entered into the World and death by Sin and Vers 19. By one Mans Disobedience many were made Sinners 1 Cor. 15.22 In Adam all die And by this Sin of Adam all were made Sinners by these two wayes 1. By actual participation of his disobedience for we were then in him but that is not all for upon that reason every Man should stand guilty of all the Sins committed by any of his Progenitors since Adam which seems not to agree with the profession of Almighty God Ezek. 18.20 The Son shall not bear the Iniquity of the Father But the case is not alike for Adam was created in integrity and perfection in an ability to perform the Law and so was a fit person to stipulate for his posterity 2 And as he was a person so qualified so the Covenant was made between God and him both for him and his posterity and 3 As we suffer in the penalty of his Disobedience so we had enjoyed the benefit of his Obedience we had come into the World with the same Liberty of Will and Integrity and Perfection of Nature that he had But all these are wanting in any other person in the World 1. A defect of Nature is gone over all that none is fit to stipulate for himself and his posterity 2. No such contract hath been at any time made between God and any other Man 2. By a necessary Consequence for God having justly withdrawn from Man his Blessedness and Perfection and Sin having corrupted and imbased his Nature we by propagation from him derive a corrupted depraved Nature full of impotence and rebellion and disorder Job 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean God was pleased to communicate to Man a being in the Essence of a Man and to communicate unto him a degree of Purity Immortality Wisdom and Perfection beyond the compass of his Natural subsistence but this latter was communicated to him under a covenant which when he broke he lost and not only lost that but even stained and corrupted and imbased that very being that after he had sinned he retained And this is the old Man corrupt according to the deceivable Lusts Ephes 4.22 A body of death Rom. 7.24 And this Depravation of our Nature was followed with the continual Corruption and at last with the dissolution of Nature and that not only in those who had sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression by an actual breach of an express Law Rom. 5.14 But in all that were partakers of Adams corrupted Nature even Infants and so Death passed over all And as thus we partake of Original Sin as well by being virtually actors in it as also by derivation of a corrupted Nature so this corruption of our Nature produceth in all our Lives continued and renewed Actual Sins the conceptions of Lust Jam. 1.15 And these Actual Sins according to the difference of those commands of God which are violated are either Sins of Omission or of Commission and both come under the extent of this Petition by the name of Sins or Trespasses Luk. 11. by the Name of Debts Matt. 6. For we owe unto God Duty and Obedience and every Violation of that duty leaves us so much indebted unto God the least of which is impossible to be paid when once incurred because it is impossible for us to make that not to have been which hath already been and impossible for us by all our future Obedience were it as exact as the will of God requires to expiate a Sin past for still that perfect obedience is no more then we owe we have therein but done our duty and are but unprofitable Servants but if it were possible to think that one act of perfect obedience to God would expiate for any Sin past yet such is the Corruption of our Nature that not one such act can be found there is in our best actions a mixture and adherence of some defect or other that makes it become the subject still of this Petition that which needs Mercy to Pardon and therefore cannot contain Merit to Deserve So then all are concluded under Sin Gal. 3.22 and consequently under Guilt the effect of Sin and consequently under death and a curse the wages of Sin And this Sin guilt and curse is so closely bound to every one of Adams posterity that there is no possibility in the best of them to deliver themselves from it therefore O Lord teach us to pray Forgive us Forgiveness is an act of Free Grace whereby our offended God freely and without any Merit of ours remits the Sin the Guilt and Punishment the Person offended is he only that can forgive the rule was true though misapplyed Mar. 2.7 Who can forgive Sins but God only and Forgiveness is an act of most free Mercy and nothing of Merit in the person forgiven Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy Sins Misery which is the effect of Sin is the Object of Mercy but it is not the Desert of it especially when that very Misery under which we are brought by Sin is a Misery wilfully contracted by our selves and not only so but is still a sinning Misery a Misery accompanied with stupidity and senslessness with aversion opposition against that God and that very Mercy that should deliver us God commends the freeness and fulness of his Goodness to us by taking that season to be Merciful when our condition is most Miserable not because our misery deserves his pity Ezek. 16.6 I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live Yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live This Forgiveness is thus wrought Man that was infinitely bound to love and obey the Author of his Being most unrgatefully and unnecessarily sinned against him and thereby deservedly incurred the everlasting curse of the most Just and True God and forfeited his being yet though Man had destroyed himself Almighty God of his own Free Will and without any other Motive and by his own Infinite Wisdom contrived a way whereby his most exact Truth and Justice might be satisfied and yet his creature saved and his Mercy and Goodness might be infinitely evidenced unto Men and Angels By an Everlasting Covenant between the Father and the Son the Son he must assume our Nature and offer it up as One Sacrifice for Sin for ever Heb. 10.12 This was that Mystery hid from Ages and Generations the Mystery that the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 The Great Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the Flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 The great End of the Creation of Man And by this Sacrifice thus freely given by our offended Lord we have Redemption even the Remission of our sins Ephes 1.7 Colos 1.14 And Pardon thus freely given by the Father and yet thus dearly bought by the Son is with abundance of Love and Grace proclaimed and tendred unto all in all the World
mingle as little as is possible with the concerns of the World especially in great Places and if through inadvertency or importunity thou art drawn into the scuffâ—le and intanglements of the World get out as soon as thou canst safely and fairly and honestly For it is a Thousand to one but first or last thou shalt otherwise hazard thy Conscience or receive some scratches and worldly prejudices which are in truth rather the Issues of thy Folly and Inconsiderate Adventure than true Affliction But for medling with Places of Magistracy Honor or Publick Imployment I would not have it thought that it is my intention that Good Men awfully called and duly qualified should morosely or frowardly wholly reject their due call unto them The World cannot be kept in order without Magistracy and Good Men if otherwise fitted for it and duly called unto it are likely to administer it best for the Publick good of Mankind and it were an unreasonable thing for them to expect the benefits of Magistracy and Government from others when under such circumstances they wilfully decline the communication of the like advantage to others and therefore the wisest Kingdoms States and Politicians have imposed a necessity upon Men of honesty and abilities to take upon them Publick Imployments Aristot. 2. Politicorum although he condemns Ambition after Magistracy that Men should be incouraged or permitted to stand or solicit for places Nemo enim Magistratum petet nisi Honoris sit affectator atque pleraque eorum quae homines injuste faciunt per Ambitionem Avaritiam committuntur yet tells us Oportet enim volentem non volentem ad Magistratum assumere si dignus sit eo Magistratu That therefore which I mean is 1. That Men that love their own Peace and Tranquillity should not seek great Imployments 2. That if they are offered they do as far as consists with modesty and duty to their Superiors and Country decline and avoid them 3. That if upon such an account they are perswaded to undertake them yet they be sure that before they undertake them they have sufficient abilities to perform them 4. If by the Command of the Soveraign Power they are required to undergo them and are able and fit for the Imployment they do not either frowardly or ungratefully refuse them For 1. Herein they are but passive it is an act of their Submission and Duty not of their Choice 2. Being thus called to it if they meet with any rubs in their way they have no reason to blame themselves so long as they observe their duty in the exercise thereof The Prince that injoyned them to this Province is to be their support in it 5. Readily and Chearfully to entertain a dismission from it when it pleaseth the Prince to call them from it or when by reason of disabling occurrences they may fairly attain such dismission III. And thus I have done with some of those principal Considerations touching our Deportment under Afflictions now concerning the frame and temper of a Soul under our Deliverance from them 1. Accept of thy deliverance with all Thankfulness to God and Humility in thy self Attribute it wholly to his Goodness and Mercy Think not that thou art delivered because of thy Worth or Desert for any one sin that ever thou committest would detain thee Everlastingly under the severest Affliction Think not thy Affliction hath expiated thy Demerit and that thou owest thy Deliverance to the satisfaction that is made by thy suffering for most certainly the greatest Affliction under Heaven cannot satisfie for the least Transgression nothing but the Blood of the Son of God can countervail the weight of the least Sin against God Think not that thy Deliverance is due to thy Wit Friends or Interest for though God be pleased to use the intervention of Means yet he Administred that Means and Blessed that Means and made it effectual or otherwise it would have been but a flat and unprofitable Means As God sends Afflictions to evidence his Power and Wisdom and Soveraignty so he sends Deliverance to manifest his Goodness and Bounty and the Tribute that he most justly expects for the same is but easie and reasonable Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will Deliver thee and thou shalt Glorifie me Psal 50.15 2. Forget not the time of thy Trouble and the promises and ingagements that thou didst then make We observed in the beginning of this Discourse the difficulty of Pre-apprehension of Adversity before it comes and truly it is almost as hard to think of Adversity when it is past We please our selves with what we enjoy and never reflect upon what is past unless it be to heighten and advance our present enjoyments and if we do chance to think upon the serious resolutions we then entertained we look upon them as the weak results of our Infirmity useful indeed for that time but now antiquated and grown unseasonable 3. Not only call to mind thy Promises but call them to mind with a Resolution to observe and perform them in such expostulations as these Alass the time was when I was under great Afflictions it may be of a painful and a desperate sickness and then I resolved if God would restore my health I would walk more strictly with him I would pray more frequently and more constantly and more fervently than formerly I would be more diligent to make even my Accounts with him to make sure my Calling and Election for which I found the time of my Sickness was very unseasonable I would redeem my pretious Time and value those minutes of life that God shall lend me at a dearer rate than formerly I would neglect no opportunity of doing Good to others or improving my Everlasting Peace how pretious then was one hour of repose and quietness and freedom from pain and how much should I then have valued it and how industriously should I have then improved it in the great concerns of my Everlasting Soul God hath now heard my Prayers restored my Health put that pretious Opportunity into my hands of performing my Vowes and Promises which I then made in the sadness of my Soul and shall I deal falsly in my Covenant disappointing my God that hath delivered me No I will up and be doing I will Perform all my Vowes to him nay the sense of the Mercy and Condescention of God to my requests shall increase my Ingagements before him As he hath added Mercy to me so I will add new Obligations to my self of better Obedience and farther Duties than the sense of my Misery could suggest unto me or draw from me 4. Be very Watchful over thy self and remember thy Saviours Counsel Go away and Sin no more lest a worse thing befall thee and in a special manner recollect and call to mind those Sins that did most trouble and disquiet thee in the time of thy Adversity renew thy Repentance for them and take a special care to avoid
the Souldiers and Comfort and Satisfaction into the Souls of those that expected his Resurrection and cause that stone which the Pharisees laid upon the Sepulchre as a seal unto his Mortality to start aside and give way to our Saviour's Resurrection Mat. 28.2 3 4. And little do we know those wonderful Services that these invisible Powers do in the World even for poor and weak Men at the Command of their great Lord and Soveraign every hour in the day And now O Lord it is true that thy Will is done in Heaven by those thy glorious creatures perfectly and exactly but I and all thy creatures upon Earth have in us a mixture of darkness that we cannot know thy Will and a mixture of corruption that resists the obedience of thy Will and a mixture of impotence that we cannot perform that part of thy Will that we know and desire to obey so that when we can at any time say with the Apostle To will is present with me yet we must with the same Apostle say that how to perform that good we find not Rom. 7.18 Therefore I cannot in this House of clay hope to aspire to the full perfection of an Angelical Obedience nor to do thy Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven yet there is an imperfect Perfection which in Christ thou art pleased to accept of an Evangelical though not an Angelical Perfection in our Obedience a Perfection of Integrity and Sincerity free from Guile base ends or Hypocrisie a heart truly endeavouring to obey the voice of God in his Word and truly sorrowful for his defects and failings in that obedience Thus the heart of David 1 King 15.3 of Hezekiah 2 King 20.3 were perfect hearts the obedience enjoyned by David to Solomon 1 Chron. 28.9 Serve him with a perfect heart and willing mind and this perfection of Obedience give unto thy servants that thy Will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Sincerely and Singly 2. Which is a consequent of the former Angelical Obedience is an Universal Obedience there is not any Command of God not the meanest but they perform it Psal 103.20 Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excel in strength that do his Commandments hearkning unto the voice of his Word For the same principle of perfect Love to God moves them to a willing obedience to every Command as well as any and they find as much beauty in their obedience unto the Command of God when sent out to minister for the poor Members of the Son of God Heb. 1.14 As when sent upon an imployment for the matter more glorious And O Lord Let thy Will be thus done on Earth as it is in Heaven let me have respect to all thy Commandments and let no sin be so much mine so dear so natural so sutable to my nature or condition but that I may forsake it at thy Command and keep my self from my transgression since it is the same God that equally commands and forbids in all and the same Love to God which is or should be the principle and ground of all my Obedience Jam. 2.10 Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point is guilty of all A heart that can observe some Commands and yet dispense with it self in the violation of others obeys not for Love of God but of himself 3. Angelical Obedience is a Willing and Cheerful Obedience Which still runs upon the former reason the principle of their obedience is perfect Love of God and Love is an active affection as strong as death so that they are glad of any opportunity to return the expressions of that Love in a most hearty and willing obedience Mat. 18.10 Christ speaking of the Angels saith They always behold the Face of my Father they watch and are attentive and with cheerfulness expect every Command of God And thus also let thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven that we may willingly and cheerfully perform thy Will glad that we thy poor creatures have any opportunity to do any service to thee though thou needest it not and thankful that thou art pleased to accept of the obedience of thy creature 4. Consequently an Angelical obedience is Speedy Swift Ready They dispute not the reason of the Command nor delay not the performance of it Like the Centurion's servant he saith to one go and he goeth Luk. 7.8 And Lord as thus thy Will is done in Heaven so let it be done on Earth when thou commandest things that our flesh and blood have much ado to disgest would fain be reasoning against or at least linger in the observance give us this grace not to confer with flesh and blood Gal. 1.16 but resolvedly and speedily to obey thy Will When Abraham was called to leave his own Country he obeyed and went out not knowing whither he went Heb. 11.8 When commanded to sacrifice his Son he rose early in the morning and goes about this hard imploy Gen. 22.3 Lingrings and Reasonings upon the Commands of God as they carry in them a want of Duty so they always bring with them much disadvantage either wholly intercepting our obedience or mingling with it much unwillingness and aversness to it 5. A Heavenly and Angelical Obedience though it be full of Perfection yet it is full of Humility They know that they owe an infinite Obedience to him from whom they receive their Being and that their Obedience to God is but the payment of that debt they owe to him and cannot make him a debtor to them They know that infinite distance between the infinite God and themselves though glorious yet finite Creatures and therefore they do not only pay their Obedience as a just Tribute to God without arrogance of merit but they do it with all the Reverence and Acknowledgment that is imaginable Both these we find in the Adoration of the 24 Elders Revel 4.10 11. They fall down before him and cast their Crowns before the Throne saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power The distance between God and Man is infinite and though the Angels are nearer unto God in perfection of Nature than men yet still the distance between them is infinite here is the odds the Angels see their distance and see more of the Perfection of God and the more they see of him the more they Adore and Reverence him and the humbler they are in their Services because they see the greatness of their distance And if Angelical Obedience that is so perfect shall be mingled with so much Reverence with how much Humility should our Services that are so imperfect be allayed O Lord Let thy Will be thus also done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us a sense of thy infinite Glory and Majesty of that infinite distance between Thee and thy Creature that with all Reverence to thy Majesty and all Lowliness in our selves we may appear before thee in all we do
Almighty God in the entrance into our Prayers And because our thoughts are easily taken off from these considerations and like Moses Arm our Faith soon declines and our light soon burns out and because there is an equal necessity of Intention of spirit as well in our last request as in our first our Saviour teacheth us to remind those considerations that may support and fortifie our Souls in the close of our Prayers as well as in the beginning that so the consideration of Almighty God his Power and Goodness who is the Beginning and the End the First and the Last may be also the Beginning and the End as of our Prayers so of all our Services Thine is the Kingdom Thou art the only and absolute and rightful Soveraign of all thy Creatures and to thee do all the Creatures in the World owe an Infinite subjection for by thy Power and Goodness they were created and are preserved and yet if it were possible that Infinitude could admit of degrees the children of Men owe a more Infinite subjection unto thee than any of the rest of thy Creatures for thou yet sparest unto them that being that by sin they have forfeited unto thee and yet more than this those whom thou hast redeemed by the Passion of thy Son and sanctified owe thee yet a more Infinite debt of subjection than the rest of the Children of Men and because thou art our King whither should we go to make our requests but unto our King in whom all Authority is justly placed and if thou art our King it is but reasonable for me to desire That thy Name may be glorified that all the subjects of thy Kingdom according to their several conditions may Magnifie and Glorifie the Name of their King That thy Kingdom may come with evidence and demonstration of it self and that all thy Creatures as they owe a just subjection to thee so they may duly perform it that those that have rebelled against thee may return and be brought into subjection to thee that though other Lords have had an usurped dominion over us yet that thy Kingdom may break in pieces all Usurpations and recover thy revolted subjects unto their just Allegiance That thy Will the only rightful Law and Rule of Justice may be done in all places of thy Dominion in Earth and Heaven and that all thy Creatures may submit freely to this thy Will which is the only rule and measure both of their perfection and obedience The Wills of Earthly Kings are subject to Error Oppression and Injustice and therefore thy Providence hath regulated their administrations by Laws and Rules but thy Will is the only Rule Exemplar and Foundation of Justice therefore let thy Will be done That thou wouldest give us our daily bread when the seven years of plenty had filled Pharaoh's store-houses and were after entertained with seven years of Famine the Egyptian's cryed unto their King for bread Gen. 41.55 And whither should we go for Bread for our Bodies but to our King who is Lord of all the store of the World and gives meat to all his Creatures in their season and feeds the young Ravens when they cry And whither should we go for bread for our Souls but to Thee our King who hast intrusted this Bread of Life under the hands of our Joseph our Saviour that thou wouldest Forgive us our sins For our sins are as so many Treasons against thy Majesty and thou alone canst remit against whom alone we can offend the pardoning of Sins as it is thy peculiar Prerogative for who can forgive sins save God only so it is thy Property a part of thy Name pardoning iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34.7 That thou wouldest deliver us from Temptation the cause of sin and from Evil the fruit of sin from the incursions of that Rebel against thy Majesty the Prince of Darkness for whither should the Subjects fly for Protection but to their King and though that Prince hath a Kingdom too yet it is regnum sub graviore regno the very Kingdom of Hell is subject to thy Authority and therefore as thou art our King we beseech Thee Protect and Deliver us And the Power There may be a lawful and a just Authority where yet there wants Power to act it but as thou hast a just Sovereignty and Authority over all thy Creatures so thou hast an Infinite Power to do whatsoever thou pleasest nothing is too hard for thee Evil Men and evil Angels though they resist thy Authority cannot avoid thy Power My requests that I have here sent up unto thee they are great requests but yet they are all within thy Power to grant Sin hath drawn a cloud and darkness over our understandings that we cannot see thee It hath infused a malignity into our wills that we cannot abide thee and how then shall we sanctifie that Name which we know not or if we know yet we hate it But thou hast Infinite Power to scatter this darkness that we may see thee to conquer this perversness that we may love and glorifie thee The Prince of darkness hath set up his usurped power and is become the Prince of the World and sets up strong holds in our hearts and mans them with principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness but thou hast Infinite Power even by a poor despised Gospel to pull down these strong-holds to subdue those Principalities and Powers to bind the strong man that keeps the House and to set up thy Throne and thy Kingdom even where Satan's seat is The state of our nature is so changed that we that were once fitted for an obedience to thy Will are now become enemies to it resisters of it dead to the obedience of it but thou hast infinite Power by thy very Word of Command to quicken us as well as to create us to change our Natures to conform our Wills to the obedience of thine that so thy Will may be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Sin hath put a curse into the Creature that it hath lost much of that effectual power to support and to preserve our Nature that once it had and it hath put a disorder into the whole Creation so that it is a wonder to see that such a World of men and Creatures amongst whom sin hath sown such a disorder and enmity should be one able to live by another yet thou hast power to remove that curse to provide for the several Exigencies of all thy Creatures according to their several conveniencies to feed us in times and places of necessity to make a Raven our purveyor a Cruise of Oyl or a Barrel of Meal to be a supply for three years Famine Our daily sins committed so often against so great a duty against so many Mercies so much Patience so much Love so much Bounty received from one that owes us nothing are enough to sin away any stock of Pardoning Mercy and Patience below Infinitude But thou hast