most lasting of all plants Three times it is compared to Lebanon in the promise Hos 14.5 6 7. The Cedar never rots worms eat it not 'T is not only free from putrifaction it self but the juyce of it preserves other things Numa's Books * Sanct. in loc though of paper yet dipt in the juyce of Cedar remained without corruption in the ground 500 years How shall that God who always remembers every thing yea the meanest of his creatures forget his own variety of expressions and multiplyed promises concerning his Sion 6. In regard 't is the seat of his glory 'T is the branch of his planting the work of his hands that he might be glorified Isa 60.21 His glory would have a brush if Sion should sink to ruin He sows her for himself Hos 2.23 speaking of the Church in the time of the Gospel not to the Devil to sin to the world but to his own glory As husbandmen sow their Fields for their own use to reap from them a fruitful crop and therefore till the Harvest be in they take care to make up the breaches and preserve them from the Incursions of beasts Though God hath an objective glory from all creatures yet he hath an active glory only from the Church 'T is Israel the house of Aaron and those that fear the Lord that the Psalmist calls upon to render God the praise of the eternity of his mercy Psal 118.2 3 4. He forbids the prophane and disobedient world to take his Covenant in their mouth Psal 50.16 None do none can truly honour and acknowledg him but the Church therefore the Apostle in his Doxology appropriates the glory that is to be given to God as the object to the Church as the subject Ephes 3.21 Vnto him be glory in the Church by Jesus Christ throughout all Ages world without end So solemn a wish from so great an Apostle that it should be amounts to a certainty that it will be There cannot be a glory to God in the Church throughout all Ages without the continuance of the Church in all Ages God will have a revenue of glory paid him during the continuance of the world there shall therefore be a standing Church during the duration of the world while he therefore expects a glory from the midst of his People he will be a wall of fire round about them and keep Sion one where or other in a posture to glorifie him What is the Apostles motive to this glory 'T is not a remote power such as can act but will not but a power operative in the Church in doing those things for her which she could never ask nor think for her self * v. 20. Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundan ly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us God hath a greater glory from the Church than he can have from the world he therefore gives her more signal experiments of his Power Wisdom and Love than to the rest of the world He had a glory from Angels but only as Creator not as Redeemer till they were acquainted with his design and were speculators of his actions in gathering a Church in the world The Church therefore was the original of the new glory and praise the Angels presented to God Glory in the Church by Christ Musculus thinks that is added to distinguish it from the Jewish Church which was settled by the Ministry of Moses as much as to say God had not so much glory by the Tabernacles of Jacob as he hath by the Church as settled by Christ Or by Christ notes the manner of the presenting our praise and the ground of the acceptance of our praise God accepts no glory but what is offered to him by the hand of Christ and Christ presents no glory but what is paid him by the Church 'T is the Church then and the Gospel-Church that preserves the glory of God in the world If the Church therefore ceaseth the glory of God in the world ceaseth But since God hath created all for his own glory separated a Church out of the world for his glory appointed his Son the Head of it that he might be glorified his Church therefore is as dear to him as his glory and dear to him in order to his glory in establishing it therefore he establishes his own honour and name It shall therefore remain in this world to glorifie him afterwards in another to glorifie him and be glorified by him 7. In regard that 't is the object of his peculiar affection Establishment of a beloved object is inseparable from a real affection By this he secures the Spiritual Sion or Gospel-Church both from being forsaken by him or made desolate by her Enemies because she was Hephzibah * Isa 62.4 my delight or my will is in her as if he had no will to any thing but what concern'd her and her safety As men ingrave upon their Rings the Image of those friends that are dearest to them and as the Jews in their Captivity engraved the Effigies of their City upon their Rings to keep her in perpetual remembrance so doth God engrave Sion upon the palms of his hands Isa 49.16 to which the Holy Ghost seems to allude He so loves his Israel that he who will be commanded by none stoops to be commanded by them in things concerning his Sons Isa 45.10 Not only ask of me what you want but command me in the things that are to come the pleas of my promises of things to come and your desires to bring them forth as the work of my hand shall be as powerful a motive to me as a command from a Superiour is to an obedient Inferiour for it is to things to come such things that God hath predicted that he limits their asking which he calls also here a commanding of him There was a real love in the first choice there is an intenseness of love in the first attraction Jer. 31.3 I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee His love which had a being from Eternity is exprest by words of more tenderness when he comes to frame her lovingkindness as if his affection seemed to be increased when he came to the execution of his Counsel According to the vigour of his immutable Love will be the strength of her immutable Establishment This promise is made not to the Church in general but to all the Families of the spiritual Israel v. 1. Men are concern'd in honour for that upon which they have plac'd their affection Shall there then be decays in the kindness of that God whose glory it is to be immutable Is it possible this Fountain should be frozen in his breast Was there not a love of good will to Sion to frame her to pick out her materials when they lay like Swine in the confused mass and dirty mire of a corrupt world Is there not also a
external act * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Plutarch Moral p. mihi 500. Yea how many sinful thoughts are twisted together to produce one deliberate sinful word All which have a distinct guilt and if weigh'd together would outweigh the guilt of the action abstractedly considered How many repeated complacencies in the first motion degrees of consent resolved broodings secret plottings proposals of various methods smothering contrary checks vehement longings delightful hopes and forestalled pleasures in the design All which are but thoughts assenting or dissenting in order to the act intended Upon a dissection of all these secret motions by the critical power of the word we should find a more monstrous guilt than would be apparent in the single action for whose sake all these spirits were raised There may be no sin in a material act considered in it self when there is a provoking guilt in the mental motion A Hypocrite's Religious services are materially good but poisoned by the Imagination skulking in the heart that gave birth unto them 'T is the wicked mind or thought makes the Sacrifice a commanded duty much more an abomination to the Lord. Prov. 21.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a wicked thought Ezek. 23.3 19. Yet she multitiplied her whoredoms in calling to remembrance the days of her youth c. v. 21. the lewdness of her youth 2. Consequent acts When a man's phancy is pregnant with the delightful remembrance of the sin that is past he draws down a fresh guilt upon himself as they did in the Prophet in reviving the concurrence of the will to the act committed making the sensual pleasure to commence spiritual and if ever there were an aking heart for it revoking his former grief by a renewed approbation of his darling lust Thus the sin of thoughts is greater in regard of duration A man hath neither strength nor opportunity always to act but he may always think and imagination can supply the place of action Or if the mind be tired with sucking one object it can with the Bee presently fasten upon another Senses are weary till they have a new recruit of spirits as the poor horse may sink under his burden when the rider is as violent as ever Thus old men may change their outward profaneness into mental wickedness and as the Psalmist remembred his old songs Psal 77.5 6. so they their calcin'd sins in the night with an equal pleasure So that you see there may be a thousand thoughts as ushers and lacqueys to one act as numerous as the sparks of a new lighted fire 2. In regard of the Objects the mind is conversant about Such thoughts there are and attended with a heavy guilt which cannot probably no nor possibly descend into outward acts A man may in a complacent thought commit fornication with a woman in Spain in a covetous thought rob another in the Indies and in a revengeful thought stab a third in America and that while he is in this Congregation An unclean person may commit a mental folly with every beauty he meets A covetous man cannot plunder a whole kingdom but in one twinkling of a thought he may wish himself the possessor of all the estates in it A Timon a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot cut the throats of all the world but like Nero with one glance of his heart he may chop off the heads of all mankind at a blow An Ambitious man's practices are confined to a small spot of land but with a cast of his mind he may grasp an Empire as large as the four Monarchies A beggar cannot ascend a throne but in his thoughts he may pass the Guards murder his Prince and usurp the Government Nay further an Atheist may think there is no God Psal 14.1 i. e. as some interpret it wish there were no God and thus in thought undeifie God himself though he may sooner dash heaven and earth in pieces than accomplish it The body is confined to one object and that narrow and proportionable to its nature but the mind can wing it self to various objects in all parts of the earth Where it finds none it can make one for phancy can compact several objects together coyn an image colour a picture and commit folly with it when it hath done It can nestle it self in cobwebs spun out of its own bowels 3. In respect of Strength Imaginations of the heart are only i. e. purely evil The nearer any thing is in union with the root the more radical strength it hath The first ebullitions of light and heat from the Sun are more vigorous than the remoter beams and the steams of a dunghil more noysom next that putrified body than when they are dilated in the air Grace is stronger in the heart-operations than in the outward streams and sin more foul in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart than in the act In the Text the outward wickedness of the world is passed over with a short expression but the Holy Ghost dwells upon the description of the wicked Imagination because there lay the mass Mans * Psal 5.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inward part is very wickednesses a whole nest of vipers Thoughts are the immediate spawn of the original corruption and therefore partake more of the strength and nature of it Acts are more distant being the children of our thoughts but the Grand-children of our natural pravity Besides they lye nearest to that wickedness in the inward part sucking the breast of that poysonous dam that bred them The strength of our thoughts is also reinforced by being kept in for want of opportunity to act them as liquors in close glasses ferment and encrease their spriteliness Musing either carnal or spiritual makes the †Psal 39.3 fire burn the hotter as the fury of fire is doubled by being pent in a furnace Outward acts are but the sprouts the sap and juice lies in the wicked imagination or contrivance which hath a strength in it to produce a thousand fruits as poysonous as the former The members are the instruments or * Rom. 6.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weapons of unrighteousness now the whole strength which doth manage the weapon lyes in the arm that wields it the weapon of it self could do no hurt without a force imprest Let me add this too that sin in thoughts is more simply sin In acts there may be some occasional good to others for a good man will make use of the sight of sin committed by others to encrease his hatred of it but in our sinful thoughts there is no occasion of good to others they lying lock'd up from the view of man 4. In respect of Alliance In these we have the nearest communion with the Devil The understanding of man is so tainted that his †Jam. 3.15 wisdom the chiefest flower in it is not only earthly and sensual it were well if it were no worse but devillish too If the flower be so
God shall establish her stability is not to be found out of her To depart from her is to leave a firm Rock to find security in a quick-sand To leap out of a stout Ship in a storm to expect a preservation in the waves To turn our backs upon Heaven to seek ease in the bowels of Hell The Altar at Damascus is cast down and Jeroboam's Altar is demolisht when that at Jerusalem stood To stay in Sion is to be exposed to the gun-shot of men and Devils to run from her is to seek to the Devil for protection and run into the mouth of all the Artillery of God that is set for the establishment of Sion If we are Christians no force nor violence should separate us from her 2. Let us love Sion There is nothing the Scripture uses more as an argument to separate our affections from the world than the uncertainty and fading nature of it The perpetuity then of the Church should be a motive to place our affections there where they shall never want an object and which we cannot love without loving her head and her establisher The Jews in Babylon would rather forget themselves than their City and Temple Psal 137.5 6. Our affections to Gospel Sion should be more tender since God hath poured out more of his Spirit upon her and she is more amiable in his eye That which the Jews so much affected is perished But the true Sion is eternal and shall flourish for ever The highest himself hath an establishing affection to her Let our affections to her equal the malice of the Enemies against her since we have greater incentives to love her than they can have to hate her While others cry Raze Raze it even to the ground let us at least testify our affections and if we have not her standing walls to love let us not estrange our tenderness from her very dust Psal 102.14 There is a pleasure to be taken in her stones because they shall be again set in their place a favour to be shewn to her dust because it shall be again compacted and enjoy a resurrection For the highest that hath promised to establish her will not desert her in her ruins v. 16. When the Lord shall build up Sion he shall appear in glory we have therefore more ground to favour her dust than to admire the proudest palaces 3. Let us desire the Establishment of Sion more than our own private Establishment 'T is the Sign of a gracious Spirit to look not only on his own things but the things of others Phil. 2.4 And what things of others should be regarded if the things of Christ and his Spouse be over-looked No private person hath any promise of establishment but as he is a Denison of Sion as one born in her In desiring therefore the welfare of Sion we wish and make way for the establishing of our selves our interests are common with hers Her prosperity therefore should be the first and last of our wishes When we wish the stability of Sion we wish the honour of God the continuance of his worship the glorifying his name which is deposited in that cabinet The glory of God cannot flourish if the Church perish How base then are those that if they can swim in a worldly prosperity care not if the Church be drowned in tears and bloud that cloth themselves and regard not her nakedness that provide an earthly Canaan for themselves and care not what desolate desert Sion sits weeping in 4. Let us endeavour the establishment of Sion 'T is a grateful thing to a Prince to favour his favorite Let us be as forward to enlarge her Territories as the Devil and his instruments are to increase the Suburbs of hell The Highest himself will establish her by himself we must therefore take those methods which are agreeable to the chief preserver A complyance with the Enemies of God was never the way to secure the interest of Sion A divine work in a divine way will meet with divine assistance To contribute to the establishment of Sion is a work honourable in it self since it is the work of God himself 'T is an imitation of the highest pattern In this we are associates and coworkers with God For the Highest himself shall establish Sion A DISCOURSE UPON THE Fifth of November Exod. 15.9 10. The Enemy said I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoil my lust shall be satisfied upon them I will draw my sword my hand shall destroy them Thou didst blow with thy wind the Sea covered them they sank as Lead in the mighty waters AN Anniversary Commemoration of a memorable Deliverance falling upon this Day hath caused a diversion of my thoughts to look back not only upon a mercy never to be forgotten but to look forward to that Deliverance which is to come parallel to this in the Text. Israel was a Type of the Church Pharaoh a type of the Churches Enemies in all Ages of the world both of the spiritual Enemy Satan and of the temporal his Instruments The Deliverance was a type of the Deliverance that Christ wrought upon the Cross by his Blood Also of that Christ works by his power upon his Throne the one from the Reign of Sin the other from the Empire of Antichrist This was the Exemplar of all the deliverances the Church was to have As the Assyrian should lift up a staff against Jerusalem after the manner of Aegypt so the Lord should lift his rod up for them upon the Sea after the manner of Aegypt when the Yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing Isa 10.26 27. when the power of the Enemies shall be destroyed by the strength of Christ The Lord himself makes it his pattern in those victories he is to gain for his people when he calls upon his arm to awake as in the ancient days when he cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon and made the depths of the Sea a way for the ransom'd to pass over Isa 51.9 10 11. then the redeemed of the Lord shall come with singing unto Sion the Song of Moses while they stand upon a Sea of Glass a brittle frail and stormy world Rev. 15.3 And our Redeemer makes this his pattern rule when he comes to tread the Wine-press in wrath and make them drunk with his fury that then he would remember the days of old Moses and his people when he divided the water before them to make himself an everlasting name Isa 63.1.2.11 that his power may be as glorious in the latter as it was in the former and all deliverances of the Church from the beginning to the end be knit together to be an everlasting matter of praise to his name This Historical narration is to have a more universal accomplishment the deliverance from Aegypt is promised to be fulfilled a second time and God would act the same part over again as also their deliverance from Ogg King of Bashan after the ascension
witnesses that they shall stand again upon their feet the same persons if politically dead others witnessing the same doctrine if they were corporeally dead and damp all their mirth and triumph and turn their security into fears then shall glory be given to the God of heaven and the Ark of his Testament be seen in his Temple and the power of the Lord be magnified Rev. 11.10 11. When they shall all be gathered together to the battle of the great day of the Lord the place is called Armageddon Rev. 16.14 16 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A cursed troop an army under Gods Anathema when they have the greatest confidence When Jerusalem shall be penn'd up by a seige it shall be a cup of trembling in the hands of her Enemies Zac. 12.2 Fear shall seize upon them in the midst of their confidence The Sun was risen upon Sodom just before the devouring shower of Fire and brimstone With what derision would they have entertained any messenger that should have assured them of such a shower in so clear a day No doubt but the Aegyptian horses went prancing into the Sea and their riders confident of catching their prey when they saw the waters congealed they had not the least suspicion but that the division of the Sea was made in their favour till the Chariot wheels were taken off and the waters ready to roul upon them Exod. 14.23 25. 2. As something on the part of the Churches Enemies forwards the deliverance so there is some regard God hath to the Churches straits Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses 'T is Gods usual method to let the Church be in great distress before he commands deliverance The distress of the Church was great in the concern of this day though it was not sensible the deliverance being known near as soon as the danger The Church is to be in the depths of the Sea before she be fully delivered Psa 68.22 The Jews were to pass through the Sea with affliction before the pride of Assyria should be brought down and the Scepter of Aegypt depart away after that he would strengthen them in the Lord and they should walk up and down in his name Zach. 10.11 12. The sharpest pangs precede deliverance it was so when Christ came in the flesh it will be so at every new rising of Christ in his spirit when things were at a low ebb when the Sun sat in the greatest darkness of Errour Idolatry and prophaness when the Jews the only spot of ground God had was as a wilderness almost barren of any grace when the great predictions of the Prophets were unminded and less understood when Vrim and Thummim had ceased and the Spirit of Prophesy was shut up then Christ comes in the fulness of time to work an universal relief for mankind When the day of vengeance is in the heart of the Redeemer he shall look and find none to help he shall wonder to find none to uphold therefore his own arm shall bring Salvation Isa 53.5 This has alwaies been God's Method With his Son the powers of darkness had their hour and triumph'd when they had laid him in the grave before he was raised by the glory of his Father The Witnesses must be killed by the hand of their Enemies before they stand upon their feet and ascend up into Heaven in the sight of their Adversaries Rev. 11.7 when the Church shall walk in darkness grope for the wall like the blind mourn like Doves look for salvation and it shall seem far off then will the Lord put on a helmet of salvation on his head and the garments of vengeance for clothing and be clad with zeal as a cloak Isa 59.9 10 11 17. The break of day is ushered in by a thicker darkness than that which clouded the night before The sharpest persecution that ever the Church had was in the time of Dioclesian a little before Christianity was to rule his Empire in the exaltation of Constantine Abraham was in hardship out of his Country when he received the promises of the Messiah and Israel in the wilderness when the Oracles of God were delivered to them Confusion of the Church precedes alwaies the Communication of Light 1. The Reasons of the Doctrine are these 1. This makes for God's glory The creature cannot in this condition challenge any share in the honour of the deliverance or pare off so much as a splinter of his glory Had the Israelites been armed and drawn into a strong Battalion and so defeated the Aegyptian Army the Victory would rather have been challeng'd by them than ascrib'd to God but neither the strength of their multitude nor the wisdom of their Guides were able to protect them counsel failed and heads were feeble then did God get himself a name when they were upon the point of a remediless ruine It was manifest the name of the Lord got David the Victory since he encountred unarmed with Goliah who could have crusht him like a Fly had he been in his fingers The time of the Churches depression is the time of God's Exaltation he waits for the extremity to lift up himself When paleness is upon the face of his People when the Cedars of Lebanon hang their heads when the Churches beauty seems a lamentable deformity and Sharon is like a wilderness then will God arise Isa 33.9 10. God never builds up Sion but he ordains all things in a method for his appearance in the greatest glory Psal 102.16 When the Lord shall build up Sion he shall appear in his glory that is when the Church is destitute v. 17. 1. God exalts his power his right hand then becomes glorious in power Exod. 15.6 He loves to appear in his dress as a Creator when there is no fitness in the subject to answer his end but what he bestows upon it When Jerusalem becomes a rejoycing and her People a joy 't is an act of creating power Isa 65.18 For behold I create Jerusalem a rejoycing When the creature can give them not the least assistance then will they be sensible of God's unbounded sufficiency and their own necessary dependance God never had too little help from his creature in a deliverance he hath sometimes complain'd of too much and disbanded some of the Churches Forces as in the case of Gideon Judg. 7. As Christ rules in the midst of his Enemies so doth God's Power most visibly in the midst of distresses A Physician 's skill is most conspicuous when the disease is most dangerous and most complicated and Nature at the lowest ebb 'T is more glory to God to quench the fire in its fullest rage than to extinguish it in its first smoke and sparkles God loves the fairest mark to shoot at and will rather down with Goliah than with the ordinary Philistines grapple with the great rather than with a light danger that the Lord may appear to be a man of war Exod. 15.3
3. God is more careful of his people than revengefull against his enemies He first orders the sealing of the mourners before he orders the destruction of the rebells he will first honour his mercy in the protection of the one before he will glorifie his justice in the destruction of the other The Angel hath orders to secure Lot before Sodom was fired The executioners of his wrath were to march after the securing Angel not before him Nor equal with him And were only to cut off those whom the Angel had passed by 4. If you take this mark for a mark on the Conscience then observe That Serenity of Conscience is a gift of God to his people in the time of severe judgments As when death is near the Conscience of a good man is most serene and sings sweetly in his breast the notes of his own integrity In judgments as well as in death God sets Conscience upon its pleasant notes But this mark is not properly meant here the Conscience is a mark to our selves but this is a mark to the executioners 5. The places where God hath manifested the glory of his Ordinances are the subjects of his greatest judgments upon their provocations Go through the City through Jerusalem That Jerusalem wherein I have manifested my glory which I have intrusted with my oracles which I have protected in the midst of enemies like a spark in the midst of many waters Go thorow that City into the midst of it and let not your eye spare 6. The greatest fury of God in a time of judgment often lights upon the Sanctuary v. 6. Begin at the Sanctuary defile the house Not a man of them escaped as Oecalampad notes v. 7. I was left He saw not in the vision what was done in the City but he was left alone in the Temple The whole Sanhedrim the 70 Ancients had revolted to Idolatry Ezek. 8.11 and the stroak first lights upon them v. 6. Then they began at the Ancient men which were before the house In the v. observe 1. Gods care in the preserving his people He Commands the Angel to go thorow the midst of the City and set a mark a visible mark upon their foreheads 2. The Qualification of the persons so preserved He doth not say All that have not committed Idolatry but such as sigh which signifies 1. The intenseness of their grief Sigh and cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes an intense groaning and sorrow 2. The Extensiveness of the Object All the Abominations Doct. Lamenting the sins of the times and places wherein we live is a duty incumbent on us acceptable to God and a great means of preservation under publick Judgments There are three Branches 1. 'T is a Duty 2. A Duty acceptable to God God has his Eye particularly upon them that practise it 3. 'T is a means of preservation under publick Judgments 1. 'T is a Duty If we are by the Praescript of God to bewail in confession the sins of our Forefathers committed before our being in the world certainly much more are we to lament the sins of the Age wherein we live as well as our own Levit. 26.40 If they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their Fathers If then their uncircumcised be hubmled then will I remember my Covenant Posterity are part of the same body with their Ancestors and every member in a Nation is part of the body of a Nation every drop in the Sea is a part of the Ocean God made a standing Law for an annual Fast wherein they should afflict their Souls the tenth day of the seventh month answering to our September and backed it with a severe penalty He whose soul was not afflicted in that day should be cut off from among his people which the Jews understand of cutting off by the hand of the Lord Levit. 23.27 29. The particular sin for which they were thus annually to afflict their Souls was that national sin of the golden Calf in the Judgment of the Jewish Doctors It was also the practice of holy men in their private Retirements as Daniel Dan. 9.5 6. He bewails the sins of his Ancestors and Nehemiah Neh. 1.6 Much more it is our duty to bewail a present guilt The Churches Eyes are compared to the Fish-pools of Heshbon Cant. 7.4 in her weeping for her own and others sins To what purpose has God given us passions but to honour him withal And our affections of grief and anger cannot be better employ'd than for the interest nor better bestowed than for the service of him who implanted those passions in us Our natural motions should be ordered for the God of Nature and spiritual ordered for the God of Grace 1. This was the practice of Believers in all Ages Before the Deluge * Broughton Lives of the Fathers p. 7. Crit. in loc Seth called the name of his Son which was born at the time of the profaning the name of God in worship Enosh which signifies sorrowful or miserable that he might in the sight of his Son have a constant Monitor to excite him to an holy grief for the profaneness and Idolatry that entred into the Worship of God Gen. 4.26 He called his name Enos then began men to call upon the name of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profane it by calling upon it The rational and most precious part of Lot was vexed with the unlawful deeds of the generation of Sodom among whom he lived 2 Pet. 2.7 8. he had a horrour and torment in his righteous Soul at the execrable villanies he saw committed by his neighbours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afflicted under it as under a grievous burden It was a rack to him as the other word v. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies The meekest man upon Earth with grief and indignation breaks the Tables of the Law when he saw the holiness of it broken by the Israelites and expresseth more his regret for that than his honour for the material Stones wherein God had with his own finger engraven the Orders of his will He is more desirous to destroy the Idol than preserve the Tables Such an indignation against their sin could not well be without grief for it David a man of the greatest goodness upon Record had a Deluge of tears because they kept not God's Law Psal 119.136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy Law Besides his grief which was not a small one horrour seiz'd upon him upon the same account Psal 119.53 like a storm that tost him to and fro How doth poor Isaiah bewail himself and the People among whom he lived as men of polluted lips Isa 6.5 Perhaps such as could hardly speak a word without an Oath or by hypocritical lip-service mocked God in the very Temple Jeremy is upon the same practice Jer. 13.17 when his Soul should weep in secret for the pride of the people and as if he was not satisfied with a few tears
an Arrow of God's wrath Pride lifts up it self against God's Laws and Soveraignty as much as this frame of spirit acknowledges and submits to him It was a temper contrary to this caused God to send Worms to banquet upon Herod Acts 12.23 He gave not God the glory He was not afflicted with the sin of the People nor reproved them for ascribing to him the honour of God A Soul-affliction for common sins is a bar to Judgments God revives the spirit of the humble Isa 57.15 They that share in the griefs of the Spirit shall not want the comforts of the Spirit God is concern'd in honour by virtue of his promise not to neglect those whom he hath promised to revive He dwells with the contrite spirit who more contrite than he that grieves for publick sins and Family sins and City sins as well as his own private Men do not use to fire their own houses much less God the house and heart which is dearer to him than either first or second Temple or local Heaven it self I might add 5. That such keep Covenant with God The Contract runs on God's part to be an Enemy to his Peoples Enemies Exod. 23.22 It must run on our parts to love that which God loves hate that which God hates grieve for that which grieves and dishonours him Who can do this by an unconcernedness Those that keep Covenant with God shall not fail of one tittle of it on God's part 7. Such also fear Gods Judgments and fear is a good means to prevent them The Old World feared not God's threatning of the Deluge and that came and swallowed them up The Sodomites feared not God's Judgments and that hastened the destroying Shower The Advice of the Angel upon the approach of Judgments is to fear God and give glory to him Rev. 14.7 And then follows another v. 8. with the news of Babylons fall Babylon is fallen is fallen The fall of Babylon is the preservation of his People 4. The Vse 1. Reproof for us Where is the man that hangs his harp upon the willows at the time the Temple of God is prophaned A head a Fountain of tears for Common sins is a commodity rare to be found even in hearts otherwise gracious The Mourners have been for number but a few like the gleanings of the Vintage but the Sinners in Sion for multitude like the weeds in fallow ground What multitudes of those that disparage God and trample upon his Soveraign Commands rend in pieces the very Law of Nature as well as the rights of Religion It were well if there were one to Six as was intimated in the beginning there might be in Jerusalem but we have reason to fear that one marker for the secret mourners would be too much for an hundred destroyers I do not question but there are some that sigh for the abominations they see and hear of that because they are dishonourable to God as well as injurious to themselves But who of us present here can say we have been deeply enough and graciously enough affected with them Certainly both you and I may bring a charge against our selves before the throne of God for this neglect that we have not been throwly humbled for frequently bewailed publick iniquities and spread them before God in secret If we are unconcern'd in common sins can we imagine God will leave us unconcern'd in common Judgments If we endeavour not to keep up the glory of God he will extract glory to himself out of our ashes If this frame be so little regarded among professors what shall we say to many others that have as little remorse for the stabs of Gods honour as they would have for the Tragedy of an East India Prince nay for the death of some inconsiderable fly that have resentments for wrongs done to themselves and sorrow at Command for any worldly loss but not one spark of regret for affronts offered to God In this cause their hearts are as dry as a heath in a parching Summer Who laments the tearing the name of God in pieces by execrable oaths Who bewails the impudent uncleanness boasted of by Concubines in the face of the Sun Who mourns for so many thousand foreheads bearing the mark of the beast and so many thousands more preparing to receive it It reproves then 1. Those that make a mock and sport of sin so far they are from mourning for it The wise man gives them the title of fools Prov. 14.9 fools make a mock at sin Which though it seems too low a Character for such abominable works yet in scripture it hath a greater import than in our Common discourse it signifies an Atheist Psal 14.1 Prodigious madness to make that our sport which is the dishonour of God the murderer of Christ the grief of the Spirit and the destruction of the Soul that which opens the flood-gates of wrath and brings famines plagues wars upon a people If mourning for others sins be an affection like that of Angels delighting in other sins is an affection like that of Devils He is at the greatest distance from Christ that looks pleasantly upon that which Christ could not regard without grief and anger God seems to seal up such to destruction as well as the mourners to preservation Isa 22.12 13. And in that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and mourning to baldness and girding with Sackcloth and behold joy and gladness slaying oxen and killing Sheep eating flesh and drinking wine let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you dye they were ranters instead of mourners and God passes this sentence on them their iniquity shall not be purged from them till they dye If we carry our selves jollily at the sins of others we evidence that the concerns of God are of little concern to us that we have slight thoughts of his glory and cast it at the heels of our own passions 2. Those that make others sins the matter of invectives rather than of lamentations and bespatter the man without bewailing the sin We should consider common sins with affection to God and pity to the offenders with a desire that they may restore by a true conversion the glory they have robb'd God of by an accursed Rebellion While we hate the sin we should evidence that we love the man * Non nunquam faeâ—itâ—â—i in câ—lpam saevimus in hominem Prosper We must never love the wickedness nor hate the person We pity a sick man though we loath his Disease Sinners are miserable enough without our hatred and by hating them we make our selves more miserable by committing a fault against reason and nature and do them no good The more wicked any man is the more worthy of pity by how much the more his crime is our hatred God who is infinite purity hates mens sins
because they are enemies to his holiness but he hath a common affection to their persons as they are the effects of his goodness and creative Power Our exclamations against common sins ought not to exceed lamentations for them There ought to be more grief in our hearts than fire in our tongues They break the whole Law that lament not the crime out of love to the Law-maker and grieve not for the Sinner out of love to their neighbour 3. Those who are imitators of common sins instead of being mourners for them As though others did not pilfer God's right fast enough and were too slow in pulling him from his Throne as if they grieved that others had got the start of them in wickedness 'T is a pious sadness and a blessed grief to be affected with common sins without being fetter'd by them to mourn for them without cleaving to them to be transported with sorrow for them without being drawn by a love to them 4. Those that fret against God instead of fretting against their own foolishness Prov. 19.3 The sins of good men are many times provocations to God to draw up the sluce from the hearts of wicked men and give liberty to their lusts for the chastening of others and therefore in grieving for the sins of others they implicitly grieve for their own 5. Those who are more transported against others sins as they are or may be occasions of hurt to them than as they are injuries to God How warm are we often in our own Cause and how cold in God's We partly satisfie our own discontent by such a carriage but not our duty 6. Those who are so far from mourning for common Sins that they never truly mournd for their own Who have yet the Treasures of wickedness after the rod of God hath been upon them Mich. 6.9 10. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked reflecting upon the Rod they had felt Common sins are but a Glass wherein we may see our common Nature The best men have the worst Sins in their Nature though by Grace they have them not in their Practice He that grieves not for other Mens Sins more or less never grieved truly for his own He that is not concerned for the dishonours of God by others is little concerned for the dishonour of God by himself Let us use our Eyes for those ends for which God hath given them they are instruments of sight and instruments of sorrow It is necessary for us to mourn for our own sins We can never mourn for others Sins unless we mourn for our own If we sorrow not for our own the sorrow we may pretend to have for others proceeds not from a right cause We have that one Sin of Adam in our Nature which subjected the whole world to an Anathema Let us not stay in generals every Man will lay the fault upon Sin in the bulk without reflecting on the sin in his own Bowels We can complain particularly of those sins that are common and why should we rest in generals when we come to our own Dolus versatur in universalibus 't is a deceitful sorrow that is for Sin in a heap Is there not perfidiousness to God coldness in his ways too much slighting the Gospel want of bowels and compassion incorrigibleness under judgments houses fir'd and pride not consumed falseness in resolutions like Oxen moving with the touch of the Goad and presently standing still deceitful bows letting the string slip after they have stood fully bent Hos 10.4 There may be Sins among us that may cause a storm that we little think of The Mariners little suspected Jonah to be the cause of the tempest till he discovered it himself He that never mourned for his own Sins cannot perform this duty so necessary for his preservation and therefore cannot expect the mark of God in a time of publick judgment He that would rightly mourn for the Corruptions of others must enquire whether he hath not the same in his own Bowels and fling the hardest stone at them Judah calls for Tamar to the flames for that crime which himself had been a partner and actor in so apt are we to be severe against others Sins and indulgent to our own The best have need to mourn for their own sins in relation to the publick The only good man in the Ship was Jonah and for his sin was the Storm sent and the rest like to be wrackt 2 Use Of Comfort to such as mourn for Common Sins All the carnal world hath not such a writ of protection to shew in the whole strength of Nature as the meanest mourner in Sion hath in his sighs and tears Christs mark is above all the Shields of the earth and those that are stampt with it have his wisdom to guard them against folly his power against weakness the everlasting Father against man whose breat his in his Nostrils We see that God doth not strike at random but reserves a sweetness for his Servants in the midst of his fury against his Enemies he hath his Messengers to mark as well as his Executioners to strike the issuing the resolute orders of his Fury hinders not those of his Grace and Compassion to his own He will have a care of his Balsom-trees that distil this precious Liquor no less than he commanded the Israelites in their sharpest wars to have a care of the fruitful trees of a Land Deut 20.19 God in the 6. v. following the Text gives the like charge to the executioners of his judgments as David did to the Army concerning Absolom 2 Sam. 18.5 Deal gently with the young man Ezek. 9.6 Come not near any Man upon whom is the mark He makes provision first for the security of those before he unsheaths his Sword against his Enemies The Deluge flows not from heaven till Noah be cased in the Ark nor is Sodom on Fire till Lot be lodged in the Mountain God will always have a Church in the world and suffer a generation of his own to inhabit the Earth Gods attributes shall not interfere one with another his truth remains firm notwithstanding the provocations of Men. When those people were ripe for judgments God had his mourners among the Idolaters which he marks for preservation when he had threatened great judgments Joel 2.30 31. the turning the Sun into Darkness and the Moon into Blood he promises a remnant in Jerusalem and Sion v. 32. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered for in mount Sion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call Neither the fury of Men shall nor the judgments of God will extinguish the Church not the malice of Men because of Gods power nor God himself because of his truth The Lord hath said God will either preserve under judgments or take away in them to a
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