wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heat I have seen his waies and wil heal him c. Though he went on and was worth yet saith God I have seen his waies and wil heal him I wil not take advantage I wil be content after al their froward rejections of al the offers of Grace yet I wil heal them for al that The frowardness is that that hath reference not only to unprofitableness under afflictions but when one is dealt kindly withal and doth not answer according to his kindness but wil have his own wil such a one doth go on frowardly Now then if we could put al these together that have been named of Gods willingness towards sinners to bring them in to be reconciled to him Oh Lord how infinite would the Grace and goodness of God appeare How were God to be glorified in his Grace I see I cannot possibly come to these things that I have heretofore propounded As what needs al this and the like But that must be done or the reasons why God doth deal thus A word or too at this time for that why God doth do al this why doth God deal thus with sinners in such a manner First It is because mercy pleases him Micha 7.18 there God makes a large promise of pardon of sin because mercy pleaseth him Now that that is pleasing unto any creature that the creature loves to do it and loves to do it to the ful to the height as al pleasure you know to enjoye the creature to eate and drink and sport is very pleasing to a voluptuous man and therefore he doth desire to have this to the ful a large bag of Gold pleases a covetous man therefore he is never satisfied but would have it to the ful Honor pleaseth an ambitious man and therefore he never hath enough so mercy it pleases God and therefore as I may with Holy reverence speak God scarce thinks he hath ever done enough to shew the riches of his Grace Secondly God doth it because the blood of his Son doth cry continually in his eares for mercy and it is of such infinite worth and value and the obedience of his Son in shedding of his bloud it hath been so acceptable unto God and is that whosoever this blood is pleaded for the Lord must needs grant it to the utmost Now it is the blood of Jesus Christ that is shed for sinners that doth plead with God the Father that al this mercy might be shewed It is said in the scripture that the blood of Christ speaks better things than the blood of Abel the blood of Abel cries loude for vengeance vengance Lord against sinners But the blood of Christ cries aloude merrcy mercy Lord for sinners and God heares the cry of his Sons blood What is this that recries The blood of my Son for mercy for sinners let them have mercy yea let them have mercy to the ful Then the fludgates of mercy come to be opened though if it were not for the blood of Christ the patience of God would let out some common favors but when God comes to satisfy the cries of the blood of Christ for mercy saith God open al the fludgates now and let in streams of mercy for sinners let mercy be shewed to the highest degree that can be if the blood of my Son cry for it it must be though it requires wonderful mercy it must be great rich glorious mercy it is not a drop but had need of a Sea of mercies to anwswer it I but saith God the blood of my son cryes for mercy and though there be need of an infinite Ocean of mercy for to clense the soul of such a sinner it must needs be granted because the blood of my son cryes for it When you finde God manifesting himselfe to your souls in waies of mercy it comes from the blood of Jesus Christ that cries to God the father for mercy to be bestowed on you and this is the sum and substance of al these expressions of Gods grace toward sinners We thinke that so be very strange that ever such an infinite God should condescend to sinners but when we come to examin the reason we need not wonder at it we see now from whence it al coms it springs al from the ever living fountaine of the unsearchable rich grace of God in Christ though at the very reading we may wonder that ever God should do so and perhaps some men may think these are but the straynes of ministers to make it so but when we come to understand the bottom the ground of al then we must acknowledge the reality of it no wonder God shews mercy to such souls so unworthy and so vild why Because the blood of his son cryes for mercy CHAP. 55. Christs willingness to be Reconciled to sinners further Opened NOW before we come to answer the Objections or to any application there is yet somthing more to be opened unto you as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in CHRIST'S stead as the heart of God is so set upon it to be reconciled unto sinners so is Jesus Christ it is true Christ is God but Christ and God are here spoken of severally Christ is the same God with the father but he is God and man God incarnate God the mediator between the father and us so that it wil be exceeding useful to shew how the heart of CHRIST is set upon Reconciliation of sinners to God for the Apostle doth come in the name of Christ as wel as of God the father now that the heart of Christ is in it that appears in the understanding of the great worke of Reconciliation That he hath undertaken it and that so willingly as he hath done Certainly if Christ had not been much set upon this work to bring sinners to be reconciled unto the Father he would never have undertaken such a work which he knew would prove so difficult to him and he knew what it would cost him but yet he took it willingly and delightfully and for that compare those two Scriptures the first in Psal 40.7 Then said I Lo I come in the Volume of thy book it is written of me It begins in ver 6. Sacrifice and offerring thou didst not desire mine ears thou didst open burnt offerring and sin offering thou didst not require then said I Lo I come in the Volume of thy book it is written of me I delight to do thy will Oh God It is a Psalm of Christ and a Prophecy of him and that it is of him it appears plainly if you compare the Scripture in Heb. 10. at the beginning and so on there you have the Apostle quoting this very Text only with a little difference in the word Now there are three or four things that are here to be observed of Christ in his willingness to come and undertake the great work of making Attonement between God and sinners Mine Ears hast
Apostle saith plainly in the 2 of Rom. That the patience of God calls us to Repentance in verse 4. whatsoever leades to Repentance hath something of the Gospel in it Patience and goodness though we never come to heare of the Ministery of the Gospel yet it is that that calls us to repentance and it is cleare in this because that is spoken of in the creature the loude voice in the creature in the 19 Psalm it is applied to the Gospel in Rom. 10. and except you understand it so we cannot tel you that the sound of the Gospel hath gon to the utmost parts of the earth We cannot understand in the Apostles time how the Gospel went to the utmost parts of the world for there are many places that are not found out yet but this kind of sound of the Gospel goes throughout the earth that by the voice of the creatures men ought to come to know thus much that surely there is some way for God to be pacified towards sinful men though they cannot tell which way or what way suerly there is some way and many of the Jewes knew no other way but this they knew there was a Messiah to come but what he was or who he was they know very little of him Now the Devills have no such work of God towards them nor such bounty and patience and goodness towards them whereby they can conclude that God hath any thoughts to be reconciled to them Though its true they are not yet fully under the torment that they shal be yet they are under so much torment as they are said to be reserved to the great day in chains of darkness whereas wicked and ungodly men are preserved by the bounty and patience of God and the cords of Gods bounty and mercy is towards them and therefore they are not reserved in chaines of darkness as the Devil and damned are So that by the bounty of God in the creature we may gather such a conclusion that surely God hath some way to shew mercy unto mankind But we can never have any thoughts by any works of God in his creature that God should send the second person in Trinity to take mans nature upon him to die to suffer for mans sin to tender up satisfaction to divine Justice and then al must be brought into this Covenant then he must be the head of the second Covenant and they must be made Members of his body now the Creature hath no such misttry as this and therefore in the 3 Eph. 8. verse saith the Apostle speaking what his ministery was unto me who am the least of al Saints is the grace given that I should preach amongst the gentils the unsearchable riches of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 investigabiles divitias not to be paced or traced out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of α and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vestigium qui nullis vestigiis indagari potest It is used also Rom. 11.33 they are unsearchable speaking of the riches of Christ as they are of Christ they are unsearchable the word is there the Riches that are without footsteps there is no foot steps of the riches of Christ if we speak of the Doctrine of Christ the Mediator as it is indeed in the Gospel there are no foot steps of them in the Creature therefore though there be some kind of sound in the Creature that it is sure that God hath some kind of way to be reconciled but now the sound of the Gospel this is committed to Ministers to Preach therefore in the. 1 Cor. 1.21 the Apostle saith That in the Wisdome of God the World by Wisdome knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that beleeve Mark the world by Wisdome knew not God certainly the world did know there was a God and that he was infinite in power and goodness but the Text saith they know not God that is they knew not God savingly in Christ they might know that God had some kind of way to shew mercy to sinners but what way they knew not and by Wisdome that is by al the Wisdome that was revealed by God in the Creature and by al the Wisdome they received from God they knew not God by Wisdome true there is an abundance of the Wisdome of God in the Creature several acts are no other then several beames of Gods Wisdome shining in the Creature and the knowledg of these acts are no other but the several beames of Gods Wisdome shining into mens understandings take either of both them and by both these it could not know God in a saving way but by the Foolishness of preaching that is by the preaching that the Men of this world do account foolishness the Lord is pleased to save those that beleeve so that it is evident that the Ministery of Reconciliation is committed to the preachers of the Gospel CHAP. 40. Why God chose Men rather than Angels to dispence the Mystery of Reconciliation The Reasons thereof NOw it is to be enquired after First why God would choose men rather to be the dispencers of of the great Mystery of Reconciliation then the Angels God hath not committed unto them this word of Reconciliation though it is true the Angels they do go about and they somtimes witness to the Gospel as you may read afterwards But they are not chosen by way of office to the Ministery of the Gospel that is not the office they are appointed to so as the Ministers of the Gospel are God hath not chosen Angels in an ordinary way to come and dispence those great and glorious things unto the Children of Men. Object You wil say had it not been better that God should have chosen the Angels to come in and preach Jesus Christ than men for they are poor weak Creatures and like our selves and now when they come to stand up and Preach Jesus Christ the great things about reconciling men to God should we think that they know more then we ourselves Answ You must not think that there is no good to be done till one comes and tels you that you never heard of But you must know that it is by vertue of the ordinance of Christ because he hath appointed a Minister of the Gospel to come and in such a way to preach though the instrument be like your selves and perhaps may not have a deeper understanding then some of you yet you are to look upon it beyond the matter that he speaks you are to look upon it as the ordinance of Christ and so to expect and look at al means whatsoever But now the great standing ordinance in the Church of God is the Ministery of the Gospel It is this that is committed to us to Preach and this therefore is to be looked upon as the power of God to salvation in those that God intends Salvation to God hath not chosen the Angels but Men and upon this reason because we are
riches of his mercy and if thou beest one that God hath fastned upon to shew the riches of his mercy and Grace he shal get that Glory thereby to his name that he did most intend when he made the world Therefore though thy soul be pretious unto thee know that Gods Glory is more pretious unto him than thy soul can be to thee therefore God is more desirous of thy life with those that shal be saved hereafter than they can be desirous to be saved themselves this is a certaine truth because that God shal get more by the salvation of that soul than the soul shal get You get something but God gets much more now then if God be seeking after that that doth so much concern you and you know this day that Gods heart is more strongly set uppn it than yours one would think that this should be a mighty encouragement for any sinner to come in to be rconciled And therefore go on in thy way let not tentation come take off thy heart though yet God seems as an enemy to you We know that Josephs heart was as much towards his bretheren as his bretherens hearts were towards him Joseph dealt in a rugged way as if he had been their enemy yet then was his heart towards them And so go on in thy way of seeking the Lord and though God seeme to be as an enemy yet know that the heart of God is as much towards thee as thy heart can be towards him and Christ looks upon thee as one that he shal get glory to himself by for ever The good Lord say Amen It shal be so FINIS GODS PRESENT MERCIES TO HIS PEOPLE Are Arguments of FUTURE MERCIES Preashed at Saviors Southwark May 2. 1641. Hosea 2.14 And so on Behold I wil allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her and I wil give her Vinyards from thence and the vally of Achor for a door of hope she shal sing there as in the daies of her youth and as in the day when she came up out of the Land of Egypt and it shal be at that day saith the Lord that thou shalt cal me Yshi and shalt cal me no more Baali THis Prophet was sent to the ten Tribes to apostate Israel God threatened dreadful evills against them and yet from the begining of this 14. verse to the end of the Chapter maketh Gratious promises unto them I shal only thus premise that the scope of the Holy Ghost here is to shew mercy to discover the Mercy of God to Apostatizing Israel in a way of conjugal union that though she had gone a whoring from God in regard of her idolatrous worship yet God was contented upon her repentance to take her again and to marry her unto himself and therefore al along the Prophet suits himself with such expressions that signify Gods willingness to marry himself unto her again in that way as they did use to manifest their conjugal love unto their Spouses and that being premised wil help us to understand many expressions both in the words read and in the succeeding part of the Chapter that otherwise would be very obscure to us and especially that in verse 14. I wil allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her this may be taken for bringing her into affliction and then speaking comfortably to her but that is not the scope of the Holy Ghost here it was only taken from the way of Marriage to carry the spouse out of the City into the field that was a heath and a common and so had the terme of a wilderness and there rejoycing and so bringing of her into the City and carrying of her to his Fathers house and that I might shew out of diverse places of scripture especially out of the Canticles who is this that cometh from the Wilderness The Holy Ghost taking this allusion from thence so that the meaning of this expression is nothing else but I wil deal gratiously with her as one that Marries a spouse and carries her out of the City into the field and there rejoyceth with her and speakes comfortably to her The main doctrinal conclusion which I intend to go through shal be raised from these words I wil give her the vally of Achor for a door of hope for I â—hall speak to no more then one point of Doctrine raised from those words I wil give her the vally of Achor for a door of hope It wil be necessary therefore before I tell you the doctrinal point to open these words unto you The vally of Achor It was that vally where Achan was stoned the story of which you may read in the 7 Chapter of the Book of Joshua and upon that occasion of the troubles that the people of Israel had by Achan this vally was called the vally of Achor for the vally of Achor is nothing else but the vally of trouble valla tribulationis the vally of trouble so alluding to that name Achan Now it is true that generally or by very many these words are carried thus That God wil so work things about as to cause the troubles of his people to be but doors of hope to let in Mercies to them and there is a truth in that doctrinal point but not a truth in the grounding of it upon this text for the meaning of the text is otherwise The vally of Achor Though the name signify trouble yet the truth is that this vally of Achor was a delightful vally a very fruitful vally it was just after the enterance into the Land of Canan that God gave it and God here doth allude stil to the way of marriage expressing his love to the ten tribes that he would receive them again and marry them unto himself in that way that they did use to marry amongst the Jews and the way was this amongst them when they did marry any according to the state of the husband he used to give her gifts commonly some field or piece of Ground and if he were a rich man then a larger piece of ground or a more fruitful peece of ground and so according to the height of his condition was his guift So saith God I wil give you a vally of Achor for a door of hope as you when you take a spouse to your selves then you use to indow her with some piece of land or ground according to your estate and that you give to her as a testification of that Love she is to expect from you for the future So I wil give you a vally of Achor I wil bestow fresh and choyce mercies upon you for the present and these mercies shal be in a way of dowrie as a testification of abundance of future good you shal receive from me this is the scope and sence of the Holy Ghost in these words As when God gave the people of Israel the land of Canaan he gave them this Valley
of Achor as the enterance at the door of Hope unto that Mercy that they should injoy from him in the Land of Canaan That this Valley of Achor was a delightful fruitful Valley it appears evidently from that Text in Esa 65.10 And Sharon shal be a Field of flocks and the Valley of Achor a place for the Heards to lie down in for my people that have sought me Here God promises the Valley of Achor as a blessing to the people that did seek him and the Heards should lie down in it it was a very fruitful place and therefore God maketh such a promise Now though it hath the name of trouble yet we find that God promiseth it to his people as a token of his Mercy and so it is to be understood in these words therefore having the meaning of it now we come to the Doctrinal Conclusion that is to be grounded upon this Scripture thus opened unto you the Doctrine then is this Doct. That the Mercies that God bestows upon his Church and his people are doors of hope to future Mercies Present Mercies that God grants unto his people are doors of hope to future Mercies Al Gods Mercies to his Saints are inlets unto further Mercies This is the high priviledge of the Saints of God it belongs not to every one The wicked indeed when they receive any thing from God they may write their Ne plus ultra upon it this is like to be their PORTION and they may wonder that they have any thing at al but the Mercies of God unto his people may be al called doors of hope the name of Joseph may be written upon them as we may read in Genesis 30.24 When Rachel had once conceived and did bear a Son shee called his name Joseph and said The Lord shal add another when she had one she made it a pledge of another the Lord shal another So it is with Gods mercies to his people they are Josephs may conclude that God shal add another when God delivered his people out of Egypt Exod. 13.15 saith Moses Thou hast guided them unto thy holy habitation thou hast guided them that deliverance Moses tooke as a certain Argument of Gods further Mercy toward them thou hast guided them When God did but begin with David in 2 Sam. 5.12 to shew but a little Mercy an outward Mercy to him David did conclude that God had established him in the Kingdome How so God had shewed a great favor outwardly unto David and David could conclude that that favor he did receive was bur an inlet unto more an argument of establishment of him in his Kingdome God hath delivered and he wil deliver saith the Apostle As God maketh way in his wrath by lesser judgements upon the wicked in Psal 78.45 so God maketh way for his Mercy by present lesser Mercies unto his Children But now in the prosecution of this point we shal discover to you 1. The Reasons of it how this cometh to pass 2. We shal answer a question about Gods interuption of his Mercies 3 Discover unto you how we shal come to know when Gods present Mercies are but preparations unto future Mercies what kinds of Mercies those are and how to be known that are but inlets unto other Mercies And then 4. Come to the Uses of the Doctrine that Gods Mercies to his pâ—ople are but in-lets unto greater Reason 1. That cometh hence because of the fulness of mercy that is in God there is such an infinite Ocean and stream and treasure of Mercy in the Lord that hence it is that when it cometh and beginneth to run unto the Saints to the people of God that the beginnings of it are but preparations to let out more the Scripture saith that God doth delight in mercy in Micah 7.18 now that that a man delighteth in if he once begin that that he doth is but to draw on more Gods Mercies are called his Riches God is rich in Mercy the Wisdome of God the Power of God and the Justice of God are not called Gods Riches they are called his Glory I wil make my Glory to passe by and God proclaims his Mercy now then because the Mercies of God are his delight his Riches his Glory when he hath fit subjects to let out these upon when he beginneth once to let them out these beginnings are Testimonies of a Fountain that is to be communicated Reason 2. Al Gods Mercies to his people they come out of love Amor nescit nimium Love knows not too much it knows not any such expression as too much there is nothing too much for Love Love it must not be limited if Love begin to be shewn that that cometh out of Love wâ—l have no bounds Now al the goodnesse that God shews to his people it cometh out of Love out of infinite Love and therefore one Fruit of goodness is but a drawing on of another Indeed when Gods goodness cometh out of general bounty then it is in another manner it stops soon but when it comerh out of intire Love the infinite Love of God it stoppeth not But Thirdly There is another Argument that added to these two maketh it strong indeed and that is Reason 3. That the goodness of God unto his peopel is a fruit of the covenant it cometh not only out of love but it cometh unto them as the fruit of an everlasting covenant that God hath made with them a sure covenant now in the covenant of grace that God hath made with his people there is a connection of al mercies a concatination of al the goodness of God there the treasure of mercy is in the covenant and an exceeding strength of mercy in the covenant to bear down al hindrances and oppositions there mercy is tied unto them by truth and as we read of the covenant between Jonathan and david in 1 Sam 20 15. That David made a covenant with Johnathan that he would never cut off his loving kindness from him nor from his house after him such a covenant hath God made with al his people that he wil never cut off his loving kindness from them he hath made no such covenant with the wicked no God may shew them some favour for the present yet he hath not made a covenant that he wil never cut off his mercy from them you may have abundance of favours this day but you may have them eternally cut off from you but the saints of God are in such a blessed condition as God doth not only shew them mercy for the present but he hath made a covenant with them never to cut off his loving kindness from them and upon this covenant though there he many weaknesses and many distempers in them frailties and infirmities yet God wil never cut off his loving kindness from them Reason 4. Because that the Goodness of God to his people as it cometh from an eternal fountain so it is let out for the accomplishments of eternal ends