outward Dispensation be continued unto them Isa. 6. 9 10 11. Wherefore the present season and present enjoyment of the Gospel are our Duty to consider and improve for what is the work that therein God hath in hand towards us Is it not to give us our Trial in the use of means as to what shall be our future condition He hath therein undertaken us as his Vineyard as his Husbandry and causeth the Rain to fall upon us and hath done so often and long And who almost doth consider aright how great his concernment is herein would men be so careless negligent formal slothful as they are for the most part under the hearing of the Word if they duely remember'd that it is their Trial for Eternity and they know not how soon it may be over If we lose this season we are gone for ever It is therefore our Wisdom to know whether our fruitfulness in Faith Repentance and Obedience do answer the Rain and Dressing we have had by the Dispensation of the Word The Axe is laid at the Root of the Tree if we bring not forth good Fruit we shall e're long be hewed down and cast into the Fire It is true there is none of us do answer as we ought the Love and Care of God towards us herein nor can we so do When we have done our utmost we are but unprofitable Servants But there is a wide difference between a defect in degrees of Obedience and the neglect of the whole Where the first is we ought to walk humbly in the sense of it and labour after more Perfection And if this defect be great and notable such as is occasioned by our Lusts indulged unto or by sloth and negligence as we can have no evidence of our being approved of God so it is high time to recover our selves by new diligence and holy endeavours or we may be cast in our Trial. But where the latter is where men bring no Fruit meet for Repentance what can they expect but to be finally and totally rejected of God Whereas therefore we have been long most of us under this Trial it is assuredly high time that we call our selves unto a strict account with respect unto it And if upon enquiry we find our selves at a loss which sort of Ground we do belong unto because of our barrenness and leanness unless we are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin we will give our selves no rest until we have better Evidences of our Fruit-bearing We may do well to remember that though the Earth on which the Rain falls is here distributed by the Apostle into two sorts like Jeremiah's Figgs very good and the very bad to one of which every one at last must be joyned yet as to present Effects and Appearances the Ground whereunto the Seed of the Gospel is cast is distributed by our Saviour into four sorts whereof one only brings forth Fruit meet for him by whom it is dressed Matth. 13. There are several ways whereby we may miscarry under our Trial one only whereby we may be accepted namely Fruitfulness of Heart and Life Barrenness under the Dispensation of the Gospel is always accompanied with an increase of sin The Ground which brings not forth Herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed thrusts forth Thorns and Briars Let it be observed that spiritual barrenness never goes alone Abounding in sin will accompany it and doth so It may be it doth not so openly and visibly for a season but all things will tend thereunto and at last it will discover it self Yea there are no sinners like them nor sin like theirs by whom the means of Grace are rejected or not improved The first Generation of great provoking sinners were those of the old World before the Flood Unto these Noah had been a Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2. 5. In his Ministry did the Spirit of Christ strive with them until God affirmed it should do so no more Gen. 6. 3. but they were disobedient and barren 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. And this issued in those provoking sins which God could not bear withall but brought the Flood upon the world of ungodly The next was these Hebrews unto whom the Gospel had been preached And they proved a Generation no less wicked than that before the Flood insomuch as their own Historian affirms that he verily believed that if the Romans had not come and destroyed them God would have poured Fire and Brimstone on them from Heaven as he did upon Sodom And the third Generation of the same kind are the Apostate Christian Churches whose condition and state is described in the Revelation This is the issue of Barrenness under Gods Culture and Watering and it will be so For 1 When men have rejected the last means of their spiritual healing and restraint of sin what can be expected from them but an outrage in sinning There are three ways whereby God puts a restraint upon sin The first is by the light of a natural Conscience This is born with men in the principle of it and grows into exercise in the improvement of Reason And where the natural workings of it are not prevented and suffocated by the horrible example of Parents and Relations living in Cursing Lying and all manner of Prophaneness it is very useful in Youth to restrain persons from sundry sins It is so I say until Corruptions getting strength and Temptations abounding Custom in sinning takes away the Edge of it and weakens it in its Operation Wherefore 2 when this Restraint is broken through God sets up the Hedge of the Law before the minds of men to deter them from sin And this also hath a great Efficacy with many unto this End at least for a season But neither will meer Conviction from the Law always give Bounds unto the Lusts of men Wherefore 3 the Gospel comes with a different design from them both The utmost of their Aim and Work is but to restrain sin but the Gospel comes to Convert the sinner Their work is to set a damm before the Streams of sin that of the Gospel is to dry up the Spring But if this also as it is in this case be rejected and despised what remains to set any Bounds unto the Lusts of men They will find themselves at liberty to act their own inclinations to the utmost as having cast off all regard to God in all the ways whereby he hath revealed himself Hence you may find more honesty and uprightness a more conscientious abstinence from sin wrongs and injuries more effects of Moral Virtue among Heathens and Mahumetans than among professed Christians or persons who being unprofitable under the Gospel do thereby tacitely reject it No Fields in the world are fuller of Thorns and Briars than those of People Nations Churches who profess themselves to be Christians and are not Suppose two Fields equally barren let one of them be tilled and dressed and the other be let alone left unto its
the apprehension of the Sinner but by the true Causes and Grounds of it Now these lye herein alone that Sin was not perfectly expiated for where this is not there must be a conscience of Sin that is disquieting judging condemning for Sin The Apostle speaks on the one side and the other of them who were really interested in the Sacrifices whereunto they might trust for the Expiation of Sin The way hereof as unto them of old and the Legal Sacrifices was the due attendance unto them and performance of them according unto Gods institution Hence are the persons so interested called the comers to them and the worshippers The way and means of our interest in the Sacrifice of Christ is by Faith only In this state it often falls out that true Believers have a conscience judging and condemning them for Sin no less than they had under the Law but this trouble and power of conscience doth not arise from hence that Sin is not perfectly expiated by the Sacrifice of Christ but only from an apprehension that they have not a due interest in that Sacrifice and the benefits of it Under the Old Testament they questioned not their due interest in their Sacrifices which depended on the performance of the Rites and Ordinances of Service belonging unto them but their consciences charged them with the Guilt of Sin through an apprehension that their Sacrifices could not perfectly expiate it And this they found themselves led unto by Gods institution of their Repetition which had not been done if they could ever make the Worshippers perfect It is quite otherwise as unto conscience for Sin remaining in Believers under the New Testament for they have not the least Sense or Fear concerning any insufficiency or imperfection in the Sacrifice whereby it is expiated God hath ordered all things concerning it so as to satisfie the consciences of all Men in the perfect Expiation of Sin by it only they who are really purged by it may be in the dark sometimes as unto their personal interest in it But it may be objected that if the Sacrifices neither by their native efficacy nor by the frequency of repetition could take away Sin so as that they who came unto God by them could have peace of conscience or be freed from the trouble of a continual Condemnatory Sentence in themselves then was there no true real peace with God under the Old Testament for other way of attaining it there was none But this is contrary unto innumerable Testimonies of Scripture and the promises of God made then unto the Church In answer hereunto I say the Apostle did not nor doth in these words declare what they did and could or could not attain unto under the Old Testament only what they could not attain by the means of their Sacrifices so he declares it in the next Verse for in them remembrance is made of Sins But in the use of them and by their frequent repetition they were taught to look continually unto the great Expiatory Sacrifice whose Virtue was laid up for them in the promise whereby they had peace with God Obser. 1. The discharge of conscience from its condemning Right and Power by vertue of the Sacrifice of Christ is the foundation of all other priviledges we receive by the Gospel Where this is not there is no real participation of any other of them 2. All peace with God is resolved into a purging Attonement made for sin Being once purged 3. It is by a principle of gospel-Gospel-light alone that conscience is directed to condemn all Sin and yet to acquit all Sinners that are purged It s own natural Light can give it no guidance herein VERSE 3. But in those Sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of Sins every year IT is the latter part of the foregoing assertion namely that the Worshippers were not purged or perfected by them in that they had still remaining a conscience for Sin which is proposed unto confirmation for this being a matter of fact might be denied by the Hebrews Wherefore the Apostle proves the truth of his Assertion from an inseparable adjunct of the yearly repetition of these Sacrifices according unto Divine Institution There are Four things to be opened in the words 1. The Introduction of the Reason intended by an adversative conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but. 2. The Subject spoken of those Sacrifices 3. What belonged unto them by Divine Institution which is a renewed remembrance of Sin 4. The seasons of it it was to be made every year 1. The note of introduction gives us the nature of the Argument insisted on Had the Worshippers been perfect they would have had no more conscience for Sins But saith he it was not so with them for God appoints nothing in vain And he had not only appointed the Repetition of these Sacrifices but also that in every Repetition of them there should be a Remembrance made of Sin as of that which was yet to be expiated 2. The Subject spoken of is expressed in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in them But this Relative is remote from the Antecedent which is in the first Verse by the interposition of the second wherein it is repeated we transfer it hither from the first Verse in our Translation but in these Sacrifices And we supply the defect of the Verb Substantive by there is for there is no more in the Original than but in them a Remembrance again of Sins The Sacrifices intended are principally those of the Solemn day of Expiation For he speaks of them that were repeated yearly that is once every year Others were repeated every day or as often as occasion did require these only were so yearly And these are peculiarly fixed on because of the peculiar Solemnity of their Offering and the interest of the whole people at once in them By these therefore they looked for the perfect Expiation of Sin 3. That which is affirmed of these Sacrifices is their inseparable adjunct that in them there was a remembrance of Sin again That is there was so by virtue of Divine Institution whereon the force of the Argument doth depend For this remembrance of Sin by Gods own Institution was such as sufficiently evidenced that the Offerers had yet a conscience condemning them for sins Respect is had unto the command of God unto this purpose Levit. 16. 21 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an express remembrance or a remembrance expressed by Confession or Acknowledgment See Gen. 40. 9. chap. 42. 21. For where it respects Sin it is a recalling of it unto the Sentence of the Law and a sense of punishment See Num. 5. 15. 1 King 17 18. And hereby the Apostle proves effectually that these Sacrifices did not make the worshippers perfect For notwithstanding their Offering of them a sense of Sin still returned upon their Consciences and God himself had appointed that every year they should make such an acknowledgment and confession of
a loss The final impunity of flagitious sinners in this world the unrelieved oppressions afflictions and miseries of the best the prosperity of wicked Devilish designs the defeating and overthrow of Holy Just Righteous undertakings and endeavours promiscuous accidents to all sorts of persons however differenced by Piety and Impiety the prosperous course of men proud and blasphemous who oppose God in Principles and Conversation no more than they are able the secret undiscovered murthers of Martyrs and Innocents in Inquisitions and Dungeons the extream confusion that seems to be in all things here below with other things of the like kind innumerable are ready to gravel and perplex the minds of men in this matter They have greatly exercised the thoughts even of the Saints of God and tried their Faith as is evident Psal. 73. ver 4. to 17. Jer. 12. 1 2. Habb 1. 3 4 13. Job 21. 5 6 7 8. c. And the consideration hereof turned some of the wisest Heathens into Atheisme or outragious Blasphemies at their dying hours But in this state even Reason rightly exerted will lead men to conclude that upon the supposition of a Divine Being and Providence it must needs be that all these things shall be called over again and then receive a final decision and determination whereof in this world they are not capable And among the Heathens there were proverbial Speeches which they uttered on occasion of great distresses which signified no less As Est profecto Deus qui haec videt For 1 Upon a due examination it will quickly appear that the moral actions of men with respect unto God in the way of Sin and Obedience are such as that it is utterly impossible that Judgement should be finally exercised towards them in things visible and temporal or that in this world they should receive a just recompence of reward For whereas they have an aspect unto mens utmost end which is Eternal they cannot be justly or rightly stated but under punishments or rewards Eternal Rom. 1. 32. 2 Thes. 1. 6. Seeing therefore no full Judgement can possibly pass upon the Sins of men in this world because all that can befall them is infinitely short of their demerit even reason it self cannot but be satisfied that God in his infinite Wisdom and Soveraignty should put off the whole Judgement unto that day wherein all penalties shall be equalled to their Crimes and Rewards unto Obedience So when our Apostle reasoned before Felix about Righteousness and Temperance knowing how unavailable his Arguments would be without it against the Countrey Sins and Evils from the impunity and prosperity of such sinners in the world to make them effectual he adds the consideration of the Judgement to come Acts 24. 25. Here Reason may relieve it self in the midst of all cross occurrences of Providence and such as are not only contrary to our desires but directly opposite unto our judgements as to what is suitable to infinite Justice and Wisdom The final determination of things is not made here nor is it possible it should so be on the ground before assigned 2 Should God take men off from a respect unto future Eternal Judgement and constantly dispense Rewards and Punishments in this world according unto what the wisest of men can apprehend just and equal which if any thing must satisfie without a regard to Eternal Judgement as it would be most unequal and unrighteous so it might be an occasion of greater wickedness than the world is yet pestered withall Unrighteous and unequal it must be unavoidably because the Judgement supposed must pass according unto what men are able to discern and judge upon that is outward actions only Now this were unrighteous in God who sees and knows the heart and knows that actions have their Good and Evil if not solely yet principally from their respect thereunto The Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed said Hannah when Eli judged her drunk but God saw that she prayed 1 Sam. 2. 3. There is nothing more evident than that it is inconsistent with and destructive of all Divine perfections that God should pass a decretory sentence on the actions of men according to what appears unto us to be just and equal This therefore God declines namely to judge according to a Rule that we can comprehend Isa. 11. 3. Rom. 2. 2. But 3 Suppose that God should in this world distribute Rewards and Punishments constantly according to what he sees in the hearts and inward dispositions of the minds of men it is no less evident that it would fill all men with unspeakable confusions and prevail with them to judge that indeed there is no certain Rule of Judgement no unmoveable bounds and limits of Good and Evil seeing it would be absolutely impossible that by them the Judgements of God should be reduced unto any such Rules or Bounds the Reasons of them being altogether unknown This the Scripture plainly owns Psal. 77. 19. Psal. 36. 6. Wherefore 4 Should God visibly and constantly have dispensed Rewards and Punishments in this world according to the Rule of mens knowledge comprehension and judgement which alone hath an appearance of being satisfactory it would have been a principle or at least the occasion of a worse kind of Atheisme than any yet the Earth hath been pestered withall For it could not have been but that the most would have made the judgement of men the only Rule of all that they did which God must be obliged to comply withall or be unrighteous which is absolutely to dethrone him and leave him only to be the Executioner of the Wills and Reasons of men But from all these and the like perplexities Reason it self may quietly take sanctuary in submission unto Soveraign Wisdom as to present dispensations in a satisfaction that it is not only suitable unto but necessary on the account of Divine Justice that there should be a future Eternal Judgement to pass according to truth upon all the ways and actions of men And hereby doth God keep up in the hearts of men a testimony unto this great principle of our profession Therefore when our Apostle reasoned before Felix concerning such Duties and Sins as were discoverable by the Light of Nature namely Righteousness and Temperance with respect to both which he was openly and flagitiously guilty he adds this principle concerning Judgement to come the truth whereof the Conscience and Reason of the wretch himself could not but comply withall Acts 24. 25. 3. God hath given Testimony hereunto in all the extraordinary Judgements which he hath executed since the foundation of the world It is not for nothing that he doth sometimes that he doth so frequently go out of or besides the common beaten tracts and paths of Providence He doth it to intimate unto the world that things are not always to pass at their present rate but are one day to be called to another account In great Judgements the wrath of God is
revealed from Heaven against the ungodliness of men Rom. 1. 18. and an intimation is given of what he will farther do hereafter For as he leaves not himself without witness in respect of his goodness and patience in that he doth good and giveth rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling mens hearts with food and gladness Acts 14. 17. so he gives testimony to his Righteousness and Holiness in the Judgements that he executes Psal. 9. 16. For whereas goodness and mercy are the works wherein God is as it were delighted he gives Testimony unto them together with his patience and long-suffering in the ordinary course of his Dispensations But Judgement in severity he calls his strange work that which he proceeds not unto but on great provocations Isa. 28. 21. he satisfieth his holy Wisdom with some extraordinary necessary instances of it And thus he hath himself singled out some particular instances which he gave on purpose that they might be as pledges of the future Judgement and hath given us a rule in them how we are to judge of all his extraordinary acts of the same kind Such was the Flood whereby the world was destroyed in the days of Noah which Peter affirms expresly was a Type to shadow out the severity of God in the last final Judgement 2 Pet. 2. 5. Chap. 3. 5 6 7. Of the like nature was his turning the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into Ashes condemning them with an overthrow making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly 2 Pet. 2. 6. He made them a terrifying example that others should hear and fear and do no more so presumptuously But now whereas God hath not in the space of four thousand years brought any such Judgement on any other places or persons if this Example had respect only unto this world it must needs have lost all its force and efficacy upon the minds of Sinners Wherefore it did nearly respect the Judgement to come God giving therein an instance what obstinate and profligate Sinners are to look for at that great day Wherefore Jude says expresly they are set forth for an Example suffering the vengeance of Eternal Fire ver 7. And this is the Language of all Gods extraordinary Judgements either on persons or places in the world Let mens Sins be what they will God can endure in his long-suffering the Sins of one as well as another among the Vessels of wrath that are fitted for destruction and so he doth ordinarily or for the most part But yet he will sometimes reach out his hand from Heaven in an extraordinary instance of Vengeance on purpose that men may know that things shall not for ever be passed over in such a promiscuous manner but that he hath appointed another day wherein he will judge the world in Righteousness And for this reason such signal Judgements as are Evidences of the future Eternal Judgement of God are in the Scripture expressed in words that seem to declare that Judgement it self rather than the Types of it Isa. 34. 4. Rev. 6. 13 14. Dan. 7. 9 10. Math. 24. 29 30. But 4. God hath not absolutely intrusted the evidence and preservation of this important truth which is the Foundation of all Religion unto the remainders of innate light in the Minds and Consciences of men which may be variously obscured until it be almost utterly extinguished nor yet unto the exercise of Reason on the consideration of the present Administration of Providence in this world which is oft-times corrupted depraved and rendred useless nor yet unto the influence which extraordinary Judgements may have upon the minds of men which some fortifie themselves against by their obstinacy in Sin and Security but he hath abundantly testified unto it by express Revelation from the beginning of the world now recorded in his word by which all men must be tried whether they will or no. It may not be doubted but that Adam was acquainted with this truth immediately from God himself He was so indeed in the Commination given against Sin at first especially as it was explained in the Curse after he had actually sinned And this was that which was taught him in the threatning and which his Eyes were open to see clearly after his fall where he immediately became afraid of God as his Judge Gen. 3. 10. Nor can it be doubted but that he communicated the knowledge of it unto his posterity But whereas they quickly in that profligacy in all wickedness which they gave themselves unto had together with all other sacred Truths lost the remembrance of it or at least practically despised and scoffed at the instruction which they had received therein God knowing the necessity of it either to restrain them in their flagitious courses or to give them a warning that might leave them without excuse makes a new express Revelation of it unto Enoch and by him to mankind Jude 14 15. For Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him And this is the second New Revelation that is recorded before the Flood There were two Revelations that were the foundation of the Church the one concerning future Judgement in the Threatning the other concerning the Recovery and Restauration of mankind in the Promise Both seem to have been equally neglected by that cursed generation But God solemnly revived them both the first by Enoch the latter by Noah who was the Preacher of Righteousness 1 Pet. 2. 5. in whom the Spirit of Christ preached unto them who are now in prison 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. And this Old Prophecy was revived by the Holy Ghost partly that we might know that God from the beginning of the world gave publick testimony unto and warning of his future Eternal Judgement and partly to acquaiâ—t us that in the latter days men would break out into an excess and outrage in sin and wickedness like that of those before the Flood wherein it would be necessary that day should be restrained or terrified or warned by preaching unto them this truth of the Judgement to come After this the testimonies given unto it in the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testaments do so abound and are so obvious to all that it is no way needful particularly to produce them This principle being thus cleared and confirmed it may not be amiss to shew what practical improvement it doth require And it is manifest that there is no Duty in Religion that is not or ought not to be influenced by the consideration of it I shall only name some of them whereunto it is in an especial manner applied by the Holy Ghost himself First Ministers of the Gospel ought to dwell greatly on the consideration of it as
outward means of it As 1 The principal End which he designeth in his disposal of the Dispensation of the Gospel in that great variety wherein we do behold it is the Conversion Edification and Salvation of his Elect. This is that which he aimeth to accomplish thereby and therefore his Will and Purpose herein is that which gives Rule and Measure unto the actings of his Providence concerning it Wherever there are any of his Elect to be called or in what time soever there and then will he cause the Gospel to be preached For the purpose of God which is according to Election must stand whatever Difficulties lie in the way Rom. 9. 11. And the Election must obtain Chap. 11. 5 6. So the Lord Christ prayed that he would take care of all those that he had given unto him which were his own by Election thine they were and thou gavest them unto me and sanctifie them by his Word Joh. 17. 17. In pursuit of his own purpose and in answer unto that prayer of our Lord Jesus he will send his Word to find them out wherever they are that so not one grain of his chosen Israel shall be lost or fall to the Ground So he appointed our Apostle to stay and Preach at Corinth notwithstanding the difficulties and oppositions he met withall because he had much people in that City Acts 19. 9 10. They were his People by Eternal Designation antecedently unto their effectual Vocation and therefore he will have the Word preached unto them And in the hard work of his Ministry the same Apostle who knew the End of it affirms that he endured all things for the Elects sake 2 Tim. 2. 10. That they might be called and saved was the work he was sent upon For whom he doth predestinate them he also calleth Rom. 8. 30. Predestination is the Rule of effectual Vocation all and only they are so called by the Word who are predestinate So speaks our Saviour also I have other Sheep which are not of this Fold them also I must bring and they shall hear my Voice Joh. 10. 16. He had some Sheep in that Fold of the Church of the Jews to them therefore he preached the Word that they might be gathered unto him But he had other Sheep also even all his Elect among the Gentiles and saith he them must I gather also There is a necessity of it upon the account of the purpose of God concerning them and they are to be gathered by hearing of his Voice or the preaching of the Word In that Soveraignty therefore which God useth in the disposal thereof causing the Rain of the Doctrine of his Word to fall upon one place and not upon another at one time and not at another he hath still this certain End before him and the actings of his Providence are regulated by the purposes of his Grace In what place or Nation soever in what Time or Age soever he hath any of his Elect to be brought forth in the world he will provide that the Gospel of Peace be preached unto them I will not say that in every individual place where the Gospel is preached there are always some of the Elect to be saved For the Enjoyments of one place may be occasioned by the Work that is to be done in another wherewith it is in some kind of conjunction Or the Word may be preached in a place for the sake of some that are there only accidentally As when Paul first preached at Philippi Lydia only was converted who was a stranger in those parts belonging to the City of Thyatira in Asia Acts 16. 14 15. And an whole Country may fare the better for one City and an whole City for some part of it as Micah 5. 7. God concealeth this secret Design under promiscuous outward Dispensations For he obligeth those by whom the Word is preached to declare his mind therein unto all men indefinitely leaving the effectual work of his Grace in the pursuit of his purpose unto himself whence they believe who are ordained to Eternal Life and those are added to the Church that are to be saved Acts 2. 47. Acts 13. 48. Besides God hath other Ends also in the sending of his Word though this be the principal For by it he puts a Restraint unto Sin in the World gives a visible control to the Kingdom of Sathan and relieves mankind by sending Light into those dark places of the Earth which are filled with Habitations of Cruelty And by the Convictions that he brings thereby on the Minds and Consciences of men he makes way for the manifestation of the Glory of his Justice in their Condemnation Coming and speaking unto them he leaves them without pretence or excuse Joh. 15. 22. Yet will I not say that God sends the Word for any continuance for these Ends and Designs only For a short time he may do so as our Saviour sending forth his Disciples to Preach supposeth that in some place their message may be totally rejected and thereon appointeth them to shake off the dust of their feet as a Testimony against them or their being left without excuse But these are but secondary and accidental Ends of the Word where it is constantly preached Wherefore God doth not so send it for their sakes alone But on the other side I dare say that where God doth not by any means nor in any degree send his Word there are none of his Flect to be saved for without the Word they can neither be called nor sanctified And if any of them are in any such place as whereunto he will not grant his Word he will by one providence or other snatch them like Brands out of the Fire and convey them under the showers of it And this we find verified by experience every day The Gospel therefore doth not pass up and down the world by chance as we know in how great variety it hath visited and left Nations and People Ages and Times nor is the disposal of it regulated by the Wisdom and Contrivance of men whatever their Work and Duty may be in the Dispensation of it but all this like the falling of the Rain is regulated by the Soveraign Wisdom and Pleasure of God wherein he hath respect only unto the Purpose of his own Eternal Grace 2. He doth according to his Soveraign pleasure call and send persons to the Preaching of it unto those to whom he will grant the Priviledge thereof Every man may not upon his own Head nor can any man upon his own abilities undertake and discharge that work This is the Eternal Rule and Law of the Gospel Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved But how shall men call on him in whom they have not believed And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard And how shall they hear without a Preacher And how shall they Preach except they be sent Rom. 10. 13 14 15. that is by
he is judged Rom. 3. 4. that is not only that all he doth shall be Righteous and Holy which is necessary from his own Essential Righteousness whence he will not whence he cannot do Evil but his Works shall be so wrought so accomplished as that the Righteousness of them shall be eminent and pleadable by his people against all sayings and reflections of ungodly men Especially every thing shall be plain and visibly Righteous that he doth in this way towards barren unprofitable Churches which he hath formerly owned and blessed In his dealing with them he will leave no colour of calling his Goodness and Faithfulness into question but will as it were refer the Righteousness of his proceedings unto all even unto themselves So he doth as to his dealing with the Church of the Jews when it was grown utterly barren Isa. 5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. So did our Lord Jesus Christ in his Parable compel the wicked Jews to subscribe unto the Righteousness of God in that miserable destruction which was coming on themselves Matth. 21. 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40. And this God doth principally by his gradual procedure with them His precedent warnings and first degrees of Judgements Spiritual or Temporal shall bear witness unto the Righteousness of their total ruine Men at present through their blindness hardness of heart love of sin do not it may be take notice of Gods dealing with them and are therefore apt to complain when they are surprised with the fatal Evil. But the day will come when their Consciences shall be awakened unto a dreadful Remembrance of all the warnings God gave them and how slowly he proceeded in his Judgements when their Mouths shall be stopp'd and their Faces filled with Confusion 3 Gods dealings with barren Apostates being principally in spiritual Judgements the issue whereof is the total removal of the Gospel from them he will not do it at once because others may be yet mixed among them unto whom he will have the means of Grace continued This Abraham laid down in temporal Judgements as an unquestionable maxime of Divine Right That God would not destroy the Righteous with the wicked Gen. 18. 23 25. which Rule yet by the way is consined unto that kind of destruction which was to be a standing token and pledge of the last final Judgement and the Damnation of all ungodly men For in other cases it will admit of some extraordinary exception but this is the general way of Gods procedure in all Judgements Spiritual and Temporal Now if when men openly manifest their barrenness and daily bring forth Thorns and Briars if God should immediately remove the Word whilst there are amongst them a People also that are really fruitful unto his Glory it cannot be but that in an ordinary course of his Providence they must suffer with the rest and that before God hath fulfilled the whole works of his Grace towards them This was that wherewith he satisfied and quieted the mind of Elijah when in a transport of Zeal he complains of the horrible Apostasie of the Church of Israel making as the Apostle speaks intercession against them and applieth it unto all other seasons of the Church Rom. 11. 2 3 4 5. And we are taught in that example that when the Patience of God towards an highly provoking people seems to interfere with his threatening and the ordinary course of his Providence to believe that there are yet among them many whose hearts are sincere for God though for many reasons they are unknown to us And this should stir us up unto continual prayers for the whole world When the long-suffering of God is abused by the most and turned into an increase of their security yet he hath a blessed End in it towards his own among them 1 Pet. 3. 3 4 9. And this was the state of Gods present Dispensation towards those Hebrews The most of them were obstinate Unbelievers and many of them barren Apostates But yet God continued for a while to exercise Patience towards them and to tender the Gospel unto them And this he did because there was a Remnant amongst them according to the Election of Grace which were to obtain whilst the rest were hardened as our Apostle declares Rom. 11. And this Patience of God the hardened wretches despised and scoffed at But yet still God went on in his way and method because of those amongst them whom through that patience and long-suffering he intended to bring to Repentance and the acknowledgement of the Truth Further to clear up this whole matter it may be enquired what are those Degrees in Spiritual Judgements whereby God doth ordinarily proceed against barren Professors which are here intimated in general And 1 In such cases God doth usually restrain the Influence of mens Light upon their own Consciences and Affections Their Light and Knowledge which they have attained may in their Notions remain with them but they are not at all affected with what they know or guided by it as unto their practice There is a time when Light and Knowledge not improved do lose all their efficacy God suffers such an interposition to be made between it and their Consciences by the acting and pride of their Lusts that it is of no use unto them Whereas formerly under their Convictions every thing they knew of the Mind of God or the Gospel pressed on them to endeavour after some conformity unto it now it hath no power upon them but only flotes in their Fancies and Memories And this we see accomplished every day Men under a barren Apostatizing state do yet retain some of their Light and Notions of Truth which they are sensible of no power from nor have any use of unless it be to enable them to be the greater scoffers and deriders of others Now although this comes to pass through their own sin and lusts as the immediate cause of it yet it is a Spiritual Judgement of God also upon them for their sins For he with-holdeth all the working of his Spirit in and by that Light which alone renders it effectual His Spirit shall not strive any more therein and then it is easie for them to rebel against the Light they have as he speaks Job 24. 13. And let all men hence take heed when they begin to find that their Light and Convictions from the Word have not the same Power with them and Efficacy upon them as formerly they have had For it is greatly to be feared lest it be a beginning of Gods displeasure upon them See Hos. 9. 12. 2 God deprives them of all the Gifts which formerly they received Gifts are an Ability for the due Exercise of Gospel Light and Knowledge in the Duties of a publick concern These they may be made partakers of who yet prove barren and Apostates But God will not suffer them to be long retained under a course of Backsiding As men neglect their Exercise so God deprives them of them and
did Jesus Christ the Son of God in Infinite Wisdom Love and Grace interpose himself in our behalf in our stead to do answer and perform all that God in Infinite Wisdom Holiness and Righteousness required unto that end And we may observe that There is a Signal Glory put upon the undertaking of Christ to make Reconciliation for the Church by the Sacrifice of himself 3. This undertaking of Christ is Signalized by the Remark that is put on the Declaration of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold A Glorious Spectacle it was to God to Angels and to Men To God as it was filled with the highest Effects of Infinite goodness Wisdom and Grace which all shone forth in their greatest Elevation and were glorified therein It was so unto Angels as that whereon their Confirmation and Establishment in Glory did depend Eph. 1. 10. which therefore they endeavoured with Fear and Reverence to look into 1 Pet. 1. 12 13. And as unto Men that is the Church of the Elect nothing could be so Glorious in their Sight nothing so desirable By this call of Christ behold I come the Eys of all Creatures in Heaven and Earth ought to be fixed on him to behold the glorious work he had undertaken and the accomplishment of it 4. There is what he thus proposed himself for saying Behold me This in general is expressed by himself I come This coming of Christ what it was and wherein it did consist was declared before It was by assuming the Body that was prepared for him This was the Foundation of the whole work he had to do wherein he came forth like the Rising Sun with Light in his Wings or as a Giant rejoycing to run his Race The Faith of the Old Testament was that he was thus to come And this is the Life of the New that he is come They by whom this is denyed do overthrow the Faith of the Gospel This is the Spirit of Antichrist 1 Joh. 3. 1 2 3. And this may be done two ways 1. Directly and Expresly 2. By just consequence Directly it is done by them who deny the Reality of his humane Nature as many did of old affirming that he had only an Aetherial Aerial or Phantastical Body For if he came not in the Flesh he is not come at all So also it is by them who deny the Divine Person of Christ and his preexistence therein before the assumption of the Humane Nature For they deny that these are the words of him when resolved and spoken before this coming He that did not exist before in the Divine Nature could not promise to come in the Humane And Indirectly it is denied by all those who either in Doctrines or practices deny the ends of his coming who are many which I shall not now mention It may be Objected against this fundamental Truth that if the Son of God would undertake this work of Reconciliation between God and Man why did he not do the Will of God by his mighty Power and Grace and not by this way of coming in the Flesh which was attended with all Dishonour Reproaches Sufferings and Death it self But besides what I have at large elsewhere discoursed concerning the necessity and suitableness of this way of his coming unto the manifestation of all the Glorious properties of the Nature of God I shall only say that God and he alone knew what was necessary unto the accomplishment of his Will and if it might have been otherwise effected he would have spared his only Son and not have given him up unto death 2. The End for which he thus promiseth to come is to do the Will of God Lo I come to do thy Will O God The Will of God is taken two ways 1. For his Eternal purpose and design called the Counsel of his Will Eph. 1. 11. and most commonly his Will it self The Will of God as unto what he will do or cause to be done 2. For the Declaration of his Will and Pleasure as unto what he will have us to do in a way of Duty and Obedience that is the Rule of our Obedience It was the Will of God in the former sense that is here intended as is evident from the next Verse when it is said that by this Will of God we are Sanctified that is our Sins were Expiated according to the Will of God But neither is the other sense absolutely excluded for the Lord Christ came so to fulfil the Will of Gods purpose as that we may be enabled to fulfil the Will of his Command Yea and he himself had a Command from God to lay down his Life for the accomplishment of this Work Wherefore this Will of God which Christ came to fulfil is that which elsewhere is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes. 1. 5 11. c. His good pleasure his purpose the Counsel of his Will his good pleasure which he purposed in himself that is freely without any Cause or Reason taken from us to call justifie sanctifie and save to the uttermost or to bring them unto Eternal Glory This he had purposed from Eternity to the praise of the Glory of his Grace How this might be effected and accomplished God had hid in his own Bosome from the beginning of the World Ephes. 3. 8 9. So as that it was beyond the Wisdom and Indagation of all Angels and Men to make a Discovery of Howbeit even from the beginning he declared that such a work he had graciously designed and gave in the First promise and otherwise some obscure Intimations of the Nature of it for a Foundation of the Faith in them that were called Afterwards God was pleased in his Soveraign Authority over the Church for their good and unto his own Glory to make a representation of this whole work in the Institutions of the Law especially of the Sacrifices thereof But hereon the Church began to think at least many of them did so that those Sacrifices themselves were to be the only means of accomplishing this Will of God in the Expiation of Sin with the Salvation of the Church But God had now by various ways and means witnessed unto the Church that indeed he never appointed them unto any such end nor would rest in them and the Church it self found by experience that they would never pacify Conscience and that the strict performance of them was a Yoke and Burden In this state of things when the fulness of time was come the glorious Counsels of God namely of the Father Son and Spirit brake forth with Light like the Sun in its strength from under a Cloud in the tender made of himself by Jesus Christ unto the Father Lo I come to do thy Will O God This this is the way the only way whereby the Will of God might be accomplished Herein were all the Riches of Divine Wisdom displayed all the Treasures of Grace laid open all Shades and Clouds dispelled and the open door of Salvation