these things and have a strict regard to justice and righteousness in all you do And so doing 2. Love Mercy labour to be of a merciful disposition shew mercy and do it from a principle of Love love to God and love to Man The object of Mercy are the Miserable and the exercise of this grace consists in doing what in us lies to relieve those that are in necessity to comfort those that are cast down to counsel those to whom our advice may be helpful to sympathize with those that are afflicted to assist those that are tempted and to help them to bear their burden In one word to do all the good that we can to the Souls and Bodies of all men and especially to those that are of the houshold of Faith Be ready to give to them that ask to lend to them that would borrow of you and to forgive those that have offended against you A merciful man is such a one as Job who was Eyes to the blind and Feet to the Lame and a Father to the poor Job 29.15 The all-wise God has so order'd it in his Providence that we should always have objects and occasions for the exercise of this Grace Some are poor some are sick some are carried into captivity some are bereav'd of their relations that others that are healthful and rich and prosperous in the World might succour them in their distresses And some left to fall into sin that those that stand by Grace might restore such with a spirit of meekness Think it not enough that you are strictly just but remember that you must be merciful too Yea you cannot be truly just except you be merciful to deny to others some part of our own when the providence of God calls us to give it is injustice as well as not to give them what is their own and the highest injustice injustice to God in not using the goods of this World to the end for which he has intrusted us with them 7. And as Divine Love is the general Principle of all good actions so it is the immediate Fountain from whence all the Streams of Mercy do issue They that love Mercy will be ready to shew Mercy and think it no cost no burden no weariness to do it That that proceeds from Love we do freely and chearfully and that puts a lustre upon every act of Mercy And to excite this Principle in you consider that shewing Mercy to others does assimilate and make you like unto God himself who delights in Mercy who when he does proclaim his Name does it especially by the display of his Goodness and Mercy and should we not affect the nearest Union with God and the highest Resemblance of him Luke 6.36 Be ye therefore merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful Also consider that the Love of Mercy is a special evidence of the Sincerity of your Love to God to be Merciful for God's sake does proceed from the love of God But whoso hath this worlds goods and seeth his Brother hath need and shutteth up his Bowels of compassion how dwelleth the Love of God in him 1 John 3.17 And let us often seriously think of the great day of the Lord when nothing but Divine Mercy can stead and befriend us and that they are merciful men who are particularly describ'd in Scripture that shall have the benefit of the Divine Mercy The Apostle's prayer for Onesiphorus 2 Tim. 1. does import so much v. 16. the Lord give Mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus for he oft refreshed me the Lord grant that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day And it is expresly said on the contrary that He shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy Jam. 2.13 How ready and willing then should we be to embrace all Opportunities of shewing Mercy In which as well as in the former duty of doing justly we should have respect unto God his glory as the end and his command as the reason of all that we do which is the fumm of the last duty that you 3. Walk humbly with your God endeavouring to approve your selves to Him in all that you do which is that that puts an excellency into and a beauty upon your due tyes to men and makes them acceptable with God through Jesus Christ as being ultimately done to him Endeavour that your whole life may be as much as possibly you can a continued walk with God Set him always before your Face have your Eye constantly to him keep up your Hearts with God in a frame fit for Communion with God at all times Observe his Providence follow the Guidance of it receive the Instructions of it and comply with all the Calls of it Be led by the Spirit of God and be obsequious to all his holy motions let your conversation be in Heaven Be followers of the Lord Jesus and walk as you have Him for an Example And be very Humble in your walking with God depend upon him for Divine assistance and strength in all that you do for his name Be Humble and Reverent in your Worshiping of God Ascribe all the Glory to him of all the good you receive and do Be Low be vile in your own sight and exalt the Lord in your Soul Let him be your first and your last Begin all your works with God and end them in Him Remember to this purpose how God has declar'd Himself as to this part of your duty that He resisteth the Proud but giveth Grace to the humble And has promis'd to dwell with the Humble Therefore nip and check all the buddings of pride when it first begins to shoot Be not proud of your cloathing but be cloathed with Humility Be not proud of your Parts and Gifts but use them to Edifie one another in Love Be not proud of your Riches and Estate for you must shortly leave them and give an account to Him that lends them you how you have improved them for Him Indeed we do very much forget our selves what we were and do yet continue to be Sinful dust when our hearts do swell with this Vanity This is the worst because as it is probable it was the first sin And is still the first that lives and the last that dies in the heart Labour therefore thro' the Spirit of God to mortifie it in all the kâ—nds of it both Corporal and Spiritual And indeed what way soever we look we may see enough to make and to keep us humble If we look up to God how should his Majesty abase us If we look to our selves how low should our sins lay us If we look to Saints it may humble us to see how short we come of many of them in Grace and Holiness And if to Sinners to consider that such we were and such we should have continued to be had not the free and effectual Grace of God made the difference You that have most have nothing but
nor your Children that will serve this turn These things tho' some of them be such as God has appointed yet these alone will not please God there is something else God looks for from a People that would humble themselves aright before Him and meet God in his Worship with acceptation and if you ask what that is He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God q. d. you inquire how you may come before the Lord how you may humble your selves in a right manner so as that the anger of the Lord may be turned away from you and you may escape his impendent judgments You seem to be very desirous to have the Lord still to be your God and that He would continue you to be his People that He would still go on to deliver and to defend you as He has done in times past then know that it is not sacrifices only that God desires but that which in conjunction therewith he does principally and ultimately require is that you do Justly and love Mercy and walk humbly with your God these things are good and acceptable to God and indispensibly incumbent upon you as the Lord has shewed them to be his mind and will concerning you And tho' there are other things that God does require which in their place and time are to be attended to yet nothing comparatively with these as to do justly to love mercy and walk humbly with thy God In which words we have these two general parts 1. A tacit Reprehension that the Prophet gives this People reproving that fleshly confidence they plac'd in the external duties of God's worship and much more in those arbitrary ways of Devotion which were of their own devising 2. A positive Direction that he lays before them how they might come before God in his own instituted Worship with acceptation And in that direction there are three particulars considerable 1. A discovery of a Divine rule which we are to attend to in all our addresses to God and that is the Revelation God has made of his mind and will to us he hath shewed thee oh man 2. A specification of things that are conformable to that rule and to be regarded by us viz. Justice that is to be done Mercy that is to be loved and Humility that is to be express'd in our walking with God The last of which walking humbly with God compriseth the whole of our Covenant Obedience Gen. 17.1 as the two former are eminent instances of it in particular 3. A Rational enforcement of the forementioned duties by arguments one taken from the goodness of the things he hath shewed thee oh man what is good another from the Will and Command of God concerning these things and what doth the Lord require of thee These things are good to do Justly to love Mercy and to walk humbly with God and these are the things that God requires and you must mind and attend unto if you would so appear before God in his Worship as to have the Lord pacified to you and his anger turned away from you The whole of which may be thus summ'd up Doct. That a People who would humble themselves aright before the Lord would have the difference between Him and Them comprimised and would come before the Lord so as to be accepted with Him must not rest in and take up with the external duties of God's Worship but attend unto those things in their practice that are expressive of Real holiness and Obedience to the will of God in what he commands and requires of them Before I proceed to prove and improve this proposition it will be needful to premise this in the first place namely that the answer that the Prophet in the text gives to this Peoples question and the conclusion I have now formed from it does not respect the way of Atonement or making satisfaction to the Justice of God for sin For as to that there is the same insufficiency in the highest acts of Evangelical obedience as there is in the performing the duties of Divine worship The payment of one debt cannot discharge us of another now we stand ingaged to God in a twofold Debt a Debt of punishment that is the consequent of sin whereby we become obnoxious to the Curse of the Law the Wages of sin is death And a Debt of Duty which is our obligation to the Precept of the Law and the payment of the Debt of Duty cannot discharge us from the debt of sin When we do our duty we do but what we ought and the doing what we ought cannot be a compensation for the doing of what we ought not to have done If we come short in our duty that further increase the Debt of sin but tho' we perform our duty that does not lessen the former debt We are debters still to the Justice of God because we have violated his holy Law the Sanction of which was the Soul that sins shall die and are utterly insolvent or uncapable to pay this debt by the most exact and continued obedience that we can yield to the commands of it for by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified If therefore the Question be in what way is the justice of God satisfied for sin in what way and upon what account is God reconcil'd to Sinners What is the meritorious and procuring cause of the Grace and favour of God to a Person or People that have provoked his Anger against them by their sins He hath shewed thee Oh Man in his word that it is not any Obedience of thine that thou dost or canst perform unto God but the obedience the sufferings the Righteousness of his own Son our Lord Redeemer that is the onely meritorious procuring cause of God's being reconciled to Sinners He is the Surety of that better Covenant that has paid the debt of sin for us and in our place that was made Sin for us by offering himself to God and did appear to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself But if the Question be what it is that God requires of man according to the terms of the new Covenant that would have the benefit of Christ's mediation so as to have God actually reconcil'd to him and the Anger of God turned away from him He hath shewed thee Oh man that it is not some slight external devotion An outside fasting or confessing of sin and humbling your self for a day but that in conjunction with a Serious and Hearty performance of these duties you do justly and Love mercy and walk humbly with God Our Prophet does suppose God's acceptance of the atonement for sin made by our Lord Jesus Christ but lets them know that without a Performance of the necessary duties of the Gospel their claim to that atonement would be fruitless and ineffectual As there
commanded as all the positive institutions of worship are good but they have an intrinsical goodness and commend themselves to us from their very nature they are such things as flow from the nature of God as well as bear a conformity to the Will of God So that it is impossible they should be otherwise than good or that what is contrary to them should be so Injustice unmercifulness and disobedience to God cannot be good they are Evil and altogether Evil and will be so for ever Deut. 30.15 see I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil Holiness is good and sin is evil and it is impossible that either of them should be other than what they are Sin cannot become Good holiness cannot become evil the difference betwixt holiness and sin is as great as betwixt good and evil that except good could become evil and evil good the nature of good and evil be alter'd and confounded it is impossible that Holiness thould be any otherwise than good and sin any other thing than the worst and the purest evil These things are also Good for us so that we cannot more directly seek and promote our own good and happiness than in the practising of them Is that good that is amiable and lovely what so lovely as ho liness That is the glory of the Divine Being and the likeness of God in Man Is that good that is pleasant and delightful the sweetest pleasures are to be found in the ways of God None injoy such peace and tranquility in their mind are so free from fears and offences as those who have the strictest regard to God's commands Or is that good that is profitable we are assur'd that godliness is profitable to all things having a Promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come Oh how good is it to walk with God! to awake with God and to be in the fear of the Lord all the day Whereas many say Who will shew us good Would they seek it in the way of God's commands they would assuredly find it And these things are good for others too how advantagious and beneficial to the World are Justice and Mercy how much do they conduce to the good order of it how sweet are the influences that they diffuse amongst all persons who is not the better for them The godly are refreshed with them they adorn the Gospel and commend Religion to others as a real substantial thing that is worthy their consideration and choice The Religion that lies only in forms and discourse is an airy unaffecting thing and gets no ground in the World but that that is operative and powerful commends it self to the Consciences of Men these things are good for the bodies and good for the Souls of others and that is one Reason of the strict charge that is laid upon the Ministers of the Gospel to be frequent in the urging and pressing of them Tit. 2.8 These things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works these things are good and profitable unto men And this is further inforc'd by 2. A consideration of the will of God as being that which the Lord requires of us 'T is His will concerning and his command to us who is the Lord who has an unquestionable right in us and a supream power over us and whose will is a binding law as well as a sufficient Reason to us so that it is no arbitrary or indifferent matter whether we will obey or no but he that requires you to perform the duties of his solemn Worship and in Obedience to whose command you ingage in them does likewise require you to do justly to love mercy to walk humbly with your God And as his willing of these things to be duties incumbent on Man is that that is highly consentaneous and agreeable to his own glory that the reasonable creature should be just and merciful as he is and be always mindful of that infinite distance that there is between him and it and the highest deference that upon that account is due to him so the regular subordination that there ought to be in our Wills to His the relation we stand in to Him as the Lord and the intire subjection we owe to Him in that Relation lays us under the strictest obligation to observe and obey all his requirements Consider then The Lord that is thy supream Ruler and Governour He in whose hands is the disposal of all things who doth according to his will in the Army of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the Earth He that is the one Lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy who has the power of Life and Death and whose power reacheth to the Soul as well as the body can save or destroy both in Hell He whom the Angels obey and are His Ministers hearkning to the voice of his word He whose Law at first impress'd upon them the inanimate creatures do every day fulfil This Soveraign Lord who is King throughout the World requires that you should be Just and Merciful and Humble Every act of disobedience to his command is a high contempt of his Authority 'T is the character of the wicked to say Who is Lord over us and again Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice Oh let us take heed of becoming guilty either in mind or practice of so great an impiety Moreover The Lord that is thy Redeemer that has bought thee with the inestimable price of his own blood that laid down his Life to deliver thee from Sin and Death and Hell was willing to empty himself of his glory for a time to be poor and mean to be despised and persecuted and suffer the accursed death of the Cross for your sake rather than you should dye He would dye in your place rather than you should become a sacrifice He was willing to be made one Himself that out of Obedience to the Will of God and from the greatness of his love to the Children of Men travelled with the greatest sorrows drunk off the bitterest cup and underwent the Curse for you He also requires the most exact obedience at your hand And ye are not your own but ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are God's Yea The Lord that is thy bountifull Benefactor that does thee good continually that loads thee with his benefits every day that prevents thee with mercy that supplies thee with good that delivers thee in thy straits succours thee in thy temptation hears thy prayers and is so ready to appear for thy help The Lord in whom them dost Live and Move and hast thy Being that is a Sun and a Shield will give Grace and Glory and with-hold no good thing that has given thee so many tasts of his Love such
was something that God required of Christ when He substituted himself in our Room to answer for our sins which was his dying for us so there is something that God Requires of us if we would have the benefit of the death of Christ The Gospel does not make void but establish the Law in its preceptive power Christ's dying for sin and our doing the will of God do very well consist For to this end He dyed and rose and revived that he might be the Lord both of the Dead and Living That as he dyed for sin so we should die to sin and have communion with him in his rising by our walking in newness of Life That which God required of Christ was obedience in a way of merit that which God requires of us is obedience in a way of duty Our obligation to obedience is not dissolved but inforced and heightn'd by the mediatory Obedience of our Lord Jesus To. do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with God ever were and ever will be incumbent on the Reasonable creature and are those things that the Lord requires of them that would Seek him with acceptation and success This premis'd I now proceed to confirm the truth of the Proposition and the proof of it will depend upon shewing these two things 1. The insufficiency that there is in a bare performance of the duties of Religious Worship separate from the duties of justice mercy and humble walking with God to procure the favour of God to a People 2. The necessity that there is of such a People's attending to the practice of those things that are expressive of real holiness and Obedience to God in conjunction with the duties of God s worship in order to that end And first let us consider the insufficiency that there is in a bare performance of the duties of Religions worship separate from the duties of justice mercy and humble walking with God to procure the favour of God to a People to comprimise the difference between God and them to pacifie his Anger and to avert his judgments And because this People in the text talk'd so much of their burnt-Offerings their Calves and their Rams I shall to make this branch of the demonstration more plain and convincing present you with the judgment of God in his word concerning these things whilst this way of worship was in use and shew you of how little account with God these Sacrifices were when separated from the duties of justice mercy and humble Obedience The Ancient Sacrifices are to be considered two ways 1. as they were typical Representation of that real Sacrifice which our Lord Jesus Christ offered to God to make reconciliation for the sins of his offered to when through the enternal Spirit he offer'd himself to God Much of the Gospel as it was Reveal'd in that time was wrap'd up in those Sacrifices They did all refer to and prefigure him that was to come For whereas the holy and righteous Law of God had threatned Sin with Death it could not be reasonably supposed that the blood of Bulls and of goats should take away sin And therefor the Heathens to supply that defect having some natural or rather traditional knowledge of the necessiry of sacrifices to make Atonement for sin did conclude that nothing less than the Life of a Man offered in Sacrifice was sufficient to appease God But indeed this man is no other than the man Christ Jesus the Psalmist is brought in speaking to his Father to this purpose Heb. 10.5 When he cometh into the world he saith acrifice and offering thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me Or secondly they are to be considered as acts of Homage and Worship performed by that People to God and in which they generally rested in a neglect of the weightier matters or the Law And however they though to please God thereby we 〈…〉 testimonies in their own Scriptures which shew how highly God was displeased with them whilst they took up with these in the neglect of Judgment Mercy and Humble walking with God And I 'll begin with that Reproof the Prophet gave King Saul who bore himself much upon this business of sacrificing in the omission of a direct command of God wherein his obedience was concerned 1 Sam. 15.22 Samuel said Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams It do's appear by the preceding part of this history that God had sent Samuel to Saul with a command to destroy the Amalekites and that with a total destruction Man and Woman Infant and suckling Ox and Sheep Camel and Ass Saul applies himself to this work but did it negligently and in part only Agag the King he spares supposing it might be for his honour to make him a Prisoner of War to lead him in triumph Also the best of the Sheep and of the Oxen and of the Fattlings and of the Lambs he saves and his pretence for that was that these Fat Beasts would do well to serve God's Altar 't was not fit to slay them any where else What hath the Lord as great delight in sacrifices as in obedience This was the command of God that all of Amalek should be destroyed what meaneth then the bleeting of the Sheep and the Lowing of the Oxen which I hear Oh says he they are for sacrifices to Worship God with No the Prophet tells him God will accept of no such Worship as is besides his command and is founded in a contempt of that To obey is better pleases God more than Sacrifice Better thou hadst throughly obeyed the command of God tho' there had not been a Ram left in the Universe to be offer'd in Sacrifice My second proof for this I take from the 50th Psalm at the seventh verse we find the Lord addressing himself to that people thus Hear oh my People and I will speak oh Israel and I will testifie against thee God had something to speak to them and something to tesitifie against them That which he had to say to them is at ver 8. I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings continually before me It seems they were so punctual in their Sacrifices they would not rob God of a Lamb nor fail him of an hour their burnt offerings were continually before him So that he would not tax them for any remissness or deficiency that way But tho' He would not reprove them for their Sacrifices he would reprove them for their sins and that to purpose asking them what they had to do to declare his statutes or take his Covenant in their Mouth seeing they hated instruction and cast his words behind them Come says God you load my Altar with your sacrifices but at the same time you make me to serve with your sins You are
your knee before God if your Hearts do Rebel against Him if you acknowledge your transgression but do still retain and practise it if you make many Prayers but don't endeavour to live answerably to 'em if you vow and promise to lead a new life but as soon as you go from this place forget what you have been doing What is all this but a mere mockery And be not deceived God is not mocked This part of the Worship of God that we are now ingaged in is no doubt a very necessary duty incumbent upon us God has commanded it and special providences call us to it Who does not see what need there is of Fasting of Prayer and Humbling our selves before the Lord But Remember this is but one part of what God requires of you The true Fast does not consist in a bare observance of those things that outwardly relate to such a day A man may be very Formal in them forbear all servile work put on meaner apparel attend the publick duties of God's House and outwardly seem to be very submiss and serious therein and yet if this be all God does disown such a Fast from being the day that he has chosen and appointed Isa 58.5 Is it such a Fast that I have chosen A day for a man to afflict his Soul Is it to how down his head as a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptable day unto the Lord No this is not the day that God has chosen And yet this is the only Fast that many keep that is fill'd up with corporal gestures and performances What then is the Fast that God has chosen He himself describes it in the following verses to loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free to deal thy bread to the hungry to bring the poor that are cast out to thy house to cover the naked and hide not thy self from thy own flesh i. e. turn not away from relieving thy poor Brother This is the true Fast the Fast that God has chosen to break off from our sins and to do justly and to love mercy And Oh that this may be the Fast that we may keep a day that God may accept and accept us in it we seem to be sensible that the Just and Righteous God has a controversy with this Nation that He is come forth to plead with England We have like the Jews been unthankful for mercies do soon forget our wonderful deliverances and refuse to be reform'd by the various methods God has us'd with us to that end and now we think God is Angry with us and we fly to these duties of Fasting and Prayer and hope these will appease God and is this all that we will do God will upbraid us with such Fasts soon grow weary of them and break in through such Fasts with his judgments upon us He looks for more he requires more and more than this we must do if we would prevail with God and obtain a blessing from Him and that now leads me to the 2d Use I would make of this truth to Exhort and ers uad e you to come up to the full duty of this day in the several branches that grow upon the text to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with God which are all of them such things as all that profess the name of our Lord Jesus should labour to be very exact in 1. Do justly Let justice and righteousness regulate your dealings with Men and be expressed in all your concerns with them The best description of of justice that branch of it that is called commutative is that which our Lord and Saviour has ven of it Mat. 7.12 whatsoever things ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them i. e. so deal with others as you would have them to deal with you if they were in your place and you in in theirs No man would have another to deal fraudulently and deceitfully with him to cheat and wrong and oppress him do you to others as you would have them to do to you Be as just in your word as true to your promise as exact in your dealings as you would have others to be This is the thing that is just and that this Justice God does require of you Appears by the reproof the Prophet gives the violaters of it in the words that follow the text Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked and the scant measure that is abominable shall I count them pure with the wicked balances and with the bag of deceitful weights These uneven balances deceitful weights and scant measures that are the Instruments of unrighteousness are hateful to God and tho' for a time they may serve a covetous humour and men may heap up treasures to themselves thereby yet there is a curse that attends such persons and a moth that will consume their riches those treasures of wickedness will not always continue in the house of the wicked To do justly is a thing that most persons know but too few make Conscience of but justice is a thing that must be done 'T is not enough to have the notion of it in our Mind but the practice of it must be in our hand To be just and not to do justly in our particular actions is a contradiction He that doth Righteousness is Righteous And that we may do so let us consider how pleasing and acceptable this is to God Prov. 21.3 to do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than Sacrifice Let us also consider what an Ornament it is to Christianity to do justly is to adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour Tit. 3.10 which does so strictly and frequently injoin the practice of Righteousness betwixt man and man And indeed what does Religion teach you if it does not teach you this piece of morality Further consider how necessary the practice of this Divine Vertue is to fit and qualifie you for converse and communion with God in his Ordinances so that when the Question was put of old Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill 'T is answered He that walketh uprightly and worketh Righteousness and speaketh the truth in his Heart He that back-biteth not with his tongue nor doth evil to his neighbour nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour Psal 15.1 2 3. And if this does not move some of us let such consider that the just God to whom vengeance does belong does very often execute his Righteous Judgments upon notorious and impenitent violaters of Justice 1 Thes 4.6 that no man go beyond and defraud his Brother in any matter because that the Lord is the avenger of all such You are a trading People that I speak to and have dealings in the World I beseech you to consider