he is our kinsman nearest of blood to us Now you know â—he right of Redemption belonged to the kinsâ—an Lev. 25. 25. And therefore when the nearest kinsman â—ould not redeem Naomi and Ruths parcel of â—and Booz he did it as being next And â—uitable to this our Lord Jesus when others as â—ear could not and were not able He hath â—one it and taken Men and Angels to witnesse that he hath first Redeemed us that he miâ— Marry us as Eph. 5. That he hath purchâ—ed us to be his Wife And indeed the vâ— word imports this Goel a Redeemer â— Kinsman passing under one word So Iâ— I know that my redeemer or my kins-man live And because our Kins-man therefore nâ— interested in our Redemption For for end he became partaker of flash and blood with children that be might destroy our greatest enâ— Satan and redeem us Heb. 2. 14. And besiâ— he hath right to Redemption as the Churcâ— Husband because he must mediat between and all others none can reach her except please or prosecure a plea against her as in case of the Wifes making a vow if her â—band consented not it was void Num. â— But if he heard of it and held his peace it â— confirmed Now the Lord Jesus hath knâ— this Deplorable Estate we are Captives iâ— And he hath testified his utter dislike of binding over our selves to Death and reâ—ing our selves to Satan And therefore â— bondage in which we are detained is not â—firmed and ratified but he hath right remâ—ing to Redeem us from the hand of all our â—mies But then he alone hath Might â— Power to do it for God hath laid help on â— and made him able and mighty to save â— the uttermost It was not Gold or Silver â— Corruptible things Suppose the whole â—â— were turned into Gold or precious Stones â— must give person for person and one persoâ— quivalent to all his own Life his own Blâ— for us And the value of this was infinitely raised by thâ— stamp of his Divinity put upon it the King for the Servant one that knew no sin for sinners yea God for man This superads infinit Worth and makes it an over-ransom and over-purchase a ransom to buy our persons from Hell a purchase to redeem us to our Inheritance Heaven that we had lost and these two stiles it gets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now you see the great Difficulty is overcome and taken out of the way Christ being made a Curse hath purchased a redemption from the Curse of the Law Gal. 4. 13. But yet there is another poynt of vast distance I may say con trariety and enmity between us and him he is Holy and undefiled all fair and no spot in him We are wholly defiled and depraved by sin our Souls are become the habitation of Devils and a Cage of every unclean and hateful Bird In a word he hath not only our Enemies to overcome but our own hearts to conquer and our Enmity to take away This makes the widest separation from him Now he filled up much of the Distance with his taking our flesh and he removed the great Difficulty by dying in our flesh his Humiliation to be a Man brought him nearer us And his further Humiliation to be a Dying Crucified and Buried Man brought him yet a step nearer us But nearer he cannot come for lower he cannot be except he were a sinner which would marr the whole design and take away all the Comfort of his liknesse to us Therefore since he hath come so low down to us it is suitable we be raised up one step to meet him And so the Exaltation of sinners shall make up all the Distance and bring the two parties to that long since designed and long desired meeting Now for this end and purpose the Son undertakes the Redemption of his Church from sin and ungodliness al 's well as wrath And therefore you have that which is expressed as the Character of the redeemed in this Vers It is exponed as the great point or part of the Redemption it self by the Apostle Rom. 11. The Redeemer shall come to Sion to turn all ungodliness from Jacob. And so his end was not only to be partaker of our Nature but to make us partakers of the Divine Nature And therefore the Father out of his Love to this businesse he promiseth to send his Spirit to dwell in our hearts to make the Word sound in our Mouths and Ears and the Spirit to work in our hearts and this Exaltation of sinners to the participation of the Holy Spirit together with Christs Humiliation to partake of our Flesh makes up the full Distance and bringeth Christ and his Church to that holy patient Impatience and longing for the day when it shall be Solemnized in Heaven The Spirit within us sayes come and the bride sayes come even so come Lord Jesus And he waits for nothing but the Compleating and Adorning of all the rest that there may be one Jubilee for all and for ever Now I wish we could understand the Absolute and free Tenor of Gods Covenant There is much controversy speculative about the Condition of the Covenant about the Promises whither Absolute or Conditional And there is too much practical Debate in perplexed Consciences about this how to find something in themselvs to fit and fashion them for the Redemption But truely if we would not disjoyn and dismember the Truth of God but take it all intirely as one great design of Love and Metcy revealed to sinners and so conjoyn the Promises of the Covenant into one bundle we would certainly find that it hath the Voice of Jacob though it seem to have the Hand of Esau we find an absolute most free and inconditioned sense when there is a conditional strain and shadow of words in some places The truth is the turning of souls from ungodliness is not properly a Condition exacted from us as a Promise to be performed in us and the chiefest part of Christs Redemption And though some abuse the grace of God and turn it into wantonness and liberty Yet certainly this Doctrine that makes the greatest part of the glad news of the Gospel to be Redemption from sin and the pouring out of the Spirit is the greatest perswasive to a godly Conversation and the most deadly enemy to all ungodliness I thought to have spoken more of that third thing I proponed but take it in a word This was always proponed to the Church as the strongest Cordial it was given here as the greatest Consolation in all their long Captivity that this Redeemer was after wards to come whose Vertue was then living and present to the quickning and comforting of souls It was thought enough to uphold in a most desperat strait To us a child is born Isai 8. I wish we could take it so Certainly it was the Character of a Believer before Christs coming that he was one that was looking and waiting for the Salvation
mens Projects are cast beyond that time that is measured out in Gods Counsel And what a ridiculous thing must that be to him if it be not done with submissive and humble dependence on him In a word Time is with Child of innumerable things conceived by the Eternal Counsel of God Infinite and inconceiveably Various are these Conceptions which the Womb of Time shall at length bring forth to Light Every Day every Hour every Minute is travelling in pain as it were and is delivered of some one Birth or another and no Creature can open its Womb sooner or shut it longer then the appointed and prefixed Season There is no miscarying as to him whose Decrees do properly conceive them tâ—ough to us they seem often Abortive Now joyn unto this to make the Allusion full as long as they are carried in the Womb of Time they are hid from all the World The Womb is a dark Lodging and no Understanding nor Eye can pierce into it to tell what is in it till it break forth And therefore Children born are said to come to the Light for till then they are to us in a Cloud of darknesse that we cannot tell what they are So then every Day every Hour every Moment is about to bring forth that which all the World is ignorant of till they see it And Oh that then they understood it We know not whether the Morrows or next Hours Birth may be a proportioned Child or a Monster whether it will answer the Figure and Mould that is in our mind or be mishapen and deformed to our Sense Mans desires and designes may be said to conceive for they form an inward Image and Idea within themselves to which they labour to make the Product and Birth of Time conformable And when it answers our preconceived form then we rejoyce as for a Man-child But for the most part it is a Monster as to our Conception it is an Aberration from our Rule It is either mutilate and defective of what we desire or superfluous or deformed which turns our expectation into vexation and our boasting into lamentation But the truth is Time brings forth no Monsters as to the Lords Decrees which are the only just measures of all things It may be said of every thing under the Sun as David speaks of himself in the Womb My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously formed in the lowest parts of the Earth c. Psal 139. 15. His Eyes see all their substance Yet being imperfect and in his everlasting Book all their Members are written The Portraicture of every thing is drawn there to the Life and these in continuance are fashioned just as they were written and drawn and so they exactly correspond to his pre-conception of them whatever deformity they may have as to us yet they are perfect Works and beautiful to him SERMON VIII Isaiah 1. 10 11. c. Hear the Word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodom give ear unto the Word of the Lord ye People of Gomorrah IT is strange to think what Mercy is mixed with the most Wrath-like Stroaks and Threatnings There is no Prophet whose Office and Commission is only for Judgment Nay to speak the truth it is Mercy that premises Threatnings The entering of the Law both in the Commands and Curses is to make sin abound that Grace may superabound So that both Rods and Threatnings are the Messengers of Jesus Christ to bring sinners to him for Salvation Every thing should be measured and named by its end So call Threatnings Promises call Rods and Judgements Mercies Name all good and good to you if so be ye understand the purpose of God in these The shortest Preaching in the Bible useth to expresse it self what it means though it be never so terrible This is a sad and lamentable beginning of a Prophets Ministery The first word is to the Heavens and to the Earth A weighty and horrible regrate of this People as if none of them were to hear as if the Earth could be more easily affected then they The Creatures are taken witnesses by God of their ingratitude and then who shall speak for them If Heaven and Earth be against them who shall speak good of them Will their own Conscience No certainly it will in the day of Witnessing and Judging precipitate its sentence and spare the Judge the labour of probation A mans enemy shall be within his own house though now your Consciences agree with you Nay why doth the Lord speak to them Because the People consider not because Consciences have given over speaking to them Therefore the Lord directs his Word to the dumb Earth Yet how gracious is he as to direct a second word even to the People though a sad word Iâ— is a complaint of iniquity and backsliding and such as cannot be uttered Yet it is Mercy to challenge them yea to chasten them If the Lord would threaten a man with pure and unmixed Judgements if he would frame a threatning of a Rod of pure Justice I think it should be this I will no more reprove thee nor chasten thee And he is not far from it when he sayes why shall ye be stricken any more c. vers 5. As if he would say it is in vain now to send a Rod ye receive no correction I sent the Rod that it might open your hearts and eares to the Word and seal your instruction but to what purpose is it Ye grow worse and worse Well the Prophet campares here Sin and Judgement and the one far surmounts the other Ye would think a desolate Countrey burnt Cities Desolation made by Strangers a sufficient recompense of their corruption and misorders of their forsaking and backsliding Ye would think now if your present condition and the Lands pressed you to utter Jeremiahs Lamentation a sadder then which is not almost imaginable ye would think I say that you had received double for all your sins And yet alas how are your iniquities of infinite more desert All that were Mercy which is behind infinite and eternal punishment that there is room left for complaint it is Mercy that there is a remnant left it is Mercy Now to proclaim unto this People and to convince them that their Judgement was not severe He gives them one word from God And indeed it is strange that when the Rod is sent because of the despising of the Word that after the despising of both Word and Rod another word should come Alwayes this word is a Convincing Word a Directing Word and a Comforting Word These use to be conjoyned and if they be not alwayes expressed we may lawfully understand them We may joyn a Consolation to a Conviction and close a Threatning with a Promise if we take with a Threatning Jonahs Preaching expressed no more but a Threatning and Denounciation of Judgement but the people undeâ—stood it according to Gods meaning and made it a Rule of
particular antipathy against and refuse others But the Lord will not be so served As he will not share with the world and divide the Soul and service of man with Creatures so as Mâ—mmon should get part and he his part No if we choose the one we must refuse the other for so will he not suffer his Word and Commands to be divided There must be some universality in respect of the Gospel and the Law and a conjunction of these two or we cannot please him If Religion do not include the Gospel we are yet upon the old Covenant of Works according to which none can be justified If it do not include the Law in the Hands of a Mediator then we turn the Grace of god unto wantonness If it shut out Jesus Christ and have no use of him how can either we or our performances stand or be accepted before his holy eyes If it exclude the Law that Christ came to establish how can he be pleased with our religion Both of these offer an indignity to the Son of God The Sum then of Christian Religion is Believing and Sanctification of the spirit unto obedience that is the root and fountain this is the fruit and stream Justification of our persons and sanctification of our lives and hearts This is pure Religion and undefiled And therefore Isaiah sayes Wash you make you clean Cleanse in the only true fountain of Christs blood It is not your purifications of the Law your many washings with water and hysope It is not the blood of buls and goats can purge your consciences from dead works they do but purify your flesh but cannot wash your souls worse defiled This blood of Jâ—sus Christ is that clean water that he must sprinkle on you if you would be clean If you take any other water any other righteousness but his and wash thy self therewith suppose it be snow water that washeth cleanest thy most exact conversation yet he will plunge thee in the mire till thy own cloaths abhore thee Job 9. 30 31. Now when ye have washed your persons ye need not save to wash your feet sayes Christ your dayly conversation reform it in the vertue of that blood for we are not called to uncleanness but unto holiness And therefore Put away the evil of yoor doings c. God hath put away the guilt of your doings by Justification now put ye away the evil of your doings by Sanctification c. And if ye would know what Sanctification is Cease to do evil do not return to the old puddle to wallow in it Ye that are cleansed by this blood O! think how unbeseeming it is to you to defile your selves again with these things ye are cleansed from But now learn to do well ye are given up to Christ ye must be his Disciples and he will teach you Learn of me sayes Christ you need no other law almost but his example he is a visible and speaking law yet seek Judgement As ye ought to look on my example so especially ponder that word and rule of practice and behaviour that I have left behind me and given out as the law-giver of the redeemed have I redeemed you And should not I be the redeemmed and ransomed ones King Is there any society in the world wants a law order and government neither must ye who are delivered from bondage enfranchised and made free indeed Now ye should of all men most live by a law And when ye know that rule then apply it to your several vocations and callings let the Magistrat act according to it and every man according to it Religion consists not in a general notion but condescends to our particular practice to reform it You see then what we would presse upon your Consciences It is true religion that we would have you perswaded unto All men have some kind of Religion even Heathens who worship Idols but the true religion respects the true and living God Now what is it to worship the true and living God what is the service of him that may be called Religion indeed Should we be the prescrivers of it No certainly he must carve solely in that or else it cannot please him Therefore To the Law and to the Testemony if ye speak not according to this and worship not according to this word of God it is because there is no light into you Ye may have a religion before men pure and undefiled but if it be not so before God and the father I pray you to what purpose is it I am sure it is all lost labour nay it is labour with loss instead of gain O that ye were perswaded to look and search the Scriptures Think ye to have eternal life out of them and think ye to have eternal life by them who do not labour to know the way of it set down there Every on of you have a different model of religion according to your fancies and breedings according as your lusts will suffer you The rule that the most part walk by is the course and example of the world Is not this darknesse and grosse darkness Others model their duties according to their ability they will do all they can do with ease and without troubling themselves and they think God may be well pleased with that I pray you consider and hear the word of the Lord and Law of your God hath he set down here the rule and perfect patern of true Religion and will ye never so much own it as to examine yours according to it the scriptures are the touch-stone If you would not have a counterfeit Religion deceiving you in the end when ye have trusted to it I pray you try it by the word of God Oh that this principle were once sunk into your hearts I may not walk at randome if I please my self and satisfy my own will if that be not also Gods will I shall have neither gain nor comfort of it his will is manifested in his word I will search and find what God hath required of me for if I be not certain of his will I may be doing all my dayes and sweating out my life and yet losse my pains and oyl I say this word of the Lord that Isaiah calls to the people to hear V. 10. will at length judge you Your Religion will be tryed in the day of accompts according to it not according to your rules and methods ye have prescribed unto your selves Now if ye in the mean time shall judge your selves according to another rule and abâ—olve your selves and in the end God shall judge you according to this word and condemn you were ye not fools in neglecting this word The whole will of God concerning your duty may be summed up in two John hath one of them 1 Jo. 3. 23. And this is his Commandment that we shoud believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us Commandment And Paul hath another to
thou come to him where shall thou have it will thou find it in thy heart which is desperatly wicked will thou seek it of God and not seek it in the Mediator Jesus Christ God out of a Mediator will not hear thee In a word there is both extream sin and extream folly in this way great sin because it contradicts the tenure of the Gospel it dishonours the Lord Jesus the exalted Prince as if he were not the fountain of all grace it is contrary both to the freedom of his grace and to the fulness of it also it is great folly for thou leaves the living fountain and goes seeking water in a wilderness thou leaves the Garden where all herbs grow and wanders abroad to the wild Mountains And because thou canst not find what thou seeks thou sits down and weeps beside it Repentance is in Christ and no repentance so pleasing to God as the mournings and relentings of a pardoned sinner but thou seeks it far from him yea refuseth him for want of that which thou may have by choosing him Therefore we declare this unto you that whatever ye be whatever ye want if ye think ye stand in need of Jesus Christ embrace him If ye be exceeding vile in your own eyes and cannot get repentance as ye would to cleanse your selves here is the fountain opened and ready to wash into Yet this we must tell you that no sinner can believe but he that repents not because repentance is required as a preparation to give a man a warrand and right to believe I know no ground of faith but our necessity and the Lords promise and command unto us but because no soul can truly flie in to Jesus Christ to escape sins guilt but he that desites to be delivered from sin it self And therefore the most part of you fancy a faith which you have not because there is no possibility that men will come out of themselves till they be pressed out by discovered sin and misery within your woulds and wishes after Christ and salvation that many of you have are not the real exercises of your souls flying unto him for salvation If ye did indeed turn in to Jesus Christ your hearts would turn the back upon sin and these sins ye seek remission of Now all the defire that many men have of Christ is this I would fain have his salvation if I might keep my Sin I would gladly be delivered from the guilt of sin if he would let me keep still the sin But will Christ make any such bargain Iâ— this blood only wash from sin oh how many ly in their sins and wallow in their filthiness There is a generation clean in their own eyes and yet are not washed from their filthiness Prov. 30. 12. Oh that ye believed this If ye be not now washed eternity shall find you unclean And woe to the Soul that enters eternity with all the pollution of its sins Can such a soul enter into the high and Holy place the clean City No certainly it must be without among the Dogs and Swine it must be kept in darkness for ever It is then of great importance that ye be washen from your filthiness Now I ask you Is it so or not are ye made clean and washen from the guilt of your sins every one of your almost will say so and think so and yet sayes the Scripture There is a generation pure in their own eyes and yet are not washed Is there a generation such Is there any such Oh then think its possible you may be mistaken in the opinion of your own cleanness do any conceive themselves pardoned and yet are not so think it is possible you may have deceived your selves espccially since ye have never examined it but are there so many so a whole generation the most part of mâ—n then as you love your souls try for it is certain that most part of you must be deceived Is there a generation in the visible Church not washen and yet every one thinks himself clean then certainly the most part are in a great delusion will ye then once examine whether or not ye be deluded with them It shall be your peace to know it while it may be amended But how comes it to pass that so many hearing of the Gospel and lying near this fountain are not cleansed I think ccrtainly because they will not have a through cleansing they get none at all All men would love Christs blood well to pardon sin but who will accept of the water to sanctifie them from sin but Christ came with both Shall this Blood be spent upon numbers of you who have no respect to it but would still wallow in your filthiness Would ye have God pardoning these sins ye never throughly resolve to quite But how is it that so many men are clean in their own eyes and yet not washed I think indeed the reason of it is they make a kind of washing which they apprehend sufficient and yet knows not the true Fountain We find men taking much Sope and Nitre when convinced of sin or charged with it and thereupon soon absolving themselves If ye ask their grounds they will tell you they â—epent and are sorry for it they purpose to make a mends and they think amendment a gooâ— compensation for the past wrong They wilâ— it may be vow to drink no more for a year afteâ— they have been drunk They will confess theiâ— sin in publick and all this they do without having any thought of Jesus Christ or the end oâ— his coming and can absolve themselves froâ— such grounds though in the mean time Chrisâ— come not so much as in their mind And therefore are they not really washed All thy righteousness is unclean before God and thy repentances defile thee and yet because of some sucâ— Duties thou deceivest thy self and art clean iâ— thine own eyes These have some beauty in thâ— eyes and thou puts them between thy filthinesâ— and thy eye and so conceives that thou aâ— clean I think a reason also why many meâ— are clean in their own eyes and conceive thaâ— God hath pardoned their sin is because they have forgotten it It is not recent in their memory and makes no present wound in their Conscience And therefore they apprehend God such as themselves they think he hath forgotten it also But Oh! how terrible shall it be when God brings to remembrance and sets our sins in order before us Ye think God cares not for your sins that he forgives them because he is silent at them Psal 50. 21. But the Lord shall one day set them before thee and thou shalt know they were still marked beforâ— him Ye who have washen in this Blood ye may rejoyce for it shall make you clean every whit Your iniquities that so defiled you shall not be found O! the precious vertue of that Blood that can purge away a souls spots All the Art of Men and
Angels could not reach this This Redemption and Cleansing was precious and would have ceased for ever But this Blood is the Ransome this Blood cleanseth and so perfectly that it shall not appear not only to mens eyes but also Gods peircing Eye Sinners quite your own righteousness why defile ye your selves more When your eyes are opened ye will find it so here is washing apply your selves to this Fountain And if ye do indeed so if ye expect cleansing from Jesus Christ I pray you return not to the puddle Ye are not washen from sin to sin more and defile your self more If ye think ye have liberty to do so ye have no part in this Blood SERMON XI Isai 1. 16. Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil c. THere are two evils in sin one is the Nature of it another the Fruit and sad Effect of it In it self it is filthiness and contrair to Gods Holiness and abasing of the immortal soul a spot in the face of the Lord of the Creatures that hath far debased him under them all Though it be so unnatural to us yet it is now in our fallen estate become as it were natural so that men agree with it as if it were sunk and drunk into the very soul of man The other is the guilt and desert of punishment and obligation to it All man hate this but they cannot hold it off They eat the Tree and Fruit of Death they must eat Death also They must have the wages of sin who have wrought for it Now the Gospel hath found a remedy for lost man in Jesus Christ He comes in the Gospel with a twofold blessing a twofold vertue a pardoning vertue and a sanctifying vertue VVater and Blood 1 Jo. 5. 6. He comes to forgive sin and to subdue sin To remove the guilt of it and then the self of it Gods appointment had inseparably joyned them And Christ came not to dissolve the Law but to establish it If he had taken away the punishment and left the sin in its being he had weakened the Law and the Prophets That conjunction of sin and wrath which is both by divine appointment and suitable also unto their own natures must stand that Divine Justice may be intire And therefore he that comes to redeem us from the curse of the Law hath also this Commission to redeem from sin and all transgressions of the Law Rom. 11. 26. and Gal. 3. 13. He that turns away the wrath of God from men turns also ungodliness from them which provoked his wrath And so he is a compleat Redeemer and a compleat Redeemer he had not been otherwayes If he had removed Wrath only and left us under the bondage of sin it had not been half redemption he that commits sin is the servant of sin But this is perfect freedom and liberty to be made free from sin for it was sin that subjected us to wrath and so was the first Tyrant and the greatest The Gospel then comes with a joyful sound unto you but many of you mistake it and apprehends it to be a Doctrine of Liberty and Peace and that unto sin But if it were so it were no joyful sound If there were proclaimed a liberty to all men to do as they list no punishment no wrath to be feared I would think that Doctrine no glade news it were but the perpetuating of the bondage of a reasonable soul But this is glade news a delivery and freedom proclaimed in the Gospel but what Not unto sin but from sin and this is to be free indeed We ought more to Jesus Christ for this then for redemption from Wrath because sin is a greater evil then wrath Yea wrath were not so if sin were not Therefore he exhorts to wash and wash so that they may make clean Take Jesus Christ for Justification and Sanctification imploy both the Water and the Blood that he hath come with But because all men pretend a willingness to have Christ their Saviour and their sins pardoned through his Blood who notwithstanding hate to be reformed and would seek no more of Christ Therefore he branches out that part of the Exhortation in several particulars All men have a general likeing of remission of sins but renouncing of it is to many a hard Doctrine they would be glade that God put their evils out of his sight by passing them by and forgetting them But they will not be at the pains of putting away their evils from his sight And therefore the Gospel which comprehends these two united is not really received by many who pretend to be followers of it This is his Command that ye believe Some pretend to obey this and yet hath no regard of that other part of his Will even their Sanctification And therefore their Faith is dead it is a fancy If ye did indeed believe and receive Christ for pardon of sin it were noâ— possible but your Souls would be ingaged and constrained to indeavour to walk in all well-pleasing But it is an evident token of one that is not washed from his sin and believes not in Christ if he conceive within his heart a greater latitude and liberty to walk after the flesh and be imboldened to continue in sin because of his Grace and Mercy And yet such are the most part of you Upon what ground do ye delay repentance Upon what presumption do ye continue in your sins and puts over the serious study of holiness till a more fit time Is it not from an apprehension of the Grace and Mercy of God that ye think ye may return any time and be accepted and so ye may in the mean time take as much pleasure in sin as ye can seing ye may get leave also for Gods Mercy I pray you consider that you have never apprehended Gods Mercy aright ye are yet in your sins and certainly as yet are not washed from them Put away the evil c. When the Spirit convinces a Soul he convinces a man not only of evil doings but of the evil of his doings Not only of sin but of the sinfulness of sin And not only of those actions which are in themselves sinful but also of the iniquity of Holy things I think no man will come to wash in Christs Blood till this be discovered If he see much wickedness many evil doings yet he will labour to wash away these by his own tears and repentance and well doing As long as he hath any good Actions as Prayers Fasting and such like he will cover his evil doings by them He will spread the skirts of such righteousness over his uncleannesse and when he hath hid it from his own eyes he apprehends that he hath hid it from Gods also He will wash his bloody hands with many Prayers and thinks they may be clean enough We see blasphemers of Gods Name use to joyn a prayer for forgivenesse
is a through and intire change It is like a new Creation that must destroy the first Subject to get place for that which is to come It is a putting off old Garments to put one new The putting off an old form and engraven Image to make place for a new engraving Men do not put a Seal above a Seal but deface the old and so put on the new Men do not put new Cloaths upon the old but put the old off and so they have place for the new Religion must have a naked man Godlinesse is a new Suit that will not go on upon so many Lusts No no it is more meet and more conformed unto the inwards of the Soul then so The cold must go out as the heat comes in Many men do not change their Garments but mends them puts some new pieces into them They retain their old lusts their heart idols and they will add unto these a patch of some External Obedience But alas is this godlinesse Hypocrisie will be content of a mixture sin is the harlot whose heart could endure to see the Child parted It can give God a part to get leave to brook the most part Sin will give God liberty to take some of the outward man if it keep the heart and soul But God will not reckon on these terms he will have all the man or nothing for he is the Righteous Owner True godlinesse cannot mix so but false and counterfeit may do it well Other men again possibly uncloaths themselves of some practices but they put on no new cloathing They reform some passages for fear of censure or shame or such like They are found it may be blamelesse either because so Educated or their Disposition is against particular grosse sins But they are not cloathed upon with Holinesse and well doing and so they are but naked and bare in Gods sight not beautiful They have sweept their house and some Devil put out or kept out but because the good Spirit enters not ordinarily seven worse enter again into-such men There is a great moment of perswasion in this order of the Exhortation Wash you and then put away the evil of your doings and cease to do evil Do not continue in your former customs It is strange how contrary our hearts are to God We use to turn Grace unto wantonnesse We use to take more liberty to sin when we conceive we are pardoned But I do not know any more strong and constraining perswasion to forsake sin then the consideration of the forgiving of it might yeild Oh what an inducement and grand Argument to renouncing of evils is the consideration of the remission of them This is even that ye are now called unto who have fled to Jesus to escape Wrath What should ye be taken up with in all the World but this to live to him henceforth who died for us To forsake our own old way and that from the constraining principle of Love to him 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Oh that ye would enforce your own hearts with such a thought when there are any solicitations to sin to former lusts Should I that am dead to sin lâ—ve any longer therein Rom. 6. Should I who am washed from such pollutions return again to the pollutions of the World Should I again defile my self who am cleansed by so precious Blood And forget him that washed me Should I return with the dog to the vomit and with the sow to the puddle God forbid I pray you consider if you be Christians indeed give a proof of it What hath Jesus Christ done for you He hath given himself his own precious Blood a Ransom for us will ye not give up your selves to him Will not ye give him your sins and lusts which are not your self but enemies to your self Will not ye put away these ills that he came in this world to destroy Art thou a Christian and are there yet so many sins and works of the Devil raigning in thee and set up in Gods sight VVhat an inconsistency is this If thou be his follower thou must put these away Give them a bill of divorcement never to turn again Many a man parts with his sin because it leaves him he puts it not away Temptation goes and occasion goes away but the root of it abids within him Many men have particular jarrs with their corruptions but they reconcile again as differences between married persons They do not arise to hate their sin in its sinful Nature But if thou hate it then put it away And who would not hate it that Christ so hated that he came to destroy it 1 Jo. 3. 5. What a great indignity must it be to the Gospel to make that the ground of living in sin which is pressed in it as the grand perswasion to forsake it Seing we are washed from the guilt of it Oh let us not love to keep the stain and filth of it Why are we washen Was it not Christs great intendment and purpose to purifie to himself a Holy People We are washen from the guilt of our sins and is it to defile again Is it not rather to keep our selves henceforth clean that we may be presented holy and unblameable in his sight That we may seek to be al 's like Heaven as may be But who ceases to do these evils that he says are pardoned Who puts away the evils of these doings the guilt whereof he thinks God hath put away Could ye find in your hearts to intertain those evils so familiarly to pour out your Souls unto them if that Peace of God were indeed spoken unto you Would not he reflex of his Love prove more constraining on your hears Were it possible that if ye did indeed consider that your lusts cost Christ a dear price to shed his Blood that your pleasures made his Soul heavy to death and that he hath laid down his Life to Ransom you from Hell were it possible I say that ye would live still in these lusts and choose these pleasurs of sin which were so bitter to our Lord Jesus I beseech you be not deceived if ye love the puddle still that ye cannot live out of it do not say that ye are washed Ye may have washen your selves with Sope and Nitre but the Blood of Christ hath not cleansed For if that Blood sprinkled your Conscience once to give you an answer to all challenges it could not but send forth Streams to purifie the heart and so the whole man The Blood and VVater might be joyned the Justifying Saviour and the Sanctifying Spirit For both these are in this Gospel washing 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 Jo 5. 6. This is be that came by water and blood even Jesus Christ not by water only but by water and blood Not by water only but by blood also and I say not by blood only but by water also The very purpose of forgivenesse is not to lay a foundation for more sin but that men
thou hast spent thy substance on the Physicians and in vain come to me I can heal that desperate Disease by a word I create peace when natural Causes have given it over I create it of nothing I will keep you in perfect peace You have then here three things of special concernment in these times and all times â— blessednesse a perfect peace attainable the way of it and the Fountain of it The Fountaiâ— of it the preserver of it is God himself Thâ— way to attain it is trusting in God and stayinâ— on him This sweetnesse of peace is in Goâ— the Tree of Life Faith puts to its hand anâ— plucks the Fruit of the Tree Hope and Dependance on God is a kind of tasting of thaâ— Fruit and eating of it and then followeth thiâ— perfect peace as the delightful relish and sweetnesse that the Soul finds in God upon tastinâ— how gracious he is God himself is the life oâ— our souls the fountain of living waters the life anâ— light of men Faith and trusting in God drawâ— out of this Fountain out of this deep well oâ— Salvation and staying on God drinks of it tilâ— the soul be refreshed with peace and tranquility such as passeth Natural Understanding Christ Jesus is the Tree of Life that grows iâ— the Gaâ—den of God trusting in him by Faith implants a Soul in him roots a Soul in him bâ— vertue of which Union it springs up and grow into a living Branch by staying and depending upon him we live by him and hence spring this blessed and sweet Fruit of peace of soul anâ— conseience which grows upon the confidencâ— of the soul placed in God as the stalk by whicâ— it is united to the Tree Trusting and stayinâ— upon God is the souls casting its Anchor upon him in the midst of the waves and storms of sin wrath and trouble The poor beaten sinner casts an Anchor within the Vail on that sure ground of immutable Promises in Jesus Christ And then it rests and quiets it self at that Anchor enjoyes peace in the midst of the storm there is a great calm it is not moved or not greatly moved as if it were a fair day David flieth unto God as his refuge Anchor 's upon the Name of the Lord Psal 62. 1 2. And so he enjoys a perfect calm and tranquillity I shall not be moved because he is united to the Rock he is tyed to the firm Foundation Jesus Christ and no storm can dissolve this Union not because of the strength of that Rope of Faith it is but a weak Cord if Omnipotency did not compasse it about also And so we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation The poor wearied Traveller the Pilgrime sits down under the shadow of a Rock and this peace is his rest under it Faith lays him down and peace is his rest and sleep Faith in Jesus Christ is a motion towards him as the soulâ— proper place and center and therefore it is called a coming to him flying to him as the City of refuge It is the Souls flight out of it self and misery and sin within to apprehended Mercy and Grace and happinesse in Christ Now Hope is the Conjunction or Union of the Soul with him the Soul then staying and resting on him as in its proper place And so it enjoys perfect peace and rest in its place so that if ye remove it thence then ye offer violence to it These two things are of greatest importance to you to know What this perfect Peace is and what is the way to attain it The one is the Priviledge and Dignity the other is the Duty of a Christian and these two make him up what he is I would think that man perfectly blessed who is at peace with two things God and himself If a man be at peace with Creatures without him and be not at peace with himself but have warr within his own Mind that mans Peace is no Peace let be perfect peace A mans greatest enemy is within his own house And within indeed when it is in his bosome and soul When a mans Conscience is against him it is worse then a world beside Conscientia mille testes so I say it is mille hostes It is a thousand witnesses and a thousand enemies It were better to endure condemnation of any Judge of many Judges in the world then to sustain the conviction of a mans own Conscience When it accuseth who shall excuse Joh. 8. 9. Rom 2. 15. A merry spirit saith Solomon is a continual feast Prov. 15. 15. And what must a heart be which hath such a gnawing worm within it as an accusing Conscience to eat it out This is the worm of Hell that dies not out which makes Hâ—ll Hell indeed This indeed will be a painful Consumption a broken spirit dryeth up the bones it will eat up the marrow of the spirit and body Pro. 17. 22. What infirmity is there which a man cannot bear Poverty Famine Warr Pestilence Sickness name what you will but a wounded Spirit who can bear Prov. 18. 14. And there is reason for it for there is none to bear it A sound and whole Spirit can sustain infirmities but when that is wounded which should bear all the rest what is behind to bear it It is a burden to it self If a man have trouble and warr in this world yet there is often escaping from it A man may fly from his enemy but when thy enemy is within thee whither shall thou fly Thou cannot go from thy self thou carries about thee thy enemy thy tormenter But suppose a man were at peace within himself and cryed peace peace to himself yet if he be not at peace with God shall his peace be called peace Shall it not rather be named supine security If a man be at variance with himself and his Soul disquieted within there is more fear then danger if he be at peace with God It is but a false Alarme that shall end well But if he have peace in his owâ— bosom and yâ—t no agreement with God then destructions are certainly coming his dream of peace will have a terrible wakâ—ning A man may sleep soundly and his enemies round about him because he knoweth noâ— of it but he is in a worse estate â—or he that is in great fear and his enemies either none or far distant The one hath present dangâ—r â—â—d no 〈◊〉 the other present fear and no daâ—geâ— and which of these think ye bâ—st Sudden destruction awakes the one from sleep Ezâ—k 7 25. Their fear and destruction come both at once when it is now in vain to fear because it is past Hope Prov. 1. 27. Therefore the Lord swears thaâ— there is no peace to the wicked Isai 48. 22. What Do not they often cry peace to themselves and put the evil day far off No men are so without Bands in life and death as they they have made agâ—eement with Hell and Death and their
unto them this ground of their slacknesse and negligence in all spiritual Duties None stirreth up himself to take bold one thee Here is the want of the exercise of Faith Faith is the Souls hand and grip Jo. 1. 12. Heb. 6. 18. 1 Tim. 6. 12. Isai 27. 5. No body a waketh themselves out of their deadnesse and security to lay hold on thee Lord thou art going away and taking goodnight of the Land and no body is like to hold thee by the Garment No Jacobs here who will not let thee go till thou bless them None to prevail with thy Majesty every one is like to give Christ a free Pasport and Testimonial to go abroad and are almost Gadarens to pray him to depart out of their Coasts There is a strange lousnesse and indifferency in mens spirits concerning the one thing necessary Men ly by and dream over their days and never putteth the Souls Estate out of question None will give so much pains as to clear their interest in thee to lay hold on thee so as they may make peace with thee Now can there be a more ample and lively Description of our Estate both of the Land and of particular persons of it Since this must not be limited to the Nation of the Jews though the Prophet spake of the generality of them Yet no doubt all mankind is included in the first six-Verses And any secure people may be included in the seventh Verse for Paul applyeth even-such like speeches Rom. 13. that were spoken as you would think of Davids enemies only Yet the Spirit of God knowing the mind of the Spirit maketh a more general use of their condition to hold out the Natural Estate of all men out of Christ Jesus But there are in these two Verses other two things beside the acknowledgment of sin First the acknowledgment of Gods Righteousness in punishing them for now they need not quarrel God they find the cause of their sading in their own bosome they now joyn sin and punishment together wheras in the time of their prosperity they separated punishment from sin and in the time of their security in adversity they separated sin from punishment at one time making bare confession of sin without fear of Gods Justice at another time fretting and murmuring at his Judgments without the sense of their sin But now they joyn both these and the sight and sense of Gods displeasure maketh sin more bitter and to abound more and to appear in the loathsome and provocking nature of it so that their acknowledgement hath an edge upon it And again the sight and sense of sin maketh the Judgment appear most righteous and stoppeth their mouth from murmuring In the time of their impenitency under the Rod their language was very indifferent Ezek. 18. 2. The fathers have eaten sour graps and the childrens teeth are set on edge They have sinned and we suffer they have done the wrong and we pay for it But it is not so now verse 5. The Fathers have done righteousness in respect of us and thou was good unto them but we are all unclean and have sinned and so we are punished Secondly they find some cause and ground in God of their general defection not that he is the cause of their sin but in a righteous way he punished sin with sin God hid his Face denyed special Grace and Influence and so they ly still in their security and their sin became a spiritual plague Or this may be so read none calleth on thy Name when thou hid thy Face from us and when thou consumed us because of our iniquities And so it serveth to aggravat their deep security that though the Lord was departing from them yet none would keep him and hold him Though he did strike yet they prayed not Affliction did not awake them out of security and so the last words Thou hast consumed us c. Are differently exponed and read Some make it thus as it is in the Translation Thou hast hid thy face and left us in a spiritual deadness that so there might be no impediment to bring on deserved Judgment If we had called on thee and laid hold on thee it might have been prevented we might have prevailed with God but now our defence is removed thou hast given us up to a spirit of slumber and so we have no shield to hold of the stroak thou hast now good leave to consume us for our sins Another sense may be Thou hast suffered us to consume in our iniquity thou hast given us up to the hand of our sins And this is also a consequent of his hiding his Face because thou hid thy Face thou letteth us perish in our sins There needeth no more for our Consumption but only help us not out of them for we can soon destroy our selves First sin is in its own nature Ioathsome and maketh one unclean before God Sins nature is filthiness vileness so doth Isaiah speak of himself Chap. 6. 5. when he saw Gods Holiness So doth Job abhore himself which is the Affection which turneth a mans face off â— loathsome object when he saw God Job 40. 4. and 42 6. Look how loathsome our natural condition is holden out by God himself Ezek. 16. You cannot imagine any deformity in the Creature any filthiness but it is there The filthiness and vileness of sin shall appear if we consider first Sin is a transgression of the holy and spiritual Command and so a vile thing The Command is holy and good Rom. 7. And sin violateth and goeth flat contrary to the Command 1 Job 3 When so just and so equitable a Law is given God might have exacted other rigorous duties from us but when it is so framed that the Conscience must cry out all is equity all is righteous and more then righteous thou might command more and reward none It is Justice to Command but it is Mercy to Promise Life to obedience which I owe What then must the offence be against such a Just Command and so Holy If Holiness be the Beauty of the Creation sin must be the Deformity of it the only spot in its Face Secondly look upon sin in the sight of Gods Holiness and Infinit Majesty and O how hainous will it appear And therefore no man hath seen sin in the vileness of it but in the Light of Gods Countenance As Isai 6. 5. Job 40. and 42. God is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity he cannot look on it Hab. 1. 13. All other things beside sin God looketh on them as bearing some mark of his own Image all was very good and God saw it Gen. 1. and 2. Even the basest Creatures God looketh on them and seeth himself in them But sin is only Gods Eye-sore that his Holiness cannot away with it is most contrary unto him And as to his Soveraignty it is an high contempt and rebellion done to Gods Majesty it putteth God off the Throne will take no
it Zech. 13. 1. We all c. Mark Secondly sin hath gone over us all and made all mankind unclean Rom. 3. 22. and 10. Every one of Adams posterity is born unclean For who can bring an clean thing out of an unclean Job 14. 4 Consider first how sin defaced innocent Adam how one sin made him so vile and spoyled him of the Divine Nature and so the root was made unclean and the branches must follow the root and so are we all born and conceived in sin Plal. 51. 5. We carry in us Original Corruption flowing from the first actual sin of Adam and this maketh poor Children before they do good or evil to be abominably vile in Gods sight even as the Child is set out Ezek. 16. Every one cometh of evil Parents all come of Adam the Rebel What a loathsome sight would a Child be to us so described cast out in the open field to the loathing of its person in the day it is born And what must it all be before God who is of purer eyes then to behold sin Secondly Unto all this we have added innumâ—rable actual transgressions as so many filthy streams flowing out at the menbers from the inward puddle of Original Corruption And so how much more vile are we all nor infants can be or Adam was in the day he was cast out of Paradise And thus Rom. 3. from vers 10. are the Branches set down in Word Thought and Deed so that all the Incliâ—ations and Motions and Actions of the man are only evil continually Every man shall find his Compt past counting One days faults would weary you but what will your whole life do Known sins are innumerable what must unknown be Every mans heart is like the troubled Sea that casteth up mire and dirt dayly and cannot be at rest The heart is dayly flowing and ebbing in this Corruption it cometh out dayly to the borders of all the Members And there are some high spring Tides when sin aboundeth more When in one Member of the Tongue a world of evil is What can be in all the Members And what in the Soul that is more capable then all the world Well then every man hath sinned in Adam and hath sinned also in his own person and sealed Adams first rebellion by so many thousand Actions like it Every man hath approven the sin that first ruined man and made himself much more loathsome nor Adam was Therefore all mankind may say we all are as an unclean thing Now from all this we we would gladly discover unto you what yoâ— condition is by sin If the Lord would shinâ— how vile would you be Always we mâ—st declare this unto you in the Lords name you aâ— all unclean not only born in sin and iniquitâ— not only have you a body of Death Within youâ— that hath all the Members but all these Members have one time or other acted and brougâ— forth fruit unto Death How vile then muâ— you be in Gods sight It is a strange love thâ— you have to your selves that you cannot apprehend how God can hate you But if hâ— find sin in you wonder rather how he can looâ— upon you We would then have you to knoâ— this that there can be no fellowship betweeâ— God and you in your Natural Estaâ—e Amen cannot inhabit a vile persons house â— more can God enter in your Souls There is aâ— absolute necessity of washing before you can â—â— his House and Temple Hath that one sin oâ— Adam made that Glorious Person so deformed that he could not look on himself buâ— cover himself And hath it been of so defiling a Nature that it hath redounded in all thâ— Posterity And as unclean things under thâ— Law defiled all they touched so hath thaâ— sin subjected all the Creatures to Corruption O then imagine what an unspeakeablâ— defilement must be on us all who are noâ— only guilty of Adams sin but of many thousands beside If one sin have so much loathsomnese in it what must so many out â—â— number united in one person even as in uâ— all No unclean thing can enter in Heaven above Know this for a truth you cannot see Godâ— Face in the case you are born into You know nothing of sin who wonder that any should go to Hell No if you knew any thing of sin you would wonder that ever God should look on such cast out in the open Field in their blood Next You must know the insufficiency of all things imaginable to wash away sins filthinesse except the Blood of Christ Since you are unclean do you not ask how shall we be washed Indeed many have an easy answer and passe it lighty The multitude know no way to cleanse in but the Tears of Repentance and Mourning And so many think themselves clean when they run and pour out a Tear as Esaw did for the blessing But what saith the Lord Though thou wash the with Nitre and take thee much Sope yet thine iniquity is marked Can such an ingrained uncleannesse can such an infinite spot in the immortal Soul be so lightly dashed out Many think Baptism cleanseth them but was not this people Circumcised as ye are baptized And Peter tells us it is not the washing of Water 1 Pet. 3 21. Sacrifice and Offering will not do it This people thought sure they had satisfied God when they brought a Lamb c. but all this is abomination Would not many of you think your selves cleansed from sin if you offered all your Substance and the Fruit of your Body for the sin of your Soul Nay but you must see an absolute necessity of the opened Fountain of Christs Blood that cleanseth from all sin Then we would have you abhorre youâ— selves in Dust and Ashes see nothing in all the Creation so vile as you Look oâ— sin in the sight of Gods Face and how unholy will it appear There are many sins little ones that in our practice passe for venial and uncontrolled But look on the filthy loathsome Nature of all sin and hate the least offence for it hath a kind of infinitnesse in it and blotteth the Soul defileth the person How great a necessity is there of continual application to the Fountain of dwelling beside it that you may wash dayly Davids so often repeated and inculcated prayer Wash me cleanse me c. Psal 51. Declareth that he hath apprehended much uncleannesse in sin that it needeth so many applications of the precious Blood And you who have come to Jesus and are clean O how much owe you to free Grace that past by you in your blood and said Live it is a time of love How strange is it that Glorious Majesty cometh to own Deformity and cometh to cloath it with his own Garments Praise the vertue of that Blood that is more precious nor the Blood of Bulls and Goats that can so throughly purge as you shall have no more Conscience of sin Unclean sinners wash you make
people no doubt have said so in their heart and wondered what it meant Nay but here is the Mystery you go about these commanded Duties not in a commanded way and so the Obedience is but Rebellion You bring Offerings and Incense and think that I am pacified when you bring Alms you judge you have given me a recompense wheras all that is mine and what pleasure have I in these things I never appointed you Sacrifices for this end but to lead you in to the knowledge of my Son which is to be slain in the fulness of time and by one offering to perfect all I commanded you to look on Jesus Christ slain in the slain Lamb and so to expect Remission and Salvation in him But you never looked to more nor the Ceremony and made that your Saviour and Mediator And therefore it is all Abomination When you slay a Lamb and offer Incense it is all one thing as to cut off a Dogs neck or kill a Man So may the Lord say to this Generation I command you to pray to repent and mourn for sin to come and hear the Word but withal you must deny all these and count your selves unprofitable servants you must singly cast your Souls burthen on Christ Jesus But now saith the Lord who commanded your repentance for when you sit down to pray or come in publick to confesse sin before the Congregation you think you are washen When you have said you have sinned and if you come to the length of Tears and Sorrow Oh then sure you are pardoned though in the mean time you have no thought of Jesus Christ and knoweth no use of him Therefore faith the Lord who commanded you to do these things You think you have satisfied for your sin when you pay a penalty but who requireth this I will reckon with you for these al 's well as the sins you pray and mourn for because you do not singly look to Christ Jesus Now if he had never come to the world your ground of confidence would not fail you For you might have prayed al 's much mourned and confessed and promised amendment and so you past by the Son of God in whom only the Father is well pleased Think then upon this whatever you make your righteousnesse there needeth no other thing to make it filthy but to make it your righteousnesse Your confidence in your good heart to God prayer day and night and such like is the most loathsome thing in Gods Eyes Except you come to this to count your prayers as God doth among your oaths to count your solemn Duties among profane scandalous Actions as the Lord doeth Isai 1. and 66. 3. Then certainly you do adorn your selves with them and cover your nakednesse of other faults with such leaves as Adam did but you shall be more discovered Your Garment is al 's filthy as that it hideth even because you make that use of it to hide your sin and cover it Next The Lords Children have no ground of boasting either from their own righteousnesse The holiest Saint on Earth must abhore himself in Dust and Ashes and holy Isaiab joyneth himself in with a pâ—ofane people When he cometh to God to be justified he cometh among the ungodly he bringeth no righteousnesse with him he cometh in among them that work not Now you shall find good ground why it must be so First There are ordinarly many blemishes in our holiest Actions spots on our cleanest Garment often formality eateth up the life of Duties and presenteth a Body without a Soul in it You sit down to pray out of custome morning and evening And if there were no more to prove it this may suffice When pray you but at such times You have an ordinar and goeth noâ— by it no advantage is taken of Providence no necâ—ssity constraineth when occasion offereth and so it is like the worlds appointed houres How great deadnesse and indisposition creepeth in so that it is the ordinary complaint yea all prayers filled with it scarcely any room for other petitions because of the want of frame for prayer it self The word is heard as a discourse and on whom hath it operation to stirr up Affections either of joy or of trembling Christians you come not to hear God speak and so you meet with empty Ordinances God is not in them How often do crooked and sinister ends creep in and byass the Spirit Men ask to spend on their lusts and to satisfy their own ambition Some would have more Grace to be more Eminent or to have a more pleasant Life And this is but the seeking to spend on your lusts If Affection run in the Channel of a Duty it is often muddy and runneth thorow our Corruptions Liberty in Duties is principled with carnal Affection and Self-love Will not often the Wind of Applause in company fill the sails and make your course swifter and freer nor when you are alone And often much love to a partâ—cular maketh more in seeking it And that which is a Moth to eat up and consume all our Duties is conceit and self confidence in going about them and attributing to our self after them It is but very rare that any man both Acteth from Jesus Christ as the principle and also putteth over his work on Christ singly as the end Alas too often do men draw out of Christs Fulnesse and raise up their own glory upon it and adorn themselves with the spoyls of his honour For we use to pray from a habit of it and go to as men acquainted with it and when we get any satisfaction to our own minds O how doth the Soul return on it self and goeth not forward as it goeth It is so well pleased with it self when it getteth liberty to approach that it doth not put all over on Jesus and take shame to it self As long as there is a body of Death within holinesse cannot be pure and unmixed Our Duties run thorow a dirty Channel and cannot choose but contract filth While sin lodgeth under one roof so near Grace Grace must be in its exercise marred and therefore the holy Apostle must cry Rom. 7. 19. The good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do And Verse 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Secondly Though there were not such blemishes and spots in the face of our righteousnesse yet it is here in a state of imperfection and but in its minority and so must be filthy in the Lords sight It was perfect Holâ—nesse according to the perfect Rule of Gods Law that Adam was to be justified by according to the Covenant of works exact obedience not one wanting or else all that can be done came short of righteousness One breach bringeth the curse on All obedience if there be a failing in a little will not bring the blessing on He that doth all liveth and he that doth not
and a resolution of amending this then is all your covering and ornament something done by you as many will make the wings of two good works stretch themselves out so far as to cover and hide a multitude of offences between them Therefore I declare in the Lord Jesus his Name unto you whose Conscience must go alongs in the acknowledgment and owning of your case that you have covered your selves with your own righteousnesse that you have taken as filthy rags to cover your nakednesse and sin with as your sins are and so you have made an addition to your uncleanness you are more unclean by your prayers and repentance then before And so God is of more pure eyes then to look graciously on such as you are You have gone about to establish your own righteousnesse and hath not known the righteousnesse of God and so you have come short of it you are yet persons in a state of enmity God is your Judge you are rebels It concerns you much to heed this well to judge of your own actions and persons as God judgeth of them for if God shall judge one way and you judge another way you may be far mistaken in the end If you have so good an opinion of your selves and your duties that you can plead interest in God for them and absolve your selves from such grounds And if God have not the same judgement but rather think as evil of your prayers as of your cursing and abhor the thing that satisfieth you will it not be dreadful in the end For his judgement shall stand and you will succumb in judgement since you crossed Gods mind Therefore we would have you solidly drink in this principle of Religion That man is so unclean and God so abhorreth him that whatever he doth or can do it cannot make him righteous that no good action can make him acceptable and take away the uncleanness of the evil actions and that any sinful action taketh away all the cleanness of the good actions Once believe this If I should sweat out my life in serving God and never rise off my knees If I should give my body to the fire for the truth If I should melt away in tears for sin all this is but filthy raggs and I can never be accepted of God for all that but the matter of my condemnation groweth If I justifie my self my own mouth proves me perverse God needeth no more but my good deeds to condemn me for in all justice And therefore it is a thing impossible I will never put forth a hand or open a mouth upon that account any more I will serve God because it is my duty but life I will not expect by my service when I have done all it is wholly mercy that I am accepted my good works shall never come in remembrance I resolve to be found not having my own righteousnesse I will appear among the ungodly sinners as one that hath no righteousnesse that I may be justified only by faith in Jesus Christ I say drink in this truth and let it settle in your hearts and then we would hear numbers cry O what shall I do to be saved Now as for you who have fled unto Christs righteousnesse only have cast away your own as dung and dross as filthy raggs as you have done right in the point of Justification judge so likewise after it We would exhort you to judge so of your best actions that are the fruits of the Spirit judge so of them as you have a hand in them All our righteousness Mark Isaiah a holy Prophet joyneth himself in with the multitude And the truth is the more holiness the more humility and self-abasing for what is holiness I pray you but self-denial the abasing of the creature and exalting of Christ Jesus This is the Cross that the Saints must all bear Deny your self and follow me Grace doth not swell men above others it is gifts such as Knowledge that puffeth up Charity or Love puffeth not up Men are naturally high-minded for pride was the first sin of Adam and grace cometh to level men to make the high mountains valleys for Christs Chariot It maketh men stoop low to enter the door of the Kingdome Therefore if you have attained any measure beyond others if you would prove it real grace and holinesse do not exalt your selves above others be not high minded come down and sit among the ungodly among the unclean and let not grace given diminish the low estimation of your self in your self There is a growing that is but a fancy and mens conceit when men grow above Ordinances above other Christians and can see none or few Christians but themselves such a growth is not real it s but fancy it s but swelling and wind and must be pricked to let it out A holy Prophet came in among an unclean people he did not say Stand by I am bolier then thou Such a man as can find no Christian about him even though to the judgement of all others they seek God more then he such a man hath not real solid grace his holiness is profane holiness and proud holiness for true holiness is humble holiness and in honour prâ—ferreth others There is a great fault among those who have fled to Christs righteousness in Justification that they use to come full from duties as a stomach from a honey comb Oft times we make our liberty and access to God the ground of our acceptation and according to the ebbings and flowings of our inherent righteousness so doth the faith and confidence of Justification ebb and flow Christians this ought not to be In so doing you make your own righteousness your righteousness before God for when the unsatisfaction in the point of duty maketh you question your interest so often is not the satisfaction of your minds in duties made the ground of your pleading interest Give you liberty and access you can believe any thing remove it and you can believe nothing Certainly this is a sandy foundation you ought to build nothing on performances you should be as vile in your own eyes and think your nakedness as open when you come nearest God when you have most liveliness as when he hideth his face duty withereth will filthy raggs be your ornament No Christians be more acquaint with the unspotted righteousness of the Immaculat Lamb of God and find as great necessity of covering your cleanest duties with it as your foulest faults and thus shall you be kept still humble and vile in your own eyes and have continual imployment for Christ Jesus your best estate should not puff you up and your worst estate should not cast you down Therefore be much in the search of the filthiness of your holy actions This were a spiritual study a noble discovery to unbowel your duties to divide them and give unto God what is Gods and take unto your selves what is your own The discovery of filthiness in them