43. And he hath commanded us to preach and testify to the People that it is he that was ordained of God to be the Iudge of the quick and dead To Him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of Sins So Acts 3. 19 20 21. Surely we that are to appear before the Bar of an Impartial Judge being so obnoxious to him for the breach of his holy Law what have we to do but to make supplication to our Judge and prevent Execution by a submissive asking of a Pardon and accepting the Grace God hath provided 5. A Iudge implies a Iudgment-day or some Time when his Justice must have a solemn Trial when he will reckon with the lapsed World He reckons sometimes with Nations now for Ungodliness and Unrighteousness by Wars and Pestilence and Famine He reckons with particular Persons at their Death and when their Work is done he pays them their Wages Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed for all Men once to dye and after that the Iudgment But there is a more general and final Judgment when his Justice must have a solemn Tryal which is in part evident in Nature for the Apostles did slide in the Christian Doctrine mostly by this means into the Hearts of those to whom they preached Acts 24. 25. He reasoned of Righteousness Temperance and Iudgment to come The particularity of it belongs to the Gospel-Revelation but Nature hath some kind of Sense of it in it self and they are urged to repent because God hath appointed a Day wherein he will judge the World in Righteousness by the Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17. 31. God judgeth the World in Patience now but then in Righteousness when all things shall be reviewed and every thing restored Vertue to its publick Honour and Vice to its due Shame 6. If there be a Solemn Iudgment-day when every one must receive his final Doom this Judgment certainly infers a Condemnation to a fallen Creature unless God set up another Court for his Relief for now Man is utterly disinabled by Sin to fullfil the Law and can by no means avoid the Punishment that is due to his Transgression I shall prove this by three Reasons The Law to fallen Man is Impossible the Penalty is Intolerable and the Punishment for ought yet appears if God do not take another Course is Unavoidable 1. The Duty of the Law is impossible The Apostle tells us what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the weakness of our flesh It could not justify us before God it could not furnish us with any Answer to his Demands when he shall call us to an Account Man is mightily addicted to the Legal Covenant therefore it is one part of a Gospel-Minister's work to represent the Impossibility of ever obtaining Grace or Life by that Covenant Man would stick to the Law as long as he can and will patch up a sorry Righteousness of his own some few superficial things He makes a short Exposition of the Law that he may cherish a large Opinion of his own Righteousness and curtails the Law of God that the Ell may be no longer than the Cloth and brings it down to a poor contemptible thing requiring a few external superficial Duties of Men. We read often of being dead to Sin and to the World it is as certainly true we must be dead to the Law Now how are we dead to the Law the Scripture tells us in one place that through the Law we are dead to the Law and in another place that we are dead to the Law through the Body of Christ The first place is Gal. 2. 19. Through the Law I am dead to the Law Men are apt to stand to the Legal Covenant and have their Confidence in the Flesh to place their Hopes of acceptance with God in some few external things which they make their false Righteousness For the carnal World as it cryes up a false Happiness as its God so Men have a false Righteousness which is their Christ. Now through the Law they are dead to it How The Law supposeth us as innocent and requires us to continue so Cursed is every one that continues not in every thing c. Suppose a Man should exactly fulfill it afterwards yet the paying of new Debts will not quit old Scores And then we are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ Rom. 7. 4. By the crucified Body of Christ by which he hath merited and purchased a better Hope and Grace for us Well the Duty is impossible 2. The Penalty is intolerable for who can stand when God is angry Ezek. 22. 14. Can thine Heart endure or can thine Hands be strong in the Day that I shall deal with thee We that cannot endure the pain of the Gout or Stone how shall we endure the eternal Wrath of God It is surely a very dreadful thing to fall into the Hands of that living God that lives for every to punish the Transgressors of his Law 3. The Punishment is unavoidable unless Sin be pardoned and you submit to God's way for I would ask you what Hope can you have in God whose Nature ingageth him to hate Sin and whose Justice obligeth him to punish it 1. Whose Nature ingageth him to hate Sin and Sinners Hab. 1. 13. He is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity I urge this for a doubleReason partly because I have observed that all the Security of Sinners and their Neglect of seeking after Pardon by Jesus Christ it comes from their lessening thoughts of God's holiness and if their Hearts were sufficiently possessed with an awe of God's unspotted Purity and Holiness they would more look after the Terms of Grace God hath provided Psal 50. 21. Thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thy self Why do Men live securely in their Sins and do not break off their evil Course They think God is not so severe and harsh and so all their Confidence is grounded upon a Mistake of God's Nature and such a dreadful Mistake as amounts to a Blasphemy Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self The other Reason is this partly because I observe the bottom Reason of all the Fear that is in the Hearts of Men is God's Holiness 1 Sam. 6. 20. Who is able to stand before this holy God And Who would not fear thee for thou art holy Rev. 15. 4. We fear his Power why because it is set on work by his Wrath. We fear his Wrath why because it is kindled by his Justice and Righteousness We fear his Righteousness because it is bottom'd and grounded upon his Holiness and upon the Purity of his Nature 2. His Justice obligeth him to punish Sin that the Law might not seem to be made in vain It concerns the Universal Judge to maintain the Reputation of
the Wound that was in a fair way of healing and willingly relapse into the Sickness he was almost recovered from with so much ado Sure this shews our first Consent was not real and sincere And then Christ will be no Advocate for them that continue in their Sins Our God is a God of Salvation we cannot enough speak of his saving Mercy But he will wound the Head of his Enemies and the hairy Scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his Trespasses Psal. 68. 20 21. 2. Daily Prayer This was spoken unto at the Close of the first Sermon Mat. 6. 12. Our Lord hath taught us to pray for we make but too much work for pardoning Mercy every day Every day forgive us our Trespasses To day in one of the Petitions is common to all that follow as we beg daily Bread we must beg daily Pardon daily Grace against Temptations Under the Law they had a Lamb every Morning and every Evening offered to God for a daily Sacrifice Numb 28. 4 5 6. We are all invited to look to the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World Surely we have as much need as they more Cause than they because now all is clear and openly made known unto us God came to Adam in the cool of the Day he would not let him sleep in his Sins before Night came he comes and rouseth his Conscience and then gives out the Promise of the Seed of the Woman that should break the Serpent's Head In Reconciliation with God let not the Sun go down upon God's Wrath Eph. 4. 26. A Man should not sleep in his Anger nor out of Charity with Man surely we should make our Peace with God every day If a Man under the Law had contracted any Uncleanness he was to wash his Cloaths before Evening that he might notly a Night in his Uncleanness We should daily earnestly come to God with this Request Lord pardon our Sins But what must those that are already adopted into God's Family and taken into his Grace and Favour daily pray for Pardon of Sin Though upon our first Faith our State be changed and we are indeed made Children of God and Heirs of Eternal Life by Faith in Christ Jesus yet he that is clean need wash his Feet We contract a great deal of sinful defilement and pollution by walking up and down here in a dirty World and we must every day be cleansing our Consciences before God and begging that we may be made Partakers of this Benefit III. The third thing is our Recovery out of greivous Lapses and Falls In them there is required a particular and express Repentance And Repentance and Faith must be carried with respect to those four things are in Sin Culpa the Fault Reatus the Guilt Macula the Stain and Blot and Poena the Punishment You know the Law supposeth a righteous Nature that God gives to Man therefore in Sin there is a Stain or Blot defacing God's Image The Precepts of the Law require Duty so it is Culpa a criminal Act the Sanction of the Law as threatned makes way for Guilt as executed calls for Punishment you see how it ariseth 1. For the Fault in the Transgression of the Law or the criminal Action See that the Fault be not continued Relapses are very dangerous A Bone often broken in the same place is hardly set again God's Children are in danger of this before the Breach be well made up or the Orifice of the Wound be soundly closed as Lot doubled his Incest and Samson goes in again and again to Dalilah But in wicked Men frequently as that King sent Fifty after Fifty and nothing would stop him There is an express forsaking of Sin required of us otherwise it would abolish all the Difference between the Renewed and the Carnal 2. The Guilt continues till serious and solemn Repentance and Humiliation before God and suing out our Pardon in Christ's Name 1 Iohn 1. 9. He speaks of Believers If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Unrighteousness There must be a solemn humbling for the Sin and then God will forgive us Suppose a Man forbear the Act and never commit it more as Iudah forbore the Act after he had comitted Incest with Tamar but it seems he repented not till she shewed him the Bracelets and the Staff yet with serious remorse we must beg our Peace humbly upon the account of our Mediatour Therefore something must be done to take away the Guilt 3. There is the Blot or evil Inclination to sin again The Blot of Sin in general is the defacing of God's Image but in particular Sins it is some weakning of the Reverence of God A Man cannot venture to act a grievous wilful Sin but there is a violent Obstruction of the Love of God A Brand that hath been in the Fire is more apt to take Fire again the evil Influences of the Sin continue Now the Root of Sin must be mortified it is not enough to forbear or confess a Sin but we must pull out the Core of the Distemper before all will be well As Ionah he repented of his Tergiversation and forsaking his Call The fault was not repeated he goes to Nineveh and does his duty yet the core of the Distemper was not taken away for you read of him Ion. 4. 2. Was not this my saying when I was yet in my Country therefore I fled before unto Tarshish for I knew thou wert a gracious God and repentest thee of the evil ....... On the contrary Peter fell into a grievous Sin denying his Lord and Master with Oaths and Execrations but afterwards Iohn 21. 15. Christ trys him Jesus saith to Simon Peter Lovest thou me more than these pointing to the rest of his Disciples Peter had been bragging Matth. 26. 33. Though all Men forsake thee yet I will not forsake thee Now when he was foiled tho he had wept bitterly for his Fault Christ tries if the Cause be removed Lord saith he thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee But he doth not say now more than these The Root of the Distemper was gone Peter is grown more modest now than to make Comparisons 4. There is the Punishment Now we must deprecate Eternal Punishment and bless God for Jesus Christ who hath delivered us from Wrath to come But as to temporal Evils God hath reserved a Liberty in the Covenant to his Wisdom and fatherly Justice to inflict temporal Punishments as he shall see good If they break his Statutes and keep not his Commandments then will he visit their Transgression with the Rod and their Iniquity with Stripes Psal. 89. 32 33. Nevertheless my loving-kindness I will not utterly take from them nor suffer my Faithfulness to fail If Iudgment begin at the House of God what shall become of the Sinner and Ungodly The Righteous are recompensed upon Earth partly to increase
of our Desires And partly through Slavish Fear We hate those whom we fear A condemning God can never be loved by a guilty Creature We look upon him as one that will call us to an account for our Sins Now all these Reasons concur to shew us that till Sin be taken away we cannot love nor delight in God neither can God love us and delight in us God will not have Communion with us while we are in our Sins Christ when he came to bring us to God he came not to make any Change in God to make God less holy but to make us holy and amiable in his sight The reasonable Nature cannot digest this Conceit that the holy God should take Sinners into his Bosom without any change Would it become the Governour of the World to be indifferent to good and bad the holy God to be a Friend to Sinners The new Nature in us sheweth the contrary for that causes an abomination and abhorrence both of Impurity and the Impure As Lot's righteous Soul was vexed with the Sodomites And we are told Prov. 29. 27. An unjust Man is an Abomination to the Iust and he that is upright in the Way is Abomination to the Wicked If a Man be sanctified but in part he cannot delight in the wicked freely to converse with them He hath a Hatred not of Enimity so as to seek their Destruction not a Hatred opposite to good Will that is contrary to the Nature of Grace which is made up of Love but an Hatred of Abomination which is contrary to the Love of Complacency he cannot take any delight in him Now then without a manifest reproach to the Holy God we cannot imagine he should admit Sinners into an intimate Communion with him Thou hatest all the Workers of Iniquity Psal. 5. 5. God said to the Prophet Ier. 15. 19. Let them return unto thee but return not thou to them God will not return to us in our Sins but we must come off from our Sins to him 2. We are freed from the great Blemish of our Natures Sin defaced the Image of God in us Rom. 3. 23. All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God We lost not only the Favour of God but the Image of God the great Excellency of our Nature was eclipsed and defaced Now the Plaister will not be as broad as the Sore nor our Reparation by Christ correspondent to our Loss by Adam if our Nature be not healed and the Image of God restored in us If Adam had only left us guilty the Pardon of Sin had been enough but he conveyed an evil Nature and therefore we must be turned from our Sins as well as pardoned otherwise Christ would not restore all that Adam took away Psal. 69. 4. Is he a good Physician that takes away the Pain and leaves the great Disease uncured But Christ has procured the Favour of God for us and repaired the Image of God in us and therefore certainly put us into a way of Blessedness again Holiness was our Primitive Excellency and Amiableness 3. We are freed from that that is the great Burden of the Creature as well as his Blemish Whatever it be to the common Sinner that is no matter he hath no right thoughts of things and is besotted with his carnal choice for Sin is an Evil whether it be felt or no but the awakened Sinner is sensible not only of the Guilt of Sin but it is his greatest Burden that he should have a Nature inclines him to grieve and dishonour God Pharaoh could say Take away this Plague But a penitent broken-hearted Sinner cries Take away all Iniquity They desire a Change of this State by Regeneration Therefore the Promises of the Gospel considering a penitent Soul under such a Distress are suted to the Case 1 Iohn 1. 9. If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and cleanse us from all Unrighteousness If you know what Sin is and penitently bemoan your selves to God you will be troubled with the Power and Pollution of it as well as the Guilt Mic. 7. 18 19. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of the Remnant of his Heritage He will turn again he will have compassion hewill subdue our Iniquities A Heart truly affected doth not only desire Pardon and Ease but Power against Sin A Man that hath his Leg broken would not only desire Ease of his pain but to have his Leg set right again A Leprous Condemned Malefactor desires not only to be freed from the Sentence of Condemnation but to be cured or his Pardon will do him no good Now surely it is a great Blessing to be turned from our Sins to be freed from that a penitent Soul finds to be so great a Burden and the Mediatour gives us a notable proof of his Love in it 4. Being turned from our Sins we are freed from the great bane of our Persons and all our happiness Sin is a Cursed Inmate it fires the Lodging where it is entertain'd and harboured unless speedily cast out of doors it involves us in the curse of the Law The wages of Sin is Death therefore Christ that he might free us from Misery doth first free us from Sin If pardon of Sin be a blessing certainly to be turned from Sin is a blessing for the one cannot be had without the other till you are turned from Sin you cannot be pardoned not justified till you are sanctified Psal. 32. 1 2. Blessed is the Man whose Sin is forgiven and whose Iniquity is covered and unto whom the Lord will not impute his Sin in whose spirit there is no guile When God hath given us an holy sincere heart and turned us from our Sins then we have the Blessedness of Pardon There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Rom. 8. 1. who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit We are freed from the condemning power of the Law when freed from Sin and all that Woe and Wrath that belongs to every Soul that doth evil By all these Considerations it appears how great a Blessing the turning us from Sin is in the privative notion that is the removal of so great an evil 2. Take Blessedness in the Positive Notion that is to enjoy a great Good and it will appear it is a blessed thing to be turned from our Sins 1. Because this is the matter of our Serenity Comfort and Peace here and the pledg and beginning of our eternal Felicity hereafter The Soul can never be setled in an holy Peace till it be turned from its Sins we can never find rest till we get out of Satan's yoke and get into Christ's blessed Liberty The fruit of Righteousness is Peace Isa. 32. 17. We are freed from those unquiet and troublesom thoughts wherewith others are haunted A wicked Man's Soul is in a mutiny one Affection wars against another and all against
no Sacrifice without it Not that he tasted of their Meat-offerings or did eat the Fat or Flesh of Bulls and Goats and drink their Blood and so would have it seasoned for his Pallate and Appetite it is not so to be understood but in Types as well as in Similitudes there is a condescension to our sense and apprehension of things That that is salted is savoury therefore God would note his acceptation of our persons and services this way By nature we are all odious unsavoury and distasteful to God by reason of Sin Psal. 14. 3. They are all become filthy there is none that doth good no not one in the Hebrew it is putrified stinking like corrupt and rotten Flesh. We must be salted and seasoned by the Grace of Christ and so we become amiable and acceptable in the sight of God The more upright we are the more he delighteth in us 2. To Men the more we are thus salted and mortified the more shall we do good to others Our Lord tells his Disciples Mat. 5. 13. Ye are the Salt of the Earth but if the Salt lose its savour wherewith shall it be salted it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of Men. This is spoken to the Disciples as Disciples not as Apostles and publick Persons It is a mistake to think that only Ministers are the Light of the World and the Salt of the World No all Christians must shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation all Christians must be as the Salt of the Earth Christ's whole Sermon contains general Duties and the Disciples were not yet sent abroad as Apostles nor ever heard of such a Commission or that their Master would send them abroad for the proselyting the World to the Kingdome of God that was done afterwards Chap. 10. and therefore here he speaks to Christians as Christians Now they are said to be Salt even as they season all those among whom they live A Christian is never savoury in his Conversation with others till he hath Salt in himself then all his actions are seasoned with Grace and beget a remembrance of God then his words are seasoned with Grace and do good to others The Apostle saith Eph. 4. 29. Let no corrupt Communication come out of your Mouths that rotten and corrupt Communication which vents it self in slandering rayling ribaldry foolish jesting at holy things lyes cursing and the like all these come from a corrupt Heart as a stinking Breath argues rotten Lungs These want the Grace of Mortification so are all sapless Spirits that cannot speak any thing of God seriously but in their most serious discourse are as fresh as Water But go among the mortified and you receive the savour of good things from them you have not only savoury Prayers and savoury Sermons but savoury Conferences and Discourses Col. 4. 6. Let your speech be alway poudered with Salt that is do not speak idely much less profanely but in an edifying manner Now Christians ought to take heed they do not lose their savouriness for then they do not please God nor profit Man and are fit for nothing but the Dunghil Thus I have proved the second thing that the Grace of Mortification is the true Salt that seasons Christians III. There is a Necessity of this Salt in all those that have entered into Covenant with God and have dedicated and devoted themselves to him 1. By our Covenant Vow we are bound to the strictest Duties and that upon the highest Penalties The Duty to which we are bound is very strict We have answered God in all the demands of his Covenant 1 Pet. 3. 21. For Baptism saveth as the answer of a good Conscience towards God The Lord demands and puts in effect this Question Will you die unto Sin and live unto Righteousness this is the tenour of the Baptismal Covenant that is so often so solemnly renewed at the Lord's Supper and you are to reckon your selves Rom. 6. 11. to be dead unto Sin and alive unto Righteousness through Christ Iesus our Lord reckon your selves that is in Vow and Obligation And the Penalty is very high Heb. 10. 26. that we sin wilfully so that our admission into Christ's Family will be in vain yea to our further ruine If you do not stand to the Covenant if you keep Sin still alive and add Fuel to the Flames 2. The Abundance of Sin that yet remains in us and the marvellous activity of it in our Souls we cannot get rid of this cursed Inmate till our Tabernacle be dissolved and this House of Clay tumbled into the Dust. Paul groaned sorely under it Oh wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death Rom. 7. 24. And it is called Sin that doth easily beset us Heb. 12. 10. Well then since Sin is not nullified it must be mortified It works it wars there is a marvellovs activity in it it is very active and restless Rom. 7. 8. Sin wrought in me all manner of concupiscence he means sinful nature And the Apostle Iames tells us Iam. 4. 5. The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy there is not a sleepy but a stirring Principle always inclining us to evil and hindring that which is good Sin doth not only make us a little flexible and yeelding to Temptations but doth hurry us and impel us thereunto It is a Law warring in our Members that brings us into Captivity to Sin Rom. 7. 23. Corrupt Nature is not a tame thing that works not till it be irritated by the suggestions of Satan or temptations of the World but is like a living Spring that pours out Water of its own accord it will not let us alone the Heart of Man is evil continually and so it always hinders us from that that is good Rom. 7. 21. When I would do good evil is present with me it blunts the edge of our Affections it seeks to weaken our purposes by unbelieving thoughts or drawing us away from God by the lure of some sensitive delight in stealing our Hearts from him in the very duties and solemn addresses we make to him distracting our minds with thoughts of the World and the Pomp and Glory thereof and so turns our very Duties into Sin and makes us lose the comfort and sweetness of them it blasts and perverts our most sincere endeavours Well then without this Salt of the Covenant if this be so what shall we do have we not need to keep humble and watchful if Sin be stirring we must be stirring against it and improve the grace of the Holy Spirit upon the account of Christ's Death and use all good means that it may be subdued in us 3. Consider the sad consequences of letting Sin alone both either as to further Sin or Punishment 1. As to further Sin For Christ speaks here of Scandals If Lust be not mortified it grows outragious it has foil'd us before God
Principle Eph. 4. 24. It is created after God in Righteousness and true Holiness as suiting us to these things So the Spirit is promised to enable us to walk in God's ways Ezek. 36. 27. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall keep my Iudgments and do them It helps us to avoid Sin 1 Joh. 3. 9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit Sin for his Seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God They that give back cannot yeild to those Sins with which others are surprized and captivated 2. It prepares us for Heaven Thither is the tendency of the new Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. 1 Joh. 5. 4. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World it moveth us to mind love and seek after Heavenly things This Grace came from Heaven and there it is perfected 2. There is an other Principle of corrupted Nature remaining in us which is sometimes called Flesh as before sometimes the old Man Eph. 4. 22. Sin that dwelleth in us Rom. 8. 17. The Body of Sin Rom. 6. 6. The Law of the Members warring against the Law of the Mind Rom. 7. 23. By this Principle they are inclined to that which is evil This Principle also may be known 1. By the manner how it was derived to us 2. By its Tendency and Operations 1. The manner how it was derived to us from Adam in his Apostacy and as faln from his chief Good and last End Ioh. 3. 6. When Man fell from God he fell to himself The Temptation was Ye shall be as Gods Gen. 3. 5. He would set up Self as a God And what was that Self which Man sought to idolize but himself rather considered as a Body than as a Soul And therefore when God sought to reduce Man where lay the difficulty that Text will inform you Gen. 6. 3. My Spirit shall not always strive with Man for that he is also Flesh that is sunk or lost in Flesh altogether wedded to the Interests of the bodily Life 2. By its Tendency and Influence it prompts us to do those things which are most acceptable to Sense or agreeable to our worldly and carnal Ends. The Flesh operateth several ways according to Mens callings occasions or constitutions Isa. 53. 6. 1 Ioh. 2. 16. As every Soil beareth such Weeds as are most suitable to the Nature and Quality of the Ground so some are enslaved by this some by that particular Sin yet all of them alike opposite to God Differences there are as to the choice of their way wherein they please the Flesh some in a more gross some in a more cleanly manner yet they all walk in the Lust of the Flesh following inbred Corruption as their Guide or obey it either in a way of Worldliness Ambition or Sensuality Some ways are more blameless before the World because they less deserve a Worldly Interest some are so prodigiously wicked that they cause a Horror even in Mankind though degenerated Now after Conversion some of our former Sins cripple us and we halt of the old Maim still and it is not enough to stop one gap while corruption runneth out at many more but we must make Conscience of not fulfilling the Lusts of the Flesh in any kind Well now I have shewed you the two Principles which are in a Christian That we may have a Sence of our imbecillity and that we are but regenerated in part II. I will prove to you that there is a Liberty in a Christian of walking according to each Principle either the Spirit or Flesh. 1. That the Christian hath Liberty of walking according to the Spirit is out of question for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty 2 Cor. 3. 17. Surely the Spirit of Christ can free us and doth free us from the bondage of Corruption Rom. 8. 2. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ hath freed me from the Law of Sin and Death otherwise there would be no distinction between Nature and Grace If we should be still shackled and manacled by our Lusts and be as unable to pursue our last End as we were before if there were no inclination to God and Heavenly things what have they gotten by Grace and therefore though we are still weak yet we have the gift of the Spirit to free us from Sin The Force and Efficacy of the new Nature appeareth in three things Scire Velle Posse in knowing our Duty and willing and purposing and doing our Duty suitable to the three Faculties of Man his Understanding Will and vital Power So the Spirit received from Christ 2 Tim. 1. 7. is a Spirit of Power Love and a sound Mind 1. For Scire The new Nature partly consists in the internal Light of the Mind by which we understand the things of God revealed in the Scriptures concerning our Duties and Priviledges and so the Unction is said to teach us all things 1 Joh. 2. 20. That is all things which belong to our necessary Duty and Happiness God's Children in necessary things have a good Understanding or as it is said Isa. 11. 3. They are quick of Understanding in the fear of the Lord. By this it doth warn us of our danger mind us of ourduty upon all occasions 2. For Velle To be willing The force of the new Creature lieth in the love of God for we are never converted to God till he hath our Hearts till we love him with all our Soul with all our Might and Strength and hate what is contrary to him Psal. 17. 10. Ye that love the Lord hate evil Now surely they that love God and hate evil are at liberty more than others to serve and please God and avoid Sin Hate Sin once and it hath little Power over you 3. For Posse or the active Power The wonder is rather how he can sin deliberately voluntarily than how he cannot sin 1 Ioh. 3. 9. and for doing good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2. 13. I can do all things Eph. 2. 10. A Spiritual Man is prepared for every good work 2. The Assistant Power which accompanieth the new Creature in all his Actions doth certainly give him a great advantage of Liberty to know will and do things pleasing unto God As he doth first convert us unto God and quicken us when we are dead in Trespasses and Sins so after Conversion when the Principles of a new Life are put into us he still helpeth us and as all Creatures depend upon God in esse conservari operari Acts 17. 28. So doth the new Creature depend on the Spirit he leadeth and guideth all the Children of God to their Everlasting Estate Rom. 8. 14. He assists the Will and the vital Power Phil. 2. 13. Otherwise we may complain with Paul Rom. 7. 18. For to Will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not There may be a Will or an
Inclination but it can be brought into no Effect He cleareth the Mind which otherwise would be blinded by Temptations excites the Will which otherwise would be blunted with oppositions assists the vital Power which else would be obstructed and impeded from producing its Effects 2dly That a Christian hath a Liberty or Power of walking according to the Flesh. The opposite Principle though it be broken so far that it is not in habitual predominancy yet doth too often prevail over us otherwise it were impossible to sin or to be unjust unmerciful unmindful of God and heavenly things unchast intemperate or licentious in our Actions and all the Admonitions and Exhortations of the Word to keep the Regenerate from yeilding to the Enticements of the Flesh would be in vain if they could not possibly yeild to them In Heaven indeed there need no Disswasions from Sin because the glorified Saints are above all possibility of sinning there is no Devil to tempt nor World to entice nor Flesh to incline them to be seduced by those Temptations but Earth is not Heaven Here mortified Lusts may awaken and recover Strength by a Temptation But more distinctly these Arguments shew it 1. That though the Inclination be to God and Heaven which is the Fruit of Saving-Grace yet the Acts of it are voluntary Grace is a real active working Thing but it doth not work necessarily as Fire burneth it must be excited and stirred up both by the Spirit of God who worketh in us both to will and to do Phil. 2. 13. and by our selves We must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1. 6. We must still be blowing up this holy Fire as the Priest did the Fire of the Altar to keep it burning and its Motions must be hearkned to cherished and complied withal if we would keep the carnal Part under and prevent it from breaking out into shameful Acts. But as we grow remiss or careless in our Duty Sin acquireth and prevaileth over us 2. The Flesh which remaineth in us is importunate to be pleased and though it be not superior in the Soul yet it hath a great deal of Strength that still we need even to the very last to keep watching and striving and must resolve to be deaf to its Entreaties and Sollicitations 1 Pet. 1. 14. Not fashioning your selves to the former Lusts of your Ignorance or accommodating your selves to please the Flesh that is they must not cast their Conversations into a carnal Mould nor suffer their Choice and Actions to be directed and governed by the Influence of the Flesh or give up themselves to the Satisfaction of their sinful Desires In short former Lusts are but in part subdued our old Love to them may be soon kindled and the Bias of Corruption gather Strength again and the Gates of the Senses are always open to let in such Objects as take part with the Flesh and stir it up Therefore we must not imagine that there is no need of Diligence or Striving and Watching Holy Paul saw a need of beating down his Body lest after he had preached to others he himself should be a Cast-away 1 Cor. 9. 26. After so many years Service in the Cause of Christ this great Champion was not secure of the Adversary he carried about with him There is need of Caution to the last that we do not revert into our old Slavery The contrary Principle in us still retaineth some Life and Vigor though much abated there is not such a Con-naturality and Agreement between the Heart and Sin as there was before but yet Sin still dwelleth and worketh in us and we are often foiled by it 3. That since there is a Liberty we must be careful to live according to the Operation and Influence of the better Principle for it lieth upon us as our Duty though we have the Power from above There is a double Argument implied in the Text The one is A Beneficio the other A Periculo the Profit the Danger 1. A Beneficio from the Benefit accruing to us We shall not fulfil the Lusts of the Flesh. If they yeeld to the Motions and Inclinations of the Regenerate Part they cannot 〈◊〉 the Evil which the Carnal Part would have them the 〈◊〉 they have will hold them in as a Bridle and turn their Minds another way Surely Sin is no such lovely thing that we should be enamour'd of it yea it is such an hateful thing that we should shun and avoid it by all means possible Now when you have an Help at hand not only near you but within you such as the new Nature which riseth up in Rebukes and Dislikes against Sin you should take this Advantage otherwise you offer violence not only to the Law of God but that new Nature which he hath put into you There are three Reasons which may be urged here 1. The better Principle the more it is obeyed the more it is strengthned for the Way of the Lord is Strength to the Upright Prov. 10. 29. The Habits of Grace increase by Exercise and the more Godly and Heavenly we are the more we shall be so and the more constantly we act Grace the more easily and readily we act it and with greater pleasure and delight This is a sure Rule that God rewardeth Grace with Grace one Duty is an Help to another and the Sweetness and Pleasure groweth upon us every day It is at first yoking that the Bullock is most unruly and Beginners are burthen'd with the toil of Obedience more than grown Christians Christ's Yoak groweth more easy every day by the bearing for the Opposition is more broken and the Experience of the sweetness and goodness of this way is more increased Prov. 4. 18 19. 2. The Power of inbred Corruption is subdued and the Lusts of the Flesh weakned for as the better Principle groweth the other loseth Strength Mortification and Vivification mutually help one another the more we are dead unto Sin the more we are alive unto Righteousness so on the other side the more we live unto Righteousness the more we are dead to Sin for the carnal Life is swallowed up of the spiritual And therefore to grown Christians Temptations either make none or no considerable Impression they are alive to God and therefore dead unto the Flesh and dead unto the World It cannot be imagined that the Flesh should bear sway where there is a strong opposite Principle to check it and when we suffer it not to be idle and unfruitful it will obtain its Effect Sin cannot be our Trade Custom and Delight No it is complained of as our heaviest Burden Rom. 7. 29. resisted as the greatest Evil and most opposite not only to our Duty but to our very Nature and Temper 3. This walking in the Spirit giveth us an Evidence of our Interest in the Grace of Iustification Gal. 5. 18. And if ye be led by the Spirit ye are not under the Law Not to be under the teaching of
the Law as a Rule of Obedience is impossible for a Creature To challenge such an Exemption in point of Right is to make our selves Gods To usurp it in point of Fact is to make our selves Devils It must be meant therefore either of the irritating or condemning Power of the Law If of the former as the Law by the rigid exacting of Obedience doth increase Sin rather than subdue it and maketh corrupt Nature spurn and rebel against it so it is the same with the former Motives but that is a more limited Sence Not under the Law may be expounded to be not under the condemning Power of it and so to be under the Law is opposed to be under Grace Rom. 8. 1. There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus There is a great Priviledge but what is the Qualification Who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit That is obey the new Nature 2. A Periculo the Danger of not obeying the new Nature or walking after the Spirit 1. They lose their Advantage and receive one of God's Gifts in vain To receive objective Grace in vain aggravateth our Guilt Ioh. 3. 19. But to receive subjective Grace in vain doth more provoke God Objective Grace is that which is discovered in the Gospel subjective Grace is that which is found in the Heart of a Believer the internal Grace of the holy Spirit renewing the Heart Now to sin away this Advantage after we are made Partakers of it doth increase our Guilt surely therefore if we live in the Spirit we should walk in the Spirit Gal 5. 25. We should improve God's best Gifts or else the work of his Spirit is lost He loseth nothing but Corn Wine and Oil bestowed upon others but he hath bestowed the Sanctification of the Spirit upon you shall he lose the Glory of that also 2. The new Nature is exceedingly weakned and suffers loss if it be not cherished and obeyed The Church of Sardis is warned to prevent the dying of gracious Habits David speaketh as if the Work were to begin anew and his Restoring were a second Conversion Psal. 51. 10. Create in me a clean Heart O Lord and renew a right Spirit within me The Principle of Grace being not adher'd to loseth much of Vigor and Power 3. When these Motions are not obeyed and this Power is not exercised God is provoked to withdraw the quickning Grace Though the Spirit here spoken of is the new Nature yet the Holy-Ghost is the Super-intendent of it and doth move guide direct and quicken by it The new Nature inclineth but he giveth Strength to its Motions Now the Spirit withdraweth when this Work is slighted and we wilfully run into Sin Psal. 51. 11. Take not thy holy Spirit from me 4. There is another Mischief his sanctifying Work is not only obstructed but his certifying and sealing Work is obscured and so our Day is turned into Night Eph. 4. 30. Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed to the Day of Redemption Use 1. It sheweth what Necessity there is that we should look after Conversion to God or a Work of Grace wrought in us by the holy Spirit for the Apostle supposeth they had the Spirit There is no walking without living for otherwise our Motions are but the Motions of Puppets not proceeding from internal Life but acted from Springs and Engines no subduing the Flesh without setting up an opposite Principle Therefore we must give up our selves to the Holy Spirit first to be sanctified then governed by him first renewed then guided ordered and directed by him in all our Actions and the Flesh dieth away insensibly 2dly Being renewed by the Holy-Ghost that is having our Minds enlightned and Hearts inclined we must obey this Inclination for Life is not given us that we may have it but that we may act by it and do things sutable to that Life which we have Grace is not a sluggish idle Quality but is always working and warring on the opposite Principle 3dly Though at first we are pester'd and encountred with the Lusts of the Flesh which divert us from God and Heavenly Things yet we should not be discouraged by every difficulty For Difficulties do but inflame a resolved Spirit as Stirring doth the Fire And besides though we do not wholly subdue the Lusts of the Flesh yet we shall not accomplish them and live in subjection to them but by degrees get power against them 4thly The carnal Life is not of one Sort. Some wallow in sensual Pleasures others have Head and Heart altogether taken up with the World and worldly things Now if God hath put a new Biass upon our Wills and Affections we must shew it forth by an Heavenly Conversation For they that mind earthly Things are carnal and the great Inclination of the new Nature is to carry us unto God and the Things of another World 2 Cor. 5. 5. 5thly They are much to blame that complain of Sin and will not take the Course to get rid of it by obeying the Instincts of the Holy-Ghost or the Motions of the new Nature The Lord's Spirit is a free Spirit Psal. 51. 12. And his Truth maketh us free John 8. 32. And we are interessed in this Liberty when born of the Spirit Let us be true to our Duty and we shall bless God for our Liberty rather than complain of our Bondage It is Laziness and Cowardise not to improve Grace which was given us for this use 6thly How much we are concerned in all Conflicts especially in those which allow Deliberation to take part with the Spirit and obey his Motions rather than to fulfill the Lusts of the Flesh otherwise by Consent and upon Deliberation you are unfaithful to Christ and your own Souls Your Business is not to gratify the Flesh but to crucify it to over-rule Sense and Appetite and cherish the Life of Grace Galat. 5. 24. And surely when Conscience hath help to deliberate it is a greater Evil to resist it than when hurried by our own Passions 7thly It is of great Use and Profit to us to observe which Principle decayeth the Flesh or the Spirit for thereby we judge of our Condition both in order to Mortification and Comfort The Increase of the Flesh may be known 1. By your Backwardness to God Grace is clogged when you cannot serve Him with Sweetness and Delight Rom. 7. 18. 2. When the Heart groweth careless of Heaven and your Life and Love is more taken up about things present than to come Phil. 3. 18 19. The contrary is found when Grace is in vigor 2 Cor. 4. 18. Col. 3. 1 2. Secondly The Prevalency and Increase of the Spirit is known 1. By an humble Contentedness and Indifferency to Plenty Pleasures and Honours Phil. 4. 12. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to
Love to Mankind God so loved the World 2. The way which God took to recover our lapsed condition or the Effect and Fruit which flows from this Fountain that he gave his only begotten Son 3. The end of it that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life Where take notice of 1. The Qualification or the free and easy condition put upon Men in the Gospel that whosoever believeth in him 2. The benefit that resulteth to us expressed Negatively and Affirmatively should not perish but have everlasting Life First The rise and beginning of all is God's unconceivable Love God so loved the World Where observe 1. The Object the World 2. The Act Loved 3. The Degree So loved 1. The word by which the Object is expressed is the World which noteth Mankind in its corrupt and miserable State 1 Ioh. 5. 19. The whole World lies in Sin The World is an Heap of Men who had broken God's Law forfeited his Love and Favour they neither loved nor feared God but were unthankful and unholy yet this World God loved 2. The Act He loved The Love of God is twofold the Love of Benevolence and the Love of Complacence 1. The Love of Benevolence is the Pity and Compassion of God towards Man lying in Sin and Misery This is understood in this place as also in Tit. 3. 4. The Kindness and Love of God our Saviour towards Man appeared 2. The Love of Complacence 〈◊〉 he loveth us when he hath made us lovely In which Sence it is said Psal. 11. 7. The Righteous God loveth Righteousness Joh. 16. 27. The Father himself loved you because ye loved me This belongeth not to this place 3. The Degree So loved He doth not tell you how much but leaveth it to your most solemn raised Thoughts It is rather to be conceived than spoken of and admired rather than conceived Observe from the Words That the Beginning and first Cause of our Salvation is the meer Love of God The outward Occasion was our Misery the inward moving Cause was God's Love 1. Love is at the Bottom of all We may give a Reason of other Things but we cannot give a Reason of his Love God shewed his Wisdom Power Justice and Holiness in our Redemption by Christ. If you ask why he made so much ado about a worthless Creature raised out of the Dust of the Ground at first and had now disorder'd himself and could be of no use to him We have an Answer at hand Because he loved us If you continue to ask But why did he love us We have no other Answer but because he loved us for beyond the first Rise of things we cannot go And the same Reason is given by Moses Deut. 7. 8. The Lord did not set his Love upon you nor chuse you because you were more in number than any People for ye were the fewest of all People but because the Lord loved you that is in short He loved you because he loved you The same Reason is given by our Lord Jesus Christ Mat. 11. 26. Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy Sight All came from his free and undeserved Mercy higher we cannot go in seeking after the Causes of what is done for our Salvation 2. The most remarkable Thing that is visible in the Progress and Perfection of our Salvation by Christ is Love And it is meet that the Beginning Middle and End should suit Nay if Love be so conspicuous in the whole Design and Carrying on of this blessed Work it is much more in the Rise and Fountain God's great End in our Redemption was the Demonstration of his Love and Mercy to Mankind yea not only the Demonstration but the Commendation of it That is the Apostle's word Rom. 5. 8. God commendeth his Love to us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us A thing may be demonstrated as real that is not commended or set forth as great God's Design was that we should not only believe the Reality but admire the Greatness of his Love Now from first to last Love is so conspicuous that we cannot overlook it Light is not more conspicuous in the Sun than the Love of God in our Redemption by Christ. 3. If there were any other Cause it must be either the Merit of Christ or some Worthiness on our part 1. The Merit of Christ was not the first Cause of God's Love but the Manifestation Fruit and Effect of it The Text telleth he first loved the World and then gave his only begotten Son It is said 1 Ioh. 3. 16. Hereby perceive we the Love of God because he laid down his Life for us Look as we perceive and find out Causes by their proper Effects so we perceive the Love of God by the Death of Christ. Christ is the principal Means whereby God carrieth on the Purposes of his Grace and therefore is represented in Scripture as the Servant of his Decrees 2. No Worthiness in us For when his Love moved him to give Christ for us he had all Mankind in his prospect and view as lying in the polluted Mass or in a State of Sin and Misery and then provided a Redeemer for them God at first made a perfect Law which forbad all Sin upon pain of Death Man did break this Law and still we break it day by day in every Sin Now when Men lived and went on in Sin and Hostility against God he was pleased then to send his Son to assume our Nature and die for our Transgressions Therefore the giving of a Redeemer was the Work of his free Mercy Man loved not God yea was an Enemy to God when Christ came to make the Atonement 1 Ioh. 4. 10. Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins Col. 1. 21. And you that were sometimes alienated and Enemies in your Minds by wicked Works yet now hath he reconciled We were sensless of our Misery careless of our Remedy so far from deserving that we desired no such matter God's Love was at the beginning not ours USE 1. Is to confute all Misapprehensions of God It is the grand Design of Satan to lessen our Opinion of God's Goodness So he assaulted our first Parents as if God notwithstanding all his Goodness in their Creation was envious of Mans Felicity and Happiness And he hath not left off his old wont He seeketh to hide God's Goodness and to represent him as a God that delighteth in our Destruction and Damnation rather than in our Salvation as if he were inexorable and hardly entreated to do us good And why That we may stand aloof from God and apprehend him as unlovely Or if he cannot prevail so far he tempteth us to poor unworthy mean thoughts of his Goodness and Mercy Now we can notobviate the Temptation better than by due reflections on his Love in giving his Son for the World
in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. The Author Tit. 3. 5 6. Not by Works of Righteousness which ye have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour Till we are in him and be one with him we have not this great Benefit 2 Cor. 5. 17. If any Man be in Christ he is a new Creature We are destitute of that Image of God wherein we were created and better we had never been born unless new-born 2. The Favour of God which is an immediate Consequent of his Image God delighted in Man as innocent but Man sinful is the Object of God's Wrath Loathing and Aversation Therefore Christ died to recover Man to the Love and Favour of God 2 Cor. 5. 14. To make peace between the offended Sovereign and Subject offending To interpose between God angry and Man guilty Now this Breach continueth till we are reconciled by Christ till we love God and are beloved by him And better we had been in a lower rank of Creatures than to continue under God's displeasure for the Misery of the Beasts dies with them Death puts an end to all their Pains at once but the Wrath of God not appeased by Christ continues on the Sinner for ever 3. Fellowship with God was lost by the Fall Man was driven out of Paradise and shut out of God's Presence by a flaming Sword Gen. 3. 24. the Emblem of his Wrath and all Entercourse was broken off But Christ came to open the Way by whom we have access unto God with boldness and confidence Eph. 3. 12. Heb. 4. 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in a time of need We need daily access to God we cannot live without him How can we look him in the Face with any Comfort when we have no Mediator we cannot have any serious thoughts of him without trembling 2. There is no removal of that Misery which we have incurred which is the Death and Curse wherein we are involved by Sin As long as the Curses of the Law stand in full force against us we can have no firm confidence if we look to time past there is a huge heap of Sins the least of which is enough to sink us into Hell if we look to time present our nature being not yet healed our Hearts swarm with divers Lusts and we are ready to sin again if to time to come Death Hell and Judgment affright us Christ findeth us where Adam left us in the High-way to Hell and Damnation Joh. 3. 18. Condemned already and to hope for any release unless it be upon God's Terms is to make him untrue and unjust Certainly God will not break his Word and disturb the order of his Covenant for your sakes Therefore how will you escape the Curse and Condemnation of the Law if Christ be not given to you 3. There is no obtaining of what we should desire and pursue after as our proper Happiness but only by Christ. Man was made for God and cannot be happy without him and he is most compleatly happy in the full Enjoyment of him Now there is no coming to that blessed State but by Christ. Ioh. 14. 6. He is the Way to the Father The most eminent Sence is with respect to our final Blessedness when we come into his immediate Presence So Ioh. 5. 11. This is the Record that God hath given us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son It is Christ alone that can put us in the way and bring us home to Eternal Bliss USE 1. Is to confute the Worlds Opinion who measure God's Love by outward things or worldly Felicity Alas The Love or Hatred of God is not known by these things Eccles. 9. 1 2. Neither can the Heart of Man be satisfied with them These things can give us a Belly-full but not a Heart-full Psal. 17. 14 15. Those that take up with the Creature never felt the weight of Sin are not serious in matters of Eternal Concernments The only true Happiness is in having God for our God Christ for our Redeemer the Spirit for our Sanctifier and Comforter Use 2. Is to excite us to bless God for Jesus Christ. The Apostle doth frequently in all his Groans and Afflictions Rom. 7. 25. I thank God through Iesus Christ our Lord c. Blessed be God for the Grace of Iesus Christ whereby we have Pardon for what is past and Grace for the future to perform what God will accept So 1 Cor. 15. 57. Thanks be to God which gives us the Victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. God by Christ hath given us the Victory over Sin Death and Hell So should you especially in the Lord's Supper it is an Eucharist be thankful that God hath given Christ for us which is an unspeakable Gift And now he cometh to give him to you afford him an hearty welcome into your Souls as you take him and apply him by Faith and give up your selves to him as his Redeemed Ones You come to look upon Christ who made his Soul an Offering for Sin he is here represented as crucified before your Eyes and is by God specially offered to your acceptance and with him Pardon and Life You must be joyful and thankful for these great Gifts and Benefits so dearly bought so surely sealed so freely offered and in the sense of all this devote your selves to God Use 3. Make it your main Care to see if Christ be given to us Without him you cannot have any true Remedy against Evil nor any solid Hope of Good Certain it is that in our Natural Estate we were without him Is there a Change The two great Ends for which Christ came were to appease God and to be the Principle of a new Life Is Christ given for these Ends Have you received him Do not think Christ fell from Heaven into your Bosom whether you would or no. Did you ever feel your Misery without him and cry mightily to God Give me Christ or else I die and perish for ever I confess Conversion is not always evident in feeling but it is in the Effect and Fruit. What Fruits have you then abiding in you The great Fruit of Christ being given to you is the Spirit 's dwelling in you Rom. 8. 9. But ye are not in the Flesh but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you The great Work of the Spirit is to sanctify the Soul to the Service of him that redeemed us Titus 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works Clear this and the Cause is decided III. I come now to the third part of
his Justice in reference to Men and to appear to them still as a Righteous God Gen. 18. 25. Shall not the Iudge of all the Earth do right And Rom. 3. 5 6. Is God unrighteous to take Vengeance how then shall he judge the World These Scriptures imply that if there were the least Blemish if you could suppose he should fail in point of Righteousness this were to be denyed that God should be the Judge of the World Therefore God's Righteousness and Justice which gives to every one their due must shine in its proper place he will give Vengeance to whom Vengeance is due and Blessing to whom Blessing belongs In our Case Punishment belongs to us and what can we expect from this God but Wrath and eternal Destruction Therefore if all this be so if a Conscience suppose a Law a Law a Sanction a Sanction a Judge a Judge some time when his Justice must have a Solemn Tryal and this will necessarily infer Condemnation to a fallen Creature What then shall we do 7. From this Condemnation there is no Escape unless God set up another Court and Chancery of the Gospel where condemned Sinners may be taken to Mercy and their Sins forgiven and they justified and accepted unto Grace and Life upon Terms that may salve God's Honour and Government over Mankind There is a great deal of Difference between the forgiving private Wrongs and Injuries and the pardoning of publick Offences between the Pardon of a Magistrate and the Pardon of a private Person When Equals fall out among themselves they may end their Differences in Charity and in such ways as best please themselves by a meer forgiving by acquitting the sense of the Wrong done or a bare Submission of the Party offending But the Case is different here God is not reconciled to us meerly as the Party offended but as the Governour of the World the Case lies between the Judge of the World and sinning Mankind therefore it must not be ended by meer Comprimise and Agreement but by Satisfaction that his Law may be satisfied and the Honour of his Justice secured Therefore to make the Pardon of Man a thing convenient to the Righteous and Holy Judge to bestow without any Impeachment to the Honour of his Justice and Authority of his Law the Lord finds out this great Mystery God manifested in our Flesh Iesus Christ is made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law Gal. 4. 5. And is become a Propitiation to satisfy God's Iustice Rom. 3. 25 26. And so God shews Mercy to his Creatures and yet the Awe of his Government is kept up and a full Demonstration of his Righteousness is given to the World 8. This being done conveniently to God's Honour we must sue out our Pardon with respect to both the Covenants both that which we have broken the Law of Nature and that which is made in Christ and is to be accepted by us as our Sanctuary and sure Refuge 1. We must have a broken-hearted Sense of Sin and of the Curse due to the first Covenant for it is the Disease brings us to the Physician the Curse drives us to the Promise and the Tribunal of Justice to the Throne of Grace and the Avenger of Blood at our Heels that causeth us to fly to our proper City of Refuge and to take Sanctuary at the Lord's Grace Heb. 6. 18. So that if you mince and extenuate Sin you seem to hold to the first Covenant and had rather plead innocent than guilty no if you would have this favour you must confess your Sins 1 Iohn 1. 9. If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and vo cleanse us from all Unrighteousness You must confess your Sins and with that remorse that will become Offences done to so great a God And there must not only be a Sense of Sin but of the Curse and Merit of Sin also for we must not only accuse but judge our selves that God may not judge and condemn us 1 Cor. 11. 31. Self-accusing respects Sin and is acted in Confession Self-judging respects the Curse or Punishment that is due to us for Sin and it is a Persons pronouncing upon himself according to the tenor of the Law what is his due acknowledging his Guilt and this with much brokenness of Heart before God when he hath involved himself in God's eternal Wrath and Displeasure I observe that the Law-Covenant is in the Scripture compared to a Prison wherein God hath shut up guilty Souls Rom. 11. 32. He hath concluded or shut them up that he may have Mercy upon them Gal. 3. 22. He hath shut them up under Sin The Law is God's Prison and no Offenders can get out of it till they have God's leave and from him they have none till they are sensible of the Justice and Righteousness of that first Dispensation confess their Sins with brokenness of heart and that it may be just with God to condemn them for ever 2. We must thankfully accept the Lord's Grace that offers Pardon to us For since God is pleased to try us a second time and set us up with a new stock of Grace and that brought about in such a wonderful way that he may recover the lost Creation to himself surely if we shall despise our Remedy after we have rendred our selves uncapable of our Duty no Condemnation is bad enough for us Ioh. 3. 18 19. Therefore we should admire the Mercy of God in Christ and have such a deep sence of it that it may check our sinful self-love which hath been our bane and ruine And since God shewed himself willing to be reconciled we must enter into his Peace not look upon our selves in a hopeless and desperate condition but depend upon the Merit Sacrifice and Intercession of Christ and be encouraged by his gracious Promise and Covenant to come with boldness that we may find Grace and Mercy to help in a time of need Heb. 4. 16. Thus you see the Need we have to look after this Pardon of Sin 2dly I must shew our Misery without this And this will be best done by considering the Notions here in the Text. Here is Filth to be covered a Burden of which we must be eased and here is a Debt that must be cancelled and unless this be what a miserable Condition are we in 1. What a heavy Burden is Sin where it is not pardoned Carnal Men feel it not for the present Elements are not burdensom in their own place but how soon may they feel it Two sorts of Consciences feel the burden of Sin a tender Conscience and a wounded Conscience It is greivous to a tender Heart that values the Love of God to lie under the Guilt of Sin and to be obnoxious to his Wrath and Displeasure Psal. 38. 4. Mine Iniquities are gone over mine Head as a Burden too heavy for me Broken Bones are sensible of the least Weight certainly a
which we could neither imagine nor hope for partly because the chief of our Blessings lie in another World and Nature cannot see so far off 2 Pet. 1. 9. Partly because Christ's most sincere People are afflicted with so many Difficulties and so seemingly forsaken and Temptations to Unbelief are many and pressing that it is hard to maintain any Life in our selves unless we have Faith that is a strong Assent and invincible Trust. Well now consider for what good reason God requireth Faith Sense only looks to things seeen and felt Reason seeth Effects in their Causes and yet but probably but Faith is a believing such things as God hath revealed because he hath revealed them and surely this only can sustain us in the expectation of God's Grace and Mercy unto Eternal Life Whilst we are employed in Duties so opposite to the bent of the carnal Heart and have so many Temptations to the contrary what can support us but a strong and lively Faith 2. Till we believe in Christ we can have no Comfort or Use of all his Offices How can we learn of him the Way of Salvation till we believe him to be the Prophet sent of God to teach the World the Way to true Happiness Mat. 17. 5. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him How can we obey him unless we believe in him that he is our Lord who hath power over all Flesh at whose Judgment we must stand or fall Acts 17. 30 31. Now commandeth all Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a Day in which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead How can we depend upon the Merit of his Obedience and Sacrifice and be comforted with his gracious Promises and Covenant and come to God with boldness and Hope of Mercy in his Name and be confident that he will justify sanctify and save us unless we believe that he is a Priest who once made an Atonement and continually makes Intercession for us Heb. 9. 25. In the days of his Flesh when any came for any Benefit to him he put him upon his Trial Believest thou that I am able to do this Mark 9 23. Iesus said unto him If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth Believest thou that I am able to Martha Joh. 11. 26. Thus they were not capable of any Benefit till they believed 3. With respect to that Holiness and Obedience which God expected from the Creature Christ came to restore us to God which he doth both as a Saviour and Law-giver to his Church and till we believe in him both these Qualities and Functions miss of their Effect 1. As a Saviour he came to take away the Curse of the Law and to put us into a capacity to serve and please God by giving us his Spirit to renew our Natures and heal our Souls Isa. 53. 5. The Chastisement of our Peace was upon him and with his Stripes we are healed 1 Pet. 2. 24. Who his own self bare our Sins in his own Body on the Tree that we being dead unto Sin should live unto Righteousness by whose Stripes ye were healed We shall never mind our Duty nor be capable to perform it unless we believe that he is such a Saviour 2. As a Law-giver obliging us by his Authority to live in obedience unto God The Kingdom of the Mediator is clearly subordinate to the Kingdom of God for he came not to vacate our Duty but to establish it he came to restore the lost Groat to the Owner the lost Sheep to the Possessor the lost Son to the Father As the Grace of Christ doth not vacate the Mercy of God so the Authority of Christ that novum Ius Imperii doth not free us from the Authority of God Now who will submit to an Authority that is not convinced of it or doth not believe it But when once we believe then we bow Heart and Knee 4. With respect to our Comfort Often in Scripture Faith is represented as a quieting Grace The Comfort Quietness and Peace of the Soul dependeth much upon Faith in Christ as an all-sufficient Saviour which banishes our Fears and makes us in our greatest hardships to trust Christ with all our Happiness and to feast the Soul with a constant Peace and everlasting Joy Whether this World be turned upside down and be dissolved whether we be in Poverty and Sickness or in Health or Wealth whether we be under evil Repute or good whether Persecution or Prosperity befall us how little are we concern'd in all these if we know in whom we have believed 2. Tim. 1. 12. Heaven is where it was before and Christ is at the right hand of God how little then should all these things disturb the Peace and Comfort of that Soul that shall live with God for ever Psal. 112. 7. But Sin is our greatest trouble If Sin be your Trouble I answer Is it your Infirmity or Iniquity If Infirmity There is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Iesus c. Rom. 8. 1. If Iniquity break off your Sin by Repentance and then there may be Comfort for you for Christ came to save us from our Sins USE 1. Is to confute Mens Presumptions of their Eternal good Estate whereby many damnably delude their own Souls 1. Some when they hear that whosoever believeth shall be saved have a carnal Notion of Christ that if he were alive they would own him and receive him into their Houses and use him more friendly than the Iews did This is but a knowing Christ after the Flesh 2 Cor. 5. 16. He is not to be received into your Houses but into your Hearts Besides we do not know our own Hearts or what we should have done if we had lived then a Person of such contemptible appearance as Christ was and so free in his Reproofs of the Sins of the Times would not have been for our turn no more than theirs The Iews said Mat. 23. 30. If we had lived in the days of our Fathers we would not have been guilty of the Blood of the Prophets The Memory of Corah Dathan and Abiram was as detestable to the carnal Iews as that of Iudas and Pontius Pilate to Christians but they were not a whit the better Men no more are we 2. They do great reverence to his Name and Memory profess themselves Christians and abhor Turks and Infidels No this will not do neither Many prize Christ's Name that neglect his Office honouring the Physician without taking his Remedies never brought Health They have learned to speak well of Christ by rote after others but they do not savingly and sincerely believe in him to cure and heal their Souls and suffer him to do the work of a Mediator there The other Respect is to be ascribed to the Chance of their
wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudg against the Children of thy People but thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self Thou shalt not bear a Grudg against him for then you hate him in your Heart 2. There must be a readiness to do all Duties of Love and Kindness to him who hath done the wrong as God ministreth Occasion and Ability There are many Laws for this Exod. 23. 4 5. If thou meet thine Enemies Ox or Ass going astray thou shalt surely bring it back to him again If thou see the Ass of him that hateth thee lye under his Burthen and wouldst forbear to help him thou shalt surely help with him Luk. 6. 27. Love your Enemies do good to them that hate you Bless them that Curse you Now so far are we bound to remit the private grudg because of the offence done to us and also to take all occasions to do them good Object But whether may not we have recourse to the Magistrate for the recovery of our Right and reparation of our Wrongs Answ. Certainly we may provided we go not to Law for Trifles for when we go to Law for small Matters and that before Infidels the Apostle reproves it 1 Cor. 6. 2. And when after all lawful Means and Courses are used before for taking away the occasion as ver 5. Is there not a wise Man among you to take up the difference And when it is not with a Spirit of Revenge and Rigour for a Christian should shew his Moderation in all things Phil. 4. 5. and his Lenity Gentleness and Readiness to Forgive But if it be out of a Spirit of Revenge not the Conscience of Justice we abuse God's Ordinance to our private Passions Rom. 13. 3. Having thus explained the Law let me vindicate this Rule 1. It seems not to be so perfect a Rule because many desire and wish much evil to themselves should they desire evil to others As he that would be Drunk should he make another Drunk And he that commits Filthiness should he intice others Answ. The meaning is not what we do in a Passion which works not the Righteousness of God but it is meant of a regular Will not that we do with evil Desires as that we do in right Reason that which you do well informed well advised free from discomposed Passion what is according to the Law of Nature engraven upon your Hearts which is most legible in our own Case what the Law of Nature would judge to be the Duty of other Men to do It is not meant of inordinate sinful Desires 2. But doth not this Rule make all Men equal and destroy all Order and Superiority if every Man must do as he would be done unto What shall a Master require of a Servant no more than he will do to him Would a poor Man have a rich Man give him Relief Should he give him no more than he expects back again from this poor Man No The meaning is that for that time we should suppose our selves in the Condition of Servants and of that poor Man you should put your selves in their stead and suppose if I were a Servant if I were Poor we should put our selves in the same equality with them and by the Law of Proportion the same things that would seem reasonable to you if you were in their Condition you should chearfully do to them For Instance If I were a Servant and did obey would not I judg such exaction Burthensome and Unreasonable If I were Poor and driven to seek Relief would not I judg a denial harsh If I were a Master should not I judg such an Offence injurious to my Authority 3. Doth not this establish Revenge and Retaliation of Injuries to do to him as he hath done to me Answ. No rather much the contrary for it is not what they have done to us Christ doth not say so but what we would have to be done to us that do to them See Prov. 24. 29. Say not I will do so to him as he hath done to me I will render to the Man according to his Work That 's an ill reasoning within our selves and takes God's work out of his Hands whose Prerogative it is to give to every Man according to his Work The Rule is not look backward but forward It doth not look to what they have done to us but what we should do to them To think to do the same would certainly break this Rule of Christ and make us be burthensom to others by such Actions and burthensom to our selves and so sin not only against our own Conscience but against Sense and Feeling of the thing committed Injury and Revenge differ only in Order He that returns Injury for Injury doth but imitate the Adversary and he that imitates that which is evil in another sins twice both against the Law and his own Conscience 4. If all the World were contented to observe this Rule then we should have a quiet World but others are very oppressive unjust and very hard to me this is to live by the Loss and to bring a restraint upon my self from which others are free Answ. Do your Duty to them though they do not theirs to you Others Sins will not exempt you from the Law of God which is your Rule and not their Actions Whatever they do to you yet carry it Christianly and Meekly towards them You are accountable to God for your own Actions not for the Actions of another Man Therefore if you be able to guide your own Spirit to them how perverse soever they be to you you will have the Comfort that you have endeavoured to do your Duty Having vindicated the Rule let me shew you the Grounds and the Equity of it What are the intrinsick Grounds and Reasons why Christ hath given such a Rule to us No Question it is founded not in his bare Authority but in great Equity There are two Grounds 1. The Actual Equality of all Men by Nature 2. The Possible Equality of all Men as to their Condition and State of Life 1. The Actual Equality of all Men by Nature Mal. 2. 10. Have we not all one Father Hath not one God created us Were we not all created by the same God I and mark the Equality goes further We were all made of one Blood Acts 17. 26. all descended from Adam Unequal diversity of Rank doth not take away Identity of Nature There is a diversity of Rank indeed Some are High some Low some Rich some Poor some Governors some Governed some Teachers and some obey But we are all made of one Blood So Neh. 5. 5. Our Flesh is as the Flesh of our Brethren our Children as their Children Some are highly advanced above others yet the poorest Creature and you is one Flesh and by Nature hath an equal right with you Therefore it is said Isa. 58. 9. Thou shalt not hide thy self from thine owe
left such an Instinct and Inclination upon her which doth sufficiently excite her to do it 2. The near Preparation is called Promptitude and Readiness for every good Work or a ready Obedience to every good Work Tit. 3. 1. So 1 Tim. 6. 18. Ready to distribute Heb. 13. 16. Ready to communicate So Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 21. 13. This is beyond Inclination The Fire hath an Inclination to ascend upwards yet something may violently keep it down so a Christian may have a Will to Good a strong not a remiss Will but yet there are some Impediments Rom. 7. 18. Inclination implieth a remote Power but Readiness the next and immediate Power therefore a Christian ought to keep himself in a readiness or fitness of Disposition for his Duty whether it concerneth God our selves or others This is seen in Zeal that beareth down all Impediments All Graces are operative and Zeal is that earnest Impulsion and Activity of every Grace where it is in strength and vigour Faith worketh Gal. 5. 6. Love constraineth 2 Cor. 5. 14. Hope quickneth 1 Pet. 1. 3. A lively Hope This proceedeth from the new Nature when it is in right Frame and Strength We need not only make Conscience of our Duty or have some mind to it but our Hearts will not let us have any Quiet and Rest without it 2 Pet. 1. 8. They make you that you shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledg of our Lord Iesus Christ. Christians must be zealous of good Works Tit. 2. 14. Paul was pressed in Spirit Acts 17. 10. Acts 18. 5. The Benefits that come by it are 1. We do good Works more easily as being inclined thereunto Exod. 35. 29. The Children of Israel brought a willing Offering unto the Lord. Psal. 110. 3. Thy People shall be willing in the Day of thy Power There is a great deal of Difference between doing things by Compulsion and doing things from an Inclination between Israel's making Brick in Egypt and building the Wall in Nehemiah's Time Neh. 4. 6. 2. With more Delight and Alacrity 1 Iohn 5. 3. His Commandments are not grievous Psal. 112. 1. Blessed is the Man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandments It is a Pleasure to them to do a good Work to others a Toil. 3. With Constancy That which is forced lasts not long Upon the first occasion we break out cast off the Burden which pincheth and galleth us A Man is never constant to his Duty till he be held to it by his Heart and the Byass of the Heart is not Fear but Love You cannot easily perswade him against his Love and Inclination though you may overcome his Fears Cant. 8. 6 7. Set me as a Seal upon thine Arm for Love is strong as Death Iealousy is cruel as the Grave Many Waters cannot quench Love neither can the Floods drown it If a Man would give all the Substance of his House for Love it would utterly be contemned The Uses are 1. For Reproof of many professing Christians who are not more prepared for the Lord and made ready for every good Work Alas some are to every good Work reprobate Tit. 1. 16. unfit for any Christian Practice In others all their Holiness standeth in being less vitious or wicked than others If they avoid the greater Crimes though they freely practise the less they are accounted good Men. Some talk but do nothing like Cypress-Trees tall and beautiful but unfruitful or the Carbuncle afar off seeming all on fire but the Touch discovers it to be key-cold their Zeal is more in their Tongues than their Actions Others are very unready arguing for a Mediocrity disputing every inch with God beating down the price of Religion as low as they can as little Worship and Charity as may be and will do no more than needeth and it is well if they do that True Goodness like live-Honey droppeth of its own accord 2 Cor. 8. 2. and is always desirous to do more for God Psal. 71. 14. I will praise thee more and more Phil. 1. 9. I pray that your Love may abound yet more and more in Knowledg and in all Iudgment 1 Thess. 4. 1. Furthermore we exhort you Brethren That as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more But little of this Temper is to be found 2d Use of Information First Observe the Deduction of good Works from their proper Causes viz. The Will of God requiring our Regeneration fitting the one determineth our Duty the other maketh us ready to perform it While carnal that which we do is but the Image of a good Work not really and spiritually good 2dly The Necessity of good Works 1. Necessitate Consequentis as the Fruit and End of Regeneration All things are valued by their use What doth the new Creature serve for but that we may walk in newness of Life otherwise it is but a Notion It is not given us to lie hid in the Heart as a sluggish idle quality but that we may act by it and improve it for God The Lord made no Creature in vain Inded all that we have from God both in Nature and Grace was that we might be fruitful in Holiness In Nature we have Life Health and Parts for nothing else but that by our present Duty we may prepare our selves for everlasting Joys All God's Mercies bind us to Diligence all his Ordinances are Means to help us all his Graces are Power to enable us and there is over and above the holy Spirit to excite and quicken that Power Ioh. 4. 10. Ezek. 36. 27. 2. Necessitate Praecepti God hath required them at our hands Now we must make Conscience of what God hath required especially when all his Commandments are holy just and good If some greater thing were required ought we not to have done it 2 Kin. 5. 13. But when he hath required such noble Work shall we refuse There is nothing in his Law but what becometh his Nature preserveth and makes happy ours 3. Necessitate Medii as the Way to Heaven Good Works are indispensibly required of grown Persons if they mean to be saved Heb. 12. 14. Follow Peace with all Men and Holiness without which no Man shall see God A Christian shall be judged at the last day by what he hath done Rev. 20. 12. I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which was the Book of Life and the Dead were judged out of those things that were written in the Books according to their Works 1 Pet. 1. 17. If ye call on the Father who without respect of Persons judgeth every Man according to his Work Profession will not carry it but our Works come into the Judgment So Rev. 14. 13. Their Works follow them that is They have the Fruit and Comfort of them in another World and without them we cannot be