the Power of the Air even where Satan's Seat is and he doth hinder or resist or defeat all the Good he can His Devices are subtle and his Instruments many so he is the Cause of all the Evil and Misery which are scattered up and down in the Earth God suffers it to be thus for our Trial and other wise Reasons that by our overcoming he may have the greater Glory But because of this many are apt to doubt of God's Love to the World Whereas by this means he doth prove the Children of Men towards him For by their being amidst Temptation and evil the Trial of their Faith may be had whether they will follow the thing that good is Whether they will still resolutely put forth and countermine the Devices of the Enemy and so make them of none effect or cause him to fall and that he shall lose more than he got thereby God suffers many things to come to pass for our Trial whereof we are apt to stagger concerning his Love and Goodness to Mankind but thereby he hath shewed how they may approve themselves more than Conquerors and then he designs to crown them with greater Glory and Happiness This may be applied to the particular and several Dispensations which happen of whatever Kind they be each may be observed by a discerning Person to exercise our Faith and Trust Now for a Season if need be ye are in Heaviness thro' manifold Temptations that the Trial of your Faith being more precious than of Gold that perisheth might be found unto Praise and Honour and Glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 6 7. It is irksome at present and we are apt to have hard and distrustful Thoughts but this is because we know not all the Reasons thereof and how our End shall be yet more excellent and happy Who led thee through that great and terrible Wilderness wherein were fiery Serpents and Scorpions and Drought where there was no Water Who brought thee forth Water out of the Rock of Flint who fed thee in the Wilderness with Manna which thy Fathers knew not that he might humble thee and that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter End Deut. 8. 15 16. This will be really found though it be hid from some and they are not sensible thereof all along Indeed this makes the rejoycing more at the End because it happens better than was expected but yet to know thereof beforehand makes that we fail not nor be discouraged Isa 42. 5. That we do not grow weary nor faint in our Mind nor abate one Tittle of our Duty nor yet desist waiting on the Lord not to be tempted so as to say with that profane King This Evil is from the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer 2 Kings 6. 33. but rather to make the contrary and right Conclusion This Trouble Opposition and Resistance is from Satan the Adversary I will endeavour through God's Grace to resist him more vigorously until he is bruised down under my Feet Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and Adder the young Lion and the Dragon shalt thou trample under Feet because he hath set his Love upon me therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because he hath known my Name He shall call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in Trouble I will deliver him and honour him Psal 91. 14 15 16. As long as any one is in God's Way he is safe to carry him through all Difficulty and Danger that he may overcome and be crowned at the last It is said before He shall give his Angels Charge over thee to keep thee in all thy Ways Psal 91. 11. This Promise is exceeding particular and even so is the whole Psalm for Safety and Preservation over and from the several and successive Kinds of Evil there-mentioned So that we may trust and conclude that by what God hath done hitherto he will go on to establish and finish the same Cast not away therefore your Confidence which hath great Recompence of Reward Heb. 11. 35. It is not an hasty nor a fond Presumption nor yet a vain Conceit for it relies upon the whole Truth and Authority of God's Word which also speaks of the Evils and Hardships which we meet with in the mean while which we find to be so That same Word doth also assure us of Strength to hear and go through with and at last of perfect Deliverance and Victory out of them This is the Favour which the Lord beareth unto his People until he doth actually visit them with his Salvation Psal 106. 4. But for those who have sinned with their Fathers who have committed Iniquity and done wickedly how is it with them Will not the following Verse give them a Glimpse of Hope and Comfort Our Fathers understood not thy Wonders in Egypt they remembred not the Multitude of thy Mercies but provoked him at the Sea even at the Red Sea Psal 106. 7. If the Question should be asked wherefore do all Mankind sin and transgress against the Lord Have they not a present Temptation and Desire of seeming Good which they imagine God would hinder them of Not knowing that God hath provided greater Pleasure and Happiness for them and more Peace and Comfort in the mean while They are ignorant of this for otherwise they would receive the Good that exceedeth They do not understand the greater Multitude of God's Mercies for then they would not behave themselves rebelliously and contemptuously towards him Like Words unto those of Peter in Acts 3. 17 18. may be applied to Mankind of past Generations And now Brethren I wot that through Ignorance ye sinned thus as did also your Father Adam A present desire of pleasure and greatnessled him into the Transgression and so his Sons and Daughters ever since have had some seeming Reason why they committed Sin against God To be advanced a little more and better from their present imperfect State Now were they assured that what God would do for them would be beyond all this then they would endeavour to continue stedfast in his Covenant Were they fully ascertained that they should have greater Good by keeping his Judgments at all times than by declining from or walking contrary unto them either they would not transgress at all or in fewer Instances than now they have done God knoweth all things As he suffers so he doth likewise behold the whole course of sinning ever since he created Man upon the Earth until this day with the several Temptations Excuses Circumstances belonging to it as also to what degree of Extenuation or Provocation it might have and also the measure of Ignorance and Imperfection He doth not need to be informed thereof for He likewise discerns that Willing Ignorance that contempt and refusal of Instruction of set purpose The way of the just is uprightness Thou most upright dost weigh the path of the just Isa 26.
better lay the Law before them and then themselves may consider their variation from it Sometimes they are at a stand and as it were amazed and they know not what to do they may first see and fully perceive and then acknowledge according to that Example in Ezra 10. 2. We have trespassed against our God and have taken strange Wives of the People of the Land yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing So of every Iniquity Transgression or Sin whether it is complicated or single whether many or few are concerned therein still there is hope that God will do what he declares which he also will as certainly as he is God For he is abundant in goodness and truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin But then they must make a Covenant with their God to forsake their sins for the time to come and hence forward to tremble at his Commandments and to do according to the Law But if they cover their sins if they keep and hold fast to them then they are still guilty whom the same Truth hath here said That he will by no means clear Exod. 34. 7. The word Forgiving respects what is past but doth not allow for the present or future What then Shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid That God may shew the more mercy in our manifold and greater sins that we may love much when much is to us forgiven But this and such like is a perverse wicked proud and disdainful way of Reasoning Because God will forgive we will sin yet more because he is Gracious therefore we will provoke him because he is Good we will presume to offend him yet more because he will pass by the Transgression of the remnant of his Heritage and make it up again we will break and at no time continue stedfast in his Covenant And knowing that he will pass it over we will forget the Name of the Lord and hold up our hands to strange Gods we will idolize and labour to please Men without any regard had to him Shall not God search this out for he knows the secrets of the heart He doth see and discern all such kind of Imaginations which shoot forth into alike practices We should do well to consider with our selves Wherefore do we desire any forgiveness at God's hands Because we would partake of his Mercy and avoid his Wrath. We would be happy and are unwilling to be miserable Why know we not that the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him to such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his Commandments to do them Psal 103. 17 18. And the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Rom. 1. 18. and Disobedience Colos 3. 6. And therefore we must fear God if we would partake of his gracious Attribute and carefully eschew all the other that we do not fall under the severity of his Vengeance If we would be happy we must be holy and to prevent misery the only way is to sin not We are but meer Creatures All that we have is from God and so is all that we expect further We are but perishing and imperfect at present and we shall be yet somewhat more as our hopes and desires our fears and aversations give us notice of So that if we would have the good-will and love of God the consequent is natural and easie for our selves to shew love and good-will towards him in the mean while And then we must sin as little against him as possible Ye that love the Lord bate evil Psal 97. 10. And ye are to decline every false way we are to endeavour to set forth his glory and to honour him which shuts out all manner of stubbornness and the least despising of him Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12. 28. We have the Promise and Assurance of that Kingdom and to us is committed in the mean while what is preparatory to that The work and service is given and shewed that we may do it and as we are put in the condition of Servants to so great and honourable a Master as he is in Heaven so it is required of us that we be faithful and willing that is true in the management of what is committed unto us and ready in the performance of the same Another Character that belongs to a Servant is That he be Wise whereof our Saviour speaks and promises to set such over his Houshold Accordingly the Apostle intimates as much negatively See that ye be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is Eph. 5. 17. This must be in order to do the will of the Lord And also we are to be in a readiness against his time of coming to demand an account By doing of God's Will we learn to know it better and the performance is more easie we can correct what was amiss heretofore and perform it more exactly for the time to come From the quality of Servants we come to a more intimate Relation of Sons which the Scripture to assure us of God's Love and Familiarity to Mankind doth more often make use of than the other comparison of Servants I will spare them as a Man spareth his own Son that serveth him Mal. 3. 17. Now former miscarriages are passed over and forgotten when there is a sincere and actual service for the time to come where there is a constant desire to please and be accepted with God Agreeable hereunto is the stile of the promises and calls to Repentance Thus saith the Lord shall they fall and not arise shall he turn away and not return Why is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual back-sliding They hold fast deceit they refuse to return Jer. 8. 5. But if they do return they have forthwith assurance of Pardon and Forgiveness according to what is written But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die Ezek. 18. 21. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Isa 55. 7. There are innumerable Promises scattered up and down in the Old Testament and also in the New to give hope and encouragement unto sinners to return unto the Lord their God which do answer all their particular doubts and fears Whatever be their multitude and aggravation If they have played the harlot with many lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord Jer. 3. 1. Or if their sins be as scarlet or crimson of the deepest die and guilt he will make them white as
7. In like manner he doth consider all the ways of the wicked and takes in what measure of abomination and evil deserving is therein and also how much is to be allowed unto Satan's Temptation Now the Serpent was more subtle than any Beast of the Field which the Lord God had made Gen. 3. 1. And so he continues still to be more cunning than the children of Eve as they are merely such without the assistances of the Grace and Spirit of God from above and he befools them Now again they might from the Wisdom and Word of God know his devices and so escape yea and frustrate them The Lord looketh down from Heaven upon the children of Men he considereth all their ways and understandeth all their works whither good or evil with whatsoever doth belong to them to reward pardon or punish He now sits above and takes notice of them in order as they are done But he hath reserved to himself the Power and appointed a Day to Judge of all and to distribute unto every one according to his works This is the alone Prerogative of God above which he hath kept in his own power For he alone searcheth the heart and knoweth all things whereas we do only perceive a little in a false and imperfect manner by doubtful report and mistaken observation And then we cannot throughly apprehend a thing wherein many are concerned so that we can give no perfect Judgment and Determination But the Lord will rehearse it when he writeth up his people He hath a Book of all Nations Families and single Persons with the account of time and place they stood here on the Earth as also he notes the things that they have done The Scripture makes frequent mention of this particular summing up of our deeds and that our God doth take regard of them and will bring every secret thing into Judgment even the most hidden passages of our Life Thou hast set our iniquities before thee our secret sins in the light of thy countenance Psal 90. 8. Each single one for why not one as well as another nay every wrong thing and turning aside even our errors and misdeeds which we pass over for Inadvertencies and small Neglects those which we suddenly act and do not much mind our selves Thus much is signified from what is written Who can understand his errors Cleanse thou me from secret faults Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me Then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression Psal 19. 12 13. Here the several degrees and diversities of sin are specified by the words Errors secret Faults presumptuous Sins and the great Transgression A consciousness that God doth even now search us and is acquainted with all our ways and then that we must pass into a strict Examination and Judgment is apt to raise doubtful and despairing thoughts in our mind How strange is it that any People should be heedless and unconcerned about those things whereof they must be called to an account If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities O Lord who might stand And he might do so if he pleased but then in his sight no man living will be justified For no man hath been so watchful circumspect and inoffensive in his Life and Conversation but hath in several instances transgressed against or despised the Lord his God and as himself hath regret and vexation afterwards as he looks back so he would tremble to have them set in order before him By thy wrath are we troubled Psal 90. 7. And again we are comforted blessed be his Divine Majesty because that same word which speaks of God's Displeasure and Indignation against Sin doth likewise assure us of his Reconciliation and Pardon Thereby is to be seen a mixture of his Justice and Mercy And it is observable That where are expressions even to terrifie and cast down there is somewhat close by said to give hope and comfort and to lift up again where is Reproof and Threatning there either commonly goes before or succeeds presently after an invitation to return and a promise of forgiveness So we have the very same assurance and certainty that God is to be Reconciled unto the World through Jesus Christ either to the multitude in general or to single persons For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved And he came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance This is as evident and clear as that God was ever angry with the World or with any single Man for his sin and wickedness But this withal is to be considered That if the World will be saved in and through Jesus Christ they must in the mean while submit to his Scepter and Kingdom obey his Laws and observe his Sayings For as heretofore they have not gave heed unto nor been governed by them which hath occasioned his Wrath and sore Displeasure Psal 2. 5. so to avoid that and obtain his mercy and favour they must now do what heretofore they left undone and ought to have done and refrain from what they were forbidden and yet heretofore they did Leave off all manner of Transgression and Disobedience and henceforward perform all Duty and Service Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little Blessed are all they that put their trust in him Psal 2. 12. Submit and be reconciled unto him lest you miss of that Path of Life which he leads in He knows if you despise him and you must take him for a Guide and Saviour to follow him whether soever he goeth For ye were as Sheep going astray but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your Souls 1 Pet. 2. 25. Without this actual Returning and Amendment there is no Salvation and Mercy If men will not do what is first required it is vain to talk of or hope for Pardon and Forgiveness if they will not perform the necessary foregoing Conditions and Qualifications they have no lot nor share in this matter not one good thing doth belong to them not one Iota or Tittle of God's Mercy precious Promises and comfortable Truth is applicable to them until they do indeed begin the work of Repentance God is not their Father nor doth he look with an Eye of Goodness and Compassion upon them till they are indeed returning and coming unto him And indeed when one doth really arise and is coming towards God then our Heavenly Father may see him yet a great way off and go out to meet him Luke 15. 20. Love and Forgiveness are kindled at the very same moment when his resolutions are of going home and these do happily meet together The end of telling People their Transgressing is because many times they are blinded and insensible of them Indeed they may know a little slightly and confusedly but another may