of it When we dislike and disapprove of others sins as well as our own we acknowledg the glory of the law that it is just holy and good and set our seal of approbation to it It justifies the holiness of the law in prohibiting sin the righteousness of the law in condemning sin It owns the soveraignty of God in commanding and the justice of God in punishing The law requires two things obedience to it and suffering for the transgression of it This frame of heart approves of the obedience the law requires of men as rational creatures and justifies the sufferings the law inflicts upon men as impenitent sinners Unless we mourn for the sins of others and thereby shew our distast we cannot give God the glory of his Judgments which he sends upon a people This disowning of sin is very acceptable to God because by it Men honour that law for whose violations they are so troubled and own Gods right of imposing a law upon his creatures and the creatures vileness in disgracing that Law 4. 'T is a sign of such a temper God hath evidenced himself in scripture much affected with 'T is a sign of a heart of flesh the noblest work of God in the creature A sign of a contrite heart the best sacrifice that can smoak upon his Altar next to that of his Son This he will not despise because it is a beam of glory dropped down from him and ascending in a sweet savour to him Psal 51.17 Without this we cannot have a sufficient evidence that we are truly broken-hearted We may mourn for our own sins for secret by-ends because they are against our worldly Interests and have reproaches treading upon the heels of them we may mourn for the sins of our friends out of a natural compassion to them and as they are the prognosticks of some approaching misery to them but in sorrowing for the sins of the world we have not so many and so affecting obligations to divert us from a sound aim in our sorrow To be affected with the dishonour of God by the sins of others is a distinguishing character of a spiritual constitution from a natural tenderness 'T is both our duty and God's pleasure No grief is sweeter to God nor more becoming us III. 'T is a means of preservation from publick Judgments Noah did not preach righteousness without a sensible reflection on that unrighteousness he preached against and he of all the world had the security of an Ark for him and his Family when all the rest struggled for life and sunk in the waters No meer man ever wore more black for the Funeral of God's honour than David nor was any blessed with more gracious deliverances The more zeal we have for God which is an affection made up of grief and anger the more protection we have from him * The steps of a man good man our translation renders it But the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a valiant man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way Psal 37.23 The more courage we have for God the more we may expect both his conduct and security If there be any hope in a time of actual or threatned Judgments 't is by laying our mouths in the dust Lam. 3.29 If there be any ground of hope it will shine forth when we are in such a posture There might be others in Jerusalem who had not complied with the Idolatry of that Age but none exempted from the stroke of the Six Destroyers but those whose mouths lay in the dust and whose cries against the common sin ascended to Heaven only the mourners among the good men are marked by the Angel for indemnity from the publick punishment 1. Sincerity always escapes best in common Judgments and this temper of mourning for publick sins is the greatest note of it This is the greatest note of sincerity We read of an Ahab who put on Sackcloth for his own sin and humbled himself before the Lord of a Judas sorrowing that he betrayed his Master Self-interest might broach their tears and force out their sorrow but never an Ahab or Judas or any other ungodly person in Scripture lamented the sins of others Nay they were all eminent for holiness that were noted for this frame whom we have mentioned before Moses a non-such for speaking with God face to face David who only had that honourable title of a man after God's own heart Isay who had the fullest prospect of Evangelical glory of all the Prophets Ezra a restorer of his Country Daniel a man greatly beloved Christ the Redeemer of the world and Paul the only Apostle rap't up in the third Heaven he was also humbled for the sins of the Corinthians 2 Corinth 12.21 Ezra hath a mighty Character Ezra 7.10 He prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel Statutes and Judgments And he both mourned for and prayed against the common sin Lot is not recorded for this without a glorious Epithete The Spirit of God over-looks those sins of his mentioned in Scripture and speaks not of him by his single name but Just Lot his righteous Soul 2 Pet. 2.7 8. A sincere Righteousness glittered in his vexation for the wronged Interest of God What a mark of honour doth the Holy-Ghost set upon this temper 'T is not drunken Lot or incestuous Lot with which sins he is taxed in Scripture This publickly religious spirit covered those temporary spots in his Scutcheon When all other signs of Righteousness may have their exceptions this temper is the utmost term which we cannot go beyond in our self-examination The utmost prospect David had of his sincerity when he was upon a diligent enquiry after it was his anger and grief for the sin of others when he had reached so far he was at a stand and knew not what more to add Psal 139.21 22 23 24. Am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine enemies Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me If there be any thing that better can evidence my sincerity than this Lord acquaint me with it know my heart i. e. make me to know it He whose sorrow is only for matter confin'd within his own breast or streams of it in his life has reason many times to question the truth of it But when a man cannot behold sin as sin in another without sensible regret 't is a sign he hath savingly felt the bitterness of it in his own Soul 'T is a high pitch and growth and a consent between the Spirit of God and the Soul of a Christian when he can lament those sins in others whereby the Spirit is grieved when he can rejoyce with the Spirit rejoycing and mourn with the Spirit mourning This is a clear testimony that we have not self-ends
mind Eph. 4.23 and he hath the Spirit of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1.7 His judgment is regulated by the Law of God he judges of sin as it is in its nature a transgression of the Law Can we imagine that a Man restored to a sound mind and that hath his natural madness and folly cured should act after this cure as much out of his wits as before If he hath his constant frenzies and madness as much as before where is his cure Can any Man in the world act always against his judgment though he may be overpowered by the importunity of others or over-ruled by a fit of passion to do something against his judgment can you expect always to find him in the road of crossing the dictates of his understanding An unregenerate Man hath a natural light in his Mind and Conscience and so a judgment of sin but he hath not a judgment of sin adequate to the object he doth not judge of sin in the whole latitude of it he hath not a settled judgment of the contrariety of his beloved sin to God He looks not upon it in the extent of it as malum injucundum inhonestum inutile if he looks upon sin as dishonest he regards it as profitable if neither as honest or profitable yet as pleasant so that the natural light which is in the understanding when it dictates right is mated and over-ruled by some other principle the pleasure or profit of it and swayed by the inherent habits of sin in the Will The Devil that works in them hath some principle to stir up or dim this natural light and cast a mist before the Eye and so they direct their course according to that particular judgment which is befriended in its vote by sense 2. 'T is against the nature of a renewed Will Grace is the law of God in the heart and is put in to inable us to walk in the ways of God and shall it endure such wilful pollutions in the Creature when it is the end of its being there to preserve from them The Spirit is given in the Heart 2 Cor. 1.22 sent into the Heart Gal. 4.6 the Law put into the Heart Heb. 10.16 Since therefore there is an habit of grace in the Will a Man cannot frequently and easily lanch into sin because he cannot do it habitually the remainders of sin being mated with a powerful habit which watches their motions to resist them Doth God put such a habit there such a seed an abiding seed to no purpose but to let the Soul be wounded by every temptation to be deserted in every time of need Grace is an habit superadded to that natural and moral strengrh which is in the Will Man by natures strength meerly or with the assistance of common grace hath power to avoid the acts of gross sins for he is master of his own actions though he is not of the motions tending to them the Devil cannot force a Mans Will And when grace a greater strength comes in shall there be no effects of this strength but the reins be as stiff in the hands of old lust and the Will as much captive to the sinful habit in it as before Grace being a new nature it is as absurd to think that a gracious man should wallow in a course of sin as it is to think that any creature should constantly and willingly do that which is against its nature A gracious man delights in the Law of God Psal 1.2 His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night if he delights in it can he delight to break it Do Men fling that which they delight in every day in the Durt and trample upon it or rather do they not keep it choicely in their Cabinets If it be also the Character of a good man to meditate in the Law of God he must have frequent exercises of faith reflections upon himself motions to God which cannot consist with a course of sin Grace doth essentially include a contrariety to sin and a love to God in the Will 'T is a principle of doing good and eschewing evil and these being essential properties of grace are essential to every regenerate man and in every one As a drop of Water or one spark of Fire hath the essential properties of a great mass of Water or a great quantity of Fire so every renewed man hath the same love to God and the same hatred of sin essentially as the most eminent Saint though not in degree yea which those in heaven have though not in the same degree As a spark of fire will burn a drop of water will moisten though not in so eminent a measure Now upon the whole consider whether is it possible to bare reason that a regenerate man should customarily do those things which are against the essential properties of that which is in him in his will and doth denominate him a new Creature 3. Proposition A regenerate man cannot have a fixt resolution to walk in such a way of sin were the impediments to it removed Though unregenerate men may actually as to the outward exercise abstain from some sins yet it is usually upon low and mean conditions If it were not for such or such an obstacle in the way I would do such and such an act This temper is not in a good man he cannot have a fixed and determinate resolution to commit such an act if such bars were taken away Such resolutions are Common in unregenerate men Jer. 44.25 We will surely perform our vows which we have vow'd to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and Isa 56.12 We will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant we will have as merry a meeting as we had to day The same character is ascribed to such an one Psal 36.4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed He sets himself in a way that is not good He ahhorreth not evil He modells out his sinful designs with head and heart he settles himself as an army settles in their ground when they resolve to fight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He abhors not evil He starts not at such motions but by a Meiosis he huggs and caresseth them with a wonderful delight Regenerate men fear to sin wicked men contrive to sin One would starve it the other makes provision for it This temper cannot be in a Regenerate man 1. 'T is Diabolical And so falls under that in the text He cannot Commit sin as the Devil doth 'T is a stain of the Devil who is resolved in his way of malice to God and mischief to man but for the strait Chains God holds him in his resolution is fixed though the execution restrained He goes about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to drink at one draught Seeking both for an opportunity and permission Unwearied searches manifest fixed resolutions His
doth not commit sin nor cannot sin He commits it not Potiùs patitur quà m facit he gives not a full consent to it he hates it while he cannot escape it He is not such a committer of it as to be the servant of sin John 8.34 He that commits sin is the servant of sin because he serves with his mind the Law of God He bestows not all his thoughts and labour upon sin in making provision for the flesh Rom. 13.14 in being a Caterer for sin He yields not up his Members as Instruments of unrighteousness unto sin he doth not let sin reign in his mortal body nor yield a voluntary obedience to it in the lusts thereof Rom. 6.12 13. for being God's Son he cannot be sins Servant he cannot sin in such a manner and so absolutely as one of the Devil's Children one born of the Devil His Seed remains in him His refers to God or the person born of God God's Seed efficiently man's Seed subjectively Born of God Twice repeated In the first is chiefly intended the declaration of the State in the second the disposition or likeness to God Observe 1. The Description of a Christian Born of God 2. The Priviledge of this Birth or Effects of it 1. Inactivity to sin He doth not commit it 2. Inability to sin He cannot 3. The ground and reasons of those Priviledges 1. The inward Form or Principle whereby he is regenerate which makes him unactive 2. The Efficient Cause which makes him unable Born of God or likeness to God makes him unable 4. The latitude of them in regard of the Subject Whosoever every regenerate man I intend not to run thorow all the parts of this Text having only chose it as a bar to presumption which may be occasioned by the former Doctrine upon mens false suppositions of their having grace There needs not any Doctrine from the Text but if you please take this Doct. There is a mighty difference between the sining of a regenerate and a natural man A regenerate man doth not neither can commit sin in the same manner as an unregenerate man doth That I may not be mistaken observe when I use the word May sin I understand it of a May of possibility not a May of lawfulness And when I say a regenerate man cannot sin so or so understand it of a settled habitual frame distinguish between passion and surprise a sudden effort of nature and an habitual and deliberate determination The sense of this cannot I shall lay down in several Propositions 1. It is not meant exclusively of lesser sins or sins of infirmity There are sins of daily incursion and lighter skirmishes there are some open some secret assaults a multitude of secret faults Psal 19.12 undiscernable and unknown Every good man is like Jacob though he hath one thigh sound he hath another halting I do not find that ever God intended to free any in this life from the remainders of sin What he hath not evidenc'd to have done in any we may suppose he intended not to do 'T is a total Apostacy not a partial Fall that the Covenant provides against Christ in his last prayer prays for Believers preservation and gradual sanctification not for their present perfection The very Office of Advocacy erected in Heaven supposeth sins after regeneration and during our continuance in the world 1 John 2.1 My little Children I write unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father In many things we offend all James 3.2 Not only you that are the inferior sort of Christians but we Apostles We is extensive All offend in many things 'T is implyed in the Lord's Prayer the daily standing Pattern As we are to pray for our daily bread so for a daily pardon and against daily temptations which supposeth our being subject to the one and our commission of the other The brightest Sun hath its spots the clearest Moon her dark parts The Church in her highest comeliness in this world hath her blackness of sin as well as of affliction because though sin be dismounted from its Throne by grace it is not expelled out of its residence It dwells in us though it doth not rule over us Rom. 7.20 And it cannot but manifest it self by its fruits while it remains Yet those sins do not destroy our Adoption Christ in his Sermon on the Mount to his Disciples supposeth the inherency of sin with the continuance of the relation of Children Matth. 7.11 If then you being evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him He doth acknowledge them evil while he calls God their Father and gives them the title of Children To sin is to decline from that rectitude in an act which the Agent ought to observe In this respect we sin according to the tenour of the Law in every thing we do though not according to the tenour of the Gospel 2. A regenerate man cannot live in the customary practice of any known sin either of omission or commission 1. Not in a constant omission of known duties If a good man falls into a gross sin he doth not totally omit the performance of common duties to God Not that this attendance on God in his Ordinances doth of it self argue a man to be a good man for many that walk in a constant course of sin may from natural Conscience and Education be as constant in the performing external services as he is 'T is a proper note of an Hypocrite that he will not always delight himself in the Almighty nor always call upon God Job 27.10 i. e. not customarily Whence it follows that a delight in God in duties of Worship is a property of a regenerate man An act of sin may impair his liveliness in them but not cause him wholly to omit them We need not question but David in the time of his impenitency did go to the Tabernacle attend upon the Worship of God 'T is not likely that for ten months together he should wholly omit it though no doubt but he was dead-hearted in it which is intimated when he desires a free spirit Ps 51. prayes for quickening Psa 143.11 one of his Penitential Psalms A total neglect of Ordinances and Duties is a shrewd sign of a total Apostacy and that grace was never in such a mans heart especially a total omission of prayer this is an high contempt of God denying him to be the Author of our mercies depriving him of the prerogative of governing the world disowning any need of him any sufficiency in him declaring we can be our own Gods and subsist of our selves without him and that there is no need of his blessing Grace though sunk under a sin will more or less desire its proper nourishment the Milk of the Word and other Institutions of God Nature though opprest by a disease will
it Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If I have curiously and intently looked upon iniquity with pleasure in my heart 5. 'T is against the nature of Regeneration Regeneration is a change of nature and consequently of resolutions A Lyon chained up hath an inclination to ravage but a Lyon chang'd into the nature of a Lamb loses his inclinations with that change of his nature so that it is as impossible a regenerate man can have the fixed and determinate resolutions that a wicked man hath as it is impossible that a Lamb should have the ravenous disposition of a Lyon you know the Scripture makes the change as great How can any man resolve to do a thing against that law which at the same time he hath an habitual approbation of as holy just and good Against a law natural to him viz. The law of the heart If a delight in the Law of God be a constitutive part of Regeneration then any settled purpose to sin is inconsistent with Regeneration because such a purpose being a testimony of an inward delight in that which is contrary to the Law of God cannot consist with a delight in that which forbids what his heart is set upon 4. Proposition A regenerate man cannot walk in a way doubtful to him without inquiries whether it be a way of sin or a way of duty and without admitting of reproofs and admonitions according to his circumstances This consists of two parts 1. He cannot walk in a way doubtful to him without inquiries whether it be a way of sin or of duty If the nature of conversion be an inclination of the heart to keep Gods statutes always even to the end Psal 119.112 the natural result then will be an enquiry what are the statutes of God which the Soul is to keep A natural man for fear of being disturbed in his sinful pleasure refuseth to understand the way of the Lord and delights to be under the power of a willful darkness Job 21.14 15. We desire not the knowledge of thy ways what is the almighty that we should serve him and what profit should we have if we pray to him This unwillingness to know the ways of God arises from a contempt of the Almighty and his service They judged it not profitable to serve and worship God and therefore were loth to receive any instruction for fear any light should spring up in them by way of conviction to disturb them Men love sin and therefore hate any knowledge which may deprive them of the sweetness of it Prov. 1 22. The Scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledg They delight in sin and therefore hate any knowledg which may check their delight And this unwillingness to choose the fear of the Lord is the ground of their hating the knowledg of it v. 30. for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They are afraid to be convinced that the way of their delight is a way of sin they would have no gall in their Conscience to imbitter the hony of their lusts This hatred of knowledg is inconsistent with true conversion because conversion is an election or choice of the fear of God and therefore cannot resist any means tending to promote that which is chosen 'T is essential to true grace to inquire into the mind and will of God to understand what is pleasing to him Job 34.32 That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more Inform me in what I know not if I understand it is iniquity which I have walked ignorantly in I will do it no more He will not return to folly when he shall hear what God the Lord shall speak 'T is certainly incompatible to the new nature to act in a contrariety to God Grace is always attended with an universal desire to know his will and pleasure him in performing it hence will follow an inquiry what behaviour and what acts are most agreeable to him John 14.21 He that hath my Commandments and keeps them he it is that Loves me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Antithesis is He that hath no mind to have my Commandments because he would not keep them hath no love to me He it is Emphatically exclusively that is the man and none else that Loves me Now if a man be afraid of making inquiry into the lawfulness of a course he is wedded to for fear his beloved object should appear to be a sin 't is a sign he abstains from what he knows certainly to be a sin out of a servile fear not out of a generous Divine Love a Principle as essential to the new nature as fear is to an enlightned carnalist 2. A Regenerate man cannot despise admonitions and reproofs which would inform him and withdraw him from a sinful course If he be in the way of life that keeps instruction then he that refuseth reproof is in the way of death Pro. 10.17 He is in the way of life that keeps instruction but he that refuseth reproof erreth 'T is put in a milder expression but if you observe the opposition it amounts to the inference I make So Prov. 15.9 10. The Lord Loves them that follow after Righteousness correction is grievous unto them that forsake the way and he that hates reproof shall dye Here is a plain opposition made between them that follow after Righteousness which is the character of a regenerate man who is therefore the object of Gods Love and that person that accounts correction grievous and hates reproof he is not one that follows after Righteousness to pursue is to embrace it and therefore not the object of Gods Love but the mark of death So that it is impossible a righteous man should hate reproof Nay the hating of reproof whereby a man might be informed of his duty is a sign not of a bare unregeneracy but of one at the very bottom of it wallowing in the very dreggs and mud of it farthest from the Kingdom of Heaven one that scarce looks like a rational creature Prov. 12.1 whoso Loves instruction Loves knowledge but he that hates reproof is brutish Whereas Solomons wise man which is a Regenerate man will love the reprover for the reproofs sake and grow wiser by instruction Prov. 9.8 9. Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee rebuke a wise man and he will Love thee give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser teach a just man and he will encrease in learning Just men change their intentions upon a discovery of the sinfulness of their way And though it may not at the first assault of an admonition appear to be a sin yet it will check somewhat their violence in it But where sin hath a dominion every check and discovery of it doth rather enflame than quench it and the heart like a stream rises the higher for
the damm Judas had an admonition from Christ that informed him of what wickedness he was about and the danger of it Mark 14.21 He pronounceth a wo against him Compare this with Joh. 13.27 30. when he gives him the sop which was at the same time he informed him of the danger Satan entered into him and he went more roundly to work to accomplish it he went immediately out Observe by the way That the Spirit of God enters into a mans heart often upon admonitions from friends and the Devil also more powerfully upon the same occasions than at other times A good man cannot habitually hate the reprover There is one example of a good man dealing hardly with a Prophet for reproving him in the name of the Lord 2 Chron. 16.10 Then Asa was wroth with the Seer and put him into a Prison house for he was in a rage with him because of this thing And partly for the Judgment of war against him But the Scripture gives an allay to it For he was in a rage He was in a passion because of the threatning and the plainness of the speech thou hast done foolishly To say such a word to an inferior would ordinarily now a days swell many a professor to a fury much more a Prince This very Proposition will discover that there are many more pretenders to a Regenerate state than possessors of it so strangely is not only Humane Nature but the Christian Religion depraved among us 5 Propos A regenerate man cannot have a settled deliberate love to any one act of sin though he may fall into it Thus the Devil sins he loves what he doth Though a good man may fall into a sin even such a sin which he was much guilty of before his Conversion and which he hath repented of yet never into a love of it or the allowance of any one act of it For by Regeneration the Soul becomes like God in disposition and therefore cannot love any thing which he hates whose hatred and love being always just are unerring Rules to the love and hatred of every one of his Children He can never account a sin his ornament but his fetter never his delight but his grief I add this Proposition because there may be a love of an act of sin where there is not a constant course in it As a man that hath committed a murther out of revenge may love afterwards the very thoughts of that revenge though he never murther any more And a man that hath committed an act of Adultery may review it with pleasure though he never commit an act again But a good man cannot David is supposed to be inclined to the way of lying and dissembling though he might falter sometimes and look that way and perhaps fall into it yet never into a love of it therefore observe Psal 119.163 I hate and abhor lying but thy Law do I love A single hatred would not serve the turn but I hate and abhor I have not the least affection to this of any though I have the greatest natural inclination to it What was the reason Thy Law do I love There was another affection planted in his Soul which could not consist with a love to or allowance either of the habit or any one act of lying A good man hath yielded his Soul up to the government of Christ his affections are fully engaged he cannot see an equal amiableness in any other Object for he cannot lose his Eyes again his enlightened mind cannot be wholly blinded and deceived by Satan he walks not by the inveiglements of sense but by the unerring Rule of Faith so that though by some mists before his Eyes he may for a while be deluded yet as he cannot have a setled false Judgment so he cannot have a setled affection to any one act of sin 'T is one thing for a City to surrender it self to the Enemy out of affection and another thing to be forced by them Under a force they may retain their Loyalty to their lawful Prince There may be some passionate approbations of an act of sin Jonah was an Advocate for his own passion against God and made a very peremptory Apology for it Jonah 4.9 I do well to be angry even to the death Yet if we may judge by his former temper we cannot think he did afterwards defend it out of judgment as he did then out of passion for when the Lot fell upon him Jon. 2.9 12. he made no defence for his sin he very calmly wishes them to cast him into the Sea Where there is a passionate approbation it cannot be constant in a good man for when he returns to himself his abhorrences of the sin and of himself for it are greater as if by the greatness of his grief he would endeavour to make some recompence for the folly of his passion Observe by the way A good man may commit a sin with much eagerness and yet have a less affection to it in the very act than another who acts that sin more calmly because it may arise not from any particular inclination he hath in his temper to that sin but from the general violence of his natural temper which is common to him in that action This seems to be the case of Jonah both in this and the former act But if a man be more violent in that act of sin than he is in other things by his natural temper there is ground both for himself and others to think that sin hath got a great mastery over his affections Peter seems to be a man of great affections and of a forward natural temper he was very hasty to have Tabernacles built in the Mountain for his Master Moses and Elias and have resided there He hastily rebukes his Master he flung himself out of a Ship to meet our Saviour walking upon the water and after his Resurrection he leapt into the Sea to get to him So that Peter's denying his Master was not such an evidence of disaffection to him or love to the sinful act he was then surpriz'd by as it would have been in John or any other Disciple of a more sedate temper But this only by the way as a Rule both to judg your selves by and to moderate your Censures of others And consider That such acts of sin are not frequent The violence of a mans temper if godly cannot carry him out into a course of sin or a love to any one act As a wicked man may hit upon a good duty and perform it but not out of a settled love to God or habitual obedience to his Law so a good man may by surprize do an evil work not out of obedience to the Law of sin or any love to the sin it self What considerations may move a wicked man to a good duty may in some respect move a good man to a sinful act yet it is not to be called a duty in the one no more than it is to
be called a sin in the other of the same hue of the same hue I say with that in a natural man 6 Proposition A regenerate man cannot commit any sin with a full consent and bent of will A man may consent to that which he doth not love Hereby I distinguish it from the former Proposition I mean not that he cannot commit any sin wilfully as sin for so I believe no man doth it being against the nature of the creature to do evil as evil formaliter but under some other notion of it Some consent of the will I do acknowledg because the will as well as the other faculties is but in part regenerate as there is not a triumphant light in the understanding so neither is the grace of the will at present triumphant but militant yet it may be rather called the will of sin than a mans own will Sometimes a good man is by some sudden motion hurried on to sin before he can consult law and reason before he hath his wits well at liberty before he can compare the temptation or sin with the prohibition of it by the Divine Law But generally there is a resistance in him as well as a provocation in sin for the two contrary principles exert themselves in some measure Grace resists and sin provokes Whereas another that hath no grace sins with a full consent because he hath no spiritual resisting principle in him for he is flesh and not spirit and whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh and wholly flesh There is a resisting indeed in a natural man but it is a resistance of natural light not of grace a resistance not of the Will but of the Conscience the Will is bent to sin but natural Conscience puts rubs in the way Neither is this resistance in spiritual sins which is the greatest character I know whereby to distinguish a resistance of natural Conscience from a resistance by a principle of grace which natural Conscience doth not so much trouble it self about as not having light without a spiritual illumination to discern them but only in gross sins such as are condemned by common reason so that if he hath any resistance it is not in the will of the man but the will of his Interest will of his Credit or the will of his Conscience not in the rational will complying with and delighting in the will of God A regenerate man cannot commit any sin with 1. An habitual Consent because he hath a principle of grace within him which opposes that tide of nature which did forcibly carry him down before This opposite principle doth remain though the present opposition may not be discerned by reason of the prevalency of the temptation As in a Room warm'd by a fire in Winter there is a principle in the Air doth resist that heat and reduce it after the fire is out to its former rawness and coldness A renewed man being passed into another nature it cannot be supposed he can do any thing with an habitual bent of will against his nature Grace hath put a stop to that Paul distinguisheth himself from sin in the acts of it 'T is not I or my will but sin Rom. 7.20 Now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwells in me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to perfect and compleat a work to work industriously and politely Had I my will I should not do thus There is a divorce made between the will and sin so that sin acts upon a single score now 'T is no more I a divorce is made between my will and sin The Law of Sin is therefore called a Law in the members not of the members a Law found working there v. 21. I find a Law in my members I did not enact it I placed it not there I consent not to its being there but there I find it and know not how to be rid of it but it shall never have my will But the Law of grace is called a Law of the mind not in the mind a Law which is settled there by the consent of the Soul and to whose Soveraignty and Guidance it yields it self The Law of sin is in the members the vigor of it is seen in the inferiour faculties of the Soul not in the higher the mind and will 't is a Law imposed upon me not imbraced by me a Law of disturbance not of obedience a Law that troubles me doth not delight me v. 21 22. It resides as an Enemy warring but hath no intimacy with me as a friend v. 23. yet it is an Enemy driven to the out-works to the members So that where all this is you cannot suppose an habitual consent to sin when the will is formed into another nature As the will of the wicked is possessed by habits of sin under the restraints from it so the will of the godly is possessed by habits of grace even under the rape of a prevailing temptation 2. Nor an actual consent both antecedent and consequent The Interest of sin may seem to be actually higher and stronger in the Soul than the Interest of God though this latter is habitually stronger than the Interest of sin Though there may be an antecedent delight in the motion a present delight in the action yet there is not a permanent consequent delight after it yet the two first are rare 'T is seldom that a renewed Soul and sin do so friendly conspire together without any spiritual reluctancy Suppose he may have by the suspension of grace a whole actual consent of will to one particular sin upon some strong provocation yet he gives not up himself to the will or way of that sin He is only under a temporary not a perpetual power of it As a man in a fight may by a fall be under the power of his Enemy yet in the struggle get up again and reduce him to the same necessity Though there be not an express dissent at the motion nor in the action yet there is alwaies after for it is as much against the terms of the Covenant to have a perpetual delight in any sin committed as to commit it often because this delight in it is an approbation of it and every act of delight is a new act of approbation and consequently a recommission of it and a making a mans self a perpetual accessary to that first act 1. Sometimes he hath an antecedent dissent A renewed man is troubled and displeased at the first motion to a sin he is sometimes troubled that any sin should so much as ask him the question to have entertainment in him 'T is so many times with a natural man much more with a regenerate man yet afterwards that displicency abating the sin creeps upon him by degrees and ensnares him Paul had an act of will against that which he did before he did it he did that which was preceded by an act of his will nilling it
of what kind a Page 75. ad 84. 126 235 6. a vital principle Page 84 5. a habit a Page 85. ad 96. a law in the heart a Page 96. ad 100. a likeness to God Page 100. its rarity and whence Page 105 237 242. its trial Page 53. 118. ad 124. 217 237 8. 't is excellent Page 125. 130 133 209 223 227 237. honourable and pleasant Page 133 4. attainable by all Page 135. man not the author of it proved in general a Page 140. ad 147. more particularly a Page 147. ad 175. what man by common grace can do towards it a Page 174. ad 187. why then God commands it c. a Page 187. 197. not by moral suasion only Page 200 1. God the efficient of it Page 205 6 7. necessary he should be a Page 207. ad 210. what attributes of God manifest in it a Page 211. ad 217. what kind of work and low wrought a Page 217. ad 222. 234 5. to be ascribed only to God Page 198 222. the circumstances of it to be considered Page 227. founded on Reconciliation by Christ Page 245. depends on Christs Resurrection Page 326. a means to divine knowledge Page 471. a means to raise good thoughts Page 11 †the Word the instrument of it Vid. Word Regenerate their duty a Page 125. ad 132. 20â— 2 3. a 225. ad 228. 238. to be esteemed Page 111. their sins great Page 111. cannot sin how understood Page 88 9. they only fit to come to the Sacrament a Page 780. ad 784. they may receive it unworthily Page 817. difference between their sins and other mens great a Page 89. ad 100 †Religion the Christian its excellency above all others a Page 343. ad 346 515 648 657 1116 1218. its wonderful propagation Page 209 507 517 614. not to own it to be from God very irrational Page 656 7 8. 699 734. not to act according to it a madness Page 743. Repentance whether Adam in innocence had a power of it Page 189. a very low condition Page 374. not without knowledge Page 407. kept in life how Page 843. can 't satisfie or expiate sin Page 932 951. not right without mourning for others sins Page 75 †Vid. Godly Sorrow Reproach the friendship of Christ a comfort under it Page 1219. Reproof a good man can't despise it Page 95 †Resistance of grace by men Page 146. of sin must be continued Page 17 †Resolutions not to be made in our own strength Page 202 3. not to be trusted in Page 222. necessary in approaches to the Supper Page 752 3. should be oft renewed Page 1375. to sin were it not for hindrances a good man can't have Page 93 †Restraints differ from Regeneration Page 109. and mortification how they differ Page 1318. Resurrection of Christ for us Page 67 326 7 promised him Page 282. necessary Page 324. the act of the Father Page 325 comfortable to Believers Page 327. how pardon depended on it Page 106 †of our Bodies certain Page 1105. Vid. Exaltation of Christ Revelation by the Gospel not insufficient Page 142. its clearness aggravates unbelief Page 614. of God belief due to it a dictate of nature Page 647 8. Vid. Reason Revenge the chief object of it within Page 1314. Riches a cause of unbelief Page 738. Righteousness our own not to be trusted in Page 599 907 951 1181 2 Vid. Justification exploded by the spirit in conviction Page 576. must vail to Christ Page 669. S. SAbbath a probable reason of its change Page 853. Sacraments efficacious by the word Page 233. always thought needful by God Page 316. Sacrifices how acceptable to God Page 316. instituted by God Page 232. 646 855. 948. typical of Christs death Page 856 948 9. 1174. answered by Christ Page 857. of themselves could not expiate sin Page 858 838 9. of what necessary for man Page 859 c. not from the light of nature Page 947. were not and could not be the object of the Israelites Faith Page 1167 1191. they apprehended some mystery in them Page 1167 8. Sacrifice Christ only fit to be one Page 861 940. 941 2. Christ one in his humane nature Page 862. of Christ his value whence Page 862 899. all his sacerdotal acts depend on this Page 863. Christ one for us not himself Page 855 865. this matter of comfort to believers Page 871. to be laid hold on Page 872. of Christ perfect Page 906 7. Saints their company a part of the happiness of heaven Page 42. admiration of their gifts and graces make men slight Christ Page 666. love to them Vid. Love Salvation of Believers certain Page 284 703. Vid. Believers ours and God's glory link'd together Page 285. the end of Christ's commission and Exaltation intercession Page 302 336 1147. all things necessary for it in Christs hands Page 673. to be sought of Christ Page 674. Christ hath done his part towards it Page 704 5. no want of evidence of the way of it Page 705. only by Christ Page 922. Sanctification and Regeneration how they differ Page 72. a sign of pardon Page 116 †Vid. Holiness Regeneration Satisfaction necessary for sin Page 868 a 9. 3 ad 883. 932. not possible to be by any creature a Page 932. ad 942. of Christ declared to be full by his Exaltation Page 1089. Vid. Death of Christ Sacrifice Justice Popish ones to be rejected Page 907. Scriptures studying them a means of divine knowledge Page 468 519. they that never look into them Unbelievers Page 726. men unwilling to be guided by them Page 1â—93 studying them a means to raise good thoughts Page 11 †to be read by Women Page 76 †Seal of the Covenant the Supper is Page 758. Seasons for duty the fittest to be chosen Page 62 63 †Secret sins discovered by the Law in the hand of the Spirit Page 573. Security of the Churches enemies the forerunner of their ruin Page 46 †Seed of Christ who Page 102 3. promised him a Page 278. ad 281. Christ to take care of them Page 281. spirit given him for their sakes Page 297 8. Vid. Believers Self the chief end of a natural man Page 66. Christ died to take men off from it ibid. necessary we should be and no Regeneration till we are Page 66 7. Self-love the principles of it contradicted by Unbelievers Page 648. Self-fulness a conceit of it a cause of unbelief Page 736 7. Sense of sin meditation on that Christ had a means of conviction Page 599. of original sin Vid. Fall should be great in a Communicant Page 752. the want of it reproved Page 72 3 †no argument of an unpardon'd state Page 115 †Vid. Corruptions Sensuality Vid. Pleasures Service of God evangelical not without a new nature a Page 21. ad 29. not accepted from an unregenerate man Page 33 4. Renewed men always disposed for it how Page 87 8. industry and affection must be in it Page 377. of a
himself Some Heathens were more Orthodox and among the rest Ovid whose amorous pleasures one would think should have smothered such sentiments in him The Lord whose knowledg is infallible knows the thoughts of men that they are vanity Psal 94.11 yea and of the wisest men too according to the Apostle's Interpretation 1 Cor. 3.20 And who were they that became vain in their Imaginations but the wisest men the carnal world yielded The Graecians the greatest Philosophers the Aegyptians their Tutors and the Romans their Apes The elaborate operations of an unregenerate mind are fleshly Rom. 8.5 7. If the whole web be so needs must every thread The thought of foolishness is sin * Prov. 24.9 i. e. a foolish thought not objectively a thought of folly but one formally so yea an abomination to God †Prov. 1◠26 As good thoughts and purposes are acts in God's account so are bad ones Abraham's intention to offer Isaac is accounted as an actual Sacrifice ‖ Heb. 11.17 James 2.21 that the stroke was not given was not from any reluctance of Abraham's will but the gracious indulgence of God Sarah had a deriding thought and God chargeth it as if it were an outward laughter and a scornful word * Gen. 18.12 15. Therefore Sarah laughed within her self saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in visceribus suis Targum Rom. 7.7 I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Thoughts are the words of the mind and as real in God's account as if they were expressed with the Tongue There are three Reasons for the proof of this that they are Sins 1. They are contrary to the Law which doth forbid the first foamings and belchings of the heart because they arise from an habitual corruption and testifie a defect of something which the Law requires to be in us to correct the excursions of our minds Doth not the Law oblige man as a rational creature Shall it then leave that part which doth constitute him rational to fleeting and giddy fancies No it binds the soul as the principal agent the body only as the instrument For if it were given only for the sensitive part without any respect to the rational it would concern brutes as well as men which are as capable of a rational command and a voluntary obedience as man without the conduct of a rational soul It exacts a conformity of the whole man to God and prohibits a difformity and therefore engageth chiefly the inward part which is most the man It must then extend to all the acts of the man consequently to his thoughts they being more the acts of the man than the motions of the body Holiness is the prime excellency of the Law a title ascribed to it twice in one Verse Rom. 7.12 Wherefore the Law is holy and the Commandment holy just and good Could it be holy if it indulged looseness in the more noble part of the creature Could it be just if it favoured inward unrighteousness Could it be good and useful to man which did not enjoyn a suitable conformity to God wherein the creatures excellency lies Can that deserve the title of a spiritual Law that should only regulate the brutish part and leave the spiritual to an unbounded licentiousness Can perfection be ascribed to that Law Mat. 5.28 which doth countenance the unsavoury breathings of the Spirit and lay no stricter an obligation upon us than the Laws of men Must not God's Laws be as suitable to his Soveraignty as mens Laws are to theirs Must they not then be as extensive as God's Dominion and reach even to the privatest closets of the heart 'T is not for the honour of God's holiness righteousness goodness to let the Spirit which bears more flourishing characters of his Image than the body range wildly about without a legal curb 2. They are contrary to the order of nature and the design of our Creation Whatsoever is a swerving from our primitive nature Eccles 7.29 God made man perfect but they have sought out many inventions is sin or at least a consequent of it But all inclinations to sin are contrary to that righteousness wherewith man was first endued Man was created both with a disposition and ability for holy contemplations of God the first glances of his soul were pure he came every way compleat out of the mint of his infinitely wise and good Creator and when God pronounced all his Creatures good he pronounced man very good amongst the rest But man is not now as God created him he is off from his end his understanding is filled with lightness and vanity This disorder never proceeded from the God of order infinite goodness could never produce such an evil frame none of these loose inventions were of God's planting but of man's seeking No God never created the intellective no nor the sensitive part to play Domitian's game and sport it self in the catching of Flies Psal 49.20 Gen. 3.6 Man that is in honour and understands not that which he ought to understand and thinks not that which he ought to think is like the Beasts that perish he plays the beast because he acts contrary to the nature of a rational and immortal soul And such brutes we all naturally are since the first woman believed her sense her phancy her affection in their directions for the attainment of wisdom without consulting God's Law or her own reason The phancy was bound by the right of nature to serve the understanding 'T is then a slighting God's wisdom to invert this order in making that our Governour which he made our Subject 'T is injustice to the dignity of our own souls to degrade the nobler part to a sordid slavery in making the brute have dominion over the man as if the Horse were fittest to govern the Rider 'T is a falseness to God and a breach of trust to let our minds be imposed upon by our phancy in giving them only feathers to dandle and chaff to feed on instead of those braver objects they were made to converse withal 3. We are accountable to God and punishable for thoughts Nothing is the meritorious cause of God's wrath but sin The Text tells us that they were once the keys which opened the floud-gates of divine vengeance and broach'd both the upper neather Cisterns to overflow the world If they need a pardon * Acts 8.22 If perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee as certainly they do then if mercy doth not pardon them justice will condemn them And 't is absolutely said that a man of wicked devices * Prov. 12.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man of thoughts i. e. evil thoughts the word being usually taken in an ill sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or thoughts God will condemn 'T is God's prerogative often mentioned in Scripture to search the heart To what purpose if the acts of it did not fall under His censure as well
as His cognizance He weighs the Spirits Prov. 16.2 in the ballance of His Sanctuary and by the weights of His Law to sentence them if they be found too light The word doth discover and judge them Heb. 4.12 13. It divides asunder the soul and spirit the sensitive part the affections and the rational the understanding and will both which it doth dissect and open and judge the acts of them even the thoughts and intents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever is within the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and whatsoever is within the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one referring to the Soul the other to the Spirit These it passeth a Judgment upon as a Critick censures the Errata's even to syllables and Letters in an old Manuscript These we are to render an account of as the Syriack renders those words v. 13. with whom we have to do Of what Of the first bubblings of the heart the motions and intents of it The least Speck and Atome of dust in every chink of this little world is known and censured by God If our thoughts be not judged God would not be a righteous judge He would not judge according to the merit of the cause if outward actions were only scann'd without regarding the intents wherein the principle and end of every action lies which either swell or diminish the malignity of it Actions in kind the same may have different circumstances in the thoughts to heighten the one above the other and if they were only judged the most painted hypocrite might commence a blessed spirit at last as well as the exactest Saint 'T is necessary also for the Glory of God's omniscience 1 Cor. 4.5 'T is hereby chiefly that the extensiveness of God's knowledge is discovered and that in order to the praise or dispraise of men viz. To their Justification or condemnation Those very thoughts will accuse thee before God's Tribunal which accuse thee here before conscience His Deputy Rom. 2.15 16. Their thoughts the mean while i. e. in this life while conscience bears witness accusing or excusing one another in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men i. e. and also at the day of judgment when conscience shall give in its final Testimony upon God's examination of the secret counsels This place is properly meant of those reasonings concerning good and evil in men's Consciences agreeable to the Law of nature imprinted on them which shall excuse them if they practise accordingly or accuse them if they behave themselves contrary thereunto But it will hold in this Case for if those inward approbations of the notions of good and evil will accuse us for our contrary practices Non solum opus sed mali operis cogitatio poenas luet Hieron in Hosâ—â— 7. Acts 8.22 they will also accuse us for our contrary thoughts Our good thoughts will be our accusers for not observing them and our bad thoughts will be indictments against us for complying with them 'T is probable the Soul may be bound over to answer chiefly for these at the last day for the Apostle chargeth Simon 's guilt upon his thought not his word and tells him pardon must be principally granted for that The tongue was only an Instrument to express what his heart did think and would have been wholly innocent had not his thoughts been first criminal What therefore is the principal subject of pardon would be so of punishment as the first incendiaries in a rebellion are most severely dealt with And if as some think the fallen Angels were stript of their primitive Glory only for a conceiv'd thought how heinous must that be which hath inrolled them in a remediless misery Having proved that there is a sinfulness in our thoughts let us now see what provocation there is in them Which in some respects is greater than that of our actions But we must take actions here in sensu diviso as distinguished from the inward preparations to them In the one there is more of scandal in the other more of odiousness to God God indeed doth not punish thoughts so visibly because as He is Governour of the world His Judgments are shot against those sins that disturb humane society but He hath secret and spiritual Judgments for these suitable to the nature of the sins Now thoughts are greater in respect 2. Of fruiâ—fulness The wickedness that God saw great in the earth was the fruit of imaginations They are the immediate causes of all sin No Cockatrice but was first an Egg. It was a thought to be as God * Gen. 3.5 2 Cor. 11.3 that was the first breeder of all that sin under which the world groans at this day For Eve's mind was first beguiled in the alteration of her thought Since that the lake of inward malignity acts all it's evil by these smoaking steams Evil thoughts lead the van in our Saviour's Catalogue Mat. 15.19 as that which spirits all the black regiment which march behind As good motions cherish'd will spring up in good actions so loose thoughts favoured will break out in visible plague-sores and put fire unto all that wickedness which lyes habitually in the heart as a spark may to a whole stock of Gun-powder 2 Tim. 2.16 The vain babblings of the soul as well as those of the Tongue will encrease to more ungodliness Being thus the cause they include virtually in them all that is in the effect as a seed contains in its little body the leaves fruit colour scent which afterward appear in the plant The seed includes all but the colour doth not virtually include the scent or the scent the colour or the leaves the fruit so 't is here One act doth not include the formal obliquity of another but the thought which caused it doth seminally include both the formal final obliquity of every action both that which is in the nature of it and in the end to which it tends As when a Trades-man cherisheth immoderate thoughts of gain and in the attaining it runs into many foolish and hurtful Lusts there is cheating lying swearing to put off the commodity 1 Tim. 6.9 all these several acts have a particular sinfulness in the nature of the acts themselves besides the tendency they have to the satisfying an inordinate affection all which are the spawn of those first immoderate thoughts stirring up greedy desires 2. In respect of Quantity Imaginations are said to be continually evil There is an infinite variety of conceptions as the Psalmist speaks of the Sea wherein are all things creeping innumerable both small and great and a constant generation of whole shoals of them that you may as well number the Fish in the Sea or the Atomes in the Sun-beams as recount them There is a greater number in regard of the acts and in regard of the objects 1. In regard of the acts of the mind 1. Antecedent acts How many preparatory motions of the mind are there to one wicked
For the raising good thoughts 2. Preventing bad 3. Ordering bad when they do intrude 4. Ordering good when they appear in us 1. For raising good thoughts 1. Get renewed hearts The fountain must be cleansed which breeds the vermine Pure vapors can never ascend from a filthy quagmire What issue can there be of a vain heart 2 Cor. 5.17 Jer. 4.14 Wash thy heart from wickedness c. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee but vain imaginations Thoughts will not become new till a man is in Christ We must be holy before we can think holily Sanctification is necessary for the dislodging of vain thoughts and the introducing of good A sanctified reason would both discover and shame our natural follies As all animal operations so all the spiritual motions of our heads depend upon the life of our hearts * Prov. 4.23 as the principium originis As there is a law in our members to bring us into Captivity to the law of sin Rom. 7.23 so there must be a law in our minds to bring our thoughts to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 We must be renewed in the spirit of our minds Ephes 4.23 in our reasonings and thoughts which are the spirits whereby the understanding acts as the animal spirits are the instruments of corporeal motion Till the understanding be born of the spirit †John 3 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit it will delight in and think of nothing but things suitable to its fleshly original but when 't is spiritual it receives new impressions new reasonings and motions suitable to the Holy Ghost of whom it is born A stone if thrown upwards a thousand times will fall backward because 't is a forced motion but if the nature of this stone were changed into that of fire it would mount as naturally upward as before it sunk downward You may force some thoughts toward heaven sometimes but they will not be natural till nature be changed Grace only gives stability †Heb. 13.9 It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace and prevents fluctuation by fixing the soul upon God as its chief end and what is our end will not only be first in our intentions but most frequent in our considerations Hence a sanctified heart is called in Scripture a stedfast heart There must be an enmity against Satan put into our hearts according to the first promise before we can have an enmity against his imps or any thing that is like him 2. Study Scripture Original corruption stuffs us with bad thoughts and Scripture-knowledge would stock us with good ones for it proposeth things in such terms as exceedingly suit our imaginative faculty as well as strengthen our understanding Judicious knowledge would make us approve things that are excellent and where such things are approved Phil. 1.9 10. toys cannot be welcom Fulness is the cause of stedfastness The cause of an intent and piercing eye is the multitude of animal spirits Without this skill in the Word we shall have as foolish conceits of Divine things as ignorant men without the Rules of Art have of the Sun and Stars or things in other Countries which they never saw The Word is call'd a Lamp to our feet i. e. the affections a light to our eyes i. e the understanding Psa 119.105 Psal 19.8 enlightens the ey s. It will direct the glances of our minds and the motions of our affections It enlightens the eyes and makes us have a new prospect of things as a Scholar newly entred into Logick and studied the Predicaments c. looks upon every thing with a new eye and more rational thoughts and is mightily delighted with every thing he sees because he eyes them as clothed with those notions he hath newly studied The Devil had not his engines so ready to assault Christ as Christ from his knowledg had Scripture-precepts to oppose him Lectione assidua meditatione diuturna pectus suum bibliothecam Christi secerat Hierom Ep. 3. As our Saviour by this means stifled thoughts offered so by the same we may be able to smother thoughts arising in us Converse therefore often with the Scripture transcribe it in your heart and turn it in succum sanguinem whereby a vigor will be derived into every part of your soul as there is by what you eat to every member of your body Thus you will make your mind Christ's library as Hierom speaks of Nepotianus 3. Reflect often upon the frame of your mind at your first conversion None have more settled and more pleasant thoughts of divine things than new converts when they first clasp about Christ partly because of the novelty of their state and partly because God puts a full stock into them and diligent trades-men at their first setting up have their minds intent upon improving their stock Endeavour to put your mind in the same posture it was then Or if you cannot tell the time when you did first close with Christ recollect those seasons wherein you have found your affections most fervent your thoughts most united and your mind most elevated as when you renewed repentance upon any fall or had some notable chearings from God and consider what matter it was which carried your heart upward what employment you were engaged in when good thoughts did fill your soul and try the same experiment again Asaph would oppose God's ancient works to his murmuring thoughts he would remember his song in the night i. e. the matter of his song and read over the records of God's kindness * Psal 77.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. David too would never forget i. e. frequently renew the remembrance of those precepts whereby God had particularly quicken'd him †Psa 119.93 Yea he would reflect upon the places too where he had formerly conversed with God to rescue himself from dejecting thoughts therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill Missar ‖ Psal 42.6 Some elevations surely David had felt in those places the remembrance whereof would sweeten the sharpness of his present grief When our former sins visit our minds pleading to be speculatively reacted let us remember the holy dispositions we had in our repentance for them Luke 24.32 Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures and the thankful frames when God pardoned them The Disciples at Christ's second appearance reflected upon their own warm temper at his first discourse with them in a disguise to confirm their faith and expel their unbelieving conceits Strive to recollect truths precepts promises with the same affection which possest your Souls when they first appeared in their glory and sweetness to you 4. Ballast your heart with a Love to God David thought all the day of
thereof The Kingdom of God is not destroyed when it is removed but transplanted into a more fruitful Soil While Christ hath a body in the world he will find a Joseph of Arimathea to embalm it and preserve it for a resurrection When the glory of the Lord goes off from one Cherub it will find other Cherubims whereon to settle Ezek. 10.4.18 That glory which had dwelt is the material ark of the Sanctuary departs from thence to find a Throne in that Chariot which had been described Ezek. 1. Nay the departure of God from one Church renders his name more glorious in another * Rivet in Hos 1.10 p. 518. The rejection of the carnal Israel was the Preamble to the appearance of the spiritual Israel the Kingdom of the Messiah was rendred more large and illustrious by the dissolving of that Church that had confidence in the flesh trusted in their external rites and patcht the beauty and purity of divine Worship with their whorish additions just as the mortification of the flesh gives liveliness to the spirit and the pulling up noysom weeds from a garden makes room for the setting and flourishing growth of good plants 2. Though God unstakes the Church in one place yet he will not only have a Church but a professing Church in another It shall be said of Sion This and that man was born there It shall be said of Sion by God It shall be said of Sion by men If Christ confesseth none before his Father but such as confess him before men Luk. 12.8 shall he ever want imployment shall the world ever be at that pass as to bear none that profess him and so none to be owned by him at the right hand of his Father Shall he by whom all things subsist have none to acknowledg their subsistance by him The world may be the Inheritance of Christ but scarce counted his possession if there were not in some parts of it a body of subjects to justifie their Allegiance to him in the face of a persecuting generation Indeed when the Church was confined to the narrow limits of the carnal Israel the profession of the truth was contracted to a few though the faith of it might be alive in others only Caleb and Joshua among the whole body of the murmuring Israelites in the wilderness asserted the honour of God and maintained the truth of his promise though the belief of it might sparkle in the hearts of others under the ashes of their fears that hindered their discovery of it to others It was another time reduced to one and Elijah only had the boldness to make a declaration of the name of God though there were 7000 who had retain'd their purity while they had lost their courage to publish it 1 Kings 19.18 But in the Christian Church since the number of elect are more the profession will be greater in the midst of an universal Apostacy of pretenders Rev. 13.8 All that dwell upon the earth shall Worship him i. e. the Beast whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb. If their election be a preservative against an adoration of the Beast it is also a security against the denial of any such worship and an encouragement to profess the name of Christ when they shall be brought upon the stage This profession may lye much in the dark and not be so visible as before As a field of corn overtopt by weeds looks at a distance as if there were nothing else but the blew and red cockle and darnel but when we come near we see the good grain shews its head as well as the weeds but a professing people there will be one where or other 'T is a standing law of Christianity that a belief in the heart should be attended by confession with the mouth Rom. 10.9 And the Church is a congregation of people sounding the voice of Christ as he was preached and confest by the Apostles while there are believers there will be professors in Society together some Ordinances setled in being during the continuance of the world as the Supper 1 Cor. 11.6 implies a Society as the seat of the administration Baptism is a Ceremony of admission into a Society the Supper a feasting of several upon spiritual Viands Officers appointed imply a body professing some rules Math. 28.20 To what purpose are all these setled during the continuance of the world if they were not somewhere to be practised till that period of time how can they be practised without a Confederation and Society Without such a body all the Ordinances and Rules of Christ would be in vain and imply as little wisdom in enacting them as a want of power in not keeping up a Society in some part of the world to observe them according to his own prescriptions There will therefore be in some part or other of the world a Church openly professing the doctrine of truth 3. This Church or Sion shall have a numerous progeny The Spiritual Israel shall be as the Sand of the Sea which cannot be measured or numbred Hos 1.10 which was the promise made to Abraham Gen. 22.17 and renewed in the same terms to Jacob Gen. 32.12 The Church is a little flock in comparison of the carnal world yet it is numerous in it self though not in every place for sometimes there may not be above three found to withstand the worship of a Golden Image yet in some one or other place of the world and successively it shall be numerous he will not lose the honour of the feast he hath prepared though those that are invited prefer their Farms and Oxen before it but will find Guests in the high-ways he will spread his wings from East to West and in every place Incense shall be offered to his Name Mal. 1.11 The Church is compared to the morning Cant. 6.10 which from small beginnings in a short time fills the whole Hemisphere with light and the promises concerning it run all that way The Hills were to be covered with the shadow of it her boughs are to be sent out to the Sea and her branches to the River Psal 80.10 11. It was to spread it self like a goodly Cedar and be a dwelling-place to the Fowl of every wing Ezek. 17.23 Yea a numberless multitude from all Nations Kindreds People and Tongues are to stand before the Throne and before the Lamb Clothed with white Robes and Palms in their hands Rev. 7.9 adorned with innocency and crowned with victory No Monarchy ever did ever can so far stretch her bounds nor hath the Sun seen any place where it hath not seen some sprinkling of a Church Every Kingdom hath met with unpassable bounds but the Ensigns of Christ have not been limited The Church was once crowded up in a narrow compass of Judaea but since that her Territories are enlarged her Ensigns have flourished over many Countries Rahab Tyre Ethiopia the vast circuit of Asia and the deserts of
he did belye himself or else that he were the vilest Villain in the world He will study no excuses and present no pleas to God for his sin If he hath not strength to conquer it he hath a voice to cry against it Prayers are doubled one Messenger goes to Heaven upon the heels of another and so moderation which was in his requests before is turn'd to an unsatisfied importunity So that you see there is not a plenary consent of will but the dissent is habitual and actual if not antecedent or concomitant yet alwaies consequent What then doth the regenerate mans sin arise from It ariseth 1. Either from a strong passion which many times bears down the bars both of grace and reason That is not wholly voluntary which is done by the prevalency of passion which suspends the determination of the understanding and consequently the regular and free motion of the Will Such was the accusation of God in his Prophet which David was guilty of Psal 116.11 I said in my haste all men are liars I said 't is true all men are liars even the Prophet too but it was in my haste And in his haste he accuseth God of the breach of his promises Psal 31.22 I said in my haste I am cut off from before thy Eyes God hath either forgot his promise or changed his resolutions for not one of them will be made good unto me It was a passion in Moses which made him guilty of that act of unbelief that cost him his exclusion from the land of promise Num. 20.8 10 11 12. God commands him to use his Tongue not his Rod on the Rock but the passion the good man was in by the provocation of the people transported him beyond his bounds Peter's heart was not so full of courage as of Loyalty his Zeal was put out of countenance by his fear A strong fit of passion may make a man as good and meek as Moses fling away both the Tables of the Law which otherwise would be as dear to him as the Apple of his Eye 2. From inconsiderateness There cannot be a full consent of Will where a deliberate judgment doth not precede Many a man through an inconsiderate indulging his appetite eats that meat which foments his humors into some dangerous disease Sin creeps upon a good man when the liveliness and activity of his Spirit in former duties is in a slumber but another hath as great inclinations to sin when his understanding is in its strength Peter had the grace of faith but he fell into his sin for want of acting it upon his repentance it is said Luke 22.6 And Peter remembred the words of the Lord. He had forgot Christs words and that made him forget himself and his Master in that act of sin If our Saviour had cast his Eye upon Peter and excited his slumbering grace before the Maid had spoken to him he might have prevented Peter's fall as well as afterwards recovered him If God had sent Nathan with a message to David when his corruption began first to put on its Arms to have shewed him the vileness of his intentions and excited him to a stout resistance he might have prevented the loss of his innocency as well as restor'd him after it had lain in the dust so long David might have kept his standing and dismist those inclinations as he did his inconsiderate design of murdering Nabal and his family upon Abigail's admonition for which he blesseth God 1 Sam. 25.32 33. In short The motion of a regenerate man to sin is violent like a stone upward the motion of an unrenewed man is natural like a stone downwards The Godly are violently pursued but the wicked fottishly infatuated by a temptation * Greenham And certainly when the strength of the passion is abated and the free exercise of reason recovered there will be the exercise of grace again for it is not conceiveable that the habit of grace and repentance should be without the actual exercise of it when the impediments are removed and an occasion presented so that he that doth not recover himself to his former exercise never had this true seed of God infused into him 7 Proposition Though a regenerate man may fall and sin have a temporary dominion yet he recovers out of this state and for the most part returns to his former holiness and an increase of it though not always to his former comforts There are none whose sins are recorded in Scripture but there are some evidences of their repentance for it or the acting the contrary grace Davids sin was gross and his repentance remarkable he was more tender afterwards in point of Blood 2 Sam. 23.16 17. when he desired Water out of the Well of Bethlehem and it was brought him by three valiant men with the Jeopardy of their lives he would not drink it because it was the Blood of the men that ventured their lives to satisfy his curiosity Peters repentance is eminent his affection is hot for the truth of which he could appeal to his masters omnisciency John 21.17 Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee His courage is illustrious in asserting his Masters honour in the face of the greatest dangers in which exercise you find him the Foreman of that Jury of the 12 Apostles before every Assembly Acts 2.3.4.5 c. Though Abraham had discovered a distrust of God in Pharaohs and Abimelechs courts yet his faith afterward in his readiness to sacrifice Isaac was as glorious as his unbelief had been base which gave him the title of the Father of the faithful Noah who was drunk and thereby exposed to the derision of his Son could not so well have curst him had he not abhorred the sin as well as the reproach And Lot whose righteous Soul was vexed with the filthiness of others could not have a less vexation at his own when he came to know of it Those that affirm that mortal sins expel grace yet doubt whether they expel the gifts of the Spirit one end whereof say they is to render the Soul pliable and flexible to the motions of the Spirit * Suarez de Gratia lib. 11 c. 3. num 10 p. 415. If they do not expel the gifts I know not why they should expel the grace which is under the manutenency of the Spirit of God in a particular manner The Spirit lusts against the flesh as well as the flesh against the Spirit and the lusting of the Spirit will prevail as well as the lusting of the flesh and more Gal. 5.17 All natural things that are removed out of their proper place are restless till they are reduc'd to their right station A good man is as Water that though it be turned into a Mass of Ice wholly cold in the ways of God yet still there is a principle in him as there is in Ice to return to his former form figure and activity upon the warm eruptions of
the Spirit of God There is a powerful voice behind him that brings him back when he turns either to the right hand or to the left from the ways of God Isa 30.21 By virtue of this seed within him and the Spirit of God exciting it that word which comes home to the Soul after a sin becomes efficaciously melting and raises up springs of penitential motions which could not arise so suddenly were the spiritual life wholly departed For a man that hath no habit of grace in him cannot so suddenly concur with Gods proposals and exercise a repentance In such an one we see first a stupefaction of mind and an unaptness to faith no motions of a true repentance though some preparation to it But with a regenerate man it is otherwise David being admonisht by Nathan was struck to the heart and Peter presently upon our Saviours look melted into tears Their grace like tinder took fire presently upon those small but powerful occasions though it did not act at the time of their sin yet it had an aptness to act upon the removal of the impediments Though Jonah seems to cast off all regard of God and his command yet upon the first occasion in the Whales Belly he brings forth excellent fruits of faith in a moment Jonah 2. Grace in an instant upon the first motion of the Spirit will rise up and take its place from whence it seems to be deposed As a natural man under some sting of Conscience and flash of a lightning conviction may be restrained from sin yet his natural inclination to it remains though suspended at the present and may be carried the quite contrary way as the stream of a river by the force of the Tide is turned against its natural current yet slides down its channel with its wonted calmness upon the removal of the force so a good man under the violence of some lust hath not his new nature changed though at present it is restrain'd by an extrinsick force so that as the one upon the taking off his conviction returns to his sin so the other upon the removal of his fetters returns to his holiness with a greater spirit and delight A wicked man may sometimes do a good action but he continues not in it As a Planet is sometimes retrograde but soon returns to its direct course When their Conscience pinches them they awake out of their trance So a good man may sin through infirmity but he will revoke it by repentance The seed of God remains in him as the Sap in the Root of a Tree that recovers the leaves the next return of the Sun at the spring He may sink by nature and rise again by grace but the Devil who sinned at the beginning fell and never rose more Vse of Examination If you find your selves in these cases in a course of known sin resolution to commit it were it not for such bars unwillingness to know Gods pleasure and injunction despising admonitions and reproofs a settled love to it a full consent of Will without any antecedent concomitant or consequent dissent tumbling in it without rising by repentance a circle of sinning and repenting without abhorrence of sin you may conclude your selves in an unregenerate state you sin like the Devil who sinned from the beginning A DISCOURSE OF The Pardon of Sin Psalm 32.1 2. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity THis Psalm as Grotius thinks was made to be sung upon the Annual day of the Jewish Expiation when a general confession of their sins was made 'T is one of David's poenitential Psalms supposed to be composed by him after the Murder of Vriah and the pronouncing of his pardon by Nathan v. 5. and rather a Psalm of Thanksgiving 'T is called Maschil a Psalm of understanding Maschil is translated eruditio intelligentia and notes some excellent Doctrine in the Psalm not known by the light of Nature Blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessednesses Ex omni parte beatus Three words there are to discover the nature of sin and three words to discover the nature of pardon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transgression Prevarication Some understand by it sins of omission commission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin Some understand those inward inclinations lusts and motions whereby the Soul swerves from the Law of God and which are the immediate causes of external sins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iniquity Notes original sin the root of all Three words that note pardon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levatus forgiven Eas'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to take away to bear to carry away Two words in Scripture are chiefly used to denote remission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to expiate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bear or carry away the one signifies the manner whereby it is done viz. atonement the other the effect of this expiation carrying away one notes the meritorious cause the other the consequent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Covered Alluding to the covering of the Aegyptians in the Red Sea Menochius thinks it alludes to the manner of writing among the Hebrews which he thinks to be the same with that of the Romans as writing with a Pencil upon wax spread upon Tables which when they would blot out they made the Wax plain and drawing it over the writing covered the former letters And so it is equivalent with that expression of blotting out sin as in the other allusion it is with casting sin into the depths of the Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Impute Not charging upon account As sin is a defection from the Law so it is forgiven as it is offensive to God's holiness so it is covered as it is a debt involving man in a debt of punishment so it is not imputed They all note the certainty and extent and perfection of pardon The three words expressing sin here being the same that are used by God in the declaration of his Name Exod. 34.7 Here are to be considered 1. The Nature of Pardon 2. The Author of it God 3. The Extent of it Transgression Sin Iniquity 4. The Manner of it implied by Faith in Christ The Apostle quoting this place Rom. 4.7 to prove Justification by Faith As sin is not imputed so something is imputed instead of it Covering implies something wherewith a thing is covered as well as the act whereby it is covered 5. The Effect of it Blessedness I shall not divide than into distinct Propositions but take the words in order as they lie I. The Nature of Pardon 1. Consider the words and what notes they will afford to us 1. Covering as it alludes to the manner of writing and so is the same with blotting out Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blots out thy transgression whereby is implied that sin is a debt and pardon is the remitting of it It notes 1. The nullity of the debt A crossed book will not
stand good in law because the crossing of the book implies the Satisfaction of the debt A debt may be read in our manner of writing in a crossed book but it cannot be pleaded God may after pardon read our sins in the book of his Omniscience but not charge them upon us at the bar of his Justice 2. Gods willingness to pardon Blots not razeth He engraves them not upon marble he writes them not with a pen of Iron or point of a diamond writing upon wax is easily made plain 3. The extent of it Blotting serves for a great debt as well as a small a thousand pound may as well and as soon be dasht out by a blot as a thousand pence 4. The quickness of it upon repentance It takes more time to write a debt in a book than to cross it out one blow would obliterate a great deal of writing upon wax Sins that have been contracting many years when God pardons he blots out in a moment 2. Covering as it alludes to the drowning the Aegpytians is exprest by casting into the depths of the Sea Micah 7.19 Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea This notes also 1. Gods willingness to pardon Casts them not lays them gently aside but flings them away with violence as things that he cannot endure the sight of and is resolved never to take notice of them more 2. Gods reality in pardon He will cast their sins as far as the arm of his omnipotency can reach If there be any place further than the depths of the Sea thither they shall be thrown out of the sight of his justice 3. The extent All their sins The Sea covered Aegyptian Princes as well as the people The mighty Lord as well as the Common Souldier sank like lead in those mighty waters 4. The Duration of it The Sea vomits up nothing that it takes into its lower bowels things cast into the depths of the Ocean never appear more Rivers may be turned and drain'd but who can lave out the Ocean 2. Not imputing Not putting upon account not charging the debt in a legal process To this is aequivalent the expression of not remembring Isa 43.25 I will not remember their sins An act of oblivion is past upon sin This notes 1. That God will not exact the debt of thee God doth not absolutely forget sin for what he knows never slips out of his knowledg So that his not remembring is rather an act of his will than a defect in his understanding As when an act of oblivion is passed the fact committed is not Physically forgotten but legally because the fear of punishment is removed God puts them out of the memory of his wrath though not out of the memory of his knowledge He doth remember them paternally to chastize thee for them though not judicially to condemn thee 2. Not upbraid thee Not with a scornful upbraiding mention them to cast thee off but with a merciful renewing the remembrance of them upon thy Conscience to excite thy repentance and keep thee with in the due bounds of humility and reverence More particularly the nature of pardon may be explained in these Propositions We must not think that these expressions as they denote pardon do intimate in this act the taking away of the being of sin nature of sin or demerit of sin 1. The being and inherency of sin is not taken away Though sin be not imputed to us yet it is inherent in us The being remains though the power be dethroned By pardon God takes away sin not as it is a pollution of the Soul but as it is an inducement to wrath Though remission and Sanctification are concomitants yet they are distinct acts and wrought in a distinct manner 2. The nature of sin is not taken away Justification is a relative change of the person not of the sin for though God will not by an act of his justice punish the person pardoned yet by his holiness he cannot but hate the sin because though it be pardoned it is still contrary to God and enmity against him 'T is not a change of the native malice of the sin but a non-imputation of it to the offender Though the person sinning be free from any indictment yet sin is not freed from its malitia and opposition to God For though the law doth not condemn a justified person because he is translated into another state yet it condemns the acts of sin though the guilt of those acts doth not redound upon the person to bring the wrath of God upon him Though David had the sins of murther and adultery pardon'd yet this pardon did not make David a righteous person in those acts for it was murther and adultery still and the change was not in his sin but in his Soul and state 3. The Demerit of sin is not taken away As pardon doth not alter sins nature so neither doth it alter sins demerit for to merit damnation belongs to the nature of it so that we may look upon our selves as deserving Hell though the sin whereby we deserve it be remitted Pardon frees us from actual condemnation but not as considered in our own persons from the desert of condemnation As when a King pardons a thief he doth not make the theft to become formally no theft or to be meritoriously no capital crime Upon those two grounds of the nature and demerit of sin a justified person is to bewail it and I question not but the consideration of this doth add to the triumph and Hallelujahs of the glorified Souls whose chief work being to praise God for redemption they cannot but think of the nature and demerit of that from which they were redeemed Rev. 5.13 4. The guilt of sin or obligation to punishment is taken away by pardon Sin committed doth presently by vertue of the law transgressed bind over the sinner to death but pardon makes void this obligation so that God no longer accounts us persons obnoxious to him Peccatum remitti non aliud est quam non imputari ad poenam * Durand lib. 4. dict 1. q. 7 For sin to be pardoned is nothing else but not to be imputed in order to punishment 'T is a revoking the sentence of the law against the sinner and God renouncing upon the account of the Satisfaction made by Christ to his justice any right to punish a believer doth actually discharge him upon his believing from that sentence of the law under which he lay in the state of unbelief and also as he parts with this right to punish so he confers a light upon a believer humbly to challenge it upon the account of the Satisfaction wrought by his surety God hath not only in his own mind and resolution parted with this right of punishing but also given an express declaration of his will 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself i. e. openly renouncing upon Christs account the right to
and charging others and thus his grace would rather be a mockery and derision of men Neither doth it consist with the end of pardon which is Salvation for to give an half pardon is to give no Salvation since if the least guilt remains unremitted it gives justice an unanswerable plea against us What profit would it be to have some forgiven and be damned for the remainder Had any one sin for which Christ was to have made a compensation remain'd unsatisfied the Redeemer could not have risen so if the smallest sin remains unblotted it will hinder our rising from the power of eternal death and make the pardon of all the rest as a nullity in Law But it is the glory of God to pass by all Prov. 19.31 It is his glory to pass over a transgression 'T is the glory of a man to pass by an offence 'T is a discovery of an inward principle or property which is an honour for a man to be known the master of If it be his glory to pass by a single and small injury then to pass by the more heinous and numerous offences is a more transcendent honour because it evidenceth this property to be in him in a more triumphant strength and power So that it is a clearer evidence of the illustrious vigor of mercy in God to pass by mountainous and heaped up transgressions than to forgive only some few iniquities of a lesser guilt Jer. 33.8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me and whereby they have transgrest against me Therefore when God tells the Jews that he would give them a general discharge in the fullest terms imaginable to remove all jealousie from men either because of the number or the aggravations of their sins he knew not how to leave expressing the delight he had in it and the honour which accrued to him by it It shall be to me a name of joy a praise and honour before all the nations of the earth He would get himself an honourable name by the large riches of his Clemency Mercy is as infinite as any other attribute as infinite as God himself And as his power can create incomprehensible multitudes of worlds and his justice kindle unconceiveable Hells so can his mercy remit innumerable sins 3. Perfect in respect of Duration Because the hand writing of ordinances is taken away Col. 2.14 15. Blotting out the hand writing of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross which was the Ceremonial Law wherein they did by their continual presenting Sacrifices and imposition of Hands upon them sign a Bill or Bond against themselves whereby a conscience of sin was retain'd Heb. 10.2 3. and a remembrance of sin renewed they could not settle the Conscience in any firm peace Heb. 9.9 they were compelled to do that every day whereby they did confess that sin did remain and want an expiation Hence is the Law called a ministration of condemnation 2 Cor. 3.9 because it puts them in mind of condemnation and compelled the people to do that which testified that the curse was yet to be abolished by virtue of a better Sacrifice This Hand writing which was so contrary to us was taken away nailed to his Cross torn in pieces wholly cancelled no more to be put in suit Whence in â—pposition to this continual remembrance of sin under the legal administâ—ation we read under the New Testament of Gods remembring sin no more Hâ—â— 10.3 17. Christ hath so compounded the business with Divine Justice that wâ— have the sins remitted never returning upon us and the renewal also of remissions upon daily sins if we truly repent For though there be a blacker Tincture in sins after conversion as being more deeply stain'd with ingratitude yet the Covenant of God stands firm and he will not take away his kindness Isa 54.9 10. And there is a greater affection in God to his Children than to his Enemies for these he loves before their Conversion with a love of benevolence but those with a love of complacency Will not God be as ready to continue his grace to those that are penitent as to offer it to offending Rebels Will he refuse it to his Friends when he intreats his Enemies Not that any should think that because of this duration they have liberty to sin and upon some trivial Repentance are restored to God's favour No where Christ is made Righteousness he is made Sanctification His Spirit and Merit go together A new Nature and a New State are Concomitants and he that sins upon presumption of the grand Sacrifice never had any share in it V. The Effect of Pardon That is Blessedness 1. The greatest evil is taken away sin and the dreadful consequents of it Other evils are temporal but those know no period in a doleful Eternity There is more evil in sin than good in all the creatures Sin stript the fallen Angels of their Excellency and dispossessed them of the Seat of Blessedness It fights against God it disparages all his Attributes it deforms and destroys the creature Rom. 7.13 Other evils may have some mixture of good to make them tolerable but sin being exceeding sinful without the mixture of any good engenders nothing but destruction and endless damnation Into what miseries afflictions sorrows hath that one sin of Adam hurl'd all his posterity what screechings wounds pangs horrours doth it make in troubled Consciences How did it deface the Beauty of the Son of God that created and upheld the World with sorrow in his Agonies and the stroak of Death on the Cross How many thousands millions of poor creatures have been damned for sin and are never like to cease roaring under an inevitable Justice Ask the damned and their groans yellings howlings will read thee a dreadful Lecture of sins sinfulness and the punishment of it And is it not then an inestimable blessedness to be delivered from that which hath wrought such deplorable Executions in the World 2. The greatest Blessings are conferred Pardon is God's Family-Blessing and the peculiar mercy of his choicest darlings He hands out other things to wicked men but he deals out this only to his Children 1. The Favour of God Sin makes thee Satan's Drudge but pardon makes thee God's Favourite We may be sick to death with Lazarus and be God's Friends sold to slavery with Joseph and yet be dear to him thrown into a Lions Den with Daniel and be greatly beloved poor with Lazarus who had only Doggs for Chirurgions to dress his Sores and yet have a Title to Abraham's bosom But we can never be beloved if we are unpardoned no share in his friendship his love his inheritance without a pardon All created evils cannot make us loathsom in a justified State nor all created goods make us lovely under guilt Sin is the
only Object of God's hatred while this remains his Holiness cannot but hate us when this is removed his righteousness cannot but love us remission and favour are inseparable and can never be dis-joyned 'T is by this he makes us as a Diadem upon his Head a Bracelet on his Arm it is by this he writes us upon the Palms of his Hands makes us his peculiar Treasure even as the Apple of his Eye which Nature hath so carefully fenced 2. Access to God A Prince may discard a Favourite for some guilt and though he may restore him to his liberty in the Common-wealth yet he may not admit him to the favour of his wonted privacies But a pardoned man hath an access to God to a standing and perpetually settled Grace Rom. 5.1 2. Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access Guilt frights us and makes us loath the very sight of God Pardon encourageth us to come near to him Guilt respects him as a Judge Pardon as a Friend Who can confidently or hopefully call upon an angry and condemning God But who cannot but hopefully call upon a forgiving God Sin is the partition wall between God and us and Pardon is the demolishing of it Forgiveness is never bestowed but the Scepter is held out to invite us to come into God's presence And what can be more desirable than to have not only the favour of but a free access at any time to the Lord of Heaven and Earth and at length an everlasting being with him 3. Peace of Conscience There must needs be fair Weather when Heaven smiles upon us All other things breed disquietness Sin was a Thorn in David's Crown his Throne and Scepter were but miserable comforters while his guilt overwhelmed him The glory of the World is no soveraign Plaister for a wounded Spirit Other enjoyments may please the sense but this only can gratifie the Soul God's Thunder made Moses tremble Heb. 12.21 But the probability of a gracious Pardon would make a damned Soul smile in the midst of tormenting flames How often hath the sense of it raised the hearts of Martyrs and made the Sufferers sing while the Spectators wept Though this I must confess is not always an inseparable concomitant There is much difference between a Pardon and the comfort of it that may pass the Seal of the King without the knowledge of the Malefactor Pardon indeed always gives the jus ad rem a right to peace of Conscience but not always jus in re the possession of it There may be an actual separation between Pardon and actual Peace but not between Pardon and the ground of Peace 4. It sweetens all mercies Other mercies are a ring but pardon is the Diamond in it A justified person may say I have temporal mercies and a pardon too I live in repute in the world and Gods favour too riches increase and my peace with God doth not diminish I have health with a pardon friends with a pardon as Job ch 29.3 6 7. among all other blessings this he counts the chiefest that Gods Candle shin'd upon his head A Prisoner for some capital crime may have all outward accommodations for lodging dyet attendance without a real happiness when he expects to be called to his tryal before a severe judge from whom there is no appeal and that will certainly both pass and cause to be executed a sentence of death upon him So though a man wallows in all outward contents he cannot write himself blessed while the wrath of God hangs over his head and he knows not how soon he may be summon'd before Gods tribunal and hear that terrible voice Go thou cursed What comfort can a man take in Houses Land Health when he considers he owes more than all his estate is worth So what comfort can a man have in any thing in this world when he may hourly expect an arrest from God and a demand of all his debts and he hath not so much as one farthing of his own or any interest in a sufficient surety We may have honour and a curse wealth and a curse Children and a curse health and long life and a curse learning and a curse but we can never have pardon and a curse Our outward things may be gifts but not blessings without a pardon 5. It sweetens all afflictions A frown with a pardon is better than a thousand smiles without it Sin is the sting of crosses and Remission is a taking the sting out of them A sight of Heaven will mitigate a cross on earth The stones about Stephens ears did scarce afflict him when he saw his Saviour open Heaven to entertain him To see death staring us in the face and an angry and offended God above ready to charge all our guilt is a doleful spectacle Look upon my affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins saith the Psalmist Psal 25.18 Sin doth embitter and adds weight to an affliction but the removal of sin doth both lighten it and sweeten it USE 1. An unpardoned man is a miserable man Such a state lays you open to all the miseries on earth and all the torments in Hell The poorest begger with a pardon is higher than the greatest prince without it How can we enjoy a quiet hour if our debt be not remitted since we owe more than we are able to pay You may dye with a forfeited reputation and yet be happy but what happiness if you die with unpardoned guilt 1. There must either be pardon or punishment The law doth oblige either to obedience or suffering the Commands of it must be observed or the penalty indured God will not relax the punishment without a valuable consideration If it be not executed the creature may accuse God of want of wisdom in enacting it or defect of power in maintaining it Therefore there must be an exact observance of the law which no creature after the first deviation is able to do or an undergoing the penalty of it which no Sinner is able to bear There must therefore be a remission of this punishment for the good of the creature and the Satisfaction of the law by a surety for the honour of Gods justice If we have not therefore an interest in the surety the purchaser of remission we must lye under the severity of the law in our persons 2. You can call nothing an act of Gods Love towards you while you remain unpardoned What is there you do enjoy which may not consist with his hatred as well as his Love Have we knowledge So have Devils Have we riches So had Nabal and Cain Have we honour So had Pharaoh and Herod Have we Sermons So had Judas the best that ever were preacht Nothing nothing but a pardon is properly a blessing How can that man take pleasure in any thing he hath when all the threatnings in the book of God are as so many arrows directed
102. 1338. Our need of him discovered by the Word as preparatory to the New-birth Page 235. All good conveyed by him Page 138 175 245 258. The end of the Creation and sum of the Law and Prophets Page 260 1. The naked declarations of him pleasing to God Page 319. Eternally beloved by him Page 321. His Mediation greatly valued by him Page 322. not carried into Heaven before his Death Page 300. to be glorifyed and praised Page 343. 754. a sufficient Mediator Page 351. the only one a Page 355. ad 358. 375. Vide Justification Blood of Christ and Intercession His Deity proved Page 206. 389. 668. 670. 711 2. 1147. 1178. Objections against it answered Page 388 9. 1158. the Medium of the Creation Page 493. his abundant fulness for his people Page 672. 1333. man an Enemy to him Page 749 750. highly esteemed by a Believer Page 801. his unspotted holiness Page 850. the only fit person in the Trinity to satisfie for man Page 941. necessary to own him as Messiah Page 1158. Vide Death of Christ and Sacrifice Christian Religion Vid. Religion Christians None are without Regeneration Page 19. 783. nor without knowledg Page 445. Church The forming one the end of Christ's coming Page 668. the greatest mercies to her attended with the greatest plagues on her Enemies Page 847. shall continue to the end of the World Page 744. 748. 1149. 21 †secur'd before her Enemies destroyed Page 847 65 †a particular one may be destroyed Page 1295 6 7. 23 †Vid. Gospel removed holiness necessary in it Page 21 †its stability Page 21 †when one is destroyed God will have another Page 24 †shall have a numerous progeny Page 25 †29 †hath been establisht against all opposition a Page 25 †ad 28 †shall be for the future and why Page 386. a 28. ad 36 †38 39 40 †a Gospel one hath greater grounds of confidence than the Jewish Page 38 †her establishment by God a comfort and wherein Page 38 9 †her Future Glory certain Page 40 †to be prayed for and loved Page 37 †40 †her establishment to be prayed for and endeavoured Page 41 †sometimes in desperate straits Page 44 †opposing her most fatal Page 44 †what times God takes to deliver her Page 45 6 †why he delivers her in those times Page 47 8 9 †and how Page 49 50 51 †very dear to God Page 51 †Vide Enemies of the Church Churches corruptions quickly creep into the best 747. 834. their actions observ'd by God Page 1293. the 7 of Asia their present sad condition Page 1296 7. Chearfulness in God's service a duty Page 57 †Vid. Delight Circumcision shadow'd the necessity of Regeneration Page 20. Cleansing to be desir'd as well as comfort Page 598. from sin 2 fold Page 1186 7. what it imports Page 1209. Vide Blood of Christ Commands of God to men to turn to him not unreasonable notwithstanding their impotence a Page 187. ad 196. Comfort none real without Regeneration Page 35. and the knowledge of it Page 52 3. a change of them upon Regeneration Page 82 3. ascribing Grace to our selves the way to lose it Page 202. Christ careful to give his people in distress Page 383. 553. 1157. 76 †none without Divine Knowledge Page 410 411. 504 5. encreased as we grow in it Page 456. studying Divine Mysteries the way to it Page 555. 844. not the measure of worthy or unworthy receiving the Supper Page 817. only by Faith in God and Christ in troubles Page 1159. all from above ibid. of Gracē may be eclipsed Page 1349. Coming of Christ two fold Page 768. Commission Christ had to redeem Page 299. ad 303. of Christ to be studied Page 304. Commonness of sin no argument of its pardon Page 114 †Communications of Christ can't be relisht or improved by the Unregenerate Page 35. Communion with God impossible without Regeneration Page 34 5. chiefly in the Supper Page 759. restored by the Death of Christ Page 896. founded on Union Page 1341. Company of good men keeping it a means of Divine Knowledge Page 473. Compassions to men Christ filled with Page 291. 296. manifested and improved in his Death Page 312. should be shewn to convinced sinners Page 596. of Christ to weak Saints great Page 1335. should be shewn to fallen Saints Page 1369. Conceptions of God carnal a hindrance of Divine Knowledge Page 465. the wisest Heathens had unworthy ones Page 485. debasing ones a sin Page 3 †Vide Imaginations Conditions of the Covenant very low and reasonable Page 374. 692. Conscience men oppose it Page 182. checks upon sin Page 183. its motions may be cherisht by a natural man Page 186. natural weak and false Page 567 8. excited and actuated by the Spirit in conviction Page 571. 574. terrors of it no argument of an unpardoned state Page 115 †Vid. Peace Consent not full in a Renewed Man when he sins Page 96 7 8 †Consideration natural men have power to exercise it Page 185. 6 7. intent caused by conviction Page 576 7. a necessary duty Page 1376. want of it one cause of a renewed mans sin Page 99 †Contemplation of God our work in Heaven Page 39. Content the duty of a renewed man Page 228. of a reconciled one Page 379. of every man Page 667. of a pardon'd man Page 118 †Contrivance of sin how hainous Page 5 †Conversation of a renewed man holy Page 84. and of him that hath saving knowledge a. Page 421. ad 424. Conversion hindred by Ambition Page 2. the critical Minute of it not necessary to be known Page 51. and Regeneration how they differ Page 70 71. of others to be endeavoured Page 130. further'd by Holy examples Page 132. the frame of our minds in it at first to be often reflected on Page 1375. 11 12 †Vid. Regeneration Convictions may be a long time before Conversion Page 2. alone not sufficient to Salvation Page 48. under them men find themselves unable to turn to God Page 166. the Spirit the Author of them all Page 560. 1 2. Spiritual he only can work a. Page 563. ad 570. 602 3. how wrought by him a. Page 218. ad 220. a. 570. ad 579 what is sinful in them the Spirit is not the Author of Page 570. by the Spirit of what sins and of what in sin a. Page 579. ad 583. of Nature and the Spirit their difference Page 583. 4 5. Legal and Evangelical their difference a. Page 585. ad 591. those of the Spirit and those by Satan their difference Page 591 2 3 4. the Devil the great stifler of them Page 595. comfort to those that have had them Page 595 6. and their duty Page 596. when under them what men should do Page 596 7. directions to prevent suppressing them Page 598. directions to obtain them Page 599. Pride often seen in men under them Page 735. should be oft review'd