer IV. Infer V. Infer VI. Infer Object Answ. 8. Doct. * Clamor hic est pulsatio significant cogitata a Deo injecta ad monendam peccatoris conscientiam id Deus aliquandiu facit non semper Pools Synops in loc Quest. Answ. 1. Sign 2. Sign 3. Sign 4. Sign 5. Sign 9. Doct. I. Infer Mr. Anthony Burges in his Spiritual Refining 2. Infer 4. Infer 10. Doct. Method of Grace p. 25 1. Reas. 2. Reas. 3. Reas. 4. Reas. 1. Infer 2. Infer Object Sol. 3. Infer 4. Infer 1. Plea. 2. Plea. 3. Plea. 4. Plea. 5. Plea. Quest. Answ. Dr. Iacom in Rom. 8. p. 69 84. 1. Evid 2. Evid 3 Evid 4 Evid 5 Evid 6 Evid 7 Evid 8 Evid 9 Evid 10 Evid Text. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Ah sinner how canst thou grieve and dishonour that God that thus feedeth clotheth and comforteth thee on every side Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Yet all will not do neither Judgments nor Mercies can affright or allure the carnal Heart to Jesus Christ. T is his Spirit his Almighty power alone that opens these everlasting Gates and makes these strong Bars give way and fly at his voice I. Inference Behold here the dismal state of nature the woful condition of all unregenerate Souls Christ the Redeemer shut out Sin and Satan shut in This is the horrid state of nature shut up in unbelief Rom. 4. 32. Ah Lord what a condition is this We should certainly account it an unspeakable misery to be shut into a House haunted by the Devil where we should be continually scared and frighted with dreadful noises and apparitions but alas what is an apparition of the Devil without us to the inhabitation of the Devil within us Nay what is the possession of a Body to Satans possession of the Soul Yet this is the very case of the unregenerate Luke 11. 21. The strong Man armed keepeth the Palace till Christ dispossess him by Sovereign victorious Grace Poor wretch canst thou start at a supposed vision of a Spirit and not tremble to think that thy Soul is the habitation of Devils There is a twofold misery lying upon all Christless unregenerated persons Satan is 1. Their Ruler in this World. 2. Their Tormenter in that to come 1. He is their Ruler in this World the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of disobedience Ephes. 2. 3. Look as the holy Spirit of God dwells and rules in sanctified Souls walks in them as in hallowed Temples guiding and comforting the Souls of the Saints so Satan dwells in unregenerate Hearts actuating their lusts inflaming them with his temptations using their faculties and members as instruments of unrighteousness And then 2ly He will be their Tormenter in the World to come He that Tempts now will Torment then Matth. 25. 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Flee therefore and escape for your lives sleep not quietly another Night in so dismal and dreadful estate If the Son make you free then are you free indeed II. Inference What a glorious and admirable effect of Sovereign omnipotent grace is the effectual conversion of a sinner unto God! If every Heart by nature be secured for Satan under so many Locks and Bars then the opening of any Heart to Christ is deservedly marvellous in our Eyes You all acknowledge that the opening of the Graves at the Resurrection will be a glorious display of Almighty power and so it will it will be a wonderful thing to behold the Graves opened and the dead raised at the voice of the Arch-angel and the trump of God but yet give me leave to say That the opening of thy Heart poor sinner to receive Christ is a more glorious work than that of raising the dead It is therefore deservedly put into the first rank of the great mysteries of godliness that Christ is believed on in the World 1 Tim. 3. 16. He that well views and considers Christ may justly wonder that all the Hearts in the enlightned World do not stand wide open to embrace him and he that shall consider the frame and temper of the natural Heart and how strongly Satan hath intrenched and fortified himself in it may justly wonder to hear of a work of Conversion in an age Oh Brethren consider the marvels of Conversion the wonderful works of God upon the Soul that opens unto Christ by Faith. 1. There 's a new Eye created in the mind The Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true 1 John 5. 20. Oh that Eye That precious Eye of Faith which shews the Soul as it were a new World a World of new and ravishing objects Eph. 5. 8. All the Angels in Heaven Ministers and Libraries upon Earth cannot create such an Eye give such an Illumination t is only he that commanded the light to shine out of the darkness that thus shineth into our Hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. 6. 2ly And what a glorious supernatural Work is the conviction of the Conscience by the powerful stroak of the saving beams of light upon it Now the Conscience that lay in a dead sleep begins to startle and look about it with fear and horror Life and sense is got into it and now it cries ah sick sick sick at the Heart for sin sick for a Saviour 3ly And no less marvelous an effect of the Almighty power is the bowing of the stuborn Will so efficaciously so congruously and so determinately and fixedly to the Lord Jesus The Will is efficaciously determined so as no power of Hell or Nature can resist or frustrate that Mighty power which worketh effectually in all them that believe 1 Thes. 2. 13. Yet it works not by way of compulsion but in a way congruous and agreeable to the nature of the Will Hosea 11. 4. I drew them with the cords of a Man with the bands of love Satan bids for the Soul Christ infinitely outbids all his offers Eternal Spiritual and unsearchable Riches instead of sensitive perishing enjoyments which determin the choice of the Will in its own natural method by the sight of the excelling glory of Spiritual things And thus the mighty supernatural power of God opens that Heart which Satan had secured so many ways against Christ. III. Inference Hence it also follows that Man hath no free will of his own to supernatural good The Will cannot by its own power open it self to receive Christ by faith When it doth open to him it is not virtute innata sed illata not by its natural power but by the power of God upon it The admirers of Nature talk much of the Sovereignty Virginity and Liberty of the Will as if it alone had escaped the fall and that no more but a moral swasion is needed to open it to Christ that is that God need do no more to save Men than the Devil doth to damn them But if ever God make you sensible what the work of â—aving Conversion is you will quickly find that your Will is lame its freedom to Spiritual things gone you will cry out of a wounded Will as well as of a dark Head and a hard Heart You will quickly find That it is God alone that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. That the birth of the new Creature is not of the Will of Man but of God Iohn 1. 13. IV. Inference Learn hence the necessity of Conversion in order to Salvation Christ and Heaven are shut up against you till your hearts be savingly opened unto him
never designed them for encouragements to sin but for encouragements to repentance and Faith. That 's the Fourth Evidence of the Truth before us V. Evidence The Truth of this Conclusion will also evidently appear from the innate characters and properties of the Grace and pardoning Mercy of God towards penitent and hungring Sinners Now there are three glorious Characters of Divine Grace which do all assure such sinners welcom to Christ whatever they have been or done the Grace of God shines forth in Scripture in three illustrious Characters 1. As superabounding Grace 2. As Free Grace 3. As Grace exercised with delight First It is superabounding Grace Waters do not so abound in the Ocean nor Light in the Sun as Grace and compassion do in the bowels of God towards broken Hearted and hungry sinners Isa. 55. 6. Let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon The compassions of our God inserted that word on purpose to relieve poor Souls fainting under the sense of their abounding iniquities Here 's abundant Pardon for abounding Guilt and yet left a desponding sinner should not find enough here to quiet his fears the Lord goes yet farther in the expression of his Grace Rom. 5. 20. Where sin abounded Grace did much more abound It overflowed all the bounds it rose quite above the high-water Mark of sin and guilt but these overflowings of Grace run only through that channel of all Grace Jesus Christ to broken Hearted and obedient Sinners Secondly The Grace of God to such Souls is free every way free it is the very design of the Gospel to exhibit it in this its glory It costs you nothing but acceptance its free without merit yea free against merit you can deserve nothing of God therefore his Grace is free without merit yea you have deserved Hell as often as you have sinned against him and so it is free against merit If a pardon were to be purchased by us we want a stock for such a purchase neither can we borrow from Men or Angels a sufficient sum for such a purchase Blessed be God therefore that it flows freely to us without money and without price Isa. 55. 2. Thirdly Grace glories in another property also which is very encouraging to the Soul of a drooping sinner viz. that it is the darling attribute which God greatly delights to exercise The tender Mother draws not out her aking Breast with such delight to her hungry crying Child as the Lord doth his Mercy and Compassion to broken Hearted and hungry Sinners in this attribute and in this property of it his people therefore admire him Mich. 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage He retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy You cannot put Jesus Christ upon a more delightful imployment than to bind up the Wounds and set the broken Bones of poor convinced humbled Sinners Let every such Soul come to Christ and welcom for he greatly delights in such imployments VI. Evidence Such sinners need not doubt a welcom reception with Christ for should he reject and turn back such as these then none can have the benefit of his Blood and consequently it must be shed in vain as Water spilt upon the ground The Blood of Christ is invaluably precious and it cannot be lost it were a desperate impeachment of the Wisdom and Goodness of God to think so yet so it must be if broken Hearted and willing Souls be rejected and turned back from him There are but two sorts of Sinners in all the World viz. hardned and broken Hearted Sinners willing and unwilling Sinners The whole World falls into these two ranks as for impenitent hardned and obstinate sinners 't is certain they can have no benefit by the Blood of Christ they shall dye in their sins the Gospel cuts them off so continuing from all expectation of pardon and mercy Now there is but one sort of Sinners more left in the World and they are convinced and humbled Sinners who are made heartily willing to receive Christ upon his own terms who stretch forth the Hands of their desires to him and pant after an interest in him Should Christ reject these also who then shall receive the benefit of his Blood Did Christ dye in vain Or can the Counsels of Heaven prove abortive No no fear not therefore to go to Christ thou broken Hearted Sinner thou poor panting longing Soul fear not he will not cast thee out VII Evidence Moreover for the encouragement of all such Souls mercy and pardon are designed by bestowed upon the greatest and vilest of sinners to enhance and raise the glory of Free Grace to the highest pitch God picks out such Sinners as you are on purpose to illustrate the glory of his Grace in and upon you he knows you to whom so much is forgiven you will love much Luke 7. 47. You that have done so much against his Name and Glory will excel others in zeal and obedience 1 Cor. 15. 9 10. You will go beyond others in service for God as you have done in sinning against him All these things laid together make up a full demonstration of the Point That Iesus Christ will not refuse to come into the Soul of the vilest Sinner when once it is made heartily willing to open unto him Which was the thing to be proved and now our way is open to the Application of the Point which will be exceeding useful for Information Exhortation and Consolation I. Vse for Information Learn hence what an invaluable Mercy it is to enjoy the Gospel in its light and liberty which is so great a relief to the distressed Consciences of sinners Here only that Balm is to be found that heals your spiritual Wounds The Gospel hath been a low prized commodity in England the Lord pardon the guilt thereof to us Ah Brethren if you were in the Heathen World with your sick and wounded Consciences what would you do There are no Bibles Ministers or Promises not a breath of Christ or the Blood of sprinkling which are the true and proper remedies of sick Souls that 's a pitiful cry Mich. 6. 6. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and how my self before the high God Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with Calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or ten thousand Rivers of Oyl Shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my Body for the sin of my Soul Behold here the anguish of a destressed sin-burdened Conscience it would give up any thing in the World for peace and ease they would cast their Children their dearest Children their first-born into the burning flames if that might be an atonement for their â—ins O the efficacy of Conscience And the misery of an unrelieved Conscience But the
Gospel which you enjoy leads you to the Fountain of pardon and peace Iâ—a 53. 5. By his stripes we are healed The voice of the Gospel is peace peace to every one that believeth a rational peace founded upon the full satisfaction of Christ Ephes. 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace Here you see Justice and Mercy kissing each other God satisfied and the Sinner justified for Conscience demands as much to satisfie it as God demands to satisfie him if God be satisfied Conscience is satisfied O blessed are the people that hear this joyful sound Psal. 89. 15. And doubtless it is a joyful sound to every convinced humbled Soul Beautiful upon the Mountains are the Feet of them that bring good tydings that publish peace It is a Gospel worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1. 15. it brings with it a fulness of blessings among the People O England O Dartmouth Provoke not thy God to extinguish this blessed light Great is our wantonness and ominous is our barrenness and ingratitude Yet a little while the light is with you walk whilst ye have the light lest darkness come upon you for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth John 12. 35. Should God blow out this light whither will you go Who shall pour in Balm to your distressed bleeding Consciences ' II. Inference Hence in like manner it follows that the greatness heinousness of past sins is no bar to believing and accepting Christ upon Gospel terms Let no sinner be dismaid by the atrocity and heynousness of sins past from coming unto Jesus Christ for remission and peace I am awar what mischievous use Satan makes of former sins to discourage Souls from the work of Faith by heaping them together he raiseth up a Mountain betwixt Christ and the distressed Soul but behold this day Christ leaping over these Mountains and skiping over these Hills Could this objection be rouled out of the way sinners would go on in hope but certainly if God have given thee a broken Heart and a willing Mind the greatness of thy sin need not discourage thee from believing For 1. thou hast sufficient encouragement from the sufficiency of the causes of pardon whatever thy particular enormities have been there is a sufficiency in the impulsive cause the Free Grace and Mercy of God Exod. 34. 6 7. Micah 7. 18 19. Isa. 55. 7 8 9. It is well there is Mercy enough in God to heal and cover all and there is no less sufficiency in the meritorious cause of pardon the Blood of Jesus Christ which taketh away all sin 1 Iohn 1. 7. 1 Iohn 29. And it must needs be so because it is Divine Blood Acts 20. 28. Neither is there any defect in the applying cause the Spirit of God who hath already begun to work upon thy Heart and is able to break it and bow it and bring it home fully to Christ and to compleat the work of Faith upon thee with power thou complainest thou canst not mourn nor believe as thou wouldst but he wants no ability to supply all the defects of thy repentance and faith Well then if the mercy of God be sufficient to pardon the sin of a Creature if the Blood of Christ the Treasures and Revenues of a King be able to pay the debts of a Beggar if the Spirit of God who works by an Almighty Power be able to convince thee of righteousness as well as sin Iohn 16. 9. I say if all the three causes of forgiveness be sufficient every one in its kind the first to move the second to purchase and the third to apply what hinders but thy trembling Conscience should go to Christ and thy discouraged Soul move onward with hope in the way of believing whatever thy former enormities have been 2. If God raises glory to his Name out of the greatness of the sins he pardoneth then the greatness of sin can be no discouragement to believing but so God doth he raiseth the glory of his Name from the multitude and magnitude of the sins he pardoneth Ier. 33. 8 9. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against me And it shall be to me a name of joy a praise and an honour before all the Nations of the Earth which shall hear all the good I do unto them And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it As a cure performed upon a Man labouring under a desperate Disease it magnifies the Physitian and spreads his Name far and near The Devil envies God this glory and thy Soul this comfort and therefore scares thee off from Christ by the aggravations of thy sins David was willing to give God the glory of pardoning his great iniquities and with that very argument moves him for a pardon Psal. 25. 11. Pardon mine iniquitie for it is great You see there are strange ways of arguing in Scripture which are not in use among Men this is one Lord pardon my sin for it is great he doth not say Lord pardon it for it is but a small offence no but pardon it because it is great and the greater it is the greater Glory wilt thou have in pardoning it And then there is another way of arguing for pardon in Scripture which is peculiar and that is to argue from former pardons unto new pardons when Men beg their pardon one of another they use to say I never wronged you before and therefore forgive me now but here it is quite otherwise Lord thou hast signed thousand of pardons heretofore therefore pardon me again such is that plea Numb 14. 19. Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy and as thou hast forgiven them from Egypt even until now 3. As great sins as those that now stare in the Face of thy Conscience have been actually forgiven to Men upon their humiliation and closing with Christ. Poor sinners under trouble of Conscience are apt to think there is no sin like theirs God forbid I should diminish and extenuate sin but certain I am that Free Grace hath pardoned as great Sinners as thou art upon their repentance and faith What think you had you had a Hand in putting Christ to Death would not that sin have been as dreadful as any that now discourages you Yea certainly you would have thought that an unpardonable sin and yet behold that very sin was no bar to their pardon when once they were pricked at the Heart and made willing to come to Christ Acts 2. 36 37 38. 4. If it be the design and policy of Satan to object the greatness of your sins to prevent the pardoning of them then certainly 't is neither your duty nor interest
of sin by are these 1. There be sins of infirmity committed out of weakness and there are crying sins in the Ears of the Lord of the former sort sins of infirmity you read Gal. 6. 1. where it is called an overtaking in a fault here 's no premeditation nor deliberate consent but a surprize these go not to the account of gross and heynous enormities called in Scripture crying sins such as are the sin of oppression Hab. 2. 10 11. The stones shall cry out of the wall aud the beam out of the timber shall answer it The meaning is that the injustice and oppression which Men have used in raising their own Houses shall cry in the Ears of the Lord for vengance The Stone in the Wall shall say I was digged out of the Quarry hewen and layed here by the unrewarded labours of the poor Mason and the Timber out of the Beam shall say I was hewn squared and placed here by the unrewarded Hands of the poor Carpenter This is a crying sin so also is the sin of Murder when our Hands have been defiled with innocent Blood this makes a dismal cry in Heaven Gen. 4. 10. The voice of thy Brothers blood cryeth unto me from the ground A sin that makes an horrid outcry in both Worlds at once in Heaven and in the sinners Conscience Such also is the sin of unnatural lusts the sin of Sodom made a cry which came up to Heaven Gen. 18. 20. Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grievous Compare these sins with the sins of common infirmity which come by way of involuntary surprize and what vast odds will be found in the weight and aggravations of them 2ly You find in Scripture a great difference put betwixt sins committed against the clear shining light of Knowledge in the sinners Conscience and sins of Ignorance which are committed for want of Knowledge Christ himself puts a great difference betwixt them Luke 12. 47 48. and so doth the Apostle Iames 4. 17. To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Sin with a witness 3ly There are single acts of sin and continued or repeated acts of sin Sins committed after Conviction Promises and Resolutions Now there is not so much of guilt in a single act of sin as there is in a repeated and continued course of sin called Deut. 29. 19. Adding of drunkenness to thirst and Isa. 30. 1. Adding sin to sin For as it is in numbring so it is in sinning if the first figure be one the second is ten the third an hundred the fourth a thousand and every addition makes a greater multiplication O what a dreadful reckoning will here be for the Consciences of poor sinners 4ly Contrivers and studiers of sin are always in Scripture placed in the first rank of sinners The best servant God hath in the World may be surprized by the deceitfulness of sin against the gracious bent and resolution of his Soul but the contrivance and plotting of sin is quite another thing therefore it is said of the wicked Iob 15. 35. They conceive mischief and bring forth vanity and their belly prepareth deceit That is sin like the Foetus in the Womb hath its time of conception growth and birth and all this by the deliberate consent of the naughty Heart and Will which fosters and cherishes it 5ly There are ring-leaders in sin and single personal sins which spread no farther than our selves a ring-leader in sin is in Scripture reckoned amongst the greatest of sinners so Revel 2. 14. Thou hast them that held the Doctrin of Balaam who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the Children of Israel thus Ieroboam the son of Nebat made Israel to sin There is the same difference betwixt these and single personal sins as there is betwixt a chain shot and a single bullet Mind this you that have induced others to sin by your counsel or example 6ly There are sins in which men glory and take pleasure and sins for which men groan and mourn Now the more pleasure any man takes in sin the greater doth the sin arise in its aggravation We read of some Iob 20. 12. in whose mouths wickedness is sweet and they hide it under their tongue that is they draw a great deal of contemplative delight before and after the commission of sin as well as in the commission of it 'T is bad enough to sin and sigh to sin and weep but to sin and boast to sin and make a mock of sin what a prodigious way of sinning is this O Sinner what an heart hast thou that canst play and sport with that which grieves God crucified Christ and with without deep and sound Repentance will damn thine own Soul 7ly The more Bonds of Restraint any man breaks asunder to commit sin the greater and more aggravated always that sin is in the sight of God. There be some persons upon whom God hath laid more bonds of restraint to keep back their souls from iniquity than he hath upon others The more mercies he hath bestowed upon you the more restraints from sin So many mercies so many tyes Ier. 2. 5 6. especially spiritual mercies as light in your minds pardons sealed to your consciences love manifested to your souls Such also are your own Vows Promises and Resolutions Ier. 2. 20. Thou saidst I will no more transgress Didst not thou promise me saith God more care and circumspection for time to come And such are all the Examples and Warnings God hath given us by his Judgments upon others 1 Cor. 10. 11. These things put an Accent upon sin and make it out of measure sinful And now my Friends what have have I been driving at all this while in opening the greatness and aggravations of sin The design of all this is to shew you the indispensible need of Repentance and Faith to carry you to Christ. But I am the person upon whom these crying aggravated sins are found you tell me of going to Christ alas there is no hope of mercy for such a wretch as I am There it sticks Poor sinners think 't is to no purpose they had as good go on in sin for they conclude there 's no hope for them Come sinners give me leave to tell you you have a Text before you that the clears the way of your duty and salvation at once If any man be he what he will be his sins never so great yet if he hear my voice and open the door I will come into him saith Christ. There is mercy in Jesus Christ for thee who art guilty of crying sins For thee that hast added sinned against light and knowledge For thee that hast drunkenness to thirst For thee that hast contrived sin with deliberation For thee that hast induced others to sin by counsel or example For thee that hast taken pleasure in iniquity and made a sport of sin Yea and for
word And thus much of the general nature of Christs Spiritual Internal voice but all this gives us but a remote imperfect knowledge of it Therefore Thirdly I shall endeavour to open the innate characters and special properties of this Internal Spiritual voice of Christ which must be heard or there can be no opening the door of the Heart to receive him I. Character And the first Character is this It is a secret and a still voice whereby somewhat is as it were whispered into the Ear of the Soul making a particular application of what is spoken Externally to the Ear much like that of Nathan to David Thou art the Man. This still voice sounds throughout the whole Soul yet none hear it but the Soul concerned in it it is said 1 Sam. 9. 15. The Lord told Samuel in his Ear the night before c. That is he whispered the secret into the Prophets mind so the Spirit of Christ whispers a word into the Ear of a sinner which makes his Heart to tremble after this manner This is thy very state and condition this is thy sin which is now opened by the Gospel in thine Ears This is a voice without sound or noise to any others but very intelligible to the Soul unto whom it is â—poken You read in 1 Kings 19. 11 12. when Elijah stood upon the Mount before the Lord there came a great and strong wind which rent the Mountains and brake in pieces the Rocks before the Lord but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice And it was so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle c. So it is here Dreadful things are thundred against men by the voice of the Law the Terrours of the Lord are made known Hell and Damnation are set before the eyes of Sinners but until the Lord come in the still voice of his Spirit and apply those things to the Conscience the Sinner never covers his face with shame and confusion nor goes aside to mourn and lament his misery This voice of God sounds to the very Centre of the Soul. As for the outward voice of the Gospel alone it signifies little in hearing men hear not Matth. 13. 13. They have the voice of Man but not the voice of God They hear the sound but feel not the power of the Word What is spoken externally dyes in the ear that hears it But this still voice of the Spirit by secret passages makes its way to the heart and none knows what God speaks but the Soul to whom he speaks That is the first Character II. Character The internal spiritnal voice of Christ is a personal and particular voice speaking distinctly and particularly to the case and state of the Soul as if it were by name Ministers do and must speak in general they draw the Bow of the Gospel at an adventure not knowing to whom God will direct the Arrow but the Spirit guides it to the Mark. He applies general Truths unto particular persons so as the Soul to whom he directs it is fully convinced and satisfied the Lord intends and means it in such a convictive and threatning Expression O saith the Soul hath the Lord singled me out in special this is my very state and case You read Iohn 10. 5. that Christ calleth his sheep by name How doth he call them by name but by speaking directly and particularly to their Condition and Case as if he called them by their particular Names He doth not now in an extraordinary way as of old call Samuel Samuel or Saul Saul but he sends a Beam of convincing light into the Conscience plainly discovering this or that to be our sin danger or duty and so as to the effect it is all one as if God named him And truly till it comes to this the Word hath no saving operation upon the Soul. A man may hear ten thousand general Truths assent to them and never be the better for them How still and quiet was David's Conscience till Nathan struck the nail upon the head by an home personal application and then his Conscience startled Thus God singles out one man or woman from among a thousand in the Congregation speaks to the heart rips up the secure Conscience the rest hear the same words but feel not the same efficacy And truly 't is a choice mercy when God shall please thus to single out one person from among many after this manner to speak to his heart As Christ said in Luke 4. 25 26. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias c. but to none of them was Elias sent save unto Sarepta a City of Sydon unto a woman that was a widow so here Multitudes sate with you under the same Prayer or Sermon but unto none of them at that time was the Spirit sent to make a particular convictive application thereof but unto thee In this the peculiar goodness of God shines out and should for ever be admired in the eyes of that Soul. III. Character Thirdly This spiritual internal voice of Christ is distinguishable by the Soul that hears it from all other voices Iohn 10. 4. The Sheep know his voice As in the style of the Scriptures there is a weight and majesty which distinguishes it from all human composures so in this voice of Christ there is a Majesty a peculiar Efficacy a divine and awful Authority by which the Soul distinguishes it from all human voices It was said of Christ in the days of his flesh Iohn 7. 46. Never man spake like this man. The same may we say of his spiritual voice the Soul never heard such a voice before it seals the truth upon the heart so firmly that no Objections are left against it It was not so when we heard the voice of man. And there are two things in this inward voice of Christ which apparently difference it from all human voices 1. A marvellous light comes into the Soul with it which discovers all the secrets of the heart God shines into the heart the same time he speaks unto it 2 Cor. 4. 6. and now the secrets of the heart are manifest and God is acknowledged to be in that Word of Truth 1 Cor. 14. 25. 2ly A marvellous Power accompanieth this voice to make a deep and firm impression of what is spoken upon the Soul and this Power is an innate Character of the voice of God whereby the Soul receives it as his with much assurance as the Apostle speaks 1 Thess. 1. 5. Our Gospel came not to you in Word only but also in Power and in the Holy Ghost and in much Assurance They could not be more certain of any thing in the world than they were of this That it was the Lord that spake to them in that Word
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Eph. 1. 3. The same person that thus blesses God with an Heart over-flowing with joy and comfort endured as many Persecutions felt as many wants and straighs as any man. What â—f Providence do but meanly cloath your Bodies so that you cannot ruffle it out in that splendor and gallantry others do yet mayst thou say with the Church I will greatly rejoice in the Lord my Soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath clothed me with the garments of Salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth her self with Iewels Isa. 61. 10. What if thou fare not deliciously as the great ones of this World do yet if Christ will give thee to eat of the hidden manna which he promiseth Rev. 2. 17. Art thou not better clothed and fed than any of the Grandees or Nobles of the World This takes away all grounds of complaint it may be you will say O but we have Bodies as well as Souls if God had created us Angels that we could live without material food it were another case I reply Christ never thus intended to feast thy Soul and starve thy Body he that feeds thy Soul with bread from Heaven will take care for all necessary provisions on Earth Isa. 41. 17. You have sought and found the Kingdom of God and his righteousness fear not but all other things shall be added to you I. Vse for Information The Point before us is full of Uses I shall begin with Information in the following Inferences I. Inference Hence learn That it is a vile and groundless slander upon Religion to say or insinuate that it deprives men of the comfort and joy of life The Devil in design to discourage men from the ways of God puts a frightful mask upon the beautiful face of Religion pretending there is no pleasure or joy to be expected therein but this is abundantly confuted and refelled in the Text I will come in to him and sup with him Solomon tells us Eccles. 10. 19. A feast is made for laughter I am sure that Soul that sits with Christ at such a feast as hath been described above hath the best reason of any man in the World to be merry Religion indeed denies us all sinful pleasure but it abounds with all spiritual pleasure No rational solid mirth can come before Christ the unsanctified rejoyce in things of nought and their joy will be soon ended they are hastning to that place where they will find that to be verified of the wages of sin which they now falsely impute to the wages of holiness they shall never rejoyce more never be merry more But believers shall find that Scripture attested by their dayly experience Prov. 3. 17. All her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace And that there are such pleasures in the ways of God as they never experienced in the ways of sin for is it a solid ground of comfort to a man to be out of debt and all fears of arrests And is it not much greater to have our debts paid to God by Christ our Surety Matth. 9. 2. Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee Is it matter of joy to have a sufficiency of all things for the supply of every want he that is in Christ hath so 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. All are yours and ye are Christs Is it a joyful life to be a borderer upon Heaven to confine upon blessedness it self Then it is a joyful life to be in Christ for they that are so may rejoyce in the hopes of glory Rom. 5. 2. Is it matter of all joy to have the Comforter himself who is the Spirit of all Consolation taking up his residence in thy Heart cheering comforting and refreshing it with such Cordials as are unknown things in all the unbelieving World Then certainly the life of a Christian and the ways of holiness must be most pleasant and comfortable and therefore let none that are looking towards Christ be discouraged in their way by the slanderous reproaches designedly cast upon Religion for that end Christ and comfort dwell together II. Inference Hence in like manner it follows That Christians usually meet the greatest difficulties at their first entrance into Religion The first work of Religion is cutting work wounding work groaning and weeping work thus Religion usually begins Acts 2. 37. Acts 16. 29. Now the Soul seems to be struck dead in the giving up of all its former vain hopes Rom. 7. 9. When the commandment came sin revived and I dyed but afterward comes pardon peace joy in the Holy Ghost They that go forth weeping bearing precious seed now come back rejoycing bringing their sheaves with them Psal. 126. 6. Now that blessing takes place upon the Soul Matth. 5. 4. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be conforted Light is sowen for the righteous and joy for the upright in Heart 'T is quite contrary in the ways of sin all the pleasures of sin come first the terrors and gripes of Conscience come after Sin comes with smiles in its face but a sting in its tail Pleasures lead the van Hell and destruction bring up the rear Job 20. 12 13 14. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth though he hide it under his tongue yet his meat in his bowels is turned into the gall of Asps within him But here conviction and humiliation come first these prepare the way for Christ and after him comes rest and peace Their sorrow is turned into joy John 16. 120. But is this always true Do not the worst things of Religion many times come last How many Christians go out of the world in a bloody winding sheet Whatever the after-sufferings of Christians may be the worst is past when they are once in Christ. Great and sharp sufferings they may endure but the Lord sweetens them with answerable consolations 2 Cor. 7. 4. I am filled with comfort I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation The lowest ebbs are followed with the highest tydes the greatest troubles need not give an interruption to their peace III. Inference Thirdly Hence it follows that no man can be owner of any true comfort till he be in Christ. Comfort and refreshment in the natural order follow faith 't is the vainest imagination in the World to expect solid Spiritual comfort before union with Christ you may as well expect an harvest before a seed-time I do confess there are two sorts of comforts found in the World without Christ. 1. Men may have sensitive and sinful comforts and delights without Christ these are common in the unregenerate World where you may dayly see rich men taking comfort in their riches voluptuous men in their pleasures Iam. 5. 5. You have lived in pleasures upon Earth But these are the pleasures common to bruits and beneath the
a Witness within them and it was also revealed to them by the Instances and Examples of strokes and punishments of Sin in all Ages by the immediate hand of a justly incensed God. They came not by chance but Divine direction therefore it 's added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Heave◠or from God in Heaven 2. Here is the Object or impulsive Cause of this revealed and inflicted Wrath 't is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The former 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ungodliness comprizeth all sins against the first Table the irreligious lives and practices of Men living in the neglect of the Duties of Religion The other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unrighteousness comprizeth all sins against the second Table acts of Fraud Uncleanness c. against Men And because these two general comprehensive words are branched out into many particulars therefore he saith the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness There is not one of the many sins into which ungodliness and unrighteousness are branched out but incenseth the Lords Wrath and though he only mentions the Sins in the Abstract we are to understand the Abstract put here for the Concrete the sins for the sinners that commit them or Gods punishing these sins upon the persons of the Sinners 3. Lastly We have here before us the special aggravation of these sins or that which made them much more provoking to God than otherwise they had been And it was this that whilst they committed these Sins or omitted those Duties they held the truth in unrighteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies to detain stop hinder or put a Remora in the way of that Truth of God or those common Notions they had of his Being Power Goodness Truth c. as also of his Worship and the difference between Good and Evil. These Truths struggled in their Consciences as the Child in the Womb to come to the Birth Conscience instigated them to Duty and laboured to restrain them from Sin but all in vain they overbare their own Consciences and kept those Sentiments and Convictions Prisoners though they struggled for Liberty to break forth into Practice and Obedience Their Convictions were kept down under the Dominion and Power of Corruptions as a Prisoner is shut up by his Keeper Their Lusts were too hard for their Light. Thus you have both the Scope and Sense of the Text. The Point from it is this DOCTRINE That the wrath of God is dreadfully incensed against all those that live in any course of Sin against the light and dictates of their own Consciences Sins of Ignorance provoke the Wrath of God yet are they not of so heinous a nature as sins against light and Conviction are nor shall they be punished so severely Luk. 12. 47. That servant which knew his Lords will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes It excuses a tanto in some measure when a man can say Lord had I known this to be a sin I would not have done it but when the Conscience is convinced and strives to keep us from such an act or course of sinful actions and we stop our Ears against its Voice and Warnings here is an high and horrid Contempt of God and his Law and gives the sin a Scarlet Dye or Tincture Sins of Ignorance cannot compare with such sins as these Ioh. 3. 19. Ioh. 15. 22. To open this Point let me 1. Shew you what Conscience is 2. What the Light of Conscience is and what its kinds are 3. How this Light binds the Conscience and makes it strive in us 4. Then instance in some Cases wherein it doth so 5. And Lastly how and why the imprisoning of these Convictions so dreadfully incenseth the Wrath of God. 1. 'T will be needful to speak a little to the nature of Conscience in general Conscience as our Divines well expresse it is the judgment of a man upon himself as he is Subject to the judgement of God. A Judgment it is and a practical Judgment too it belongs to the understanding faculty 1 Cor. 11. 31. If we would judge our selves c. this self-judgment is the proper Office of the Conscience and to enable it for this its work and office there are as is generally observed three things belonging to every mans Conscience 1 A Knowledge of the Rule or Law according to which it is to judge called the Synteresis which is a treasury of Rules and Principles without which Conscience can no more do its work than an Artificer that wants his Square or Level can do his 2 Knowledge of the Facts or Matters to be judged called the Syneidesis The Conscience of every man keeps a Register of his Actions Thoughts and the very Secrets of the Heart 3 An Ability and delegated Authority to pass Judgment on our selves and Actions according to the Rule and Law of God called Crisis Judgment Here it sits upon the Bench as Gods Vicegerent Absolving or Condemning as it finds the Sincerity or Hypocrisie of the heart upon Tryal 1 Ioh. 3. 20 21. Conscience therefore is an High and Aweful Power it is solo Deo minor next and immediately under God our Judge riding as Ioseph did in the second Chariot and concerning Conscience he saith to every man as he once did to Moses with respect to Pharaoh See I have made thee a god to Pharaoh Exod. 7. 1. The Voice of Conscience is the Voice of God. What it bindeth or looseth on Earth Clave non errante is accordingly bound or loosed in Heaven 1 Ioh. 3. 21. the greatest deference and precise Obedience is due to its Commands Its Consolations are of all the most sweet and its Condemnations only excepting those by the mouth of Christ in the last Judgment most terrible Zuinglius spake not without ground when he said What Death would I not rather chuse what Punishment would I not rather bear yea into what profound Abyss of Hell would I not rather enter than to witness against my Conscience 'T is like he had felt the Terrors of it to be more bitter than Death How many have chosen strangling rather than life under the Terrors of Conscience Wherever you go Conscience accompanies you VVhatever you say do or but think it Registers and Records in order to the Day of Account VVhen all Friends forsake thee yea when thy Soul forsakes thy Body Conscience will not cannot forsake thee When thy Body is weakest and dullest thy Conscience is most vigorous and active Never more life in the Conscience than when Death makes its nearest approach to the Body when it smiles chears acquits and comforts O what an Heaven doth it create within a Man And when it frowns condemns and terrifies how doth it becloud yea benight all the Pleasures Joyes and Delights of this World. O Conscience how glad would the damned be to have taken their
yet one thing and that the main thing Sanctifying Grace was wanting Hereupon the pangs of the New Birth seized his Soul and the Lord made him a most inward searching experimental Minister and crown'd his Labours with unusual Success This Minister to his dying day was not ashamed in all companies to acknowledge his mistake and bless God for his recovery out of it and in most of his Sermons he would endeavour to convince Professors of the necessity of a second Conversion 2. Fear is another pull-back which with-holds men from executing the Convictions of their own Consciences and obeying its calls in this grand case and concern of the Soul. They are pretty easie and safe under the External Profession and Duties of Religion and are afraid of throwing up their vain hopes and engaging themselves heartily and thoroughly in Religion and there be two things scare them 1 The inward pains and troubles of Spirit attending the New-Birth which they have read and heard of and seen the effects of in others Oh 't is a dreadful thing to lye under the Terrors that many have felt and so 't is with them as with one that hath a bone ill set who if he have any ease will rather endure a little dayly pain and be content to halt all his Life than undergoe the pain of another fraction or dislocation in order to a perfect cure 2 They are afraid of External Sufferings The form of Godliness leaves men a latitude to take or leave according as the times favour or frown upon the wayes of Religion but the power of Godliness that will engage and put them beyond retreat They must then stand to it come what will. But Soul let me tell thee if the just fears and apprehensions of Hell and the Eternal Wrath of God were upon thee to which thy Hypocrisie and formality will expose thee all these fears of inward or outward troubles would vanish the same Hour 3. Pride of Heart suffers not this Conviction of Conscience to work out its effects but holds this Truth in unrighteousness to the hazard and ruine of many Souls Men that live upon their own Duties and Self-Righteousness are not easily brought to renounce all this and live upon the Righteousness of Christ alone for Justification Proud nature will rather venture the hazzard of Damnation than such self denial Rom. 10. 3. As you see it common among poor People to live meanly on coarse Fare of their own than upon the Almes and bounty of another O but if once the day of Gods Power be come and a man begins to feel the Commandment come home to his Conscience as Paul did Rom. 7. 9. when he comes to realize the World to come the value of his Soul and the danger it is in then all these Remora's are as easily swept away as so many straws by the rapid Course of a mighty torrent Then let men say or think what they please I must not throw away my own Soul to maintain a vain Estimation among men Let inward or outward sufferings be never so great 't is better for me to feel them than to suffer the everlasting wrath of the great and terrible God. Let my own Righteousness be what it will all is but dung and dross to the pure and perfect Righteousness of Christ. Secondly As this General Conviction with respect to Mens State and Condition is held in Unrighteousness and Men and Women go with grumbling Consciences and frequent inward Fears by reason of it so there are many particular Convictions bound and imprisoned in Mens Souls Particular Convictions I say both as to sins committed and known Duties omitted against both Tables of the Law of God called in the Text ungodliness and unrighteousness Conscience labours and strives to bring men to confess bewail and reform them but cannot prevail contrary Lusts and Interests overpower them and detain them in unrighteousness What these are and how they are with-held by those Lusts I shall give some Instances I. Instance And First for Convictions of Vngodliness There are many that call themselves Christians whose Consciences tell them God is to be daily and duely worshipped by them both in Family and Closet Prayer It sets before them Iosua's pious practice Ios. 24. 15. As for me I and my house we will serve the Lord. They know God is the Founder the Owner the Master of their Families that all Family Blessings are from him and therefore he is to be owned acknowledged and sought in daily Family Prayers and Praises It tells them the Curse of God hangs over prayerless Families Ier. 10. 25. and that they live in the inexcusable neglect of these Duties seldom worshipping of God with their Families or in their Closets and that therefore they live without God in the World. And dreadful will the account and reckoning be at the Great Day for their own Souls which they have starved for want of Closet Prayer and for the Souls committed to their charge which perish for want of Family Duties This is the case of many who yet will needs pass for Professors of Christianity Lord how sad a case is here How can men possibly live in the daily neglect of so great so necessary a Duty Certainly 't is not for want of Light or Conviction the very light of Nature if we had no Bibles discovers these Duties But three things hold this Truth of God dictated by Mens Consciences in Unrighteousness viz. 1. The Love of the World. 2. Consciousness of Inability 3. A Disinclined Heart First The Love of the World choaks this Conviction in the Souls of some and they think it enough to plead for their Excuse the want of opportunities and many encumberances they have which will not allow them time for these Duties The World is a severe Taskmaster and fills their heads and hands all the day with Cares and Toyles And must the mouth of Conscience then be stopped with such a plea as this No no God and Conscience will not be answered and put off so The greatest number of Persons in the World from whom God hath the most Spiritual and excellent Worship are of the lower and poorer rank Psal. 74. 20. Iam. 2. 5. And it s highly probable your Necessities had been less if your Prayers had been more And what sweeter outlet and vent to all these troubles can you find than Prayer This would sweeten all your Labours and Sorrows in the World. Secondly Consciousness and sense of Inability and want of Gifts restrains this Conviction in others Should they attempt such duties before others they shall but expose their own ignorance shame But this is a vain pretence of shake off Duty The neglect of Prayer is a principal Cause of that inability you complain of Gifts as well as Grace grow by Exercise To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundantly And besides 't is the fruit of Pride and argues your eye to be more upon your own
Learned Men and prudent men who it may be have less heat but more VVisdom than you VVhy will you be singular VVhy will you hazzard all for that others will hazzard nothing But certainly such sins as these will cost you dear 't is a dreadful thing to betray the Truths and Honour of God for base secular ends and you will find it so when you and your consciences shall debate it together in a calm hour Secondly There are also sins of Vnrighteousness against the Second Table in which many live against the plain dictates and warnings of their own Consciences though they know the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness of men who hold the Truth in unrighteousness To give some Instances of this I. Instance And first let me Instance in that sin of Defrauding and going beyond others in our civil Commerce and Dealings with them over-reaching cozening and cheating the ignorant or unwary who it may be would not be so unwary as they are did they not repose trust and confidence in your deceitful words and promises Conscience cannot but startle at such sins the very Light of Nature discovers the evil of it and the sober Heathen abhor it but we that live under the Gospel cannot but feel some terror and trembling in our Consciences when we read such a severe and awful prohibition back'd with such a dreadful threatening as that is in 1 Thes. 4. 6. That no man defraud or go beyond his brother in any matter because that the Lord is the Avenger of all such The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that no man overtop viz. by power or by craft and policy To this sin a dreadful threatening is annexed the Lord is the Avenger of all such The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but once more that I remember used in the New Testament Rom. 13. 4. and is there applied to the Civil Magistrate he must see Execution done upon Malefactors but here the Lord himself will do it he will be this mans Avenger This Rod or rather this Ax Conscience shews men and gives warning of the danger and yet its Convictions are overpowered and bound as Prisoners by 1. The Excessive Love of Gain 1 Tim. 6. 9. But they that will be rich fall into Temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition When a resolution is made for the world men will be rich by right or wrong this powerfully armes the Temptation Set Gain before such a man and he will break through the Law of God and convictions of Conscience but he will have it This drowns them in perdition and destruction that is it surely throughly and fully ruins them as he is a dead man that is only drowned but to be drowned in destruction yea in destruction and perdition too this must needs make his ruin sure as sure as words can make it and so all such persons shall surely find it who persist in such a Course 2. Pinching Necessities and Straights overbear Conscience in others Necessity hath no Ears to attend the voice of the Word and Conscience Here Conscience and Poverty struggle together and if the Fear of God be not exalted in the Soul it now falls a prey to Temptation This danger wise Agur foresaw and earnestly intreated the Lord for a competency to avoid the snare of Poverty Prov. 30. 8 9. Poor Wretch how much better were it for thee to endure the pains of a griping stomach than those of a griping Conscience such gains may be sweet in thy mouth but bitter in thy Bowels 3. The Examples of others who daily venture on such sins without scruple and laugh at such squeamish Consciences as cheque at such things this emboldens others to follow them Psal. 50. 18 and thus the voice of Conscience is drowned and Convictions buried for a time but it will Thunder at last and thy buried convictions wil have a Resurrection and it shall be out of thy power to silence them again II. Instance The truth of God is held in Unrighteousness when mens Lusts will not suffer them to restore what they have sinfully and unjustly gotten into their hands This Sin lies boking in the Consciences of some men makes them very uneasie and yet they make an hard shift to rub along under these regrets of Conscience Now those things which make a forcible entry into the Conscience take the truths of God Prisoners and bind them that they cannot break forth into the duty of Restitution are 1. The shame which attends and follows the duty to which God and Conscience calls the Soul. O 't is a shame and reproach they think to get the name of a cheat Loath loath they are these works of darkness should come into the open Light men will point and hiss at them and say there goes a Thief a Cheat an Oppressor this keeps many from Restitution But dost thou not here commit a greater Cheat than the former Which is the greater shame thinkst thou to commit sin or to confess and reform it to tye the snare upon thy soul by Commission or loose it off from thy Conscience by Repentance and Restitution to be the derision of wicked men for none else will deride thee for thy duty or to be the contempt and derision of God Angels and all good Men for ever To attain inward peace at this hazzard or to lie under the continual lashes and wounds of thy own Conscience 2. Poverty and inability is sometimes pleaded to quiet the troubled Conscience and indeed this is a just and very frequent blast of God upon ill gotten goods The curse of God is upon them They melt away O what a miserable snare have you now intangled your souls in once you could but would not restore a Worldly heart would not part with unjust gains now you would but cannot Thus a worldly heart and an empty purse holds you first and last under the guilt of a known sin A lamentable case 3. Vain purposes do often suppress and silence convictions my condition may after I may be in a capacity hereafter when I can better spare it than at present Or I 'le do it in my last Will when I dye and charge my Executors with it Thus do men bribe their Consciences to get a little quiet whilst they continue under known guilt and cannot tell how soon death shall summon them to the aweful Bar of a just and terrible God. Sirs As you value your peace and which is more your Souls release the Lords Prisoner which lyes bound within you with cords and chains of Satans making do it I say as you hope to see the face of God in peace You know without Repentance there can be no Salvation and without Restitution no Repentance For how can you repent of a sin you still knowingly continue in Repentance is the Souls turning from sin as well as its sorrow for sin You cannot therefore repent
to spend our blood for the Saints So it was in the primitive times Behold â—said the Christians Enemies how they love one another and are willing to dye one for another But that Spirit is almost extinguished in these degenerate dayes VI. Instance How many stand convinced by their own Consciences what a sin it is to spend their precious time so idly and vainly as they do When a day is lost in vanity duties neglected no good done or received at night Conscience reckons with them for it and askes them what account they can give of that day to God. How they are able to satisfie themselves to lye down and sleep under so much guilt and yet when the morrow comes the vanity of their hearts carries them on in the same Course again the next day and whilst they keep themselves in vain Company they are quiet till Conscience finds them at leisure to debate it again with them Now the things which master Conviction are 1. In some men their Ignorance and Insensibility of the Preciousness of time They know 't is their sin to spend their time so vainly but little consider that Eternity it self hangs upon this little Moment of Time and that the great work of their Salvation will require all the time they have and if it be not finished in this small allottment of time it can never be finished Ioh. 9. 4. 2. The Examples of other vain persons that are as Prodigal of their precious time as themselves and entice them to spend it as they do 3. The charming power of sensual Lusts and Pleasures Oh how pleasantly doth time slide away in Playes Alehouses in relating or hearing taking Stories News c. 4. Inconsiderateness of the sharp and terrible rebukes of Conscience for this on a Death-bed or the terrors of the Lord in the day of Judgment In all these Instances you see how common this dreadful evil of holding the truth in unrighteousness is yet these are but a few selected from among many 5. In the next place I am obliged to shew how and why the imprisoning of Convictions or holding the Truths of God in Unrighteousness so dreadfully incenseth his Wrath. And this it doth upon several accounts 1. Knowledge and Conviction of sin is an excellent means or choice help to preserve Men from falling into sin There be Thousands of sins committed in the World which had never been committed if Men had known them to be sins before they committed them Every Sinner durst not make so bold with his Conscience as you have done The Apostle tells us the reason why the Princes of this World crucified the Lord of Glory was because they knew him not 1 Cor. 2. 8. Had they known him they would not have dared to do as they did And so it is in multitudes of lower and lesser sins than that Satan mops their Eyes with Ignorance then uses their Hands and Tongues in Wickedness he is the Ruler of the darkness of the World Eph. 6. 12. But when Men do know this or that to be sin and yet venture on it here an excellent Antidote against sin is turned into a dreadful aggravation of sin which highly incenses the Wrath of God. 2. Knowledge and Conviction going before adds presumption to the Sin that follows after it and presumptuous Sin is the most provoking and daring Sin from this way of sinning David earnestly beseeches God to keep him Keep back thy servant saith he from presumptuous sins When a man sees sin and yet adventures on it in such sinning there is a despising of the Law of God A Man may break the Law whilst he approves reverences and honours it in his heart Rom. 7. 12 13. but here the Commandment is despised as God told David 2 Sam. 12. 9. 'T is as if a Man should say I see the Command of God armed with threatnings in my way but yet I will go on for all that 3. Knowledge and Conviction leave the Conscience of a Sinner naked and wholly without excuse or apologie for his sin In this case there is no plea left to extenuate the offence Iohn 15. 22. Now they have no cloak for their sin if a man sins ignorantly his ignorance is some excuse for his sin it excuses it at least a tanto as Paul tells us thus and thus I did but I did it ignorantly Here is cloak or covering an excuse or extenuation of the sin but knowledge takes away this cloak and makes the sin appear naked in all the odious deformity of it nothing left to hide it 4. Light or Knowledge of the Law and Will of God is a very choice and excellent Mercy 't is a choice and singular favour for God to make the light of Knowledge to shine into a Mans mind or understanding 'T is a Mercy withheld from multitudes Psal. 147. 19. and those that injoy it are under special engagements to bless God for it and to improve it diligently and thankfully to his Service and Glory but for a Man to arm such a Mercy as this against God to fight against him with one of his choicest Mercies this must be highly provoking to the Lord 'T is therefore mention'd as an high aggravation of Solomons sin in the 1 Kings 11. 9. that he sinned against the Lord after the Lord had appeared unto him twice 5. This way of sinning argues an extraordinary degree of hardness of heart 'T is a sign of little tenderness or sense of the evil of sin Some Men when God shews them the evil of sin in the glass of the Law they tremble at the sight of it So did Paul Rom. 7. 13. When the Commandment came sin revived and he died he sunk down at the sight of it But God shews thee the evil of sin in the glass of his Law and thou makest nothing of it O obdurate heart When the Rod was turned into a Serpent Moses fled from it was afraid to touch it but though God turns the Rod into a Serpent and discovers the venomous Nature of Sin in his Word thou canst handle and play with that Serpent and put it into thy bosome this shews thy heart to be of a strange complexion 6. To go against the convincing warning voice of Conscience violates and wounds a Mans Conscience more than any other way of sinning doth and when Conscience is so wounded who or what shall then comfort thee 'T is a true Rule Maxima violatio Conscientiae est maximum peccatum The more any sin violates a mans Conscience the greater that sin is The sin of Devils is the most dreadful sin and what makes it so but the horrid violation of their Consciences and malicious Rebellion against their own Light and clear Knowledge Iames 2. 19. They know and sin they believe and tremble 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they roar under the Tortures of Conscience like the Rote of the Sea or noise of the Rocks before a Storm O then if there be any degree of sense
frowns the Kings of the Earth tremble the Captains and the Mighty Men shrink like worms into their holes if the lesser Executions of it by Providence in this world be so dreadful that men yea good men have desired an hiding place in the Grave till it be past Iob 14. 13. then what is the full execution thereof upon the ungodly in the place of Torments If the threats and denunciations of it against others have made an Habakkuk though assured of personal safety to quiver with his Lips and tremble in his Bowels as you see it did Hab. 3. 16. How much more should those tremble and quiver who are to be the Subjects of it and not the meer Heralds of it as he was And which is more than all if Iesus Christ who was to feel it but a few Hours and had the power of the Godhead to support him under it did notwithstanding sweat as it had been great drops of blood and was sore amazed think with wthy self poor wretch how shall thy heart endure or thy hands be strong when thou hast to do with an incensed Deity II. Motive Till you let your Convictions go Satan will not let you go He binds you whilst you bind them Here is the Command of God and the Command of Satan in competition Let go my Truths saith God which thou holdest in unrighteousness bind and suppress them saith Satan or they 'll deprive thee of the liberty and pleasure of thy Life Now whilst thou slightest the voice of God and Conscience for the voice of Conscience is the voice of God dost thou not avowedly declare thy self the bond-slave of Satan His Servants ye are to whom you obey Rom. 6. 16. Dare not to make one step further in the way of known sin saith Conscience continue not at thy Peril in such a dangerous state after I have so clearly convinced and warned thee of it fear not saith Satan if it be bad with thee 't will be as bad with Millions God will wound the heads of such as go in their Trespasses saith Scripture Psal. 68. 21. Tush others do so and escape as well as the most nice and tender saith Satan Now I say thy Obedience to Satans commands plainly declares thee all this while to be a poor enslaved Captive to him acted and carried according to the Prince of the power of the air the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of disobedience III. Motive Nay further until you obey your Convictions you are Confederates with the Devil in a desperate Plot against your own Souls You joyn with Christs great and avowed Enemy to dishonour him and damn your selves Two things make you Confederates with the Devil against your own Souls First Your Consent to this his Project for your Damnation for so your own Consciences out of the Scriptures inform you it is Consent makes you a Party Secondly Your Concealment of this Plot brings you in as a Party with him Confess thy sin and bewail it saith Conscience not so saith Pride and Shame how shall I look men in the face if I do so Don't you in all this believe Satan and make God a Liar Don't you act as men that hate your own Souls and love death Prov. 8. 36. O 't is a dreadful thing for men to be accessary to their own Eternal Ruin and that after fair warning and notice given them by their own Consciences Satan be his power what it will cannot destroy you without your own Consent IV. Motive Whilst you go on stifling your own Convictions and turning away your ears from its calls to Repentance and Reformation you cannot be pardoned You are in your sins and the guilt of them all lies at your door You may see what the Terms of Remission are Isa. 55. 7. Let the wicked for sake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him turn unto the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God and he will abundantly pardon So again Prov. 28. 13. He that hardneth his neck shall not prosper but he that confesseth and for saketh shall find mercy You see by these and may see by many more plain Scripture Testimonies there can be no hope of Remission whilst you go on in this path of Rebellion concealing yea and persisting in your known wickedness There is a necessary and inseparable Connection betwixt Repentance and Remission Acts 5. 31. and Luke 24. 47. And can you endure guilt to be your Bedfellow during Life and your Grave fellow after Death V. Motive You can never have peace with your own Consciences whilst you keep Convictions Prisoners Now a mans Conscience is his best Friend or his worst Enemy Thence are the sweetest Comforts and thence are the bitterest Sorrows 'T is a dreadful thing for a man to lie with a cold sweating Horror upon his panting Bosom Tum pallida mens est Criminibus tacit a sudant praecordia culpâ And this or which is worse Obduration and Stupidity must be the case of them that hold the Truth in Unrighteousness There can be no sounding a retreat to these terrors till Sheba's Head be thrown over the Walls I mean till that Sin your Conscience convinceth you of be delivered up As Israel could have no peace till Achan was destroy'd so thou shalt have no peace whilst thy sin is covered and hid Men may cry peace peace to themselves whilst they continue in sin Deut. 29. 18 19. but the sharpest troubles of Conscience are better than such peace Deliver up thy self Man if thou love peace into the hands of thy own Convictions and thou art in the true way to peace Thy rejoycing must be in the Testimony of thine own Conscience as the Apostle speakes 2 Cor. 1. 12. or thou rejoycest in a dream in a delusion in a thing of nought VI. Motive What dreadful Charges are you like to meet with upon your death-beds on the account of those sins you have lived in against Knowledge and Conviction Conscience is never more active and vigorous than in the last hours and moments of Life Now it will be stifled and over-ruled no longer It whispered before but now it thunders If a Man have a clear and quiet Conscience his Evening is clear and his Sun sets without Clouds See Psal. 37 37. The end of that man is peace In Contemplation of this Felicity it was that Balaam uttered that wish let my last end be like his This peace is the result of a Mans integrity and Obedience to the voice of Conscience this being the Evidence we can most safely rely upon of our Uprightness and Interest in Christ but the result of such violences and abuses to thy Conscience cannot be peace to thy Soul 'T is true some wicked Men dye in seeming peace and some good Men in trouble but both the one and other are mistaken the first as to the good Estate he fancies himself in and the other as to his bad Estate and a few Moments