when we threaten judgement when we retain the sins of men when we give them up to Satan either in preaching or in Church-censures when we say of any person Take him Satan our aim must be that Christ may have him that his corruption may be mortified and that he may be saved by this means And therefore let the Ministers of Jesus Christ have this continually in their eye how they may reach this great end Let all his under-officers in the administration of the power which Christ hath put upon them drive at that for which Christ received his that they may bring his people to eternal life as you have it in my Text. Is it so that the authority of Jesus Christ with which c. is chiefly Use 3 for the good c. Then let us apprehend it to be so and let us look upon it so when he is executing this authority and this judiciary power of his upon the enemies of his people even to their utter ruin and destruction When he destroyes his Churches enemies when he consumes them that they may not be as this he doth sometimes by vertue of this power which God hath put into his hands and we have seen it in these latter days let us consider that he doth not this so much for their hurt as for the good of his people That his aim is not so much at the destruction of the one as at the preservation of the other When he is laying on upon them with his keen and glittering sword let this be our meditation Now Christ is doing something for his poor people And this the Saints of old have done And therefore David or whoever else it be that is the author of Psal 136. recording many judgements of the Lords which he had brought upon the Churches enemies makes this the running verse between continually For his mercy endureth for ever He smote all the first born of Aegypt For his mercy endureth for ever He overturned Pharoah and his Host in the red Sea For c. He smote great Kings and slew famous Kings as Sihon King of the Amorites and Og c. For his mercy endureth for ever A man would think he should have rather said he did such things as these because his anger and his wrath endures for ever What mercy was it for the Lord to slay Kings and to destroy Nations truely it was none to them that were destroyed but it was sweet and precious mercy to them for whom they were destroyed And Christ would have it known that in the execution of his vengeance on the wicked he hath not an aspect so much upon the misery he brings the wicked to no his thoughts are taken up with the mercy and the love he manifests to his people And when he layes about him and slashes down the enemies in heaps he seemeth to forget the hatred that he bears to them and to think of nothing else but mercy mercy to his Saints Thus I kill them and destroy them because my mercy c. And therefore let us learn to look upon it so to have such thoughts and apprehensions upon such occasions And that the rather because there is an inconveniency in it many times when we behold Christ in another way We look upon the Judgements which he wreaks and executes upon the Enemies and persecuters of the Church as if he brought them on them out of such a hatred to them as we our selves are apt to have And so our hearts are carried out in wayes of malice and we make Christ upon the matter but the instrument of our revenge Whereas if we did apprehend him as aiming not so much at the destruction and ruine of the wicked as at the good and preservation of his people and as administrations of his power which he sees necessary for the peace and welfare of the Saints our hearts would be in a more sweet and holy temper then they are sometimes in such cases For then my brethren we should see the Love of Christ in all these dispensations of his wrath the more his anger is declared at any time against the wicked the more we should be taken up with thoughts and apprehensions of his love to us The greater fury and displeasure he reveals against them the more we should be led to contemplation of his mercy to our selves Oh what are we that he should have such dear respects to us That he should be so angry with poor creatures and execute such heavy judgements on them for our sakes Use 4 Is it so that the authority c. is chiefly for the Good c. This then methinks should prevail with wicked men yea though they perish to have better thoughts of Christ and milder apprehensions then they have For you must know my brethren that Christ hath many Enemies there are abundance in the world that hate him whose very hearts do rise against him And whence is this but because they look upon him as one that aims at their destruction as one that means to have their blood to ruine them and damn them in the pit of hell for ever Now I beseech you my beloved do not so mistake your selves think not so hardly of the Lord Christ Believe it Jesus Christ hath other purposes then these whatever you conceive of him he came not to judge the world but that the world by him might be saved He came not to destroy you but to save his own people And therefore if you be destroyed thank your selves and not him Your help if you have any is of him but your destruction is of your selves Do but consider I beseech you what Christ hath done what means he hath afforded you for your salvation He hath assumed your nature who are reprobates as well as yours who are elect He hath laid down a price of worth sufficient in it self for your salvation so that there is not one of you excluded from it because it will not reach to you as well as others because it is too narrow and too scant to satisfie for all if all should apprehend it and lay hold upon it No he hath ordered matters so that there is enough put in not for believers only but for them that perish too And that which is put in as it is sufficient for you so it is applicable to you as well as others As it was paid in your nature so any of your nature may partake it if they will lay hold upon it It is a satisfaction which nothing but your unbelief and your refusal can make you uncapable of And hence the Lord will have a tender of it to be made the Gospel to be preached to you as well as others so runs the tenour of his own Commission Go preach the Gospel to every creature Tell every man without exception that there is good news for him that Christ is dead for him if he embrace him Yea Christ himself doth by his Messengers perswade you yea intreat
entrance into glory that hour was not far off and that perhaps our Saviour Christ might aim at in my Text. However this is evident that that which he desireth here he prays may be effected and accomplished in his Fathers time And this he makes the ground of his Petition Father the hour is come the time which thou hast fore-appointed to glorifie me in And therefore I beseech thee do it now thou hast a time for this great work of thine and this is the very time the very hour the hour is come Were it not so I would not seek it or desire it of thee but seeing this is thy season now Father glorifie thy son So that the Point suggested here is this DOCTRINE God hath his time to do his Actions in and he should not be desired to do them any other time First He hath his times to do his actions in that is the first thing in the Point He hath his hour a certain set and fixed season for any business that he hath to do he hath a time for works of Justice and you see that place for instance Jer. 51.33 It is time to thresh her saith the Lord of Babylon And so their feet shall slide in due time speaking of ungodly men Deut. 32.35 He hath his time for works of Mercy as it is observed of Joseph Psal 105.18 19. his feet they hurt with fetters he was laid in irons until the time which God had fore-appointed came And as soon as that was come the Lord so ordered things that the King sent and loosed him the Rulers of the people let him go free as it is added there in that place And hence the Lord is said to wait in Scripture that he may be gracious as in that known place Isa 30.18 Now he that waits to do a thing looks for a fit time Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion saith the Psalmist Psal 102.13 For the time to favour her yea the set time is come so that you see God hath his time to do his actions in Now for the second Member of the point He should not be desired to do them any other time This is apparently suggested in this Petition of our Saviours in my Text. Father the hour is come now glorifie thy Son q. d. If thy appointed season were not come I would not seek to have thee glorifie me at this time I would not have thee do it for me now unless this were thy hour But since the constituted hour is come Lord bring thy purpose into act and execution Our Saviour is in this our pattern whom we ought to follow And hence the Saints in their Petitions have left God to his own time and sought for mercies from him in his own season As Daniel when he found by books that is the Book of Jeremy and other Books that the appointed return of the Jews out of the Babylonian thraldom and Captivity was neer at hand he set himself to seek the Lord at that time Dan. 9.3 And David in the fore-alledged Text he prays for mercy to be shewed to Sion But when when the set time was come I would not spend my time in the further confirmation of so clear a truth Let me but add two Reasons God hath his time to do his actions in and he should not be desired to do them any other time For First Let our desires be what they will he will not be prevailed withall to do them any other time Or Secondly if we could prevail with him it were not best that he should do them any other time Let our desires be what they will God will not be prevailed withall to do his works in any other time then that which he hath fore-appointed and decreed so that it were a vain and idle thing to labour to divert him from his own season We that are men are often turned from our purpose we do not that which we resolve to do or else we do not act it then when we resolve to do it because our resolutions alter we are perswaded and convinced that some other season will be better But God for his part is not changeable he is not as man that he should lye nor as the son of man that he should repent Numb 23.19 That he should so repent as man by changing of his mind or varying from his former resolution And this is that the Psalmist beats upon Psal 102. He observes all other things and persons in the world and finds that they are variable and inconstant they are on and off again But as for God he finds it otherwise with him though they be changeable he is not so No saith the Prophet there thou art the same and what doth he infer upon it why therefore all the good and all the mercy that he hath resolved upon with reference to his people he will accomplish in the set time Thou shalt endure O Lord saith he and that for ever And what follows Thou shalt arise and have mercy on Sion for the set time is come God hath his set time to do his actions in and he should not be desired to do them any other time because if we could prevail in such a case it were not best that he should do them any other time He always pitcheth on the fit best and the opportunest seasons for his Works As he hath his times for them so those times are the best times whether they be Works of Justice or of Mercy And hence the season and opportunity in which he doth them both is stiled the due time For Works of Justice their feet shall slide in due time Deut. 32.35 For Works of Mercy in due time you shall reap if you faint not Gal. 6.9 We that are men do usually mistake our time we miss our opportunity Man knoweth not his time saith Solomon Eccles 9.12 and therefore he is snared in an evil time that fals suddenly upon him He knoweth not the good time and therefore he is snared in an evil time that comes upon him suddenly as a snare upon a Bird in which he is entangled and involv'd and so is disappointed of his purpose But it is not so with God he knows his time and fixes on it so as none but he can do it And hence is that Expostulation Jer. 49.19 Who will appoint me the time q.d. whoever doth it will be very much mistaken The time which I appoint is best and none can do it like me and therefore certainly if we were able it were not best to turn him from it nor to prevail with him to do his work in any other time This shall suffice for clearing of the Observation proceed we now to Application And this may serve for Reprehension in the first place to check and Vse 1 censure those who take upon them to appoint God a time for execution of his Works of Mercy or his Works of Justice They do not come to God as our Saviour in
the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham for whom he never suffered and to whom he was never offered They will have something to excuse themselves withall something to plead before the Lord in the great and dreadful day Alâ—s may Devils say there was no possibility of our recovery there was no Mediator between God and us to purchase and obtain our peace there was no pardon tendred to us but you had the eternal Son of God to dye for you for you mankind to shed his blood and to lay down his life for you and yet when all was done and when he came and brought a pardon to you sealed with his blood and besought you to accept of it you even shut him out of doors you would not look upon him nor receive him you baffled him and dodged with him Ah my beloved what heart if it be truly touched can hold from breaking under the sight and sense of such abominable and prodigious wickedness as this is And as the sin is great so in the second place the misery and condemnation will be great also There will be no avoiding of it for how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Heb. 2.3 There will be no enduring of it it will be infinitely heavy it will be easier for Turks and Pagans in the day of judgement then for such wretches Alas poor souls that as if their condemnation were not deep enough already the incarnation and the passion and the offer of a Saviour the richest mercies in themselves that ever were bestowed upon the Creature should accidentally encrease it That Christ should die and shed his blood to sink men deeper into hell then if he had not died at all for this is the event and issue of it this is a lamentable thing indeed The second sort of such as stoop not to the authority of Jesus Christ and to his Legislative power are such as violate the Law of Love I mean the Moral Law the decalogue the ten Commandments for that my Brethren is the Law of love And therefore the Apostle tels us that love is the fulfilling of the Law he means apparently the Moral Law Rom. 13.10 and he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law see the eighth verse of that chapter in which respect our Saviour Christ himself divides the Law into these two Commandments Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and the neighbour as thy self what then it may be you will say Doth Christ by his authority impose the moral Law on men the ten Commandments of the Decalogue The Law of faith is his indeed but is the Law of works his too Yes the Law of works is his for he requireth works as well as faith And the faith which he bestows upon his members works by love And love is his own commandment so he cals it John 15.12 This is my Commandment that ye love one another Indeed he rules his Subjects by the Moral Law that is the precepts and commandments of it are the Statutes of his Kingdom It s true when it was first delivered to Adam in the state of innocency it came to him but in the hand of the Creator only But it comes to us my Brethren in the hands of the Redeemer and of the Mediator Jesus Christ who was typified by Moses at the delivery of the Law the second time upon Mount Sinai Gal. 3.19 And hence the precepts of it are stiled not the bonds of God only but the bonds of Christ too Psal 2.2 Let us break their bonds asunder and cast away their cords from us The Gospel all men yield is Christs he is in a peculiar way the author of the Gospel and therefore it is called the word of Christ Now the Commandments of the Law are all of them revived in the Gospel The whole of what the Law requires is for the manner and measure of obedience exacted also in the Gospel there is no duty which the Law enjoyns but it is taught us in the Gospel The Gospel teacheth to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godlily in this present world Titus 2.12 soberly towards our selves righteously towards our Brethren and piously towards our God And these Particulars apparently involve and comprehend all the Commandments of the Moral Law from the beginning of it to the end There being nothing in the Decalogue the Ten Commandments interdicted or required but may be reduced to one of these three heads So then you see my Brethren not the Law of faith only but the Law of works too is Christs Law or if it be not Christs Law it can be no Law at all The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all Judgement to the Son And consequently he that violates this Law of works resisteth the authority of Jesus Christ and the power with which he is invested by his Father to give Law to all flesh And yet alas how many are there who live in the resolved and the constant breach of all the precepts and commandments of the Law of Christ who in their practice daily break these bonds asunder and cast away these cords from them who are not subject to the Law of Christ nor indeed can they be If it be pressed home upon them to bind them to the good behaviour and to restrain them from their sinful and ungracious courses they are out of all patience If the commands of Christ be laid upon them to hold them fast to duty and obedience and to abridge them of their carnal liberty if they be told they must no take their old courses but they must hear and pray and fast and sanctifie Gods holy day and live strictly they will be very much incensed The Law of Christ is too severe and strict for them it curbeth and abridgeth them too much and therefore they will shake it off from them And as the Lunatick who was restored by our Saviour to his reason brake all the bonds and cords with which they bound him so these unreasonable Creatures deal with Christs Law nothing will hold them to obedience Let him lay what command he will upon them they will surely break it that they may live at liberty and walk according to their own humours Yea sin in such by the Commandment becomes exceeding sinful as the Apostle speaks Rom. 7.13 Not by way of declaration for that is not the purpose and intention of the place but by way of Irritation When the Commandment labours to lay hold on sin to bind him and to chain him up then sin begins to lay about him to struggle for his libertie and so by accident to be the more sinful When we press home the precepts of the Law and urge them hard on wicked men as there are some that yield themselves up to the binding power and to the obligation of it so there are others that stand out against the Law and they are much the worse for it
an image and a pattern of that holiness which is originally and compleatly in the Lord who hath in this respect all beauty in him Yea it is called the glory of the Lord Rom. 3.23 All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God which shined in us in the state of innocency Indeed my brethren he hath in him the Sum and the perfection of beauty He hath all in him that doth win and raise nothing that cools or deadens the affection all things to invite nothing to avert love Others there are my brethren who have some things beautiful and comely to invite and draw love but other things uncomely and unbeautiful to keep it off Something or other there is in them that is odd unpleasing and so a bar and hindrance to affection Brethren it is not so with God he is all beautiful and all alluring altogether lovely Others are so in some respects but he is so in all respects He is altogether lovely the allurement of all hearts And the desire of all Nations Hag. 2.7 So he is always in the merit although he be not always so in the event Object But if God be so beautiful what is the reason that men do not love him Answ Because his name in this respect is not made known to them All men are naturally blind you know and blind men cannot judge of beauty until their eyes be anointed with the Eye-salve Apoc. 3.18 to make them see such beauty as this is The beauty of holiness is a spiritual beauty and that is not discerned by a natural Eye There must be a spiritual eye to see and to discern a spiritual beauty And when you have such eyes as these to see the beauty of the Lord your hearts will be enamoured on him you will be in the case the Church was you will be sick of love and say Lord turn away thine eyes for they have overcome us We cannot bear the dazling rayes of such beauty as thine is The goodness of the Lord is a part of his name and goodness being manifested and discovered is a means to draw love Now herein God excels my brethren he is good beyond pattern and beyond measure He is essentially good good without goodness as Austin speaks because indeed he is goodness it self The creatures be good but not goodness Their nature is good but goodness is not their nature But now the nature and substance of God is goodness it self so that he is essentially good and then he is also causally good as Psal 119.68 Thou art good and dost good Thou art good in thy self and thou dost good to the creature so that the earth is full of thy goodness He is eminently good so that whatsoever goodness is to be found among the creatures is eminently and transcendently in God himself Now goodness is the object of love and consequently the allective of affection If we have cause to fear God for his goodness as Hos 3. ult then surely we have much more cause to love him especially since he is not only good in himself but good to us If this part of his name be manifested and made known to us we cannot choose but love him and delight in him That phrase of the Apostle Paul is notable and may be very well applyed to our purpose Rom. 5.7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die but for a good man one would even dare to die Uprightness draws not love as goodness doth One man will hardly love another so much for his uprightness as to die for him but for his goodness manifested to himself on all occasions continually doing good to him he may come to love him so as even to lay down his life for him And even for this cause we shall love God and love him out of all measure so as even to die for him if this part of his name be fully manifested and made known to us The mercy of the Lord is a part of his name and this if it be manifested to us will beget love in us You know the Lord is said in Scripture to be merciful yea to be rich in mercy and that not only because the mercy that he hath is pretious but because there is abundance of this pretious mercy in him For both of these concur to riches there must be something that is pretious and there must be much of it and so it is with God in this case He hath a mass of mercy in him a bottomless and endless treasure such as the wants of all the world are never able to draw dry And as a rich man though he spend exceedingly yet because he hath a treasure the e is no failing no deficiency of his store so God though he communicate his mercy freely to the sons of men yet he cannot be exhausted no there is more behind still it is an infinite a bottomless an endless mercy A mercy that endures for ever Now this rich mercy God lays out as many other ways so chiefly in the pardon of our sins and hence we read of mercies and forgivenesses in God as Dan. 9.9 Mercies as the cause and fountain Forgivenesses as the effect and stream And both you see my brethren in the plural number to shew the over-flowing mercy of the Lord. Indeed my brethren there is mercy in all pardons but in the pardon and remission of the sins of Gods people there is admirable mercy And hence the Prophet wondred at it not knowing what to think or to say of it Who is a God like thee that pardoneth iniquity c. Mic. 7.18 The Prophet is transported and carryed out beyond himself in admiration And mark it well He doth not say There is no man like thee but there is no God like thee Indeed it goes beyond the mercy of any but the true living God to do this In which respect is that expression Hos 11.9 I will not execute the fierceness of my wrath for I am God and not man that speech of the Apostle Paul is full Ephes 1.7 We have remission of our sins according to the riches of his grace Now if this part of Gods name be made known to us it cannot choose but work love in us We love them who forgive us common debts especially if they be great we think that we can never do enough for them or manifest respect enough to them But we have cause to love him more who forgives us such debts as these are which if they should be rigorously exacted of us we were not able to discharge them but must be laid up under everlasting chains Oh my beloved how can this choose but draw out our affection to the Lord The woman in the Gospel had much forgiven her and what was the effect and issue of it Why she loved much Her love was answerable to her pardon Much was forgiven her and she loved much She was a great sinner and she had a large pardon and so accordingly she