pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God. He did not commissionate Angels to be his Legates their presence would confound and terrifie us but Men cast into the same mould with your selves who may say to you as Elihu said to Iob Iob 33. 6 7. Behold I am according to thy wish in Gods stead I also am formed out of the clay Behold my terrour shall not make thee afraid neither shall my Hand be heavy upon thee Upon these Commission Officers of Christ he poured forth excellent gifts in great diversity and useful variety to fit the capacities and various dispositions of Mens Souls When he ascended up on high he gave gifts unto Men this Ministerial Office is by him established in the Church Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect Man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes. 4. 11 12 13. Unto these his Ministers he gives the highest encouragements to quicken them to their labour if one do but one part of the work and another the other one soweth and another reapeth he tells them both He that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice togther John 4. 36. He tells them that every Soul they win to him shall be as a Jewel in their Crown of glory Dan. 12. 3. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever What is Christs intention in all these incouragements to his Ministers Surely it is as if he should say to his Servants Study hard Pray earnestly Plead with sinners affectionately every Soul you win to me shall make an addition to your glory in Heaven Weigh now the force of this second Demonstration from the Life of Christ will you have a proof of Christs earnest suit to gain the Hearts of sinners his whole Life upon Earth was a great proof of it his Doctrin so full of pathetical invitations proves it the Joy of his Heart at the success of the Gospel his Tears and Sorrows for the obstinacy of unbelievers his Labours and Travels to gather sinners to him his admirable Encouragements put into general invitations his dreadful Threatnings to all that reject his motions his commissionating and qualifying continuing and encouraging his Ministers to carry on this suit in his Name All these things make up a full Demonstration that Jesus Christ is an earnest suiter for union and communion with the Soul of sinners which was the thing to be proved Thirdly The Death of Christ is the fullest Demonstration that ever was or can be given of his love to sinners and desire after union and communion with him His Doctrin and Life discovered much but his Death and Sufferings abundantly more in his Doctrin he spent his Breath but upon the Cross he spent his Blood. Here he comes a suiting to the Souls of sinners in his Scarlet robes his Red garments garments dipt in his own Blood You may now propound the same admiring question the Church propounded Isa. 63. 1 2. Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah This that is glorious in his apparel travelling in the greatness of his strength Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-fat Wilt thou know sinner why he cometh to thee in Red garments It is to give thee such a Demonstration of his love as may draw forth all the love of thy Heart to him by this Blood he hath bought and purchased thy Soul for a Spouse for himself Acts 20. 28. Now there are two things in the Death of Christ evidential of the fervency of his desires after us 1. The greatness of the sufferings which he endured 2. The Use and End to which they were designed Both these shew how the Heart of Christ is heated with the vehemency of his own desires after union with our poor Souls 1. The greatness of the sufferings of Christ discover the ardency of his affection Christs sufferings are two-fold 1. External in his Body 2. Internal in his Soul. Both together making up the fulness of his Sufferings When you shall hear what Christ hath endured in both kinds to purchase you to himself then you may guess what value he put upon you what desire he hath after you Now 1. as to the external Sufferings of Christ in his Body they were exceeding great for the Death he died was not a Natural but a Violent Death indeed he could not dye a Natural Death for there was no sin in his Nature to open a door to Death that way His Body was intended for a Sacrifice to God and as a Sacrifice it dyed therefore it is said 1 Pet. 3. 18. He was put to Death in the Flesh his Soul and Body were violently rent asunder in the fulness and perfection of his strength and vigour and this violent Death was also a cursed Death He was made a Curse for us For it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree Gal. 3. 13. A ceremonial Curse was affixed to the Death of the Cross He that is hanged is accursed of God saith the Law The intention of that Death was to shew the person that dyed to be so vile that he was not worthy to touch Heaven or Earth and therefore was hanged betwixt both Moreover this violent Death Christ dyed was a most painful Death full of Torture and very Slow and Lingering the Cross was a Rack to the Body of Christ I may tell all my bones saith he they look and stare upon me Psal. 22. 17. But yet 2. the Sufferings of his Body were but the Body of his Sufferings it were the Sufferings of his Soul that were the very Soul of his Sufferings These inward Sufferings of Christ may likewise be considered two ways 1. In his bitter propassions in the Garden O what Agonies and Conflicts what sharp Encounters and Distresses did his Soul there meet with from the Wrath of God there endured for your sakes Once and again he cried out Abba Father all things are possible let this Cup pass Father if it be possible let this Cup pass thrice he returned to the same place rowling himself on the ground The Sufferings of his Soul cast his blessed Body into a bloody Agony His sweat was as it were great drops of Blood falling to the ground Luke 22. 43 44. 2. In the fulness of his Passions on the Cross there was his blessed Soul for a time deserted of the Father as to any sensible communications of Joy and Comfort from him which occasioned that bitter out-cry Matth. 27. 46. My God my God why hast thou for saken me Never was there such a cry heard since the Heavens were spread over the Earth never had Christ seen one frown in his
Fathers Face from Eternity before this time but now the smiling Face of God was hid and a strong impression of his Wrath made upon him And now Brethren you see what Christ hath endured both in his Body and in his Soul and all for the sake of Sinners What think you now is not Christ an earnest Suiter Doth not all this fully and plainly speak the ardours of his Love the fervencies of his desires after union and communion with us If this do not then nothing can demonstrate Love and Desire That 's the first thing the greatness of the Sufferings which he endured Secondly Let us next consider the Use and Intention of these Sufferings of Christ and how this also demonstrates the earnestness of his desires after Conjugal union with us Now there was a double Use and End of the Sufferings of Christ. 1. To make us free that we might be capable of Espousals 2. To win our Affections by the argument of his Sufferings I. One End of Christs death was to purchase our Freedom that we might be capable of being Espoused to him for you must know that we were not in a capacity whilst under the curse of the Law to be married unto Christ the Apostle Rom. 7. 2 3 4. compares the Law to a Husband to whom the Wife is bound as long as he liveth and not capable of a second marriage until her Husband be dead The Death of Christ was the Death of the Law as a Covenant of Works holding us under the bond of a Curse of it and so it gave us a manumission or freedom from that bond and a capacity of espousals to Christ as vers 4. Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead A Slave to another is not capable of being disposed in marriage until made Free you were in bondage to the Law the slaves of of Sin and Satan Christ bought out your liberty for his Blood is call'd a ransom Matth. 20. 28. and so put you into a capacity of being espoused unto himself here you see Christ loved you not for any advantage he could have by you for you had nothing to bring him nay he must purchase you and that with his own Blood before he can be united to you O incomparable love O fervent desires II. Another design and end of the Death of Christ was to win and gain our Hearts and Affections to himself by the argument of his Death this himself hath declared to be the very end and intention of it Ioh. 12. 32. And I if I be lifted up from the Earth will draw all Men unto me this he said signifying what Death he should dye Christ endured all that you have heard and infinitely more than the Tongue or Pen of Man can express and all to draw thy Soul and win thy consent to come unto him the Lord Jesus by his sufferings casts a threefold cord over the Souls of Sinners to draw them to himself 1. The Death of Christ obtains compleat righteousness for guilty sinners and if any thing in the World will draw the Heart of a sinner this will the anxious search and enquiry of a convinced sinner is after a perfect righteousness to justifie him before God. O that 's it the sinner wants Conscience saith thou hast broken all the Laws of God and art therefore a Law condemned wretch the sentence of the Law casts thee for Hell Now what would a poor sinner give for a release from this sentence of the Law O ten thousand Worlds for a Pardon Why here it is saith Christ Come unto me and thou shalt receive a free full and final pardon my Blood cleanseth from all sin my righteousness answers all the demands of the Law. I have taken away the Hand-writing that was against thee and nayled it to my Cross Col. 2. 14. Come unto me and take up thy Bonds thy cancelled Bonds come unto me and that dreadful attribute of Divine Justice shall never scare or fright thy Conscience any more nay thou shalt build thy hope upon it you read Rom. 3. 25. That God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Iesus Here you see the justification and pardon of a sinner built upon that very Attribute which was so frightful and dreadful to him before Well then poor sinner is there guilt upon thy Conscience And doth thy Soul shake and quiver to think how it shall stand before the Just and Terrible God in the great Day Hearken to the voice of Christ crucified who calls thee to him to receive thy discharge which if thou refuse the Law still stands in its full force and vertue against thy Soul. This is one cord Christ casts from the Cross over the Souls of guilty sinners to draw them to him 2ly The Death of Christ purchases and procures perfect cleansing from the filth and pollution of sin to wash the defiled Souls of sinners from all their uncleanness For this is he that came by water and by blood not by blood only but by water also 1 Joh. 5. 6. He comes by way of Sanctification as well as by way of Justification Lord saith a convinced sinner what an unclean Nature Heart and Life have I O I am nothing but a heap of uncleanness an abhorence to God and my self how shall such an Heart as mine such an Augean Stable be cleansed Come unto me saith Christ I came by Water as well as Blood in me thou shalt find a Fountain for Sanctification as well as Justification come unto me and my Spirit shall undertake the cleansing of thy Heart he shall take away the pollutions of sin perfectly so that it shall be presented to God without spot 3ly And lastly The transcendent love of Christ shines out in its full strength upon the Souls of sinners from the Cross and there 's nothing like love to draw love when Christ was lifted up upon the Cross he gave such a glorious demonstration of the strength of his love to sinners as one would think should draw love from the hardest Heart that ever lodged in a sinners Breast Herein is love saith the Apostle not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4. 10. q. d. Here 's the triumph the riches and glory of Divine Love never was such love manifested in the World. There 's much of Gods love in Temporal Providences but all 's nothing to this this is love in its highest Elevation Love in its Meridian Glory before it was none like it and after it shall none appear like unto it And thus you
skin which are not accidental but connate as the reasonings of Men can prevail to remove the mighty power of customary sin Physitians find it a hard thing to Cure a Cakexia or ill habit of Body 'T is a grave and serious note of Seneca A teneris assuescere multum est 'T is a great matter to be accustomed this way or that from our childhood every repeated act of sin confirms and strenghtens the habit and hence it is that we see so few Conversions in old Age. It was a wonder in the Primitive times that Marcus Caius Victorius imbraced Christianity in the sixtieth year of his age take an habituated Drunkard a self-righteous Moralist lay before them the necessity of a change and you shall find it as easie to stop the course of a River with the breath of your Mouth as to stop them in an accustomed course of sinning That 's the fourth Bar to Christ. Fifth Bar. The Fifth Bar opposing and resisting Christs entrance into the Soul is the sin of Presumption this is the sin that parts Christ and thousands of Souls in the World presuming they hope and hoping they perish when Men presume their condition is safe already their Souls never make out after a Saviour This was the ruine of Laodicea Rev. 3. 17. Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked This damning presumption is discovered in three things 1 Many think they have that grace which they have not mistaking the Similar for the saving Works of the Spirit a fatal mistake never rectified with many thousands till it be too late 2 They presume to find that mercy in God which they will never find for all the saving mercies of God are dispensed to Men through Christ in the way of Regeneration and Faith Iude vers 21. 3 They presume upon that time for Repentance and Faith hereafter which their Eyes shall never see And thus presumption locks up the Heart against Christ and leaves sinners perishing in the presence of a Saviour They make a bridge of their own shadow and so perish in the Waters Sixth Bar. The Sixth and last sin barring up the Heart against Christ is a strong prejudice against holyness and the strict duties of Religion Thus in the very infancy of Christianity the World was scared and driven off from Religion by the common prejudices that lay upon the Professors of it Acts 28. 22. As concerning this Sect we know that every where it is spoken against Thus Iustin Martyr complains that Christians were every where condemned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by common same and upon this account Christ pronounces a wo upon the World because of offences Matth. 18. 7. Alas it will be the ruine of Thousands some have suckt in such prejudicate Opinions and vile Notions of Religio◠and its Professors as makes them irreconcilable enemies to it Satan hath drest it up in their fancies in such an odious form and representation that makes them loath both name and thing These prejudices are drawn from various things sometimes from the necessary duties of Christianity which are laid as crimes upon the people of God Psal. 69. 10. When I wept and chastned my Soul with fasting that was to my reproach Sometimes the groundless and malicious slanders and inventions of the enemies of Christianity are the occasions of real prejudices to the World Ier. 18. 18. Come let us devise devices against Jeremiah and let us smite him with the Tongue Sometimes the innocent and serious Professors of godliness are censured and condemned for hypocritical professors sakes who never heartily espoused Religion And lastly the ways of holiness suffer for the slips and infirmities of weak Christians who commonly give too many occasions to disgust the World against the ways of God. By these things multitudes are kept off from attendance upon the means of Grace and multitudes more have their Hearts shut up from receiving any saving benefit under them These are the common Bars and Locks by which the strong Man armed secures his possession in the Souls of sinners and these Bars are too strong for any power beneath the Almighty power and Arm of God to remove or break t is said Acts 14. 27. That the Lord opened a door of Faith to the Gentiles The Arm of the Lord must be revealed or none will open to Christ by Faith Isa. 53. 1. 1. The iron Bar of the Law that thundering terrible Law cannot force open the Heart of an unbeliever all the dreadful curses flying out of its fiery mouth make no more impression than a Tennis ball against a wall of Marble Deut. 29. 19. You read of them that hear the words of this Curse yet bless themselves in their Heart saying they shall have peace though they walk in the imagination of their Hearts to add Drunkenness to Thirst. They play with Hell and Eternal Torments rush into iniquity as the Horse rusheth into the Battle act as men in love with their own Death as those that are at an agreement with Hell. Oh the besotting hardning infatuating power of sin 2. The Golden Key of free Grace cannot in it self remove these Bars and open mens Hearts to Christ Matth. 11. 17. We have piped unto you but ye have not danced The melodious and delicious Airs of Grace Mercy Peace and Pardon affect not the dead Hearts of unbelievers Like deaf Adders they stop their Ears at the voice of the Charmer charm he never so wisely These Gospel melodies only dispose them to a more quiet sleep in sin 3. No works of Providence are in themselves sufficient to open the Hearts of Men to Christ. 1. The Judgments of God cannot do it thousands have been made sick with smiteing that yet cannot be made sick for sin I have consumed them but they refused to receive correction they have made their Faces harder then a Rock they have refused to return Jer. 5. 3. Messengers of Judgment are abroad smiting some in their Estates scattering in one day the labour of many years and therein giving a warning blow at the Conscience to make sure of Christ and the World to come since their comfort and happiness is scattered in this World. Some are smitten in their dearest relations Death knocks at their doors and carries out the delight of their Eyes and with the same admonisheth their Souls to place their happiness in more durable comforts Some are smitten in their Bodies with Diseases giving warning of the near approach of their latter end and bidding them prepare for another habitation but all in vain 2ly No mercies of God are in themselves sufficient to open the obstinate Hearts of sinners to Christ. God hath heapt up mercies by multitudes upon many of you all these mercies of God lead you to repentance Rom. 2. 4 5. They take you in a friendly way by the Hand and thus talk with you
thee also that hast broken asunder the bonds of mercies vows and warnings provided thou wilt now hear the voice of Christ and thy Will open to him with an hearty firm consent Isa. 55. 4. You are great and heinous sinners but I shew this day a Great and Almighty Saviour One that is able to save to the utmost all that come unto God by him Hebr. 7. 25. There is a Sacrifice laid out and appointed for these sins O bless God for that They are no where excepted from the possibility of forgiveness Nothing but the impenitency of thy heart and obstinacy of thy Will can bar thee from a full and final pardon Jesus Christ can save thee to the uttermost Say not within thy self Can the virtue of his Blood extend it self to the remission of this or that sin He can save to the uttermost Look round about thee to the uttermost Horizon of all thy guilt and Christ can save thee to the uttermost that the Eye of thy Conscience can discern yea and beyond it too but then thou must come unto him You speak of the greatness of sin and you have cause to have sad thoughts about it but in the mean time you consider not that your Unbelief by which you stand off from Christ your only Remedy is certainly the greatest of all the sins that ever you stood guilty of against the Lord. This is the sin that binds the guilt of all your other sins upon you Let me therefore address my self 1 To you who cry out of the greatness of sin and that discourages you from going to Christ 2 To lesser sinners who because they are clear of great Enormities see not their need of Christ. 1. This Exhortation speaketh to you whose Consciences are â—eared with the horrid and hideous aggravations of your sins by reason whereof your own misgiving hearts assisted by the policy of Satan discourage you from all Attempts to gain Christ and Pardon in the way of Repentance and Faith. Let me at this time hint three or four Considerations to you by way of Encouragement 1 The sparing goodness of God till now gives some encouragement that God may have a reserve of mercy for so great and vile a sinner as thou art O what a mercy is it that thy life hath been spared hitherto Many of thy Companions in sin are beyond hope and mercy whilst thou art left I confess this is no sure sign of Gods gracious intention to thee unless the goodness and forbearance of God did lead thee to Repentance then the gracious intention of God in prolonging thy life would evidently appear But however it is in it self a very great mercy because without it no spiritual mercy could be expected 2ly 'T is matter of encouragement and hope That though your Disease be dreadful yet it is not desperate and incurable The Text takes it within the compass of mercy O bless God for that If any man c. 3ly As great sinners as you have been have found mercy 1 Tim. 1. 16. and God would have it to be recorded for your encouragement If now the Lord shall make thy heart to break and thy Will to bowe whatever thy sins have been they shall not bar thee from mercy and forgiveness But if thou resolve to go on in sin or sit down desponding or discouraged and wilt not come in at the Invitation and Call of Christ then thy wound is incurable indeed and there is but one way with thee thy Mittimus is already made for Hell and that Scripture in 1 Cor. 6. 9. will tell thee whither thou art going But God forbid that this should be the Issue of Christs gracious invitations to thee and forbearance of thee Seeing mercy is tendred to any man that will accept it upon Christ's terms exclude not thy self when he hath not excluded thee 2. I will close up this Use of Exhortation to another sort of persons who are not of the notorious infamous rank of profane Sinners but their lives have been drawn more smoothly through a course of Civility These have as great need to be prest to Repentance and Faith as the most notorious Sinners in the world These are a Generation that bless themselves in their own eyes and thank God with the Pharisee Luke 18. 11. That they are not as other men They acknowledge Conversion to be the duty of the profane that such Sinners as I last dealt with stand in apparent need of it But as for themselves they scarce know where to find matter for Repentance nor do they feel any need of Christ. Now I would lay three Considerations before such persons to convince them that their Case is as sad and hazardous yea and in some respect more hazardous than the state of the most notorious Sinners in the world and that a Change must also pass upon them or else it had been good for them they had never been born I. Consideration Let the civilized part of the world lay this thought close to their hearts That though their sins be not so gross and horrid to appearance as other mens are yet continued in they will prove as mortal and destructive as those greater Abominations of other men No sin absolutely considered is small Every sin is mortal and damning without Christ Rom. 6. ult The wages of sin is death 'T is no great odds if a man be killed whether it were by a broad Sword or by a small Penknife The least sin violates the whole Law Iames 2. 10. He that offendeth in one point is guilty of all The least transgression of the Law pulls down the guilt and curse of the whole Law upon the Sinners head And this is your misery that are out of Christ and stand under the rigorous terms of the first Covenant Moreover the Law of God is violated grosly and externally or spiritually and more internally Thus every unchast thought is Adultery And the very inward burnings of Malice and Anger in the heart is Murther Now if the Lord shall bring the spiritual sense of the Law home to your Consciences as he did to Paul's Rom. 7. 9. You will certainly give up that plea that you have not so much need of conversion as other Sinners have There are sins of greater infamy and sins of deeper guilt There may be more guilt in those sins that are stifled in thy heart and never defamed thee than there may be in some sins that make a louder noise in the world II. Consideration You are guilty of one sin how civil and blameless soever your lives are which is certainly more great and heinous than any outward act of sin can ordinarily be and that is your trusting to your own Righteousness as the Pharisees did Luke 18. 9. He spake this Parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others Here 's an Idol of Jealousie set up in the room of Christ 'T is true this sin makes not so loud a noise
Verily verily I say unto you you must be born again Iohn 3. 5. O sinner that hard Heart of thine must be humbled thy stubborn and refractory Will must be bowed all the powers of thy Soul must be unlockt and opened unto Christ he must come into thy Soul or thou canst never see the face of God in peace It is Christ in you that is the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. Till thy Heart be opened Christ with all the hopes of glory stand without thee And if hopes from the death of Christ without us without the application of his person be enough to save Men then why are any damned Consult 1 Cor. 1. 30. Adams sin damns none but only such as are in him and Christs righteousness saves none but those only that are by faith in him the eternal purposes of the Father the meritorious death of the Son puts no Man into the state of Salvation and happiness till both be brought home by the Spirits powerful application in the work of saving conversion T is good news good indeed that Christ died for sinners t is good news that Christ is brought to our very doors in the tenders of the Gospel and that the Spirit knocks at the door of our Hearts by many convictions and perswasions to open to him and enjoy the unspeakable benefits of his death these things bring us nigh to Christ the next door to Salvation and yet all this may be eventually but a dreadful aggravation of our damnation and will certainly be so to them whose Hearts are but almost opened to Christ. V. Inference See hence the necessity of fervent prayer to accompany the preaching of the Gospel Without the Spirit and power of God accompanying the Word no Heart can ever be opened to Christ Alas such Bars as these are too strong for the breath of Man to break Let Ministers pray and the People pray that the Gospel may be preached with the holy Ghost sent down from Heaven 1 Pet. 1. 12. It greatly concerns us that preach the Gospel to wrestle with God upon our knees to accompany us in the dispensation of it unto the People to steep that seed we sow among you in tears and prayers before you hear it and I beseech you Brethren let us not strive alone joyn your cries to Heaven with ours for the blessing of the Spirit upon the Word How doth Paul beg of the People as a beggar would beg for an alms at the door for their assistance in Prayer Rom. 15. 30. I beseech you brethren for the Lord Iesus Christ sake and for the love of the Spirit that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me For want of such wrestlings with God in prayer there is so little efficacy in Ordinances Martha told her Saviour Iohn 11. 21. Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died and I may tell you that if the Spirit had been here your Souls had not remained dead under the Word as they do this day Oh when the Sabbath draws near let fervent cries ascend from every Family to Heaven Lord pour out thy Spirit with thy Word make it mighty through thy Power to open these Gates of Iron and break asunder these Bars of Brass Second Vse of Exhortation Seeing the Case stands thus that all Hearts by nature are barr'd and shut up against Christ let every Soul do what it can and strive to its uttermost to get the Heart and Will opened to Christ Strive to enter in at the straight gate Christ is at the Door Oh strive with your selves as well as with God now to get it opened now that Salvation is come so near to your Souls Object But have you not told us that no sinner can open his own Heart nor bow his own Will to Christ Answ. True he cannot convert himself but yet he may do many things in order to it and which have a remote tendency towards it which he doth not do and so he perisheth not though he cannot but because he will not Divers things may be done by poor sinners with their own Hearts which are not done and though in themselves they are insufficient yet being the way and method in and by which the Spirit of God usually works we are bound to do them As for Example 1. Though it be not in your power to open your Hearts to Christ yet it is in your power to forbear the external acts of sin which fasten your Hearts the more against Christ Who forceth thine Hands to steal thy Tongue to swear or lye who forces the cup of excess down thy Throat 2ly Though you cannot open your Hearts under the Word yet it is in your power to wait and attend upon the external Duties and Ordinances of the Gospel Why cannot those Feet carry thee to the Assemblies of the Saints as well as to an Ale-house 3ly And though you cannot let the Word effectually into your Hearts yet certainly you can apply your minds with more attention and consideration to it than you do Who forces thine Eyes to wander or closes them with sleep when the awful matters of eternal Life and Death are founding in thine Ears 4ly Though you cannot open your Hearts to embrace Christ yet certainly you can reflect upon your selves when the obvious characters of a Christless state are plainly held forth before your Eyes God hath given you a self-reflecting power The spirit of a Man knoweth the things of a Man 1 Cor. 2. 11. When you hear of Convictions of sin compunctions of Heart for sin deep concernments of the Soul about its eternal state hungerings and thirstings after Christ restless and anxious Days and Nights about Salvation others have felt you can certainly turn in upon your selves and examine whether ever it were so with you and if not methinks it were not hard to aggravate your own misery to take your poor Souls aside and bemoan them saying Ah my poor Soul canst thou endure everlasting burnings What will become of thee if Christ pass thee by and his Spirit strive no more with thee Why can't you throw your selves at the Feet of God and cry for mercy Prayer is a part of natural Worship distress usually puts Men upon it that yet have no Grace Ionah 1. 5. Do but this towards the opening and saving of your own Souls which though it be not in it self sufficient nor puts God under any meritorious obligation or necessity to add the rest yet it puts you into the way of the Spirit And is not thy Soul sinner worth as much as this comes too Have you not taken a great deal more pains than this for the trifles of this World And will it not be a dreadful aggravation of sin and misery to all eternity that you perished so easily Dont you see many striving round about you for Christ and Salvation whilst you sit still with folded Arms as if you had nothing to do for another World
the Word shall come whom by the Spirits particular application like that of Nathans to David Thou art the Man then all the powers of the Soul are rouzed and allarmed now it pierces as a two-edged Sword Heb. 4. 12. divides the Soul and Spirit the superiour and inferiour Faculties of it Cuts down by the back-bone lays open the secret guilt and innermost thoughts of a Man's Heart before which the sinner cannot stand The secrets of his Heart are made manifest and falling down on his Face he must acknowledg that God is in the Word of a Truth 1 Cor. 14. 24. O these convictions of the Word are such a rap such a knock at the door of the Conscience as will never be forgotten no not in Heaven to all Eternity 2ly Christ knocks in the Word by its terrible comminations and awful threatnings menacing the Soul that opens not with eternal ruine these are dreadful knocks O sinner saith Christ wilt thou not open Shall all the tenders of my Grace made to thee be in vain Know then that this thy obstinacy shall be thy damnation Thus the Word denounces ruine in the name of the great and terrible God to all wilful impenitents and obstinate unbelievers Iohn 3. 36. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath ef God abideth on him O dreadful sound like unto which is that Iohn 8. 24. If ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins q. d. Thy Mittimuâ— for Hell shall be made and signed will you not come to me that you might have life then I will foretel what death you shall dye you shall even dye in your sins Oh it were better for thee to dye like a Dog in a ditch than to dye in thy sins These are loud knocks of the Word terrible sounds yet no more than needs to startle the drousie Consciences of sinners And then 3ly The Spirit knocks by the gracious invitations of the Word the sweet allurements and gracious insinuations of it and without this no Heart would ever open to Christ. It is not frost and snow storms and thunder but the gentle distilling dews and cherishing Sun-beams that make the flowers open in the Spring The terrors of the Law may be preparative but the grace of the Gospel is that which effectually opens the sinners Heart The obdurate flint will sooner fly when smitten upon the soft pillow than upon the anvil Now the Gospel abounds with alluring invitations to draw the Will and open the Heart of a sinner such is that Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest O what a charming voice is here He that considers it may well wonder what Heart in the World can resist it like unto this is that in Isa. 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money let him come yea let him come and buy Wine and Milk without money and without price q. d. Come sinner come though thou have no qualifications no worthiness nor righteousness of thy own though thou be but a heap of sin and vileness yet come my grace is a gift not a sale and such is that in Iohn 7. 37. In the last day the great day of the feast Iesus stood up and cried If any Man thirst let him come to me and drink q. d. My grace is no sealed Fountain 't is free and open to the greatest of sinners if they thirst they are invited to come and drink This is that Oyl of Gospel grace which makes the Key turn so pleasantly and effectually amongst all the cross wards of Man's Will. And thus you see how the Word preached becomes an instrument in the Spirit 's Hand to open the door of a sinners Heart at which it knocks by its mighty Convictions dreadful Threats and gracious Invitations Secondly We next come to the Second Hammer by which the Spirit knocks at the sinners Heart and that is the providential Works of God. These in subserviency to the Word are of excellent use to awaken sinners and make them open their Hearts to Christ. God hath magnified his Word above all his Name yet there are some of the providential Works of God greatly serviceable in this case the Word sanctifies Providences and Providences assist the Word and make it work Now there are two sorts of Providential Dispensations which the Lord Jesus makes use of to gain entrance for him into the Hearts of Men. Viz. 1. Judgments 2. Mercies 1. Judgments and Afflictions the Word of God many times works not till some stroak of God come to quicken and assist it thus did the Lord open the Heart of that Monster of wickedness Manasseh the Word would not work alone but a smart rod quickned its operation 2 Chron. 33. 10 11 12. And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people but they would not hearken Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the host of the King of Assyria which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon And when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers Thus the Heart of this Man relented under the Word assisted by the Rod. Ah 't is good that God take such a course with some sinners else the Word would do them no good and to this purpose is that in Iob 36. 8 9 10. And if they be bound in fetters and holden in cords of affliction then he sheweth them their work and their transgression that they have exceeded and openeth their Ears to discipline This is that rough course the obstinacy of Men's Hearts makes necessary for their recovery and therefore it is very observable that some words of God have lain dead in some sinners Hearts for years together and at last have begun to work under some smart and close Rod. Alas while all things are pleasant and prosperous about us the Word hath but little operation and effect Ier. 22. 21 22. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity but thou saidst I will not hear this hath been thy manner from thy youth that thou obeyedst not my voice The wind shall eat up all thy pastures and thy lovers shall go into captivity surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness q. d. Your Eyes are so dazled with the beautiful Flowers and your Ears so charmed with the Syren Songs and Lullabies of earthly delights that my Word can take no place upon you Let an East-wind blow and wither up these Flowers then the Word shall work and Conscience rescent the concernments of Eternity this course God is feign to take with many of you here you sit from Sabbath to Sabbath under the Word and nothing takes place upon your Hearts Will you not hear the voice of my VVord go Death saith God and smite that Man's Child dead I
out of that Bosom of delights to suffer so many things for the sake of poor sinners Secondly Let us consider Christs temper and disposition towards union and communion with sinners within time and every thing done by Christ carries and confirms this Conclusion 1. His Assumption of our Nature plainly speaks it 2. His whole Life upon Earth evidently discovers it 3. His Doctrin is a clear proof of it 4. His Joy at the Conversion of Souls proves it 5. His Sorrows for Mens unbelief evidence it 6. His indefatigable Labours plainly shew it 7. His admirable Encouragements to coming sinners 8. His dreadful Menaces to obstinate sinners 9. His sending and encouraging Ministers to draw and gather the World to himself All these things which were transacted in the Life of Christ plainly demonstrate how greatly and earnestly his Heart did propend and incline towards this desirable union with the Sons of Men. 1. Christs Assumption of our Nature manifesteth his desire after union with us Herein he gave two incomparable proofs of his transcendent love to us and desire after us 1. In passing by a more excellent Nature 2. In marying our Nature to himself 1. He passed by a superiour and more excellent Nature Heb. 2. 16. Verily he took not on him the Nature of Angels Angels were excellent Creatures but behold vessels of Gold cast into the fire and Earthen potsherds fitted for glory 'T is true the Angels that kept their integrity are Members of Christs Kingdom he is an Head to them by way of Dominion but unto us by way of Vital union Christ takes the believer into a nearer union with himself than any Angel in Heaven but for the multitudes of apostate Angels he never designed their recovery but left them as they were before bound in chains of darkness unto the Judgment of the great Day Iude vers 6. This preterition of Christ heightens his love to poor Man. 2ly In marying our Nature to himself and that after sin had blasted its beauty and let in so many direful calamities upon it Rom. 8. 3. He was found in the likeness of sinful flesh i. e. Flesh subject to weariness pains and death which though there be no sin in them yet are the effects and consequences of sin Such a Nature he assumed into a Personal union with himself not to experience any new pleasure in it but to capacitate himself to suffer and satisfie for us and therein to give a convincing proof of the strength of his love and vehemency of his desire to us His personal union with our Nature shews his desire after a mystical union with our Persons He would never have been the Son of Man but to make us the Sons and Daughters of the living God He came in our likeness that we by Sanctification might be made in his likeness Behold how near Christ comes to us by his Incarnation O what a stoop did he make therein to recover us Rather than lose us he was contented to lose his manifestative glory for a time for his Incarnation made him of no reputation Phil. 2. 7. Behold the desires of a Saviour after union with sinners II. The whole Life of Christ upon Earth was an evident proof and demonstration of the desiers of his Heart to be in union and communion with us Iohn 17. 19. For their sakes I sanctifie my self The Life of Christ was wholly set apart for us therefore it is said Isa. 9. 6. Vnto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given What was the errand and buisness upon which Christ came into this World but to seek and to save that which was lost All the Miracles he wrought on Earth were so many works of Mercy he could have wrought his Miracles to have destroyed and ruined such as received him not but his Almighty Power was imployed to heal and save the Bodies of Men that thereby he might win their Souls unto him Acts 10. 38. God anointed Iesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with Power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil for God was with him When the Apostles desired a Commission from him to fetch fire from Heaven to destroy the Samaritans he rebuked them saying Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of for the Son of Man came not to destroy Mens lives but to save them Luke 9. 54 55 56. The whole Life of Christ in this World was nothing else but a woing drawing motive to the Hearts of sinners he rejected not the vilest of sinners Luke 7. 39. He rejected none that came unto him he would not have little Children forbid to be brought unto him Mark 10. 13. What his winning carriage should be was long before predicted by the Prophet Isa. 42. 3. A bruised Reed shall he not break and smoaking Flax shall he not quench Lentulus the Proconsul in his Epistle ad S. P. Q. R. having Graphically described the Person of Christ gives this account of his carriage and deportment In his reproofs he was terrible in his admonitions fair and amiable chearful without levity he was never seen to laugh but often to weep his words grave few and modest c. Christ was in the World as a load-stone drawing all Men to him his deportment was every way suitable to his Commission which was to preach good tydings to the Meek to bind up the broken Hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound Isa. 61. 1. III. As his Life so his Doctrin was a woing and inviting Doctrin a most pathetical invitation unto sinners Never Man spake as he spake whenever he opened his Lips Heaven opened the very Heart of God was opened in it to sinners the whole stream and current of his Doctrin was one continued powerful perswasive to draw sinners to him This was his Language Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Matth. 11. 28. In the last day the great day of the feast Iesus stood up and cryed If any Man thirst let him come to me and drink John 7. 37. Himself resembles it to the clucking of a Hen to gather her Chickins under her wings Luke 13. 34. O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thy Children together as a Hen doth gather her brood under her wings Certainly tâ—e whole stream of the Gospel is nothing else but the charming voice of the Heavenly Bridegroom IV. The Joy he always exprest for the success of the Gospel speaks him to be an earnest suiter for the Hearts of Sinners 'T is very remarkable that all the Evangelists who have recorded the life of Christ never mention one laugh or smile that ever came from him For he was a Man of sorrows yet once you read that he rejoiced in Spirit and you shall see the occasion of it in Luke 10. 21. In that hour Iesus rejoiced in Spirit And what was it
Gospel which you enjoy leads you to the Fountain of pardon and peace Iâ—a 53. 5. By his stripes we are healed The voice of the Gospel is peace peace to every one that believeth a rational peace founded upon the full satisfaction of Christ Ephes. 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace Here you see Justice and Mercy kissing each other God satisfied and the Sinner justified for Conscience demands as much to satisfie it as God demands to satisfie him if God be satisfied Conscience is satisfied O blessed are the people that hear this joyful sound Psal. 89. 15. And doubtless it is a joyful sound to every convinced humbled Soul Beautiful upon the Mountains are the Feet of them that bring good tydings that publish peace It is a Gospel worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1. 15. it brings with it a fulness of blessings among the People O England O Dartmouth Provoke not thy God to extinguish this blessed light Great is our wantonness and ominous is our barrenness and ingratitude Yet a little while the light is with you walk whilst ye have the light lest darkness come upon you for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth John 12. 35. Should God blow out this light whither will you go Who shall pour in Balm to your distressed bleeding Consciences ' II. Inference Hence in like manner it follows that the greatness heinousness of past sins is no bar to believing and accepting Christ upon Gospel terms Let no sinner be dismaid by the atrocity and heynousness of sins past from coming unto Jesus Christ for remission and peace I am awar what mischievous use Satan makes of former sins to discourage Souls from the work of Faith by heaping them together he raiseth up a Mountain betwixt Christ and the distressed Soul but behold this day Christ leaping over these Mountains and skiping over these Hills Could this objection be rouled out of the way sinners would go on in hope but certainly if God have given thee a broken Heart and a willing Mind the greatness of thy sin need not discourage thee from believing For 1. thou hast sufficient encouragement from the sufficiency of the causes of pardon whatever thy particular enormities have been there is a sufficiency in the impulsive cause the Free Grace and Mercy of God Exod. 34. 6 7. Micah 7. 18 19. Isa. 55. 7 8 9. It is well there is Mercy enough in God to heal and cover all and there is no less sufficiency in the meritorious cause of pardon the Blood of Jesus Christ which taketh away all sin 1 Iohn 1. 7. 1 Iohn 29. And it must needs be so because it is Divine Blood Acts 20. 28. Neither is there any defect in the applying cause the Spirit of God who hath already begun to work upon thy Heart and is able to break it and bow it and bring it home fully to Christ and to compleat the work of Faith upon thee with power thou complainest thou canst not mourn nor believe as thou wouldst but he wants no ability to supply all the defects of thy repentance and faith Well then if the mercy of God be sufficient to pardon the sin of a Creature if the Blood of Christ the Treasures and Revenues of a King be able to pay the debts of a Beggar if the Spirit of God who works by an Almighty Power be able to convince thee of righteousness as well as sin Iohn 16. 9. I say if all the three causes of forgiveness be sufficient every one in its kind the first to move the second to purchase and the third to apply what hinders but thy trembling Conscience should go to Christ and thy discouraged Soul move onward with hope in the way of believing whatever thy former enormities have been 2. If God raises glory to his Name out of the greatness of the sins he pardoneth then the greatness of sin can be no discouragement to believing but so God doth he raiseth the glory of his Name from the multitude and magnitude of the sins he pardoneth Ier. 33. 8 9. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against me And it shall be to me a name of joy a praise and an honour before all the Nations of the Earth which shall hear all the good I do unto them And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it As a cure performed upon a Man labouring under a desperate Disease it magnifies the Physitian and spreads his Name far and near The Devil envies God this glory and thy Soul this comfort and therefore scares thee off from Christ by the aggravations of thy sins David was willing to give God the glory of pardoning his great iniquities and with that very argument moves him for a pardon Psal. 25. 11. Pardon mine iniquitie for it is great You see there are strange ways of arguing in Scripture which are not in use among Men this is one Lord pardon my sin for it is great he doth not say Lord pardon it for it is but a small offence no but pardon it because it is great and the greater it is the greater Glory wilt thou have in pardoning it And then there is another way of arguing for pardon in Scripture which is peculiar and that is to argue from former pardons unto new pardons when Men beg their pardon one of another they use to say I never wronged you before and therefore forgive me now but here it is quite otherwise Lord thou hast signed thousand of pardons heretofore therefore pardon me again such is that plea Numb 14. 19. Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy and as thou hast forgiven them from Egypt even until now 3. As great sins as those that now stare in the Face of thy Conscience have been actually forgiven to Men upon their humiliation and closing with Christ. Poor sinners under trouble of Conscience are apt to think there is no sin like theirs God forbid I should diminish and extenuate sin but certain I am that Free Grace hath pardoned as great Sinners as thou art upon their repentance and faith What think you had you had a Hand in putting Christ to Death would not that sin have been as dreadful as any that now discourages you Yea certainly you would have thought that an unpardonable sin and yet behold that very sin was no bar to their pardon when once they were pricked at the Heart and made willing to come to Christ Acts 2. 36 37 38. 4. If it be the design and policy of Satan to object the greatness of your sins to prevent the pardoning of them then certainly 't is neither your duty nor interest
to plead it to the same end the Devil doth to lay a confederacy and joyn with your mortal enemy in a plot against the honour of Christ and Salvation of your own Souls take heed what you do seal not Satans conclusions do you think it is a small matter to be confederate with the Devil Certainly this is his design he magnifies your sins on purpose to discourage you from faith while you were secure and carnal the Devil never aggravated but diminished your sins to you but now the Lord hath opened your Eyes and you are come near to the door of hope mercy and pardon now he magnifies them hoping thereby to ham-string and lame thy faith that it shall not be able to carry thee to Christ. 5. If thy sin be really unpardonable then God hath somewhere excepted it in the Gospel grant He hath somewhere said The Man that hath committed this sin or continued so many years in sin shall never be forgiven but now in the whole Gospel there is but one sin that is absolutely excepted from the possibility of pardon and that such a sin as thy sorrows and desires after Christ do fully acquit and clear thee from the guilt of this sin indeed is excepted Matth. 12. 31. But the sin against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven This is that which the Scripture calls a sin unto death Let Apostate Professors transformed into Persecutors Scoffers and Haters of godliness and the Professors of it look to themselves the dreadful symptoms of this sin seem to appear upon such But the humbled thirsty Soul after Christ stands clear of the guilt of that sin 5. If there were no forgiveness with God for great sinners then great sinners had never been invited to come to Christ. The invitations of the Gospel are no mockeries but things of most awful solemnity Now such sinners are called and invited under the encouragement of a pardon consult Isa. 1. from vers 10. to 17. and see the horrid aggravations of that peoples sins and yet at vers 17 18. you may read the gracious invitations of God with conditional promises of a plenary remission so in Ier. 3. from 1. to 13. what a sad Catalogue of sins with their horrid aggravations do you find there and yet it said vers 12. Go and proclaim these words towards the North and say Return thou backsliding Israel and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful 6. If thy sins had not been capable of remission God would never have given thee conviction and compunction for sin nor have drawn forth the desires of thy Heart in this manner after Christ. He hath tact remission to repentance Acts 5. 31. a blessing to gracious desires and hungerings Matth. 5. 6. There is therefore hope that when God hath given the one he will not long withhold the other This very wounding of thy Heart by compunction and drawing forth thy Will by inclination shew that remission is not only possible but even at the door 7. And lastly Let this be thine encouragement whatever Satan or thine own Heart suggests to discourage thee that great Sinners are moving in the way of repentance and faith to a great Saviour who hath merit enough in his Blood and mercy enough in his Bowels to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him Heb. 7. 25. The Lord open to the Eyes of your Faith that rich Exchequer of Free Grace Exod. 34. 6 7. and give you a sight of that plenteous Redemption and forgiveness that is with God Psal. 130. 4 7. that you may not at once cast reproach upon the most glorious Attribute of God impeach the precious Blood of Christ and stab your own Soul with a death-wound of desperation which is that the Devil designs and the whole strain of the Gospel designs to prevent III. Inference If the vilest of sinners stand as fair for pardon and mercy upon their closing with Christ by faith as the least of sinners do then certainly the pardon and salvation of sinners is not built upon any righteousness in themselves but purely and only upon the Free Grace of God in Iesus Christ. Dont think God hath set the Blood of Christ to sale and that those only are capable of the benefits of it who have lived the strictest and soberest lives No no though sobriety morality and strictness in Religious Duties be things commanded and commended in the Gospel yet no Man by these things can purchase a pardon for the least sin Rom. 11. 6. And if by grace then it is no more of Works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work See how these exclude one another thus Titus 3. 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us No Man can satisfie God by any thing himself can do or suffer not by doing for all we do is mixt with sin Iob 14. 4. and that which is sinful can be no attonement for sin all we do or can do is due debt to God Luke 17. 10. and one debt cannot satisfie for another Nor yet by suffering for the sufferings awarded by the Law are everlasting and to be ever satisfying is never to satisfie So then by the works of the Law shall no flesh living be justified in his sight The Saints in all generations have fled to mercy for remission Psal. 130. ult the two debtors Luke 7. 43 44 45. though there were a vast difference in the debts yet of the lesser as well as of the greater it s said they had nothing to pay nothing but the satisfaction of Christ can quit your scores with God. IV. Inference If the grace of Christ be thus free to the greatest of sinners then it is both our sin and folly to stand off from Christ and draw back from believing for want of such and such qualifications which we yet find not to be wroâ—ght in our Hearts Poor convinced Souls think O if they had more humility tenderness love to God spirituality of mind this would â—e some encouragment to believe but because they have no such ornaments to dress up their Souls withal they are not fit to go to Christ. Now to remove this great mistake let two things be considered 1. That such a conceit as this crosses the very stream of the Covenant of Grace where nothing is sold but all freely given this is the very Spirit of the Covenant of Works fain we would find something in our selves to bring to God to Procure his favour and acceptance but the Gospel tells us we must come naked and empty handed to be justified freely by his grace Rom. 2. 24. We must be justified as Abraham was who believed in him that justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4. 5. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted
world to hear of it The very same power that wrought that must also be put sorth to work this or else it would never be wrought So again Eph. 2. 8. By Grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of your selves You are no more able to believe in Christ than you were to raise him from the dead No more able to come one step towards him by Faith in your own power than Lazarus was able to unbind himself in the Grave and come forth Yea in Eph. 1. 18 19 20. the work of believing is ascribed unto the exceeding greatness of the power of God Nothing but power can do it no other power but the Almighty power of God can do it It exceeds the power of Ministers yea of Angels Three things will evince the difficulty of this work Viz. 1. The Nature of it 2. The Subject of it 3. The Enemies of it First The Nature of the work of Faith which is wholly supernatural it is no less than the gaining over the hearty and full consent of the Will to take Jesus Christ with his yoke of Obedience Matth. 11. 29. and with his Cross of Sufferings Matth. 16. 24. And how far these will carry a man into outward dangers losses torments and sufferings who can tell and all this upon the account of an unseen happiness and glory dearest Lusts and Corruptions must be mortified sweetest Pleasures and Profits in the World abandoned and forsaken all Reproaches Losses Pains and Penalties the Devil and the World can lay upon us for Christs sake must be embraced and wellcomed and can it be supposed that any power beneath the Almighty Power of the Lord any voice except the efficacious voice of Christ can prevail with the Will to give its firm explicite consent to such difficult and self-denying terms as these Secondly Consider the Subject wrought upon viz. the dead hard obstinate heart of a blind perverse sinner an heart harder by Nature than the nether Millstone It is as easie to melt the most obdurate Rock into a sweet Syrup as it is to melt the heart of a Sinner into penitential forrows for sin What! to bring a dead heart to life To make that man bitterly bewail the sins that were his pleasure and delight more than ever he bewailed the death of the nearest and dearest Relation in the world To make a proud heart renounce its own self-righteousness which it so dotes upon and take all shame and reproach to it self upon the account of sin This is wonderful You would think it a strange thing to see the course of the Tyde stopt with the breath of a man but O what a marvellous thing is here that at the preaching of the Gospel by a poor worm the Lord should turn the Tyde of the Will and thus work about the Soul to a ready compliance with his most self-denying terms and proposals Thirdly And that which farther encreaseth the difficulty of believing is the fierce and obstinate opposition made by the Enemies of Faith All the powers of Hell and Earth Devils and Men without us are confederate and in league with the Corruptions within us to resâ—â—t and hinder this work of believing Never is the Devil more busie than when Christ and the Soul are treating about Union Oh the Discouragements Objections and Difficulties that are rowled into the way of Faith One while it is the highest Presumption another while it is impossible and utterly too late Sometimes blasphemous injections like fiery Darts are shot reeking hot out of Hell into the Soul Otherwhile the invincible difficulties of Religion are objected all Losses Torments c. opposed unto this work The Tempter casts himself into a thousand shapes to hinder the Souls passage out of Nature unto Christ. Sometimes objecting the greatness of sin and sometimes the lapse and loss of the proper season and opportunity of mercy together with the want of due qualifications to come to Christ. Thus and many other ways he endeavours to rap off the fingers of Faith from taking hold of Christ. And as every Devil in Hell opposes this work so every Carnal interest we have in the world is an Enemy to Faith. We have Enemies enough within us as well as without us both conspiring together to obstruct this work All things increase the difficulty of believing Thirdly We are next to speak of the instruments imployed in this great design and these are 1. Principal or 2. Subordinate 1. The Principal instrument in whose efficacy the Heart is opened is the Spirit of God without whom it is impossible the design should ever prosper neither Ordinances Providences or Ministers can successfully manage it without him If the Lord will make use of any Man for the Conversion and Salvation of anothers Soul he may rejoyce in it but withal must say as Peter to the Jews Acts 3. 12. Why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk So may the ablest Minister in the World say when God blesses his labours to the conversion of any Soul look not upon me as though by the strength of my reason or power of my gifts I had opened thy Soul to Christ this is the work of Gods Spirit in whose hand I am an instrument 1 Cor. 3. 7. He that plants is nothing and he that waters is nothing Nothing in himself the very first stroak of conviction which is introductive to the whole work of conversion is justly ascribed to the Spirit Iob. 16. 9. The Spirit when be cometh shall convince the world of sin He is the Lord of all sanctifying and gracious influences Ordinances are but as the sayls of a Ship Ministers as the Seamen that manage those sayls the Anchor may be weighed the sayls spread but when all is done there is no sayling till a gale come We preach and pray and you hear but there is no motion Christward until the Spirit of God comparded to the wind Iohn 3. 8. blow upon them till he illuminate the understanding with divine light and bow the Will by an Almighty power there can be no Spiritual motion Heaven-ward Now the Spirit of the Lord is a free agent tyed to means time or instruments but as at a certain time an Angel came down upon the waters of Bethesda and put a healing virtue into them so it is here Therefore never come to any Gospel Ordinance without an Eye to the Spirit on whom all their blessing and efficacy depends Oh lift up your Hearts for his blessing upon the means as ever you expect saving benefits from them 2ly The Subordinate instrumental means by which this blessed design is effectually managed in the World is the Gospel-ministry 1 Cor. 3. 5. Who then is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye believed This is the ordinary stated method of begetting Faith and though God hath not tyed himself to this
made and yet no breach not one stone moved out of its place you will say that 's a strong Wall indeed Beloved God hath as I may say raised a Mount in the Gospel planted the great Ordinance of Heaven upon it discharged many dreadful vollies of threatnings nay he hath as it were come under the walls of the unbelieving Soul with terms of grace and mercy and yet no opening O prodigious obstinacy We have piped unto you but ye have not danced we have mourned unto you but ye have not lamented Matth. 11. 17. Neither the sweet Airs of Gospel Grace nor the dreadful thunders of the Law make any impression upon you O what an obdurate Rock is the Heart by nature Certainly every Christian may see enough in others and find enough in himself without the help of other Books to confute the Arminian Doctrian which so extolls and flatters the nature of man. It is as possible to make an impression with your finger upon a wall of brass as for the best Sermon in the world in its own strength to make an effectual saving impression upon a sinners Will. III. Inference Is it the great design of the Gospel to open the hearts of men to Christ then wonder not that it meets with such strong and fierce opposition from Satan wherever it is sincerely and powerfully preached As for general and formal preaching which comes not to the quick the Devil is not so much concerned about it he knows it will do him no great damage nay it fastens and secures his interest in the Souls of men But wherever the Gospel comes with spirit and power laying the Ax to the Root shewing men the vanity of their ungrounded hopes pressing the necessity of Regeneration and Faith this preaching quickly gives an alarm to Hell and raises all manner of opposition against it What is it to preach the Gospel said Luther but to derive the rage and fury of the whole world upon us Satan is the God of this world all men by Nature are his born Subjects No Prince on earth is more jealous of the revolt of his Subjects than he and its time for him to bestir himself when the Gospel comes to dethrone him as it doth in the faithful preaching of it Iohn 12. 31. Now is the Judgment of this world now shall the Prince of this world be cast out Now he falls as Lightning from Heaven Luke 10. 18. Now Sinners are made sensible of the cruel tyranny and bondage of Satan's Government and of the glorious liberty offered to them by Jesus Christ. Satan suspecting the Issue of these things bestirs himself to purpose O what showers of Calumnies and storms of Persecution doth he pour upon the Names and Persons of Christ's faithful Ambassadours certainly he owes Christ's Ministers a spight and they shall know and feel it if ever he get them within the compass of his Chain But let this discourage none imployed in this glorious design the Lord is with them to protect their persons and reward their diligence IV. Inference If the opening of the heart be the main design of the Gospel then Christ and Faith ought to be the principal Subjects that Ministers should insist on among their people There are many other useful Doctrins which may and ought to be opened and prest in their time and place Moral duties c. have their excellencies but Christ and Faith are the great things we are to preach Let men be once brought to Christ and the rest will follow but to begin and end with Morality will never make men Gospel Christians Grace teaches Morality Titus 2. 11. but Morality without Grace saves no man. I doubt not but it hath been a grand Artifice of the Devil to confound Grace with Morality and make men believe that nothing more is requir'd unto mens salvation but a civil sober conversation in the world and so lay by the principal part of the Gospel which opens and presses the necessity of Regeneration Repentance and Faith in the Blood of Christ Such preaching as this answers not the end and design of Christ in the conversion of Souls such toothless preaching disturbs not the Consciences of men the Lord help all his Ambassadours to mind the Example and Charge of their Redeemer and laying aside all carnal interest to apply themselves faithfully unto the Souls and Consciences of their hearers not as men-pleasers but as the servants of Christ. II. Vse of Conviction In the next place This Doctrin is of excellent Use to convince men of the dreadful damning nature of the sin of Unbelief A sin which defeats and frustrates the main design of the blessed Gospel of Christ on the Unbelievers Soul. This is the sin that keeps the heart fast shut against him As Faith is the radical Grace so Unbelief is the radical Sin. What shall I say of it it is the Traytors Gate through which those Souls pass that are to perish for ever The Gospel can do you no good the Blood of Christ can yield you no saving benefit whilst your Souls remain under the dominion and power of this sin When we consider the mighty Arguments of the Gospel we may wonder that all that hear them are not immediately perswaded to Christ by them And on the other side when we consider the mighty power of Unbelief how strongly it holds the Soul in bondage to sin we may admire that any Soul is brought over to Christ by the Gospel It was not without cause that the Apostle puts faith in Christ among the great Mysteries and Wonders of the Gospel 1 Tim. 3. 16. Now the intrinsick evil and fearful consequences of this sin of Unbelief will appear in these following particulars 1. Unbelief fixes the guilt of all other sins on the person of the Unbeliever it binds them all fast upon his Soul Iohn 8. 24. For if ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins Dye in thy sins man it were better for thee to dye in a Ditch What more terrible can God threaten or man feel This is the sin that makes the death of Christ of none effect to us Gal. 5. 4. There is indeed a soveraign virtue in the Blood of Christ to pardon sin but thy Soul cannot have the benefit of it while it remains under the dominion of this sin As it was said of the miraculous works of Christ He could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief Matth. 13. 58. so none of his spiritual works no ordinances can do thy Soul good till the Lord break the power of this sin Hebr. 4. 2. The word preached did not profit them not being mixed in faith in them that heard it If a man were dangerously sick or wounded the richest Cordial or most soveraign Plaister in the world can never recover him unless received and applyed Unbelief spills the most soveraign Cordials of the Gospel as Water upon the ground The greatest sins that ever thou committedst
might be pardoned did not this sin lye in the way were this gone all the rest were gone too but whilst Unbelief remains they also remain upon thee 2ly Of all the sins that are upon the Souls of men this is the most difficult sin to be removed and cured Other sins lye more open to conviction but this hath the most specious pretences to countenance and defend it Men commit this sin out of a fear of sin They will not believe lest they should presume They dare not believe because they are not qualified The strength of other sins meets in this sin of Unbelief it is the strongest Fort wherein Satan trusteth Take an Adulterer or a profane Swearer and you have a fair open way to convince him of his sin shew him the Command he hath violated and he hath nothing to say in his own defence but the Unbeliever hath a thousand plausible defences 3ly This is the great damning sin of the world I do not say but all other sins deserve damnation for the wages of sin is death but this is the sin in the virtue whereof other sins damn and ruin the Soul. This is the Condemnation John 3. 19. And as it is a damning sin so it is a sin which damns with aggravated damnation 2 Thess. 1. 8. O then let us mourn over and tremble at this dreadful sin which opposes and so often frustrates the great design and main end of the whole Gospel IV. Vse for Exhortation Is it the main scope of the Gospel to bring men to Christ by Faith then be perswaded heartily to comply with this great design of the Father Son and Spirit Ministers Ordinances and Providences in opening your hearts to receive Christ this day by Faith unfeigned And oh that I could suitably press this great Point which falls in so directly with the main stream and scope of the whole Gospel And oh that whilst I am pressing it you would list up an hearty cry to Heaven Lord give me faith whatever else thou deny me open my heart to Christ under the Gospel Calls I do not only press you to a general and common assent to the Truths of the Gospel that Christ is come in the flesh and laid down his life for sinners but unto an hearty Evangelical consent to receive him upon Gospel terms to close with him in all his Offices subjecting heart and life unto his Authority living entirely upon him for righteousness and to him by holiness The value of such a Faith as this is above all estimation For 1. this is the Grace which God hath dignified and crowned with Glory and Honour above all its fellow Graces It s singular Praises and Encomiums are in all the Scriptures This is called precious faith 2 Pet. 1. 1. Soul enriching faith Iames 2. 5. That 's a miserable poor Soul indeed that is destitute of it whatever the Largesses of Providence have been to him And he is truly rich to whom God hath given Faith whatever he hath denied him of the comforts of this life This Christ calls the work of God Iohn 6. 29. This is the work of God that you believe Why so are all other things that your eyes behold they are the works of God the Earth the Sea the Sun Moon and Stars they are his handy-work True they are so but this is the work the most eminent glorious and admirable work of God sine pari excelling all his other works which your eyes behold And 2. that which exalts and dignifies it not only above all the works of God's hands but even above its fellow Graces the works of his Spirit is that high Office unto which it is appointed in the justification of a Sinner God hath singled out this Grace from among all the other Graces to be the instrument of receiving and applying the righteousness of Christ for the justification of a guilty Soul Rom. 5. 1. You are never said to be justified by love hope or desire but by faith 'T is true all other Graces are supposed in the person justified but none apprehends and applies the righteousness of Christ for justification but this only And the justifying act of faith being a receiving act the Glory of God is therein secured therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace 3. The Grace of Faith which I am recommending to you this day is not only the instrument of your Justification but it is also the bond of your union with Christ Eph. 3. 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith. 'T is the uniting Grace the Marriage Knot 't is that which gives interest in and title to the person and benefits of Christ. The great thing upon which the eyes of all the awakened world are intently and solicitously fixed Whatever apprehensions you have of an interest in Christ and whatever his benefits be worth in your eyes neither himself or them can ever be obtained without Faith. O Brethren there is a day coming when they that now sleight and neglect this interest and concern of their Souls would gladly part with ten thousand worlds for a good title to Christ could it be purchased therewith But it is Faith and nothing without Faith that intitles you to Christ and to his benefits 4. That which should yet more endear this Grace of Faith to you is this that it is the hand which receives your pardon from the hand of Christ the Messenger that brings a sealed Pardon to a trembling Sinner Acts 10. 43. And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Cleared of all those sins from which the Law could never clear them nor any Repentance Restitution or Obedience of their own without Faith O what a welcom Messenger is Faith and what joyful tydings doth it bring you would say so if ever you had felt the efficacy of the Law upon your Consciences if ever you had lain as some sinners have with a cold sweating horrour upon your panting bosoms under the apprehensions of the wrath God. This fruit of Faith is rather to be admired than exprest Psal. 32. 1. 5. Faith is not only the Messenger that brings you a Pardon from Heaven but it is as I may say that heavenly Herauld that publishes Peace in the Soul of a Sinner O Peace how sweet a word art thou how welcom to a poor condemned Sinner Beautiful upon the Mountains are the feet of them that publish peace Now 't is faith that brings this blessed News and publishes it in the Soul without which all the publishers of peace without us can administer but little support Rom. 5. 1. Faith brings the Soul out of the Storms and Tempests with which it was tossed into a sweet Rest and Calm Hebr. 4. 3. We which have believed do enter into Rest. Is the quiet Harbour welcom to poor weather-beaten Seamen after they have past furious storms and many fears upon the raging
last farewel of thee when they bid this World and all its Inhabitants farewel at Death And what had become of all the Sufferers and Martyrs when shut up from Friends in Dungeons had it not been for thy chearing Cordials and Comforts thou there administredst to support them 'T is certainly the best of Friends or the worst of Enemies in the whole Creation This is Conscience these are its Powers and Offices which was the first thing Secondly Our next enquiry must be into the Light of Conscience and the various kinds of that Light. The Lord did not frame such an excellent Structure as the Soul of Man without Windows to let in light nor doth he deny the benefit of light to any Soul But there is a twofold Light which Men have to inform and guide their Consciences 1. The Light of Natural Reason which is common 2. The Light of Scripture Revelation which is special 1 There is the common light of Natural Reason which is connate called by Solomon Prov. 20. 27 The Candle of the Lord. The Spirit of Man is the Candle of the Lord. This is affirmed by him that had an extraordinary portion of intellectuals a brighter lamp of Reason and Wisdom than other Men And this is not only true of the Soul in general but of that special Power of it which is called Conscience which is Gods Spie and Mans Overseer The Heathens had this Light shining in their Minds and Consciences Some of them by the alone help of this Natural Light made wonderful discoveries of the Mysteries of Nature yea they found its Efficacy and Power great in their Consciences to raise their hopes or fears according to the good or evil they had done Conscia mens ut cuique sua est ita concipit intra Pectora pro facto spemque metumque suo Ovid. And to the shame of many that are called Christians some among them pay'd great Reverence to their own Consciences Imprimis reverere teipsum Turpe quid ausurus te sine teste time But however the generality of them did not so and are taxed for it in the Text And besides this Light can make no discoveries of Christ and of the way of Salvation by him The most Eagle-ey'd Philosophers among them were in the dark here And therefore 2. God hath afforded Men a more clear and excellent Light to shine into their Minds and Consciences even the Light of the Gospel which compared with the Light of Natural Reason is as the Light of the Sun to the dim Moonlight Psal. 147. 20. He sheweth his word to Iacob his Statutes and his Iudgments to Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation and for his Iudgments they have not known them Praise ye the Lord. Every Creature hath the Name of God engraven on it but he hath magnified his Word above all his Name Psal. 138. 2. God who best knows the rate and value of his own Mercies accounts this a singular favour and priviledge to any Nation Without Revelation we could never have known the cause of our Misery the fall of Adam or the only way and means of our recovery by Christ By this a People are lifted up to Heaven Matth. 11. 21. in respect of means and advantages of Salvation and consequently the contempt or neglect of such Light and Love will certainly plunge the guilty into proportionable misery Iohn 3. 19. This is the condemnation that Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather than Light. Moreover God doth not only afford the Light of Natural Reason and External Gospel Revelation to some Men in an eminent degree but to both these he superadds the internal illumination of his Spirit which is the clearest and most glorious Light in the whole World. He shineth into their hearts to give the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. 6. These are the three sorts of Light that God makes to shine into the Soules and Consciences of Men to direct and guide them the first a common and general Light the two last the most clear and transcendent in Excellency especially that of the Spirit with the Gospel For though the Sun be risen yet men may draw the Curtains about them and lie in darkness but the Spirit opens them and makes it shine in 3. How this Light shining into the Consciences of Men obligeth them to Obedience and how Mens Lusts struggle against the Obligations of an enlightned Conscience is the next thing to be spoken to 'T is manifest and beyond all Controversie that an enlightned Conscience lays strong and indispensable Obligations and Engagements on the Soul to Obedience For the Will of God is the Supream Law 1 Tim. 6. 15 't is the Will of the only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords And the promulgation and manifestation of it so binds the Conscience of the Creature to Obedience as no Authority or Power on Earth can loose those bands no Man can grant a supersedeas in this case or relieve the Soul so bound by a noli prosequi for Conscience as Gods Vicegerent in his Name requireth Obedience and the Man that heareth the Voice of God from the Mouth of his own Conscience presently thereupon becomes a Debtor Rom. 1. 14. put under a necessity 1 Cor. 9 16. Now Conscience by reason of the Light that shineth into it feeling it self under such strong bands and necessities stimulates and urgeth the Soul to Obedience warnes commands and presses the Soul to its duty against the contrary Interests and inclinations of the Flesh And hence arise those Combats and conflicts in the bosoms of Men as the struggles of the Child in the Womb at the fullness of time causes the throws and pangs of Travail Sometimes Conscience prevails and sometimes Lusts and Corruptions prevail and that with great difficulty for 't is not alike easie to all Men to shake off or burst the bands of their own Consciences though others can do it easily What an hard tugg had Saul to conquer his own Conscience I forced my self saith he 1 Sam. 13. 12. He knew it belonged not to him to offer Sacrifice his Conscience plainly told him it would be his Sin but yet the fear of the Philistins being stronger than the fear of God he adventured upon it renitente conscientiâ against the plain dictates of his own Conscience Thus Herod gives Sentence to put Iohn to death Matth. 14. 9. The King was sorry nevertheless for his Oaths sake and them which sate with him at meat he commanded it to be given her His Honour weighed up all his fears of sin his own Word weighed more with him than Gods Word Nemo ita perplexus tenetur inter duo vitia quin exitus pateat absque tertio No man is held so perplexed between two Vices but he may find an issue without falling into a third Pilates Conscience was convinced of Christ's Innocency Matth. 27.
of sin and still continue in it How shall we that are dead to sin continue any longer therein Rom. 6. 2. Trust Providence for the supply of your wants and the wants of yours in ways of Duty and Righteousness A little that a Righteous man hath is better than the Riches of many wicked You 'l have more comfort in Bread and Water with peace of Conscience than in full Tables with Gods curse You 'l lye more at ease on a burden of Straw than on a Bed of Down with a grumbling conscience III. Instance How many lye under the condemnations of their own consciences for the lusts of Uncleanness in which they live and though they read and their consciences apply to them such Scriptures as that 1. Cor. 6. 9. Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with mankind c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God a dreadful Sentence and that Heb. 13. 4. Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Yet convictions are overborn and stifled by 1. The Impetuous Violence of carnal Lusts which permit not of calm debates but hurry them on to the sin and leave them to consider the evil and dangerous consequences afterward Thus they go as an Oxe to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks Prov. 7. 22. Lust besots them To give counsel now is but to give Physick in a Paroxisme or counsel to him that is running a Race Lust answers conscience as Antipater did one that presented him a Book treating of Happiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have no leisure to read such Discourses 2. Others would feign solve their scruples with the sinful failings of good men as David Solomon c. not considering what brokenness of Heart it cost David Psal. 51. and the other sorrow more bitter than death Eccl. 7. 26. Laeta venire venus tristis abire solet This is a presumptuous way of sinning and how dreadful that is see Numb 15. 30. IV. Instance Truth is often held in unrighteousness by sinful Silence in not reproving other mens sins and thereby making them our own We are sometimes cast into the company of ungodly Men where we hear the name of our God blasphemed the Truth Worship or Servants of God reproached and have not so much courage to appear for God as others have to appear against him In such cases Conscience useth to instigate men to their duty and charge it home upon them in the authority of such a Scripture as that Lev. 19. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin upon him O saith Conscience thy silence now will be thy sin This poor wretch may perish for want of a seasonable plain and faithful rebuke Thy silence will harden him in his wickedness No sooner doth such a conviction stir in the Conscience but many things are ready to lay hold on it as 1. A Spirit of Cowardice which makes us afraid to displease men and chuses rather the wrath of God should fall on them than that their wrath should fall on us We dare not take as much liberty to reprove sin as others do to commit it They glory in their shame and we are ashamed of what is both our glory and our duty 2. Dependance on or near relation to the Person sinning 'T is a Father an Husband a Superior on whose favour I depend and should I displease him I may ruine my self this is the voice of the Flesh. Hence duty is neglected and the Soul of a Friend basely betrayed Our Interest preferr'd to Gods and thereby frequently lost for there is no way to secure our own interest in any mans heart as to settle it by our Faithfulness in his Conscience and by being willing to hazzard it for Gods interest and glory The Lord blesseth Mens Faithfulness above all their sinful Carnal Policies Prov. 28. 23. He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with his lips 3. Mens own Guilt stops their Mouths and silences them They are ashamed and afraid to reprove other mens sins left they should hear of their own Fear of Retortion keeps them from the duty of Reprehension Thus we fall into a new sin for fear of reviving an old one He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame and 〈◊〉 that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a bist Prov. 9. 7. But this is the fruit of our Pride and Ignorance What we fear might turn to our benefit The Reproof given is a Duty discharged and the Retortion in return a fresh call to Repentance for sin past and a caution against sin to come V. Instance Another Instance of Convictions of unrighteousness imprisoned in mens Souls is in not distributing to the necessities of others especially such as fear God when it is in the power of our hands to do it and Conscience as well as Scripture calls us to our Duty Men cannot be ignorant of that Text Math. 25. 40 41. where by a Synecdoche Charity to the Saints is by Christ put for the whole of Obedience and mens Eternal States are cast according to their observance of this command though I fear few very few study and believe it as they ought Thou canst saith Conscience if thou wilt relieve such or such a poor Christian and therein express thy love to Christ yea refresh the bowels of Christ do it God will repay it if thou refusest how dwelleth the love of God in thee 1 Ioh. 3. 17. This is the Voice of God and Conscience but divers Lusts are ready to lay hold on and bind this Conviction also assoon as it stirs viz. 1 The excessive love of Earthly things The World is got so deep in mens Hearts that they will rather part with their peace yea and with their Souls too than to part with it Hence come those Churlish answers like that of Nabal 1 Sam. 25. 11. Shall I take my bread and my water and my flesh and give it to men whom I know not whence they be 2. Unbelief which denies to give Honour and due Credit to Christs Bills of Exchange drawn upon them in Scripture and presented to them by the hands of his poor Saints They refuse I say to credit them though Conscience protest against them for their Non-compliance Christ saith Mark 9. 41. Whosoever shall give you a cup of cold water to drink in my name because ye belong to Christ verily I say unto you he shall not lose his reward He shall gain that which he cannot lose by parting with that which he cannot keep 3. The want of love to Jesus Christ. Did we love Christ in sincerity and were that love so fervent as it ought to be it would make thee more ready to lay down thy neck for Christ than thou now art to lay out a shilling for him 1 Ioh. 3. 16. 'T is our Duty in some cases
and tenderness left in you if any fear of God or regard to salvation let go all Gods Prisoners which lye bound and are imprisoned in any of your Souls this day Blessed be God some have done so and are at ease and rest in their spirits by so doing They could have no ease till they unbound them and yielded obedience to them 'T is said Acts 16. 38. that when the Magistrates of Philippi understood that those Men whom they had bound and imprisoned were Romans they feared and well they might for the punishment was great for any Man that injured a Citizen or Freeman of Rome but every Conviction you imprison is a Messenger of Heaven a Commission Officer of God and woe to him that binds or abuseth it Do you know what you do Are you aware of the danger Wast thou not afraid said David to the Amalakite to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lords Anointed So say I Art thou not afraid to destroy the immediate Messenger of God sent to thy Soul for good Conviction is a kind of Embrio of Conversion the Conversion and Salvation of thy Soul would be the Fruit of it were it obeyed Thy strivings with it causes it to miscarry renders it Abortive and thy Life must go for it except God revive and recover it again As you know the Law is for striking a pregnant Woman Exod. 21 22 23. Loose then every Man the Lords Prisoners I mean your restrained stifled Convictions stifle them no longer you see what a dreadful aggravation of sin it is and that the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men that hold the truth in Unrighteousness I. USE For Information I. Inference This will prove a fruitful Doctrine to inform us First That knowledge in it self is not enough to secure the Soul of any Man from Hell. No Gifts no Knowledge but that only which is operative and influential upon the Heart and Life and to which we pay Obedience can secure any Man from Wrath Iohn 13. 17. If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them The greatest sins may be found in Conjunction with the greatest knowledge as you see in the fallen Angels Light is then only a Blessing when guides the Soul into the way of Duty and Obedience there 's many a knowing head in Hell Yet from hence let no Man indulge himself in Ignorance or shun the means of knowledge that he may sin more freely and less dangerously for you must account with God for all that knowledge you might have had as well as for that you had for the means of knowledge he gave you as well as for that knowledge you did actually attain by them II. Inference What singular and choice Mercy is a tender Conscience A Conscience yielding Obedience to Conviction A drop of such tenderness in the Conscience is better than a Sea of speculative knowledge in the head 1 Cor. 12. 31. Many poor Christians are ashamed to see themselves so out-stripped and excelled by others in Gifts and apt to be discouraged but if God have blessed thee with a tender obediential Heart to the Will of God so far as he is pleased to manifest it to thee thou hast no reason to be discouraged for want of those Excellent Gifts and parts others do enjoy You cannot discourse floridly nor dispute subtilly but can you obey conscienciously and comply with the manifested Will of God tenderly Then happy art thou O! 'T is far better to feel a Truth than meerly to know it It was the high Commendation of the Romans that they obeyed from the Heart that form of Gospel-Doctrine which was delivered them Rom. 6. 17. or into which rather they were delivered as melted Metals are into the Moulds Two Learned Divines travelling to the Council of Constance were affected even to Tears at the sight of a Shepherd in the Fields mourning and melting at the sight of a Toad and blessing God that he had not made him such a loathsome Creature whereupon they applyed Austins words to themselves Surgunt indocti c. The Unlearned will rise and take Heaven from the Learned Thy little knowledge made effectual by Obedience is more sanctified more sweet and more saving than other Mens and therefore of much greater value 'T is more sanctified for the Blessing of God is upon it Gal. 6. 16. 'T is more sweet for you relish the goodness as well as discern the Truth of Gospel-Doctrines Psal. 119. 103. 'T is not an insipid dry speculation and then 't is more saving being one of those better things that accompanieth Salvation as it is Heb. 6. 9. III. Inference Learn hence in the third place What an uncomfortable Life knowing but unregenerate Men and Women do live They are frequently in Wars and Combats with their own Consciences Isa. 46. 22. There is no peace to the wicked saith my God. They and their Consciences are ever and anon at Daggers drawing They have little pleasure in Sin and none at all in Religion They have none in Religion because they obey not its Rules and little in Sin because their Consciences are still gauling and terrifying them for imprisoning their Convictions 'T is true some Mens Consciences are seared as with an hot Iron 1 Tim. 4. 2. but most have grumbling and some have raging and roaring Consciences they seldom come under the Word or Rod but their Consciences lash them And when Death approaches the Terrours of the Almighty do shake and terrifie them Altogether to neglect Duty they dare not and how to escape a lash from their Consciences they know not Feign they would have the pleasures of sin but then like Balaam they meet a Sword in the way they plunge themselves into Earthly diversions like Cain to be rid of a Fury within them but all will not do Is this a Life for thee Reader to live No peace with God nor any with thy self No no expect no peace whilst thy Convictions lye bound and imprison'd in thy Conscience Sin for a moment is sweet in thy mouth but it s presently turned into the Gall of Aspes within thee Ioh 20. 14. O that you did but know the pleasures of a pure peaceable Conscience ence and how much it excels all the delights of sense and sin IV. Inferences Ministers had need often to repeat and inculcate the same Truths to their hearers For the work is not half done when Truth is got into the minds and Consciences of Men. Our work sticks at the Heart more than the Head The Understanding is many times open'd when the Heart and Will are lockt and fast barr'd against it To open the passages betwixt the Head and Heart is the greatest difficulty this is the work of Almighty Power There is knowledge enough in some Mens heads to save them but it hath not its Liberty Restrained Truth cannot do its Office T is much easier to convince the Mind than to change the
Heart or bow the Will The hardest part of the Ministerial work is to preach Truths into the Hearts and Lives of Men. This makes the frequent inculcations of the same Truths necessary and safe to the peoples Souls Phil. 3. 1. To write the same things unto you to me indeed is not grievous but for you it is safe V. Inference How astonishing and wonderful is the Power and Strength of Sin which can hold Men fast after their Eyes are open'd to see the Misery and Danger it hath involved them in One would think if a mans eyes were but once opened to see the Moral Evil that is in sin and the Everlasting train of Paenal Evils that follow sin together with a way of escape from both it should be impossible to hold that sinner a day longer in such a state of Bondage the work were then as good as done but alass we are mistaken sin can hold those Men and Women fast that see all this They know it is an horrid violation of Gods just and holy Laws they know it brings them under his Wrath and Curse and will damn them to all Eternity if they continue in it They know Christ is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him and that he is as willing as he is able and yet no Arguments can prevail with them to part with sin Shew but a beast a flame of fire and you cannot drive him into it if he see any way to escape it Tell a man this is rank poyson and will kill you and you cannot make him swallow it though wrapt up in Sugar or put into the most pleasant Vehicle But let a sinner see death and destruction before him and sin can make him rush on as a horse into the battle Ier. 8. 6. He goes as an Oxe to the slaughter His heart is fully set in him to do evil Eccl. 8. 11. As one said when his Physitian told him If he followed such a course of sin he would in a little time lose his Eyes Then said he vale lumen amicum farewel sweet light I cannot part with this practise So t is with others rather than forego their pleasures and break their Customs in sin farewel Heaven Christ and all O the enchanting efficacy of Sin Ier. I8 11 12 And they said there is no hope but we will walk after our own devises When a man considers what Visions of Misery and Wrath Conviction gives Men he may wonder that all convinced men are not converted and on the otherside when he considers the strong hold sin hath gotten upon the hearts of sinners it may justly seem as great a wonder that any are converted VI. Inference How dreadful is the State and Case of Apostates who have had their eyes opened their Consciences awakened their Resolutions for Christ seemingly fixed and yet after all this return again to their former course of Sin. You see Brethren sin hath not only power to hold men in Bondage to its Lusts after their eyes have been open'd but it hath power to recover and fetch back those that seemed to have clean escaped out of its hands 2 Pet. 2. 18 19. The unclean Spirit may depart for a time and make his re-entry into the same soul with seven Spirits worse than himself Matth. 12. 43. Restraints by conviction and formality do not wholly dispossess Satan he still keeps his propriety in the Soul for he calls it my house and that propriety he keeps under all those Convictions and partial Reformations opens to him and all his Hellish retinue a door for his return But oh how doleful will the end of such Men be and how just is that Martial Law of Heaven that dooms the Apostate to Eternal Wrath Heb. 10. 38. Such are ' twice dead and will be pluckt up by the Root Iude 12. VII Inference To conclude this Use How sure and dreadful will be the condemnation of all those in the day of the Lord who obstinately persist and continue in sin under the Convictions and Condemnations of their own consciences Poor wretches you are condemned already Ioh. 3. 18. Condemned by the Law of God and by the sentence of your own Consciences What thy own Conscience saith according to Gods Law God will confirm and make it good 1 Ioh. 3. 20. If our hearts condemn w God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things His sentence will be as clear as it will be terrible for in the last Day the Books will be opened the book of Gods Omniscience and the book of thine own Conscience Now the book of Conscience is as it were a Transcript or Counterpart of Gods book for thee to keep in thine own bosom Now when Gods book and thy own book shall be compared and found exactly to agree there can be no farther dispute of the Equity of the account O when God shall charge thee saying thou knewest this and that to be sin and yet thy lusts hurried thee on to commit it Is it not so Look sinner into thine own book and see if thy Conscience have not so charged it to thy Account Thou knewest Prayer was thy duty when thou neglectedst it and over-reaching the lgnorant Credulous and Unwary was thy sin when the love of gain tempted thee to it You knew I had plainly told you Thest Uncleanness Drunkenness and Extortion would bar you out of the Kingdom of Christ and of God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. and yet putting that to the venture you have lived in those sins is it not so Examine the book in your own bosom and see The Lord make men sensible of coming Wrath for those sins they live in under light for the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against them II. VSE Is the Wrath of God revealed from Heaven a gainst all that hold the Truth in Unrighteousness Then let me exhort and perswade you by all the regard and love you have for your Souls by all the fears you have of the Incensed Wrath of the great and terrible God that you forthwith set your Convictions at Liberty and loose all the Lords Prisoners that lye bound within you because there is Wrath beware Iob 36. 18. O stifle the Voices of your own Consciences no more slight not the softest whisper or least intimation of Conscience reverence and obey its Voice Motives pressing and perswading this are many yet estimate them by weight rather than by number I. Motive The Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against them that hold the Truth in Unrighteousness and because there is Wrath beware Are you truly informed what the Wrath of God is Who knoweth the power of thine anger according to thy fear so is thy wrath Psal. 90. v. 11. O if the Wrath of a King who in all his Glory is but a mortal Worm be as the roaring of a Lyon and as the Messengers of Death Prov. 20. 2. Prov. 16. 14. What then is the power of his Wrath at whose
will clear up the mistakes of both VII Motive Obedience to Convictions will not only produce peace at Death but it will give you present ease present relief and refreshment in hand No sooner did David resolve to obey the voice of his Conscience in confessing his sin but he had sensible ease in his own Spirit Psal. 32. 5. So Isa. 32. 17. the fruit of Righteousness is peace quietness and assurance for ever On the contrary you find in Iob 20. 20. Wicked Men have no quietness in their Bellies that is in their Consciences For Guilt lies boking there as a Thorn doth in the Flesh And what is Life worth without ease To live ever in pain to live upon the Rack is not worth while to live If then you love ease and quietness obey your Consciences Pull out that Thorn I mean that Sin that sticks fast in thy Soul and akes in thy Conscience Who would endure so much anguish for all the flattering pleasures of sin VIII Motive Convictions followed home and obeyed are the inlets to Christ and Eternal Salvation by him they are the first leading work of the Spirit in order to union with Christ Iohn 16. 8. till you obey and yield up your selves to them Christ is shut out of your Souls he knocks but finds no entrance at your peril therefore be obedient to their calls All the while you parly with your Convictions and demur to their demands Christ stands without offering himself graciously to you but not admitted so that no less than your Eternal Happiness or Misery depend on your Obedience or disobedience to the Voices and Calls of your Convictions IX Motive Obey your Convictions Honour their Voices and restrain them not then shall your Consciences give a fair testimony for you at the Judgment seat of Christ You read 1 Pet. 3. 2I Of the answer of a good Conscience towards God than which nothing can be more comfortable This gives a Man boldness in the day of Judgment 1 Iohn 4. 17. Believe it firs 't is not your Baptism your Church-priviledges the Opinion Men have of you but the testimony of your Consciences that must be your comfort I know Men are not justified at Gods Bar by you own Obedience nor any exactness of Life 't is only Christ's Righteousness that is the Sinners plea but yet your Obedience to the Calls and Voices of God and Conscience are your evidence that you are in Christ. X. Motive Lastly Consider what a choice Mercy it is to be under such Calls and Convictions of Conscience as are yet capable of being obeyed 'T is not so with Mens Convictions after this Life Conscience convinceth in Hell as well as here but all its Convictions there are for torment not recovery Oh 't is a choice Mercy your Convictions are yet Medicinal not purely Poenal that you are not malo obfirmati so fixed in the state of Sin and Misery as the damned are but may yet enjoy the saving benefit of your Convictions but this you will not enjoy long therefore I beseech you by all that is dear and valuable in your Eyes Reverence your Consciences and let go the Lords Prisoners that lye bound within you III. USE I next come to expotulate the matter with your Consciences and propound a few Convictive Queries to your Souls this day I cannot but look upon this Assembly with Fear Jealousie and Compassion I am afraid there be many of you in this wretched case Men and Women that hold the Truths of God in Unrighteousness though the Wrath of God be revealed from Heaven against all them that do so Let me Demand I. Demand Do not some of you stand convinced by your own Consciences this day that your Hearts and Lives your Principles and Practises are vastly different from the People of God among whom you live and whose Characters you read in Scripture Do not your own Consciences tell you that you never took that pains for your Salvation you see them dayly to take that there be some it may be in your Families nay possibly in your Bosoms that are serious and heavenly whilst you are vain and earthly that are in their Chambers upon their knees wrestling with God whilst you are in your Beds or about the things of the World And doth not Conscience sometimes whisper thus into thine Ear Soul thou art not right something is wanting to make thee a Christian Thou wantest that which others have and except something further be done upon thee thou wilt be undone for ever If it be so let me advise thee to hearken diligently to this voice of Conscience Don't dare to adventure to the Judgment-seat of God in such a case Ponder that Text Matth. 21. 32. and let the disparity your Conscience shews you betwixt your own course and others awaken you to more diligence and seriousness about your own Salvation How canâ—t thou come from the Alehouse or thy vain Recreations and find a Wife or Child in Prayer and thy Conscience not smite thee It may be they have been mourning for thy ' in s whilst thou haft been committing them It may be there lives not far from thee a Godly poor Man who out of his hard and pressing Labours redeems more time for his Soul in a week than ever thou didst in thy Life O hearken to the voice of thy Conscience Else thou art he that holdest Truth in Unrighteousness II. Demand Did thy Conscience never meet thee in the way of Sin as the Angel of the Lord met Balaam with a drawn Sword brandishing the threatnings of God against thee Did it not say to thee as a Captain once said to his Soldiers about to retreate he cast himself down in their way saying if you go this way you shall go over your Captain You shall trample him first under your feet Stop Soul stop said thy Conscience this and that Word of God is against thee If thou proceed thou must trample upon the Soveraign Authority of God in this or that Command yet thy impetuous Lusts have hurried thee forward Thou wouldst not fairly debate the case with thy Conscience and then did not thy Conscience say to thee as Ruben spake to his Brethren Gen. 42. 22. Spake I not unto you saying do not sin against the child but you would not hear therefore also his blood is required of you If this have been your course of sinning verily you are the persons that have held the Truths of God in Unrighteousness and against you the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven III. Demand Have you not seen the Wrath of God revealed from Heaven against other Sinners that have gone before you in the very same tract and course of sin in which you now go and yet you persist in it notwithstanding such dreadful Warnings Thus did Belteshazzar though he saw all that the God of Heaven had done to his Father Dan. 5. 20 21 22. You have seen great Estates scattered and their Owners that got