most design to my self among the Sons of men I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy And as if this had not been enough the heart of the blessed God was so infinitely taken with it Chap. 34.5 6. The Lord comes nearer to him descended in a Cloud and stood with him there and as if meerly to have spoken what he had before said to Moses Namely That he should have mercy had not been enough at verse 6. He proclaims it and makes it as his proper Name and most glorious Title The Lord the Lord God Merciful and Gracious c. verse 7. forgiving iniquity c. As if forgiving iniquity were the great design of glory he had upon the world his heart most affected and taken up with it this is the first reason poor sinners should have their hearts most taken up about the pardon of sins because the heart of the infinite wise and blessed God is most taken up about it 2. The pardon of sin should so greatly take up the heart of a poor guilty sinner because Nothing is a Blessing to a man till his sins are pardoned but All a curse The Scripture is well known that proves it among many Deut. 28.15 16. If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his Commandments and his Statutes which I command thee this day that all those curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee Cursed shalt thou be in the City and cursed shalt thou be in the field Cursed shall be thy basket and thy Store Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy Land the encrease of thy kine and the flocks of thy sheep Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out the Lord shall send upon thee cursing vexation and rebuke in all that thou settest thine hand for to do c. Now that Soul that doth not hearken to the voice of God according to the tenour of the New Covenant to come unto Jesus Christ to have his sins pardoned to have the spirit given him to walk before God in all his ways is in an unpardoned condition and so liable to all these curses now under the old Testament God did more usually come forth in visible stroaks of punishment upon outward mercies But under the New Testament his judgments especially upon such as are under the Gospel are more spiritual as blessings to his people run in a more spiritual way as in cursing them with hardness and blindness of heart having resisted the truth but yet though such outward curses are not so visibly and frequently executed though sometimes they are yet unpardoned unconverted sinners enjoy not their outward good things as a blessing but they serve but to further their damnation if their hearts are not through infinite grace made soft and turn unto the Lord that they may be pardoned Now to have outward mercies and be hardened in an impenitent estate under them is a far greater curse than to have them smitten or imbittered from the Lord though with the heaviest hand This is the 2d Reason of the point Every thing is a curse while such to an unpardoned sinner therefore 't is of the greatest weight to have his heart taken up about it 3. The person of an unpardoned sinner is hated of the Lord therefore the weight of it is very great Psal 5.5 Thou hatest all workers of iniquity All be they what they will high or low rich or poor God hates them and while they are workers of iniquity they are certainly unpardoned what they may be in the decree of God is nothing to that sinner in this condition While he is a worker of iniquity he hath no ground for any other apprehension of God unless he turn in unto him now what a dreadful thing is it to be hated of that great and righteous God a drop of whose wrath is able to scortch the Soul with uspeakable torment yet such is the condition of a wretched unpardoned sinner therefore 't is his great concernment to look to it c. 4. While a sinner is unpardoned he is under the Law What that is I shall if God will further discover he stands bound over to the most exact fulfilling of it under the penalty of Hell bound to make God satisfaction to the utmost upon the least breach and being under transgression of it is under wrath and condemnation if he abide so without Remedy There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus but All condemnation to those that are out of Christ Jesus as all unpardoned sinners are therefore 't is a condition above all others to be weighed and considered and not to be rested in one moment 5. Neither the Prayers nor Alms nor any other duty of an unpardoned sinner are at all accepted with the Lord. This wretched sinners will not admit of but think if they perform any duty to God he accepts of it and that indeed it makes an attonement for their sins take that one eminent place in Isa 1.15 Though you make many prayers yet I will not hear you mark it you that think because you make or say as you style it many good prayers sure God hears you No saith God I will not hear why see verse 16. they were not washed from their sins therefore the Prophet calls them to come to the Lord that they might be pardoned verse 38. 'T is true when a poor sinner hath his heart smitten for sin and comes to the Lord upon the account of promises of grace and pardon through Jesus Christ with full purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord and so begs for pardon and all things that do accompany pardon and salvation then God hears his cryes at the very first breathing of his soul Lam. 3.56 but not till then doth God regard the multitude of his Prayers Alms Worship Keeping conscience to men therefore certainly if nothing be accepted with God till in a pardoned condition such an estate requires great and deep thoughts of heart of it 6. Upon all this it will follow That an unpardoned sinner will have no other word from the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming but go ye cursed Everlasting darkness and wrath and woes and all misery must be his portion for ever If he dye in his sins Joh. 8.29 his soul must be eternally damned without all remedy Live and dye unpardoned and be damned unpardoned When Jesus Christ shall come neither he himself nor Saint nor Angel will or can speak one word for a soul that dyes unpardoned though the soul screek out for a drop of mercy it will be answered with nothing but the Ecchoes of the screekings of other desperate souls ready to be hurled with it into the same everlasting burnings no eye to pitty there though Ministers and Saints did warn invite weep mourn pity when
evil of it the exceeding Sinfulness and Pollution of it by the conviction of the Spirit so as to see it most in the fountain in thy nature and there loath and bewail it because it makes thee unclean and unholy and unlike God and unfit for God or holy communion with him Which is the way and most certain evidence of the Spirits saving conviction of Sin as distinguishing from that which a hypocrite may have and carries a soul to the fountain opened Zach. 13.1 that its iniquity may be throughly cleansed Vse 6. If Sinners that come to God for mercy and pardon see their Sin as great then it will follow that great Sinners may be pardoned and saved You that are great Sinners old Sinners Oh hearken to this you that are yet within the reach of Grace and Mercy and Pardon if you will come to Jesus Christ for it the greatness of your Sin is no bar to you but if you fail of pardon 't is because you will not come to Christ for it and accept it upon Gospel-terms you will not have pardon with a new heart and new life or you make a slight matter of pardon or you think 't will come of course or you are afraid to enter into a serious review and debate with your selves because your Sins are so great they will terrifie you or take you off your pleasure and peace of your minds and joy in the world Away away with any of these pleas though thou hast sinned much greatly long with all thy might come to Jesus Christ and those great Sins are no more before his blood to wash them away than the least Sin if any be little that ever was committed and pardoned Isa 1.18 Do not hence say securely Oh 't is well that great Sinners may be pardoned I ever thought so what need so much ado Do not thus harden thy self and make such a cursed use of so Blessed a Truth but therefore come in lay down thy weapons with which thou hast been fighting against God wilt thou hold up rebellion and yet cry pardon Is it equitable thou shouldst expect it No fall down at the feet of that God against whom thou hast so greatly sinned in the posture hath been shewed thee and then though sin hath abounded yet grace doth much more abound Rom. 5. last Great Sinners have become great Saints 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you Who were they Idolaters Adulterers Revilers Sodomites c. and such like You that have been such like God may have as much Glory in your pardon as he hath had dishonour by your Sin Only be not such a Devil to thy self as to turn thy back upon it and when thou hast thus long rebelled to tell God he must stay thy leisure for thy acceptance of his pardon thy Sins are too sweet to leave as yet I tell thee Soul and I have shew'd it that Gods pardons cost him dear and are precious and if thou deal thus they may be lockt up in Heaven from thy wretched Soul to all Eternity Who but a desperate wretch but would take mercy and grace from Heaven that may make him blessed for ever when God offers it by his dear Son let thy Sins be never so great why wretched Man or Woman Hast thou not done God wrong enough already but must thou stay yet longer in thy cursed Sin and wrong him yet more Hast not done enough already to damn a thousand Souls but wouldst do more and make as sure of Hell as thou canst I beseech thee Sinner great Sinner young or old do not put me off nay do not put the Lord off with a pardon in his hand a promise of Grace ready to be sealed by the Holy Ghost if thou wilt now from thy Soul readily say why then be it so Lord Jesus I come to thee if the terms be leaving all this deceitful Sin and to be made like unto thee be it so I accept of it tear my lusts from my heart I have served them long enough too long Oh now if there be any mercy in Heaven let me have it save me not in but from my Sins Oh Lord for they are great great indeed I will saith the Lord and he speaks it in Ezek. 36.29 I will save you from all your uncleannesses 't is as much as if the Lord should have now spoken it from Heaven Mark every tittle in such a promise Now thou cryest Oh will will the Lord save I will saith the Lord Oh but will he save me from such uncleannesses yea from uncleannesses what from All yea from All thy uncleannesses fall down and Adore and cry out Oh grace free rich infinite glorious grace admire Angels Saints Sinners Behold one of Gods wonders A great sinner saved Vse 7. And so seventhly it may serve to exhort blessed souls brought into a state of peace and pardon still to keep an eye upon the greatness of mercy If mercy were not great how could any Sin be forgiven Thus this blessed man David is breathing forth Blessed is he whose iniquities are forgiven Oh bless the Lord Oh my soul who forgiveth all thine iniquities Oh how great is thy mercy towards me and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell So should pardoned called redeemed souls see themselves call'd and taken out of Hell it self Out of a Hell of abominations pollutions wrath under which they were fast held by the power of darkness Say did ever such a soul get to Heaven shall I not be the wonder of Heaven and Hell how I got to Heaven and escaped that wrath into which thousands that were better than I are now plunged there 's no other reason but because mercy is great greater than the greatnesses of Sin with which I shall conclude the second Point namely When Sinners come on to find pardon they see their Sins great Obs 3. The great reason of Gods pardoning a sinner and the plea that a poor convinced sinner hath with God is that he will pardon for his own Names sake For thy Names sake Oh Lord pardon c. That is not for any worth that is in a poor creature not for my sake but for thy own glories sake thy mercy sake grace and mercy will be hereby glorified God gets himself a Name by the pardoning of a poor Sinner that Name which he proclaims to Moses Exod. 34.6 The Lord merciful and gracious c. Now God hath given forth the ground of this plea in the New Covenant where his Name is thus made most glorious And when he had given forth a brief and blessed draught of the tenor of the New Covenant Ezek. 36.21 The Lord gives out this as the great reason often mentioned why he would take such a way of making another Covenant wherein he wills all undertakes all does all works all as resolved it should be a Covenant and a way of grace that surely should hold He gives out this I say as the ground of all I had
pitty for my own holy Name ver 21. Thus saith the Lord God I do not this for your sakes but for mine holy Names sake ver 22. I will sanctifie my great Name ver 23. And when the Lord had shewed what he would do for the poor Jews in special and so for all Sinners taken into Covenant with him that he would sprinkle clean water upon them cleanse them from their Sins give them a new heart put his Spirit upon them write his Laws in their hearts and so take them to be his people he again concludes with the same ground as before that all this was still for his own Name ver 32. Not for your sakes I do this be it known unto you c. And yet that he would as certainly and fully do it as if all the engagements from man in the world had been upon him as undoubtedly make good every part and article of the Covenant he adds ver 36. I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it you may safely abide by it Neither should his grace and power come hardly from him as poor doubting souls surmise as if 't were as much as ever the Lord could do to give out mercy and grace to poor Sinners but saith the blessed God in another place upon the same account having given out the promises of Grace in the New Covenant Jer. 32.37 and so on He subjoyns I will do it with my whole heart and my whole soul mark it poor souls with my whole soul will I pardon you love you never turn away from you to do you good and never suffer you to turn away from me If poor souls for whose sake I put it should here ask what is this Covenant what do you mean by it only a word here God at first when he made man agreed with man to be his God to give him life for ever upon these terms that man would keep the Law that God gave him and 't was a Law that would have given all glory to the Creator preserved the creature in a holy and blessed order and been a blessing to the whole Creation but man transgressing here the blessed God from his own good pleasure for his names sake gives out another Covenant provides in it terms of reconciliation for the first breach of the first Covenant sends his eternal blessed Son Jesus Christ to be a mediator of this new Covenant gives him commission to offer it to all and that freely and to let the World know that if any Sinner in the World never so great come and put up his plea make his claim enter his claim accept of this Covenant and new agreement with God accept of the terms of it give up himself mutually to God back again then will God be his God and that upon better terms than before with Adam pardon own love bless unite to himself never suffer him to fall mercy built upon an unmoveable foundation The foundation of God standeth sure 2 Tim. 2.19 This briefly is the meaning of the New Covenant upon which all our mercy is built now from first to last from the first to the top-stone of it from Election to Glory all is done and made good for the Lords own glorious Names sake Souls elected the Covenant transacted between God and Christ Jesus Christ sent the Sinner called forgiven justified sanctified adopted kept glorified All for his Names sake See the promises running thus in most places Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions Why for my own sake Purge away our sins for thy Names sake Psal 79.9 This is the bottom of all This name he hath revealed in Jesus Christ Exod. 23.21 Now because the further clearing of this blessed truth is my design through Grace in the next discourse I shall speak but a word more by the way of use only Vse 1. If it be thus that whatever God gives out to poor souls is for his own Names sake that this is the plea a poor Sinner hath let it then be for your information and instruction that you have no other plea to be heard in Heaven but this the plea of Jesus Christ being upon the same bottom Don't make a sorry pile of carnal duties and works and say for the sake of these Lord do me good and pardon where I have failed the Lord may send fire from Heaven to consume thee and them because of their pollution and that 't is a cursed offering but never hear thee and bless thee upon such a plea No no say in thy soul and that from full conviction If ever I have any thing from God on this side Hell it must be for his own Names sake I expect I plead I wait upon no other ground Vse 2. If the Lord's Names sake be the only plea for grace then let poor Sinners drawing near to God by Jesus Christ be perswaded that 't is a good plea and most acceptable before the Lord. Now this is the way of the heart of poor creatures from rooted self-love and pride we think if God could give out good unto us for our sakes it were something if there were any thing to be beheld in us that were commendable to the Lord I could go with some confidence but seeing 't is thus that I am nothing else but vile before him how can I go to him with what face or how can he give out unto me Sinner be as low as thou wilt or canst but reason not so with thy self If God can as freely as fully do thee good all good for his own Names sake and hath thereby the more glory by it why shouldest thou so stand upon thy terms with God and not be as willing as contented to accept of Mercy all mercy for Gods own Names sake as well as for thy sake 'T is thy pride be it known unto thee Sinner as thou thinkest thou art and not thy lowliness know for thy comfort God can more readily easily do thy soul good upon the terms he now is for his own sake and so the thing be done thy soul pardoned blessed saved and all shall end in everlasting love upon thee let the Lord have all the Glory though thou hast nothing to boast of for thy own sake And yet also know that when the Lord saith he doth it for his own sake he doth not exclude that he hath no respect and love unto thee but that the great and highest motive with God was and is his own Name his own glorious grace why he ever had a thought of good to an undone creature that there was no motive in the creature unless misery which is no glory but all is done given estated upon souls undone poor Sinners freely for his own sake 3. Let it exhort souls to make use of this plea therefore and that with great though humble confidence It never failed poor Souls since the world was that made use of it when they were low and helpless and eyed
which defile a man Which defilements unfits the soul for communion with God they make a filthy puddle in the Soul and what a case is a poor Creature in to come to God in Duty in such a pickle 5. Evil Thoughts do pervert the Heart from God which should be fixed upon him they draw away the strength of the heart from God they suck up the juice and marrow of the heart which should be spent in spiritual things in Jesus Christ 6. Such Thoughts do grieve the Spirit Nothing more the Spirit cannot delight to teach and comfort when the heart is mostly acted by foolish and unholy Thoughts 7. When such Thoughts are acted in the Soul God may leave you to the power of them to break out to some grievous fall and so may ship-wrack your peace and comforts for a great while and go with broken bones and it may cost you much bitterness before you are healed 8. If vain carnal Thoughts are not resisted at first but given way to they are hardly check't and subdued and turned upon other Objects and therefore to watch the first Risings of them Now not one of these Considerations but may make a Child of God to tremble how he lets forth his heart into vain carnal idle defiling thoughts and musings which do so much wast a gracious Spirit and lay him open to such woful dangers as these are To help a Child of God in this spiritual Work of looking to and a holy ordering the Thoughts of his Heart 1. Be deeply humbled to God with abhorring and loathing for Atheistical unclean proud vain foolish worldly thoughts that croud in upon you when you make them your Burden you will be the sooner eased 2. Delight thy self much in the Word of God not only in Publick Hearing but Daily Reading and not only Reading but getting some good word upon thy heart that may season thy thoughts and affections Saith David I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love Psal 119.113 The love of the Word of God made him be so far from cherishing vain Thoughts that he did hate them It doth appear this was a special part of David's exercise of Spirit to get some blessed Word upon his heart and he thinking of it and so it did turn into the sweet and wholesom nourishment of the New-creature Oh how I love thy Law it is my meditation all the day Blessed and holy practice worthy a gracious Saint indeed you have one word especially that David had much on his heart out of the Books of Moses for we know not whether any other Scripture were then exant 't is that of Exod. 34.6 where the Lord saith he will proclaim his Name and Glory The Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering abundant in goodness and truth which you have in Psalm 103.8 Psal 86.15 and 145.8 Happily one of those sweet words which he often magnifies How hath a single word dwelt upon the heart of a Child of God and hath kept the heart savoury for Christ 3. The next Remedy against such Thoughts is Much Prayer diligence fervency pouring out the heart to God till the heart melts and runs forth sweetly spiritually and is engaged with God and hath a sight of him and a divine impression of God's Majesty left upon the soul 4. Get more and more brokenness of heart for sin when the Heart hath been broken 't will not so easily get into Vanity again At least a Child of God should take care that it should not when the heart is broken and mourning the Spirit doth wonderfully in that work refine the heart All the sleightness vanity defilement distraction that comes upon the New-Creature is mostly for want of this 5. Mortification of that Corruption that is most apt to stir doth much cure our thoughts Inordinate Affections are the Saints greatest Evils and do bespeak an unmortified heart as to what a Child of God should still be pressing after even to be dead and crucified with Christ Those that are Christs have crucified their Affections and Lusts Gal. 5.22 6. Contending for a Spiritual Heart So far as the Heart is spiritual it acts spiritually 'T is the carnality of Heart that works up all those frothy distempers that defile us Paul's corruption was much let out upon him when he cries out of the carnality of his Heart Rom. 7. which should be the daily complaint of God's poor Children 7. A great help to the preserving the Thoughts of the Heart according to the New-Creature will be to consider How precious the thoughts of God are to his people Psal 139.17 How precious also are thy thoughts O God unto me How great is the sum of them If I should count them they are more in number than the sands c. David in v. 2. was considering how God's Eye was upon his Thoughts and 't was a means to rectifie them and then David's Thoughts run forth in the sweet and blessed apprehension of the preciousness of Gods thoughts in him from all Eternity and in the ways of his Covenant towards him If Gods thoughts to us be holy and precious and ever towards us the thoughts of his Servants should be so also and as little common and unsavoury as may be More particularly let us yet consider what blessed and excellent and glorious things such as are New-Creatures in Christ have to exercise their thoughts about 1. Gracious Souls have the Attributes of God to exercise the thoughts of their Hearts in the Infiniteness of God his Greatness Holiness Glory c. A blessed Exercise for Saints indeed So we find the Scripture-Saints sweetly taken up with contemplation and admiration of the Excellencies of God himself Thou art glorious in Holiness Exod. 15.11 saith Moses But Thou art holy saith David Psal 22. Oh how great is thy Goodness Psalm 8.31 as might be abundantly shewed and the exercise of the thoughts this way hath a powerful influence upon the Heart as to its abasement purity sincerity 2. Saints have the riches and freeness of the grace of God in Jesus Christ towards poor sinners to be taken up withal Oh the free rich distinguishing Grace of God to a poor Creature that was posting to Hell that was a Rebellious Wretch a vile Hypocrite the worst of sinners the most unlikely to be converted of any sinner in the world We have David and Paul's hearts swallowed up in this above any other as David in many Psalms is in the admiration of grace and Paul in most of his Epistles makes it his great scope as the great Argument to be not only believing but humble and holy and heavenly all their days especially Col. 1. and Ephes 1st 2d and 3d. Chapters 3. Saints have the unsearchable Riches of Jesus Christ to take up their thoughts with the Excellencies and Dignities of his Person the Beauty and Glory that is in him the depths of his love the matchless price of his blood his bowels to sinners his care of his Churches Oh
these are things worthy the thoughts of Saints indeed 4. They have to take up their thoughts the glorious blessedness of the forgiveness of their sins What a blessed state a state of forgiveness in the blood of Jesus Christ is Blessed Oh blessed for ever are they whose iniquities are forgiven Bless the Lord O my soul who forgiveth all thine iniquities c. Psal 103. God hath not appointed me to wrath but to obtain salvation through my Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5. Oh blessed extasie for a poor called pardoned Believer to be in 5. Such as are New-Creatures in Christ they have the Mystery of the New-Covenant the everlastingness of it to bring their hearts to and to work the Promises thereof upon their hearts to muse on the returns of their Prayers to behold the continual Providences of God towards them and his ways of mercy and kindness to them 6. They have the shortness of their time the vanity of their lives the certainty of Death to muse on Lord make me to know the number of my days that I may know how frail I am Yea they have a future and eternal state of Blessedness and Glory to have their thoughts swallowed up into That they shall one day see Jesus Christ as he is in all his glory and never look off him any more They shall do nothing else but love him enjoy perpetual communion of Saints be praising admiring adoring the blessed Majesty of God for ever and ever Oh! If there are such excellent and blessed things for the thoughts of the holy-ones of God to be exercised in Oh! what base Dunghil hearts have such that pore upon nothing but earth and filth Let it not be so with such that have tasted the good and sweetness of those things that have real substantial soul-filling goodness in them What matter of Complaint to God's poor Children whose hearts are too too apt to sink earthwards pois'd with weights that they cannot keep them up in the vision of God his Christ and what ever is blessed in him Oh! when the thoughts of your hearts must be taken up with your Callings which cannot be done without it keep a Watch over them let them not run forth to sinful distempers but that you may be fit to go to God and converse with him and get the blessed savour of these things upon your hearts and do not let out your thoughts to idleness and soul-defiling vanity and feed upon vanity when there are such solid glorious things to feed upon which you expect to be taken up with in an infinite unwearied delight to all eternity And do not suffer the Devil to take up his abode by his subtle and sudden suggestions or more close insinuations upon you If he make his Inroads resist check defie with abhorrency his first Attempts before he work up corruption in you And remember still your spirits and bodies are the Temples of God and the Temple of God must be holy 1 Cor. 6.19 20. What know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost that is in you which ye have of God and ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God with your spirits and bodies which are Gods And thus much of this special evidence of the New-Creature in the newness of his thoughts and the acting of them 8. The Eighth Discovery of the New-Creature is this The New-Creature hath a new Lip a new Tongue let loose to speak of God and for God And this also I shall a little insist upon Saith our blessed Lord A good man out of the good Treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things Matthew 12.35 Good and wholsom and savoury Words To this we find the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures often pressing saith the wise man Prov. 20.15 The Lips of knowledge are a precious Jewel The mouth of a righteous man is a well of Life The lips of the righteous feed many Prov. 10.11 12. So the Apostle Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your Mouth but that which is good to the use of Edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers Ephes 4.29 Let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt c. Col. 4.6 By which places 't is evident that a special discovery of the New-Creature is herein manifested 1. The New-Creature hath a New Tongue to speak Savourly and Experimentally of the things of Christ and the work of the Spirit Because that which the heart is exercised with it will be bringing forth Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh an evil man out of the abundance of evil in his heart bringeth forth evil things as a good man doth good things Matth. 12.25 28. If the heart and affections be spiritually exercised the Tongue will be speaking forth 2. Because thereby a New-Created Soul doth give glory to God they speak of the Testimonies works goodness grace and the wonders of the Love of God to poor sinful Creatures And hereby God is much glorified Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will tell what he hath done for my Soul Psal 66.16 3. Gracious hearts do hereby stir up the Grace of Christ in them 't is like the blowing of a spark and makes the heart to glow e're it is aware gracious Conference is the very breath of the Spirit which kindles all our Graces afresh as it was with the Disciples going to Emaus Luke 24.32 Did not our hearts burn within while he talked with us by the way 4. Good Souls do not only profit themselves in receiving good but they profit others one of the best ways that we do good is in profiting weak Saints or Sinners how hath a word spoken from a savoury person humbly and wisely dropt in upon the Soul of a sinner which hath been its first awakening And so upon a poor weak tempted Child of God how seasonably hath God ordered a word for a poor soul from conference with another Vse If a New-Creature in Christ hath a New Tongue as well as a new heart then let it be for Conviction of sinners whose Tongues as well as hearts are exercised in vanity altogether in prophane or vain or carnal or worldly Discourses this shews there is no good treasure in the heart The Apostle James follows this Conviction very closely and makes it the Character of a carnal pretending Believer or false and dead Faith James 1.26 If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this mans religion is vain 'T is but a seeming to be religious a vain Religion where the tongue hath a carnal Liberty and he calleth the Tongue a world of iniquity set on fire of Hell Jam. 3.6 an unruly evil full of deadly poison ver 8. The evils of the Tongue that bespeak a sinner unregenerate are these and they are frequent among this generation 1. Speaking evil of the Spirit of God and
Divine Characters OR The True Christian Discovered AND The Hypocrite Detected In Three Treatises The first Treatise shewing That both Saints and Unconverted Sinners ought daily to go to God in Jesus Christ for Pardon of their sins because they are many and great The Second Treatise shewing How we are to expect Salvation not from any Righteousness of our own but by the Righteousness of the alone Mediator JESUS CHRIST how we shall be made Partakers thereof and Evidences of the Truth of it The Third Treatise shewing The Gospel-Evidences of a True Christian as they are experienced by those who are truly Believers and the false Appearances thereof plainly refuted To which is added The Summe and Substance of the Christian Religion in a SHORT CATECHISE LONDON Printed in the Year 1695. Divine Characters In Three Treatises The First Treatise Shewing that both Saints and Unconverted Sinners ought daily to go to God in Jesus Christ for Pardon of their Sins because they are many and great PSAL. XXV 11. For thy Names sake O Lord pardon mine Iniquity for it is great IN this Psalm you have David's sins laid in with weight upon his Conscience and in the deep sense of their guilt pleading with God about mercy and pardon The sense of that one great sin in the matter of Vriah meant especially in the Text brought in the sense of other sins of his youth upon him as is usually Gods way in humbling a sinner and at ver 7. you have him at the feet of God begging as for his life as to the remission of them all Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions According to thy mercy remember thou me for thy Goodness O Lord And here at the Text for thy Names sake O Lord c That which I design to lay before you from the words is to open to you and press upon you the weight and blessedness of a pardoned condition that you may be awakened to it while the day of mercy lasts and may indeed be in very good earnest about it till through infinite grace you may obtain it and live and dye in the sweet and blessed peace and comfort of it through our Lord Jesus Christ That which I intend to give out from hence through the spirit of grace assisting is but as previous and preparatory to the opening of a justified estate and the New Creature in Christ that if God will your consciences may be brought to a thorough a wakening a spiritual sight and conviction of sin and a self-emptyness which is the good and safe way of a Soul to Jesus Christ which from this Scripture take in these plain Observations Obs 1. That great and weighty concernment that should most of all take up the thoughts of the hearts of poor sinners is that their sins may be pardoned 2. Such who come to God by Jesus Christ to have their sins pardoned they look upon them as great sins for it is Great 3. The great reason of Gods pardoning a sinner and the Plea that a poor sinner hath with God is that God will pardon for his own Names sake 1. To begin with the first proposition viz. That great and weighty thing that should most of all take up the thoughts of the hearts of all the Children of men is that their sins may be pardoned This may be evinced from the frame of blessed David's spirit and other the pardoned ones of the Lord up and down the holy Scriptures exercised with such a violence and importunity with the Lord in this matter of the Pardon of their sins as if they had no other thing besides what conduced thereunto to beg of God in the world and all that God gave them in the world as indeed it is not were nothing without it therefore you have them thus wrestling with God about it According to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my trangressions Psal 51.1 If there be any mercy in Heaven let a poor guilty soul have a drop of it yea David layeth a kind of violence upon God Psal 65.2 As for our transgressions thou shalt purge them away thou shalt do it I cannot must not will not be denyed this thou shalt do it for me So Moses interceding for the people Exod. 39.9 If I have found grace in thy sight O Lord let my Lord I pray thee go amongst us for it is a stiff-necked people and pardon our iniquity and our sin and take us for thine Inheritance with what vehemency of heart doth Moses cry if I have any favour with thee let it be laid out this way Oh Lord let my Lord c. Otherwhiles when the blessed sense of a pardoned condition is upon their hearts Blessed is he whose trangressions is forgiven Blessed man or woman as ever he was born Blessed He and only blessed and fully blessed and for ever blessed whose sins are pardoned And then admiring the blessed God in such riches of Grace as to pardon sinners Who is like to thee a God pardoning iniquity Mic. 7.18 Thou art a God ready to pardon gracious and merciful c. Neh. 9.17 Psal 103.1 2 3 10. Bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name why what had the Lord done see verse 3. Oh who forgiveth all thine iniquities who forgiveth and forgiveth All great sins a well as less sins of nature as well as life sins before conversion and sins since conversion sins of knowlege as well as of ignorance for David was under all these yet All All All forgiven and that freely too only because the Lord is gracious verse 8. and so forgiven them as never to come before him any more As far as the East is from the West so far hath he removed our trangressions from us verse 12. I shall hint some Reasons of the Truth why it is that the pardon of sins doth or should so greatly take up the hearts of sinful creatures Reason 1. The pardon of sin should thus greatly take up the hearts of all that indeed expect pardon because 't was the greatest thing if I may so speak that ever took up Gods heart how a sinner might be pardoned He laid forth more of his wisdom and goodness about it than in the making of the Heavens and the Earth The framing of the New Covenant the giving out of his eternal Son Jesus Christ God manifested in the flesh such a Glorious way of reconciling justice and mercy through the death of Christ the choicest piece of divine Wisdom that ever was brought forth they were all conversant about and their proper tendency was about this great and weighty concernment how and that a sinner might be pardoned when Moses had that blessed enterview and parley with the Lord Exod. 33. 34. and Moses getting nearer and nearer to God who was glimpsing out a ray of glory upon him breaks out Show me thy glory I will saith God I will shew thee what way of Glory I
and ransom that is paid for the salvation of him from his sins the price of the blood of the eternal Son of God How great was sin how sinful and damnable the nature of it in the eye of the righteous God when justice could not be satisfied but by such a way Oh saith a poor soul that comes for pardon what a damnable thing is sin which was once nothing to me that redemption from it is at such a rate God had no greater a price to give than what he laid down to save a wretched sinner from his sin Oh 't was great sin that must crucifie the Lord of life and glory therefore doth my soul hate it 13. Lastly This consideration also greatens sin in as much as a poor creature hath drawn and tempted others to sin with him especially such as have lived more vainly and loosly and it lies hard upon many a poor soul after thorough conviction Oh how many have I drawn to sin not only by my example but encouragement and perswasion that may be now in Hell for such sins or are under a state of impenitency and hardened by me Oh this is an abasing consideration to a poor convinced humbled sinner when God smites his heart with it Vse 1. Before we go further let us labour to apply this to the consciences of all I have shewed you the matter we are upon is the weightiest that ever took up God's heart the pardoning of a sinner and therefore how should it swallow up the hearts of poor undone souls that are so infinitely concern'd in it I beseech you therefore lay to your hearts what hath been spoken as to the greatness of sin and consider If souls that come to God by Christ for pardon see their sins as great sins and 't is their great trouble they cannot see them greater First then This may serve to take off that woful deceit of heart and delusion of the Devil of poor careless souls that dream of pardon and yet never in any measure thus saw their sins as great this shews the heart was never touched of God never smitten for sin as yet this is the way indeed of unpardoned sinners they are lessening their sins to God and themselves finding out circumstances to lessen them of others tempting them and the Devil and the like and many or most of Men or Women allow themselves in the same or they were overtaken or the like they think they can easily pacifie God again and that God makes not so great a matter of it thus a deceitful heart and a cheating Devil juggle together and sooth Conscience in a damnable peace And such souls call their great reigning sins their infirmity and God will not be so exact as some of the Preachers make him here 's a sinner rivetted in a cursed estate But now take a Soul whom God as I shall shew hath made sensible of sin and the weight of pardon and comes to the feet of the Lord for it 't is quite otherwise Oh my sins Wretch that I was and am were little sins to me before but now they are great sins I called it my infirmity to lye swear prophane the Sabbath allow my self in any excess but now I see 't was reigning sin soul-damning sin great oh great sin Oh that I am out of Hell Oh the patience of God! Is there mercy for such a wretch What a wonder will it be if I get to Heaven How great will that mercy be that pardons me 2. Therefore in the second place Examine how it is with you and whether you have had some such workings of heart Have you been before the Lord in David's posture Oh mine iniquity is great Oh I I have sinned against a great God wearied great patience turned great mercies into sin Oh I have sinned against great light How shall I be pardoned Sins continued in and multiplied from my youth up and these against serious purposes under the reign of it there 's an infinite fountain of all evil within me If I have been any way restrained no thanks to my own heart for it Oh saith a poor soul I was led by the Devil befool'd by the Devil served the Devil against God and now what can I challenge at the Hands of God What belongs to me but wrath great wrath everlasting wrath infinite Wrath If one sin deserves a thousand Hells what do innumerable transgressions do If Mercy be not infinite How shall I look up to God or how shall God look down upon me Oh I say let your Conscience answer hath it been thus in some good and real measure though not so deep as your soul desires I know there are degrees and I also know till God come to let out himself in such a way as ☞ this that sin is great and greater in mine eye then ever we make but slight work of it in our spirits want of this makes many in these days run away with pleasant notions of Grace Christ Light though blessed be the Lord for ever for the more glorious Revelation of all these but I speak of abuses but sin was never great by the appearance of God and so they wanton with such Notions which at last wear off and so they come to nothing but a reproach to the Gospel 3. In the third place therefore let it serve to exhort sinners to look back upon your lives even from your youth up You may find one more of the discoveries mentioned of the greatness of sin that you will fall under especially such as have been given to the prophaness and vanities of the age you live in lying swearing prophaning of the Sabbath to riot ungodly pastimes and sports reviling the Godly or other more secret wickednesses and pollutions any of which may bespeak thee in a state of sin and wrath joyned with thy living in the neglect of known duties upon which neglect God hath pronounced a curse as the neglect of secret or Family-prayer Jer. 10. ult Or if thou hast not been engaged in gross sins but hast been sober and well carriaged from thy youth up yet thou mayst be still in a state of sin but go a little more soberly to Hell and in more danger of being damned in thy civil sober carriage than great sinners with which thou art apt to compare thy self and seeing thy self not so bad as them thinkest all is well but remember well what hath been proved that sin is greater in the Fountain than the streams though it make a greater noise or shew to others in the stream of ones life thou hast a Hell in thy nature an infinite fountain of any wickedness that ever any of the Sons or Daughters of men did commit an Idolater an Adulterer a Murderer a Sodomite a Devil in thy Heart and whole frame of thy Nature In a word one sin which thou callest little reigning but in thy heart and cherished there is enough to send thee to Hell as if thou wert the veriest
the heart makes it soft and so it can pour out it self to God in heart-melting confessions at least the poor soul mourns over the hardness of its heart oh that I have thus sinned and yet my heart will not break blessed be every stroak and every word of God and every Ordinance that through grace breaks my heart more A sincere soul sets a high price upon brokenness and yet rests not in it c. 5. Such confession that hath the promise is accompanied with soul abasement He that humbleth himself shall be exalted Luke 18.14 spoken upon the Publicans acceptance with God in his Confession smiting upon his breast in a deep abasement not lifting up his eyes to Heaven So that great promise 2 Chron. 7.14 If my people shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sins This is a work of the narrowest search of any other I intend if the Lord will to speak to this more distinctly and fully only now a word of Humiliation as is joyned with such confession that hath the promise of pardon which is the scope we drive at 1. When the Soul is in confession and under the Lords humblings in order to pardon The poor Creature acknowledgeth himself infinitely unworthy that ever the Lord should cast a look upon him or give out mercy and pardon to him This Conclusion is fixed upon the soul and the Soul falls down abased in the sense of it whatever the Lord do with me I will lay my mouth in the dust I am worthy of nothing from the Lord but a thousand Hells this quiets the heart in some measure whatever the pleasure of the Lord be towards him 2. As the poor sinful Creature is worthy of nothing so he will give glory to God if God never pardon God is never the less righteous or holy if he never let out one drop of mercy upon so vile a Creature Thou art holy saith David Psal 22.3 But I am a worm and no man verse 6. A worm fit for God and man to tread upon and yet must not rise up against God nor say to him what doest thou No Man I have unman'd my self with sin I am dust and vanity it self vile dust that 's my make my frame Oh I must give glory to his justice though I perish for ever 3. The poor Creature hath no good no not the least to procure pardon or to move God to pardon Psal 14.3 Saith a poor humbled soul treating for pardon if mercy and pardon must come forth upon terms of my good having or doing any thing but what hath infinitely Sin enough in it to damn me for ever assuredly to Hell I must No Sin enough to send a world of souls to Hell but not a drop of good to move the Lord to mercy If God give out mercy upon a Sight of good I expect not a drop from him 4. It follows from hence when a sinner comes humbled he comes as nothing else but a sinner Luke 18.13 God be merciful to me a sinner One that 's nothing else but a wretched Sinner for so the Publican means it as in a contrary frame to the Pharisee who thanks God that he was not so bad as many were though the Pharisee no doubt would acknowledge some Sin but now the Publican is All a sinner in as bad a condition as any Sinner in the World Poor Souls in these days they hope they have not so much need of Christ as many great sinners they be not nothing else but Sinners they have or do some good The discussion of this will be the next discourse only now a word more Know Sinner that one Sin strikes off all thy pretended good as shall at large through mercy be proved to thee Stick to one drop of good in thee or from thee when thou comest for mercy and pardon and thou losest all Oh to be wholly condemned wholly unrighteous wholly a sinner is a great work 't is the most distinguishing conviction of any other While a man hath any thing to live upon he is not fit to beg so while a soul hath a drop of any thing that in his own sense may the more admit him to pardon he cannot have it Take it thus If one come to your doors and beg and he hath good Cloaths on his Back and he should say I have good Cloaths on my back I have something of my own therefore I pray give me Would you not answer if you have something of your own and are pretty well cloathed why should you beg 't is not for you come and ask alms But if a poor naked wretch come and say and cry Oh I am a poor Creature a poor naked destitute creature I have nothing all 's gone I have lost all pray cover me pray feed me out of great pity you will look upon such a poor Wretch and do something for him if you have any bowels So if a Sinner as that Pharisee did come and say Lord I have done this and this I have not been so wicked as many I do some good therefore pardon that therefore will make the Lord send thee away without mercy No saith God live upon what thou hast if thou hast any thing Oh Sinner thou art not fit to beg to beg mercy and pardon till thou hast just nothing of thy own which the natural pride of thy heart will very hardly come off to 5. In the way of Mens Tribunals of Justice and Courts of Life and Death If a Malefactor be condemned by the Law and he yet plead Though I am proved a Thief or a Murderer yet I have kept the rest of the Law I have broken no Law of the Nation that deserves death beside shall not this rather justifie me than this crime condemn me No saith the Judge That 's nothing to us though thou hast kept the Law in other things thou must dye by the Law as a Transgressor of it for this thou hast done Why then saith the condemned person I must plead all mercy Just so it is at the Tribunal of God comes a poor Soul that is convinced he hath sinn'd Oh but saith he in his heart I have kept the Law in many or most things will not that commend me to God Will not God look upon my good more than my evil No saith God in his word thou hast broken the Law and thou art cursed therefore the Law can shew thee no mercy I can take no notice of any of thy pretended keeping of it in any other thing Oh then must a poor Sinner say then it must be all all of mercy if I am ever pardoned this may be enough to discover such a humiliation that follows confession that hath the promise of pardon 6. One thing more which I shall but mention such a confession of sin as hath the promise of mercy is accompanied with a firm resolution
Reasons of the Design of the Blessed God in this may be gathered from the Scriptures The Free-grace of God is the Fountain of all in any sinners salvation 1. Because There is nothing in the Creature that may move God to save him Nothing at all all we know or do could not move God to mercy Deut. 7.7 8. The Lord did not set his love upon you because you were more in number than any people but because he freely loved you c. Not for your sake do I do this c. Ezek. 36.32 2. As God saw nothing in him so the sinner is able to bring nothing to God to draw out mercy of his own therefore saith the Lord Isa 55.1 let him come without his price As the sinner lost all his good so he can procure none anew to bring to God that may in the least move the heart of God to give out more to him 3. If it were not all of Grace then the Creature would have occasion of boasting but the Lord in infinite wisdom so laid the Project of a sinners Salvation that no Creature should have the least ground of boasting So the Apostle having given out the Doctrine of Grace in this Scripture we are upon draws this conclusion ver 27. Where is boasting then It is excluded c. So in the 1 Cor. 1.29 the Holy Ghost lays down this as the main scope of God in the Gospel That No flesh should glory in his presence Therefore Salvation is all of Grace of Free-grace 4. If it were not so The glory of God would not be so great in the Salvation of a sinner 'T is now so laid that all might be to the praise of the glory of his Grace Ephes 1.6 It being the highest piece of glory that the Wise and Blessed God did ever design unto himself that his free rich abundant infinite grace might be made known in the Salvation of a Sinner That he might make known the riches of his glory on the Vessels of Mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory Rom. 9.23 Vse 1. If God's Free-grace be the Fountain of all in a poor Sinners Salvation then let it establish our judgments in this Doctrine Therefore God had no respect to any fore-sight of Faith or Works in the Creature God had no respect to the freeness of his Will for he knew he had none God had no respect to any conditions to be wrought in us but all he did and doth was from absolute Independing Grace Nothing moved him but his own Free-grace The same Free-grace that pardons gives and works all in us all from the same Fountain 2. If all be of Free-grace then there is no meritorious procuring Cause in us that moves the Lord to mercy Now the contrary is naturally rooted in our hearts poor Souls are most apt to conceive that if they can grieve for their sins repent and reform this will sure move God to mercy and pardon A most dangerous snare from which a Soul after much conviction is hardly wrought off Now though God in the way of a sinners Salvation hath promised to give Repentance Act. 5.31 and a Spirit of mourning for sin Yet a poor soul must take heed that he make not this a procuring cause of Pardon Many a Soul sticks here before emptied of himself even of his very repenting and so come for grace and mercy upon the account of the Free-promise only How many a Sinner might have been saved if he would have been saved freely 3. If God hath so laid the Design to save a Sinner freely then how great how just is the Condemnation of guilty sinners that will not hasten in unto it how could the Lord have laid it more freely than he hath Oh that any sinner for ever condemned to Hell without it should withstand it Why sinner Shall the blessed God that might have much glory in condemning thee to all Eternity be willing to save thee freely and wilt thou not come and bow unto him and accept of it All the contempt of God in all his holy Commands is not like this to turn the back upon Free-Mercy Free-Salvation This will be the Worm that never dies to any of your Souls that shall not come into and rightly accept of Gospel-Salvation that you might have been saved freely have had grace remission of sins Jesus Christ the Spirit Eternal Life freely and yet turned your backs upon it But you may demand How is it that any sinner doth so What is it that causeth any Soul to forego Free-grace and Mercy when held out unto him that we may beware of such hinderances I will therefore shew you such Hinderances that keep Souls from accepting of God's Free-grace in Jesus Christ when held out unto them 1. Wilful Obstinacy Joh. 5.40 Ye will not come unto me that you might have life Ye will not such is the stubborness and rebellion of the heart of a sinner that he will not as we speak because he will not to such a height hath sin raised the heart of the rebellious children of men for every natural man till made sensible of unbelief thinks he hath power of himself though he hath not but his Rebellion lies in his Will I would have gathered you and you would not Mat. 33. last 2. A sinner doth not accept of Free-grace because he stands upon his self-justification he will not be perswaded he hath so much need of all Free-grace as the Gospel discovers as hath been shewed at large though he hath sinned yet also he hath obeyed and so he puts one against the other his obedience against his sin and so hopes to get that mercy he hath need of And upon this ground more sinners even that profess the Name of God do miss of Heaven than any other in the World 'T is not so easie a matter to submit to God's Free-grace alone as many do imagine Upon this Snare many of the Jewish Professors of Christ fell short as 't is clear from the Epistle to the Galathians and did frustrate the grace of God 3. A Sinner hath a secret thought of making God satisfaction by his sorrow and amendment and so makes void the Free-grace of God 'T is the easiest thing in the World to put up legal sorrow and amendment of life to God as that which may make God amends yea to make an attonement of every Duty which is the closest and most desperate evil of the heart So did the Jew by his sacrifices and obedience which caused the Lord to pronounce them That his soul loathed them Isa 1. 4. A Sinner doth not savingly close with free grace from secret pride of heart he would not be found so poor and helpless so unrighteous and ungracious as to be beholden to free mercy for all many persons will rather starve than beg than live upon another mans mercy 'T is so between a sinner and the Lord till God humble him he 'd rather venture Hell than come and
acknowledge utter Condemnation nothing but sin upon him and so stoop to free mercy 5. The sinner stands off from Free-grace because he will make his own terms He will condition for his carnal case his self-interest his bosom lust the love of the World and hopes God will allow him his terms which he proposeth to himself and herein he is ruined Now God hath drawn up the tenour of his free-grace in the way of a Covenant and though there are no conditions left to the creature to make good on his part by his own power for that will easily imply a self-sufficiency in him and is absolutely derogatory from the grace of God in the Gospel-Covenant yet God hath drawn up as I may so speak what other good things he will bestow on the subjects of his free-grace Namely The Law to be new written in their hearts the gift of the Spirit Newness of heart with the making good of all those promises in a degree that hold forth Holiness and new Obedience which must accompany the free pardon of sins and make indeed the free grace of God more glorious Inasmuch as when he pardons them he will save them from the service of sin work his Image upon them bring them to a blessed conformity to himself which consider'd aright sweetens and heightens the free-grace of God and makes the terms of it more blessed In a word Mercy and Holiness must go together a Saviour and Sanctifier which a sinner from the cursed love of ease and satisfaction to his lust sticks at and so comes not up to Gods terms which are blessed and holy and so misseth of grace and mercy for ever because he chooseth Sin rather than Holiness 6. Yea a sinner and I speak all this while of such as pretend to an interest in free mercy misseth of this grace because he takes up the terms of God in his Covenant-grace in his own strength will repent and come up to new obedience before he comes to the promise to the free grace of God for it which is also a dangerous snare A Sinners first work being convinced as we have opened is to throw himself upon the free grace of God for all to give all to work all and to follow God by vertue of Promises of such good and Grace as the tenour of the Covenant holds forth 'T is an usual thing for poor Souls first to think to convert themselves make themselves holy and then come to God and Jesus Christ this is an indirect course Oh! a poor Soul must begin at the Foundation of Gods free Grace for Christ for Pardon for the Spirit for Conversion for Holiness for all as held out in Promises and then the work will be sure and prosper and nought shall hinder it 7. Sinners fail of this free Grace of God from a neglect and a sleighting of it Heb. 2.3 How shall you escape if you neglect so great salvation Sinners do hear that though they are sinners and condemned in a damnable estate yet Jesus Christ will save them if they will come unto him sit them for Heaven and do it himself for them and in them yet through a desperate folly security and careless temper the heart being in a dead sleep they wretchedly neglect it 8. From the power of Unbelief which they are under and see it not Thus have I shewed those special hindrances that cause poor Souls that hear of Gospel-grace to withstand it and for ever to miss of it Oh that this word of the Lord might find you out and might be as a glass to shew you your own hearts you who by a wilful obstinacy have withstood the Gospel-calls hitherto Oh now fall down before the Lord and cry I yield I yield thou blessed God thy Patience thy freest Grace hath overcome me Lord take away a rebellious obstinate heart from me Ah Lord Thou hast waited to be gracious and Christ and Mercy and Heaven have been offered to so vile a Wretch freely Now Lord I throw my self at thy feet a thousand Hells are too good for me But if grace infinite grace be free there 's yet hope for me If there be not grace enough in Heaven for me let me go to the depth of Hell But Lord I take hold of thee I desire to do it Oh do thou take hold of me and I shall not perish You who have stood upon your terms and hoped you had righteousness enough to cover you and God would look upon that and not upon your sin you are the most abominable in God's sight You who secretly in your hearts think your sorrowing and reforming makes God amends You who have wrapt your selves in these Cobwebs and through pride of heart will not lay them down Oh if thou wilt have mercy thou must have all in a way of mercy and grace all freely or nothing at all see all thy righteousness made void by one sin against the Law and therefore cursed and condemned by it therefore thou hast no Plea but free mercy and grace Oh lay down all thy other Pleas they will never be heard in Heaven and now cry out Oh 't is of grace Proud selfish Wretch that I have been 't is all of free grace if ever I am saved If God cannot pardon freely bestow Jesus Christ freely I am undone for ever Oh the wicked castings of my heart this way and that way Oh there 's nothing nothing but infinite misery to move mercy All my goodness is an accursed thing as from my self There 's an infinite Fountain of sin and self-righteousness in men Oh could I come to an infinite Fountain of grace Thus thou wilt come to God when he shall smite thy heart which now look up unto him to do You who have been making your own terms of ease and lusts and world Oh render up your hearts to the gracious blessed holy terms that God proposeth Why shouldst thou not be willing to be made holy Why should not the Lord rather rule thee than sin and the Devil What more beautiful and glorious than the Image of God Oh accept of Holiness with Mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ Come unto him for both be willing to be set apart for God a Vessel purged and sanctified for his use and thou shalt behold the face of God shining upon thee and whatever is laid up in Christ in Promises in Heaven and Glory shall be thine You who have thought to make your selves holy and then come to Christ to be justified be convinced of your great Error and now come as sinners to Jesus Christ to be justified and sanctified in him and see all grace laid up in Jesus Christ for such as come unto him Say Oh blessed Lord Jesus I cannot fit my self for thee If thou canst not accept me as a poor undone helpless sinner coming unto thee I never expect a blessing from thee And you who have sleighted this free rich and glorious grace see what you have done and be abased
and thence concludeth ver 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ purge the Conscience c. A much more upon that above all the Sacrifices that were offered up to God which will appear 1. Because of the eternal Godhead of Christ's Person by which he offer'd up his blood unto his Father Heb. 9.14 Who through the eternal Spirit offered up himself without spot to God Which put an infinite value and efficacy upon the offering of his blood inasmuch as Jesus Christ was God as well as Man though he could only dye in his humane nature yet the efficacy of his Godhead had an influence upon the price of his dying which put an infinite worth upon it and so renders it full and perfect Redemption 2. The price of the blood of Jesus Christ did not only give a bare Satisfaction to the justice of God but it had an infinite Merit in it a redundancy of Merit whereby it deserved at the hands of God that Sinners that are interessed in it should have remission of Sins grace the love of God and glory to come spiritual blessings which the death of Christ purchased for the elect which being also by the free purpose and compact of God there must necessarily arise an infinite Merit in it 3. The All-sufficiency of the price of Christ's blood is evidenced by his Resurrection and Ascension into Glory implying that he wrought forth full and perfect Redemption by his Death therefore he is said to rise again for our Justification Rom. 4. last and to be justified in the spirit 1 Tim. 3. last that is God by raising him from the dead justified him in the attonement he had made by his Death and that he did chearfully accept of satisfaction by it 4. The Blood of Christ procures boldness of access to God therefore there is an infinite worth in the price of it Heb. 10.19 Having therefore Brethren Boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus which boldness doth arise from the full satisfaction that is made to Divine Justice in as much as God upon the Acceptance of it hath nothing to charge upon the Sinner himself no quarrel against him having charged his sins upon Christ and therefore the poor sinner may come with an humble boldness into the Presence of God and this is that which puts boldness into the Conscience of a Believer when he appears before God 5. From the Experience of it the soulest Sinners that have come unto it have been washed from their sins by it as 1 Cor. 6.11 Idolaters Adulterers Sodomites Drunkards Revilers have been washed and justified and sanctified by it The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin 1 John 1.7 6. It cleanseth and perfects them for ever therefore called eternal Redemption once for all and for ever Heb. 10.10 19. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified once justified and for ever Now from this Satisfaction Merit All-sufficiency of the Sacrifice of the blood of Jesus to cleanse a sinner to commend him to God how safely may a sinner venture his Soul upon it which is the first act of Faith A poor sinner when under conviction and the terror of the Lord hath taken hold of him lies trembling before the Lord whether God will let out Justice or Mercy upon him he is ready to give glory to the justice of the Lord if he reject him for ever But now if a poor soul get a sight of the blood of Christ how it deals with the justice of God what full and all-sufficient Satisfaction it hath made to God for the sins of such as plead it to him how God more delights in it than in the condemning of the sinner what a stay is this to the wavering doubtful spirit of a poor sinner when he can come to see justice to have its due and so God can freely let out Remission to a poor Soul upon the very first Act of a poor sinners closing with it though not presently evidenced in his Conscience Oh sinner venture the Issue of all upon this price of the Blood of Jesus thou may'st see thou hast the greatest reason in the world to do so thou wilt never come to have a safe bottom for thy Soul till thou comest thus to deal with the justice of God as fully satisfied by the blood of Jesus Christ thou wilt still be off and on about Free-Mercy till thou come to fix here and be in some good measure established in it Be daily in exercising thy Soul in such ventures and castings upon it and the Spirit will at last witness Peace and Reconciliation to thy Conscience In a word Sinners you that have had no stay to your spirits for the forgiveness of your sins but a blind hope of Mercy look up look up to the justice of God and see this way of access to God for you by the blood of Jesus Oh! let not any prophane sinner trample it under foot cast it back upon the blessed face of God say not in thy heart Let God take the blood of his Son to himself I 'le not be washed from my Sins I 'le not be sanctified I 'le rest as I am Desperate Sinner of how much sorer punishment shalt thou be thought worthy than any Sinner under Heaven who rejectest the only worthy price of a Sinners Salvation Know the great God will let out all his justice upon thee to the utmost and Oceans of his Wrath shall fall upon thee if thou thus abuse the blood of his Son a greater guilt than all thy Ungodliness thou hast hitherto been wallowing in from thy youth up Oh! come thou despiser and cast thy soul under the droppings of this blood and it shall cleanse thee though thy soul were as black as Hell Zach. 13.1 And thou poor formal out-side Professor who never didst feel the vertue healing life and warmth of the blood of Christ upon thy heart Oh rest not in good thoughts of it only but come believingly to it as thou hast been exhorted Say and that with thy heart Now Lord I would know the power and efficacy of this Redemption upon my poor soul Wash me Lord wash me I renounce all but the blood of this Christ as to making way to God for me Oh! let it pacifie my Conscience and purge my Conscience and I shall be clean If the Spirit of the Lord shall work thy heart to come as a guilty helpless unholy sinner in thy self to this blood of Jesus and make thy approaches to God daily and argue for Grace and Remission upon it and purging thy Soul these inestimable blessings will be the issue of it which I will but name to thee 1. Thou shalt certainly find forgiveness of thy sins In whom we have Redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our sins Ephes 1.7 God will remember them no more against thee and thou shalt have peace with thy God for ever 2. God will let forth
1. From the tenour of the New Covenant in which way God hath obliged himself to give out mercy and in no other Now thus runs the New-Covenant this is the great Article of it Make you a new heart and a new Spirit Ezek. 11.31 Which God promiseth to give to all he takes into a Covenant of mercy and peace with himself I will put a new Spirit within you and a new heart will I give unto you Ezek. 11.19 And to the same purpose Ezek. 36.26 Wherein as we shall shew lies the special part of the New-Creature 2. Because the Old man all that is of the First Adam the whole frame thereof is corrupted and polluted therefore it must be repaired renewed be made new if ever it enter into glory Ephes 4.22 That ye put off concerning the Former Conversation the Old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that ye put on the New man that after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness 3. Whosoever shall be saved shall be a New-Creature from the great design of God in giving out his Son Jesus Christ which was that all the Elect should be made conformable to the Image of his Son Rom. 8.29 For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the first born among many Brethren Jesus Christ is called the express Image of the Father Heb. 1. And to that Image all Believers shall be conformed Jesus Christ the first-born and all his Brethren to be made conformable unto him God was infinitely pleased with such a Pattern and resolved all that he gave to him and designed for glory should be conformed to his likeness 4. All the services that a sinner offers to God are not accepted till a New Creature till a Soul shall act from a new living holy principle towards God Pray and hear and give Alms God regards it not till a New-Creature So the Word of the Lord often casts back the services of unregenerate men upon their faces as loathsom to the Lord because they proceed from the old corrupt Adam from unchanged Natures Isa 1.15 When you cry I will not hear you Why You are in your uncleanness therefore Wash you make you clean Vse Oh let this make for your Instruction and Conviction that if ever you come to God in glory you must first be New-Creatures If you will have mercy you must have it in the way of the New-Covenant and if so you must be made new While you have nothing but the Old Adam you are corrupt and polluted and abominable If you shall become the Brethren of the first-born Jesus Christ you must bear his Image and have it renewed upon you Oh you that are yet in your old sins and walk after your Old Lusts you are not New Creatures You will not think so thefore sit down with this conviction That as yet you have no part in this blessedness Oh! All of you who are the same that ever you were whether living in gross sins or sober and civil from your youth up you are yet of the Old Adam nothing but corrupt nature upon you Your hope is vain and you are blinded in your sins and the Grace of God is not in you 2. Oh! Let me before I go further put this to tryal and suffer the word of the Lord which shall one day judge you can you say in good earnest Old things are past away and all things are become new in me Now I am a Vessel in the hand of God wrought by his Spirit and there is through infinite grace a new workmanship upon my Soul I shall lay down rules for the particular discovery of this only at present yield up your conscience to the power of the Word do not slink from under it if it find you out in your sin in nature the same that ever you were give glory to God and say the word of the Lord is quick and powerful and go off with this conviction in power upon thy soul I never expect to go to Heaven and glory if I become not through Grace a New Creature But before I go further I would open that every soul that is a New Creature must be in Christ and why So saith the Apostle to these Corinths in this Epistle 13. Chap. 5. Examine your selves prove your own selves know you not that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates ye are created into Christ Jesus Ephes 2.10 If a man abide not in me he is cast out as a Branch and is withered John 15.6 Now herein lies the great Mystery of Godliness unto which all our Evidences for Heaven are resolved and therefore this is a weighty enquiry I am to speak of it especially as it relates to the making and forming the New-Creature This being in Christ is expressed by being rooted into Christ Col. 2.7 Planted into him Rom. 6. Built up in him Col. 2. All which bespeaks a real union with him that this is not a meer imaginary thing but as true and real as the union between the root and the branches John 15. and the foundation and the building Ephes 2. which is wrought by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus drawing and uniting true believers unto him the same Spirit dwelling in them Rom. 8.9 10 11. By his Spirit that dwelleth in you Now to consider Why all that are New Creatures according to the Gospel must be so in Christ 1. Such as are Gospel New Creatures must be in Christ because if they be New Creatures they must be Living Creatures Now God hath laid up all life that shall be dispenced forth in his Son Jesus Christ John 5.21 26. The Son quickneth whom he will for as the Father hath life in himself So he hath given to the Son to have Life in himself Because I live ye shall live also John 14.19 Now naturally all sinners are dead in the old Adam and utterly unable to beget life in themselves Who can make alive his own soul but when they were New-born as new Creatures they are said to be quickned in Christ Ephes 2.5 As God breathed life into man at first and so he became a living soul so in the new Creation the soul is said to be created into Christ Ephes 2.10 and to be made Alive in him Rom. 6.11 2. If there were not a real union of the soul with Christ life if it should be given without it would not be preserved in the soul Thou holdest our Soul in life Psal 66.9 As the branch though it was once quickned cannot preserve its life if cut off from the root and therefore a continued supply of life from Jesus Christ to the soul is necessary as to all its spiritual actings as a new Creature 3. By being in Christ the Soul is made partaker of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 by which the regenerate part all gracious
That ye put off concerning the former Conversation the Old Man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts and be renewed c. Knowing this that our Old Man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed Rom. 6.6 This is the main Work of the New-Creature where it is really formed in Christ to destroy and purge out the Defilements and Dregs of the Old Man of Sin Self Corruption that it may be as a new Lump as a Vessel made meet for the Lord's use as formed up set apart anointed sanctified for God and his use here and for ever AMEN To the Blessed God Alone be all the Glory FINIS Childrens Bread OR The First Principles of the Knowledge of GOD. To Season the Heads and Hearts of Young Ones betimes By way of QUESTION and ANSWER Train up a Child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Prov. 22.6 And that from a Child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures 2 Tim. 3.15 By A. P. late Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed in the Year 1695. Childrens Bread or the first Principles of the Knowledge of GOD c. Quest WHo made you a living Soul Answ God who made all things made me a living Soul Gen. 2.7 Psal 139.14 Q. Who is God A. God is a Spirit the great and holy and good God Joh. 4.24 Jer. 32.18 Q. Is there but one God A. There is but one true and living God in three Persons the Father Son and Spirit 1 Thes 1.9 1 Ep. Joh. 5.7 Q. How is God known A. God is known by his works and by his holy Word Psal 102.24 Prov. 2.1 2 3 4 5. Q. Why did God give you such a Soul A. God gave me a Soul to know him and glorifie him Col. 3.10 Rev. 15.4 Q. What will become of your Soul when you dye A. My Soul must go to God in Heaven or else be damned in Hell Fire for ever Mat. 25. last Joh. 5.29 Q. How came your Soul to be in danger of Hell-fire A. Because I have sinned against God I deserved eternal Damnation Psa 9.17 Rom. 2.9 Q. How came you to sin against God A. The first Man Adam sinned and brake the Covenant of God and I in him Rom. 5.18 19. Gen. 2.17 Q. What is the sin of your Nature A. My Nature is corrupted with sin and hath the seed of all sin Psal 14.1 Psal 51.5 Q. What is sin A. Sin is the breaking of God's Commandments Deut. 11.27 28. 1 Ep. Joh. 3.4 Q. How many are the Commandments of the Law A. The Law of God contains ten Commandments written in Exod. 20. Deut. 5. Q. What is the first Commandment A. Thou shalt have none other Gods but me Exod. 20.3 Q. What doth the first Commandment require A. To have one God for my God and to love him above all things Deut. 6.4 5. Mat. 22.37 Q. What is the second Commandment A. Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image c. Exod. 20.4 5. Q. What is required in this Commandment A. To Worship God according to his own Word and not after mens Inventions Mat. 15.10 Isa 29.13 Q. What is the third Commandment A. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain Exod. 20.7 Q. What doth the third Commandment require A. To think and speak of God with reverence and fear and not to take his Name in vain Deut. 28.58 Prov. 1.7 Q. What is the fourth Commandment A. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day c. Exod. 20.8 Q. What doth this Commandment teach you A. To keep the Lords day holy and not to spend it in vain sports and idle words Isa 58.13 Rev. 1.10 Q. What is the fifth Commandment A. Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Exod. 20.12 Q. What doth this Commandment of God teach you A. To give Honour to all to whom it is due and to obey my Parents in the Lord Tit. 3.1 Eph. 6.1 2. Q. What is the sixth Commandment A. Thou shalt do no Murther Exod. 20.13 Q. What is required in the sixth Commandment A. To do good to every one and not to have angry thoughts or angry words Mat. 5.21 22. Prov. 19.11 Q. What is the seventh Commandment A. Thou shalt not commit Adultery Exod. 20.14 Q. What is the meaning of this Commandment A. To keep my self from all Uncleanness and to be Chast in my thoughts and words Mat. 5.27 28. Eph. 4.19 Q. What is the eighth Commandment A. Thou shalt not Steal Exod. 20.15 Q. What doth this Commandment forbid A. It forbids me to take any thing that is anothers or to spend what is mine own vainly Eph. 4.28 1 Cor. 6.10 Q. What is the ninth Commandment A. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbours Exod. 20.16 Q. What is the duty of the ninth Commandment A. It requires the speaking truth to others and forbids lying Zach. 8.16 Ephes 4.25 Q. What is the tenth Commandment A. Thou shalt not Covet c. Exod. 20.17 Q. What is required in the tenth Commandment A. To be content with those things that I have and not to have a covetous heart Luk. 12.32 Heb. 13.5 Q. Have you kept these Commandments of God A. No I have sinned by evil thoughts and words and deeds and come short of fulfilling the Law of God Mat. 15.19 Rom. 3.23 Q. What is due to you for sin A. Sin hath brought the curse of God upon my Soul and made me a Child of Wrath by Nature Gal. 3.10 Ephes 2.3 Q. How may you escape the wrath and anger of God A. God in his rich mercy hath revealed Salvation from sin by Jesus Christ Joh. 2.4 1 Tim. 1.15 Q. Who is Jesus Christ A. Jesus Christ is the Son of God the Father and he took our Nature upon him and became God and Man in one Person Heb. 2.16 1 Tim. 3.16 Q. Why was Jesus Christ made Man A. Jesus Christ was made Man that he might dye for our sins and was raised from the dead Rom. 5.8 1 Cor. 15.3 Q. Why did Jesus Chrst dye for us A. Jesus Christ dyed to redeem us from the Curse of the Law and to work out Righteousness for us Gal. 3.13 1 Cor. 1.30 Q. Where is Jesus Christ A. Jesus Christ is sate down at the right hand of God in Heaven Heb. 1.3 Heb. 8.3 Q. What does Jesus Christ do for us in Heaven A. 1. Jesus Christ is our High Priest in Heaven to plead the shedding of his blood for us and to pray for us 1 Ep. Joh. 2.1 2. Heb. 7.25 2. Jesus Christ is our Prophet to teach us by his Word and Spirit Mat. 17.5 Acts 3.22 3. Jesus Christ is a King to Reign over us Acts 3.35 Rev. 15.3 Q. How may you come to be partakers of this Salvation A. I may become partaker of Salvation by coming to Jesus Christ as a poor