time only but for ever The Throne and Bed admit no Rivals and Christ will be all or nothing a Lord for ever or not at all 1. Then they are much mistaken in Faith that think it is no more than a bare believing Christ to be the Saviour of Sinners without any conformity of their Lives to him To make the Conclusion more than the Premises is Sophistry to put Freedom from Sin into the Premises and Liberty to it into the Conclusion is the Devil's Logick the Premises are God's the Conclusion is the Devil's Presumption and not Faith to lay claim to Christ's Person without being 2 Pet. 1. 4. partaker of his Nature to cling to his Cross and cast off his Yoke to challenge a share in the Privileges offer'd and reject the Duties commanded to pretend to his Righteousness and contemn his Grace to trust to his Righteousness and indulge our own Unrighteousness is to reject Christ and not to receive him or so to receive him as that we shall never receive any benefit by him viz. No benefit by the Blood of Propitiation 1 John 5. 6. Rom. 5. 9. if we cast away the Water of Purification 2. And as much mistaken are they that think it an easy thing to believe it is but believing they say and that they think they can do when they please Let him come down from the Mat. 27. 42. Cross said the chief Priests and Scribes and we will believe but they were much mistaken for it lay neither in their Will nor Power to do it for they were faster bound under Unbelief than Christ was nail'd to the Cross nor could his coming down from the Cross have wrought it in them without a Work of his Spirit upon them Neither they could nor any of themselves can believe as will appear if we consider 1. The Opposition that is made against it 2. The Power that is exerted in the working of it 1. The Opposition made against it viz. By the Devil and our Selves 1. By the Devil Who out of envy to Christ enmity and malice to Us raises all the Force and Power of Hell against it of all our Comforts and Graces he fights neither against small nor great so much as against Assurance and Faith as knowing what a hindrance the want of one will be in Duty and how destructive the other will be to it for what is not Rom. 14. 23. of Faith is Sin One a Bar to our Peace here the other to our Safety and Happiness hereafter 2. By our selves Not only as to the things that are preparatory to Faith viz. Contrition and Humiliation which are both necessary but things that we are naturally averse to but as to the Work it self For We are naturally proud and would do something to merit Salvation To believe is to abhor our selves and to love another better than our selves and to love him for that in him viz. his Holiness which is contrary to us to hope in him that we verily believe is our Enemy upon the account of Sin and to love him too when he is displeas'd and angry to trust to him upon his bare Word and deny our selves for him to enquire what his Will is and comply with it tho' never so contrary to ours to do what he commands and when done to look upon all as nothing to hate our selves and become Enemies to the things we love to fall out with that which is as dear to us as our Lives and so as to part with it to be fed at the Cost maintain'd at the Charge supported by the Strength and sav'd by the Righteousness of another Hard Terms for proud Nature to yield to but yet must be done and are by believing for Christ's Righteousness alone is the meritorious Cause of our Salvation and will avail us nothing without the denial of ours We must go out of our righteous as well as our sinful Self when by Faith we go out to Christ 2. If we consider the Power that is exerted in working Faith which is no less than that which raised Christ from the Dead To raise the Dead to Life is an Act of creating Power but it was more to raise Christ than any other from Death to Life in that he was not only totally depriv'd of Life for a time but bound under Guilt having by imputation more guilt of Sin on him than any kept in the Grave the strong-hold of Death with a Stone upon it Mat. 27. 64 65 66. seal'd and guarded by Souldiers and all the Forces of Hell as it were upon the Watch with them to hinder him from rising and was not barely rais'd to Life but as a Conqueror over-powering that great Enemy Death trampling on it and triumphing over it Now this Power this great Power this exceeding great Power the supereminent vastness and working activity of this exceeding great Power and all in the abstract that was put forth in raising Christ from the dead this and no less than this is put forth in working Faith in us For we believe Eph. 1. 19 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the working of God's mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead But yet tho' difficult in it self and a Work that we of our selves are wholly unable to God has appointed to work it in us for there is a Promise John 6. 27. Ephes 2. 8. of Faith as well as a Promise made to it and Christ has receiv'd a Commission to enable us to it and when we seek unto him that which we are commanded to do by the Ministry of the Word we shall be enabled to by the efficacy of his Spirit That which is now God's Will shall 1 Thess 4. 3. then be our Work Of the singular Worth and Excellency of Faith It is usual in the Hebrew Language the Mother-Tongue of the World for the setting forth the Greatness and Excellency of a Thing to add the Name of God to the Word whereby the Gen. 23. 6. 30. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Sam. 14. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thing is signified viz. great Wrestlings and Tremblings the Wrestlings and Tremblings of God The Soul's Excellency is set forth by this it is called the Spirit of God not only in respect of its immediate proceeding from him but of its resemblance to him Explaining as one saith by the plurality of Powers in the Vnity of Essence the plurality of Persons in the Vnity of the Deity And no less is it the Excellency of Faith in that it is call'd God's Work John 6. 29. not only in regard of Efficiency but Excellency in that no Work pleases him more than this nor any without it Faith's Excellency appears in its Usefulness and its Usefulness in the great Benefit and Advantage we receive by it For by it 1. We have Union with Christ 2. We have Peace with God 3. Our Duties are accepted 4. We have an
the Promise of the Messiah as being that which was Abraham's Riches and Isaac's Dowry for Rebekah and it is the Happiness of Believers that all the Promises which are in Christ their Head Yea and Amen certain and fulfilled 2 Cor. 1. 20. are theirs for they are Heirs of the Promise and by Faith inherit Jam. 2. 5. the Promise and by inheriting are rich in Faith richer than any without it for they are all but Heirs of Vanity If the Grace of Faith is theirs the Privileges of Faith are theirs also 5. We have Victory over all our Enemies 1. Over Sin in the Guilt and Filth of it There was an Altar and a Laver under Exod. 30. 28. the Law the Altar for Sacrificing the Laver for Washing one for Guilt the other for Filth both typifying the double Benefit by the Death of Christ who came by Water and Blood by Blood to expiate the Guilt of Sin by Water to wash away the Filth of it And by Faith in him we have a relief under all our Fears against both 1. The Guilt of Sin Under all the stingings of this fiery Serpent it brings healing by looking up to Christ the brazen Serpent in whose Sides the Sting was left under all the guilty Aggravations of it which cause the Soul to swoon it fetches a Vertue from his Blood that expiated the Guilt and appeas'd the Wrath due Ephes 1. 7. to it which as a reviving Cordial brings it to life again I had fainted Psal 27. 13. unless I had believed Under all the Accusations of the Law it causes it to triumph in him in whose Condemnation its damning Sentence was repeal'd in whose Death its killing Power was destroy'd by whose Blood the Hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us more terrible than that upon the Wall of Dan. 5. 5. Col. 2. 14. Belshazzar's Pallace was blotted out so as never to be read more and removes all fear from under its Arrests by going to him the Surety of the New Testament not only as one able to discharge the Debt and passing his Word for it but as one that has made Heb. 7. 22. Rom. 8. 34. full paiment of it Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that has died 2. The Filth of Sin Our Sanctification is God's Will 1 Thess 4. 3. part of his Covenant-will and part of Christ's Purchase for he died to redeem from Sin and a Fruit of his cleansing Blood and by Faith in this Blood we are delivered from the Power of Sin as well as the Guilt from the Guilt by the Value of it and from the Power by the Vertue of it There is a healing Vertue in Christ's Blood to dry up the bloody Issue of Sin for it pacifies by the Merit and purifies by the Efficacy of it 2. Over the Devil The Devil the strong Man the Prince and God of this World an Enemy terrible to afright and strong to hurt bloody and cruel seeking to devour and fighting to destroy an unequal Match for us an Enemy too strong for us of our selves to contend with was by Christ the Captain of our Salvation fought upon the Cross the higher Ground and overcome the God of Heaven cast down this God of the World and brought him under his Feet He has conquer'd this Conqueror and led this captivating Enemy captive and by Faith in him we share in this Conquest and by Faith alone in him it is that we stand and make good our Ground against him in our Spiritual Warfare He was slain viz. in his Power not in his Person by Christ our Head who fought him in his own Person and got the Day His Weapons are taken away Quoad judicialem potestatem non quoad exercitium his Force enfeebled and his Power crush'd his Empire broken down his Authority taken from him and his Policies defeated for he is wounded in the Head but yet he remains as our Enemy still he is not troden under our Feet tho' he is under Christ's he shall shortly when all Christ's Enemies are made his Footstool then he shall be under our feet but not till then it will not be long before God as the Apostle says will bruise Rom. 16. 20. him under our feet but till then he shall bruise our Heel not the Heart but Heel the farthest part from the Head and Heart touch us he may but not with a deadly touch to try us but not so as to destroy us he is no Tactu qualitativo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more the Leo vorans and Draco terribilis but yet he has some Teeth left some strength to oppose some strength as an Enemy but no great strength for he is an Enemy in Chains a captiv'd Enemy an Enemy but not so cowardly as not to assault us nor yet so couragious as not to flee from us but not Jam. 4. 7. unless resisted Without resisting there is no conquering and without Faith there is no resisting this Lion will flee at the sight of the Fire of Faith and the force of all his Darts will be repell'd by this Shield for it is Metal of Proof The Shield cover'd the Armour as well as the Body and the Shield of Faith is not only our Armour but the Armour of all our Armour the Heb. 11. 34. Strength of all our Graces and the Grace in which our principal strength consists they waxed valiant in Fight by Faith and according to the strength or weakness of it we shall be more or less valiant in Fight and victorious 2 Cor. 1. 24. 1 Pet. 5. 9. by it By Faith we stand and if by Faith we stand the Devil will either flee or fall before us 3. Over the World in the Good and Evil Things of it 1. The Good Things Tho' these things in themselves are not evil yet they many times prove so they are no Enemies to us yet through the Corruption within and the Devil from without they become Materials of Lust and war against us he gets into these and by them into us as he did into our first Parents and overcomes us but by Faith we are antidoted against this Poison of the Serpent for through Faith we understand by Heb. 11. 3. whom the World was framed and how and by Faith we understand what the things of the World are viz. That they are all Vanity and as such Eccles 12. 1. not much worth our seeking For Things that are vain and empty cannot make us happy whilst we have them nor miserable if we have them not That they are but common Blessings Eccles 9. 12. the Gifts of common Bounty to Good and Bad may be given in Hatred and with-held in Love Since therefore they are no Signs of God's Love they deserve but little of ours That they will rather hinder than further us in our Christian Race disturb us in our way to Heaven and Mark 10. 23. make the entrance into it
sent by the Father he Joh. 12. 44 49. did not step in as a private Person nor of himself take this Office upon him but came as a publick Person sent forth from God his Righteous Servant a Isa 53. 11. Son by Nature a Servant by Office to justify many God and Christ the Father and Son were one in this Work and therefore as no Sin dishonours God more than Unbelief a Sin that of all he will the least bear with because it dishonours the Father by dishonouring the Son not only as he is of one Nature with the Father but as one set apart by the Father for this Work so no Grace honours God more than Faith nor is there any that he so highly esteems of in that it gives him the Glory of all those Attributes viz. the Depth of his Wisdom the Omnipotency of his Power the Exactness of his Justice the Beauty of his Holiness and Greatness of his Love that so eminently appear'd in this Work and gives Honour to him by receiving Christ as sent to accomplish it Faith honours God as it approves of all that he has done in this great Work and God honours Faith as set apart by him to receive the benefit by it by receiving Christ the Author of John 1. 12. it Upon this account it is that Faith is a Grace of such singular worth and excellency as a Quality it has no more worth in it than any other Grace in some respects less but as design'd to so Manus mendicans noble an Office as that of justifying Sinners before God which no Grace else is it has and is preferr'd before all it being as necessary to it necessitate medii as Christ himself he as a Mediator and Faith as a Means of applying him for we are not justified before we believe nor by any thing but by believing Satisfaction made on Christ's part is nothing without Application made on ours Of the Nature of Faith Faith Is not a bare Assent it is more than that Is not Assurance it is less than that It is not a bare Assent Christ appears in his Royalty in the Gospel viz. as the only and All-sufficient Saviour the Persons are described who are interested in him and the Terms specified upon which they are viz. not Devils but Men nor all Men but Believers only A knowledg of and an assent to this Declaration as incomparably good and undoubtedly true is necessary but not enough for as there is no Faith where there is no Assent so there is no Justifying Faith where there is no more For Assent Is a Faith in common with all those kinds of Faith that are not saving it may consist with Despair and necessarily attends it and with the Sin against the Holy Ghost for as it is commonly understood it cannot be committed without it it may be found in the worst of Men it was in the stony ground in the Parable and in Simon Luke 8. 13. Acts 8. 13 23. Jam. 2. 19. Magus who was in the Gall of Bitterness it may be found in Devils for they believe and in Hell as well as upon Earth Assent is necessary and antecedent to justifying Faith and is contain'd in it as the Vegetive and Sensitive Soul is in the Reasonable but it is not that for that is but General Faith but this is Particular and appropriating that is in the Understanding only without any quickning Influence on the Will but this has an Operation there and is represented under the Notion Of seeking Christ Which implies diligence Psal 27. 8. in the use of Means Of coming to Christ Which implies the Mat. 11. 28. Motio est actio totius compositi Act of the whole Soul going out to him with Affections and Desires the feet of the Soul to find that in him which it has not in it self Of running to Christ Which implies Isa 55. 5. the fervor of the Motion Of receiving Christ Whereby it is entitled John 1. 12. Jus ad rem sequitur jus ad personam to all the Privileges purchased by him None can use Christ to their benefit unless they have him nor have him until they by Faith receive him It is not Assurance Faith in time may bring Assurance It does not Competere omni soli semper and often does and for a time it may not for it is seldom crown'd with Assurance until it is of some standing it many times ends in Assurance but never begins in it for it goes in Time and in Nature before it 1. In Time Faith goes first and Assurance follows â— John 5. 13. after first believing and then knowing that as the necessary Antecedent this as the Consequent for all must believe before they can know they do as they must before they can be justified by it 2. In Nature Faith is the Condition required on our part in order unto Life believe and be sav'd Faith not Assurance for if that was required then our Sins would be forgiven before we believed Reprobates would be damn'd for 2 Cor. 13. 5. Reprobation may be taken either in opposition to the Eternal Decree of Election or in opposition to Soundness and Reprobates for such as are either rejected absolutely or such as reprobate Silver as are cast off for the present Jer. 6. 30. not believing a Lie viz. that they are in a state of Life when they are not and all would be commanded to believe an Untruth viz. that they are pardoned Mark 16. 16. before they are Assurance Is properly an Act of Experience and not an Act of Faith which is a true Perswasion tho not ever a full one or an Act of the Mind only but Faith is an Act of the whole Soul it is rather God's Act than ours rather the Eminency than the Essence of Faith and relates more to its well-being than being if not then none belong to the Houshold of Faith but such as are assur'd when-as Assurance tho it many times accompanies them yet it does not constitute and make them so That Child which knows neither Father nor Mother may be as true a Child and as much of the Family as those that are come to perfect Knowledg and they as true Members of the Houshold of Faith that want Assurance as they that have it For Tho all that believe are justified yet all that are justified are not sure they are Then Faith and Doubts are inconsistent which sometimes they are not for they are not opposite to one another as Life and Death but only as Cold and Heat in remiss Degrees and may consist as Contraries in some Degree and do when those Doubts are accompanied with Shame and Sorrow attended with earnest desires after the Things doubted of with solicitous Enquiries and Endeavours to get them and with a full purpose of Heart to follow hard after God and cleave close Isa 50. 10. to him in a way of trust
before we die because Paul was or be rais'd to Life when dead because Lazarus was as to find Mercy upon a late Repentance because this dying Thief did Who that rightly understand themselves would venture their Lives in that Physician 's Hands that never cured but one of all that he undertook the cure of eat of that Food of which all but one that eat died turn Thieves because one of those many that did was pardon'd much less run the hazard of a late Repentance from this single Instance because at the same time there was an Instance of Mercy in him there was one of Justice in the other one sav'd that none should despair and but one that none should presume And yet how many are there viz. of the Gentiles to whom the Cross of this Thief has prov'd a stumbling-block as that of Christ's in 1 Cor. 1. 23. another sense was to the Jews at which they have stumbled and fallen into Hell and this great Instance of Salvation through an ill use of it prov'd an occasion of Damnation Some through prophaneness cast off all thoughts of Death and Repentance and some through Presumption the Thoughts of a sudden Death and early Repentance Some cast off all thoughts of Death Though they are hourly departing as fast as the Heavens can turn about Day and Night yet think not of it this day they have no thoughts of it nor to morrow They do not say as those Epicures Let us eat and drink Isa 22. 13. for to morrow we shall die no more than they did believe it though they said so but with them in St. James Jam. 4. 13. To morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a Year buy and sell and get Gain Or as they Let us fill Isa 56. 12. our selves with Wine and strong Drink and to Morrow shall be as this Day and much more abundantly This Day we live to morrow we shall live also and the next day too and thus in their vain Imaginations dream of an endless Life here eke out Time to Eternity and live as if they should never die or never think their Time is come until it is almost gone nor believe themselves Mortal until Death strikes its Dart into their Hearts and gives them their mortal Wound Some cast off all thoughts of a sud Death and early Repentance They know they are Mortal and such as must die and may suddenly too for some they see die so but yet hope that they shall die not by a violent but natural not by a sudden but lingring Death Upon which they presume that either they shall not die until they are old as if with Achilles they were only mortal in the Heel of their Age or if they do that then it shall be by a wasting Disease that shall give them a sufficient warning to prepare for Death to go out and meet it half way They believe that unless they repent they shall perish therefore intend to repent before they die but put it off as the last Work of their Lives in worldly Matters they act with Reason Matters of Importance they dispatch after the best manner and in the fittest time they send to a Physician as soon as they are sick bind up a Wound without delay sow their Seed in season they do not put it off to the time of Harvest gather in their Fruits when ripe quench a Fire as soon as it breaks out they do not stay to see if it will go out of it self rise early when to go a long Journey and desire Security when they lend out their Mony because they are mortal But when called to Repent then they conclude they are immortal or that they have time enough to consider of it and that hereafter may do well enough and never think of begging Mercy till they In articulo mortis have but one breath to fetch They lie on the River's side until the Waters are risen so high that there is no passing over and neglect their Cause until the Court is risen and God gone from his Mercy-Seat with a resolution never to return to it more A folly to be bewail'd if it could be with Tears of Blood They that would have their Watches go true must set them not by the Clock but by the Sun-dial and they that would walk regularly and safely must walk not by Example but by Rule for though Rules in other Arts are from Example yet here Examples are regulated by Rules The Rule we are to be guided by directs to present Repentance This Example of the Thief repenting secures none in the neglect of it for though he did not repent till he came to die yet it cannot be prov'd that he did desperately and wittingly put it off till then Therefore none should defer it to the last moment of Life nor say of it as Diogenes of Marriage when young That it is too soon lest they say as he when old That it is too late Nor think that they have time enough lest God leave them and then they find that Time is past Nor resolve that as yet they will not repent lest God say They shall not and they at last by sad experience find they cannot as Hannibal when he wanted a Will to conquer when he had a Power and a Power when he had a Will It is better to repent a day too soon si modo fiat than an hour too late FINIS
that are terrified by the Law assaulted by the Devil haunted by Sin tempted by the World and through fear of Death subject to Bondage beholding the Conquest over these Enemies may triumph and bid defiance to them all The Curse of the Law is abolish'd by Heb. 2. 15. Rom. 8. 3. 6. 6. the Satisfaction made by Christ to Divine Justice Sin is condemn'd in the Flesh by him the Sacrifice for it and Crucified with him the Devil the Prince of this World is judg'd and cast out by him the World is conquer'd John 12. 31. 16. 11 33. and Death vanquish'd in his Victory over them Let us then triumph in our Victory and give thanks unto God who through Christ has given us Victory The Devil is a captiv'd damned Enemy his Captives are ransom'd redeem'd rescued out of his hands and he himself become Captive rage he may for that is part of his torment but rule he shall not for greater is he that is in 1 John 4. 4. Rom. 12. 10. us than he that is in the World he may accuse and he will but his Charge shall be made void and all his Accusations answered by Christ who ever lives to plead either our Innocency or our Pardon The Law that was Sin 's strength 1 Cor. 15. 56. not as encouraging to Sin but as condemning for it is now become weak for its killing damning Power Rom. 8. 1 3. Gal. 3. 13. is taken away by the Virtue of the Cross Sin that was once a living reigning conquering Enemy is now subdu'd as a routed Enemy it may rally again but shall never conquer Sin shall not have dominion for it is a Body of Death it has receiv'd its death's Wound Rom 6. 14. 7. 24 25. by the Power of the Cross and shall e're long give up the Ghost Death is unstung it is swallowed up in Victory the Power of the Grave is weakned Death that Destroyer is destroy'd we must fall by its hand but shall rise again it will end our 1 Cor. 15. 53 55 56 57. Mortality but not our Life for this Mortal shall put on Immortality We must be Prisoners in the Grave for a time but we shall not be perpetual Prisoners Christ who broke the Bars of that Prison will redeem us from the Power of Grave the time of Psal 49. 15. Isa 16. 19. Ezek. 37. 5 12. Redemption for our Bodies will come our dead Bodies shall rise our dry Bones shall live again the Graves shall be opened the Captives redeem'd and then Destructions shall come to a perpetual End for we shall live and never die more Awake and sing all ye that dwell in the Dust The Devil is captiv'd the Law is silenc'd Sin is condemn'd the World is conquer'd and Death destroy'd Who can hurt us What need we fear they are all conquer'd Enemies and the Conqueror is ours thanks be to God who has given us Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ and always causeth us to triumph in him through Rom. 8. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Over-over-comers whom we are over all these more than Conquerors The Warfare of Faith ends in Victory and the Victory must be crown'd with Triumph Of the Inseparable Evidences of FAITH All have not Faith some have not 2 Thess 3. 2. the Faith of Assent and therefore cannot have the Faith of Adherence some think they have a Faith of Evidence and Assurance who have not attained to a Faith of Adherence and Dependance and some have Faith in the Habit but little or none in the Act or Exercise How is it that ye have no Mark 4. 40. Faith and by reason of it walk as uncomfortably as if they had none it concerns us therefore to examine whether we are in the Faith and the Faith 2 Cor. 13. 5. in us and what that Faith is whether a General or a Particular and an Appropriating Faith a Temporary and Perishing or a Sound and Lasting one Col. 2. 12. a Faith of the Operation of God or of the Devil Holy or Unholy Feigned or Unfeigned Dead or Alive Common and Ordinary or Special and Saving the Faith of Reprobates or of God's Elect that Faith which they Jude â—0 2 Tim. 1. 5. Jam. 2. 26. Titus 1. 1â— and none but they have and which all of them have and never can lose The Acts of Faith for a time may cease but the Habit abides Faith 1. Arises from a sense of misery out of Christ 2. Begets a Superlative Love to Christ 3. Is fruitful in good Works 4. Is accompanied with Holiness 1. It arises from a sense of Misery out of Christ Spiritual Poverty is the nearest capacity of believing for Faith is the Act of a weary heavy-laden distressed undone self-condemned Sinner going out to Christ for Rest Life and Salvation Humiliation is not Faith no more than the preorgination of the Body is the Soul but a disposition to it going to Christ without it is building without a Foundation resting in it without going to Christ is laying a Foundation without building upon it a House without a Foundation will be of little use a Foundation without the superstructure will be of no use Without Humiliation Faith is as a House without a Foundation and without Christ it will as a rotten Foundation break under us there is nothing to warrant or encourage our going to Christ before we are humbled for we go before we are call'd nor any thing to assure Salvation to us if we do not go when we are that without him cannot help us he without that will not for we must be lost sick and damn'd in our own sense and apprehension before he will seek heal or save us A Faith of Education is a Weed of Infidelis fiducia Presumption that grows in common Ground Saving Faith is a Plant of Renown growing upon the brink of the Infernal Pit that like self-grown Corn will wither and come Ps 92 13 14. Mat. 15. 13. Jam. 3. 18. to nothing this will flourish that begins in Presumption and ends in Despair this begins in Despair viz. of our selves and will end in Comfort 2. It begets Superlative Love to Christ Christ as consider'd in the Glory and Comeliness of his Person the Graces and Perfections of his Nature and the great Offices he was anointed to viz. of a King above all Kings in Order Power and Authority of a Priest above all Priests in Nature Compassion Sacrifice Merit of a Prophet above all Prophets in Primacy Infallibility and Efficacy is beyond all compare there is nothing in him but what is lovely nor any thing lovely but is eminently in him he is fairer than the Children of Men yea than all the Angels and Saints in the highest Heavens more full of Beauty than the Sun or Morning-Star the Brightness Heb. 1. 3. of his Father's Glory his first and best-beloved the Joy and Delight of the Saints in Heaven
our part to make us meet for it and declares That God loves us better than himself and saves us in contradiction to himself in that he loves and saves us in our Sins and that Christ justifies Sinners to his own reproach or rather justifies Sin than Sinners It concerns us therefore in all our Supplications for Mercy to have an eye to the End of Mercy to seek Mercy upon the Terms of Mercy viz. the Terms upon which it is offer'd lest we make Patents of Mercy to our selves that God will never confirm For As his Justice is wrong'd by a distrust of Mercy upon Repentance so his Mercy is abus'd by an expectation of it without it 1. We should then admire the distinguishing love of God to us He passed by the Fallen Angels more excellent Creatures than we and left them to perish in their Sin but has found out an Expedient for us by Repentance to escape the Wrath due to it The Devils cannot repent nor are they assur'd of Pardon if they could but sinful Men are the more happy they and the more astonishing the freeness of Grace to them they are not call'd to Repentance but these are and assur'd of Pardon if they do repent but not unless they do for as Devils and impenitent Sinners are alike in Nature viz. in their sinful not in their created Nature alike as to kind tho' not as to degree both sinful but one more than the other so they shall fare alike as to punishment They are now reserv'd in everlasting Chains unto Jude 6. â—… the Judgment of the great Day and these are upon a Chain that if not broken will lead them captive to Hell they are shut out of Heaven these are not unless their own Wills keep them John 5. 40. out they are without hope of Pardon these are under a possibility yea a certainty of it upon Repentance for God has ratified the Promise of Pardon upon it As a God of Mercy he made the Promise and as a God of Truth he will perform it 2. Since Repentance is the first Lesson that we are to learn under the Gospel it was the first in St. Paul's Catechism Heb. 6. 1. and a Duty that we are daily to perform and never to neglect we should no more dare to live than we would dare to die without it They that look upon Repentance as a Legal Duty and flee from it as that which is more likely to scare them out of their Wits than Sins will at last find more terror in the Neglect than ever they would have found in the practice of it The neglect of it will make two Hells viz. within and without here and hereafter but a serious and daily exercise of it will make two Heavens viz. without and within above and below in Heaven and in our own Souls 1. In Heaven For when Sinners repent Luk. 15. 7 10. God the Father rejoices As a Father in the Birth of an Heir God the Son rejoices He died big with love to Sinners and cannot but rejoice to see of the travel of his Soul in the Conversiof Isa 53. 11. of theirs God the Holy Ghost rejoices He who has so long and so often been grieved by Sinners rejoices and is made glad that now he shall be a Comforter to them Angels rejoice As having one Companion more join'd to their Heavenly Quire It should be our Joy to promote Heaven's 2. In our own Souls The Song of Lamentation must be sung here or hereafter Therefore If we have not mourn'd for Sin or resolve not to do it we would do well to remember that the more is behind and that the time of mourning for Sin will come for it is like Jabez brought 1 Chron. 4. 9. forth with Sorrow its Issue will be sorrow here or hereafter and we must either begin or end in it in Time or Eternity But if we are in Sorrow we may be Dâ—â—o de peccatis poenitens de dolore gaudâ—o glad at our Heaviness there is a Song of Joy that attends the Song of Lamentation Sun-shine with our Rain God will give us joy of our Repentance and the greater our Sorrow is the greater shall our Joy he The deeper the Wound the farther the Balm shall go in Of the Nature of Repentance REpentance Is not a bare suspending the Acts of Sin It is more than that It is not a destroying the Being of Sin It is less than that 1. It is not a bare suspending the Acts of Sin All are alike evil by Nature tho' not by practice and there is ever a proneness in us to sin the more unhappy we but we are not always actually in it yet some Acts may cease not from any inward Principle either of Love to God or hatred to Sin but from a Principle of slavish Fear or through the want of a Supply for Sin or an occasion to it and when so can no more be called Repentance than that can be said to be a Merciful Fire that goes out through want of Fuel The Influence of the Sun may by an Eclipse be suspended and yet its Light not extinguish'd and Sin for a time deprest and yet not destroy'd 2. It is not a destroying the Being Rom. 7. 9. Patitur non facit Bern. of Sin It is true when Penitent Persons commit Sin it is usually contrary to the purpose of their Will but to some particular Acts only and ever attended with shame and grief but yet commit it they both do and may even then when they have truly repented of it for tho' Sin by Repentance receives its Death's Wound yet it has a strong Heart and will be long a dying A Being it will have in them while they have a Being So that Repentance is neither a suspension of the Acts of Sin nor the destruction of its Being it is more than the first and less than the second viz. That Work of the Spirit whereby an humbled Sinner being made sensible of the Evil of Sin in the general and the Misery due to it and of his own Sins in particular and of the Mercy of God in Christ ready to pardon them does most affectionately mourn for them and most effectually turn from them unto God 1. It is the Work of the Spirit Our Times are in God's Hands and Psal 31. 15. Rev. 2. 21. so are our Hearts too one for the Space the other for the Grace of Repentance for it is in his Soveraign Power alone to give both viz. the Time without which we cannot well repent with any comfort to our selves or others and the Grace without which we cannot repent at all neither begin nor proceed in it for it is a supernatural Work and falls not within the Love Desire or Power of Nature Water came not out of the Rock in Horeb until Moses smote it with his Exod. 17. 5 6. Rod Nor will ever the Waters of Repentance flow from our
for as Clemens his Scholar says whilst he liv'd upon the hearing of a Cock crow he wept His Faith was great when he threw himself into the Sea to go to Christ but his Sorrow was greater when he threw himself into a Sea of his own Tears for sinning against him Once he was nothing but words tho' all be Mat. 26. 33. offended yet will I never be offended but then he was nothing but Tears the remembrance of his Sin was bitter and so was his Sorrow for he wept bitterly and so must all that are true Penitents rising up and lying down Mat. 26. ult Psal 38. 6. with mournful Confessions of Sin and with inward hearty and daily sorrow for it Ever fearing lest they should Sin and Semper in timore semper in dolore ever sorrowing because they have The Heathen wish'd that he might ever laugh but instead of wishing one another much Joy we may better for justly wish one another much Sorrow we have been impudent in sinning and must be humble in sorrowing for it we cannot be found in Innocency it is fit therefore we should be found in Tears We cannot with the Purifier under the Law offer up a Lamb of Innocency we must therefore a pair of mournful Turtles it being all the amends we can make for our sinning the best way we can testify our Love to Christ who shed Blood as well as Tears for our Sins and the most acceptable Sacrifice we can offer unto God who has an Eye an Ear and a Bottle for our Tears An Eye Tears blot our Book but they are Isa 38. 5. written in God's he sees them and takes notice of them An Ear. Mutae sunt loquuntur dearsum cadunt sursum petunt ponders vocis habent Sighs and Tears are the Rhetorick of an humbled Heart they are words they descend and yet ascend they are dumb and yet speak and God hears their Voice Psal 6. 8. A Bottle Tears of godly Sorrow are Angels Lachrymae poenitentium angelorum vinum Bern. Wine and none of that noble Liquor shall be lost nor fall to the Ground For Christ the Sun of Righteousness will exhale them God will bottle them up and the Spirit the Comforter will turn them as Christ did the Water into Wine For They that mourn and they only Mat. 5. 4. shall be comforted Since then God has an Eye for our Tears let our Eyes be daily filled with them since he has an Ear for them let the Voice of our weeping go daily up into it to drown the cry of our Sins Gen. 18. 20 21. that is great and gone up to Heaven and since he has a Bottle for them let Job 14. 17. us who have filled his Bag with our Sins fill his Bottle with our Tears pouring out floods of Tears for those floods of Sins we have poured down Musick on the Water and Repentance with Tears are ever most pleasant 3. Hatred to Sin Contrition if true rises up to Detestation and then Detestation is Psal 97. 10. Rom. 12. 9 right 1. When it is to Sin as Sin To the Intrinsecal Evil more than the Extrinsecal the Evil of Sin more than the Evil of Punishment the Filth more than the Guilt and the defiling more than the damning Nature of it not only because of Hell but worse than Hell more to the Hell that is in it than the Hell that comes by it 2. When Universal Anger is against Individuals but Hatred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to the whole kind and if right here it is to all Sin and especially to the Sin that once we loved most 3. When implacable We never hate Sin truly unless we hate it to the Death Some are angry with Sin when it has impair'd their Credit in the World and made a breach upon their Peace within but are soon pleased with it again for Anger is a mixt Passion and cease from the Act of Sin for a time and yet love it but hatred to Sin if right is irreconcileable A thing that is poison'd we pity but a thing that is poisonous we hate the Serpent is hated above all Creatures and of all and so must Sin of a far more venemous Nature be hated by us The Israelites hated every Canaanite 4. Departure from Sin Humiliation if right leads to and issues in Reformation Repentance consists of two parts viz. Aversion from Sin and Conversion to God 1. Aversion from Sin Repentance is a Covenant-Engagement against Sin in the use of all means to keep that Covenant And is then right When Universal viz. from all Sin forsaking gross Sins and bewailing unavoidable Infirmities Hypocrisy turns from some Sins or from one Sin to another true Repentance departs from all When perpetual True Repentance sues out a Bill of Divorce with a resolution never to return to folly more When out of hatred to it We may cease from the Act of Sin while we love it indulge the Lust even then when we deny the Act and hate the evil Consequence of Sin and yet never hate the Evil in it but as no hatred to Sin is right unless it is to the Evil that is in it so no departure from it neither unless it arises from a hatred to it When a Traveller changes his way it is out of dislike 2. Conversion to God from whom and against whom we have turn'd by Hos 6. 1. Isa 1. 16 17. Titus 2. 12. 1 Pet. 2. 11 12. Rom. 8 1 13. 1 Thess 1 9. Sin Ceasing to do Evil is not a learning to do well nor departing from Evil a doing Good nor is it enough to deny Ungodliness unless we live godly not to walk after the Flesh unless we walk after the Spirit to cease to bring forth the Fruits of the Flesh unless we bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit Fruits meet for Repentance nor that Mat. 3. 8. we turn from Sin for we never truly repent unless we turn to God nor turn to God truly unless universally viz. In all the ways of Righteousness and Holiness Perpetually Optima poenitentia nova vita Wholly and for ever To him we cannot in this Life fully turn and therefore must daily so to him as never willingly to turn from him Once is above any Indulgence granted Of the Danger of delaying Repentance SOme reject Repentance as a legal and needless thing some counterfeit and dissemble it some mistake it but most neglect and delay it Mistakes and Delays are two great Impediments to it yet more delay than refuse it Our Passage to Heaven is dangerous we either split on the Rock of Presumption or fall into the Gulph of Despair and all Delays are grounded either on Despair or Presumption 1st Despair which arises Either from a sense of Sin 's Greatness as Impardonable or a fear of the loss of time as Irrevocable 1. From a sense of Sin 's Greatness as Impardonable The
10. 49. 50 did his Garment and go unto him that calls us Not to do it 1. Is Ingratitude to God 2. Inconsistent with a true purpose of Heart ever to repent 1. It is Ingratitude to God viz. Father Son and Holy Ghost 1. To God the Father In giving our first Fruits to Sin that he by right should have and above all deserves for he lov'd us with a primary and ancient Love a Love before we were 2. To God the Son Who delay'd not the Work of our Salvation but was early at it and in his full strength and the prime of his Years laid down his Life to secure it 3. To God the Holy Ghost Who has not only striven with us by importunity but waited upon us with Patience that we might repent Rev. 3. 20. 2. It is inconsistent with a true purpose of Heart ever to repent Repentance is a Debt that we all as Sinners owe to God a Debt that must be paid God is indeed a kind Creditor and waits with patience but his Forbearance is no Discharge nor are we the less indebted by not paying it but appear by so much the more unwilling to it It is a sign of a desperate Debtor not to reckon with his Creditor and of his unwillingness to pay the Debt in that he delays it and no less of a cursed Resolution in all never to repent a sign that they either intend it not or have little or no mind to it in that they defer it They that will not repent this day would never repent if they might have their choice or they that wilfully remain impenitent this day would if they might with safety be everlastingly so for the same reason for delay this day would be so the next and the same for ever 3. The best for Safety The Physician 's Rule to avoid the Plague is to flee soon enough far enough Fuge cit longè tradè and to return slowly and to prevent Death by Sin of all Diseases the most dangerous the best Remedy is to flee soon enough and it can never be too soon far enough and it can never be too far nor is it far enough unless the flight be to God nor right to him unless with a resolution never to return back to it more and the sooner the better In many things haste makes waste the more haste the worse speed but if here we make haste we can never speed amiss Sickness or old Age are the Times that presumptuous Sinners set apart for Repentance their youthful strength they make a Bulwark against Repentance Sorrow for Sin they think a fit Companion for old Age only their Sighs and Groans they reserve for a sick and dying hour and never think it seasonable to die to Sin but when they can live no longer in it prodigious Fools that flee to these as a Sanctuary to shelter them from the Wrath of God when they cannot be sure 1. That they shall be sick before they die 2. That they shall live to be old 3. That when either sick or old they shall have a Heart to repent 4. That what they then think is Repentance will be accepted of God 1. That they shall be sick before they die Death does not give warning to all by sickness for some die suddenly Now that which befalls one may happen to many and that which has Luke 13. 1 2 3 4 5. been the Case of many may betide any one Since then that is uncertain Repentance can never be unseasonable but the sooner the better 2. That they shall live to be old Death is not slow-pac'd to all but swift in its motion to some it does not always stay till gray Hairs the sign of old Age are upon them All hasten alike to Death but some have a less way to go than others 3. That when either Sick or Old they shall have a Heart to repent When Sick None can be sure that they shall have time when Sick to repent they may have but just so much time left as to tell their Companions in Sin that they are going to Hell if they have time they cannot be sure of ease whereby they may be fit to attend it Reason Sense and Speech may fail or pains the Companions of Sickness may so seize on them that neither their Bodies nor Souls may be much at ease nor they with the Israelites be able to hearken to any thing for Exod. 6. 9. anguish of Spirit if not yet they may not have a Heart then to repent The Duty of Repentance is ours but 2 Tim. 2. 25. the Grace is God's When old There are no Examples in Scripture of any as some observe converted in their old Age Manasses and the Thief on the Cross were not as is suppos'd old or if they were the Repentance of one was more than ordinary and of the other no less than miraculous and from a Miracle nothing can be concluded no Person should neglect it then lest he prove felo de se and bring destruction upon himself nor put it off till then lest it come too late to prevent it It is never too late when true but seldom true when late 4. That what they then think Repentance will be accepted of God The sad Effects of sick-bed Repentance in many whose Repentance prov'd as sick and unsound as their Bodies were then shews reason to suspect that Repentance that is extorted from any by Pain when sick or by Fears when dying were sickness and the thoughts of Death a little farther off and not so close and pressing upon them perhaps they would neither bewail their Sins nor leave them therefore God may and justly if he should reject their Repentance and forget them in sickness who forgat him in their health and make them Warnings to others who disregarded Gal. 6. 7 8. so many from him Delays of Repentance to a time of sickness are usually punish'd with a not caring to seek or not so as to find It is usually but an untoward Repentance that is exerted in Age decrepit weak and impotent as feeble as old Age like the dim flashes of a Taper when sunk in the socket and may justly be rejected by God and the Penitent as one when repenting in old Age by a Voice was bid to spend his Bran where he had spent his Flower his Evening where he had spent his Morning We shall have as Solomon says but Eccles 12. 1. little pleasure in the days of old Age and God may take as little pleasure in the repentance of them 5. That singular Examples constitute no general Rule Some draw an Argument for Presumption from those in the Parable that came in at the eleventh hour and receiv'd a Reward equal with Mat. 20. 1 6 7 9. them that came early in the morning but without any Reason for though it be granted that Parables do more than illustrate or shew the Soveraign freedom of Grace to some only