Commendation which he had before given him Glorying as it were over Satan that Job had made his Words good yea and still he holds fast his Integrity although thou movest me against him to destroy him without cause So truly whensoever God suffers us to be Tempted it is that by our Conquest he might bring Honour to himself and Credit to Piety and Religion For this makes it appear That we see so much of Excellency in the ways of God that nothing in the World whether Crosses or Crowns Thorns or Thrones Pains or Pleasures Loss or Profit can in the least perswade us to baulk or forsake them And in such an Heroick Champion as this God himself Glories and Triumphs And thus I have finished the former part of this Petition Lead us not into Temptation the next follows But deliver us from evil Now here before I come to speak of the Words themselves let us observe their connexion with and dependance upon the foregoing Words for whereas our Saviour hath taught us to pray with this Adversative Particle But lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from evil this may instruct us That the best security against sin is to be secured against Temptations unto sin For though it be no excuse that we are violently tempted to sin when we yield to the commission of it yet withal it too often happens that those whom God leads into Temptation and engageth amidst the press of their Enemies it too often happens that they come off bleeding and wounded Yet First It is no excuse for sinning because no Temptation is a Compulsion The Devil can only perswade he cannot constrain us to sin God may let him into the fancy and suffer him to Paint upon that the most alluring Images that Vice can be represented in but when he hath done all this it is still our own choice that makes us like what his Pencil hath drawn there And in this lies a great difference between God's Operations upon us by his Grace and Satan's upon his Suggestions in that God hath an immediate access to the very elicite Acts of our Wills and Understandings and can and doth by his Spirit actuate them by an immediate energy and call forth not only by but to their Objects But now these are such Sacred Partments of the Soul that the Devil hath no Key to them And therefore his Method is to bribe the attendants on these chief Powers of the Soul the Fancy and the Passions to which he hath admission through the near dependance they have upon material Organs and by these to send in Messages and offer Proposals to it which yet if it be not basely false and treacherous to its God it may reject and disdain If the Devil could force Men he would likewise justifie them for that can be no sin where there is no liberty The same Temptation which compels to any Action would likewise make that Action to be no Transgression because Laws are not given but upon supposition of freedom And therefore whosoever sins upon a Temptation sins not meerly because he was Tempted but because he would sin And though the sin had not been committed without the Temptation yet the Devil can be no farther chargable with it than only because his Malice prompts him to perswade us Our own Wills are the most dangerous Devils freely embracing the proffers of Satan and consently to our own destruction and whilst we consent to that upon which God hath threatned and entailed it And therefore when thou sinnest think not to lay the fault upon Satan or his evil Instruments whom he makes use of in Tempting for though it be their fault and guilt to Tempt yet it is only thine to yield and God will not condemn thee for being Tempted which thou couldst not help but for yielding and consenting which is thine own free Act and thine own Sin also Thou who art drawn away by thy lewd Companions to abuse thy self and dishonour thy body by Riot and Luxury or to break God's Laws and Man's by Theft or any other condemned Crimes though thou hast a great deal of reason to hate them yet hast thou infinitely more reason to hate and abhor thy self They can but persuade they cannot compel thee yea if they should threathen thee with Death it self unless thou consentest yet thou liest under no force but sinnest freely and upon very weak motives dost destroy and damn thy own Soul since all motives inducing to sin must be accounted weak when God hath over-balanced them with the promise of everlasting Life and the threatning of everlasting Death And therefore we find God as justly as frequently in Scripture charging Mens perdition upon themselves and laying the blood of their Souls upon the stubborn resolvedness of their own Wills Hosea 13.9 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self John 5.40 Ye will not come unto me that you may have Life Matth. 23.37 O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered you as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and you would not And therefore let your Temptations be what they will yet the sin and guilt is still your own if as you are led into Temptations so Temptations lead you into Sin Secondly Though it be no excuse for sinning yet it is too seldom seen that those who are brought into Temptation are brought off again without contracting some guilt on their Consciences by it For since there is so great a Correspondence between Temptations and our Corruptions it would be as strange for a Man that hath been hotly assaulted by them to have no impression made upon him as to carry Fire in his Bosom and his Cloaths not be burnt yea almost as Miraculous as to walk secure in the midst of a Fiery Furnace untouch'd by the Flames There is a strong simpathy between our corrupt hearts and Satan's Temptations and as it is with strings tuned to Vnisons upon the motion of the one the other also will move and vibrate So is it here the heart vibrates and is secretly affected upon the first motion of a Temptation with some passion of Delight and Complacency towards that sinful Object And there is a kind of liking and approbation of it in the very first conception of our Thoughts before they are yet deliberated and digested so that it is almost as impossible for Temptations to assault us without leaving some guilt and pollution behind them as it is for Objects rightly presented to a Mirrour to make no impression of their Image upon it For though the Temptation should produce nothing but hovering and fleeting Idea's and some imperfect shadows of Desires and Affections in us which yet are check'd and scattered as soon as ever they begin to form themselves yet there is not the thinnest film of a sinful thought nor the least breathing of a sinful desire but the Holy Law of God and his Word which reacheth to the dividing asunder of the Soul and Spirit and is a Judge and
promised not to do Thirdly The Glory is God's therefore his Will shall be done in Earth as it is in Heaven The greatest Glory that God can receive from us is by our Obedience John 15.8 Herein saith our Saviour is my Father Glorified that ye bear much Fruit God's chiefest Glory is his Holiness and therefore he is Styled Glorious in Holiness And we have no better way to Glorifie the Holiness of God than by endeavouring to be Holy as he is Holy For then do we declare it to be a thing which we value as most Excellent and Glorious when we strive to imitate it and would fain get as much of it as our frail Natures can receive And therefore we may well pray in Faith Thy Will be done for thine is the Glory because the greatest Glory we can give to God is by doing his Will Fourthly The Glory is God's and therefore will he provide for us our daily Bread and all things that are necessary for our good And therefore when God was Miraculously to provide Bread for his People in the Wilderness he tells them Exod. 16.7 In the morning then shall ye see the Glory of the Lord. And certainly it is not for the Glory of God that any of his should want things fitting and necessary for them Only let us leave it to him to Judge what is so For although he should reduce thee to a morsel of Bread and a cup of cold Water yet he gives thee all that is fit for thee and should he give thee more it would not be a boon but a curse Fifthly The Glory is God's Therefore he will forgive thy Debts and Trespasses The Wise Man hath told us Prov. 19.11 That it is the Glory of a Man to pass over a Transgression and shall it not much more be the Glory of God whose Mercies are infinitely more Glorious than our Charity can be Yea he tells us Prov. 25.2 That it is the Glory of God to conceal a thing that is to hide and cover our sins so that they shall not be found against us And expresly Ephes 1.6 7. That we have redemption even the forgiveness of sins to the praise and glory of his Grace And I have shewed you in opening of the Petition that it is a very high Honour and Superiority to forgive it is the Prerogative-Royal of a King and therefore we may well pray with Faith Forgive us our Trespasses for thine is the Glory Sixthly The Glory is God's Therefore he will deliver us from the Assaults and Incursions of our Enemies he will deliver us from Temptations or from the evil of Temptation He will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able to bear but will with every Temptation make a way for us to escape hereby to demonstrate the Glory of his Wisdom and Power that it is above all the wiles and power of the Devil and our Spiritual Enemies And therefore we may well pray Lead us not into Temptation but deliver us from Evil for thine is the Glory because it is the Honour of God to defend his Servants from the incursions of his and their Enemies Thus we have treated on three of God's Attributes ascribed to him in this Doxology His Dominion his Power and his Glory It remains now to consider the Amplification of all these by that expression For ever which is to be referred and accommodated to the foregoing Titles The Kingdom is thine for ever The Power is thine for ever and the Glory thine for ever Now this application of it denotes to us the Eternity of God's Attributes and consequently his Nature Indeed this Particle For ever doth not always in Scripture signifie a strict and proper Eternity for it is often applied to things of various durations First Sometimes most improperly those things which have both beginning and end are said to be for ever So the Mosaical Paedagogy and those rites and observancies which were imposed upon the Jews by the Levitical Law are said to be everlasting although they were not to continue any longer than between Moses and Christ which space was not compleatly Fifteen Hundred Years Thus the Priesthood is said to be eternal Numb 25.13 where it is called The Covenant of an everlasting Priesthood So the sprinkling of the Blood of the Passover is to be commanded to be observed for ever Exod. 12.24 So Circumcision is called an everlasting Covenant Gen. 17 13. And many more such instances might be given Yea things of a far shorter duration than these such as are only to continue during life are yet said to be Eternal The servitude of him that refused freedom was to be for ever Exod. 21.6 that is during his natural life And so the Psalmist often resolves himself and exhorts others to Praise and Magnifie God for ever And indeed it is very ordinary in Scripture that those things are said to be for ever which were not to alter their State for some continuance of time nor to be difused till the date prefixed to them were expired Secondly Some things which had no beginning but shall have an end are yet said to be for ever And such as they respect their Objects are the Decrees or Foreknowledge of God which shall in their due time be fullfilled Thus Ephes 3.11 they are called The Eternal purpose of God and yet they cease under the notions of Decrees and Prescience when that which was from all Eternity Decreed and Foreknown takes its accomplishment Thirdly Those things which had a beginning but never shall have an end are said to be for ever And such are the Angels all of them Created in the beginning of time but their future continuance is without bound or period And the Saints after the Resurrection are said to be made equal to the Angels because they shall not die Luke 20.36 And Christ is said to be made a little lower than the Angels in that he tasted of Death Heb. 2.9 The good Angels live in Eternal Beatitude they always behold the Face of God Matth. 18.10 And the evil Angels live in Eternal torments and a never dying Death They are reserved in everlasting Chains under darkness Jude verse 6. And thus the Souls of Men are everlasting For being Spiritual substances and free from all principles of decay and corruption they shall for ever continue in that Estate and Condition for which their Actions in this life have prepared them And not the Soul alone but the Body also shall be eternally preserved in its being This mortal must put on immortality 1 Cor. 15.53 And then shall we for ever be with the Lord 1 Thess 4.17 And yet all these had once their beginning by the Creating Word of God but are Eternal à parte post and shall always retain those natures and beings Fourthly That is most strictly and properly said be Eternal and for ever which neither hath beginning nor end whose prospect both ways is infinite and boundless And thus God only is
former yet is it far more excellent and the Royalty of it is God's singular Delight Now this Kingdom of Grace is his Church and may be considered Two ways First In its Growth and Progress Secondly In its Perfection and Consummation In the former respect it is the Church Militant here upon Earth and in the latter it is the Church Triumphant in Heaven for both make up but one Kingdom under divers respects First Let us a little consider God's Kingdom here upon Earth or the Church Militant and that is Two-fold Visible and Invisible The Visible Kingdom of God upon Earth are a company of People openly professing the Fundamentals of Religion and those Truths necessary to Salvation which God hath made known unto the World and joyning together in the External Communion of Ordinances The Invisible Kingdom are a company of true Believers who have Internal and Invisible Communion with God by his Spirit and their Faith The Visible Church is of a much larger extent than the Invisible for it comprehends Hypocrites and Formalists and all those who have given up their Names to Christ and listed themselves under his Banner and make an outward profession of the Truth although by their Lives and Practices they contradict and deny what they own and profess with their Lips These belong to the Kingdom of God's Grace as to the External Dispensation and Regiment of it because they profess obedience to his Laws and live under the means of Grace by which many of them through the efficacious concurrence of the Spirit of God are translated into the Invisible Kingdom of his dear Son Now this Visible Kingdom of God upon Earth is but an imperfect State and Condition for though all that are Members of it are selected and taken out of the World yet there is a great deal of Mixture and Dross and many things that do offend For First There is in it a mixture of Wicked Persons with those that are really Holy Many are of this Kingdom only because their Consciences are convinced of the Truth of the Christian Religion although their Lives are not subject to the Power of it and these are taken out of the World only as they are brought into the Pale of the Church and profess the Name of Christ and his Religion as distinct from all other Religions in the World And therefore we find the Church or the Kingdom of Heaven in Scripture frequently compared to a Net cast into the Sea gathering every kind of Fish both good and bad Matth. 13.47 both sorts are embraced in the Bosom of this Net and no perfect Separation can be made until it be drawn to shore at the Day of Judgment and then the Good will be gathered into Vessels and the Bad cast away as it is there expressed Again it is compared to a Floor wherein is both Chaff and Wheat Luk. 3.17 and these will be mix'd together until the last discriminating Day and then shall the Wheat be gathered into the Garner and the Chaff burnt up with unquenchable Fire Again it is compared to a Field wherein there grows Tares as well as Corn Matth. 13.24 which must grow together until the Harvest and then shall the Tares be bound in Bundles to be burnt and the profitable Grain be gathered into the Barn This hath still been and will be the mix'd condition of God's Church on Earth wherein through Hypocrisie and gross Dissimilation many that are Enemies to the Cross of Christ will yet go under that Cognisance and keep up a Form of Godliness though they deny and hate the Power of it Secondly There is even in the Invisible Church here on Earth a great mixture too those who have a real and vital Union to Christ and maintain a Spiritual Communion with him yet even they have a sad mixture of Evil with all their Good of Sin with all their Grace and Holiness so that the Church is still imperfect not only from a mixture of Persons but from a mixture in Persons As we know but in part so we love but in part we fear we obey God but in part And with our Profession of Faith we had need also to prefer that humble Petition Mark 9.24 Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief Secondly The Kingdom of God may be considered in its Perfection and Consummation and so it is Triumphant in Heaven And this consists of such Glorious Angels as never Fell and of such Glorified Saints who are raised from their Fall and restored to a far better Condition than what they lost This is the most Glorious part of God's Kingdom here is his Throne especially established and here it is that he displays himself in the splendor of his Majesty being surrounded by innumerable Hosts of Holy Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect who continually Worship before him with a most prostrate Veneration and give Honour and Glory and Praise to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Now this Kingdom is altogether free from those former Imperfections and Mixtures There is no mixture of good and bad together neither is there any mixture of bad in the good but all are Holy and all as compleatly Holy as Creatures can be for into the New Jerusalem shall no unclean thing ever enter There are neither Temptations to try us nor Sins to defile us nor Sorrows to afflict us but perfect Joy and perfect Purity Where all Tears shall be wiped from our Eyes and all Sin the Cause of those Tears rooted out of our Hearts And yet if Heaven it self may be liable to any Defects or capable of any Additions there seems at present to be wanting in it these Two things First The Kingdom of Glory is not yet Full nor shall it be till the whole Number of the Elect shall be called and the whole Number of the Called Glorified Many as yet are conflicting here below and fitting themselves for their Eternal Reward many yet lie sleeping in their Causes unborn whom God hath Foreknown and Predestinated unto Eternal Life all of whom he will in his due time bring unto the Possession of his Heavenly Kingdom to compleat the Number of his Glorious Subjects And therefore it is said concerning the Saints that are already in Heaven that white Robes were given to every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their Fellow-Servants also and their Brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled Rev. 6.11 Secondly Those Glorified Saints that are now in Heaven though their Joys be perfect yet their Persons are not but one part of them their Bodies continue still under the arrest of Death and the Power of the Grave but yet they sleep in Hope and through that Mystical Vnion that there is between Jesus Christ and every scattered Dust of a Believer they shall obtain a Glorious and Joyful Resurrection and then shall this Heavenly Kingdom
is Blind we are of that wretched temper described Psal 50.21 Because God keeps silence we think he is altogether such a one as our selves As careless in requiring his Debts as we are in contracting them but he will reprove us and set them in order before our Faces to our everlasting shame and confusion Thirdly That the least of all these thy Debts make thee liable to be cast into the Prison of Hell and to be adjudged to Eternal Death and Punishments Not only thy impudent and scandalous Sins which make thee detested of Men as well as hated of God but the least shadow of a thought that gives but an umbrage of vanity to thy Mind the least motion and heaving of thy Heart towards a sinful Object the exhaling but of one sinful Desire the wavering of thy Fancy a glance of thine Eye is a Debt contracted with the infinite Justice of God and a Debt that without forgiveness must be paid in the Infernal Prison of Hell So says our Saviour Matth. 5.26 Verily thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast paid the utmost Farthing Beware therefore then that you do not entertain any slight thoughts of Sin nor think with the Papists that there are some sorts of Sins that do not deserve Death which they call Venial Sins in opposition to other more gross and hainous Sins which they allow to be Mortal Believe it the least prick at the Heart is deadly and so is the least Sin to the Soul And indeed it is a Contradiction to call any Sin Venial in their sence who hold it is not worthy of Damnation for if it be a Sin it is worthy of Damnation for the Wages of Sin is Death if it be not How is it Venial There is but one Mortal Sin simply and absolutely such as God hath revealed in his Word that it shall never be pardoned neither in this World nor in that which is to come and that is the Sin against the Holy Ghost which St. John therefore calls a Sin unto Death 1 Joh 5.16 And so far are they who are guilty of it excluded from God's Mercy that they are excluded from the Charity of our Prayers for we are not so much as to pray for such as it is there expressed Again all the Sins of finally impenitent and unbelieving Wretches are eventually Mortal and shall certainly be punished at last with Eternal Death and Damnation For the Wrath of God abideth on him that believeth not Joh. 3.16 And God will render Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth evil Rom. 2.9 All Sins whatsoever are Mortal meritoriously both in the Penitent and in the Impenitent the Law hath condemned all alike though all Sins are not alike hainous nor shall be equally punished but with some it shall be far more intolerable than with others yet all are alike Mortal and deserve Death and the same Hell though not the same Place nor the same Degree of Torments in Hell for those Sins which are accounted most Trivial and Venial are in themselves Violations of the Holy Law of God and the Penalty that his Laws threaten is no less than Death The Law is accurate and reacheth to the least things yea to the least circumstances of those things and every Transgression against it shall receive its due recompence of reward Nay had we no other guilt left upon our Souls from the first moment of our lives to this present day but only the guilt of the least Sin that the Holy Law condemns be it only the wrenching aside of a Thought or Desire only a bye and sinister end in the performance of Holy Duties nay let it be but the first rudiment and imperfect draught of a Thought not yet finished without a full satisfaction and expiation this small Debt would cast us into Prison this little Sin would sink us irrecoverably into Hell and lay us under the Revenges of the Almighty God for ever Oh then with what horrour and amazement may Sinners reflect upon their past Sins With what dread and trembling may they expect their future State since as many thousand Sins as they have committed of all sizes and aggravations so many Deaths and Hells heaped up one upon another have they deserved and without intervention of a full payment and satisfaction must they be adjudged to undergo For though the least degree of Divine Wrath be a tormenting Hell yet God will inflame his Wrath to as many degrees of acrimony and sharpness as they have committed Sins till their Punishment be equal to their Offences and become infinitely intolerable Fourthly Consider thou canst never pay God nor discharge the least of thy Debts for ever For First Thou canst not possibly do it by any Duties or Services in this Life For whatsoever thou dost is either required or not required if it be not required it will be so far from being a satisfaction for thy Sins that it will be an addition to them and a piece of Will-worship which will meet with that sad Greeting at the last Day who hath required these things at your Hands If it be required it is no more than thou owest to God before and if thou hadst never sinned wert obliged to pay it To think to satisfie for thy Sins by thy Duties is but to rob one Attribute of God to pay another for whatsoever Obedience thou canst perform thou owest it to the Sovereignty and Holiness of God and his Justice will never accept of that which belongs to his Authority Besides it is absurd to think to pay one Duty by another to discharge the Debt of Sin by paying the Debt of Duty Secondly Thou canst not pay off thy Debts by any Sufferings hereafter It is true Sinners shall lie eternally in Prison and be eternally satisfying the offended Justice of God but in all that Eternity there shall never be that moment wherein they may say as Christ did in his making satisfaction it is finished the Debt is paid and Justice hath received as much as was due from me No that satisfaction must be eternally making and therefore the punishment must be eternally lasting For every Sin even the least Sin is committed against an infinite God and therefore the punishment of it must be infinite For Offences take their measures as well from the Dignity of the Person against whom they are committed as from the hainousness of the Fact in it self considered As a reviling Word against the King is Treasonable against our Equals but actionable and therefore by the same proportion the same Offence against the infinite Majesty of the great God must needs carry infinite guilt in it that is exposeth to infinite punishment Now then O Sinner think with thy self what satisfaction thou canst make to God that can bear a proportion to thy infinite Offences Thou canst not at once undergo an infinite measure of punishment for thy Nature is but finite Couldst thou do this then indeed
there were hope yea certainty of relief for thee for Divine Justice will not exact more than its due But because this is impossible thy Woes and Torments in Hell must be Eternal that they may be some way infinite as the Justice is which thou hast offended infinite if not in Degrees yet in duration and continuance And O what dreadful despair will this cause in thee when thou shalt have been in Hell under most acute and insufferable Torments Millions of years and yet the payment of all that sum of Plagues and Woes shall not be of value enough to satisfie for the least of thy Sins nor to cross out of God's Book the least and smallest of thy Debts but thy account shall still be as great and as full as it was at thy first plunging into Hell and still an Eternity of Torments remains to be paid by thee And now wretched Creatures that we are whither shall we turn our selves what hope what relief can we find shall we flatter our selves that God will not require our sins at our hands no they are Debts and therefore he may and he is a Just God Just to himself and to the Interest of his own Glory and therefore he will God hath before-hand told us at what rate we must expect to take up our sins and what we must pay for them at the last He hath told us as plainly as the mouth of Truth can utter it that the Wages of sin is Death and the ways Sinners choose lead down to the Chambers of Hell and Destruction Our own Misery is our own choice He hath in his Word set Life and Death before us and declared to us the means how we might escape the one and obtain the other He hath represented to us the unconceiveableness of both And if we will be so obstinate as after these manifest representations to choose Hell and Death it is but Reason and Justice that we should have our own Choice for it is our Choice interpretatively when we choose those ways and actions that expose to them And thus much concerning the acknowledgement we make in this Petition our Debts Debts vast and infinite which the Justice of God will strictly require of Sinners in their Eternal Condemnation Debts the least of which makes us liable to be cast into Prison into Hell and for the least of which we can never satisfie But what is there no hope Is there no possibility to cross the Book to cancel the Obligation whereby we stand bound to the revenging Justice of God and everlasting Sufferings Truly none by our own personal satisfaction but yet there is abundant hope yea full assurance of it through the free Mercy of our God And therefore as our Saviour hath taught us to acknowledge our Debts so he hath likewise taught us to pray Father forgive us our Debts And now that I have shewed you our Misery by reason of our Debts and you have seen the black side of the Cloud which interposeth between God and us So give me leave to represent to you our Hopes and Consolation in God's free Grace and the Divine Mercy in dissolving this black Cloud that it may never more appear And here let us First Consider what the Pardon of sin is And this we cannot better discover than by looking into the Nature of sin Sin therefore as St. John describes it 1 John 3.4 is a transgression of the Law of God And to the validity of all Laws it is necessary that there be a penalty annexed either literally express'd or tacitly implied The guilt that we contract by transgressing the Law is nothing else but our liableness to undergo this penalty And this guilt is Two-fold the intrinsecal and formal and that is the desert of punishment which sin always necessarily carries in it as it is a violation of a Holy and Righteous Commandment The other is extrinsecal and adventitious and consists in the appointment and designation of the sinner unto punishment This now doth not formally flow from sin but from the Will of God constituting and willing to punish sin with Death Now Pardon is nothing else but the removal of the guilt of sin But now the question is which guilt it removeth I Answer First It doth not remove the intrinsecal guilt of sin or the desert of punishment For the sins of those who are Justified and Pardoned do yet in their own Nature deserve Death and Eternal Damnation As a Pardon vouchsafed to a Traitor doth not cause his Actions not to have been Treasonable and worthy of Death for this doth necessarily follow immediately upon the Transgressing of the Law to which the Penalty is annexed So neither is it in the Power of Pardoning Grace to make that our sins should not deserve Death according to their own demerit for that were a contradiction since this demerit is necessary and essential unto sin as such Secondly Therefore Pardon of sin removes that guilt which consists in the adventitious Appointment or Ordination of the sinner unto Punishment flowing from the Will of God who hath in his Law threatned to inflict Eternal Death as the Reward and Wages of sin Now this designation of the sinner unto punishment is Two-fold either Personal or Mystical One of these two ways God will certainly punish every Soul that sins either by appointing the sinner Personally to undergo the punishment of his iniquities and thus he deals with unbelievers whom he will punish in their own Persons for their transgressions Or else he appoints them to undergo the punishment of their sins Mystically as being by Faith made one with the Lord Jesus Christ who himself hath born our sins in his own Body on the Tree Now Pardon of sin doth not remove the Mystical appointment of a Believer unto Punishment for he hath suffered it for Christ hath suffered it and Christ and he are one Mystical Person by Faith God never Pardons but he likewise punishes the very sin that he Pardons he punisheth it in our surety and undertaker when he forgives it to a Believer Pardon of sin therefore removes only that guilt which consists in our own Personal appointment and designation to punishment though the sin doth always in it self necessarily deserve Death though that Death hath been inflicted upon Christ and therefore upon Believers in him as Members of him But yet notwithstanding that God thus takes Vengeance on our sins he doth Graciously Pardon them when he releaseth our Personal Obligation unto punishment and reckons that we have suffered the penalty in Christ suffering it and therefore ought to be discharged from any further liableness unto it This now is that Pardon of sin which we pray for when we say Forgive us our Debts And for the more full Explication of it I shall lay down these following positions First The Pardoning Grace of God in respect of us is altogether free and undeserved We can of our selves scarce so much as ask forgiveness but even this
comes from the Grace of God therefore much less can we do any thing to merit it Far be it from us to affirm as the Papists do that Good Works proceeding from Grace are Meritorious of Pardon and Salvation Alas what are our Prayers our Sighs our Tears yea our very Blood should we spend it for Christ They are but poor imperfect things and are so far from having in them any infinite worth and value to counterbalance our sins that the defects of them add to the number of our other Transgressions They cannot all of them make one blot in the Book of God's Remembrance but may well make more Items there against us Had it been possible for Men to have quitted scores with Divine Justice by what they could do or suffer Heaven would not have been so needlessly lavish as to send Christ into the World to lead an afflicted Life and to die an accursed Death only for our Redemption and Salvation Secondly The Pardoning Grace of God is not free in respect of Christ but it cost him the price of Blood It is the Blood of the Lamb Slain from the Foundation of the World that crosseth the Debt-Book Without shedding of Blood there is no remission says the Apostle Heb. 9.22 And this is my Blood which was shed for the Remission of sins Matth. 26.28 And although possibly God might according to his absolute Sovereignty have freely remitted all the sins of all the World without any kind of Satisfaction only by a Free and Gracious Act of Mercy Yet considering that he had otherwise declared in his unalterable Word of Truth that there must be a recompence made him for all our offences it had been a wrong to his Veracity if not to his Justice to have granted the Pardon of any one sin without the intervention of a full price and satisfaction No satisfaction could be made correspondent to the wrong done to an infinite God but by an infinite Person who was God himself for had the Person been finite the Sufferings must have been Eternal otherwise they could not have been proportionable to the offence which requires an infinite Satisfaction But if the Sufferings had been Eternal Satisfaction could never have been made but would for ever have bene making unto the Justice of God and consequently our sins could never have been Pardoned And therefore God appointed to this Work of reconciling himself to fallen Man his only begotten Son God Co-equal and Co-eternal with himself and every way infinite as himself that he might be able to bear the whole Wrath of God at once and at one bitter draught drink off the whole Cup of Fury which we should have been draining by little drops to all Eternity So that Justice being satisfied in the Sufferings of Christ for the sins of those whose Persons and whose guilt he sustained upon the Cross Mercy hath now a way opened to Glorifie its Riches in their Pardon and Salvation Thus in these two Positions it appears that though the remitting of our sins be an Act of God's Free Grace and Mercy in respect of us yet it is the effect of Purchace in respect of Christ God Pardons sins to them who committed them upon their Faith and Repentance but he Pardon 's not those very sins to Christ to whom they were imputed but exacted Satisfaction from him to the very utmost rigour of Justice Hence it follows Thirdly That the Pardon of sin is not only an Act of meer free Grace and Mercy but according to the Terms of the Covenant of Grace it is also an Act of Justice in God Indeed both Mercy and Justice are concurrent in it for since by the Union of Faith we are made one Mystical Body with Christ it could not consist with the Equity of God to punish the sins of Believers in their own Persons for this would be no other than to punish them twice for the same Offence once in their surety and again in themselves Now what abundant cause of Comfort may this be to all true Believers that God's Justice as well as his Mercy shall acquit them That that Attribute of God at the Apprehension of which they were wont to tremble should interpose on their behalf and plead for them Yet through the All-sufficient Expiation and Atonement that Christ hath made for our sins this Mystery is effected and Justice it self brought over from being a formidable Adversary to be of our Party and to Plead for us Therefore the Apostle tells us 1 John 1.9 That God is Faithful and Just to forgive us our sins And St. Paul 2 Thessal 1.6 7. It is a Righteous thing with God to recompence Tribulation to them that trouble you And to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from Heaven with his Mighty Angels Fourthly When God pardons he doth no longer account of us as sinners Indeed after Pardon we still retain sinful and corrupt Natures and there is that Original Pollution in us that can never be totally dislodged in this Life But yet when God pardons he looks not upon us as Sinners but as Just The Malefactor that is legally discharged either by satisfying the Law or by his Princes Grace and Favour towards him is no more reputed a Malefactor but as Just and Righteous as if he had never offended So is it with us we are both ways discharged of our guilt both by satisfying the penalty of the Law in Christ our Surety and by the Free Grace and Mercy of God who hath Sealed to us a Gracious Act of Pardon and therefore we are Just in the sight of God as if we had never sinned Fifthly Pardon of sin is one great part of our Justification Justification consists of these two parts Remission and Acceptance We have them both joyned together Ephes 1.6 7. He hath made us accepted in the Beloved in whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins Remission of sins takes away our liableness to Death Acceptation of our persons gives us a Title unto Life Now to be free from our obnoxiousness to Death and instated in a Right to Eternal Life these two Constitute a perfect Justification For to be accepted of God in Christ is no other than for God through the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ imputed to us to own and acknowledge us to have a Right to Heaven And therefore we have mention of Pardon and an Inheritance together in St. Paul's Commission to his Ministery Acts 26.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sins and an Inheritance among them that are Sanctified It is not therefore O Soul a bare negative Righteousness that God intends thee in the Pardon of thy sins it is not meerly to remove the Curse and Wrath thy sins have deserved though that alone can never sufficiently be admired but the same hand that plucks thee out of Hell by Pardon lifts thee up to Heaven by what he gives thee together with
considering both the Advantages the Devil hath against us and the great Dis-advantages under which we lie he a Spirit we but Flesh he wise and subtle we foolish and ignorant he experienced we raw and unpractised he diligent and watchful we careless and negligent he laying a close siege to us without and we betraying our selves within It must needs be ascribed only to the Goodness and Grace of God to deliver us from the commission of that Evil to which we are so fiercely and cunningly Tempted And thus I have demonstrated the Proposition That it is only the Almighty Power of God that can preserve us from Sin It now remains to shew you the Ways and Methods that God takes to do it and those are in the General Three By restraining Providences by common and restraining Grace and by sanctifying and renewing Grace First God delivers us from Evil by his restraining Providence putting an Hook into Men's Nostrils and a Bridle into their Jaws and by a powerful Hand reining them in when they are most fiery and furious And thus he often doth with the worst and vilest of Men whose Lusts though they estuate and boyl within and are like the raging Sea raging and rolling in their Hearts yet God sets bounds to their proud Waves and saith to them as he doth to the great Sea hitherto shall you proceed and no farther It is to this we owe it that the Wickedness of Men hath not yet made the World an uninhabitable Desart that Solitudes and Wildernesses are not as secure Retreats as frequented Cities and savage Beasts as safe Company as Men. To this we owe it that almost every one is not a Cain to his Brother an Amnon to his Sister a Judas to his Master and a Devil to all the World for where Grace doth not change Divine Providence doth many times so Chain the Sinner that he cannot bring forth that Wickedness he hath conceived that although he be permitted Sin enough to destroy himself which his very Will and Affection to Evil is sufficient to do yet through God's with-holding Opportunity or Abilities from him his Sins are not permitted to break out to the ruine and destruction of others Though God doth as it were permit them to give up their Hearts to the Devil yet he ties up their Hands let them imagine and intend as much mischief as Hell can inspire them with yet none of all this shall they execute any otherwise than as his Holy and Wise Providence permits Yea Divine Providence is effectual not only in keeping wicked Men from the outward Acts of Sin but even God's dearest Children and Servants they also have a great deal of Corruption stirring in their Hearts and even in them Lust is too fruitful conceiving those Wickednesses which God often by his Providence so stifles and strangles in the very Birth May not the best of us with thankful acknowledgements of the Divine Goodness towards us reflect back upon many dis-appointments that we have met with to which we had given our consent and entertained purposes of sinning May we not all say Had not God denied Opportunities or cast in Diversions or cut off the Provisions which we had made for our Lusts we should at such or such a time have dishonoured the Gospel scandalized our Profession opened the Mouths of wicked and ungodly Men to blaspheme the Holy and Reverend Name of God and contracted to our own Consciences black and horrid Guilt by the commission of some infamous Crimes of which we were guilty by consenting to them God hath hedg'd up the Broad-way with Thorns that so he might turn us into the Narrow-way that leads to Eternal Bliss and Happiness Now the particular Methods that Divine Providence makes use of to prevent the Sins of Men are many and various and all of them wise and just First Sometimes God by his Providence cuts short their Power whereby they should be enabled to Sin All that Power that Wicked Men have is either from themselves or their Associates whom they make use of to accomplish their Wickedness and sometimes Divine Providence strikes them in both it cuts off their Instruments for Counsel And thus Providence over-ruling Absalom to reject the politick Counsel of Achitophel prevents all that mischief that so Wise and so Wicked a States-Man might afterwards have contrived upon which he goes home and hangs himself and as if his Sagacity forsook him not in his Death by that last Action gave a Prophetick Omen of his Masters attending Destiny Sometimes God cuts off their Instruments for execution So God miraculously defeated the huge and vast Host of the blaspheming Rabshekah and by unseen strokes slew almost two hundred thousand of them dead upon the place Sometimes God immediately strikes their Persons and disables their Natural Faculties so he smote the Men of Sodom with Blindness and put out those very Eyes that had kindled in them the Flames of unnatural Lusts Thus likewise when Jeroboam had stretch'd forth his Hand to lay hold on the Prophet God suddenly withers it up Sometimes he hides their Wits from them and besots them So the Jews in Job 7.30 sought to have apprehended Jesus and though he was in the very midst of them and there was enough of them to do it yet God so astonishes them that they only stand gazing on him whilst he passes through the Crowd of them and escapes away And indeed it is a great Mercy of God to take away that Power from Men that he sees they will only use to their own destruction And though Wicked Men would think that if God should now strike them Dumb or Blind or Lame or Impotent that it would be a heavy Plague or Curse inflicted upon them yet believe it it is far better that God should strike thee Dumb than that ever thou shouldst open thy Mouth to rail at him and his People Better thou wert stricken Blind than that ever the Devil and filthy Lusts should enter into thy Soul by the Windows of thine Eyes Better that thou wert maim'd than that ever thou shouldst have power to commit those Sins which will damn if but intended but if executed will sink the Soul seven fold deeper into damnation Secondly Sometimes Providence prevents Sin by raising up other opposite Powers against a Sinner Thus God defeated the designs of the Scribes and Rulers who hated Christ and oftentimes they would have put him to Death but it is said they feared the People whom his Doctrine his Miracles and his course of Life had obliged to himself Instances of this nature are many and occurr familiarly Thirdly Sometimes Providence casts in some seasonable diversion which turns Men off from the Commission of those sins which they had intended Thus the Providential passing by of Merchants induced the Patriarchs to sell their Brother Joseph whom before they had determined to famish As skilful Physicians when one part of the Body is oppressed with ill and peccant humours draw them
trespass against us A. We ought to forgive them so far forth as they have wronged us but we cannot forgive the wrong they have done to God in wronging us but must leave them to his Mercy and their Repentance Q. Since it is God's Prerogative and Glory to pardon sins what Inferences may we collect from hence A. First That our pardon is free and gratuitous without respecting former Deserts or expecting future Recompence Secondly That our pardon is full and compleat because it is an Act of God within himself whereas what he works in us is in this Life imperfect Nothing of Guilt is left upon the Soul when God pardons it though still there is something of Filth left in it when he sanctifies it God does not pardon by halfs nor leaves any Guilt to be expiated by Purgatory Thirdly That upon our Faith and Repentance our sins whether greater or less fewer or more shall be forgiven for this makes no difference in infinite Grace and Mercy Q. But may not this incourage Men to continue in sin A. Many do so abuse it but their Damnation is sure and just Deut. 29.19 20. And it come to pass when he heareth the words of this Curse that he blesseth himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the Imagination of mine heart to add Drunkenness to Thirst Ver. 20. The Lord will not spare him Q. You have formerly observed that it is God alone who can forgive sins and from thence inferred both the freeness and fulness of pardoning Grace What observe you farther A. 1. That though God's pardoning Grace be altogether freely bestowed in respect of us Isaiah 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy Sins Yet in respect of Christ's Purchase it is not free but cost him the Price of his Blood Heb. 9.22 And almost all things are by the Law purged with Blood and without shedding of Blood is no remission Matt. 26.29 But I say unto you I will not drink hence-forth of this Fruit of the Vine untill that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom 2. That the obtaining of Pardon is not free from the Performance of Conditions on our Part. Q. What are the Conditions upon which Pardon is granted A. They are two Faith and Repentance Acts 10.43 That through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive Remission of Sins Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out Q. Is therefore a mere sorrow that we have sinned a sufficient qualification for obtaining Pardon A. No for so Judas is said to repent Matt. 27.3 Then Judas which had betrayed him when he saw that he was condemned repented himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief Priests and Elders But as true Repentance includes in it a Sorrow of Heart so Reformation of Life and Manners is always joined with a lively Faith Q. Is pardon of sin an Act onely of God's Mercy A. It is likewise an Act of God's Justice to pardon the Sins of those who perform the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace Q. How prove you this A. Both by express Scripture 1 Epistle of John 1.9 If we confess our Sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness And likewise by Scripture-Reason because Believers being made mystically one with Christ therefore their Sins being already punish'd in him their Surety and their Debts paid by him cannot be again justly punish'd in their own Persons nor demanded from them Q. Is pardon of sin our intire Justification A. No but it is one principal part of it For Justification consists both in Remission of Sins and Acceptation of our Persons the former depends upon Christ's Passive the other upon his Active Obedience his Satisfaction applied by Faith makes us accounted guiltless of Death and his Obedience worthy of Life both which compleat our Justification Ephes 1.6 7. To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved Ver. 7. In whom we have Redemption through his Blood the Forgiveness of Sins according to the Riches of his Grace Q. We have thus considered the Petition Forgive us our Debts what remains further considerable A. The Condition upon which we ask it or the Plea we urge for obtaining it As we forgive our Debtors Q. Who are meant here by Debtors A. Other Men. Q. How are Men Debtors one to another A. Either 1. By owing them a Debt of Duty and thus all Men are mutually Debtors to one another Superiours to Inferiours and Inferiours to Superiours and Equals owe one another Love Respect and Kindness 2. By owing them a Debt of Satisfaction for Injuries and Wrongs done to others Q. Which of these Debts is here meant A. The latter onely for we are bound to forgive those who owe us Satisfaction and Reparation Q. What learn you from hence that those who have wronged others are called their Debtors A. That they who in any kind wrong others are obliged to make them satisfaction If in their good Names by acknowledging the Offence and stopping slanderous Reports If in their Goods and Estates by a full Restitution Q. Is Restitution necessary to the obtaining of Pardon A. It is For unjust Detainure is as Evil as unjust Seisure and it is a continued Theft And our Repentance can never be true while we continue in the Sin we seem to repent of and without true Repentance there can be no Pardon or Salvation Q. But what if those we have wronged be since dead A. We ought to make Restitution to those to whom it 's to be supposed what we have detained would have descended Q. If none such can be found what must we then do A. Then God's Right takes place as the Universal Lord of all and we are obliged to restore it to him that is to his Servants and to his Family and in the Works of Piety and Charity Q. We have already considered the Debtor's Duty which is to make Satisfaction and Restitution what is the Duty of the Creditor or Person wronged A. To forgive his Debtors For we pray that God would forgive us as we forgive them Q. Wherein doth this Forgiveness consist A. In two Things 1. First In abstaining from the outward Acts of Revenge upon them 2. Secondly In the inward Frame and Temper of our Hearts towards them bearing them no Grudge nor Ill-will but being as much in Charity with them as though they had never offended us Q. Must we then sit quiet under every petulant Wrong that is done us and so tempt others to the Sport of abusing us A. Private Revenge is in no Case whatsoever to be allowed Rom. 12.19 Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto Wrath for it is written Vengeance is mine and I will repay saith the Lord. Revenge
will the more glorifie it in their downfal The Righteous shall see it and be glad and shall say verily there is a reward for the Righteous verily there is a God that Judgeth in the Earth Psalm 58.11 Fifthly If God doth not clear up this inequality of his providence in this Life yet he will certainly do it at the day of Judgment And indeed the strange dispensation of Affairs in this World is an Argument that doth convincingly prove that there shall be such a day wherein all the Involucra and intanglements of providence shall be clearly unfolded Then shall the riddle be dissolved why God hath given this and that profane wretch so much Wealth and so much power to do mischief Is it not that they might be destroyed for ever Then shall they be called to a strict account for all that plenty and prosperity for which they are now envied and the more they have abused the more dreadful will their condemnation be Then it will appear that God gave them not as mercies but as snares 'T is said Psalm 11.6 That God will rain on the wicked Snares Fire and Brimstone and an horrible tempest When he scaters abroad the desireable things of this World Riches Honours Pleasures c. then he rains snares upon them and when he shall call them to an account for these things then he will rain upon them Fire and Brimstone and an horrible tempest of his wrath and fury Dives who carowsed on Earth yet in Hell could not obtain so much as one poor drop of Water to cool his scorch'd and flaming Tongue Had not his excess and intemperance been so great in his Life his fiery thirst had not been so tormenting after Death And therefore in that sad Item that Abraham gives him Luke 16.5 he bids him remember that thou in thy Life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus Evil things but now he is comforted and thou tormented I look upon this as a most bitter and a most deserved Sarcasme upbraiding him for his gross folly making the trifles of this Life his good things Thou hast received thy good things but now thou art tormented Oh never call Dives's Purple and delicious fare good things if they thus end in torments Was it good for him to be wrapt in Purple who is now wrapt in Flames Was it good for him to fare deliciously who was only thereby fatted up against the day of slaughter Could you lay your Ears to Hell Gates you might hear many of the Grandees and Potentates the great and Rich ones of this World Cursing all their Pomp and Bravery and wishing they had been the most despicable of all those whom they once hated oppress'd and injured And as it will appear at that day that none of the enjoyments of this World are good to wicked Men so that none of those Afflictions and Calamities which good Men suffer are Evil. Lazarus's Sores are not Evil since now every Sore is turned into a Star His lying prostrate at the Rich Misers door is not Evil since now he lies in Abraham's Bosom And this day all these intricacies of Providence will be made plain and we shall have other apprehensions of things than what we have at present Now we call Prosperity Riches and Abundance Good things and Want and Affliction Evil. But when we come to consider these with relation to Eternity the true standard to measure them by then Poverty may be a Mercy and Riches a Judgment God may bless one by Afflictions and Curse another by Prosperity he may bestow more upon us in suffering us to want than if he should give us the store and treasures of all the Earth And certainly whatever our thoughts of it are now yet within awhile this will be the Judgment of us all When we are once lodged in our Eternal State then we shall acknowledge that nothing in this World deserved the name of good but as it promoted our eternal Happiness nor of evil but as it tends to Eternal misery And thus you see this grand Objection answered and the Providence of God cleared from that unjustice which we are apt peevishly to impute unto it Other doubts are of less moment and therefore shall be brieflier resolved As Secondly If God's Providence ordains all things to come to pass according to the immutable Law of his purpose then what necessity is there of Prayer We cannot by our most fervent Prayers alter the least circumstance or punctilio in God's Decrees If he hath so laid the method of his Providence in his own Counsels as to prepare mercies and blessings for us our Prayers cannot hasten nor maturate them before their time Or if he determine by his Providence to bring Afflictions upon us our Prayers cannot prevent nor adjourn them beyond their prefixed time Now to this Aaequinas 2.29.83 Art 2. Answers well that the Divine Providence doth not only ordain what Effects shall come to pass but also by what means and causes and in what order they shall flow God hath appointed as the effect it self so the means to accomplish it Now Prayer is a means to bring to pass that which God hath determined shall be We do not Pray out of hope to alter God's Eternal purposes but we Pray to obtain that which God hath ordained to be obtained by our Prayers We ask that thereby we may be fit to receive what God hath from all Eternity determined to give by Prayer and not otherwise And therefore when we lie under any Affliction if we languish under pain or sickness if we are pinch'd by Want or Poverty if we are oppress'd by the injuries and persecutions of others Prayer is necessary because as God by his Providence hath brought these things upon us so likewise possibly the same Providence hath determined not to remove them till we earnestly and fervently Pray for our deliverance from them And therefore when God had promised great mercies to the Jews he tells them by the Prophet Ezek. 36.37 Yet will I for this be enquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them Prayer therefore doth not incline God to bestow that which before he was not resolved to give but it capacitates us to receive that which God will not give otherwise Thirdly Another Objection may be this If Providence ordereth and disposeth all the Occurrences of the World then there can nothing fall out casually and contingently I Answer In respect of God it is true there is nothing casual nor contingent in the World A thing may be casual in respect of particular causes but in respect of the universal and first cause nothing is such If a Master should send a Servant to a certain place and command him to stay there till such a time and presently after should send another Servant to the same the meeting of these two is wholly casual in respect of themselves but ordained and foreseen by the Master that sent them So is it in
First I answer First this was St. Paul's very Case Rom. 7.8 Sin taking occasion by the Command wrought in me all manner of Concupiscence now this effect is merely accidental and is not to be imputed unto the Holy Word of God but to the wicked Heart of Man which takes an hint so desperately corrupt is it from God's forbidding Sin to put it self in Mind of committing it Secondly Thou complainest that the Word exciteth to Corruptions but it doth it no otherwise than the Sun draws Smoak and stink out of a Dunghill It doth increase but unhappily excite them The very same Lusts lay hid in their Hearts before There they lay like so many Vipers and Serpents asleep till the Light and Warmth of the Word makes them stir and crawl about And this Advantage thou mayest make of it that when thy Corruptions swarm thick about thee upon the disturbance the Law of God hath made among them thou mayest thence see what a wicked Heart and Nature thou hast how much Filth and Mud there lyeth at the bottom of it which presently riseth upon the first stirring This may make thee vile in thine own Eyes and deeply humbled under the sad and serious Consideration of thy indwelling Sin 'T is the very use the Apostle makes in the same Case Rom. 7.24 O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death When Humors are in Motion we soon perceive what is the state of our Body and when Corruptions are once stirred we may thereby easily know the State and Condition of our Souls Thirdly The same Word that doth thus occasionally stir up Sin is the best means to beat it down You may perceive by this there is somewhat in the Word that is extreamly contrary to their Sins since they do so rise and arm against it their great Enemy is upon them and this alarm that they take is but before their overthrow It may be the Mud is only stirred that it might be cast out and their Hearts cleansed from it Be not discouraged therefore for there is no Means in the World so apposite to the destruction and subduing of Sin as the Scripture though at first it may seem instead of subduing of Sins to strengthen them Sixthly Many are discouraged from studying the Scriptures because their Memories are so treacherous and unfaithfull they can retain nothing when they have read the Scripture and would recollect what they have read they can give no account of it either to themselves or others Nothing abides upon them and therefore they think it were as good give over as thus continually pour Water into a Sieve and inculcate Truths upon such a leaky Memory where all runs out This is indeed the Complaint of many But First This should put thee on a more frequent and diligent study of the Scripture than discourage thee from it More pains will supply this Defect thou must the oftner prompt and the oftner examine thy Self the more forgetful thou art Memory is the Soul's Steward and if thou findest it unfaithful call it the oftner to account Be still following it with Line upon Line and Precept upon Precept and continually instill somewhat into it A Vessel set under the fall of a Spring cannot leak faster than it is supplyed A constant dropping of this Heavenly Doctrine into the Memory will keep it that though it be leaky yet it never shall be empty Secondly Scripture Truths when they do not inrich the Memory yet they may purifie the Heart We must not measure the Benefit we receive from the Word according to what of it remains but according to what effect it leaves behind Lightning you know than which nothing sooner vanisheth away yet it often breaks and melts the hardest and most firm Bodies in its sudden Passage Such is the irresistable force of the Word the Spirit often darts it through us it seems but like a flash and gone and yet it may break and melt down our hard Hearts before it when it leaves no impression at all upon our Memories I have heard of one who returning from an affecting Sermon highly commended it to some and being demanded what he remembred of it answered truly I remember nothing at all but only while I heard it it made me resolve to live better than ever I have done and so by God's Grace I will Here was now a Sermon lost to the Memory but not to the Affections To the same Purpose I have somewhere read a story of one that complained to an aged Holy-Man that he was much discouraged from reading the Scripture because his Memory was so slippery he could fasten nothing upon it that he read The old Hermet for so as I remember he was described bid him take an earthen Pitcher and fill it with Water when he had done it he bid him empty it again and wipe it clean that nothing should remain in it which when the other had done and wondred to what this tended now saith he though there be nothing of the Water remaining to it yet the Pitcher is cleaner than it was before so though thy Memory retain nothing of the word thou readest yet thy Heart is the cleaner for its very passage through Thirdly Never fear your Memory only pray for good and pious Affections Affection to the truths we read or hear makes the Memory retentive of them Most Mens Memories are like Jett or Electrical Bodies that attract and hold-fast only straws or Feathers or such vain and light things discourse to them the Affairs of the World or some idle and romantick story their Memories retain this as faithfully as if it were ingraven on leaves of Brass Whereas the great important truths of the Gospel the great Mysteries of Heaven and concernments of Eternity leave no more impression upon them than words on the Air in which they are spoken whence is this but only that the one sort work themselves into the Memory through the interest they have got in the Affections which the other cannot do Had we but the same delight in Heavenly Objects did we but receive the Truth in the love of it and mingle it with Faith in the hearing this would fix that Volatileness and Flittiness of our Memories and make every truth as indelible as it is necessary That 's in Answer to the 6th Objection Seventhly others complain that the Scripture is obscure and difficult to be understood they may as well and with as good success attempt to spie out what lies at the Centre of the Earth as search into the deep and hidden Mysteries which no humane understanding can fathom or comprehend And this discourageth them To this I answer First 't is no wonder if there be such profound depths in the word of God since it is a System and Compendium of his Infinite and unsearchable Wisdom that Wisdom which from the beginning of the World hath been hid in God Those deep Truths which your understanding cannot reach