unto God all ye lands Psal 5.11 But let those that put their trust in thoe rejoyce let them shout for joy because thou defendest them let them also that love thy Name rejoyce in thee Secondly Scriptures that command Praise Psal 35.28 My tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long Psal 118.28 Thou art my God and I will praise thee Thou art my God and I will exalt thee Psal 34.1 I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth Psal 66.2 Sing forth the honour of his Name make his praise glorious Psal 66.8 O bless our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard Psal 48.1 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the City of our God in the Mountain of his Holiness Psal 135.3 Praise ye the Lord for the Lord is good sing praises unto his Name for it is pleasant Psal 147.1 Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing praises unto our God for it is pleasant and praise is comely Verse 12. Praise the Lord O Jerusalem praise thy God O Sion In the 148 Psalm all Creatures are called upon and excited to the praises of God which must be meant but objectively of all irrational Creatures And rational Creatures are implied when others that have not reason are spoken to Psal 148.13 Praise the Name of the Lord for his Name only is excellent and his Glory is above the Earth and Heaven Psal 149.1 Praise ye the Lord sing unto the Lord a new song and his praise in the congregation of the saints Psal 149.6 Let the high praises of God be in their Mouth 1 of the saints Psal 150.1 2 3. Praise ye the Lord praise God in his sanctuary praise him in the firmament of his power Thirdly Scriptures provoking to Thankfulness Psal 109.4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and speak good of his Name 1 Thess 5.18 In every thing we ought to give thanks Col. 3.17 Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him Psal 69.30 I will praise the name of God with a song and magnifie him with thanksgiving Psal 118.1 O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his Mercy endureth for ever Vers 29. The same Reason is insisted on 36 times Psal 136.1 2 3. And the Reasons largely insisted on in the rest of the Psalm Psal 26.6 7. I will wash mine hands in innocency and so will I compass thine altar O Lord that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wonderful works Psal 30.4 Sing unto the Lord ye saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness THere 's nothing that more becomes a Believer nor so well suits his Spiritual Heavenly Nature nor is a better Indication of a Child of God and one that hath attained to a perfect Man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ than to delight and be skilful in this Noble Work And without all dispute There 's nothing that a corrupt Heart is more averse and backward to and hath less skill in There is indeed a joyful merry Heart pre-requisite to this Exercise but such a one as the World intermedleth not with but is the greatest stranger to of all things you can imagine Though there 's none love Mirth and Joy so passionately as the worldling yet his Mirth is quite of another stamp It 's the meer distortion of the Countenance or at best but the dilatation of the Blood and Spirits It is not the delectation and contentment of the Mind and Spirit It 's the laughter of a Fool a meer brutish sensual delight that they are so fond of Not the solid serious pleasure of a Saint and one that is perfectly in his right mind And thus to be merry after their Fashion is no hard nor difficult Task 'T is but be Mad and let go the Reigns of all good Government of a Mans self It is but to gratifie every desire and live at Randome and prosper in Folly and this will screw up a Carnal Mind to very profuse Laughter and Merriment All the Town shall quickly hear of it and perceive it too plainly in the Vanity Pride and Insolency of their Carriage And there 's no surer way to damp and dead the Spirit of these Men and to drive them into a melancholy dumpish vein than to spring some Heavenly Discourse that savoureth of Heavenly Wisdom and tendeth to the Divine Praises It 's easie to vent a little Froth and Mirth at a Feast or in a Jovial Meeting or when the Spirits are cheared with Wine and Carnal Pleasure But to be glad in the Lord to rejoyce in the meditation of his Excellent Greatness and Perfection even when the Flocks are cut off from the Fold and there is no Herd in the Stall and the Vine yieldeth not her Encrease and the labour of the Olive doth fail and all Earthly Comforts are wanting Then to rejoyce in the most High and to vent forth freely in Thanks and Praises unto him is the Top and Perfection of Piety But this is a strain that the merriest Worldling can never reach while he continues to be such Other Mirth needs great Restraint but this hath need of all Encouragement and Promotion it being so much above the Sphaere of corrupted Nature to do it to purpose And as some slight Praise I doubt not may come from the Mouth of one not yet ingrafted into Christ by a lively Faith from the sense of Common Mercies and General Grace So on the other side even a Believer through the weakness of his Grace and the distemper of his Body and the want of Exercise in this Duty may make but little Musick and be a very Bungler in this Work And so lose the Comfort and Strength that a Heart fervent and frequent in this Duty would daily get But before I say any thing to stir up to this Exercise I will first shew what 's requisite to or implied in this Joy and Delight in God and true Gratitude and Praise I put them all together because there is much Affinity and Correspondence between them And therefore As to the Subject of these Acts or the Person that must exert them he must be thus qualified and prepared 1. He must be of an open cheerful Temper There 's none more unfit for this Duty than the lumpish sad and heavy Heart Though I deny not but sadness and heaviness of Spirit is sometimes a Duty after the Commission of sin especially great and wilful sin till by renewed Sorrow Confession and a more cautelous Heed to prevent it for the future and the application of Christ's Blood by Faith the Cause of such Sadness be removed But a constant habitual sadness and despondency that neither Faith nor
such a Case How much more would a sinner bewail his Offences committed against him that is his Creatour and Sovereign and hath absolute dominion over him and the power of Eternal Life and Death in his hands Thou canst not endure his displeasure if he doth but frown Nor live without his favour if he should totally withdraw it but an hour As he commandeth the Sun to shed his light and influence upon thee so he clotheth the Heaven with blackness and maketh Sackcloth their covering when he pleaseth Isaiah 50.3 If thou didst but know and consider the one half of the infinite Mercies he doth bestow upon thee and the worth of them it would make thee sure to break into bitter complaints for all thy odious Transgressions especially when thou knowest before-hand That the Penitent are so sure to speed and find Mercy with him This is a Third Act That Godly Sorrow if it be sincere doth imply even a deep sense of all the Obligations every one of us lies under to abstain from all Appearance of Evil. Fourthly He that would bewail his sin aright must be sensible how shameful it is and destructive to his own Soul and Body It prevents his Reason and makes him far more vile than a Creature that wants that Faculty It animates his Senses to all insolency it makes his Passions masterless and unruly it destroys the Health of the Body the Peace and Composure of the Mind it fills the Conscience with perpetual Remorse and Unquietness And all these Effects do as naturally flow from it as Poyson doth from a Toad or Serpent And thus it would punish it self although God should inflict no other punishment than what will inevitably follow such sinful inordinate Acts and such abuse of the Reason and Faculties that Man is possessed of It procures the hatred of God and the shame of Men and breeds a continual Worm at home that will gnaw in twain the Thred of this Life and will then feed upon Soul and Body to their everlasting pain and torment hereafter Fifthly He that is truly penitent and doth lament his sin as he ought doth know and consider the Merit of his sin and what Wages it deserves He is sensible that the least sin committed against such a Majesty by a Creature so much obliged and enabled to the contrary deserves damnation and that he can make God no recompence for the wrong and injury it doth him And he understands in some good measure what Eternal Damnation doth imply And then when he calls to mind the infinite Number he hath committed and how oft he hath deserved such a dreadful Reward and that yet he is invited to Repentance and knows that he shall find Mercy if he repent from the bottom of his Heart This melts him into Tears and dissolveth his rocky Heart and maketh it to feel what heretofore he made light matter of Sixthly As the penitent sinner is sensible of all the foregoing Particulars so he is acquainted with his own personal Transgressions not only that he is a sinner in general but what actual wickedness he is every day guilty of How little his Thoughts Words or Actions come up to the Rule at the best and how often they utterly thwart and contradict the Rule and what are his Master-Corruptions and where the strength of his sin lies He is also deeply sensible of his sinful Nature that he brought with him into the World and how cross it is to the Will of God expressed in his Word and Law and altogether unlike the Nature that God gave Man at the first Seventhly He doth hereupon judge himself exceeding vile and even loath himself for his Abominations Ezek. 36.31 When he thinketh upon his odious ways he is heartily ashamed and counteth himself unworthy of any outward Mercy and wondreth at the Mercies that God doth bestow so contrary to his deserts He seriously judgeth himself more wretched and miserable by reason of his sin and an Object of greater shame and contempt than if he had liv'd in the greatest poverty and want without sin as knowing that one makes him contemptible only to such as judge according to outward appearance but the other to those that judge righteous judgment He knows that sin makes him a Beast or a Devil in Humane shape and is a Disgrace and Reproach to all his Faculties and quite perverts the very frame and design of them For what is sin but an absurd and unreasonable Act Actus debito ordine privatus as the School-men define it and supposeth the Senses and their Objects to be in chief power and command and the nobler Part I mean his Rational and Immortal Spirit to be chained up and lye by as a Prisoner in Fetters or which is worse to be a voluntary Servant and Drudge to the stinking corruptible part of Man What Lord that hath the Spirit of a Man would endure to be a drudge to his Servant It 's a sad sight to see a Prince a Captive to his Subjects or a Lord to be in the hand and power of his Slaves led up and down in Chains at the will and pleasure of him that is but of a base and degenerate Breed compared with himself It was a great aggravation of Job's pitiful Condition that contemptible persons had him in derision whose Fathers he would have disdained to have set with the Doggs of his Flock Job 30.1 That Children of Fools and Base Men that were viler than the Earth made him their Song and By-word and that they did abhor him and flee far from him and not spare to spit in his Face vers 8 9 10. It was a very doleful pitiful sight to see Edward the Second so barbarously entreated by Gourney and made to sit upon a Mole-hill whilst the Barber shaved him and to take cold Water out of a Ditch to wash him with which the patient King seeing told them that in despight of them he would have warm Water at his Barbing and therewithal poured down Tears in abundance It 's a much sadder Spectacle to see Sense trample upon Reason and the Flesh that is of so base a descent to domineer over the Soul that 's born of God and is of the Blood-Royal made to rule and govern as the very Heathen could tell Animi imperio Corporis servitio utimur saith Salast And what 's the Fruit of such a Monstrous Disorder when Flesh and Sense do exercise such an oppressive usurping Power and that Faculty that makes a Man is perfectly cow'd Why This unspeakable Mischief is the Fruit thereof Earth is preferr'd before Heaven The Creature before the Creator The momentary pleasures of Sin before the durable and everlasting Felicity And Men chuse rather to be Termers in these decaying Comforts that expire with their Lives than to have the Propriety of an Eternal Inheritance hereafter that shall never be out-dated These and the like Considerations make the sinner to judge himself a vile Person a Reproach to Humane
quickly end and then thou wilt begin to rejoyce that a Soul is born into the Spiritual World And then thou wilt forget all thy former Sighs and Groans and Fears and the bitter Agonies of thy Soul becaufe God hath now answered thee in the joy of thy Heart And taken thee into his special care and pardoned all thy sin Eccles 5.20 Or if thou beest one that hath pass'd the New Birth already thy speedy repentance after sin committed will be like a Shower in Summer after the Ground is parched with heat and drought The Winter-Rain though the Ground be well soaked therewith may indeed prepare the Earth to bring forth its Encrease which Men expect from it in Summer and Harvest But if there fall not some Showers now and then especially after violent hot Seasons all the hopes of a good Harvest may come to nought So it is in the Case of sin your first Repentance and Tears are like the Winter-Rain that is of long continuance and doth throughly soak into the Heart and make it soft and fertile But your after-Repentance is like the Summer-Showers and the more the heat is parched with sin and hardned through the Sun-shine of Prosperity the more it must be watered with fresh Showers of Holy Repentance and Sorrow or else you will lose your hopes of Future Joy and Happiness Seeing then the Necessity of a first and after Repentance refuse not the Mercy that 's offered to thee upon such fair Terms For shame disown that Faculty of Sorrow and Weeping if it will not serve thee and stand thee in stead in this greatest Necessity Shall thine Eyes trickle and run down with Tears if thou hast but lost a dear Friend and Acquaintance Yea if thou hast but parted with him for a time and hast not quite lost him or her And shall not thy Heart melt and thine Eyes pour down when God is departed from thee though it should be but for a certain time Alas thou wantest him every Moment more than thou canst do the most useful helpful Friend that ever thou hadst in the World And if thou knowest not thus much the greater is thy need of repentance and sorrow for such a wicked deadly ignorance as this will prove if the Tears of Repentance do not clear thine Eyes and cause thee better to see and understand what need thou hast of the Divine Grace and Comfort every hour And then thou wilt be as ready to say as David I am poor and needy make hast unto me O God Thou art my help and my deliverer make no long tarrying O my God Psalm 70.5 And when thou hast well considered and had a little more experience thou wilt say as he did Vnless the Lord had been my help my soul had long since dwelt in silence 1 death Psalm 94.17 It 's easie to see if thou regardest either Scripture or Experience That in the multitude of thy troublesome thoughts within he only can comfort and rejoyce thy soul Psalm 94.19 If thou canst not therefore weep in the want and absence of him better thou hadst had no Eyes nor a Faculty to sigh or weep Yea the very Children of the Bride-chamber though they have no need to weep whilst the Bride-groom is with them that is whilst they seel the effects of God's gracious Presence and Favour yet when the Bride-groom is gone from them and driven away by some sinful unkind usage in these days they must mourn or the Comforter will not return again How much more must they weep that are none of the Children of the Bride-chamber that never yet repented in all their life Well there is no Remedy Except you repent you will certainly perish Luke 13.3 5. This is the First Consideration to provoke Repentance and to stir up this Affection Secondly Consider how foolishly thou hast done and then refrain thy deepest Sorrow and Tears if thou art able This Consideration stirr'd up David's repentance after that carnal confidence and distrust of God he had been guilty of in numbring the People 2 Sam. 24.10 And David 's heart smote him after he had numbred the People And David said unto the Lord I have sinned greatly in that I have done And now I beseech thee O Lord take away the iniquity of thy servant for I have done very foolishly Is it not a ridiculous foolish Act to set our strength and wit against him that made us For the Stubble to quarrel with the Fire And the Dust to fight against the Wind that scattereth it on the Face of the Earth 'T is just such a piece of wisdom to provoke God wilfully And when he calls to give him no answer And when he hath given us a Law to direct us how to live Never seriously to enquire what it is nor to trouble our selves with such Thoughts If an Earthly Master should command his Servant to do any thing that were just and reasonable and he should peremptorily refuse to do it you would call that plain Rebellion and say that Servant deserves to be used accordingly And is it much better do you think if he should send him Instructions written in black and white what he would have him do And he should let them lye by and never read them Wilful ignorance of what we may and are bound to know lives at next door to direct and open Contradiction and Rebellion Now judge whether that Man be not void of understanding or stark mad That dare stand up and contradict and say he will not obey when God commands him I know there 's not a Man believes there is a God and knows what he is that dares say plainly as Pharaoh did Who is the Lord that I should obey him Exod. 5.2 But are there not many thousands that will go their ways and never consider or regard what God commands them I would it were not a very common Case And Mens ordinary course in the World And what 's the reason that Men are so exceeding bold and adventurous The plain reason is becaufe they are foolish Children and have no knowledge they are sottish and have no understanding Jer. 4.22 And yet it follows They are wise enough to do evil but to do good they have no knowledge What canst thou say for thy self that art yet an impenitent wretch If thou art one that doest believe thou hast a Soul to save and a God to serve and that the Day is coming when thou must account for these things and yet regardest them not will not thy Tongue be forced to say thou hast done very foolishly Is he not a Fool that neglects his greatest Concernments and spendeth all his Time without any Thoughts of them Suppose a Merchant should send a Factour into a far Countrey to negotiate his Affairs and transact his Business there and to carry on his Trade with the Inhabitants of that Countrey and there should live gallantly upon the Cost and Expences of his Master that sent him and when he should
other ways in which God hath expressed his Bounty and Munificence to this Watry Element It would take up a Volumn to descend to particulars and to shew you the Bounty of God to the Four Elements as they are called of which all other Creatures that have their general Rendezvouz either in the Earth Water or Air are compounded whether they be Lifeless Vegetative Sensitive or Rational and to tell you the Glory that God hath put upon them And then to proceed to the several Creatures in their order This would be to write the whole History of Nature A little of this knowledge was that which the Philosophers and Wise-men of the World so much gloried in But yet though it was so much beyond their reach to bring in a compleat Inventory of all those costly Utensils wherewith God hath so richly furnished and adorned thiâ— his great Family of Heaven and Earth and much more would it pr zzle them to shew you the â—ost that is expended and laid out upon â—â—ch of these and to discover their worth and 〈…〉 yet let but a vulgar eye go forth and look about him and view the Fields and therein the Trees the Grass the various Herbage so verdant to the eye so fragrant to the smell and every one so useful to the Ends of Food and Physick even such a one if he have any Spiritual Life or Sense in him shall not want Arguments for number or weight able to convince him and to enforce a Confession of God's Bounty to these Creatures But let him behold the various Fruits and Flowers that every Orchard or Garden almost will present him with let him but consider the beautiful Rose and Tulip or rather to take the Scripture-Instance let him look upon the fair Lilly and he must needs say if he understand any thing That Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these Matth. 6.29 or if he will believe the Word of God These Vegetables have such a natural Grace and Beauty that all the Art and Wit of Man cannot imitate much less out-do To say nothing of the dead and inanimate Creatures both above and under Ground of which such Essences Spirits and Magisteries and other Extracts are prepared by the Still and other ways that Art and Industry hath discovered No nor to mention any of the sensitive or more noble Creatures No nor of those intermediate bordering and amphibious Creatures that come between these several kinds that lay claim to both and belong to neither such as are the Minerals that grow like the Vegetables And the Plantanimals that partake partly of the Vegetative and partly of the Sensitive Nature c. Upon every one of which God hath bestowed various Vertues and Perfections But I have touched only upon Generals and left the Particulars to be the Subject of your more distinct Meditations as you shall occasionally light on them 3. The omnipotency and infinite power of God is no less conspicuous in these several Creatures than the other two Attributes of his Wisdom and Goodness to a seeing eye and as fit to assist in the Praises of God as the other Power is the thing that all Men adore and aspire to and would purchase at any rate Even those that can contemn Riches and Sensual Pleasures which most Men follow after and are led by like Beasts yet are very ambitious of Power As being the best Instrument to compass any thing that the Will can desire Well then here is Power to be seen in its highest glory and its utmost perfection Alas that Idol we so much adore in Men is but a shadow and faint resemblance of that infinite and unlimitted power that God was eternally invested with that 's guided by as immense a Wisdom and as perfect a Goodness and therefore cannot possibly be mischievous and oppressive Power in Man and other Creatures is oft times pernicious both to themselves and others for want of equal Wisdom and Goodness to guide and ballance it And yet take all their Power together in the widest and wildest Notion the greatest Lord and Emperour of the World hath but a silly weak and contemptible power in respect of that which God is possessed of and the Attribute of his Almightiness doth import and which he hath displayed in the eye sight of all intelligent Creatures And this may be seen without any great pains or labour in the Make or Fabrick of every Creature and the production of so many Beings as the World abounds with out of meer nothing Let Paracelsus and the Rose-Crucians boast that they can produce Man or any other Creature by their Chymical Skill and Artifice These are but Boasts and if they can do any thing that way which will deserve some admiration It will come as far short of God's Workmanship as Art is from Nature or rather finite from infinite They must have Matter to work upon and several Tools to work with But the infinite Power hath brought to pass these mighty and wonderful Effects that are every where so visible without the help of either Matter or Tool or any the least Assistance O what a Power is that must make an invisible Vapour that fumes out of the Earth to grow into the visible Bulk of Plant or Herb and to aspire into a Tree spreading forth it self into so many Shoots and Branches And that the same Vapour should secretly convey it self through every Bough and Leaf of this Tree for its continual Growth and Nourishment That this subtil Spirit should produce so many various Shapes and such different Vertues in the several Plants and die them with such various and almost infinite Colours That a Vapour that seems so contemptible should set forth the Lilly in white and cloth the Violet in such a purple dress But what do I speak of these What a Power is that that hath hung such a vast Body as the Earth upon nothing in the midst of the Air That hath made it so immovable though it hath no Pillars to support it nor any Basis whereon to rest That hath shut up the vast Ocean in the deep as in a Store-house Psalm 33.7 And gathered the Waters of the Sea together in a heap That hath stinted the proud Waves thereof and bounded their swelling rage and fury Job 38.11 What a Power is it that ballanceth the Clouds and useth them as a Swadling-band to wrap up and hold in the Waters over our Heads that they are not rent under such a mighty Load Job 38.9 It would amaze and even confound the understanding of Man seriously to think how such a vast Body as the Sun that 's 166 times bigger than the Earth should go over the whole Circle of the Heavens in the space of 24 Hours The Sun is said to move every Hour 1038442 of Miles that is one Million of Miles every Hour which being so incredible to Mans understanding late Philosophers have found out a new way and would have the
Earth move about and the Heavens to stand still which if it be supposed yet must be the effect of an infinite Power It 's the description that 's usually given of a wise Man That he is one that wonders at nothing because they suppose Ignorance to be the Cause of wonder And therefore the more we know and understand any thing the less we wonder at it But yet for all this I may take the boldness to say That he is a wise Man indeed that wonders not at every thing Especially if he be one that hath Wit enough to see the impregnable Difficulties that stand in the way and hinder a distinct and perfect understanding of any the least of God's Works And this is another Confideration that will do good service in provoking us to the Praises of the Lord if it be weighed with an undisturbed silence and attention 2. As it will advance a Heart in Praises and Thanksgiving to God and help on this noblest part of God's Worship to behold these Three great Attributes of his Wisdom Goodness and Power as they shine forth in the Works of Creation and Providence about the unreasonable Creatures So 2. It will elevate a Soul yet higher and make it more fit for the work of Thankfulness and Praise to ponder these Attributes as they are made glorious in and about the reasonable and intelligent Creatures And here I shall pass over the Angels the most noble Creatures which God hath made And because this is an Argument most likely to move us with the greatest force Let us more particularly insist upon his Goodness towards us 1. In giving us a Nobler Being than he hath done to any other visible Creature He hath stamped his Image upon Man more lively than he hath done upon any Creature if you look on him barely in his Natural Capacity as consisting of a Body and Soul The one Corruptible The other Incorruptible The first he hath in Common with other Creatures but the other is a peculiar Glory that God hath put upon no other Creature here below besides himself And yet in his very Body he far surpasseth all his Fellow-Creatures If you consider well the Comeliness and Propoâ—ition of Parts the well mixing of the Humours that give the Colour and the pure lively Spirit that gives Air and Motion to the several Parts his erect stature and the symmetry of the whole To say nothing of Speech that 's peculiar to Man alone all other Creatures must submit and bow before him But as to his Moral Capacity There 's no other Creature here below that hath any Lineament of his Maker's Image but Man only He alone was intended to represent his Maker in Righteousness and true Holiness and had a Capacity first to be honoured in his Service and to be made happy in his Eternal Enjoyment The rest of the Creatures as they have their Face downward so they have no disposition to look so high as to their Maker nor any tendency of love or desire towards him For God having made them uncapable of any such Acts or Habits expects no such Service at their Hands But God made Man for his own immediate Service and therefore gave him a Nature suited to that imployment He did not only bestow on him the Faculties of Understanding and Will but endued them with the knowledge and love of God that by the exercise of these Acts he might find out the Rest and Happiness that he doth so indefatigably seek after 2. He gave him Seigniory and Dominion over this lower World Psalm 8. As all things were made for his use and service so they were given into his hand to dispose of And they had no power to cross his Command or disobey till he had rebelled against his Maker They were all ready at his service to go and come at his beck and to execute his pleasure to their utmost strength and capacity Gen. 1.28 And God blessed them that is Adam and Eve and said to them Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth and subdue it and have dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl of the Air and over every living thing that moveth upon the Earth See also Gen. 2.19 20. And Man wanted not the Faculty to discern the Nature and Vertue of every Creature and for what uses they might serve Yea the Inferiour Heavens were made to accommodate him and every way God dealt with him as a Bountiful Lord and most Liberal Benefactour The Sun was made to enlighten him and the Heavens to chear him and make the Earth fruitful with their Influences which was to bring him forth it s various Productions for his several uses and occasions And who that hath the Heart of a Man and not of a Beast can think of such Munificence and Bounty which God hath exercised towards him and not abhor ingratitude And even feel himself delighted in the Praises of his so great Benefactour 3. When he had undone himself and had involved his Soul and Body in Misery unspeakable the Lord did not utterly forsake him as he deserved but he set his Wisdom a work to contrive a way how to salve the honour of his Justice and yet save the miserable Rebels from destruction When we were all fallen short of the Glory of God he found out a Method to recover us into Happiness again And when no Creature in Heaven or Earth could do such a Favour for us the Son of God became Man and dyed for us that he might satisfie offended Justice and vindicate the honour both of the Law and Law-giver and procure Terms of Peace and Favour for us O what a Remarkable Sentence is that which should be engraven upon the Heart of every sinner When we were without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly Rom. 5.6 This is a faithful saying indeed and worthy of all acceptation 1. highest and most thankful entertainment that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 4.9 10. We had been now bound hand and foot and shut up in outward darkness and had been Fuel to the Wrath of God and the Flames of Hell which are kindled thereby and had been tormenting our Souls with the bitter remembrance of our sin who are or may be comforted with the blessed Tydings of the Gospel What a comfortable Thought should it be to us when we lye down and when we rise up to remember that Christ is risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15.20 To understand which Text of Scripture it 's necessary that we be informed that sin having brought a Curse upon Man and upon the Earth for his sake and all the Fruit it brought forth the Sacrifice of the First-Fruits among the Jews to which the Apostle here alludes was appointed by God as a Means whereby the whole Harvest might be sanctified and secured and the Curse removed Which First-Fruits were a Type of Christ by