noble and ignoble for are we not all turn'd away from God and is it not every ones concern to live and be happy and be sav'd or is it onely poor and mean ones concern and besides with God there is no respect of persons but Rom. 2. 11. 1 Pet. 1. 17. he being the absolute and soveraign Lord over all all are alike bound to own his authority and obey his commands of which this is one of the chief but now commandeth all men every where to repent and such by reason of God's bounty Act. 17. 30. have greater obligation to this duty than others so as to be exemplary else the greater is their sin and the greater will be their punishment and Majora beneficia majora flagitia majora supplicia death will shortly level all so that though now there be difference of men as to these things here as there is as one well expresses it of Counters while the Merchants account lasteth some standing for pence some pounds some hundreds some thousands and so of Players while on the Stage some going for rich some for poor some for Princes some for Peasants c. and so of Trees while growing in the Forrest some being Oaks some Elms some Brambles c. yet when the account is over the play ended the trees cut down especially burnt to ashes there will be no difference at all no more will there be after death and when all shall appear before God c. And therefore how should all attend this and apply themselves to it to their utmost Christ says be zealous and repent and surely Rev. 3. 19. had we any zeal for our own and the Nation 's good we would repent and O that England unfeignedly repenting and turning to God might at length become an example and monument of God's goodness to all such as shall do so both to the Nations abroad to the generations yet to come at home that so all in England might see how gracious the Lord is to such and we might have cause to make our boast of him Lo this is our God we have return'd to him and he hath sav'd us and we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation and let others come and do as we have done and they shall prove God to be the same in his goodness as we have that whereas it Jer. 7. 12. was said before Go to London as sometimes to Shiloh and see what I did for the wickedness thereof what a sweeping plague and after that a dreadful fire I sent among them so it may be said now God and see upon their turning again unto me what my goodness hath been to them and what blessings I have multiplied upon them and how graciously I have turn'd to them And truly but in such a way to expect God's goodness it is but to tempt him yea to provoke him and how dreadfully does the Lord express himself against such when a sinner shall bless himself Deut. 29. 18 19 20 c. in his heart and say he shall have peace though he walk in the imagination of his heart to adde drunkenness to thirst the Lord will not spare such a one but his anger shall smoak against him and all the curses in God's book shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven c. And if we in stead of turning to God shall by going on in our sins still provoke him what can we expect but that his soul should loath us and that he should even utterly forsake us and cast us out of his presence which Jer. 23 33. c. he threatens as the sorest burden and though we build statelier and fairer houses that he should say of us as sometimes of Edom They shall build but I will throw down c. and they Mal. 1. 4. shall labour but for the fire as some render that Hab. 2. 13. Behold is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire or for the fire so that what they build shall be consumed Pro igne Iun. Pisc c. by the fire and hath it not been so as concerning some houses already and was it not of the Lord of hosts by his determinate counsel and as an act of his righteous judgment that when so famous a City was on fire they who laboured to quench it laboured in that sense but as it were in the fire that is to no purpose and wearied themselves for very vanity And if we shall still persist in our sins how justly may we fear that all that is reedified may be but for the fire again or that some heavier judgment may yet befall us which may reach not onely to our houses and estates but our very limbs and lives But if we shall indeed turn again to God and he be pleased but to cause his face to shine what a famous renowned City may we not yet then expect to see even a City sought out or sought to or after that is exceeding desirable and Isa 62. 12. not forsaken and not only a safe but a quiet habitation a tabernacle that shall not be taken down c. when it shall become a City of truth and righteousness a faithful City and righteousness lodge in the midst thereof and holiness written upon it to the Lord then shall that song be sung indeed we have a strong City Salvation 26. 1. will God appoint for walls and bulwarks c yea then will he own it as his rest and his rest shall be glorious and upon all the glory shall be a 11. 10. Psal 46. 4. defence and there is a river the streams whereof shall then make it glad even the special gracious protecting presence of the most High and whereas it was said before this is the City to be visited that is with woes and plagues now it shall be said this is the City to be blessed to be honoured to be visited but with loving 85. 9. c. kindness and tender mercies and then shall glory dwell in our land and the Lord shall give that which is good and mercy and truth shall meet together and righteousness and peace kiss each other yea mercy shall surely then as the Psalmist expresses it be built up forever that is 89. 2. remain and abide upon us and ours forever one pile of mercy as it were upon another till the building be compleated till it reach to heaven to that building of God that house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Thus the work of mercy being begun shall be carried on as when the foundation of some famous structure is laid by some able skilful artificer to which it seems an illusion so will God not leave this blessed pile half finnished but perfect and compleat the same Thus we have built up houses but then God himself will build up mercy and that shall uphold us and our
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
just and equal duty and it brings us into a right state into a right frame sets us at rights and till then our state is wretched crooked and wrong nothing is at rights for how should things be right with us whiles our hearts and ways are not right with God but when that which is so right is shewn to man and shewn powerfully and effectually so as to embrace and do what is made known and shewn Then it follows v. 26. He shall pray unto God and he will be favourable unto him and he shall see his face with joy c. The Lord is very gracious and of a very kind nature and disposition he has always in himself a rich storehouse of kindness and mercy and then he gives it forth Come and let us return unto the Lord Hosea 6. 1. and then v. 2. we shall live in his fight or in or before his face live and enjoy his love and favour the life of our lives He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was Job 23. 27 28. right and it profited me not that is if any truely repent what then his life shall see the light he shall live in the light of God's countenance Thus the Lord waits to be gracious he waits for our repentings and turnings to him that he may be gracious and while we retard our repentings and turnings to him we retard his grace and favour from our selves There is indeed a previous preventing grace and favour of God a first shining of God's face and breaking forth of Gratiam qui invenit apud Deum ab eâ primum inventus est quia eam nemo quaerit quem ea prius non quaesierit admiserit Rivet Conditio ad gratiam recipiendam requisita nonponitur in nobis nisi per gratiā praevenientem Pareus the light of his countenance as in the conversion of a sinner which I hinted before when God puts a stop to a poor sinner and gives him to repent and turn to him then is a time of love and then God causes his face to shine when he says to the sinner even in his bloud live but then after this previous preventing favour and grace there is more grace second Acts as it were and renewed manifestations we upon our repenting and turning to God being put into such an estate as in which he owns us and delights in us and is gracious to us How gracious was the Lord to Peter upon his repenting and turning again he was gracious to him before Luke 22. 61. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter c. and how gracious after Mark 16. 7. tell his disciples and Peter c. And so to Ephraim upon repenting and turning how abundantly did God manifest his grace and favour how lovingly and meltingly and tenderly does he speak of him Jer. 31. 18 19 20. Is Ephraim my dear son c. My bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy on him And so the Prodigal upon his returning how does the father meet him and falls on his neck and kisses him 2. Then that is removed which interposes between us and God's favour and hinders the Luke 15. 17 18 19 20 c. shinings of his face I mean our sins for they and onely they do this Is 59. 2. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you therefore when we are turned again from our sins to God his face must needs shine What should hinder when the clouds are dispell'd and scattered the Sun appears and its light breaks forth Vse 1. Blessed and thrice happy are they then whom the Lord hath turned again to himself for unto them he hath and will more and more be gracious and manifest his favour and cause his face to shine Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causelt to approach to thee c. Ps 65. 4. For he shares in that and partakes of that which is man's happiness and renders him blessed as appears in that form which the Lord prescribes of blessing the children of Israel Numb 6. 22 23 c. and this makes his present state and condition so comfortable one day of a repenting sinner and so of a sinner that is reconciled to God and to whom he vouchsases his favour being more comfortable than a thousand years of another man that is in continual fear of death and judgment Vse 2. As ever then we would make it out indeed to our own souls that we have any clear evidence or comfortable demonstration of God's favour of his love and the light of his countenance let us never rest 'till we find our selves to be indeed such that the Lord hath turn'd again to himself and then he hath and will cause his face to shine David prays Ps 86. 17. Shew me a token for good and here 's a token for good indeed for the chief good the greatest good God's favour which is life yea better than life Saving conversion is ever a sure sign of divine affection and of a work of grace upon the heart of a souls having found favour in God's eyes our being turned unto God clearly evidences his Si conversi fuerimus per poenitentiam ille omnium placatissimus benignissimus convertentes ad se recipiet Musc having in favour turn'd to us and that he will more and more so turn to us And therefore how earnest and sollicitous should we be for that which gives us so clear an evidence and sure demonstration of so great a good even of the favour of God but never let any bear themselves up with what is consistent with God's hatred and with wrath and eternal death as the honours and profits and pleasures of the world are which men may wallow in the fulness of and yet be under divine frowns and which for the most part are cast upon the worst and vilest of men and upon those whom God's soul abhors which made the very heathens contemn them In hoc coenum in has sordes Seneca being cast upon such dunghils But saving conversion is ever an effect of and followed with divine smiles and on such the Lord God of hosts hath and will more and more cause his face to shine CHAP. V. The main chief and principal point of Doctrine observable from the words DOctr 6. The onely way for a people to be saved it is for God to turn them again and cause his face to shine That is as hath been open'd and explain'd for God to convert them from their sins to himself and his ways and to vouchsafe them his favour to be gracious and propitious to them in his son this is the onely way of a peoples weal it consists in their sound conversion to God and in their finding grace and favour with God in their being turn'd again unto him and in his turning unto them as the Lord expresses it Thus saith
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.
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
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
transvolantes reperiunt naturâ quae sunt usui c. Theodoret know not the judgment of the Lord. The brute creatures do by a natural instinct know and betake themselves to what is for their good and safety but my people for so they will needs be called know not the judgment of the Lord that is they heed it not at least so as to practice what the Lord out of his Word hath prescribed them for their good and safety or they do not perceive though by all marks and tokens they might what the Lord intends to bring upon them or atleast not so as by repentance to prevent it Those brute creatures indeed the Stork and the Turtle c. they when sharp weather is coming avoid it by flying where it is warmer but my people they will persist and go on as they did and rather dye and perish than alter their course and get into a better state get under the warm and comfortable beams of my favour so that this people act in a Sphere and at a rate below Brutes they were made above them but they make themselves inferiour to them God hath put them under their feet and they set them as judges above their heads O how wofully is man degenerate how wonderfully even reasonless creatures act more reasonably than they for they when the season grows ☞ sharp and the weather cold and stormy knowing if they abide where they are they are like to starve and perish with cold and hunger they change their quarters and fly to some milder and warmer Region but this people are so sottish and senseless that whatever storms of wrath and divine vengeance hang over them as ready to fall upon them and overwhelm them yet will not they change their minds nor manners nor mend their ways nor works but continue the same they were and go on to do as they did say I or do I what I will And hence says the Lord how do ye say we are wise and the Law of the Lord is with us Piscator reads it how dare you as if the Lord had said with Quomodo dicere audetis Sapientes sumus c. what face can ye say we are wise you wise away for shame say not so do not you talk of wisdom who act below Storks and Turtles c. that have not so much wit nor forecast as they but are more unreasonable and senseless than those reasonless creatures you wise when the very fowls of the air are wiser than you and you talk of the law of God that act below the dictates of the law of nature O with what shame and confusion of face for ever will this fill the faces of sinners another day when they shall see and be forced to acknowledg that though reasonable creatures yet they acted not with that reason and equity as the reasonless creatures did yea the Stork c. We all apostatized and ran away from God in Adam but in Baptism we gave up our selves to God again we sware as it were fidelity to him and yet we have gone again away from him fled from our colours and run into his and our enemies camp and as nothing is more requisite so is any thing more reasonable or equal than that we should turn back again unto him our true Lord and Master It was well said of her not onely in point of commodity but in Hos 2. 7. point of equity not onely as being profitable Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rectitudinem ejus i. e. resipiscentiam Rectum enim est ut homo de peccatis suis admonitus praesertim à Deo resipiscat Pisc but as being right and reasonable I will go and return to my first husband for then was it better with me than now So of the Prodigal Luk. 15. 18. I will arise and go to my father c. O we can never do what is just and right and equal and reasonable unless we do this turn unto God again Hence this is called man's uprightness or man's equity To shew unto man his uprightness The Hebrew is his rectitude or Job 3◠2◠rightness which Piscator retains as that he judges best understanding by this rightness of man his repentance it being most right just and equal that man being admonished and that by God himself of his sins should repent and turn to him 2. The excellency and honourableness thereof 1. In its own nature it being a grace a Gospel-saving grace and all grace is excellent 2. In its Author it being of God his work his gift 3. In its rise and root which is that precious grace of faith 4. In regard of the object and that both turn'd from and turn'd to for in repentance we turn from darkness and turn to sight from sin and Satan and turn to God Conversionem ad Deum Beza Acts 20. 21 Psal 95. 3. 1 Tim. 6. 15. hence call'd repentance towards God or as Beza renders it conversion to God and such a God a great God and a great King above all Gods the living and true God the blessed and onely potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the Prince of the Kings of the Earth upon whose head are many Crowns the most high God possessour Gen. 14. 19 20. of heaven and earth the God of glory who is clothed with honour and majesty whose name alone is excellent and is to be praised from Ps 113. 3. the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same yea whose glorious name is exalted above Neh. 9. 5. all blessing and praise Thousand thousands minister unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him Behold the Nations are Dan. 7. 10. as a drop of a Bucket and are counted as the small dust of the Ballance yea they are all before him as nothing and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity And Lebanon is not sufficient Is 40. 15 16 17. to burn nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering And to such a God it is that we 10. 21. turn when we do indeed turn again the remnant shall return even the remnant of Jacob to the mighty God O Israel return to the Lord Hos 14. 1. Zach. 1. 3. thy God c. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts turn Acts 14. 15. ye unto me c. And we preach unto you says the Apostle that ye should turn from these vanities to the living God who made heaven and earth c. And it is said of the Thessalonians 1 Thes 1. 9. that they turned from Idols to serve the living and true God And I will arise says the Prodigal and go to my father and what a noble generous and excellent thing is that whereby we do this Turn from sin and Satan to God and such a God and our God and heavenly father turn from misery to our felicity from the great and onely true evil to the chief good
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