〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neque enim à falute excluditur corpus Prsc good work Jesus Christ came to save 2. A soul not an estate or life though it is somewhat to save them but a soul indeed the body 's sav'd too but the soul as chief is specified onely A soul that is the main and indeed the man the jewel call'd our principal one They pursue my soul Job 30. 15. in the Hebrew it is as you may see in the Margin my principal one so call'd for its preheminence Dutch read it my Noble others Princess or excellent one David calls it his darling Ps 22. 20. a soul which is so precious more worth than a world and which Jesus Christ himself set so high a value upon as to lay down his life to save and which if a man should lose it would Math. 16. 26. profit him nothing though he should gain the whole world as Jesus Christ who best knew the worth of Souls hath declar'd and which being once lost is irrecoverable for what shall a man give in exchange for his soul O nothing can be given here though it was many worlds so as to avail any thing for as the loss of the soul is incomparable so it is irreparable A soul which being safe all 's safe and for the salvation of one of which there is joy among all the Angels Luk. 15. 10. in heaven 3. A soul from death that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pisc eternal death the second death and this is death indeed in comparison of which the other death viz. temporal deserves not the name of death 4. Hide a multitude of sins Some refer this to his sins that converts God being very gracious Efficiet ut Deus tegat c. ignoscit enim resipiscentibus etiamsi plurima gravissimáque peccata admiserit to such a one c. But others and better to the sinner converted for he being instrumental of his conversion proves so also of the covering or pardoning of his sins so as not to condemn or hurt him which is indeed man's blessedness and a very glorious priviledg as was hinted before and what a blessed thing is it to be instrumental herein in covering anothers sins yea multitudes Certainly this is more than if a man could be instrumental to another of compassing for him an whole world and to get one of such debts discharged towards God is more than ten thousand Talents unto man and let him now that converts a sinner from the errour of his way know yea and consider this to his comfort and to his own and others encouragement in so good a work and so as to give glory to God for putting so great honour and dignity upon him and who would not lay out their utmost endeavours here to save and to save a soul and from death yea eternal death and to cover sin yea a multitude of sins But the more yet to engage in so good a work consider we 1. Jesus Christ died to save souls and shall not we contribute our utmost endeavours c. 2. Others seek to pervert yea subvert and destroy souls and not we to convert and save them are they factours for the Devil and Hell and not we for God and Heaven c. 3. This is one great end of God's converting us and of giving us his Spirit it is to further the conversion of others the manifestation Ut Ecclesia inde fructum percipiat Calv. of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all that is others for their good and benefit and not to be idle but to be made use of for 1 Cor. 12. 7. common service Christ says to Peter and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren Luk. 22. 32. Acts 10. 38. and he himself being anointed with the holy Ghost it is said he went up and down doing good and so should we and not receive the grace of God in vain nor have Talents to keep them laid up in a napkin I have read of an old man who Pauâ—â—m sepultae distat inertiae celata virtus Horat. being converted himself was so zealous and industrious this way that he brought above fourty to seek out for heaven that before had no more care that way then as if they had been a company of beasts and this is indeed divine labour heavenly travel blessed imployment indeed to covert souls c. 4. This it is an high honour yea the highest to be instrumental in so blessed a work herein we are workers together with God and joyn in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 6. 1. fellowship with him and what an honour is that certainly it is a more glorious and honourable exploit to convert souls than to subdue Countreys and Kingdomes vanquish Nations yea than to exercise the vastest Dominions To rescue a soul from eternal death there is nothing Nihil praestantius aut magis optabile quam animam eripere ex morte aeterna c. says Calvin more honourable more desireable We see how much Christ values giving but meat to the hungry drink to the thirsty but how much more precious to him is the salvation of the soul than the life of the body 5. It is a point of great wisdom yea of the greatest He that winneth souls is wise that wins Prov. 11. 30. them to God and his ways I he is a wise man indeed truly wise greatly wise write him down as so for he approves and makes it appear he is so indeed it is as if Solomon had said There is a great deal of talk of wise men in the world but when all is said as can be said he is the wise man that wins souls not he that wins the world or wins so much wealth as the world thinks but souls because they are so precious one soul being more worth than a world yea many worlds and therefore it is greater wisdom to win a soul than a world and had Paul won but one soul he had therein approv'd himself wiser in winning that one soul than Alexander the Great in conquering the whole world yea had it been many worlds This is the wisdom that makes the face to shine here and such shall shine Eccles 8. 1. forth as the Sun for ever hereafter and of this wisdom may we say The Gold and the Cristal Job 28. 17 18. c. cannot equal it c. and the price of it is above Rubies c. 6. It is an evidence of sincere love and indeed Vera benevolentia maxime in mutuâ salutis curâ consistit amorenim vult ei qui amatur omne bonum maximè salutem Pareus there cannot be a greater nor clearer Who ever truly loves another he ever undoubtedly aims at and indeavours his good and especially his chiefest good and what can that be but his conversion and salvation and as ever therefore we would manifest the sincerity of our
from the Sun than any iniquity or obliquity proceed from God a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he Deut. 32. 4. 3. The sin and great iniquity of this yet further appears if we do but consider while we have and do forsake and turn aside and go away from God who or what it is that we have and do turn aside to and go away after And Ephes 2. 2. 2 Pet. 2. 10. 2 Pet. 3. 3. Jude 18. Jonah 2. 8. this is that which heaven and earth may be astonished at for it is after sin after the flesh after our vile lusts and leasing and lying vanities yea after Satan after the Devil 1 Tim. 1. 15. For some are already turned aside after Satan and so after hell death perdition and destruction and at best it is but after the creature after 1 Sam. 12. 21. Prov. 25. 4 5. vain things which cannot profit nor deliver things that are not that are vanity yea vanity of vanities i. e. vainest vanity as Solomon long since Quid ost impemtentis vita quam periculosa à Deo alienatio Angelorum offensio servitus Diabolica c. upon the utmost proof and experiment of them hath left upon record and that again and again Eccles. 1. 2. 14. 2. 17. 12. 8. c. And what an evil and bitter thing is this and what iniquity and sin is there in it that God and such a God God blessed for ever a God of all and infinite perfections should be turned aside and gone away from and the back turn'd upon Quid magis horrendum posset excogitari quà m praeponererem adeò vilem Deo creatori Granatensis and i th' mean time sin and the flesh and the vile lusts thereof yea the Devil himself and death and hell turn'd to and gone after what for God to be left for the creature All-sufficiency it self forsaken for vanity Fulness for emptiness and indigency Yea sin and Satan and a man's vile lusts preferred before the Lord of life and glory O well may the heavens be astonished at this and be horribly afraid yea be very desolate and so shall the sinner too such despisers shall behold another day and wonder and perish Vse 2. This it speaks our misery that we are all by nature turn'd aside and gone away from God and such a God as you have heard but now describ'd yea that God whose face and Psal 73. â—5 presence makes heaven and is the heaven of heaven for heaven is not God's happiness but God is heavens happiness whom have I in heaven but 30. 5. 63. 3. thee that God with whom is the fountain of life in whose favour is life yea whose favour is better than life and who is alone the sole soveraign suitable all-sufficient and eternal good of the soul And that which further advances and adds to this misery is this that we being turn'd aside and gone away from God he also is departed and gone away from us so that now by nature we are said to be without God in the world and to be estranged and far from him I mean in regard of his special and gracious presence and what inspeakable yea unconceivable misery does this speak there is a woe with an Emphasis put upon this yea woe also to Hosea 9. 11. 12. them when I depart from them this is last brought in as the sorest and heaviest evil and even perfection of their miseries and which indeed in the perfect completion thereof will be the very hell of hell that there must be a departure from God and a being punished with everlasting Matth. 25. 41. 2 Thes 1. 9. Ps 73. 28. destruction from the presence of the Lord c. for loe they that are far from thee shall perish c. Certainly the world is not so sad without the Sun the earth without rain the body without the soul as the soul without God who is more the life of the soul than the Soul is the life of the body Saul spake truely as to that when he said I am sore distressed the Philistins making war against him and God being departed from him 1 Sam. 28. 15. Job 34. 29. When he giveth quietness who then can make trouble and when he hideth his face who then can behold him c. And when God goes away all good must needs also go away with him and all evils break in as the Lord threatens that people upon their forsaking him and breaking that covenant he had made with them Deut. 31. 17. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day and I will forsake them and I will hide my face from them and what then and ther shall be devoured and many evils and troubles shall befall them c. And how can it be otherwise when their defence is departed from them Use 3. This shews the absolute indispensable necessity of being turn'd again if ever we be saved if ever we enter into heaven and enjoy God for ever Why because by nature we are all turn'd aside and turn'd away from these and have our backs upon them and how can we unless we be turn'd again ever come to partake of them Can a man unless he turn ever come to a place that he hath his back upon and is going away from as can he come to a place in the East that has his back upon it and is going a quite contrary way to a place in the West And can a man unless he turn again and be converted ever come to heaven that has his back upon heaven is going as fast as he can in the ways that lead to hell in a quite opposite and contrary way and course it cannot be And therefore this shews the absolute and indispensable necessity of being turn'd again of being converted if ever we go to heaven if ever we be saved and come to enjoy God for ever and hence says our Saviour Matth. 18. 3. Except you be converted and become as little children for it is a change not of place but of disposition that is required here ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven and indeed ye cannot for till ye are converted your backs are upon it and ye are going on in a quite opposite way to it Can any go to heaven with their backs upon heaven No except ye repent says Christ ye shall all likewise perish and turn ye turn ye says the Lord Luke 13. 3 5. Ezek. 33. 11. from your evill ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel As if the Lord should have said How can ye live unless ye turn that have your backs upon life and are going on in the ways that lead unto death And therefore this being our condition by nature that we are all turn'd aside and turn'd away from God and our sin and misery being so great by reason thereof O let us never rest 'till we come to be turn'd again there
robs us of our joy peace safety separates from God the chief good and brings horrors of conscience here and to eternal Is 59. 1 2. perdition hereafter which may have a moments pleasure but an eternities torment And can we do better than to incourage one another here to come up to so great a good and to come off from so great an evil Do others incourage one another in evil matters and not we in what is so good to quit sins and the Devil 's Psal 64 5. and hell's quarters murderers quarters our deadly enemie's quarters which seek our bloud and the destruction of our precious souls and to come into heaven's quarters into God's and our friends quarters O who would not incourage here and say come and let us return unto the Lord and so betake our selves to the onely way of our own and the Nations weal And O that it was once come to this that so both our own and the Nations utter ruine might be prevented which God professedly declares yea swears he has no pleasure in We read of those indeed who were ready to cast such a calumny upon God as if he took pleasure in their death for they said if our transgressions and our sins be upon us and Ezek 33 â—â— we pine away in them how then should we live c. as if they had said What do you tell us of living or prophesie of life when we find the quite contrary that we are dying Now as to this God vindicates himself asserting the clean v. 11. contrary by an Oath Say unto them as I live says the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live c. As death is indeed an act of justice punishing the impenitent so it hath the nature of good in it and so it is pleasing to God who is just as well as merciful but as it is meerly the creatures ruine and misery so he delights not in it and to this he swears Indeed God cannot lye and so his word might be enough O beatos noâ— quorum causâ Deus jurat O miseri nos si non juranti Domino credimus Tertull. but the more to confirm what he says he is pleased to swear and happy we for whose sake God swears if we believe but miserable we if he shall swear and we yet not believe him and further to shew his unwillingness that we should dye he doubles his invitation to turn Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel And this ingemination as it shews our dulness and love to our sins and loathness to leave them so a vehemency and intention of spirit in God there being much life spirit and affectionateness in sueh expressions and it shews also a necessity of compliance for that cannot but be a matter of great weight that we are so often invited to such Scripture ingeminations not being vain but the more words from God the more weight and what is doubly prest must needs be doubly our duty and that which we are doubly ingag'd to Surely as it shews God desires it much so that it concerns us much and what indeed can concern us more than that which unless we do we as certainly perish as the Lord lives And what goodness and condescension is it in the great God that he should so earnestly and so often invite us to that which is so much for our own good and that though he cannot be better'd nor made happier by us yet that our salvation should be so dear to him and therefore let us set to it our selves and incourage one another all we can looking up to God for help for though we can turn away Ps 119. 176. Hos 13. 9. we cannot of our selves turn again we can wound but not heal our selves throw our selves down but not raise our selves up loose our selves but not reduce our selves CHAP. XV. To see to it that our turning to God be true and real AND let us not onely incourage one another to turn to God but be sure our conversion be sincere 1. Let there be a sound conviction of sin and a kindly compunction for it with a thorow aversion from it to the Lord both in heart and life in inward principles and outward practises there being a change both of the disposition and affection and love to sin within and of the conversation without and these depend one upon another For 'till the conscience be throughly convinct of sin how should the heart be kindly contrite for sin and 'till the heart be contrite for sin how should it forsake or turn from sin and 'till it do turn from sin how should it turn to God And 2. let this turn be such as is of God as also unto God quite Jer. 4. 1. through unto him and not to any thing below him or on this side him O how sad is it to suffer shipwrack neer the haven to turn towards God and yet never to reach nor take up in God as our true and proper center to come up out of Egypt and yet never to come into Canaan not to be far from the Kingdom of God from heaven and yet to fall short of it and to be turned into hell 3. Let it be such as arises from faith 4. Let it be hearty with all or the whole heart no part of the heart here being reserved for sin but the whole heart inclin'd one way and that to God as it is said of good King Josiah 2 King 23. 25. that like unto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might c. Indeed the heart is the main and what is done Quod cor non facit non fit here unless it be with the heart it is not done And in what should we be hearty indeed if not in what we do to God and in what tends so infinitely to our own good 5. Let it be universal 1. As to the subject turning the whole man body and soul and all the faculties of the one and members of the other compleat as to parts though not degrees as to extension though not perfection in every part though but in part As the Air in the dawning is light in e-every part though but in part else if any one part be unturn'd we shall as one expresses it with our whole go to hell and therefore as all of us and in us is turn'd away from God never let us rest till all be turn'd again to God 2. As to the object turn'd from and turn'd to from all sin to all that is holy and righteous from every false and crooked way to every true and right way for as there 's no Brook so small no River Ps 119. 101 128. so little but if a man follow it it will bring him
Ps 37. 37 38. c. of the wicked that they are at last wholly and utterly cut off or rooted out and hence is the Lord so earnest that people would be considerate Deut. 32. 29. about their latter end he is most sollicitous about that and so should we And what will ye Jer. 5. 31. do says he in the end thereof You think your selves it may be well enough at present but what will your condition be in the conclusion And this Solomon urges to deter from whoredom Prov. 5. 11. c. and thou mourn at the last c. mourning then being mourning indeed mourning as Heb. in sire tuo we say with a witness exceeding great and bitter and therefore the Hebrew is and thou roar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et rugias in novissimo tuo Pisc Metaphora a iugitu leonum vel maris at the last and so the Dutch and Italian and others read it not onely sigh or cry but roar and make a fearful noise or outcry as a Lyon or the Sea for the word properly signifies such a great noise or roaring that beasts especially Lyons are wont to make when hungry or in distress or that the Sea makes the roaring whereof is heard afar off and is very terrible or that the Devils make who are said Jâ—m 2. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 horrescunt to believe and tremble or roar or shreek terribly as the Greek word signifies it notes extreme horrour And such is the mourning at last when Non gemit tantum sed ita vociferaâ—iâ—ur ut videatur quodam modo inferorum vestibulum sâ—â—utâ—sse Carâ—â—â—â— the Adulterer is upon the wrack of an evil conscience and sees Hell gaping for him yea is as it were in the suburbs of it already and now perceives how that for a little brutish pleasure he hath brought upon himself ten thousand times more sorrow and nothing now abides him but his wickedness and the reward thereof and dying impenitently in his sins his sorrow is not onely fruitless and unprofitable but fearful inutterable unalterable and for ever And O that this was thought of in time before it be too late for as Abner said to Joab will it not be bitterness in the end and will not the pleasing 1 Sam. 2. 26. streams of sensual delights sinners are swimming down now carry them into the dead Sea of eternal sorrows And how great will those sorrows and that bitterness be And therefore such pleasures should be look'd at as going and not as coming for they leave horrour and terrour behind them And what are sensual pleasures to an immortal immaterial soul the true life and happiness of which consists in godly actions and the fruition of God the chief good But the pleasures of sin says the sinner are sweet and so may poyson be made that kills presently the sweet lusts and sports of sin convey death and hell in their pleasures and there must be either a merciful time as one expresses it to find them bitter here or a terrible time to find them so in hell Do the damned find any pleasure in sin and if drofly filthy lusts do so affect and please what might more glorious objects do if thou wert spiritual It is a good dilemma a Reverend Divine gives against the allurements Mr. Robert â—oltâ—n to sin Either I must repent and then it will bring more sorrow than the pleasure did good though that is a blessed sorrow indeed or not repent and then it is the damnation of my soul So that there is no dealing with sin without hurt no more than there is handling of fire or treading upon hot coals without being burnt Can a man take fire in his bosom and his Cloaths Prov. 6. 27 28. not be burnt can one go upon hot Coals and his feet not be burnt It is observed of the Beaver that the hair of it is softer than the Down of Feathers but it is exceeding dangerous with its teeth for as a Naturalist observes it will gnaw trees with its teeth as if they were cut with Axes and if it chance to catch hold of any joynt in man it will not leave 'till it hath knapped the bone asunder and so sin how delightful soever it may seem to the sinner being soft to the touch and pleasant to the tast it gnaws the conscience and bites the soul as it were to the bone Look not thou says Solomon upon the Prov. 2â— 31 32. wine when it is red when it giveth its colour in the cup when it moveth it self aright At last it biteth like a Serpent and stingeth like an Adder and as it is said of the strange woman her lips Prov. 5. 3 4 5. drop as an honey-comb and her mouth is smoother than oyl but her end is bitter as wormwood sharp as a two-edged sword her feet go down to death her steps take hold of hell And will ever those lusts compensate thy loss or get thee what thou lettest goe no thou mayst keep dross and dung but losest and lettest go Gold Diamonds and precious Pearls c. what then remains but that speedily and forthwith we hearken to God's call and counsel wherein we and the Nation are so infinitely concern'd viz. heartily and industriously to set our selves and frame our doings to turn to the Lord else if we shall still refuse what can we expect but that our calamity will not onely be exceeding great but that the Lord as he threatens will laugh at it and mock when our fear cometh when our fear Prov. 1. 24 25. c. cometh as desolation and destruction as a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon us and that we should call but the Lord not answer and seek him early but not find him because we would have none of his counsel but despised all his reproof c. But Repentance this may some say is a trite Theme a common subject that which every one knows it is so indeed as to its notion and speculation but how well would it be for England was it so as to its practice and putting it in execution it being the onely way of its weal And let none here be offended at the plainness of the stile this is no time for jingling discourses neither does silken language sute with such days as call for being cloath'd with Sackcloth Conversion to God which is the great work wherein England's weal is at this day so infinitely concern'd is a serious thing and requires greatest plainness in those that offer any thing as to it neither is it like to be effected or carried on by embroyder'd language or fine finical phrases or elegancies no it is the plainest preaching that God hath ever most honoured as to be instrumental to such a work and the meaner sort being those that such a discourse is like to have the most effect upon such as offer thereto had need to apply themselves
6. the comfortableness ef it to our selves P. 236. to 276 CHAP. XIII Further motives to turn to God 'till we do this 1. we forget our selves 2. we are not our selves 3. these are times of turning 1. of sinful in regard of men 2. judicial in regard of God 4. Nothing less speaks us true Christians Ten several things instanc'd in 5. This all call for 6. God counts upon 7. want of this God's great complaint 8. not turning when he smites puts him upon greater severities yea makes him resolve upon final ruine p. 276. to 303 CHAP. XIV To incourage one another to turn to God p. 303. c. CHAP. XV To see to it our turning to God be true and real 309 CHAP. XVI To prove God therewith 319 c. CHAP. XVII Motives to seek God's favour 331. c. To consider 1. how excellent it is 2. how honourable 3. how comfortable 4. how profitable 5. how necessary CHAP. XVIII To endeavour the conversion others 337 1. It being of general concern 2. to convert a sinner from the errour of his way it being 1. to save 2. a soul 3. from death 4. a means to cover multitudes of sins Fnrther motives 1. Jesus Christ dyed to save souls 2. others seek to destroy them 3. This is God's great end of giving his Spirit 4. It is an high honour 5. a point of great wisdom 6. an evidence of sincere love 7. Till people are converted they are unprofitable 8. Beasts are to be helped in danger To mannage what we do herein wisely The Conclusion of the whole Some few Errata escaped are thus to be corrected In the Epistle Dedicatory p. 2. 1. 18. for effectual read subservient and l. 19. for essential read effectual Page 23. marg for regio read regno and for summè r. sum me 12. for Hosea 12. 4. r. 14. 70. marg for Jer. 3. r. 31. 72. l. 5. sor Psal 12. r. 11. 73. l. 7. after the Hebrew r. is 95. marg for ipsae r. ipsos 110. l. 25. for our r. one 114. l. 2. for thins r. things 166. l. 12. for Acts 14. r. 13. 245. l. 17. for the second toyling r. toying 247. l. 17. for turn r. turns 301. l. 4. before wrought r. first ENGLAND'S Sole and Soveraign way of being saved PSALM 80. 19. Turn us again O Lord God of Hosts Cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved CHAP. I. The general Scope Summe and Parts of the words IF we consult this Psalm we shall find that the Church and people of God were here at this time in a sad condition they were under sore trials and afflictions Those former manifold mercies which the Lord had exhibited to them were now changed into miseries and distresses The Lord fed them with the bread of tears and gave them tears to drink in great measure He made them a strife unto their neighbours and their enemies laught among themselves v. 6. 7. and being in so sad a condition they do in this Psalm pray for deliverance and these words here which I have chose to discourse of are part of their prayer yea a main chief and principal part With this they begin v. 3. and go on with v. 7. and conclude with v. 19. and a blessed part they are indeed and they in their pressures in their miseries and calamities thus praying pray well and indeed they could not pray better for they thus praying go the right way and take the most effectual course both to be heard Hic versus ordine est tertius tertiò per hunc Psalmum repetitur quod ob id moneo ut intelligamus Prophetam in hac petitione quòd hic versus complectitur universam constituisse salut is spem Musc in loc and to be saved For 1. we in our suits and supplications never please God better nor are welcomer into his presence nor likelier to speed than when we ask most I mean what is best and of greatest and highest importance Math. 6. 33. 2 Chron. 7. 14. And 2. for the Lord God of Hosts to turn a people again and cause his face to shine is the onely way for a people to be saved And this they here pray for yea and this is the onely way to have England saved to have this Nation saved Kingdom saved Church saved City saved Towns saved Families saved our selves and ours and all saved for God to turn us again and cause his face to shine and when God does thus we shall be saved indeed saved to purpose saved in mercy saved aright so that a Discourse of these words must needs be very seasonable and soveraign for they are the very platform of a peoples weal and do contain in them their onely right way of being saved I shall not stand at the present to give you any farther account of the Psalm in general only take notice that the words are the burden or weight of the Psalm we have them no less than twice before as v. 3. Turn us again O God and Versus intercalaris cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved They pray v. 1. 2. Give ear O'Shepherd of Israel thou that leadest Joseph like a flock thou that dwellest between the Cherubims shine forth Before Ephraim Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength and come and save us But how would they be saved what is that they so much desire and breath after that they may be saved why Turn us again say they O God and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved and then again v. 7. Turn us again c. They had made before very sad complaints v. 4 5 6. how that God was angry against their prayer and fed them with the bread of tears c. But how ill soever it was with them at present they beg but this of God that he would turn them again and cause his face to shine and then they promise to themselves that all shall certainly be well with them and they shall be saved and then again in the 19. v. with this namely the words I have Hic versus principalem continet propositionem hinc tertio repetitur â—óque Psalmus concluditur made choice of they conclude and shut up all Turn us again O Lord God of Hosts cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved Thus they three times repeat the same thing as if they could never pray it enough and we scarce find the like in all holy Writ and therefore is it the more to be looked into and observ'd Mollerâ— and seriously weighed and considered And these Non inanem battologiam dictat nobis Dei Spiritus easdem preces ter incuscando sed ut malis gravati audacti nihilominus assurgamus haec fultura nobis saepiùs offertur their so frequent and earnest requests of the same things we are not to look upon them as vain Tautologies or needless repetitions but as they do denote the fervency
the joy and comfort of them more than countervail the other there being no comparison between them but the one exceedingly transcending the other As the sufferings of this present Rom. 8. 18. time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed hereafter so neither are they to be compared with spiritual mercies here as for God to turn us again to himself to pardon our sins to cause his face to shine to vouchsafe us his favour and his comforts and consolations What sufferings or afflictions will not these comfort and support under or what other wants will they not more than countervail what are the world's frowns to God's smiles the world's troubles to God's peace the world's sorrows to God's joyes the world's afflictions to God's consolations the world's pressures to the pleasures of God's presence or its burdens to the rest which that affords what are its Bitters to God's Sweets its Gall and Wormwood to the Wine of his Love Cant. 1. 2. Let him kiss me with the Kisses of his mouth for thy love is better than wine and v. 4. we will remember thy love more than wine yea 't is better than life and in it even in death it self there is life And hence is it that the Apostle speaks what is a Paradox to the men of the world troubled but not distressed as sorrowful yet always rejoycing as having nothing and yet possessing all things as dying and yet behold we live live in the light of God's countenance in his sight as Hosea 6. 2. and we shall live in his sight where indeed only the Soul truly lives and there it may live even in death and have light arise to it even in darkness and see light in the greatest obscurity and this light I mean the light of God's countenance it giveth Songs even in the night as it did to Paul and Silas when thrust into the inner prison and their feet made fast in the Stocks yet God's gracious presence did so cheer their spirits and put such joy into their hearts that even at midnight they brake forth in praises to God Acts 16. 25. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God and the prisoners heard them they did not onely pray but sing prayses and sung so loud that others heard them the prisoners heard them they were awaken'd by them And what did they think of them surely they thought they were not well in their wits to sing at such a time and in such a place and in such a condition who having been beaten and many stripes laid upon them were cast into prison yea thrust into the inner prison and their feet made fast in the stocks and yet now to sing O if God cause but his face to shine if he lift but up the light of his countenance it will make a man sing at any time in any place in any condition it will turn a prison into a Pallace and a dungeon into a Paradise This made David to have his Psalms yea Michtams i. his golden Psalms or as the Dutch render it his golden Jewels Aureum ornamentum aut insigne exputissimo auro factum it signifies what is made of the best and finest gold so called because of their singular preciousness and excellency in the saddest places and in the saddest outward condition as when the Philistins took him in Gath when he fled from Saul in the Cave when Saul sent and they watcht the house to kill him c. See Psalm 56 57 59 the Titles Moses Psalm 90. 14. prays O satisfie us early with thy mercy i. e. with thy loving kindness vouchsafe us thy favour that we may rejoyce and be glad all our dayes This is enough to make the people of God rejoice and be glad all their dayes be they never so dark and gloomy evil and perillous As we have received mercy sayes the Apostle we faint not 2 Cor. 4. 1. The Lord tels Moses Exod. 33. 14. My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest Though Moses was to go through a wearisome wilderness and amidst a wearisom people yet the Lord's presence should give him rest We may go any where with him he will be an hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land Isa 32. 2. Vse 1. Of Reproof to those who when miseries and calamities are upon themselves or the Nation look after the removal of them but not after Spiritual mereies they are very earnest and sollicitous that God would take away their ourward plagues remove his judgments but not that God would take away their sins and turn them again to himself and cause his face to shine But so God will but do the other free them of their miseries let the latter do what they will Psalm 4. 6. There be many that say who will shew us any good i. e. any outward good how to compasse any earthly worldly gain or advantage O that we might have peace and plenty or how shall we once get out of these troubles and afflictions but few say with David lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us and then all shall be well if thou do but this Many when they are in pain and sick and weak they cry out indeed but for what for ease and health and recovery not that they may be turned from their sins and recover God's favour as Pharaoh he calls to have other plagues taken away but never begs to have the plague of his own heart taken away which was the greatest of all and far worse than all the other but this is the voice onely of nature and argues a graceless heart and that which the Lord as I said complains of Hos 6. 14. Vse 2. Of Exhortation Then when miseries and calamities do abide us let this be our Prayer let us with the Church and people of God here more especially and most earnestly beg and implore spiritual mercies that God would turn us again and cause his face to shine lift up upon us the light of his countenance vouchsafe us his grace and favour bless us in turning us from our iniquities let us be importunate for these ask them again and again and whatever outward evils or distresses may abide us these as you have heard will not only comfort and support us under them but more than countervail them When he giveth quietness who then can make trouble c if God be for us who can be against us Rom. 8. 31. You know what Philip said to our Saviour John 14. 8. Lord shew us the father and it sufficeth us So let but the Father shew us himself shine on us with his face vouchsafe us his favour and it sufficeth As the Lord said unto Paul and says to all his people 2 Corinth 12. 9. my grace is sufficient for thee though then Paul was in
crying and tears c. how much more we who are involv'd in sin c. R. 7. Because the great price which hath been given to purchase and procure them no less than the precious bloud of Christ the precious life of Christ John 6. 51. and the bread that I will give is my flesh that I will give for the life of the world 1 Thes 5. 10. who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him the life of grace here and the life of glory hereafter Ephes 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his bloud the forgiveness of sins Math. 26. 28. This is my bloud which is shed for many for the remission of sins and Hebr. 9. 22. and without shedding of bloud is no remission So we read of being justified by his bloud and reconciled by Rom. 5. 9 10. 1 Pet. 3. 18. his death and of his suffering for our sins that he might bring us unto God And shall not we cry for what Jesus Christ was pleas'd todye shall not we earnestly beg for what he bled shall not we lay out our strength for what he laid down his life and lift up our voice for what he yeilded up the Ghost O how unworthy then should we shew our selves of them R. 8. Because this is all that the Lord requires of us for the obtaining of them that we should ask them seek them beg them intreat them and should not we do this to purpose earnestly and with all our might when he requires no more as Math. 7. 7. Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall he opened unto you v. 8. For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened So in Ezek. 36. when God had made there those exceeding great and precious promises of blessings and mercies more worth than many worlds as v. 25. that he would sprinkle clean water upon them c. and v. 26. give them a new heart and put within them a new spirit and take away the stony heart out of their flesh and give them an heart of flesh and v. 27. put his spirit within them which is more than many worlds without them and cause them to walk in his statutes and keep his judgments and do them and v. 28. and they should be his people and he their God c. Now after all hear what the Lord says v. 37. Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquir'd of by the house of Israel to do it for them or be sought to and is this all and should not this be done earnestly Surely he that can't find in his heart to do this for such mercies deserves to go without them O consider God required a great deal more of his Son that we might partake of them What could he indeed require more he requires of him that he should come down John 6. 38. from Heaven to Earth from the Throne to the Footstool and become man be made flesh yea in the likeness of sinful flesh that though he was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God yet that he should make himself of no reputation and take upon him the form of a Servant and be made in the likeness of Philip. 5. 6 7 8. men and being found in fashion as a man should humble himself and become obedient unto death even the death of the Cross that he should lay down his life shed his precious bloud one drop of whose bloud is more worth than ten thousand thousand worlds and than all the bloud of all the men that ever lived upon the face of the Earth yea that he should be made a curse ☞ undergo his wrath make his very Soul an offering for sin and be for a while as it was forsaken of his Father and all this and infinitely more than can be conceived much less exprest that we might obtain such mercies yea and Jesus Christ willingly and readily obeyed his father in all these Hebr. 10. 7. Then said I lo I come to do thy will O God and I delight to do thy will and as the Father gave me Psalm 40. 8. commandment so I do though to do that did John 14 31. as it was amaze him and make his soul exceeding sorrowful even unto death and brought Mark 14. 33 34. Math. 26. 38. him into such an agony that his sweat was as it were great drops of bloud falling down to the Luke 22. 44. Math. 26. 39. and Mark 14. 35 36 39. ground So that as man he could not but recoile as it were and pray and that three times O my Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me that is this bitter passion but if it may not pass but I must drink it or otherwise such choice mercies such inestimable benefits cannot be procured for poor sinners but they must come swimming to them in my bloud and be purchas'd by my undergoing of thy wrath thy will be done seeing thou wilt have it so that I must undergo all this to procure them I am willing I am content rather than poor sinners should go without them I am willing to purchase them at any rate This now God requires of his Son that we might partake of these mercies and all this his Son obeyed him in but to us that we might obtain them he says onely ask seek knock and let me be enquired of by you and should not we do this and do it to purpose surely else it must needs argue fearful ingratitude and strange disingenuity and we deserve to go without them You know what Naaman's servant said to him 2 Kings 5. 13. My Father if the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it how much rather then when he saith unto thee wash and be clean So what could God have said unto us do for such mercies more worth than many worlds but we should have been ready and willing to have done it how much more then when he says onely ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find and Rom 10. 13. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved and seek the Lord and ye shall live Amos 5. 6. But Jesus Christ dies that we may live 1 Thes 5. 9 10. and shall not we cry that we may live Was a malefactor condemned to dye and was there procured for him upon some great price paid by another a pardon of his Prince which he should have upon asking and begging O how importunately would he beg it and ask it When God said to David Seek ye my face O how readily does David's heart eccho back Psalm 27. 8. again thy face Lord will I seek Lord thy face thy favour makes heaven and may I have that for seeking for asking which Jesus Christ
Religion would manifest it self in and from his tongue also though not onely as well as be in his heart that also would be turned from the evils thereof as railing reviling foolish and idle and much speaking censuring which many that seem to be religious are very free in and make no great matter of but however such may seem to others or themselves to be religious by the practise of some outward duties and by attending on God's worship c. They do but deceive their own souls and pretend Religion to no purpose for where conversion is true it is so operative and effectual as that it turns all mind will heart affections eyes ears hands feet lips life the mind that is turned from its vanity ignorance and blindness vain thoughts and unbelieving imaginations the will from its obstinacy rebellion and disobedience the heart from its hardness and both it and the affections from those unlawful objects they were placed upon and that excess and violence and immoderacy that they formerly ran out into and so the members of the body from the evils of them as from being any longer instruments and tools for the execution of sin Ro. 6. 13. c. 2. As to the object turn'd from viz. every sin all evill the least as well as the greatest yea and the most beloved at least as to approving of it or lying or living any longer in it and as to the dominion of it Thus all must be turn'd from as none in confession are to be dissembled so none in conversion are to be reserved that Vera penitentia est animi morum ab omni impietate ad pietatem mutatio man can never turn to God in truth that holds fast any known sin There are some indeed darling sins that may more properly be call'd our own we being by nature more especially inclin'd to them and these men would fain have spared but all must be abandoned if ever we would have our conversion sincere As we would have all taken away as to the guilt of them so all must be turn'd from as to the love of them and going on in them as all as to their being remitted so as to their being mortified We could be willing indeed to have all pardon'd that none might hurt us but we are unwilling to part withall especially such as are Mat. 5. 29 30. as our right eye or our right hand but those must be cast from us here or we must be cast into hell hereafter one sin lov'd and lien in undoes for at that our breach death and damnation will enter and that very sin as one expresses it will be as a milstone about the neck and sink the soul forever The Prophet David expresses thus his uprightness I hate every 119 Psal 128. 113. 18. 23. 101. 3. false way and I kept my self from mine iniquity and I have refrained my feet from every evil way and I will set no evil thing before mine eyes c. Such as still go on in any known sin with allowance be it never so close are yet but in a state of nature and never were yet effectually turn'd to God But that sin is in the room of God whatever it be whether Covetousness or Luxury or Pride c. And Coloss 3. 5. Philip. 3. 19. Covetousness which is Idolatry Whos 's God is their Belly People may do much as pray and hear the Word yea with some joy receive it and do many things as Herod did go far in the Profession of Religion and yet having still some Herodias some secret beloved sin that they hug in their bosom and will not part with be still in the very gall of bitterness and in the Acts 8. 23. bond of iniquity And Jesus Christ will never lodg in any such heart where ever any such enemy is yet harboured It is treason to entertain and harbour any one Traytor as well as many and the grounds and reasons for turning from sin if they be spiritual and sincere they hold in every sin as its contrariety to an holy God its crossing his will and opposing his holy just and righteous Law dishonouring his Majesty and grieving his Spirit crucifying his son defacing his Image defiling the Soul and stripping it of its beauty and excellency c. And this now more or less is in every sin and therefore to leave and part with some sins and to spare and hold fast others is but hypocrisy and no sound conversion And besides are not all our Jer. 16. 17. Psal 119. 168. 139. 3. c. ways before the Lord in his view and if therefore we take heed to any of our ways why not to all and does not one sin being indulg'd separate from God as well as many and expose to ruine As one leak in a Ship may sink it one breach in a Castle betray it one knife at the heart peirce it as well as many And therefore there must be here a turning away and an utterly breaking off from all sin be it never so sweet or bring it in never so much pleasure or profit yet it must be abandoned and forsaken if we would approve our conversion sincere 3. As to the object turn'd to viz unto God and all that is good and holy and just and righteous to all God's commandements for there must be no bawking of any but an universal sincere respect to all to one as well as another the least as well as the greatest the difficultest as well as the easiest As God says of David Who shall fulfil all my will and all his judgments Acts 13. 22. Psalm 18. 22. 119. 128. v. 6. were before me and I esteem all his precepts concerning all things to be right and then says he shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandements Thus as there must be an abstaining from all evill so a doing of all the contrary good a fulfilling all righteousness Matth. 3. 15. a sincere purpose desire and endeavour at least to conform to all God hath instituted Col. 4. 12. and commanded and to stand compleat in his whole will as it is said of Zacharias and Elizabeth Luke 1. 6. that they were both righteous before God walking in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord blameless 10. It must be a constant continued turning as there must be a forsaking of all evil and a practising of all the contrary good so this must be constantly continually and for ever It must be such a turning as is without returning to our sins again Hence some have defin'd it the constant turning of a man in his whole life from all sin unto God c. For as it is the work of the whole man so of the whole life and we are more and more to turn none being so far turn'd from sin to God but have need still to turn more There is an initial or first repentance which is at our
first calling and bringing home to God and then there is an after or progressive which is the continuation and going on forward in the first throughout the whole course of our lives and where this after does not succeed the first was never sincere Indeed at our first conversion we are turn'd to God but by our continuing the same we are turn'd more and more till we return to that state in which 2 Cor. 3. 18. we once were and that is not till death and therefore this turning is a continued act and daily exercise all this life And there is indeed matter enough to hold our repentance work all our lives both in regard of the sin of our natures hearts and lives our daily infirmities which as we daily renew so are we to renew our repentance and to persevere and continue therein to the end so as not to turn aside again from God and his ways to the crooked ways of sin nor from the holy commandement for it had 2 Pet. 2. 20. 21 22. been better for such not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandement delivered to them and the latter end with them is worse than the beginning Not but that the best Converts have their slips and falls their deviations and wanderings here for in many thins we offend all James 3. 2. Galath 6. 1. and are sometimes overtaken in a fault c. but it is not habitual though they may fall and go astray they get up again and turn into the way the high-way of the upright is to depart from evil A Sheep may fall into the mire but Prov. 16. 17. does not as a Swine wallow therein an ordinary habitual customary turning away or turning aside from God to the crooked ways of sin is inconsistent with true conversion and such as do so God says his soul shall have no pleasure in Hebr. 10. 38. Psal 125. 5. them but he will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity And thus I have now shewn you more particularly what kind and manner of turning that is which is so effectual as to a peoples being saved And now I shall proceed to the second thing I propounded to do which is to give you the Reasons why for God so to turn a people again and cause his face to shine is the onely way of their being sav'd CHAP. VIII The Reasons and Grounds of the point THat for God to turn a people again and cause his face to shine is their onely way to be saved appears R. 1. Because this is the way which the Church and people of God here betake themselves to They earnestly desire to be saved that though it was ill with them at present that yet it might be well with them for the future And what do they do what way do they go what course do they take to effect this why this they do they earnestly intreat again and again that the Lord God of Hosts would turn them again and cause his face to shine Surely had there been any other more effectual way of their weal they would have made use of it but they as inspir'd by God betaking themselves to this and being so importunate for this this must needs be the onely soveraign and most effectual way thereof R. 2. Because this is the way which others also have betaken themselves to as the Church in the very close of the Lamentations Turn thou us Lam. 5. 21. unto thee O Lord say they and we shall be turned renew our dayes as of old that is vouchsafe us thy favour again and so by doing these for us change our present sad condition into that happy state our fathers formerly enjoyed Thus in this way they seek their weal and so elsewhere Turn us O God of our salvation and Psalm 85. 4. 67. 1. cause thine anger towards us to cease and God be merciful to us and bless us but how would they be blest and cause thy face to shine upon us Wherein they plainly allude to the manner of blessing prescrib'd by God himself to Aaron Numb 6. 23. Jerem. 31. 18. So Ephraim Turn thou me c. And thus Moses sought the weal of Israel Psal 90. 13. Return O Lord how long c. and v. 14. O satisfy us dearly with thy mercy that is thy favour thy loving kindness for so the same word is rendered elsewhere as 63. 3. Because Benignitate tuâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy loving kindness is better than life c. that we may rejoyce and be glad all our days and v. 17. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us or loveliness some read the pleasantness or Jucunditas Domini pleasing look that is his amiable favour and grace let the Lord our God love us and delight in us let that beauty be upon us which shines in his favour The face is the seat of beauty and love shining in God's face is his beauty upon us By this expression says Calvin upon the place we may gather how incomparable a thing the love and favour of God is David was often under sore tryals and afflictions and what does he still crave for his succour and relief and that he might be sav'd it was God's favour Psalm 4. 6. 31. 16. 119. 132 135. c. that he would make his face to shine upon him and lift up upon him the light of his countenance R. 3. Because this is the way which the Lord himself who knows best what tends to his peoples weal prescribes and invites them to as the onely soveraign way thereof As in that known place Hos 14. 1 2. which contains in it the very way and platform of a peoples weal and being saved O Israel return unto the Lord Hosea 14. thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity The Lord here minds Israel how ill his iniquities had dealt with him how they had even overthrown him and laid him low made his condition exceeding sad this is all he got by them and yet the Lord would have it well with him again and that it might be so what does he advise him it is to return unto him as Continet haec supplicatio unicam consequendae salutis viam viz. si Deus auferat peccata c. Pareus the fountain of all his happiness and welfare and bids them as it follows v. 2. Take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously c. This the Lord prescribes himself as the onely way of their weal as if the Lord had said It is ill indeed with you at present but if you would have it well with you then do thus and say this turn to the Lord and say unto him and say it not onely with your lips but with the ferventest Non ore tantùm sed intimo cordis
consummation and perfect completion of salvation be not till hereafter yet in some sense such are sav'd already as 1. From the guilt of Ephes 2. 8. sin 2. From the power and dominion of sin and so from hell and death and wrath to come they repenting and being converted 3. From the curse and condemnation due unto sin their sins are pardon'd and their iniquities forgiven Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Act. 3. 19. 26. 18. sins may be blotted out c. So To turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sin c. and salvation or redemption does so much consist in remission of sin that it is call'd it and put for it In whom we have redemption Coloss 1. 14. Ephes 1. 7. through his bloud and what is that redemption wherein especially and chiefly does it consist it follows even the forgiveness of sins Luke 1. 77. so to give knowledg of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins or in the remission of their sins that is which salvation is by the remission of their sins or consists in and depends upon remission of sin and as such are sav'd at present from the guilt power and condemnation of sin so they shall shortly be sav'd from the very being of sin yea perfectly sav'd from all evil and brought to the perfect and full fruition of all good of which full salvation in regard of God's purpose and promise and Christ's purchase as also their having the earnest and first fruits of it and their being seal'd to it they are as sure of it as if they were already actually possess'd of it Secondly that this is the way for a people to be sav'd and be happy and have it well with them for God to turn them again and cause his face to shine appears from the precious nature and transcendent excellency of the shining of God's face of divine favour from what it is and from what it does and effects For 1. it is blessedness it self happiness and salvation it self as appears from the very form of blessing which God himself did prescribe Numb 6. 22 23 24 25. c. which was by supplicating this and when the Church and people of God have prayed that God would bless them they have prayed for this that God would cause his face to shine Psalm 67. 1. Salus a gratiosa Dei praesentia quae lucida ejus facies appellatur procedit Mol. upon them and for God to cause his face to shine and vouchsafe his favour it is very salvation it self And hence the Prophet David calls it Salvations Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance Psalm 42. 5. thus we render this latter clause for the help of his countenance and indeed God's countenance his loving kindness his special grace and favour is a very blessed helpful thing nothing helps like it and what can help without it It is and affords the best help it helps much it helps mightily it helps sweetly it helps universally it helps all and every way and in every thing as the matter requires there 's nothing helps like it blessed are they that have it for their help and O that it might be for the help of us all But the Original is onely the salvations of his face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 salutes facierum ejus and so Ainsworth renders it that is for the salvations of his face as the matter of his praise so some or the healths of his countenance that is Salutem omnimodam quae proficiscitur à facie ejus intuente me scilicet gratiosè Pise which his countenance which his face or favour and gracious presence gives to me or which proceeds therefrom and it is put in the plural number as is usual among the Hebrews the more to heighten the sense and so it denotes full and complete or manifold and all manner of salvation Chaldee reads it for the redemption which is from his face others read this latter clause apart and asunder and so we find it rendered in the Margent his presence is salvation that is his special gracious presence and so the Dutch his face i. e. his favour is an assured or Non male conveniet sensus si seorsim legamus salutes esse vultus Dei quia simul ac respicere suos dignatur salvos praestat Calvin in locum manifold salvation And though Calvin likes of the other reading as denoting the matter and cause of David's praise yet the sense says he will well agree if we read it distinctly as that the countenance of God which is taken for the manifestation of his favour is salvations for no sooner does God dignifie us so as graciously to behold us but we are safe One gracious cast from his eye one light some beam from his senene countenance is a sufficient counterpane against all troubles be they what they will inward or outward All amount to this that when God causes his face to shine vouchsafes his favour it is full and complete salvation it self and that all salvation consists in and flows from his loving countenance And this must needs be our happiness and salvation here for it is that which shall be our full perfect and complete felicity Revel 22. 4. Psal 41. 12. 73. 25. in the full enjoyment thereof in heaven And they shall see his face And settest me before thy face for ever and whom have I in heaven but Job 13. 16. thee c. And he also shall be my salvation for an hypocrite shall not come before him c. 2. This will be sure to effect and accomplish whatever is requisite and necessary as to our being sav'd as to our being happy and having it well with us both here and hereafter Those whom God favours he will work all their works in them and Isa 26. 12. Psal 57. 2. perform all things for them The shining of God's face ingages him to the putting forth of the power of his hand whereby his people are not onely sav'd and preserv'd here but kept to that salvation ready to be reveal'd in the last 1 Pet. 1. 5. Jude 24. time he is able to keep them from falling and to present them faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy and his loving kindness makes him willing for this is the very root spring and fountain of all good to man his favour so that when his heart is once set upon us his hand cannot be shut but open'd to us He delivered me because he delighted in me and Psalm 18. 19. 44. 3. because thou hadst a favour to them and because of the light of thy countenance thou didst so and so for them And hence are those expressions If I have found grace in thy sight if I have found favour in thy eyes do so and so and
and continue still in this way wo unto us for we reward not onely evill for good unto God who hath not utterly destroy'd us as our sins deserv'd but we reward evil to our selves even to our own Souls and thereby shall hasten to bring upon our selves utter ruine and desolation 3. If this be the onely way for a people to be saved then it necessarily follows from hence that the contrary must needs be the onely way for a people to be destroy'd I mean for a people still to go on in their sins and not to turn unto the Lord and for God to hide his face from them in stead of causing it to shine upon them or to set it against them if the former be the way for a people to be happy certainly the latter is the way for a people to be miserable if one be the way of their weal the other of their woe if one to have it well with them the other to have it ill with them if one to be in a good condiâ—ion the other to be in an evill condition for of contraries there is the same reason And this the Scripture abundantly declares both as concerning people and persons Is not destruction to the wicked and a strange Job 31. 3. punishment to the workers of iniquity And who are wicked but such as love and live and lie in sin that make a trade of it that still continue to go on in it adding sin to sin withou remorse and turning to God these are wicked and is not destruction to these yes undoubtedly this interrogation has the force of a vehement affirmation not onely do such keep off from themselves good but procure evill yea destructive evill which shall certainly one time or other sooner or later be the portion of all such as turn not from their sins to God such continuing such shall as certainly be destroyed as if it was already The turning away of the simple shall stay Prov. 1. 32. them They are simple ones to turn away from God and his ways for whither should any turn away from him whose face and presence makes Heaven where can any mend themselves Is it not simplicity to go from the fountain to a broken Cistern from light to darkness from life to death from God to the Devil from Heaven to Hell And this simple turning away of Prov. 11. 19. such is destructive shall slay them for as righteousness tendeth to life so he that purfueth evil pursueth it to his own death He will after it as the hunter after his prey but it is to his own death his own ruine The perversness of transgressors 11. 3. shall destroy them When they leave God and turn aside from his ways after the crooked ways of sin and refuse to return this shall destroy them When the City was full of perverseness pertinacious in their way then says God Mine eye shall not spare neither will I have pity c. and I will destroy my people sith Ezek. 9. 9 10. Jer. 15. 7. they return not from their ways They professe themselves indeed to be my people and call themselves my people and bear themselves up with this but let them know that that priviledge of being call'd and accounted my people shall not secure them nor save them from destruction this shall not serve their turns but I will for all this destroy them sith they return not from their ways I have forsaken my house I have left my heritage c. Jer. 12. 7. O nothing can secure an impenitent people that turns not to God from ruine destruction and misery are in the ways of sin and they will be sure one time or other to prove pernicious and to bring mischief upon the sinner But it shall Eccles 8. 13. not be well with the wicked and wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him c For all Isa 3. 11. 9. 12 13. this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still that is still to execute further judgments and why for the people turneth not to him that smiteth them the people or that people not my people as before God will not own them now but disclaims them as it were neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts not his face nor grace that they might turn Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail branch and rush in one day that is A summo ad â—mum á praestantissimo ad abjectissimum make a consumption of all a Proverbial kind of speech that is one and other high and low great and mean Potentate and Peasant first and last Branches ye know are the beauty and strength of the tree but Rushes are poor mean low things that grow in the mire c. and thus it is interpreted v. 15. The ancient and honourable he is the head and the Prophet that teacheth lies he is the tail and the Lord will cut off all and that suddenly in one day he will quickly dispatch them and not be long a doing it and he is resolved on it So In thy filthiness is lewdness Exek 24. 13. that is pertinacy and obstinacy because I have purged thee that is would have purged thee endeavoured by all ways and means to have purged thee have sought to purge thee 1. by the exhortations admonitions and menaces of my Prophets as also 2. by the inflicting of lesser judgments for God hath two sorts of judgments greater and lesser rods and Scorpions footmen and horsemen Jer. 12. 4. winds to fan and cleanse and utterly to lay wast and thou wast not purged but all hath been vain and fruitless therefore I will now take another course with thee thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more viz. by reprehensions and admonitions which have been in vain and which thou hast not given place to 'till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee and so have utterly destroyed thee 'till I have purged thee out of this world into hell I the Lord have spoken it v. 14. it shall come to pass I will do it I will not go back neither will I spare neither will I repent c. And many the like places there are as these among other which follow Prov. 12. 21. 10. 29. 28. 14. 21. 15 16. 19. 16. 29. 1. 6. 32. Psalm 9. 5 17. 92. 7. 145. 20. Job 36. 10 11 12. 1 Sam. 12. 23. Job 4. 8 9. 9. 4. c. Now consider this ye that forget God and forget your selves and your own interest and concern in not turning to him lest he tear you in pieces as certainly he will if ye turn not unto him and there be none to deliver nay who can deliver out of his hand and therefore let destruction from God be a terror and matter Isa 43. 13. of fear to you now as it was to Job that you do not feel it hereafter For destruction from Job
the onely way for people to be saved to be blessed and happy and have it well with them and because else they perish and are ruined and undone and it will certainly be ill with them for ever And hence it is that the Lord makes use of such pathetical and affectionate expressions Say unto them as I live saith the Lord I have Ezek. 33. 11. no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel How vehemently does the Lord here expostulate and press this upon them Turn ye turn ye which denotes the height and vehemency of his affection and desire how much his heart was upon it and is there not good reason for all this why they dye and are undone and perish else for why will ye dye life and death are in these things in turning or not turning to God as life is the happy effect of the one so death and damnation is the fruit of the other And is it any wonder the Lord is then so earnest and importunate when our weal or our woe when it being well or ill with us when our happiness or our misery our being saved or eternally destroyed depends upon this And hence the Lord is not content to speak it once but speaks it again calls for it twice because it was of such absolute and indispensable necessity and not a small matter nor a business of indifferency And what infinite cause have we then to bless the Lord that he should be so intent upon this so frequently and earnestly invite us to this again and again wherein our own good is so much concerned and which is of such indispensable necessity that we cannot otherwise but perish and what can we indeed do better or wherein can we be more happy than in turning to him 6. This informs us and gives us to see whence it is that God's Prophets formerly and his Ministers alate have been and still are so frequent and earnest in preaching and pressing of this why is it because so much depends on this because they know it cannot else be well with them neither can they be saved or be happy nay they know it cannot else but be ill with them and they must else perish and be undone for ever and therefore have they and do they still so much urge and press this not onely speak but cry Be ye not as your fathers unto whom Zach. 1. 4. the former Prophets have cried thus saith the Lord of hosts turn ye from your evil ways and from your evil doings c. They do not onely call but cry yea cry out proclaim so as the rather to be heard and more to be heeded they were zealous and earnest therein why because the matter was of such importance and the danger was so great if they did not hearken And hence is it that Ministers still are so pressing and importunate as to this they pray and beseech yea and if ye will not hear saith the Prophet Jeremy Jerem. 13. 7. My soul shall mourn in secret for you and mine eyes weep sore and run down with tears c. The voice of one crying in the wilderness c. Luke 3. 4. Thus the Prophets and the Apostles cryed and Jesus Christ himself he cryed John 7. 37. In the last day that great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink O for poor sinners to come to Christ to believe on him and repent and turn to the Lord is a matter of great consequence of infinite importance not a thing of indifferency but of absolute necessity and hence Jesus Christ is so earnest and intent upon this as appears by his posture he stood up by his vehement speaking he cried he spake with a lowd voice which shewed the fervour and ardency of his Spirit So it is said of Paul that great Apostle that he shewed first unto them of Damascus and Acts 26. 20. at Jerusalem and through all the Coasts of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God c. It was Paul's great work and main business to have it well with all he came among his hearts desire was that they might be saved and therefore was he so intent upon this where ever he came that they might repent and turn to God as the onely soveraign way of it and as knowing it could not else be well with them Hence it was that that holy Martyr Mr. Bradford when he came to the stake cryed out so earnestly and affectionately O England England repent of thy sins repent of thy sins he knew it was the onely way of Englands weal then as it is now and therefore whatever is the zeal and fervency of God's Ministers herein so as that some it may be may think them besides themselves as some did Paul 2 Cor. 5. 13. yet this being the onely way of their being sav'd and they being else und one this gives sufficient reason and ground thereof 7. This lets us see the reason why the Church and People of God have been so fervent and frequent in their Prayers for this that God would turn them again and cause his face to shine as here in one Psalm they instance it no less than thrice v. 3. v. 7. and v. 19. and can ye blame them or was there not good reason for it when as this was the only way for them to be saved to be happy and to have it well with them and how earnest have others also been as to these as David how often and how exceeding earnestly does he beg that Psalm 119. 58. God would make his face to shine upon him and I entreated thy favour or I have earnestly besought thy face so the Dutch with my whole heart or with all my heart and good cause his very happiness and felicity consisting thereon and flowing therefrom c. Poenitentia Angelorū delectatio hilacritas gaudent societati suae restitutos esse quos in tenebris inferni ac Satanae potestate constitutos viderant Gerhard 8. This lets us see whence it is that there hath been and is still such great joy when a sinner turns to God and that both in heaven and earth as the Scripture declares Luk. 15. 7. I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth c. and v. 10. Likewise I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth c. the repenting and turning though but of one sinner makes all heaven merry as it Heus tu peccator bono animo sis vides ubi de tuo gaudetur c. Tertull were it causes joy all heaven over it puts harps as it were into the Angels hands and songs into their mouths c.
from darkness to light from death to life from earth yea from hell to heaven from swine and husks Luk. 15. 18. to bread enough in our fathers house from feeding on ashes to feed on Angels food heavenly Poenitentia dicitur conversio ad Deum inter quem nos dissidium faciunt peccata Tossan viands from among murderers to the God of mercies from the crooked vile ways of sin to the even and excellent ways of holiness from ways of danger to ways of safety of trouble to ways of peace of bitterness to ways of pleasantness of wasting and destruction to ways of weal and salvation from broken cisterns that can hold no water to springs of water yea to the fountain of living waters from a wilderness and a land of deserts drought and the shadow of death to a fruitful refreshing Paradise In a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc word from sin which hath in it nothing but guilt and filth and stain and torment and curse and death and condemnation to God who is the sole and soveraign spring and fountain of all good of light life happiness help comfort consolation salvation and not onely how equal but how excellent is this yea and this makes it not onely our duty but highest dignity to turn again it being to God and such a God from what is most vile to an object so infinitely worthy It is best of all indeed not to sin but next to repent and turn from sin to God who Justin Martyr is such a God the most high and most excellent they called them to the most high Hos 11. 7. 5. In its fruits and effects and in its end and issue What excellent things are those the Apostle reckons up as following upon conversion What fruit says he had ye then in those things Rom. 6. 21 22. whereof ye are now asham'd for the end of those things is death But now being made free from sin and become servants of God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life O what a blessed change and what an excellent turn is here before servants of sin now servants of God before fruit unto unrighteousness now unto holiness before the end death now everlasting life 1. Here 's the excellentest freedom to be made free from sin 2. The excellentest service to become servants to God 3. The excellentest fruit fruit unto holiness and 4. the excellentest end and that is everlasting life O there is not nobler service performed excellenter fruit growing nor a happier end to be attained in heaven it self And this follows upon our being turn'd again which makes at once the sinner happy heaven merry hell sorry the Devils sad Angels glad the Saints to rejoyce on earth yea and all those celestial Heroes in Heaven and how excellent must that needs be that does all this and therefore to its difficulty oppose its excellency and excellent things are difficult but much to be preferr'd before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Facilis descensus ad orcum things that are easie but base and vile Job speaking of such as were base and acted vile things he tells us they had no helper or as the Job 30. 13. Dutch they needed no helper that is to execute their vile intentions no the work was easie enough they could do it of themselves but it was base vile mischievous destructive work But now to repent and turn to God and honour him and do good is hard and difficult here we need helpers help both from God and man but how infinitely is the one with all its difficulty to be preferr'd before the other with all its facility It is a thousand times more eligible to be labouring for Diamonds than lazing in the dirt to be sweating in a Golden Mine than idling and at ease in the mire to be toyling for treasures than toyling for straws better is the straight gate and narrow way that leads to life than the wide gate and broad way that leads to death Verae salutaris poenitentiae fructus multiples c. Gerh. 3. The utility thereof the profit benefit and commodities that accrew to the sinner thereby and these are so many as cannot be enumerated and so great as cannot be commensurated so that if any should ask what advantage then hath he that turns to God or what profit is there of Repentance I must answer as the Apostle Paul does in another case much every way And when a soul turns again indeed to God it may be said as Leah said when Gad was born A troop or company cometh O how many mercies blessings and benefits come and throng in then upon the convert To turn from sin it is Clavis viscerum Dei says one a key to unlock all the chests of God's mercies and a preservative against all miseries How many mercies are heaped up together in Hos 6. 1. 2. Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind up After two days will he revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight Here 's healing and binding up and reviving and raising and then living in God's sight and v. 3. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord his going forth is prepared as the morning and he shall come unto us as the rain as the latter and former rain unto the earth that is we shall experimentally know and tast and see that the Lord is gracious and he in his gracious accesses to our souls will be the same to them as the Sun and the former and latter rain are to the earth And how comfortable profitable refreshing and reviving are these And Thus saith the Lord of hosts turn ye unto me and I Zach. 1. 3. will turn unto you and how much is wrapped up in that expression turn unto you that is mercifully favourably graciously turn my pleasant face to you lift up the light of my countenance upon you vouchsafe you my special grace and favour be reconcil'd to you and at peace with you I will pardon you bless you do good to you multiply all blessings upon you and remove all evils and plagues from you yea turn all into good unto you so that you shall find and feel and abundantly experience the sweet fruits and blessed effects of my turning to you Thus when God turns to us all good turns he being the fountain thereof heaven and earth turn happiness turns the creature turns the Angels turn the Gospel and all the glory and promises and priviledges thereof yea a full and overflowing all-sufficiency of all good turn to us and all evil turns from us all that is evil indeed for afflictions if they abide with us they are turn'd into good yea all now work together for good to us So that amidst ayles we are now without evil and amidst harms
you shall not be saved but perish none indeed are saved for it but for me and my merits sake nor can any be saved without it Had Jesus Christ shed Seas of bloud he would never yet save a sinner that he does not bring to repent of his sins The Father and Son never agreed nor resolv'd upon saving man in an absolute illimited way but in such a way and order as in a way of repenting and believing not as if there was Quamvis Christus millies mortem obiisset nullus tamen impoenitens peccatorum condonationem ex illius morte consequetur nec quemvis alium fructum percipiet Deutus any merit or causality in repentance but as the way and condition without which though not the cause for which remission of sins and salvation cannot be obtained Thus Repentance is necessary not onely as God's command but also as a way means and order that God has ordained for remission and salvation so that though there is no causality dignity or merit in our repentance yet it is of that nature that the holy Ghost must necessarily work it in all those who are partakers of them so as to qualifie for them so that either we must repent or Aut poenitendum aut pereundum perish turn or dye be converted or destroyed either this must be done or we undone for ever Ezek. 18. 30. If indeed we repent and turn from our transgressions then the Lord hath told us iniquity 33. 11. shall not be our ruine though it tends to our ruine but unless we repent and turn it will inevitably be so If we still persist and live and lie Si divinae miserationes nequeunt nos allectare tum judica Dei nos terreant in our sins we shall then certainly dye in our sins and perish in our sins Hence says the Lord Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel implying that 'till we do turn from our evil ways we say in effect we will dye For the turning away of the simple shall Prov. 1. 31. 11. 19. slay them and he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death If thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness he shall dye in Ezek. 3. 19. his iniquity Either we must be turned to God here or separated from him for ever hereafter either be converted or for ever excluded the Kingdom of Heaven and turn'd into hell Verily I say unto you except ye be converted c. ye Matth. 18. 2. shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven If Tertullian therefore thou be backward in thoughts of repentance be forward in thoughts of hell c. for we must turn or for ever burn in hell Thus conversion is necessary as a means to life and happiness so that as life is a necessary consequent of conversion so death is an inevitable fruit and effect of the neglect of it so that I may say to you as Moses sometimes said to that people See I here set before you this day life and good death and evil life and all manner of good if you obey and repent and turn to the Lord but death and all manner of evil if ye refuse and I call Deut. 30. 15. heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that ye may live Why life and death are the greatest and forciblest arguments in the world what will not a man give or do for life Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life And death is the most formidable of evils call'd the King of terrours we use to say such a man is as earnest and intent upon a thing as if life and death depended upon it Why truly life or death depend upon our turning or not turning to God life and death are in these things and accordingly such should our prayers and cares and indeavours be in and about the same 5. The gratefulness and acceptableness of it unto God how pleasing welcom and delightful it is to him when a sinner does indeed repent and turn to God! O with what joy and singular complacency does the Lord speak of Ephraim as turning from his Idolatries and not going on as he had done to provoke him and wrong himself Ephraim shall say what have I any more to Hos 14. 8. do with Idols I have heard him and observ'd him and that with a great deal of joy and delight as that I am glad of and rejoyce in So I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself Jer. 31. 18 19. c. that is bewailing his sins the Hebrew is hearing I have heard him that is attentively pleasingly delightfully so as to take special notice of him and to have a singular regard to him and now his bowels are troubled for him and he will surely have mercy on him As God has a singular hatred and abhorrence of sin so Quemadmodum Deus summo odio habet peccatum ita quoque summe hominis poenirentia delectatur per quam à summo malo ad summum bonum convertitur Gerh. he cannot but be much pleased with repentance by which the sinner turns from it to himself from the chief evil to the chief good and it being that wherein his own glory and the sinners good is so much concern'd For thereby God is honoured Jesus Christ sees of the travel of his soul and is satisfied the Spirit ceases to be grieved as formerly sin is pardoned God's favour recover'd Satan defeated and the soul saved how well was God pleased with Josiah his heart being tender and he humbling himself before 2 Chr. 34. 27. God which he twice mentions as being much taken therewith And so Manasseh though so great a sinner yet repenting what respect had God to him yea so acceptable is this to God that he had respect to it even in Ahab so far as temporally to reward it though hypocritical the more to encourage to that which is true And the acceptableness of this to God does further appear by his earnest invitings to it longings after it waitings for it bearing so long with sinners as in reference to it his readiness to receive sinners upon the first discoveries of it and pardoning the hainousest sins upon it Psal 51. 17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise and what is a broken heart but a penitent heart an heart kindly melted humbled and in bitterness for sin and this now is the sacrifice of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificia Dei God 1. Of God to denote its singular excellency it being usual in the Hebrew to set out the excellency of a thing by the addition of the name of God as the mountains and Cedars of God c. 2. It is called the
woes and curses and horrors and terrors and tearings a pieces rolling garments in blood Psal 50. 22. Hos 13. 8. and renting the caul of the heart and devouring like a Lion And sinners not being sensible of this at present does but aggravate their misery and make their condition the more lamentable and is here any ground for mirth and not rather of grief and continual sorrow of heart and well may we say to such as the Apostle James Be afflicted and mourn and â—â—mes 4. 9. weep let your laughter be turn'd to mourning and your joy to heaviness And though in a right way and upon good grounds we wish and desire comfort to all yet as to the state that many are at present in we cannot wish them better than trouble as the way to peace and Timorem plurimum grief as the way to joy as Bernard once writing to one that he thought not sollicitous enough about the judgments of God wisht him much Hos 9. 1. fear Rejoyce not says God to Israel as other people for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God c. And however such may at present find pleasure and delight in sin and carnal mirth in their evil ways yet let them know this is but their disease and from the distemper that is upon their souls for were their hearts right they would cry out of the bitterness of what they now say is sweet and what pleasures are they but such as are common with beasts and of the brutish part and but for a moment and such as have a poysonous sting in them and death and damnation entail'd to them and such as will certainly end in bitterness if not mercifully here dreadfully and eternally in hell hereafter and therefore be no longer enemies to your own comfort in going on still in your sins but turn to the Lord and then you shall experience true joy and comfort indeed and shall not lose your joys nor pleasures but change them for better for spiritual heavenly and more refined Would you not all now have joy and comfort and be glad which indeed is the very strength and support of our spirits and life of our lives for what is life or any thing else without comfort this being as one well expresses it the Spring of our year the light of our day the Sun in our firmament for the joy of the Lord is your strength and a merry heart does good like a medicine yea such a one hath a continual feast and would you have so O then turn to God we who are Ministers are called helpers of others joy and we would be glad to be so but never can we be so indeed till we become helpers of your conversion and instrumental in bringing you to God and turning you to him and then and not 'till then do we become helpers of your joy indeed yea and of our own too in yours and then may we say Go thy way eat thy bread with Eccles 9. 7. joy c. In the transgression of an evil man there Prov. 29. 6. is a snare but the righteous doth sing and rejoyce CHAP. XIII Some further Motives to turn to God 1. LET us consider that while we refuse or neglect to do this we forget our selves and hence when people turn to the Lord they are said to remember All the ends of the world Psal 22. 27. shall remember and turn unto the Lord c. It is a Prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles who turning to the Lord are said to remember but whom or what should they remember why in general themselves and their own interest how much they were concern'd therein more particularly some refer it to what immediately goes before They shall praise the Lord that seek him and their heart live for ever that â— 36. is through the manifestations of his favour be filled with spiritual joy this being indeed the living of the heart as the contrary is its dying 1 Sam. 25. 37. Cogitabunt de suis peccatis miscriis et considerata Dei misericordia tandem seriò expetent opem remedium suorum vulnerum i. e. convertentur Moll or live a spiritual life here and an eternal hereafter and remembring this they shall turn to the Lord or 2. They shall remember their sins the number and nature of them how many and great they have been and their misery by reason of them what wrong by their sins they have done to God and their own souls He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul they shall remember me c. because I am broken with their whorish heart c. Or 3. remember how Ezek. 6. 9. Zach. 10 9. Prov. 8. 36. much this is their duty as also its equity excellency c. and also how great God's goodness and mercy and riches of grace are to such as do indeed turn or they shall remember God's patience and the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering towards them how long he hath born with them though every day angry with them and provoked by them as it is said of the Israelites that about fourty years God suffered their manners in the wilderness or he bore them as a burden their froward Acts 13. 18. and untoward carriages were as an heavy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 burden is to a man or as the peevishness and unquietness of a sucking Child is to the Nurse c. Now this they shall remember and despise Rom. 2. 4. those riches of goodness no longer but be led by them to repentance c. Thus there 's very much which if we did but remember and seriously consider might put us upon turning to God and how long shall we forget God and our selves and our own concerns and our own and the Nations weal. O that at length we might all remember and turn to the Lord especially considering the lowd cryes we have had to it alate not onely from God's Word but his works his judicious proceedings why whom should we remember if not our selves or what if not our own good we are bid not to forget to do good to others and shall we forget that which makes so much for our own good We would that God should remember us yea and he does or it would be quickly sad with us and shall not we remember him nay our selves but in refusing to return forget both The Psalmist complains his heart was so smitten c. that he forgat to eat his bread that was sad and strange Psal 102. 4. but this is sadder for that can but famish the body but this the soul that can but bring to the grave but this to hell The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the Nations that forget 9. 17. God and forget themselves to turn to him and therefore let us no longer forget our selves but in turning to the Lord shew at length that we remember
can God withhold from those he loves Surely those his heart is set upon his hand cannot but be open to Ps 84. 11. The Lord God is a Sun and shield the Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly and why not from them why is his hand so open to them because they have his heart the Lord loves them his countenance beholds them Ps 85. 1. Lord thou hast been favourable to thy land says the Psalmist and what then thou hast brought back their captivity forgiven their iniquity covered their sin taken away thy wrath c. The father loveth the Son and hath given Joh. 3. 35. Is 43. 4. all things into his hands I have loved thee therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life c. Moses had asked very much of Exod. 33. 16. God and yet goes on to ask more And what says the Lord I will says he do this thing v. 17. also that thou hast spoken As if the Lord had said I can indeed deny thee nothing I have done it is true much already but I will do this also why for thou hast found grace in my sight and I know thee by name that is I have taken special and particular notice of thee and thy name as one whom I singularly favour and I will v. 19. make all my goodness pass before thee c. O what will not God do for such Hence Moses Exod. 33. 13. 34. 9. often makes use of this argument if I have found grace in thy sight c. The favour of God is all good every mercy radically as the displeasure of God is every judgment that is it is productive of all good of each mercy when a soul has this good which is the chief good it has that good from which all others spring and therefore may write under it and cut out from it any other whatsoever all particular mercies and goods being but the favour of God as it were specificated and brought as it were into this or that particular mercy or good so that such a soul may say of all its other mercies and goods this and that and the other is the favour of God So that the Soul that has it has all good all mercies in the fountain and root and well-spring of them it has that which produces and procures all good and remedies all evils Hence says the Angel to Mary Fear not Mary for Luk. 1. 30. thou hast found favour with God there is no cause why such a soul should fear either the want of any good or the feeling of any evil the favour of God being as a Sun in reference to the one so as a shield in reference to the other and so every way sufficient 5. How necessary it is indeed the one thing needful is life necessary this is life yea better than life and all true life is so much in it that a Soul is but dead without it it being more the life of the soul than the soul is of the body The Sun is not so necessary to the world rain to the earth as the favour of God to the soul the displays whereof are as the morning and as the rain the former and the latter rain unto the Hos 6. 3. earth Is to be happy necessary the favour of God is our happiness and look as we cannot but be happy with it whatever our state otherwise is so we cannot but be miserable without it As it cannot but be day when the Sun ariseth though the Stars disappear but it cannot but be night though they do appear if the Sun be set so it is as to the displayings or withdrawings of God's face and favour Thine absence was my hell And now thou art returned I am well Herbert And hence for this cause the Angel salutes Mary as being blessed because highly favoured Luk. 1. 28. Hail thou that art highly favoured the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women In a word if to be truly happy so far as we are capable here and to be fully happy hereafter be necessary then this is so as that wherein consists both happiness in its initiation here and in its full consummation in heaven CHAP. XVIII To endeavour the Conversion of others THere is onely one thing further I have to adde and then I shall conclude viz. that this turning again being of such infinite concern unto all that being turn'd again our selves we would indeavour our utmost to be instrumental therein to others and the rather that thereby we may shew our gratitude for God's vouchsafing so great a favour to us And truly next to the conversion and salvation of our own souls we cannot busie our selves to better purpose not onely as to their and our own comfort and benefit but the good of the whole so that this is every ones concern for as one sinner still going Eccl. 9. 18. on in his sins may much hinder so one sinner being turn'd again may much further the Gen. 13. 32. good of the whole And who knows whether one or a few sinners more being turn'd again may not help to make up that number which being found God may be pleas'd for their sakes to spare the whole But the great argument I shall chiefly make use of at present is that of the Apostle James which is somewhat the same indeed with that in the Text but more amplified Brethren if any of you do erre from the truth Jam. 5. 19 20. i. e. in opinion or practice in faith or manners and one convert him that is prove instrumental therein making use of all ways and means subservient thereunto and here that is ascrib'd to the instrument and means which is properly God's work because God in and by those means Verbum servandi ad homines transfertur non quod authores sint salutis sed Ministri Calvin works and conveys a blessing And any one c. for this work is not limited to Ministers onely but belongs to others in their places and stations yea to all who some way or other may be helpful therein The Apostle Peter speaks of husbands being won by the conversation of their wives 1 Pet. â— â— now here 's the duty and then follows the dignity and commodity v. 20. Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins What weight is there here in every word even such as may quicken our desires and raise our endeavours to the highest pitch and it is observable that with this golden sentence the Apostle shuts up his whole Epistle there being no work as more excellent in it self so more acceptable to God nor profitable to our selves nor others for whoever is instrumental therein 1. He shall save and that 's a Animam per Synecdochen