suit not its Reason at all 1 Cor. 1. 18. 2. The Law speaks nothing to a sinner but what his Conscience assures him to be true There is a constant concurrence in the Testimony of the Law and conscience When the Law sayes this or that is a sin worthy of death conscience sayes it is even so Rom. 1. 42. And where the Law of it self as being a general Rule rests Conscience helps it on and sayes This and that sin so worthy of death is the soul guilty of then dye saith the Law as thou hast deserved Now this must needs have a mighty efficacy to prevail with the soul to give credit to the report and Testimony of the Law it speaks not one word but what he hath a witness within himself to the truth of it These witnesses alwayes agree and so it seems to be established for a truth that there is no forgiveness 3. The Law though it speak against the souls interest yet it speaks nothing but what is so just righteous and equal that it even forceth the souls consent So Paul tells us that men know this voyce of the Law to be the Judgement of God Rom. 1. 32. They know it and cannot but consent unto it that it is the Judgement of God that is good righteous equal not to be controlled And indeed what can be more righteous than its sentence It commands Obedience to the God of life and death promiseth a Reward and declares that for non-performance of duty death will be inflicted On these terms the sinner cometh into the world they are good righteous holy the soul accepts of them and knows not what it can desire better or more equal This the Apostle insists upon Rom. 7. 12 13. Wherefore the Law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good was then that which was good made death unto me Godforbid but sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful Whereever the blame falls the soul cannot but acquit the Law and confess that what it says is righteous and uncontrollably equal And it is meet things should be so Now though the Authority and credit of a Witness may go very far in a doubtful matter when there is a concurrence of more witnesses it strengthens the Testimony but nothing is so prevalent to beget belief as when the things themselves that are spoken are just and good not liable to any reasonable exception And so is it in this case unto the Authority of the Law and concurrence of conscience this also is added the Reasonableness and equity of the thing it self proposed even in the Judgement of the sinner namely that every sin shall be punished and every transgression receive a meet recompence of reward 4. But yet further What the Law sayes it speaks in the name and authority of God What it sayes then must be believed or we make God a Lyar. It comes not in its own name but in the name of him who appointed it you will say then is it so indeed Is there no forgiveness with God for this is the constant voyce of the Law which you say speaks in the name and Authority of God and is therefore to be believed I answer briefly with the Apostle What the Law speaks it speaks to them that are under the Law It doth not speak to them that are in Christ whom the Law of the Spirit of life hath set free from the Law of sin and death but to them that are under the Law it speaks and it speaks the very Truth and it speaks in the name of God and its Testimony is to be received It sayes there is no forgiveness in God namely to them that are under the Law and they that shall flatter themselves with a contrary perswasion will find themselves wofully mistaken at the great day On these and the like considerations I say there seems to be a great deal of Reason why a soul should conclude that it will be according to the testimony of the Law and that he shall not find forgiveness Law and Conscience close together and insinuate themselves into the thoughts mind and judgement of a sinner They strengthen the Testimony of one another and greatly prevail If any are otherwise minded I leave them to the tryal If ever God awaken their Consciences to a through performance of their duty if ever he open their souls and let in the light and power of the Law upon them they will find it no small work to grapple with them I am sure that eventually they prevail so far that in the preaching of the Gospel we have great cause to say Lord who hath believed our report We come with our Report of forgiveness but who believes it by whom is it received neither doth the light nor conscience nor conversation of the most allow us to suppose it is embraced Thirdly The ingrafted notions that are in the minds of men concerning the Nature and Justice of God lye against this discovery also There are in all men by nature indelible characters of the Holiness and purity of God of his Justice and hatred of sin of his invariable Righteousness in the Government of the world that they can neither depose nor lay aside For notions of God whatever they are will bear sway and rule in the heart when things are put to the tryal They were in the Heathens of old they abode with them in all their darkness as might be manifested by innumerable instances But so it is in all men by nature their inward thought is that God is an Avenger of sin that it belongs to his Rule and Government of the world his Holiness and Righteousness to take care that every sin be punished This is his Judgement which all men know as was observed before Rom. 1. 32. They know that it is a Righteous thing with God to render tribulation unto sinners From thence is that dread and fear which surprizeth men at an apprehension of the Presence of God or of any thing under him above them that may seem to come on his errand This notion of Gods avenging all sin exerts it self secretly but effectually So Adam trembled and hid himself And it was the saying of old I have seen God and shall dye When men are under any dreadful Providence thundrings lightnings tempests in darkness they tremble not so much at what they see or hear or feel as from their secret thoughts that God is nigh and that he is a consuming fire Now these inbred notions lye universally against all Apprehensions of forgiveness which must be brought into the soul from without doors having no Principle of nature to promote them It is true Men by nature have presumptions and common ingrafted notions of other properties of God besides his Holiness and Justice as of his Goodness Benignity Love of his Creatures and the like But all these have this supposition inlaid with
fearful expectation of judgement and fiery indignation as to the prevailing apprehension of their minds And Sixthly God secretly sends his Arrows into the soul that wound and gall it adding pain trouble and disquietness to its disconsolation Psalm 38. 2. Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore Ever and anon in his walking God shot a sharp piercing arrow fixing it on his soul that galled wounded and perplexed him filling him with pain and grievous vexation These arrows are Gods rebukes Psal. 39. 11. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity God speaks in his Word and by his Spirit in the Conscience things sharp and bitter to the soul fastning them so as it cannot shake them out These Job so mournfully complains of Chap. 6. 4. The Lord speaks words with that efficacy that they piecce the heart quite through and what the issue then is David declares Psal. 38 3. There is no soundness saith he in my flesh because of thine anger nor is there any rest in my bones because of my sin The whole person is brought under the power of them and all health and rest is taken away and Seventhly Unspiritedness and disability unto Duty in doing or suffering attend such a condition Psal. 40. 12. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up His spiritual strength was worn away by sin so that he was not able to address himself unto any communion with God The soul now cannot pray with life and power cannot hear with joy and profit cannot do good and communicate with cheerfulness and freedom cannot meditate with delight and heavenly mindedness cannot act for God with zeal and liberty cannot think of suffering with boldness and resolution but is sick weak feeble and bowed down Now I say a gracious soul after much communion with God may on the account of sin by a sense of the guilt of it be brought into a state and condition wherein some more or all of these with other the like perplexities may be its portion And these make up the Depths whereof the Pfalmist here complains What are the sins or of what sorts that ordinarily cast the souls of Believers into these depths shall be afterwards declared I shall now shew both whence it is that Believers may fall into such a condition as also whence it is that oftentimes they actually do so Whence it is that Believers may be brought into depths on the account of sin Nature of the supplies of Grace given in the Covenant How far they extend Principles of the power of sin First The Nature of the Covenant wherein all Believers now walk with God and wherein all their whole provision for obedience is enwrapped leaves it possible for them to fall into these depths that have been mentioned Under the first Covenant there was no mercy or forgiveness provided for any sin It was necessary then that it should exhibit a sufficiency of Grace to preserve from every sin or it could have been of no use at all This the Rigteousness of God required and so it was To have made a Covenant wherein there was no provision at all of pardon and not a sufficiency of Grace to keep the Covenanters from need of pardon was not answerable to the Goodness and Righteousness of God But he made man upright who of his own accord sought out many inventions It is not so in the Covenant of Grace There is in it pardon provided in the blood of Christ It is not therefore of indispensible necessity that there should be administred in it Grace effectually preserving from every sin Yet is it on all accounts to be preferred before the other For besides the relief by pardon which the other knew nothing of there is in it also much provision against sin which was not in the other First There is provision made in it against all and every sin that would disannull the Covenant and make a final separation between God and a soul that hath been once taken into the bond thereof This provision is absolute God hath taken upon himself the making of this good and the establishing this Law of the Covenant that it shall not by any sin be disannulled Jor. 32. 40. I will saith God make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me The security hereof depends not on any thing in our selves All that is in us is to be used as a means of the accomplishment of this Promise but the event or issue depends absolutely on the faithfulness of God And the whole certainty and stability of the Covenant depends on the efficacy of the Grace administred in it to preserve men from all such sins as would disanull it Secondly There is in this Covenant provision made for constant peace and consolation notwithstanding and against the guilt of such sins as through their infirmities and temptations believers are daily exposed unto Though they fall into sins every day yet they do not fall into depths every day In the tenour of this Covenant there is a consistency between a sense of sin unto humiliation and peace with strong consolation After the Apostle had described the whole conflict that Believers have with sin and the frequent wounds which they receive thereby which makes them cry out for deliverance Rom. 7. 24. He yet concludes Chap. 8. 1. that there is no condemnation unto them which is a sufficient and stable foundation of Peace So 1 John 2. 1. These things have I written unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous Our great business and care ought to be that we sin not but yet when we have done our utmost if we say we have no sin we deceive our selves Chap. 1. 8. What then shall poor sinful guilty creatures do why let them go to the Father by their Advocate and they shall not fail of pardon and peace And saith Paul Heb 6. 17 18. God is abundantly willing that we might have strong consolation who fly for resuge to lay hold on the hope set before us What was his condition who fled of old to the City of refuge for safety from whence this expression is taken He was guilty of blood though shed at unawares and so as that he was to dye for it if he escaped not to the City of Refuge Though we may have the guilt of sins upon us that the Law pronounceth death unto yet flying to Christ for refuge God hath provided not only safety but strong consolation for us also Forgiveness in the blood of Christ doth not only take guilt from the soul but trouble also from the conscience And in this respect doth the Apostle at large set forth the Excellency of his Sacrifice Heb. 10. The Sacrifices of the Old Law he
another the Judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him There is not saith Job between us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that might argue the case in pleading for me and so make up the matter laying his hand upon us both Job 9. 33. We now consider a sinner purely under the Administration of the Law which knows nothing of a Mediator In that case who shall take upon him to intercede for the sinner Besides that all creatures in Heaven and Earth are engaged in the quarrel of God against sinners and besides the greatness and terror of his Majesty that will certainly deterr all or any of them from undertaking any such work what is the request that in this case must be put up unto God Is it not that he would cease to be Holy leave off from being Righteous relinquish his Throne deny himself and his Soveraignty that a Rebell a Traytor his cursed enemy may live and escape his Justice Is this request reasonable Is he fit to intercede for sinners that shall make it Would he not by so doing prove himself to be the greatest of them The sinner cannot then expect any door of escape to be opened unto him All the world is against him and the case must be tryed out nakedly between God and him but Thirdly It may be the Rule of the Law whereby the sinner is to be tryed is not so strict but that in the case of such sins as he is guilty of it may admit of a favourable Interpretation or that the good that he hath done may be laid in the ballance against his Evil and so some relief be obtained that way But the matter is quite otherwise There is no good Action of a sinner though it were perfectly good that can lye in the ballance with or compensate the evil of the least sin committed For all good is due on another account though no guilt were incurred And the payment of money that a man owes that he hath borrowed makes no satisfaction for what he hath stole no more will our duties compensate for our sins Nor is there any good Action of a sinner but it hath evil and guilt enough attending it to render it self unacceptable so that men may well cease from thoughts of their supererrogation Besides where there is any one sin if all the good in the world might be supposed to be in the same person yet in the indispensible order of our dependance on God nothing of that good could come into consideration until the guilt of that sin were answered for unto the utmost Now the penalty of every sin being the eternal ruine of the sinner all his supposed good can stand him in little stead And for the Law it self it is an issue of the Holiness Righteousness and Wisdom of God so that there is not any evil so great or small but is forb dden in it and condemned by it Hereupon David so states this whole matter Psal. 143. 2. Enter not into Judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified That is if things are to be tryed out and determined by the Law no sinner can obtain acquitment as Paul declares the sense of that place to be Rom. 3. 20. Gal. 2. 16. but yet Fourthly It may be the sentence of the Law is not so fierce and dreadful but that though guilt be found there may be yet a way of escape But the Law speaks not one word on this side death to an offendor There is a greatness and an Eternity of wrath in the sentence of it and it is God himself who hath undertaken to see the vengeance of it executed So that on all these accounts the conclusion mentioned must needs be fixed in the soul of a sinner that entertains thoughts of drawing nigh to God Though what hath been spoken may be of general use unto sinners of all sorts whether called home to God or yet strangers to him yet I shall not insist upon any general improvement of it because it is intended only for one special end or purpose That which is aimed at is to shew what are the first thoughts that arise in the heart of a poor intangled soul when first he begins to endeavour a recovery in a returnal unto God The Law immediately puts in its claim unto him and against him God is represented unto him as angry displeased provoked and his terror more or less besets him round about This fills him with fear shame and confusion of face so that he knows not what to do These troubles are greater or lesser according as God seeth it best for the poor creatures present humiliation and future safety What then doth the sinner What are his thoughts hereupon doth he think to fly from God and to give over all endeavours of recovery Doth he say this God is an holy and terrible God I cannot serve him it is to no purpose for me to look for any thing but fury and destruction from hira and therefore I had as good give over as persist in my desing of drawing nigh to him It cannot be denyed but that in this case thoughts of this nature will be suggested by unbelief and that sometimes great perplexities arise to the soul by them But this is not the issue and final product of this exercise of the soul it produceth another effect it calls for that which is the first particular working of a gracious soul arising out of its sin intanglements This is as was declared a sincere sense of sin and acknowledgement of it with self condemnation in the justification of God This is the first thing that a soul endeavouring a recovery from its depths is brought and wrought unto His general resolution to make serious and through work with what he hath in hand was before unfolded That which in the next place we are directed unto in these words is the Reflection on its self upon the consideration of Gods marking iniquity now mentioned This is Faiths great and proper use of the Law The nature whereof shall be farther opened in the next discourse The first particular actings of a soul towards a recovery out of the depths of sin Sense of sin wherein it consists How it is wrought Acknowledgement of sin its nature and properties Self-condemnation What is the frame of the soul in general that is excited by grace and resolves in the strength thereof to attempt a recovery out of the depths of sin entanglements hath been declared We have also shewed what entertainment in general such a soul had need to expect yea ordinarily shall be sure to meet withall It may be he goes forth at first like Sampson with his locks cut and thinks he will do as at other times but he quickly finds his peace lost his wounds painful his Conscience restless God displeased and his whole condition as to the utmost of his own Apprehension hazardous This fills him with
the thoughts expressed in this third Verse and fixes the conclusion in his mind discoursed of before He finds now that he hath the Law afresh to deal withal Thence ariseth that sense and acknowledgement of sin that self-condemnation in the Justification of God whereof we now speak He grows not sullen stubborn displeased and so runs away from God he doth not utterly saint despond and give over he pleads not any thing in his own Justification or for the extenuation of his sin and guilt he quarrelleth not with he repineth not against the Holiness Severity and Righteousness of the Law of God but reflects wholly on himself his own unworthiness guilt and desert and in a sence of them lyes down at the foot of God in expectation of his word and sentence Three things in this condition we ascribe unto such a soul. First A sincere sense of sin There is a twofold sense of sin The one is general and notional whereby a man knows what sin is that himself is a sinner that he is guilty of this or that these or those sins only his heart is not affected proportionably to that discovery and knowledge which he hath of these things The other is active and efficacious The soul being acquainted with the nature of sin with its own guilt in reference unto sin in general as also to this or that sin is universally influenced by that apprehension unto suitable Affections and Operations Of both these we have an instance in the same person David before Nathans coming to him had the former afterwards he had the latter also It cannot be imagined but that before the coming of the Prophet he had a general knowledge and sense not only absolutely of the nature of sin but also that himself was a sinner and guilty of those very sins which afterwards he was reproved for To think otherwise is to suppose not only that he was un-sainted but un-manned also and turned into a Beast But yet this wrought not in him any one Affection suitable to his condition And the like may be said of most sinners in the world But now when Nathan comes to him and gives him the latter efficacious sense whereof we speak we know what effects it did produce It is the latter only that is under consideration and that also is twofold 1. Legal or Antecedaneous unto conversion 2 Evangelical and previous to the recovery from depths whereof we treat How these two differ and how they may be discerned one from the other being both of them in their kind sincere is not my business to declare Now this tast which we assign as the first duty work or acting of a returning soul is a deep and practical apprehension wrought in the mind and heart of a believing sinner by the Holy Ghost of sin and its evils in reference unto the Law and Love of God the Cross and blood of Christ the communion and consolation of the Spirit and all the fruits of Love Mercy or Grace that it hath been made partaker of or on Gospel grounds hoped for First The principal efficient cause of it is the Holy Ghost He it is who convinceth of sin John 16. 8. He works indeed by means He wrought it in David by the Ministry of Nathan and he wrought it in Peter by the look of Christ. But his work it is No man can work it upon his own soul. It will not spring out of mens rational considerations Though men may exercise their thoughts about such things as one would think were enough to break the hearts of stones yet if the Holy Ghost put not forth a peculiar efficacy of his own this sense of sin will not be wrought or produced As the waters at the Pool of Bethesda were not troubled but when an Angel descended and moved them no more will the Heart for sin without a saving elapse of the Holy Ghost Secondly It is a deep Apprehension of sin and the evils of it Sleight transient thoughts about them amount not to the sense of which we speak My sorrow saith David is continually before me Psal. 38. 17. It pressed him alwayes and greatly Hence he compares this sense of sin wrought by the Holy Ghost to arrows that stick in the flesh v. 2. They pain sorely and are alwayes perplexing Sin in this sense of it layes hold on the soul so that the sinner cannot look up Psal. 40. 12. And it abides with him making his sore run in the night without ceasing Psal. 77. 2. and depriveth the soul of rest my soul saith he refused to be comforted This Apprehension of sin lyes down and rises with him in whom it is Transient thoughts attended with infrequent sighs and ejaculations little become a returning soul. And Thirdly It is Practical It is not seated only in the speculative part of the mind hovering in general notions but it dwel's in the practical understanding which effectually influenceth the Will and Affections Such an Apprehension as from which sorrow and humiliation are inseparable The acts of the practical understanding do so necessarily produce together with them suitable acts of the Will and Affections that some have concluded that those are indeed proper acts of the Will which are usually ascribed to the Understanding It is so in the mind as that the whole soul is cast into the mould and likeness of it humiliation sorrow self-abhorrency do live and dye with it Fourthly It hath in the first place respect unto the Law of God There can be no due consideration of sin wherein the Law hath not its place The Law calls for the sinner and he willingly gives up his sin to be judged by it There he sees it to be exceeding sinful Rom. 7. 17. Though a Believer be less under the power of the Law than others yet he knows more of the Authority and nature of it than others He sees more of its spirituality and holiness And the more a man sees of the excellency of the Law the more he sees of the vileness of sin This is done by a soul in its first endeavour for a recovery from the entanglements of sin He labours throughly to know his disease that he may be cured It will do him no good he knows to be ignorant of his distemper or his danger He knows that if his wounds be not searched to the bottom they will stink and be corrupt To the Law then he brings himself and his sin By that he sees the vileness of the one and the danger of the other Most men lye still in their depths because they would willingly escape the first step of their rising From the bottom of their misery they would fain at once be at the top of their felicity The soul managed in this work by the Holy Ghost doth not so He converseth with the Law brings his sin unto it and fully hears the sentence of it When the sin is throughly condemned then he farther takes care of the sinner
him nor any direction how to deal with him in any of his concernments Great and signal then was the condescension in God to take his poor Creature into Covenant with himself And especially will this be manifest if we consider the Ends of it and why it is that God thus deals with man Now these are no other than that man might serve him aright be blessed by him and be brought unto the everlasting enjoyment of him all unto his Glory These are the Ends of every Covenant that God takes us into with himself And these are the whole of man No more is required of us in a way of duty no more can be required by us to make us blessed and happy but what is contained in them That we might live to God be accepted with him and come to the eternal fruition of him is the whole of man All that we were made for or are capable of and these are the Ends of every Covenant that God makes with men being all comprized in that solemn word that he will be their God and they shall be his people Secondly This being the Nature this the End of a Covenant there must be some great and important cause to change alter and abrogate a Covenant once made and established to lay aside one Covenant and to enter into another And yet this the Apostle sayes expresly that God had done Heb. 8. 13. and proves it because himself calls that which he promised a New Covenant which undeniably confirms two things First That the other was become old and Secondly That being become so it was changed altered and removed I know the Apostle speaks immediately of the old Administration of the Covenant under the Old Testament or Mosaical Institutions but he doth so with reference unto that revival which in it was given to the first Covenant made with Adam For in the giving of the Law and the Curse wherewith it was accompanied which were immixed with that Administration of the Covenant there was a solemn revival and Representation of the first Covenant and its Sanction whereby it had life and power given it to keep the people in bondage all their dayes And the end of the Abolition or taking way of the Legal Administration of the Covenant was meerly to take out of Gods dealing with his people all use and Remembrance of the first Covenant As was said therefore to take away disannul and change a Covenant so made ratified and established betwixt God and man is a matter that must be resolved into some cogent important and indispensable cause And this will the more evidently appear if we consider First In general that the first Covenant was Good Holy Righteous and Equal It was such as became God to make and was every way the happiness of the Creature to accept of We need no other Argument to prove it holy and good than this that God made it It was the Effect of infinite Holiness Wisdome Righteousness Goodness and Grace And therefore in it self was it every way perfect for so are all the works of God Besides it was such as man when through his own sault he cannot obtain any good by it and must perish everlastingly by vertue of the Curse of it yet cannot but subscribe unto its Righteousness and Holiness The Law was the Rule of it therein is the tenor of it contained Now saith the Apostle whatever becomes of the sin and the sinner the Law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good Rom. 7. 12. Holy in it self and its own Nature as being the Order and Constitution of the most holy God Just and equal with reference unto us such as we have no reason to complain of or repine against the Authority of it and the terms of it are most righteous And not only so but it is good also that which notwithstanding the appearance of Rigor and severity which it is accompanied withal had in it an exceeding mixture of Goodness and Grace both in the Obedience constituted in it and the Reward annexed unto it as might be more fully manifested were that our present work Secondly In particular it was Good Holy and Righteous in all the Commands of it in the Obedience which it required And two things there were that rendred it exceeding Righteous in reference unto its Precepts or Commands First That they were all suited unto the Principles of the nature of man created by God and in the regular acting whereof consisted his perfection God in the first Covenant required nothing of man prescribed nothing unto him but what there was a Principle for the doing and accomplishing of it ingrafted and implanted on his nature which rendred all those commands equal holy and good For what need any man complain of that which requires nothing of him but what he is from his own frame and Principles inclined unto Secondly all the Commands of it were proportionate unto the strength and ability of them to whom they were given God in that Covenant required nothing of any man but what he had before enabled him to perform nothing above his strength or beyond his power and thence was it also righteous Secondly It was exceeding Good Holy and Righteous upon the account of its Promises and rewards Do this saith the Covenant this which thou art able to do which the Principles of thy nature are fitted for and enclined unto Well what shall be the issue thereof Why do this and live Life is promised unto Obedience and that such a Life as both for the present and future condition of the creature was accompanied with every thing that was needful to make it blessed and happy Yea this Life having in it the eternal enjoyment of God God himself as a Reward was exceedingly above whatever the Obedience of man could require as due or have any Reason on any other account but meerly of the Goodness of God to expect Thirdly There was provision in that Covenant for the Preservation and manifestation of the Glory of God whatever was the Event on the part of man This was provided for in the Wisdom and Righteousness of God Did man continue in his Obedience and fulfill the terms of the Covenant all things were laid in subserviency to the Eternal Glory of God in his Reward Herein would he for ever have manifested and exalted the Glory of his Holiness Power Faithfulness Righteousness and Goodness As an Almighty Creator and Preserver as a faithful God and Righteous Rewarder would he have been glorified On supposition on the other side that man by sin and Rebellion should trangress the terms and tenor of this Covenant yet God had made provision that no detriment unto his Glory should ensue thereon For by the constitution of a punishment proportionable in his Justice unto that sin and demerit he had provided that the glory of his Holiness Righteousness and Veracity in his Threatnings should be exalted and that to all Eternity God would have
nature of this conviction of sin which you say you have Is it not made up of these two ingredients 1. A general notion that you are sinners as all men also are 2. Particular troublesome reflections upon your selves when on any eruption of sin Conscience accuses rebukes condemns You will say yes what would you require more This is not the Conviction we are enquiring after That is a work of the Spirit by the Word this you speak of a meer Natural work which you can no more be without than you can cease to be men This will give no Assistance unto the receiving of forgiveness But it may be you will say you have proceeded farther than so and these things have had an improvement in you Let us then a little try whether your process have been according to the mind of God And so whether this invincible barr in your way be removed or no. For although every convinced person do not believe forgiveness yet no one who is not convinced doth so Have you then been made sensible of your condition by Nature what it is to be alienated from the life of God and to be obnoxious to his wrath Have you been convinced of the Universal Enmity that is in your hearts to the mind of God and what it is to be at Enmity against God Hath the unspeakable multitude of the sins of your lives been set in order by the Law before you And have you considered what it is for sinners such sinners as you are to have to deal with a Righteous and a holy God Hath the Holy Ghost wrought a serious Recognition in your hearts of all these things and caused them to abide with you and upon you If you will answer truly you must say many of you that indeed you have not been so exercised You have heard of these things many times but to say that you have gone through with this work and have had Experience of them that you cannot do Then I say you are strangers to forgiveness because you are strangers unto sin But and if you shall say that you have had thoughts to this purpose and are perswaded that you have been throughly convinced of sin I shall yet ask you one Question more what Effects hath your Conviction produced in your hearts and lives Have you been filled with perplexities and consternation of Spirit thereupon Have you had fears dreads or terrors to wrestle withall It may be you will say No Nor will I insist upon that enquiry but this I deal with you in Hath it filled you with self-loathing and Abhorrency with self-condemnation and abasement If it will do any thing this it will do If you come short here it is justly to be feared that all your other pretences are of no value Now where there is no work of conviction there is no faith of forgiveness whatever is pretended And how many vain boasters this sword will cut off is evident 7. We have yet a greater evidence than all these Men live in sin and therefore they do not believe forgiveness of sin Faith in general purifies the heart Acts 15. 19. Our souls are purified in obeying the Truth 1 Pet. 1. 22. and the life is made fruitful by it James 2. 22. Faith worketh by works and makes it self perfect by them And the Doctrine concerning forgiveness hath a special influence into all Holiness Tit. 2. 11 12. The Grace of God which bringeth salvation teacheth us to deny all unrighteousness and worldly lusts to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And that is the Grace whereof we speak No man can then believe forgiveness of sin without a detestation and relinquishment of it The ground of this might be farther manifested and the way of the Efficacy of faith of forgiveness unto a forsaking of sin if need were But all that own the Gospel must acknowledge this principle The real belief of the Pardon of sin is prevalent with men not to live longer in sin But now what are the greatest number of those who pretend to receive this Truth Are their hearts purified by it Are their consciences purged Are their lives changed Do they deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts Doth forgiveness teach them so to do Have they found it effectual to these purposes Whence is it then that there is such a bleating and bellowing to the contrary amongst them Some of you are Drunkards some of you Swearers some of you unclean persons some of you lyars some of you worldly some of you haters of all the wayes of Christ and all his concernments upon the Earth proud covetous boasters self-seekers envious wrathful backbiters malitious praters slanderers and the like And shall we think that such as these believe forgiveness of sin God forbid Again Some of you are dark ignorant blind utterly unacquainted with the mysterie of the Gospel nor do at all make it your business to enquire into it Either you hear it not at all or negligently slothfully customarily to no purpose Let not such persons deceive their own souls to live in sin and yet to believe the forgiveness of sin is utterly impossible Christ will not be a Minister of sin nor give his Gospel to be a Doctrine of licentiousness for your sakes Nor shall you be forgiven that you may be delivered to do more Abominations God forbid If any shall say that they thank God they are no such Publicans as those mentioned they are no drunkards no swearers no unclean persons nor the like so that they are not concerned in this consideration Their lives and their duties give another account of them then yet consider further That the Pharisees were all that you say of your selves and yet the greatest despisers of forgiveness that ever were in the world and that because they hated the light on this account that their deeds were evil And for your duties you mention what I pray is the root and spring of them are they influenced from this Faith of forgiveness you boast of or no May it not be feared that it is utterly otherwise you do not perform them because you love the Gospel but because you fear the Law If the truth were known I doubt it would appear that you get nothing by your believing of pardon but an encouragement unto sin Your Goodness such as it is springs from another root It may be also that you ward your selves by it against the strokes of Conscience or the guilt of particular sins this is as bad as the other It is as good be encouraged unto sin to commit it as be encouraged under sin so as to be kept from humiliation for it None under Heaven are more remote from the belief of Grace and Pardon than such persons are All their Righteousness is from the Law and their Sin in a great measure from the Gospel 8. They that believe forgiveness in a due manner believe it for the Ends and Purposes for which it is revealed of God
a Second The Commandement indeed which was the matter of that Covenant the same Apostle informs us to be holy just and good Rom. 7. 12. But it was faulty as to all ends of a Covenant considering our state and condition as sinners it could not bring us unto God So he acquaints us Rom. 8. 3. It was made weak through the flesh that is by the entrance of sin and so became unusefull as to the saving of souls Be it so then through our sin and default this good and holy Law this Covenant was made unprofitable unto us But what was that unto God was he bound to desert his own Institution and Appointment because through our own default it ceased to be profitable unto us Not at all He might righteously have tyed us all unto the terms of that Covenant to stand or fall by them unto Eternity But he would not do so But Secondly In his Love and Grace he finds fault with it v. 8. not in its self and absolutely but only so farre as that he would provide another way which should supply all its defects and wants in reference to the end aimed at What way that is the Apostle declares in the following Verses to the end of that Chapter The summe is v. 12. I will be mercifull to their unrighteousness and their sins and their Iniquities will I remember no more It is the way of pardon and forgiveness This is substituted in the room of that insufficient way that was removed Let us consider then whether the infinitely Wise and Holy God pursuing his purpose of bringing souls unto himself laying aside one way of his own appointment as useless and infirm because of the coming in of sin against which there was no relief found in it and substituting another way in the room of it would not provide such an one as should be absolutely free from the faults and inconveniencies which he charged upon that which he did remove That which alone rendred the former way faulty was sin it could do any thing but save a sinner this then was to be and is principally provided against in this way of Forgiveness And we see here how clearly God hath severed yea and in this matter opposed these two things 1. Namely the way of personal Righteousness and the way of forgiveness He finds fault with the first what then doth he do what course doth he take doth he mend it take from it what seems to be redundant mitigate its severity and supply it where it was wanting by Forgiveness and so set it up anew This indeed is the way that many proceed in in their notions and the most in their practice But this is not the way of God He takes the one utterly away and establishes the other in its place And mens endeavours to mix them will be found of little use to them at the last I can have no great expectation from that which God pronounced faulty 2. The unchangeable Principles and Foundations that this Way is built upon render it secure and safe for sinners for 1. It is founded on the Purpose of God Gal. 3. 8. The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through Faith God would do so he had purposed and determined to proceed this way and all the purposes of God are attended with immutability and 2. His Promise also is engaged in it and that given out in the way of a Covenant as hath been already declared and 3. This Promise is confirmed by an Oath and it may be observed that God doth not in any thing interpose with an Oath but what relates to this way of coming to himself by Forgiveness For the Oath of God wherever it is used respecteth either Christ Typically or personally or the Covenant established in him for 4. This Way is confirmed and ratified in his Blood from whence the Apostle at large evinceth its absolute security and safety Heb. 9. Whatever soul then on the invitation under consideration shall give up himself to come to God by the way proposed he shall assuredly find absolute peace and security in it Neither our own weakness or folly from within nor the opposition of any of all our Enemies from without shall be able to turn us out of this Way See Isa. 35. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. 3. In the other way every individual person stands upon his own bottom and must do so to the last and utmost of his continuance in this World You are desirous to go unto God to obtain his favour and come to an enjoyment of him What will you doe What course will you fix upon for the obtaining of these Ends if you were so holy so perfect so righteous so free from sin as you could desire you should have some boldness in going unto God why if this be the way you fix upon take this along with you You stand upon your own personal Account all your dayes And if you fail in the least you are gone for ever For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all Jam. 2. 10. And what peace can you possibly obtain were you as holy as ever you aimed or desired to be whilest this is your Condition But in this way of Forgiveness we all stand upon the Account of one common Mediator in whom we are compleat Col. 3. 10. And a want of a due improvement of this Truth is a great principle of disconsolation to many Souls Suppose a man look upon himself as loosed from the Covenant of Works wherein exact and perfect Righteousness is rigidly required and to be called unto Gospel Evangelical Obedience to be performed in the room thereof in sincerity and integrity yet if he be not cleared in this also that he stands not in this way purely on his own account he will never be able to make his Comforts hold out to the end of his Journey There will be found in the best of men so many particular failings as will seem in difficult seasons to impeach their integrity And so many questionings will after arise through the darkness of their minds and Power of their Temptations as will give but little rest unto their Souls Here lyes the great security of this way We abide in it on the account of the faithfulness and Ability of our Common Mediator Jesus Christ. And this is another Consideration strengthening our invitation to a closure with the way of coming unto God under proposal There is nothing wanting that is needfull to give infallible Security to any Soul that shall venture himself into it and upon it There are Terms of peace proposed as you have heard These terms are excellent and holy and chosen of God tending to the interest of his Glory free safe and secure unto sinners What hath any soul in the World to object against them or wherein do men repose their Trust and Confidence in the neglect of this so great Salvation Is it in
notable instance of what we have assirmed And the first in every kind is the measure of all that follows in the same kind Gen. 3. 8. He heard the voyce of God so he had done before without the least trouble or consternation of Spirit He was made for communion with God and that he might hear his voice was part of his blessedness But now saith he I heard thy voice and was afraid and hid my self He knew that God was coming in the inquest of sin and he was not able to bear the thoughts of meeting him could he have gone into the bowels of the earth from whence he was taken and have been there hid from God he would not have failed to have attempted it Things are now altered with him in that God whom he loved before as a good holy powerful Righteous Creator Preserver Benefactor and Rewarder he saw nothing now but wrath indignation vengeance and terror This makes him tremble out those dreadful words I heard thy voice and was afraid and hid my self The giving out of the Law afterwards evinces what effects the consideration of Gods proceeding with sinners according to the tenor of it must needs produce Exod. 20. 18 19. All the people saw the thundrings and the lightnings and the voice of the trumpet and the Mountain smoaking as the Apostle also describes it Heb. 12. 18. In this manner came forth from the Lord that fiery Law Deut. 33. 2. So that all who were concerned in it did exceedingly quake and tremble And yet all this respects but the severity of the Law in general without the application of it unto any soul in particular There is a solemnity that carrieth an awe with it in the preparation of an Assize to be kept and held by poor worms like our selves but the dread of it is peculiar to the Malefactors for whose tryal and execution all this preparation is made When a soul comes to think that all this dreadful preparation this appearance of terrible Majesty these streams of the fiery Law are all pointed towards him it will make him cry out Lord who can stand And this Law is still in force towards sinners even as it was on the day wherein it was given on Mount Sinai Though Moses grew old yet his strength never failed Nor hath his Law the Law given by him lost any thing of its strength power or Authority towards sinners It is still accompanied with thundrings and lightnings as of old And it will not fail to represent the terror of the Lord to a guilty soul. Among the Saints themselves I could produce instances to manifest that they have found it to be thus The cases of Job David Heman are known I shall only consider it in Christ himself From himself he had no occasion of any discouraging thought being holy harmless undefiled He fulfilled all Righteousness did his Fathers will in all things and abode in his Love This must needs be attended with the highest peace and most blessed Joy In the very entrance of his tryals he had a full perswasion of a comfortable issue and success as we may see Isa. 50. 7 8. But yet when his soul was exercised with thoughts of Gods marking our iniquities upon him it was sorrowful unto the death He was amazed and very heavy Mark 14. 33. His Agony his bloody sweat his strong cryes and supplications his reiterated prayers if it be possible let this cup pass from me his last dreadful cry My God my God why hast thou forsaken me all manifest what apprehensions he had of what it was for God to mark iniquities Well may poor sinners cry out Lord who shall stand when the Son of God himself so trembled under the weight of it In serious thoughts of Gods marking sin he is represented unto the soul under all those glorious terrible Attributes and Excellencies which are apt to beget a dread and terror in the hearts of sinners when they have no relief from any Covenant engagements in Christ. The soul looks upon him as the great Law-giver James 4. 12. able to revenge the breach of it by destroying body and soul in Hell fire as one terrible in holiness of purer eyes than to behold iniquity So also in Greatness and in power the Living God into whose hands it is a fearful thing to fall as attended with vindictive Justice saying Vengeanâ—e is mine and I will recompence Heb. 10. 30. Now for a soul to consider God cloathed with all these dreadful and terrible Excellencies coming to deal with sinners according to the tenor of his fiery Law it cannot but make him cry out with Moses I exceedingly quake and tremble These things work on their minds the conclusion mentioned before as asserted in these words namely that Gods marking of sin according to the tenor of the Law and mans salvation are utterly inconsistent a conclusion that must needs shake a soul when pressed under a sense of its own guilt When a Person who is really guilty and knows himself to be guilty is brought unto his tryal he hath but these four grounds of hope that his safety and his tryal may be consistent He may think that either 1. The Judge will not be able to find out or discover his crimes or 2. That some one will powerfully intercede for him with the Judge or 3. That the Rule of the Law is not so strict as to take notice of his miscarriages or 4. That the penalty of it is not so severe but that there may be a way of escape Cut him short of his expectations from some one or all of these and all his hopes must of necessity perish And how is it in this case First Of the Judge we have spoken somewhat already The present enquiry is whether any thing may be hid from him or no and so a door of escape be opened to a sinner The Apostle tels us that all things are open and naked unto him Heb. 4. 12. and the Psalmist that there is not a thought in our hearts nor a word in our tongue but he understandeth it asar off and knoweth it altogether Psal. 139. 2 4. What the sinner knows of himself that may cause him to fear that God knows And what he knows not of himself that deserves his fear that God knows also for he is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things 1 John 3. 20. When God shall not only set in order before the sinner the secret sins which he retains some remembrance of but also brings to mind and represents unto him that world of filth and folly which either he never took any real notice of or hath utterly forgotten it will trouble him yea confound him Secondly But may not this Judge be intreated to pass by what he knows and to deal favourably with the sinner May not an Intercessor be obtained to plead in the behalf of the guilty soul Eli determines this matter 1 Sam. 2. 25. If one man sin against
that sinned he spared them not but inflicted on them the punishment due to sin shutting them up under chains of darkness for the Judgement of the great Day Hitherto then God keeps all thoughts of forgiveness in his own Eternal Bosom There is not so much as the least dawning of it upon the world And this was at first no small prejudice against any thoughts of forgiveness The world is made sin enters by the most glorious part of the Creation whose recovery by pardon might seem to be most desirable but not the least appearance of it is discovered Thus it was hid in God from the foundation of the world Eph. 3. 9. III. God gave unto Man a Law of Obedience immediately upon his Creation Yea for the main of it he implanted it in him by and in his Creation This Law it was supposed that man might transgress The very nature of a Law prescribed unto free Agents attended with Threatnings and Promises of Reward requires that supposition Now there was not annexed unto this Law or revealed with it the least intimation of pardon to be obtained if Transgression should ensue Gen. 2. 17. we have this Law In the day thou eatest thou shalt surely dye dying thou shalt dye or bring upon thy self assuredly the guilt of death temporal and eternal There God leaves the sinner under the power of that commination Of forgiveness or pardoning mercy there is not the least intimation To this very day that Law which was then the whole Rule of life and Acceptance with God knows no such thing Dying thou shalt dye O sinner is the precise and final voyce of it From these previous considerations added to what was formerly spoken some things preparatory to the ensuing discourse may be inferred as 1. That it is a great and rare thing to have forgiveness in God discovered unto a sinful soul. A thing it is that as hath been shewed Conscience and Law with the inbred Notions that are in the heart of man about Gods Holiness and Vindictive Justice do lye against A matter whereof we have no natural presumption whereof there is no common notion in the mind of man A thing which no consideration of the Works of God either of Creation or Providence will reveal and which the great Instance of Gods dealing with sinning Angels renders deep admirable and mysterious Men who have common and slight thoughts of God of themselves of Sin of Obedience of the Judgement to come of Eternity that feed upon the ashes of rumors reports hearsayes traditions without looking into the reality of things may and do take this to be an ordinary and acknowledged truth easie to be entertained which upon the matter no man disbelieves But convinced sinners who make a tryal of these things as running into Eternity have other thoughts of them And as to that which it is pretended every one believes we have great cause to cry out Lord who hath believed our report to whom hath this arm of the Lord been revealed 2. That the discovery of forgiveness in God being a matter of so great difficulty is a thing precious and excellent as being the foundation of all our Communion with God here and of all undeceiving Expectation of our enjoyment of him hereafter It is a pure Gospel truth that hath neither shaddow footstep nor intimation elsewhere the whole creation hath not the least obscure impression of it left thereon so that 3. It is undoubtedly greatly incumbent on us to enquire diligently as the Prophets did of old into this Salvation to consider what sure Evidences faith hath of it such as will not as cannot fail us To be slight and common in this matter to take it up at random is an Argument of an unsound rotten heart He that is not serious in his enquiry into the Revelation of this matter is serious in nothing wherein God or his soul is concerned The Holy Ghost knows what our frame of heart is and how slow we are to receive this blessed truth in a gracious saving manner Therefore doth he confirm it unto us with such weighty considerations as Heb. 6. 17 18. God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsell confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have strong consolation It is of forgiveness of sin that the Apostle treats as hath been made evident by the description of it before given Now to give evidence hereunto and to beget a belief of it in us he first engages a Property of Gods Nature in that business He with whom we deal is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Tit. 1. 2. The God that cannot lye that cannot deceive or be deceived It is impossible it should be so with him Now as this extends it self in general to all the Words and Works of God so there is peculiarly in this whereof he treats 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an especial immutability of his counsel Men may think that although there be words spoken about forgiveness yet it is possible it may be otherwise no saith the Apostle it is spoken by God and it is impossible he should lye Yea but upon the manifold provocations of sinners he may change his mind and thoughts therein no saith the Apostle there is a peculiar immutability in his counsel concerning the execution of this thing there can be no change in it But how doth this appear that indeed this is the counsel of his will Why saith he he hath declared it by his Word and that given in a way of promise which as in its own nature it is suited to raise an expectation in him or them to whom it is made or given so it requires exact faithfulness in the discharge and performance of it which God on his part will assuredly answer But neither is this all but that no place might be left for any cavilling Objection in this matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he interposed himself by an oath Thus we have this Truth deduced from the veracity of Gods nature one of his Essential Excellencies established in the immutable purpose of his Will brought forth by a word of promise and confirmed by Gods interposing himself against all occasions of exception so to put an end unto all strife about it by an Oath swearing by himself that so it should be I have mentioned this only to shew what weight the Holy Ghost layes upon the delivery of this great Truth and thence how deeply it concerns us to enquire diligently into it and after the grounds and evidences which may be tendred of it which among others are these that follow Discovery of Forgiveness in the first Promise The Evidence of the Truth that lyes therein And by the Institution of Sacrifices Their Use and End Also by the prescription of Repentance unto sinners The first Discovery of forgiveness in God and which I place as the first Evidence of it