did they so soon forget it Because they did not consider Gods mercy did not charge their Souls with the remembrance of it that they should forget none of Gods benefits 3. Reas We cannot have the benefit of mercy unless we take a serious view of it There are two special designs of God in every delivering mercy one is to further our obedience the other is to strengthen our Faith against another time It is to further our obedience to make us serve God the more chearfully Every mercy should be alwayes in our eye to spur us to our duty Deut. 28. 47. They did not serve me with chearfulness it is a great sin under great mercyes not to serve God with a great deal more cheerfulness that we cannot doe without we observe his mercies Then it is to strengthen our Faith in the expectation of mercy another time 2 Cor. 1. 10. God hath delivered us and he will God then heard your cry and delivered you Abraham makes it a standing Proverb and encouragement to Faith Gen. 22. 12. He puts a remark on that mercy a name on the place there God beheld me and took that care of me and prevented that ruine to my Son in the Mount God will be seen 4. Reas It is a great contempt of God not to observe his mercy God in every deliverance doth come near to us and it is a marvellous inobservance not to take notice of him when he is near Psal 106. 4. Remember me O Lord with the favour thou hast to thy People visit me with thy Salvation When God comes with Salvation he comes to give a visit to us now we should take notice of it We cannot see God but only in the effects God is made visible to us in his works we should observe and see God there what of the name of God is written upon it what of the mercy grace goodness of God else you carry it with disrespect to God 5. Reas We cannot carry it suitably to God in our duty to him without observation of his works and mercyes towards us The various providences of God call for variety of duty in us we cannot be in the exercise of our proper duty unless we observe that mercy What is the duty under delivering mercy It is to praise God and that not for a day but alwayes to live Gods praises and therefore we should live in the view of those mercies that are the matter and occasion of our praise Psal 107 19. 20. They cry to the Lord in their trouble be saveth them out of their distresses He sends his word and healeth them What was the duty God required O that men would praise the Lord for his wonderfull works You cannot give God praise for deliverance unless you observe the full of that mercy and your hearts be suitably affected by the Consideration of it But by way of Improvement VSE I. A word of Reproof to those that are inobservant of Gods Mercyes Men that only take a sensitive notice of mercyes will be thankful praise God as long as they feel the benefit but how soon is it forgotten Psal 106. 13. they carry no more a remembrance then a beast sensitive creature this is not the remembrance of a rational Creature which God expects from every one The reason why you so soon forget it mercies are so soon lost and your affection and love to them and To God for them is because you doe not consider the mercy and kindness God bestoweth VSE II. It should put us upon this duty that we would take special notice of every saving mercy Look through it see what special Arguments of Thankfulness to God there are in every mercy there is not any deliverance that comes alone not any mercy that comes alone we should by consideration look into every thing of the mercy yea and what doth attend it that which may further that notice that you may take of those mercies There should be never a special deliverance and mercy God vouchsafeth you but you should keep a Record of that mercy that it might be alwayes to be overlooked by you and all the circumstances of it You find in the old Testament frequently it was the practice of Gods people to erect Monuments of praise for signal Mercies Jacob Gen. 28. 12. erecteth a Pillar on the place where God appeared to him And Abraham called the name of the place Jehooah jireth there God beheld me Gen. 22. So Gen. 16. Hagar when God in special distress delivered lier and shewed her a Well where she might be relieved she called the name of the well The Lord that hath seen me though I did not look after him So we should take notice of the mercy God vouchsafeth a Christian should keep his Diary and special Remembrance of Gods goodness But to pass to that I mainly intend and that is the caution Christ gives to this healed man goe sin no more Christ here dealeth with him as a gracious Saviour that shews he had not only care of his outward Deliverance but of his Souls deliverance and that that mercy might not be lost by his sin that God had in his mercy bestowed on him and therefore Christ prescribeth him a dyet how he should behave himself that he might preserve that health and continue that mercy you must take heed of your old dyet that there be no pleasant morsel of sin that you should delight in but as the Psalmist prayes Psal 141. 4. Incline not my heart to any evil thing to practise wicked works with them that work iniquity and let me not eat of their dainties this the Lord Jesus give him charge about do not eat of their dainties it will prove a surfet there will be a relapse that will be a more dangerous disease if you do not take heed of sin Doct. 2. That those that are under saving mercy ought to be very careful that they sin no more For the clearing this Truth I shall 1. Shew you what this duty is to sin no more what it is that God doth expect of those he hath prevented misery unto or delivered out of it that have been under it for it is the same that God doth expect if you have not been sick but have been preserved from it your preservation engageth you to this duty If you have been preserved and God hath delivered you from it this is your duty that you sin no more 2. The Reasons why it is the duty and should be the special care of them under saving mercy 1. What this duty is I Answer 1. Negatively It is not meant a Legal obedience Christ doth not call any to impossibilities to perform duty without the least stain of sin that is impossible to fallen man yea to man restored since his fall in this world it is not a Doctrine of Legal perfection Christ here commendeth it is a great Truth Eccl. 7. 20. There is no man that liveth and sinneth not 1 King 8.
man and healed him so it is sometimes a strange way God heals in the impotent man had none to put him into the Pool now to be healed in a strange way unexpected this doth greatly inhance the mercy of God 5. Observe and take notice of the designe and end of mercy and deliverance what Errand it comes upon what work and what gracious effect it hath all believers are under that general Promise Rom. 8. that all things shall work together for good to them c. afflictions shall and mercyes shall every thing shall now to see them thus working for our good this heightens the mercy The poor man goes into the Temple and there acknowledgeth it it is to further duty when â—t is done in mercy caring not only to be healed but to be Thankful 6. Observe the respect mercy hath to the Prayers and desires of your Souls and to the things you beg there is a wonderful value upon mercyes when they are in Answer to our Prayers when you in distress have cryed to God and called others it may be to cry to God for you and the Lord hath heard as Psal 34. This poor man cryed and the Lord heard him and delivered c. he had Answer of Prayer so that you should have such Interest in Heaven and that God hears the cryes of his poor ones this exceedingly endears the mercy to us as Psal 40. 1 2. I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined to me and heard my cry he brought me up also out of the horrible pit out of the myery clay and seâ— my feet upon a Rock and established my goings That is the first thing to be observed in our healing and delivering mercyes the Circumstances in it that heighten the mercy being looked upon with a considerate fixed Eye and an intelligent heart to further our acknowledgement 2. Observe and behold every mercy and deliverance how it doth fulfil the word of God to you there is never a Providence of God but it is a fulfilling of Gods word as it is said Psal 148. 8. Stormy winds fulfilling his Word so doth every mercy and deliverance to his People Now you should look on the work of Providence together with the Word of God and see what particular word of God is made good to you by his Providence for that is encouragement from experience to trust in the word of God another time God saith call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Psal 50. 15. Now such a Deliverance is an Answer to such a Word and Promise sued out by Prayer for therein God hath fulfilled a Promise to you So 1 Cor. 10. 13. the Lord tells you that with every Temptation he will work a way for your escape and that you shall be able to bear it and in such a deliverance God hath fulfilled that Word to you this adds Beauty unto and honours Gods word in seeing God fulfilling it in the Execution of Providences so in Joh. 19. 36. not a bone of Christ was broken this was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled 3. In all Deliverances and healing mercyes that you should observe and consider in them who is the author of them we are not only to look to the work done that this person is healed but whence it is The Effect is a manifestation of the cause we must labour to understand the cause our understanding must look through things done to the cause every one should see the hand of God which healeth him for there is the Name of God written upon the mercy and especially upon a gracious and eminent delivering Providence And consider what you are to see of God therein 1. You are to see the care God hath of you as your heavenly Father so we are told in Scripture God as your Father cares for you he knows what you need Math. 6. 26 27. if for inanimate Creatures much more for rational especially those among them that are also spiritual and in every delivering mercy manifests that care of you We are commanded that we should be found in our duty whether we are under afflicting Providences or any other Trusting in and leaving the Issue with the care of our heavenly Father who careth for us 1 Pet. 5. 7. therefore we are bid to cast our care upon him and so every godly man rowls that care as to the Issue and Event upon the Lord and then in the Deliverance the Lord manifests his care so that in considering the mercy you may read and see that God doth take a fatherly care of you under whatsoever dispensation of Providence you are 2. You may see the wisdome of God in healing and restoring you especially being eminent Deliverances when it may be you were past hope and had no means left for encouragement the wisdome of God found out a way provided means and gave the blessing to a good Issue 2 Pet. 2. 9. The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of Temptation c. he hath many wayes he doth not make known till the time of Deliverance so that here also you may read this in the Deliverance the wisdome of God 3. Observe in what way God doth convey his mercy that is a great and beautiful thing to behold the way in which God conveys every mercy to you The way is Christ Jesus No mercy comes to you but through the blood of Jesus Christ Remember thou art he whose sins brought distress upon Christs Soul how comes any Remedy for or deliverance from the wounds sicknesses evils and dangers sin hath brought thee into but only by Jesus Christ That Pool of Bethesda was a Type of Jesus Christ who can make any thing healing and Sovereign for recovery A curse came by the fall upon every means used only Jesus Christ hath restored the blessing upon the means and that should heighten our thoughts of the mercy that it comes from and by Christ no mercy comes otherwise therefore never look on any mercy but in the view of it remember and think of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. all is yours saith the Apostle life death every thing but how only as you are Christs We came to have a right to every mercy by Jesus Christs and only by him and that should be a most beautiful Contemplation to us here upon Earth which will be so glorious to our Eye in Heaven where this discovery will be made fully how all our mercyes flow to us by and through Christ 4. You may read the grace of God in every such mercy It is great love and kindness of God manifested in every mercy for every sinner is unworthy of the least mercy as Jacob acknowledgeth I am less then the least of all thy mercyes so it must be grace that brings mercy to you and if you are made whole know that healing mercy is of grace yea there are riches of mercy in every outward favour the Lord bestows and this
you should behold Behold the free and undeserved favour of God in all 5. See the wonderful condescendency of God every mercy shews wonderful Condescendency in God to a poor Creature considering though the Lord be high yet he hath respect to things below Psal 138. and those that are so very low as we have made our selves by our sins Oh what a stoop is it in the divine Majesty to take such care of vile sinners that God should have any respect to your prayers if God hath heard you in such a day it heightens the Condescendency of God 6. Lastly observe and consider the end that God aims at in your Deliverance God is a rational Agent aiming at a spetial mark in the Deliverances he gives Now what is the aim and designe of God what is Gods language to you by the mercy is not the designe of it to further your Repentance and your returning into Gods favour that is the general end these mercyes are the great Arguments God would prevail with sinners to return to him by true Repentance That is their encouragement in Hos 6. 1 he hath wounded and he will heal but you may be much more encouraged if you can say God that hath wounded us hath healed us therefore in Rom. 2. 4 5. he tells us this is the language of every mercy and of all Gods goodness to bespeak our hearts for Repentance the goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance as one mercy is leading to many other mercyes from God to you so the designe of them all is to lead you to God to serve him with chearfulness Deut. 28. 48. Consider therefore what God calls for that you may comply with God and that is what Christ here minds the poor man of Behold thou art healed thou hast attained that thou hast long waited for and God hath given it now it is not enough to bring a thank offering to bless God before the Congregation but that you sin no more it is walking thankfully and obediently before the Lord all your dayes and so you shall serve the end and designe of God herein 2. As you should contemplate thus the mercyes God gives so you should take a full and through view of them with a fixed mind upon them and that is in two things 1. So look on every mercy that your heart may be affected a serious fixed Eye will affect the heart as we should look on transgressors breaking Gods Laws so as to be grieved at them Psal 119. 158. I beheld the Transgressors and was grieved because they kept not thy Word so you should behold the mercyes of God and be affected so as to rejoyce and have your heart engaged to God as the Psalmist Psal 116. 1. I will love the Lord because he hath heard my voice c. There should be a drawing out of our affections to God from the beholding the mercyes of God to us and as you should love so admire God so behold as to wonder at such a mercy as he Psal 31. 19. how great is thy goodness which thou hast wâ—ought for them that trust in thee before the Sons of men 2. We should be so fixed in our contemplation of the works of Gods mercyes that we should never forget them observe them so as to be alwayes minding them Psal 111. he will cause his works to be remembred c. It must not be such a view as Jam. 1. 21. a Man looking his natural face in a glass and going away forgets what manner of person he was you must not look so on your mercyes but keep up the Remembrance of them that they may never be forgotten We are prone to forget though highly taken and wonderfully affected with them for the present be it the escaping of death when the deliverance is over as with Israel Psal 196. 13. they sang his praise but soon forgat his works David therefore ingageth Psal 103. 3 4. to praise the Lord with all his Soul and chargeth his Soul never to forget the mercyes of God therefore you should charge your memoryes to be a Treasury of the mercyes of God there may be erected a monument of them in your hearts That is the second thing how you should take notice of Gods delivering mercy we should take a through view of them observing how the Lord manages all our afflictions by mercifull providences leading us on to eternal For as the Psalmist saith Psal 107. 43. By observing these things we may understand much of the loving kindness of the Lord. SERM. II. IT is the latter part of the verse we are speaking unto the counsel Christ gives to the impotent man whom he had miraculously healed how he might preserve that mercy and improve it There are two Directions given him 1. That he should take special notice of his Deliverance Behold thou art made whole 2. A Caution against sin goe and sin no more lest a worse thing befall thee From the first we observed That it is the duty of those that are under saving mercy to take special notice of it I shewed you what was the notice we should take of such a delivering and saving providence we should look upon it throughly upon all the circumstances that doe endear that mercy to us that tender care of God that respect it hath to our Prayers we should look it all over We should doe it with intention so as to be affected with it that it may abide with us that we may remember it that it may be a mercy never forgotten I shall give you only a few Reasons briefly because I would pass to the other which I mainly intended in the choice of these words Reas 1. You ought to consider your mercyes because God commandeth it It is a duty that God commandeth and that God expecteth and therefore hath frequently put that affix upon a special mercy Behold it So Christ saith to this man Behold this mercy look upon it with wonder that a Sinner a provoking sinner should be saved and delivered wonder that God hath wrought so great deliverance before men That was a matter of the Psalmists wonder Psal 31. 19. And in Math. 6. 28. Christ saith there to his Disciples Why take ye thought for raiment consider the lillies of the field how they grow Look on the care of Gods providence to other creatures If we must observe Gods care of inanimate creatures or those only animate much more should we look on his care of our selves the special mercyes he bestowes on us God would not have you so to look abroad that you should not look at home but the more to admire Gods mercy and care toward your selves 2. Reas The non-observance of Gods mercy God doth severely reprove We find it smartly reproved by God when his People do not consider their deliverance Psal 106. 13. They soon forgat his mercy It is put as a special aggravation of their sin in their murmuring against God They soon forgat his mercy Why
of mercy ready to receive thee that hath reached out so much love unto thee when thou wert in the way of thy sin 2. It shows thee the way to greater mercy as the contrary is the way to thy greater misery A confessing and forsaking of sin is the way to find mercy The Lord doth bespeak in every healing mercy that is not all I would do for thee but do not hinder nor forsake your own mercyes You have now experienced that you have to do with a God of mercy and he that hath shewed mercy to you through Christ you may easily think how rich and bountiful you may find him if you would close with him But if you turn aside to lying vanityes you forsake your own mercyes Joh. 2. 8. 3. It is a great folly because healing mercy gives space for Repentance and neglecting this is a despising of the mercy why are you restored but that you might have opportunity to make your peace with God It is a space to repent but sinning is an abusing this patience in mispending the present time that God hath given you to make sure of a good estate What serious thoughts have you had if you had time again how you would improve it 5. Take heed how you spend the time now you have it Rom. 2. 4. losing a season for Salvation and it may be the last you may have you would think it folly in other matters for a vain companion or trifle to lose the opportunity of getting a great bargain here you do so for worse then naught Lastly it is a great injury and folly to your selves to sin again after you have been healed for it is an acting against a mans own experience God hath made you to taste the bitterness of your sins and yet he tels you in your deliverance how unwilling and loth he was to punish you sin brought all your evils it was free mercy that delivered you Have you surfeited with the dainties of sin and will you desire them again Thus David prayes let me not eat of their dainties And the burnt child dreads the fire Now mercy tels you you have escaped do not run into sin again this will appear to be greater folly But that is the first Argument from the goodness of God towards you will you hear then the language that your healing mercy speaks Oh the Oratory it hath in the Ears and hearts of men if we be men O that it would bespeak our Souls now and caution us against sin 2. Another argument Jesus Christ useth and that is an argument used by mercy it doth not only put you in mind of the good you receive but it gives you warning of future misery If it were Justice that should come to treat with the sinner it would not be by warning but by smiting but mercy tells you how the Justice of God stands engaged to avenge the abuse of it You must not be pleased with your condition and think the bitterness of death is over No a worse thing may befall you Mercy is now willing to imbrace you but if that will not doe Mercy will at length deliver you into the hands of Justice and woe to the Sinner that is so delivered by the hands of mercy Methinks it is such a language as God spake to Balaam Numb 22. 31. when an Angel with a flaming sword stood in the way of his Rebellion He was striving to goe though he found difficulty in his way So the Lord Jesus tells you there is a flaming sword in every sinners way after deliverance you run upon your own perill and uttermost hazzard the Judgements of God will be bitter you will feel the smart of them And by these three Arguments the Lord gives warning of Judgement to come upon the Sinner that continues in sin 1. Consider that all the afflictions and troubles that you had were a fruit of your own doing He puts you in mind to remember your former wayes and evill doings You were in the hands of Justice and mercy hath delivered you but it is not a compleat and total deliverance if you continue in sin it is but a Reprieve if you sin again There is a present respite of Judgement it is not a consuming and desolating Judgement you are reprieved but if you sin remember you are in the hands of Justice still and those afflictions you have suffered are but the beginnings of those sorrows which God will bring upon you for your Sins 2. Remember that God hath greater strokes and can lay on heavier then any yet Dont you think that God hath spent all his arrows or hath done his worst No He can doe yet a great deal more God can heat the surnace seven times hotter then ever yet Lev. 26. 14. But if ye will not hearken unto me to doe all these commandments c. I will even punish you seven times more for your iniquityes God hath other arrows that are more poisoned deadly arrows 3. Continuance in sin will provoke God after deliverance to inflict greater strokes As God can punish you more so he will certainly punish an impenitent people when Judgements and mercyes will not change them Ezra 9. 14. Should we break again thy Commandments wilt thou not be angry with us till thou hast consumed us That this holy man was afraid of after deliverance Reas 3. Why you should take heed that you sin no more From the proneness that is in mans nature to return again to sin more prone after deliverance especially those that are in a state of unregeneracy when corrupt nature hath been only under a chain of restraint with what eagerness do they return to sin again Yea we find a proneness in Gods own Children as Hezekiah after great deliverance his heart was lifted up he did not render unto the Lord according to the benefits received How much more those that are in a state of sin you will meet with the same Temptations the Devil will be more busie and your own heart more careless if you be not exceeding cautious Lastly Consider the engagements that lye upon healed sinners not to sin any more And they are 1. From God what a mighty engagement is that when God saith Oh do not this abominable thing my Soul bates That when you have had the love and kindness of God manifested to you you should carry it so to God 2. The engagement of your own vows When God hath made sin bitter to you O how ready were you to vow and engage to sin no more This then is a forfeiting of your Bond and Obligation VSE I. For Information Hence learn and you may see that our Thank fulness to God the main of it doth not lye in our expressions only but in our Spirits Conversations This was a man that Jesus Christ found forward in the Temple bringing his thank-offering to God and he was early there Christ finds him there diligently attending upon the means very few
improvement hereof by way of Exhortation that I may set home this Counsel of Jesus Christ on all your hearts and upon my own that we take good heed that we sin no more There are five or six Motives or considerations to further our acceptance and improvement of this Counsel If it were no more then that it is the Counsel of Christ from his own blessed mouth who is a true lover of mens Souls that were enough to further any that have love to Jesus Christ and to their own Souls to be careful to attend to his Counsel Christ never advised any to their own hurt Suppose you had been hearing Christ himself and that he had spoken in particular to you do not you think his words would have been of weight to you why this is Christs advice and not to that man only but to all in like case therefore for your furtherance Consider 1. That sinning again will disappoint you of the good of your deliverance I say it will eat out the good and sweet of it The outward mercy of healing or whatever the Salvation of God is to you it is not a mercy alone Such is mans misery since the fall that there is no outward mercy or dispensation of God to him but if it comes alone it comes under the curse and it proves a greater misery then a mercy and where you enjoy any mercy from God if it do not deliver you from sin it is not in favour but comes under the influence of the old Covenant 1 Tim. 4. 4 5. As the Apostle saith of every Creature of God it is good if it be received with Thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the word of God and Prayer i. e. if it be received with a heart truly Thankful it is sanctified without this you have no good in any Creature enjoyment because it is unsanctified as whatever the sinner doth is defiled because himself is defiled so whatever he enjoys is defiled he himself being unsanctified Then mercy and outward deliverance carries a great deal of good in it when it fits you for Gods service then it tends to the end of its first Institution to further the Service of God but sinning again destroys this end of it If a mercy makes you better then it is a choice mercy but if it do not better you in your Souls it is far from being good to you I may say of such mercies as of Jonahs goard Jon. 4. 5 6. When he was in great distress and the Sun beat upon him and greatly afflicted him and the Lord made a goard to come up over Jonah to be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief and Jonah was exceeding glad of the goard But Jonah was not sanctified hereby in his heart by obedience to God therefore there was a worm that smote the Goard that it withered You may be glad of your deliverances but if sin remain it will be as a worm in them to destroy the shadow the comforts of them therefore take heed that you sin no more for that will spoyle you of the best good of your mercyes the flower and sweetness of a mercy will be eaten out thereby that is the first Motive 2. Consider that sinning after deliverance will hinder you from the enjoyment of other mercyes which God intends you together with your deliverance for that is not all God intends in shewing poor sinners a common bounty Christ seems to tell this healed man here this is not all my meaning in coming to heal thee I have Soul healing to bestow upon thee but sin stops and prevents this as the Lord said to David If that had been too little I would have done so and so for thee 2 Sam. 12. 8. the outward mercy is the least God is inclined to do more but as Jer. 5. 25. Your iniquities have turned away his Ear from you and your sins have withheld good things from you Are you not made better by mercyes are you not changed renewed by repentance under mercyes what is the matter why your sins have hindred your iniquityes have kept good things from you As it is said God makes a way for his anger so sometimes he doth for his mercy in removing a present Judgement but Impenitency unreformedness that stands in the way God had made for his mercy as it is said of Christ at Capernaum he could do no great works there because of their Vnbelief So to speak with reverence God cannot proceed in mercy when sin is renewed Christ tells them Luk. 16 11. If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon who will commit to your trust the true Riches if you carry it not well to God in a common mercy do you think that God will bestow and betrust you with more and better mercyes 3. Consider that sinning after deliverance it is a greater sin then your sins before you received the mercy you cannot sin now at so easy a Rate as before you sin with a higher hand Your mercy puts an aggravation upon your sin for to him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Iam. 4. ult that is he sinneth at a higher Rate then another because he sinneth against light yea and against love Gods love therefore his sin is of a deeper dye then the sins of others are 4. Consider they that sin after Deliverance they are a greater provocation to God God is more angry with such for such sins then others 2 Sam. 12. 8. the Lord by the Prophet reckons up great things to David he did for him I anointed thee King over Israel I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul I gave thee thy Masters house and thy Masters wives into thy bosome and I gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah and if that had been too little I would moreover have given thee such and such things wherefore hast thou despised the Commandment of the Lord for it is said Chap. 11. ver ult The thing that David had done displeased the Lord so that the Sword should not depart from his house c. Sins after Deliverances and great Mercyes are a great provocation 5. Consider sins after deliverance they are sins against your special engagements and Covenants I doubt not but many of you in time of distress have made that prayer which David did Psal 119. 175. Let my Soul live and it shall praise thee have not many of your prayers and cryes in sickness been that you might live to praise God to be better in Gods Service Now to live in sin to Gods dishonour after deliverance how contrary is this to your Ingagements to reproach and blaspheme his holy Name afterward 6. Consider the great advantage of not sinning any more this is preserving Diet of an healed sinner Christ as a wise and faithful Phisitian prescribes this as health preserving Diet. This is the way to preserve and continue the mercyes you have received and
these it is by labouring to be in a way of Reformation 6. If you would sin no more be in the use of all means that God hath appointed to preserve you from sin with earnest prayer for his Spirit to help you to mortifie sin and be found in the way of obedience that you may be assisted by his Spirit in the doing of it All means endeavours that any man can use himself without the help of Gods Spirit will not do Rom. 8. 13. mortifie the deeds of the body by the Spirit You may refrain a while but you will never destroy one sin without the Spirit and this Spirit is to be obtained by prayer Luk. 11. 13. the Lord will give his Spirit to them that ask him O be earnest with the Lord to lead you by the hand of his Spirit that shall guide and assist you in a holy course 7. And Lastly Resolve not in your own but in Christs strength that you will not sin any more Job 34. 31. 32. I know resolutions and engagements in a mans own strength they will fail him Peter is a sad Instance Luk. 22. He was as resolved as any could be though I dye with thee I will never deny thee That is the Reason why they come to no better Effect the Vows and Resolutions of men because they think they can do it of themselves Therefore saith David I said I would take heed to my wayes that I sin not with my Tongue Psal 143. But he begs that God would keep the door of his lips establish his saying I said through the grace of God that I would do my duty be waiting upon God for his help Psal 119. 13â— I will run the wayes of thy Commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart Teach me O Lord the way of thy Statutes and I will keep them unto the end Thus we should take up those holy resolutions in the grace and strength of Christ that we sin no more But labour to walk more closely with God for time to come SERM. V. THe last Doctrine we observed hence was this That continuance in sin after eminent deliverances pull down heavier Judgemens or those that contitinue in sin after eminent healing mercyes from God worse things will befal them For the handling this Doctrinally we shall shew you 1. that there are worse things may befall men then ever yet have befallen them 2. What are those sins the continuance in which or what is that continuance in sin that worse Judgements shall befall such sinners 3. That it shall be so and the Reasons of it 1. That worse things may befal sinners then ever yet have befallen them God hath sharper Arrows in his Quiver other manner of Judgements to inflict on sinners then ever sinners have undergone there is none should be so bold as to say what ever afflictions they have come under that God hath done his worâ—â— I remember I have heard of one in England near Westchester that had such expressions upon a great affliction that God had now done his worst but God made her a living monument of his sorer Judgements that for many years It is a great deal of boldness for any sinners to limit God in his Justice as well as in his mercy for any to say of God in his mercy can God provide for us it is a tempting God so for any to say Can God bring a greater Judgement yea there may be a great deal worse Christ tels this man you do not read what his sickness was but you find by the Effects it was very distressing he was unable to help himself had never a friend to help him and had lain under this infirmity thirty eight years and yet the Lord Jesus tells him if he doth not carry it better worse things shall befal him and the Lord tells us of the last times in which we live Dan. 12. 1. There shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a Nation there are troubles God will bring upon a professing people such as never was worse on any Nation so there are those God can bring upon a person such as never were worse on any person But more particularly 1. There are worse Judgements in this world that God can inflict then ever have been inflicted on any 2. There are worse Judgements God hath to inflict in another world 1. In this world as 1. Temporal or outward Judgements such as respect the outward man God can bring other manner of outward miseryes then ever yet he hath done on any 2. Spiritual Judgements such as respect the inward man 1. For outward Judgements the Lord hath variety of them a great variety but especially we read of four sore Judgements of God Ezek. 14. 21. For thus saith the Lord how much more when I send my four sore Judgements on Jerusalem the Sword the Famine the noysome Beasts and the Pestilence to cut off from is man and Beast God hath sent his Sword among you but Famine is a sorer Judgement and noysome Beasts that is a sorer Judgement still and the Pestilence but how much sorer are these when all these are together when what the Sword leavs the Famine shall devour and what the Famine leaves the wild Beasts shal devour and what these leave the Pestilence shall devour When God sends all his Judgements at once upon a people that is a sore affliction as there are worse sorts of Judgements so there is never an one of these sorts but God can make it a worse Judgement in the degree of it he can make every one of these Judgements a great deal worse as you read Ezek 9. 10. As for me saith the Lord my eye shall not spare neither will I have pitty but I will recompense their wayes on their heads When Judgements come in such a way of Iudgâ—ment without any mixture of Gods sparing and pittying mercy then it is a sorer Judgement when the Errand of them is only to destroy not refine and purge a People but to ruine them and God will have no more mercy on them this is a sore affliction 2 There are spiritual judgements that God inflicteth in this world and they are a great deal worse then any outward judgement there are variety of spiritual judgements but especially there are four main sorts of spiritual judgements the sorest there is the sword that is the word of God when it is only for terror only for conviction a wound in the conscience is more dreadfull then a wound in the body when God sends an arrow into the conscience a wounded spirit who can bear Prov. 18. 14. it is an intollerable unsufferable wound especially when God will provide no balm in Gilead nor healing medicine for it when God shall make a man a terror to himself this is a sorer judgement The Soul is the tenderer part the more spiritual part therefore every such judgement is far greater that reacheth the Soul and spiritual
him unto it is a diligent observance of the mercy God had bestowed he would have him take more notice in a fuller view of this mercy thou art made whole Adding Behold healing mercy is that which should not pass you more serious consideration where God gives it 2. The caution Christ gives him Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee he gives him a special Caution against sin specially that fin God had been punishing him for And he backs this caution with an inforcing Argument lest a worse thing then thirty eight years sickness by such a distemper come to thee And when Christ saith Behold thou art made whole he doth not say I have healed thee thereby teaching us humility for he did not understand Christ to be God but would mind him of the chief Author consider thou art healed So from the words we may take these three observations Doct. 1. It is the duty of those that have received healing and delivering mercy from the Lord to take special notice of it Doct. 2. Those that are healed or delivered are to take very good heed that they sin no more Doct. 3. That sins after great and eminent Salvations Deliverances mercies they pull down greater Judgements Doct. 1. Those that are under saving and healing mercy from God they should take special notice of it Beold thou art he aled You must not take a transient view but take serious notice of Gods mercies It is one of the most pretious and pleasant works of a Christian to take notice of and observe Gods Providences to himself Psal 111. The works of the Lord are great sought out of all those that have pleasure therein For the Explication of the Doctrine we may Consider 1. What is this beholding and taking notice of delivering and healing mercies 2. How we should take this notice of them and 3. Why we should do so 1. What is that notice Christ would have every one delivered and saved to take of the mercy vouchsafed I Answer this beholding is variously taken 1. For a beholding with our bodily Eyes as God said to Moses Deut. 3. 27. get thee up into the Top of Pisgah and lift up thine Eyes West-ward and East-ward and North-ward and South-ward and behold with thine Eyes the Land c. he was to see the Land of Canaan with his outward bodily Eye 2. There is a beholding with the understanding a considering of it a looking upon it with the Eye of the Soul Rom. 11. 32. Behold therefore the goodness and Severity of God if you would see the goodness and Severity of God in his Providences you must behold it with your understanding Eye you must consider it and that consideration fixed to behold it which imports two things 1. Taking a full view of it in the latitude of the mercy a looking it all over it is a through and diligent observation taking notice of every Argument in it that doth advance the mercy for your better acknowledgement of it Not to take it by the lump but observing every Circumstance that may heighten it to your consideration to behold it so that you may see matter of wonderment to behold every mercy with admiration 2. It bespeaks the intention of the act Behold you must look intensly upon it you must keep your eye fixed upon it it must not go out of your view you must look wishly all round about it and into every part of it with intenseness of Spirit 2. But how should we thus take notice and look upon the mercy that we may rightly behold it and consider it I Answer 1. In every Deliverance and work of Providence look into all the particular passages of Providence you find in it We should take the mercy in pieces and look into every part and see what special Circumstances there are for our notice and observation I shall mention some of those things in delivering mercyes that are worthy your observation 1. Take notice of the time and seasonableness of the mercy at what a needful time God sent such a mercy God then delivered you and if it had not been then what had become of you Mercy coming in that needful Season puts a beauty upon it as Eccles 3. Every thing is beautiful in its Season it is then a mercy suitable This poor man who had lain thirty eight years at the Pool and none helped him it is probable his Faith and Patience was worn out and now in this nick of time Christ comes according to that in Isai 41. 18 19. When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them That is a Season of mercy when the heart is ready to sail and mercy comes in Abraham takes notice of his mercy and the deliverance of his Son in the nick of time Gen. 22. 12. At that time when he was taking the knife to slay his Son and calls the Name Jehovah Jeirith there and then in the Mount the Lord was seen 2. Observe and consider the care of Gods Providence in bestowing the mercy his special and distinguishing care in preserving you when others dye you are singled out for deliverance when others are not spared Christ speaks Emphatically here to the man thou art he God hath healed when so many lay sick there at the Pool besides to have a healing mercy in a killing time it heightens the Mercy in a special manner In Isai 26 20. God puts a special Remark upon this deliverance they must enter into their Chambers God hath a Chamber of safety and preservation for such in singular and distinguishing favour to them 3. Observe and consider how leading this mercy is unto other mercyes Vsually Deliverances and healing mercyes do not come alone but are attended with many other mercyes Now you must observe all the Concomitants of mercy that do attend it as you find Hezekiah doth Isai 38. 17. Behold for peace I had great bitterness But thou in love to my Soul hast delivered me from the Pit of Corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back He takes notice of his healing mercy deliverance from the pit of outward destruction by that killing disease and specially of the mercy attending of it that God did it in love to his Soul and that it was a Testimony of Gods favour in pardoning all his sin also one mercy goes not alone to the People of God 4. Another thing observable in a healing mercy is the Instrument God makes use of or the way he doth it in sometimes it is in an unknown way a way we did not expect such a mercy in the poor man waited for healing at the Pool but little thought Christ should heal him by his Word It is sometimes a strange way that God sends in a mercy to his People so Luk. 5. 33. a stranger passed that way and he took up the poor wounded
God again it is else but to mock God if you be not resolved to sin no more But 1. From God from the mercy of God that is a great Argument why you sin no more because God hath healed you if you look upon this healing mercy how can you kick against that bowels love and kindness that hath healed you The great design of mercy is to lead you to Repentance Rom. 2. 4. The goodness of God that leadeth thee to Repentance that is the errand that every mercy comes on to you it s the voice and language of every mercy and deliverance that you should Sin no more should not abuse this mercy by sinning against the God of your mercy You are healed Who healed you whence was it you were healed Was it not wonderfull mercy of God that you should be on this side the bottomless pit Were not many of you unprepared to dye when you were looking into eternity it was dreadfull to think into what eternity you were going would you not have given the world for a day more and for the striving of Gods Spirit Now God hath healed you the mercy and kindness of God are said to be Cords to draw us Hos 11. 3. I drew them with the Cords of a man They are not drawing as you draw Beasts but as men are drawn How is that It is by arguments suitable to reason There is so much goodness and truth appears in every mercy of God that nothing can carry greater perswasion to draw you to God and to prevent your sin O the Rhetorick there is in mercy if you could but understand the Language of it wonderfull sweetness there is in every mercy to perswade you not to sin and there is not only Rhetorick in it but Logick the strongest reason to take hold of the rational part of man if thou hast any thing of a man and of the rational being God hath made I should have shewed you here and given you some hints of those Arguments mighty Arguments that lye in a delivering mercy the language it speaks to them that are delivered to caution them against sin and against any provocation to God There are three Arguments a threefold Cord that might draw and perswade men to this duty that when they are delivered and saved by God they should take heed they do not sin any more they do not despise and contemn this mercy of God for every abuse of it is the highest contempt of mercy despisest thou the riches of his goodness SERM. III. WE are now upon the second Doctrine viz. That they that are under delivering and saving mercy ought to be very careful that they sin no more that is 1. Not to abide in any state of sin you that God hath spared longer in this world you should not live without Christ and conversion one day more 2. Not to sin any sin willingly or wilfully to live in any known sin or to approve of sin 3. Especially be careful you return not to such evils that God hath been punishing of you for And you may know them thus Those that God hath awakened your Consciences to charge upon your Souls at such a time and those God hath helped you to make many promises never to commit them take heed of such sins especially Methinks the Lord Jesus Christ doth in a most compassionate way plead with poor Souls and with every sinner that they should sin no more And by these three Arguments 1. From the kindness and mercy that they have received from the Lord thou art healed therefore sin no more And there are these two main Arguments in it 1. It is great ingratitude to God to sin again after healing mercy would you carry it so to any man that was an Instrument of your healing A Physitian whose endeavours God hath blessed would you therefore do him the greatest mischief Thus you do when you sin against God who is the Author of all your deliverances What is sin but an endeavour as much as the sinner can to destroy the very Being of him that hath given and preserved your Beings This is an ill requital Deut. 32. 5. Do you thus requite the Lord is this all the thanks that you will give to a healing God to spit in the face of Christ and do him all the despight you can methinks it is a heart-breaking expression 2 Sam. 15. 17 Is this thy kindness to thy Friend to such a friend as David was that you will goe into the Camp of his Enemies So by every sin you goe aside from God Hath God saved thee from Hell and delivered thee out of the pit and is this all thy requital That that goes nearest to God are sins against love Psal 55. 12. Had it been an Enemy I could have born it but it was thou my friend and my familiar So saith God to every saved sinner thou whom I spared from going down to the pit and shewed such kindness to Ingratitude is an evil that is abhorring among mankind and the greatest of all evils Our Lord Iesus tels us Math. 5. 45. To do good unto them that do good unto us sinners will do the same and one man to another Indeed it is to act like God and to be a good Christian to do good against evil but it is to act the part of the Devil to do evil against goodness they are the vilest of all sinners Therefore that should be a great Argument with them that are healed hath God healed you Do not the greatest wrong and injury against God 2. It is not only ingratitude to God but it is a great injury to our selves and if that be not a great Argument to prevail If thou art so vile and sinful that the kindness of God will not prevent your sin yet methinks your own mischief thereby might perswade you as Psal 85. 8. I will hearken what God the Lord will say for he will speak peace to his People and to his Servants but let them not return again to folly For it is the greatest folly in the world For a mun to sin after God hath spoken peace and after he hath healed him Deut 32. 6. Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise It is the greatest injury you can do your selves if you consider 1. The folly that is in it by this kindness of God you may see where your true happiness lyes and where your greatest misery lyes The missing of it in a mans chiefest end is the greatest folly now this is a missing of it in your chief end to sin again The mercy kindness of God in healing of you doth manifest what kindness there is in this God and what rest you may â—nd in returning to him Ps 116. 7. Return unto thy rest O my Soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee You find no rest in the way of sin no Soul rest but in God And thou hast no reason to doubt but that there are Arms
do enjoy as you will if you continue a holy man c. take heed to sin no more Isai 48. 18. O that thou hadst hearkened unto my Commandments then had thy peace been as a River and thy Righteousness as the waves of the Sea it would have born down all before it all should have given way no Enemy should have disturbed that peace given you by the favour of God upon his Reconciliation with you But by way of Direction If you should say now but what is that that we must do that we may not sin any more Here are but a few words but there is a great deal couched in them as the sense of them A little to spread before you what is contained therein Goe and sin no more that is 1. Let this be your special care to improve the time you have by this deliverance and your saving mercyes to the saving of your Souls That is labour now to get into a saved Estate take heed you do not again nor any longer neglect the offers and tenders of Salvation made to you and if you say this is to put a man upon impossibilities such as man cannot do and it is as much as to say to a hungry man eat no more to a thirstyman drink no more so is it to say sin no more Job 15. 16. my meaning therefore is labour to be in such a Case Estate that you may so sin no more as formerly or as others do that is labour to be converted that lyes in two things 1. To make that your great business to get a clear knowledge and through sense of the evil of sin That you heartily close with Iesus Christ that is the way to sin no more 1. Get a clear knowledge and deep sense of your sin Man is a rational creature and is alwayes acting and moving for an end and that which is his greatest encouragement in his motion toward such an end is the apprehension or good that draws the affections of man either real good or the appearance of it and nothing will deter a man from the practice of evill but the understanding it to be evill the understanding is the guide of the will the will hath the command of every other faculty what the understanding represents as evill the will avoids it refuses it and commands the whole man so to carry to it and now the will of man will follow the ultimate sentence of the Judgement when the sinner is fully convinced and can represent the evill to be an evil indeed to the Judgement Now when is that The meer knowledge of good or evill will not perswade to the embracing the one or avoiding the other to fallen man it will I say be no perswasion as it would to man in the state of innocency Now there must be not only the knowledge of good and evil but the experience of both and by the same way that man was brought in love with sin must he be brought out of love with it How came man at first to be in love with sin but by experience The Devil tempted him telling him that by eating the forbidden fruit he should know both good and evill And by the loss of good he lost the inclination of his nature unto good and thereby came to tast nothing but sweetness in the creature Now there must not only be in the recovery of man a discovery that sin is evil but an experience of it that it is so He must be cut off from evill by finding the bitterness that is in sin Jer. 2. 19. Thou shalt know that it is an evil and a bitter thing A speculative knowledge of the evill of it will not doe but you must know it to be bitter also and indeed this is the last conclusion of the sanctified judgement that it represents to the will that sin is a most bitter thing Therefore saith Job the Lord hath made me to possess the sins of my youth by writing bitter things against me He came to have an enjoyment of the fruits of his sin those fruits of his own doings Now what pleasure what profit have you in things that God hath made so bitter You could not have believed it but now God hath made you to believe it Hence the Lord promises Covenant good to those that doe reform their evill wayes Lev. 26. 4â— If their uncircumcised hearts be humbled c. When a man is brought not to sin and to dislike sin when his soul is humbled in the sence of the evill of sin Therefore as you would not sin O beg of the Lord and make it part of your daily prayer that God would give you an humbling sense of sin that it may be more evill to look over it then ever it was pleasure to commit it When the arrows those poisoned arrows come to drink up a mans spirits when he hath been in the fire of Gods anger this will make him pray Then labour to get an humbling sense of sin whatever we talk of future judgements of God for sin it seems nothing till we are throughly humbled till God makes us feel what and how grievous it is to have an hell in our Consciences this will make sin terrible 2. As you must feel the evill of sin so you must heartily close with Jesus Christ You will never be taken off from what you thought to be a good untill you experience sin to be such an evill and Christ the best good When you come to obtain pardoning mercy from God and sanctifying your will is then carried out with a greater pleasure in the wayes of Christ then it took in the wayes of sin And this counsel Christ gives to the blind man cast out by the Jews Joh. 9. 35. When he had found him he said to him dost thou believe on the Son of God As if he should say this is your great business And if ever you would be engaged against sin you must close heartily with Jesus Christ this is the whole work of true Conversion Now the Seed of God is sown in stead of the Seed of the Devil and he is brought under another power 1 Joh. 5. 3. it is said of such the Commandments of God are not grievous Those wayes which were so burthensome now he finds them pleasant wayes Hence it is said 1 Joâ— 3. 9. he that is born of God cannot sin because he is born of God neither fully nor finally not with the full consent of his will It would be contrary to his renewed principle and sanctified Reason that a man should chuse misery in stead of good when he hath experienced both such a one will say when every one shall leave Christ and turn to his lust as Peter Lord whether shall I goe Joh. 6. 68. that is the language of every believer I have found by Experience the bitter wayes of sin and the sweet wayes of believing and walking with God therefore he can never utterty leave it unless it were
Famine that is a more terrible judgement when there shall be a famine not of bread not of that only but of hearing the word of the Lord Amos. 8. 9 10. That is a threatning of a sorer judgement when you want bread for your souls there shall be none to break it to you And those spiritual wild beasts those that will make a prey of mens souls either those that will persecute for conscience sake or as Christ saith of them Math. 23 13. Such as will not goe to heaven themselves nor suffer any else togoe when the bonds shall not be only on your bodies but on your consciences you shall be conscience bound and there shall be snares laid for your consciences this is a sore Judgement when you shall have such that in stead of feeding the Flock shall devour the Flock Eccles 34. 4. when there shall be none but wolves that shall not spare the Flock of Christ or make any profession to be so this is a sore Judgement as it is a far more desireable mercy then any outward enjoyment for a people to see their Teachers they are not driven into corners Isai 30. 12. So it is a sorer Judgement then the want of any outward comfort that in stead of those that lead you to Heaven should as blind guides lead you to Hell and both together fall into the pit And those Temptations of the Devil when God lets loose Satan with violent oppressing Temptations and God will give up men to be oppressed by the violent and subtle Temptations of the Devil and then this spiritual plague is the worst of all plagues that Pestilence of a hard seared Conscience that plague of the heart when God shall inflict it as a Judgement when God shall give up men to their hardness yea into the hand of their own lusts Psal 81. 11 12. So I gave them up to their own hearts lusts into the hands of their hearts lusts This is the sorest Judgement that God can inflict on a people in this world when it is in the highest degree of it a man to be delivered up to his own hearts lusts when the Lord saith to a people ye will not be saved and ye shall not be saved ye will not be reformed and ye shall not ye will not be made clean therefore ye shall be filthy still That very sin of living in sin after deliverance is a greater Judgement then the affliction out of which ye were delivered when God inflicteth spiritual Judgements in the highest degree as there are higher degrees of spiritual judgements when temporal and spiritual shall be together that is a great deal worse when God shall follow you with all his sore judgements both these afflictive to the body and the Soul when there shall be a Famine to the body and the Soul the Sword of the Enemy and the Sword of God an outward plague a spiritual plague these are worse greater judgements 2. God hath worse to inflict in another world if you should escape in this if a sinner should goe scot-free here every day would aggravate his everlasting punishment What will a sinner be a gainer in the issue when his main work in sinning and going on in sin after deliverance is but heaping up the measure of his wrath Rom. 2. 4. Thou treasurest up wrath against the day of wrath and the Revelation of the righteous Judgement of God Hell punishment is greater then any that can be inflicted in this world Math. 13. 28. Fear him that can cast Soul and body into Hell that is most to be feared as being the most terrible judgement and there are degrees of punishment in hell there is a hell that is seven times hotter they that continue in sin after judgement and mercy after deliverance they will have a greater degree of Torment Heb. 10. 29. How much sorer Judgement shall they be counted worthy of there are some are worthy of greater judgement then others are and God hath greater there is the Heathens Hell there is the hell of them that live under the Gospel there is the hypocrites hell where the fire will be more intense there will be a thicker darkness more exquisite Torment that God will inflict upon one then upon another that is the first thing that there are worse judgements may befall you worse in this world and in that that is to come 2. what is that continuance in sin for which God will inflict worse judgements that continuance in sin after deliverance mercies Ans 1. it is a continuance in a state of unregeneracy a being without a saying close with Christ the end of Gods mercyes and deliverances is to give space for repentance to give another time to try a sinner whether he will use longer time better in making provision for Eternity Rom. 2. 5. the riches of Gods goodness that leadeth to Repentance 2 Pet. 3. 15. the end of Gods long suffering is your Salvation that is Gods end his gracious end that that he doth approve if that be not a sinners end and his work that he may be saved this is a continuance in sin that will bring greater judgements Rev. 2. 22. I gave her space to repent and she did not repent therefore God threatens he would throw her on a bed of sickness It may be many of you were afraid when you were near to death that that was your great fear of dying was of being unprepared to dye what Vows and what promises were made then if you might have another day of grace now God tryes you if that be not so improved that that is given for your tryal when it is improved contrary to Gods end will pull down worser and greater judgements on a sinner this is that will leave you without excuse when another judgement overtakes you when God will say he will take your word no more when he hath tryed you and found you false to your Promise of improving time better 2. Continuance in sin in those particular evils God hath been convincing you of as provocations to himself some evil course and way of life some particular evils that God hath burthened Conscience with in time of sickness or under the word of God sins that you have Confest that you have in some degree bewailed before God and promised amendment the continuance in those sins is a provocation to greater judgements as is said of those Jer. 42. 21 22. I have this day declared to you but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God for any thing for which you sent me to enquire of God they promised and made solemn Vows they would obey yet did but dissemble with God now therefore know certainly that you shall dye by the Sword by the Famine and by the Pestilence in the place whether you desire to go you will dissemble with God but God will not be mocked if you will not be as good as your promise and your word to God God