Ashes on our heads creep to a Cross whip our selves naked go on Pilgrimage to Jerusalem to weep at Christ's Sepulchre this would make but a palliated Cure our Wound would not be healed at the bottom but it would fester and break out again and gangrene and become mortall And therefore VI. PROPOSITION The Penitent pious person in the sense of his Sin and Misery bemoaneth himself to God confesseth and bewaileth his Sin humbleth himself before him deprecateth his Wrath and earnestly seeketh by Prayer and Supplication for Forgiveness of Sin Healing and Peace from God which is the last Conclusion deduced from the Vocality of David's Weeping vers 8. The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping There was a Prayer in David's Tears and that God heard And we may see how effectual this course is by the example of Manasseh King of Judah who did evil in the sight of the Lord like unto the Abominations of the Heathen whom the Lord cast out before the Children of Israel yea he made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to erre and to doe worse then the Heathen And the Lord spake unto Manasseh and to his people but they would not hearken And the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the hoast of the King of Assyria which took Manasseh amongst the thorns and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon And when he was in Affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers and prayed unto him and he was intreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his Kingdom Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God 2 Chron. 33.2 9 10 11 12 13. By which Instance we may perceive what is the right course to be taken by any one whom God afflicts for Sin he is to seek the Lord to humble himself greatly and to make his Supplication also how efficacious a way this is to remove the greatest Evils from the greatest Transgressours Nor is this Case of Manasseh a singular Case but such as other passages of Holy Scripture warrant us to make a common Rule of both for Duty and for Success For Duty thus saith Jeremiah Lament 3.39 40 41 42. Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his Sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again unto the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the Heavens We have transgressed and rebelled and thou hast not pardoned For Success thus speaks Elihu Job 33.27 28. He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not He will deliver his Soul from going into the Pit and his life shall see the light For both the Prophet Joel speaks thus 2.12 13. Therefore also now saith the Lord Turn you even unto me with all your heart and with fasting and weeping and with mourning And rend your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the Evil. Whence may be gathered 1. That Complaints of our Punishments without Complaint of our Sins are vain and fruitless It was to no purpose for living men to complain of the Evils they felt while they were insensible of the Evils they did for in so doing they justified not God in his Judgments on them nor shewed any hatred of their own evil ways but either were insensible of their Afflictions as from God's hand and so gave him not the Glory of his Avenging act or being sensible hated God as an Enemy dealing unrighteously with them as not deserving it and fretting against the Lord in heart or blaspheming his Name because of their Plagues as those mentioned Revel 16.11 2. That the wisest and most successfull course that any can take in the time of God's Scourge upon them is to search and try their ways that is to find out their Sins which till they be discovered will be like Achan's Theft which caused Israel to fall before the Canaanites For if God set our Sins before him and we do not set them before our selves his Anger will burn us like fire and we know not where to cast water to quench it I confess there are some Errours that we cannot find out Psal 19.12 Who can understand his Errours And for those though we understand them not we may escape Vengeance if we know them in general are sensible that we have a vicious or imperfect Nature ignorant and heedless of what we should know and doe Yet those we should not be ignorant of nor slight them as Peccadillo's Venial sins in their own nature S. Paul doubtless cried out of these even the first motions of Concupiscence without Consent his very Lustings which he hated The Evil he would not doe that he did the Law in his Members warring against the Law of his Mind as a body of Death which made him wretched and of which he enquires Who shall deliver me from it When David speaks of his Sins as exceeding the hairs of his head doubtless he comprehends his Omissions his imperfect Performances of Duties Praying with distraction Praising God with coldness Hearing without attention of mind giving Alms with self-respect the Mixtures of Evil with what was Good his Vanity of thoughts his Ignorance Incogitancy Excess in words Jests Merriments and thousands of such Failings which though each of them be little yet the Multitude of them made them too heavy a Burthen for him Though Sand be but a small thing yet Heaps of it may sink a Ship So though Sins of Errour be but small yet being many they are to be known at least in the general though we be ignorant of each particular And accordingly David when he had said Who can understand his Errours adds Cleanse thou me from secret Faults These the Penitent must crave Pardon for and therefore take notice that he is guilty of them though he cannot make a particular Confession of them S. Austin often urgeth against the Pelagians that no man in this life is perfect without Sin because Christ teacheth us to pray as for our daily Bread each day so for Forgiveness of Sins each day thereby intimating that in the best who call God Father there are Peccata quotidianae incursationis Sins of daily incursion as Tertullian called them which have need of Pardon and that this must be begg'd of God Pelagian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sinlesness Popish Merit and keeping of the Law Monkish works of Supererogation Quakers imagined Perfection are all proud and arrogant Dotages contrary to Christ and his Gospel We are to charge our selves with Sin in our daily Actions yea to count all our Righteousness as an Unclean thing yet that which we should especially consider should be our open and scandalous Sins as bringing most Dishonour to God and being most pernicious
to our selves 3. In time of God's exercising his punitive Justice we should Confess our Sins to God and complain of our selves to him He that hideth his Sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy saith Solomon Prov. 28.13 Auricular Confession to a Priest as the Papists teach it is but an Invention of men for their advantage but Confession to God is a Duty necessary for our Salvation wherein especially the Sin which God seems to point out by his Judgment is most freely to be acknowledged As Joshua said to Achan Josh 7.19 My son give I pray thee Glory to the Lord God of Israel and make Confession unto him and tell what thou hast done Thus doe all truly Penitent persons in their Afflictions and this is the way to recover out of their Affliction if they deal plainly with God and Men. 4. To which fourthly it is necessary should be added Sorrow of heart a contrite broken and rended heart Compunction of spirit Remorse of Conscience for what we have done and in some speciall cases when the hand of God is sore upon us and our Sin hath been eminently great there must be Fasting Weeping and Mourning for our Sins yea the abundance and continuance of his Tears David saith hyperbolically watered his Couch made his Bed to swim every or all the Night with Groans unutterable even unto weariness As Manasseh sinned greatly so he humbled himself greatly Great Sins require great Flouds of Tears to wash them away I know forced Tears out of the fear of Hell can but little avail with God they may consist with love of Sin There may be counterfeit Tears which may be so far from pacifying God that they will incense him the more as knowing himself mocked by them There may be so deep a sense of Sin as to stupefy but where there is a kindly melting of the Heart for Sin Tears will likely follow and if they be in secret they are likely sincere And if we weep bitterly for Sin with S. Peter we may expect a gracious Forgiveness as S. Peter had but if we grieve not for our Sins we may expect God will make our Sins grievous against our will 5. Tears and Sorrow for Sin must be as David's weeping here Vocal with humble Supplication and earnest Prayer for Pardon When there is a spirit of Grace and Supplication joyned with Mourning then is God sought aright and found by the Repenting person Confession and Sorrow for Sin is but to make way for Prayer which is the chief thing whereby God is glorified and the Sinner benefited For then it is that his Heart turns to God when it acknowledgeth its own Demerit and God's Justice and then God's Heart is turned to him as it was to Rehoboam when he and his people humbled themselves and said The Lord is Righteous 2 Chron. 12.6 Which Prescriptions are effectuall if 6. There be a Forsaking of Sin and Obedience to God as saith the Prophet Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Which David here observes and therefore adds vers 8. Depart from me all ye workers of Iniquity for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping and Psal 119.115 Depart from me ye Evil-doers for I will keep the Commandments of my God Surely saith Elihu excellently Job 34.31 32. it is meet to be said unto God I have born Chastisement I will not offend any more That which I see not teach thou me if I have done Iniquity I will doe no more Relapses into Sin make mens cases the worse so as that their latter end is worse then their beginning 2 Pet. 2.20 The Devil enters into such with more force hardens his Heart the more who hath seemed to repent but betakes himself again like the Dog to his vomit or the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire procures more Vengeance from God who walks contrary to them that walk contrary to him and when men are not reformed by Afflictions punisheth them seven times more for their Sins Levit. 26.23 24. And therefore Christ's Warning to the cured person is necessary for all that are holpen in their Affliction Sin no more lest a worse thing happen to thee and John Baptist's Advice is to be followed by all Penitents Matth. 3.8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for Repentance APPLICATION Give me leave now to speak to you that have heard me this day as the Prophet Haggai did to Judah Chap. 1.5 7. Consider your ways how is it with you He is a rare bird that is without Sickness or Sorrows Every day saith our Saviour hath enough of Evil Matth. 6.34 And methinks none of you should be so foolish as to say with Babylon Revel 18.7 I sit as a Queen and shall see no Sorrow If any be so secure as to be insensible of other Afflictions yet there should not be such a Stupidity in them as to be mindless of Death and Judgment I presume none of you are so miss-led by any spirit of Errour that you conceive your selves perfect and without Sin I fear too many of you are guilty of great Transgressions I wish you were none of you such as sin presumptuously against the Light of your Consciences oppose the Truth oppress the Poor delight your Bodies misspend your Time misimploy your Estates and Abilities and perhaps glory in your Profaneness Swearing Drinking Cheating Lying Backsliding False accusing raising Jars and Contentions If any of you be guilty of any of these Sins or have had experience of God's Hand in his Afflicting of him or is sensible of his Mortality let him bethink himself how his Afflictions work on him whether they bring his Sin to Remembrance whether the Remembrance of his Sin be more grievous then his Sufferings whether he complain of it rather then his Affliction let him search his waies confess his Sins at least to God weep and groan as David with real Sorrow according to God which may cause Repentance not to be repented of seek the Face of God with Supplication and amend his waies Hath not God rather cause to say of you as he did of the Jews Jer. 8.6 7. I hearkened and heard but they spake not aright no man repented him of his Wickedness saying What have I done every one turned to his course as the horse rusheth into the battel Yea the Stork in the heaven knoweth his appointed time and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the Judgment of their God Will he not when he observes your doings find you rather Ranting in a Tavern then Praying in the Church rather Sporting in your Beds then Watering them with Tears Cheating one another in Gaming rather then Relieving the Poor Devising rather Mischief on your Beds then Weeping for
man's Heart did entertain his Motions embrace his Suggestions Sin could not be engendred by them So that in vain doth the corrupt spirit of a man accuse things or persons without himself as the Authours or Causes of his sinfull Evils the Judge of Heaven will lay it at his own door and endite him as guilty of the Crime And so do all wise and holy persons We all do fade as a leaf and our Iniquities like the wind have taken us away Behold thou art wroth for we have sinned Isa 64.5 6. Nor do they lessen the Fault but aggravate it as David doth here which was the Second thing observable in an humble Penitent II. OBSERVATION The Penitent Sinner makes not a light matter of his Sin but acknowledgeth the Grievousness of it This is manifest by all the Examples of humble Penitents in the Scripture We have sinned saith holy Daniel Dan. 9.5 and have committed Iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from thy Precepts and from thy Judgments And holy Ezra 9.6 O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God for our Iniquities are increased over our heads and our Trespass is grown up unto the Heavens Thus when the justified Publican prays he dares not lift up his eyes to Heaven but smites on his breast saying God be mercifull to me a Sinner And S. Paul censures himself as the chief of Sinners for those Sins he committed in Ignorance and Unbelief He knows that God sees more evil in his Sins then he himself can discern that Sins are not to be censured according to mens estimation but God's most pure Law and righteous Judgment that God is of purer eyes then to behold Evil and that he cannot look on Iniquity with the least approbation or connivence that what is highly prized in mens eyes or made a venial Sin by men is counted a foul Abomination with God that the least Sin is against an Infinite Majesty and cost no less then the Bloud of the Son of God to expiate it that there is no Venial Sin in its own nature to say Raca Thou fool to our Brother makes a man liable to Hell-fire that every Sin is of the Devil who sinned from the beginning that the wages of Sin every Sin is Death even that Death which is opposite to everlasting Life Hence it is that David makes not a small matter of the Sins of his youth but prays God not to remember them and Job complaineth that God wrote bitter things against him and made him to possess the Sins of his youth And Christ makes idle words such as that for them men are to be accountable at the day of Judgment Popish Doctrine of Venial Sins Resolutions of Cases of Conscience after Popish Casuists Dictates are not found in the expressions of Scripture-Penitents much less Pharisaicall Vauntings of Self-righteousness or Monkish Ostentation of their own Merits or Quakers Opinions of Innocency and Perfection but Acknowledgment of their Transgressions and Sins with the hainous Degree and Circumstances of them Which was David's profession here and is an instance of an humble Penitent's practice III. OBSERVATION He freely confesseth and acknowledgeth his Sin at least to God and sometimes to men Though David often professeth his Innocency in respect of the Criminations which were cast upon him in Saul's Court as if he had conspired against him though he alledge his Integrity before God as being upright in heart in promoting God's Worship not going after any other gods but in the choice of his Soul preferring the Observance of God's Laws before any Ends of his own yet he still acknowledgeth his Sins to God without any arrogant vaunting of Perfection or opinion of unspotted Holiness I acknowledge my Sin unto thee and mine Iniquity have I not hid saith he Psalm 32.5 And holy Job although he could not be beaten out of his hold the conscience of his Integrity before God and his Innocence from any Oppression of men with which his Antagonists charged him yet disclaims the Covering of his Transgressions as Adam by hiding his Iniquity in his bosome Job 31.33 And Chap. 7.20 he bespeaks God thus I have sinned what shall I doe unto thee O thou Preserver of men And again Chap. 40.4 Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth All Holy persons do subscribe to that of Bildad Job 25.4 5 6. that in comparison of God in his sight no man living can be justified How can he be clean that is born of a woman They know that God searcheth the Heart discerns the windings and turnings of their deceitfull Hearts that they have secret Sins which neither other men nor themselves perceive S. Paul once conceived himself touching the Righteousness of the Law blameless while he was ignorant of its Spirituality he observed not how the Law forbade Coveting the very first Motions of Lust But when he knew how holy and perfect the Law was how imperfect he was when he found a Law in his Members rebelling against the Law of his Mind and leading him into captivity to the Law of Sin which was in his Members he then cries out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. 7. Such is the Affection of the most inlightned Saints who have been best acquainted with God's Purity the Perfection of his Law their own Impurity and the Defect in their ways that they have always cried out of themselves as the Lepers in the Law We are unclean we are unclean In their Supplications to God they have bemoaned their sinfull Thoughts their most hidden Transgressions yea in their Transgressions against men when doing right to them and giving glory to God hath required it they have not stuck in full Congregations to confess their Errours and to bewail their Transgressions Which thing hath been always necessary 1. To justifie God in his Sentence and Judgments that he might be justified in his sayings and be clear when he is judged as it is in the next verse to my Text. 2. To abase Man that he may lie prostrate at his feet and not proudly lift up his head before God Both which Ends are discernible in that humble Confession of Daniel and his speech to God Dan. 9.7 O Lord Righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us Confusion of faces because of our Trespass committed against thee For which Ends as God sets our Iniquities before us so the humble Penitent always sets his Sins before his face as David did here IV. OBSERVATION He makes not this a short transient Action but his Sins are ever before him There is indeed a setting our Iniquities before our faces which is pernicious when we look upon our Sins as of so horrid a Guilt that they are unpardonable as when Cain told God Gen. 4.13 My Punishment is greater then I can bear or Mine Iniquity is greater then that it may be
it is said Thou art a God ready to pardon or a God of Pardons gracious and mercifull slow to anger and of great Kindness And the Prophet Isa 55.7 exhorts the wicked to return unto the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon It is then one of God's Jewells which his Crown is set with that he is not as a cruell Tyrant or infernall Fiend with whom there is nothing but Cruelty and Mischievousness but as a gracious King or loving Father in whom is Clemency as well as Justice affectionate Forgiveness as well as severe Correction Which that we may the better conceive it being that on which our Life lies it will be requisite that we consider 1. What Sins God forgives 2. For what Motive 3. To whom he forgives them 4. Why he forgives them I. For the first our Saviour hath resolved it in express terms Mark 3.28 29. Verily I say unto you All Sins shall be forgiven to the sons of men and Blasphemies wherewithsoever they shall blaspheme But he that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost hath never Forgiveness but is in danger of eternall Damnation What this Sin is and whether any be at this day guilty of it is a Question that requires some disquisition The Schoolmen as Aquinas make six Species of the Sin against the Holy Ghost Despair Presumption Impenitency Obstinacy Impugning the acknowledged Truth and Envying our Brother's Grace Protestant Divines taking in other Texts out of the Epistles to the Hebrews and Titus and out of S. John's 1. Epistle have formed such a Definition as this That it is a Blaspheming against the Gospel of Christ testified by a clear Conviction of the Spirit of God in the heart of the Blasphemer arising out of a spightfull Hatred and obstinate Rejection of that Truth and Testimony of and by which he was convinced causing an oppugning of it and the Avouchers of it upon the strong possession Satan hath got in his Heart But the Text Mark 3.30 in which it is added Because they said He hath an unclean Spirit doth seem to restrain it to that spightfull belying Christ's Miracles done by the Spirit of God most evividently so as that they could not gainsay it as if they were done by the Prince of Devils and Christ were possessed and acted by an Unclean Spirit Which makes it very probable that none at this day can as things are commit it there being no such Miracles now done as can evidently shew the Operation of the Holy Spirit to be blasphemed as it was by the Pharisees Nor is Julian the Apostate sufficiently proved however so judged by some of the Ancients to have committed this Sin Much less have any of those doubting Souls who by reason of their Tenderness of Conscience which makes them very jealous and fearfull of their own Condition have been apt to charge themselves with this Sin any reason so to doe they being guilty of no such Blasphemy in words Rejecting of Christ Speaking evil of his Spirit or its Operations Oppugning of the Gospel or the Believers of it nor of any Obstinacy in any course of open Persecution or Disclaiming Christ and his Gospel Perhaps this which I have said may be of great use to some doubting and troubled Spirits who put themselves on the Rack through Mistakes arising from the Weakness of their Understandings and the Fearfulness of their Hearts As for any other Sins they are not in their own nature unpardonable other Blasphemies are pardonable Peter's Denying Christ though with Cursing himself if he knew him yet had Pardon Manasseh though notorious for his Cruelties as filling Jerusalem with innocent Bloud even of the Prophets of God though infamous for his setting up the most abominable Idolatries of the Gentiles though proceeding so far as to use Familiar spirits yet when he was humbled and prayed to God in his Affliction God heard him and forgave him 2 Chron. 33.12 13. I instance in these as seeming to come nighest to the Sin against the Holy Ghost the one sinning against Knowledge after Warning and solemn Promise to the contrary the other offending in the most hainous manner in Sins of the greatest Guilt with extreme Wilfulness and Violence Not to mention the Sins of David or Lot or Noah or Solomon If Cain meant it as the Vulgar Latin hath it Gen. 4.13 My Sin is greater then can be forgiven it might well be replied to him Mentiris Cain Thou liest Cain Thy Sin might have been forgiven if thou hadst had a penitent Heart and hadst begged Pardon from God Though in the Law God would not forgive some Sins as Blasphemy Murther Adultery Sins with an high hand so as to expiate them by Sacrifice and free the Sinner from death though God sware to Eli that the Iniquities of his House should not be purged with Sacrifice nor Offerings for ever 1 Sam. 3.14 though he never will pardon the Sin of Devils of Judas the Son of Perdition nor the final Impenitent and Unbeliever Yet Christ tells us plainly No kind of Sin or Blasphemy except one but is pardonable to the sons of men II. But then upon what Motive God forgiveth Sins is to be farther considered They that say that any Sins against God are venial ex genere suo the whole kind of them of their own Nature as having an evil or inordinate thing for their Object but not against the Love of God or our Neighbour or by reason of the Smalness of the matter in which or the sudden Motion by which they are done speak otherwise then the Scripture which makes the Wages of Sin simply and every Sin death Rom. 6.23 and him cursed who continues not in every thing written in the Law to doe it Gal. 3.10 They derogate from the efficacy of Christ's Bloud which alone is it that cleanseth from all Sin make it a light matter to sin against the Most high and infinite Majesty would excuse our First Parents Sin and harden men in Impenitency And when they make voluntary Works of Penance Satisfaction for such Sins Priests Absolutions Popes Pardons and saying of Divine Offices for the Sinner sufficient to take away the Guilt of Sin against God though they provide for their accursed Gain yet they derogate from the Necessity and alone Sufficiency of Christ's Bloud who is the onely Advocate with the Father and the Propitiation for our Sins and the Sins of the whole world 1 Joh. 2.1 2. We learn Heb. 9.22 that without shedding of bloud is no Remission and that though the Sacrifices of the Law might procure Forgiveness in respect of some Penalties and sanctify to the purifying of the Flesh yet that it is the Bloud of Christ alone who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God that can purge our Consciences from dead works to serve the living God vers 14. and that it is for Christ's sake whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith
harden themselves against Reproof hate him that deals plainly with them because he shews them the Sin which they will not leave are Enemies to him that tells them the Truth hate him that rebuketh in the Gate and abhorre him that speaks uprightly Amos 5.10 Such men are so far from obtaining Pardon that they fall into Judas his Curse of adding Iniquity to Iniquity and never come into God's Righteousness Psal 69.27 4. That Sin may be forgiven the chiefest Qualification of all must not be omitted Faith in the Lord Jesus who though he knew no Sin yet was made Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 This is the tenour of the Gospel as Christ himself instructed his Apostles that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations Luk. 24.47 And accordingly S. Peter saith to Cornelius Act. 10.43 To Christ give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive Remission of Sins And S. Paul Act. 13.38 39. Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this Man is preached unto you the Forgiveness of Sin And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses He was delivered for our Offences and raised for our Justification Rom. 4.25 Christ died for our Sins according to the Scriptures 1 Cor. 15.3 He was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the Chastisement of our Peace was upon him and with his Stripes we are healed All we like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the Iniquity of us all Isa 53.5 6. His own self bare our Sins in his own body on the Tree 1 Pet. 2.24 These and many more places in Holy Scripture do evince that it is by the Death of Christ that our Sins are remitted And the Apostle Heb. 10.12 tells us that after he had offered one Sacrifice for Sins he sate down for ever at the right hand of God and Heb. 9.24 that he is entred into heaven with his bloud to appear for us in the presence of God and Heb. 10.14 that by one Offering he hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified And therefore they that reject that Sacrifice and stick to the Law and its Priesthood miss of Forgiveness of Sins It is impossible now without Faith in Christ his Death Resurrection and Intercession at God's right Hand to be free from Condemnation and to obtain Forgiveness But Faith is sufficient without the Figment of the unbloudy Propitiatory Sacrifice offered by a Priest in the Mass to expiate Sin and to obtain Remission Whosoever therefore believes not that Christ is he that was to come that doth not believe and trust to his Bloud and Intercession for Forgiveness with God that trusts in the Sacrifice of the Mass the Milk of the Virgin Mary the Mediation of Saints or any other thing besides Christ's Death and Intercession that man forfeits his interest in God's Pardoning Grace 5. That Sin may be forgiven there must be a Turning to the Lord. Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon saith the Prophet Isa 55.7 Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his Sins saith Jeremy Lament 3.39 and directs him the best course Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord vers 40. And that is to be done 1. By humble Supplication Ibid. v. 41. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the Heavens by Praying for it Matth. 6.12 by justifying God condemning our selves taking Shame to our selves and acquitting God from all blame deprecating his Severity imploring his Mercy for his Son's sake whom God sending in the likeness of sinfull flesh hath condemned Sin in the flesh and therefore there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 3. 2. But then must be added the second thing wherein we turn to God to wit Newness of life There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Wash ye make ye clean put away the Evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to doe evil learn to doe well seek Judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widows and then saith God Come now and let us reason together Though your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be as Wooll Isa 1.16 17 18. It is not the plea of Innocency that prevails with God but the earnest Supplication for Mercy not the Tale of a vain-glorious Pharisee but the feeling Prayer of a broken-hearted Publican that obtains Forgiveness Nor will he that hath escaped the Pollutions of the world through the knowledge of Christ be safe if with the Dog he return to his vomit and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire He that sins again sins more dangerously as he that falls into a Relapse is more desperately sick New Obedience is necessary to assure the Forgiveness of old Sins 6. There is yet another Qualification necessary to the Forgiveness of our own Sins that we forgive other mens Sins against our selves Our Saviour puts it into the Lord's Prayer that we should profess to God our Forgiveness of them that are indebted to us as a Reason why we expect Forgiveness of him when we pray him to forgive us Yea he allows us not to ask Forgiveness of God but according as we forgive others If you forgive men their Trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if ye forgive not men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses Matth. 6.14 15. Yea in the close of that Parable Matth. 18.35 he tells us that our heavenly Father will exact our Debts cast us into Prison deliver us to the Tormentours if we from our hearts forgive not every one his Brother their Trespasses He that bears a Grudge that reserves a purpose of Revenge in his breast that saies he will forgive but not forget that passeth not an Act of Indemnity and Oblivion of his Brother's Injuries doth but delude God play the Hypocrite with him when he prays the Lord's Prayer shews himself to be unlike to God of a venomous Toad-like Viper-like nature malicious like Satan and so doth the more provoke and enrage God against him as being an unthankfull virulent Devillish Wretch that deals so unworthily with him and abuseth him to his face And this ushers in the last thing I am to consider to wit IV. Why there is Forgiveness with God Of many Reasons I shall name one or two besides that in my Text. 1. From
their words and misusing their persons which stirred up the Wrath of God against his people so as there was no Remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 These were the Sins that Daniel meant in his Supplication which either symbolized or was contemporary with this Dan. 9.5 6. Now God is said to remember Sins when he doth actually punish persons for them and this is deprecated here simple Forgetfulness being a thing impossible to befall God who is uncapable of any defect but hath all things past present and to come in his view throughout all Eternity 2. Here is a Petition for Help Let thy tender Mercies speedily prevent us Wherein the thing desired is the coming of Aid for their Deliverance from their Captivity and the restoring of their City and Temple and that to be hastened the time seeming long to them in which they were oppressed by the Babylonian Kings and kept from the Land of their desires And this is begged as a product of God's tender Mercies or Bowels of Mercies by which Expression such Mercy as is wont to be in Mothers towards the Children of their womb whose Bowells earn towards them is attributed to God Though to speak exactly as the Schoolmen say Mercy is not in God secundùm Affectum he hath not any formal Dolour or Sympathy so as to be grieved with our Evills as we are when we pity others but secundùm Effectum in respect of the Effect because God in our Misery doth as we doe when we have Compassion on others afford Succour and Relief to those whom he is said to be mercifull to 3. The Petition is enforced with the mention of their low Condition For we are brought very low impoverished or made thin that is we are poor in Purse thin of People much diminished every way spoiled debarred of our Liberty of our Religion of our Peace burthened with imperious Commands heavy Yokes of the Lordly Tyrants of Babylon persecuted with a fiery Furnace for not adoring their Idol in danger of casting into a Den of Lions for calling upon the Name of our God destined to a Panolethry or a total Slaughter by wicked Courtiers proud Haman and his Complices and have none to help us but our God and therefore we pray Let thy tender Mercies speedily prevent us or as in the Verse next my Text Help us O God of our Salvation for the Glory of thy Name and deliver us and purge away our Sins for thy Name 's sake From whence though the occasion of the present business be somewhat different we may deduce these Observations usefull for this Day 's work 1. That it is God's Remembring of Sins which is the reason of the Calamities that befall a people 2. That the Removing of them is an effect of his tender Mercies 3. That God's Time of Help is the low Condition of Supplicants 4. That Bewailing of Sins and humble Supplication for Mercy are the proper and effectual Remedies against the Calamities which are incumbent on God's people Of these in their order I. OBSERVATION That it is God's Remembrance of Sins which is the reason of the Calamities that befall a people It is the Maxim of the Apostle Rom. 6.23 That the Wages or Stipend of Sin is Death Death and all the Evils tending to it were at first the adjudged Pay for Sin against God and Sin is still the Egge out of which all the venomous brood of Mischiefs incident to mankind are hatched By one man Sin entred into the world and Death by Sin and so Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 Adam opened the Floud-gate whereby a Deluge of all sorts of Miseries hath drowned the world But though his Sin were the Fountain of all Calamities yet as Rivers swell by much Rain and overflowing cause particular Inundations of some places so it is with Man by reason of Sin besides the First man's Transgression there is such an increase of Sin in his Posterity that it provokes God sometimes to inflict such remarkable Plagues and Vengeance as are different from the common Death of all men The Uncleanness and Cruelty of the Old world in Noah's days brought the universal Floud on the world of the Vngodly The excessive Pride Filthiness Riot Bestiality of the Sodomites brought down on them from Heaven Fire and Brimstone to consume them The Oppressing of Israel with the Hardness of Pharaoh's Heart caused the drowning of him and his Army in the Red sea Yea the remarkable Sins of those who have been owned as God's own People have caused particular Judgments Achan's Sin made Israel fly before the Canaanites Saul's Sin caused three years Famine Hophni and Phineas by their profaning the Offering of the Lord brought on Eli's House the Loss of his Sons the Loss of the Ark and the Deprivation of his Posterity from the Priesthood Yea David's Sin in numbring of the people moved God to send a Plague on Israel which swept away seventy thousand men But when Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with Witchcraft Idolatry Cruelty and added an obdurate Heart against God's Messengers the Desolation by Nebuchadnezzar seized on them in a far greater measure But worst of all when the Jews killed the Lord Jesus and their own Prophets and persecuted the Apostles of Christ not pleasing God and being contrary to all men forbidding the Apostles to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved to fill up their Sins always then Wrath came upon them to the uttermost as S. Paul speaks 1 Thess 2.15 16. Yea were there no words of Holy Scripture to inform us whence wasting Wars Inundations of water great Famines consuming Pestilence and other effects of Divine Vengeance come on a Nation yet the Histories of such people as knew not God the Observations of considerate men the extorted or free Confession of notorious Sinners in all Ages were abundant evidence to inferrre that it is God's Remembrance of Sin that is the Source of Calamities it being usual for all sorts of Sinners to accuse themselves their own Consciences bearing witness against them when Evils are upon them Adonibezek could remember his Cruelty when the Lex talionis took hold on him Judg. 1.7 And Joseph's Brethren could then acknowledge that God had found out their Iniquity when they were in Distress themselves Gen. 42.21 and 44.16 Any remarkable Affliction that is not ordinary and common wrings out from guilty Consciences such expressions as that of the Widow of Sarepta 1 King 17.18 O thou man of God art thou come to call my Sin to Remembrance and to slay my Son Consonant hereto are God's Declarations of himself Isa 59.1 2. Behold the Lord's Hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither is his Ear heavy that it cannot hear But your Iniquities have separated between you and your God and your Sins have hid his Face from you Perditio tua ex te Israel O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Hos 13.9 Your Iniquities have turned away these things and your
and Power of God in his proceedings concerning it S. Paul in this Epistle written to the greatest and most intelligent People of the Gentiles declares both the extreme Corruptions of the whole World and the Wrath of God impendent on them for that reason as also the unparallel'd Longanimity of God in bearing with such a provoking Generation whom Hell had long waited for and especially the incomprehensible Philanthropy or Loving-kindness of God towards men whom though Enemies though weak to resist him he not onely spareth but also reconcileth to himself by the Bloud of his own Son and proclaimeth his free Pardon to all that receive him by his Apostles But lest Mercy abused should inflame the Wrath of God so much the more lest the sweetest Meat undigested through a Surfeit should be putrefied in the Stomach and turn to the most deadly Poison he in this and the following Chapters warns us of the ill Inference which men may make from so great Goodness and he begins at the words now read unto you What shall we say then shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid In which words are two Questions the former whereof is onely a form of Transition propounding it to the consideration of those to whom he writes that they with him should bethink themselves what Determination to make upon his former Declaration What shall we say then If this be the state of affairs between God and us it concerns us to heed what thereupon we resolve to doe The other Question is more particular Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound Shall this be the Inference we make from it The Answer is negative Absit God forbid Let no so absurd so unworthy an Abuse of so rich Mercy be yielded to though it be never so plausibly urged by our carnal Reason and our corrupt Affections would incline us to embrace the Motion In this passage of Scripture these following Conclusions are couched 1. That God's dealing with Sinners according to the Gospel of Christ is out of his abundant Grace 2. That the corrupt Heart of man is apt thereupon to harden it self by Continuance in Sin 3. That such a Determination is a most foolish and pernicious Abuse of God's superabundant Grace Of these in their order I. OBSERVATION That God's dealing with Sinners according to the Gospel of Christ is out of his abundant Grace That abundant Grace which is here supposed is the same with that which he speaks of Rom. 5.20 21. Moreover the Law entred that the Offence might abound but where Sin abounded Grace did much more abound That as Sin hath reigned unto Death even so might Grace reign through Righteousness unto eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Which elsewhere Ephes 1.7 he terms the Riches of his Grace In whom we have Redemption through his bloud the forgiveness of Sins according to the Riches of his Grace And Eph. 2.4 5 7. God who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in Sins hath quickened us together with Christ That in the Ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace in his Kindness towards us through Christ Jesus And Eph. 3.8 it is termed the unsearchable Riches of Christ All which Expressions are true without an Excess of speech if we consider either the State of mankind antecedent to the exhibition of this Grace or the Effects thereof or the Means of exhibiting it For what more deplorable Condition except that of Devils could the World be in then it was in before the exhibiting of the Divine Evangelical Grace of Christ to the sons of men They had all sinned and came short of the Glory of God they were concluded as Malefactours condemned under Sin under the Curse of the Law dead in Trespasses and Sins they were alienated from the Life that is in God Enemies in their minds by wicked works foolish disobedient serving divers Lusts hatefull and hating one another children of Disobedience of Darkness who walked after the course of the Prince of the power of the Air they were carried away after dumb Idols were Vassals of Satan and children of Wrath by nature And yet even to such did the Loving-kindness of God towards Man appear so as to reconcile the world unto himself not imputing their Trespasses to them He made him to be Sin for us who knew no Sin that we might be made his Righteousness in him and committed the Ministry of Reconciliation to chosen Vessels which might bear his Name to the Gentiles and bring Light and Salvation to such persons It was no small Testimony of his Goodness that even then when they were such when they walked in their own ways he gave them Rain from Heaven and fruitfull seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness that he caused his Sun to shine upon such unjust people as were both Jews and Gentiles The former of which were degenerated from the Integrity of Abraham and though claiming the privilege of his Children yet in reality were of their Father the Devil whose works they did except a few names that waited for the Consolation of Israel the rest of them were a Generation of Vipers full of Hypocrisie and Cruelty Unpeaceable Ambitious seeking the Praise of men not the Honour that cometh of God such as would compass sea and land to make one Proselyte and having wone him to them made him twofold more the child of Hell then themselves The other were filled with all Vnrighteousness Fornication Wickedness Covetousness Maliciousness full of Envy Murther Debate Deceit Malignity Whisperers Backbiters Haters of God despightfull proud Boasters Inventers of evil things disobedient to Parents without Vnderstanding Covenant-breakers without natural Affection implacable unmercifull Rom. 1.29 30 31. Yet even such as these he washed he sanctified he justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by his Spirit It might rather have been expected that he should have repented that he had made them and have executed his Wrath on them as he did on the world of the ungodly in Noah's time by a Deluge of water to wash away from the Earth that Dunghill and filth of evil Imaginations and wicked Works that had polluted the whole Earth or should have rained Fire and brimstone from Heaven to burn up and so to take away those unclean Sodomites those brutish Dogs and Swine which filled the World He might justly have caused the Earth to open its mouth and swallow up the Inhabitants of the world so as that they should go down quick into Hell as it did the Families of Korah Dathan and Abiram He might have sworn in his Wrath as he did concerning the Rebellious Israelites that they should never enter into his Rest They and we in all Generations succeeding might have expected to suffer the Vengeance of eternal fire But O Altitudo O the depth of the riches both of the Wisedom and Knowledge and Love of God! how
become the Path of Life to them as at several times he declares Joh. 14.6 Jesus saith unto Thomas I am the Way the Truth and the Life no man cometh to the Father but by me Joh. 11.25 Jesus said unto Martha I am the Resurrection and the Life And indeed Christ is the Way of Life 1. As he is the Exemplary Cause of it All whom his Father hath foreknown being predestinated to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many Brethren Rom. 8.29 Wherefore Christ told his Disciples Joh. 14.19 Because I live ye shall live also The Life of Christ which he recovered by his Resurrection is the efficacious Pattern or Copy according to which God hath contrived our Life He is risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that sleep For since by Man came Death by Man came also the Resurrection of the dead For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15.20 21 22. Hence the Apostle tells us Col. 3.3 that we are dead and our Life is hid with Christ in God it is deposited as a Treasure in Christ's hand who is the Trustee to whom our Life is conveyed ad opus usum nostrum for our use and behoof as the Lawyers use to speak he hath Livery and Seisin given of Life on our behalf and so his Life is the Pledge and Path of our Life 2. As Christ is the Way of our Life as he is our Pattern Depositary and Pledge so is he the Way of our Life as the procuring Cause thereof He is the Prince of Life Act. 3.15 the Cause or Authour of eternall Salvation Heb. 5.9 and that many ways First by his Preaching which moved S. Peter to say Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternall Life Joh. 6.68 The words saith Christ that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life vers 63. The Preaching of the Law was but the Ministration of Death of the Letter that killed 2 Cor. 3.6 7. but the word of the Gospel is the word of Life Phil. 2.16 Secondly by his Death for so he tells us Joh. 6.51 I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven if any man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the Bread which I will give is my Flesh which I will give for the Life of the world And indeed it was for this very cause that as the Children were partakers of flesh and bloud so he also took part of the same that by Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death to wit the Devill and deliver them that through fear of Death were all their Life subject to bondage Heb. 2.14 15. As by the Offence of one Judgment came upon all men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one better rendred by one Righteous deed to wit his Obedience unto Death the free Gift came upon all men unto Sanctification of life That as Sin hath reigned unto Death so might Grace reign through Righteousness unto eternall Life by Jesus Christ our Lord as the Apostle saith Rom. 5.18 21. His Death procures our Life both removendo Prohibens by taking away the Sting of Death Sin disarming Satan of his Power and by meritoriously purchasing our Life by paying a Price for us Thirdly by his Resurrection whereby he becomes as the First-fruits that sanctifies the rest of the Lump and so obtains Resurrection and Life for those that are Christ's As also he is impowered to give Life upon his Resurrection as himself saith All Power is given to me in Heaven and in Earth Matth. 28.18 As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them even so the Son quickeneth whom he will Joh. 5.21 Hereupon the Apostle argues thus Rom. 5.10 For if when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life Fourthly by his Ascension whereby he is become an High Priest not on Earth but such as is set down on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens Heb. 8.1 He is not as the Priests of the Law who were not suffered to continue by reason of death but continueth for ever and hath an unchangeable Priesthood or a Priesthood that passeth not from one to another being made not after the Law of a carnal Commandment but after the power of an endless or indissoluble Life and therefore he is able to save them to the uttermost or evermore that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them Heb. 7.16 23 24 25. Fifthly He is the Prince of Life or Cause of our Life by shedding forth his Spirit after his being glorified which was as Rivers of living water as his own words import Joh. 7.38 39. This Gift of the Spirit of Christ is that whereby we are born again to a Spiritual Life That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit saith Christ Joh. 3.6 It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh profiteth nothing Joh. 6.63 Neither indeed had Christ's Preaching or his Dying availed to bring us to Life had he not given us of his Spirit And therefore herein was the Prerogative of the Gospel above the Law that whereas that gave the Command but could not give the Spirit being a dead Letter by the Ministration of the Spirit or the Law of the Spirit of life Rom. 8.2 Christians are made alive 2 Cor. 3.6 The Gospel is become the Ministration of Righteousness vers 9. If Christ be in you the body is dead because of Sin but the Spirit is Life because of Righteousness But if the Spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Rom. 8.10 11. Sixthly Christ's Appearing shall consummate the Life of a Believer Though he now be dead in Appearance to the World to their Rites Practices Hopes Injoyments and his Life is now onely hid with Christ in God yet when Christ who is his Life shall appear then shall he also appear with him in Glory as the Apostle speaks most comfortably Col. 3.3 4. 2. On our part the Path of Life is 1. In our Union to Christ which is by Faith whereby he is our Head and we are his Members and therefore partakers of his Life I live saith the Apostle Gal. 2.20 yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the Life that I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Joh. 11.25 26. He that believeth on me although he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die The Life of a Christian is conjoyned with Christ's as that of a Child with the Mother's 2. In our Conformity to
love himself less If we cannot reach the height of this Document which is to die for an Enemy yet we may goe so far as not to incurre our Destruction by an affected Hatred As God's Mercy is transcendent and runs through all his other Attributes so ought ours to be our very Acts of Justice and severest Rigour must be Acts of Mercy As it is our Compassion to the Body that makes us cut off a gangraened Member so must our Tenderness of the whole season that Severity which is directed against a private person The whole Frame and Course of things seem to lesson us to this Duty If we look towards that Heaven which must be the Seat and Mansion of the Saints 't is boundless and uncomprehended so much delights his Mercy to exspatiate it self that it will not be confined whereas his Wrath and Vengeance are content with a narrow Room for the execution of his Justice He hath made Heaven of a vast Capacity which betokens an Infinite Goodness but the Place of Torments hath he bounded with streight Dimensions lest his avenging Justice should be exalted above his Mercy in the largeness of its Dominion If God have scarce afforded his just Vengeance a Point or Angle in this great Vniverse then ought not Man in so small a Room as his Heart give any entertainment to unjust Cruelty or Hardness but study rather to enlarge it that he may take in a greater measure of that Mercy whose Property is to be boundless and transcendent Page 53. line 13. for delight your Bodies reade defile your Bodies A Catalogue of some Books Printed for Richard Royston viz. THE Works of the Learned Mr. Joseph Mede in Folio The Fourth Edition Books Written by Jer. Taylor D. D. and late Lord-Bishop of Down and Connor Ductor Dubitantium or The Rule of Conscience in Five Books in Folio The Great Exemplar or the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus in Fol. with Figures sutable to every Story ingrav'd in Copper Whereunto is added The Lives and Martyrdoms of the Apostles By William Cave D. D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or A Collection of Polemical Discourses addressed against the Enemies of the Church of England both Papists and Fanaticks in large Folio The Third Edition The Rules and Exercises of Holy Living and Holy Dying The Eleventh Edition newly printed in Octavo Books Written by the Reverend Dr. Patrick The Christian Sacrifice A Treatise shewing the Necessity End and Manner of receiving the Holy Communion together with sutable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and the Principal Festivals in Memory of our Blessed Saviour In Four Parts The Third Edition corrected The Devout Christian instructed how to Pray and give Thanks to God Or a Book of Devotion for Families and particular Persons in most of the concerns of Humane life The Second Edition in Twelves An Advice to a Friend the Third Edition in Twelves A Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Nonconformist in Octavo Two Parts Jesus and the Resurrection justified by Witnesses in Heaven and in Earth in Two Parts in Octavo New The History of the Church of Scotland by Bishop Spotswood the Fourth Edition enlarged Folio The Lives of the Apostles in Folio alone by William Cave D. D. Chirurgical Treatises by R. Wiseman Serjeant-Chirurgeon to his Majesty Fol. New The Principles and Practices of several Moderate Divines of the Church of England also The Design of Christianity both which are written by Edward Fowler Minister of God's Word at Northill in Bedfordshire In Octavo The Second Edition Reflections upon the Devotions of the Roman Church with the Prayers Hymns and Lessons themselves taken out of their Authentick Authours In Three Parts in Octavo New Goe in Peace Containing some brief Directions for Young Ministers in their Visitation of the Sick Usefull for the People in their state both of Health and Sickness In 12. New The Countess of Morton's daily Exercises or A Book of Prayers and Rules how to spend the time in the Service and Pleasure of Almighty God The Practical Christian in Four Parts or a Book of Devotions and Meditations with Psalms and Meditations upon the Four last things 1. Death 2. Judgment 3. Hell 4. Heaven By R. Sherlock D. D. Rectour of Winwick In Twelves The Spiritual Sacrifice or Devotions fitted for the hours of the day by a late Reverend Divine In Twelves Animadversions upon a Book Intituled Fanaticism Fanatically imputed to the Catholick Church by Dr. Stillingfleet and the Imputation Refuted and Retorted by S. C. The Second Edition By a Person of Honour In Octavo The Estate of the EMPIRE or an Abridgment of the Laws and Government of Germany Farther shewing what Condition the Empire was in when the Peace was concluded at Munster Also the several Fights Battels and Desolation of Cities during the War in that EMPIRE And also of the GOLDEN BVLL In Octavo The Sicilian Tyrant Or The Life and Death of Agathocles With some Reflections on our Modern Usurpers Octavo The Royal Martyr and the Dutifull Subject In Two Sermons By Gilbert Burnet In Quarto The Life and Death of King Charles the First By R. Perenchief D. D. Octavo