their trust in him 3. Submit to his Providence without Murmuring When we can speak well of him tho he seem to deal most hardly as the Bethshemites when there was such a Slaughter made among them fifty thousand slain They do not say murmuringly who can stand before this severe cruel God but before this Holy God They own his Holiness in the Dispensation tho it were so dreadful 1 Sam. 7. 20. It is a great Glory to God when you own him as just in all his ways when he deals most hardly Whatsoever be our Lot and Portion yet he is a Holy God But to cavil and murmur it is to tax and blemish God before the World 4. Live to publick Ends that is to draw God into Request with others Let this be the aim of your Conversation not only to get Holiness enough to bring you to Heaven but to allure others and recommend God to them that by the Purity and Strictness of your Conversation you might gain upon others and bring them to be in love with God and acquainted with him And Lastly be sensible when God's Name is dishonoured by your selves and others not enduring the least prophanation of it Thy Kingdom come THE first Petition concerneth the End the rest the means Now among all the Means none hath such a near and immediate respect to the Glory of God as Christ's Kingdom for here there is more of God discovered more of his infinite Grace Justice Wisdom and Power than possibly can be elsewhere All other things are for the Church and the Church for Christ as Head and King and Christ for God 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. So that Christ's Kingdom is the primary Means of advancing God's Glory and therefore among all the Means it must be sought in the first place Mat. 6. 33. Seek first the Kingdom of God First not above the Glory of God it doth not come in competition with that but above all other things whatsoever before Pardon and Grace In the Words observe three things 1. We grant a Kingdom 2. By way of Distinction and Appropriation we say Thy Kingdom 3. By way of Supplication we beg of God that it may Come The Concession the Distinction the Supplication are the three things to be opened First The Concession of a Kingdom which our heavenly Father hath A Kingdom in the general signifieth the Government of a People under one Head or Governour and therefore the Term may be fitly applied to God who alone is Supream and we are all under his Dominion Now God's Kingdom is twofold 1. Universal 2. More Particular and Special First There 's a Universal Kingdom over all Things over Angels and Devils over Men Elect and Reprobate over Beasts and Living Creatures and over inanimate Things Sun Moon and Stars This is spoken of 1 Chron. 29. 11. Thine is the Kingdom O Lord and thou art exalted as Head above all And again Psal. 103. 19. The Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens and his Kingdom ruleth over all There is no such Monarch as God is for largeness of Empire for absoluteness of Power and Sublimity of his Throne This is not principally understood here but is implied as a Foundation and Ground of Faith whereupon we may deal with God about that Kingdom which is specially intended in this Request Secondly More Particularly and Especially God hath a Kingdom over a certain Order and Estate of Men. Of this especial Kingdom there are two notable Branches and Considerations One is that Administration which belongeth to the present Life and is called the Kingdom of Grace and the other belongeth to the Life to come and is called the Kingdom of Glory 1. The Kingdom of Grace is spoken of in many places specially that Luk. 17. 20 21. When he was demanded of the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God should come he answered them and said The Kingdom of God cometh not with Observation Neither shall they say Lo here or lo there for behold the Kingdom of God is within you or among you He speaks of a Kingdom of God that was already come among them in the dispensation of his Grace by Christ. And then the other belongeth to the Life to come called the Kingdom of Glory Mat. 25. 34. Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World 1 Cor. 15. 50. Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God Now the Kingdom of Grace may be considered two ways as Externally administred and as internally received 1. As Externally administred in the Ordinances and Means of Grace as the Word and Seals and Censures and the like In this Sence it is said Mat. 21. 43. The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the Fruits thereof The Gospel or Means of Grace administred in the visible Face of the Church they are called God's Kingdom upon Earth and a very great Priviledg they are when they are bestowed upon any People Surely when Christ saith The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you he doth not mean it of the inward Kingdom that they had not that cannot be lost but of the outward and external Means 2. As internally received and then by it is meant the Grace of God which rules in the Hearts of the Elect and causeth their Souls to submit and subject themselves unto the Obedience of Christ and unto his Scepter and to his Word and Spirit and this is that Kingdom properly which is within us This is the Kingdom of God which consisteth in Righteousness Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. And this differeth from the Kingdom of Glory not so much in Nature as in Degree Well then That by the Kingdom of God is here meant not his general Empire over all the World and all the things of the World tho that be not wholly excluded but his special Kingdom which he doth administer by Christ And that either as externally managed by Ordinances and visible means of Grace or as internally received and administred in the Hearts of the Elect This is that Kingdom we beg that it may flourish and get ground more and more 2. Then for the Kingdom of Glory it is either begun and inchoate or else consummate and perfect 1. 'T is begun and inchoate upon our Translation to Heaven in the very moment of Death In which Christ reigns in the other World in the Spirits of just Men made perfect that is being perfectly freed from Sin and admitted into the clear and immediate Vision and Fruition of God tho our Bodies abide in the Grave expecting full Redemption and Deliverance That there is such a Kingdom carried on many Scriptures intimate Phil. 1. 23. I desire to depart and to be with Christ. As soon as the Saints are loosed from the Body they are with Christ under his Government Luk. 23. 43. This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise As soon as Christ died
3. When we do our best we cannot deserve these Mercies or merit ought at God's Hands for all we do is already due to God as we are his Creatures and the paying new Debts will not quit old Scores The Question is propounded Iob 22. 2. Can a Man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself See the Answer Chap. 35. 7. If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine Hand and wherein is God profited if a Man's ways be perfect And therefore what ever God doth for Creatures he doth it freely because he cannot be obliged by any Act of ours and pre-ingaged Thus Adam in Innocency could not obtain the Blessing but by virtue of the Covenant nor merit ought at God's Hands that is put any Obligation upon God and therefore certainly now we cannot And partly too not because whatever we do it will carry a Proportion with these common Mercies We are proud Creatures and think of a Condignity of Works and to merit from Heaven these Mercies But alas there 's no Comparison and if God would deal with us upon Merit and strict Commutative Justice we cannot give him a valuable Compensation for temporal Mercies Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the Mercies which thou hast shewed unto thy Servant Though none of God's Mercies can simply be said to be little for whatsoever comes from a great God should be great in our Value and Esteem as a small Remembrance from a great Person is much prized therefore no Mercy is simply little but comparatively now the least Mercies some have and others the greatest temporal Things When we are put into the Ballance We and all our Worth and Deservings cannot counterpoize the least Mercy or merit the daily Bread we have from God And then the little Good we do it is meerly by the Grace that we have received If one Man differs from another who made him differ It is but a new Gift he is the more indebted to God 4. We deserve the contrary We have forfeited our Lives and all our Comforts we have put our selves out of God's Protection by Sin Death way-laid us when we were in our Mothers Womb and as soon as we were born there was a Sentence in force against us Rom. 5. 12. Death came upon all for that all have sinned And still we continue the Forfeiture We provoke God to cut us off It is a kind of pardoning Mercy by which we subsist every moment This is sensible in case of Sickness when our Lives and Comforts slide from us when there is but a Step between us and Death when the Old Covenant comes to be put in Suit and God seems to be executing the Sentence of the Law And that is the Reason why the temporal Deliverance of the Wicked and Impenitent is called a Remission as Psal. 78. 38. But he being full of Compassion forgave their Iniquity and destroyed them not And Mat. 18. 26 27 28. Have Patience with me and I will pay thee all And the Lord of that Servant was moved with Compassion and forgave him the Debt Why is it call'd a Remission Improperly because it was a Reprieve from the temporal Judgment for a time it was not an executing the Sentence which was in force against us And it was not from any thing in the Sinner but from God's pity over his Creatures And a godly Man every time his Life and Comforts are in danger hath a Pardon renewed at that time Isa. 38. 17. Thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the Pit of Corruption for thou hast cast all my Sins behind thy Back They are loved out of Danger and loved out of Sickness the pardoning Mercy of God is indeed renewed to them APPLICATION Vse 1. For Information in two Branches First That God will give his People temporal Things Not only Pardon and Grace and Glory but no good Thing will he with-hold Psal. 81. 11. Many say they can trust God for eternal Life but cannot trust him for daily Bread This is an utter Mistake Certainly it is far more easy to trust God for daily Bread than for eternal Life because there are more Difficulties more natural Prejudices against these greater Mercies of Pardon and Eternal Life than there can be against the daily Effects of God's Bounty It is a harder matter to work through our natural Prejudices which lie against Eternal Life than to work through that Distrust which lies against God's Care over us and Provision for us Why For God's common Bounty it reacheth to all his Creatures even to the smallest Worm his Mercy is over all his Works And surely it is more easy to believe his common Bounty than his special Love which runs in a distinct Channel to such a sort of Men. But because many have too weak a Faith about temporal Things let us consider how willing God is to distribute and give out these Supplies Several Things I might mention 1. God's Respect to the Bodies of his People is a mighty Ground and Encouragement God is in Covenant with the Body as well as the Soul Jesus Christ proves the Resurrection from thence that God is the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob Mat. 22. 32. This Argument can never be made good but upon this Supposition that God is in Covenant with Abraham's Body with the whole Believer and therefore the Mark of Circumcision was in their Flesh as the Water of Baptism is sprinkled upon our Bodies Well then if the Bodies of the Saints be in Covenant with God certainly some of the Promises of the Covenant do concern the Body and Sustentation of the present Life But that is not all but Jesus Christ hath purchased both Body and Soul 1 Cor. 6. 20. Ye are bought with a Price therefore glorify God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's Not only the Soul is Christ's but the Body You will say That is ground of Service but what can it be inferr'd that therefore God will provide for us It is not only a ground of our Service but of Christ's Care of us If Christ had only purchased our Service yet it were a ground of Hope If you expect Work and Service from a Body you will give maintenance to that Body But Christ's Purchase implieth his Care over that he hath purchased for the Interest God hath in us in Redemption is a gracious Interest God had an Interest in us before we were redeemed we could not make void his Right by any Rebellion of ours But then God hath such an Interest in us as engaged and sollicited him to destroy us Look as a Prince hath an Interest in his Subjects if they rebell and revolt from their Obedience they cannot disannul his Right but it is such a Right as binds him to pursue and chastise them until they return to their Duty So God hath a Right to the fallen Creature but it was
that was the intent of looking upon it that we might fix our Faith on Christ and come under the shelter of his Wing We beg upon a sense of our own unworthiness the Acceptance of Christ's Satisfaction for us 2. We pray for the Continuance of Pardon though we are already justified yet Forgive us our Sins As in daily Bread though we have it by us and God hath stored us with Blessings in our Houses yet we beg the continuance and use of it so what ever Right we have to pardoning Mercy yet we beg the continuance of it for two reasons Partly because Justification is not compleat until the day of Judgment but Mercy is still in fieri that is God is still a doing Acts 3. 19. That your Sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. Then are our Sins blotted out then is this Priviledg compleat We read of Forgiveness in this World and Forgiveness in the World to come Matth. 12. 32. Forgiven in this World when accepted to Grace and Favour with God and forgiven in the World to come when this Priviledg is compleat and fully made up to the Elect. Some Effects of Sin remain till then as Death which came into the World by Sin remains upon the Body till then then our Sin is blotted out when all the Fruits of it are vanished and done away so that whilst any penal Evils that are introduced by Sin remain we ought to pray for Pardon that God would not repent of his Mercy Look as when we are in a state of Sanctification we pray for the continuance of Sanctification as well as the increase of it because of the Reliques of Sin though our perseverance in Grace and Sanctification be as much secured by God's Promise as our perseverance in God's Favour and the Gift of Justification So we pray for the continuance of Pardon because the Evils of Sin yet remain in part And partly because God for our Exercise will make us feel the smart of old Sins which are already pardoned As an old Bruise though it be healed yet ever and anon we may feel it upon change of Weather Accusations of Conscience may return for Sins already pardoned as Iob 13. 26. Thou makest me possess the Iniquities of my Youth Though a Man be reconciled to God and in favour with him yet the Sins of his Youth will trouble him after he hath obtained the Pardon of them God may make these return with a horrible and frightful appearance upon the Conscience their Visage may be terrible to look upon Tho these Sins are blotted out Satan may make the Remembrance of them very frightful and God in his holy wise Dispensation may permit it for our Humiliation Though this be no intrenching of the Pardon already past yet it may exceedingly terrify the Soul and over-cloud our Comfort and therefore we must beg the continuance of this Benefit Go to God as David did Psal. 25. 6 7. Remember O Lord thy tender Mercies and thy loving Kindness for they have been ever of old Remember not the Sins of my Youth nor my Transgressions He begs God's ancient Mercies would continue with him He acknowledged he had received Mercy of old he could run up to Eternity that had been for ever of old yet Lord remember not against me the Sins of my Youth When the sense of old Sins are renewed we must renew Petitions for the pardon of them It is usual with God when we are negligent to permit the Devil to make use of Affliction to revive old Sins that they may stare afresh in the view of the Eye of Conscience therefore we had need to beg the continuance of this Priviledg for it is not compleat Though the Pardon it self be not abrogated yet the Comfort of it may be much intrenched upon and old Sins may come and terrify the Soul with a very hideous Aspect 3. We beg here the Sense and Manifestation of Pardon though it be not the only thing we pray for Forgive us our Sins that is let us know it God may blot Sins out of his Book when he doth not blot them out of our Consciences There 's the Book of Conscience and the Book of God's Remembrance The Book of God's Remembrance may be cancell'd to speak after the manner of Men as soon as we believe and repent then the Hand-writing which was against us is torn but he blots it out of our Consciences when the Worm of Conscience is kill'd by the Application of the Blood of Christ through the Spirit when we are sprinkled from an evil Conscience as the Expression is Heb. 10. 22. And David is earnest with God for this Benefit the sense of his Pardon Psal. 51. 8 12. Make me to hear Ioy and Gladness that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce and restore unto me the Ioy of thy Salvation Nathan had told him his Sins were pardoned yet he wanted the Joy of God's Salvation that ancient free Spirit that comforting inlarging Spirit he was wont to have God may forgive in Heaven when he doth not forgive in our sense and feeling therefore we beg the Manifestation of it by the Comforts of the Gospel 4. We beg the Increase of that Sense for this Sense is given out in a different Latitude Spiritual Sense is not in all alike quick and lively many have only a probable Certainty but have many Doubts Some have Comfort but never arrive to Peace Comfort you know is that thing which holds up it self against Encounters when we are confronted so there may be many doubts when the preponderating part of the Soul inclineth to Comfort Some have Peace for the present rest from Trouble of Conscience others have Ioy which is a degree above Peace and Comfort 5. We beg the Effects of Pardon or Freedom from those penal Evils which are continued upon God's Children and are the Fruits of Sin Clearly this is intended for we beg of God to pardon us as we pardon others that is fully intirely to forgive forget We beg of God to forgive us our Sins that is to mitigate those Troubles Evils and Afflictions which are the Fruits of Sin It is true when a Man is justified the State of his Person is altered yet Sin is the same in it self it deserves all manner of Evils therefore we beg not only a Release from Wrath to come but from those other temporal Evils that dog us at the Heels Sin is the same still though the Person is not the same It is still the Violation of a holy Law an Affront done to an holy God an Inconvenience upon the precious Soul it brings a Blot upon us an Inclination to sin again nay it brings eternal Death Though it do not bring eternal Death upon pardoned Persons yet it may occasion temporal Trouble God hath still reserved this Liberty in the Covenant That he will visit their Trangression with the Rod and their Iniquity
than the Fire doth to a Stone if we were not combustible Matter The Corruption that is in the World through Lust 2 Pet. 1. 4. The danger of living in the World doth not stand in this because here are so many Inticements and Baits for every Sense but it 's the Corruption through Lust as the Venom is not in the Flower but Spider The Philistines could not prevail against Sampson if Dalilah on whom he doted had not lull'd him asleep Or as Balaam first corrupted Israel before he could curse them or bring them any harm So Corruption in the Heart makes us liable to Satan's Malice There is a treacherous Party within to open the Door to Satan without which all outward Force could not annoy us Well then we had need go to God Lord Deliver us from Evil. Where we beg 1. That God would weaken the strength of inbred Corruption that we may not be foiled by it Paul groans sadly Rom. 7. 24. O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death It is a Question but it implyeth a Wish for the Hebrews propose their Wishes by way of Question that is O that I were delivered It is a great Mercy to be kept from falling into Sin Kept from every Evil Work 2 Tim. 4. 18. 2. If we be foiled by our Corruption we beg that we may not lie in it nor grow weary of our Resistance nor cast away our Weapons and suffer Sin to have a quiet Reign Psal. 119. 133. Let not any Iniquity have dominion over me We cannot hope for a total exemption from Sin but O Lord let it not reign over us How shall we know when Sin reigns When there is no course of Mortification set up against it to break the Power Force and Tyranny of it Take this Distinction There are remaining and reserved Corruptions Sin remains where it doth not reign but reserved Corruption that 's reigning I will explain it thus Sin remains when notwithstanding all our Endeavours yet it still haunts and pesters us tho praying watching striving waiting and depending upon God for Strength but it is reserved when you let it alone and are loth to touch it but rather cherish dandle and foster it in the Heart and make provision for it Therefore then are we delivered from Evil when we recover by Repentance and tho we suffer by the Tyranny of Sin we will not let it alone to have a quiet reign in our Hearts Do not live under the Power of Corruptions Sin let alone will do us farther Mischief Secondly As we have reason to pray to God with earnestness because of our Danger so with Confidence because of God's Undertaking 2 Thes. 3. 3. The Lord is faithful who shall stablish you and keep you from Evil. God hath undertaken to keep those who with humble and broken Hearts do come to him to be kept from Evil that are watchful serious and careful to get Evils redressed as soon as discerned therefore we may come with an assured Confidence to be delivered from all Evil. How far hath God undertaken to keep his People from Evils and Dangers in this Life I answer 1. So far as may be hurtful to their Souls 1 Cor. 10. 13. God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the Temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it It is part of God's Faithfulness to keep you from Evil to proportion and temper Temptation to your Strength God suits the Burden to every Back he drives on as the little Ones are able to bear therefore certainly he will mitigate Temptation or give in supply of Strength 2. God will keep you from the Evil of Sin so far as it is deadly that is that it be not a Sin unto Death 1 Iohn 5. 16. and that it may not reign in our mortal Bodies for you are dead to it Rom. 6. 14. For Sin shall not have Dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace 3. God undertakes for our Final Deliverance from all Evil upon our translation to Heaven This is included in this Prayer that we may at length come to that State where is no Sorrow no Sin no Assault and Temptation from Satan that we may be kept from all Wickedness Psal. 34. 19. Many are the Afflictions of the Righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all There is a time when God delivereth us from all at once and that is by Death and our Translation into Heaven Well then Let us fly to God for Deliverance waiting for his Help Doct. That to be kept from the Evil of Temptation is a greater Mercy than to be kept from the Trouble of Temptation Lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil That is If we be led into Temptation let us be kept from the Evil of it First It 's a more wonderful Providence to be kept from Evil than from Temptation Esse bonum facile est ubi quod vetat esse remoâ—um est It is no great matter to be Chast or Honest when there 's no Temptation to the contrary Ay but to keep our Integrity in the midst of Assaults and Temptations there 's the wonder If a Garrison be never assaulted 't is no wonder that it standeth exempt from the Calamity of War This is like the Bush that was burned yet not consumed exercised with Temptation from Day to Day and yet kept from Evil. And in this Sence God's Power is more glorified than in keeping the Angels for the Angels are out of Gun-shot and Harms-way and not liable to Temptations But to preserve a poor weak Creature in the midst of Temptation O! how is the Power of God made perfect in Weakness 2 Cor. 12. 9. Perfected that is gloriously discovered Secondly The Evil of Sin is greater than the Evil of Affliction or Trouble 1. The Evil of Sin is the greater Evil because it separateth from God Isa. 59. 2. 'T is an Aversion from the Chiefest Good Affliction doth not separate from God 't is a means to make us draw nigh to him Poverty Sickness Blindness Loss of Goods let a Man be never so low and loathsom yet if in a state of Grace the Lord taketh pleasure in him and he is near and dear to God God kisseth him with the Kisses of his Mouth nothing is loathsom to God but Sin 2. Sin is Evil in it self whether we feel it or no Affliction is not Evil in it self but in our Sense and Feeling Heb. 12. 11. Sin is Evil whether we feel it or no 'T is worse when we do not feel it Past Feeling Eph. 4. 19. when our Conscience is benummed 3. Affliction or Malum Poenae is an Act of Divine Justice but Malum Culpae is an Act of Man's Corruptness For the first Affliction Amos 6. 3. Is there any Evil and the Lord hath not done it But Sin is
when it is cited to appear before the Tribunal of God then vve give up our Account But especially at the great Day Rev. 20. 12. And I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened that is the Book of Conscience and the Book of God's Remembrance There are two Books that are written within and without upon which all our Actions are stamped they are now closed in a great measure we know not what is in these great Books One of the Books that of Conscience is in our own keeping yet we cannot deface and blot it out These Books at that Day will be opened Conscience by the Power of God shall be extended to the Recognition of all our Ways Conscience writes when it speaks not Many times it doth not smite for Sins we are guilty of but there stands the Debt charged upon which we shall be responsible 5. After this Reckoning there is Execution A Bankrupt that cannot satisfy his Creditor is cast into Prison So God hath his Prison for impenitent disobedient and obstinate Sinners 1 Pet. 3. 19. He went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison It is a dismal Prison where poor captive Prisoners are held in Chains of Darkness that is under the Horrors of their own despairing Fears looking for the Judgment of the Lord when they shall be cast into this Prison and no getting out again until they have paid the utmost Farthing Luke 12. 50. And that will never be as to the Sinner He is as it were always satisfying and can never be said to have satisfied the Justice of God Thus you see how Sin is a Debt and what correspondence there is between them the Obligation of Punishment that ariseth from Sin But now it differeth from all other Debts 1. No Debt to Man can be so great as our Debt to God both for number and weight Mat. 18. 24. compar'd with Vers. 28. You shall see there the Parable of the Lord forgiving ten thousand Talents and the Servant goes and takes his Brother by the Throat and requireth from him a Debt of an hundred Pence Mark Offences done to God are greater than Offences done to us for there 's as much Difference and Disproportion as between an hundred and ten thousand And then the Debt of the Fellow-Servant was but Pence an hundred Pence but the Debt due to the Lord that was Talents and a Talent is reckoned to be one hundred eighty seven Pounds ten Shillings Our Sins against God are more and more heavy than any which our Brethren can commit against us Pence Talents one hundred and ten thousand there 's the Difference and Disproportion O that we had a due sense of what it is to sin against God against an Infinite Majesty To strike a private Person is not so much as to strike an Officer of Justice and that 's not so much as to strike the supream Magistrate What is it to sin against God and how often do we All our Imaginations are only evil and that continually and therefore all our Sins against God will arise to a vast and heavy Debt because of the Infiniteness of the Object against whom Sin is committed 2. In other Debts there 's a Day of Payment set them in this Debt there 's none God doth not tell us when he will put the Bond in suit against us he may surprize us ere we are aware Luke 12. 20. when he dream'd of many Years Thou Fool this Night The Spirits now in Prison did as little think of that doleful place as those Sinners which are alive It may be to day to morrow the next hour Gen. 4. 7. Sin lyeth at the Door There 's a Sentence and Curse that way-lays him Sin for the Punishment of Sin it 's ready to seize upon him and pluck him by the Throat and bring him into God's Presence Still the Curse hovers over the Head of obstinate and impenitent Sinners 3. In other Debts if the Goods are taken by way of Execution and suffice the Person is free But here God aims at the Person and the whole Person Body and Soul are cast into Hell Fire Mat. 10. 28. 4. Here there can be no shifting no avoiding the Danger If you fly from God you do but fly to God from God as willing to be a Friend to God who is sure to be revenged Whither shall I fly from thy Spirit If I go into the Depths thou art there Psal. 139. God is here there and every where 5. All other Debts cease at Death when a Man dyeth we say his Debts are paid but here Execution begins then the Law takes the Sinner by the Throat and drags him to everlasting Punishment and doth in effect say pay me what thou owest Death is God's Arrest Assoon as the Soul steps out of the World presently 't is attached and seized and forfeited into the Hands of God's Justice How many are there that lie under this Danger and never think of it Spiritual Debts they are not so sensible of as literal A Man that 's deeply in debt and in danger of an Arrest cannot sleep eat walk abroad but his Fears are upon him Augustus bought his Quilt or Bed that could sleep soundly when he owed so many thousand Sestercies But poor sensless Sinners never think of danger until they are plunged into it and then there 's no escape Secondly The Metaphor will also hold good as to our Remedy and Recovery how we come out of this Debt A Debtor that is insolvent is undone unless there be some means found out to satisfy the Creditor So we must altogether lie under the Wrath of God unless Satisfaction be made Therefore Jesus Christ in the 1. Place comes under the Notion of a Surety Because he took the Debt of Man upon himself therefore Heb. 7. 22. he is called The Surety of a better Testament When Christ undertook the Business of our Salvation he did in effect say as Paul to Philemon Vers. 18. If he hath wronged thee or oweth thee ought put that on mine Account So did Jesus Christ in effect say to God Let me be made a Sin and made a Curse for them He that was a Judg was willing to become a Party and to pay what we owed David in the Type of Christ saith Psal. 69. 4. I restored that which I took not away He did not take away any Honour from God It was we that robbed God of the Glory of his Justice Authority and Truth that trampled them under our Feet but Christ made restitution and amends to God 2. Having condescended to become our Surety he made full Satisfaction by suffering the Punishment which was due to us Isa. 53. 4. Surely he hath born our Griefs and carried our Sorrows That which we should have born upon our own Backs and would have crusht us for ever that he hath born and he hath carried Christ was to be the Sinner in Law and was to suffer in our stead