the joy and comfort of them more than countervail the other there being no comparison between them but the one exceedingly transcending the other As the sufferings of this present Rom. 8. 18. time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed hereafter so neither are they to be compared with spiritual mercies here as for God to turn us again to himself to pardon our sins to cause his face to shine to vouchsafe us his favour and his comforts and consolations What sufferings or afflictions will not these comfort and support under or what other wants will they not more than countervail what are the world's frowns to God's smiles the world's troubles to God's peace the world's sorrows to God's joyes the world's afflictions to God's consolations the world's pressures to the pleasures of God's presence or its burdens to the rest which that affords what are its Bitters to God's Sweets its Gall and Wormwood to the Wine of his Love Cant. 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the Kisses of his mouth for thy love is better than wine and v. 4. we will remember thy love more than wine yea 't is better than life and in it even in death it self there is life And hence is it that the Apostle speaks what is a Paradox to the men of the world troubled but not distressed as sorrowful yet always rejoycing as having nothing and yet possessing all things as dying and yet behold we live live in the light of God's countenance in his sight as Hosea 6. 2. and we shall live in his sight where indeed only the Soul truly lives and there it may live even in death and have light arise to it even in darkness and see light in the greatest obscurity and this light I mean the light of God's countenance it giveth Songs even in the night as it did to Paul and Silas when thrust into the inner prison and their feet made fast in the Stocks yet God's gracious presence did so cheer their spirits and put such joy into their hearts that even at midnight they brake forth in praises to God Acts 16. 25. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God and the prisoners heard them they did not onely pray but sing prayses and sung so loud that others heard them the prisoners heard them they were awaken'd by them And what did they think of them surely they thought they were not well in their wits to sing at such a time and in such a place and in such a condition who having been beaten and many stripes laid upon them were cast into prison yea thrust into the inner prison and their feet made fast in the stocks and yet now to sing O if God cause but his face to shine if he lift but up the light of his countenance it will make a man sing at any time in any place in any condition it will turn a prison into a Pallace and a dungeon into a Paradise This made David to have his Psalms yea Michtams i. his golden Psalms or as the Dutch render it his golden Jewels Aureum ornamentum aut insigne exputissimo auro factum it signifies what is made of the best and finest gold so called because of their singular preciousness and excellency in the saddest places and in the saddest outward condition as when the Philistins took him in Gath when he fled from Saul in the Cave when Saul sent and they watcht the house to kill him c. See Psalm 56 57 59 the Titles Moses Psalm 90. 14. prays O satisfie us early with thy mercy i. e. with thy loving kindness vouchsafe us thy favour that we may rejoyce and be glad all our dayes This is enough to make the people of God rejoice and be glad all their dayes be they never so dark and gloomy evil and perillous As we have received mercy sayes the Apostle we faint not 2 Cor. 4. 1. The Lord tels Moses Exod. 33. 14. My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest Though Moses was to go through a wearisome wilderness and amidst a wearisom people yet the Lord's presence should give him rest We may go any where with him he will be an hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land Isa 32. 2. Vse 1. Of Reproof to those who when miseries and calamities are upon themselves or the Nation look after the removal of them but not after Spiritual mereies they are very earnest and sollicitous that God would take away their ourward plagues remove his judgments but not that God would take away their sins and turn them again to himself and cause his face to shine But so God will but do the other free them of their miseries let the latter do what they will Psalm 4. 6. There be many that say who will shew us any good i. e. any outward good how to compasse any earthly worldly gain or advantage O that we might have peace and plenty or how shall we once get out of these troubles and afflictions but few say with David lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us and then all shall be well if thou do but this Many when they are in pain and sick and weak they cry out indeed but for what for ease and health and recovery not that they may be turned from their sins and recover God's favour as Pharaoh he calls to have other plagues taken away but never begs to have the plague of his own heart taken away which was the greatest of all and far worse than all the other but this is the voice onely of nature and argues a graceless heart and that which the Lord as I said complains of Hos 6. 14. Vse 2. Of Exhortation Then when miseries and calamities do abide us let this be our Prayer let us with the Church and people of God here more especially and most earnestly beg and implore spiritual mercies that God would turn us again and cause his face to shine lift up upon us the light of his countenance vouchsafe us his grace and favour bless us in turning us from our iniquities let us be importunate for these ask them again and again and whatever outward evils or distresses may abide us these as you have heard will not only comfort and support us under them but more than countervail them When he giveth quietness who then can make trouble c if God be for us who can be against us Rom. 8. 31. You know what Philip said to our Saviour John 14. 8. Lord shew us the father and it sufficeth us So let but the Father shew us himself shine on us with his face vouchsafe us his favour and it sufficeth As the Lord said unto Paul and says to all his people 2 Corinth 12. 9. my grace is sufficient for thee though then Paul was in
from darkness to light from death to life from earth yea from hell to heaven from swine and husks Luk. 15. 18. to bread enough in our fathers house from feeding on ashes to feed on Angels food heavenly Poenitentia dicitur conversio ad Deum inter quem nos dissidium faciunt peccata Tossan viands from among murderers to the God of mercies from the crooked vile ways of sin to the even and excellent ways of holiness from ways of danger to ways of safety of trouble to ways of peace of bitterness to ways of pleasantness of wasting and destruction to ways of weal and salvation from broken cisterns that can hold no water to springs of water yea to the fountain of living waters from a wilderness and a land of deserts drought and the shadow of death to a fruitful refreshing Paradise In a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc word from sin which hath in it nothing but guilt and filth and stain and torment and curse and death and condemnation to God who is the sole and soveraign spring and fountain of all good of light life happiness help comfort consolation salvation and not onely how equal but how excellent is this yea and this makes it not onely our duty but highest dignity to turn again it being to God and such a God from what is most vile to an object so infinitely worthy It is best of all indeed not to sin but next to repent and turn from sin to God who Justin Martyr is such a God the most high and most excellent they called them to the most high Hos 11. 7. 5. In its fruits and effects and in its end and issue What excellent things are those the Apostle reckons up as following upon conversion What fruit says he had ye then in those things Rom. 6. 21 22. whereof ye are now asham'd for the end of those things is death But now being made free from sin and become servants of God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life O what a blessed change and what an excellent turn is here before servants of sin now servants of God before fruit unto unrighteousness now unto holiness before the end death now everlasting life 1. Here 's the excellentest freedom to be made free from sin 2. The excellentest service to become servants to God 3. The excellentest fruit fruit unto holiness and 4. the excellentest end and that is everlasting life O there is not nobler service performed excellenter fruit growing nor a happier end to be attained in heaven it self And this follows upon our being turn'd again which makes at once the sinner happy heaven merry hell sorry the Devils sad Angels glad the Saints to rejoyce on earth yea and all those celestial Heroes in Heaven and how excellent must that needs be that does all this and therefore to its difficulty oppose its excellency and excellent things are difficult but much to be preferr'd before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Facilis descensus ad orcum things that are easie but base and vile Job speaking of such as were base and acted vile things he tells us they had no helper or as the Job 30. 13. Dutch they needed no helper that is to execute their vile intentions no the work was easie enough they could do it of themselves but it was base vile mischievous destructive work But now to repent and turn to God and honour him and do good is hard and difficult here we need helpers help both from God and man but how infinitely is the one with all its difficulty to be preferr'd before the other with all its facility It is a thousand times more eligible to be labouring for Diamonds than lazing in the dirt to be sweating in a Golden Mine than idling and at ease in the mire to be toyling for treasures than toyling for straws better is the straight gate and narrow way that leads to life than the wide gate and broad way that leads to death Verae salutaris poenitentiae fructus multiples c. Gerh. 3. The utility thereof the profit benefit and commodities that accrew to the sinner thereby and these are so many as cannot be enumerated and so great as cannot be commensurated so that if any should ask what advantage then hath he that turns to God or what profit is there of Repentance I must answer as the Apostle Paul does in another case much every way And when a soul turns again indeed to God it may be said as Leah said when Gad was born A troop or company cometh O how many mercies blessings and benefits come and throng in then upon the convert To turn from sin it is Clavis viscerum Dei says one a key to unlock all the chests of God's mercies and a preservative against all miseries How many mercies are heaped up together in Hos 6. 1. 2. Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind up After two days will he revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight Here 's healing and binding up and reviving and raising and then living in God's sight and v. 3. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord his going forth is prepared as the morning and he shall come unto us as the rain as the latter and former rain unto the earth that is we shall experimentally know and tast and see that the Lord is gracious and he in his gracious accesses to our souls will be the same to them as the Sun and the former and latter rain are to the earth And how comfortable profitable refreshing and reviving are these And Thus saith the Lord of hosts turn ye unto me and I Zach. 1. 3. will turn unto you and how much is wrapped up in that expression turn unto you that is mercifully favourably graciously turn my pleasant face to you lift up the light of my countenance upon you vouchsafe you my special grace and favour be reconcil'd to you and at peace with you I will pardon you bless you do good to you multiply all blessings upon you and remove all evils and plagues from you yea turn all into good unto you so that you shall find and feel and abundantly experience the sweet fruits and blessed effects of my turning to you Thus when God turns to us all good turns he being the fountain thereof heaven and earth turn happiness turns the creature turns the Angels turn the Gospel and all the glory and promises and priviledges thereof yea a full and overflowing all-sufficiency of all good turn to us and all evil turns from us all that is evil indeed for afflictions if they abide with us they are turn'd into good yea all now work together for good to us So that amidst ayles we are now without evil and amidst harms
crying and tears c. how much more we who are involv'd in sin c. R. 7. Because the great price which hath been given to purchase and procure them no less than the precious bloud of Christ the precious life of Christ John 6. 51. and the bread that I will give is my flesh that I will give for the life of the world 1 Thes 5. 10. who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him the life of grace here and the life of glory hereafter Ephes 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his bloud the forgiveness of sins Math. 26. 28. This is my bloud which is shed for many for the remission of sins and Hebr. 9. 22. and without shedding of bloud is no remission So we read of being justified by his bloud and reconciled by Rom. 5. 9 10. 1 Pet. 3. 18. his death and of his suffering for our sins that he might bring us unto God And shall not we cry for what Jesus Christ was pleas'd todye shall not we earnestly beg for what he bled shall not we lay out our strength for what he laid down his life and lift up our voice for what he yeilded up the Ghost O how unworthy then should we shew our selves of them R. 8. Because this is all that the Lord requires of us for the obtaining of them that we should ask them seek them beg them intreat them and should not we do this to purpose earnestly and with all our might when he requires no more as Math. 7. 7. Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall he opened unto you v. 8. For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened So in Ezek. 36. when God had made there those exceeding great and precious promises of blessings and mercies more worth than many worlds as v. 25. that he would sprinkle clean water upon them c. and v. 26. give them a new heart and put within them a new spirit and take away the stony heart out of their flesh and give them an heart of flesh and v. 27. put his spirit within them which is more than many worlds without them and cause them to walk in his statutes and keep his judgments and do them and v. 28. and they should be his people and he their God c. Now after all hear what the Lord says v. 37. Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquir'd of by the house of Israel to do it for them or be sought to and is this all and should not this be done earnestly Surely he that can't find in his heart to do this for such mercies deserves to go without them O consider God required a great deal more of his Son that we might partake of them What could he indeed require more he requires of him that he should come down John 6. 38. from Heaven to Earth from the Throne to the Footstool and become man be made flesh yea in the likeness of sinful flesh that though he was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God yet that he should make himself of no reputation and take upon him the form of a Servant and be made in the likeness of Philip. 5. 6 7 8. men and being found in fashion as a man should humble himself and become obedient unto death even the death of the Cross that he should lay down his life shed his precious bloud one drop of whose bloud is more worth than ten thousand thousand worlds and than all the bloud of all the men that ever lived upon the face of the Earth yea that he should be made a curse ☞ undergo his wrath make his very Soul an offering for sin and be for a while as it was forsaken of his Father and all this and infinitely more than can be conceived much less exprest that we might obtain such mercies yea and Jesus Christ willingly and readily obeyed his father in all these Hebr. 10. 7. Then said I lo I come to do thy will O God and I delight to do thy will and as the Father gave me Psalm 40. 8. commandment so I do though to do that did John 14 31. as it was amaze him and make his soul exceeding sorrowful even unto death and brought Mark 14. 33 34. Math. 26. 38. him into such an agony that his sweat was as it were great drops of bloud falling down to the Luke 22. 44. Math. 26. 39. and Mark 14. 35 36 39. ground So that as man he could not but recoile as it were and pray and that three times O my Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me that is this bitter passion but if it may not pass but I must drink it or otherwise such choice mercies such inestimable benefits cannot be procured for poor sinners but they must come swimming to them in my bloud and be purchas'd by my undergoing of thy wrath thy will be done seeing thou wilt have it so that I must undergo all this to procure them I am willing I am content rather than poor sinners should go without them I am willing to purchase them at any rate This now God requires of his Son that we might partake of these mercies and all this his Son obeyed him in but to us that we might obtain them he says onely ask seek knock and let me be enquired of by you and should not we do this and do it to purpose surely else it must needs argue fearful ingratitude and strange disingenuity and we deserve to go without them You know what Naaman's servant said to him 2 Kings 5. 13. My Father if the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it how much rather then when he saith unto thee wash and be clean So what could God have said unto us do for such mercies more worth than many worlds but we should have been ready and willing to have done it how much more then when he says onely ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find and Rom 10. 13. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved and seek the Lord and ye shall live Amos 5. 6. But Jesus Christ dies that we may live 1 Thes 5. 9 10. and shall not we cry that we may live Was a malefactor condemned to dye and was there procured for him upon some great price paid by another a pardon of his Prince which he should have upon asking and begging O how importunately would he beg it and ask it When God said to David Seek ye my face O how readily does David's heart eccho back Psalm 27. 8. again thy face Lord will I seek Lord thy face thy favour makes heaven and may I have that for seeking for asking which Jesus Christ
from the Sun than any iniquity or obliquity proceed from God a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he Deut. 32. 4. 3. The sin and great iniquity of this yet further appears if we do but consider while we have and do forsake and turn aside and go away from God who or what it is that we have and do turn aside to and go away after And Ephes 2. 2. 2 Pet. 2. 10. 2 Pet. 3. 3. Jude 18. Jonah 2. 8. this is that which heaven and earth may be astonished at for it is after sin after the flesh after our vile lusts and leasing and lying vanities yea after Satan after the Devil 1 Tim. 1. 15. For some are already turned aside after Satan and so after hell death perdition and destruction and at best it is but after the creature after 1 Sam. 12. 21. Prov. 25. 4 5. vain things which cannot profit nor deliver things that are not that are vanity yea vanity of vanities i. e. vainest vanity as Solomon long since Quid ost impemtentis vita quam periculosa à Deo alienatio Angelorum offensio servitus Diabolica c. upon the utmost proof and experiment of them hath left upon record and that again and again Eccles. 1. 2. 14. 2. 17. 12. 8. c. And what an evil and bitter thing is this and what iniquity and sin is there in it that God and such a God God blessed for ever a God of all and infinite perfections should be turned aside and gone away from and the back turn'd upon Quid magis horrendum posset excogitari quà m praeponererem adeò vilem Deo creatori Granatensis and i th' mean time sin and the flesh and the vile lusts thereof yea the Devil himself and death and hell turn'd to and gone after what for God to be left for the creature All-sufficiency it self forsaken for vanity Fulness for emptiness and indigency Yea sin and Satan and a man's vile lusts preferred before the Lord of life and glory O well may the heavens be astonished at this and be horribly afraid yea be very desolate and so shall the sinner too such despisers shall behold another day and wonder and perish Vse 2. This it speaks our misery that we are all by nature turn'd aside and gone away from God and such a God as you have heard but now describ'd yea that God whose face and Psal 73. â—5 presence makes heaven and is the heaven of heaven for heaven is not God's happiness but God is heavens happiness whom have I in heaven but 30. 5. 63. 3. thee that God with whom is the fountain of life in whose favour is life yea whose favour is better than life and who is alone the sole soveraign suitable all-sufficient and eternal good of the soul And that which further advances and adds to this misery is this that we being turn'd aside and gone away from God he also is departed and gone away from us so that now by nature we are said to be without God in the world and to be estranged and far from him I mean in regard of his special and gracious presence and what inspeakable yea unconceivable misery does this speak there is a woe with an Emphasis put upon this yea woe also to Hosea 9. 11. 12. them when I depart from them this is last brought in as the sorest and heaviest evil and even perfection of their miseries and which indeed in the perfect completion thereof will be the very hell of hell that there must be a departure from God and a being punished with everlasting Matth. 25. 41. 2 Thes 1. 9. Ps 73. 28. destruction from the presence of the Lord c. for loe they that are far from thee shall perish c. Certainly the world is not so sad without the Sun the earth without rain the body without the soul as the soul without God who is more the life of the soul than the Soul is the life of the body Saul spake truely as to that when he said I am sore distressed the Philistins making war against him and God being departed from him 1 Sam. 28. 15. Job 34. 29. When he giveth quietness who then can make trouble and when he hideth his face who then can behold him c. And when God goes away all good must needs also go away with him and all evils break in as the Lord threatens that people upon their forsaking him and breaking that covenant he had made with them Deut. 31. 17. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day and I will forsake them and I will hide my face from them and what then and ther shall be devoured and many evils and troubles shall befall them c. And how can it be otherwise when their defence is departed from them Use 3. This shews the absolute indispensable necessity of being turn'd again if ever we be saved if ever we enter into heaven and enjoy God for ever Why because by nature we are all turn'd aside and turn'd away from these and have our backs upon them and how can we unless we be turn'd again ever come to partake of them Can a man unless he turn ever come to a place that he hath his back upon and is going away from as can he come to a place in the East that has his back upon it and is going a quite contrary way to a place in the West And can a man unless he turn again and be converted ever come to heaven that has his back upon heaven is going as fast as he can in the ways that lead to hell in a quite opposite and contrary way and course it cannot be And therefore this shews the absolute and indispensable necessity of being turn'd again of being converted if ever we go to heaven if ever we be saved and come to enjoy God for ever and hence says our Saviour Matth. 18. 3. Except you be converted and become as little children for it is a change not of place but of disposition that is required here ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven and indeed ye cannot for till ye are converted your backs are upon it and ye are going on in a quite opposite way to it Can any go to heaven with their backs upon heaven No except ye repent says Christ ye shall all likewise perish and turn ye turn ye says the Lord Luke 13. 3 5. Ezek. 33. 11. from your evill ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel As if the Lord should have said How can ye live unless ye turn that have your backs upon life and are going on in the ways that lead unto death And therefore this being our condition by nature that we are all turn'd aside and turn'd away from God and our sin and misery being so great by reason thereof O let us never rest 'till we come to be turn'd again there
sorts and kinds of evils whether temporal spiritual or eternal As 1. from our sins from their guilt to have them pardoned and forgiven If my people says the Lord shall humble themselves and pray and 2 Chron. 7. 14. seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I pardon their sins c. and repent ye Acts 3. 19. and be converted that your sins may be blotted out c. 2. From our sufferings miseries and calamities the mischievous fruits and effects of sin Thus the Lord promises upon his peoples turning to him not onely to pardon their sins 2 Chron. 7. 14. but also to heal their land that is remove those judgments which were as the sores and wounds of it So Hos 6. 1. Come say they and let us return unto the Lord and what then why then he that hath torn will heal us and he that hath smitten us will bind us up and v. 2. After two dayes will he revive us c. 3. As from these here so from hell and wrath and eternal death hereafter And hence repentance is said to be Acts 11. 18. 2 Cor. 7. 10. repentance unto life and repentance unto salvation and repent and turn your selves says God from your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine Thus God's turning us again and causing his face to shine it remedies all peoples evils and miseries here and brings to them full salvation hereafter 6. This is the onely way for a people to be saved indeed to be sav'd to purpose and in mercy as you have heard so as in being saved to be blessed and happy and to have it well with them Thus this it is the onely way for a people to be saved and no other way will do or will or can prove soveraign or effectual either for a people or a person either for our selves or the nation no whatever other ways we take or other attempts or experiments we make without this they will all prove but abortive and to no purpose nor avail any thing but we shall perish notwithstanding And this I propose as the onely way in opposition to all worldly carnal ways and means and shifts and devices that men make use of and betake themselves to to save and secure themselves by with neglect of this but in vain and to no purpose do they do it and yet this is that to which men are very prone to run to other means and helps with neglect of this as the Scripture declares and the Lord complains when Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound then went Ephraim to the Hosea 5. 13. 7. 11 12 13. Assyrian and sent to King Jareb yet could he not heal you nor cure you of your wound Ephraim also is like a silly Dove without heart that is simple foolish without judgment and understanding why it follows they call to Egypt they go to Assyria to aid and relieve them and neglect the onely way of their help which was to return to the Lord their God and seek him This spake them foolish and silly indeed for what says God When they shall go I will spread my net upon them I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven that is I will blast their projects and designs and make the issue of them to be their own ruine and confusion They thought to mount and soar on high but I will make them come down with a witness and hence says God Wo unto them for they have fled from me destruction unto them for they have transgressed against me that is gone on to rebell against me still in stead of turning unto me And what could betide such but ruine and destruction So in Isaiah 22. how sedulous and exact are the Jews there in their carnal policies and worldly contrivances to secure themselves but with a neglect of God and the true way of their safety which was their return to him And he discovered the covering of Judah Some Is 22. 8 9 10 11. by this Covering understand the city it self whither the people repair'd for shelter others the Temple or Sanctuary and the vain confidence they put therein others their strong holds armories or storehouses where their armes and ammunition were bestowed or what ever else it was wherein their power preparations or provisions for the safeguarding themselves and their city did consist as it follows and thou didst look in that day to the Armour of the house of the Forrest that is as is conceived the Magazine of the Kingdom ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David that they are many and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool And ye have numbred the houses of Jerusalem and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof neither had respect to him that fashioned it long ago Thus as to worldly carnal means and helps they are very sedulous and exact very precise in every punctilio they neither spare for pains nor cost but they neglecting the main which was to repent and turn to God and which God then in a more special manner did call for v. 12. all the other availed them nothing neither did they or could they save or secure them And hence the Lord expostulates the case with them as concerning their folly and vanity therein Jer. 2. 36. Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way running for help sometimes to one party one way and sometimes another way or to change thy way that is the way I have prescribed thee and should be thy way as if the Lord had said thou knowest well enough the way of thy weal thy way to be saved and why then doest thou gad up and down to find out new ways and to try other ways why they shall avail thee nothing thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt as thou wast asham'd of Assyria as if the Lord had said they shall all serve thee alike as thou hast been deceiv'd and been befool'd by the one so shalt thou also be by the other yea v. 37. Thou shalt go forth from him and thine hands upon thine head i. e. with sorrow shame and disgrace whereof this was a sign as it is said of Tamar when ravished 2 Sam. 13. 19. by her Brother Amnon that she laid her hand on her head and went on crying for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences that is all thy vain refuges and ways which thou seekest and betakest thy self to out of God's way the Lord hath rejected them or as some despised them scorn'd them and as it were derided them and thy folly in imagining to save and secure thy self by them And thou shalt not prosper in them for Ezek. 24. 12. they are but lies as the Lord tels Jerusalem elsewhere she hath wearied her self with lies that is
first calling and bringing home to God and then there is an after or progressive which is the continuation and going on forward in the first throughout the whole course of our lives and where this after does not succeed the first was never sincere Indeed at our first conversion we are turn'd to God but by our continuing the same we are turn'd more and more till we return to that state in which 2 Cor. 3. 18. we once were and that is not till death and therefore this turning is a continued act and daily exercise all this life And there is indeed matter enough to hold our repentance work all our lives both in regard of the sin of our natures hearts and lives our daily infirmities which as we daily renew so are we to renew our repentance and to persevere and continue therein to the end so as not to turn aside again from God and his ways to the crooked ways of sin nor from the holy commandement for it had 2 Pet. 2. 20. 21 22. been better for such not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandement delivered to them and the latter end with them is worse than the beginning Not but that the best Converts have their slips and falls their deviations and wanderings here for in many thins we offend all James 3. 2. Galath 6. 1. and are sometimes overtaken in a fault c. but it is not habitual though they may fall and go astray they get up again and turn into the way the high-way of the upright is to depart from evil A Sheep may fall into the mire but Prov. 16. 17. does not as a Swine wallow therein an ordinary habitual customary turning away or turning aside from God to the crooked ways of sin is inconsistent with true conversion and such as do so God says his soul shall have no pleasure in Hebr. 10. 38. Psal 125. 5. them but he will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity And thus I have now shewn you more particularly what kind and manner of turning that is which is so effectual as to a peoples being saved And now I shall proceed to the second thing I propounded to do which is to give you the Reasons why for God so to turn a people again and cause his face to shine is the onely way of their being sav'd CHAP. VIII The Reasons and Grounds of the point THat for God to turn a people again and cause his face to shine is their onely way to be saved appears R. 1. Because this is the way which the Church and people of God here betake themselves to They earnestly desire to be saved that though it was ill with them at present that yet it might be well with them for the future And what do they do what way do they go what course do they take to effect this why this they do they earnestly intreat again and again that the Lord God of Hosts would turn them again and cause his face to shine Surely had there been any other more effectual way of their weal they would have made use of it but they as inspir'd by God betaking themselves to this and being so importunate for this this must needs be the onely soveraign and most effectual way thereof R. 2. Because this is the way which others also have betaken themselves to as the Church in the very close of the Lamentations Turn thou us Lam. 5. 21. unto thee O Lord say they and we shall be turned renew our dayes as of old that is vouchsafe us thy favour again and so by doing these for us change our present sad condition into that happy state our fathers formerly enjoyed Thus in this way they seek their weal and so elsewhere Turn us O God of our salvation and Psalm 85. 4. 67. 1. cause thine anger towards us to cease and God be merciful to us and bless us but how would they be blest and cause thy face to shine upon us Wherein they plainly allude to the manner of blessing prescrib'd by God himself to Aaron Numb 6. 23. Jerem. 31. 18. So Ephraim Turn thou me c. And thus Moses sought the weal of Israel Psal 90. 13. Return O Lord how long c. and v. 14. O satisfy us dearly with thy mercy that is thy favour thy loving kindness for so the same word is rendered elsewhere as 63. 3. Because Benignitate tuâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy loving kindness is better than life c. that we may rejoyce and be glad all our days and v. 17. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us or loveliness some read the pleasantness or Jucunditas Domini pleasing look that is his amiable favour and grace let the Lord our God love us and delight in us let that beauty be upon us which shines in his favour The face is the seat of beauty and love shining in God's face is his beauty upon us By this expression says Calvin upon the place we may gather how incomparable a thing the love and favour of God is David was often under sore tryals and afflictions and what does he still crave for his succour and relief and that he might be sav'd it was God's favour Psalm 4. 6. 31. 16. 119. 132 135. c. that he would make his face to shine upon him and lift up upon him the light of his countenance R. 3. Because this is the way which the Lord himself who knows best what tends to his peoples weal prescribes and invites them to as the onely soveraign way thereof As in that known place Hos 14. 1 2. which contains in it the very way and platform of a peoples weal and being saved O Israel return unto the Lord Hosea 14. thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity The Lord here minds Israel how ill his iniquities had dealt with him how they had even overthrown him and laid him low made his condition exceeding sad this is all he got by them and yet the Lord would have it well with him again and that it might be so what does he advise him it is to return unto him as Continet haec supplicatio unicam consequendae salutis viam viz. si Deus auferat peccata c. Pareus the fountain of all his happiness and welfare and bids them as it follows v. 2. Take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously c. This the Lord prescribes himself as the onely way of their weal as if the Lord had said It is ill indeed with you at present but if you would have it well with you then do thus and say this turn to the Lord and say unto him and say it not onely with your lips but with the ferventest Non ore tantùm sed intimo cordis
nothing ruining and destructive but sin and therefore a people being turn'd from that which alone is destructive they must needs be safe for what should destroy them sin being alone that which does destroy 2. They are turn'd to him who is 1. the sole and soveraign fountain of all happiness and good an universal and all-sufficient good infinitely good yea the very ocean of good where all the several streams and channels of good meet and concentre together and being turn'd to him who is all good and in whom all good resides who is the God of Salvations how Bonum in quo omnia bona sine quo nihil bonum Deus meus omnia mea can such want salvation or any other good 2. The ultimate good the utmost good that rests and satisfies the soul to whom when the soul is once come it has no further to go except it be still further and nearer to him to whom it is come he being the true and proper centre of it where it does acquiesce and where it is come to it's journeys end there being nothing beyond him nor in comparison besides him he is first Psalm 73. 25. and next and last And therefore how well must it needs be with the soul when once it is come to him but till it is come to him it is as it were in a maze and restless motions and fruitless travels seeking rest and satisfaction but finding none it turns this way indeed and moves that way and the other way to this sin to that creature to that vanity but finds nothing but emptiness and disappointment it snatches on the right hand but is hungry and catches on the left but is not satisfied for there Isaiah 9. 20. is not it's rest no that is onely in God for whom it was made and in whom alone it can meet with Fecisti nos propter te Domine inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat inte that repose it makes after Rest in the Lord Psalm 37. 7. there is no resting but in him We says the Apostle who have believed do enter into rest and so such as do indeed turn to God there it is the weary soul is at rest and the Hebr. 4. 3. longing soul is satisfied and may say with Jacob I have enough or I have all for God that is sufficient for himself must needs be so for the creature and therefore God being such a good and a people when turn'd again being turn'd to him how can it but be well with them the soul being then turn'd to his true and proper centre where it should be where it was made to be and 'till where it be it can never be well why else is it restless till it come there Of all else we may say Arise ye and depart for this Micah 2. 10. Isaiah 28. 14. is not your rest c. And the bed is shorter then that a man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it As concerning true rest all the creatures say as sometimes concerning wisdom One Job 28. 14. says it is not in me and another it is not in me c. no it is onely in God and yet why do men pursue this or that but to find satisfaction and yet they cannot no whiles a deceived heart turns them aside they feed but as it were upon ashes upon husks and walk through dry Is 44. 20. Matth. 12. 43. places seeking rest but finding none as is said of Satan For all his days are sorrows and his travel grief yea his heart taketh not rest in the Eccles 2. 23. night c. It is said of Judah she dwels among the heathen she finds no rest and our necks are under persecution or hard bondage we labour and Lam. 1. 3. 5. 5. have no rest and how should such have rest that dwell still among sins and lusts and leasing that lie in wickedness that dwell and abide still among vanities enemies devils murderers that are still under the heavy servitude of sin and Satan that have turn'd their backs upon their rest and are far from it that have gone from mountain to hill and forgotten their resting place to whom Is 28. 12. God hath often said as concerning himself this is the rest wherein you may cause your weary souls Is 50. 11. to rest c. but they would not hear and therefore are restless and unsatisfied and lie down in sorrow 3. Being turn'd from sin salvation is that they are now towards and going on unto before conversion indeed their backs were upon it and they were hastening on in a quite contrary way unto it but now being turn'd again their backs are upon sin and hell and death and their faces are towards and they are going on to heaven and life and salvation 4. They walk now in the paths of life and in the ways of salvation that lead and bring unto it and therefore must needs be in the way to be saved And these ways are Gods ways the ways of his precepts which such walk now in They also do no iniquity Psalm 119. 3. 18. 21. they walk in his ways and I have kept the ways of the Lord. Hence David being a stranger in the earth he begs of God that he would not hide 119. 19. his Commandments from him they being indeed his way to heaven his way home the way everlasting which leadeth to life everlasting 5. Such being truly converted shall hold on and persevere in those ways and never totally nor finally fall away but go from strength to Psalm 84. 7. strength till they come and appear before God in that heavenly Sion The righteous that is who is truly turn'd to righteousness shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall Job 17. 9. be stronger and stronger Thus such as being turn'd again are brought into the right way they continue therein yet not so but that they have their slips and falls as I said before and their deviations out of the way but they rise and get up again and return into the way and never finally fall away for the Lord upholds them with his hand and they are kept by his Psalm 37. 23 24. power through faith unto salvation Such therefore who habitually turn aside to the crooked 1 Pet. 1. 5. ways of sin were never yet truly turn'd again and therefore will the Lord lead them forth with Psalm 125. 5. the workers of iniquity They went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been 1 John 2. 19. of us they would no doubt have continued with us c. But such as are truly turn'd again they holding out to the end must needs be saved as our Saviour hath declar'd But he that shall endure Matth. 24. 13. to the end the same shall be saved 6. Though the
make says David thy face shine upon thy servant and teach me thy statutes and according to thy loving kindness hear me quicken me c. yea that blessed man of God for effecting all his good and for salvation and deliverance out of all his distress he desires but this that God would send out his light and his truth O send Psalm 43. 3. out thy light and thy truth that is the light of thy countenance vouchsafe me but thy favour Per lucem intelligitur favor veritatem adjungit quia lucem nonnisi ex Dei promissionibus sperabat Calvin in locum and perform but thy promise i. e. made thereof and all the darkness of my present so sad and gloomy condition shall be dispelled Let them lead me says he let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles i. e. to thy Sanctuary to the place of thy publick worship where Ilong so much to be O whither will not the light of God's favour lead us and bring us it will bring us to be happy here and blessed for ever hereafter it will bring us into the way of all our weal to the enjoyment of God in his ordinances Lucem veritatem appellat favorem auxilium omnibus piis promissum à Deo quibus rebus pelluntur tenebrae calamitatum c. and then above ordinances even to the full and immediate enjoyment of himself for ever it will guide us with his counsels and after receive us to his glory Lead us in the path of life and then bring us to the place of life lead us in the way everlasting and then bring us to the life everlasting in the paths of righteousness and then bring us to those new heavens and new earth wherein dwels righteousness uphold us in integrity here and then set us before his face for ever hereafter it will Ad illud templum immortale ubinumen ipsius augustissimum perpetuis hymnis celebrent mentes beatae make us fit and meet for heaven and then bring us to heaven lead us in safety through these bottoms of death and this valley of misery and tears here below and then bring us and exalt us to those mountains of Spices and those hills of Myrrhe and Frankincense above it will cause God to follow us with goodness all the days of our life here and then to bring us to partake of that goodness which he hath laid up for those that fear him elsewhere Which because David cannot express he admires Psalm 31. 19. O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee 3. As it will accomplish all so it is all God's favour his face all that is truely excellent amiable profitable and desireable 1. It is light Psalm 43. 3. Send out thy light Psalm 89. 15. They shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance And how sweetly and comfortably must they needs walk who walk in that light for with thee is the fountain of life and in thy light i. e. in thy favour Psalm 36. 9. when thou art pleased to shew us thy face and fatherly countenance in thy son shall we see light that is enjoy lively comfort and joy and gladness of heart So Job 29. 3. When his Lamp shined upon my head and when by his light I walked through darkness that is when he abode with me by his favour and by it I passed through and overcame the miseries and adversities of this life 2. It is life Psalm 30. 5. In his favour is Ps 63. 3. life Many live but no soul truly lives but in his favour in his sight and in the light of his countenance Hâ—s 6. 2. and we shall live in his sight yea it is better than life For 1. people 119. 88. may live yea and have all accommodations of life and yet be miserable but a soul cannot have the favour of God but be happy 2. It is better than life for it is the very life and happiness Vitam reddit verè vitalem of our life and without it life is no better than a kind of death 3. Life soon fades away Jam. 4. 14. and fails it is even but as a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanishes but the favour Ps 103. 15 16 17. of God is for ever it is everlasting 4. Life is common to all but God's favour peculiar only to a few 5. Life may become a burden and Ps 106. 4. people may grow weary of it but never of God's favour 6. The favour of God is absolutely and indispensably necessary but so is not life c. 3. It is felicity Hence while others make out after other goods David seeks after this as Psalm 4. 6. the onely happiness and as that alone which could render him blessed There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us 4. It is safety and security And hence the Lord is said to shield us therewith For thou Lord 5. 12. wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield And Fear not Mary Luke 1. 30. for thou hast found favour with God Make thy face to shine upon thy servant save me for Psalm 31. 16. thy mercies sake 5. It is health Psalm 42. 11. Hope thou Obtexisti faciem tuam aegrotavimus illumina faciem salvi erimus Austin in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God God and his favour is our health and makes the countenance look healthful and cheerful whereas its want or withdrawing is the souls sickness as it were and makes the countenance sad heavy and cast down like the look of one that is sick 6. It is strength For the joy of the Lord is Neh. 8. 10. your strength i. e. the joy of his face that he favours you This is your strength that which fortifies Levavit pedes â—uos Phrasi Hebraicâ emphaticè significat cum alacriter instar cursoris indefessi perrexisse Pareus in loc you it makes to go from strength to strength and causes a man to lift up his feet as Jacob after he had met with God at Bethel And Jacob went on his journey Hebr. lift up his feet that is being strengthned by the late vision he went on cheerfully and couragiously in his journey 7. It is joy yea exceeding joy Psalm 43. 4. Then will I go to the Altar of God unto God my exceeding joy the Hebrew is the gladness of my joy the Lord and his favour is not onely our joy but exceeding joy the joy of our joy that is the chief the choice the cream the crown the top the head of our joy Psalm 16. 11. In thy presence i. e. in thy special and gracious presence or in or with thy face is fulness Psal 16. 11. 4.
and continue still in this way wo unto us for we reward not onely evill for good unto God who hath not utterly destroy'd us as our sins deserv'd but we reward evil to our selves even to our own Souls and thereby shall hasten to bring upon our selves utter ruine and desolation 3. If this be the onely way for a people to be saved then it necessarily follows from hence that the contrary must needs be the onely way for a people to be destroy'd I mean for a people still to go on in their sins and not to turn unto the Lord and for God to hide his face from them in stead of causing it to shine upon them or to set it against them if the former be the way for a people to be happy certainly the latter is the way for a people to be miserable if one be the way of their weal the other of their woe if one to have it well with them the other to have it ill with them if one to be in a good condiâ—ion the other to be in an evill condition for of contraries there is the same reason And this the Scripture abundantly declares both as concerning people and persons Is not destruction to the wicked and a strange Job 31. 3. punishment to the workers of iniquity And who are wicked but such as love and live and lie in sin that make a trade of it that still continue to go on in it adding sin to sin withou remorse and turning to God these are wicked and is not destruction to these yes undoubtedly this interrogation has the force of a vehement affirmation not onely do such keep off from themselves good but procure evill yea destructive evill which shall certainly one time or other sooner or later be the portion of all such as turn not from their sins to God such continuing such shall as certainly be destroyed as if it was already The turning away of the simple shall stay Prov. 1. 32. them They are simple ones to turn away from God and his ways for whither should any turn away from him whose face and presence makes Heaven where can any mend themselves Is it not simplicity to go from the fountain to a broken Cistern from light to darkness from life to death from God to the Devil from Heaven to Hell And this simple turning away of Prov. 11. 19. such is destructive shall slay them for as righteousness tendeth to life so he that purfueth evil pursueth it to his own death He will after it as the hunter after his prey but it is to his own death his own ruine The perversness of transgressors 11. 3. shall destroy them When they leave God and turn aside from his ways after the crooked ways of sin and refuse to return this shall destroy them When the City was full of perverseness pertinacious in their way then says God Mine eye shall not spare neither will I have pity c. and I will destroy my people sith Ezek. 9. 9 10. Jer. 15. 7. they return not from their ways They professe themselves indeed to be my people and call themselves my people and bear themselves up with this but let them know that that priviledge of being call'd and accounted my people shall not secure them nor save them from destruction this shall not serve their turns but I will for all this destroy them sith they return not from their ways I have forsaken my house I have left my heritage c. Jer. 12. 7. O nothing can secure an impenitent people that turns not to God from ruine destruction and misery are in the ways of sin and they will be sure one time or other to prove pernicious and to bring mischief upon the sinner But it shall Eccles 8. 13. not be well with the wicked and wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him c For all Isa 3. 11. 9. 12 13. this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still that is still to execute further judgments and why for the people turneth not to him that smiteth them the people or that people not my people as before God will not own them now but disclaims them as it were neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts not his face nor grace that they might turn Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail branch and rush in one day that is A summo ad â—mum á praestantissimo ad abjectissimum make a consumption of all a Proverbial kind of speech that is one and other high and low great and mean Potentate and Peasant first and last Branches ye know are the beauty and strength of the tree but Rushes are poor mean low things that grow in the mire c. and thus it is interpreted v. 15. The ancient and honourable he is the head and the Prophet that teacheth lies he is the tail and the Lord will cut off all and that suddenly in one day he will quickly dispatch them and not be long a doing it and he is resolved on it So In thy filthiness is lewdness Exek 24. 13. that is pertinacy and obstinacy because I have purged thee that is would have purged thee endeavoured by all ways and means to have purged thee have sought to purge thee 1. by the exhortations admonitions and menaces of my Prophets as also 2. by the inflicting of lesser judgments for God hath two sorts of judgments greater and lesser rods and Scorpions footmen and horsemen Jer. 12. 4. winds to fan and cleanse and utterly to lay wast and thou wast not purged but all hath been vain and fruitless therefore I will now take another course with thee thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more viz. by reprehensions and admonitions which have been in vain and which thou hast not given place to 'till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee and so have utterly destroyed thee 'till I have purged thee out of this world into hell I the Lord have spoken it v. 14. it shall come to pass I will do it I will not go back neither will I spare neither will I repent c. And many the like places there are as these among other which follow Prov. 12. 21. 10. 29. 28. 14. 21. 15 16. 19. 16. 29. 1. 6. 32. Psalm 9. 5 17. 92. 7. 145. 20. Job 36. 10 11 12. 1 Sam. 12. 23. Job 4. 8 9. 9. 4. c. Now consider this ye that forget God and forget your selves and your own interest and concern in not turning to him lest he tear you in pieces as certainly he will if ye turn not unto him and there be none to deliver nay who can deliver out of his hand and therefore let destruction from God be a terror and matter Isa 43. 13. of fear to you now as it was to Job that you do not feel it hereafter For destruction from Job
the onely way for people to be saved to be blessed and happy and have it well with them and because else they perish and are ruined and undone and it will certainly be ill with them for ever And hence it is that the Lord makes use of such pathetical and affectionate expressions Say unto them as I live saith the Lord I have Ezek. 33. 11. no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel How vehemently does the Lord here expostulate and press this upon them Turn ye turn ye which denotes the height and vehemency of his affection and desire how much his heart was upon it and is there not good reason for all this why they dye and are undone and perish else for why will ye dye life and death are in these things in turning or not turning to God as life is the happy effect of the one so death and damnation is the fruit of the other And is it any wonder the Lord is then so earnest and importunate when our weal or our woe when it being well or ill with us when our happiness or our misery our being saved or eternally destroyed depends upon this And hence the Lord is not content to speak it once but speaks it again calls for it twice because it was of such absolute and indispensable necessity and not a small matter nor a business of indifferency And what infinite cause have we then to bless the Lord that he should be so intent upon this so frequently and earnestly invite us to this again and again wherein our own good is so much concerned and which is of such indispensable necessity that we cannot otherwise but perish and what can we indeed do better or wherein can we be more happy than in turning to him 6. This informs us and gives us to see whence it is that God's Prophets formerly and his Ministers alate have been and still are so frequent and earnest in preaching and pressing of this why is it because so much depends on this because they know it cannot else be well with them neither can they be saved or be happy nay they know it cannot else but be ill with them and they must else perish and be undone for ever and therefore have they and do they still so much urge and press this not onely speak but cry Be ye not as your fathers unto whom Zach. 1. 4. the former Prophets have cried thus saith the Lord of hosts turn ye from your evil ways and from your evil doings c. They do not onely call but cry yea cry out proclaim so as the rather to be heard and more to be heeded they were zealous and earnest therein why because the matter was of such importance and the danger was so great if they did not hearken And hence is it that Ministers still are so pressing and importunate as to this they pray and beseech yea and if ye will not hear saith the Prophet Jeremy Jerem. 13. 7. My soul shall mourn in secret for you and mine eyes weep sore and run down with tears c. The voice of one crying in the wilderness c. Luke 3. 4. Thus the Prophets and the Apostles cryed and Jesus Christ himself he cryed John 7. 37. In the last day that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink O for poor sinners to come to Christ to believe on him and repent and turn to the Lord is a matter of great consequence of infinite importance not a thing of indifferency but of absolute necessity and hence Jesus Christ is so earnest and intent upon this as appears by his posture he stood up by his vehement speaking he cried he spake with a lowd voice which shewed the fervour and ardency of his Spirit So it is said of Paul that great Apostle that he shewed first unto them of Damascus and Acts 26. 20. at Jerusalem and through all the Coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God c. It was Paul's great work and main business to have it well with all he came among his hearts desire was that they might be saved and therefore was he so intent upon this where ever he came that they might repent and turn to God as the onely soveraign way of it and as knowing it could not else be well with them Hence it was that that holy Martyr Mr. Bradford when he came to the stake cryed out so earnestly and affectionately O England England repent of thy sins repent of thy sins he knew it was the onely way of Englands weal then as it is now and therefore whatever is the zeal and fervency of God's Ministers herein so as that some it may be may think them besides themselves as some did Paul 2 Cor. 5. 13. yet this being the onely way of their being sav'd and they being else und one this gives sufficient reason and ground thereof 7. This lets us see the reason why the Church and People of God have been so fervent and frequent in their Prayers for this that God would turn them again and cause his face to shine as here in one Psalm they instance it no less than thrice v. 3. v. 7. and v. 19. and can ye blame them or was there not good reason for it when as this was the only way for them to be saved to be happy and to have it well with them and how earnest have others also been as to these as David how often and how exceeding earnestly does he beg that Psalm 119. 58. God would make his face to shine upon him and I entreated thy favour or I have earnestly besought thy face so the Dutch with my whole heart or with all my heart and good cause his very happiness and felicity consisting thereon and flowing therefrom c. Poenitentia Angelorū delectatio hilacritas gaudent societati suae restitutos esse quos in tenebris inferni ac Satanae potestate constitutos viderant Gerhard 8. This lets us see whence it is that there hath been and is still such great joy when a sinner turns to God and that both in heaven and earth as the Scripture declares Luk. 15. 7. I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth c. and v. 10. Likewise I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth c. the repenting and turning though but of one sinner makes all heaven merry as it Heus tu peccator bono animo sis vides ubi de tuo gaudetur c. Tertull were it causes joy all heaven over it puts harps as it were into the Angels hands and songs into their mouths c.
nor call upon men as a company of stocks and stones but as such as are capable of the use of such means and directions which he gives them 5. If we understand these places of those already Acti agimus hoc benè agimus quod à bono agimur turned and converted they may cooperate in further turning though they cannot at first turn themselves not begin it yet being begun they may and ought to carry it on A supernatural life being infused into the soul we may spiritually move and being first acted and wrought upon by God we may further act and work upon our selves 6. Though we cannot convert our selves yet if we seek to the Lord he is both able and also ready and willing for to help us he is God all-sufficient as in and to himself so at all times and in all things as to others as he said to Paul his grace is sufficient for us his accepting free and favouring grace as I said before against our unworthiness and his powerful operating grace against our weakness and his strength is made perfect in weakness and he is very ready to put it forth Turn you at my reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you c. What he commands Prov. 1. 23. in one place he makes promise of in another CHAP. XII Motives to turn to God INdeed to adde further motives here might seem needless there being so much in the words themselves to move us to this it being as ye have heard and had it abundantly confirmd ' the onely way for a people to be sav'd and that in the largest sense and utmost extent thereof but that I may the more yet prevail as to that wherein we are all so infinitely concern'd both as to our own and the Nations weal I shall propound to your serious consideration these following motives 1. The equity and reasonableness thereof how just and right and meet and equal a thing it is that we should turn again to God as Elihu bespeaks Job Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisement I will not offend any Job 34. 31 32. more That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more Surely having by departing from God and his ways done so great wrong and injury both to God and our selves what can be more meet and matter of greater equity than that we should break off and amend and not go on still to pervert our ways as we have done especially his chastening hand being upon us See how the Lord argues as to the equity and reasonableness of this in that famous place Jer. 8. 4. Moreover thou shalt say unto them thus saith the Lord shall they fall and not arise shall he turn away and not return In the three first verses of this chapter we have grievons judgments denounced against the Jews both dead and alive such as were dead though great ones should not be suffered to lie quietly in their graves At that time Jer. 3. 1. saith the Lord they shall bring out the bones of the Kings of Judah and the bones of the Princes c. and death shall be chosen rather than life v. 3. by all the residue of them that remain c. And now the Lord the more to manifest the equity of his proceedings in this severity towards them declares the folly and unreasonableness of their proceedings running on headlong without stop or stay in those ways that tended to their utter ruin and destruction and the Lord reasons the case with them Thus saith the Lord shall they v. 4. fall and not arise shall he turn away and not return Is there any man so absurd so witless so void of sense and reason who being fallen will not willingly arise or at least assay to get up and be glad of such as would offer him their help or that having gone astray would not gladly come again into the right way A man may indeed unawares and through inadvertency miss his way and go astray yea but will he not desire to come into his way again and be willing and glad to receive direction from those who would set him therein and why then do not this people do so why having fallen by their sin do they refuse to arise or to be raised again by those that take pains with them to that purpose and why having wandred and gone out of the right way do they go on still pertinaciously in the same refusing to return or to be reduc'd why does this people thus act even quite contrary to the usual way and manner of men in such a case Thus the Lord makes application of this to the people Why then is v. 5. this people slidden back by a perpetual back-sliding why having gone out of the right way and being in a wrong way so prejudicial to themselves will they thus still persist in it they v. 6. hold fast deceit they refuse to return I hearken'd and heard this shews God's earnest desire of their repentance being a phrase borrowed from men who are wont diligently to listen after what they much desire to hear but they spake not aright no nor acted aright for it follows no man repented him of his wickedness saying what have I done they it may be complainâ—d what others had done or did but none said what have I done every one turned to his course as the horse rusheth into the battel that is fiercely fearlesly presumptuously neither regarding their duty nor danger neither my command nor their own safety Thus in stead of turning from evil they still run headlong and with an impetuous eagerness into evil and will not be curb'd nor restrain'd but will on And how unrighteous and unreasonable and against all equity is this and hence wicked men are called unreasonable men 2 Thes 3. 2. And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men who still go in their sins without remorse and refuse to return And if sinners will not see the equity of this now of turning again to God so as to return they shall so see and feel the iniquity of it hereafter as to fill them with shame and astonishment O that they should be so sottish so absurd and unreasonable as being fallen not to arise as being out of the way not to turn into it again The sottishness and unreasonableness of this is such and so great that the Lord 〈◊〉 in the very next verse calls the very unreasonable creatures to witness against it and iâ—pannels as it were a Jury of Storks and Turtles and v. 7. Cranes and Swallows to condemn it Yea the Stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but my people Ab irrationalibus auget accusationèm etenim nôrunt volucres varietatem temporum nunc huc nunc illuc
you shall not be saved but perish none indeed are saved for it but for me and my merits sake nor can any be saved without it Had Jesus Christ shed Seas of bloud he would never yet save a sinner that he does not bring to repent of his sins The Father and Son never agreed nor resolv'd upon saving man in an absolute illimited way but in such a way and order as in a way of repenting and believing not as if there was Quamvis Christus millies mortem obiisset nullus tamen impoenitens peccatorum condonationem ex illius morte consequetur nec quemvis alium fructum percipiet Deutus any merit or causality in repentance but as the way and condition without which though not the cause for which remission of sins and salvation cannot be obtained Thus Repentance is necessary not onely as God's command but also as a way means and order that God has ordained for remission and salvation so that though there is no causality dignity or merit in our repentance yet it is of that nature that the holy Ghost must necessarily work it in all those who are partakers of them so as to qualifie for them so that either we must repent or Aut poenitendum aut pereundum perish turn or dye be converted or destroyed either this must be done or we undone for ever Ezek. 18. 30. If indeed we repent and turn from our transgressions then the Lord hath told us iniquity 33. 11. shall not be our ruine though it tends to our ruine but unless we repent and turn it will inevitably be so If we still persist and live and lie Si divinae miserationes nequeunt nos allectare tum judica Dei nos terreant in our sins we shall then certainly dye in our sins and perish in our sins Hence says the Lord Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel implying that 'till we do turn from our evil ways we say in effect we will dye For the turning away of the simple shall Prov. 1. 31. 11. 19. slay them and he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death If thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness he shall dye in Ezek. 3. 19. his iniquity Either we must be turned to God here or separated from him for ever hereafter either be converted or for ever excluded the Kingdom of Heaven and turn'd into hell Verily I say unto you except ye be converted c. ye Matth. 18. 2. shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven If Tertullian therefore thou be backward in thoughts of repentance be forward in thoughts of hell c. for we must turn or for ever burn in hell Thus conversion is necessary as a means to life and happiness so that as life is a necessary consequent of conversion so death is an inevitable fruit and effect of the neglect of it so that I may say to you as Moses sometimes said to that people See I here set before you this day life and good death and evil life and all manner of good if you obey and repent and turn to the Lord but death and all manner of evil if ye refuse and I call Deut. 30. 15. heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that ye may live Why life and death are the greatest and forciblest arguments in the world what will not a man give or do for life Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life And death is the most formidable of evils call'd the King of terrours we use to say such a man is as earnest and intent upon a thing as if life and death depended upon it Why truly life or death depend upon our turning or not turning to God life and death are in these things and accordingly such should our prayers and cares and indeavours be in and about the same 5. The gratefulness and acceptableness of it unto God how pleasing welcom and delightful it is to him when a sinner does indeed repent and turn to God! O with what joy and singular complacency does the Lord speak of Ephraim as turning from his Idolatries and not going on as he had done to provoke him and wrong himself Ephraim shall say what have I any more to Hos 14. 8. do with Idols I have heard him and observ'd him and that with a great deal of joy and delight as that I am glad of and rejoyce in So I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself Jer. 31. 18 19. c. that is bewailing his sins the Hebrew is hearing I have heard him that is attentively pleasingly delightfully so as to take special notice of him and to have a singular regard to him and now his bowels are troubled for him and he will surely have mercy on him As God has a singular hatred and abhorrence of sin so Quemadmodum Deus summo odio habet peccatum ita quoque summe hominis poenirentia delectatur per quam à summo malo ad summum bonum convertitur Gerh. he cannot but be much pleased with repentance by which the sinner turns from it to himself from the chief evil to the chief good and it being that wherein his own glory and the sinners good is so much concern'd For thereby God is honoured Jesus Christ sees of the travel of his soul and is satisfied the Spirit ceases to be grieved as formerly sin is pardoned God's favour recover'd Satan defeated and the soul saved how well was God pleased with Josiah his heart being tender and he humbling himself before 2 Chr. 34. 27. God which he twice mentions as being much taken therewith And so Manasseh though so great a sinner yet repenting what respect had God to him yea so acceptable is this to God that he had respect to it even in Ahab so far as temporally to reward it though hypocritical the more to encourage to that which is true And the acceptableness of this to God does further appear by his earnest invitings to it longings after it waitings for it bearing so long with sinners as in reference to it his readiness to receive sinners upon the first discoveries of it and pardoning the hainousest sins upon it Psal 51. 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise and what is a broken heart but a penitent heart an heart kindly melted humbled and in bitterness for sin and this now is the sacrifice of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificia Dei God 1. Of God to denote its singular excellency it being usual in the Hebrew to set out the excellency of a thing by the addition of the name of God as the mountains and Cedars of God c. 2. It is called the
robs us of our joy peace safety separates from God the chief good and brings horrors of conscience here and to eternal Is 59. 1 2. perdition hereafter which may have a moments pleasure but an eternities torment And can we do better than to incourage one another here to come up to so great a good and to come off from so great an evil Do others incourage one another in evil matters and not we in what is so good to quit sins and the Devil 's Psal 64 5. and hell's quarters murderers quarters our deadly enemie's quarters which seek our bloud and the destruction of our precious souls and to come into heaven's quarters into God's and our friends quarters O who would not incourage here and say come and let us return unto the Lord and so betake our selves to the onely way of our own and the Nations weal And O that it was once come to this that so both our own and the Nations utter ruine might be prevented which God professedly declares yea swears he has no pleasure in We read of those indeed who were ready to cast such a calumny upon God as if he took pleasure in their death for they said if our transgressions and our sins be upon us and Ezek 33 â—â— we pine away in them how then should we live c. as if they had said What do you tell us of living or prophesie of life when we find the quite contrary that we are dying Now as to this God vindicates himself asserting the clean v. 11. contrary by an Oath Say unto them as I live says the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live c. As death is indeed an act of justice punishing the impenitent so it hath the nature of good in it and so it is pleasing to God who is just as well as merciful but as it is meerly the creatures ruine and misery so he delights not in it and to this he swears Indeed God cannot lye and so his word might be enough O beatos noâ— quorum causâ Deus jurat O miseri nos si non juranti Domino credimus Tertull. but the more to confirm what he says he is pleased to swear and happy we for whose sake God swears if we believe but miserable we if he shall swear and we yet not believe him and further to shew his unwillingness that we should dye he doubles his invitation to turn Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel And this ingemination as it shews our dulness and love to our sins and loathness to leave them so a vehemency and intention of spirit in God there being much life spirit and affectionateness in sueh expressions and it shews also a necessity of compliance for that cannot but be a matter of great weight that we are so often invited to such Scripture ingeminations not being vain but the more words from God the more weight and what is doubly prest must needs be doubly our duty and that which we are doubly ingag'd to Surely as it shews God desires it much so that it concerns us much and what indeed can concern us more than that which unless we do we as certainly perish as the Lord lives And what goodness and condescension is it in the great God that he should so earnestly and so often invite us to that which is so much for our own good and that though he cannot be better'd nor made happier by us yet that our salvation should be so dear to him and therefore let us set to it our selves and incourage one another all we can looking up to God for help for though we can turn away Ps 119. 176. Hos 13. 9. we cannot of our selves turn again we can wound but not heal our selves throw our selves down but not raise our selves up loose our selves but not reduce our selves CHAP. XV. To see to it that our turning to God be true and real AND let us not onely incourage one another to turn to God but be sure our conversion be sincere 1. Let there be a sound conviction of sin and a kindly compunction for it with a thorow aversion from it to the Lord both in heart and life in inward principles and outward practises there being a change both of the disposition and affection and love to sin within and of the conversation without and these depend one upon another For 'till the conscience be throughly convinct of sin how should the heart be kindly contrite for sin and 'till the heart be contrite for sin how should it forsake or turn from sin and 'till it do turn from sin how should it turn to God And 2. let this turn be such as is of God as also unto God quite Jer. 4. 1. through unto him and not to any thing below him or on this side him O how sad is it to suffer shipwrack neer the haven to turn towards God and yet never to reach nor take up in God as our true and proper center to come up out of Egypt and yet never to come into Canaan not to be far from the Kingdom of God from heaven and yet to fall short of it and to be turned into hell 3. Let it be such as arises from faith 4. Let it be hearty with all or the whole heart no part of the heart here being reserved for sin but the whole heart inclin'd one way and that to God as it is said of good King Josiah 2 King 23. 25. that like unto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might c. Indeed the heart is the main and what is done Quod cor non facit non fit here unless it be with the heart it is not done And in what should we be hearty indeed if not in what we do to God and in what tends so infinitely to our own good 5. Let it be universal 1. As to the subject turning the whole man body and soul and all the faculties of the one and members of the other compleat as to parts though not degrees as to extension though not perfection in every part though but in part As the Air in the dawning is light in e-every part though but in part else if any one part be unturn'd we shall as one expresses it with our whole go to hell and therefore as all of us and in us is turn'd away from God never let us rest till all be turn'd again to God 2. As to the object turn'd from and turn'd to from all sin to all that is holy and righteous from every false and crooked way to every true and right way for as there 's no Brook so small no River Ps 119. 101 128. so little but if a man follow it it will bring him
houses and England shall be set as a pattern of blessing and blessings as is said of David For thou hast made him most blessed for ever the Hebrew is set him blessings i. e. as some beset him with blessings as Psal 5. 12. 32. 10. replenished him c. or as others put him to be blessings that is to impart them or to be a blessing as is said of Abraham and others Gen. 12. 2. Is 19. 24. Ezek. 34. 26. c. or Psal 21. 6. rather as others to be an example of blessing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pones eum benedictiones Hac loquendi formulâ exprimitur tam uberem bonorum copiam affluere ei ut meritò benevolentiae divinae exemplar esse possit c Calv. and blessings that is so blessed and replenished with blessings as to become worthily an example to others thereof And so shall England become upon its return to God as it is said of Ephraim and Manasseh In thee shall Israel bless saying God make thee as Ephriam c. so as England the Lord bless thee as he hath blessed his people there whereas others have been an example of God's curse as Zedekiah and Ahab The Lord make thee as Zedekiah c. and then from that very time that we do indeed Gen 48. 20. Jer. 29. 22. turn again to God and are reform'd the name of the City and Countrey too shall be the name of that City Ezek. 48. 35. as that wherein our chief good and happiness shall consist Jehovah Shammah the Lord is there CHAP. XVII Motives to seek the face or favour of God COnsider 1. how excellent it is so as David Psal 36. 7. admires it How excellent is thy loving kindness O God c. It cannot be exprest what is there in heaven it self that exceeds it whom have I in heaven but thee And they shall see 73. 25. Rev. 22. 4. his face c. Life is precious the preciousest thing in Nature but the favour of God as has been hinted is more precious it is life even in Ps 63. 3. death it self as that blessed Martyr Mr. Bradford answered when profer'd life if he would recant Life said he with God's displeasure is worse than death and death in his favour is true life 2. How honourable what indeed more honours Since thou wast precious in my sight thou Is 43. 4. hast been honourable From that very time that a soul finds favour with God you may write it down as happy so truly honourable but there is no true honour 'till then it being God alone and his favour and grace that creates that this as I hinted before is the crowning mercy with favour wilt thou crown him It is observed of Ps 5. 12. the Rainbow that of it self it is but a common vapour but that which gilds it and as it were enamels it with so many radiant colours it is the Sun by shining upon it and so all the gildings all the beauty glory and lustre that is upon any it is from the shines of God's face from the beams of his favour and grace and without this man though in honour is yet but vile and like Psal 49. 20. the beasts that perish And the earth shined with his glory It is the grace and favour of Ezek. 43. 2. God which he counts his glory that makes to shine such lumps of earth as we are It is spoken as the great honour of the seven Princes of Persia and Media that were next to the King Hest 1. 14. that they saw his face those Persian Monarchs were seldom seen of any it was a piece of state they took upon themselves and if it was so much honour to see the face of an earthly Monarch what honour is it to behold the face of God! As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness Psal 17. 15. This is that badg of honour that differences the Saints from all others and is not onely the happiness but glory of heaven it self and of those Angels and blessed Heroes that reside there I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and I say unto you that in heaven Luk. 1. 19. Matth. 18. 10. the Angels do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven This is spoken of as the grearest honour the creature can be advanced to in heaven and what greater honour then can there be on earth 3. How comfortable nothing comforts like it nor any thing truly without it It s better than wine yea turns even water into wine it giveth songs in the night and in the grossest darkness causeth to arise light and this alone in all troubles is the choicest cordial no Bezoar Pearl Alkermes nor other cordial can comfort like it hence the Prophet David a man inspired by God of all cordials makes choice of this Let I pray thee thy merciful kindness Ps 119. 76. be for my comfort c. or let it be for to comfort me where should it be O let it be by Ad consolandum me me let it be with me as my cordial to cheer and revive me Such as are subject to faint use to have their cordials by them now Lord says David let me have this and none indeed to Ostendit nihil esse quod dolorem abstergat donec propitium sibi Deum sentiat Calvin this this was it made Oecolampadius when he was near death putting his hand upon his heart to say hic sat lucis here is abundance of light that is of unspeakable joy and Mr. Bolâ—on I am by the wonderful mercies of God as full of comfort as my heart can hold and another to cry out O the joy the unspeakable joy I find in my soul and another my cup runs over c. this will comfort when other the choicest cordials cannot nor will not and that in the most disconsolate estate but nothing in times of distress can comfort without it because nothing can supply the want of it It is said In the light of the Kings countenance is life and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain and as dew upon the grass and what then is the light of Gods countenance his favour how much more comfortable and refreshing must that needs be Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance O one cast of that is more comforting than the wealth of a whole world When Cyrus had once given a cup of Gold to one and a Kiss in token of special favour to another he to whom the King had given the Cup told him that the Cup he gave him was not so good gold as the Kiss he gave to the other c. 4. How profitable nothing makes more for our profit it being the main and that which is the very root and well-spring of all good but of this I have occasionally spoken something before and shall be the briefer therefore now what will or