of the Devil 6. From the New Nature of a Christian which hinders him from sin v. 9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin c. Various expositions there are of this The greatest difficulty lies in those words Doth not commit sin and cannot sin 1. He ought not to sin Cannot indeed is sometimes taken for ought not as Acts 4.20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard They had a Physical ability to hold their peace but morally they could not because of Christ's Precept to them to publish those things What we cannot lawfully do we cannot do Non possumus quod non jure possumus what we cannot honourably do we are said not to be able to do Mark 6.5 He could there do no mighty work Christ had natural ability to do mighty works there but morally he could not honourably he could not because of their unbelief which was a moral hinderance and according to God's Methods there was no hope of doing any good among them their unbelief was so strong they gave him no opportunity to do any mighty work But this is not the meaning of cannot here ought not For an unrenewed man ought not to sin any more than a regenerate man But the Apostle attributes here something peculiar to the regenerate adding the reason because he is born of God Though it carry in it something of an obligation in a higher manner than upon a meer natural man He ought not to sin not only upon the general obligation which lies upon all men not to sin but upon the more special one of his state being a Son of God which ought to be counted a moral impossibility by a righteous man Regeneration gives a man no advantage to sin no external licence no internal liberty or ability to sin for the Apostle useth this as an argument to them as well as an establishment not to sin because they are born of God which was a more special obligation upon them not to sin than what they had by nature 2. He cannot sin so easily 'T is not impossible but difficult for him to sin because by receiving grace he receives a principle contrary to sin and so hath a principle of resistance against it Or because by that grace he is inclined not to sin and so there is inchoativè an impossibility of sinning which shall hereafter be perfected Not a simple impossibility but secundum quid He endeavours to work as one born of God and follows the motions of the Spirit against the sin to which he is tempted He cannot sin i. e. 't is a hard matter for him to sin for considering the efficacy of grace and the assistances attending it it is a difficult thing for a righteous man to be brought under the power of sin he may sin easily in respect of the frailty of the flesh but not so easily in regard of the abiding of the Seed in him which helps him to beware of sin Grace being a divine habit hath the nature of a habit which is to incline the person to acts proper to that habit and facilitate those acts as a man that hath the habit of an Art or Trade can with more ease work in it than any other 3. He cannot sin in sensu formali as he is regenerate or ex vi talis nativitatis Grace cannot sin because it can do nothing but what pertains to the nature of it as the heat cannot cool unrighteousness cannot do good Fire doth not moisten per se nor Water naturally heat But it is not said The Seed of God cannot sin but in the Concrete He that is born of God and he that hath the Seed remaining in him cannot sin A gracious man as a gracious man cannot sin for grace being a good habit is not capable of producing acts contrary to its nature Sin in a regenerate man proceeds not from his grace but from his corruption Grace cannot be the principle of evil But because his grace is imperfect dwelling among remainders of sin therefore a man sins though this principle in him keeps sin from attaining a full dominion and superiority Yet though he doth sin his sin is not the proper fruit of the form whereby he is regenerate 4. He cannot sin in sensu composito as long as he is regenerate as long as the Seed remains in him as long as he follows the motions of the Spirit and Grace which are able to overcome the motions of concupiscence but he may give up the grace As an impregnable Tower cannot be taken as long as it is defended by those within but they may fling away their Arms and deliver it up Grace quantum est ex parte sua renders a man impeccable as long as it continues in him as Innocency did render Adam immortal as long as he persisted in it But we may ex culpâ nostrâ lose it by mortal sin and so perish as Adam by his own will lost the integrity of his Nature and was thereby made subject to death This is founded upon a false Hypothesis viz. That Grace may be lost And the Text renders the being born of God and the Seed remaining in us to be the reason why we cannot sin not the condition of our not sinning for if it remains and we cannot sin therefore how can any sin come in to expel that which preserves us from it A man must cease according to what the Apostle here writes to be born of God before he can sin in that sense the Apostle means 5. He doth not commit sin and cannot sin i. e. Grave peccatum the mortal sin and persist in it The sin of unbelief which is called in Scripture by way of eminency Sin and the Sin 't is the chief sin the Spirit convinceth of 't is the sin that easily besets us Heb. 12.1 Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us i. e. especially unbelief Though this be true yet it is not the full meaning and sense of it 6. He doth not commit sin and cannot sin as the Devil doth or as one that is of a diabolical nature as one that is acted by the Devil which is clear by the Antithesis v. 8. He that commits sin is of the Devil for the Devil sins from the beginning He cannot set himself against Christ as the Devil doth as the Pharisees did in which respect our Saviour calls them the Children of the Devil for their remarkable and constant opposition to him He cannot make a practice of sin and persist in it as the Devil doth who began to sin presently after the Creation and continueth in it ever since He sins the present tence noting the continued act of the Devil Sin may be consider'd two ways viz. As to 1. The Act of sin Thus a Believer sins 2. The Habit of sin or custom in it When a man runs to sin freely willingly and is not displeased with it Thus a Believer
pardon of sin necessâ—tate decreti if not naturae God repented of making the World but never of forgiving sin So that the pardon of sin is more pleasing to him than the sufferings of his Son were grievous otherwise whatsoever the Father would have done by Instruments yet surely he himself would not have been the Executioner of him But in this affair there were not only Instruments Judas to betray him the Jews to accuse him the Disciples to forsake him Pilate to condemn him the Souldiers to mock and crucifie him and Thieves to revile him but God himself Isa 53.10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief Thou shalt make his Soul an Offering for sin His own Father that lov'd him as Abraham in the Type puts as it were the knife to the throat of his only Son which surely God would not have done had not pardon of sin been infinitely pleasing to him And how great a pleasure must that be that swallowed up all grief at his Sons sufferings Yea he seemed to love our Salvation more than he loved the life of his Son since the end is always more amiable than the means and the means only lovely as they respect the end 2. The Certainty of Forgiveness God must deny Christ's payment before he can deny thy pardon God will not deny what his Son hath earned so dearly and what he earn'd was for us and not for himself Did God pardon many before Christ died and will he not pardon believing Souls since Christ died Some were certainly saved before the coming of Christ Upon what account Not for their own righteousness that is but a Ragg and could not merit infinite grace Not by the law that thundered nothing but death and condemned millions but never breathed a pardon to one person Or was it by their vehement supplications Those could not make an infinite righteousness mutable Justice must be preferred before the cries of Malefactors and if those could have done it God would not have been at the expence of his Sons Blood Therefore it must be upon this account Rom. 3.25 For the remission of sins that are past Did God pardon upon trust and will he not much more upon payment Did he forgive when there was only a promise of payment and some thousands of years to run out before it was to be made and will he not much more forgive since he hath all the debt paid into his hands Would God remit sin when Christ had nothing under his hand to shew for it and now that he hath a publick testimony and acquittance will he not much more do it Seeing his purging our sins or expiating them by his death was the ground of his exaltation to the honour of sitting at the right hand of God in our natures Heb. 1.3 When he had by himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high it is a certain evidence of the grant of pardon upon the account of this Sacrifice to those that seek it in Gods Methods since God hath shewen himself so pleased with it For it is clear that because Christ loved righteousness and hated iniquity i. e. kept up the honour of Gods justice and holiness by the offering himself to death that God hath given him a portion above all his fellows 3. The extent of it Both to original and actual sin John 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world Sin of the World the sin of humane nature that first sin of Adam Of this mind is Austin and others that original sin is not imputed to any to condemnation since the death of Christ But howsoever this be it is certain it is taken away from Believers as to its imputation Christ was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 to bear all sin It had been an imperfect payment to have paid the Interest and let the Principal remain or to have paid the Principal and let the Interest remain There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 and therefore no damning matter or guilt left in arrear It had been folly else for the Apostle to have published a defying challenge to the whole Creation to have brought an Indictment against a justified person Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect if the least crime remained unremitted for the justice of God the severity of the Law the acuteness of Conscience or the malice of the Devil to draw up into a charge Since the end of his coming was to destroy the works of the Devil whereby he had acquired a power over man he leaves not therefore any one sin of a Believer unsatisfied for which may continue and establish the Devils right over him If the redemption only of the Jews with the exclusion of the Gentiles in the first compact seemed to displease him to shed his blood for small Sins only would have been as little to his content It had been too low a work for so great a Saviour to have undergone those unknown sufferings for debts of a smaller value and to shed that inestimable Blood for the payment of Farthings and leave talents unsatisfied Certainly God sent not his Son but with an inten ion his Blood should be improved to the highest uses for those that perform the covenant conditions and that Father who would have us honour his Son as we honour himself will surely honour his Sons satisfaction in the extensive effects of it as he would honour his own mercy since they are both so straitly linkt together And it is as much for the glory of Christs satisfaction as for the honour of his fathers mercy to pass by the greatest transgressions 4. The continuance of it Thou art pardoned and yet thou sinneâ— but Christ hath paid and never runs more upon the score Thou art pardoned and dost â—aily forfeit and needest a daily renewal but Christ hath purchased and never sins away his purchase God exacted a price suitable to the debt he foresaw men would owe him for he knew how much the Sum would amount unto When he gave Christ he intended him for the justification of many offences Rom. 5.16 The free gift is of many offences unto justification speaking of the gift of God v. 15. And therefore since God cannot be mistaken in the greatness of the Sum because of his infinite knowledge it had been a greater act of wisdom not to provide any remedy at all than not to do it thoroughly If the continuance of that imperfect remission of Adam and the Patriarchs was drawn out for above 3000 years and more and the enjoyment of happiness made good to them meerly upon Christs undertaking surely it will be much more upon his actual performing Rom. 3.25 There was then a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they had a continuance of freedom from punishment by his mediatorship and sponsion much more shall Belevers
Believers happincss Page 353. Vid. Believers the Church preserved in the midst of them Page 26 †of the Church their folly Page 37 †44 †Gods promise to his Church a comfort against all their designs Page 39 †to the Church the fiercest who Page 43 †design her destruction Page 44 †the nearer her deliverance the fiercer God's judgements on them Page 44 †destroyed by the same means whereby the Church is preserved Page 44 †in what times God destroys them Page 44 45 46 †why in those times Page 47 8 9 †how then destroyed Page 49 50 51 †Enmity to God unworthy Page 354 Enoch's Faith in Christ Page 1164. Essence of God not communicated in Regeneration Page 101. Evidences should be cleared up why and how Page 52 3 4. Eve her Faith in Christ Page 1165 6. whose sin greatest Adam's or hers Page 78 †Exaltation of Christs divine Nature in what sense Page 329. 1090 1 2. of his humane Page 329 1092 1093 1094 1095. the act of the Father Page 330 386. the reward of his death a Page 331 ad 334 863. very fit and congruous Page 334. the ends of it a Page â—34 ad 337 386 1099 1118 1334. the manner and nature of it Page 337. an encouragement to Faith Page 338. Vid. Faith comfortable to Believers Page 340 1. a 1102. ad 1106. terrible to the wicked Page 341 2 1102. the greatness of it Page 386. 1096 1097 1098. whether merited by Christ Page 1074 1075 6. necessary Page 386. a 1077. ad 1098. to be meditated on and why Page 1106 7. Vid. Glory of Christ Self Examination pleasant to a renewed man Page 113 114. will quicken him to praise Page 126. in the power of a natural man Page 185. a necessary duty Page 825 6. diligence requisite in it Page 827 8 9. men backward to it and why Page 828. the neglect of it folly Page 830. urged ibid. directions for it Page 831 832 833. 1365 1366. a means to cast out evil thoughts Page 16 †Self Examination before the Supper universally necessary a Page 793. ad 796. the object of it Page 777. a 796. ad 813. Examples good discourage sin and promote holiness Page 132. Excommunicated persons not to be debarred from the word Page 792. Experience Vid. Mercies received of the new birth want of it makes it hard to be conceived Page 69. Extremities the time wherein God saves his people Page 27 †46 7 8 †of the Church often very great 44 †Exhortations Vid. Commands Eternity of Punishment Vid. Punishment Events ungrounded imaginations about them sinful 4 †F. FAith God gives sufficient grounds for it but forces none to it Page 1. implanted in Regeneration Page 78 9. man naturally an Enemy to it and all its attendants Page 144 714 715 716 718. how far it could be exercised by Adam in innocence Page 189. whether purchased by Christ Page 212. encouragements to it Page 298 315 323 339 655. necessary to Salvation Page 319 349 700. pleasing to God and Christ Page 319 350 624 629 673. its firm foundation Page 323 327. 338 339. 347 348. 672 673. 1088. its nature and adjuncts Page 349 671 2. a 798 ad 802. qualifies for reconciliation with God Page 372. a low and reasonable condition Page 374. can 't be without knowledge Page 405. its seat Page 428. accompanies a saving knowledge Page 428. and knowledge encrease one another Page 430. should be much exercised Page 596 7. 1373. the choicest Grace Page 604. 671 2. may be where there are interruptions of its acts and doubtings Page 605 6. why made the condition of the New Covenant Page 646. due to Gods revelations a dictate of Nature Page 647 8. the root of all other Graces Page 649. weak the patience of God towards it wonderful Page 653. means to engage us to seek it Page 662. to be prized and God blessed for it Page 664. that God only can work it no excuse for an Unbeliever Page 706. motives to seek it Page 708. 1108 1153. humane not true Faith Page 720. 1 2. purifies the heart Page 723 4. the Devil a great Enemy to it and why Page 740. we should examine whether we have it Page 741 2. should be prized and strengthned because 't is so rare Page 745. the design of all Gods actions to promote it Page 744. necessary in a communicant Page 781. to be enquired after before he receives Page 797 8. and acted by him when he receives Page 753. 802 3. direct acts of it when to be exercis'd Page 832. how establisht Page 844. 1107. to be exercis'd as oft as we sin Page 1114. what keeps Life in it Page 1177. not required of all in an equal degree Page 1179. to be exercis'd before and under Temporal evils Page 1291. 84 5 †without it no pardon Page 106 †tho' weak interests us in pardon Page 113 †Faith its object God in Christ Page 349 â—50 1159. God the principal Page 1160 1 2. Christ the immediate Page 373. 1163. Christ was of the ancient Believers tho' not so distinct as of ours Page 848. 1163. ad 1171. of old exprest by waiting and trusting Page 1169. is in his person Page 1171. as sent and commission'd by God Page 305. 1172. in all his Offices Page 342. 1173. 1182. as crucifyed the more immediate object of it Page 870. a. 1173. ad 1177. such a Faith urged Page 854. 872. 904. 913. 1210. only as eying that justifies Page 1210. as risen and exalted Page 67. 1177. to be examin'd by its object Page 1179. in Christ urg'd Page 1179 80. in him solely wholly always Page 1181 2. Faithfulness of Christ to his charge Page 1335. 1360. Fall made man unfit unwilling unable to good Page 10 11 175. sadly depraved him Page 44. 143. the misery of man by it Page 197. 754. sense of the corruption by it a means of the new birth Page 62 3 135. and of Mortification Page 1321. insensibleness of it the cause of unbelief Page 731 2. an occasion of the greater discovery of God Vid. Attributes since it man not able to know God by the Creatures as he ought Page 483. Fall into sin upon it how 't is with a renewed man Page 98 99 †of others Vid. Sins of others Familiarity with God causes delight in Prayer Page 60 †God the Father the Author of Reconciliation Page 251 2. a. 258. ad 262. necessary he should be so a. Page 252. ad 262. his Agency in Redemption a. Page 262. ad 338. his special love to Christ as Mediator Page 673. Favour of God lost by sin regain'd by Regeneration Page 29 30. the fruit of Christ's Death Vid. Death of Christ follows upon pardon Page 110 †Fear of God can't be without knowledge Page 407. what caused by the Spirit in Conviction Page 570. 577. a preservative from Judgments Page 71 †of sin a sign of Pardon Page 116 †the duty of a pardon'd
and charging others and thus his grace would rather be a mockery and derision of men Neither doth it consist with the end of pardon which is Salvation for to give an half pardon is to give no Salvation since if the least guilt remains unremitted it gives justice an unanswerable plea against us What profit would it be to have some forgiven and be damned for the remainder Had any one sin for which Christ was to have made a compensation remain'd unsatisfied the Redeemer could not have risen so if the smallest sin remains unblotted it will hinder our rising from the power of eternal death and make the pardon of all the rest as a nullity in Law But it is the glory of God to pass by all Prov. 19.31 It is his glory to pass over a transgression 'T is the glory of a man to pass by an offence 'T is a discovery of an inward principle or property which is an honour for a man to be known the master of If it be his glory to pass by a single and small injury then to pass by the more heinous and numerous offences is a more transcendent honour because it evidenceth this property to be in him in a more triumphant strength and power So that it is a clearer evidence of the illustrious vigor of mercy in God to pass by mountainous and heaped up transgressions than to forgive only some few iniquities of a lesser guilt Jer. 33.8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me and whereby they have transgrest against me Therefore when God tells the Jews that he would give them a general discharge in the fullest terms imaginable to remove all jealousie from men either because of the number or the aggravations of their sins he knew not how to leave expressing the delight he had in it and the honour which accrued to him by it It shall be to me a name of joy a praise and honour before all the nations of the earth He would get himself an honourable name by the large riches of his Clemency Mercy is as infinite as any other attribute as infinite as God himself And as his power can create incomprehensible multitudes of worlds and his justice kindle unconceiveable Hells so can his mercy remit innumerable sins 3. Perfect in respect of Duration Because the hand writing of ordinances is taken away Col. 2.14 15. Blotting out the hand writing of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross which was the Ceremonial Law wherein they did by their continual presenting Sacrifices and imposition of Hands upon them sign a Bill or Bond against themselves whereby a conscience of sin was retain'd Heb. 10.2 3. and a remembrance of sin renewed they could not settle the Conscience in any firm peace Heb. 9.9 they were compelled to do that every day whereby they did confess that sin did remain and want an expiation Hence is the Law called a ministration of condemnation 2 Cor. 3.9 because it puts them in mind of condemnation and compelled the people to do that which testified that the curse was yet to be abolished by virtue of a better Sacrifice This Hand writing which was so contrary to us was taken away nailed to his Cross torn in pieces wholly cancelled no more to be put in suit Whence in â—pposition to this continual remembrance of sin under the legal administâ—ation we read under the New Testament of Gods remembring sin no more Hâ—â— 10.3 17. Christ hath so compounded the business with Divine Justice that wâ— have the sins remitted never returning upon us and the renewal also of remissions upon daily sins if we truly repent For though there be a blacker Tincture in sins after conversion as being more deeply stain'd with ingratitude yet the Covenant of God stands firm and he will not take away his kindness Isa 54.9 10. And there is a greater affection in God to his Children than to his Enemies for these he loves before their Conversion with a love of benevolence but those with a love of complacency Will not God be as ready to continue his grace to those that are penitent as to offer it to offending Rebels Will he refuse it to his Friends when he intreats his Enemies Not that any should think that because of this duration they have liberty to sin and upon some trivial Repentance are restored to God's favour No where Christ is made Righteousness he is made Sanctification His Spirit and Merit go together A new Nature and a New State are Concomitants and he that sins upon presumption of the grand Sacrifice never had any share in it V. The Effect of Pardon That is Blessedness 1. The greatest evil is taken away sin and the dreadful consequents of it Other evils are temporal but those know no period in a doleful Eternity There is more evil in sin than good in all the creatures Sin stript the fallen Angels of their Excellency and dispossessed them of the Seat of Blessedness It fights against God it disparages all his Attributes it deforms and destroys the creature Rom. 7.13 Other evils may have some mixture of good to make them tolerable but sin being exceeding sinful without the mixture of any good engenders nothing but destruction and endless damnation Into what miseries afflictions sorrows hath that one sin of Adam hurl'd all his posterity what screechings wounds pangs horrours doth it make in troubled Consciences How did it deface the Beauty of the Son of God that created and upheld the World with sorrow in his Agonies and the stroak of Death on the Cross How many thousands millions of poor creatures have been damned for sin and are never like to cease roaring under an inevitable Justice Ask the damned and their groans yellings howlings will read thee a dreadful Lecture of sins sinfulness and the punishment of it And is it not then an inestimable blessedness to be delivered from that which hath wrought such deplorable Executions in the World 2. The greatest Blessings are conferred Pardon is God's Family-Blessing and the peculiar mercy of his choicest darlings He hands out other things to wicked men but he deals out this only to his Children 1. The Favour of God Sin makes thee Satan's Drudge but pardon makes thee God's Favourite We may be sick to death with Lazarus and be God's Friends sold to slavery with Joseph and yet be dear to him thrown into a Lions Den with Daniel and be greatly beloved poor with Lazarus who had only Doggs for Chirurgions to dress his Sores and yet have a Title to Abraham's bosom But we can never be beloved if we are unpardoned no share in his friendship his love his inheritance without a pardon All created evils cannot make us loathsom in a justified State nor all created goods make us lovely under guilt Sin is the
Page 1375. Convincing discourses not legal Page 594. Corruptions comfort to Believers against them Page 116. 1152 3. 1361. sincere complaints of their strength a good sign of perseverance Page 117. wicked men insensible of them but not good men Page 123. will be stirring Page 1196. Reliques of them no argument of an unpardon'd state Page 115 †Vid. Perfection Sense of sin Covenant of Redemption asserted Page 270 1 2 3. how distinguisht from the Covenant of Grace Page 273 4. the matter of it a. Page 275. ad 284. firm Page 284. we should fly to it Page 286. Covenant of Grace its stability and the ground of it Page 321. 773. 1343. the last Page 678. renewed men only are in it Page 35 6. 782. renew'd in the Supper Page 758. the ancient Israelites under it Page 853. Covetousness a cause of unbelief Page 738. Creation old and new how they differ Page 151. of the World principally for Christ Page 260 1. Christ the medium of it Page 493. the raising a Church Gods great end in it Page 28 †Creatures all at peace with a Believer Page 365 6. can 't be comprehended by us Page 412 413. 484. God known by them a. Page 478. ad 481. not fully from them by man in innocence Page 483. much less since Page 483. all subject to Christ Page 1096 7 8. Spiritual inferences to be drawn from them Page 14 †all at God's command Page 44 †Crucifying Christ Spiritual and Corporal Page 630 1. 819. the Spiritual as bad as the other Page 631 632 3. nay worse a. Page 633. ad 640. Cup not to be denyed to the Laity Page 747. Curiosity hinders Divine Knowledge Page 466. sinful Page 4 †Custom in known sins a renew'd man can't be guilty of a. Page 89. ad 93. D. DAy of Grace may be shorter than that of Life Page 60. Death threatned to Adam not a corporal one Page 44. Regeneration and Reconciliation afford comfort against it Page 118. 370. the punishment of sin Page 143 Of a natural man in sin Page 143. Men scarce believe it Page 716. Death of Christ its end Page 66. by the command and appointment of the Father Page 275 6. 384 836 7. could not have been profitable to us without it Page 254 5 6. its ignominy and torment Page 306 311 837 8. 851. necessary it should be by the hands of men Page 639. Christ bruised in it by the Father immediately a Page 305 ad 314. no incredible thing Page 700. should be much studied Page 755 835 843. the fruits of it Page 317. a 838 ad 842. 852 864 a 894. ad 899. comfortable to a Believer Page 854. his meekness in it Page 849. the time of it Page 850. its value whence a Page 899 ad 906 1194. not for example only Page 870. sufficient for all men Page 894. predicted a Page 944 ad 947. typified a Page 947 ad 950. to be valued Page 952. not clearly known by the antient Believers Page 1170. Vid. Blood of Christ and Sacrifices acceptable Vid. Acceptable voluntary Vid. Voluntary necessary Vid. Necessity deserves our praise Page 298 305 842 854 952. Decays in Grace to be watcht against Page 126 7. render the Lords Supper necessary Page 773. Decrees of God the knowledge of them given to Christ Page 333. Delays of Conversion foolish and dangerous a Page 59. ad 62. 190. encouraged by the Patrons of Free-will Page 199 200. in checking sin dangerous Page 16 †of the Churches deliverance the reasons of them Page 47 8 9 †Delight in duty cannot be without Regeneration Page 25. unconceivable in heaven Page 43. of natural men only in secular things Page 67. of God in the New-creature Page 112. in God and his ways a mark of Regeneration Page 124. in God can't be without knowledge Page 407. great to be found in the knowledge of God and Christ Page 461 2. of Christ in a Believer and his Graces Page 1336 1360. in sin heinous Page 4 †several sorts of it Page 57 †in prayer wherein in consists Page 58 9 †in it in a good man whence Page 59 60 †without it no gracious answers Page 60 61 †They miserable that have none in it Page 61 †signs of it Page 61 †How to know whither it be of the right kind Page 62 †urged Page 62 †directions to obtain it Page 63 †Deliverance Vide Delays Desertion obedience must be preserv'd under it Page 1217. Desires by them we may know our Regeneration Page 119. for God cannot be without knowledge Page 406. To be acted in all duties especially at the Supper Page 812. How to try them Page 812 813. Despair the main cause of it Page 284. In an humble soul unreasonable Page 658. Believers should not because of sin Page 1114 Devil hath a great power over natural Men. Page 146 7. His first sin what a Page 640. ad 643. 740. Conquered by the Death of Christ Page 840 1. Vid. Enemies Disobedience to God very unworthy Page 354. Distrusters of Providence and the Promises of Christ are Unbelievers Page 727 8. Distrust forgetfulness of former mercies the cause of it Page 1311. Sometimes thence God takes occasion to do good Page 1157. Doctrines their tendency to Holiness a test to try them Page 106. Exalting God and humbling man another Page 201. Doubtings what are Unbelief what are not Page 605 609 728 9. Doubtful way a renewed man can't walk in without inquiries and bearing reproof Page 94 5 †Dulness in God's service sinful Page 1216 57 †Hinders success of Prayer Page 60 61. Duties none sinless Page 2. Multitude of external ones not sufficicient to Salvation Page 48. by our regard to inward and spiritual ones we may judge whether we are regenerate Page 121. the manner of them to be minded Page 821. consciencious performance of them a means of perseverance Page 1372 3. E. EArthly mindedness a hindrance of Divine Knowledge Page 465. Vid. World Easie God's ways are to a renewed man Page 92. Eternity of God known by the creatures Page 479. of punishment Vid. Punishment Education alone not sufficient to make men holy Page 10 222. often blest by God to that end Page 45. not to be rested on Page 222. Ejaculations good motions should be backt with them Page 18 †Elect not the object of God's delight before Regeneration Page 30. how loved and hated before it Page 247 248 249. Election the act of the father Page 259 260. its order and foundation ibid. of Christ to be Redeemer Page 262. ad 266. End self is the end of natural men Page 66. Christ alone should be ours Page 66. a change of it in Regeneration a Page 79 ad 82. the soul not fit for the service of God without a change of it Page 81. Envy the spring of the Churches calamity Page 666. how to check it Page 667. Enemies of Christ shall be subdued Page 336 340. 367 8. 1089. cannot hinder a
of what kind a Page 75. ad 84. 126 235 6. a vital principle Page 84 5. a habit a Page 85. ad 96. a law in the heart a Page 96. ad 100. a likeness to God Page 100. its rarity and whence Page 105 237 242. its trial Page 53. 118. ad 124. 217 237 8. 't is excellent Page 125. 130 133 209 223 227 237. honourable and pleasant Page 133 4. attainable by all Page 135. man not the author of it proved in general a Page 140. ad 147. more particularly a Page 147. ad 175. what man by common grace can do towards it a Page 174. ad 187. why then God commands it c. a Page 187. 197. not by moral suasion only Page 200 1. God the efficient of it Page 205 6 7. necessary he should be a Page 207. ad 210. what attributes of God manifest in it a Page 211. ad 217. what kind of work and low wrought a Page 217. ad 222. 234 5. to be ascribed only to God Page 198 222. the circumstances of it to be considered Page 227. founded on Reconciliation by Christ Page 245. depends on Christs Resurrection Page 326. a means to divine knowledge Page 471. a means to raise good thoughts Page 11 †the Word the instrument of it Vid. Word Regenerate their duty a Page 125. ad 132. 20â— 2 3. a 225. ad 228. 238. to be esteemed Page 111. their sins great Page 111. cannot sin how understood Page 88 9. they only fit to come to the Sacrament a Page 780. ad 784. they may receive it unworthily Page 817. difference between their sins and other mens great a Page 89. ad 100 †Religion the Christian its excellency above all others a Page 343. ad 346 515 648 657 1116 1218. its wonderful propagation Page 209 507 517 614. not to own it to be from God very irrational Page 656 7 8. 699 734. not to act according to it a madness Page 743. Repentance whether Adam in innocence had a power of it Page 189. a very low condition Page 374. not without knowledge Page 407. kept in life how Page 843. can 't satisfie or expiate sin Page 932 951. not right without mourning for others sins Page 75 †Vid. Godly Sorrow Reproach the friendship of Christ a comfort under it Page 1219. Reproof a good man can't despise it Page 95 †Resistance of grace by men Page 146. of sin must be continued Page 17 †Resolutions not to be made in our own strength Page 202 3. not to be trusted in Page 222. necessary in approaches to the Supper Page 752 3. should be oft renewed Page 1375. to sin were it not for hindrances a good man can't have Page 93 †Restraints differ from Regeneration Page 109. and mortification how they differ Page 1318. Resurrection of Christ for us Page 67 326 7 promised him Page 282. necessary Page 324. the act of the Father Page 325 comfortable to Believers Page 327. how pardon depended on it Page 106 †of our Bodies certain Page 1105. Vid. Exaltation of Christ Revelation by the Gospel not insufficient Page 142. its clearness aggravates unbelief Page 614. of God belief due to it a dictate of nature Page 647 8. Vid. Reason Revenge the chief object of it within Page 1314. Riches a cause of unbelief Page 738. Righteousness our own not to be trusted in Page 599 907 951 1181 2 Vid. Justification exploded by the spirit in conviction Page 576. must vail to Christ Page 669. S. SAbbath a probable reason of its change Page 853. Sacraments efficacious by the word Page 233. always thought needful by God Page 316. Sacrifices how acceptable to God Page 316. instituted by God Page 232. 646 855. 948. typical of Christs death Page 856 948 9. 1174. answered by Christ Page 857. of themselves could not expiate sin Page 858 838 9. of what necessary for man Page 859 c. not from the light of nature Page 947. were not and could not be the object of the Israelites Faith Page 1167 1191. they apprehended some mystery in them Page 1167 8. Sacrifice Christ only fit to be one Page 861 940. 941 2. Christ one in his humane nature Page 862. of Christ his value whence Page 862 899. all his sacerdotal acts depend on this Page 863. Christ one for us not himself Page 855 865. this matter of comfort to believers Page 871. to be laid hold on Page 872. of Christ perfect Page 906 7. Saints their company a part of the happiness of heaven Page 42. admiration of their gifts and graces make men slight Christ Page 666. love to them Vid. Love Salvation of Believers certain Page 284 703. Vid. Believers ours and God's glory link'd together Page 285. the end of Christ's commission and Exaltation intercession Page 302 336 1147. all things necessary for it in Christs hands Page 673. to be sought of Christ Page 674. Christ hath done his part towards it Page 704 5. no want of evidence of the way of it Page 705. only by Christ Page 922. Sanctification and Regeneration how they differ Page 72. a sign of pardon Page 116 †Vid. Holiness Regeneration Satisfaction necessary for sin Page 868 a 9. 3 ad 883. 932. not possible to be by any creature a Page 932. ad 942. of Christ declared to be full by his Exaltation Page 1089. Vid. Death of Christ Sacrifice Justice Popish ones to be rejected Page 907. Scriptures studying them a means of divine knowledge Page 468 519. they that never look into them Unbelievers Page 726. men unwilling to be guided by them Page 1â—93 studying them a means to raise good thoughts Page 11 †to be read by Women Page 76 †Seal of the Covenant the Supper is Page 758. Seasons for duty the fittest to be chosen Page 62 63 †Secret sins discovered by the Law in the hand of the Spirit Page 573. Security of the Churches enemies the forerunner of their ruin Page 46 †Seed of Christ who Page 102 3. promised him a Page 278. ad 281. Christ to take care of them Page 281. spirit given him for their sakes Page 297 8. Vid. Believers Self the chief end of a natural man Page 66. Christ died to take men off from it ibid. necessary we should be and no Regeneration till we are Page 66 7. Self-love the principles of it contradicted by Unbelievers Page 648. Self-fulness a conceit of it a cause of unbelief Page 736 7. Sense of sin meditation on that Christ had a means of conviction Page 599. of original sin Vid. Fall should be great in a Communicant Page 752. the want of it reproved Page 72 3 †no argument of an unpardon'd state Page 115 †Vid. Corruptions Sensuality Vid. Pleasures Service of God evangelical not without a new nature a Page 21. ad 29. not accepted from an unregenerate man Page 33 4. Renewed men always disposed for it how Page 87 8. industry and affection must be in it Page 377. of a
their office of teaching Since he promised his presence with his ministry to the end of the world he will have a Church to the end of the world to enjoy the benefit of that promise to be taught by them It consisted not with the wisdom or faithfulness of Christ to promise a perpetuity to that if he knew it were to be cut short before the end of the world And this himself also assures the Church of in all its variety of states Revel 2.1 These things saith he that holds the seven Stars in his right hand who walks in the midst of the seven Golden Candlestiâ—k Not only seven Stars at one time or seven Golden Candlesticks in being together but in all the successions of the Church to the consummation of the world And as he describes himself by this title when he speaks of the Church of Ephesus which was the first state of the Church not only assuring her of his holding her Star and walking by her Candlestick but all the rest that were to follow so he doth renew the same expression in part when he speaks of the Church of Sardis which is the rising of the Church from the Apostacy wherein it had been covered in the Thyatirian state Revel 3.1 These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God and the seven Stars The seven spirits of God signifies the gifts for the building and perfecting the Church still in the hand of Christ which should be in a more plentiful way poured out than for some time before as they were in the first reformation He is still therefore as a Prophet walking in the Church in all ages Not only in the first Foundation of it by the Apostles but in the reformation of it after it had been buried in Superstition and Idolatry And at the restauration of the Church in the world there shall be a pure river of water as clear as Christal proceeding from the Throne of God and the Lamb Revel 22.1 i. e. Pure doctrine without any mud and mixtures 2. 'T is his part as a Priest to establish it in the favour of God and look to the reparations of his Temple The Church is his Temple A Temple is the proper seat the proper care of a Priest He is a Priest still upon his Throne Zach. 6.13 and that for ever As he hath therefore some thing to offer so he hath always some for whom he offers who are they but his Church His prayer on earth John 17. was but a model or draught of his intercession in Heaven one part of it is for preservation of them through the truth of God John 17.17 The keeping up the Gospel in the world in order to a sanctification of some is the matter of his intercession which is one part of his Priestly Office And we cannot imagine his plea for his Church to be weaker on his throne it being also a throne of grace than it was for his enemies when he was upon a cross of suffering The compassions annext to his Priesthood remain still Heb. 4.15 If his office be perpetual the qualifications necessary to that office are as durable as the office it self as long as there is any object for their exercise To what purpose are his compassions if he should not pity her for whom they were designed and for whose behoof he was furnisht with them He cannot be faithful to God in his office if he be not merciful and tender to Sion in her distresses He certainly pities her as he would himself were it possible he should be in an infirm condition He must lose his Soul before he can lose his pity and the Church must cease to be his body before she can cease to be the object of his compassions He hath the same sentiments now that he had when he called to Paul from Heaven Act. 9.4 It was not then Why persecutest thou mine but why persecutest thou me Nor is it so now as the relation continues the same so doth the compassion so do his sentiments so do his cares To what purpose doth he as a Priest sit upon a Throne of grace if he did not shew grace to his Sion against the cruel designs of her enemies As God pities us when he remembers our frame Psal 103.13 14. So no question doth Christ when he remembers Sions oppressions as a distressed child is the object of the fathers pitty Add to this That since the death of Christ was one part of his Priestly performance and that the virtue of his sacrifice is as eternal as his Priest-hood what a disparagement would it â—e to him and the virtue of his death if ever the world while it stood should be void of the fruits of it There can be no moment wherein it is not valid to expiate the sins of some men and therefore not a moment wherein the world shall be without a Sion whose sins are expiated by it Should the standar'd of Sion be snatcht away and torn by the powers of darkness what would become of the glory what would become of the virtue of the Redeemers death Would God consecrate him so solemnly by an oath to be a Priest to so little purpose How could it be for ever if the execution of that office should be interrupted by the cessation of a Church as long as the world stands upon its pillars Would it not be an empty title if the end of it were not performed We cannot imagine the falling of Sion but we must question the merit of his death the truth of his exaltation the strength of his intercession the faithfulness of his office and the sincerity and candor of his compassions 3. 'T is his part as a King to establish Sion in being and govern her The Prophets always testified that of his Government there should be no end If the Church should cease for one moment in the world what subjects would he have to govern here Can he be a King without a Kingdom or a governour without subjects to bear a voluntary and sincere witness to his name If he be King in Sion he will also have a Sion to own him and a Sion to rule in not only a conquest of the Serpentine brood and infernal powers was promised but the total and perpetual victory Gen. 3.15 The sted of the woman was to bruise the Serpents head When the head is bruised there is no more wisdom to guide or force to Spirit the arm and the other members of the body It was a promise made not only of Christ to man but of a compleat victory to Christ that he should outwit the Serpents wisdom and utterly discomfit the Serpents power If the conquest were not perfect and perpetual it could not be called a spoiling of principalities and powers as it is Col. 2.15 but an interruption or temporary check whence they might rescue themselves He is therefore said to still the enemy and the avenger * Psal 8.2 I make no scruple
place of happiness 'T is thought by some that the reason Enoch was snatcht to Heaven in the midst of his life according to the rate of living in that age was because he was afflicted with the sins of those among whom he lived And indeed he could scarce walk with God without grieving that others disdained to walk with him and acted contrary to him God would take him from that affliction as well as from the danger of being corrupted by the age He will either have his Chambers wherein to hide them here till the indignation be over-past Isa 26.20 21. or his Mansions to lodge them in for ever with himself What hurt is it to any to be refused a hiding place here that he may be conducted to the possession of a glorious residence for ever That judgment that takes off the Fetters of a wicked Man for execution knocks off the Fetters of the godly for a Gaol delivery like Fire it consumes the Dross and refines the Gold The day of Gods wrath is a day of gloominess to the wicked Joel 2.2 but as the morning spread upon the Mountains to the godly mourners the dawning of comfort to them God out of the same Pillar of the cloud diffused light upon the Israelites and shot thunders and lightenings upon the Aegyptians to which perhaps the Prophet might here allude 3 Use Mourn for the sins of the time and place where you live 'T is the least dislike we can shew to them A flood of grief becomes us in a flood of sin How well would it be if we were as loud in crying for mercy as our sins at the present are in crying for vengeance While judgments march to seize our persons our grief should run to damp the judgments Moist Walls choak the Bullet 'T is far better to mourn for the cause of judgments than to mourn under them The jolly blades were the first prey to the Enemy Amos 6.1 2 3 to v. 7. They that chaunt to the sound of the Viol and drink wine in Bowls shall go captive with the first that go captive We of this City have most reason to mourn the Metropolis of a Nation is the Metropolis usually of sin and the fairest mark for the Arrows of Gods indignation The chief City of a Nation is usually threatned in Scripture Rabbah of the Ammonites Damascus of Syria Tyrus of Phoenicia Babylon of the Chaldean Empire Jerusalem of Judea and suitably why not London of England And let no Man think that mourning is a degenerate and effeminate disposition Doth Solomon ever imprint the same Character on mourning as he doth on laughter Eccles 2.2 Doth he ever vilifie that with a term of madness and call the mourners Bedlams How can any who hath not put off the Title and Nature of Man behold without amazement and grief Men so bold as to pull down the judgments of God upon them and force his indignation This temper is a pious embalming Christs crucified honour shall any Man that professeth Christ have so little love to him as not to bestow a groan upon him when he sees him freshly dishonoured and abused If we had not committed any sin in our whole life there is cause of mourning for the abominations of the world Christ had an unspotted innocence and an unexpressible grief for Jerusalems sins and misery Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thâ—e and thou wouldest not Never doth sorrow more appear in love than when it is more for what dishonours God than what pincheth us Men may pretend a grief for the sins of the times when it is only for themselves that they have not those pleasing opportunities of greatning themselves and that estimation in the world that stage for Pride and Covetousness to act upon which they desire Our mourning is then right when we grieve not so much that we as that God is a sufferer It should be proportionable where there are great breaches of Gods Law our grief should be as full as if possible to fill up the ditch that is digg'd the Septuagint in the Text implies it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paul and Barnabas tore their garments a sign of a great grief and indignation when the Heathens would have sacrificed to them as Gods Acts 14.13 they used not the same expressions in smaller sins but this was against the Nature of God and a multitude engaged in it The greater the sin the greater the sorrow I need not mention the sins among us the impudent Atheism contempt of the Gospel putrifying Lust barefac'd Pride rending Divisions many sins visible enough to be grieved for and too many to be spoken of The sorrow should be universal Not for one sin which may be against any Mans particular interest but for all even those that our carnal advantage is not concerned in God is dishonoured by one as well as by another and Christ is crucified by one as well as by another It must be attended with a more strict obedience 'T is the highest generosity to wear Christs Livery when others put it off and lay it aside as useless No doubt but Joseph of Arimathea mourned as well as the rest for the sufferings of our Saviour but he testified also an Heroick affection to him in going boldly to Pilate to beg the body of Jesus for an honourable burial when none of the other disciples sought after it but trusted more to the swiftness of their heels for their own security than concern'd themselves for the honour of their Master While others therefore are defiling the world with their abominations let us be washing it with our Tears and filling heaven with our cries that when God marcheth in his fury we may be secure by his acceptance of our humiliations Motives 1. This is a means to have great tokens of the love of God No question but Christ in his agony bewailed the sins of the world and then was an Angel sent to comfort him and assure him of an happy issue It was just after the testimony of his displeasure against Peter for disswading him from that death whereby he was to honour God and wash off the stain of sin and repair the violations of the Law whereby he manifested a concern for his fathers honour that he was transfigured and had therein the earnest of an heavenly glory and that transporting voice This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear you him Mat. 16.23 Mat. 17.1 2 c. 2. It is a means to prevent judgments Tears cleansed by the Blood of Christ are a good means to quench that justice which is a consuming Fire Sin puts a stop to the working of Gods Bowels and opens the Magazines of wrath grief for it disarms Gods hand of his Thunders and may divert his darts from our hearts No other defence is often left against the strength of judgments after sin hath made its entrance A holy seed in Jerusalem is the guard of it in the time
of Senacherib's Invasion Isa 6.13 The holy seed shall be the substance thereof Growth in sin ripens judgments turns Blossoms and Buds into Fruit Rods into Scorpions Grief for it turns scorpions into Rods lessens a judgment if not wholly prevents it The Water of repentance is the best way to quench the flames of sin and sparks of wrath If good Men fall under a common judgment it may be often for a defect in this temper This was Austins opinion * Aâ—gust de Civit. Dei ib. 1. Cap. 9. That many good men are taken away with the wicked in Common Judgments because though they do not Commit the same sins yet they connive at their iniquities and so are lasht with their rods temporally chastned but not eternally punished 3. It will sweeten Judgments Such may say of Judgment as Paul of death Oh Judgment where is thy sting 'T is a double burden to lye under the weight of common Judgments and the weight of common sins grief for them is a means to remove the guilt and thereby to ease thee of a Judgment If we are concerned in mourning for sin we shall be more fit to honour God if he makes us fall under his stroak A holy sorrow will bring us into a submissive frame Aaron had been without question humbled for his timorous compliance with the people in the making of the golden Calf and when God came to strike him near in his own Children he held his peace Levit. 10.3 No doubt but his former humiliation fitted him for his present patience 4. Our repentance for our own sins was never right unless we are of this temper Repentance is a justice towards God and therefore is conversant about other mens sins in a hatred of them 'T is for sin as sin and sin is sin in whatsoever subject it be and worthy of hatred according to right reason and therefore that grace whereby a Man hates it in his own person will engage him to hate it wheresoever it is and we alwaies grieve for the encrease of that which is the object of our hatred A truly just man hates the injury committed against another as well as that against himself That filthiness which displeaseth a penitent in his own act displeaseth him in anothers act there being the same adequate reason and sin being of the same nature against God in another as in himself 'T is All abominations in the text this is an argument of sincerity to mourn for one may be from self interest to mourn for all must be from a pure affection 5. 'T is an argument of a true affection to God To mourn for sin when it is rare though gross is not so much a sign of sincerity as to mourn for it when it is Epidemical when the Foundations of godliness are out of course and the graces contrary to those sins are generally discountenanced as it is a greater sign of sincerity to love the word when it is generally slighted than to love it when all admire it What a noble affection had that Lady in Samuel 1 Sam. 4.19 c. that grieved not so much for the loss of her Father Husband Friends but bewailed the departure of the glory of Israel and implicitely at least the sin that occasioned it How did her affection to God drown all carnal affections Her sorrow for the ark stifled the sorrow of her travel and the joy at the birth of her Son She regarded it not This is an evident token of affection when we mourn most for the sins which most dishonour God and the sins of those persons that seem to be nearer to God and cast most reproaches upon his name 6. Shall we be outstript by Idolaters The mourning for others sins was a custom kept up in Israel after their revolt from God unto Jeroboam When Naboth was put to death for a pretended crime of blasphemy a fast was proclaimed to lament his sin 1 Kings 21.12 and though with a wicked intention to palliate a murther with the cloak of religion yet it evidenceth this mourning for the gross sins of others to be a common sentiment among them and practised upon the like occasions 7. We have just fears of judgments We know not whence they will come from the North or from the South God sets up his warnings in the Heavens we behold him frowning and preparing his arrows and are we careless in what posture we shall meet him He hath Spit in our faces made us a by-word and reproach should we not be humbled Numb 12.14 If her Father had spit in her face should she not be ashamed God seems to be departing He hath as it were kept open market a long time he seems now to be putting up his wares removing his Candlestick withdrawing the power of his Ordinances recalling his Messengers the light is almost in the socket The voice of God is received with a deaf ear the reproofs and admonitions of God have not a kindly operation the signs of judgment amaze us and the amazement quite vanishes We start like a man in a dream and fall back upon our pillow and snort out our sleep Can we expect God to stay He seems to be upon the threshold of the Temple come down already from the Cherubims and is it not high time to bewail our own sins and the Common abominations that have so polluted the place of his habitation that we may say we cannot see how God can stay with honour to himself If we bewail the sins that provoke him to it God may stay if he will not let us at least shew this affection to him at parting This is not a thing unbecoming the highest Christian Doth not the Spirit grieve for the sins of others which play the wantons with the grace of God Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God The holy Spirit hath no sins of his own to grieve for Shall we be above that which the Spirit of God thinks himself not above Shall we refuse mourning for that which goes to the heart of the Holy Ghost Let us therefore examine what are our own sins what are the abominations of the times and places wherein we live make inquisition for the one that we may drag them out before the Lord And in our places endeavour to stop and reform the other As the true fire of Love to God will melt us into tears so it will heat us into zeal He is no friend that will complain of a toads being in another's bosom but not strive to kill it It will shew either Cowardice or falseness That zeal is wild-fire that is not accompanied with an holy sorrow and that sorrow is crude which is not accompanied with a godly Zeal A DISCOURSE FOR The Comfort of Child-bearing Women 1 Tim. 2.15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in Child-bearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety I Shall not take my rise any higher than v. 12. where the Apostle
the Law required Death was due and death immediately upon the offence but death was kept off by the interposition of the Mediator and this which is less than death inflicted at present The Mediator or Days-man interposed before this sentence for the promise of the Seed which should bruise the Serpents head preceded the pronouncing of this sentence Gen. 3.15 16. God arms himself against both but not with those weapons they had deserv'd Capital Crimes are usually attended with capital punishments which draw a destruction upon the offender Where death is deserv'd and a lighter punishment inflicted it is rather an act of clemency than strict Justice and may be called by the name of a partial pardon or reprieve as well as a punishment 'T is indeed a punishment when Conscience racks a man with further expectation of torment when it is but a Prologue to everlasting burnings when through those pains any fall into the place of everlasting horrour 'T is then more properly a punishment when it proceeds from an irreconcileable Justice arm'd with Omnipotency in the Execution not when it proceeds from an anger mix'd with mildness and mitigated by the Intercessions of a Mediator 2. 'T is not a reparation of the injury done to God One reason of the institution of punishment is to repair the damage the Person offended sustains by the malefactor as far as he is capable The injury done to God cannot be repaired by any temporary punishment No nor indeed actually by an eternal one though an eternal suffering is all the reparation a finite Creature is capable to make to the honour of God A man is capable of making some kind of amends to his Neighbour for an offence done but God being infinitely our Superiour cannot have his honour repaired by any thing a Creature can do or suffer 3. 'T is not continued as a part of Satisfaction to the justice of God As though Christ needed the sufferings of the Creature to make up the sum which he was to pay for us and which he hath already paid 'T is not on the account of the death of Christ purely a vindictive but a medicinal act to a believer 'T is rather to awaken us than to Satisfy justice As we wring a man by the nose who is fallen into a swoon not to have satisfaction from him for any injury he may have done us but to fetch him out of his fit These punishments are to awaken men to a sight of their first sin 4. The proper impulsive cause of punishment is wrath Though this was the first cause of this sentence yet it is not inflicted in wrath upon a believer Though at first it was an effect of Gods anger yet in a beliver it is a fruit of Gods fatherly anger wherein he acts with a composition of Judge Father In inflicting it he preserves the authority of a Judge In preserving under it and pardoning the sin for which it was inflicted he evidenceth the affection of a Father Punishment as such is only to hurt and make men reap the fruit of their iniquity But the end of affliction in the intention of the person that doth afflict is oftentimes to benefit 2. Yet it is in some sort a punishment and something more than an affliction 1. In respect of the meritorious cause sin This is not inflicted ratione absoluti dominii but ratione meriti 'T is not an act of absolute soveraignty but a judicial legal act upon the demerit of sin There are some afflictions which are not punishments as in the case of the man that was born blind Christ tells us that it was neither for his own sin nor for the sins of his parents but that God might be glorified John 9.2.3 i. e. God in inflicting that blindness respected neither the sin of the man nor the sin of the parents but the making him a passive subject of his glory in our Saviours miraculous Cure But in this case God respected the sin of the woman as the cause and reason of the punishment 2. Because if man had stood in innocency neither this grief nor indeed any other had been The birth in innocency would have been without sorrow and grief as the hunger and thirst which would have been in Adam in that state would have been without that gnawing in the stomack and that pain which we find in those defects because a state of integrity and perfect righteousness must needs be without grief But after the fall all those pains incident to man or woman are fruits of the curse of sin 3. This punishment doth not hinder Salvation though it be continued I shall lay down these Propositions to clear up this matter 1. God intended not in the acceptance of Christs mediation to remove in this life all the punishments denounced after the fall God takes away the eternal but not the temporal For this very punishment was threatned after his acceptance of Christs mediation and after the compact and covenant between the Father and the Son about their redemption of mankind because the promise preceded the threatning and the mediatory covenant preceded the promise Some parts of Christs purchase are only payable in another life and some fruits of Redemption God intends for growth only in another soyl such are Freedom from pain diseases death sin And therefore the last day when believers shall be gather'd together is called by way of excellency the day of Redemption Eph. 4.30 as if we had nothing of Redemption properly in this life because we have it not compleat And it is called upon this account the time of refreshing and the time of the restitution of all things Act. 3.19 21. when all things shall be restored to their primitive compleatness and we shall have a full refreshment by a removal of all the evils which we suffer by reason of sin So that the satisfaction made by Christ extends not to a present removal of all the effects of the curse pains of the body death of relations c. The ground is not restored to its original vigor and fruitfulness man must still eat his bread in the sweat of his brows women must still bring forth with sorrow our lives must waste by a continual invasion of weaknesses and diseases we must drop one after another into the grave send some before us and leave others to come after us tho God in mercy doth mitigate these in some more in some less according to his Soveraign pleasure and though those curses do materially continue yet they are attended with a blessing the fruits of Christs purchase But the full value of Christs satisfaction will appear when there shall be a new Heaven a new Earth when the day of Redemption shall dawn and all tears be wiped from believers eyes But God never promised the total removal of them in this life to any Saint no though he should have all the Faith and Holiness of all the Catalogue of Saints in the book of
life centred in him 2. Christ never intended in the payment of the price of our Redemption the present removal of them He interposed himself before this sentence was pronounced for the promise preceded the threatning and therefore shew'd himself content that those marks should be set upon that sin though he prevented by his Mediation the dreadful sentence of eternal death Christ never expected it for the Compact between the Father and the Son did not run in this strain Christ's Enemies were not presently upon his ascension to be made his footstool whereof death is not the least but he was to sit at the right hand of God expecting it neither can we expect to be rid of our burdens till Christ's Victory over his Enemies be fully compleat He sent after his Ascension the Spirit to be our Comforter which supposeth a state wherein we should need comfort and when are we under a greater necessity of comfort than when the punishment of sin is actually inflicted on us The Spirit was to comfort us in the absence of our Saviour and consequently in the absence and want of those fruits of Redemption which are not yet compleated 3. Christ intended and did actually take away the Curse of those Punishments from every Believer As Christ came to take away the guilt of sin so by consequence he took away the curse of punishment for as he was not a minister of sin so he was not a minister of the curse Gal. 2.17 for he himself by taking the curse upon himself took it off from us so that though the curse remains materially yet it doth not formally As when man felt his understanding and will were not destroyed but the purity and healthfulness of those faculties which made up his well-being were lost So in Redemption the temporal punishment is not remov'd but the Curse which is the sting in that punishment and is indeed the essential part of it is remov'd since the anger of God is pacified by the death of Christ Death was a Curse upon Man for sin yet the death of a Believer falls not under that title because Christ hath taken away the sting 1 Cor. 15.55 56. Oh death where is thy sting c. And the Victory over it he saith is given us through our Lord Jesus Christ Whence the Apostle puts even death it self and things present into the Catalogue of Priviledges upon the account of Christ 1 Cor. 3.22 Life or death or things present or things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods Not that death simply in it self is a Priviledge but death as conquered and as attended with consequent blessings is so to a Believer Now the same reason is for all the other parts of the Curse which were either Prologues to or Attendants upon death And as Christ destroyed death by raising his own body from the grave thereby taking from death the power of perpetually retaining man So in the same manner he hath took away those punishments that they shall not perpetually remain though they do for a time But when death is swallowed up in victory all the Attendants on it shall undergo the same fate Though the Curse was not immediately the work of the Devil yet that which procur'd it was and Christ's intention being to take away sin it was also to take away the Curse which was intentionally the Devils work his chief aim being to bring men under the Curse by enticing them to sin The end of his manifestation was to destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 Christ therefore bore our infirmities our natural penal infirmities though not our natural sinful ones unless morally i. e. by suffering for them he bore the infirmity of our Nature though not our personal infirmities He endur'd pain and grief and death and greater than we can endure but he did not bear every particular pain and disease which ariseth from sin and a particular cause yet by satisfying the Justice of God which required death he satisfied for all other pains which were parts of the Curse though he did not formally feel them so that no longer they remain as a Curse no more than death it self is a Curse to a Believer Now as Christ by his death upon the Cross did remove the sting of death from every Believer and sanctifie it though he did not die every kind of death which a man may die so by enduring pain and grief and being a man of sorrows he took away the sting of all those pains which are fruits of the Curse though they were of a different kind from those he hath himself endured This I have added to prevent an Objection that may be made that Christ endured not this particular pain and therefore the Curse is not taken away 4. Hence it will follow that to a Believer the very nature of these Punishments is alter'd Whence ariseth a mighty difference between the same punishments when suffered by a Believer and by an unregenerate man Though they are materially the same yet not formally nor eventually In the one the sting remains in the other it is pull'd out The one is an earnest of eternal torture and a sprinkling of Hell the other is in order to salvation and sanctified by the Blood of Christ Christ by his Cross hath made our Judgments to become Physick and turn'd a Believers punishments into purges The intention of the Agent makes a vast difference There is a great difference between a punishment edg'd with a a Princes wrath and those which are sweetened with a Fathers affection much difference between a Chirurgians Launce and a Tyrants Wound The Cord that binds a Malefactor and a Patient may be made of the same Hemp and a Knife only go between but it binds the Malefactor to Execution the other to a Cure In a Believer they bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness Heb. 12.11 such fruits of righteousness which engender peace and joy in the Soul That which brings such excellent effects is rather an argument of love in the Inflicter and so cannot come under the full notion of a punishment God comforts the Israelites that were to go into Captivity by a Gospel promise Hos 14.4 I will heal their back slidings I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from them The punishment was continued for they never returned into their Countrey in the form of a common wealth but the anger was removed so that the Captivity of the Believers among them was not the effect of God's wrath as a Judge since they were under his magnificent love as a Father The change of our relation to God makes a change in the nature of the punishment though the punishment threatned may be inflicted and continued yet the anger in that punishment may be turned away 5. Therefore all temporal punishments of Original sin though they remain do not prejudice a Believers present interest 1. They cut not off his relation to
of the Devil a corrupt Creature and an enemy to God the chief Lord of the World and so did deprave the order of the universe and endeavoured to frustrate the end of God and the end of all the Creatures 'T is very rational to think that tho God out of his infinite compassion would not lose his creature yet that he should set such a badge upon him that should make him sensible of a depravation he had wrought in the world 4. 'T is useful to magnify his love We should not be sensible of what our Saviour suffered nor how transcendently he lov'd us if the punishment of sin had been presently removed upon the first promise Nay how then could he have died in the fulness of time which was necessary to the demonstration of Gods love satisfaction of his justice and the security of the Creatures happiness God adds the threatning to the promise as a dark colour to set off and beautify the brighter As Christ suffered that he might have compassion on us so are we punished that we might have an estimation of him When Paul cries out of the body of death so when we cry out of the punishment of sin it should raise our thankfulness for redeeming love I thank God through Jesus Christ Rom. 7.24 25. We never know the worth of mercy till we feel the weight of misery The sharper the pains of sin the higher are our valuations of redeeming mercy In Isa 4.2 In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious In what day After great punishments v. 1. and in the foregoing chapter He appears most beautiful to us when we are under the lash for sin As sin continues in us that the justifying grace of Christs righteousness might more appear to us so punishment continues on us that redeeming love might be more prized by us 2. On our parts 'T is useful to us 1. To make us abhor our first defection and sin 'T was great and is not duly considered by us * Kellet Miscel This sin of Adam is the worst that ever was committed in the world Extensively though not Intensively worse than the sin of Judas or the sin against the holy Ghost In respect that those are but the effects of it and branches of that corrupt root Also because those sins hurt only the persons sinning but this drew down destruction upon the whole world and drove thousands into everlasting Fire and Brimstone 'T is not fit that this which was the murder of all Mankind the disorder of the Creation the disturbing of God's rest in the works of his Hands should be past over without a scar left upon us to make us sensible of the greatness of the evil Though the wounds be great upon our Souls yet they do not so much affect us as those strokes upon our Bodies This certainly was one main end of God in this to what purpose else did he after the promise of restauration and giving our first parents the comfort of hearing the head of their great seducer threatned to be bruised by the Seed of the Woman order this punishment but to put them in mind of the cause of it and stir up a standing abhorrency of it in all ages of the world Had not this been his intent he would never have usher'd it in by a promise but ipso facto have showered down a destroying judgment upon the world as he did upon Sodom without any comfortable word preceding God inflicts those punishments both to shew his own and excite our detestation of this sin He binds us in those fetters to shew us our work and our transgression wherein we have exceeded Job 36.8 9. 2. To make us fear to sin and to purge it out Sin hath riveted it self so deep that easy Medicines will not displace it It hath so much of our affections that gentle means will not divorce us from it We shall hate it most when we reap the punishment of it Punishment is inflicted as a guard to the law and the security of righteousness from the corrupt inclinations of the Creature So it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato calls punishment As death is continued for the destruction of sin in the Body so are the lesser punishments continued for the restraint of sin in our lives We need further conversions closer applications of our selves to God more quick walks to him and fixedness with him Gods smitings are to quicken our turnings As it was the fruit of Jacobs trouble to take away sin Isa 27.9 So it is a great end of God in those common punishments of mankind to weaken corruption in a believer by them Therefore when we have any more remarkable sense of those punishments let us see what wounds our sin gets thereby How our hatred of it is encreased If we find such gracious effects we shall have more reason to bless God for it than complain of it Oh happy troubles when they repair not ruine us when they pinch us and cure us like Thunder which though it trouble the Air disperses the infectious vapours mixed with it or the Tide which though turning the stream of the River against its natural course carries away much of the filth with it at its departure 3. To exercise Grace Punishments of themselves have no power to set any grace on work but rather excite our corruptions but the grace of God accompanying them makes them beneficial for such an end God hath to a believer altered the commission of such punishments they are to exercise our Faith improve our patience draw us nearer in acts of recumbency but he hath given them no order to impair our grace waste our faith or deaden our hopes 1. Faith and Trust 1. Tim. 5.5 She that is desolate trusts in God The lower the state the greater necessity and greater obligation to trust such exercises manifest that the condition we are in is sanctified to us As sin is suffered to dwell in a regenerate Man to occasion the exercise of Faith so is the punishment of sin continued for the same end The continuance of it is a mighty ground of our confidence in God We experiment the righteousness of God in his threatning and it is an evidence he will be the same in his promise When we bear the marks of his punitive justice it is an evidence that he will keep up the credit of his mercy in the promise as well as of his justice in the punishment both being pronounced at the same time the good of the one is as sure by God's grace to our faith as the smart of the other is by our desert to that sin The continuance therefore of those punishments may be used by a Believer as a means to fix a stronger confidence in God for if he were not true to the one we might suspect his truth in the other If God should be careless of maintaining the honour of his truth in his threatnings we should have
reason to think that he would be careless of maintaining the honour of it in his promises and thereupon be filled with despondencies What comfort could we have in an unrighteous God The righteousness of God in inflicting punishment is but a branch of that essential righteousness of his nature which obligeth him to be righteous in the performing his promise too 'T is a mighty support to faith that the righteous God loveth righteousness 2. Obedience in a Believer hath a greater lustre by them It was the glory of Job that he preserved his Integrity under the smartest troubles To obey a God always smiling is not so great an act of Loyalty as to obey a God frowning and striking 'T is the crown of our obedience to follow our God though he visits us with stripes 'T is a noble temper to love that hand which strikes us and chearfully serve that Father which lasheth us Our obedience is too low when it must be excited by a succession of favours and cannot run to God unless he allures it by smiles 'T is then a generous and sincere obedience when we can embrace him with a sword in his Hand trust him though he kill us love him though he stone us and as the Persians did by the Sun adore him when he scorcheth as well as when he refresheth us Were these punishments wholly absent we should not have a rise for so heroick faith and love and our holiness in this state would want much of its lustre 3. Humility These punishments are left upon us to allay our pride and be our remembrancers of our deplorable miscrriage It had been an occasion of pride in us to be freed from punishment at the first appearance of a Mediator 'T is reasonable the Soul should have occasions to exercise it self in a grace contrary to that first sin pride which was the cause of the fall We affected to be Gods and punishment is left that we may know we are but Men which is the end of judgments Psal 9.20 Put them in fear O Lord that the Nations may know they are but Men we should otherwise think our selves Gods We are so inclin'd to sin that we need strong restraints and so swell'd with a natural pride against God that we need Thorns in the Flesh to let out the corrupt matter The constant hanging the Rod over us makes us lick the dust and acknowledge our selves to be altogether at the Lords mercy Though God hath pardon'd us he will make us wear the halter about our Necks to humble us 4. Patience Were there no punishments there would be but little occasion for patience This grace would not have had its extensive exercise its full formation without such strokes left upon the creature Resignation to God which is the beauty of grace would not come to its due maturity and stature without such trials So that in these reasons of the continuance we see they are rather advantages to Salvation than hindrances by promoting through the influence of God's grace those graces in us which are necessary to a happy state Use 1. See the infinite mercy of God who when upon the defection of our first Parents he might have burnt up the whole world as he did Sodom would upon the Redeemers account who stept in impose so light a punishment upon that sin 't is but light in comparison of what the nature of sin deserves every sin being a contempt of the Majesty of God and a slight of his Authority and that sin having greater aggravations attending it 'T is a merciful punishment it might have been an everlasting damnation God might have left us to the first sentence of the law and made no exchange of eternal death for temporal pains He might have been deaf to the voice of a Mediator and put his mercy to silence as he did Moses Speak no more of this matter but his Bowels pull his Justice by the Arm and hinder that fatal stroke and a Mediator by his interposition breaks off the full blow from us by taking it upon himself and suffers only some few smart drops to light upon us Oh wonderful mercy that our punishment should not hinder but rather further our everlasting happiness by incomprehensible grace Let not then our punishments for sin hinder our thankfulness Let our Mouths swell with praise while our Bodies crumble away by diseases and Relations drop from us by death Let us love God's glory admire his mercy while we feel his Arrows Whatever our punishments are there is more matter for praise than murmuring 2. How should we bewail original sin the first fall of man 'T is a great slighting of God not to take notice either of his judicial or fatherly proceedings As we are to lament any particular sin more especially when the judgments of God which bear the marks of that sin in their foreheads are upon a nation or person so though we are to bewail the sin of our nature at all times yet more signally when the strokes of God the remembrancers of it are most signally upon us A Child doth more particularly think of his fault when he is under the correcting rod for it We should scarce think of original sin if we did not feel original punishment All the pains of sin should be considered as Gods Sermon to us and we should under them be afflicted with that sin as we may suppose Adam and Eve were when they first heard the punishment denounc'd in Paradice when they had a sense of the flourishing Condition they had lost for a slight temptation To turn sorrow for pain into sorrow for our first sin is to spiritualize our grief and sanctify our passion 3. What an argument for patience under punishments is here The continuance of them doth not hinder our Salvation Shall a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sin For such a punishment that doth not hinder his eternal welfare but by the grace of God and the exercise of Faith rather promote it God promised as well as threatned both his mercy and righteousness directs him to that which is most for his honour and our good Let us not by any impatience charge infinite wisdom with blindness or unrighteousness They were punishments at first but by Faith in Christ the deportment of a judge is changed into that of a Father Drusius hath an observation Psal 56.10 In God will I praise his word in the Lord will I praise his word The first word Elohim is a name belonging to God as a judg the 2d word Jehovah is a name of mercy I will praise God whether he deal with me in a way of justice or in a way of mercy when he hath thunder in his voice as well as when he hath hony under his tongue Oh how should we praise God and pleasure our selves by such a frame When our distresses ly hard upon us we should justify Gods holiness So the Psalmist or rather Christ in the bearing our
require food to keep it alive A good man in this case is like the Planets which though they be turned about daily from East to West by the motion of the primum mobile yet they still keep up their proper motion from West to East either slower or quicker 2. Not in a customary commission of any known sin To work iniquity is the proper character of natural men hence called workers of iniquity Psal 5.5 Thou hatest all workers of iniquity And by the same title are they called by Christ at the Day of Judgment Depart from me all you workers of iniquity that contrive lay the plat-form of it and work at it as at a Trade or as a curious piece of Art 'T is one thing to sin another to commit or do a sin Psal 119 3. They do not iniquity they walk in his ways their usual constant course is in the way of God they do not iniquity they settle not to it take not pleasure in it as their work and way of livelihood So it is the character of an ungodly man to walk in the ways of sin Walking according to the course of the world and fulfilling the desires of the flesh are one and the same thing Ephes 2.2 3. A good man may step into a way of sin but he walks not in it to make it either his business or recreation So walking in sin and living in sin are put together What is called walking after the flesh Rom. 8.1 is called living after the flesh v. 13. which is the same with committing sin in the Text So ways and doings are joyned together Zach. 1.6 To make sin our way or walk is when a man chuses it as a particular trade and way of living A good man in sin is out of his way a wicked man in sin is in his way a good man will not have so much as one way of sin a wicked hath many ways for he seeks out many inventions Not one Example of the gross fall of a good man in Scripture will countenance any pretence for a course in sin for either they were not in a course of sin or it was not a course of known sins Noah was drunk but once yet that was not a sin of the same hue with that among us He first found out the fruits of the Vine Gen. 9.20 knew nothing of the strength of the Grape and therefore might easily be overcome by an unusual liquor Lot's Incest was but twice and that unwillingly He knew not his Daughters lying down or rising neither time Gen. 19.33 35. And for his Daughters some think that they thought there was no man left upon the Earth but their Father but that is not clear for Lot had been in Zoar and departed thence to the Mountain where their fact was committed His drunkenness admits of some aggravations it was no fit season for him to swill after so sharp a Judgment upon Sodom so severe a remark of God upon his Wife and so great a deliverance to himself Yet this was not a course of sin you read no more of it There is difference between a mans being drunk and being a drunkard the one notes the act the other the habit and love of it Peter denied Christ yet but three times together not three times with considerable intervals for a full deliberation 'T is probable Peter's Faith was so stupified as well as the Faith of those Disciples that were going to Emmaus Luke 24.21 We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel who and indeed all the Disciples in several passages seem'd to expect a temporal Kingdom to be erected by him as therefore not to judge it fit to hazard himself for a person he thought himself so much mistaken in Howsoever it was it was not a course of sin and his Repentance over-rules the plea for any customary transgression And though the Corinthians were charged with Fornication and eating things sacrificed to Idols yet it seems to be out of a corrupt Judgment as appears by the Apostles disputing against the one 1 Cor. 6.13 14 15. and against the other 1 Cor. 8. And that neither of those were generally judged to be sins by the converted Gentiles as appears by the Decree of the Apostles Acts 15.28 29. where they determine against both these though this was a course of sin yet not a course of known sins and after they were informed by the Apostle of the sinfulness of them they abstain'd therefore in the second Epistle * The first Epistle was writ the 25th year after the death of Christ and 2d Epistle the 26th year according to Baronias writ the year after to them he charges them not with those former crimes but comforts them for their being so much cast down with sorrow David's sin though lying upon him for about ten or twelve months yet it was not a course of sin and we find a signal Repentance afterwards but of that after To walk in a road of known sins is the next step to committing sin as sin and manifests the habit of sin to have a strong and fixed dominion in the will I shall confirm this by some Reasons because upon this Proposition depend all the following 1. Regeneration gives not a man a dispensation from the Law of God As Christ came not to destroy the Law but to establish it so grace doth not dispense with the Law but confirms the Authority of it Habitual grace is not given us to assist us in the breaches of it but to enable us to the performance of it As the grace of God which hath appeared to all men teaches the Doctrine of Holiness so the grace of God in us enables us to walk in the way of holiness Grace in a Believer embraceth what the grace of God teaches The Moral Laws of God are indispensable in themselves and of eternal verity Therefore as no rational creature much less can a regenerate person be exempted from that obedience to the Law which as a rational creature he is bound to observe The grace of God justifying is never conferred without grace sanctifying 'T is certain where Christ is made righteousness he is made sanctification 'T is not congruous to the Divine Holiness to look upon a person as righteous who hath not a renewed principle in him no more than it is congruous to the Divine Justice and Holiness to look upon him as righteous meerly for this principle so imperfect 2. 'T is not for the honour of God to suffer a custom and course of sin in a renewed man 'T is true a renewed man should not voluntarily nor doth commit willingly even sins of lighter infirmities but God suffers those because they do not wound the honour of Christianity though they discover a remoteness from a state of perfection But they do not customarily fall into great sins for it seems not congruous to permit such courses commonly in any one which would disgrace Religion and make that
the damm Judas had an admonition from Christ that informed him of what wickedness he was about and the danger of it Mark 14.21 He pronounceth a wo against him Compare this with Joh. 13.27 30. when he gives him the sop which was at the same time he informed him of the danger Satan entered into him and he went more roundly to work to accomplish it he went immediately out Observe by the way That the Spirit of God enters into a mans heart often upon admonitions from friends and the Devil also more powerfully upon the same occasions than at other times A good man cannot habitually hate the reprover There is one example of a good man dealing hardly with a Prophet for reproving him in the name of the Lord 2 Chron. 16.10 Then Asa was wroth with the Seer and put him into a Prison house for he was in a rage with him because of this thing And partly for the Judgment of war against him But the Scripture gives an allay to it For he was in a rage He was in a passion because of the threatning and the plainness of the speech thou hast done foolishly To say such a word to an inferior would ordinarily now a days swell many a professor to a fury much more a Prince This very Proposition will discover that there are many more pretenders to a Regenerate state than possessors of it so strangely is not only Humane Nature but the Christian Religion depraved among us 5 Propos A regenerate man cannot have a settled deliberate love to any one act of sin though he may fall into it Thus the Devil sins he loves what he doth Though a good man may fall into a sin even such a sin which he was much guilty of before his Conversion and which he hath repented of yet never into a love of it or the allowance of any one act of it For by Regeneration the Soul becomes like God in disposition and therefore cannot love any thing which he hates whose hatred and love being always just are unerring Rules to the love and hatred of every one of his Children He can never account a sin his ornament but his fetter never his delight but his grief I add this Proposition because there may be a love of an act of sin where there is not a constant course in it As a man that hath committed a murther out of revenge may love afterwards the very thoughts of that revenge though he never murther any more And a man that hath committed an act of Adultery may review it with pleasure though he never commit an act again But a good man cannot David is supposed to be inclined to the way of lying and dissembling though he might falter sometimes and look that way and perhaps fall into it yet never into a love of it therefore observe Psal 119.163 I hate and abhor lying but thy Law do I love A single hatred would not serve the turn but I hate and abhor I have not the least affection to this of any though I have the greatest natural inclination to it What was the reason Thy Law do I love There was another affection planted in his Soul which could not consist with a love to or allowance either of the habit or any one act of lying A good man hath yielded his Soul up to the government of Christ his affections are fully engaged he cannot see an equal amiableness in any other Object for he cannot lose his Eyes again his enlightened mind cannot be wholly blinded and deceived by Satan he walks not by the inveiglements of sense but by the unerring Rule of Faith so that though by some mists before his Eyes he may for a while be deluded yet as he cannot have a setled false Judgment so he cannot have a setled affection to any one act of sin 'T is one thing for a City to surrender it self to the Enemy out of affection and another thing to be forced by them Under a force they may retain their Loyalty to their lawful Prince There may be some passionate approbations of an act of sin Jonah was an Advocate for his own passion against God and made a very peremptory Apology for it Jonah 4.9 I do well to be angry even to the death Yet if we may judge by his former temper we cannot think he did afterwards defend it out of judgment as he did then out of passion for when the Lot fell upon him Jon. 2.9 12. he made no defence for his sin he very calmly wishes them to cast him into the Sea Where there is a passionate approbation it cannot be constant in a good man for when he returns to himself his abhorrences of the sin and of himself for it are greater as if by the greatness of his grief he would endeavour to make some recompence for the folly of his passion Observe by the way A good man may commit a sin with much eagerness and yet have a less affection to it in the very act than another who acts that sin more calmly because it may arise not from any particular inclination he hath in his temper to that sin but from the general violence of his natural temper which is common to him in that action This seems to be the case of Jonah both in this and the former act But if a man be more violent in that act of sin than he is in other things by his natural temper there is ground both for himself and others to think that sin hath got a great mastery over his affections Peter seems to be a man of great affections and of a forward natural temper he was very hasty to have Tabernacles built in the Mountain for his Master Moses and Elias and have resided there He hastily rebukes his Master he flung himself out of a Ship to meet our Saviour walking upon the water and after his Resurrection he leapt into the Sea to get to him So that Peter's denying his Master was not such an evidence of disaffection to him or love to the sinful act he was then surpriz'd by as it would have been in John or any other Disciple of a more sedate temper But this only by the way as a Rule both to judg your selves by and to moderate your Censures of others And consider That such acts of sin are not frequent The violence of a mans temper if godly cannot carry him out into a course of sin or a love to any one act As a wicked man may hit upon a good duty and perform it but not out of a settled love to God or habitual obedience to his Law so a good man may by surprize do an evil work not out of obedience to the Law of sin or any love to the sin it self What considerations may move a wicked man to a good duty may in some respect move a good man to a sinful act yet it is not to be called a duty in the one no more than it is to
generous mind to pass over offences and injuries Sick and indigent persons are the most peevish and impatient and least able to concoct an injury And when we kindle into a flame upon the least sparks of a wrong the Apostle tells us we are overcome of evil Rom. 12.21 Be not overcome of evil We become captives to our angry passions speedy revenge in us being an act of weakness the contrary must be an act of power over our selves God 's not executing the fierceness of his Anger is laid upon his being a God and not man Hos 11.9 God's Infinite Power gives a rise to pardon Micah 7.18 Who is a God like to thee that pardons iniquity Junius and Tremellius render it Who is a strong God and the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will bear it Let the power of my Lord be great saith Moses Numb 14.17 The word Jigdal is written with a great Jod to shew say the Jews that it is more than an ordinary power to command ones self when injured Therefore when God proclaims his pardoning Name he ushers it in with names of power The Lord the Lord God Exod. 34.6 'T is a greater work to forgive than to prevent the commission of sin as it is a greater work to raise a dead man than to cure a sick man one is a work of Art the other belongs only to Omnipotency III. The Manner of it How it is carried on 1. On God's part by Christ 1. By his Death He is the Scape-Goat upon whom our sins are laid Isa 53.6 Our sins are made Christ's and Christ's righteousness is made ours He is said to be made sin for us and we are said to be made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 a blessed exchange for us he bore that wrath indured those torments suffered those strokes of Justice which were due to us The pardon of sin doth cost us confessions and tears but it cost Christ blood and unknown pains as the Greek Liturgy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have mercy on us 1. Laid upon him by God God appropriates this work to himself Zach. 3.9 I will engrave the engraving thereof speaking of the Stone which is the same with his Servant the branch As a Stone is cut with a Chizzel which makes deep furrows in it so did God deal with Christ and that in order to the taking away of sin I will remove the iniquity of that Land in one day viz. the Day of Christ's suffering By that Offering of himself he shall perfectly satisfie me Therefore it is called the will of God in order to the taking away sin Heb. 10.9 10. compared with v. 11 12. I come to do thy will by which will we are sanctified which will was to take away sin For v. 11. that was the end of his Sacrifice the Legal Sacrifices not being able to do it God did not only consent to it or give a bare grant but it was a propense and affectionate motion of his heart Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him Hence did the Angels sing at his Birth Glory to God in the highest peace on Earth and good will towards men The peace he was to procure was the fruit of God's good will towards us 2. Voluntarily undertaken by Christ Heb. 10.5 7. Lo I come I delight to do thy will O my God Willingness in the entrance of the work willingness to take a body and willingness to lay down that body He had as it were a Fever of Affection a combustion in his bowels till it was finished In his greatest Agonies he did not repent of his undertaking or desire to give it over He cryed indeed to his Father that this Cup might pass from him but he presently submits If there be no other way to save sinners I will pass on through Death and Hell to do it When he was afflicted and oppâ—essed he murmured not at it Isa 53.7 He opened not his mouth he opened not his mouth it is twice repeated to shew his willingness And God was highly pleased with him for this very reason because he did pour out his Soul and bore the sins of many and maâ—â—â—rcession for the transgressors All which expressions denote his earnestness and readiness in it 2. By his Resurrection His Death is the payment his Resurrection the discharge Rom. 4. ult Who was delivered for our offences and rose again for our Justification Not that we are formally justified by the Resurrection of Christ but that thereby God declar'd that whosoever believes in him should be justified upon that believing For if Câ—â—â—â—â— had not risen there had been no certainty of the payment of the debt In h s Death he pays the Sun as he is our Surety and in his Resurrection he hath his Quietus est out of God's Exchequer God will not have this payment from Christ which he hath acknowledged himself publickly to be satisfied with and from Believers too For upon his Resurrection he sent him to bless men Acts 3. ult God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you How In turning away every one of you from his iniquity It being a great encouragement to turn men from sin when God had thus declar'd them pardonable by the Resurrection of his Son 2. On our parts by Faith Faith is as necessary in an instrumental way as Christ in a meritorious way Acts 26.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sins by Faith that is in me Christ purchaseth a pardon but Faith only puts us into possession of a pardon yet it cannot from its own worth challenge forgiveness at the hands of God but upâ—â— the account of Christ who hath merited forgiveness Though the King grants a pardon to a condemned Malefactor yet he may be executed unless he pleads it the next Assizes though he hath it lying by him So unless we sue it out and accept of it by Faith all Christ's purchase will not advantage us Faith looks not barely upon the sufferings of Christ but upon his end and design in it It looks not upon his Passion as a story but as a Testament and you seldom find the Death of Christ mentioned in the New Testament without expressing the end of it This forgiveness by Christ's Death as the meritorious cause shews 1. God's willingness to pardon If God did delight in the Death of Christ it was not surely simply in his Death for could a Father delight to tear out the bowels of his Son The afflictions of his People go to his heart much more would the sufferings of his darling God had more delight in forgiveness than grief at his Sons sufferings for he never repented of it though our Saviour besought him with tears And that God who were never deaf to any that called upon him nor ever will be would not hear his only Son in the request to take the Cup from him or abate any thing of the weight o◠〈◊〉 â—ufferings because it was necessary for the
only Object of God's hatred while this remains his Holiness cannot but hate us when this is removed his righteousness cannot but love us remission and favour are inseparable and can never be dis-joyned 'T is by this he makes us as a Diadem upon his Head a Bracelet on his Arm it is by this he writes us upon the Palms of his Hands makes us his peculiar Treasure even as the Apple of his Eye which Nature hath so carefully fenced 2. Access to God A Prince may discard a Favourite for some guilt and though he may restore him to his liberty in the Common-wealth yet he may not admit him to the favour of his wonted privacies But a pardoned man hath an access to God to a standing and perpetually settled Grace Rom. 5.1 2. Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access Guilt frights us and makes us loath the very sight of God Pardon encourageth us to come near to him Guilt respects him as a Judge Pardon as a Friend Who can confidently or hopefully call upon an angry and condemning God But who cannot but hopefully call upon a forgiving God Sin is the partition wall between God and us and Pardon is the demolishing of it Forgiveness is never bestowed but the Scepter is held out to invite us to come into God's presence And what can be more desirable than to have not only the favour of but a free access at any time to the Lord of Heaven and Earth and at length an everlasting being with him 3. Peace of Conscience There must needs be fair Weather when Heaven smiles upon us All other things breed disquietness Sin was a Thorn in David's Crown his Throne and Scepter were but miserable comforters while his guilt overwhelmed him The glory of the World is no soveraign Plaister for a wounded Spirit Other enjoyments may please the sense but this only can gratifie the Soul God's Thunder made Moses tremble Heb. 12.21 But the probability of a gracious Pardon would make a damned Soul smile in the midst of tormenting flames How often hath the sense of it raised the hearts of Martyrs and made the Sufferers sing while the Spectators wept Though this I must confess is not always an inseparable concomitant There is much difference between a Pardon and the comfort of it that may pass the Seal of the King without the knowledge of the Malefactor Pardon indeed always gives the jus ad rem a right to peace of Conscience but not always jus in re the possession of it There may be an actual separation between Pardon and actual Peace but not between Pardon and the ground of Peace 4. It sweetens all mercies Other mercies are a ring but pardon is the Diamond in it A justified person may say I have temporal mercies and a pardon too I live in repute in the world and Gods favour too riches increase and my peace with God doth not diminish I have health with a pardon friends with a pardon as Job ch 29.3 6 7. among all other blessings this he counts the chiefest that Gods Candle shin'd upon his head A Prisoner for some capital crime may have all outward accommodations for lodging dyet attendance without a real happiness when he expects to be called to his tryal before a severe judge from whom there is no appeal and that will certainly both pass and cause to be executed a sentence of death upon him So though a man wallows in all outward contents he cannot write himself blessed while the wrath of God hangs over his head and he knows not how soon he may be summon'd before Gods tribunal and hear that terrible voice Go thou cursed What comfort can a man take in Houses Land Health when he considers he owes more than all his estate is worth So what comfort can a man have in any thing in this world when he may hourly expect an arrest from God and a demand of all his debts and he hath not so much as one farthing of his own or any interest in a sufficient surety We may have honour and a curse wealth and a curse Children and a curse health and long life and a curse learning and a curse but we can never have pardon and a curse Our outward things may be gifts but not blessings without a pardon 5. It sweetens all afflictions A frown with a pardon is better than a thousand smiles without it Sin is the sting of crosses and Remission is a taking the sting out of them A sight of Heaven will mitigate a cross on earth The stones about Stephens ears did scarce afflict him when he saw his Saviour open Heaven to entertain him To see death staring us in the face and an angry and offended God above ready to charge all our guilt is a doleful spectacle Look upon my affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins saith the Psalmist Psal 25.18 Sin doth embitter and adds weight to an affliction but the removal of sin doth both lighten it and sweeten it USE 1. An unpardoned man is a miserable man Such a state lays you open to all the miseries on earth and all the torments in Hell The poorest begger with a pardon is higher than the greatest prince without it How can we enjoy a quiet hour if our debt be not remitted since we owe more than we are able to pay You may dye with a forfeited reputation and yet be happy but what happiness if you die with unpardoned guilt 1. There must either be pardon or punishment The law doth oblige either to obedience or suffering the Commands of it must be observed or the penalty indured God will not relax the punishment without a valuable consideration If it be not executed the creature may accuse God of want of wisdom in enacting it or defect of power in maintaining it Therefore there must be an exact observance of the law which no creature after the first deviation is able to do or an undergoing the penalty of it which no Sinner is able to bear There must therefore be a remission of this punishment for the good of the creature and the Satisfaction of the law by a surety for the honour of Gods justice If we have not therefore an interest in the surety the purchaser of remission we must lye under the severity of the law in our persons 2. You can call nothing an act of Gods Love towards you while you remain unpardoned What is there you do enjoy which may not consist with his hatred as well as his Love Have we knowledge So have Devils Have we riches So had Nabal and Cain Have we honour So had Pharaoh and Herod Have we Sermons So had Judas the best that ever were preacht Nothing nothing but a pardon is properly a blessing How can that man take pleasure in any thing he hath when all the threatnings in the book of God are as so many arrows directed
were like Mary Magdalen to wash Christ's feet with its tears when it hath been washed its self with Christ's blood The Soul cannot enough hate that which God hath been merciful in the pardon of Forgiveness is like the warmth of the Spring it draws out the Sap of the Tree the tears of the Soul which else would scarcely stir If God hath given thee Repentance it is sure enough that he hath given thee a pardon for if he did not mean to give thee that he would never have given thee the other 3. Fearfulness of sin Whosoever knows the bitterness of sin and the benefit of a pardon can never confidently rush into it A pardoned man will never go about to forfeit that which he hath newly received Forgiveness from God doth produce fear in the creature Psal 130.4 But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared 'T is a sign we have repented and got pardon if we find after that exercise of repentance and prayer our hatred of sin encreaseth especially of that sin we were guilty of before 4. Sanctification God never pardons but he subdues sin Mich. 7.19 He will subdue our iniquity and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea Both are put together In the Lords prayer desires to be rid of all evil and not to be led into any temptation follow immediately upon the desire of pardon A justified Person and a Sanctified nature are inseparable Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ there is pardon but how shall I know that I am pardoned If you walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit We never sincerely desire pardon but we desire purging and God never gives the one but he bestows the other If thou hast an interest in a pardoning Christ thou wilt have the effects of a Sanctifying Spirit Where Gods grace forgives all sin he will give us grace to forsake all sin 'T is his covenant to turn away ungodliness when he takes away the punishment of sin Rom. 11.26 27. the deliverer shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The applications of Gods grace to us are attended with the infusions of Gods grace into us When he puts his law into the heart he remembers sin no more Jer. 31.33 34. 5. Forgiving others In the Lords prayer we pray forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us Our Saviour comments upon this petition to shew that pardon cannot be without this condition in Mat. 18. from v. 23. to the 35. Christ makes it at least a causa sine quâ non of pardon Luke 11.4 and forgive us our sins for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us 6. Affectionate Love to God and Christ When we desire to glorify him by his grace as well as be glorified by it 'T is the injury done to God by our sins which doth most affect that heart upon which the Spirit of God is poured Zac. 12.10 they shall mourn over him or be in bitterness for him The Soul is more concerned for Christ than for it self When there is too much of self in our desires for it God delays the manifestation of it to the heart that we may come up to purer strains Christ certainly shed his blood for their remission who are willing to shed theirs for his glory Else Christ whose glory it is to outstrip the hottest affection of his creature would be behind hand with him in love That Soul that would spend its all upon Christ he will not suffer to stand long sobbing before him Luk. 7.47 4 Use of Exhortation 1. To those who are careless of it Oh! by all means seek it Will it at last comfort thee to think of thy mirth and pleasures how honourable how rich or how well stor'd with friends thou hast been What should take up thy heart busy thy thoughts or employ thy endeavours but this that concerns thy eternal state Wilt thou sin away the time of Gods patience and thine own happiness Is it not a time which God hath allotted thee to get a pardon in What would Cain Judas Pilot Herod and all the black regiment give for the very hopes of it Oh prize that here which thou wilt hereafter esteem infinitely valuable and call thy self fool and madman a thousand times for neglecting the opportunity of getting The anger of a King is as the roaring of a Lyon what then are the frowns of an infinite just God Why is thy strength and affection spent about other things Would a forlorn malefactor leading to execution listen chearfully to any thing but the news of his princes clemency Seek it 1. Earnestly Pardon is an inestimable blessing and must not be sought with faint and tired affections 2. Presently Is it not full time seriously to set about it Thou hast lost too many days already and wilt thou be so senseless as to let another slip How knowest thou but if thou dost refuse it this day thou may'st be uncapable of it to morrow There is but a step a few minutes between thee and death and delaies in great emergencies are dangerous 3. Vniversally Content not your selves with seeking a pardon for grisly staring sins which fright the conscience with every look but seek the pardon of your inward secret spiritual sins while you begg most for the pardon of those Sanctifying grace will come in as well as justifying the more you pray against the guilt of them the more you will hate the filth of them 2. To those that seek a pardon and yet are in doubt of it Secure sinners that understand not the evil of sin think it is an easy thing and that forgiveness will be granted of course But those that groan under the burden of their iniquity imagine it more difficult than indeed it is Presumption wrongs God in his justice and every degree of despair or doubting in his mercy 1. God is willing to pardon Ephraim doth but desire that God would turn him and God presently cries out Is Ephraim my dear Son is he a pleasant Child Jer. 31.18 20. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus A penitent Ephraim is instantly a pleasant Child Ephraim strikes upon his thigh with confession and God speaks to his heart with affection God doth as it were take the words out of Ephraims mouth as though he watched for the first look of Ephraim towards him or the first breath of a Supplication God is more willing to pardon sin than we are to sin Because we sin with reluctancy natural conscience checking us but God hath no check when he goes to pardon He waits to be gracious Isa 30.18 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you He hath waited all the time of your sinning to have an opportunity to shew grace to you and now you give it him by repenting will he lose the
fruit of his waiting 'T is the end of Christs exaltation whether it be meant of his being lifted up on the cross or his exaltation in Heaven 't is true of both that his end is to have mercy upon you 2. God will pardon the greatest sins His infinite compassion cannot exhaust it self by a frequent remiâ—â—ion Mercy holds proportion to Justice as his Justice punisheth little sins as well as great so doth mercy pass by great sins as well as little Your highest sins are the sins of men but the mercy offered is the mercy of a God The debt you owe is a vast debt but Christs Satisfaction is of a greater value and a Kings revenue may well pay a beggers debts though she owe many thousands the first day of marriage Multiplied sins upon repentance shall meet with multiplied pardons Isay 55.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abundantly pardon We cannot vie our sins with Gods mercy The grace of God and righteousness of Christ which are necessary for the remission of one sin are infinite and no more is requisite for the pardon of the greatest yea of the sins of the whole world if they were upon thy single score The grace conferred upon Paul was more than would suit his necessity 1 Tim. 1.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Superabound and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant enough to have pardoned a whole world as well as Paul like the Sun that emits as much heat in his beams upon one puddle as is enough not only to exhale the moisture of that but of a 100 more Suppose thou art the greatest sinner that ever was yet extant in the world do not think that God who hath snatcht so many firebrands of Hell out of the Devils hands will neglect such an opportunity to make his grace illustrious upon thy humble Soul If God hath given thee repentance it is a certain evidence he will follow it with a pardon though thy sins be of a deeper scarlet than ever yet was seen upon the earth for if he did not mean to bestow this he would never have bestowed upon thee the necessary condition of it Is there not a sinner can equal thee Then surely God is wiser than to lose the highest opportunity he yet had to evidence his superlative grace And therefore 1. Continue thy humiliations There must be a conformity between Christ and thee he was humbled when he purchased remission and you must be humbled when you receive it God will not part with that very cheap that cost his Son so dear though thou art not at the expence of the blood of thy Soul thou must be at the expence of the blood of thy Sins When a man comes to be deeply affected with his sin then God sends a message of peace Isay 6 6 7. Then flew one of the Seraphims and laid a live coal upon his mouth and said thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged When v. 5. he had cryed out woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips The way to have a debt forgiven is to acknowledge it Ps 32.5 I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin God stood as ready to forgive Davids unrighteousness as he was ready to confess it Mercy will not save a man without making him sensible of and humbled for his iniquity Put thy business therefore into Christs hands and submit to what terms he will impose upon thee 2. In thy Supplications plead his glory You find this the constant argument the people of God in the Scripture use for the prevailing with God for forgiveness That argument is most comfortably pleaded which God Loves most and whereunto he orders all his actions No stronger motive can be used to him to grant it than that whereby he excites himself to bestow it When thou beggest other things thou mayest dishonour God but God cannot be a loser of his glory in granting this Lord if thou turnest me into Hell where is the glory of thy mercy upon thy creature Nay where is the glory of thy justice my eternal torments not being able to compensate the injury done to thee by sin so much as the suffering of thy only Son whose death I desire to share in and whose terms I am willing to submit to 3. Exhortation to those that are pardoned 1. Admire this grace of God To pardon one sin is a greater thing than to create a world to pardon one sin is greater than to damn a world God can create a world without the death of a creature he can damn a world without the death of the Creator but in pardoning there must be the death of the Creator the Son of God 2. Serve God much Is the guilt of sin the cord that bound thee taken off It is fit that when thou art so unfettered thou should'st run the ways of Gods Commandments A sense of pardon of sin makes the Soul willing and ready to run upon Gods errands and to obey his Commands Isa 6.8 I heard the voice of the Lord saying Whom shall I send Then said I Here am I Then when he had received assurance that his iniquity was taken away v. 7. Gods pardon set thee upon a new stock and therefore he expects thou should'st be full of new clusters 3. Be more fearful of sin Dispute with thy self Hath God pardoned the guilt of sin that it shall not damn me and shall I wallow in the mire of sin to pollute my self Oh thy sins after pardon have a blacker circumstance than the sins of Devils or the sins of wicked men for theirs are not against pardoning mercy not against special Love Oh thaw thy heart every morning with a meditation on pardon and sin will not so easily freeze it in the day time When thou art tempted to sin consider what thoughts thou hadst when thou wert suing for pardon how earnest thou wert for it what promises and vows thou didst make and consider the Love God shewed thee in pardoning Do not blur thy pardon so easily wound thy Conscience or weaken thy faith 4. Be content with what God gives thee If he gives thee Heaven will he deny thee earth He that bestows upon thee the pardon of sin would surely pour into thy bosom the gold of both the Indies were it necessary for thee But thou hast got a greater happiness for it is not said blessed is he that wallows in wealth honour and a confluence of worldly prosperity but Blessed is he whose sin is forgiven and whose iniquity is covered FINIS THE INDEX OF THE Principal Matters contain'd in the Discourse of DIVINE PROVIDENCE A ACtions all under God's Providence page 9 10 11 Many can be ascribed to nothing else page 15 16 17 Affections of God to his Church page 69 v. Church Affections made subservient to Gods designs page 14 Of good Men impeach not Providence à page 21. ad 27 Make them not
330 943.  9. 66  12. 1076. 8. 3. 1146. 10. 1. 336.  5 6. 60. 11 8. 630.  9. 1300. 12. 5. 23 † 6. 36 † 11. 1144. 13. 3. 737.  8. 910 911 1192. 14. 6. 40 † 19 20. 50 †15. 2. 488 40 † 8. 36. †19. 1 4 6. 23 † 13. 329 1091.  15. 694. 20. 9. 51 †21. 1. 40 † 3. 769 770.  5. 114.  16. 23 † 23. 489 497 770. 22. 1. 34 †THE INDEX A. ABel's Faith Page 601 1164. Abraham's Page 1164. Abstinence from sin may be without Mortification and the grounds of it Page 1317 8. Abuse of Mercy Dangerous Page 696. Acceptableness of Christs Death Page 883. How it was so Page 885 6. Demonstrated from Page 316. to 322 337 8 from 886 to 898 1087 1148. What made it so Page 882. a 899. ad 906. A Comfort to a Believer Page 323. 871 909. The fruits of it Page 317. ad 322. Acceptation of us and our services founded on that of Christ Page 322 897. Of Believers certain and perpetual Page 323 910. The matter of Christs Intercession Page 1146 7. Access to God Beleivers have with confidence delight and joy Page 366 7. In it God as Reconciled to be eyed Page 378. Studying the Death of Christ would animate us in it Page 844. Follows upon Pardon Page 110 †Vid. Prayer Accusations of Beleivers shall be answer'd Page 340. Of Sin and Satan the Death of Christ to be pleaded against them Page 753 4. 1103 1152. Activity of the New-Creature for God and of what kind a Page 88. ad 94. Essential Acts of the Soul not changed in Regeneration Page 73 4. Adam in Innocence how lie had a power to Believe and Repent Page 189. His first Sin what and how he fell Page 645 6. 730. Why not mentioned in 11. Heb. Page 646. His Faith in Christ Page 1165. What he knew of Christs sufferings Page 1170. Whose Sin greater his or Eves Page 78 †Adoption not without Regeneration Page 32. How they differ Page 72. How it differs from Reconciliation and Justification Page 244. How great a Mercy Page 1287. Thoughts of it a ground of confidence in Prayer Page 384. Advocate what Page 1111. Vide Intercessor Affections of the New-Creature for God unbounded Page 91. Of a Regenerate Man to the Law of God Page 99 100. Some sort of them may be raised in unrenewed Men. Page 109 110. Placed on God a mark of Regeneration Page 120. Follow sense Page 749. Inconstant ibid. Accompany a saving Knowledge Page 417. Corrupt a hindrance of Divine Knowledge Page 464. Sutable should accompany the Knowledge of God in Christ Page 519. Should accompany our Thoughts of God Page 3 †Afflictions the lot of all God's dearest Children Page 553 1286. We must not slight them nor be dejected under them Page 1282. All from God ibid. We should not be impatient under them Page 1282 1284 1289 1291. Their removal to be sought of God Page 1282. Sent on good Men by God as a Father Page 1282 1285. Effects of divine Love Page 1283 1289. Our carriage under them should be pleasing to God Page 1284. Should make us turn our Anger against sin ibid. The Wisdom of God in them to his Children above that of earthly Parents Page 1288. God to be loved for them Page 1289. The intention of God in them to be answered ibid. Grievous but profitable Page 1290. We should judge aright of them ibid. Faith necessary under them Page 1291. Vid. Faith Believers have assistance in them Page 1104. Sweetned by Pardon Page 111 †Great no sign of an unpardoned state Vid. Troubles Punishment Ambition a great hindrance of Conversion Page 2. A cause of unbelief Page 738. Angels could not have contrived mans Redemption Page 252. Nor effected it Page 860 937. Vid. Sacrifice Subjected to Christ Page 333 4. 1098. Not Redeemed Page 361 Good at peace with a Believer Page 364 5. Can 't know God perfectly Page 413. Their clearest knowledge of God is by Christ Page 495. How affected with mens sins Page 67 †Antiquity an unsafe rule Page 834. Apostacy unavoidable without growth in Knowledge Page 455. A folly Page 40 †Vid. Weak Grace and Perseverance Apostates are Unbelievers Page 729 730. Assurance how to be obtained Page 52 3. Of obtaining must not chill Prayer Page 384 Want of it not unbeleif Page 605 Often given at the Supper Page 762. Not necessary in a Communicant Page 783 4 And Faith how they differ Page 799. The more perfect our Mortification the clearer it is Page 1315. Possible Vid. Knowledge of a mans state Attendance on God our work in Heaven Page 39. Attributes of God some of them could not have been known without the fall Page 481 2. Others not so clearly Page 483. All manifested and glorified in Christ a Page 498. ad 512. 888 9. 906 941. A sense of them fix'd on the Soul in Conviction Page 575. All the object of Faith Page 1161. Faith to be acted on them Page 85 †B. BAptism shews the necessity of Regeneration Page 20. T is not Regeneration Page 75. No Converting Ordinance Page 792 Believers their Salvation certain Page 284 5. 911 1105 6. 1196. Their state better than Adams in innocency Page 371 2. 1356. Their Salvation the end of Christs Commission and Intercession Page 302 3. 1147 But few in all ages Page 671 714. Their happiness Page 701 2 3. a 909. ad 912. Christs possession Page 1328 9. His charge Page 1330 1 2 1359. Power given him for their good Page 1332 3 4. Vid. Exaltation His affections to them Page 1335 6 7. Blessings spiritual flow from the Father through Christ Page 258. Gods giving and accepting Christ an assurance none shall be denyed us Page 352 3. 369. 912. Christs acceptation the Foundation of them all Page 321. Blood of Christ cleansed from sins commited before it was shed Page 892. a 1187 ad 1192. Of perpetual vertue Page 893. Cleanseth morally Page 1186. From guilt and filth Page 1186 7. perfectly Page 1195 6 7. How a Page 1198. ad 1201. Comfort to those that are cleansed by it Page 1208 9. Vid. Death of Christ and Sacrifice Body prepared for Christ Page 275 6. Necessary for him Page 289. What kind of one Page 289 290. It s glory in Heaven Page 1093 4. Bodies of men shall be raised Page 1105. Boasting dangerous to a Renewed man Page 202. C. CALL of Christ to be our Redeemer by the Father a Page 266. ad 269. Cause of it self or any thing nobler than it self nothing can be Page 167 Ceremonies humane especially if abused not to be urged Page 747. Change a great one by Regeneration a Page 75. ad 84. 128. Goes with a saving knowledge Page 415 416. Christ may be esteemed by those that want saving Faith Page 2. Should be our end Page 66 The exemplar of the New Creature Page
man Page 118 †Feasts of Love in the Primitive times no Divine institution Page 747. Fervency of the new Creature in the service of God Page 90. Vid. Dulness Fewness of new-Creatures Page 105. of Believers in all ages Page 671. 714. should make those that are good better Page 745. of sins doth not render a man safe Page 113 †Fitness of Christ to be a Redeemer a. Page 286. ad 298. Foreknowledge of God overthrown by the Patrons of free-will Page 158. of things that depend on the liberty of the Will its manner Page 158 9. 207. Forgetfulness of sin no argument of a pardon Page 114 †Forgiving others we should be ready to it Page 379. no pardon without it Page 116 †Free Agents God's wisdom in governing them Page 179 180. Foundations of the Church make it stable Page 35 6 †Fulness of Christ from the Father Page 287 8. 1333. Vid. Fitness Fundamentals whether not believing one of them be consistent with Faith Page 607. G. GLory of God and Salvation of Believers link't together Page 285. should be principally our aim Page 384. of God and Christ linked together Page 385. can 't be given him by those that know him not Page 40◠of God too great for man to bear the sight of Page 497 8. the Church the only seat of it Page 32 †to be pleaded in Prayer for pardon Page 117 †Glory of Christ-essential and Mediatory how they differ Page 328. 1095 6. too great for man to bear the sight of Page 1082. Vid. Exaltation God his happiness consists in the knowledge of himself Page 399. the most excellent object Page 458. Gospel the study of it a means of Regeneration Page 64. should be adorn'd by the Regenerate Page 128. men naturally Enemies to it Page 145. 154. 514 515. received by but a few Page 165 6. alone cannot regenerate Page 170. its power in changing men admirable Page 235 6. of Divine Authority Page 236. why so much oppos'd ib. how injurious to God they are that obstruct it Page 236. shall never be banisht out of the World Page 237. 1294. God hath some to beget where it is sent Page 237. 239. its propagation Page 303 4. how great a blessing Page 346 7. denyal of its truths and doubting its Doctrines are unbelief Page 608. a refusal to comply with its terms is unbelief Page 600. worthy credit Page 671. gives the clearest light Page 690. its contempt brings speedy misery Page 694 5. the instrument of Regeneration Page 231. Vid. Word study of it a means to divine knowledge Page 519. Vid. Scriptures the excellency of its state Page 504. indulges not sin Page 1114. difference between it and the Law Page 594. removed from particular Churches Page 1295 6 7. Vid. Church its removal a great judgment and to be feared Page 1297 8 9. shall never be totally taken from these Western parts Page 1300. sad presages of its eclips among us Page 1300 1 2. God to be praised for its continuance Page 1302 3. to be improved while enjoyed Page 1303. its removal how prevented Page 1303 4. Vid. Christian Religion Word Goodness of God known by the Creatures Page 479. by Christ Page 345. 501. ad 505. slighted by unbelief Page 618 19 20. wonderful towards total and partial unbelief Page 654 5. Vide Love of God Government of the World for the good of a Believer Page 386 7. Grace most opposes the most beloved sin Page 3. no natural priviledge gives a title to it Page 4. 139. the least degree of it matter of comfort Page 51. all seminally in a renew'd man Page 87. weak at first Page 88. 1358. predominant in the new-Creature Page 95. active in him Vid. Activity Superior to morality Page 107. given gradually Page 117. should be kept in its vigour Page 126. from God only Page 139. can 't be merited Page 149 50. man hath a subjective capacity of it Page 147. can 't be actuated or preserv'd by a mans own strength Page 174 5. common general or more particular Page 176. common what power men have by it Page 180. ad 187. Special God's denyal of it to men vindicated Page 190 91 92. 213. habitual not to be trusted in Page 202 3. of God and Christ's merit not inconsistent Page 255 6. promised to Christ for men Page 280. preserving strengthning encreasing quickning and perfecting from God only Page 223. to be expected from God in Christ Page 378 9. can 't be or continue without knowledge and encrease in knowledge a Page 404. ad 409. saving knowledge an evidence of it Page 448 9. to be examin'd and how Page 777 796 831. 1365. excited by self-examination Page 795. not to be rested on Page 832. fruit of Christs death Page 864 1328. doth not priviledge sin Page 1293. abounding in it a sign of mortification Page 1319. its operations may be interrupted Page 1348. the comfort of it may be lost Page 1349 opprest will recover Page 1350. should be laboured for Page 1365. to be admired Page 1366 7. 118 †all to be ascribed to it Page 1367 8 9. Vid. Regenerate to be much exercised Page 1373. Christ the author and pattern of it Page 1337 8. causes delight in Prayer Page 59 †Growth in Grace urged Page 127 8. will be where Grace is ibid. must be uniform Page 128. what necessary to it Page 223 409 410 455 761. a 1370. ad 1376. Christ intercedes for it Page 1343 4. Grace weak shall be victorious a Page 1324. ad 1348. Vid. Perseverance comfort to those in whom ' its weak Page 116 117 1358 9. not to be despised by men Page 1369. directions to preserve and encrease it a Page 1370 ad 1376. Graces Christ furnisht with them how by whom and why a Page 291. ad 298. 1333. Vid. Fulness of Christ eminently manifested in his death Page 312 313 903 4 5. H. HAbit good must be before good actions Page 21 22. 171. none in nature to be awaken'd Page 74. infused in Regeneration Page 85 6. of grace but one though it hath various names Page 86 87. evil innate in all Page 143. contracted Page 143. the cause of unbelief Page 739 740 Happiness some desires of it in all Page 55 56 648. the folly to neglect it seeing 't is necessary and possible Page 701. consists in the knowledge of God and Christ only Page 391. Head Christ a common one Page 275. Vid. Imputation Heart sense of Gods authority there a mark of Regeneration Page 119 120. none but God can work on it Page 208. Heathens saw the necessity of Regeneration Page 18 19. their unbelief negative and no sin Page 607 608 689. how the cause of their ruin Page 607 8. 676. shall be condemned for sins against the light of nature Page 689. 690. their notions of God worse than any in Christianity appear to be Page 656. Heaven no natural priviledge intitles to it Page 4. Regeneration necessary to an entrance into it
1102. can 't be by our works Page 1115. a 1203. ad 1208. the matter of Christ's Intercession Page 1141 2. what God eyes in it Page 1175. when compleat Page 1197. 1113. continued Page 1209. Vid. own Righteousness Justice of God in punishing fallen man vindicated Page 178. not blemisht by his commands and promises when he denies special Grace Page 191 192. honoured by Christ Page 250. 306. 508. 837. 883. and mercy united in Christ Page 499. 506. can't but punish an unbeliever and seen in so doing Page 681. 704. ad 707. insensibleness of its severity a cause of Unbelief Page 732. to be reverenc'd Page 757. requires satisfaction Page 860. 869. 926. 928. Vid. Satisfaction its plea against fallen man Page 929. seen in destroying the Churches Enemies Page 47 †51 †in Pardon Page 105 †K. KIngdom of God the Gospel state why so call'd Page 7 8. those of the world overturned Page 25 †Kingly Office of Christ required his Death Page 943. and Exaltation Page 1086. secures Believers and the Church Page 1354. 34 5 †Knowledge literal may be without saving Page 4. alone not sufficient to salvation Page 45. speculative Page 392 3. practical Page 393 4 5. experimental Page 395 6 7. of interest Page 397. of God and Christ necessary to happiness grace and peace Page 390 ◠a 398. ad 411. not immediate nor comprehensive Page 411 12. 13. not perfect here Page 414. 454. saving its effect a Page 415. ad 433. its manner a Page 433. ad 437. of other things besides God and Christ insufficient Page 437 8 9. of a true Christian the best Page 440. 448. sad to abuse it Page 440 1. men opposite to it and negligent of it Page 443 4. saving very comfortable a Page 448. ad 452. should be tryed whither saving Page 452. no other but saving to be rested in Page 453 4. growth in it urged and directed a Page 455. ad 457. they that want it urged to seek it a Page 457. ad 464. 1371. hindrances of it Page 4. 439. a 464. ad 466. helps to it a Page 466. ad 473. saving of God only by Christ Page 474. natural of God by implanted notions Page 478. by the Creatures Page 478 9. under the Law Page 485 6. by Christ most excellent Page 481. ad 492. Christ only capacitated to give it Page 492 3. necessary the highest should be by him Page 494. purchased by him Page 496. Christ the necessary medium of it Page 497 8. of all Gods perfections by Christ and how a. Page 498. ad 512. of God in Christ men are Enemies to Page 514 15. deserves praise Page 518. to be sought and how Page 518 19. should be attended with sutable affections Page 519. natural and acquir'd stir'd up in conviction Page 573 4. punishment proportion'd to it Page 689 690 1. 797 8. of a mans Estate possible Page 777. 829. what qualifies for the Sacrament Page 784 5. L. LAW of God studying it advantagious Page 63. 599. 1321. written in the heart by Regeneration what a Page 96. ad 100. of it self doth not convert but irritate sin Page 169 231. not so powerful as the Gospel Page 235. alone can't throughly convince Page 565. an instrument in conviction Page 571 2 3. unbelief a sin against it Page 647 8 9. strengthens the sentence of an Unbeliever Page 684. silenced by Christ's Death Page 839. difference between it and the Gospel Page 1179. knowledge of God by it Vid. Knowledge Laws natural and positive their difference Page 772. who can repeal them Page 772 3. Liberty of the will what is lost by sin Page 176 7. some still in man Page 178 9. 180. spiritual the fruit of Christs death Page 852. Life uncertain Page 60. Light of Nature all from Christs interposition Page 138 175 6 476. discovers God but dim and weak Page 478 486 491. cannot throughly convince Page 557 8 563. 4 568 569. Likeness to God perfect the reward of Heaven Page 41. 114. in the new Creature a Page 100 ad 104. fervent longings after it a sign of Regeneration Page 119. should be the object of our love Page 129. Love of God in Christ great Page 257 269 307. 314 a 359. ad 363 688 836 1148. secures a Believers standing Page 1325. to Believers not hindred by their corruptions Page 1364. the Church the peculiar object of it Page 32 †Love to God a duty in Heaven Page 40. implanted in Regeneration Page 79. not without knowledge Page 406. necessary in the Supper Page 806 7. how to try it Page 807 8 9 10 68 †75 †abated by forgetfulness of mercies Page 1371. a menans to raise good thought Page 12 †much exercised a means of perseverance Page 1374. a sign of pardon Page 116 †Love of Christ in his death a strong motive to obedience Page 65. wonderful Page 883. to weak Believers Page 1336 1351 2 3. Love to Men seen in mourning for their sins Page 68 †Love to the Saints a mark of Regeneration Page 67. a necessary duty Page 129 810. how to try it Page 811. Love to Sin setled a renewed man cannot cannot have Page 95 †M. MAjesty of God known by the creatures Page 480. Man deals unworthily with God Page 353 4 5. all by nature under condemnation Page 676 7. Vid. Fall Marriage no Sacrament Page 77 †Means of Grace not insufficient in themselves Page 195. nothing to be ascribed to them Page 202. weak ones used to renew men Page 209 10. have defferent success Page 210. to be used with an eye to God Page 229. cannot convince without the spirit Page 725 726. the best oft unsuccessful Page 718. total neglect of them shews men are unbelievers Page 725 6. God never wants them Page 27 †unlawful not to be used Page 54 †Mediator none but Christ Page 355. Meditation a means of Divine knowledge Page 472. every morning a means to raise good thoughts Page 12 13 †the matter and manner of it to be looked to Page 13 14 †good thoughts injected should be used to assist us in it Page 18 †Meekness an effect of saving knowledge Page 426. a means to it Page 472. Memorials of Gods favours always appointed Page 749. necessary Page 749. Mercy of God display'd in Regeneration Page 211 and justice united in Christ Page 499 506. absolute cannot pardon and save Page 679 680 1. 1179 1202. Vid. Faith Unbelievers its plea for fallen man Page 929. God always hath for his people Page 65 †mixt with punishment Page 84. Vid Goodness Mercies common ones sweetned by pardon Page 379 111. all from God Page 667. received to be remembred and how Page 1306 7 8. 1310. 52. why Page 1309 10 11. arguments for hope and trust for the future Page 387 1311 12. 48 †53 †sense of them causes delight in prayer Page 60 †temporal faith to be acted for them Page 84 5. Merit of grace Impossible Page
sensual hinder knowledge stiffle conviction Page 464. 599. Philosophy never wrought such changes as the Gospel Page 235. Power remaining in natural men what a Page 175. ad 180. to be used by them Page 203 4. Vid. Impotence Power of God seen in Regeneration Page 215. manifested in Christ Page 344. 512. known by the Creatures Page 479. disparaged by unbelief Page 620. engaged to preserve Saints from Apostacy Page 1326. 1352. given Christ for Believers Page 1332. Vid. Fulness of Christ seen in the ruine of the Churches Enemies Page 47 †in pardon Page 105 †Praise a duty in heaven Page 40. discouraged by the Patrons of free-will Page 160 199. for grace received the way to have more Page 1322. Prayer a means of the new-birth Page 62. 136. 204. a renewed man can't neglect Page 121. discouraged by the Patrons of free-will Page 160. 199 natural men can perform Page 184 5. what pleas to be used in it Page 229. 270. 304 5. 385. always should attend the Word Page 239. omissions of it unworthy Page 354. 1149. adoption a ground of confidence in it Page 384. must not be chilld by assurance of having what we want Page 384. the glory of God must be chiefly minded in it Page 384. a means of Divine knowledge Page 466 7 8. neglecters or formal performers of it are unbelievers Page 726. thoughts of Christ's exaltation would encourage in it Page 1107. of Christ in the Garden and on the Cross Page 879. 1131 2. Christ's Intercession a comfort in it Page 1152. a means of perseverance Page 1373. a means to suppress bad thoughts Page 17 †for the Church hath excellent grounds Page 37 †excited by delays of deliverance Page 48 †should be frequent in a time of trouble Page 55 †delight in it Vid. Delight Preaching Eloquent not most successful Page 200. Christ's why not more successful Page 210. 232. 718. how it ought to be Page 238. 834 5. Predictions of Christ's Death a Page 944. ad 947. Preparation want of it makes a Man an unworthy receiver Page 818. Preparations to Grace a Page 148. ad 156. from the Spirit Page 569. Pride natural to fallen man Page 198. the Devils sin Vid. Devil a hindrance of conversion and knowledge Page 216. 466. oft in professors Page 666. the spring of the Churches calamity ibid. thoughts of God's soveraignty will check it Page 667. of reason the cause of unbelief Page 733. 4 5. appears in humbled ones Page 735 6. of the Churches Enemies the time of their ruine Page 45 †Priesthood of Christ required his Death Page 861 2 3. 942. and Exaltation Page 1084 5 6. intercession a part of it Page 1117. perpetual Page 1134. secures the Church and every Believer Page 34 †1354. Principles actions are according to them Page 21 2. a change of them in Regeneration Page 78 9. a vital one infused in it Page 84 5. Priviledges only don 't intitle to Gods favour or Heaven Page 30. 48. relyance on them a cause of unbelief Page 736 7. Profane ones far enough from Regeneration Page 105. are unbelievers Page 723. Profession not sufficient to salvation Page 47. is not Faith Page 798. Professors little evidence of Regeneration among them Page 105 6. oft overborn with Pride and Passion Page 798. many of them unbelievers Page 7â—2 disobedient are inexcusable Page 1218. Promises God vindicated in making them notwithstanding man's impotence Page 190. ad 194. made by God to Christ a Page 277. ad 281. 1077 8. to be pleaded by Christ Page 277. unbelief would frustrate them Page 615. pride hinders humbled ones from taking hold of them Page 735 6. can 't be delivered without Faith in Christ Page 118â— frustrated if the Saints Apostacy be possible Page 1351. of God to his Church to be studyed Page 54 †meditation on them causes delight in Prayer Page 63 †Prophesie its great end Page 261. fulfilling them prove Christ sent from God Page 656 7. Vid. Predictions Prophetical Office of Christ to be submitted to gain divine knowledge Page 519. Christ fitted for Page 671. required his Death and Exaltation Page 943. 1082 3. 4. secures Believers and the Church Page 1354. 23 †Prosperity no argument of God's love or pardon Page 1283. 114 †of the Churches Enemies before their ruine Page 45 †Punishments why Eternal Page 313. afflictions of Believers whether they are so Page 1196. 78 9. †God and Christ intended not in this Life to remove them Page 79 80 †the curse of them taken away from a Believer Page 80 †103 †their nature alter'd as to them Page 80 †prejudice not their Salvation Page 81. why continued Page 81 2 3 †103 †forbearance of it no argument of pardon Page 114 †Purgatory groundless Page 1202 3. Purity of heart a means of divine knowledge Page 471 2. Q. QVickning the regenerate need Page 174. to be sought of God Page 224. R. REacting sin how hainous Page 5 †8 †Reason would perswade to seek Regeneration Page 134. insufficient without Revelation Page 513 4. to submit to it Page 515. can 't convince of Unbelief Page 602 3 pride of it an enemy to Faith and cause of unbelief Page 715 734. Reconciliation twofold Page 241 2. of men to God how to be understood Page 243 4. the foundation of Regeneration Page 245. the Father the authour of it Page 245. 258. ad 262. what it implies Page 246 7. actual not before Faith nor from Eternity Page 249 250. by Christ necessary Page 250 1. none but the Father could be the author of it a Page 251 ad 258. the agency of the Father in Christ in it a Page 262 ad 338. by Christ only Page 355. with God comfortable a Page 363 ad 372. motives to accept it a Page 372 ad 376 the duties consequent on it Page 377. ad 380. daily to be sought of God in Christ Page 379. more difficult than Creation Page 646. to be valued Page 952. Redemption Vid. Reconciliation Reformation outward alone not sufficient Page 46 662. whence it springs Page 46 1317. Vid. Morality Reformations the word the only rule of them Page 747 1294. Regeneration its necessity explained a Page 9. ad 19. proved a Page 19 ad 44. a 45 ad 49. 134. ignorance of it to be lamented Page 44 5. misery of those that want it Page 49 50 51. comfort to those that have it Page 51 2. a 112 ad 118. 1356 7. 225. evidences of it to be cleared up why and how Page 52 3 4. to be sought of God Page 54 5. 228 132 3 4. 218. to be sought presently and why a Page 57. ad 62. how obtained Page 62 3 4. 229 135 6. 203 4. 238 9 40. difficult to describe it Page 69. 217. its difference from conversion justification adoption and sanctification Page 70. 1 2. described Page 70. what it is not Page 68. a 72. ad 75. a 106. ad 110. 't is a change and
entertain them Page 10 †to be supprest Page 10 11 †good ones how to be raised a Page 11. ad 14 †bad ones how prevented a Page 14. ad 16 †evil ones how to be ordered when they intrudo Page 16 17 †good ones how to be ordered when they appear Page 17 18 †Time lost if not spent in getting Divine knowledge Page 463 4. Transubstantiation groundless Page 777. 815 6 7. 853. 1094. 11-10 Tree of Life no Type of Christ Page 730. Troubles Regeneration a comfort in them Page 115. and reconciliation Page 368. and saving knowledge Page 449. meditation on Christ's Exaltation would make us couragious under them Page 1107. Christ tender of his people in them Page 1156. Christ doth not remove but comfort under Page 1157. promise of the Churches stability a comfort in them Page 38 9 †sharp to be expected and provided for Page 53 †should not put us out of the way of duty Page 1217. 54 †56 †Vid. Afflictions Trust must be in God only Page 202 3. in God exercis'd by Christ Page 313. 904. the effect of saving knowledge Page 428. will be in God or something else Page 621. a strong ground for it in the Churches greatest miseries Page 37 †Truth of God overthrown by the Patrons of Free-will Page 159 160. appears in Regeneration Page 213. honoured in Christ Page 250 511. affronted by unbelief a Page 612. ad 616. the glory of God Page 613. highly valued by him Page 616. engaged for the safety of a believer Page 679. for the damnation of an Unbeleiver Page 702. rendred satisfaction by Christ necessary a Page 923. ad 926. the first object of Faith 1161. engaged for Sions stability Page 31 †Truths not believing some is not unbelief Page 606 7. those of Christ man an enemy to Page 714 15. Types of Christ things and persons that were so most largely spoken of in Scripture Page 261. of Christ's death a Page 947. ad 950. Vid. Sacrifices U. UNbelief how great a sin Page 298 284 304. an unworthy dealing with God and Christ Page 353 4. 655 spiritual apprehensions an antidote against it Page 554. the World understands it not to be a sin Page 558. the fountain of all sin Page 601 649. ad 652. the band of all sin Page 602 675. 6 7 8. t is the greatest sin proved in general a Page 602 ad 605. 908 9. what it is not a Page 605 ad 608. what is it Page 608 9 10. it affronts God in all his Attributes a Page 612. ad 623. its malignity against Christ a Page 624. ad 629 1149. and the spirit Page 629 630. as bad nay worse than the Jews crucifying Christ a Page 630. ad 640. like the Devils first sin nay worse a Page 640. ad 645 740. like Adam's sin nay worse Page 645 6 7. 730. a sin against the law of nature Page 647 8. 9. defiles the choicest faculties Page 652 3. most odious to God Page 653. the Patience of God where 't is total or partial great Page 653 4. 699. its blackness a motive to Faith Page 655. speculative irrational Page 656 7 8. 699. 734 5. 743. practical irrational Page 658 700 1. 699 700 1. 741. 743. ungrateful Page 659 687 8 9. inexcusable Page 659 689 690 1. what kind of misery follows it Page 659 695 6 7 8. all should be sensible of it and why Page 660 1 2. 743 4. watch against it Page 662 3. 744. endeavour to come out of a state of it Page 663 4. 742 3. praise due from those that are got out of it Page 664. eternal wrath unavoidably follows it Page 374 a 675. ad 686. 692 3 4. 908. 1201 2. why eternal wrath follows it a Page 686 ad 692. not the only sin that damns Page 675. Gods anger chiefly discovered against it Page 684 5 6. we should be sensible of the misery that attends it Page 703 4. and the justice of that misery a Page 704 ad 707. 't is just ibid. to be detested Page 707. common among professors Page 712 13. the sin of the old World Page 713 717. natural to man a Page 714. ad 719. its causes Page 284. a 730. ad 740. its frequency to be lamented Page 740 1. directions against it Page 742 3. Vnbelievers who are a Page 719. ad 730 786. Vnderstanding the first blot of sin was on it Page 153. of man its blindness Page 153 565. some notions left in it Page 179. Regeneration begins in it and how 't is wrought upon a Page 218 ad 220. 440 470. enlightned by the spirit in conviction Page 574. enlightned in a renewed man Page 92 †Vnregenerate their actions only seemingly good Page 22 3. their misery Page 49 50 51. 133. their condemnation whether simply for not being regenerate Page 178. conscience awakened accuses more for wilful sins than for being unregenerate Page 183. must not come to the Supper Page 777. a 780 ad 784. sin alive in them Page 1314. Vnion of the two natures fitted Christ to be a Redeemer Page 287 291. by the Holy Ghost Page 290. with God and Christ not without regeneration Page 31 2. of a believer with Christ the ground of imputation Page 869 1200. makes him happy Page 701. in the Lords Supper Page 762. explained Page 1339. by Faith Page 1200. the foundation of communion Page 1341 2. Vnworthy receiving the Sacrament what a Page 816. ad 819. its sinfulness Page 819. its danger Page 8â—0 to be examined and avoided Page 822. Voluntary services from a regenerate man and him only Page 24 89. Christs death was Page 384 837 877 918 106 †its voluntariness explained Page 877. 8 9. proved Page 880. necessary it should be Page 881. W. WAnts of believers shall be supplied Page 340. Watchfulness over our hearts a means of Mortification Page 1321. a means to pervert bad thoughts Page 15 †to be join'd with Prayer Page 17 †Weak Grace Vid. Grace Will those that are weak in Grace should see how that stands Page 117. naturally corrupt Page 143. 152. cannot regenerate it self a Page 144. ad 147 a 156. ad 174. cannot co-operate with God in Regeneration a Page 171 ad 174. its Liberty Vid. Liberty conceits of its freedom in spirituals groundless proud dangerous Page 198. ad 202. God only can work on Page 208. not left in indifferency in Regeneration Page 214 221 226. immediately wrought on in it Page 220 453. not compelled in it Page 221. subjecting Gods grace to it absurd Page 1353. of a renew'd man changed Page 92 †Vid. Regeneration Wilfulness the cause of mens ruin Page 705 6. Vid. Impotence Wisdom of God overthrown by the Patrons of free-will Page 157. in governing free agents Page 179. not disparaged in his commands and promises though special grace be denied Page 191. displayed in Regeneration Page 214. glorified in Christ Page 250 257 344 505. Christ filled with and why Page 295. 1133. known
by the Creatures Page 479. disparaged by unbelief Page 616 17 18. hinders an unbelievers Salvation Page 680. required satisfaction for sin Page 925. engaged to secure weak Grace Page 1327 1352. in the destruction of the Churches enemies Page 51 †Word valuation and relish of it a mark of Regeneration Page 121. natural men have power to attend on it and consider it Page 184 5 6. Regeneration doth not depend meerly on it Page 222. the instrument of Regeneration Page 231. what kind of instrument Page 232 3 4. 239. but an instrument Page 234. how regeneration wrought by it Page 234. God to be blessed for it Page 238. to be prized ibid. its preservation and success to be prayed for ibid. to be attended on in order to Regeneration and how Page 239 40 1. encrease of knowledge to be drawn from it Page 457. powerful in the hand of the spirit Page 594 5. attending on it and pressing it on the Conscience a means of conviction Page 600. only appointed to work Faith Page 792. the only rule whereby to try our selves Page 831. Vid. Gospel Means of Grace Ordinances Scriptures World regenerate should live above it Page 129. can 't be the happiness of the Soul Page 391. saving knowledge weans from it Page 427. they that are in love with it Unbelievers Page 727. desires of it a cause of Unbelief Page 737 8 9. meditation on Christs Exaltation would lift up above it Page 1107. not entangling our selves with it a means to prevent bad thoughts Page 14 †Women should Read the Scriptures Page 76 †the first punishment continued on them and why Page 78 †81 2 3 †of what nature that punishment is Page 78 79 †their Salvation not hindred by it Page 79 †mercy of God to them in it Page 84 †Child-bearing their duty Page 84 5 6 †Worship to be performed through Christ Page 355. true can't be without knowledge Page 401 2 3. the light of nature shews somewhat of its manner Page 480. distractions in it sinful Page 819. few distractions in it a sign of Mortification Page 1319. Vid. Service Wrath of God appeas'd by Christs death Page 838 852. the spirit discovers it by the Law Page 573. Z. ZEal ignorant a great enemy to Christianity Page 554. FINIS ERRATA PAge 10. Line 5. add Sin But. p. 58. l. 44. to fruits add first p. 80. l. 3. for i as r. is p. 127. l. 9. r. rooted p. 137. l. pen. after and add the other p. 151. l. 41. dele is p. 187. l. pen. dele in p. 202. l. 2. r. shrewd p. 225. l. 50. r. united p. 255. l. 45. for put p. 260. l. 8. r. unlikely p. 270. l. 25. r. them p. 271. l. 18. r. builds his p. 276. l. 3. dele then p. 292. l. 52. r. Christ being p. 375. l. 6. for was r. is p. 378. l. 35. r. Conduit p. 405. l. 4. r. composition p. 448. l. 4. dele of p. 588. l. 44. before to add able p. 678. l. 38. r. scourge p. 711. l. 14. dele been p. 736. l. 49. r. that they p. 798. l. 9. r. soul indeed p. 827. l. 36. r. bemist p. 843. l. 42. r. needs p. 878. l. 35. dele first p. 924. l. 23. dele him p. 932. l. 23. r. capable p. 1131. l. 19. r. incense p. 1136. l. 7. for yet r. that l. 39. add not p. 1138. l. 39. r. them p. 1328. l. 40. r. hand of p. 1365. l. 37. r. delight In the SVPPLEMENT Page 53. l. 46. for 1620. r. 1260. p. 66. l. 35. before be add hearts p. 80. r. fell