oppressors and murmurings in the oppressed do arise 4. Curious thoughts about things too high for us 'T is the frequent business of mens minds to flutter about things without the bounds of God's revelation Not to be content with what God hath published is to accuse Him Gen. 3.5 God knows that your eyes shall be opened in the same manner as the Serpent did to our first parents of envying us an intellectual happiness Yet how do all Adam's posterity long after this forbidden fruit II. In regard of our selves Our thoughts are proud self-confident self-applauding foolish covetous anxious unclean And what not 1. Ambitious The aspiring thought of the first man runs in the veins of his posterity God took notice of such Strains in the King of Babylon when he said in his heart I will exalt my throne above the Stars of God I will ascend above the heights of the Clouds I will be like the most High * Isa 14.13 14. No less a charge will they stand under that settle themselves upon their own bottom establish their own righteousness and will not submit to the righteousness of God's appointment †Rom. 10.3 The most forlorn beggar hath sometimes thoughts vast enough to grasp an Empire 2. Self-confident Edom's thoughts swell'd him into a vain confidence of a perpetual prosperity Obad. 3. That saith in his heart who shall bring me down to the ground And David sometimes said in the like state that he should never be moved 3. Self-applauding Either in the vain remembrances of our former prosperity or ascribing our present happiness to the dexterity of our own wit Such flaunting thoughts had Nebuchadnezzar at the consideration of his setling Babylon the head and Metropolis of so great an Empire Nothing more ordinary among men Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the Kingdom c. than overweening reflexions upon their own parts and * Rom. 12.3 thinking of themselves above what they ought to think 4. Vngrounded Imaginations of the events of things either present or future Such wild conceits like Meteors bred of a few vapors do often frisk in our minds 1. Of things present 'T is likely Eve foolishly imagin'd she had brought forth the Messiah when she brought forth a murderer Gen. 4.1 I have gotten a man the Lord as in the Hebrew believing as some interpret that she had brought forth the promised seed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And such a brisk conceit Lamech seems to have had of Noah †Gen. 5.29 2. Of things to come either in bespeaking false hopes or antedating improbable griefs Such are the jolly thoughts we have of a happy Estate in reversion which yet we may fall short of Haman's heart leap'd at the King's question Est 6.6 What shall be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour phancying himself the mark of his Princes favour without thinking that a halter should soon choak his ambition Or perplexing thoughts at the fear of some trouble which is not yet fallen upon us and perhaps never may How did David torture his Soul by his unbelieving fears 1 Sam. 27.1 And David said in his heart c. that he should one day perish by the hand of Saul These forestalling thoughts do really affect us we often feel caprings in our Spirits upon imaginary hopes and shiverings upon conceited fears These pleasing impostures and self-afflicting suppositions are signs either of an idle or indigent mind that hath no will to work or only rotten materials to work upon 5. Immoderate thoughts about lawful things When we exercise our minds too thick and with a fierceness of affection above their merit not in subserviency to God or mixing our cares with dependencies on Him Worldly concerns may quarter in our thoughts but they must not possess all the room and thrust Christ into a manger Neither must they be of that value with us as the law was with David sweeter than the honey or the honey comb III. In regard of others All thoughts of our neighbour against the rule of charity Such that imagine evil in their hearts God hates * Zach. 8.17 These principally are 1. Envious when we torment our selves with others fortunes Such a thought in Cain upon God's acceptance of his brother's sacrifice Gen. 4.5 1 Tim. 6.4 2 Cor. 13.5 was the Prologue to and foundation of that cursed murder 2. Censorious stigmatizing every freckle in our brother's conversation 3. Jealous and evil surmises contrary to charity which thinks no evil 4. Revengeful Est 5.13 Such made Haman take little content in his preferments as long as Mordecai refused to court him And Esau thought of the daies of mourning for his father Gen. 27 41. Esau said in his heart c. that he might be revenged for his brother's deceits There is no sin committed in the world but is hatched in one or other of these thoughts But beside these there are a multitude of other volatile conceits like swarms of gnats buzzing about us and preying upon us and as frequent in their successions as the curlings of the water upon a small breath of wind one following another close at the heels The mind is no more satisfied with thoughts than the first matter is with forms continually shifting one for another and many times the nobler for the baser as when upon the putrefaction of a human body part of the Matter is endued with the form of Vermin Such changeable things are our minds in leaving that which is good for that which is worse when they are enveigled by an active phancy and Bedlam affections This madness is in the hearts of men while they live Eccles 9.3 and starts a thousand frenzies in a day At the best our phancy is like a Carrier's bag stuffed with a world of Letters having no dependence upon one another some containing business and others nothing but froth In all these thoughts there is a further guilt in three respects viz. 1. Delight 2. Contrivance 3. Reacting 1. Delight in them The very tickling of our phancy by a sinful motion though without a formal consent is a sin because it is a degree of complacency in an unlawful object When the mind is pleased with the subject of the thought as it hath a tendency to some sensual pleasure and not simply in the thought it self as it may enrich the understanding with some degree of knowledg The thought indeed of an evil thing may be without any delight in the evil of it as Philosophers delight in making experiments of poisonous Creatures without delighting in the poison as it is a noxious quality We may delightfully think of sin without guilt not delighting in it as sin but as God by his wise providential ordering extracts Glory to himself and good to his Creature In this case though a sinful act be the material object of this pleasure yet 't is not the
our Enemies This likewise draws the heart to a just indignation Zeal and Compassion The very matter we Sing doth abundantly sweeten this Duty Nay further 1. Singing is the musick of Nature The Scriptures tell us the Mountains Sing Jer. 44.23 The valleys Sing Psal 65.13 The trees of the wood Sing 1 Chron. 16.33 Nay the Air is the Bird's Musick room where they chant their musical notes 2. Singing is the Musick of Ordinances Augustin reports of himself Aug lib. 3. conf cap. 6. Bâ—za That when he came to Millain and heard the people Sing he wept for joy in the Church to hear that pleasing Melody And Beza confesses That at his first entrance into the Congregation and hearing them sing the 91 Psalm he felt himself exceedingly comforted and did retain the sound of it afterwards upon his heart The Rabbies tell us That the Jews after the feast of the Passeover was celebrated they sang the 111 Psalm and the five following Psalms and our Saviour and his Apostles sang an HYMN immediately after the Blessed Supper Mat. 26.30 Mat. 26.30 3. Singing is the Musick of Saints 1. They have performed this duty in their greatest numbers Psal 149.2 2. In their greatest straits Isa 26.19 3. In their greatest flight Isa 42.10 11 4. In their greatest deliverances 5. In their greatest plenties Isa 65.14 In all these changes Singing hath been their stated duty and delight And indeed it is meet that the Saints and servants of God should Sing forth their joyes and praises to the Lord Almighty Every Attribute of him can set both their Song and their Tune 4. Singing is the Musick of Angels Job tells us The Morning Stars Sang together Job 38.7 Now these Morning Stars as Pineda Pineda comment in Job tells us are the Angels to which the Chaldee Paraphrase accords naming these Morning Stars Aciem Angelorum an host of Angels nay when this heavenly Host was sent to proclaim the Birth of our dearest Jesus they deliver their message in this raised way of duty Luke 2.13 They were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delivering their messages in a laudatory Singing the whole Company of Angels making a Musical Quire Nay in Heaven there is the Angels joyous Musick Creaturarum Psalmus est Stella they there sing Hallelujahs to the most High and to the Lamb who sits upon the Throne Rev. 5.11 5. Singing is the Musick of Heaven The glorious Saints and Angels accent their praises this way and make one harmony in their state of blessedness Ibi nil nisi laus Dei nisi amor Dei Aug. and this is the Musick of the Bride-Chamber Rev. 15.3 The Saints who were tuning here their Psalms are now Singing there Hallelujahs in a louder strain and articulating their joys which here they could not express to their perfect satisfaction here they laboured with drowsie Hearts and faltering Tongues But in glory these impediments are removed and nothing is left to jar their joyous celebrations Now thirdly we come to shew the Vniversal practice of this Duty Singing Psalms and Spiritual Songs to God is not more sweet than Oecumenical It hath been always the way of Saints thus to express their joy in the Lord. This Duty hath been practised 1. By all varieties of Persons 1. By Christ and his Apostles as hath been shown Mat. 26.30 The glorious Sun and Stars have shined in favour upon this joyous Service and left their practice of it upon Record The Supernal and upper Orders of the World have not been too high for this Spiritual Harmony 2. Godly Princes have glorified God in this Duty 2 Chron. 29.30 Their Thrones have not raised them above this Spiritual service King Jehoshaphat assaults his enemies not only with the brandishing of his Sword but with the Singing of his Song 2 Chron. 20.21 Princes who have swayed regal Scepters have sang Spiritual Songs and have minded the Quire as well as the Crown David not only takes the Scepter into his hand to rule the people but takes the Harp into his hand to sing the praises of the Lord. 3. Worthy Governours Nehemiah takes care that as soon as the wall of Hierusalem was set up Singers should be appointed to perform this part of God's Worship Nehem. 7.1 These Eminent Magistrates held not only the reins of Government but lifted up those hands which held them with the voices in Singing the Praises of God Magistracy is a spur not a curb to Duty I need not mention Ethan Heman and Asaph Eminent and Worthy Men engaged in this pleasing service 2 Chron. 5.12 4. Holy Prophets They did not only prophesie of things to come but they practised Duties for the present more especially this And as David pens Prophetical so he sings Musical Psalms and professes his dying and his singing Air should both expire together Psal 146.2 Psal 146.2 This Duty should lye by him on his Death-bed and as Moses in the 32 Chapter of Deuteronomy he will close up his life with a Swan-like with a Saint-like Song So the 22 Chapter of the second of Samuel was a song of Thanksgiving for manifold mercies a little before his death 5. The body of the People As Singing is not too low for Kings so not too choice for Subjects the whole multitude sometimes engaged in the harmony Then Israel Sang this Song Numb 21.17 The Peoples voice may make melody as the lesser birds contribute to the Musick of the Grove their chirping notes filling up the harmony 6. Eminent Fathers Basil Basil August lib. 9. Conf. cap 6. Non discumbitur priusquam Oratio ad Deum sit c. Tertul. calls the Singing of Psalms Spiritual incense Augustine was highly commendatory of this service and assures us Ambrose and Athanasius were coincident with him in this particuler 7. Primitive Christians and here I shall only mention what Tertullian relates of the practice of those times he lived in When we come to a feast saith he we do not sit down before there is Prayer and after the meal is past one cometh forth and either out of the Holy Scriptures or else from some composure of his own begins a Spiritual Song 2. In all Ages This service of Singing to God was soon started in the World Moses the first Penman of Scripture he both Sung a Song and Penned a Psalm as we hinted before In the Judges time Deborah and Barak Sang a Triumphant Song Judg. 5.1 2 c. During the time of the Kings of Judah the Levites sang the praises of God in the Sanctuary A little before the Captivity we find the Church praising God in Singing Isa 35.2 In the time of the Captivity Israel did not forget the Songs of Zion though they were in Babylon Psal 126.2 After their return from Captivity we soon find them return to this joyous Service Neh. 7.1 their long Exile had not banished this Duty Towards the close of their Prophets prophesying the Church is again engaged in
afflict affront and troubles us and wo to them that a child of God upon a mature judgment names in prayer I find not that such a prayer in Scripture return'd empty Jacob in a great strait Deliver me from the hand of my brother Gen. 32.11 from the hand of Esau David in the ascent of Mount Olivet O Lord I pray thee turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness 2 Sam 15.31 2 Chron. 20.10 Prayer twisted the rope for him at Giloh Thus Jehoshaphat in his prayer names Ammon Moab and Edom conspiring against him Thus Hezekiah spreads the railing letter before the Lord Isa 37.14 Psal 83.6 c. Act 4 27. Joseph l. 18. c. 9. Euseb Chron. l. 2. p. 159. Eph. 3.14 Luke 17.5 2 Cor. 12.8 and the Psalmist takes them all in a round Catalogue that consulted against Israel Thus the Church in her prayer names Herod-Antipas and Pontius Pilate whereof the first was sent into perpetual banishment and the latter slew himself It 's of great use in prayer to attend to some special case or single request with arguments and affections suitable For this cause says Paul I bow the knee Suppose a grace deficient in its strength Lord increase our faith or a temptation urgent For this I pray'd to the Lord thrice A great reason why we reap so little benefit by prayer because we rest too much in generals and if we have success 't is but dark that often we cannot tell what to make of the issues of prayer Besides to be particular in our petitions would keep the spirit much from wandring when we are intent upon a weighty case and the progress of the soul in grace would manifest its gradual success in prayer 6. Holy and humble appeals before the Lord in secret when the soul can submissively and thankfully expose it self to divine searching about some measures of holiness and grace wrought in the heart Psal 139.23 Tertal de orat p. 213. The soul cannot bide by the presence of God under flashings of defilement neque agnosci poterit à spiritu sancto spiritus inquinatus neither will the holy spirit own a defiled soul But when a person can humbly modestly and reverently say search me and try my reins and if there be any way of wickedness in me lead me in the everlasting way it vvill be the means of the ebullitions and boilings up of joyful affections and meek confidence at the footstool of grace especially in pleas of deliverance from wicked and proud enemies When David can plead in comparison with and in the case stated between his enemies and himself For I am holy Psal 86.2 14 17. It shews him a token for good or when we plead against the assaults of Satan can we be conscious that we have watcht and prayed against entring into temptation When in the main we can wash our hands in Innocency Psal 26 6. Psal 18.20.7.3 we may then comfortably compass God's altar about In case of opposition and injustice He rewarded me says David in the point of Saul according to my righteousness and the cleanness of my hands before him Or about the truth of the love that is in the heart to God Thou that knowest all things John 21.17 Neh. 14.14 22 Isa 38.3 Isa 26.8 says Peter knowest that I love thee As to zeal for the Worship and Ordinances of God so did Nehemiah As to the integrity of a well-spent life so did Hezekiah or if we cannot rise so high yet as the Church did The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee Or lastly when we can unfeignedly plead the usefulness of a mercy intreated in order to the divine glory As when a minister or the Church of Christ for him prays for such gifts and graces Eph. 6.19 Col. 4 3. such knowledg and utterance that he may win souls to Christ and can appeal that it is his principal aim this is glorious 7. Pray for the spirit that ye may pray in and by the spirit Awaken the North and the South to blow upon thy garden that the spices thereof may flow forth Cant 4.16 Then thou mayest invite Christ Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits that the soul may enjoy him and hold sweet communion with him All successful prayer is from the breathing of the spirit of God when he inspires and indites when he directs the heart as to matter and governs the tongue as to utteranee 1 Cor. 2.10 Rom. 8.27 Psal 147.18 Ezek. 47.1 Gerson T. 2. K. K. 4. 49. Zech. 12.10 God graciously hears the sighs of his own Spirit formed in us He sent forth his spirit and the waters flow That I may allude the waters of contrition flow upon the breathing of the spirit and the soul is as it were all afloat before the throne of grace when these living waters issue from under the threshold of the sanctuary Sequitur lachrymosa devotio flante spiritu sancto Devout tears drop down from the spirit's influences Melting supplications follow the infusions of grace by the spirit Then they shall mourn for piercing of Christ says the Prophet and be in bitterness as for a first-born like the mourning at the town of Hadadrimmon where Josiah was slain Then (a) 13.1 2 4 14.8 Isa 66.12 Rich. de Sâ—ult p. 321. in that day what inundations of mercy shall refresh the Church when the Lord will extend her peace like a river and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream great things to the Church and gracious things to the soul Inter orationem suspiria cognoscit holy sighs in prayer give intelligence of great mercies to follow Nay to withstand powerfully all the wiles of Satan one means is Eph. 6.18 to consecrate every part of the spiritual armour by prayer in the Spirit 8. Apply special promises to special cases in prayer For God hath and will magnifie his word of promise above all his name Psal 138.2 John 12.28 when we are under the word of command for a duty we must seek for a word of promise and unite them in prayer When a promise of aid suits to the precept it renders prayer victorious and obedience pleasant when we come with God's own words into his presence when we take his words with us that he would take away all iniquity he 'll receive us graciously Hos 14 2. Gen. 32.9 1 Kings 8.24 Jacob urged that God had bid him return from his Country and kinred Solomon urges the word of promise to David Jehoshaphat urges the a 2 Chron. 20.8 9. word of promise to Solomon Daniel fills his mouth (b) Dan. 9.2 3 with the promise given to Jeremiah he reads and then applies it in prayer First search the Bible and look for a promise and when found open it before the Lord. Paul teaches us to take the (c) Heb. 13.5 6. promise given to
and light transient tasts and relishes are no evidences we must have these better things to bear up our hearts against the coming of the Bridegroom It sufficeth â—ot to be enrolled among Professors and to enjoy the charitable thoughts and approbations of the wisest Virgins under Heaven It is singular mercy to be rightly guided in self-esteem and valuation for they that measure themselves by themselves or compare themselves among themselves are not wise The Apostle 2 Cor. 10.12 would not have us to take up with the positive degree of good things but to take our aims by the comparative of better These good things are more light ineffectual and superficial and too often like the Seal that is impressed upon bare Paper whereas these better things are like the Seal's impression on the Wax Yet let no trembling Soul or broken reed be affrighted at the end of these foolish Virgins to see the Door thus shut against them the tender heart of Jesus Christ aimeth not at our consternation but awaking and to prepare and hasten us unto Glory before the Key be turned Nor doth his Apostle in the foresaid place despise the day of small things but his real scope and purpose is to excite Professors to look carefully to their foundations and then to go on unto perfection Heb. 6.1 And blessed for ever be the Lord for the second part of that sixth Chapter to the Hebrews in the close whereof we may see the afflicted heart tossed with tempests and not comforted yet hoping in Mercy and fleeing to Jesus as his Refuge and casting the Anchor of his floating Soul within the Vail whither the Fore-runner is entred for us who himself was once tossed in the Ship of the Militant Church albeit without sin but is now gone ashore to heaven as our fore-runner both to look to our Anchor which is fastned there and to hold all fast and to draw our tossed Ship to shore and to see all safe that where our fore-runner is there may we be also And thus the sweet conclusion of that Chapter doth fully recompence the severity of its beginning Let us comfort our selves and one another with these things Thirdly You have heard the miserable condition of such especially Professors of the Gospel and Pretenders to Christ who have Grace to seek at his coming As for the hapy state of such as are ready to enter in with him into the Bride-chamber of eternal peace and joy I shall speak a little in the Close Now therefore in the remainder of this Exercise it will be expected as seasonable that it be considered What gifts of Grace are chiefly to be in exercise in order to an actual Preparation for the coming of Christ by Death and Judgment For his coming is first by Death and then by Judgment And I say an actual Preparation because there is always a general and habitual preparedness to meet Christ Jesus in hearts that are truly godly but not always a particular actual fitness And this we see here in the five wise Virgins who are found in their midnight-sleep with Lamps that have need of trimming at the coming of Christ Thus Hezekiah was fit to dye as to a general and habitual fitness in that he could assert his sincerity before God when the message of death was brought him but he was to seek of a particular actual fitness in that he begs for longer life with prayers and plenty of tears The Message of Death awaked him and the holy man is startled and hath his Lamp to trim for the tidings of his death at hand was as much in effect as if it had been said unto him by the Prophet Behold the Bridegroom cometh go forth Hezekiah to meet him The nature of his distemper which some by the remedy a lump of Figs applied to the Bile conceive to have been the Pestilence and this considered with the shortness and sharpness of the Message and the Prophet Isaiah's quick abrupt departure from him that the King had then no Heir to succeed him in the Throne and also that he was now at the full strength of Nature being but nine and thirty years of age and his fear also what might become of his Kingdom and of his former Reformation after the grand Apostasie of his Father Ahaz I say these considerations made him to apprehend that there was a rebuke of God in this present Dispensation and therefore he is loth to dye under a temporal frown albeit his a vowed integrity would at the worst have seen him safe at heaven For though a Child of God cannot dye in his debt yet he is unwilling to depart under the sense of his temporal displeasure so as the good Prophet did whom the Lion slew at his return from Bethel to Judah 2 Kings 13.24 When David therefore was under God's rebukes for sin and even almost consumed with the blow of his hand he betakes himself as Hezekiah did to prayers and tears saith he Psal 39.10 11. to the end Hear my prayer O Lord and give ear to my Cry hold not thy peace at my tears for I am a stranger with thee and a Sojourner as all my Fathers were O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more Thus you see that the dear Children of God who have a general and habitual fitness to meet Jesus Christ when he is coming to them by Death and Judgment may yet be to seek of a particular actual preparation 2. Before I come to the answer of the Question let me premise this also That though a state of Grace is here supposed seeing Grace cannot be exercised where it is not yet there may be need to have it cleared inasmuch as the want thereof is a great hinderance in the way of this Duty You know that one that feareth God and obeyeth the voice of his Servant Jesus Christ may yet walk in darkness and see no light Isa 50.10 and he may say with Jonah he is cast out of God's sight and his soul is filled with troubles when his life draweth nigh unto the Grave wherefore let your eye be not only on your Lamp but also on your Vessel and examine your Oyl as well as mind your light For though you have received an Vnction from the Holy One and felt the sweet influences of the Spirit and have had the witness in your self yet the Comforter which sometimes relieved your Soul may at the present be far from you and suspend his testimony for Grace inherent is not self-enlightning but like the Moon which holdeth forth Light no longer than the Sun shineth upon it and though the Diall hath its Lines and Figures to declare the time of the day yet you will be to seek if the Sun withdraw hiâ— Light Even thus though the Spirit of God hath drawn the Lines and Figures of his Gifts and Graces in your heart yet if he also do not shine upon them you will not know what
is the command of the Lord Jesus to remember him in this Supper is a debt you ow to him your Saviour Lord and head it is a command that bears the superscription of the most supreme Authority in Heaven or Earth and if by the sentence of Christ it was but just to pay the tribute-money to Caesar because it bore his superscription it is much more just for you to pay the tribute of obedience to this command that bears the superscription of an Authority greater than all the Caesars that ever were What 's the name of Caesar in compare to the name and title of the Son of God which is a title that speaks him greater than all Angels or Arch-Angels in Heaven for to which of his Angels said he at any time thou art my Son Heb. 1.5 this day have I begotten thee this is he whom the Prophet Isaiah calleth Wonderful Is 9.6 Counsellor the mighty God the Prince of peace on whose shoulders it hath pleased the Everlasting Father to lay the government this is he whose Kingdom is an Everlasting Kingdom Dan. 4.3 and of whose dominion there will be no end of whom David speaketh Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom Psal 45.6 all power my brethren God hath given into his hands and hath given him to bear this royal title King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 19.16 and it is he only that is head of his Church it is this great Lord that hath said this do in remembrance of me how then dare you disobey him believe it if he hath so great authority to command he hath as great a power to punish if he find you presumptuously disobedient he that could strike some sick and others dead for profaning this Supper he can do as much to you for not observing it and that he doth not is not because he wants power but because he is gracious long suffering not willing you should perish for your neglect but that you may be drawn to repentance and so to obedience but if you be obstinate after you are told throughly of your fault take heed it will be a horrible thing for you to fall into the hands of consuming fire 2. Consider your neglect of this Ordinance is a sin against the command not only of the greatest but of the best Prince in Heaven and Earth he is not only Maximus but Optimus also this is a further aggravation of your sin Who ever thought but that Absalom's taking up arms against David was treason but he that shall consider that the rebellion was against David the man after God's own heart against David the holiest of men and the justest of Princes and besides all this against David his Father cannot but judge it an act of the highest treason imaginable My brethren in your disobeying this command you sin against Jesus the just and Jesus the gracious against him that is by place your head in love your Father in openness of heart your Friend against him that emptied himself that he might fill you that became poor that he might enrich you that became an exile from his Throne and Father's Kingdom that he might bring you home to your Father's house that became a curse that you might be blessed that hung on a tree for you that you might sit on Thrones with him who called you and washed you from your sins in his blood and after all this when he shall leave such a command as this to remember him in this Supper for all this his love how inexcusable must your neglect be let your Conscience be judge with whom I leave it 3. If you consider what relation you that are believers stand in to this Jesus that left this command with you ye are the Elect of the Father who committed you to his Son to Redeem and effectually call you that he might save you from sin wrath the grave Hell and to bring you to everlasting glory Why are you called believers but from that faith whereby you acknowledg this Jesus as your Lord and your God whereby you trust in him and in what he hath done and suffered for you for the making your peace procuring your pardon and opening a new and living way into your Father's Kingdom and glory it is by this faith that you love him cleave to him and are therefore called his friends his children his brethren his subjects servants followers witnesses and shall such as you be found disobedient to him shall you carelesly forget to remember him in a supper appointed by himself for the remembrance of the greatest act of his love that is his dying for you I tell you Christ will take it worse of you than of any others how hainously did David take a contempt from his friend Psal 41.9 Yea mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted which did eat of my bread hath lift up his heel against me ye are those that he hath chosen out of the world brought into his Father's family and for you to turn the heel upon him and refuse to eat at his Table this is a contempt that cannot but grieve and anger him when Christ had been teaching that they who did not eat his flesh and drink his blood had no life in them at this multitudes were offended and forsook him but saith he to his Disciples will ye go also implying that if they should forsake him it would be matter of greater trouble than that of the multitudes leaving him John 6.53.67 That the profane world comes not nigh his Table that comes not so nigh his heart but that ye believers should withdraw this is that which he must needs take ill from you Oh do not as you tender the good pleasure of your Lord do not grieve him by absenting your selves from his table 4. If you consider the command it self as it is easie pleasant honourable your neglect must needs receive further aggravation What is more easie than to eat and drink or more pleasant than to come to a feast or more honourable than to feast with the King of Kings Christ puts you not upon the painful duty of circumcising your flesh nor on the troublesom duty of washing your selves every time you touch a dead carcase or what is ceremonially unclean nor on the costly duties of sacrificing your Lambs Goats or Oxen nor on the costly and toilsom duties of travelling scores of miles every year to feast before the Lord at Jerusalem to which the Church of the Jews were bound he hath eased you of all these burdens and made your task far easier instead of all these he hath instituted but two duties like them the one of Baptism the trouble of which you are to undergo but once in all your lives and the other of this Supper which you may have without travelling far for and which costs you next to nothing But further it is a duty not less
grain of mustard-seed it will remove mountains 't is not imaginable what great things a little grace will do when stirr'd up and acted the strength of God is in it out of the mouths of babes and sucklings he ordains strength Psal 8.12 The smallest degree of true grace is able to secure it self against the gates of hell at least so far as to prevent a total overthrow Nay let me say further though with submission I am perswaded that never any child of God fell before a temptation under the actual exercise of that measure of grace be it more or less that God hath given him to withstand it I do not Arminianize upon facienti quod in se est c. I speak not of the power of nature but true grace acted to the highest degree of attainment 't is that which does great things and hath the blessing he that is faithful in a little shall be ruler over much but if the good man slumber and sleep no wonder if the enemy break in upon him when we are putting forth our selves to the utmost in any conflicts with Satan God with the temptation will find out a way of escape that we may be able to bear it 1 Cor. 10.13 in that very hour it shall be given Mark 13.11 Mat. 10.19 when we seem to be surpriz'd and over-matched by a temptation God will come in with more strength and out of weakness we shall become strong Heb. 11.34 thus little David overcomes great Goliah with a sling and a stone the Devil himself flyes from the Children of God when they resist him in the strength of that grace they have to him that hath shall be given the weak shall be as David and David as God vel as the Angel of God Many times weak Christians don't put forth that strength which they have would they but lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees Heb. 12.12 their spirits would return and their courage would increase and something might be done but alas they give way to their fears and despairing thoughts lye flat upon the ground and give up all for lost they don't attend to the actings of their hope whilest it goes by another name all is despair as good never a whit as never the better 't is to no purpose for them to do any thing they are past recovery undone for ever O my brethren don't give the Devil such an advantage against you but set your selves to act that grace you have be it never so little look among the ashes blow up the least sparks you see you don't know how soon it may break out into a flame and remember this that repeated acts of weak grace are equivalent to strong grace both as to thy success and God's acceptation who requires no more of thee than what is proportionable to that which he hath given to thee 7. Consider that all graces are joyn'd with their contraries in this state of imperfection here below no faith but is unequally yoked with some unbelief no hope without some despair and desponding that which is perfect is not yet come and that which is imperfect is not yet done away we are flesh as well as spirit and they two are contraries As there is some kind of hope in presumption so there may be some kind of despair in hope no degree of true Christian hope is consistent with the damning sin of final despair but some degrees of despondency and that which thou callest despair and which in a degree is so may be consistent with saving hope and so it holds true in all other graces from that mixture of corruption wherein the weakness of every grace doth lye yet grace is grace still hath all its essential parts and deserves not that nick-name which thou puttest upon it all dimness is not stark blindness every cloud doth not make mid-night what must you have all or none 't is indeed a sign of sincerity to covet all grace and as true a sign of humility and submission to the will of God thankfully to accept of a little owning those first fruits of the Spirit which in due time will be seconded with an after increase to thy plenary content and satisfaction our heavenly Father waters every plant of his own planting that it may bring forth more fruit therefore do not call every weak act of Hope despair do not call every fit of despair final despair what if the Sun be set must it never rise more if thou art cast down art thou utterly forsaken if mercy is at present gone out of thy sight must it be clean gone for ever these are but the breakings out of those peccant humours that will be predominant sometimes in the best of men By what hath been said we may answer those Objections which the Devil makes against our hope from the weakness of it I have but one thing more to add by way of direction to weak Believers who are never in more danger of being drawn into despair than when they are musing upon their sins examining and judging themselves by the Law charging themselves home with all that guilt that lyes upon them in order to their further humiliation in the sight of God then does the Devil many times strike in and suggest such frightful considerations to them that make them start back further than God would have them Therefore I shall now shew how we should prepare our selves for how we should order and manage our selves under a deep and serious consideration of our sins and unworthyness which we are called to and it is requisite the swelling temper of our proud hearts requiring it sometimes to set our selves apart for this work Zach. 12.12 The Direction is this Take down along with thee into the Valley of conviction contrition and self-abhorrency so much of a sense of Gods love and free grace in Christ as may keep thee from being overwhelm'd and from sinking into despair before you set out be sure you have some hold at least of the hemm of the garment of Christs righteousness you know not what foul weather what storms and tempests what thunder and lightning you may meet with before you return carry your cordial along with you though you never smell to it or tast it but in a fainting fit my meaning is you should take at least some general view of mercy before you take a strict particular view of sin usually they are the deepest and truest humiliations that are occasion'd by some previous sense of Gods love to us Ezek. 16.61 63. A man that is to go down into a deep pit he does not throw himself head-long into it or leap down at all adventures but fastens a rope at top upon a cross beam or some sure place and so lets himself down by degrees So let thy self down into the consideration of thy sin hanging upon Christ and when thou art gone so low that thou canst endure no longer but art ready to be overcome
Divine Reproofs and Threatnings on their Souls When this is done when our hearts are kept up unto an awful regard of them exercised with a continual meditation on them made tender careful watchful by them any just Reproof from any that falls in compliance with them will be conscienciously observed and carefully improved 6. We shall fail in this Duty unless we are always accompanied with a deep sense of our frailty weakness readiness to halt or miscarry and thereon a necessity of all the Ordinances and Visitations of God which are designed to preserve our Souls Unless we have due apprehensions of our own state and condition here we shall never kindly receive warnings before-hand to avoid approaching dangers nor duely improve Rebukes for being overtaken with them It is the humble Soul that feareth always and that from a sense of its own weakness yea the treacheries and deceitfulness of its heart with the power of those Temptations whereunto it is continually exposed that is ever like to make work of the Duty here directed unto Wherein doth appear the Blessedness of Forgiveness and how it may be obtained Serm. XXIX Psal 32.1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose Sin is covered OF all the pains or torments that any of the Children of Men do or can feel in this Life none are comparable to those which proceed from the lashes and wounds of a guilty conscience under the apprehensions of the anger of a Sin-revenging God and the impression of some scalding drops of his wrath upon the Soul Prov. 18.14 The Spirit of a Man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can bear David had ventured to transgress and that very hainously and in his breaking of God's Law he had broken his own peace in his dishonouring of God's Name he had wounded his own Conscience After his sin David is shy of God and keeps silence for a while maketh no confession God is highly offended and hides his face from him but layeth his hand sorely upon him making such a deep impression of his displeasure upon his Spirit that he sunk under the weight of it and it became so very grievous unto him that he roareth out all the day under the horrible anguish which he felt hereby yea he complaineth that his moisture was hereby turned into the drought of Summer In this condition David could find no relief no ease or asswagement of his grief until upon acknowledgement of his Sin he had obtained forgiveness and God through his free grace and tender mercy had covered his iniquity as we shall find in the 3 4 and 5. verses of this Psalm which I take to be the occasion of the joyful acclamation and sweet expression in my Text the first verse of the Psalm concerning the blessedness of remission or happiness of the man that hath with him obtained so great a priviledg which priviledg none have a greater sight of than those that have felt the wounds and smart and roared under the horrour of an accusing Conscience and been terrified with the furious rebukes of God's angry Countenance And because this was David's case therefore he might the more feelingly Pronounce those to be Blessed whose Sins were pardoned Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed The word in the Original signifies Blessedness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is read in the plural number because as one saith That Man is many ways blessed he is blessed in this world Vir ille est multis modis beatus nempe in hoc mundo in altero est beatissimuâ— faelicissimus ut propriae videantur beatitudines ad eum singulariter pertinere Genebrardus Quia multa bona debent concurrere ad beatitudinem vel ut ostenderet tâ—lem cumulatè beatum esse Pol. Synop. Alii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est interjectio sive adverbium sic Rhetorica exclamatio ex abrupte vel laeta exclamatio de faelicitate ejus O beate illum Sic Schindler 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quibus remissa est iniquitas Calvin Condonati praevaricationis cui demittitur praevaricatio Pagnin Qui levetus à defectione Jun. Trem. Vel qui exoneratus à transgressione a quo ablata transgressio Pisca absolutus à crimine Pol. ex Gei and in the other world he is most blessed and happy So that Blessedness seems most properly to be his and singularly to belong to him and it is the plural number because many good things concur to true Blessedness or to shew that such a one is cumulatively happy he hath a heap of blessings upon him Thus our learned Mr. Pool in his Synopsis The same Author observes that some take the word Blessed in the Hebrew to be an Interjection or Adverb And so make this to be a Rhetorical though abrupt exclamation or a joyful acclamation at the happiness of such Whose transgression is forgiven There are divers versions of these words One translates them out of the Hebrew whose iniquity is remitted Another whose prevarication is forgiven Others and that nearer the sense of the Hebrew words who is eased of his defection or unburdened of his transgression Another from whom his transgression is taken away Another who is absolved from his Crime all which versions agree in the same sense with our Translation whose transgression is forgiven for remission of Iniquity or Prevarication is the same as the forgiveness of Transgression to have the sin taken away to be eased and unburdened of the transgression what is it more than to have the sin forgiven forasmuch as the weight and load of guilt is by forgiveness removed whereby alone the Conscience is truely eased and so to be absolved from Crime is as much as to be acquitted from all Obligation of punishment and this is done in forgiveness of sin Whose sin is covered He is Blessed whose sin is covered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not he whose sins are covered by himself So Prov. 28.13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper all ought to acknowledg unto God without hiding any as v. 5th of this Psal I acknowledged my sins unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid But he is Blessed whose sin is covered by God Psal 85.2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy People thou hast covered all their sin Sin is covered when it is covered by God and when it is covered from God not as if any sin were or could be covered from the Eye and view of his Omnisciency but sin is covered from him when it is covered from his angry Eye and his wrathful revengeful Countenance That is when God ceaseth to be angry for the sin through his reconciliation to the Sinner Piscator noteth upon the place that sin is here compared to filthinesses which use to be covered that they may not offend the Eye When the offence of God's Eye is removed then sin may be said to be covered And it is observed that in the Hebrew the
preserved and maintained and who though he could so easily destroy you and glorifie his justice hereby yet is both patient with you and willing also to be reconciled unto you and sends his Embassadors in his name to tell you that he entreats you that you would be reconciled and let these considerations affect you with ingenuous grief for sin Lastly Get conviction of the defilement of sin how your Souls are stained by it and hereby degenerated and debased into a lower degree of vileness than is in the beast that perisheth yea that hereby you are become without regeneration and until your Souls are washed more loathsom in the eyes of God than the most nasty thing in the World is in your eyes 2. Make confession of sin In some cases it is requisite you should confess some sins unto man but it is absolutely universally necessary in order to forgiveness that you should confess your sins unto God the promise of pardoning mercy is made to confession Prov. 28.13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy David found by experience the evil of covering and keeping close his sins and the benefit of acknowledgment and confession Psal 32.3 4 5. When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long for day and night thine hand was heavy upon me my moisture is turned into the drought of Summer Selah I acknowledged my sin unto thee and my iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin Selah Sinners make a full confession of your sins that you may have a full pardon and discharge do not hide any sin as a sweet morsel under your tongue it is a vain thing to seek and endeavour the hiding of any sin from him who is omniscient God hath knowledg of all your Iniquities do you therefore acknowledg all unto him Make free confession of your sins Stay not till God force you by his Scourges and even drag you unto it by his cords of affliction but let it be your voluntary act and be ingenuous herein mingle not your confession with excuses and extenuations Say not though you are bad yet you are not so bad as others that your hearts are good though your lives have been naught that such and such gross sins were your slips and failings that you were overtaken overperswaded and drawn unto such wicked practices by your companions and so by transferring your guilt endeavour to make your selves as Innocent as you can this is abominable in the sight of God and a certain sign of sin's dominion which is inconsistent with the remission of it and will shut you out from pardoning Mercy but in confession of your sins acknowledg your selves to have been the chief of sinners Sinners take all the blame to your selves and set your sins out in the deepest Crimson and Scarlet colours and with all their hainous circumstances and aggravations tell God that your heart is the worst part and if there have been some abominations found in your lives there are a thousand-fold more abominations in your hearts Confess your sins with humility and self-loathing say with Agur Prov. 30.2 Surely I am more brutish than any man and have not the understanding of a man with David Psal 73.22 So foolish was I and ignorant I was as a Beast before thee with Job Chap. 42.6 I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Confess your sins with shame like Ezra Chap. 9.6 O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift my face unto thee for our iniquities are increased over our head and our trespass is grown up unto the Heavens Confess your sins with grief and godly sorrow like David Psal 39.18 I will declare mine iniquity I will be sorry for sin 3. Make Application of Christ by Faith that you may attain forgiveness There is no other Name given under Heaven amongst men whereby you can be pardoned and saved Acts 4.12 And he is able to save you and procure a pardon for you in the uttermost extent of your most hainous guilt Heb. 7.25 And the reason is given in the same Verse because he ever liveth to make Intercession for sinners it is his Office as High-Priest wherein he is most merciful and faithful to make Reconciliation for the sins of the People Heb. 2.17 Christ is near to the Father being at his right hand in Heaven and hath great interest in him being his dearly beloved Son and his Intercession for pardon is always accepted it being for no more than what himself hath purchased and what his Father hath promised and therefore you that are the worst of Sinners have great encouragement to come unto Christ and to make Application of him you have his promise that whosoever cometh unto him he will in no wise cast out Joh. 6.37 and if you apply your selves unto him and apply unto your selves his merits and Righteousness by believing you shall certainly attain the forgiveness of all your sins however numerous and hainous they have been Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins And our Saviour himself telleth us Joh. 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And the Apostle doth discourse at large in the former part of his Epistle to the Romans concerning Justification which he proveth by manifold Arguments that it cannot be works that it must be by Faith therefore by Faith make Application of Christ and his imputed Righteousness and rest therein only that you may be justified that you may be pardoned and saved 4. Forsake every sin that you may attain the forgiveness of it Prov. 28.13 He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and return to the Lord for he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon him Isa 1.16 17 18. Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doing from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judg the fatherless plead for the widow Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be as Wool You must loath your sins that you may be pardoned and withal you must leave them you must cease from doing evil if you would have God cease from his displeasure and unless you do forsake your sins never expect that God should forgive them there must be a returning to God that you may be received unto favour and this cannot be without a turning from sin It would be a dishonour unto God to pardon you