them out of his presence they become the scorn of Saints and Angels Dan. 12. 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust shall arise some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt But now the godly are bold and confident Psal. 1. 5. The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous But the godly shall lift up their head with joy and rejoicing Now the Reasons of this Where sin is not allowed there is a threefold comfort 1. Justification 1 Joh. 1. 7. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Iesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin It is an evidence that giveth us the comfort He hath failings but they are blotted out for Christs sake 2. It is an evidence of sanctification that a work of grace hath passed upon us 2 Cor. 1. 12. For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to you ward Heb. 13. 18. We trust that we have a good conscience willing in all things to live honestly An universal purpose and an unfeigned respect hath the full room of an evidence 3. A pledg of glory to ensue Rom. 5. 5. And hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us Use. It informeth us by the rule of Contraries That we deceive our selves if we look for any thing from sin but shame Rom. 6. 21. For the wages of sin is death Sin and shame entred into the world together How were Adam and Eve confounded after the fall Sin is odious to God it grieveth the Spirit but the person that committeth it shall be filled with shame In the greatest privacy sin bringeth shame Men are not solitary when they are by themselves there is an eye and ear which seeth and observeth them there is a law in our hearts which upbraids our sins to us as soon as we have committed them a secret bosom-witness 2. It informeth us what hard hearts they have that have respect to no commandments yet are not ashamed They have outgrown all feelings of conscience and so glory in their shame Phil. 3. 19. Whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things Erubuit salva res est By how much less they are ashamed now the more they shall be their shamelesness will encrease their shame Jer. 3. 3. Thou hadst a whores forehead thou refusedst to be ashamed The Conscience of a sinner is like a Clock dull calm and at rest when the weights are down but wound up it 's full of motion 3. Here is caution to Gods children The less respect you have to the Commandments the more shame will you have in your selves Partiality in obedience breaketh your confidence and over-clouds your peace Therefore that we may not blemish our profession let us walk more exactly So shall we not be ashamed when we have respect to all Gods Commandments SERMON VIII PSAL. CXIX 7. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments IN this Verse David expresseth his esteem of the Word by telling what he would give for the knowledg and practice of it As we use to tell a man how thankful we would be if he would do thus and thus for us So Lord if thou wilt give me to learn thy righteous judgments then I will praise thee c. His promise of praise manifesteth his esteem which should affect our stupid hearts The Canon is now larger and the mysteries of the Word are more clearly unfolded If the Saints of God were so taken with it before when there were so scanty and dark representations in comparison of what is now O what honour and praise do we now owe to God! In this Verse observe 1. The Title that is given to the Word Thy righteous judgments 2. His Act of Duty about it or the benefit which he desireth sound erudition When I shall have learned 3. The fruit of this benefit obtained Then will I praise thee 4. The manner of performing this duty With uprightness of heart First The Title that is given to the Word Thy righteous judgments or as it is in the Margent the judgments of thy righteousness Hence observe Doct. Gods precepts are and are so accounted of by his people as righteous judgments or judgments of righteousness There are two Terms to be Explained 1. What is meant by judgments 2. By righteousness For the First Righteousness is sometimes put alone for the Word and so also Judgments as we shall find in this Psalm but here both are put together to increase the signification The precepts of the Word are called judgments for two Reasons 1. Because they are the Judicial sentence of God concerning our state and actions 2. Because of the suitable execution that is to follow First They are the Judicial sentence of God concerning our state and actions The judicial sentence that is they are the Decrees of the Almighty Law-giver given forth with an authority uncontroulable A man may appeal from the sentence of men but this is judgment this is as certain as if he were executed presently There is injustice and oppression many times in the Courts of men but there 's a higher than the highest regards it and there be higher than they Eccles. 5. 8. There may be another Tribunal to which we may appeal from the unjust sentences of men but there is no appeal from God for there is no higher Judicature Paschalis a Minister of the Albigenses when he was burnt at Rome cited the Pope and his Cardinals before the Tribunal of the Lamb. When we are wronged and opprest here we may cite them before the Tribunal of God and Christ but who can appeal from the Tribunal of Christ himself And then this sentence is concerning our state and actions 1 Our State whether it be good or evil The word sentenceth you now for instance If a man be in a carnal state Joh. 3. 18. He that believeth not is condemned already How condemned already In the sentence of the Law so he is gone and lost Every unbeliever such as all are by nature is condemned already having only the slender thread of a frail life between him and the execution of it The sentence of the Law standeth in force against him since he will not come to Christ to get it repeal'd This sentence standeth in force against all Heathens which never heard of Christ and are condemned already by the Law But now Christians or those that take up such a profession and have heard of the Gospel on them it is confirmed by a new sentence since they will not fly
resigned our selves to Christ and the hands of Consecration have passed upon us When Ananias had dedicated that which was in his power and kept back part for private use God struck him dead in the place Acts 3. 5. And if we alienate our selves who were Christs before the Consecration of how much sorer vengeance shall we be guilty Gods Complaint was just Ezek. 16. 20. Thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters whom thou hast born unto me and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured And if Satan hath a full interest in you by doing his lusts as he had in them by that Rite of Worship is not the wrong done to God the same 2. It is a sure note of a carnal heart For it is not only incongruous that a renewed man should let sin reign but impossible De jure it ought not de facto it shall not be The exhortation and promise Rom. 6. 12. with 14. verse 12. Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies There is the exhortation while you have these mortal bodies sin will dwell in you but let it not reign over you God suffereth it to dwell in us for our exercise not our ruine Then the promise Verse 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace Let not shall not It is true sin remaineth in the godly but it reigneth not there 'T is dejectum quodammodo non ejectum tamen Cast down in regard of regency not cast out in regard of inherency Like the Beasts in Daniel Dan. 7. 12. They had their dominion taken away though their lives prolonged for a season Some degree of life but their reign broken The Israelites could not wholly expel the Canaanites yet they kept them under There will be pride earthliness unbelief and sensuality dwelling moving working in them but it hath not its wonted power over them Christ will not reckon men slaves to sin by their having sin in them nor yet by their daily failings and infirmities or by their falling now and then into foul faults by the violence of a temptation unless they make a constant trade of sin and be under the dominion of it without controul and set up no course of mortification against it 3. The reign of sin is so mischievous Sin when it once gets the Throne groweth outragious and involveth us in many inconveniences e're we can get out again Therefore they that know the service of sin as we all do by sad experience should use all caution that it never bring them into bondage again The work and wages of sin are very different from Gods work and wages The Apostle compareth them when he disswadeth them from the reign of sin Rom. 6. 21 22. For when ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness What fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those thing is death But now being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life You have had full experience of the fruits of sin of Satans work what fruit then before you had tasted better things before you had a contrary principle set up in your hearts you are ashamed now to think of that course now you know better things But what fruit then Satans work is drudgery and his reward death The Devil hath one bad property which no other master how cruel soever hath To plague and torment them most which have done him most continual and faithful service Those that have sinned most have most horror and every degree of service hath a proportionable degree of shame and punishment He is an unreasonable Tyrant in exacting service without rest and intermission The most cruel Oppressors Turks and Infidels give some rest to their Captives but sin is unsatisfiable Men spend all their means and all their time and all their strength in the pursuit of it yet all is little enough And what is the reward of all but death and destruction Now judge you to whom should we yield obedience and who hath most right to be Sovereign He who made us and redeemed us and preserveth us every day none but he can claim title to us he to whom we are Debtors by so many Vows so many Obligations Or else Satan our worst enemy who is posting us on to our own destruction 4. It is so uncomely and misbecoming the new estate wherein we have so many helps and encouragements to resist sin First For helps you have an opposite principle to give check to it the seed of God or new nature Since Christ hath put Grace into your hearts to resist sin 't is your Duty not to suffer it to be idle and unfruitful Rom. 6. 11 12. Reckon your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof You want no ability to encourage you have an observing witness to give check to it the Spirit of God who will help you in this work Rom. 8. 13. He will be your Second neither we without the Spirit nor the Spirit without us There is a life and power goeth along with every Gospel-Truth Laziness pretendeth want of power but what is too hard for this Spirit Then Secondly For encouragement In every war are two notable encouragements goodness of the Quarrel and hopes of Victory as David 1 Sam. 17. 36. We have these in our Conflict and Combat with sin First Our Quarrel and our Cause is good 't is the Quarrel of the Lord of Hosts which you fight We stand with Christ our Redeemer who came ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that he might destroy the works of the Devil He hath begun the battle we do but labour to keep under that enemy which Christ hath begun to slay and destroy Sin is not only an enemy to us but to him 'T is against him and hindreth his Glory in the World and the subjection of his Creatures and Servants Were it not for sin what a glorious Potentate would Christ be even in the judgment of the world Secondly Hope of the Victory Our strife will end and it will end well Those that are really earnestly striving against sin are sure to conquer Rom. 6. 14. Let not sin reign c. And it shall not If there be but a likelihood of Victory we are encouraged to fight here a Christian may triumph before the Victory Non aequè glorietur accinctus ac discinctus 1 Kings 20. 11. Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off There will come a good and happy issue in the end even a Conquest of sin For the present we overcome it in part it shall not finally and totally overcome us in this World and shortly all strife will be over Rom. 16. 20. The God of
loved from the grave for so it is in the Hebrew Isa. 38. 17. Thou hast loved my soul from the pit of destruction To be loved out of a danger and loved out of a sickness oh that 's a blessed thing USE 1. To acknowledg the Lords goodness in these common mercies We did not give life to our selves and we cannot keep it in our selves God made us and God keepeth us It was not our Parents that fashioned us in the womb they could not tell what the child would prove male or female beautiful or deformed They could not tell the number or posture of the veins or bones or muscles it was all the curious workmanship of a wise God and it is the same God that hath kept us hitherto Isa. 46. 3 4. By me ye are born from the belly and carried from the womb even to old age I am he and even to hoar hairs will I carry you c. We have been supported and tenderly handled by God as Parents and Nurses carry their younglings in their arms Many times wanton children are ready to scratch the faces of those that carry them so have we put many affronts upon him yet to the very last doth he carry us in the arms of his Providence In infancy we were not in a capacity to know the God of our mercies and to look after him but nevertheless he looked after us Afterwards we knew how to grieve him and offend him long before how to love and serve him Oh how early did our naughty hearts appear and all along how little have we done for God in whom we live and move and have our being He is not far from us in the effects of his care and Providence but we are far from him by the distance of our thoughts and affections by the carnal bent of our hearts It is a good mornings-exercise for us humbly and thankfully to consider of his continual mercies For Gods compassions are new every morning Lam. 3. 22. as fresh as if never tired with former acts of grace nor wearied with former offences It is some recompence for the time of sleep half our time passeth away and we do not shew one act of love and kindness unto God therefore as soon as we are awakened we should be with God Psal. 139. 18. How many are gone down to the Chambers of death since the last night 2. It quickneth us to love and serve God who is the strength of our lives and the length of our days Deut. 30. 20. Thy life is wholly in Gods hands Man cannot add a cubit to his stature nor make one hair white or black at his own pleasure It is the Lords Providential influence that keepeth thee alive in point of gratitude thou shouldst serve him Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live But I may urge also in point of hope Gods servants can best recommend themselves to his care and keeping by prayer and expect to walk continually under divine protection Those that provoke God continually they may be continued by the bounty and indulgence of his providence but yet they can look for no such thing and in the issue it proveth to be in wrath for their sins are more and judgments greater it is but to treasure up wrath to the day of wrath 3. If life temporal be the fruit of Gods bounty much more life eternal Rom. 6. 23. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life One is wages the other a gift 4. It informeth us that we may lawfully pray for life with submission to the will of God and that death may not come upon us suddenly contrary to the ordinary course of nature I was loth to make a distinct doctrine of it yet I could not decline the giving out of this Truth How will this stand with our desires of dissolution and willingness to depart and to be with Christ which certainly all Christians that believe Eternity should cherish in their hearts To this I answer 1. by concession That we are to train up our selves in an expectation of our dissolution that we may be willing when the time is come and God hath no more work for us to do in the world we are to awaken our desires after the presence of Christ in Heaven to shew both our faith in him and love to him Since Christ was willing to come down to us though it were to meet with shame and pain why should we be loth to return to him Iacob's spirit revived when he saw the Waggons which Ioseph sent to carry him Death is the Chariot to carry you to Christ and therefore it should not be unwelcome to us 2. By correction though it be lawful and expedient to desire death yet we are not anxiously to long after it till the time come there may be sin in desiring death as when we grow weary of life out of desperation and the tiresomeness of the Cross and there may be grace in desiring life that we may keep his word longer express our gratitude to him here in the world to mourn for sin to promote his glory More fully to make this evident to you I shall shew how we may desire death how not To answer in several propositions 1. There is a great deal of difference between serious desires and passionate expressions The desires of the children of God are deliberate and resolved conceived upon good grounds after much strugling with flesh and blood to bring their hearts to it Carnal men are loth that God should take them at their word as he in the Fable that called for death and when he came desired him to help him up with his burden Alas they do not consider what it is to be in the state of the dead and to come unprovided and unfurnished into Gods presence We often wish our selves in our graves but if God should take us at our word we would make many pauses and exceptions Men that in their miseries call for death when sickness cometh will run to the Physician and promise many things if they may be recovered None more unwilling to dye than those that in a passion wish for death 2. We must carefully look to the grounds of these wishes and desires Carnal wishes for death arise either 1. out of violent anger and a pet against Providence as Jonah 4. 8. The Sun beat upon the head of Ionah that he fainted and wished in himself to dye and said it is better for me to dye than live The children of Israel murmured when they felt the Famine of the Wilderness Exod. 16. 3. And the children of Israel said unto them Would to God we had dyed by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt c. When men are vexed with the world they look upon death as a relief to take vengeance upon God to deprive him of a servant 2. In deep sorrow as Iob 3. 3. Elijah 1 King 19. 4. He requested for himself that
Here 's 1. The sin deprecated Remove from me the way of Lying 2. The good supplicated and asked Grant me thy Law graciously In the first clause you have his Malady David had been inticed to a course of lying In the second we have his Remedy and that 's the Law of God First let me speak of the evil deprecated there Observe 1. The Object The way of lying 2. Gods act about it Remove from me c. First for the Object The way of lying It is by some taken generally by others more particularly 1. For those that expound it more generally they are not all of a mind Some think the way of lying is meant Corruption of Doctrine others of Worship others apply it to disorders of conversation some take it for Error of Doctrine false opinions concerning God and his Worship which are called lying and so opposed to the way of truth spoken of in the next verse I have chosen the way of truth Heresie and false Doctrine is called a lye Ezek. 13. 22. Their diviners speak lies So John 2. 21. A lye is not of the truth and the word used The way of lying is elsewhere rendred a false way v. 104. and 128. there is the same expression Now this he desires to be removed from him because it sticks as close to us as our skin Error is very natural to us and man doth exceedingly please himself with the figments of his own brain All practical Errors in the world are but man's natural thoughts cryed up into a voluble opinion because backed with defences of Wit and Parts and secular Interests and other advantages they are but our secret and privy thoughts which have gotten the reputation of an opinion in the world for we speak lyes from the womb even in this sense we suck in erronious principles with our milk Nature carrieth us to wrong thoughts of God and the ways of God and out of levity and inconstancy of spirit we are apt to be carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men Now to this sense the latter clause will well agree Keep me from a way of lying that is keep me from falling into error and mistakes about Religion for he begs that the law may be granted to him or a certain stated rule without which all things are liable to deceit and imposture And according to this sense Austin beggeth that he may neither be deceived in the Scriptures nor deceive out of them Nec fallar in iis nec fallam ex iis let me never be mistaken my self nor cause others to mistake Again By a way of lying some understand false worship for an Idol is a lye Isa. 44. 20. Is there not a lye in his right hand meaning an Idol By others a course of sinning for a way of sinning is a way of lying for it deceives us with a conceit of happiness which we shall never enjoy therefore Eph. 4. 22. Put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts Lusts are called deceitful because they promise what they never perform they flatter us not only with hopes of impunity but much imaginary comfort and satisfaction O but it 's a lye Satan deceived our first Parents pretending to shew them a way of Immortality whereas that brought death to the world Most go this way Remove from me the way of lying that is the way of sin and the rather because the Septuagint translation read it thus Remove from me the way of Iniquity and Chrysostom in his gloss He means Every evil deed should be removed from him or it proves a lye in regard of all those flatterings and blandishments by which it enticeth the soul. Nay there 's a parallel place seems to make good this sense Prov. 30. 8. When Agur prays against sin Remove from me vanity and lies meaning a course of sin Thus it is taken more generally 2. Those that take it more particularly for the sin of lying or speaking falsly in commerce they again differ Some take it passively keep me from frauds or deceits of other men because it seems to be a hard thing to ascribe a way of lying to a child of God therefore they rather take it passively But this is to fear where no fear is But David begs that he might be kept from a way of lying that it might not settle into a way that 's his meaning Therefore I rather take it actively that he might not run into a false and fallacious course of dealing with others Now why would David have this way of lying removed from him Three Reasons 1. Because of the inclination of his corrupt nature We had most need pray to be kept from gross sins as Psal. 19. 13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins We need not only pray against lesser sins or spiritual wickednesses but from gross sins carried on presumptuously against the light of Conscience So Col. 3. 5. Mortifie your earthly members c. What members doth he speak of not worldliness and unbelief only but he speaks of adultery uncleanness inordinate affections and the like and the Children of God if they do not deal with God for grace against their gross sins they will soon know to their costs Jesus Christ warned his own disciples those that were trained up in his School those that were to go abroad and deliver his Gospel to the world Luke 21. 34. Take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness c. A candle newly blown out easily sucks light and flame again and we that are newly taken out of the dominion of sin into a state of grace may suck light and flame again therefore we had need pray against gross sins 2. Because he had been tripping and guilty in this kind In the story of David you may trace too much of this way and vein of lying as his feigning to Abimeleck the Priest 1 Sam. 25. 8. and to Achish 2 Sam. 27. 8. compar'd with vers 10. his perswading Ionathan to tell his Father he was gone about such a business Now this we may learn when we are foiled by any sin we should take heed lest we settle into a way and course of sin for in every sin as there is culpa the fault or the transgression of the Law and reatus the guilt or obligation to punishment so there is macula the blot an inclination to sin again in like manner as a brand once on fire is more apt to take fire again By every act of sin the Law of God is lessened our carnal inclination is increased therefore we had need be earnest with God Lord keep me from a way of lying 3. Man is strongly inclined to lying it sticks close to our nature so that God must remove it from us as more fully afterwards Thus for the Object a way of lying Secondly Gods Act about it Remove from me Sin is removed either in a way of Justification when the guilt of
6. 16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his Servants ye are whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness Now Man rightly constituted his Actions are thus governed The Understanding and Conscience prescribe to the Will the Will according to right Reason and Conscience moveth the Affections the Affections according to the command and counsel of the Will move the bodily Spirits and Members of the Body But by Corruption there is a manifest Inversion and Change Pleasures affect the Senses the Senses corrupt the Phantasie Phantasie moveth the Bodily Spirits they the Affections and by their violence the Will is carried captive Man blinded and so Man goeth on headlong to his own destruction The corrupt Passions are like wild Horses that do not obey the Driver but draw to Precipices for his destruction Therefore Basil of Seleucia calleth a carnal Man a Slave that runs after the Chariots of his own Passions and corrupt Affections 3. Consider the great tyranny and power of Sin it leaveth us no right and power to dispose of our selves and our Actions and so Men cannot help themselves when they would as is sensible in them that are convinced of better and do worse they see what they should do but do not do it being drawn away by their own Lusts. Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor Sin hath gotten such a deep interest in their Actions and command over their Affections that they cannot leave what they know to be naught or follow that which they conceive to be good And this Bondage is more sensible in them that have some kind of remorse and trouble with their Convictions either from temporal inconvenience shame or loss and yet cannot leave their Lusts and so in despair resolve to go on and make the best of it Ier. 18. 12. And they said There is no hope but we will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart Jer. 2. 25. Thou hast said there is no hope no for I have loved strangers and after them will I go Yea further that have a kindly remorse from the conviction of the Spirit Ier. 31. 18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke And so Paul Rom. 7. 14. I am carnal sold under sin 4. Consider how this Bondage is always increased by Custom which is a second Nature or an inveterate Disease not easily cured Ier. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good who are accustomed to do evil The more he continueth in this course the less able to help himself the more he sinneth the more he is inthralled to sin as a Nail the more it is knocked the more it is fastned in the Wood. First a man yields up himself to Sin as a Servant by Covenant Rom. 6. 16. Know ye not to whom ye yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey that is gives up his principal Time Actions and Employments Then a Servant by Conquest 2 Pet. 2. 19. While they promise them liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought in bondage A Sinner is under the dominion of Sin as an hired Servant and a Captive We first willingly and by our own default run into it and after cannot rid our selves of it Ligatus eram non ferro alieno sed mea ferrea voluntate velle meum tenebat inimicus me mihi catenam fecerat constrinxerat me Lord I am bound not with Iron but with an obstinate Will I gave my Will to mine Enemy and he made a Chain of it to bind me and keep me from thee Quippe ex voluntate perversa facta est libido dum servitur libidini facta est consuetudo dum consuetudo non resistitur facta est necessitas Aug. Confes. lib. 8. cap. 5. A perverse Will gave way to Lustings and Lustings made way for a Custom and a Custom let alone brought a Necessity upon me that I can do nothing but sin against thee And after that Reformidam quasi mortem consuetudinis mutationem Aug. Confes. lib. 8. cap. 7. Thus are we by little and little enslaved brought under the power of every Toy Things are lawful as subordinate helps but we contrary to the Law of Reason and the Inclinations to true Happiness immoderately desire them and these Desires being excessive get a compleat Victory over our Souls and at length we are brought under the power of every Creature 1 Cor. 6. 12. All things are lawful but I will not be brought under the power of any 5. There is one thing more that maketh the Carnal Life to be a meer Slavery and that is the Fear and Terror which doth arise from the consciousness of Sin the fear of Death and Damnation and Wrath to come which doggeth Sin at the heels When Adam sinned he was afraid Gen. 3. 7. And carnal Men are all their life-time subject to bondage through the fear of death Heb. 2. 15. There is a Fire smothering in the bosom of a Sinner and sometimes it flashes out in actual gripes and horrors they have grievous damps of heart so that Sinners are so far Bond-men that they dare not seriously call themselves to an account for the expence of their Time and Employments which every one should do nor think seriously of Death or God's Judgment or Hell He that is always under the check of a cruel Master cannot be said to be a Freeman Now so is every Man that is not in Christ let him be never so great and mighty and powerful he is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã subject to bondage in danger of hidden fears easily awakened in his heart Well then call you this a Free Life As jolly and jocund as wicked Men seem to be or as great as they are it is a liberty of the Flesh taken by Men not given by God the quietness of the Flesh but bane of the Soul 2. On the contrary The true Liberty is in the ways of God 1. There we are directed how to attain to our great End which is true Blessedness Mat. 7. 14. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it A way of Sin seemeth broad and easie to the Flesh but it is strait and hard to the Spirit and the way of Duty strait and narrow to the Flesh but because it is to Life it is broad to the Spirit or new Nature I shall walk at liberty To a renewed Heart the Divine Commandments are not grievous 1 Iohn 5. 3. for by this means they come to enjoy God and walk to their own Happiness and attain to the End for which they were made A poor heart goes home chearfully
carowsing dancing all the warnings of Parents the good counsel of Tutors and Governours the grave exhortations of Ministers and Preachers will do no good upon them they are alwayes wandring up and down from God and from themselves cannot endure a thought of God of Death of Heaven of Hell of Judgment to come but when God casts them once into some grievous disease or some great trouble they begin to come to themselves and then they that would hear nothing understand nothing despised all grave and gracious counsel given as if it did not belong to them scoffed at admonitions thought the day lost in which they had not acted some sin or other when the Cross preacheth and some grievous calamity is upon them then Conscience beginneth to work and this bringeth to remembrance all that they have heard before then they come to themselves and would fain if they could come to Christ. Sharp Affliction is a sound powerfull rouzing teacher Iob 36. 8 9. And if they be bound in fetters and be holden in cords of affliction then he sheweth them their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded Grace worketh in a powerfull but yet in a morall way congruously but forcibly and by a fit accommodation of Circumstances One place more Ier. 31. 18. Truly I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the Yoke turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Affliction awakeneth serious Reflections upon our wayes therefore take heed what ye doe with the Convictions that arise upon Afflictions to slight them is dangerous Nothing breedeth hardness of heart so much as the smothering of convictions Iron often heated grows the harder On the other side see they do not degenerate into despair either the raging despair which terrifieth or the sottish despair which stupifieth Ier. 18. 12. They said there is no hope but we will walk after our own devices and we will every one doe the Imagination of his evil heart The middle between both is an holy sensibleness of our condition which is a good preparation for the great duties of the Gospel The work of Conversion is at first difficult and troublesome but pass over this brunt and all things will be sweet and easie the bullock at first yoaking is most unruly and fire at the first kindling casts forth most smoak so when sin is revived it brings forth death Rom. 7. 9. For I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin revived and I died But yet cherish the work till God speak peace upon sound terms 2. It is a great help to those that are converted already How many are reduced to a more serious lively practice of Godliness by their troubles We are rash inconsiderate unattentive to our duty but the rod maketh us cautious and diligent We follow the world not the word of God the vanities thereof take us off from minding the Promises or Precepts of the word till the affliction cometh In short there is none of us so tamed and subdued to God but that we need to be tamed more We are all for carnal liberty there is a wantonness in us We are high minded earthly minded till God come with his scourge to reclaim us he chasteneth us for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness Heb. 12. 10. Some lust still needeth mortifying or some Grace needeth exercising Our Pride needs to be mortified or our affections to be weaned from the world The Almond Tree is made more fruitfull by driving nails into it because that letteth out a noxious gumm that hindereth its fruitfulness So when God would have you thrive more he makes you feel the sharpness of affliction You have heard Plutarch's story of Iason of Choerea that had his Imposthume let out by a casual wound There is some corruption God would let out We are apt to set up our rest here and therefore we need to be disturbed to have the world crucified to us Gal. 6. 14. that the cumber of the world may drive us to seek for rest where it is only to be found and to humble us by outward defects that we may look after inward abundance that by being poor in this world we may be rich in Faith Iames 2. 5. and having nothing in the Creature we may possess all things in God 2 Cor. 6. 10. and be inlarged inwardly as we are straitened outwardly In short that we may be oftner with God God sent a tempest after Ionah Absalom set Ioab's barley-field on fire and then he came to him 2 Sam. 14. 30. Isa. 26. 16. Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them Hosea 5. 15. In their affliction they will seek me early It were endless to run out in discourses of this nature 5. The Affliction of its self doth not work thus but as sanctified and accompanied with the Spirit of God If the Affliction of its self and by its self would doe it it would doe so alwayes but that we see by experience it doth not in its self It is an evil and a pain that is the consequent and the fruit of Sin and so breedeth Impatience Despair Murmuring and Blasphemy against God as it is a legal curse other fruit cannot be expected of it but reviving terrours of heart and repinings against the Sovereignty of God We see often the same Affliction that maketh one humble maketh another raging the same Poverty that maketh one full of dependance upon God maketh another full of shifts and evil Courses whereby to supply his want No it is understood of sanctified Crosses when Grace goeth along with them to bless them to us Ier. 31. 19. Surely after that I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth After God had wrought a gracious change in him by his afflicting hand and Spirit working together So Psalm 94. 12. Blessed is he whom thou chastenest and instructest out of thy Law The Rod must be expounded by the Word and both must be effectually applied by the Spirit Grace is God's immediate Creature and Production he useth subservient means and helps sometimes the Word sometimes the Rod sometimes both but neither doth any thing without his Spirit 6. This Benefit though gotten by sharp Afflictions should be owned and thankfully acknowledged as a great testimony and expression of God's Love to us So doth David to the praise of God It is a branch that belongeth to the Thanksgiving mentioned v. 65. Thou hast done well with thy Servant according to thy Word The first of this octonary We are prejudiced against the Cross out of a Self-love a mistaken Self-love we love our selves more than we love God and the ease of the Body more than the welfare of the Soul and
have There is a difference between a dead sea and a calm sea A stupid Conscience they may have not a quiet conscience The virtue of that Opium will soon be spent Conscience will again be awakened Use. Oh then let us put in for a share in this Blessedness There are two encouragements in the Service of Christ our Vails and our Wages our Wages should be enough the Eternal enjoyment of himself But oh we cry out of the tediousness of the way We have our Vails also that are not contemptible If a man should offer a Lordship or Farm to another and he should say The way is dirty and dangerous the Weather very troublesome I will not look after it Would you not accuse this man of folly that loves his ease and pleasure But now if this man were assured of a pleasant path and good way if he would but take a little pains to go over and see it this were gross folly indeed to refuse it Our Lord hath made over a blessed Inheritance to us upon Gospel-terms but we are full of prejudices in that to keep close to the rule may bring trouble and deprive us of many advantages of gain and we think we shall never see good day more But we are assured there is a great blessing goeth along with Gods yoke and we having a promise of the enjoyment of Gods presence where there are pleasures for evermore this should make us rowse up our selves in the Work of the Lord. SERMON II. PSAL. CXIX 2. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies that seek him with the whole heart IN this Psalm the Man of God begins with a description of the way to true blessedness In the former verse a blessed man is described by the course of his actions Blessed are the undefiled in the way In this by the frame of his heart Blessed are they that keep his testimonies that seek him with the whole heart The internal principle of good actions is the verity and purity of the heart Here you may take notice of two marks of a blessed man 1. They keep his testimonies 2. They seek him with the whole heart Doct. 1. They that keep close to Gods testimonies are blessed By way of Explication two things take notice of 1. The notion that is given to Precepts and Counsels in the word they are called his testimonies 2. The respect of the blessed man to these testimonies to keep them First The notion by which the word of God is exprest is Testimonies whereby is intended the whole declaration of Gods will in Doctrines Commands Examples Threatnings Promises The whole word is the testimony which God hath deposed for the satisfaction of the world about the way of their salvation Now because the word of God brancheth it self into two parts the Law and the Gospel this notion may be applied to both First To the Law in regard whereof the Ark is called the Ark of the Testimony Exod. 25. 16. because the two Tables were laid up in it The Gospel is also called the testimony the testimony of God concerning his Son Isa. 8. 20. To the law and to the testimony where Testimony seems to be distinguished from the Law The Gospel is so called because there God hath testified how a man shall be pardoned reconciled to God and obtain a right to eternal life We need a testimony in this case because it is more unknown to us The Law was written upon the heart but the Gospel is a stranger Natural light will discern something of the Law and pry into matters which are of a moral strain and concernment but Evangelical truths are a mystery and depend by the meer testimony of God concerning his Son Now from this notion of Testimonies we have this advantage 1. That the word is a full declaration of the Lords mind God would not leave us in the dark in the matters which concern the service of God and mans salvation He hath given us his Testimony he hath told us his mind what he approves and what he disallows and upon what terms he will accept of sinners in Christ. It is a blessed thing that we are not left to the uncertainty of our own thoughts Mic. 6. 8. He hath shewed thee O man what is good The way of pleasing and enjoying God is clearly revealed in his word There we may know what we must do what we may expect and upon what terms We have his testimony 2. Another advantage we have by this notion is The certainty of the word it is Gods Testimony The Apostle saith 1 Joh. 5. 9. If we take the testimony of men the testimony of God is greater It is but reason we should allow God that value and esteem that we give to the testimony of men who are fallible and deceitful Among men in the mouth of two or three witnesses every thing is established Deut. 19. 15. Now there are three that bear witness in heaven and three that bear witness on earth 1 Joh. 5. 7 8. We are apt to doubt of the Gospel and have suspicious thoughts of such an excellent doctrine but now there are three witnesses from heaven the Father Word and Spirit the Father by a voice Mat. 3. 7. And lo a voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son c. And the Son also by a voice when he appeared to Paul from Heaven Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And the Holy Ghost gave his testimony descending upon him in the form of a Dove and upon the Apostles in cloven tongues of fire And there are three that bear record on earth for he saith v. 10. He that believeth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he hath the testimony in himself what is that The Spirit Water and Blood in the heart of a believer these give testimony to the Gospel The Spirit bears witness to the Gospel when it illuminateth the heart enabling us to discern the Doctrine to be of God to discern those signatures and characters of Majesty Goodness Power Truth which God hath left upon the Gospel and Water and Blood testifie when we feel those constant and sensible effects of Gods power coming with the Gospel 1 Thes. 1. 5. both by pacifying the Conscience and bringing joy and satisfaction and by sanctifying and freeing a man from the bondage of sin Water signifies Sanctification Ioh. 17. 17. Sanctifie them by thy truth The Sanctifying power of God that goes along with the Gospel is a clear confirmation of the Divine testimony in it Ioh. 8. 32. The truth shall make you free By our disintanglement from lust we come to be setled in the truth Gods testimony is the ultimate resolution of our faith Why do we believe because it is Gods testimony How do we know it is Gods testimony it evidenceth it self by its own light to the consciences of men yet God for the greater satisfaction to the world hath given us witnesses three from heaven and three on earth Every manifestation of God
keeping their Fathers command Ier. 35. Set pots before them c. no our Father hath forbidden us to drink wine Their Fathers were dead but ours is living will you that are sons renounce God and side with the Devils party and commit sin you to whom the Father hath shewed such love that you should be called his children Then 't is a wrong to Iesus Christ to his Merit to his Example To his Merit Christ came to take away sin and will you bind those cords the faster which Christ came to loosen Then you go about to defeat the purpose of his death and put your Redeemer to shame You seek to make void the great end for which Christ came which was to dissolve sin And besides you disparage the worth of the price he paid down you make the blood of Christ a cheap thing when you despise grace and holiness you make nothing of that which cost him so dear you lessen the greatness of his sufferings And it is a wrong to his Pattern You should be pure as Christ is pure 1 Joh. 1. 3. and v. 5. be righteous as he is righteous You should discover what a holy person Christ was by a conformity to him in your conversation Now will you dishonour him What a strange Christ will you hold forth to the world when his Name is upon you will you give way to sin and folly And it is a wrong to God the Spirit a grief to him His great and first work was to wash us from sin Tit. 3. 5. You forget that such a work was past upon your hearts and that you have been purged from your old sins when you return to them again 2 Pet. 1. 9. and his constant residence in the heart is to check the lusts of the flesh to prevent the actings of sin If ye through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Rom. 8. 13. therefore you go about to make void his personal operation Thus 't is a wrong to God 2. By an argument drawn from our selves it is very unsuitable to you We profess our selves to be regenerate and born of God 1 Joh. 3. 9. He that is born of God cannot sin It is not only contrary to thy duty but to thy nature as thou art a new creature It were monstrous for the egg of one creature to bring forth a brood of another kind for a Crow or a Kite to come from the Egg of a Hen It is as unnatural a production for a new-creature to sin therefore you that are born of God it is very uncomely and unsuitable Do not dishonour your high birth 3. Consider the nature of Sin if you give way to it it will encroach further Sins steal into the Throne insensibly and being habituated in us by long custom we cannot easily shake off the yoke or redeem our selves from their tyranny They go on from little to little and get strength by multiplied acts Therefore we should be very careful to avoid all sin The second part of the Caution is Beware of gross sins committed against light and conscience When we are tempted to sin say with Ioseph Gen. 39. 9. How can I do this wickedness and sin against God The more of deliberation and will there is in any action the sin is the fouler Consider foul sins are a blot that will stick long by us See 1 King 15. 5. it is said David walked in all the ways of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite Why there were many other things wherein David failed you read of his diffidence and distrust in God I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul We read of his dissimulation and feigning himself mad in the company of the Philistines We read of his injustice to Mephibosheth his fond affection to Absolom his indulgence to Amnon we read of his numbering the people which cost the lives of thousands all on a sudden all these are great failings but these are not taken notice of but the matter of Uriah left a scar and blot that was not easily washt off Thirdly BewareÌ of continuance in sin How may we continue in sin In what sense Three things I shall take notice of in sin culpa reatus macula there 's the fault the guilt the blot and then we continue in sin when the fault the guilt or blot is continued upon us 1. The fault is continued when the acts of it are repeated when we fall into the same sin again and again Relapses are very dangerous as a bone often broken in the same place you are in danger of this before the breach be well made up between God and you as Lot doubling his Incest to venture once and again is very dangerous 2. The guilt doth continue upon a man till serious and solemn repentance till we sue out our pardon in the name of Christ. Though a man should forbear the act never commit it more yet unless he retracts it by a serious remorse and humbleth himself before God and sueth out his pardon in a repenting way the guilt continues If we confess he speaks to believers then sin is forgiven not otherwise 3. There 's the macula the blot by which the School-men understand an inclination to sin again the evil influence of the sin continueth until we use serious endeavours to mortifie the root of it When we have been foiled by any lust that lust must be more mortified For instance Ionah he repented for forsaking his call when he was cast into the Whale's belly but the sin broke out again because he did not mortifie the root what was that his pride So that it is not enough to bewail the sin but we must launce the sore and discover the root and core of it before all will be well A man may repent of the eruption of sin the former act but the inclination to sin again is not taken off Iudges 16. 2. Sampson loves a woman of Gaza and she had betray'd him but by carrying away the Gates of the City he saves his life possibly upon that experience he might repent of his folly and inordinate love to that woman I but the root remains therefore he falls in love with another woman with Delilah Therefore if you would do what is your duty you must look to the fault that that be not renewed the guilt that that be not continued by omission of repentance and that the blot also do not remain upon you by not searching to the root of the distemper the cause of that sin by which we have been foiled So much for the first part of the Text They do no iniquity The Second note is They walk in his ways This is the positive part not only avoiding of sin but practice of holiness is implyed Observe Doct. 2. It is not enough only to avoid evil but we must do good
cherish and dandle it and have a regard to it he is one whom God will not accept His desire is not to offend God and it is his trouble when corruption gets the start of Grace If a King warneth a City of Traytors and calleth upon them to search them out and send them away and they never regard the message but willingly give them harbour and entertainment then it is a sign they are disaffected to him To cherish a sin after warning is an open rebellion against God 3. Conatu In endeavour We must keep all Conatu licet non eventu it is our labour though not our success Those that dispense with any Commandment voluntarily and willingly have never yet learned the way of true obedience to God 2 King 5. 17 18. In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant that when my master goeth into the House of Rimmon to worship there and he leaneth on my hand and I bow my self in the house of Rimmon When I bow my self in the House of Rimmon the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing This is to set up a toleration in our hearts and to make Satan some allowance to part stakes between God and the Devil There is something wherein we would be excused and expect favour in fashions customs ways of profit and advantage The endeavour must be to keep all though the success be not answerable A Mariner that is beaten back by the winds yet proveth to hold on his course to make his Port. A man that would sit warm shutteth the door and windows yet the wind will creep in though he doth not leave any open passage for it Now the Reasons why we are to have respect to all the Commandments are these following 1. Because they are all ratified by the same Authority There is a connexion between them as there is between links in a chain take away one and all falleth to pieces Iam. 2. 10. For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all The authority of the Law is lost if men may pick and chuse as they please He that said Thou shalt do no murther hath also said Thou shalt keep my Sabbaths A quatenus ad omne the argument holds Do one thing as a duty and that will enforce the practice of all duties that we are convinced of Col. 1. 10. Walk worthy of God in all well-pleasing He that seeketh not to please God in all things seeketh not to please God in any thing 2. Because in Conversion Grace is given to observe all there is an universal principle to incline the heart impartially to all God infuseth all Grace together not one particular only in the hearts of his children but the whole Law There is a form of Grace introduced into the soul that suits with every point of the Law The heart is framed to resist every sin to observe all that God hath commanded A new-born infant hath all the parts of a man though not the strength and bulk so every Christian in regeneration Men may be born without hands or feet but the new Creature never cometh out maimed and imperfect It is small and weak at first but it groweth and gathereth strength There is no Commandment to which it is not suited Well then not to have respect to all were to hide our Talent in a Napkin and to receive one of Gods best gifts in vain The Apostle inferreth it out of their calling 1 Pet. 1. 15. But as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in all manner of conversation at home and abroad among Infidels and with their fellow Christians in prosperity and in adversity walk worthy of your calling As the Sun is placed in Heaven and spreadeth his beams every where nothing is hidden from his light or as the lines run from the center to every part of the Circumference so doth Grace distill it self in an uniform obedience 3. A Christian can never be perfect in degrees if he be not perfect in parts What is defective in the parts cannot be made up by any growth If a man should be born without an arm or a leg this cannot be supplied by future growth he is a maimed man still so if a man be not perfect in parts hath not respect to all the Commandments he can never be perfect in Heaven You cannot be presented as perfect in Christ Iesus Col. 1. 28. 4. They that do not obey all will not long obey any but where profit or lust requireth it they will break all as Mark 6. 20. Herod feared Iohn knowing that he was a just man and an holy and observed him and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly But one command stuck with him being pleas'd with Herodias and the dancing Damsel that bringeth him to murther c. Keep but your passion a foot or your lust a foot or your worldliness a foot and it will carry you further One sin keepeth possession for Satan allow but one lust and corruption in the heart and that will undermine all and become thine eternal ruine as one leak may sink a ship A bird tied by the leg may make some shew of escape You never totally renounced Satans government and wholly gave up your selves to God By keeping a part the whole falleth to his share Use 1. It reproveth those that make one duty excuse another Two sorts there are some that go from sins to duties and others from duties to sins that antedate or post-date Indulgences 1. Those that antedate that hope to make amends for their evil course by their duties as when men allow themselves in a present carnal practice upon the purpose of an after-repentance It is as if men should distemper the body by excess and then hope to amend all by giving themselves a vomit or contract a sickness voluntarily because they will take physick Certainly men would not sin so freely if they were not born up by promises of future reformation 2. That post-date They go from duties to sins Ezek. 33. 13. When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live if he trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity all his righteousness shall not be remembred but for his iniquity that he hath committed he shall dye for it If he shall commit a sin upon that confidence of his own righteousness Iosiah's breach with God was after the preparing of the Temple 2 Chron. 35. 20. even God's children take the more carnal liberty because of their duties 2d Use is Trial. Have we this sincere respect to all the commandments This may be known 1. By a constant desire resolution and endeavour to be informed of Gods will Rom. 12. 2. And be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good that acceptable and perfect will of God And Eph. 5. 17. Wherefore be
it is very needful they should be seasoned with the word betimes 3. Consider the many inconveniencies that will follow if they do not presently mind this work 1. Death is uncertain and therefore such a weighty business as this will brook no delay God doth not always give warning Nadab and Abihu two rash and inconsiderate young men were taken away in their sins and the Bears out of the Forest devoured the children that mocked the Prophet The danger being so great as soon as we are sensible of it we should flye from it When children come to the fulness of reason they stand upon their own bottom before they are reckoned to their Parents Oh! wo be to you if you dye in your sins Certainly as soon as a man is upon his own personal account he should look to himself lest God cut him off before he hath made his peace with him 2. Sin groweth stronger by custom and more rooted it gathereth strength by every act A brand that hath been in the fire is more apt to take fire again A man in a Dropsie the more he drinks the more his thirst increaseth Every act lesseneth fear and strengthneth inclination Jer. 13. 27. Wo unto thee O Ierusalem wilt thou not be made clean when shall it once be A twig is easily bowed but when it grows into a Tree it is more troublesome and unpliable A Tree newly set may be transplanted but when long rooted not so easily The man that was possessed of a Devil from his childhood how hardly is he cured Mark 9. 29. 3. Justice is provoked the longer and that will be a grief to you first or last If ever we be brought home to God it will cost us many a bitter tear not only at first conversion Jer. 31. 18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised c. but afterwards David though he began with God be-times Psal. 25. 7. yet prays Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgression And Iob 13. 26. For thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth Old bruises may trouble us long after upon every change of weather and new afflictions revive the sense of old sins They may stick by us We think tricks of youth are not to be stood upon you may have a bitter sense of them to your dying day 4. You will every day grow more useless to God the exercise of Religion dependeth much on the vigor of affections Again it is very profitable it brings a great deal of honour to God to begin with him betimes All time is little enough to declare your respects to God And it is honourable for you Seniority in grace is a preferment They were in Christ before me saith Paul An Old Disciple is a title of honour To grow gray in Christs service and to know him long it maketh the work of grace more easie The dedication of the first-fruits sanctified the whole lump Lam. 3. 27. It is good for a man that he bear the yoak in his youth to be inured to strictness betimes Dispositions impressed in youth increase with us Again it will be very comfortable when the miseries of old age come upon you As the Ant provideth in Summer for Winter so should we provide for age Now what a sweet comfort will it be when we are taken off from service that while we had any strength and affections God had the use of them Then our age will be a good old age USE 1. is for Lamentation That so few youths take to the ways of God No age doth despise the word so much as this which hath most need of it It is a rare thing to find a Ioseph or a Samuel or a Iosiah that seek God betimes Go to the Universities and you will find that those that should be as Nazarites consecrated to God live as those that have vowed and consecrated themselves to Satan Amos 2. 11. And I raised up of your sons for prophets and of your young men for Nazarites c. The sons of the prophets in their youth were bred for a more strict discipline in their holy calling separated from worldly delights to be a stock of a succeeding Ministry But alas they spend their time in vanity bringing nothing thence but the sins of the place and vainly following the sinful customs of the Countrey How few regard the education of their youth in knowledg or religious practice Families are Societies to be sanctified to God as well as Churches The Governours of them have as truly a charge of souls as the Pastors of Churches They offer their children to God in baptism but educate and bring them up for the world and the flesh They bewail any natural defect in them if their children have a stammering tongue a deaf ear or a withered leg but not want of grace We have a prejudice and think they are too young to be wrought upon but Gods word can break in with weight and power on young ones Luke 11. 1. One of his disciples said unto him Lord teach us to pray as Iohn also taught his disciples And Mat. 21. 15. When the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying in the temple and saying Hosanna to the son of David they were sore displeased and said unto him Hearest thou what these say And Iesus said unto them Yea have ye never read Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise They learned it of their Parents Mat. 21. 9. And the multitudes that went before and that followed cryed saying Hosanna to the Son of David We should often be infusing good principles in youth Corruption of youth is one of the saddest symptoms of approaching Judgment USE 2. Is exhortation to young ones You that are to begin your course begin with God you have no experience yet you have a rule You have mighty lusts but a stronger Spirit No age is excluded from the promise of the Spirit Joel 2. 28 29. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesie your old men shall dream dreams your young men shall see visions and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit Of Iohn Baptist it is said Luke 1. 15. He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mothers womb And Mark 10. 14. Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God There is power to enlighten you notwithstanding all your prejudices to subdue your lusts notwithstanding the power of corruptions 1 Joh. 2. 13 14. I write unto you young men because ye have overcome the wicked one I write unto you little children because ye have known the Father c. And see Gen. 39. 9. It will be a
spiritual light else they shall have no favour and relish Can sense which is the light of Beasts trace the workings or the flights of Reason Can you see a Soul or an Angel by the light of a candle there is no proportion between them So can a natural man receive the things of the Spirit he receives them not why because spiritual things must be spiritually discerned 2. There is not only blindness but obstinacy and prejudice When we come to judg by sense and reason the whole business of Christianity seems to be a foolish thing to a carnal heart To give up our selves to God and all our Interest and to wait upon the reversion of a happiness in another world which is doubtful whether there will be any such thing or no is a folly to him To deny present lusts and interests to be much in prayer and be often in communion with God is esteemed a like folly When the Apostle came to preach the Gospel to the Wits at Athens they scoffed at him they entertained his Doctrine as fire is entertained in wet wood with hissing and scorn To do all and suffer all and that upon the account of a happiness to come to a carnal heart this is but a fancy and a meer imagination 3. As blind and obstinate so we are apt to abuse truth Carnal hearts turn all to a carnal purpose As Spiders assimilate and turn all they suck into their own substance so doth a carnal heart turn all even the Counsels and Comforts of the word to a carnal purpose Or as the Sea whatever comes into it the sweet Rivers and droppings of the clouds turns all into salt water Hos. 14. 9. Who is wise and he shall understand these things prudent and he shall know them but the transgressors shall stumble therein As right excellent and as notable as the doctrines of the word are yet a carnal heart finds matter in them to stumble at he picks that which is an occasion of ruine and eternal perdition from the Scripture therefore the Apostle saith Eph. 4. 21. If ye have learned of him as the truth is in Iesus We are never right and truth never works as to regeneration but it 's only fuel for our lusts until we have learned it as it is in Jesus Carnal men undo themselves by their own apprehensions of the truths of God Luther calls some Promises bloody Promises because of the mistakes of carnal men by their perverse application Therefore that we may maintain an awe of God in our soul we need to be taught of God 4. We are apt to abuse our knowledg Saving-knowledg makes us more humble but carnal knowledg more proud Where it is in gift rather than in grace there men are puft up The more we know God or our selves by a divine light the more humble we shall be Jer. 31. 18 19. When I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth The more light we have from God the more we look into a vile heart When Adam's eyes were opened he runs into the bushes he was ashamed So when God opens the eyes and teacheth a Christian this makes him more humble 5. There needs Gods teaching because we are so apt to forsake when we have known the things of God Psal. 119. 21. The proud do err from thy commandments What 's the reason David was so stedfast in the truth he did not take it up from the teachings of man but from the teachings of God When a man leads us into any truth another man may lead us out again But now when God hath taught us and imprest a truth upon the heart then it is durable What 's the reason believers are not as fickle as others and not led away by the impure Gnosticks and like those Libertines now among us 1 Joh. 2. 20. Ye have an unction from the holy One and ye know all things They had an unction which came down from Jesus Christ upon their hearts and then a man is not led away by every fancy but begins to grow stable in spirit 6. We cannot tell how to master our Corruptions nor restore reason to its Dominion again 'T is not enough to bring light into the soul but we must have power and efficacy or true conversion will not follow Man's reason was to govern his actions Now all literal instruction is weak like a March-Sun which draweth up the vapours but cannot scatter them it can discover sins but cannot quell them Rom. 7. 19. When the commandment came sin revived and I died He could not tell how to bridle his lusts he found them more outrageous The good that I would do I do not and the evil which I would not that I do Thirdly The Benefit and Utility of Gods teaching When God teacheth truth cometh upon us with more conviction and demonstration 1 Cor. 2. 6. and so hath a greater awe and soveraignty Those that have made any trial can judg between being taught of God and men Those that are taught of men the charms of Rhetorick may sometimes stir up some loose affection but it doth soon vanish and wear away again but the work of God makes deep impression upon the soul and truths are then more affective Man's knowledg is sapless dry and unsavoury 2 Pet. 1. 8. For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Iesus Christ. There may be an empty belief and a naked and unactive apprehension of Christ which stirs up no affection but the light which comes from God enters upon the heart Prov. 2. 10. it affects the whole soul. It doth not only stay in the fancy float in the brain but affect the heart And then it is renewing Man's light may make us more learned but God's light more holy We are changed by beholding the glory of God into the same Image 2 Cor. 3. 18. SERMON XIV PSAL. CXIX 13. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth FOR the coherence of these words you may refer them either to the 11th or 12th Verse If to the 11th Verse there he speaks of hiding the word in his heart and now it breaks out in his tongue First it must be in the heart and next in the tongue First in the heart It is but hypocrisie to be speaking and talking of good things when we have not been refreshed and warmed by them our selves Christianity is not a Religion to talk of but to live by There are many rotten-hearted hypocrites that are all talkers like the Moon dark in themselves whatever light they give out to others or like Negroes that dig in rich Mines and bring up gold for others when themselves are poor The power of grace in the heart is a good foundation for grace in the lips This is the method and order wherein David expresseth it I
we can bring our knowledg to act and have it for our use upon all occasions it urgeth us to practice Jam. 1. 25. Being not a forgetful hearer but a doer Most of our sins are sins of forgetfulness and incogitancy Peter would never have been so bold and daring and done what he did if he had remembred Christs prediction The Text saith Luk. 22. 61. When he remembred he wept bitterly A bad memory is the occasion of much mischief to the soul. When we do not call Truths to mind in their season and when fit occasion and opportunity is offered Memory is an handmaid to Understanding and Conscience and keeps Truths and brings them forth when called for USE is to press us to Caution Let us not forget the Word Helps to memory are 1. Attention Men remember what they heed and regard Prov. 4. 21. Attend to my sayings keep them in the midst of thy heart Where there is attention there will be retention Oh lay up truths with much earnestness and care Sensitive memory is seated in the hinder part of the head as one would say in a Chamber backward from the noise of the street Now oh lay up Truth safe and lay it out when ever you have need But Rational memory lyeth near the Understanding and Conscience in the midst of thine heart Reverence in the admission of the word helps us in the keeping of it Heb. 2. 1. Let us take heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time they slip from us If we did receive it with more heed we would retain it with more constancy lay them up keep them choicely 2. Affection that is a great friend to memory VVhat we esteem most we best remember Omnia quae curant senes meminerunt An old man will not forget where he laid his bag of gold Delight and Love will renew and revive the object upon our thoughts Here in the Text we have this Truth asserted I will delight my self in thy statutes I will not forget thy word Affection to Truths cometh from the application In a publick Edict a man will be sure to carry away what is proper to his case 3. Meditation We must be often viewing and meditating of what we have laid up in the memory It availeth not to the health of the body to eat much but to digest what is eaten Tumultuary reading and hearing without Meditation is like greedy swallowing much meat When little is thought on it doth not turn to profit This concocteth and digesteth what we have heard The more a thing is revolved in the mind the deeper impression it maketh 4. Beware of inuring the mind to vain thoughts for this distracts it and hindereth the impression of things upon it The face is not seen in running-waters nor can things be written in the memory unless the mind be close and fixed Lead is capable of engraving because it is firm and solid but Quicksilver because it is fluid will not admit it An inconsistent wandering mind reapeth little fruit from what is read or heard 5. Order is an help to memory Heads of Doctrine are as Cells wherein to bestow all things that are heard from the word He that is well instructed in the Principles of Religion will most easily and firmly remember Divine Truths Methodus est catena memoriae to link Truths one to another that we may consider them in their proportion 6. Get a lively sense of what you hear or read and you will remember it by a good token Psal. 119. 93. I will never forget thy precepts for by them thou hast quickned me They that are quickned by a Sermon will never forget such a Sermon 7. Holy Conference the speaking often of good things keeps them in the heart and the keeping of them there causeth us to speak to those that are about us 8. Get the memory sanctified as well as other faculties and pray for the Spirit for that faculty is corrupted as well as others SERMON XVIII PSAL. CXIX 17. Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live and keep thy word IN the former part we heard of the virtue and excellency of the word and therefore how much the Saints desire to understand it meditate of it speak of it and transfer it into their practice Now whosoever will resolve upon such a course will necessarily be put upon prayer for mark how David's purposes and prayers are intermingled I will and I will and then presently prayeth again Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live and keep thy word In this request observe 1. It is generally expressed together with his own relation to God Deal bountifully with thy servant 2. It is particularly explain'd wherein he would have this bounty expressed 1. In the prorogation of his life that I may live 2. In the continuance of his grace And keep thy word The one in order to the other David doth not simply pray for life but in order to such an end and the general request concerneth both parts yea rather the latter than the former That whilst I live I may keep thy word as counting that to be the greatest benefit or argument of Gods bounty to have an heart framed to the obedience of his will I might observe many things as 1. What a great honour it is to be Gods servant David a great King giveth himself this title Thy servant And Constantine counted it a greater honour to be a Christian than to be Head of the Empire 2. That all we have or expect cometh from Gods bounty to us So doth David express himself Deal bountifully with thy servant as intimating not only the measure but the rise and source of what he expected from God 3. That among all the benefits which we expect from the bounty of God this is one of the greatest To have an heart to keep his word 4. Gods word must not only be understood but obeyed for this is the meaning of keeping the word Joh. 14. 21. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them c. hath implyeth knowledg we must have them before we can keep them but when we have them we must keep them and do what we know But omitting all these points which will be more fitly discussed elsewhere I shall only point out two Lessons 1. The Cause of life and that is Gods Bounty 2. The End and Scope of Life Gods Service 1. The Cause of life Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live Observe The prorogation of our lives is not the fruit of our merits but the free grace of God 1. Long life is in it self a blessing and so promised though more in the Old Testament than in the New when Eternity was more sparingly revealed That it is promised as a blessing is evident Prov. 28. 16. He that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days And in the fifth Commandment Exod. 20. 12. That thy days may be long in the land of the living So Psal. 91.
otherwise yet they are proud if they have never submitted to God with brokenness of heart seeking his pardon and favour There are many which are facile to men and yet full of contumacy and stoutness of stomach against God They can stoop to the poorest worm and court their favour but yet deal insolently with their Maker But if men were perswaded of the truth of Gods being they would sooner be convinced of the naughtiness of their hearts by comparing their carriage to God and men Many there are that are tender of wounding the reputation of men yet dishonour God and are never troubled Many that look upon it as an uncomely thing to despise their neighbour to deal hotly with an Underling and vaunt it yet never made conscience of submitting themselves to God who is their undoubted Superior Men count it part of humility and good manners to yield to those that are over them and to pay them all kind of respect and subjection yet they never care to seek the favour of God and humble themselves seriously for their offences against him You take it ill in the world when people of mean quality insult over you when such times fall out as the base rise up against the honourable what are you to God Poor base worms will you contend with your Maker do you count it to be a heavy disorder and a strange inversion of all states and conditions that men of mean and low fortunes should brave it over you and sway things in the world and how ill may God take it that you stout it out against him There 's a greater distance between him and you than between you and your fellow-creatures therefore if it be grievous to you what a hainous offence is it to stand out against God USE 1. It instructs us what is the way to reduce and bring home sinners to God by breaking their pride or as the expression is Job 33. 17. by hiding pride from man by which is meant taking away pride for that which is taken away is hidden or cannot be seen As the hiding of sin is the taking away sin so the hiding of pride is the cure of it 1. By humble and broken-hearted addresses to God for his pardon and his grace There is no way to cure the pride of unregeneracy but by brokenness of heart Come and put your mouths in the dust and acknowledg that you have too long stood it out against God As the Nobles of the King of Assyria came with Ropes about their necks and submitted themselves so Jer. 31. 9. They shall return with weeping and with supplications This is the way to come out of your sins to go and bemoan the stubbornness and pride of your hearts as Ephraim bemoaned himself and smote upon his thigh and complained of his obstinacy Ier. 31. 18. Christians first or last God will bring you to this if you do not stoop voluntarily you shall by force if your hearts be not broken by the power of his grace they shall be broken in pieces by the power of his Providence Rom. 14. 11. As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me God hath sworn As I live now in every Oath there is an implicite imprecation that is if this be not done then let this befall me So there is an implicite imprecation in that Oath Count me not a living God if I do not make the creature stoop If you stand it out against the power of his word can you stand it out against the power of Christ when he comes in glory Ezek. 22. 14. Can thine heart endure or can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee O! how will your faces gather blackness and darkness in that day 2. Yield up your selves to be governed by his will and pleasure It is not enough to come weary and heavy laden not only to be sensible of the burden of sin and beg for pardon but we must take Christs yoke Mat. 11. 29. Nature sticks at this a proud heart is loth to come under the yoke We would tast of the sweetness of mercy but cannot endure the bonds and restraints of duty as Ephraim would tread out the Corn but was loth to break the clods Hos. 10. 11. the prophet alludes to the manner among the Iews their fashion was to tread out or thresh out their Corn by the feet of beasts and the Ox his mouth was not to be muzled it was easie work and afforded abundance of food Deut. 25. 4. We would have Comfort but not Duty 3. We must constantly cherish an humble frame of spirit if we would maintain communion with God Mic. 6. 8. not only walk with God but humble thy self to walk with God why he is a great Soveraign and he will be exactly observed and constantly depended upon and if you slip you must bewail your failings and from first to last all must be ascribed to grace Doct. 2. These proud are cursed Or Those that obstinately and impenitently continue in their sins they are under a curse 1. I shall open the nature of this Curse 2. Shew how impenitent sinners come under this Curse First The nature and quality of this Curse or what is that Curse which lyes upon all wicked men That will best be understood by considering that Scripture wherein the tenor of the Law is described Deut. 27. 26. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them And Gal. 3. 10. Cursed is every one which continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them Where there is considerable the duty which the Law exacteth and then the penalty which the Law inflicteth 1. The duty which the Law exacteth Every one must continue in the words of this law to do it An innocent holy nature that 's presupposed for it is said the person must continue It doth not consider man as lapsed or fallen or as having already broken with God And then he must continue in all things there 's an universal a perfect obedience that is indispensibly required while we are in our natural condition And then the perpetuity he must hold out to the last if he fail in one point he is gone All this is indispensibly exacted of all them that live under the tenor of this Covenant he that doth them shall live in them and the soul that sinneth shall dye There is required perpetual perfect personal obedience What will you do if this Covenant lye upon you as it doth upon all men in their natural condition If God call you to a punctual account of the most inoffensive day that ever you past over what will become of you If thou O Lord shalt mark iniquity O Lord who shall stand Psal. 130. 3. better never have been born than be liable to that judgment O therefore when the Law shall take a sinner by the throat and say Pay me that which thou owest what
David Psa. 77. 1 c. I cryed unto God with my voice even unto God with my voice and he gave ear unto me In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord my sore ran in the night and ceased not my soul refused to be comforted I remembred God and was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Selah Thou holdest mine eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot speak I have considered the days of old the years of ancient time c. By the sense of Gods wrath he was even wounded to death and the sore running upon him would admit of no plaister Yea the remembrance of God was a trouble to him I remembred God and was troubled What an heavy word was that Soul-troubles are the most pressing-troubles a child of God is as a lost man in such a condition 2. In respect of the heavy weight of outward pressures Thus David fasted and lay all night upon the earth in his childs sickness 2 Sam. 12. 16 17. David therefore besought God for the child and David fasted and went in and lay all night upon the earth And the elders of his house arose and went to him to raise him up from the earth but he would not neither did he eat bread with them And when he was driven from his Palace by Absolom and was in danger of his life every moment which some Interpreters think to be the case intended in the Text when he went up the Mount of Olives bare foot going and weeping 2 Sam. 15. 30. And David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet and wept as he went up and had his head covered and he went bare-foot and all the people that was with him covered every man his head and they went up weeping as they went Now the Reasons of this are these 1. To correct them for past sins This was the cause of David's trouble and this puts a sting into all miseries Gods children smart under their sins here in the world as well as others Prov. 11. 31. Behold the righteous shall be recompenced in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner Recompenced in the earth that is punished for his sins Compare with it 1 Pet. 4. 18. And if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear God punisheth here that he may spare for ever He giveth some remembrance of the evil and corrects his people not to complete their justification or to make more satisfaction for Gods Justice than Christ hath made yet to promote their sanctification that is to make sin bitter to them and to vindicate the glory of God that he is not partial For these reasons they are even brought to the dust by their own folly 2. To humble them and bring them low in the midst of their great enjoyments therefore he casts them down even to the dust because we cannot keep our hearts low therefore God maketh our condition low This was Paul's case 2 Cor. 1. 7 8 9. And our hope of you is stedfast knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings so shall ye be also of the consolation for we would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia that we were pressed out of measure above strength insomuch that we despaired even of life but we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead That is not build too securely on their own sufficiencies 3. To try their graces which are never tryed to the life till we be near the point of death The sincerity of our estate and the strength of faith is not discovered upon the Throne so much as in the dust if we can depend upon God in the hardest condition 4. To awaken the spirit of prayer Out of the depths have I cryed unto thee O Lord Psal. 130. 1. Affliction puts an edge upon our desires They that are flat and careless at other times are oftenest then with God 5. To shew the more of his glory and the riches of his goodness in their recovery Psal. 71. 20 21. Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth thou shalt encrease my greatness and comfort me on every side By the greater humiliation God prepareth us for the greater blessings As there are multitude of troubles to humble and try the Saints so his mercies do not come alone but with great plenty USE 1. Let us bless God that we are not put to such great trials How gentle is our exercise compared with David's case We are weak and God will not overburden us There is a great deal of the wisdom and love of God seen in the measure of the Cross and in the nature and kind of it We have no cause to say our belly cleaveth to the dust or that we are pressed above measure God giveth us only a gentle remembrance if brought upon our knees we are not brought upon our faces 2. If this should be our case do not count it strange It is an usual exercise of God's people let us therefore not be offended but approve Gods holy and wise dispensation If there be great troubles there have been great sins or there will be great comforts or for the present there are great graces As such a dispensation is a correction there is reason to approve it If you be laid in the dust have not you laid Gods honour in the dust and trampled his Laws under foot As it is a trial you have cause to approve it for it is but meet that when God hath planted grace in the heart he should prove the strength of it Therefore if you be kept so long in your heavy condition that you seem dead yet if you have faith to keep you alive and patience be exercised 't is for your greater good Rom. 5. 3. And not only so but we glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation worketh patience And as affliction is an exercise for your benefit and spiritual improvement The husbandman when he teareth and rendeth the ground up with the plow it is to make it more fruitful the longer the metal is in the fire the more pure it cometh forth nay sometimes you have your outward comforts with advantage after troubles as Job 42. 10 11 12. And the Lord turned the captivity of Iob when he prayed for his friends also the Lord gave Iob twice as much as he had before and the Lord blessed the latter end of Iob more than his beginning O! when we are fitted to enjoy comforts we shall have them plenty enough 2d Point That in such great and heavy troubles we should deal with God for help In the dust David calleth to God for quickning The reasons of this why in great troubles we should go to God for help are 1. From the inconvenience of any other course 1. If
shall I do so or shall I not to desire him that is Lord of all to give us leave who is the Fountain of Wisdom to give us Counsel who is the disposer of all Events to give us a blessing 3. The declaring of our ways is necessary that we may be sensible of Gods eye that is upon us and so act the more sincerely Certainly it is a great advantage to make God conscious to every business we have in hand when we dare undertake nothing but what we would acquaint him withal There are some to whom the Prophet pronounceth a wo Isa. 29. 15. Wo unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord and their works are in the dark and they say Who seeth us and who knoweth us For the opening of this place surely none can seriously be so vain and grow up to such sottish Atheism as to think to hide a thing from God but they are loth solemnly to draw it forth in the view of conscience to revive a sense of Gods Omnisciency upon themselves We are said to deny that which many times we forget and will not think of So that those which hide their counsels from God are those that will not take God along with them In short this declaration is not necessary for God who knows our thoughts a far off Psal. 139. 2. not only our words and works but purposes before we begin to lift up a thought that way But this declaration is necessary for us to encrease the awe of God upon our heart and that we may undertake nothing but what we will solemnly acquaint the Lord with Well then this declaring our ways is an act of dependence Secondly By his ways may be meant all his straits sorrows and dangers and so this declaring it is an act of holy friendship when a man comes as one friend to another and acquaints God with his whole state lays his condition before the Lord in hope of pity and relief We have liberty to do so to tell God all our mind Heb. 10. 19. Let us come with boldness by the blood of Iesus and Heb. 4. 16. The word signifies with liberty of speech speaking all to God your whole state and condition if you have any sins to be pardoned any miseries to be redressed that where you are doubtful you may be helped by Gods counsel where you are weak you may be confirmed by his strength where you are sinful you may be pitied by his mercy where you are miserable you may be delivered by his power This is holy friendship to acquaint God with our doubts wants griefs and fears and we may do it with more confidence because we go to him in Christs name Joh. 16. 23. Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name it shall be granted unto you It is no fiction or strain but a real truth Will Christ deceive us when he saith Verily And then whatsoever you ask you have liberty to go to God for the removal of any fear the granting any regular desire or for satifying any doubt Whatsoever you ask the Father in my name our prayers by this means are Christs request as well as ours For instance if you send a child or servant to a friend for any thing in your name the request is yours and he that denies a child so servant denies you so saith Christ Go to the Father in my name God cannot deny a request in Christs name no more than he can deny Christ himself therefore you may use a holy boldness Thirdly By ways is meant temptations and sins and so this declaring is an act of spiritual contrition or brokenness of heart Sins they are properly our ways as Ezek. 18. 25. the Lord makes a distinction between my ways and your ways God hath his ways and we ours Our ways are properly our sins Now these saith David I will declare that is distinctly lay them open before God This is a part of our duty with brokenness of heart to declare our ways to acquaint God fully how it is with us without dissembling any thing It is a duty very unpleasing to flesh and blood natural pride and self-love will not let us take shame upon our selves and out of carnal ease and laziness we are loth to submit to such a troublesome course and thus openly to declare our ways Guilt is shy of Gods presence and sin works a strangeness Adam hid himself when God came into the garden and when he could shift no longer he will not declare it but transfers the fault upon Eve and obliquely upon God himself and ever since there are many tergiversations in mans heart and therefore it is said Job 31. 33. If I have covered my sin as did Adam Iunius renders it more hominum after the manner of men but Adam's name is used because we shew our selves to be right Adam's race apt to cover our sins The same expression we have Hos. 6. 7. But they like men have transgressed the covenant in the Hebrew 'tis like Adam so if I covered my sin as did Adam this is the fashion of men Now David brought his heart to this resolution with much strugling Psal. 32. 5. I said I will confess my sins he forced himself and thrust his backward heart forward by a strong resolution for we are loth to deal thus openly plainly and truly with God being shy of his presence and would fain keep the Devils counsel and come with our iniquity in our bosom But though this is a troublesome displeasing exercise to flesh and blood yet it is profitable and necessary For us thus to declare our ways 1. Because it is made to be one of the conditions of pardon and the act of Repentance that 's necessary to the pardon of sin Prov. 28. 13. He that hideth his sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsakes them shall find mercy so it runs And 1 Joh. 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins Gods Justice is satisfied by Christ but it must be glorified and owned by us So Jer. 3. 13. I am merciful saith the Lord only acknowledg thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God God hath mercy enough to pardon all only he will have it sued out his own way he will have his mercy asked upon our knees and have the creature stoop and submit And David Psal. 51. 3. I acknowledg my transgression 2. It is the only means to have our peace setled If you would not have your trouble and anxious thoughts continued upon you go open your selves to God declare your ways Psal. 32. 5. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin As soon as David did but take up a resolution presently he felt the comfort of it If David had confest sooner he had come to his case sooner Distress of conscience is continued upon us until this be
done and especially is this found by experience when great trouble comes upon us by reason of sin There is some sin at the bottom God will bring out and until they come to clearness and openness with God the Lord still continues the trouble they are kept roaring and do not come to their peace Iob 33. 26 27. When a man is under trouble and the sense of sin doth not fasten on the heart he is not prepared for deliverance but when it comes to this I have sinned and it profits me not then God sends an Interpreter one among a thousand to shew unto man his uprightness 3. It prevents Satans accusations and Gods judgments It is no profit to cover our sins for either Satan will declare them or God find us out and enter into judgment with us It prevents Satan as an Accuser and God as a Judg. 1. It prevents Satan as an Accuser Let us not tarry till our adversary accuse There is one that will accuse you if you do not accuse your selves He that 's a tempter is also an accuser of the brethren Now Confession puts Satan out of office When we have sued out our pardon Satan is not an accuser so much as a slanderer Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect The Informer comes too late when the guilty person hath accused himself and sued out his pardon And 2. It prevents God as a Iudg. It is all known to God Psal. 69. 5. O God! thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not hid from thee It is a folly to conceal that which cannot be hid God knows them how God may be said to know things two ways Either simply with respect to the perfection of his nature and so he knows all things or by virtue of his office and so God knows things judicially as Judg of the world he takes knowledg of it so as to punish it unless you confess it But in this kind of knowledg he loves to be prevented he will not know it as a Judg if we confess it when there is process against sin in our own consciences 1 Cor. 11. 31. If we judg our selves we shall not be judged When we accuse and judg our selves then God's work is prevented God is contented if we will accuse arraign judg and condemn our selves then he will not take knowledg of our sins as a Judg. The end of God's judging is Execution and punishment but the end of our judging is that we may obtain pardon Now consider whether you will stand at the bar of Christ not as a Saviour but as a Judg or you will judg your selves in your own heart Better sit as Judg upon your own heart than God should sit as Judg upon you therefore deal plainly and openly with him Thus I have explained what it is to declare our wavs it is an act of dependence to take God's leave blessing counsel along with us an act of friendship as to lay open our case to God and an act of brokenness of heart as declaring our sins and temptations For the reasons why if we would speed with God we should unfeignedly lay open our case before him 1. It argueth sincerity A hypocrite will pray but will not thus sincerely open his heart to God Psal. 32. 1. Blessed is he in whose spirit there is no guile No guile it hath a limited sense with respect to the matter of confession that doth not deal deceitfully with God but plainly and openly declares his case Many ways men may be guilty of guile of spirit in confession of sin either when they content themselves with general or slight acknowledgments as thus We are all sinners but they do not declare their ways Generals are but notions and as particular persons are lost in a crowd so sins lye hid in common acknowledgments Or else men take up the empty forms of others You shall see in Numb 19. the waters of purification wherewith a man had been cleansed if another touched it he became unclean Confessions are like those waters whereby one hath cleansed himself Now to take up others Confessions and the forms of others without the same affection feeling and brokenness of heart doth but defile us the more when the heart doth not prescribe to the tongue but the tongue to the heart or else men make some acknowledgments to God but do not uncover their privy sore they are loth to draw forth the state of their hearts into the notice and view of conscience This guile of spirit may be sometimes in God's children Moses had a privy sore which he was loth to disclose and therefore when God would have sent him into Egypt he pleads other things insufficiency want of elocution that he was a stammerer that he had not utterance I but his carnal fear was the main therefore see how God touches his privy sore Exod. 4. 19. Arise Moses go into Egypt the men that sought thy life are dead Why Moses never pleaded that he mentions other things that were true that he was a man of slow speech and his brother Aaron was fitter but he never pleads carnal fear but the Lord knew what was at the bottom So it is with Christians many times we will confess this and that which is a truth and we may humble our selves for it I but there 's a privy-sore yet kept secret Therefore this open-dealing with God is very necessary to lay open before God whatever we know of our state and way for then God will be nigh to us Out of self-love men spare themselves and will not judg and condemn themselves therefore they deny excuse extenuate or hypocritically confess O! I am a sinner and the like but do not come openly 2. It argueth somewhat of the spirit of adoption to put in the bill of our complaint to our heavenly Father to draw up an Indictment against our selves to judg that 's irksome but to put in a bill of complaint to a Friend or Father that savours of more ingenuity To tell God all our mind notes freedom and familiarity not such as is bold rude nor a dress of words but such as is grave serious proceeding from an inward sense of God and hope of his mercy 1 Joh. 3. 21. If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God then we can deal with him as one friend with another and acquaint him with all our griefs and wants A man had need walk exactly that would maintain his freedom with God There is a freedom as men may call it such as is bold rude and wretchless in words only but that which proceeds from confidence in God and his mercy that 's a fruit of close walking we cannot have it in our hearts without it 3. It is the way to make us serious and affected with our condition When we open our whole heart to God then we shall be more earnest for a remedy we content our selves with some transient
irrational act and it hath a turpitude in it therefore the fruit of sin is shame and a fear of a just reproof And then by experience how do men hang the head and blush when they are taken in any unseemly action All evil causeth shame All sin as soon as it is committed it flasheth in the face of conscience Shame is the striving of nature to hide the stain of our souls by sending out the blood into the face for a covering it labours most under this passion And this shame accompanieth sin not only when men are conscious of what we do but it 's a fear of a just reproof from God nay of a just reproof from themselves There 's a double lothness and fear in shame When men sin they are loth to look into their own heart and loth to look God in the face 1 Iohn 3. 20. If our heart condemn us c. When men have guilt upon their hearts they are loth to take the Candle of the Lord and look into the state of their souls And they are loth to look God in the face therefore the Apostle adds If our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards God that our prayers be not interrupted As holy David had his shieness when he had been sinning away his peace he kept silence Psal. 32. 3. He was fain to thrust forth his heart by a practical decree and bring it by force into God's presence Indeed some men are grown shameless having a depraved judgment and corrupted all their doings Zeph. 3. 7. such have outgrown the common principles of natural honesty and of all diseases those which are insensible are the worst Therefore when men are grown into a state of insensibility and lost those feelings of conscience it 's very sad Yet those which are most obdurate have their hidden fears and are afraid of God and Conscience and are loth to be alone themselves and are fain to knit pleasure to pleasure to keep up this victory and are forced to live in a jolly course that they may bring a greater brawn upon their hearts USE Let this press us to avoid sin Rom. 6. 21. For what fruit had ye of those things whereof ye are now ashamed If you sin there will be shame Sin in the greatest privacy brings shame Though you should be solitary and alone with your selves yet there 's an eye sees and an ear hears all that you do It was one of the Rules of Pythagoras Reverence thy self If there were no other witness there 's a Law of God in our own hearts that will upbraid us for sin Again David makes this request when he had profest perseverance I have stuck unto thy testimonies yet Lord put me not to shame Note from thence Doct. A man that hath long kept close to God in the way of his testimonies yet he should pray to be kept from falling into shameful sin Why 1. They which are most stedfast are not past all danger 1 Cor. 10. 12. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall He that hath the firmest footing may fall and that foully too when he begins to grow negligent and secure he may be soon surprised and drawn to dishonour the name of God and as David who was a man after God's own heart sin'd so foully that the name of God was blasphem'd among the Heathen When once we come out of our fears and are possest of the love of God we think there needs not be such diligence as when we were doubtful and kept in an uncertain condition and so carry the matter as if we were past all danger O no! sin many times breaks out of a sudden and after the first labours of soul in regeneration and terrors of the Law are gone there is great danger of security and secretly and silently things may run to wast in the soul. God's children have been in most danger when to appearance there was least cause of fear Lot who was chast in Sodom fell into incest where there were none but he and his two daughters He whose righteous soul was vexed at their abominations how was his conscience cast asleep by security A child of God may fall into the grossest sins David whose heart smote him for cutting off the lap of Saul's garment yet afterward fell into uncleanness and blood and his conscience falls asleep Therefore there needs watching and praying to the last 2. The miscarriages of God's children are most shameful O how will the Chams of the world laugh to see a Noah drunk So a child of God when he hath fallen into disorder how will this furnish the triumphs of the uncircumcised Blind Sampson did not make such sport for the Philistines as a child of God for a wicked man when he hath fallen into some notable excess 2 Sam. 12. 14. By this deed thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme Wicked men have a conscience and they would be glad of any pretext to shake off the name of Religion When the children of God keep up the lustre of it and live up to the Majesty of their Religion the awe of it falls upon wicked men But when they run into practices condemned by the light of nature and the laws of Nations it hardens wicked men and takes off this aw and fear upon them It 's no matter what a rude Scythian or barbarous Goth doth if they should exercise rapine and commit uncleanness no matter what open enemies which are at defiance with God though they break the Laws of God over and over again it is no such dishonour but for a child of God he that professeth the Christian name to walk disorderly it reflects dishonour upon God 3. Because of the hopes they have of speeding in prayer 1 Tim. 2. 8. I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting Those that in an humble sense of their own weakness and fear of the mischief of being a blemish to Religion when they come to pray they may be perswaded of God's goodness of whom they have such long experience that he will not fail them at length USE Let us pray that we may not dishonour the Gospel in our trials that God would not leave us to sin or shame by total apostasy or by any scandals that our Crown may not be taken from us Secondly As this shame may be supposed to arise from his sin so also from his sufferings or from the disappointment of his hopes Hope deferred leaves a man ashamed therefore Rom. 5. 5. the Apostle saith Hope maketh not ashamed When a man hath given out to others he hath such defences hopes expectations and these fail then he is ashamed Thus David begs God would own him that he might not be a scorn to wicked and ungodly men Note When they that stick to God's testimonies are disappointed of their present hopes it is matter of shame Observe it and humble
once but not again Then are we enlarged in this sense when the shackles are knocked off from our consciences when we have that other spirit the spirit of adoption or that free spirit as it is called Psal. 51. 12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit This free spirit enlargeth us that we may serve God cheerfully and comfortably According to this double captivity the slavery of sin and bondage of conscience so must our freedom and enlargement be interpreted a freedom from the power of sin and a freedom from the guilt of sin The carnal estate is often compared to a prison as Rom. 11. 32. God hath concluded or shut them all up together in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all Gal. 3. 22. The Scripture hath concluded or shut up all under sin ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that 's the word A man in his sinful and unbelieving state is like a man shut up in a strong prison that is made sure and fast with iron bars and bolts so that there is no hope of breaking prison mercy alone must open the dore to him this being in prison notes the power of sin But take the other notion because of the guilt of sin Now this prison is all on fire in the apprehension of the sensible sinner and therefore the poor trembling captive when the prison is all on a light flame runs hither and thither seeking an out-gate and a way of escape and mourns and sighs through the grates of the flaming prison This is all our condition by nature Now when God loosens the bolts and shuts back the many locks that were upon us as the Angel made Peter's chains fall off Acts 12. 12. then are we said to be enlarged to run the way of his commandment or as 't is exprest Luke 1. 74. to be delivered out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life When we are delivered from the powers of corruption which are as bolts and locks upon us and the power of sin is broken and we let out of the stocks of conscience that we might serve God without slavish fear This is the first thing we should mainly look at the general enlargement must always go before the particular First see that you be converted to God It is that which hardneth many you shall find many are praying for strengthning grace when they should ask renewing grace and when they should bewail the misery of an unregenerate carnal state they confess only the infirmities of the Saints and so are like little children that will attempt to run before they can stand or go Therefore here God must enlarge you free you from the slavery of sin and bondage that you may serve God 2. There is a particular enlargement or the actual assistance of the Lord's grace carrying us on in the duties of our heavenly calling with more success This is that which David begs in this place If thou wilt enlarge my heart There are after grace is received many spiritual distempers which are apt to seize upon us Sometimes we are slow of heart sometimes in bonds and straits of conscience as to God's service A man of spiritual experience is sensible of these things of a damp which is many times upon his life and comfort and want of strength and largeness of heart for God's service Whosoever makes conscience of daily communion with God and that in every service would do his uttermost cannot but be sensible of straits and therefore it is grievous to him to be under bonds and restraints and that he cannot so freely let out his heart to God Others that do not make communion with God their interest that go on in a dead track and course of duty are never sensible of enlargement or straitning But briefly that we may know when the heart is enlarged understand the nature of it let us see when the heart in Scripture is said to be enlarged 1. You may look upon this enlargement as the effect of wisdom and knowledg and so Solomon is said to have a large heart 1 King 4. 29. And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much and largeness of heart even as the sand that is on the sea-shore The greater stock of sanctified wisdom and knowledg a man hath the more is the heart enlarged for he hath a treasure within him and he is ready to bring out of the good treasure of his heart good things He that hath more gold than brass farthings when he puts his hand into his pocket will more easily bring forth gold than farthings so when the heart hath a good stock of holy principles within they are ready at hand they break out more easily in our discourse in our praying we are ready in all temptations to check the sin All grace is encreased to us by knowledg 2 Pet. 1. 2. Grace be multiplied unto you through the knowledg of God and of Iesus Christ our Lord. Still this way doth God enlarge the heart of his people When the understanding is full of pregnant truths the greater aw there is and check upon the heart to sin and the greater impulsion to duty Look as the influences of heaven pass through the air but they produce their effects in the earth they do not make the air fruitful but the earth so do the influences of grace pass through the understanding but they produce their fruit in the will and shew forth their strength in the affections and therefore when we would have our affections for God the way is to enlarge the understanding 2. You may look upon it as the effect of faith which wideneth the capacities of our souls and doth cause us more to open towards God that we may take in his grace it doth enlarge our desires and expectations Psal. 81. 10. Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Surely a Temple for the great God such as our hearts should be should be fair and ample If we would have God dwell in our hearts and shed abroad his influences we should make room for God in our souls by a greater largeness of faith and expectation The rich man thought of enlarging his barns when his store was encreased upon him Luke 12. so should we stretch out the curtains of Christ's tent and habitation have larger expectations of God if we would receive more from him The vessels failed before the oil failed We are not straitned in God but in our selves by the scantiness of our own thoughts we do not make room for him nor greaten God Luke 1. 46. My soul doth magnifie the Lord. Faith doth greaten God Why can we make God greater than he is As to his declarative being we can have greater and larger apprehensions of his greatness goodness and truth 3. We may look upon it as an effect of comfort and joy through the assurance of God's
teach us to do otherwise we love our selves more than our neighbour and our neighbour more than God out of self-interest we comply with the lusts of men and in complying with the lusts of men make bold with God This wisdom every one that would keep Gods law must learn That we are bound to none so much as to God from whom we have life and breath and all things that none can reward our obedience so surely so largely as God who can bear us out when men fail that none can punish our disobedience so much as God If these considerations were more in our hearts we would not sin so boldly nor serve God so fearfully and cowardly as usually we do nor comply with men to the wrong of our souls We may refuse obedience in a particular instance where we do not refuse subjection 2. That heaven is to be preferred before earth and the salvation of our souls before the interests and concernments of our bodies Mat. 6. 33. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you And whosoever fail in this point of wisdom are very fools Luke 12. 10. But God said unto him Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided There should be no delays in heavenly matters We busie our selves about other things and defer our care for eternity from day to day but this should be sought before every other thing 3. That present affliction is to be chosen rather than future and temporal rather than eternal A wise man would have the best at last for to fall from happiness is the utmost degree of misery miserum est fuisse beatum And therefore better suffer now with hopes of reward in another world than take pleasure now to endure pains to come 2 Tim. 2. 3. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good souldier of Iesus Christ. It is better do so than to have all our hopes spent Son in thy life time thou receivedst thy good things Luke 16. 25. That which is present is temporal that which is to come is eternal 2 Cor. 4. 18. While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal The good and evil of the present state is soon over Now we stand not upon a short evil so we may compass a great good 4. That things of profit and pleasure must give place to things that belong to godliness vertue and honesty for the bastard good must give place to the true real good Profit and pleasure are but bastard goods They are counted understanding men in the world that make pleasure give way to profit therefore Solomon saith Where there are no oxen the cribb is clean yet there is much gain by the labour of the oxe I am sure he is an understanding man before God that maketh both give way to honesty and godliness for the same reason that will sway us to make pleasure give way to profit will also teach us to make profit give way to the interest of grace as for instance That pleasure is a base thing as being the happiness of beasts so is profit as being the happiness of the children of this world in contradistinction to holiness the perfection of the next The pleasure of sense is only in this life so is worldly gain onely serviceable in our pilgrimage pleasure in the excess destroyeth profit so doth profit destroy grace As the world scorneth a man that hath wasted an estate upon his pleasures so do God and Angels that for the abundance of his wealth maketh havock of a good conscience and neglecteth things to come Godliness is the great gain 1 Tim. 6. 5. 5. That the greatest suffering is to be chosen before the least sin In sufferings the offence is done to us in sin the offence is done to God The evil of suffering is but for a moment the evil of sin for ever in suffering we lose the favour of men in sin we lose the favour of God suffering bringeth inconvenience upon the body sin upon the soul suffering is only evil in our sense sin whether we feel it yea or no It requireth spiritual wisdom and understanding to choose of evils the least as well as of goods the best Moses Heb. 11. 25. chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season 6. That a general good is to be chosen before a particular and that which yieldeth all things rather than that which will yield a limited and particular comfort Riches will avail against poverty and honours against disgrace but godliness is profitable for all things 1 Tim. 4. 8. it will yield righteousness comfort and peace eternal and food and rayment maintenance and eternal life Now these and many such principles must be ingraffed in the heart if we would keep Gods laws The reasonableness of such propositions in the Theory may easily appear but as to practice we are governed by sense and humane passion which judgeth the quite contrary of all this and causes us to make bold with God because afraid of men to follow earthly things with the greatest delight and earnestness and spiritual things in a formal and careless manner to be all for the present and nothing for things to come and to sell the birthright for a mess of pottage to make a wound in our souls to avoid a scratch in our bodies and for a little particular contentment to neglect the things of God 4. Understanding is necessary that we may judg aright of time and place and manner of doing that we may do not only things good but well where to go where to stand still as 't is said they sought of God a right way Isa. 8. 21. And David behaved himself wisely in all that he did 1 Sam. 18. 5. It is for the glory of God and the credit of Religion and the peace of our own souls that we should regard circumstances as well as actions and discern time and judgment that we do not destroy what we would build up Therefore understanding is necessary See further verse the 98th of this Psalm 5. Because our affections answer our understanding If we understand not how can we believe if we believe not how can we love if we love not how can we do Knowledg perswasion affection practice these follow one another where the faculties of the soul are rightly governed and kept in a due subordination Indeed by the fall the order is subverted Tit. 3. 3. serving divers lusts and pleasures Objects strike upon the senses sense moveth the fancy fancy moveth the bodily spirits the bodily spirits move the affections and these blind the mind and lead the will captive But a true understanding makes us more stedfast Now all these
is a great deal of profit for God looks to the affection and of all affections to the delight 4. When this delight is not set upon priviledges but upon grace and obedience this is more acceptable to God I delight in thy ways When we set upon obedience it 's a sign we mind Gods interest more than our own comfort that 's our own interest but subjection to God and holiness that 's for his glory therefore when the heart is set upon obedience then he will give in supplies of grace USE Oh that we could say so that we take joy and pleasure in the way of his Commandments Thou hast given me delight in thy ways give me strength to keep them To corrupt nature the ways of God are burdensome but to his children the Commandments of God are not grievous we shall not then want influences of grace SERMON XL. PSALM CXIX 36. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness IN the former Verses David had asked understanding and direction to know the Lord's will now he asketh an inclination of heart to do the Lord's will The understanding needs not only to be enlightned but the will to be moved and changed Man's heart is of its own accord averse from God and holiness even then when the wit is most refined and the understanding is stock'd and stor'd with high notions about it therefore David doth not only say Give me understanding but incline my heart We can be worldly of our selves but we cannot be holy and heavenly of our selves that must be asked of him who is the Father of lights from whom cometh down every good and perfect gift They that plead for the power of Nature shut out the use of prayer for if by nature we could determine our selves to that which is good there would be no need of grace and if there be no need of grace there 's no use of prayer But Austin hath said well Natura verâ confessione non falsâ defensione opus habet We need rather to confess our weakness than defend our strength Thus doth David and so will every broken-hearted Christian that hath had an experience of the inclinations of his own soul he will come to God and say Incline my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness In which words there is something implied and something exprest That which is implied is a Confession that which is exprest is a Supplication That which he confesseth is the natural inclination of his heart to Worldly things and by consequence to all evil for every sin receiveth life and strength from Worldly inclinations That which he begs is that the full bent and consent of his heart may carry him out to God's testimonies Or briefly here is 1. The thing asked Incline my heart 2. The Object of this inclination exprest positively unto thy testimonies Negatively and not unto covetousness Here is the object to which and the object from which To which Incline me to thy testimonies and suffer me not to decline to Worldly objects exprest here by the lust which is most conversant about them Covetousness Let me explain them more fully Incline my heart The word implies 1. Our natural obstinacy and disobedience to God's Law for if the heart of man were naturally prone and of its own accord ready to obedience it were in vain said to God Incline my heart I but till God bend us the other way we lye averse and aukward from his Commandments As God is said here to incline us so Iohn 6. 44. he is said to draw us There is a corrupt will which hangs back and desires any thing rather than that which is right we need to be drawn and bent again like a crooked stick the other way 2. It implies Gods gracious and powerful act upon the soul whereby the heart is fixed and set to that which is good when there 's a proneness another way this is the fruit of effectual grace Now let us see when the heart is enclined and how this is brought to pass 1. When is the heart said to be inclined I answer when the habitual bent of our affections iâ⦠more to holiness than to worldly things for the power of sin stands in the love of it and so doth our aptness for grace in the love of it or in the bent of the will the strength of desire and affections by which we are carryed out after it Amor mens est pondus meum eo feror quocunque ferââ¦r Our love is the weight that is upon our souls Nothing can be done well that is not done sweetly Then are we inclined when our affections have a proneness and propension to that which is good New these affections must be more to holiness than to Worldly things for by the prevalency is Grace determined if the preponderating part of the soul be for God It is not an equal poyse we are always standing between two parties there 's God and the World There 's a sensitive good drawing one way and there 's a spiritual good draws us another way Now grace prevails when the scales are cast on grace's side I say it is the habitual bent not for a pang the heart must be set to seek the Lord 1 Chron. 22. 19. Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God and the course of our endeavours the strength and stream of our souls runs out this way then is the heart said to be inclined to Gods testimonies 2. How is it brought to pass or how doth God thus reduce and frame our hearts to the obedience of his will There are two ways which God useth by the word and by his spirit by perswasion and by power they shall be taught of God and they are drawn of God Joh. 6 44. The Lord will allure Iapheââ¦h so he works by perswasion Gen. 9. 27. and then by Power Ezek. 36 26 27. I will cause you to walk in my wââ¦ys c. God tempers an irresistible strength and sweetness together fortiter pro te Domine sââ¦aviter pro me He worketh as a God therefore he works strongly and invincibly but he perswades men as men therefore he propounds reasons and arguments goes to work by way of perswasion Strongly according to his own nature Sweetly according to mans By perswasions accompanied by the secret efficacy of his own grace First He gives weighty reasons he casts in weight after weight till the scales be turned then he makes all effectual by his spirit Morally he works because God will preserve mans nature and the principles thereof therefore he doth not work by violence but by a sweet inclination alluring and speaking comfortably unto us Hos. 11. 4. I drew them with cords of a man with bands of love God knows all the wards of mans heart and what kind of keys will fit the lock therefore he suits such arguments as may work upon us and take us in our month and then really and prevailingly
the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom the first in point of Order and it is the first thing when we begin to be wise to think of God to have awful thoughts of God it is a chief point of Wisdom the great thing that makes us wise to Salvation And it is added as an Argument of Prayer 1. Nehe. 11. O Lord let thine Ear be attentive to the Prayer of thy Servants who desire to fear thy Name The more any is given to the fear of God the more assurance they have of Gods Love and readiness to hear them at the throne of Grace The point is this Doct. That man is indeed Gods servant who is devoted to his fear There may be weaknesses and failings but for the main he is sway'd by the fear of God 1. What it is to fear God 2. Why this is a sure note of Gods servant because it removes all the lets of Obedience First what it is to fear God There is a servile and a filial fear A fear of Wrath which the worst may have Iames 2. 19. The Devils believe and tremble And a fear of offending which the best must have Prov. 28. 14. Blessed is he that feareth alway a reverend disposition of Heart towards God as our Soveraign Lord and Master yea as our Father in Jesus Christ. For the First of these 1. A fear of Wrath. Every fear of Wrath is not sinful it is a duty rather than a sin all Gods children are bound to have a tender sense of Gods wrath or displeasure against sin to make them awful and serious in the Spiritual Life as in Heb. 12. 27. Let us serve God with reverence and Godly fear Mark upon that account and consideration as He is a consuming fire that should have an influence upon our Godly fear And Mat. 10. 28. Fear not them that can but kill the Body but rather fear him which is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell The words do not only contain a description of the Person who ought to be feared but the ground and reason why he is to be feared and therefore it is not simply the fear of wrath that is sinful but it is the Servility and Slavishness of it Now what is the Servility and Slavishness of the fear of Wrath partly when our own smart and terror is feared more than the displeasing of God and they have a mind to sin but are affraid of Hell and it is fear accompanied with hatred Servil fear though it keep us from some sins as a Wolf may be scared from the Prey yet keeps its devouring Nature It is accompanied with hatred of God all that fear God they hate him and indeed they could wish there were no God none to call them to account they could wish he were not so Just and Holy as he is and so here lies the evil of it not so much as fear of Wrath for that is a Grace rightly conversant about its Object but as it tends to this hatred of God and partly too Servility lies in this as it makes us shy of God and run away from him rather than draw near to him as Adam ran into the Bushes to hide himself Holy fear is an awe of God upon the Soul but that keeps us in a holy Communion with him I will put my fear into their hearts and they shall not depart from me but that fear which makes us flye from God is slavish and partly as it hath torment and perplexity in it and so hindreth us in Gods service Fear hath Torment in it The fear of Wrath that is a Duty but Slavish Fear is such a fear of wrath which makes us hate God and shun his presence and afraid more of wronging our selves than wronging of God and such a fear that hath torment and perplexity in it that cannot serve God so chearfully 2. There is a filial fear a fear of Reverence This fear of God was in Christ as Mediator Isa. 11. 1. 2. Among other Graces there reckoned up which do belong to Iehovah the Branch to Christ Jesus this is one The fear of the Lord. Christ as Man had a reverend affection to his Father whom he served and this fear it continueth to all Eternity in the blessed Spirits that are in Heaven The Saints and Angels have this kind of fear a dread of the holy God and a reverent and awful respect to his Majesty It is an essential respect which passeth between the Creature and the Creator and can never be abolished Now this fear of Reverence consisteth in a high esteem of God of his Majesty Glory Power and in the sense and continual thoughts of his presence And then a loathness to sin against God or to offend in his sight to do any thing that is unseemly when God is a looker on What! can a man sin freely that lives in the sight of the holy God when he hath a deep sense of his Excellency imprinted in his heart This is that fear which is the note of Gods Servants Secondly This must needs be the note of Gods Servants because it is the great Principle that both hindreth us from sin and quickneth us to duty The fear of God is one of the radical and essential Graces which belongeth to a Christian. It is a mighty restraint from Sin The Beasts were made to serve men and how are they held in Subjection and Obedience to man The dread of you saith God shall be upon every Beast of the Earth Gen. 3. So we are made for the Service of God Now how are we kept in Subjection to God When the fear of God is upon our heart that will not suffer us freely to do any thing that is displeasing to God Exod. 20. 20. God is come to prove you that his fear may be before your faces that you sin not It is a great remedy against all Temptation of Gain and worldly Profit and temporal Convenience Look as that man that had a fear of the King upon his heart 2 Sam. 18. 12. Why didst thou not smite him to the ground saith Ioab and the man answered though I should receive a thousand Shekels yet would I not put forth mine hand against the Kings Son Just such a fear hath a child of God of his Heavenly King No though I should have never so much offered me to tempt me from my Duty No I dare not the Lord hath charged me to the contrary Or as when the Recabites were tempted to drink Wine Pots were brought before them to inflame their Appetite No we dare not These passages express the workings of heart in one that fears God though temptation be present and never so much convenience thereby yet how can they do this Wickedness and sin against God Use. It informeth us who are Gods Servants Those that have most of this fear of God planted in their hearts Nehemiah 7. 2. He was a faithful man and feared God above many And then that they express
we had served God more strictly loved him more strongly obeyed him more faithfully We must have these thoughts while we are Living 4. Many desire Happiness but not Hollness Comfort without Grace they would be eased of their present Smart and freed from Sin but not subdued to God David saith Behold I have longed after thy Precepts not meerly after the Comfort of the Promises without regard to Duty The Prophet tells us Hosea 10. 11. That Ephraim was like an Heifer that was taught that would Tread out the Corn but would not endure the Yoke and break the Clods In Ploughing and Harrowing there was very hard work but no Profit but in treading out the Corn for as we thresh out our Corn so they trod it out by the feet of Oxen the mouth of the Ox was not to be muzled that there might be a great deal of Priviledge and Profit with it So Ephraim is like a Heifer that is taught they taught the Oxen to tread out the Corn but we will not endure the Yoak that is we are all for Priviledges but neglect Obedience There is no such great difficulty about the End indeed we are careless about it all the business is we stick at the Means Mat. 6. 33. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness By the Kingdom of God is meant the Royal Priviledges and Immunities of the Gospel-state and by his Righteousness is meant the Subjection the service God requires of us Now it is good when we seek both but we must not seek one without the other God and the World would sooner agree If God would bestow the Priviledges of his Kingdom and dispense with the duties God might have customers enough for Comfort Pardon Heaven Happiness No man is so senseless as not to desire these things in some measure but they will not come to Gods price they do not desire these things upon Gods terms The hearts of the Saints are as earnestly after Sanctification when they are acquainted with God and brought under the power of Grace that holiness may be increased in them as Rom. 7. 24. O that I were delivered from sin Psal. 119. 5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes Not only for the happy part of Religion but they are longing how they may please God and comply with their manifold obligations to God and brought to a more perfect conformity to God Thus the hearts of the Saints work 5. There are many pretenders to a fair respect to Gods Precepts they are as much for Holiness as for Pardon and Grace when it is nothing so 1. They say they desire to obey God in all things but can they seriously and sincerely appeal to God for the sincerity and truth of what they say for so doth David here when he comes to God Behold I have longed for thy Precepts or as Peter appeals to Christ Ioh. 21. 17. Lord thou knowest that I love thee that is to say when they have revived the sense of the nature of God and of his all seeing Eye upon their hearts when they have a due sense of God upon their souls otherwise they deal deceitfully Alass an evil Conscience is afraid it cannot offer itself thus to God when they are serious and think of what they say they cannot indure to think of his tryal As an Eye hurt seeks for a cover to hide it from the light so when a sense of God is lessened they may talk presumptuous expressions of their own sincerity but when they are most serious and have revived the sense of God upon their hearts and look upon him as an all-seeing God that searcheth the heart they cannot say then I have longed after thy Precepts 2. They not only say so but they think so that they desire holiness as much as others when indeed it is no such matter The deceit lies in this because they take a wish for a desire a velleity for a volition Quest. What is the difference between a wish and a desire Answ. Very great 1. They that have only a wish for holiness They love holiness in the abstract and in the general notion which they hate in the effect they do not know what is included in holiness and close-walking with God As Iohn 6. 34. Ever more give us of this Bread of Life But when Christ told them what it was to have this Bread of Life then they were offended So the Israelites when they considered Holiness and the Service of God in the abstract O! We will serve the Lord say they saith Ioshua you cannot serve the Lord for he is a Iealous God Ioshua 24. 18 19. Holiness in the abstract and notion is amiable and is apprehended as a necessary thing But now when it comes to the point of entring in at the strait gate walking in the narrow way of watching and striving against Sin of rowing against the stream of flesh and blood of constant Communion with God and diligent attendance upon his holy Worship then they will do nothing When they take up their Duty by the lump they are well pleased with it and it is easie to give up to God in the General but particulars we stick at Therefore here 's the fault in these wishes and velleities that they do not sufficiently poise their duty 2. These wishes are hasty and not serious The Commendation of Spiritual things and the representation of their absolute necessity may produce strange motions for the present but there 's a ground of suspicion because people all of a sudden become so vehement The Seed that fell into the stony ground forthwith sprang up Mat. 13. 5. O! but it needs much wrestling and care to cherish and raise up these serious and fixed desires and this constant bent of heart towards God Free-will-pangs of natural devotion are soon spent they are like the morning dew suddenly falls and suddenly dryed up Deut. 5. 29. When the people were frighted into a sense of Religion Say they All that the Lord hath spoken will we do They have well said saith God it is a good Resolution But O that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me always Many times there are certain desires and resolutions that have a moral sincerity in them that is we do not dissemble for the present but they have not a bottom of Grace supernatural sincerity to bear them up 3. They are not constant desires but as they are soon up so soon down Our Lord Jesus saith Mat. 5. 6. Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after Righteousness not only shall be but are blessed for the present Mark it is in the Greek they that are hungring and thirsting these Participles as all Grammarians know note a continued Act. The Fire on the Altar was never to go out Lev. 6. 12. There are certain unfixed desires and unconstant motions which for a time are very passionate as water seething hot over the fire take it off it returns
5. 6. Faith which worketh by Love Well this quickning that I may most sensibly demonstrate it depends upon these two things 1. The Vitality of Grace that depends upon the degree and measure of our Faith For to speak nothing as to the mystical use as it is a means of our Function of Life but to speak only now as to its moral use as it acts by the sight of invisible things keep Faith alive and all is alive in the Soul Heb. 11. 1. Faith is the evidence of things not seen it doth make things absent and things not seen to act as if they were present therefore it must needs be a very enlivening thing Without Faith our notions of God Christ Heaven and Hell are never practical and lively in operation for this is the evidence of things not seen and this convinceth us of all Spiritual and unseen things to make them have a force and operation upon the soul. We do but hear read and discourse litterally until Faith puts life into our apprehensions and thoughts of them For Faith will affect us as if we did see the invisible God and will put the same affections into us as if Christ were Crucified before our eyes Gal. 3. 1. What is the reason the Mistery of Redemption is a wild story to some lively to others Faith affects the heart as if he were crucified before our eyes and his Life dropt out from him by degrees So Faith makes us hug and embrace them as if we were in the midst of the Glory of the blessed ones Take it only in its moral use it is an enlivening thing And as Faith is kept up in any Vigour so the spiritual Lise is kept up 2. For Love When we have a fresh and warm Sense of the Love of God upon our Souls we are quickned to do for him answerable to such a Love and our Souls reasons What hath God done so great things for us in Christ and we do nothing for God again Then we see we cannot do any thing too much Love hath a law upon the Soul that stirs up lively and Zealous motions towards God 2 Cor. 5. 14. The love of Christ constraineth us 1 Ioh. 5. 3. His Commandements are not grievous Then every thing goes on Pleasantly and runs upon it's Wheels Secondly Why will they that long after Gods Precepts see a need of quickning 1. Because of the Diseases incident to the renewed Estate There 's a constant weakness by reason of in-dwelling Corruption The flesh lusteth against the Spirit Gall. 5. 17. They cannot serve God with that Purity and Liberty they desire Then there are frequent indispositions of Soul sometimes they feel a slowness and loathness and dulness in their Souls Good men may yet be slow of Heart to heavenly things Luk. 24. 25. Look as the Physitian saith weariness that comes of its own accord is a sign of some Disease upon us Laziness in Duty comes from a remiss Will Sometimes too they find great Deadness that they cannot follow their work so close and with that Life and Earnestness And sometimes they are in Bonds sometimes in Straits that they cannot enlarge and dilate themselves towards God Psal. 119. 32. When thou shalt enlarge my Heart I will run the ways of thy Commandments Now they that mind their work they will be Sensible of this and call upon God to quicken them David complains of the dulness and deadness of his Spirit but many do not but go on in a Cold track of Duties and rever regard the frame of their Hearts But now a good man observes the Temper of his Soul Most observe their Bodies but few their Souls If their body be ill at ease and out of order they Complain presently but Love waxeth Cold Zeal for God and delight in God abateth men grow weary in Well-doing grow flat have this remiss Will this Deadness and Slowness of soul in the love of God they can satisfie themselves in this Frame and Temper 2. Because too without this supervening and quickning Grace they can never serve God cheerfully nor do any thing to purpose in the Heavenly life our general work of Obedience goes on slowly Psal. 119. 88. Quicken me so shall I keep the Testimony of thy Mouth then I shall do good to purpose But Religion is an irksome thing when we are Dead-hearted For particular Duties it is not enough to Pray but it must be with Life Psal. 80. 18. Quicken us and we will call upon thy Name It is not enough to Hear but to hear with Life Mat. 13. 15. It is a judgment to be dull of hearing 3. As it is uncomfortable to themselves to Act without quickning Grace so it is a thing very hateful with God a cold luke-warm Temper Rev. 3. 16. I will spew thee out of my Mouth This dull and stupid Profession is contrary to God and hateful to God and such as content themselves with this dead Profession God will spew them out of his mouth And it is contrary to all the provision God hath made for us Christ is set up as a fountain of Grace in our nature Iohn 10. 10. I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly The Lord hath justified us by his Grace sprinkled our Hearts that we might serve the living God serve him in a living manner for Titles given to God imply the qualification in hand Heb. 9. 14. and he hath sanctified us planted Grace in our Hearts on purpose to maintain the life given us that there might be a lively Hope And all hearing is for Life Isa. 55. 3. we come to lively Oracles that we may be quickned The joys of Heaven Redemption by Christ Hells Torments these Doctrines are all quickning truths And the Lord hath given his flesh not only to God for a sacrifice but to us for Food that we may live Iohn 6. 51. Therefore to be cold it is Odious to God Use 1. For Caution 1. Let us take heed we lose not quickning through our own default that we lose not this enlivening Grace We may lose it by any hainous Sin of ours for by grieving the Spirit we bring on deadness upon the Heart Psal. 51. 10 11 12. When David sinned hainously he begs the Lord to quicken him and restore his free Spirit and the joy of his Salvation The spirit is a tender thing Every hainous sin is as a wound in the Body which lets out the life Blood and so we contract a Deadness upon our selves 2. Take heed of immoderate Liberty or Vanities of the world or Pleasures of the flesh if you would not lose this quickning The Apostle tells us 1 Tim. 5 6. The woman that liveth in Pleasure is dead while she Liveth Pleasures have a strange infatuation they bring a brawn and deadness upon the Heart and hinder the Sprightliness of spiritual and Heavenly affections Psal. 119. 37. Turn away mine Eyes from beholding Vanity And quicken thou me
nothing but Mercy can help them out all deliverance is the fruit of Mercy pitying our misery but some Deliverance especially is the fruits of Mercy Pardoning our Sin I shall give you some special Cases both as to Danger and Sin 1. In all cases as to Danger it is Mercy which appears partly because Gods great Arguments to move him is the misery of his People it is his great Argument Deut. 32. 36. The Lord will repent for his People when he seeth that all their power is gone and none shut up and left no manner of defence but exposed as a Prey to those that have a mind to wrong them It is the only Argument Psal. 79. 8. Let thy tender Mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low Mercy relents towards a sinful People when they are a wasted People Partly because when there are no other means to help Mercy unexpectedly findeth out means for us We are at an utter loss in our selves God finds out means of Relief for us Psal. 57. 3. He shall send from Heaven and save me from the Reproach of him that would swallow me up Selah God shall send forth his Mercy and Truth When we want help on Earth Faith seeketh for help from Heaven and Mercy chuseth means for us when we cannot pitch upon any thing that may do us good In these cases doth Mercy discover it self as to danger 2. More eminently in special cases when their sins have evidently brought them into those streights Many afflictions are the strokes of Gods immediate hand or the common effects of his Providence permitting the Malice of men for our Tryal and Exercise but some are the proper effects of our own sins We run our selves into inconveniencies by our Folly and even then Mercy findeth a way of escape for us Two ways may our sin be said to bring our Trouble upon us Meritorie Effective 1. Meritoriè When some Judgment treadeth upon the heels of some foregoing sin and Provocation As David When he had offended in the matter of Uriah see Psal 3. Title A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his Son and the two first Verses Lord how are they encreased that trouble me many are they that rise up against me many there be that say of my Soul there is no help for him in God Selah David was deserted of his own Subjects chased from his Palace and Royal Seat by his own Son Absalom he had defiled Uriahs Wife secretly and his Wives were defiled in the face of all Israel and he driven to wander up and down for safety God will make all that behold the scandalous sins of his People see what it is to provoke him to Wrath. See how he complains ver 1. Lord how are they increased that trouble me many are they that rise up against me You shall find in 2 Sam. 15. 12. The People increased continually with Absolom A multitude against him and the rest durst not be for him their hearts were hovering And in another place 2 Sam. 17. 11. All Israel gathered to him from Dan to Bear-sheba In what a sorry plight was David when all was against him and the World thought God was against him for so it followeth verse 2. Many there be which say of my Soul there is no help for him in God Selah The World counted the case desperate and insulted over him now God hath left him but they mistook Fatherly Correction for vindicative Justice this was a sad condition but David goeth to God to fetch him off though he had drawn this Judgment upon himself yet he deals with him for Relief in such cases Mercy is seen That Pit must be very deep when the line of Grace doth not go to the bottom of it in the face of the Temptaion David maintaineth his confidence in God see verse 3. But thou O Lord art my Shield my Glory and the lifter up of my head God is counter-Comfort to all his troubles he was in danger God was his shield his Kingdom was at stake God was his Glory he was under sorrow and shame God would lift up his head to the unarmed a shield to the disgraced Glory to the dejected an incourager or the lifter up of his head thus when his case was thought desperate doth Mercy work for him 2. Effectivè When we our selves run into the snare and be holden with the cords of our own Vanity Prov. 5. 22. His own iniquities shall take tâ⦠wicked himself and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins When we have been playing about the Cockatrice's hole and have brought mischief upon our selves Sometimes Gods Children have been guilty of this they have been the causes of their own Troubles as David when his unbelief drove him to Gath where he was in danger of his Life and escaped by his dissembling Psal. 34. entitled a Prayer of David when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech who drove him away and he departed And Iosiah put himself on a War against Pharaoh Necho and other such instances then if they be saved it is certainly Mercy 2. Again Observe It is not Mercy but Mercies the expression is Plural 1. To note the Plenty and Perfection of this Attribute in God God is very merciful to poor Creatures see in how many notions Gods mercy is represented to us a distinct consideration of them yieldeth an advantage in believing for though they express the same thing yet every notion begetteth a fresh thought by which Mercy is more taken abroad in the view of Conscience this is that pouring out Gods name spoken of Cant. 1. 3. Thy Name is as Oyntment poured forth Oyntment in the box doth not yield such a fragrancy as when it is poured out God hath Proclaimed his Name Exod. 34. 6. The Lord the Lord God Merciful and Gracious long suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth God hath given this description of himself and the Saints often take notice of it Psal. 103. 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to Anger and of great kindness Joel 2. 13. Turn to the Lord your God for he is merciful and gracious slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Ionah 4. 2. I knew that thou wert a gracious God slow to anger and of great kindness and in divers other places What doth the Spirit of God aim at in this express Enumeration and Accumulation of names of Mercy but to give us an help in Meditation and to inlarge our Apprehensions of Gods Mercy 1. The first Notion is Mercy which is an Attribute whereby God inclineth to favour them that are in Misery it is a Name God hath taken with respect to us the love of God first falleth upon himself God loveth himself but he is not merciful to himself Mercy respects Creatures in Misery Justice seeks a fit Object Mercy a fit Occasion Justice looketh to what is deserved Mercy to what is wanted and needed 2. The next Notion
according to the Analogy of Faith and there is not a more powerful incentive of Duty Psal. 130. 5. There is forgiveness with thee that thou maist be feared Jer. 2. 11 12. The Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly Lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable Service This is true Divinity The flesh deviseth another Doctrine let us Sin that Grace may abound to make a carnal Pillow of Gods Mercy that they may sleep securely in sin yea a Dung-cart to carry away their filth God is Merciful but to those that count sin a burden and misery God is slow to Anger but yet angry when provoked abused Patience kindleth into Fury as water when the mouth of the Fountain or course of the River is stopped breaketh out with more violence God hath his Arrows of Displeasure to shoot at the wicked you must not fancy a God all Honey all sweetness He is the Father of Mercies but so that he is also a God of Vengeance Psal. 68. 19 20. Blessed be the Lord who daily leadeth us with Benefits even the God of our Salvation Selah He that is our God is the God of Salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from Death But God shall wound the hairy scalpe of his Enemies the mercy of God is large and free if men do not make themselves uncapable by their Impenitency 4. We must beg 1. The Application of these to me also We have heard that the Kings of Israel are merciful Kings 1 Kings 20. 31. Now we would feel it 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a Faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Iesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief Wind in our selves within the Covert of a Promise enter at the back door of a Promise there comes Virtue from Christ if but touched the Woman came behind him and touched the hem of his garment so we must seek the Application of this Vertue 2. Effectual Application Let it come unto me Mercy cometh unto us or we shall never come unto it 1 Pet. 1. 10. The Grace that cometh to us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Grace which is brought to you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ Gods Grace is brought home to our doors we seek not after it but it seeketh after us Salvation is gone forth saith the Prophet to find out lost sinners Wisdom hath sent forth her Maidens she crieth upon the high places of the City whoso is simple let him turn in hither Prov. 9. 3 4. God sends the Gospel up and down the Worldto offer his Grace to men it worketh out its way Use. Here is Incouragement and Direction to poor Creatures how to obtain Gods Mercy for their Comfort 1. Incouragement Mercy doth all with God it is the first cause that setteth every thing awork 1. Mercy is natural to God 2 Cor. 1. 3. Father of Mercies God is not merciful by Accident but by Nature the Sun doth not more naturally shine nor Fire more naturally burn nor Water more naturally flow than God doth naturally shew Mercy 2. It is pleasing to him Micah 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee that Pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of the remnant of his Heritage he retaineth not his Anger for ever because he delighteth in Mercy Judgment is called his Strange work Isa. 28. 21. That he may do his work his strange work and bring to pass his Act his strange Act. Primitive Acts he is forced to but he rejoyceth to do good as Life-Honey droppeth of its own accord 3. It is plentiful in God he is rich in Mercy abundant in Goodness and Truth thy sins are like a spark of Fire that falleth into the Ocean it is quenched presently so are all thy sins in the Ocean of Gods Mercy there is not more water in the Sea than there is Mercy in God 4. It is the great wonder of the Divine Nature Every thing in God is wonderful especially his pardoning Mercy It is no such great wonder in God that he stretcheth out the Heavens like a Curtain since he is Omnipotent that he formed the Earth or the Waters since he is strong that he distinguished Times adorned the Heavens with so many Stars decked the Earth with such variety of Plants and Herbs since he is Wise that he hath set Bounds to the Sea Governeth the Waters since he is Lord of all that he made Man a living Creature since he is the Fountain of Life but that he can be Merciful to Sinners infinitely Merciful when infinitely Just. There is a conflict in the Attributes about us but Mercy rejoyceth over Iudgment Iames 2. 13. That he is so Gracious and condescending when his first Covenant seemed to bind him to destroy us that he that hateth sin is so ready to forgive it pardoneth it so often and punisheth it so seldom 5. He is Communicative it is over all his Works Psal. 145. 9. Not a Creature but subsisteth by Gods Mercy he loveth Man and Beast Psal. 36. 6. and 1 Tim. 4. 10. He is the Saviour of all men especially of those that believe the whole Earth is full of his goodness Lord shew it to me also he heareth the cry of Ravens 2. To direct us how to sue for it in a broken hearted manner there are two Exreams Self-confidence and Desperation Self-confidence challengeth a Debt and Despair shutteth out hopes of Mercy a proud Pharisee pleads his Works Luke 18. 11. Kain saith Gen. 4. 13. My Punishment is greater then I can bear The middle between both is the penitent Publican Luke 18. 13. He stood afar off and would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven but smote on his Breast saying God be merciful to me a Sinner Go to him that which with men is the worst Plea with God is the best SERMON XLVIII PSALM CXIX Verse 42. So shall I have wherewith to answer him that Reproacheth me for I trust in thy Word IN the former Verse we saw the man of God begging for Deliverance or Temporal Salvation from the Mercies of God according to his Word Salvation belongeth to the Lord and his Mercy can pardon great sins and fetch us off from great extremities and that according to the Word of God he had boasted of this there is his Request here is his Argument from the use and fruit of his Deliverance he should have something to reply to the Scoffs and Mocks of wicked men who insulted over him in his Distress and Calamity he had spoken of great things or the Promise and now desireth the Promise to be made good that he might have an Answer ready against their Reproaches So shall I have wherewith to answer him that
of kings Prov. 8. 15 16. By me kings reign and princes decree justice by me princes rule and nobles and all the judges of the earth And as they hold it in dependence on him they must use it in subordination to him God who is the Beginning must also be the End of their Government They are not Officers of Men but Ministers of God from whom they have their Authority and therefore must rule for God and seek his Glory 2. That they may be carried through their Cares and Fears and Snares and may know what Reward to expect from the Absolute Sovereign who is the great Patron of Humane Societies It is trust and dependence upon God that maketh good Magistrates 2 Kings 18. 5. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Iudah nor any that went before him Oh it is a blessed thing when they can go to God for Direction and depend upon God for Success Great are the Cares and Fears which belong to a Governour and who can ease him of this Burthen but the Lord who hath shewed in his Word how far he is to be trusted It is not Carnal Policy which helpeth them out in their work but trust in God in their high Calling Whosoever will improve his Power for God will meet with many discouragements now that which supports his heart in his work is this holy trust Prov. 29. 25. The fear of man bringeth a snare but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe Every Publick Calling hath its Snares and Temptations from the fears of Men. A Minister if he doth not trust God to bear him out in his Work he will do nothing with that Courage which becometh a Minister but comply with the Lusts of Men grow luke-warm and prostitute the Ordinances for handfuls of Barley and pieces of Bread and Family-conveniencies The Magistracy is a higher Calling which is more obnoxious to Temptations from the different Humours of Men who are to be governed nothing will carry a Man through it but this holy Courage and dependence on God The fear of Man brought a snare to Ieroboam that he perverted the Worship of God 1 Kings 12. 30. And this thing became a sin for the people went to worship before the one even unto Dan. So Iehu so others for their Cares But he that trusts in God in his discharge of this publick Office though many difficulties interpose finds the blessed experience of the Psalmist verified In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. 3. As to Success and Acceptance Obedience to God makes them a double Blessing to the People as Governours as Holy As they have the natural Image of God in Dominion and Authority 1 Cor. 11. 7. Forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God which must be reverenced and respected not resisted so the spiritual Image of God in Holiness the People doubly see God in their Rulers And besides it bringeth down God's Blessings while they command and the People obey in the Lord 2 Kings 18. 7. And the Lord was with him and he prospered whithersoever he went forth Good Magistrates are usually more prosperous than good Men in a private condition because they are given as a Publick Blessing Use 1. Is to inform us That Religion hath a great influence on the welfare of Humane Societies for it equally respects Governours and Governed carving out their respective Duties to them causing the one to rule well and the other to obey for conscience sake The Testimonies of the Lord prescribe the Duty of Rulers 2 Sam. 23. 3. He that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God There is a word belonging to either Table Iustice to the second Fear of God to the first Now all this Duty is best learned out of God's Testimonies For the Governed it interposeth express Rules for their Obedience Rom. 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers and 1 Pet. 2. 15. For so is the will of God that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men There are many Arguments why we should reverence Magistrates They bear God's Image Psal. 82. 6. I have said ye are Gods visible Representators of his Authority and Dominion over the Creatures because of their Majesty largeness of Command and Empire and because of their Use they are exalted supra alios above others in their Authority but propter alios for others in their Use and Benefit But the supreme Reason is the Will of God The Magistrate was then an enemy to Religion when this Commandment was given forth even then when that part of the World in which the Church was seated was under the Command of Nero whose universal wickedness and particular cruelty against the Christians might tempt them to disobedience and scorn of his Authority then God said Obey not for fear of wrath but conscience sake then Fear God Honour the King for so is the will of God Now let Atheists and Antiscripturists or the enemies of those who profess to live by Scripture think if they can that the Christian Religion doth not befriend Humane Societies or doth contain dangerous Principles to Government Use 2. It sheweth us what to pray for for our Princes and Governours even a wise and an understanding Heart and a Spirit of the Fear of the Lord that they may Rule for God and take his Blessing along with them in all their Affairs 2. Doct. That God's Testimonies are so excellent that we should not be afraid nor ashamed to own them before any sort of men in the world for David saith I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings and will not be ashamed 1. Observe Here are two things supposed which might shut his mouth and obstruct the confidence and boldness of his Profession Fear and Shame Fear represents danger in owning the ways of God Shame representeth Mockage Scorn and Contempt Fear considereth our Superiours and Governourrs we fear them that have Power and Authority in their hands Shame may arise not onely from the consideration of Superiours but Inferiours and Equals also Fear respects the danger of the Party professing Shame the Cause or Matter professed Therefore of the two to be ashamed of the ways of God doth more destroy Godliness than to be afraid to own them for then it is a sign we are not so soundly convinced and deeply possessed of the Goodness of them for Pudor est conscientia turpitudinis It is a consciousness of something that is base Look as on the contrary to be ashamed of Sin doth more wound it to the heart than to be afraid of Sin Many a Man is apprehensive of the danger of Sin who yet doth not hate it in his heart but onely abstaineth out of the fear of Punishment But when he is ashamed of Sin then he beginneth to hate Sin as Sin In Conversion
11. It is spoken to them who have high thoughts of their Troubles low thoughts of God's Comforts 4. Uncertainty in Religion Principles must be fixed before they can be improved and we can feel their influence and Power But People will be making Essays and try this and try that God's grounds of Comfort are immutably fixed God will not change his Gospel-Laws for thy sake and therefore unless we would have a Mountebanks Cure we must stand to them Ier. 6. 16. Thus saith the Lord Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls When we have tried all we must come home at length to these things and our uncertainty in Religion will be none of the meanest causes of our Troubles 5. They look to Means and their natural Operation and neglect God And God onely will be known to be the God of all Comfort 2 Cor. 1. 3 4. Blessed be God even the father of our Lord Iesus Christ the father of mercies and the God of all comforts who comforteth us in all our tribulation Use 3. Is to exhort us 1. To prize and esteem the Scriptures and consult with them often There you have the Knowledge of God who is best worth our knowing and the way how we may come to enjoy him wherein our Happiness lieth It is a petty Wisdom to be able to gather Riches manage your Business in the World ordinary Learning is a good Ornament but this is the excellent deep and profound Learning to know how to be saved What is it I press you to know the Course of the Heavens to number the Orbs and the Stars in them to measure their Circumference and reckon their Motions and not to know him that sits in the Circle of them nor know how to inhabit and dwell there Oh how should this commend the Word of God to us where Eternal Life is discovered and the way how to get it Other Writings and Discourses may tickle the Fancy with pleasing Eloquence but that Delight is vanishing like a Musicians voice Other Writings may represent some petty and momentany advantage but time will put an end to that so that within a little while the advantage of all the Books in the World will be gone but the Scriptures that tell us of Eternal Life and Death their Effects will abide for ever Psal. 119. 96. I have seen an end of all perfections but thy commandments are exceeding broad When Heaven and Earth pass away this will not pass that is the Effects will abide in Heaven and Hell Know ye not that your Souls were created for Eternity and that they will eternally survive all these present things and shall your Thoughts Projects and Designs be confined within the narrow bounds of Time Oh no let your Affections be to that Book that will teach you to live well for ever in comparison of which all Earthly Felicity is lighter than Vanity 2. Be diligent in the Hearing Reading Meditating on those things that are contained there The Earth is the fruitful Mother of all Herbs and Plants but yet it must be tilled ploughed harrowed and dressed or else it bringeth forth little Fruit. The Scripture containeth all the grounds of Hope Comfort and Happiness the onely Remedy of Sin and Misery our Rule to walk by till our Blessedness be perfected but we have little benefit by it unless it be improved by diligent Meditation Psal. 1. 2. His delight is in the law of the Lord and in that Law doth he meditate day and night This must be your chief Delight and you must be versed therein upon all Occasions Psal. 119. 97. Oh how love I thy Law it is my meditation all the day when we love it and prize it it will be so for our Thoughts cannot be kept off from what we love and delight in 3. Reader hear meditate with a Spirit of Application and an aime of Profit Iob 5. 27. Hear it and know thou it for thy good as the Rule of your Actions and the Charter of your Hopes Rom. 8. 31. What shall we then say to these things That you may grow better and wiser and may have more advantages in your Heavenly progress take home your Portion of the Bread of Life and turn it into the Seed of your Life It is not enough to seek Truth in the Scriptures but you must seek Life in the Scriptures it is not an Object onely to satisfy your Understandings with the Contemplation of Truth but your Hearts with the enjoyment of Life and therefore you must not onely bring your Judgment to find the light of Truth but your Affections to embrace the goodness of Life offered Think not ye have found all when you have found Truth and learned it No except you find Life there you have missed the best Treasure you must bring your Understandings and Affections to them and not depart till both return full SERMON LVII PSAL. CXIX 51. The proud have had me greatly in derision yet have I not declined from thy law IN these Words are 1. David's Temptation 2. His Constancy and Perseverance in his Duty notwithstanding that Temptation 1. In the Temptation observe 1. The Persons from whom the Temptation did arise the Proud The wicked are called so for two Reasons 1. Because either they despise God and contemn his Wayes which is the greatest Pride that can fall upon the heart of a Reasonable Creature Rom. 1. 30. haters of God despitefull proud 2. Or else because they are drunk with worldly Felicity In the general Scoffing cometh from Pride What is Prov. 3. 34. He scorneth the scorners and giveth grace to the lowly is Iam. 4. 6. He resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble 2. Observe the Kind or Nature of the Temptation he was had in derision This may be supposed either for Dependance on God's Promises or for Obedience to his Precepts Atheistical Men that wholly look to the pleasing of the Flesh and the Interest of the present World make a mock of both We have instances of both in Scripture 1. They make a mock of relyance upon God when we are in distress think it ridiculous to talk of relief from Heaven when Earthly Power faileth Psal. 22. 7 8. They laugh me to scorn saying He trusted in the Lord. The great Promise of Christ's coming is flouted at by those Mockers 2 Pet. 3. 3 4. There shall come in the last days mockers walking after their own lusts and saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the Creation Such Scoffers are in all Ages but now they overflow These latter times are the dregs of Christianity in which such kind of Men are more rife then the serious Worshippers of Christ. At the first Promulgation of the Gospel while Truths were new and the Exercises of Christian Religion lively and serious
cause of their Defection Deut. 32. 18. Thou art unmindfull of the Rock that begat thee thou hast forgotten the God that formeth thee Oblivion is an Ignorance for the time Truths lose their efficacy when not remembred On the other side remembring God is made to be the immediate and next cause of our Duty Eccles. 12. 1. Remember thy Creatour in the days of thy youth Youth would not miscarry so shamefully if they did oftener remember God nor be led away by vain and sensual Delights if the thoughts of God did more dwell in their minds So Levit. 8. 11 12. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his Commandments Our Lives will declare whether we do remember God those that do often and seriously keep God in their thoughts will be most carefull to keep his Commandments III. The Reasons of the Point 1. It doth incourage us and quicken us to diligence in our Work as Souldiers fight best in their General 's presence and Scholars ply their Books when under their Masters Eye so by living always in the sight of God we study to please him the oftner we consider him the more we see no service can be holy and good enough for such a God as he is a God as not to be provoked and resisted so not to be neglected and slighted Mal. 1. 14. Cursed be the deceiver that hath in his Flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing for I am a great King saith the Lord of Hosts and my Name is dreadfull among the Heathen implying that when they came with a sickly Sacrifice they did not remember his Excellency and Greatness either they had no or mean thoughts of God but if they had remembred what an one he is they would imploy the best of their strength time and affection in his Service 2. The madness of our Natures is bridled and restrained by thoughts of God 3 Ep. Iohn 11. He that doth evil hath not seen God Will he force the Queen before my face Esth. 7. 8. you will not sport with Sin nor play with the occasions of it nor dare to venture upon God's Restraints It is said of an Arch-Angel ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he durst not bring against him a railing Accusation Jude vers 9. because they beheld the Face of God So if we had a deep sense of God impressed upon our Hearts we would be more awfull You make very bold with God when you dare knowingly venture upon the least Sin Will you affront God to his Face Children that are quarrelling or falling out when the Father or Mother cometh all is hush and silent 3. It comforts and reviveth us in the midst of our faintings and discouragements because of the evils of the present World Ionah 2. 7. When my Soul fainted within me I remembred the Lord. When the burthen of Affliction presseth us sore the stoutest Hearts are broken and lose all Courage but when we come to ponder seriously what God is or what he will be to his People or hath at any time been to our selves it cheereth and reviveth the Heart So Psalm 42. 6. Oh my God my Soul is cast down within me therefore will I remember thee By this way the Saints recover themselves Psal. 77. 10. And I said This is my Infirmity but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High So also Matth. 16. 9. Do ye not remember the five loaves of five thousand nor the seven loaves of the four thousand The Use is to press us to remember God more when we will not look upon another we take it to be a great sign of aversation and hatred the Devils that are most opposite to God abhorr their own thoughts of God for they believe and tremble God thinketh of us he is not far from every one of us why are we so far from him we cannot open our eyes but one object or other will represent God to us What dost thou see hear and feel but the effects of his Power and Goodness he is before thee behind thee within thee round about thee and shall he not find a room in thy Heart when every trifle findeth a room there He that filleth every place shall thy Heart be empty of all thoughts of him To press you to this 1. Consider we are naturally apt to forget God do not like to retain him in our Knowledge Rom. 1. 28. backward to any remembrance of him Psal. 10. 4. The wicked through the pride of their Countenance will not seek after God God is not in all their thoughts 2. How much God hath done to put us in Remembrance of him by Creatures Providences Ordinances and his Spirit 1. Creatures all of them Sun Moon Stars Worms Grass put us in mind of him Psalm 19. 1 2. The Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work Day unto day uttereth Speech and night unto night sheweth Knowledge The Creatures have a double Use their natural Use and their spiritual Use their natural Use is the special end for which they were made their spiritual Use is to set forth God to us We look upon them amiss if we look upon them as separated from and independent on God Our food is not onely to nourish Nature but that we may taste the sweetness and goodness of God in it All the Creatures bring this Message to our Consciences Remember God that made us and all things else They all read a Divinity Lecture to those that have a mind to hear it and preach the Goodness and Power and Wisedom of God by a loud and audible Voice It is true we are deaf but they cease not to cry to us Iob 12. 8. Speak to the earth and it shall teach thee and the beasts of the field and they shall declare to thee Not onely the shining Heavens but the dull Earth that heaviest and grossest Element the bruit Creatures that have no Reason the mute Fishes that can make no sound we must ask them parley with them by our own thoughts and so though they have neither Voice nor Ears they will answer us and resolve our Consciences the Question we put to them Is there a God yea and declare his excellent Attributes that he is Eternal Infinite Wise Powerfull and Good We may easily make out these Collections Christ saith the Stones would cry if these held their peace We should hear the Creature as we would hear God himself speaking to us they speak to all Countries in their own Language At first God spake to the World not by Words but things thus hath God engraven his Name upon his Works as those that make Watches or any curious Pieces write their Names upon them as he that carved a Buckler for Minerva had so curiously inlayed his own Name that it could not be rased out without defacing the whole Work so the Creatures are but a draught and pourtraicture of God's Glory
dangers and those heart-cutting cares which otherwise are apt to seize upon us This a Believer can say this peace of Conscience I had in the midst of all the troubles from without Now this peace others cannot have Isa. 57. 21. There is no peace saith my God to the wicked they have not this inward tranquillity and serenity of mind their Affections are so unruly and their Consciences so unquiet they are never able to rest But how can this be none seem to be less troubled than wicked men I answer there is a difference between a dead Sea and a calm Sea a stupid Conscience they may have but not a quiet Conscience their Consciences are stupified by drenching their Souls in worldly delights and pleasures but the virtue of this Opium is soon spent their Consciences are easily awakened by the Convictions of the Word the Sting of Afflictions the Agonies of Death well then this may the composed heart say I had this peace this serenity of mind because I kept thy Precepts Secondly Next to Peace of Conscience there is Joy in the Holy Ghost this is the Fruit of Peace as Peace is the Fruit of Righteousness Rom. 7. 14. The Kingdom of God consisteth not in meat and drink but in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost First Righteousness and then Peace and then Joy in the Holy Ghost As joy of heart and gladness is the fruit of Temporal or Civil Peace when every man may sit under his own Vine and his own Fig-tree and reap the fruit of his labour without the danger of annoyance so now when a man can enjoy himself as being reconciled to God or being at peace with him and hath tasted of the Clusters of Canaan he can rejoice in hope of the glory of God Rom. 5. 11. This is that joy in the Holy Ghost which God doth graciously dispence to those that obey his Word and hearken to the motions of his Spirit Oh how may a Believer triumph and say This I had because I kept thy Precepts Joy is the fruit of Holiness and the Oil of Grace maketh way for the Oil of Gladness Psal. 119. 14. I rejoiced in the way of thy Testimonies more than in all riches David experienced the joys of Obedience and the joys of a Crown now saith David I rejoiced in the way of thy Testimonies more than in all riches not in the Contemplation but in the Way This was a Joy that did result from practical Obedience which is more than the Possessions and Treasures of the World Many picture Religion in their fancies with a sowr and austere face and think it inviteth men to nothing but harsh and unpleasant courses Oh no it inviteth you to the highest Contentment the Creature is capable of the joy in the Holy Ghost which is unspeakable and glorious A Sensualist that runs after the dreggy delights of the Flesh is the veriest fool in the World for he can never have any true Joy 't is but frisks of Mirth while Conscience is asleep but when it is gone it leaveth a Sting behind it Thirdly Increase of Grace This is another benefit we get by keeping God's Precepts They go from strength to strength Psal. 48. 7. As they that went to the Feast at Ierusalem they went from Troop to Troop so they are brought forward in their way to Heaven God that punisheth Sin with Sin rewardeth also Grace with Grace The one is the most dreadfull Dispensation that God can use when men have gone on in a course of Sin God often punisheth one Sin with another so that they are plunged deeper and deeper every day in the gulph of prophaneness But 't is most comfortable when Godliness encreaseth upon our hands and God is still perfecting his own work in us Rom. 6. 19. As you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness It standeth us upon to observe the growth of Grace as we were formerly conscious of the growth of Sin shall we be more earnest to damn our selves than to save our selves there is no man but in his carnal Estate might observe how he departed from God by degrees and his heart was hardned by degrees At first he had some Light and Conscience till he sinn'd it away and turned the back upon the Ordinances which might revive it and keep it awake and then his sin betrayed him further and further into a customary course of prophaneness I say a Carnal man may trace the growth of sin in his own heart step by step and say this I had because I slighted such a check of Conscience despised such an Ordinance fell into such an enormous practice for God forsaketh none till they first forsake him so may a Child of God trace his gradual encrease in holiness this I had by hearkening to the Counsel of God at such a time against the reluctancy of my Flesh. There is no Duty recovered out of the hands of difficulty but bringeth in a considerable profit to the Soul Prov. 4. 18. The way of the just is a shining light which shineth more and more to the perfect day Look as the Day decreaseth the Night increaseth till it cometh to thick darkness so by every Sin men grow worse and worse till at last they stumble into utter darkness But the way of the just is a growing light it increaseth always into more durable resolutions and exact practice of Godliness till it comes to the High-noon of perfection David taketh notice of the fruit of Obedience Psal. 18. 24. The Lord accept of me according to the cleanness of my hands Fourthly Another benefit that we have is many gracious Experiences and Manifestations of God vouchsafed to us in the way of Obedience In the present World God and Believers are not strange to one another a man that walketh close with him will meet him at every turn Psal. 17. 15. As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness The Psalmist there preferreth his present condition before the greatest happiness of carnal men why because he had opportunity of beholding the face of God or enjoying the Comforts of his presence But how in Righteousness in a strict course of Obedience If God be a stranger to others they may thank themselves Ioh. 14. 21. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me is loved of my father and I will love him and manifest my self to him Holiness is the onely way to clear up our right to these great Comforts of the Gospel and if you would get Experience of them make Conscience of Obedience and be exact and punctual with God and you will not want your refreshments and visits of love and expressions of his grace and favour to you those sensible proofs and manifestations God will not give to us but in a way of Obedience so the Promise runneth He
not so doth our hardness of Heart increase they that were ministerially stirred when they pull away the Shoulder their Hearts grow like an Adamant Stone Zech. 7. 11 12. But they refused to hearken and pulled away the Shoulder and stopped their Ears that they should not hear Tea they made their hearts as an Adamant Stone lest they should hear the Law and the words which the Lord of Hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the former Prophets therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of Hosts When the Spirit is in a way of striving Gen. 6. 3. When you are any way affected if resistance be continued he withdraws When Men blunt the edge of Conscience deaden their Affections they lose all feeling 2 Pet. 2. 20. 21. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the World through the knowledg of the Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousness then after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them They sin against former knowledge Experience and sense of the Truth As their Light is so their resisting causeth Hardness and all the sensible work comes to nothing but that is not all it turneth to loss it maketh it more difficult than it was before in regard of us it maketh us more careless when we had some stirring in our Consciences before we healed it slightly and we think to do so again 2. You will provoke God to use a rougher Dispensation when the perswasions of the Word and the strivings of the Spirit cannot bring you to Repentance They will not be won by Arguments God teacheth them by Blows as Gideon did the Men of Succoth by Briers and Thorns therefore they shall shortly find themselves so involved in the fruit of their Sins as they shall not look off from it their guilt shall lay hold of them at every hand Hos. 7. 2. They consider not in their hearts that I remember all their Sins now their doings have beset them round about We should be much with our Hearts considering our Case how it is with us God useth not the Rod till forced to it He doth not willingly grieve nor afflict the children of men Lament 3. 33. When milder means work but half a cure the rest is supplied by some pressing Judgments his Work is stopped and therefore he promotes it this way 3. It is a sign your Consideration is not serious when you are off and on and it produceth no good effect in the Soul A Plaister may be Sovereign but when you are still pulling it off and putting it on it does no good Light Thoughts work not when they are deep and ponderous then they leave a durable Impression Still it is remember and turn Psal. 22. 27. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord bethink and repent 1 Kings 8. 47. If they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captives and repent search and try and turn unto the Lord. Some are semper victuri always considering about to live but you must once resolve kindly Convictions will not die nor let the convinced Sinner alone till they appear in the fruits of Obedience 4. The Devil hath his Purposes Matth. 13. 19. The wicked one catcheth away that which was sown in his heart he watcheth troubled Sinners that the work may die away Use 1. To reprove us 1. For nor considering our wayes When did you ever goe aside and seriously debate with your selves about your turning to God Did you ever lay it to your Hearts how matters stand between you and God There are certain Seasons when God calleth you to it and that is 1. When the Doctrine of Life and the way of Salvation hath been represented unto you with evidence and power and you have felt some stirring and trouble in your Consciences did you goe home and say Rom. 8. 31. What shall we then say to these things God hath spoken to me this day now shall all this be lost and come to nothing Heb. 2. 3. How shall I escape if I neglect so great Salvation Now I am called to minde Christ and Salvation more if I should give no heed to these things or onely give them the hearing for the present oh what will become of me There is a special Providence in every message Warning Offer or Instruction by the Word Acts 13. 26. To you is this Word of Salvation sent he doth not say we brought it but God sent it as some message of God for your tryall Do we think of these things which we have heard and learned 2. When God appeareth against you in a course of Judgments cutting off one comfort after another now taking away a Child then blasting the Estate Now consider your wayes Eccl. 7. 14. In the day of adversity consider then is the Duty in Season Affliction doth not rise out of the dust God hath some end in these Providences and what is his end but to make me mindfull of my Duty to him See for what end these things come and to what issue they tend that we may hear the Rod and know the meaning of the Providence If you do not consider God will make you consider before he hath done with you Ier. 23. 20. The anger of the Lord shall not return till he hath performed all the thoughts of his Heart And then you shall consider it perfectly God will follow blow after blow till we do consider his minde and purpose Ier. 30. 24. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return untill he hath done it and untill he hath performed the intents of his Heart 2. To reprove us for not taking this advantage When we are set a thinking of our ways we have many thoughts and sensible stirrings but they come to nothing because we do not follow it close you think and have some workings of Conscience but do they end in a fixed purpose Some break through all as Saul forces himself 1 Sam. 13. 12. Break through all restraints of Conscience Foelix had his qualme but he puts it off to another Season Oh consider these things will one day be a Witness against you the sensible workings upon your Hearts by the word and rod. Use 2. Is to stir us up-to this Work serious consideration in order to sound Conversion 1. Be frequent in it if daily you called your selves to an account all acts of Grace would thrive the better Seneca of Sextius quid hodie malum sanasti cui vitio obstitisti You have God's example in reviewing every days work and in dealing with Adam before he slept The Man that was unclean was to wash his cloaths at Even-tide 2. Seriously set your self to it Deuter. 32. 46. Set your Hearts unto all the Words which I testifie among you this day It is a
the flowr and freshness of your Youth and God onely have the scraps and fragments of the Devils Table when we are good for nothing else then to think we are good enough for God and the business of Religion which requires all our might and all our strength When we are spent is it a time to begin our Warfare or in our youth 4. There is this the just suspicion which is upon a late Repentance it is seldom sound it is no true Repentance which ariseth merely from horrour and fears of Hell It may be but the beginnings of everlasting despair And their desires may be but offers of self-love after their own ease All men seek the Lord at length but wise men seek him betimes The difference is made on some in time on others out of time upon their death-beds The most prophane would have God for their Portion when they can sin no more and enjoy the world no longer how can we tell this is a sound work it seems tobe a very questionable thing meerly proceeding from self-love and natural desires of happiness in all men When we begin with God we begin out of self-love we come for our ease and interest that we may be safe and happy afterwards we come to a delight of Spirit in his Service and having opportunity show in our works the power of our affection to God and manifest the soundness of our conversion It is possible a Death-bed repentance may be true but it is very doubtful There is but one Instance which is that of the Thief upon the Cross. The Scriptures are a History of 5000 years yet all that while we have but one instance of a man that repented when he came to dye and in that one instance there 's an extraordinary conjunction of Circumstances such as will never fall out again Christ was at the Thiefs right hand in the height of his Love drawing Sinners to Salvation and probably this man had never any such call till then Some may at the eleventh hour be converted because they were not called till then Every one came when they were called Therefore there being so great and just a suspicion that lies against a late Repentance certainly we should not delay Reason 5. The Reasons for delay are very inconsiderable Solomon saith Prov. 26. 16. That the Sluggard thinks himself wiser than seven men that can render a reason Mark as Solomons fool is not to be taken Litterally but Spiritually so Solomons sluggard is not to be taken Morally but Spiritually They that are sluggish and slow of Heart in the things of God They think they have a great deal of reason on their side and will not be perswaded on the contrary but they shall do well enough for all that and they can argue against the calls and injunctions of God yet how little can they say for themselves See what reasons may be said for delay I mean not that they plead and argue but it is that which sways them that which lies next the Heart is this why they keep off from God and are satisfied with their present Estate 1. The pleasures of sin are sweet and they are loth to forgoe them and to engage their Souls in the severities of a strict obedience Here 's the bottom reason this is that which sways them I will not speak to this plea as it lies against Conversion it self but onely as it makes men to delay If I were to plead for conversion it self I would tell these Carnallists of higher Pleasure that their delights shall not be abrogated but preserv'd their delight shall be transplanted from Egypt to Canaan that it may thrive and prosper in a happier Soyl that they may have purer contentments and those chast and happy satisfactions of enjoying Communion with God But I shall onely deal with them as it relates to the delay of Conversion Therefore I thus argue These pleasures of sin must one day be renounced or you are for ever miserable and if you must one day why not now For mark sin will be as sweet hereafter as now it is and Salvation is always dispensed upon the same terms you cannot be saved hereafter with less adoe or bring down Christ and Heaven to a lower rate and therefore if this be a Reason now it will ever lie as a reason against Christ and Religion then you will never tend to look after the ways of life if you are loth to part with sin now you will never part with it The Laws of Christianity are always the same God will not bate you any thing of Repentance and your heart is not like to be better but worse that 's the summ of it and therefore this reason signifies nothing when it comes to be tried in the ballance of the sanctuary and yet this is the main reason 2. They can plead other things hope God will be merciful to them hereafter though they indulge themselves a little longer in sin he will at length save them I answer you cannot bend his Mercy and make it save it is a meer uncertainty peradventure he will peradventure not Would you take poison out of hope that afterward you may meet with an Antidote And this is the very case between God and us I answer further there are shrewd suspicions that God will not be merciful to those that run such a desperate adventure For who ever delays his Repentance doth in effect pawn his Soul with the Devil and leaves it in his hands and says here Satan keep my Soul if I fetch it not again by such a day 't is thine for ever and can you think mercy will bring it out Again there are great causes of fear because there is such a thing as judicial hardness of heart by a Sentence of obduration There are some that God gives up to their own ways and counsels and God inflicts this Sentence upon those that continue in sin notwithstanding conviction of their hearts to the contrary Prov. 1. 24. Ye have set at naught all my Counsel and would none of my reproof I will also laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh There are thousands in Hell meerly upon this account that have forfeited the benefit of God's Mercy and tenders of his grace and have been shut up by hardness of heart by Gods Sentence of obduration the most dreadfull punishment that can light upon a Creature on this side Hell 3. I but we are willing and would turn to the Lord now but we have no leisure and have not those conveniencies that we shall have hereafter for then we shall get things into a better frame and posture Oh no no it is meer hypocrisy to think you are willing when you delay for there is nothing hinders but a want of will and a lothness to comply with the commands of God When we dare not flatly deny then we delay Non vacat that's the sinners plea I am not at leisure but non placet there
right vein thus he cureth Paul's pride by a troublesome disease None that study Providence but may observe the wisdome of God in the kind of Affliction and how suitable it is to the work it is to doe for God doth all things in Number Weight and Measure Partly by the manner how it cometh upon us by what Instruments and in what sort how many make themselves miserable by an imagined cross and so when all things without are well their own humours and passions make them a burden to themselves and when they are not wounded in point of Honour nor lessened and cut short in Estate nor assaulted in their Health nor their Relations diminished and cut off but are hedged round about with all temporall happiness there seemeth to be no room or place for any affliction or trouble in their bosomes yet in the fulness of their sufficiency God maketh them a terrour and burden to themselves either by their own fears or misconceit or the false Imagination of some loss or disgrace God maketh them uncomfortable and full of disquiet and though they want nothing yet they are not at ease yea more troubled than those that are called out to conflict with real yea the greatest evils Haman is an instance he was one of the Princes of the Kingdome of Persia flowing in wealth and all manner of delights in degree of Dignity and Honour next the King himself and flourishing in the hope of a numerous and fair Issue yet because Mordecai a poor Jew did not doe him expected Reverence all this availeth me nothing Esth. 5. 19. So soon can God send a worm into the fairest Gourd and a dissatisfaction into the most flourishing Estate in the world that men shall have no rest night and day especially if a spark of his wrath light into the Conscience Psalm 39. 11. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for his iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth surely every man is vanity Selah There is a secret moth that eateth up all their Contentment they are under terrour discouragement and want of peace God teacheth them that nothing can be satisfactorily enjoyed apart from his blessed self A fire not blown shall consume them Iob 20. 26. partly in the Continuance of Afflictions God ordereth taketh off and layeth on Afflictions at his own pleasure and as he seeth it conducible to our Profit Variety of Afflictions may meet together on the best and dearest of God's Children there being in the best many corruptions both to be discovered and subdued and many Graces to be tryed 1 Pet. 1. 6. Wherein ye greatly rejoyce though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold Temptations And Iames 1. 2. My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers Temptations One trouble worketh into the hands of another and the succession of them is as necessary as the first stroak We often force God to renew his Corrections ab assuetis nulla fit passio things to which we are accustomed do not affect us therefore under a generall Affliction there come in many special ones to rub up our sense and make it work the better Under publick calamities we have a private one and they come one in the neck of another like waves When God hath begun he will make an end and bring his discipline to some more comfortable and perfect issue In all these things the wisdom of God is to be observed 4. The Affliction so sent hath a notable use to reduce us to a sense and care of our duty This is often pressed in the scripture the fruit of all shall be to take away their sin Afflictions are compared in Scripture to Fire that purgeth away our dross 1 Pet. 1. 7. Now for a season if need be ye are in manifold Temptations that the Tryal of your faith being much more precious than of Gold that perisheth though it be tryed with fire might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Iesus Christ. To the fan that driveth away the chass Mar. 3. 12. Whose fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire To a pruning hook that cutteth off the luxuriant branches and maketh the other that remain the more fruitfull Iohn 15. 2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit To Physick that purgeth away the sick matter Isa. 27. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Iacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin To plowing and harrowing of the ground that destroyeth the ill weeds and fitteth it to receive the good seed Ier. 4. 3. Break up your fallow-ground and sow not among thorns To the file that worketh off our rust and the flail that maketh our husk fly off So Heb. 12. 11. No affliction for the present seemeth joyous but grievous nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised therewith The Affliction hath a necessary tendency to so comfortable an effect But because Generals do but beat the air and do not so well fit themselves in the mind I shall shew you it is either the means of our first conversion or subservient to the Reformation of those that are converted 1. It is a means of our first Conversion How many begin with God upon the occasion of Afflictions The time of sorrows is a time of loves The hot furnace is Christ's work-house where he formeth the most excellent vessells of Honour and Praise for his own use Manasseh Paul and the Jailor in the Acts were all chose in the fire as the Lord saith Isa. 48. 10. I have chosen thee in the furnace of Affliction where God began to discover his choise by his working on their Affections All men are vessels capable of any forme therefore God puts them into the furnace Most of us are taken in our month as the Ram that Abraham offered was caught in the thickets When stout and stubborn sinners are broken with want and distress then they come to themselves and think of returning to their Father Luke 15. 17 18. And when he came to himself he said how many hired servants of my Fathers have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger I will arise and go to my Father c. Afflictions make us more serious conscience is then apt to work Before we were guided by the wisdome of the flesh and governed by our carnal Appetite never minded heavenly things till God get us under and then we bethink our selves Have you never known any instance in this kind that whilst they were young rich strong noble all their humour was for vain pleasure to day hunting to morrow hawking another day feasting and then brawling fighting drinking
stedfast in his Covenant Many have a little forced Religion in their Extremities but it weareth off with their Trouble Sin is but suspended for a while and the Devil chained up they are very good under the Rod they are frighted to it but after the Deliverance cometh the more prophane It is true many may begin with God in their Troubles and their Necessities drive them to the Throne of Grace and Christ had never heard of many if Feavours and Palsies and Possessions and Blindness Deafness and Dumbness had not brought them unto him thanks to the Disease but if a course of Godliness begin upon these occasions and continue afterwards God will accept it He is willing to receive us upon any terms Men will say you come to me in your Extremity but he doth not upbraid us provided we will come so as to abide with him and will not turn the back upon him when our turn is served if you doe so take heed God hath other Judgments to reach you as Iohn said Matth. 3. 11 12. He that cometh after me is mightier than I whose shoos I am not worthy to bear He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire Whose fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire So that which cometh after is mightier than that which went before the last Judgment is the heaviest The Ax is laid to the root of the Tree therefore every Tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire Matth. 3. 10. He will not onely lop off the Branches but strike at the Root as the Sodomites that escaped the Sword of Chedorlaomer perished by Fire from Heaven The Israelites that were not drowned in the Red Sea were stung to death by Fiery Serpents As if a man did flee from a Lyon and a Bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a Serpent bit him Amos 5. 19. When you avoid one Judgment you may meet another and find a stroke where you think your selves most secure Use 1. Let us consider these things that we may profit by all the Chastenings of the Lord. It is now a time of Affliction both as to publick Judgments and as to the private Condition of many of the People of God we have been long straying from God from our Duty from one another it was high time for the Lord to take his Rod in his hand and to scourge us home again Upon these Three Nations there is somewhat of God's Three great Judgments War Pestilence and Famine they are all dreadfull The Pestilence is such a Judgment as turneth Populous Cities into Desers and Solitudes in a short time then one cannot help another Riches and Honour profit nothing then and Friends and Kinsfolks stand afar off Many die without any spiritual Helps In War what Destructions and Slaughters expence of Bloud and Treasure In Famine you feel your selves to die without a Disease know not where to have fuel to allay and feed the fire which Nature hath kindled in your Bodies But blessed be God all these are in moderation Pestilence doth not ragingly spread the War is at a distance the Famine onely a scarcity Before God stirreth up all his Wrath he observeth what we doe with these beginnings Besides the People of God are involved in an heap of Miseries on all hands the oppressed dejected Party burthened with jealousies and ready to be haled to Prison and put under restraint Holy men sometimes have personal Afflictions added to the publick Calamities Ieremy was cast into the Dungeon when the City was besieged The Chaff and Grain both are threshed together but the Grain is besides ground in the Mill and baked in the Oven Besides who thinks of his strayings and returning with a more severe Resolution to his Duty If we would profit by Afflictions we must avoid both the faulty extreams Heb. 12. 5. My Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Slighting and Fainting must be avoided 1. Let us not slight them When we bear them with a stupid senseless mind surely that hindereth all Profit None can endure to have their Anger despised no more than their Love a Father is displeased when his Child slights his Correction That we may not slight it let us consider 1. Their Authour God We think them fortuitous from chance but they do not rise out of the dust Job 5. 6. Whoever be the Instruments or whatever be the means the Wise God hath the whole ordering of it He is the first Cause He is to be sought to He is to be appeased if we would stop Evil at the Fountain head for all Creatures willingly or unwillingly obey him and are subject to his Empire and Government Amos 3. 6. Is there any evil in the City and I have not done it saith the Lord Isa. 45. 7. I form the Light and create Darkness I make Peace and create Evil I the Lord doe all these things Job 1. 21. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away 2. The meritorious Cause is Sin Lamentat 3. 39. Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his Sin that first brought Mischief into the World and still continueth it God never afflicts without a cause either we need it or we deserve it Micah 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him untill he plead my cause and execute Iudgment for me he will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his Righteousness We should search for the particular Sins that provoke God to afflict us for while we onely speak of Sin in general we do but inveigh against a Notion and personate a Mourning but those we can charge upon our selves are most proper and powerfull to break the heart 3. The end is our Repentance and Amendment to correct Sin past or prevent Sin to come 1. For Correction to make us more penitent for Sin past We being in a lower sphere of understanding know things better by their Effects than their Nature Ier. 2. 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy backslidings shall reprove thee know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God and that my fear is not in thee saith the Lord of Hosts Moral Evil is represented to us by natural Evil Pain sheweth what Sin is 2. For prevention of Sin for time to come The Smart should make us cautious and watchfull against Sin Ioshua 22. 17 18. Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us from which we are not cleansed to this day although there was a Plague in the Congregation of the Lord but that ye must turn away this day from following the Lord And it will be seeing ye rebel to
day against the Lord that to morrow he will be wroth with the whole Congregation of Israel Afflictions also should stir up in us heavenly Thoughts heavenly Desires and more lively diligence in the exercise of those Graces which before lay dormant in us through our neglect Onely I must tell you that sometimes the Affliction may be merely for prevention and may goe before Sin God hath always a Cause but he doth not always suppose a fault in act but sometimes in possibility looking into thy Actions or thy Temper what thou hast done or wouldst doe to cure or prevent a distemper in thy Spirit as well as a disorder in thy Conversation 2. Let us not faint When the Afflictions sit close and near then we are apt to fall into the other extream to be dejected out of measure An over-sense worketh on our Anger and then it is Fretting or on our Sorrow and then it is Fainting The former is the worse of the two for that is to set up an Anti-Providence or a being displeased with God's Government a practical disowning of his Greatness and Justice all men will acknowledge God is great yet what Worm is there will submit to him any further than themselves please We say we deserve nothing but evil from his hands but yet are madded like wild Bulls in a Net when the Goad is in our Sides We say any other Cross but this We do not dislike Trial but this Trial that is upon us God thought this fittest for us our murmuring will not ease our trouble but increase and continue it Certainly without submission Troubles will doe us no good Patience worketh Experience Rom. 5. 4. Fainting properly so taken is when we look upon God's Work through a false Glass and misexpound his Dispensation God puts forth his hand not to thrust us off but pull us to himself Hosea 5. 15. I will goe and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their Affliction they will seek me early The very Affliction giveth us hope that he will not let us goe on securely in our Sins It is not our being afflicted and made miserable by trouble which God aimeth at Lament 3. 33. He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men. Nor is it that which we should chiefly be affected with under Afflictions We should mind another Lesson taught by it which if we neglect our sense of Trouble will be but perplexing It is to subdue Sin to make us more mindfull of heavenly Things to have our hearts humbled No Affliction should be counted intolerable which helpeth to purge our Sin We evidence our love to Sin if we are overmuch troubled at it or peevishly quarrel with God Fainting sheweth our weakness Prov. 24. 10. If thou faint in the day of adversity thy strength is small Use 2. Something concerning the Profit of it value it observe it 1. Value it What do you count a Profit or Benefit to slow in Wealth or excel in Grace to live in Ease or to be kept in a holy heavenly and humble Frame Heb. 12. 10. For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Not that we might have the Pelf of this World but that we might be partakers of his Holiness it is better to have Holiness than to have Health Wealth and Honour the sanctification of an Affliction is better than to have deliverance out of it Deliverance taketh away malum naturale some penal Evil which God bringeth upon us Sanctification malum morale the greatest Evil which is Sin I am sure this is that which we should look after Deliverance is God's Work the Improvement of the Trouble is our Duty do you mind your Work and God will not be wanting to doe his Part. 2. Observe it and see how the Rod worketh what Thoughts it begets in you what Resolutions it stirreth up what Solaces you run to and seek after to this end 1. In what temper and frame of heart you were when the Affliction surprized you Usually Affliction treadeth upon the heels of some Sin if it be open and in our practice it discovereth it self if secret and in the frame of our hearts it must be searched after Usually it is some slightness and carelesness of spiritual and heavenly Things your hearts were grown in love with the World you began to neglect your Souls grew more cold in the Love of God more formal in Prayer and indifferent as to your spiritual Estate you did not watch over your hearts therefore the holy and jealous God cometh and awakeneth you by his smarting Scourge the foregoing Distemper observed will help you to state your Profit 2. How that is cured by God's Discipline or what benefit you have gotten by it You are more diligent in your Duty carefull in your Preparations for a better State A Christian should be able to give an account of the Methods by which God bringeth him to Heaven David could give an account as here Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy Word and verse 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes not good that I should be as accepting the Punishment but that I have been as owning the Profit SERMON LXXVII PSAL. CXIX 68. Thou art good and dost good teach me thy Statutes THE Psalmist in the first Verse of this Portion had expressed himself in a way of Thankfulness to God for his Goodness verse 65. then interrupteth his Thanksgiving a little and beggeth the continuance of the same Goodness verse 66. and after that returneth again to shew how this good came by means of Affliction vers 67. and therefore once more praiseth God for his Goodness and reneweth his Suite God is ever good to his People but most sensibly they have proof of it in their Afflictions when to appearance he seemeth to deale hardly with them yet all that while he doth them good Sanctification of Afflictions is a greater mercy than deliverance out of them We may learn our Duty by the Discipline of a smart Rod Thou dealest well with thy Servant For Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have kept thy Word And then he falleth into Thanksgiving and Prayer again Thou art good and dost good teach me thy Statutes Here is 1. A Compellation and Confession of God's Goodness both in his Nature and Actions 2. A Petition for Grace Teach me thy Statutes First The Compellation used to God Thou art good and dost good Divers have been the glosses of Interpreters upon these Words Aben Ezra bonus est non petenti benefacit petenti thou art good to them that ask not but surely dost good to them that ask Others Thou art good in this World dost good in the World to come Others better God is good of himself and doth good to us Goodness
compared with all that may be called life Life is either Natural Spiritual or Eternal Compare it with life Natural and there the Psalmist will tell you Psal. 63. 3. Thy loving-kindness is better than life life is not life without it without the feeling of this love or the hope of feeling it it is little worth To have the light of the Sun which is the comfort of the senses without the light of God's Countenance which is the comfort of the soul is a sad and dark estate especially to the Children of God that know they are made for another world and for this onely in their passage thither Natural life onely giveth us a capacity to injoy the comforts of sense which are base dreggy and corruptive but the special favour of God lets us into such consolations as perfect the Soul and affects it with a greater pleasure than our natural faculties are capable of life natural is a frail brittle thing but these saving effects of Gods mercy lay a Foundation of eternal happiness Life natural may grow a burden but the love of God is never burdensome the days may come in which there is no pleasure Eccl. 12. 1. Job 33. 20. his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty food in sickness and age in troubles of Conscience Men do pretty well with their worldly happiness till God rebuke man for sin then all the glory profit and pleasure of the creature doth us no good Psal. 39. 11. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Iudas halter'd himself when filled with the sense of Gods wrath Iob chose strangling rather than life At death when all worldly things cease and are of no more use to us the sense of Gods love will be of great use to us All the world understand the worth and value of Gods love when death cometh then a child of God feeleth it Oh saith he I would not for all the world but that I had made sure of the love of God before this hour how terrible else would it have been to leave all and leap out into an unknown world Ier. 17. 9. The unjust man at his latter end shall be a fool and Iob 27. 8. What is the hope of the Hypocrite if he hath gained when God cometh to take away his Soul 2. Life Spiritual the Soul hath no life but in communion with God who is the fountain of this new life now the more sensible and close this is the more they live the vitality of this life lyeth in the sensible participation of the effects of his special grace and mercy then we have it more abundantly Iohn 10. 10. not onely living but lively 3. For eternal life a comfortable sense of Gods mercy is the beginning and pledg of the true and heavenly life Rom. 5. 4 5 6. The shedding abroad the love of God in the heart of a believer maketh this his hope sure and certain he needeth not be ashamed for he hath earnest beforehand 2. Gods favour furnisheth us with a remedy against all evils and miseries i. e. wants troubles sins The want of other things may be supplyed by the love of God but the want of the love of God cannot be supplyed with any thing else if poor in the world yet we may be rich in faith Iam. 2. 5. if afflicted destitute yet this loss may be made up by the presence of God in the Soul 2 Cor. 4. 16. As our outward man decayeth our inward man is renewed day by day If they want the creature they have God there is no want of a candle when they have the Sun if they want health the Soul may be in good plight 3. Epist. Iohn 2. as Gaius had a healthy soul in a sickly body If they want liberty they ly open to the visits of his grace the Spirit of God is no stranger to them nor can his company and comforts be shut out Tertullian telleth the Martyrs you went out of the prison when you went into it and were but sequestred from the world that you might converse with God the greatest prisoners are those that are at large darkened with ignorance chained with lusts committed not by the Proconsul but God If they want the favour of men they have the favour of God God smileth when the world frowneth they may be Banished but every place is alike near to God and Heaven Some climates are nearer and some further off from the Sun but all alike near to the Sun of Righteousness Ibi pater ubi patria that is our Country where God is we are harrassed beaten afflicted in sundry manners but the sting is gone therod that is dip'd in guilt smarteth most but a pardoned man may rejoyce in tribulations Rom. 5. 1 2. But now on the contrary suppose a man high in honour wallowing in wealth spending his time and wealth in ease and pleasure but after all this God will bring him to Judgment the world is his friend but God is his enemy and he is all his life time subject to bondage Heb. 2. 14. not always felt but soon awakened and during the time of his comfort and delight he is danceing about the brink of hell liable to an eternal curse and there is but the slender thread of a frail life between him and execution a few serious sober thoughts undoe him 2. Sin that is the great evil both as to the guilt of it and the wages of it the guilt and obliquity of it no creature can provide a plaister for this sore to get our Consciences setled and our natures healed this is the special fruit of Gods mercy in Christ his business is to save us from sin Matt. 1. 21. Acts. 3. 26. God having raised up his son Iesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from your iniquity Rom. 11. 26. There shall come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Iacob have Gods Image repaired and restored to his Grace and Favour those that have felt sin a burden nothing will satisfie till the Lord looks graciously upon them 3. The favour of the Lord is the fountain of all blessings Get an interest in his special mercy and then all things are yours you have God for your God who commandeth all things 1 Cor. 3. 22. Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all things are yours Matt. 6. 33. First seek the Kingdome of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you Prov. 10. 22. The blessing of the Lord maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it 4. It sweetens every Comfort a piece of bread with the love of God is a plentifull feast A little that a righteous man hath is better than the revenue of many wicked Quid prodest regium alimentum si ad Gehennam pascat What profiteth it to be fatted
6. Though the Lord be high yet he hath a respect to the lowly and the proud he knoweth afar off Partly as he is the Portion of the afflicted and oppressed Psal. 140. 12. I know the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor When Satan stirreth up his Instruments to hate those whom the Lord loveth the Lord will stir up his power to protect and defend them So Psal. 10. 14. Thou hast seen it for thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it with thy hand the poor committeth himself to thee thou art the helper of the fatherless When they have layed forth their desires poured forth their heart before the Lord they quiet themselves 'T is God's office practice nature to relieve poor helpless Creatures that commit themselves to his custody 3. Innocency giveth confidence in Prayer when we are molested and troubled without a cause The testimony of Conscience giveth boldness towards God and men 2 Cor. 1. 12. and Heb. 13. 18. Pray for us for we trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly If God's Children would carry it more holily and meekly they might cut off occasion from them that desire occasion and in their addresses to God experience more humble confidence But is not this a revengeful Prayer Answ. No First Because directly they pray for their own deliverance that they may more freely serve God by consequence Indeed by God's shewing mercy to his People the pride of wicked ones is suppressed Psal. 119. 134. Secondly As it concerneth his Enemies he expresseth it in mild terms That they may be ashamed that is disappointed their counsels hopes machinations and endeavors And therefore it is not against the Persons of his Enemies but their Plots and Enterprises and shame and disappointment may do them good They think to bring in the total suppression of God's People that would harden them in their sins Therefore God's People desire he would not let their innocency be trampled upon but they disappointed that the Proud may be ashamed in the failing of their attempts Thirdly The Prayers of the Faithful for the overthrow of the Wicked are a kind of Prophecies so that in praying David doth in effect foretell that such as dealt perversly should be ashamed as a good cause will not always be oppressed Isa. 66. 5. But he shall appear to your joy but they shall be ashamed They met with despiteful usage at the hand of their Brethren for their loyalty and fidelity to God Fourthly Saints have a liberty to imprecate vengeance but such as must be used sparingly and with great caution Psal. 71. 13. Let them be confounded and consumed who are adversaries to my soul. Malicious Enemies may be expresly prayed against SERMON LXXXVII PSAL. CXIX VER 78 79. But I will meditate in thy precepts Let those that fear thee turn unto me and those that have known thy testimonies WE now come to David's Resolution But I will meditate in thy precepts The word Precepts is not taken strictly but largely for the whole Word of God DOCT. It is a blessed thing when the Molestations we meet with in the World do excite us to a more diligent study of the Word of God and a greater mindfulness of spiritual and heavenly things I. I shall shew what advantages we have by God's Word and Precepts for the staying and bettering of our hearts II. How this cometh by deep and serious meditation III. How Afflictions and Troubles in the Flesh do quicken us to it 1 In the Word of God there are notable Comforts and Supports as also clear directions how to carry our selves in every condition I shall shew what good thoughts do become as a ground of comfort and support and direction 1. That God hath a fatherly care over us Be once persuaded of that and Trouble will not be so grievous and hard to be born This our Saviour opposeth to worldly cares and fears Matth. 6. 32. Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of these things And Luke 12. 32. Fear not little flock it is your Father's good pleasure to give you a kingdom There are two Notions and they are both Christian which are the great support of the heart under any Trouble Adoption and particular Providence The Heirs of Promise are cared for in their Non-age And by the way once be persuaded of this and it will allay our distrustful cares Carking and shifting is a reproach to your heavenly Father as if your Child should beg or filch God knoweth our wants is able to relieve them willing to supply us this God is my Father 2. That the humble Soul which casts it self into the arms of God's Providence shall either have a full and final deliverance or present support Isa. 40. 31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength To wait on the Lord is with patience and tranquility of spirit to expect the performance of the Promises Now these shall have what they wait for or a supply of strength yet enabling them to bear up or hold out when they seem to be clean spent Psal. 123. 2. Behold as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their master and the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until he have mercy upon us 'T was in a time when they were filled with the contempt of the Proud let us be patiently submissive to God's dispensations there is hope of help 3. That God doth wonderfully disappoint the designs of wicked men Psal. 37. 12 13. The wicked plotteth against the just and guasheth upon him with his teeth The Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his day is coming Haman's Plot was destroyed so was the Conspiracy of them that would have killed Paul There is no wisdom nor counsel nor understanding against the Lord Prov. 21. 30. What is God now a doing in Heaven but defending his own Kingdom Psal. 2. Wherefore doth Christ sit at his right hand but to promote the affairs of his Church and to blast the devices of the wicked Mat. 18. The gates of hell shall never prevail against it 4. That the Proud are near a fall Prov. 16. 5. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord Though hand join in hand they shall not go unpunished Sometimes they seem to be supported by such combined Interests so woven in the Laws and Constitutions of a Nation but who can keep up him whom God will pull down Pride is a sure note and forerunner of destruction Prov. 16. 18. Prov. 15. 25. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud but he will establish the border of the widow Weak and oppressed Innocence standeth upon surer terms than the Proud though they excel in Wealth and Opulency 5. That God will never leave us wholly destitute and to difficulties insupportable Heb. 13. 5. I will never leave thee
nor forsake thee And 1 Cor. 10. 13. God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able to bear but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it To the eye of sense we are lost and gone and have no helper but God is never wholly gone Hagar set herself over against the Lad would not go too far from him God seems to throw us away but he keeps himself within sight he will not totally or finally forsake us 6. That God's usual way is by Contraries The Gospel-way to save is to lose Ioh. 16. 25. Mat. 16. 25. He that will save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it Ioseph was made a Slave that he may be made Governor of Egypt His Brethren sell him that they may worship him And he is cast into Prison that he may be preferred at Court Thus God by Shame bringeth to Honour by Misery to Happiness by Sorrow to Comfort and by Death to Life to teach us to hope against hope Rom. 4. 18. and to trust in him though he kill us Job 13. 15. For Death is ours as well as other things If Calamities shorten our lives they hasten our glory Persecution is the nearest way to Heaven in the eye of Faith and the Sword of the Enemy is but the Key to open the Prison doors and let out the Soul which hath long desired to be with Christ. 7. That 't is better to suffer than to sin In suffering the offence is done to us in sinning 't is done to God The evil of suffering is but for a moment the evil of sin for ever In suffering we lose the favor of men in sinning we hazard the favor of God Suffering bringeth inconveniency upon the Body but sinning upon the Soul The sinful estate is far worse than the afflicted Heb. 12. 28. The evil of Sufferings for the present the evil of Sin for afterwards 8. That Holiness Faith Meekness and Patience are better Treasures than any the world can take from us Certainly a Christian is to reckon himself by the inward man if he hath an healthy Soul he may the better dispense with a sickly Body 3d Epist. Iohn 2. If the inward man be renewed 2 Cor. 4. 16. If sore Troubles discover reality of Grace Sound and saving Faith discovered to the Soul is better worth than the worlds best gold 1 Pet. 1. 9. If carnal sense were not quickest and greatest we would judge so and not look to the sharpness of the affliction but to the improvement of it If the bitter water be made sweet if you be more godly wise and religious 't is enough Heb. 12. 11. No affliction for the present seemeth joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby If the loss of worldly comforts make us apply our selves to heavenly consolations if being disburdened of worldly incumbrances we go on in our way of serving God with more liberty and delight and when our dangers are greatest we draw near to God and adhere to him most closely and being persuaded of his love vigilancy and power with these and such kind of thoughts will a man be stocked who is with seriousness and delight conversant in the Scriptures and so will go on undisturbed in the course of his obedience 2 These things must be improved by meditation so saith David I will meditate on thy precepts 1. Sleepy Reason is unuseful to us and Truths lie hid in the heart without any efficacy or power till improved by deep serious and pressing thoughts Non-attendency is the bane of the world Mat. 13. 19. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart Those invited to the Wedding Mat. 22. 5. made light of it Men will not suffer their minds so long to dwell upon holy things as to procure a good esteem of them then in seeing they see not and in hearing hear not as when you tell a man of a business whose mind is taken up about other things A sudden carrying a Candle thorough a Room giveth us not so full a survey of the Object as when you stand awhile beholding it A steady contemplation is a great advantage Attending is the cause of believing when we grow serious Acts 16. 14. Whose heart the Lord opened that she attended to the things spoken by Paul Acts 17. 11. And these were more noble than they of Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind If People would often return to cosinder they would not be hardned in sin Psal. 4. 4. Commune with your own heart upon your beds Hagg. 1. 5. Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts consider your ways God's complaint was They would not consider his ways Job 34. 27. Isa. 1. 3. My people doth not consider Running thoughts never work upon us nor leave any durable impression like the glance of a Sun-beam or a Wave When the Soul is besieged by a constant battery of Truths it yieldeth but a mind scattered upon impertinent Vanities groweth not up to any considerable strength of faith or joy or comfort or holiness 2. God will not be served by the bie and at hap-hazard David taketh a resolution to study his duty The more deliberate our resolutions are the better Psal. 119. 59. I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies We shall never stumble upon a good course by chance Isa. 56. 4. And choose the things that please me Not take them upon some sudden motion but after mature and serious deliberation 3. To divert the mind from other things Afflictions and Troubles stir up a multitude of thoughts in us Psal. 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts Sometimes self-oppressing thoughts carking thoughts envious thoughts and repining at God's Providence the object of our trouble is ever before us Now there is no way to get rid of these but by exercising them upon better things Troubles make us concerned about matters of weight they employ our minds usefully which before were scattered to impertinent vanities Psal. 39. 3. My heart was hot within me whilest I was musing the fire burned That our minds may not be a prey to inordinate passions we pore upon the trouble and the heart is heated like an Oven stopped up and therefore keep the mind well employed 4. Frequent meditation keepeth our principles in view and memory We are apt to forget in our sorrows Heb. 12. 5. And ye have forgotten the consolation 'T is not ready at hand to support us in the time of Trouble A seasonable remembrance of Truths is a great relief to the Soul 't is the Spirit 's office 3 That Afflictions and Molestations have a great tendency and subserviency to promote and advance these
have not always the strength of Faith and therefore faint and are ready to perish I said in my haste I am cut off Psal. 31. 22. 4. Religion itself intendereth the heart a Father's anger is no slight thing to a gracious soul. When we are afflicted and God is angry the trouble is the more grievous and it is hard to steer right between the two Rocks of slighting and fainting well then pity poor creatures under their burden and help them but censure them not 3. His Remedy God's Word there is the Paradise of delights and the onely Requies to allay the bitter sense of all our troubles why First As to the main blessings there is represented to us the true Fountain of all comfort who is God the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort 2 Cor. 1. 13. who distributeth comfort when and where and to whom he pleaseth 2dly There is discovered to us the meritorious and procuring cause who is Jesus Christ Who hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace 2 Thess. 2. 16. 3dly The Spirit who is the applier of all comfort therefore called the Comforter and he giveth us peace and joy in believing Rom. 15. 13. 4thly The true instrument means or condition whereby we receive comfort and that is Faith Iohn 14. 1. 5thly The true matter of comfort and that is pardon and life 1. Pardon and Reconciliation with God Rom. 5. 10. no solid cause of rejoycing till then when reconciled to God then true peace and peace that passeth all understanding which will guard both heart and mind Phil. 4. 7. then all miseries are unstinged Solid pââ¦e of Conscience is your best support and comfort under afflictions the intrinsic evil of afflictions is then taken away Lam. 3. 39. Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins While sin remaineth unpardoned the thorn still remaineth in the sore 2. The promise of eternal life Rom. 5. 2. There is the Crown set against the Cross heavenly comforts against earthly afflictions the afflictions of God's children comparatively are light and short 2 Cor. 4. 17. This light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Nothing should be grievous to them that know a world to come where all tears shall be wiped from our eyes and we shall enjoy fulness of joy and pleasure for evermore 6thly It sheweth us who are the Parties capable the renewed or sanctified Ps. 32. 11. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart To all Christ's sincere faithful and obedient servants these promises are matter of abundant joy As to particular comforts concerning afflictions it is endless to instance in all but take a few instances 1. The Word of God teaches us not only how to bear them but how to improve them as it teaches us how to bear them it breedeth quietness and submission but as it teaches us how to improve them it breedeth peace and joy To bear Micah 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me he will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his righteousness To improve them Heb. 12. 11. Righteousness brings peace along with it The fruit is better than the deliverance as we get spiritual advantage by them as they promote Repentance purge out Sin bring us home to God They rid us of the matter of our trouble and bring us to the center of our rest 2. The Word teaches to depend upon God for the moderating of them and deliverance from them 1 Cor. 10. 13. Before he giveth a passage out of our pressures he vouchsafeth present support to us and will not permit his servants to be tempted beyond what they are able to bear 3. His people have most experience of God under the Cross they have a more peculiar allowance from God for sufferings than for ordinary services Paul was most strong when weak 2 Cor. 12. 9 10. The greater pressures the more sensible the divine assistance And when ordinary means fail and they are pressed above their own strength the more visible the proof of God's help When they are most apt to have jealousies of God's love they have had the highest manifestations of it never more liberty than in the house of bondage Most of God's smiles when all things seem to frown upon them In short have had more understanding not only of God's Word but his Love 4. God's governing all things for the benefit of his people Rom 8. 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God sure then afflictions Now they submitting and being exercised under sharp dispensations may find it verified to them many things seem for our hurt intendedly many thought so by our selves but God knoweth how to bring good out of them Cant. 4. 16. 4. David saith my delights They that seek their solace and delight in the Word shall find it there It is an excellent frame of heart to be satisfied with the comforts which the Word offereth every one cannot be thus affected to raise this delight 1. Faith is necessary for the comforts of the Word are received and improved by Faith unless we expect the sure accomplishment of God's promises how can we be supported by them Psal. 27. 13. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living That is without a full assent to the promises which God had made him of his Restauration for he had particular assurance of the Kingdom as we have of the Kingdom of Heaven so for the consent as well as assent to take the happiness contained in the promises as our whole felicity Psal. 119. 111. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever they are the rejoicing of my heart There is heritage and portion rich enough in God's promises and this breedeth joy in all afflictions 2. Meditation is necessary for thereby the sweetness of the Word is perceived and tasted and the promises laid before us it is the fruit of delight Psal. 1. 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night And it is the cause of it Psal. 104. 34. My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. They who delight in a thing will often view it and consider it and thereby their delight is increased the most lively truths work not on us for want of serious consideration 3. There must be Mortification and Self-denial or prizing spiritual Favors before temporal Benefits The Cross will not be grievous to a mortified spirit when they compare their gain with their loss 2 Cor. 4. 16. To others we speak in vain whose hearts are set upon worldly advantages but they
Commandment came sin revived and I died The Commandment the Law of God breaks in with all its terrors and curse upon the Soul by strong conviction and the man is given for gone lost and dead You know the way to the bowels is by the mouth and the stomach and so by other passages There 's no way to the affections but by the ear then to the understanding and then passeth to the apprehension the judgment and conscience and heart From the apprehension to the Grammatical knowledge then they come to the judgment then to the conscience and when conscience is set awork usually there 's some feeling 2. Conviction where 't is strong and serious where 't is not levis mollis it cannot be without some compunction The eye affects the heart Can a man be sensible of a lost condition and of the necessity of a change without being troubled at it without making a serious weighty business of it Are Heaven and Hell such flight matters that a man can think of the one or the other without any commotion of heart Pray do but bethink your selves I shall solve the particular Cases but I must establish the general one especially if he be convinced of his being obnoxious to one and doth not know whether he shall have the other yea or no. Certainly whoever is instructed or convinced will smite upon his thigh and bemoan himself as Ephraim Jer. 31. There 's none ever came to Christ the spiritual Physician but they were in some degree heart-sick none ever came for ease but they felt a load upon their back If there be conviction and compunction this will be felt 3. But then the degrees are various some are more some less some earnestly sollicitous or deeply in horror Some are brought to God by the horrors of despair and are convinced with a higher and more smart degree of sorrow before ever they come to settle but all are serious and anxious There is certainly a difference some mens conversion is more gentle others more violent To some Christ comes like an armed man and doth powerfully vanquish Satan in their hearts to others there 's a great deal of difficulty and conflict which must needs impress a notice of it self Some are sweetly drawn others are snatched out of the fire To some the Spirit comes with a mighty rushing wind to others by a gentle blast sweetly and softly blows open the door God opened the heart of Lydia we read of no more Acts 16. 14. But when he comes to the Jaylor he had more horror of conscience and more sorrow and desperation and was ready to kill himself saying What shall I do to be saved ver 31. The Lord bids us to put a difference to have compassion of some and to pluck others more violently out of the fire Iude 23. So here the Lord's work is various it is to some more gentle but to others it is with a greater horror 4. I answer That no certain Rule can be given as to this different dispensation why some are so gently used and others so violently brought home to God Sometimes they which have had good Education and left Errors of Life have left Terrors of Heart as being restrained from gross Sins at other times they have had most Terrors because they have withstood so many means and because they do not know when God works upon them Sometimes those which are called to greatest services have had most Terrors that they may speak more of the evil of sin having felt the bitterness of it 2 Cor. 5. 10. Knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men Sometimes it is quite otherwise they which have been called to some eminent publick service for God they may not drink so deeply of this Cup but are spared that they may be kept more entire for their publick work which serves instead of sorrow and trouble of conscience Again sometimes men and women of most excellent and acute understandings they are most humble as having clearest apprehensions of the heinousness of sin and terror of wrath at other times on the contrary these horrors and fears come from ignorance as fears arise in the dark and weak spirits are apt to be terrified and have a knowledge of the remedy as soon as they know their disease the work may be more gentle Sometimes these Terrors fall on a strong body as being best able to bear them sometimes on a weak the Devil taking advantage of their weaknesses and manifold infirmities Many times in hot and fiery natures their changes are sudden carried on with extremities but sometimes soft natures whose motions are slow and gentle by degrees are surprized and impressions of grace are made insensibly Thus God acts as he will but in the general all are serious and sollicitous 5. Because no certain Rule can be given the Measure must not be looked after but the effects we are not so much to look to the deepness of the Wound as the soundness of the Care The Means only respect the End therefore the End must be considered and many times the Effects are visible and more evident in fruit and feeling Now if we give sound proof that we are converted I am contented If the work be done that sufficeth which way soever it be done though usually it is done by some notable and powerful impression upon the heart Look as the blind Man said Iohn 9. 25. Which way my eyes were opened I know not but this I know that whereas I was blind I now see So if the renewed soul can say How the work was done I cannot tell I have been waiting upon God and have felt the fruits of his grace upon my heart 6. The Effects of this first work are these 1 A hearty welcoming of Christ Jesus into the soul they do not take up with comfort on this side Christ Mens troubles are known by their satisfaction If Honour satisfie Men then Disesteem and Disrespect was their trouble however they did palliate it with Religious Pretences If Riches satisfie Men then Poverty pinched them If the prosperity of the world satisfie Men it was worldly adversity was their trouble though it crept under Religious Pretences But if we see the necessity of a Saviour receive him into our hearts and believe in him with all our hearts desire and delight and all is carried after Christ and after the refreshings of his Grace and are satisfi'd with none but Christ and our hearts pant for him as the Hart panteth after the water brooks you ought to bless God that he hath left the impression of the effect though he hath not left the impression of the way Psal. 42 1. But now when desires after Christ are either none at all or cold and faint and easily put out of the humor and only provoke you now and then to put up a cold Prayer or express a few faint wishes or heartless sighs that though you have a desire after Christ yet it is
Devil they do the action which God hath required but their aim is that which gratifies Satan There are others that have a good aim but a bad action these make the Devil serve God as if God could not provide for his own glory well enough without their sin therefore if it be an evil way refrain it though you think you may bring good out of it Saul he would be offering Sacrifice an unwarrantable action for him to invade the Priestly office 1 Sam. 13. 13 14. He was loth to go to Battel until he had sacrificed and would not tarry till Samuel came what then see what Samuel saith Thou hast done foolishly thou hast not kept the Commandment of the Lord thy God which he commanded thee Here was a good aim but a bad action and you see how severe judgment fell upon him I say he forfeited his Kingdom by doing an undue action though for a good end Uzzah he put forth his hand to stay the Ark which was an undue circumstance he had a good aim in it that the Ark of God might not be shaken that it might not fall and be shatered in pieces and the mysteries of their Religion prostituted 2 Sam. 6. 7. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah and God smote him there for his error and he dyed Many think to bear out themselves by good intentions they are drawn into an evil way they hope to bring things to a better pass It is dangerous to step out of God's way God's ends can best be brought about by God's way The judgments of the Lord upon these nations have been mainly for unwarrantable actions upon good intentions and though usually we have committed one sin to help another yet there hath been a pretence of a good intention a good aim 7. We are not only to avoid such sins as seem to lie remote from our temper and course of our business and interest but from our own special sins those sins which suit better with our condition constitution calling employment Psal 18. 23. I was upright before thee and kept my self from mine iniquity Every man hath his iniquity as every man hath his particular temper so he hath his particular sins and if he belong to God he hath his particular graces The Saints have their particular graces Timothy for abstinence and temperance Iob for patience Abraham for faith therefore stiled the Father of the faithful Moses was eminent for meekness so there are particular sins men are passionate worldly voluptuous ambitious and as the channel is cut so corrupt nature finds a vent and passage Isa. 53. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way We are all out of the way but every man hath a particular way of sin Look as in the natural body every man hath all the faculties of a man yet some this facultie more vigorous and lively than other some for memory judgment invention quickness of wit so it is as to particular fins Now these should be most resisted and most opposed by us The Scripture requires of us Matth. 5. 19. To cut off our right hand and pluck out our right eye these if they be not watched they will run into scandal our particular sins make us dishonour God dishonour our profession and become a reproach to the Gospel It is notable when our Saviour disswaded from giving scandal Matth. 18. 8 9. He revives those sentences of cutting off the right hand and plucking out the right eye These sins will make you a dishonour to the Gospel if you do not watch over them 8. There are the sins of the times wherein we live Vitium seculi Indeed it is hard to keep our ground in a great flood when a stream is strong it is ready to carry us away but he that would be punctual with God should keep from the sins of the times Peter dissembled with the Jews and the Godly Jews fell a dissembling of their Religion in so much that Barnabas was carried away with their dissimulation Gal. 2. 13. When sin seems to be authorized by a general practice it concerns you to stand at a distance to have nothing to do there Noah was an upright man feared God and served him in a corrupt age Gen. 6. 9. They are dead fishes that are carried away with the stream We are not to walk ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã according to the course of this world Eph. 2. 2. but to walk according to the Rule Gal. 6. 16. In many ages there are certain sins until light disprove them and the Lord clears up his will that men run into and are carried away by violence of the stream while the stream runs that way in their age but this will be no excuse you are to be upright and not carryed away by Vitium seculi the evil way of the times 9. We are not only to refrain our feet from evil but from all the occasions and appearances of evil and not to stand so much as within the scent of a temptation as Crows and Ravens when they are beaten away from the carrion will stand within the scent We are to stand at a great distance from all that seems to tend to sin not only from evil but the appearance of it 1 Thes 5. 22. Sin should be so hateful to us that the very picture of it should be abhorred Many times some sins are the occasion of others as covetousness is occasioned by distrust there certainly we are to avoid occasions as well as sins themselves I but if the thing be lawful and we know our weakness we should not easily ride into the Devil's quarters and run into the mouth of a temptation Look as Solomon in that particular sin adviseth the young man Prov. 5. 8. Remove thy way far from her and come not nigh the door of her house He would not have the young man venture upon the occasion And God's strictness to the Nazarite is very notable Numb 6. 3 4. As he was to drink no wine or strong drink so no vineger of wine or vineger of strong drink nor drink any liquor of grapes nor eat moist grapes or dried and afterwards he was not so much as to eat neither the husk nor kernel of the grape Thus God would have us stand at a distance this was a typical figure to shew at how great a distance we should stand from sin and refrain our selves from all evil as the Apostle saith hate the garments spotted with the flesh Jude v. 23. An allusion to those that touched an unclean thing Rushing upon snares and occasions of evil we hazard the surprisal of our souls As Caesar said of his wife oportet Coesaris uxorem non solum castam esse c. she should not only be chast but free from all suspicion so God will have his people to be void of suspicion and to be clear and innocent from all kind of transgressions Thus you see
But what is this hatred of Sin 1. It implies an universal repugnancy in every part of a Man against Sin not only in his Reason and Conscience but Will and Affections There is not a wicked man but in many cases his Conscience bids him do otherwise Ay but a renewed man his heart inclines him to do otherwise his heart is set against Sin and taken up with the things of God Rom. 7. 22. I delight in the law of God according to the inner man It is in the whole inward man which consists of many parts and faculties Briefly then it notes the opposition not from enlightned Conscience only but from the bent of the renewed heart Reason and Conscience will take God's part and quarrel with Sins else wicked men could not be self-condemned 2. Hatred it is a fixed rooted enmity Many a man may fall out with Sin upon some occasion but he hath not an irreconcileable enmity against it The transient motions of the soul are things quite distinct from a permanent principle that abides in a renewed heart he hath that same seed of God remaining in him 1 John 3. 9. An habit notes an habitual aversation A brabble many times falls out between us and Sin upon several occasions when it hath sensibly done us wrong destroyed our peace blasted our names or brought temporal inconvenience upon us In time of judgment and fears and present troubles and dangers men think of bewailing their Sins and returning to God but they fall out and fall in again this is anger not hatred like the rising of the heart against a drawn Sword when it is flasht in our faces whereas afterwards we can take it up without any such commotion of spirit 3. Hatred 't is an active enmity warring upon Sin by serious and constant endeavors manifested by watching striving groaning Watching before the temptation comes resisting in the temptation groaning under it and bemoaning our selves after the temptation hath prevailed over us 1 There 's a constant jealousie and watchfulness before the temptation comes They that hate Sin will keep at a distance from whatever is displeasing unto God Prov. 28. 14. Happy is the man that feareth alway A hard heart that knows not the evil of Sin rusheth on to things according to the present inclination Ay but a man that hath a hatred against Sin that hath felt the evil of it in his Conscience that hath been scorched in the flames of a true conviction will not come near the fire A broken heart is shy and fearful therefore he weighs his thoughts words and actions and takes notice of the first appearance of any temptation they know Sin is always present soon stir'd and therefore live in a holy jealousie Certainly they that walk up and down heedlesly in the midst of so many snares and temptations wherewith we are way-laid in our passage to Heaven they have not this active enmity against Sin and therefore hatred is seen by watching 2 It is seen by striving or serious resistance in the temptation A Christian is not always to be measured by the success but by conflict he fights it out Rom 7. 15. The evil which I hate that do I. Though they be foiled by Sin yet they hate it An Enemy may be overcome yet he retains his spite and malice Sin doth not freely carry it in the heart neither is the act completely willing Gal. 5. 17. Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh for saith he the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would that is you cannot sin with such proneness and full consent and bent of heart as others they have a principle of opposition a rooted enmity in their souls against Sin 3 By a bitter grief after the temptation as Peter when he had fallen fouly he went out and wept bitterly Mat. 26. 75. They do not lie in Sin but recover themselves by a kindly remorse it is the grief of their souls that they are fallen into God's displeasure grieved his Spirit and hazarded their communion with him O Sin is grievous to a gracious heart and this makes them groan and complain to God O wretched man c. 4. 'T is such an enmity against sin as aims at the utter extermination and expulsion of it that endeavoureth to destroy it both root and branch Hatred it 's all for mischief Annilation that 's that which Hatred aims at Anger it worketh trouble but Hatred mischief it is an implacable affection that continues to the death that will not be appeased till the thing which we hate be abolished So where there is this hatred of Sin it follows Sin close till it hath gotten the life of it As by the grace of Justification they have obtained such favor with God that ne damnat it shall not damn by the grace of Sanctification ne regnat Sin shall not reign and still they are aspiring and looking after the grace of Glorification ne fit that Sin may no longer be therefore they are longing and groaning under the reliques of corruption Rom. 7. 24. O wretched man c. Many scratch the face of Sin but they do not seek to root it up to destroy the body of death it is their constant grief that any thing of Sin is left in the heart as Enemies are not satisfied till they have the blood of each other Where there is hatred 't is not enough to stop the spreading weaken the power of Sin but labouring to destroy the being of Sin As David said of his Enemies I pursued them till they were destroyed so when we set against Sin with an aim not to give over till we have the life of it or as God said concerning the Canaanites Deut. 7. 23. I will destroy them with a mighty destruction until they be destroyed So doth a renewed heart war against Sin that he may leave neither root nor fruit within them Use. If this be to hate Sin how few can say with David I hate every false way how few are of David's temper some love Sin with all their heart that hide it as a sweet morsel under their tongue Iob 20. 12. The love of Sin that 's the life of it it dies when it begins to be hated but when you have a love to it it lives in the soul and prevails over us And as they testifie their love of Sin so they misplace their hatred what do they hate not Sin but the Word that discovers it They hate the light because their deeds are evil John 3. 20. They do not hate Sin but God's Messengers that plead against it 1 Kings 22. 8. I hate him saith Ahab concerning Micaiah for he doth not prophesie good concerning me but evil They hate the faithful Brother that reproves them he is hated because he will not hate his Brother to see Sin upon him
They hate the Magistrate that would reform the faithful Christian that condemns them by his exact walking Iohn 15. 19. Because I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you They hate God's image in his people and cannot endure to be condemned by the light that shines out from their conversations Godly Men are Objects reviving guilt Therefore they hate them Thus shamefully are a man's affections transposed we love where we should hate and hate where we should love And then if we come to the other sort of men a degree above these many are frighted out of their sins by slavish fear but yet their hearts are in league with them still and as they get out of the stocks of Conscience they enlarge themselves in all manner of carnal liberty these are not changed but awed Sin is not mortified but only lurks to watch a safe opportunity when it may discover itself with more advantage SERMON CXI PSAL. CXIX VER 104. Therefore I hate every false way THE Second Proposition is the Universality of this Hatred Every false way They that hate sin must hate all sin 1. This doth necessarily follow upon the former for if we hate sin especially as sin for the intrinsick evil that is in it not upon foreign accidental reasons then we will hate all sin for hatred is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to the whole kind As Haman when he hated the Iews he thought fcorn to lay his hand only on Mordecai but would have destroy'd all the Iews Esther 5. 6. 'T is but a casual dislike and not a hatred certainly if we hate sin as sin we shall hate all sin The same reasons that incline us to hate one sin will incline us to hate all why what is it to hate sin as sin as it is a violation of God's Law as it is a contempt of God's Authority a breach of spiritual Friendship it grieves the Spirit these are the reasons to incline us to hate one as well as another Well then private reservation and indulgences or setting up a toleration in our own hearts will not stand with the hatred of all sin Some sins may shame and trouble us more but all are alike contrary to the Will of God therefore if we hate them upon reasons of duty to God we should hate them universally every false way 2. Every sin is hateful to God therefore every sin should be hateful to us The reason of this is we should hate what he hates and loue what he loves there 's a perfect friendship between God and those in Covenant with him Now that 's true friendship to will and nill the same thing it is built upon likeness and suitableness of disposition This Argument is urged by the Holy Ghost Prov. 8. 13. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil pride and arrogancy and the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate This is friendship with God to hate what God hates I hate it therefore they hate it Sins of thought are intended by Pride and Arrogancy for that puts us upon vain musings and imaginations And sins of word by the froward mouth And sins of action by the evil way outward practice All this God hates so should we Rev. 2. 6. Thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate If we be in the same Covenant with God we will have the same love the same hatred Nay as we have the same nature with God the Saints are made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. the divine nature shews itself by suitable dispositions 3. From our Covenant Relation with God which implies an entire surrender of soul which is without any reservation when you give up your selves to God he will have all If you say God be merciful to me and spare me in this then you forfeit all the blessings of the Covenant God will have all or none therefore all sin without exception must be hated by us for otherwise God is not our chief good if any thing be loved besides him or against his Will it is love above him One man allowed besides the Husband is a violation of the Marriage Covenant so one sin allowed in the heart it breaks all the Covenant between God and us Iam. 2. 10. If a man keep the whole law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all That Sentence is not a legal Sentence belonging to the Covenant of Works that were a mistake of it it is not only true in the sense of the Covenant of Works one sin undoes us for ever but it is true in the Evangelical Covenant Thus one sin allowed with full consent of heart it makes void the Gospel Covenant as one Article not consented to disannuls the whole Treaty and Agreement between us and God It is not consistent with sincerity that we should bring down the Gospel-Covenant to allow any one sin 4. From the damage and mischief that it doth to our souls One sin keeps up the Devil's interest it is like a Nest Egg left there to draw a new temptation You continue his Empire in you this is his great design to keep a part Conscience begins to work they must have something all then that he pleads for is but a part and he knows that will bring the whole as Pharaoh would have a Pawn either their Flocks Herds or Children that this might bring them back again One sin reserved gives Satan an interest One leak in the Ship though all the rest be stopt if that be neglected will sink it in time Use. Let us lay this Branch also to heart There is something usually wherein we would be excused and expect favor We all have a tender part of our soul and loth it should be touched some vain fashions customs or ways and outgoings of soul which we are unwilling to leave though we have often smarted for them Consider it is not consistent with your obedience and your love to God nor with the power of grace in your hearts to allow any false way Herod did many things yet perished for all that A man may do many things that are good upon sins account when you allow any one thing it is only to hide and feed your lusts with greater pretence so many religious things may be fuel of lusts as well as carnal comforts It is not for the interest of the flesh or in-dwelling corruption that men should have no Religion sin cannot be served in such a cleanly way unless there be something done in compliance with God's Will under some disguise or conformity to the Will of God Say then Shall I do and suffer so many things in vain bring your hearts thus to hate every false way Thirdly This is a part and fruit of true wisdom 1 That this is a chief part of wisdom and understanding to hate every false way it appears from Iob 28. 28. The fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil that
is understanding So much as we hate sin so much of spiritual wisdom and spiritual understanding Certainly to hate sin is wisdom I prove it from the nature of sin All disobedience is the greatest folly that can be in the world and therefore if to sin be to do foolishly ââ¦o hate sin is to be wise and not to have understanding certainly is a fruit of solly for a man to do that which will condemn himself if ever he comes to himself Now when a man comes to himself as when he dies or repents Oh how will his heart condemn and reproach him for the vanity of his worldly course when he is fill'd with his own ways especially Repentance that 's a coming to our selves As a man when he hath slept out his drunkenness and excess and begins to look back upon his follies committed under that distemper such is Repentance it is an after-wisdom and therefore it argues that there was an imprudence and inconsideration of the things we repent of and therefore we condemn our selves That is folly which gratifies those that are our utter enemies now sin it gratifies the Devil which seeks our ruine He goes about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5. 8. You please him that seeks your utter destruction and will you grieve God and please the Devil That is Folly which brings no disadvantage upon him whom you disobey but upon you it brings the greatest mischief imaginable God is not hurt by your sins he is above our injury Iob 9. 12. If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self but if thou scornest thou alone shalt bear it There is no hurt done to God all the hurt is to our own souls Prov. 8. 36. He that sinneth against me wrongs his own soul and he that hateth me loveth death Every sinner is his own Murderer and his own Destroyer All those Arrows we shoot up against Heaven they fall down with more violence upon our own heads That is folly for a man to hazard a Jewel for a Trifle to stake his Soul and Heaven and Eternal Happiness against a little flesh-pleasing and carnal satisfaction Ionah 2. 8. They that observe lying vanities for sake their own mercies Poor fugacious comforts lying vanities to follow after and forsake their own mercy that is all that happiness which might have been their own A Sinner is a mad Gamesââ¦er that throws away the Kingdom of Heaven at every Cast for a little momentany short delight and vain contentment That is folly to break with him upon whom our All depends our Life Being Comfort Happiness so doth sin make ââ¦s break with God Isa. 59. 2. Tour iniquities have separated between you and your God Well then if sin be to do foolishly to depart from sin this is wisdom this is understanding Certainly he that provides against the greatest mischief doth escape the greatest danger he is the wise man and not he that provides against temporal inconveniences only as poverty and disgrace He that escapes sin escapes hell the wrath of God the extremest misery that can light upon a poor creature Prov. 15. 24. The way of the wise is above to avoid hell beneath and therefore 't is a high point of wisdom to hate sin 2 As it is a high point of understanding so it is a fruit and effect of understanding According to the degree of understanding that we have so will our hatred of sin be for he saith Through thy precepts I get understanding therefore I hate every false way To prove this by two Reasons 1. Our affections follow our apprehensions There is no way to come to the heart but by the mind by the understanding Look as there is no way to come to the bowels to purge out distempers that are there but by the mouth stomach and other passages that lead to the bowels so there is no way to come to the heart and affections but by the understanding knowledge that begets all other affections those which belong to choice and pursuit or those that belong to slight or aversation Those that belong to choice and pursuit desire delight There is no desire of that which is unknown so in those things that belong to slight and aversation those affections be it grief or shame for sin already committed or fear or hatred that sin may not be committed Grief or shame Ier. 31. 19. After I was instââ¦ucted I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth It is light which humbles and the soul is affected according to the sight it hath of things or go to those affections which serve to prevent the commission of sin as hatred and fear Hatred in the Text a good understanding goes before a through hatred will follow 2. Reason that when the mind is fraught with truths and gotten a good stock of knowledge by God's precepts then it will be checking and urging the soul to caution against sin and therefore the more understanding you get by God's precepts the more are you warned and put in mind of things Psal. 119. 11. I have hid thy Word in mine heart that I might not sin against thee When the Word hath laid up in the heart a good stock of knowledge there will be one thought or other that will be rising up and defying all temptations wherewith you are assaulted Eph. 6. 17. Take unto you the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God In the spiritual conflict we need weapons not only desensive but offensive not only the shield of Faith but the sword of the Spirit that we may destroy and slay sin and withstand temptation and chase away Satan from us what 's this sword of the Spirit the Word of God the more seasonable relief the more fresh thoughts you have to withstand temptations which are apt to come in upon you Pr. 6. 21 22. Bind them upon thine heart when thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee This will always be urging him to duty and warning him of his danger A word of Use. 1 Get understanding 2 Never count your selves to understand any thing but as you increase in hatred of sin 1. Get understanding Partly 1 because there are many false ways you will never discern without much understanding There are many false ways that are palliated and represented under the shew of good and we are easily ensnared unless we have light to chuse our way 1 Cor. 2. 8. Had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory A man will be carried on with a great deal of life and activity in a way contrary to God Acts 26. 9. I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Iesus of Nazareth O the tyranny and madness of an erring Conscience and an ignorant Zealot what a ready
feet and path First In general observe this It is not a light to our brains to fill us with empty Notions but a light to our feet to regulate our practice and to guide our actions Ier. 6. 16. He doth not say hearken after the true Religion but walk therein For a man to study the Scripture only to satisfie curiosity only to know what 's right and good and not follow it with all his heart is but to make a rod for his own back and doth but cause his own condemnation to be sore and terrible Luke 12. 47. To be able to dispute for truth and not lie under the power of it to avoid Heresie and live in Vice will never bring him to Heaven Gal. 6. 16. It is not them that are able to talk of it but to walk according to this rule not to play with it but to work with it Knowledge and practice must be joined together they do never well asunder but excellent together Secondly In our Practice 1 Our Path our general choice A man that consults with God's Word The Lord will teach him the way that he shall chuse Psal. 25. 12. Every thing appointed to an end must have all things absolutely necessary to that end else it is not perfect in its kind though perfect to guide us to eternal life therefore it must contain all things that belong or conduce to that end It is not a Rule given us to be rich or safe but to be eternally happy 2 As 't is a light to our path so to our feet How in the particular actions that we perform and in the particular conditions that we pass through 1. In the particular actions that we perform Every action we go about must be guided by the Word why because obedience in particular actions we are most apt to miscarry in Many are wise in generals but in particulars they quite mistake their way We have general Notions that we must be holy ay but we are not holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1. 15. In every creek and turning of your lives in all your actions of eating drinking sleeping and waking we are to be mindful and respect the command of God in all these No path of a Christian's conversation but ought to savor of grace and holiness not only his religious but his common and civil actions Every action is a step to Heaven or Hell for this life is compared to a walk and in a walk every step brings us onward in our way Briefly in every act either sin or grace interposeth therefore we had need look to every step and still to walk according to Rule 2. It guides us in all the conditions that we pass through In every Age here 's milk for the weak and strong meat for men of ripe age In every calling from the King to the lowest Beggar In every state of life adversity prosperity still here 's light for you There are two Parties whose interest it is to decry the clearness of Scripture Papists and Libertines Papists they are afraid to stand to this tryal they would bring all to the judgment of the Church therefore 't is for their interest that the Scriptures were not a clear safe and a full direction Libertines they decry the clearness of Scripture upon several grounds Those that plead for a boundless Toleration what 's their great Argument Nothing is certain in Religion If the Word be a clear Rule then c. SERMON CXIII PSAL. CXIX VER 105. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path HEre I shall answer five Objections that are made by Cavellers Object 1. First If it be so clear a Light why do men so often mistake that have the Scriptures and consult with them yea why is there such differences among good men Answ. I answer in general There is Light in the Scriptures but there is darkness in men that are conversant about them The Object may be well represented when the faculty is not well disposed There are defects in them to whom this discovery is made though they have light yet they want eyes the Sun giveth light enough though blind men cannot see it the Word doth whatsoever is necessary on its own part To the beholding of any thing by the outward sense there must not only be light to make the object conspicuous but also a faculty of seeing in the eye blind men cannot see at noon-day nor the sharpest sighted at midnight There is light in the Scriptures surely for God would not deal hypocritically with us that are his people if he hath given us a rule he would not wrap it up in darkness so as we should not know his meaning so that the defect is in us This in general But secondly there are many causes of mens mistake 1. Some come to the Word with a presumption of their own wit and leaning upon their own understanding as if that should discover the whole counsel of God and these God never undertook to teach Psal. 25. 9. The meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way Those that in an humble sense of their own nothingness depend upon his direction them will he teach Iam. 1. 21. Receive with meekness the ingrafted Word of God We have caution given us and admonitions against pride and arrogance and self-dependence Prov. 3. 3 4 5 6. 2. Many bring their prejudicate Opinions along with them and are biassed and prepossessed before they come to the Word of God and so do not so much take up the sense which the Scriptures offer as seek to impose their own sense on them and regulate the Scriptures to their own hearts not regulating their hearts and principles and senses according to the Word of God Optimus ille lector est qui dictorum intelligentiam saith Hilary expectat c. That mind which is preoccupied with evil opinions and enslaved to preconceived conclusions they do not take any thing from the Word but impose something upon it which God never revealed there If the weights be equal yet if the balance be not equipendent wrong may be done They come with an Idol in their own hearts Ezek. 14. 2. as those that would ask counsel of the Lord that were resolved beforehand Ier. 42. While we look through the Spectacles of our own fancies and preconceptions the mind poisoned with Error seemeth to see what we see not 3. Some search the Scriptures not out of any love to the truth or to know the mind of God but to oppose it rather and so seek a pretence from thence to justifie their private faction in way of opposition against God The Devil gets Scripture to wrest it to his own purpose Mat. 4. 6. They read not to be better but to cavil and put a greater varnish upon the Devil's cause as Iulian did search the Scriptures to pick an advantage against the true Religion and scoff at them that profest it and
without the Will The dreggs of things come out with squeezing and wringing Duty is best done when like life-honey it droppeth of its own accord chearful and hearty service only pleaseth the Lord. Now that is chearful service which cometh not from the influence of bye-ends and foreign motives or the compulsion of a natural Conscience or legal fears but from the native inclination and bent of the heart 1 Iohn 5. 3. This is love to keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous the work is not grievous but pleasant because suitable to the principles that are in us 't is not done against the hair Cain offered Sacrifice but with a grudging mind 'T is somewhere said They offered to the Lord whose hearts made them willing When the heart is in it 't is not constrained forced service but natural and genuine not like water out of a Still but like water out of a Fountain 2. For uniform obedience to serve God in the whole tenour of our lives that needs an heart inclined that may be as a constant Spring of holiness A man may force himself now and then to actions displeasing to himself but his constant course is according to his natural bent and inclination Haman could refrain himself from Murther but his heart still boiled with rancour and malice When men look only to the refraining of outward actions or the restraining the outward man it will never hold the bent of the heart will discover it self and so they will be off and on with God the compulsion of Conscience will sometimes urge them to God but the inclination of the heart will draw them to evil therefore God wisheth that his people had a heart to serve him Deut. 5. 29. 3. Constant obedience that can never be till the heart be inclined Iudas was a Disciple for a while but Satan entered into his heart Luke 22. 3. Ananias joined himself to the people of God but Satan filled his heart Simon Magus was baptized but his heart was not right with God Act. 8. 22. here is the great defect but now when God gets possession of the heart there he dwelleth Eph. 3. 17. there he abideth as in his strong Cittadel and from thence commandeth all the faculties of the Soul and the Members of the Body Use 1. To press you to get this bent of heart otherwise all your labour in Religion will be in vain every difficulty will put you out of the way and make you think of a revolt from God till this the work of Grace is not begun Gods first gift is a new heart Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart also will I give unto you and a new Spirit will I put within you without this you can never hold out but you will be uncertain and mutable in the profession of godliness whatever restraints are upon you for a time sin will be breaking out ever and anon with violence and at length men will return with the Dog to the vomit and with the Sow to her wallowing in the mire 2 Pet. 2. 20. Oh then go to God for it Ier. 17. 10. say Heal me O Lord and I shall be healed save me and I shall be saved 2. Carry forth the work of God so far as you receive it follow after to apprehend that for which we are apprehended of Christ Phil. 3. 12. Use 2. Have we such an heart an heart inclined to do the will of God First though there be such a bent and inclination there will be failings yea reluctancies and oppositions Rom. 7. 8. To will is present with me yet how to perform that which is good I find not There is a ready will asserted and a weak discharge complained of observe 't is a will not a wish a weak discharge not that nothing is done but not all that good that is required nor in that purity the work doth not perfectly answer the will nor the motions of the Spirit by which it is excited and mark this weakness is not rested in but complained of and not only complained of but resisted I find not that implieth he sought it for the word finding implieth a diligent search he laid about him on every side he did not expect it should come by chance or a lazy enquiry 2. If wrought 1. How was it wrought in you Did God turn thee and thou wast turned Were you ever brought to self-resignation By what steps was this work carried on Thy heart was naturally wedded to thy lusts and to carnal vanity did ever God make you see the odiousness of sin the vanity of the Creature the insufficiency of self Evil men seek contentment in the world as long as Conscience will let them hold out in that way you cannot cleave to God till you are rent off from the world and self was there ever such a separation such a rending work Conversion or the altering the bent of the heart lieth in three things in turning from the Creature to God from self to Christ from sin to holiness How to God by making us a willing people to yield up our selves to his service How drawn from self to Christ To seek all this good in him How from sin to holiness By seeing the beauty of Gods ways Paul found it a sensible work before he was brought to this self-resignation Act. 9. 6. Lord What wilt thou have me to do How did God draw you or drive you to this 2. How is this bent of heart kept up towards God Nature is apt to recoil and the heart to return to its own bent and biass again David beggeth verse 36. Incline my heart to thy testimonies 'T is an hard matter to keep up a bent of heart towards God it will cost us much watching striving praying to keep it fixed The frame of mans heart is changeable and various doth not always continue at the same pass and lust will waken and be pressing and importunate deadness will creep upon us the great business of the spiritual life is to keep the bent of the heart steady neglected Grace will suffer decay and worldly vanities and listlesness and deadness to holy things will incroach upon the Soul and a gracious heart is much discomposed As a Needle that bendeth towards the Pole may be jogged and put aside though it cannot rest there but turneth thither again so the bent of the Soul towards God may be much disordered and we may lose much of our free Spirit and ready mind and grow uncomfortable and unchearful in Gods service and it may cost us much sorrow and deep humiliation to get in frame again a cold profession is easily maintained but to keep up a spiritual inclination is the work of labour and cost 3. How doth it work in you This bent of heart is seen in two things First in pulling back the heart from those sins to which corrupt Nature doth incline us Nature carrieth us to carnal things There is something within that puts you on and
ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Devices There are many devices and carnal inventions in the hearts of men which the Scripture takes notice of as First When men devise debate in their judgments by carnal means without complying with God Iam. 4. 8. Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double minded By vain thoughts they mind carnal projects how to get from under the judgment without reformation humiliation and complying with God by humane means or sinful shifts without Gods warrant and allowance Isai. 9. 10. When it was ill with them they hope to mend it The Bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen Stones the Sycamores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars The state of our affairs is bad but we can work it into better Secondly When men spend their time wholly to compass their carnal end as he Luke 12. 18. I will pull down my Barns and build greater c. When they sacrifice their precious thoughts to their interest and lusts and catering and progging how to satisfie carnal Nature making provision for the flesh to fulfil it in the lust thereof Or Thirdly When mens designs are plainly wicked and tend to the mischief of others Prov. 16. 30. He shutteth his eyes to devise froward things moving his lips he bringeth evil to pass Moving the lips and shutting the eyes are gestures and postures of men that are pensive and musing Mic. 2. 1. Wo unto them that devise evil upon their beds When men seek to spin and weave out a Webb of wickedness and carry on their sins with the greatest secrecy This in short is some taste of the vanity of our thoughts II. What are the sins that do most usually ingross and take up our thoughts I answer 1. Uncleanness Speculative wickedness makes way for active He hath committed Adultery in his heart Matth. 5. 28. There is polluting our selves by our thoughts and this is a sin usually works that way 2. Revenge Liquors are sowr'd when long kept so when we dwell upon discontents they turn to revenge Prov. 14. 17. He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly and a man of wicked devices is hated He that is passionate and soon angry is a Fool but when a man is not only angry but malicious that puts him upon wicked devices when he doth concoct his anger he is a Fool to purpose Purposes of revenge are most sweet and pleasant to carnal nature Prov. 16. 14. Frowardness is in his heart he deviseth mischief continually When men are full of revengeful and spiteful thoughts 3. Envy 'T is a sin that feeds upon the mind 1 Sam. 18. 9. Those Songs of the Women That Saul had slain his thousands but David his ten thousands they ran in Sauls mind therefore he hated David Envy is an evil disease that dwelleth in the heart and bewrays it self mostly in thoughts 4. Pride Either Pride in the desires or Pride in the mind either vain-glory or self-conceit this is entertaining our hearts with whispers of vanity therefore it is said Luke 1. 51. He hath scattered the Proud in the imagination of their hearts Proud men are full of imaginations 5. Covetousness which is nothing but vain musings and exercises of their heart 2 Pet. 2. 14. An heart they have exercised with covetous practices And it withdraws the heart in the very time of Gods Worship Ezek. 33. 31. Their heart goeth after their Covetousness 6. Distrust is another thing which usually takes up our thoughts distracting motions against Gods Providence III. Upon what grounds we are to make conscience of our thoughts 1. Because they are irregularities contrary to the Law of God It is said Psal. 19. 7. The Law of God is pure converting the Soul The Law of God differs herein from the Laws of men The Commands of the greatest and most mighty Potentates upon Earth can go no further than the regulating of the conversation for that 's all they can take account of but the Law of God reacheth to the motions of the inward man and to the reducing of our thoughts to the obedience of God for God hath a Tribunal in the heart and conscience he searcheth and trieth the reins knows all our thoughts afar off and therefore it is proper to him to give Laws to our thoughts 2. God hath declared much of his displeasure against them The Devils sin for which he was cast out of Heaven was a sin of thought an aspiring thought possibly against the Imperial Dignity of God And so great were his Judgments upon men that he doth not so much take notice of outward acts as of inward thoughts therefore Gen. 6. 5. he threatned the old World for the imagination of the thoughts of their hearts We look to the stream but God looks to the Fountain Acts are hateful to men because liable to their cognizance so Ier. 6. 19. I will bring evil upon this people even the fruit of their thoughts because they have not hearkened to my words nor to my law but rejected it Nay in Gods process at the Last Day when God comes to judge the World it is said the secrets of their hearts shall be made manifest 1 Cor. 4. 5. Mens inward Debates Counsels reasonings and thoughts they shall be brought into the judgment 3. Make conscience of thoughts because among all sins thoughts are most considerable and that in these respects First In respect of the Subject They are the sins of the highest part of man the mind which is the leading part of the Soul The errours and irregularities of the lower part of the Soul are not so considerable as the counsels debates reasonings principles that we are seasoned and guided by Rom. 8. 7. The wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God That which should be the guide to man his wisdom that puts him upon opposition If sensual appetite were only in the fault it were not so much Secondly From their Nature They are the immediate issues of the Soul the first-born of original corruption The free acts of the heart do discover more of the temper of it than words and actions that are more remote A man may be known by his thoughts but not so much known by his words and actions for words and actions may be over-ruled by by-ends and restraints of fear and shame Men may speak not as they would do not as they would but think as they would To curry favour with others a man may refrain his tongue and do some unpleasing actions or may profess opinions contrary to his own mind But inward thoughts being the immediate Births of the Soul very much discover the temper of the man Hereby you may take the best measure of your spirits A gracious man is full of gracious thoughts and a wicked man full of wicked thoughts Prov. 12. 5. The thoughts of the righteous are right but the counsels of the wicked are deceit Our thoughts we can best judge by being the purest offspring of the
mind and the freest from restraint Isai. 32. 8. The liberal man deviseth liberal things The unclean man is devising unclean things the earthly man is always talking with himself about building planting trading these things take up his mind You cannot judge of a Fountain by the Current of Water at a distance six or seven miles off it may receive a tincture from the Channel through which it passeth but just at the Fountain where it bubbles up there you can judge of the quality whether sweet or bitter water so you cannot judge of the Soul by things that are more remote and where by-ends may interpose Matth. 15. 19. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murthers adulteries fornications c. Evil thoughts come first other things come from the heart but not so immediately therefore thoughts being so considerable we should make conscience of them Thirdly They are considerable from their kind here are the roots of all evils Every thing that we do every deliberate act that is done by a reasonable Creature argueth some foregoing thought every temptation is fastened upon the heart by some intervening thought Before sin be formed brought forth and becomes a compleat sin there are musings which are as it were the incubations of the Soul or fitting abrood upon the temptation Isai. 59. 4. They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity The mind sits abrood upon sin It is thoughts that bring the heart and object together First men think then they love then they practise Beating the Steel upon the Flint makes the Sparks fly out so when the understanding beats and knocks upon the will by pregnant thoughts by inculcation that stirs up the affection These are the Bellows which blow up those latent sparks of sin that are in our Souls therefore if you would make conscience of acts you should make conscience of thoughts It is the greatest imprudence that can be to think to do any thing in reformation when we do not take care of our thoughts See when God adviseth us to return to him Isai. 55. 7. he saith Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteouus man his thoughts In vain do we lop off the Branches and let the Root live If we would forsake our way we must first forsake our thoughts When certain Fowl pestered a man he asked How he should be rid of them The answer was The Nest must be destroyed and they must be crusht in the Egg so here 's the best way of crushing the Egg by dashing Babylons Brats against the Wall so much is implyed in that place Ier. 4. 14. Wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee Wash thy heart begin there Medicines applied to the outward parts will do no good unless the inwards be cleansed and purged so until the soul be cleansed and purged from these evil thoughts outward reformation will be to no purpose Fourthly They are considerable in regard of their number they are most numberless acts of the Soul Isai. 57. 20. The Sea is always working so the heart of man is always casting forth mire and dirt Gen. 6. 5. Every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart is only evil continually There is a Mint in us that is always working towards that which is evil This is a means to humble us The Lord knows the best of our thoughts are but vain this is that which raiseth the account in Gods Book of remembrance which makes us more admire the riches of his Grace even to the very last Let him forsake his thoughts Isai. 55. 7. What then I will multiply to pardon Certainly if thoughts be sins God must not only pardon but multiply to pardon Use 1. To humble us all the best of us from first to last Vanity of heart sticks to us O how many carnal thoughts haunt us where ever we go As thou walkest in the streets up and down whereupon do thy thoughts run The common vain thoughts should be laid to heart Have we not a God a Christ to think of sweet and precious promises Heaven and Glory and the great concernments of our souls and yet with what Chaff do we fill our minds We go thinking of every toy and trifle grinding Chaff instead of Corn every day O how do we throw away our thoughts rather than God should have them upon every vain thing It is very irksome a little to retire and recollect our selves and think of God Christ and Heaven but what a deal of vanity do we take into our minds If our hearts were turned inside outward and all our thoughts liable to the notice of men as they are to the notice of God what odious Creatures should we be and have we no reverence of the Great God The Lord knows our hearts he knows we have thoughts enough and to spare more than we know what to do withal and he knows we are backward to exercise them upon him and things that lead to Communion with him These thoughts are aggravated from the time as upon Gods Day for then we are not to think our own thoughts Isai. 58. 13. A Christian is then to sequester himself only for God Nay our vain heart bewrayeth it self in solemn Duties a man cannot go to prayer but the vanity of his thoughts will trouble him and run about him when he is hearing the Word how do we course up and down like Spaniels hither and thither Yea to humble our selves because of our wicked thoughts our desperate thoughts against the Being of God Psal. 14. 1. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God Though we cannot open our eyes but the Creature presently doth shew us something of God and call upon us whether we look upward or downward yet how do we vent this thought if there were no God then we could live as we lift without check and restraint Thoughts which arise within us against the truth of the Gospel as if it were but a well devised Fable Thoughts against the purity of Gods Laws that we need not be so strict that it is but nice folly that we shall do well enough without repenting believing minding the work of our salvation Yea we have thoughts against the light of Nature filthy unclean thoughts such as defile and stain the heart Of earthly thoughts how natural is that in musing upon that esteem honour greatness that we shall have in the World How do carnal thoughts haunt us and this not only when we are in our natural condition but even after Grace And Christians are mistaken that do not think those thoughts evil though there be no consent of the will I confess there are thoughts cast into the mind by Satan but these not resisted these cherished fostered they become ours though they are Children of Satans getting and may be cast in as the tempting of Christ was by injection of thought but then we entertain these things as Weeds thrown over the Wall
that sets it forth thus By touching the unclean the man became unclean under the Law but by touching the clean the man was not purified The Conversation of the wicked hath more power to corrupt the good than the Conversation of the vertuous and holy to correct the lewd The Prophet tells us Isai. 6. 5. I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips We soon encrease our pollution by living among them Iosephus relates That Agrippa at first was a Lover of Vertue and of his Countrey that he stood for the liberty of the people of the Jews but by converseing with Caligula the Roman Emperour being intimate and familiar with him learned his manners and as he affected Divine honours so Agrippa too and God smites him with Lice Acts 12. In infected places we get a Disease though we feel it not presently so secretly our hearts are tainted by example As a man that walks in the Sun unawares before he thinks of it his Countenance is tann'd so our hearts are defiled Prov. 22. 24. Make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man thou shalt not go The furies of passion are so uncomely and so displeasing that a man would think that he should not take infection there that the sight should rather deterre than invite him but insensibly we learn their ways when we make friendship with furious and angry men for saith Solomon in the next Verse Lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul. Melancthon saith By converse familiarly with the wicked insensibly we grow wicked He that toucheth Pitch is defiled and a little Leven leveneth the whole Lump 1 Cor. 5. 6. 2. They will molest and disturb us in the exercise of godliness by their scoffs and persecutions you can never be acceptable to them if you live as you should Why For you will upbraid their Consciences by your lives dart conviction and reproofs into them As Noah condemned the World Heb. 11. 7. Christ saith The world hates because I testifie of it that the works thereof are evil Iohn 7. 7. You that live up to your profession and do not run into the same excess of riot with others your estrangement of course revives guilt upon their Conscience and therefore not to follow them in all things will be distasteful As sore eyes cannot endure the light so they cannot endure you if you are faithful to God Diversity of humours cannot long agree together You must either be like them or be hated by them You must either jump with them in all things or expect a greater trouble Now there is less danger in the flight than fight Now a total withdrawment is better than a partial compliance 3. They will seek to pervert us by carnal suggestions and counsels as the Psalmist speaks Psal. 1. 1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly Like troublesome Flies they will always be buzzing about us to take share and lot with them and importunate Suitors will prevail at length Prov. 1. 10 15. the inticings of the wicked are spoken of My Son if Sinners entice thee consent thou not Walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path c. 4. Familiarity with them will be a blemish and scandal upon your good name Every Mans Company declares what he is Birds of a sort flock together So that if they wrong not the Conscience they wound the Reputation and we are polluted and defiled by being of the same Society which a Christian should be tender of When a scandalous sin breaketh out in the Church the blot lies upon all The Apostle tells us in Heb. 12. 15. When any root of bitterness springs up thereby many are defiled many are defiled not only by the contagion of the example but the imputation of the fault Much more in private and intimate familiarity doth this hold good A carnal man delights in such as are like him and run with him in the same folly and sin But when a man is changed he will change his Company Psal. 119. 53. I am a Companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy Precepts That is one thing David avoucheth for his innocency One wicked man falls in with another as the Tenon doth into the Mortise and their spirits suit frequently Psal. 60. 18. When thou sawest a thief then thou consentedst with him and hast been partaker with adulterers There is no such outward sign to discover our temper 5. If we have any love for God and zeal for his Glory their Company must needs be grievous and offensive to us for how can they that love God delight in their Company that are always grieving the spirit of God with unsavoury Speeches and a vain Conversation Psal. 139. 21. Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine enemies So 2 Pet. 2. 8. Lot 's righteous soul was grieved from day to day It is not only said his righteous soul was vexed which is passive but he is said to vex himself at their wickedness which is an active word Injuries done to God should touch us no less nearly than injuries done to our selves it will be a continual grief and vexation of heart to us Well then how can their company be acceptable to us unless we have a mind to vex and bring trouble upon our selves 6. Our familiarity with them may be a means to harden them in their sin and our withdrawing a means to humble them 2 Thess. 3. 6 14. Withdraw your selves from every Brother that walketh disorderly And if any man obey not our word by this Epistle note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed While you accompany freely with them you seem tacitely to approve their doing and make them more obstinate in their way An Alien from the Faith may be melted with kindness but a Brother that walketh disorderly is more ashamed if you withdraw from him whereas otherwise you seem to shew approbation He that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds 2 Iohn 10 11. as he seemeth to countenance them in their damnable errors But now when a man lives as an Out-cast from God's people this may work upon his heart Society with Gods Children is not only a duty but a priviledge by the loss of this priviledge we are to make them sensible of the evil course wherein they are 7. The great Judgements that follow evil Company therefore we must not voluntarily cry up a Confederacy with them Rev. 18. 4. Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues In conversing with the wicked there is a double danger infection of sin and infliction of punishment Prov. 13. 20. A Companion
the good neglected and despised it is a temptation to men to think there is no Providence no God So when the nocent are prosperous and the good vexed with all manner of displeasure As Claudian the Poet much doubted whether there were any such thing as Providence that had a care of sublunary things but at length when he saw Ruffinus was only lifted up that his fall might be the greater then he no more calls in question Gods Providence or taxes him of indifferency to good and evil Secondly It will be a notable curb and awe upon us to keep us from sin for all these things befal them for our learning 't is our stupid incogitancy when God puts these examples before our eyes and we are not affected with them and so are of little use to us Iosh. 9. 3. When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Ioshua did to Iericho and to Ai they were wiser than we they did not expect the coming of Ioshua but sent messengers to meet him and strike up a Covenant with him Or as that Captain that came to Elijah 1 King 1. 13. when two Captains were destroyed with their fifties he comes and desires the Prophet to spare his life and that those he brought with him might be dear and precious in his eyes As he did so should we God hath smitten this and that for sin we should the more humble our selves and desire terms of Grace but our blindness and stupidness is such that we are not moved with Gods Judgments on others to look to the state of our Souls Prov. 22. 3. The wise man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself but the fool goeth on and is punished II. I come now to the Reason rendred For their deceit is falshood The Septuagint have ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã thou hast despised all those that erre from thy Statutes for their thought is unjust But to open the words These two Notions deceit and falshood sometimes are taken for the vanity of outward things the disappointment of trust for by an ill-built trust a man deceives himself and his hopes prove false and sometimes they are put for craft guile and hypocrisie Now according to these different acceptions of the word divers sences are given First Some think these words relate to the disappointment of their trust Thus their confidences wherein they trust will deceive them at last and be found falshood Certain it is that carnal men have many imaginations and carnal confidences wherein they flatter themselves and hope to avoid their appointed Judgments which prove in the conclusion but lying vanities If this were the sense that at length it shall appear how deceitful their trust is then it concerns us to see to our trust to see what in probability those confidences might be whereby they deceive their own souls Is it their greatness and present height This deceiveth them when they are brought down wonderfully Isai. 14. 12 13 14 15 16. Or is it meant of their devices and witty Counsels wherein they trust but their subtle devices fail and they are often taken in the snares they laid for others Isai. 29. 14. The wisdom of the wise men shall perish and the understanding of the prudent shall be hidden All their craft will do them no good all their cunning and policy by which they hope to fortifie and defend themselves and prevent their ruine shall come to nought Or they do not get that by their deceit which they hope for though they have many methods and stratagems to circumvent the people of God yet they shall prove but vain Secondly Most simply it seemeth to be taken for hypocrisy and guile of spirit manifested either in shews of piety or any guileful course whereby they would undermine others for this reason God will bring them down Doctr. All fraudulency and hypocrisy is hateful to God therefore he will sooner or later discover and destroy those that practise it Fraudulency is twofold 1. Either falshood in ordinary Commerce lying or treacherous imposing on the simplicity of upright and honest men Most mens wisedome and policy lies in their falshood and deceitfulness but this shall be manifested and whilst they think to deceive others they shall be deceived themselves Iob 5. 13. and be taken in their own snares and whilst they seek to ruine and undermine others they are ruined and undermined themselves Or 2. There 's another sort of fraudulency pretences of piety whereby such men deceive the world Now this deceit is threefold either the deceit of the Heretick and erroneous person or the Formalist and superstitious person or the deceit of those that pretend to be truly religious All these cheats put upon the world shall not long hold First The cheat of erroneous persons and heretical Seducers who under a fair mask and plausible appearance carry on such designs as prove troublesome and noxious to the Church of God Though for a while they carry great sway under colour of a godly life yet at length God will tread them to dust and nothing and then all will be counted but deceit The deceit of Heretical Seducers is often spoken of in Scripture Rev. 2. 9. I know the blasphemy of them which say They are Iews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan And 1 Tim. 3. 5 9. But they shall proceed no farther for their folly shall be manifest unto all men When under a form of godliness they carry on a horrible design unto the great disturbance of the Church to the Kingdome and Commonwealth the day shall declare it 1 Cor. 3. 13. God will bring them down Secondly There is the deceit of superstitious Persons and Formalists who seem to be devout and have great zeal for outward things not commanded by God such make a fair shew in the flesh Gal. 6. 12. by observing outward and carnal Rites as Circumcision difference of Meats legal purifications all their Religion is but a vain shew to beguile a loose Conscience This same sort of men are again described to be those that speak lies in hypocrisy 1 Tim. 4. 7. These also do in time discover the folly of their way manifested by some notable Judgment for these things take not hold of mens Consciences but only of their affections and when publick Countenance is gone they are of no more esteem Thirdly There 's the deceit of those that only pretend to be truly religious and are not so and because false and counterfeit they are hateful and abominable to God Now these God will not only punish in the other world Matth. 24. 51. He shall appoint him his portion with the Hypocrites Hell seems to be their Free-hold and Patrimony but here sooner or later God will pluck off these Vizards and bring disappointment and ruine upon these deceivers Prov. 26. 26. The Hypocrite shall be discovered before the Congregation Things that are counterfeit and false do not long hold out God will discover them either by some trying Judgment as
48. 10. Behold I have refined thee but not with silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction that is not so throughly silver is not refined till all the dross be consumed and wrought out of it and when should we see good day if God should so refine us 4. They are not reckoned to dross but metal that walk answerable to their profession and obligations to God as becometh his peculiar people to do they are not satisfied with common mercies A man may have the world at will and yet be a cast-away they must have something peculiar and distinguishing Psal. 119. 132. Look upon me and be merciful unto me as thou usest to do to them that love thy name things that can never be given in anger They do not rest in common Grace Heb. 6. 9. But we hope better things of you and things that do accompany salvation Those good moods in Hypocrites and Temporaries Nor content themselves with a common conversation 1 Cor. 3. 3. Are ye not carnal and walk as men 1 Pet. 4. 4. Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them into the same excess of riot Matth. 5. 46. If you love them that love you what reward have ye do not even the Publicans the same You should do something rare and singular not in an ordinary loose rate III. That it is God's business in heaven to put away the wicked as dross to sever them from the purer metal 1. God hath many ways and means to do it partly by his Judgments he doth it more and more Matth. 3. 12. His Fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his Floor and gather his Wheat into the Garner but he will burn up the Chaff with unquenchable fire As the Chaff from Corn so Dross from Metal Isai. 4. 4. When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the Daughter of Zion and shall have purged the bloud of Ierusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning that is by the Judgment executed upon the evil among them Ezek. 20. 38. And I will purge out from among them the Rebels and them that transgress against me This God doth by destroying wasting Judgments 2. Partly by the censures of the Church 1 Cor. 5. 9. Put away from among your selves that wicked person And partly by the stroke of the Civil Magistrate and their punishments Prov. 25. 4 5. Take away the dross from the silver and there shall come forth a vessel for the Finer Take away the wicked from before the King and his Throne shall be established in righteousness Thus doth God do it now but he will fully and finally do it at the last Judgment when there shall be a perfect separation of them and all the wicked shall be cast away as refuse Matth. 25. 32 33. Before him shall be gathered all Nations and he shall separate them one from another as a Shepherd divideth his Sheep from the Goats and he shall set the Sheep on his right hand and the Goats on his left hand there is a congregation and then a segregation never to meet more nor be mingled more Now God doth it in part but then more fully 2. The Reasons First God doth so lest the silver it self should be turned into dross We are apt to corrupt one another natural corruption within meeting with examples without Isai. 6. 5. Wo is me I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips As a man that hath the matter of a Disease prepared coming into infectious Company is soon infected Gods choicest people have much dross in them therefore the Lord needeth to purge out their dross the purest Church is apt to contract pollution and to degenerate and the choice Plants of the Covenant-Stocks to run wild were it not for these dispensations Secondly That impunity may not harden the wicked and encourage others God suffereth it as long as he judgeth it expedient Eccl. 8. 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil Psal. 9. 16. The Lord is known by the Iudgments he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Men sin the more freely and securely when a Judgment doth not presently overtake them when sinners go on without any mark of Gods vengeance but God will in every Age clear his Providence by bringing of Judgments upon wicked men Thirdly The nearer they are to God the more hateful their provocations are and more severely punished Amos 3. 2. You have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities For their sins the valley of vision is brought to barrenness They sin against the clearest light the dearest love the highest engagements to the contrary and therefore when they are mingled among his people as dross with the silver God putteth them away Use. Is to inform us that God in his judicial proceedings will distinguish he will divide the dross from the other metal that he may destroy the one and preserve the other David prayeth Psal. 26. 9. Gather not my soul with sinners nor my life with bloody men that God would not lay him common with the wicked God hath his Harvest for cutting down for cutting and binding together those that sinned Now David prayeth That he that had severed himself in his course of life might not be gathered with them in their punishment God will distinguish his Judgments are for the destruction of the worser sort and the amendment of the better When he severeth the dross he hath a care of the silver Though never so terrible to the wicked still he will be comfortable to his own 2 Pet. 2. 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust to the Day of Iudgment to be punished His own Jewel that lyeth hidden among them when all is shaken round about them God can hide them in the secret of his Presence and preserve them as he did Lot and Noah His own are wonderfully preserved in common Judgments several Scriptures speak to this Eccl. 8. 12 13. Surely it shall be well with them that fear God but it shall not be well with the wicked And Iosh. 3. 10. Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you and he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites Isai. 3. 10 11. Say unto the righteous It shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings Wo to the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him God will make a difference between good and bad Use 2. That a few wicked men may bring a great deal of hurt and mischief as Achan upon Israel two dry sticks may set a green one
other mens costs as God expresseth it Zeph. 3. 6 7. I have cut off the Nations their Towers are desolate I made their streets waste that none passed by their Cities are destroyed so that there is no man none inhabitant I said Surely thou wilt fear me thou wilt receive instruction so their dwelling should not be cut off however I punished them but they rose early and corrupted all their doings God would have us take warning at a distance and while he is yet a great way off to send for Conditions of Peace otherwise 't is a new provocation and the Judgment is hastened Ier. 3. 7 8 9 10. A fire in one house alarmeth all the street and they make provision for their safety Thirdly When the Judgments of God break in among us and are executed before our eyes that must be the more considered Isai. 26. 9. When thy Iudgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness God looketh to be more reverenced and obeyed for this because then what was before matter of faith is made matter of sense and we need not doubt any more whether God will punish the disobedient when his threatning is made good Smoak is a sign of fire much more when the fire is breaking out and we see what we only heard before and we feel what we would not believe before Fourthly Though we should be well at ease in our own persons yet the Judgments upon others should be considered by us Nehemiah Chap. 1. preferred at Court yet hath a sad resentment of the state of Ierusalem So Daniel Chap. 9. 5. a great man in Babylon yet layeth to heart the Judgments upon the people of God Fifthly Though the Judgment pursue but a few yet all should fear When Ananias and Sapphira fell down dead 't is said Act. 5. 5. That great fear fell upon all that heard these things God in one or a few giveth an instance of his severity that others may tremble as 't is said of David when the breach was made upon Uzzah 1 Chron. 13. 12. And David was afraid of God that day saying How shall I bring the Ark of God home to me The sin was Uzzah's the breach only upon him but the stroke was Gods and that maketh David tremble Yea the Pagan Mariners when Divine vengeance had pursued Ionah Chap. 1. 18. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a Sacrifice to the Lord and made vows The danger was for Ionah's sake when he was thrown over-board there was a calm but the men feared greatly Sixthly Though it should light upon enemies to us and God yet their Fall is not to be insulted over but Gods hand observed with great reverence Thou puttest away the wicked of the earth like dross then my flesh trembleth saith David So in Psal. 76. 6 7. At thy rebuke O God of Iacob both the Chariot and the Horse are cast into a deep sleep Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry We ought to express a sense of our Fathers displeasure as a Child quaketh when he heareth his Father is angry with or doth correct a Servant Naturalists say A Lyon will tremble to see a Dog beaten before him Psal. 52. 6. The righteous also shall see and fear The godly will be wise Observers of Gods work and dispensations of Justice and the spiritual advantage they may gain thereby Prov. 21. 12. The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked and that God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness Holy men do exceedingly profit by these Judgments Seventhly Much more should we tremble at Gods Judgments upon his own people when he cometh to visit their iniquities with rods and their transgressions with scourges If this be done in the green Tree what in the dry If Iudgment begin at the house of God where shall the ungodly and sinner appear 1 Pet. 4. 18. Many times they are broken with a great breach and heavy corrections Ier. 25. 17. Then I took the Cup at the Lords hand and made all the Nations to drink His own people sip of the bitter Cup that others drank the dreggs of The world shall know that he is a God hating sin and therefore will punish them for it lest he should seem to approve their sin Though God doth not condemn his people to Hell for their sin yet by his sharp corrections of them in this life the world shall know how much he hateth sin especially when they have made the Name of God to be evil spoken of God will vindicate himself Now these should make us tremble they are ordered for this purpose 2. I shall enquire what this fear is an infirmity or a duty To many to fear Judgments seemeth slavish and thereupon build a false conceit that God only is to be feared for his mercies and not for his judgments Indeed God is feared for his goodness Hos. 3. 5. but not only Judgments are the object of fear and the fear conversant about them may be so far from being a sin that 't is a Grace Briefly then 't is not such a fear as driveth us from God Gen. 3. 5. but bringeth us to him keepeth us with him I will put my fear into their hearts and they shall never depart from me Jer. 32. 40. They are afraid both to sin and to suffer for sin Afraid to sin and so 't is the fear of caution and circumspection Certainly it can be no fault to be afraid of that which deserveth punishment or judgment And afraid to suffer for sin in this World where all things come alike to all and in the world to come where God will stir up all his wrath But to fear punishment is not this servile No it is not First If it keep its proportion and doth not exceed its limits driving us into a despairing anguish such as the Devils is Iam. 2. 19. Secondly If it have its spiritual use and end which is the main and principal thing which is to make us cleave the closer to God Ier. 32. 40. But I will put my fear into their hearts and they shall not depart from me Or Thirdly If it be subordinate which is to make us cautelous and watchful against sin or such things as may occasion these Judgments fleeing from wrath to come Matth. 3. 7. and to use the means for our preservation with the more diligence Heb. 11. 7. 3. The Reason First Because a tender heart is easily affected with all God's dispensations one of the great and first priviledges of Grace is an heart of Flesh Ezek. 36. 26. Wicked men have an heart of stone a stout obstinate stupid spirit but when Gods hand is upon their persons they have no sense Ier. 9. 3. Thouhast smitten them but they have not grieved But Gods Children have an heart of Flesh that trembleth at his word and at Judgments at a distance they are soon affected with a
take vengeance to the uttermost 2. 'T is a grievous calamity First 'T is an hard thing to be left to the will and lusts of men David was in a streight he chose rather to fall into the Lords hands than into the hands of men 2 Sam. 24. 14. I am in a great streight let us now fall into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great and not into the hand of man Men are revengeful proud insolent wicked men will soon exceed their Commission Zech. 1. 15. And I am very sore displeased with the Heathen that are at ease for I was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction Deut. 32. 27. Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely and lest they should say our hand is high and the Lord hath not done all this God speaketh after the manner of men Secondly It is a great mark of our Fathers displeasure when he withdraweth hideth counsel from us leaveth us without support and comfort Mat. 9. 15. And Iesus said unto them Can the Children of the Bride-Chamber mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them but the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them and then shall they fast Thirdly 'T is earnestly to be deprecated not only as a grievous calamity but as hoping for relief I will not leave you ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Iohn 14. 18. comfortless And Mat. 28. 20. Lo I am with you to the end of the World Use. Go then and represent your condition to God with humiliation owning his anger but with faith waiting for his help Tell him what a prey you have been to Satan desire him if he withdraw his Presence one way he will manifest it another in comforting counselling his own people tell him your weakness the enemies malice and implore his aid and assistance SERMON CXXXIII PSAL. CXIX VER 122. Be Surety for thy Servant for good let not the proud oppress me IN this Verse we may observe a Petition 1. Metaphorically expressed 2. Literally explained In the former branch we have First The Notion by which the help he expecteth from God is expressed 't is that of a Surety Be surety for thy servant Secondly The end and fruit of that help or the terms on which he expecteth it For good 2. In the Literal Explanation we have First The matter of the Petition Let them not oppress me Secondly An argument insinuated from the quality and disposition of his enemies The proud 1. From the Metaphorical Notion Be surety for thy Servant we may observe this Doctrine Doctr. In deep distress we have leave and encouragement to desire God to interpose for his peoples relief I. I shall open the Notion of a Surety II. Shew Why we have leave and encouragement to desire God to interpose 1. For the Notion of a Surety Symmachus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã receive me into thy protection for good Septuagint ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã suscipe servum tuum 'T is a Phrase taken from men when they are Sureties for a Debtor to take him out of the hands of a cruel Creditor who is ready to cast him into prison And thus the Prophet speaketh to God when he was in extream danger and could think of no help but God's First It implieth the danger imminent when a Sergeant hath attached a man and he is ready to go to prison and there is no means for him to escape unless some body be his Surety to answer all the challenges and demands of the Law In this sense Hezekiah used it Isai. 38. 14. I am oppressed ââ¦dertake for me He spake it when he was summoned to the Grave to pay the debt we all owe to Nature I am like a poor Debtor called to pay my debt speedily therefore Lord be my pledge deliver me out of this danger So doth David here when the proud were cruelly set upon his destruction we are driven to God alone and beat to the Throne of Grace by our miseries yea God lets the affairs of his people run on to loss and ruine till we be in the condition of a Debtor going to prison he reserveth himself for such occasions till brought nigh to utter ruine and all other inferiour reliefs fail And we must be content it should be so for there is no use of a Surety till we are attached Imminent danger giveth notice that the Lord is coming Secondly That this distress and misery cometh as a debt respecting Gods Laws and the higher Court where all things are decreed and sentenced before they are executed in the world so it is a Debt that must be paid and distress is Gods Arrest God is compared to a Creditor Luke 7. 41. therefore the miseries of Gods people are expressed by Chains Stocks Prisons Fetters words that relate to a judicial proceeding To Chains Lam. 3. 7. He hath made my Chain heavy To Stocks Iob 13. 27. Thou puttest my feet into the Stocks To a Prison Psal. 142. 7. Bring my Soul out of Prison To Fetters Iob 36. 8. And iâ⦠they be bound in Fetters and holden in Cords of afflictions To a Debt that must be paid so is sin considered with respect to its punishment Matth. 6. 12. Luke 11. 4. Forgive us our sins for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us God puts the Bond in suit the instruments are but as Sergeants and Officers to demand of us satisfaction for breach of Covenant with God They think not so neither doth their evil heart mean so but so it is in Gods purpose When you are in trouble God hath committed you to prison and there is no coming out without submission and humiliation urging the satisfaction of Christ. You are sent thither by Gods authority and there is no getting out without his leave Thirdly That the party is insolvent and is undone unless some Course be taken to satisfie the Creditor he cannot help himself by his own wisdom and strength out of the danger The Debtor in the Gospel had not to pay Matth. 18. 25. why else should we look after a Surety Iob 17. 3. Put me in a surety with thee who is he that will strike hands with me Man is not able to stand alone under the weight of his afflictions 't is a burthen too heavy for us to bear We have no might 2 Chron. 20. 12. Gods people are often brought into such a Case when the principal is not solvendo the Surety answereth we are weak but he is strong we are not able to subsist They exceed us in carnal advantages if force be to be resisted by force they will easily overcome us unless another that is stronger than we undertake for us Fourthly That the Surety taketh upon him the Debt of the principal person and is to be responsible for it God hath taken our obligation upon himself to pay our Debts to oppose himself against all our wrongs He will take
this they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we do The Word can do that which a miracle cannot make the stoutest hearts relent and yield One instance more Acts 24. 25. And as he reasoned of righteousness temperance and judgment to come Felix trembled Mark the disadvantage the Prisoner maketh the Judg tremble the man none of the tenderest a Pagan and to boot an obdurate Sinner but Paul by his power caused these Terrors of Conscience which are raised by the Word all wicked men feel not but soon may they fear them that feel them not Iohn 3. 20. For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved Conviction in one of these spiritual agonies exceeds all natural passions fears of the wrath of God scorch more and breed more restlesness and disquietness to the soul their thoughts become a burthen to them He is convinced of all and judged of all and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest and so falling down on his face he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth 1 Cor. 14. 24 25. His sins revived the poor Creature lyeth groveling Secondly There is a converting and transforming power in the word of God Rom. 1. 16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth 1 Thess. 1. 9. For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you and how ye turned to God from Idols to serve the living and true God from a false to a true a bad to a better Men brought up in a false Religion there is much ado to take them off Have any Nations changed their gods Though their worship be never so vain and foolish yet this power the Word hath even over those that have been rooted and habituated in superstitious customes The gods they had prayed to in their adversities praised in their prosperity deprecated their anger when any Judgment upon them magnified their goodness when any good received built them Temples offered them Gifts Must they break those Images destroy those Temples deny those Gods How dear Idols are Rachels stealing away her Fathers Images clearly sheweth Gen. 31. 34. She was one of them that built Gods Israel yet she hath an hankering after her Fathers Idols No humours so obstinate and stiff as those that are found in religious Customs They accused Stephen for changing the Customs Moses delivered Acts 6. 14. and Paul that he taught Customs which were not lawful for Romans to observe Acts 16. 21. Certainly it is a very hard thing to bring men out of an old Religion into a new one 2. The converting of man from a state of nature to a state of Grace So that they are as it were born again Iames 1. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his Creation It is a hard matter to change natures to turn a Lyon into a Lamb Isa. 11. 6. The wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lye down with the kid and the calf and the young Lyon and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them Yet this will the Gospel do make him that resembleth the Devil in his contempt of God Envy Revenge to be like Christ I say the Gospel doth it 2 Cor. 3. 18. But we all with open face beholding as 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. To bring us to love what we naturally hate and to hate what we naturally love That the heart should be turned from all Creatures himself and all to God That they should be induced to turn from the Creature to God to seek out happiness in him from self to Christ from Sin to Holiness that God's desires should be our desires his will our will his delights our delights The natural heart is averse from this Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subjest to the Law of God neither indeed can be That the hearts spirits dispositions of men should be turned upside down 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of our Lord Iesus and by the Spirit of our God Isa. 55. 13. Instead of the thorns shall come up the Fig-tree and instead of the bryer shall come up the Myrtle-tree A mighty change wrought to be changed not only in their lives but natures Thirdly In comforting poor distressed Souls their sore runneth upon them and their soul refuseth comfort when they have all things in the world but yet as there are no sorrows like wounds of Conscience for degree so no comforts Groans unutterable so joys unutterable nothing left that will comfort it is as the whole of their joy the reviving of poor wounded Spirits is one of the greatest wonders in the world Creatures can do nothing Reason and humane discourse can do nothing it proceedeth from the apprehension of Gods wrath provoked by sin Iob 33. 23 24 25. If there be an Interpreter one among a thousand to show unto man his uprightness then he is gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going down to the pit I have found a ransom his flesh shall be fresher than a childs he shall return to the days of his youth Nothing but the Covenant of his peace will still such a Soul a Scripture wound will only be cured by Scripture plasters He that puts the soul on the racks of conscience can only release us I create the fruits of the lips to be peace Ier. 6. 16. Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls Mat. 11. 28 29. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls Fourthly The confirming and strengtnhing power of the word that we may despise the world encounter all difficulties and discouragements and to be chearful as the martyrs were in the midst of flames all the oppositions of Satan 1 Ioh. 2. 14. I have written unto you young men because ye are strong and the word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one Acts 20. 32. And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the word
habitual reign of sin may be known by the general frame and state of the heart and life where it is constantly yielded unto or not opposed but breaketh out without controul and beareth sway with delight Men give the Bridle to sin and let it lead them where they will That is peccatum regnans cui homo nec vult nec potest resistere so Coppen The Sinner neither can nor will resist non potest because usually after many lapses God giveth up men unto penal or judicial hardness of heart But he is willingly taking these Bonds and Chains upon himself Such are said 2 Pet. 3. 3. To walk after their own lusts To live in sin Rom. 6. 2. To be dead in trespasses and sins Ephes. 2. 1. To serve divers lusts and pleasures Tit. 3. 3. To draw on iniquity with Cart Ropes Isai. 5. 18. Such as addict and give over themselves to a trade of sin with delight and full consent Secondly Actually when we do that which is evil against our Consciences or yield pro hic nunc to obey sin in the lusts thereof when it gaineth our consent for the time but the general frame and state of the heart is against it In short when sin is perfected into some evil action or in the Apostles Speech when lust hath conceived and brought forth sin Iames 2. 15. that is some heinous and enormous offence At that time no question it hath the upper hand and carrieth it from Grace and the Flesh doth shew it self in them more than the Spirit A man may please a lesser friend before a greater in an act or two Every presumptuous act doth for that time put the Scepter into sins hand Note That both Predominants spoken of in the former Distinction and the actual reign of sin in this do much prejudice a Christian waste his Conscience hinder his joy of faith and if not guarded and we do not take up in time or if often cannot be excused from habitual reign They are rare by the violence of a great temptation unlikely acts as for a Hen to bring forth the Egg of a Crow 4. The next Distinction is of sins reigning with a full and plenary consent and with reluctancy and contradiction as Herod reigned over the Jews for many years by mere force they opposing him and contradicting him but afterwards willingly consented to his Government so sin reigneth in some who readily willingly obey the lusts thereof and take its Bonds and Chains upon them And on the godly it doth sometimes prevail yet not quietly and without blows The evil which I hate that do I Rom. 7. 15. They are in Combate and Conflict with it The Virgin that cryed out was innocent 'T was a ravishment not a consent peccatum patitur non facit as Bernard The Seed of God is disliking and opposing 1 Iohn 3. 9. They are sometimes foyled but they keep up their resistance Sin gets the mastery in some acts but as a Tyrant not a lawful Possessor They groan under that oppression ever strive for liberty and freedome and in time recover it Chrysostome hath an expression on that of Rom. 6. 12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sin will play the Tyrant in the best heart but let it not have a quiet reign It will take advantage of present distempers and difficulties it may incroach upon us but it hath not our hearts whereas otherwise if a man be not in Armes against it but liveth in peace and good contentment under the vigour and life of his lusts there is no opposition unless it be some checks of a natural Conscience or a few thoughts of fear and shame or some temporal mischief and inconvenience no opposition of a renewed heart no hatred of it and opposition as it is an offence to God Then your condition is evil II. That it is a great evil c. It must needs be so 1. Because it is a renouncing of the Government of Christ we transferr the Kingdome from him to Satan and take the Scepter out of his hands when we give way to the reign of sin What though we do not formally intend this yet virtually we do so and so God will account it 'T is sinis operis though not operantis Look as the setting up of an Usurper is the rejection of the lawful King so the setting up of sin is the setting up of Satan Iohn 8. 44. and by consequence a laying aside of Christ for every degree of service done to him includeth a like degree or portion of treason and infidelity to Christ. For a man cannot serve two masters Matth. 6. 24. cannot have two chief goods at the same time therefore he that cleaveth to the one refuseth the other If you cleave to sin you renounce Christ and though we profess Christ to be our Lord that will not help the matter Matth. 6. 21. we are for all that as true bond-men to Satan as the Heathen that offered Sacrifice to him A druââ¦ken or wanton Christian giveth the Devil as much interest in him as those that sacrificed to Bacchus or Priapus or Venus For he doth as absolutely dispose and command your affections as he did theirs You are his by possession and occupation The Bond of your servitude to Satan is altogether as firm and strong as their Rites of Worship Now we that know Christs right both by Purchase and Covenant cannot but know what a great sin this is By purchase we are his 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. Ye are not your own ye are bought with a price The Buyer hath a power over what he hath bought We were lost and sold we sold our selves against all right and justice and Christ was pleased to redeem us and that with no sleight thing but with his own blood 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. How can you look your Redeemer in the face at the last day If you have any sense and belief of Christian mysteries you should be afraid to rob Christ of his purchase 1 Cor. 6. 15. Shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an Harlot God forbid He hath bought you to this very end that you may be no longer under the slavery of sin but under his blessed Government and the Scepter of his Spirit Tit. 2. 14. He hath redeemed us from all iniquity This was his end to set us at liberty and to free us from our sins therefore for us to despise the benefit and to count our bondage a delight yea to build up that which he came to destroy this is as great an affront to Christ as can be But we are not only his by purchase but his by Covenant Ezek. 16. 8. I entred into a Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine This was ratified in Baptism where we dedicated our selves to the Lords use and service and shall we rescind our baptismal vows and give the Sovereignty to another after we have
peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly 'T is but a little while and we shall receive the Crown and triumph over all our enemies III. Why the Saints should deprecate this evil 1. Because there is sin still in us all 'T is a bosome enemy that is born and bred with us and therefore it will soon get the advantage of Grace if it be not watched and resisted As Nettles and Weeds that are kindly to the Soil will soon choke Flowers and better Herbs that are planted by care and grow not of their own accord when they are neglected and not continually rooted out We cannot get rid of this cursed Inmate till this outer Tabernacle be dissolved and this House of Clay crumbled into dust Our old nature is so inclinable to this slavery that if God substract his Grace what shall we do 2 It is not only in us but always working and striving for the mastery it is not as other things which as they grow in age are more quiet and tame but Rom. 7. 8. Sin wrought in me all manner of concupiscence the Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy It is not a sleepy but a working stirring principle If it were a dull and unactive habit the danger were not so great but it is always exercising and putting forth it self and seeking to gain an interest in our affections and a Command over all our actions and therefore unless we do our part to keep it under we shall soon revert to our old slavery Sin must be kept under as a Slave or else it will be above as a Tyrant and domineer Once more The more it acts the more strength it gets as all habits are encreased by action for when we have once yielded we are ready to yield again Therefore any one sin let alone yea that which we least suspect may bring us into subjection and captivity to the Law of sin Rom. 7. 23. It doth not only make us flexible and yielding to temptations but it doth urge and impel us thereunto Again This bondage is daily encreasing and more hard to be broken for by multiplied acts a custome creepeth upon us which is another Nature And that which might be remedied at first groweth more difficult Diseases looked to at first are more easie to be cured whereas otherwise they grow desperate So sins before hardned into a custome before they bring us under the power of any Creature or Comfort which we affect 2 Cor. 6. 12. For then afterwards it cometh to a compleat dominion and slavery so that if a man would he cannot help it It behoveth then every Child of God to do his part that sin may not reign for where care is not taken it certainly will reign Use. To reprove the security and carelesness of many David suspected himself else he would never have made this prayer to God Lord keep me Let not any iniquity have dominion over me And we should all do so that would be safe Prov. 28. 14. Happy is the man that feareth alway but he that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischief A constant watchfulness and holy jealousie and self-suspicion will be no burthen to you but a blessing Sin deceiveth us into hardness of heart for want of taking heed Many that are secure do not consider their danger and therefore they are not so careful to watch over themselves nor so humble as to implore the Divine assistance because they do not consider how soon they may be transported by a naughty heart and brought under the power and reign of sin Surely were we as sensible of the danger of the inward man as we are of the outward we would resist the first motions and not nourish and foster a temptation as we do The Saints do not tarry till the dead blow cometh but resist the first strokes of sin they do not tarry till it pines to death but resist the first inclinations An evil inclination if it be cherished and gratified gets ground the longer we let it alone the harder will our conflict be for sin secureth its interest by degrees 2. It sheweth the fearful estate of them that lye under the dominion of sin But who will owne it First It is certain that all men in their natural estate are in this condition Sin doth reign where there is no principle of Grace set up against it The Throne is always filled Mans heart cannot lye empty and void If Grace doth not reign sin reigneth Natural men are under the power of darkness Acts 28. 18. and Col. 1. 13. living in a peaceable subjection to sin till Christ come to trouble it all is quiet Wind and Tide go together Secondly It appeareth by your course Many will say There is not a just man on earth that doth good and sinneth not You are Sinners as well as we Answ. There is a difference though there be not a good man upon earth that sinneth not Eccl. 7. 20. yet there is a difference Some have not the spot of Gods Children Deut. 32. 5. There is a difference between sins Levit. 23. 24 27. God gave the Priest under the Law direction how to put a difference between leprous persons So still there is a great deal of difference between numbness and death and between dimness of sight and blindness want of sense and want of life between stumbling into a Ditch and throwing our selves headlong into an Ocean And so there is a difference between infirmities and iniquities a failing out of ignorance and weakness or some powerful temptation and a running headlong into all ungodliness Gods Children have their failings but a burning desire to be freed from them Though others wallow in their sin without any care of a remedy In the one there is a failing in point of Duty in the other a Rebellion Take Iudas and Peter both sinned against their Master the one denied the other betrayed him the one denied him out of fear the other betrayed him out of covetousness and greediness of gain the one plotted his death the other was surprized on a sudden There is a great deal of difference between purpose and a surprize the one wept bitterly the other is given up to a raging despair David did not make a trade of Adultery and bathe himself in filthy lusts Noah was drunk but not knowing the power of the juice of the Grape They dare not lye in this estate but seek to get out by repentance Thirdly Some things may beget caution and move you to suspect your selves that is when your souls readily comply with the temptation you are at sins beck If it saith Go you go if it saith Come you come It is of great concernment to know what goes to the determining a mans condition to know at whose beck he is whether he is at the Fleshes or Spirits beck Psal. 103. 20. The Godly are described that they hearken unto the voice of his Word so the wicked are those that hearken to the voice
to an earnest attendance upon God and all probabilities spent we have no help but what Heaven and a promise can afford and upon these terms continue our importunity Luke 18. 7 18. 'T is a long time e're men will lay it to heart to see his hand and seek to him for relief 3. When you have prayed then wait 'T is a good sign when we are enlarged in prayer and encouraged to wait Enlarged to pray for when God hath a mind to work he sets the spirit of prayer awork God will not pour out his spirit in vain the spirit knoweth the deep things of God Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in a time of trouble and I will deliver thee So when we are encouraged to wait how can our prayers be heard when we regard them not our selves and expect an issue How should God hear when we pray out of course and do not think our prayers worth the regarding Psal. 85. 8. I will hearken what God the Lord will speak c. Psal. 40. 1. I waited patiently for the Lord he enclined unto me and heard my Cry Hab. 2. 1. I will watch to see what he will say Look for an Answer God doth not usually disappoint a waiting people II. When God delivereth us from the oppression of man we should be quickened and encouraged in his service Reasons 1. Because every mercy inferreth an answerable Duty 2 Chron. 32. 25. But Hezekiah rendred not according to the benefit done unto him There must be rendring according to receiving 2. This is the fittest return partly because 't is real not verbal The Lord cares not for words he knows the secret spring of the heart Isai. 38. 9. and see Psal. 50. 23. 'T is good to be speaking good of Gods name This is one way of glorifying but ordering the Conversation aright is that which is most pleasing to him And partly too because our Cloggs of fear and sorrow and other impediments are taken away Psal. 119. 32. I will run the ways of thy Commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart This was Gods end to deliver us out of the hands of our enemies that we may serve him without fear Luke 1. 74 75. Those Wretches that said Ier. 7. 10. We are delivered to do all these abominations to return to the practices of their vile courses afresh did pervert Gods end in their deliverance What use shall we make of such a Point in our deep sorrows Answ. First We are not altogether without this benefit 2 Chron. 7. 12. The Lord said I have heard thy prayer Many times God maketh his love conspicuous to his people in a low condition they are oppressed sore but not grinded to powder 't is a blessing we are not quite destroyed Exod. 1. 12. The Israelites the more they were afflicted the more they multiplied and the Egyptians were grieved for the Children of Israel that they were not extinguished God dealeth with us as then he did with them 2 Sam. 12. 7. ãâã I will grant them some deliverance Secondly We are now under the sad effects of our former unthankfulness and by ââ¦membring our duty we may see our sin Hos. 4. 3 4. Ingratitude and walking unanswerably to received mercy is the great and crying sin of Gods people therefore we should humble our selves that we did so little good in former times of liberty that God had so little glory and service from us Now God by his present Providence sheweth us the difference Deut. 28. 47 48. Because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies c. 2 Chron. 12. 8. Nevertheless they shall be his servants that they may know my service and the service of the Kingdoms of the Countries First we must be humbled for the abuse of former mercies before we seek new Thirdly That we may know what to have in our eye when we are asking for mercies The end is first in intention though last in execution Do not pray to serve thy lusts more freely nor think how to execute revenge be quits with those that hate us nor how we shall be provided for but what glory and service we may bring to God Psal. 75. 2. When I shall receive the Congregation I will judge uprightly These mercies must not be abused to licentiousness or to nourish our selves in sin or stupid security but in duty and service Fourthly It teacheth us how to make our promises and oblige our selves to God When you come to promise duty and obedience to God be sure to be sincere and holy make due provision that it may be so by mortifying the roots of such Distempers as will betray us When a people in a low condition have a real inclination to praise and glorifie God by their mercies as soon as they shall receive them 't is an Argument God will hear and grant III. But when we are praying for deliverance we should interpose promises of obedience as David doth here Deliver me from the oppression of man so will I keep thy precepts 1. To shew there is the ratio dati accepti to shew the law of giving and receiving is natural to us 't is an ingraffed principle in mens minds When we think of Gods giving we should think of returning something An intercourse between God and us is maintained by mercies and duties not that God needeth or that we can oblige him but this qualifieth us Intercourse is lost when we would receive all and return nothing 2. A solemn promise is necessary to excite and quicken our dulness or a Bond upon us or a Bridle to our inconstancy We cannot unbind our selves again from our strict obligation to obedience Use. Well then let us make good the vows of our distress they must be payed or else God is mocked Eccl. 5. 4. When thou vowest a vow unto God deferr not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools Pay that which thou hast vowed Job 22. 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him and he shall hear thee and thou shalt pay thy vows SERMON CL. PSAL. CXIX VER 135. Make thy face to shine upon thy Servant and teach me thy Statutes THis Verse is wholly precatory Most of the Verses of this Psalm have a Prayer with an Argument but here both the Branches are petitory Observe in the words 1. The blessings prayed for 2. The order of these Petitions 3. The connexion that is between them 1. The blessings he prayeth for are two First For Gods favour and secondly For his direction in Gods ways spiritual consolation and encrease of sanctification David could not live out of Gods favour nor without his direction therefore he prays heartily for both 2. The order of these Petitions First Make thy face to shine and then Teach me thy Statutes Gods favour is the fountain of all goodness to his Children and Servants and until we have that we can have
if you believe Heaven and Hell and have any sense of the truth of the promises or threatnings you will be thus affected in some measure to mourn and grieve for the sins of others 2. This Duty doth chiefly concern publick persons though it lies upon all Christians Magistrates and Ministers and Officers of the Church because of their publick and universal influence Publick persons must have publick affections as well as publick relations You shall see in that Type the Church of the Jews is represented in their Officers Zach. 3. 1. When the people were corrupted and in a calamitous condition Ioshua the High Priest is brought in standing before the Lord in filthy Garments the Priest is accused by Satan Certainly publick persons are more responsible to God than others and more concerned than others in the sins committed in the Land or places where they have a charge Among private persons an Housholder is more responsible than a private Member of the Family if one under his charge fall into a notorious sin You are responsible for your Children and Servants and so are we for your Souls Under the Law Exod. 22. 10. God said If a man did deliver unto his Neighbour an Oxe or an Ass or a Sheep or any Beast to keep and it did dye or was hurt or was driven away no man seeing it or it did miscarry through his negligence he was to make it good because it was delivered into his hand So I may say here in quoting this Law Hath God a care of Oxen God hath committed souls to us he hath put them into the hands of Magistrates and Ministers to keep them Now because we do not discharge our Duty he will require their bloud at our hands Ezek. 33. 7 8 9. Because of our trust and charge we are bound to have more publick affections Ioel 2. 17. Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar Ministers should be exemplar for spiritual feeling and tenderness and humiliation Under the Law the measures of the Sanctuary were double to other measures I apply it to this very thing Our portion must be greater because of the burthen that lyes upon us Paul speaketh as one sensible of the weightiness of his charge in the 2 Cor. 11. 29. Who is weak and I am not weak who is offended and I burn not Paul trembled to see a weak Christian in the hands of Satan and when they had taken offence and begun to stumble this was his trouble and grief Mourning and burning is put for the violence of any affection So Ieremiah the Prophet My soul shall weep in secret places for your pride 3. Observation That tears are not absolutely necessary for the expression of this grief and tenderness David saith Rivers of tears Why For grief doth not always keep the Road and High-way and many times when Water goes out Wind comes in Many are puft up with sensitive trouble and put more upon tears than they do upon the frame of the heart which should engage us to this All Constitutions are not alike moist a tender heart may be matched with a dry brain When men are careful to get things reformed and are affected with the calamity of the Church more than their own private loss this is that which God requires However let me tell you if we find tears for other things we should find tears for these Duties when we come to remember our own sins and the sins of others God did not make the affections in vain A man that hath a thorough sanctified soul will have affections exercised in some measure proportionable and therefore if we can shed tears abundantly upon other occasions we should remember this water should be reserved for Sanctuary uses David when he is spoken of is represented as one having a moist eye upon all occasions yet Lot had a tender heart being offended with publick disorders It is said 2 Pet. 2. 8. His righteous soul was vexed Great Devotionists are usually very tender Good men are much given to tears and these sensitive stirrings of affection are a great help to Religion and therefore should not wholly be neglected But if there be a serious displicency against sin a deep laying to heart Gods dishonour though they cannot command tears the Duty is discharged Humiliation lyeth more in heart-grief and trouble than the sensitive and passionate expressions of it And yet upon religious occasions we should express ourselves as passionately as we can and not content our selves with a few cold words and dull thoughts but our liveliest affections should be exercised about the weightiest things Iam. 4. 9. Be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to heaviness When we are deprecating the wrath of God humbling our selves under the offences done to his infinite Majesty by our selves or others there should be more tenderness and we should do it in the most lively affectionate manner that possibly we can 4. I observe The greatest Sinners when they are once converted to God have the greatest compassion afterwards towards other Sinners Why They know the heart of a sinning man they have had most experience of the power and prejudice of corruption and also sensibly tasted of the love of God and his goodness in Christ Jesus and so their hearts are intendred thereby to pity others and they more earnestly desire others should partake with them of the same Grace As Israel were pressed to pity Strangers because they themselves were once Strangers in Egypt they knew what it was to be neglected and despised in a strange Land so they that are acquainted with the temptations of Satan with the bitter fruits of sin with the prejudices that men lye under before they come to take to the ways of God they have greater compassion towards the souls of others than others have This is observed to be fulfilled in the Apostle Paul whose zeal lay otherwise more in the active than contemplative way for in his Writings we find him mostly doctrinal and rational yet when he speaketh of Sinners he doth it always with grief and bowels Phil. 3. 18. I tell you weeping And still he presseth Christians to a greater tenderness to be more in grief for than censure of their Brothers faults Gal. 6. 1. If a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted And Tit. 2. 3. When he presseth to gentleness to all men For we our selves saith he were sometimes foolish and disobedient deceived and deceving serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another but after the love and kindness of God appeared c. This melted his heart to consider what he was and what God had made him by Grace whereas sullen men of a severe temper of a constant rigid innocency are wont to be more harsh and
that scoff at the Mourners in Zion they count it melancholy and mopishness to be so often and seriously humbling themselves before the Lord. The world deals perversely with the people of God they provoke their sorrow and then upbraid them with it You should bear them company mourn with them pine in consort with those Doves of the Valleys Better be a Mourner than a Mocker and Scoffer Others there are that yet can make a shift to hold out some profession of Religion yet can delight in the company of prophane carnal persons Would a man willingly put himself upon occasions of grief Are you like Lot whose soul was vexed day by day Do but consider how much your temper differs from theirs David saith Psal. 119. 115. Depart from me ye evil Doers Others there are that by censures and bitter invectives seek to make the Sinner rather than the sin more odious This is to exercise malice and pride not Christian affection We should not censure but mourn Tears flow from charity censures from pride and by this means you lose a duty for a sin which is a sad exchange Others again are apt to laugh at them and to make sport with the sins of others but do not mourn This is a vile abuse and yet we are many times guilty of it Men laugh at drunkenness and make the slips of others matter of boasting and vain talk This should rather set our hearts a bleeding and mourning He were a monster rather than a man that could see a man take a fall even to the breaking of his back or neck and turn it into a jest or a man wound himself and he make a sport of it And shall we be more kind to the bodies than to the souls of men Oh consider the danger of these practices as much as in him lyeth he hath put himself into Hell and wilt thou laugh at it Use 2. Is Tryal Are we so tenderly affected I know every one is not of a like tender constitution and cannot weep rivers of tears but tell me or rather tell God I cite thy Conscience to make answer to God When thou didst ever go aside into thy Closet or some secret place to lay to heart the dishonour done to God or the affronts put upon his Grace Do not tell me thou hast declaimed against the sin of the times that thou hast not cried up a confederacy with them that cry up a confederacy against God There may be somewhat of faction and interest and obstinacy in those things but when hast thou mourned and wept sore in secret places Do not tell me that thou hast joyned in publick Fasts Hasty and transient sighs do not wound the heart Hast thou ever done it in secret or hast thou often done it It may be thou hast resented injuries and spread them before God and so there is a spirit of self-love and revenge that breaths into thy prayers Men will be hot in their own cause but what hast thou done in this Duty 'T is a plain question and therefore I hope it will have the more force upon the Conscience True zeal for injuries done to God would ease it self by tears rather than anger True Penitents will not satisfie themselves only with publick humiliation to which Law custome and example may draw them but will make conscience of this Duty in their Families yea in secret where no eye seeth them but Gods mourn apart Zech. 12. 12 13 14. and bring home publick provocations to their own doors Ier. 11. 17. Use 3. Is to exhort you to get this practice and to get this disposition of the Saints 1. There is a great deal of need to practise it now whether we look upon the sins or dangers of the Nation the sins such horrid blasphemies and reproaches cast upon Gods Servants his Ways Truths Doctrines according to godliness I think in the wisest judgment that a man can make never was there such a dangerous ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and temper of any Nation as of ours at this time Never were sins boiled up to such an height and consistency as now such snarling at reformation that was hopefully begun Now sin walketh in the Streets with a bold face drunkenness swearing and prophaneness seem to triumph and with the more pretence because the stricter sort have so much dishonoured God and Religion Church-affairs are much out of order And for our dangers we hear again of wars and rumours of wars and God knoweth what may be the issue and effect of them Acts 13. 41. Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish for I work a work in your days a work which ye will in no wise believe though a man should tell you of them The danger of a Nation doth not lye in outward probabilities so much as in the threatnings of the word He alludeth to the horrible devastation of Iudea by the Chaldeans and applyeth it to the despising of the Gospel Would any believe that the Temple and City should be destroyed and the people of God carried captive that not one should remain yet this came In the time of Noah when they abounded in all things who would have thought of a Flood Many would say as that Nobleman If the Windows of Heaven were opened how could this be Who would have believed the horrible dissolution by the Romans or thirty years agone that which is now faln out in Germany Never think that our Armies and Forces are so strong as to withstand the threatnings of the Gospel for our horrible contempt God may blow upon all these props in an instant Therefore weep and mourn for the pride and rebellion of the Daughter of your people So for our private place What sins are there among us Some have withstood the ways of God though they have had convictions yet held out against them Some are prophane many defects in all Orders Paul was mightily troubled because the Church of Corinth was so much out of order he bewailed it with many tears 2 Cor. 2. 4. Out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears So may I speak and you think of these things 't is time to mourn By way of motive consider First This is the best way to enter our protestation and dissent against the iniquity of the times When we cannot help a thing 't is good to retract it and commit it by tears to God for then it shall not be laid to our charge When the Corinthians mourned for incest committed among them and sorrowed with a godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7. 13. Ye are verily clear in this matter many of them did not only not approve but abhor that foul act before but they were not clear till they mourned and purged the Church from the imputation So you are not clear till you have done this Duty Secondly God may take occasion to punish you from their sins We are all Fuel fit for the burning Gods dispensation is not unrighteous as
perfection than what they do when they see the beginning of it Alas at first when we see the beginnings of God we are apt to say There is no profit to serve the Lord I but at length Verily there is a reward for the righteous And therefore let us not be rash and hasty until God hath put his last hand to his work Thâ⦠are impatient Spectators that will not tarry till the last Scene of the Tragedy till the Lord brings forth his last work Our hastiness and impatience will betray us into many soul thoughts of God and his Providence Fourthly That the solemn triumph of Gods Justice will be at the last day If God should punish no sin here no man would believe a God if he should punish all here no man would be afraid of a future Judgment Now is the day of his patience and all taste the effects of his common goodness Acts 17. 31. He hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world that 's the great day of Assizes for all the world when the great Judge shall appear in his Royalty Now God only keeps a petty Sessions now and then he seizeth upon the hairy scalp of a Sinner but the general Assizes is then In the day of tryal it is not fit we should live by sense but by faith but hereafter in the day of recompences all shall be open and clear Rom. 2. 5. Thou treasurest up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of Christ. There is a day that will reveal the justice and righteousness of God a black day to the wicked it will be and to Gods people a day of redemption Now his Justice is manifested on a few here then on all Now Gods Children have their Sentence of absolution from sin in private in foro Conscientiae their justification and assurance of eternal life and wicked men have their woful doom in the stings and horrours of their own Conscience they are self-condemned Tit. 3. 11. but then Sentence will pass publickly The equity of Gods dealings is not now so fully seen but then the causes will be opened when the secrets of all hearts shall be manifested then we shall see how justly God accepted one to salvation and rejected another to damnation Gods Justice is seen by the present Government of the World but not so clearly here justice is mixt with mercy to the godly in their afflictions and mercy is mixt with justice to the wicked in their temporal blessings but when the Lord shall stir up all his wrath then we shall see clearly God is a just God and will keep punctually to the Law he hath made for the Government of the World SERMON CLIV. PSAL. CXIX VER 137. Righteous art thou O Lord and upright are thy Iudgments FOR the other part of the Objection That those which desire to be most faithful with God are calamitous and afflicted as Lazarus lay in poverty and rags while the rich man surfeited in all manner of luxury I answer 1. God having an absolute right and dominion over us and our comforts may give and take them away according to his own pleasure Iob 1. 21. The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken abstulit sed dedit they are his own he gave at first If he hath lent us any thing for his service and our comfort he may command it again when he pleaseth and none can commence a Suit against his Providence Whatever straights and poverty we are reduced to we were poorer than ever we can be made by Providence We came into the World naked If God should strip us of many comforts we are not so poor as when we were born 2. God having intended to bestow eternal blessings upon us will take a liberty in disposing of outward things Jesus Christ when he purchased comforts for us did not purchase only nor chiefly earthly comforts and blessings Ephes. 1. 3. The God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in Christ Iesus He did not purchase worldly blessings as our chief happiness The World is a common Inn for Sons and Bastards where God will shew his bounty to all his Creatures our inheritance is elsewhere in heavenly places for though all things come alike to all we cannot murmure and say God is unjust nay though a Child of God should be in a worse condition than the wicked are A Child during his non-age is kept under more severe discipline than a Slave which doth more live at large We distinguish between the care of a Father and the indulgence of a Mother The Father loves his Child I but he breeds him up in a strict way But Mothers are fondly indulgent and would have them pamper'd and cocker'd so evil habits encrease upon them We that so quarrel for worldly things would have God shew the fondness and indulgence of a Mother and not the wisdome and care of a Father 3. It is fit before we go to heaven that we should be tryed therefore God will so manifest his love to us that there may be room to exercise faith and patience Heb. 6. 12. Never any came to reap the comfort of Gods promises but there was a time to exercise their faith with difficulties and their patience with delays and therefore God will try our sincerity when we have no visible encouragements God would have us live by faith and not by sense or present appearance only 2 Cor. 5. 8. to see if we can look above the Clouds and Mists of the lower World and encourage our selves and grow bold upon the hopes and concernments of the World to come Nature is purblind but it is the property of faith to see afar off 2 Pet. 1. 9. There 's the excellency of faith if we have but an Eagles eye to see afar off If we had the fruition of the whole blessing alas there were no room for faith And then for patience we are not only to be conformed to God but to Christ not only to God in purity and holiness but to Christ in patience and submission and self-denial There are some of our duties which imply perfection as Justice Holiness Purity and Mercy of these we have a pattern in God and some of our duties imply subjection and obedience and of these we have a pattern in Christ. Now all the Heirs of promise God hath conformed to the Image of his Son Rom. 8. 29. If we must have all Graces then we must have those Graces that are conversant about misery We should be ignorant of one part of humane affairs were it not for these suffering Graces therefore it is agreeable to Gods Justice that these suffering Graces should have their exercise sometimes Then the Lord will try our sincerity whether we follow Christ for the Loaves Iohn 6. 26. Out of external encouragements or out of affection for internal reasons upon pure obedience Gods holiness consists in loving himself but
of the World which have their portion in this life As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Christ gave his Spirit to the rest of the Disciples and the Purse to Iudas he had the keeping of the bag that was the worst Gods dearest Children usually have the least in this World that they may look higher as Levi had no portion among his Brethren because God would be his portion Others have more plentiful Accomodations for Back and Belly they are better Clad their Tables more plentifully furnished and supplied larger portions for their Children they that look to save any thing or get any thing by Religion but the saving of their Souls are fouly mistaken if we have more than others Religion calleth for more disbursements Charity and liberal distributions exposeth to Troubles Religion moderateth our desires and forbids all unjust ways of acquiring Wealth calleth upon us to forsake all for a good Conscience Therefore they that follow Christ out of a design to be rich in this World lose their aim not but that Hypocrites sometimes make a Market of Religion but then God is Angry and they and the Church too payeth for it at last not but that Religion bringeth in Temporal supplies Mat. 6. 33. First seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and these things shall be added unto you ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã food and raiment it bringeth in God may give some a more plentyful allowance especially if they be Faithful Stewards then they are intrusted with more but generally they are mean and small or if they have more of this Worlds goods they have their Afflictions in other kinds 2. 'T is necessary to cut off the provisions of the Flesh and the fuel of their Lusts a rank soil breedeth Weeds and when we sail with a full stream we are apt to be carried away with it We either glut our selves with the Pleasures of the Flesh or grow proud and hanker and linger after the Pomp and Vanities of the World and neglect God And therefore God is fain to diet us and to keep us bare and low as he is said to cut Israel short 2 Kings 10. 32. When he streightned their Coasts and Borders so for our cure we need not only internal Grace to abate the Lust but external Providence to catch away the Prey and Bait by which it is fed The wise Man saith not only give me grace but give me neither Poverty nor Riches Prov. 30. 8 9. and Gal. 6. 14. by whom the World is Crucified to me and I unto the World Both parts are necessary riches are a great Temptation we would root here and grow Sensual Worldly and Proud if God did not snatch our Comforts from us when we are apt to Surfet of them a plentiful portion of Temporal things is Spiritually Dangerous 3. That they may be more sensible of his displeasure against their sins and scandalous Carriage by which they have dishonoured him and provoked the pure eyes of his glory Never have scandals faln out but some great Woe followed Matth. 18. 7. Woe to the World because of offences Therefore God hath brought his People low that he may vindicate his Name which through their means is Blasphemed Rom. 2. 24. and make his People sensible of their sin the World shall know that he doth allow sin no more in them than others and therefore though they were as the signet upon his finger he will pluck them off and make them feel the smart of their wandrings Amos 3. 2. You only have I known of all the Families of the Earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities They that have been so near and dear to him the World might think he did approve their sins if he did not manifest his displeasure at them Usually their sins go nearest his heart and meet with the sorest vengeance Deut. 32. 19. When the Lord saw it he abhorred them because of the provokings of his Sons and of his Daughters Their relation to God their priviledges and the consequences of their actions aggravate their sins And therefore God is most quick and severe in punishing their sins We complain we were brought low but were not our Provocations first very high The most Religious cannot wipe their mouths and excuse themselves as faultless Oh what a sad part hath been lately acted upon the Publick Stage What a trade have many driven for themselves under a mask of Religion What breaches in the body of Christ uncharitable divisions making a profession of the Name of Christ for Carnal ends 4. That we may learn to live upon the Promises and learn to exercise suffering Graces especially dependance upon God who can support us without a temporal visible Interest Compare Rev. 12. 11. And they overcame him by the bloud of the Lamb and by the word of their Testimony and they loved not their lives to the death Rev. 13. 7. And it was given unto him to make War with the Saints and to overcome them and power was given him over all Kindreds and Tongues and Nations You shall see how the Enemies overcome and the Saints overcome The seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent The Beast raiseth the World against the Saints and prevaileth over their Bodies he overcomes them by spoiling them of Liberty Lives and Temporal Estate but they overcome by adhereing to Truth and resisting his Temptations and their own Corruptions even in the lowest Estate by Suffering So for other Graces Patience Meekness Self-denial Spiritual Comforts as the Stars in their order fought against Sisera so all graces are exercised in their turn Rev. 13. 10. Here is the Faith and Patience of the Saints that is a time to act these Graces a full Third of the Scriptures would be lost which containeth Comfort for Afflicted ones if God did not exercise them with Temporal Afflictions 5. That God may convince the Enemies that there is a people that do sincerely serve him and not for carnal selfish Ends. Iob 1. The Carnal World suspect private selfish worldly aims and designs in all that we do and attribute all our Duties to Interest being themselves led by Interest they cannot think others are led by Conscience Men are apt to suspect and maligne what they will not imitate There is sometimes too much advantage given many are Mercenaries only esteem the ways of God when beneficial to them Ioh. 6. 26. Ye seek me not because ye saw the Miricles but because ye did eat of the Loaves and were filled Therefore it is needful to heighten the price of Religion when it is too cheap a thing to be a Christian. This God doth by bringing his People low that the World may see some will cleave to him in all conditions not only when his wayes are befriended but when frowned upon God will glorifie himself and his Truth by their Constancy 6. That his glory may be more
2. It must not be on forreign Reasons And then it must be Universal otherwise it is but like Herod who heard Iohn gladly and did many things c. Mark 6. 20. It must be deeply rooted otherwise it is but like the seed which fell on the Stony ground which received the Word with joy but dureth but for a while Matth. 13. 20. 1. Use. To shew how far they are from the Temper of Gods Children whose Delight is in Sin or the Pleasures of the Flesh. These have dreggy muddy Souls Their hearts are on sports plays merry-meetings These desires are soon cloyed leave a bitterness in the Soul till we contemn them we are never fit for an Holy Life See Gregory de Valentia 2. Use. Have we this Delight The Sincerity may be discerned 1. By the Extent It is extended to all the parts of the Word delight in the Promises and Precepts To be partial in the Law Hypocrites can well allow Mal. 2. 9. 2. It will be discerned by the Effects of it You will often Consult with it Psal. 119. 24. Thy Testimonies are my delight and my Counsellors 3. It will be a perpetual Delight Iob. 27. 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty Will he always call upon God You will own it in Affliction as in the Text. Many will delight in Gods Word when Prosperity accompanieth it but not in Trouble and Anguish You will delight in Obedience and in the way of his Testimonies not talk of it but do it The young Man's delight in Dinah made him Circumcise himself Gen. 34. 19. Lastly Compare it with your delight in things Sensible Temporal and Corporeal If it be sincere and cordial it will not onely equal but surmount these Verse 72. The Law of thy Mouth is better to me than thousands of Gold and Silver And Verse 162. I rejoyce in thy Word as one that findeth great Spoil Spiritual good is greater than Corporal our conjunction with it is more intimate greater and firmer The part gratified is more Noble the Soul than the Body it will make these dye that the other may live 3. Use. Let us be exhorted to do what we can for the begetting encreasing and cherishing this delight in our hearts If you love God you cannot but love his word which is so perfect a representation of him If you love Holiness you must needs delight in the Word this is the rule of it If you love Life and Happiness you must needs delight in the Word this is the way that leadeth us to so Blessed and Glorious an Estate If you love Christ you will love the Word which offereth him to you If you love the new Nature you will delight in the Word which is the Seed of it If you would speed in Prayer Ver. 77. Let thy tender Mercies come unto me for thy Law is my Delight If you would be supported in Affliction Verse 92. Unless thy Law had been my Delight I should then have perished in mine Affliction 4. Doctrine In the days of our Trouble and Anguish Gods Word will be a great delight and comfort to us Such a Comfort as will overcome the bitterness of our Affliction So saith David here When all Comforts have spent their Virtue then Gods Word will be a Comfort to us Here I shall shew First What Comfort the Word holds out to us Secondly Why Afflictions do not diminish it First What Comforts it holds forth 1. The Priviledges of the Afflicted Rom. 5. 1 2. We glory in Tribulations knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience Such may rejoyce in Tribulations Miseries are unstinged his Rods are not signs of his Anger They are in the favour of God and his heart is with them however his hand be smart upon them The Habitude and Nature of Afflictions is altered in themselves they are the Punishments of Sin and so their Natural tendency is to Despair and Bondage God seemeth to put the Old Covenant in suit against unbelieving sinners but now they are Tryals Preventions Medicines to Believers that proceed from love and are designed for their good 2. The Word holdeth forth the Blessedness of an other World 2 Cor. 4. 17 18. Our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Hope is not afrighted by Affliction but worketh Before Corn be ripened it needeth all kind of Weathers The Husbandman is glad of showers as well as sun-shine Rainy Weather is Troublesome but the season requireth it 3. It assureth us of what is acceptable to God Micah 6. 8. He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God So it yieldeth comfort through the Conscience of our Duty and chearfull reflections on afflicted Innocency are not these Gods wayes which we desire to walk in and for which we are troubled 4. The Word hath notable Precepts that ease the Heart Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving let your Requests be made known unto God 1 Peter 5. 7. Casting all your Care upon him for he careth for you Proverbs 16. 3. Commit thy Works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be Established It biddeth us cast all our Cares upon God and commit our selves to the Guidance of his Providence 5. It giveth us many Promises of Gods being with us and strengthning and delivering us and giving us a gracious Issue out of all our Troubles 1 Corinthians 10. 13. God is Faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able But will with the Temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Now it is a great ease to the Soul to fly to these Promises which are made to his Afflicted Servants 6. It breedeth Faith which fixeth the Heart Psalm 112. 7. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings his Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. It breedeth Fortitude or cleaving to God under the greatest Trials 2 Samuel 6. 22. And Psalm 44. 17 18. Now this becometh a Testimony and Proof of our Love to God and so bringeth Comfort It breedeth Obedience and the doing of good leaveth a Pleasure behind it After Sin a sting remaineth Romans 2. 14 15. It breedeth Waiting and Patience when all Hope is cut off Micah 7. 7. Therefore I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my Salvation When such Trouble is on us as no end appeareth of it Most mens Comfort holdeth out but whilst there is hope of turning the Stream of things They are not satisfied in their Duty nor comforted with Promises but born up with Hopes of Success Secondly Why Afflictions do rather increase than diminish this 1. They drive us to these Comforts Man liveth by sense more than by Faith when he hath any thing about him but his sorrows drive him to God
and God is too Fatherly to deny it to his Children You may deny an Apple to a wanton Child but you will not deny Bread to a fainting Child The bowels of a Father will not permit you to do that you may deny them superfluities in wisdom but your love will not permit you to deny them necessaries Meat is not so necessary to revive and refresh the Body as Grace for the Soul and his Holy Inspirations to act and guide you And will God deny these requests 7. Know when you have received Quickning Many Christians look for rapt and extatick Motions and so do not own the work of God when it hath passed upon them they under-rate their own Experiences and so cannot take notice of Gods Faithfulness Sense Appetite and Activity are the fruits of life and quickning 1. We have the more sense of indwelling Sin as an heavy Burthen Rom. 7. 24. None groan so sorely as those that are made partakers of a new Life Elementa non gravitant in suis locis a delicate Constitution is more sensible of pain Wicked Men scarce feel deep wounds given to their Conscience nor have any remorse for gross sins Gods Children their hearts smite them for the smallest disorders and irregularities 2. Appetite after Christ his Graces and Comforts 1 Pet. 2. 2. the more life any have the more craving of Food to maintain it in being they are always hungering and thirsting after God Matth. 5. 6. our Appetite will be after the things that conduce to the maintaining and preserving that being which they have If a man lose his Appetite the body pineth and languisheth and strength decayeth desire prepareth the soul to take in its supplies Your Life is in good plight when that is desired ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and 't will be a means of Spiritual growth a kindly appetite after this Milk They are under a great decay who have lost their Appetite after the Gospel 3. Activity in Duties That we may honour Christ 1 Pet. 2. 4 5. To whom coming as a living stone ye also as lively stones are built up into a spiritual House Christ liveth and we live by him as the stones in the building carry a proportion with the corner-stone So Christians as the body with the Head It must needs be so because of Gods Spirit dwelling in us Ezek. 36. 27. Ioh. 7. 37. and because of the Graces in a Christian Faith and Love Faith working by Love is the great evidence of the new Creature If Faith and Love be strong it will quicken us to do much for God the apprehension of Faith doth enliven our notions of God Christ Heaven and Hell Faith puts Life into our thoughts of him Love is a notable pleader and urger 2 Cor. 5. 14. The Love of Christ constraineth us c. Secondly The Reasons why c. 1. They that have so much to do with God do see a need of it for he is a living God and will be served in a lively manner Rom. 12. 11. Not slothful in business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. They that serve the Lord Negatively must not be slothful in business Affirmatively fervent in spirit God will not be served negligently coldly but with Life and earnestness The twelve Tribes served God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã instantly Act. 26. 7. Instantly serving God with the uttermost of their strength He that hath a Right to our all must have our best surely he will not be put off with every slight thing Now the Children of God that are sensible of this are earnest for quickning that they may serve God in such a way as becometh him with Life and Power and Zeal for the manner in every Duty is to be regarded as well as the matter A man may do many things that are good but there is no Life in what he doth He prayeth but without any life in Prayer dead in Prayer Heareth but no Life in Hearing dull of Hearing All things in a Christian may be counterfeited but Life cannot be counterfeited that cannot be painted 2. They are acquainted with themselves and observe the frame and posture of their own spirits Now they that know themselves will see a need of Quickning 1 Because of the instability and changeable frame of mans Heart it hardly stayeth long in the same state now 't is up and anon 't is down as the constant experience of the Saints witness Sometimes they have a forwardness and strong propension of Heart to that which is good at other times a lothness and dulness or unfitness to perform any spiritual service when their Will is more remiss and their Affections unbent 'T is not indeed the constant frame of their Hearts yet it is a disease incident to the Saints even good men may feel a slowness of Heart to comply with the will of God and some hanging off from Duty Spontancae lassitudines sunt signa imminentis morbi so is this laziness and backwardness of spirit a sign of some great spiritual distemper Sometimes they are carried with great largeness of Heart and full sail of Affections at other times they are in bonds and streights that they cannot pour out their Hearts before God Psal. 77. 4. I am sore troubled that I cannot speak sometimes they have great Life and Vigour at other times no such lively stirrings but are flat and cold and dead when with Sampson they think to go forth and shake themselves as at other times Iudges 16. 20. by sad Experience they find that their Locks are gone that their Understandings are lean sapless and their Affections cold and their Delight and Vigour lost Man is a sinful weak inconstant Creature his heart is as unstable as water and much of this levity and instability remaineth with us after Grace as is seen in the various postures of spirit that we are under 2 Because of the constant opposition of the Flesh. There is an opposite Principle in our Hearts Gal. 5. 17. The body of Death that dwelleth in us doth always resist the life of the Spirit in us and therefore God must renew the influences of his Grace to preserve Life There are desires against desires and delights against delights this must needs abate our Vigour The Spirit draweth one way the Flesh another 'T is drawing Iam. 1. 14. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed 'T is depressing Heb. 12. 1. Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a Cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us Carnal Affections hang as a weight retarding us in our Heavenly flight and motions 'T is warring Rom. 7. 23. I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin And therefore the Lord had need to cherish the new Creature and good seed which cannot but be weakned with this opposition 3 Because our outward condition doth
shall be established unto thee and the light shall shine upon thy ways Decree and it shall be established speak the word and it shall come to pass Is it for us to enact Decrees to appoint what shall be Their Prayer is a duplicate or counterpart of Gods Decrees God guideth their hearts to ask such things as are pleasing to him God is ready to help us to give supplies in all our Necessities he is remembring us for good upon all occasions especially in our low Estate when we have none to help he will help Isa. 59. 16. And he saw that there was no man and wondred that there was no Intercessor therefore his arm brought salvation unto him and his righteousness it sustained him It was when he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey he cannot be safe unless he be wicked and none will bestir himself in the behalf of Truth and Right or own the good Cause by speaking a word for it therefore God himself would take the business in hand Psal. 105. 14. He suffered no man to do them wrong They that are Gods Confederates he hath a watchful Eye over them they are under his Defence and Protection an afflicted People are more sensible of God's Presence Help and Assistance than others are for streights and troubles are means to open mens eyes and waken their senses now you will ever find God with you when he seemeth most to forget you But especially in Duties of Worship the Visits of Love there and the entertainment at Gods Table Psal. 65. 4. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach to thee that he may dwell in thy Courts we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy holy Temple They have many sweet experiences of God which they find not elsewhere there he doth Comfort Quicken and Revive them Psal. 36. 8. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures God biddeth them welcom to this Table and will not send them away empty indeed there they come to feel joyes unspeakable and glorious Not that we should build always on sensible experiences or tye God to our time or make an Essay of Curiosity but if they humbly resolutely wait upon God according to the incouragements of his Promise first or last they shall have a full meal and God will own them and fill their hearts with goodness Thus in answering their Prayers helping them in streights visiting in Duties 2 On our part it is delightful to Converse with God 1. In Holy Duties Isa. 26. 16. Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them Iob. 22. 21. Acquaint now thy self with him and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee We have no Reason to be strange to God for if we were acquainted with our selves we should find daily and hourly some errand to the Throne of Grace To forget him dayes without number sheweth we have little knowledge of God or of our selves Be sure to look after a desire to enjoy God in the Duty My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of my God my flesh and my heart cryeth out for the living God Psal 84. 2 3. To rest in an empty Ordinance sheweth we do what we do rather to pacifie Conscience than satisfie spiritual desires God is to be our End and Object whom we are to seek and serve abs te sine te non recedam 2. In a course of Holiness how can two walk together except they be agreed Amos 3. 3. Loveth what he Loveth Hateth what he Hateth Suitableness of disposition is the ground of intimacy 1 Ioh. 1. 7. If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another God saith I will dwell in them and walk in them walk as ever before God Gen. 17. 1. I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect Secondly How we come to be brought into this nearness The Reason of doubting is because every man is born a stranger to God Psal. 58. 3. The wicked are estranged from the womb they go astray as soon as they be born speaking lies Sin causes a distance between God and us Isa. 59. 2. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear Man is averse from God without God Christ Covenant or Hope or any good from him Christ represents our Apostate Nature by the Prodigals going into a far Countrey the breach groweth wider every day and the distance is increased by actual sin The wicked are far from God Hos. 7. 13. Wo unto them for they have fled from me destruction unto them for they have transgressed against me While matters stand thus between us and God there is no Hope the rigour of Divine Justice and the Terror of a guilty Conscience will not give us leave to look for any Communion with God Ans. In this hopeless and helpless estate the Lord Jesus had pity on us the great End of the Mediator is to bring us to God 1 Pet. 3. 18. For Christ hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God And therefore he is said to be the way to the Father Ioh. 17. 6. I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father but by me He hath taken our case into his own hands and doth partly by his Merit and partly by his Spirit bring about this nearness and fellowship between God and us 1. By his Merit he bringeth us into a state of Favour he opened the door by his death Eph. 2. 13. But now in Christ Iesus we who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. To go to God offended and appeased by no satisfaction is terrible to the guilty Creature but Christ hath made our peace so that we have access into this Grace wherein we stand Rom. 5. 1 2. Therefore being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into the grace wherein we stand This door which he hath opened by his death he keepeth open by his constant Intercession Heb. 7. 25. Wherefore he is able to save unto the uttermost all those that come unto God through him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us which our repeated provocations would otherwise daily and hourly shut and close again 1 Ioh. 2. 1. These things I write unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous and so all distance is removed and poor Creatures may comfortably come to God 2. There is a great averseness in our hearts and we need not only leave to come to God but an heart to come to God we
to plead and standeth to judge his people He will bring matters under a Review and will powerfully shew himself against their Oppressors To this pleading Iob alludeth when he saith Iob 23. 6. Will he plead against me with his great power if he should use his Almighty and Invincible power against me he would easily ruine me So Ezek. 38. 22. I will plead against him with Pestilence and with Blood against Gog and Magog that is the Sythians Turks and Tartars So that you see that God's pleading is not by speaking or by Word of Mouth but by the Veugeance of his Providence against those that wrong his people So against Babylon Ier. 51. 36. Thus saith the Lord Behold I will plead thy cause and take vengeance for thee But that this is a mixt act of Patron and Judge see Micah 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my cause and execute Iudgment for me he will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his Righteousness When Gods People provoke him to anger by their sins he casteth them into Troubles and then their Adversaries are Chief and their Cause is much darkned and obscured all this while God is pleading against them but it is not the Enemies Quarrel but his own Vindication of abused Mercy and Goodness but when once the controversie is taken up between God and them by their Submission and clearing his Justice and imploring his Mercy then God will plead their Cause and take their part against the instruments of his Vengeance and clear their righteous cause who only sought their own ends in afflicting them when God hath exercised their Humility and Patience he will thus do and how I pray you will he plead for them the Text saith there by executing Judgment for them that is by putting his sentence in Execution and then will restore to them their wonted priviledges and own them in the publick view of all and make manifest they are his he will bring them forth to the Light and they shall see his Righteousness 3. The Effect of God's pleading which is the clearing of God's people and the convincing of their Adversaries which God doth partly by the Eminency and Notableness of the Providences whereby he delivereth his people and the markes of his Favour put upon them Nehem. 6. 16. And it came to pass that when all our Enemies heard thereof and all the Heathen that were about us saw these things they were much cast down in their own eyes for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God Their own Judgments were convinced of their folly in opposing the Iews the extraordinary success shewed the hand of God was in it by such incredible and remarkable occurrences doth God bring about their deliverance So Micah 7. 10. When God shall plead her cause then she that is mine enemy shall see it and shame shall cover her which said unto me where is the Lord thy God mine eyes shall behold her now shall she be trodden dââ¦wil as the mire of the streets Those who mocked her Faith should be confounded at the sight of her Deliverance Thus God delights to make the happiness of his people Conspicuous So Rev. 3. 9. Behold I will make them which are of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Iews and are not but do lie behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee He will make their Enemies to know that he hath loved them and ask them forgiveness for the wrongs and outrages done to them Partly by the Convictions of his Spirit undeceiving the World and reproving them for the hatred and malice against his People Ioh. 16. 8. The Comforter when he is come shall reprove the world of Sin of Righteousness and of Iudgment The word is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not Comfort but Convince or Reprove put them to silence so as they shall not in Reason gainsay The Object the World the Unconverted if not the Reprobate The things whereof Convinced of Sin and Righteousness and Judgment of the Truth of Christs Person and Doctrine This was spoken for the Comfort of the Disciples who were to go abroad and beat the Devil out of his Territories by the Doctrine of the Cross that were weak men destitute of all Worldly sufficiencies and Props and Aids Their Master suffered as a seducer their Doctrine cross to mens carnal Interests for them in this manner to venture upon the raging World was a heavy discouraging thing Now the Spirit should come and convince the opposing World so far that some terrified before brought to Evangelical Repentance Acts 2. 37. Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart soon desire to share in their great Priviledge Acts 8. 18 19. And when Simon saw that through laying on the Apostles hands the holy Ghost was given he offered them money saying Give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost but he was yet in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity Some almost perswaded Acts 26. 28. Then Agrippa said unto Paul almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian. Some forced to magnifie them who did not joyn with them Acts 5. 13. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them but the people magnified them Some would have worshipped them being yet Pagans Acts 14. 11 13. And when the people saw what Paul had done they lift up their voices saying in the speech of Lycaonia the Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men Then the Priests of Iupiter which was before their City brought Oxen and Garlands to the gates and would have done sacrifice with the people Others bridled that were afraid to meddle with them Acts 5. 34 35. Then stood there up one in the Council a Pharisee named Gamaliel a Doctor of Law had in reputation among all the people and commanded to put the Apostles forth a little space and said unto them Ye men of Israel take heed to your selves what ye intend to do as touching these men That Christ that Messias that Righteous Person one able to Vanquish the Devil thus without any visible force and with mere Spiritual Weapons by this conviction of the Spirit did the Lord subdue the World to the owning and receiving Christs Kingdom at least not go on in an high hand to oppose it God cleared Christ as righteous and Lord. II. The Necessity of this pleading 1. Because the People of God are often in such a Condition that none will plead their Cause unless the Lord plead it and therefore we are driven to him as our Judge and Patron God's design is not to gain the World by Pomp and Force but by spiritual Evidence and Power and therefore as to Externals it is often worse with his People than with others for the World is upon their Tryal and
the Judge of the World 3. Besides his general Justice as the Ruler and Judge of the World and the Condecency that is in such a dispensation to the rectitude of Gods Nature there is his Covenant declared in his Word wherein he promiseth temporal happiness to the Godly and threatneth Misery and Punishment to the Wicked and God ever stood upon the Truth of his Word to make it good in the eyes of the World therefore it will be with men as their condition is set forth in the Word of God A Promise there is as good as Accomplishment and a Threatning as sure as Performance and therefore accordingly as the Word saith of them so is Salvation far or near from them Now search all the Word of God and see if it speak any thing of hope and comfort to the Wicked or them that make a trade of provoking God nay they are well enough aware of that and therefore will not come to the light care not to busie themselves in the Scriptures for they say of them as Ahab of Micaiah he prophesieth nothing but evil to me and justly enough for they can see nothing there but their own doom if they are evil it can speak nothing but evil Isaiah 3. 10 11. Say ye unto the righteous it shall be well with them for they shall eat of the fruit of their doings Wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with them for the reward of his hands shall be given to him This is the Tenour of the whole Word of God so Eccl. 8. 12 13. Though a sinner do evil a hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God which fear before him But it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his days which are as a shadow because he feareth not before God It is a certain Truth it is a certain evident Truth for it is judicium certi axiomatis I do know and confidently affirm that it shall be well with them that Fear God but it shall not be well with the Wicked that is it shall be very ill with them But here cometh in the great Objection of sense How can these things be so We see the contrary that all things come alike to all Eccl. 9. 1 2. The righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them all things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that seareth an oath That those outward things are given indifferently to good and bad and the wicked are as free from Temporal Punishment as others and enjoy all prosperity in this World even sometimes to the envy and offence of Gods Children and the hardening of their own hearts and which is more that often it happeneth to the Just according to the work of the Wicked Eccl. 8. 14. and to the Wicked according to the work of the Righteous that is Evil to good Men and Good to evil Men as to outward things the advantage is usually on the side of the worst Answ. 1. By Concession we must grant what is to be granted that Temporal things not being absolutely Good or Evil the Lord taketh a liberty in the Dispensation of them the Eternal Promises and Threatnings being of things absolutely Good and Ill are therefore Absolute and Peremptory none that live Godly can fail of the Eternal Promises none that goeth on still in his Trespasses can escape the Eternal Threatnings but the temporal Promises and Threatnings being of things not simply Good and Evil are not so absolutely fixed but God will take a liberty sometimes to cross his hands out of his general Indulgence to give Prosperity to the Wicked and out of his Fatherly Wisdom to Chasten the Godly and so all things come alike to all Is Abraham Rich So is Nabal yea so the Godly may be Afflicted when the Wicked Triumph as Lazarus pined with want when Dives fared deliciously every day and Ierusalem was in an heap of Ashes when Babylon flourished 2. By Correction the wicked have no right by Promise or Covenant and so Salvation is far from them for this Promise or Covenant-right inferreth two things 1. A Sanctified injoyment 2. A more sure Tenure 1. A Sanctified Injoyment they that have Salvation by Promise they have it as an effect of Gods special Love and so have it as a Mercy not as a Judgment but without this they have it only by Gods general Indulgence and so it may be a snare Psal. 69. 22. Let their table become a snare before them and that which should have been for their welfare let it become a Trap and promote their Ruine not only Eternal but Temporal if they be not by these common Mercies brought to Repentance the greater shall their Condemnation be and their downfal the more speedy For while they let loose the Rains and run headlong into all Sin God is the more provoked against them and his Anger that was a little delayed and put off is the more severely executed It is a blessed thing to have Salvation by Covenant Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good to them that love God to them that are the called according to his purpose When we are sanctified to God saith Baxter all things are sanctified to us to serve us for God and to help us to him 2. Our Tenure is more sure and we can with more Confidence wait upon God for it in this sense Salvation is far from the Wicked because they cannot lay Claim to Gods favourable Providence or look for the continuance of it with any Confidence because they have no Right no Promise to build upon the Word of God speaketh no good to them whatever God may do out of his general Indulgence Iam. 1. 7. Let not that man think he shall receive any thing of the Lord. Now the Misery of this appeareth by considering wicked Men either as in Prosperity or Adversity 1. If they be still at ease for the present yet they are not upon sure Terms because they know not how soon God may break in upon them and theirs Iob 5. 3 4. I have seen the foolish taking root but suddenly I cursed his habitation his Children are far from safety the Notion of the Text and are crushed in the gate and there is none to deliver them in the eye of the Godly they are far from Salvation I judg'd him unhappy for all his Wealth foretold his suddain destruction which God would speedily bring on him and his I read his Doom So Iob 8. 10 11 12 13. Can the rush grow without mire can the flag grow without water whilst it is yet in its
and sinless Purity for so it is wholly unsuitable to them what should a carnal sensual heart do with heaven or how should they desire it that hate the Company of God the Communion of Saints the Image of God God maketh meet Col. 1. 12. Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light There is jus haereditarium jus aptitudinale though they do not desire to be saved for it they would love holiness more Partly because those conceits that they have of the adjuncts of Salvation and that happiness and personal Contentment which results to them they do not practically esteem it as to value it above the delights of the flesh and the Vanities of the World and they do not think it worthy the pursuit but for the interests of the bodily Life cast off all care of it Heb. 12. 16. As Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright Mar. 22. 5. They made light of it and went their wayes one to his Farm another to his Merchandise Use. I. It informeth us of two things 1. That wicked Men are the Authors of their own Ruine Salvation doth not fly from them but they fly from it they are far from the Law and therefore is Salvation far from them They will not take the course to be saved for they care not for God and his Statutes it is but just ut qui male vivit male pereat that they which despise Salvation should never see it 2. That the wicked buy the pleasures of sin at a dear rate since they defraud their own Souls of Salvation thereby Their loss you have in the Text Salvation is far from them and their gain is nothing but a little Temporal satisfaction and are these things worthy to be compared what is it maketh you wicked but the ease and sloth of the Flesh and the love of some carnal delight And are you contented to Perish for this Whoredom from God Use. II. Let it Exhort us to believe and improve this Truth for if men did surely believe it there would not be so many wicked men as there are neither would they dare to lye in sin as long as they do O! consider if the wicked have no part nor portion in the Salvation offered nor any jot of Gods Favour belonging to them the wicked should not flatter themselves with presumptuous hopes but break off their sins by Repentance 1. Gods Mercy will not help you though he be a God of Salvation yet he will not save the impenitent and such as go on still in their Trespasses Psal. 68. 19 20 21. Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits even the God of our salvation Selah He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death But God shall wound the head of his Enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his Trespasses You must not fancy a God all honey and sweetness and that his Mercy should be exercised to the wrong of his Justice the Lord will not spare the abusers of Grace whoever he spareth Deut. 29. 19 20. And it shall come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse that if he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst the Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his Iealousie shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this book shall lye upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under Heaven 2. No Doctrine preached in the Church will bear you out not Law for that discovereth both Sin and the Curse Convinceth of sin Rom. 3. 20. By the Law is the knowledge of sin what is sin and who is the sinner that bindeth you over to the curse Gal. 3. 10. For as many as are of the law are under the curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continneth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them The Gospel that sheweth a Remedy against sin but upon Gods Terms that first with broken hearts we sue out our Pardon 1 Ioh. 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrightcousness Sin must be condemned confessed before pardoned And then that in the way of Holiness we should seek Salvation and Eternal Life The Way and End must not be separated Rom. 6. 22. We must have our fruit unto holiness if we would have our end to be eternal life The pure and undefiled have only part in this salvation but it is far from the wicked Christ disclaims the unholy and unsanctified Mar. 7. 23. Depart from me ye that work iniquity You may as well expect the way to the West should bring you Eastward as to walk in the wayes of sin and hope to come to Heaven at last to think God will save us and suffer us to walk in our own ways or that this undefiled Inheritance shall be bestowed on dirty sinners this had been pleasing to flesh and blood but it is the Devils Covenant not Gods that Article you shall be saved and yet live in your sins is foisted in by Satan that false Deceiver to flatter men with vain Conceits 3. Do you hope of Repentance hereafter But in the mean time ye run a desperate hazard to leave the Soul at pawn in Satans hands it is not easie work to get it out again who would Poison himself upon a presumption that before it cometh to his heart he shall meet with an Antidote Judicial hardness is layed on them that withstand seasons of Grace Isa. 55. 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near Prov. 1. 24 25 26. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsels and would none of my reproofs I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh None of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper Luk. 14. 24. 4. The Heart is more hardened the longer you continue in this Course Heb. 3. 13. But exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Inveterate Diseases are seldom cured a tree that hath long stood and begun to wither is unfit to be Transplanted Ier. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil 5. There is a stint and measure as to Nations Gen. 15. 16. The iniquity of the Ammorites is not yet full Persons Vessels of Mercy Vessels of Dishonour Rom. 9. 22 23. What if God willing to shew his
callings here is great joy but this is nothing to the knowledge of Gods will Thirdly Every Christian is a Warriour against Sathan the World and the Flesh so 't is a fit similitude for them victory over sin and satan is above all the Conquests in the World this is a part of the good news the Word bringeth to us Col. 2. 14 15. Iohn 16. 33. Now observe In the former verse David had expressed his Reverence to the Word now his Delight First Our trembling at the Word doth not hinder our delight in it none more cheary then the awful soul Acts 9. 31 They walked in the Fear of God and comfort of the Holy Ghost And Psal 112. 1. Blessed is the man that Feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandements Those who are most observant of Gods will and careful to follow it have the greatest contentment in their souls Secondly Joy should be mingled with Reverence lest it degenerate into slavery and a scrupulous Fear Doctrine That Gods People do greatly Rejoice in his Word 1. 'T is not an ordinary delight which is here set forth but such as is high and intense such joy as the richest and most gainful victory can raise in any worldly man 'T is incredible and cannot be expressed how much joy and comfort the Word of God yieldeth to good men Therefore so many similitudes used More then in all Riches Psal. 119. 14. ver 103. Sweeter than Honey and the Honey Comb. I love it above Gold and above fine Gold 127. ver A joy greater than the joy of worldly men 2dly 'T is not a light flash or a phantastical impression but a solid consolation such as is affliction proof and death proof when the strength of this joy cometh to be tryed and assaulted by deep afflictions Therefore the heirs of promise are said to have strong consolation Heb. 6. 18. So verse 50. of this Psalm This is my Comfort in mine affliction thy Word hath quickned me 3dly This joy which is the mark of a sound believer is delighting to know believe and obey Gods Word For 't is in the way of his Testimonies Psalm 119. 14. 'T is in his Commandements they delight greatly Study and Contemplation breedeth a pleasure but nothing like practice The pleasures and delights of the mind do certainly exceed those of the Body for the more noble the faculty is the more capable of delight A man in study hath a truer pleasure than the greatest Epicure in the most exquisite enjoyments of sense Now moral delights exceed those which are the meér result of Contemplation as they give us a more intimate feeling of the worth of things Again those delights which are supernatural and come from the Spirit as the pleasures of Faith and Obedience do exceed those of the natural mind as much as those do bodily pleasures as being exercised about nobler Objects which are the sence of the Favour of God and Reconciliation with him and the hopes of Eternal Life And as coming from an higher cause the Spirit of God Therefore upon the whole there is no true delight and contentment but what proceedeth from a careful performance of Gods Commands strictly abstaining from what may displease him and chearfully practising all that he requireth of us Truly the present gratefulness of such an employment and the succeeding comforts of such practices are a continual Feast all other Pleasures to this are nothing worth The Obedience of Faith to a Believer is more than any worldly advantage 'T is a sweet thing to be exercised in the Word of God in Reading and Hearing it with serious Meditation but much more to be brought under the Power and Practice of it Reasons 1. The Godly find glad tydings in the Word suitable to their souls necessities and therefore rejoyce in it For the object of delight is bonum conveniens sufficiens here is enough to content them and it is very suitable There is pardon of sins and that is ground of Joy Matth. 9. 2. Be of good chear thy sins be forgiven thee there we hear of a Saviour 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Iesus Christ came into the world to save Sinners When the Gospel was Preached at Samaria Acts 8. 8. There was great joy in that City Zacheus received Christ joyfully for he brought Salvation to his House Luke 19. 6. There iâ⦠the true way of mortifying sin and sanctifying the Heart Psal. 19. 8. The Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the soul the Commandement of the Lord is pure inlightning the Eyes There we are told of the joys of the World to come 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him We should exult for joy to hear of those things Thus you see the Word of God affordeth such comforts such matter of rejoycing as cannot be parallel'd A poor man when he findeth a treasure receiveth it with a joyful Heart Oh! What inestimable treasure do we find in the Word of God! the way of Eternal Salvation is there made manifest 2. The Saints have felt benefit by it They have been renewed and sanctified by it therefore they prize it Iames 1. 18 19. Of his own will begat he us with the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his Creatures Therefore be swift to hear There they have found powerful heavenly Truths by which their souls are made new they have tasted Gods Love in the Doctrines and promises thereof and against a tast there is no disputing 1 Pet. 2. 2 3. Experimented sweetness is beyond all arguments they have been revived and comforted by it in their Troubles as at the 93d verse of this Psalm more largely I will never forget thy Word for by them thou hast quickned me God hath done their souls good by it 'T is the charter of their hopes verse 111 of this Psalm What ever Calamities they meet with in the World there they see ground of Peace and composedness in their soul. 3dly They love God and they hear more of him in the Word than they can elsewhere The soul that loveth God heareth and seeth his Blessed name in every leaf they find the effects of his Goodness in Creation some fruits and pledges of his love in daily Providence but there they find his great eternal and wonderful love in Christ there they know Gods will and 't is their desire to be subject to it and therefore value it not onely as the Charter of their hopes but as the Rule of their Duty Use I. To condemn them First That find no sweetness in the Word of God they do not mind the business of Salvation and then no wonder if they have a slight and mean esteem of the Word Two reasons of this Contempt 1. Their Scope is not fixed All means are regarded with
Action A Rebellion or an act of disloyalty against God yea there is not only a vertual hatred in Sin but a formal hatred not only implyed but exprest they wish there were not a God to punish them and call them to an account such a Law to forbid such Practices as they affect or that such things were not sin VVell then 't is not some kind of pleasure in the study of the VVord will shew our love to the VVord but an Impartial Intire and Uniform Obedience strictly abstaining from such things as if forbiddeth and carefully practising what it requireth at our hands 2. That our hatred of Sin must flow from such a Principle a man may hate sin upon forreign and accidental reasons and so that obstaining from sin is not a true hatred but a Casual dislike as when we forbare some sins but retain others that sute better with our Condition Callings Employment Temper or because of some difficulty in compassing shame in Practising or repugnant to our natural Temper No it must be out of a principle of Love to God Psal. 97. 10. Ye that love the Lord hate evil So Psal. 119. 113. I hate vain thoughts but thy law do I love An hatred of Sin arising from love to God and his VVord is the only true hatred that 's hatred of sin as sin as 't is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Iohn 3. 4. A transgression of the Law as 't is ingratitude to God contrary to our Obligations to him not only as destructive to our selves not principally timore poenae but amore virtutis The VVord of God furnisheth us with divers Reasons and Arguments to move us to hate sin they all have their place but some are more Noble and Excellent than others As when a Man hateth sin because God hath forbidden it True hatred cometh from a love of the contrary therefore he that hath a vehement love to the Law hateth all things which are contrary to it Matth. 6. 20. He will hate the one and love the other There is no serving two Masters love to the one inforceth hatred of the other To love the Good and hate the Evil are inseparable 3. The more we hate Sin the more prepared we are to love the Law A carnal Heart hateth the Law Ioh. 3. 20. He that doth evil hateth the light And Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is not subject to the Law He that doth not hate sin hateth the word of God VVe cannot delight in it till our Affections be purified and sanctified Mens evil practices and dispositions cause them to hate the Light 't is a reproving light can sore Eyes delight to look upon the Sun or an unsound heart delight in that which will so ransack and search the Conscience 4. According to the degree of Love so will the degree of our Hatred be they that have the highest love of the Law will have most hatred of Sin they hate every lesser contrariety a vain Thought Psal. 119. 113. They do not only hate open and scandalous sins but sin carried on in a more close and cleanly manner yea they groan under the Relicks of Corruption and feel it an heavy burden Rom. 7. 22 23 24. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members And then Oh wretched man that I am Next to the Object of our affection the principle or spring of it must be regarded and next to the spring and rise of it the degree must be looked after that we love the good and hate the evil proportionably that is to say that our Hatred must be proportionable to the evil of the thing hated and our love to the good of the thing loved and indeed where the one is the other will be where a great love a great hatred where a little love a little hatred Psal. 119. 127 128. I love thy commandments above gold yea above fine gold therefore I esteem thy precepts in all things to be right and hate every false way Use. Well then if we would shew our love to the Word we must truly sincerely and constantly turn from all known sin with Detestation and Abhorrence for hatred of sin is an infallible evidence of love to the Word Now hatred of sin if it be right 1. 'T is Universal ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to the whole kind as Haman thought scorn to lay hands upon Mordecai alone but sought to destroy the whole Race of the Iews Ester 3. 6. one sin is as inconsistent with the love of God as another there may be as much Contempt of Gods Authority in a sin of Thought as in a sin of Practice in a small sin as in a greater There may be much crookedness in a small line and in some Cases the Die is more than the Stuff I hate every false way 't is twice repeated in this Psalm in the 104. verse and verse 128. To hate what God hateth Prov. 8. 13. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil 2. 'T is Implacable it aimeth at the utter Extirpation and Expulsion of Sin they seek to remove the guilt to weaken the inclination they groan sorely under the very Being of sin that any thing of sin is left O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of death Rom. 7. 24. 3. 'T is still growing at first 't is a dubious Case men that are Convinced have some Mind to let sin go or a wish that Christ would save them from it but 't is with such Reserves that they have rather a mind to keep it than let it go As Pharaoh had no mind to dismiss Israel and therefore stood hucking with God or as David when he sent out Forces against Absalom yet be tender of the young Man Pleasing Lusts we have but a remiss Will against them our love to it is greater than our dislike of it therefore so unstable Iam. 1. 8. but when the soul is Converted the soul is armed with a resolution 1 Pet. 4. 1. Then the love of sin is weakned in their hearts and the strength and vigour of it abated the soul is armed with a serious purpose to give it up and shake off this servitude in the confidence of that Grace which is purchased for them by Christs Death there is a Godly Inclination and bent of soul to live unto God Again as our Communion with God and sense of his Love is increased in us so our hatred of sin groweth more keen and fierce when God had told what he would do for Ephraim what have I any more to do with Idols Hosea 14. 8. I have had too much to do already what any more In what proportion there is a sense of Gods Love in the same proportion an hatred of Evil. Moses when he had talked with God in the Mount at his return
purpose Acts 11. 23. if thy purposes were more full and strong and throughly bent against sin they would sooner succeed Is it the fixed decree and determination of thy Will When you are firmly resolved your Affections will be sincere and stedfast you will pursue this work close not be off and on hot and cold unstable in all your wayes your full purpose or the habitual bent of your hearts are known by your drift and scope Or it may be this purpose may be extorted not the effect of thy Judgment and Will but only thy Conscience awakened by some present fear Many are by some pangs and qualmes of Conscience frighted into some Religiousness but this humour lasts not long Psal. 78. 35 36 37. And they remembered that God was their rock and the most high their redeemer Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and they lyed to him with their tongues for their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant In their dangers they remembered God but their hearts were not right with him Ahab in his fears had some relentings So had Pharaoh The Israelites turned to the Lord in their distress but they turned as fast from him afterwards Resolves not of love but fear So are these resolutions wrested from you by some present Terrours which when they cease no wonder that they are where they were before Violent things never hold long they will hold as long as the principle of their violence lasteth Or it may be you rest in the strength of your own Resolutions now God will be owned as the Author of all Grace who reneweth and quickeneth every Affection in us still we must have a sense of our own insufficiency and resolve more in the strength and power of God and relie upon the Grace of Jesus Christ by his Spirit mortifying the deeds of the Body as knowing that without him you can do nothing neither continue nor perform our Resolutions Men fall again as often as they think to stand by their own power there is much Guile and Falshood in our own hearts we cannot trust them the Saints still resolve God assisting Psal. 119. 8. I will keep thy precepts O forsake me not utterly Verse 32. I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt inlarge my heart They beg God to keep up their Inclination and Bent against Sin Verse 36. Incline my heart to thy Testimonies and not to Covetousnââ¦ss 2. As to Sriving let us examine that a little if it be so serious so diligent so circumspect as it should be Certainly that is no effectual striving when you are disheartned with every difficulty for Difficulties do but influence a resolved Spirit as stirring doth the fire No question but it will be hard to enter in at the streight Gate or walk in the narrow way God hath made the way to Heaven so narrow and streight that we may the more strive to enter in thereat Luk. 13. 24. Now shall we sit down and complain when we succeed not upon every faint attempt Who then can be saved This is to cry out with the Sluggard There is a Lion in the way Should a Mariner as soon as the Waves arise and strong gusts of Wind blow give over all guiding of the Ship No he is resolved upon his Voyage To give out upon every difficulty is against all the experience and wont of Mankind Again this striving and opposing is but slight not accompanied with that Watchfulness and Resolution which is necessary Many pretend to watch against sin yet abstain not from all occasions of sin if we play about the Cockatrice hole no wonder we are bitten Never think to turn from thy sin if thou dost not turn from the occasion of them Prov. 4. 15. Go not in the way of evil men avoid it pass not by it turn from it and pass away This is a practice becoming the hatred of sin Evil Company is a Snare if thou hast not strength to avoid the occasion which is less how canst thou avoid the sin which is greater He that resolveth not to be burnt in the Fire must not come near the Flames Iob made a Covenant with his Eyes Iob 31. 1. Our Saviour taught us to pray lead us not into temptation he doth not say into sin Temptation openeth the gate to it Certainly it argueth an hanckering of mind when we dally with Temptations as the Raven when he is driven from the Carrion loveth to abide within the sent of it so they have an inclination to sin when they forbear the the practice of it 3. For Praying we oftener pray from our Memories than from our Consciences and from our Consciences Enlightened than Hearts Renewed by Grace Prayer as it is the fruit of Memory and Invention is but a few slight and formal Words said of Course a Body without a Soul As dictated by Conscience it may be retracted by the Will at noli modo Austin when he prayed against his Youthful Lusts timeâ⦠ne me excluderet Deus was afraid left he should be heard too soon at best but half desires faint wishes like Balaams wish to die the death of the Righteous The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing God never made Promise that lazy wishes should be satisfied if you pray against sin with your whole heart he will hear you The great fault is the want of this thorough hatred of Sin Use. Take heed of two things 1. A secret Love to your Sins 2. A remiss Hatred against them 1. A secret Love to Sin Iob speaketh of some that hid sin as a sweet Morsel under their Tongues Iob 20. 12. loth to let a Lust go And David of regarding iniquity in our heart Psal. 66. 18. First there is a secret liking of sin which in time will prove baneful to the Soul some Lust is spared and continueth unmortified It doth not remain so much as it is reserved and there keepeth Possession for Satan This will in time eat out all our other Vertues and bring a stain upon those good properties wherewith God hath indowed us Sin was never heartily cast out therefore they are in time insnared again and drawn away by some sensitive Lure 2. A remiss Hatred of sin no there must be a Total and full Aversion Hatred and Indignation is the souls expulsive Faculty it cannot be kept in good plight without it 'T is the lively and active principle which sets the soul awork in avoiding what is hurtful to the spiritual Life it concerneth us to keep it up in strength and vigour The Reason why even Believers do so often sin through weakness is because the Will doth not so strongly dissent as it should though we do not deliberately give our assent it should more potently awaken our displeasure but certainly the reason of wilful sin is want of a strong hatred Though Convinced of Evil yet we go on like a fool to the Correction of the Stocks Prov.
peace that guardeth Heart and Mind Phil. 4. 7. 2. For the degree 't is many times in a great Measure injoyed it may be more or less as our Interest in Gods favour is more or lessened in us and 't is not perfect in this Life There may be Clouds and Interruptions but as our holiness increaseth so doth our peacâ⦠a little holiness a little peace but they that love thy law have great Peace Obj. How have Gods Children great Peace None seem more troubled and harrassed with outward Afflictions nor walk more Mournfully then they do Ans. 'T is true this Peace doth not exclude Trouble from carnal men in the World they may have little outward Peace yet they shall have as much of that as God seeth good for them Iob 5. 23 24. but inward peace which is peculiar to them They have God for their Friend are quieted with a true sense and apprehension of his love and favour to them 'T is true as to this inward peace Gods Children may sometimes be without it they that love the Law have a greater sense of sin than others Wicked men swallow sins without remorse but they are very apprehensive of displeasing God But we must distinguish between the time of settling this peace and when 't is settled for a Time they may walk sadly their peace is not grown up light is sown for the Righteous many times they sow in Tears but reap in Joy sometimes their love to the Law is intermitted so their peace may be interrupted But their worst condition is better then a carnal mans best as the darkest cloudy day is brighter then the brightest night there is some comfort and staying upon God in the worst Condition Use. I. Let us from hence see the sad condition of carnal Men this Clause love thy law is exclusive and confineth it to one sort of men The unjustified the unsanctified want this Peace God saith of them they should not enter into my Rest Psal. 95. 11. The Rest is begun in this Life in Reconciliation with God and Peace of Conscience and perfected in an Everlasting Refreshment in that to come Their sins are not pardoned and therefore continually Fear they have often refused Gods peace and therefore cannot injoy comfort with any security nor bear Troubles with any patience and quiet of Mind nor come into Gods presence with any cheerfulness nor wait for eternal Rest with any certain hope There is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isa. 48. 22. Psal. 57. 20 21. 'T is not allowed to wicked men nor vouchsafed to them 't is true they may have a peace but 't is either in sin or from sin they do not mind the condition of their Souls a blind presumption that meerly cometh from Gods forbearance or Worldly Happiness in Prosperity Carnal Men seem to be in as great quietness as the Children of God as the deep Sea in a Calm which seemeth to be as quiet as other waters until a storm and tempest doth arise then troubled and cannot rest Use. II. To perswade us to love the Law of God by this Argument because we shall have great peace for the Promise is made to this love But you will say How must we shew love to the Law of God that we may obtain this Effect I Answer Practice the Duties it calleth for in order to peace 1. Accept the Articles of peace that are proclaimed between God and Mankind in and through Christ. Eph. 2. 17. There is peace preached not only to them that are afar off but to them that are nigh there is not only a price paid but an offer made Imbrace it lay hold upon it by Faith God is in good earnest with you 2 Cor. 5. 20. Oh love this good Word 't is the gladest tydings that ever sounded in the ears of lost sinners Now is your time agree with your Adversary while he is in the way before you be cast into Prison Luk. 12. 58. If you lose this opportunity and do not imbrace the offered friendship God will be exceeding Angry Heb. 2. 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation 2 Chron. 30. 8. Therefore give the hand to the Lord. 2. Perform the duty of Thankfulness which God requires Matth. 11. 29. Peace is the Fruit of Sanctification as well as Justification 't is not to be found elsewhere Isa. 32. 17. 3. Be much in Communion with God and trading with Heaven Acquaint thy self with God Iob 22. 21. 4. Be tender of your peace when 't is once settled of doing any thing that may cause War between God and the Soul Psal. 58. 8. Take heed of venturing your peace for the Vanities of the World those sinful and foolish Courses which will lay you open to Gods Wrath and Displeasure Psal. 37. 11. The meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of Peace SERMON CLXXX PSALM CXIX VER 165. Great Peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them I Now come to the effect nothing shall offend them the Sept. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã There is no scandal in them the Apostle Iohn applyeth the same phrase or form of speech to him that loveth his Brother ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã There is no occasion of stumbling in him the meaning is they shall not be in danger of those snares and temptations which the world is full of and which frequently bring other men to sin and ruine or nothing shall wound or hurt them or cause them to fall in their journey to Heaven Doctrine That the Love of Gods Law is a great means to carry a Believer streight on his way to Heaven what ever Temptations he hath to the Contrary Here I shall enquire First What scandals and offences are Secondly How a Believer is preserved First What scandals and offences are I answer Scandals literally signifieth Temptations or Inducements to sin any stumbling-block or hinderance laid in a mans way by which the passenger is detained or diverted Or at which if he be not careful he is apt to stumble or fall spiritually it signifyeth any thing that may discourage or divert us from our duty to God or may occasion us to fall to the great loss or ruine of our Souls Now concerning these scandals or offences I shall give you these distinctions with respect to the subject there are three sorts of scandals 1. Taken but not given 2. Given but not taken 3. Both given and taken 1. There is offence taken where none is given thus Christ himself in his Person Sufferings Doctrine may be an offence to the carnal and unbelieving World In his Person as he is said to be in the 1 Pet. 2. 8. A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to them that stumbled at the Word being disobedient whereunto they were also appointed He that is to the Believer a Corner-stone Elect and Precious is to the obstinate prejudiced unbeliever with allusion to those that Travel
we should look to our Confidence whether it be Faith or Security whether we rest upon a carnal Pillow or the Corner-stone which God hath laid in Sion Use. It concerneth us all to look to this whether we love the law so as to have gotten Peace of Conscience and Assurance of Gods Protection because of the ââ¦titude of Scandals and the Trials and Exercises we are put upon by Gods Correcting hand The Prosperity of the Wicked the Disgrace that is cast on the stricter ways of God the World being so full of Snares and Temptations that bring men to Sin and Ruin Omnia timeo saith Bernard quae placeant quae tristantur I am afraid of every thing of those things that please us and those that make us sad What shall a poor Christian do that he may not Miscarry 1. Be sure that your Resolutions for God and the World to come be thoroughly fixed and settled for you will be distracted with every thing if you be not at a point and have not chosen the better part and fully fixed your purpose The Apostle telleth us Iam. 1. 8. The double minded man is unstable in all his ways A wavering and inconstant Christian will not know which way to turn himself being disquieted upon all occasions 2. They never rightly begin with God that do not sit down and count what it may cost them to be holy Christians Luk. 14. 26. If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple If you have not a preparation of mind to suffer any thing rather than part with Christ you are not fit for his turn Like a man that sets on Building and hath not a Stock to hold out or designeth a War and is not provided with all necessaries to go thorough with it You must expect Temptations and Troubles because they serve to try whether you will hold your integrity and if God be not sufficient enough to be your portion never serve him Never pretend to Religion if you do not resolve to renounce all that is precious to you in the World rather than forsake it 3. Consider the necessity of standing to Gods Law whatever persecutions and sufferings you meet with There is no other way to be saved Ioh. 6. 68. Lord whither shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life Such as have a mind to quit Christ have need to consider where they shall find a better master Change where they will they change for the worse Obedience to the Word of God is the only way to Eternal Life and whatever Law you make to your selves God will judge you by his own Law 4. Be established in the peace of God and never break this peace to obtain your outward peace What a wound will it be to thy Soul and how shiftless and helpless wilt thou be when to make thy peace with the World thou hast broken thy peace with God! Therefore rise up against Temptations as the Trees refused in Iothams Parable to be Ruler over the rest Shall I lose my fatness another my sweetness to rule over the Trees Shall I to please men put my Conscience to a continual Torment and Anguish sell the Birth-right for one Morsel of Meat The remembrance will come into your minds when you had joyful Communion with God and his People whose Company you have abandoned every day of solemn Assembly will be a new Torment to you 5. When troubles surprize you consider how unbeseeming it is to take offence at Gods Providence 'T is an ill sign to be so apt to pick quarrels with God and Godliness it argueth little love either to God or his Law for love thinketh no ill of those whom we love they are Murmurers that said the ways of the Lord are not equal or what profit is there if we serve the Lord Mal. 3. 14 6. Consider The greatest hurt Satan intendeth you is not to hurt your Bodies but your Souls To bring you to be offended at the holy and righteous ways of the Lord he would let you enjoy the pleasures of sin to rob you of your delight in God and Celestial pleasures let you have all the World if it were in his power Matth. 4. 9. 7. Consider How short is the Prosperity of the wicked and those that turn aside to the wayes of sin Psal. 17. 14. They shall be cut off they are soon withered and dried up and all their outward Glory perishes with them 'T is a more prudent Course to adhere closely to God Iob 5. 3. I have seen the foolish taking root but suddenly I cursed his habitation 'T is a prediction he foretold that there was a Curse at the root of all his Prosperity SERMON CLXXXI PSALM CXIX VER 166. Lord I have hoped for thy Salvation and done thy Commandments THE Man of God had said Verse 165. Great Peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them now he particularly applyeth to himself what he had generally spoken before 'T is sweet when we can thus comfortably apply Promises and make out our own Title and Interest this is Davids work in this and the following Verses Here he maketh profession of two things his Hope and Obedience which indeed are the two great things that belong to a Christian Graces much praised and little practised Quarum multa sunt Elogia pauca Exempla They are fitly coupled together in his Plea I have hoped I have done For our Confidence in Gods Mercy is no greater than our Fidelity in his Precepts and they are both professed before God who searcheth the heart and tryeth the Reins Lord I have hoped for thy Salvation and done thy Commandments Doctrine Sound hope of Salvation is and must be joyned with a care of keeping Gods Commandments First I shall speak of the several branches of this Profession apart Secondly Then of their Conjunction First Separately and there I. Of the Profession of his Hope Lord I have hoped for thy salvation 1. The Object and thing hoped for is Salvation Salvation is Temporal or Eternal of the Body or of the Soul Rabbi David Kimchi understandeth it of the latter but it seemeth rather to imply help and deliverance out of dangers and distresses Indeed neither can be well excluded not Eternal Salvation for without that Temporal Deliverance is but a reprieve for a time not a total exemption from Evil not Temporal Salvation because before we come to look for our full and final deliverance God will try us by the way and train us up in the expectation of other things As men learn to swim in the Rivers and shallow Waters that afterwards they may swim in the Ocean and deep Waters So by expecting lesser things we learn to wait for greater both must be hoped for but with a difference Eternal Salvation absolutely but Temporal with submission to Gods Will. We have
supplication come before thee deliver me so let thy hand help me deliver me according to thy Word A good man may be brought into great straits which his own hand cannot help and stead him but then he may fly to God and say Lord let thy hand help me His Argument and Motive which he urgeth is that I have chosen thy precepts and from thence he infers his hope of Deliverance The Points will be two Doctrine I. That this is the Character and description of a good man that he is good and doth good out of choice So David pleads it here I have chosen thy precepts Doctrine II. That a man which makes Conscience of Gods Commands is encouraged to seek help from him in all his straits For he prays I have chosen thy precepts therefore Lord let thy hand help me Doctrine I. It is the plain Character of a good man to be good and do good out of Choice It was not out of rashness and ignorance and inconsiderate Zeal that David with so much hazard betook himself to Gods service and was so exactly faithful with God but upon due Choice Trial and Examination I have chosen thy Precepts The Point may easily be proved out of Scripture Isa. 56. 4. Gods People are described to be those that choose the things that please him and take hold of his Covenant Taking hold of his Covenant relates there to the Priviledge part of the Covenant As they seek their happiness in the priviledges of Gods Covenant so as to the Duty part they choose the things which please him After serious and mature deliberation and judgment rightly informed and Affection thereon grounded they embrace the ways of God by a free Election and Choice And so you shall see it is the Charge against wicked men this is the disproof of their Confidence Prov. 1. 29. that they did not choose the Fear of the Lord mark the expression that is prefer it before the baits of sin So Deut. 30. 19. I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that thou and thy seed may live We shall never have Life unless we have it by choice He sets both before them choose Life not as if it were indifferent in point of Duty for to do the one or the other but to set an edge upon their Affections I have set both before you God will have his service entred upon by choice Ios. 24. 15. Now if it seem evil for you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve whether the gods whom your fathers served on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell but as for me c. He leaves it not arbitrarily to the Israelites whether they should serve God or no but this he he saith that they might freely and without Compulsion declare what they were minded to do and that they might be the more firmly tied to serve the Lord because they had voluntarily taken upon themselves to do it Now choose you whom you will serve that is compare that which is best with that which is worst Life and Death Light and Darkness Heaven and Hell together and resolve accordingly because no man in his right Wits would make any doubt after such a Representation which to choose Ioshuah's Speech is just such another Speech as that of Elijah 1 King 18. 21. If God be God serve him if Baal be God follow him Not as if he made it any doubt or would have them make it any doubt or as if it were uncertain but that they might choose more freely and delight and persevere in their Choice These places shew we never rightly enter into Gods service until we enter upon it by Choice Here I shall enquire First What it is to choose Gods Precepts Secondly Give some Reasons why they must be chosen else they can never be rightly kept or why this is so necessary First What is choosing Gods Precepts It implies five things 1. Deliberation 2. Esteem or Preferrence 3. A Voluntary Inclination 4. A firm and stedfast Resolution by which we are bound all our days 5. A Complacency and Contentment in what we have chosen 1. Deliberation or a due consideration of what is chosen its Nature Worth and Excellency for until we compare and weigh things how can we make a choice but take them hand over-head and therefore there is a weighing the reasons on both sides Gods Children are not ignorant what it is to flow in Worldly Wealth Pleasures and Earthly Comforts and to enjoy the favour of the World and to sail here with a full stream And on the other side they are not ignorant what it will cost them to be through with Christ to be Religious indeed they do not run hand over head to resolve upon such a course no they sit down they count the Charges Luk. 14. 27. The business sticks with many in this first work we cannot bring them to any serious consideration they will not weigh things but act as their brutish Lusts ineline them It is said Isa. 46. 8. Remember this and shew your selves men bring it to mind O ye transgressors It is a Disgrace to our Reason when we will not consider well of things and bring them not back to our hearts as the word signifies but we run on as Chance offereth Objects or Occasions consider what this and that will tend to weigh things in your Souls Even good it self if we stumble upon it it is but a lucky hit or a happy mistake therefore the Apostle adviseth us to resolve upon Trial 1 Thes. 5. 21. Prove all things and hold fast that which is good Men will not hold fast that which is good unless they first prove and try Indeed those things which usually oppose themselves against the spiritual Life are such poor paultry inconsiderable Vanities that they are not worthy to be brought into competition or into any serious debate with them for it is no hard question to resolve whether God or the Flesh shall be pleased whether the Transitory Pleasures of sin should be preferred before Eternal Glory or the Happiness of the Saints But yet serious Consideration will discover this to us and shame us out of our perverse and preposterous choice whereas otherwise we should go on like men Asleep or like men out of their wits choose poor base things delight in inconsiderable trifles before the things whereof we are so deeply concerned therefore it requires deliberation in weighing 2. Choice notes Esteem or Preferrence for election and choice it is a preferring of one thing before an other Though God and Christ be good and Grace and Heaven be good yet there are other things that come in competition with them and when we set our selves to seek after God and Christ these Competitors are suing for our Hearts and Rival Christ in the Soul And therefore this Choice implies a Renunciation of all other things a
trampling upon them and a high esteem and value of Christ and his wayes The Scripture speaks of selling all for the Pearl of great Price Matth. 13. 45 46. of accounting things but dung and dross in comparison of Christ Phil. 3. 8 9. In choosing the ways of God many things will be offered to us that may hale us this way and that way many Pleasures and Contentments of this Life Now we must trample upon them all and renounce them as they are Temptations that we may actually exalt prefer and esteem Christ and his Grace There are two things which Assault our Resolution for God the Terrors of Sense and the Allurements of the Flesh or the Vanities of the World Now a Soul resolved to serve God must actually and positively prefer Obedience before both of these before Temptations on the right hand and on the left 1 For the Terrors of Sense we must be resolved rather to suffer than to sin In choosing the ways of God the heart must come to a firm Resolution rather to suffer the greatest inconvenience than to commit the least sin this was Moses his Choice Heb. 11. 25. When once it came to a case of Sin then he renounceth Pleasures Treasures Honours Whatever it costs us we must resolve to be faithful with God and to run the greatest hazard rather than to do the least thing that is contrary to his Will 2. We must prefer Obedience before all the Allurements of the Flesh and Vanities of the World David chose Gods Precepts that is valued them more then all other things See Verse 14. of this Psalm I have rejoyced in the way of thy Testimonies more then in all riches He explains the choice here mentioned If we have Grace to serve God and to keep the way of his Testimonies we count our selves more happy than if we had all the World It is not enough to approve Gods Ways simply but we must approve them Comparatively not only as good in themselves but as better then all other things and it should be more to us to be taught our Duty and to know how to serve God then if we did enjoy the fulness of all Earthly Comforts 3. Choosing the ways of God implies a Voluntary inclination that we should of our own accord follow them for choice is free and it is opposed to force and constraint and a man is said to choose those things which he likes which he loves which his soul enclines to when he is carried to them not by the Compulsion of an external Principle but by his own propenfion and inclination Look as the wicked they are described to be those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness Prov. 2. 13. that is have an inclination to one rather than another for what is exprest that the wicked leave the Paths of uprightness it is explained Ioh. 3. 19. by loving darkness rather than the light And so it is said of Mary she hath chosen that good part of her own Voluntary accord and free Inclination she was moved to sit at Christs feet to attend upon the improvement of her Soul The business of Salvatiis offered to our Choice it is left to our own free Inclination though God gives the Inclination before hand as by and by If you choose death you willingly and freely forsake your own Mercies 4. Choice implies a firm and immutable Purpose a resolved adhesion to those things we choose The Mind is not anxious and doubtful and hanging between two contraries when we choose but fixed and determined I have chosen thy precepts that is firmly resolved to observe them We never choose till we come to a full purpose Asts 11. 33. He exhorteth them with full purpose of Heart to cleave to the Lord. A wavering inclination infers no choice there may be good thoughts and meanings in the Soul but till we are resolved for God we do not choose his Precepts Many are convinced of a better way but their hearts are not engaged to walk in it We are fixedly determined by our choice Ier. 30. 21. Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me saith the Lord He hath sincerely obliged and bound himself to live in a close way of Communion with God the Soul begins to pause and consider the vanity of Earthly things there 's the first Yea and after this they are brought on that they say Certainly it is much better to be a servant of the Lord than to be a servant of Sin and they see that the greatest inconvenience is a more tolerable thing than sin and all the Pleasures and Profits of the World will not countervail our Duty to God There is an inclimation to the way of God ay but this inclination while it is wavering it may be taken off till it come to a Resolution here I will stick I will seek my happiness and comfort in seeking of God It is good for me to draw nigh unto God Psal. 73. ult and therefore I am resolved to seek my happiness and contentment whatever I do 5. Choice implies a contentment and complacency in that which we have chosen and the act of the Will is quickned by a suitable Affection that accompanieth it Mark Election is properly an Act of the Will ay but the Affections they are but the Vigorous Motions of the Will Where there is a remiss Will that 's without Affection but where there is a strong bent in the Will that is always accompanied with some suitable Affection As if I have a strong bent and nilling of sin there is an affection of Hatred accompanying it if I have but a remiss Will for Holiness that will never save me that is made to be one of the seven deadly sins which the School men call Listlesness but where there is a serious will such a willing as a choosing certainly there is an Affection that accompanieth it Look as David when he had chosen God for his Portion presently he profest his complacency and delight in his choice Psal. 16. 6. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage Where there is a choosing God for our portion and All-sufficient happiness there is presently a delight and satisfaction which results from this choice and the soul is affected with its own felicity in God and finds a joy and pleasure in choosing him So it is in choosing the Precepts of God I have chosen thy Precepts see the next Verse Thy law is my delight where there is choice there is delight A man loves what he chooseth and is ready and forward to do it and it s a pleasing thing to serve the Lord for Election in such a weighty Case is accompanied with Love it is not an Act of a remiss but strong Will and where there is Love nothing will be grievous 1 Iohn 5. 3. Secondly To give Reasons why we must thus choose the Precepts of God I shall Reason 1. From
the rebelling flesh within will make him turn out of the way and how can such a one hold out with God when his way to heaven is a continual Warfare But on the other side a man that is a Christian and a servant of God by Choice his course is likely according to his choice because he is fixt upon Evidence he knowes he is upon sure ground and depending upon God he will not miscarry And therefore Ioshua when he would engage the Israelites to continue faithful with God he draws them on to a Choice and then saith Ioshua 24. 22. Ye are witnesses against your selves that ye have chosen the Lord to serve him and they said We are witnesses It much strengthens the Bond when a man binds himself freely and willingly and he makes himself the more culpable and the more inexcusable if he do not observe it 3. They will carry on the work of their Heavenly Calling with the more Ease and Delight because a choice is nothing else but the inclination of the Soul guided by Reason strengthned by a Purpose and quickned and actuated by our Love This Reason justifies our choice Purpose binds it makes it firm but now here comes Love which makes it easie and sweet to do what we have resolved upon A resolute Traveller will go through his Journey and overcome the tediousness of it his mind is set to finish it let him have what Way or Weather he will so a Christian will overcome his difficulties when his heart is enclined to this course it is his own choice and he will hold to it It is a hard heart that makes the work hard but when the Will is engaged a firm Resolution of the Will is the life of our Affections and to Affection all is easie Use. I. To shew That they act upon a wrong Principle who are not good and yet do good out of Chance To this end I shall shew you 1. That a Man may do good by Chance and not be good 2. A Man may do good by Force and yet not be good 3. That some do good out of Craft and Design but to do good out of Choice doth only discover the Truth and Sincerity of Religion 1. Some do good by Chance As 1. The Man that taketh up Religion by Example barely and Tradition not out of any sound Conviction of the Truth and Worth of it Thus many are Christians by the chance of their Birth in those Countries where the Name of Christ is professed and had in Honour and the main Reason into which their Religion is resolved is not any Excellency in its self but the Custom and Tradition of their Forefathers Ioh. 4. 20. Our father 's worshipped in this Mountain And 1 Pet. 1. 18. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and Gold from your vain conversation received by Tradition from your fathers 'T was hard to reclaim them from their inveterate Customs This is the Religion in which they have been born and bred 'T is true that Tradition from Father to Son is a Duty and a Means to bring us to the Knowledge of the Truth and that Christianity is such an Institution as doth so clearly evidence its self to be of God and speaketh to us of such necessary and weighty matters that it cannot but a little rowse and affect the mind of him that receiveth it however he receiveth it But most men do but blindly and pertinaciously adhere to it as that Religion wherein they have been born and bred without any distinct knowledge of the worth of it So that if there be any goodness in their Christianity as their Profession is good in itself They are but good by chance for upon the same reasons they are Christians if they had been born elsewhere they would have been Mahometans or Idolaters 2. Not only these but also those who stumble upon the Profession of Religion they know not how and those who in a Pang and sudden Motion are all for God and for Heavenly things but this vanisheth into nothing as Fire in straw which is soon kindled and soon out This is a free-will Pang not a choice the heart is not habitually inclined and devoted unto God Ioh. 6. 34. Oh that I might die the death of the righteous Numb 23. 10. Such kind of wishing of holiness as a necessary means there may be as well as happiness These are accidentally stirred up in us 2. Some do good by force These also are of two sorts such as are forced by the fear of Men or of God 1. Forced by the fear of Men because they dare not be bad with credit and security as Fear of Parents Tutors and Governours 2 Chron. 24. 2. Ioash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the dayes of Iehojadah the Preist He did that which was right as to external Acts but after Iehojadahs death he revolted from the Lord 2 Chron. 24. 17 18. So fear of Magistrates as Iosiah compelled them to stand to the Covenant therefore Ier. 3. 10. Yet for all this her treacherous sister Iudah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart but feignedly Fear of the times when set for Religion Esther 8. 12. Many of the people of the land became Iews for the fear of the Iews fell upon them 2. Forced by the Fear of God A little unwilling service may be extorted from them by the force of a convinced Conscience There is a slavish kind of Religiousness arising from a fear of Punishment without any love and delight in God Men may be against God and his Wayes when fear onely driveth them to them They do something good but had rather leave it undone they avoid some sins but had rather practice them By the spirit of bondage they are brought to tender some unwilling service to Christ and their only Motives are fear of Wrath and Hell and a sight of the curse due to sin The falseness of this Principle appeareth 1 Because 't is most stirring in a time of eminent Judgements when they are sick and like to dye Isa. 26. 9. When thy judgements are abroad in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn Righteousness Ier. 2. 26. In their affliction they will cry Arise and save us Mettle in the furnace is very soft but take it out and it returneth to its old hardness See Psal. 78. 34 35 36 37. The sense of present devouring Wrath and the Terrors of an Angry God may drive men to some Temporary acts of Devotion these proceed only from the Natural fear of Death and love of Self-preservation This may put a stand for a while to their former wayes of Provocation and incline them to seek God with some diligence in the outward forms of Religion but it produceth no stedfastness in the Covenant As if there had been some weak effect upon them as if it brought them for a while to some temper of Piety but it
Flames for a little contentment here in the World for a little ease and delight here given to your carnal Nature Is an Earthly Life that you cannot long hold more valuable then an Eternal Heaven you shall enjoy for ever no let us go to heaven though we get thither with many pains and sufferings If you forsake all not only in Vow and Purpose but Actually and in Deed yet still you have something better you shall be no looser in the end you shall so choose the blessed God and live with him for evermore and be fill'd with his Love as full as you can hold and be employed in his service and all this in an Eternal Perfection and glorified Estate 4. Motive Choose for you will never have cause to repent of your choice The Lord stands upon his Justification is very tender of giving his People any Cause to repent of his service Micah 6. 3. O my people what have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against me Pray what hurt hath Holiness done you Who was ever the better for sinning or who was the worse for Holiness There was none that ever made a carnal choice but first or last they had cause to repent of it either they repent of it in a kindly manner while they may mend the matter or else they shall repent for ever in Misery but who ever repented of his Repentance or cursed the day of his new Birth To whom ever was it any grief of heart that they were acquainted with God and Christ or the way that leadeth unto life who dieth the sweeter death or who repents of their choice then the serious or the carnal Oh they that have chosen the World they cry out how the World hath deceived them but never any repented of choosing God and the wayes of God Let these things perswade you to choose his Precepts Secondly For Directions 1. In Choosing the Object is to be regarded Gods Precepts indefinitely all of them not one excepted the smallest as well as the greatest the troublesome as well as the easie the most neglected as well as the most observed we must choose all Gods Precepts not abate any thing but especially the main or the essential Precepts of Christianity or the Fundamental points of the Covenant Now the Question is What 's the Fundamental Point of the Covenant Truly that 's known by the form of Baptisme Baptisme is the solemn Seal of entring into Covenant with God it 's the Seal of our initiation or first entrance into Covenant with God Mat. 28. 19. Now what is it to be Baptised in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost when you first choose the ways of God here you must begin you must close with Father Son and Holy Ghost heartily take them to be your God that is you must close with God the Father as your All-sufficient Portion or chiefest happiness to be loved above all and also as your highest Lord that he may be served pleased and obeyed above all Well and in the name of the Son that is Jesus Christ he must be taken as your Saviour and Redeemer to bring you to God and to reconcile you to him And to be Baptised in the name of the Holy Ghost is this to take him as your Sanctifier Guide and Comforter to make you a holy people to God to cleanse your hearts from sin to write all Gods Laws upon your Hearts and put them into your Minds and to guide you by the Word and Ordinances to everlasting Life This is the main thing that is first to be minded because it contains all and doth necessarily infer the rest for otherwise to be resolute in some by-point of Religion though it be right this is but the Obstinacy of a Faction not the constancy of a Christian Zeal 2. As you must look to the Object of this choice so to the Causes of it and what are they An Enlightned Mind a renewed Heart a Love to God and then the Spirit of God enlightning and inclining our Hearts 1. An Enlightned Mind is a cause of choosing the ways of God when the Lord hath taught us his Precepts an enlightned mind discovers a beauty and amiableness in the ways of God Psal. 119. 128. I esteem all thy Precepts to be right and they are the rejoycing of my soul. 2. A Renewed Heart wherein all the precepts of God are written over again They were written upon our Hearts in Innocency but that 's a blurred Manuscript therefore in Regeneration they are written over again God writes his Law in our hearts and puts them in our inward parts Heb. 8. 10. and then the Law within suits with the Law without for the new Creature is created after God in Righteousness and true Holiness In true Holiness which relates to the first Table of the Law and Righteousness which relates to the second Table of the Law the renewed heart that hath this inclination and propension is carried out to them 3. Love to God for that 's implied in the choice Iohn 14. 21. He that hath my Commandements and keeps them he it is that loves me and he that loves me hath my Commandements and keeps them It follows the other way where there is love to God there will be choosing of his ways 4. Gods Spirit the Lord Enlightning and Inclining our Hearts to this choice God Enlightens for he teacheth us the way that we shall choose and when we see these things in the light of the Spirit then we see the Beauty of them Psal. 25. 12. It holds good as to the path of Life and in particular cases but chiefly in the main case God teacheth him the way that he shall choose And the Spirit of God enclines the Heart too as well as enlightens the Mind 1 Pet. 1. 22. Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit 3. There are the Effects of this Choice What are they Delight Diligence and Patience 1. Delight Psal. 40. 8. I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy law is within my heart When the Law is not only written in the Book but written in the heart then there 's a Delight a ready and willing Obedience It is spoken first of Christ of David it was said in Type it 's true also of all Believers for they have the Spirit of Christ and the same also is exprest of the People of God Psal. 112. 1. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandments When a man hath chosen the precepts of God and bound himself in this way then his heart is taken with a delight 2. Diligence Gods Precepts are the great business and employment of our lives and then there 's a constant study to please him Col. 1. 9 10. Filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing We must do Gods Will and
and increasing Wickedness and Fleshly Mindedness makes us addicted to Worldly Vanities and so we run with the Fowl into the Snare walking according to the Course of this World Eph. 2. 2. Isa. 6. 6. I am a man of Polluted Lips and I dwell among a People of Polluted Lips We have Sin within but it is mightily encreased by Example without by dwelling among those that are Polluted we are more defiled we catch sickness one of another we do not get Health one from another As in the Law by touching an unclean thing a Man was made unclean but not on the contrary we being Polluted our selves are more defiled by others by conversing with them We live among them that are Neglectfull of God and unmindfull of Heavenly Things and we come also to grow more so ourselves 5. To Represent the Danger of straying Sheep when they are out of the Pasture are in harms-way exposed to a Thousand Dangers Ier. 50. 7. All that find them have devoured them So are we in danger to become a Prey to the roaring Lyon who goes about seeking whom he may devour and to the Dogs and Wolves that are abroad In his sinful State man is a Sheep whom no man taketh up out of Gods Protection and a ready Prey for Satan taken Captive by him at his Pleasure 2 Tim. 2. 26. Till the Lord recover him by Repentance Thus God forms represents and points out our Condition before Conversion certainly before we were converted to God we were as Sheep wandring in our Ignorance and sinful ways to our own Destruction and in hazard to be prey'd upon continually by the roaring Lyon Secondly See if it be better with us after Conversion For here 's a Man of God he saith I have gone astray like a lost Sheep Now after Grace received though our Heart was set to walk with God for the main yet we often swerve from our Rule through Ignorance or through inadvertency and sometimes are blinded by Worldly Desires and Fleshly Lusts and so transgress our Bounds and neglect our Duty Psal. 19. 12. Who can understand his Errors Our Errors are so many who can bear them all in mind who can know and remember them all I say even the best who are tender of displeasing and dishonouring God by Sin they have their Errors yea and sometimes too their foul Faults Let me a little shew this 1. There are some unavoydable infirmities and frailties which we cannot get rid of though we fainwould as Rom. 7. 15. What I hate that do I and verse 19. The good that I would that I do not and the evil that I would not that do I. And Gal. 5. 17. The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the spirit against the flesh so that ye cannot do the things that ye would A true Christian would love God more perfectly delight in him more abundantly and bring every thought into Subjection to his will He would get rid of the Fountain of Sin of Natural Concupiscence and all the stirrings of Envy Lust Pride Anger but alas the Spirit that worketh in us Lusteth to envy and bewrayeth it self in these Carnal Affections these are aberrations from the strict Law which God hath given to us but such as men are subject unto in this state of Frailty Though they be hated resisted though they be restrained in a great measure that they do not break out into gross act yet a Child of God cannot get rid of them though this Fire is not blown up but smothered yet in some degree it burns in our Bosoms there is Life in it still 2. There are other things which they might get rid of if they would and yet they are not always so happy as to withstand it certain sins that are avoidable by the ordinary assistances of Grace which God vouchsafes to his People yet a Believer may relaps into them many times Men are not always so watchful nor is the bent of their Hearts so strongly fixed in them and there is very much security in the Saints and they run into the Snare till they be awakened either by some powerful Convictions or some smart affliction as David saith Psal. 119. 67. Before I was afflicted I went astray The best of Gods Children many times in their peace and prosperity they fall asleep and forget themselves and so let some Infirmity still be upon them before God doth awaken them and bring them to themselves again Hezekiah was no sooner setled in a peacefull Estate but presently he forgets himself and suffers Pride to steal upon his Heart till the Lord humbled him for the Pride of his Heart 2 Chron. 32. 25 26. When all things went happily with him he was recovered out of his sickness and had congratulatory Messages from the Princes of the Nations round about him and lived in great Prosperity then his Heart was lifted up Some Carnal Distemper may grow upon us or evil practice we may fall into David when he had gotten a carnal Pillow under his Head he lay down and slept and dreamt of nothing but Prosperitie a perpetual uninterrupted temporal happiness Psal. 30. 6. He was full of carnal complacency untill God made him look about him Thus by our carelesness do we often provoke God to use sharp Remedies There are some are not avoidable but left for Humiliation but those that are avoidable by such ordinary assistances of Gods Grace to his People yet many times through our folly and inadvertency and sleepiness of Conscience we run into them Having shewed the kinds of these Sins let me now shew the Causes why many times those whose hearts are right with God that do not forget his Precepts yet they go astray like lost Sheep The 1. Cause is their present imperfection Though Grace doth heal all the faculties yet it doth not totally heal them or wholly overcome the weakness which is in them God promiseth to put his Law into their hearts and minds yet both the understanding and will and all the inferiour faculties they are but in part sanctified You know our Soul is divided into two parts into the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the faculties which should command and direct and into the faculties which should be commanded and directed The commanding faculties are called Spirit and the faculties which should be commanded are called Soul The reason or the incitation the affections the dispositions which inclines us to things good for us there is a weakness in all these Whence comes all the Weaknesses and Errors of the Saints There 's a defect in the leading or commanding part of the Soul which is the Understanding and the Will in the Understanding is the Directive Counsel and in the Will is the Imperial Power Now the Understanding which should direct and guide us is blind and Sleepy and not so Vigilant and Watchful as it should be and so in many cases it proves but a dark and imperfect Guide and Director to us and so we erre
535 Affections must be purged and quickned p. 532 Affections sensitive differ from the solid Complacency of the Soul p. 85 Affections when strong are very painful p. 121 Affections strong constant and earnest towards Gods Word a mark of a Child of God p. 121. 898. expressed by 1. Opening the mouth 2. Panting 3. Longiug p. 897 Affections spiritual their Objects End and Properties p. 121 122 Affections carnal to be avoided p. 566 Affection to Gods Word for its innate Goodness and Truth p. 623 Affections false and slashy p. 122 Affections not nullified but rectified by Grace p. 807 884 Affections of the mind usually expressed by Words proper to the bodily senses p. 671. 897 Affections follow apprehensions p. 685. 234 They are good or evil according to their objects p. 1006 Affections spiritual will take all occasions to Remember Gods Name p. 374 Four things about our affections considerable p. 252. 253 Afflictions God is always just in them p. 509. 510. Yet Patient and Moderate p. 510 511 Afflictions long and sharp usually attended with either 1. Impatience or 2. Revenge against instruments or 3. The using indirect means for redress or 4. Despondency or 5. Questioniug our Interest in God or 6. Atheistical and despairing Thoughts p. 555 556. 465. 835 836. 843 Afflictions sanctified advance holy Thoughts p. 526 Prayer p. 714. They are good in what respects p. 484 Afflictions may be long and grievous before deliverance comes p. 150 157. 537. 835. 711 712 713. Three Agents in the Afflictions of Gods People 1. God 2. Satan 3. Wicked men p. 537 538. In afflictions Gods end is to reduce us into the right way p. 463 464. To humble and purge us 711 712. 510 Afflictions of great use to the converted and unconverted p. 464 465. 510 Why God afflicts his Children so sorely p. 711 712 Afflictions their necessity p. 157. 591. 487. And Utility p. 461 462 463 464. 484. 711 712. Afflictions encrease our Comforts in Gods Word p. 888 Afflictions though great are alleviated by the Consolations of the Word p. 148 Choisest Saints have their afflictions p. 965 Afflictions are great Priviledges p. 424. 481 Afflictions work not for good of their own Nature but by the Spirit of God p. 465 466. 487 They should bring us to God by Prayer p. 968 Age one age sees more then another p. 650 Age brings wisdom by experience p. 650 Aged ought to be reverenced p. 654 Aggravation of sin to Vow and not perform it p. 704 Allow we must not allow our selves in the least sin p. 34 Aides of Grace either necessary or liberal p. 221 Alphonsus King of Arragon his Counsellours p. 148 Allurements and Terrors of the VVorld means to draw us from God p. 1031 All sufficiency of God encourageth 1. Our dependance on him 2. Our subjection to him p. 587 588 It makes him the Souls only portion p. 385 Ancients VVho p. 650 Anger wrath envy how they differ p. 520 Anger of God when discovered bespeaks Holy awe and dread p. 808 Anger at the Violation of Gods Law a Note of true Zeal p. 853 Anger and hatred of Sin how they differ p. 878 Anger against the sin and pity to the sinner shews a well tempered zeal p. 931 Anger and Passion in discourse renders it evil p. 1064 Anguish of Spirit even in gracious souls caused by great Troubles partly from Nature Partly from Grace p. 884 Answers of Prayers to be duly observed p. 168 and why Reasons ibid. p. 905 906 907 Answer of Prayer either in kind or value p. 169 167. 908 909 Gods Children are earnest for answers of Prayer p. 905 Answer of a good Conscience what it signifies p. 699. Answer of Prayer neglected proceeds from either 1. Heedlessness 2. Atheism 3. Distrust 4. Disesteem of Gods favour p. 906 Great evil effects of such neglect p. 906 907 Antecedency of Gods work before Mans work p. 221 Antinomians who deny the Law to be a Rule p. 4 Antiperistasis in grace as well as Nature p. 871 Antiquity should not sway against Truth p. 650 Apostacy one ground of it the not Receiving the Truth in the love of it p. 67. Vid. Distrust As also from our inbred Corruption p. 803 Dissuasives against Apostacy p. 871. 341 342 Evil consequences of Apostacy p. 210. 342. Apostacy is bestial and brutish p. 1100 Apostacy caused from 1. Errors 2. Persecutions 3. Scandals p. 343. Vid. Back-sliding Defection Appeal to God on a double account p. 522 No appeal from Gods Judgement p. 38 Many pretend to serve God that cannot appeal to him p. 306 Appetite follows life and holy desires spring from a new Nature p. 304 Application of mercy personally called coming to God p. 517 Application of the Word by Faith p. 768 Application of Providence to their own selves a mark of Gods Children p. 811 Application of Gods mercies to our own souls p. 318. 517 Effectual application of mercy p. 517 Approbation of God a great Comfort under reproach p. 301 Approbation of Gods Law by the sanctified Judgment p. 34. 752 Means to bring our hearts to approve Gods Law p. 877 Approbation of purity without chusing it is not sufficient p. 861. 708. 223 Approbation of that in our selves which we condemn in others an evil character p. 3 Arbitrary God is so in gifts not in Judgments p. 934 Arts and Sciences not comparable to Gods word for the obtaining of true VVisdom p. 650 Arrogance in discourses odious to God p. 1064 Ascribe all to God p. 43. 552 Arguments to prevail with God 1. From his mercy 2. His Truth p. 941 Ask Gods Counsel his Leave and Blessing p. 31 Ask of God saving knowledge of Divine things p. 895 Grounds of it ibid. How Temporal deliverance is to be asked p. 923 Ashamed of God Christ and his Gospel Reasons of it Arguments against it p. 311 Assaults of Satan make assisting grace necessary p. 780 Assurance strengthned by perseverance p. 342 Astray the best of Saints apt to go astray p. 1102 Reasons 1. Present imperfection 2. Remainders of Corruption p. 1102 1103. Not totally and finally p. 1106 Assistance of God necessary to preserve both habitual and actual grace p. 789 Attributes of God in a Conflict about sinners p. 320 Atheistical persons are great deriders of Saints for 1. Their Faith 2. Obedience p. 336 Atheism to observe Gods signal Judgements on the wicked a Cure of it p. 798 A man may have Atheism enough to question Providences when ther 's Faith enough to justifie God p. 836 Avenger God is the Avenger of breach of Vows Oaths and Covenants p. 704. 705. Averseness of the heart from God a Cause of the delaying of Repentance p. 408 Averseness of Heart in coming to God makes us need not only leave to come but power to come p. 953 Audience of God how manifested how procured p. 166 St. Augustines Prayer about the Scriptures That he might neither be deceived in them nor deceive others by
then soon cool in their desires such are slothful Professors p. 2 Children of God desire to be taught of God p. 230 Reasons why they desire it p. 230 231. They long for Eternal Salvation p. 1087 Choice of Gods Testimonies gives us a Right to them p. 742 After enquiry into the way of Truth we must come to the choice of it p. 197. What it is to choose them p. 1071 To do good out of Choice the Character of a good Man p. 1070 1071. Causes of a right choice p. 1078 Effects of a right choice p. 1079 Christ our Surety p. 820 821. By way of Caution and by way of Satisfaction ibid. Christ the object and end of worship p. 12 Christ uses subordinate Teachers not out of Indigence but Indulgence p. 41. Christ a tender Shepherd p. 1107 Christ. All Sin a great injury 1. To his Merit 2. To his Example p. 20 21. Christ's undertaking the end of it to make us blessed in the enjoyment of God p. 72. Vid. Blessedness Christianity is not to be judged by Nominal Professors p. 1069 Christianity its design not to set up a Kingdom of Power but Patience p. 522. Vid. Conditions of Christianity It hath 2 parts 1. Destructive 2. Adstructive p. 184 Christian Religion onely worthy our choice p. 197. Reas. ibid. Church is Christ's School p. 41 Church true and false their difference p. 518 False Church hath usually the advantage of worldly Power above the true Church p. 518 Chusing Gods Precepts what it is why they must be chosen p. 1071. Motives to chuse them p. 177 Directions how to chuse them p. 1378 Civil Policy and Interest not opposed by Religion p. 144 Circumstances in our obedience much insisted on by God p. 26 27. Great prudence in applying Circumstances p. 449 Claim to Comfort from Gods Tender Mercies p. 516 Cold Prayer teaches God to deny p. 121 Comfort denotes two things p. 513. 'T is the Souls strength p. 513 Comfort in all its Causes matter of Comfort p. 592 Comfort right when according to the Tenour of the Word p. 40 Comfort Spiritual Eternal Temporal 551. All to be ascribed to God p. 552 513 Comfort in death from the everlastingness of Gods Testimonies p. 892. When we beg Comfort we must beg Grace to serve the God of our Comforts p. 927 928 Comfort in Afflictions may be askt from Gods Mercy p. 511 Comfort from Gods Word which teacheth us 1. To look off from Men to God 2. From Providences to Promises p. 147 591 629 329 Comfort under Afflictions 1 From God the Author of them 2 From the necessity of Affliction 3 The manner of Gods Afflicting 4 His helps to bear them p. 150 151. False Comforts p. 334 No comforts in Afflictions like those that are fetcht in from Gods Word p. 329. For 1 The quality of those comforts are Excellent 2 The provision he has made for our comfort are great 3 The manner is sweet p. 329 330 331 332 333. Commandements are exceeding broad 1 In respect of their uses 2 Of their duration p. 619 Command of God to be feared as well as the penalty p. 25 Commandments of God called his Ways why p. 22 Commandments of God excellent in their Matter p. 315 Commandments of God above the power of Corrupt Nature why p. 28. Great and small must be obeyed and why p. 33 They make us wiser than our Enemies how?-p 638 Commands for publick and private Duties relating to the outward and inner Man p. 33. To God and Man p. 34 Commandments have 1 God for their Author 2 God in giving them to be considered as a Lawgiver 3 They are holy just and good p. 455 456 Commerce with God Vid. communion Common Favours not to be rested in p. 912 113 Communion of Saints its excellency p. 504 Communion with God makes blessed p. 11. No communion with him without obedience to him ibid. Communion with God discovers his gloriousness and our vileness p. 61 Communion with God in Donatives and Duties p. 951 952 Company of wicked Men how far to be shunned 1. As to Familiarity with them 2. Durable Relation to them 3. Compliance with them in their Sins p. 773 774. Vid. carnal compliance reproof to such p. 353 Company Observations and Directions about it p. 776 777 It is to be kept with those that are gracious Reasons p. 430 431. Complaints under Affliction what they usually are p. 713 714 Complain we may complain to God not of God p. 551 Compliance with God our safety p. 637 Condescension of God in arguing with us p. 877 Condescension of God in using his Supremacy over us 1. In making overtures of Peace 2. In seeking to reclaim us by Mercies p. 131 Condition of him that falleth off from God worse then his that never begun p. 342 Conditions of professing Christianity and of enjoying outward things p. 415 Conduct of the Spirit necessary p. 170 Conference Religious either stated or occasional-p 81 82 Confession of sin with a broken heart argues one sincere p. 1106 Confession of the Truth gives inward Liberty when it brings us into outward Bonds p. 301 Confession of the Truth hindred by 1 Carnal Fear 2 Carnal Shame p. 306 309 331 332 Confession of Sin its Usefulness p. 164 Not enough to believe the Word with the Heart unless wee confess it with our Mouths p. 330. Reasons p. 330 331. Vid. Profession Confidence in Death and in the day of Judgment-p 30 37. Confirmation in the belief of Gods Word a matter of very great Moment p. 285 286 Congruity of choosing Gods Precepts p. 1073 Conscience Erroneons will mislead us p. 4 Conscience hath no Lawgiver but God p. 878 A good Conscience Comfort against reproach p. 301 Conscience must be the Lords as well as our Afflictions p. 15 Conscience its Light not to be opposed p. 21 26. It takes notice of thoughts as well as Actions p. 33 It is a bridle to restrain from Sin and a whip to lash us for sin p. 532. A great Comfort under and against Reproach p. 141 A good Conscience gives Encouragement to come to God p. 1079 Conscience when it works Christ knocks p. 412 Conscience to be kept necessary why How it may be kept p. 417 418 We must have a good Conscience as well as a good cause p. 977 978 Consent of every individual Person to the Terms of the Covenant of Grace necessary to partake of its benefit p. 909 910. Consideration of our ways makes way for Conversion p. 395 Consideration fit matter of it 1 Who made thee 2 Why did God make thee 3 Hast thou answered the End of his making thee 4 What unkindness not to remember him that made thee c. p. 397 398 399 225. Gods Considering our Afflictions what it signifies p. 969 Consideration of Gods Judgments what and how p. 346 Consolation for the afflicted from Gods Word p. 591 Vid. Comfort from Gods Word Constancy in Gods ways a great Duty p. 210. Motives
p. 56 402 403. why we must obey without delay p. 402 403. Great Mischief of delays 405. Causes of these delays p. 408 409. Heynousness of the sin of Delaying ibid Delays as well as denials are painful p. 121 Delaying Mercy is not denying mercy p. 167 168 Why God delays Mercy ibid. Delays of God in making good the promises proceed not from Ignorance nor forgetfulness nor mutability nor Impotency p. 324 Delay in helping and delivering discourageth Gods Children p. 549. God may delay so long till 1. The Enemies be proud 2. A land wasted p. 549 Delays of spiritual Mercies sharpen desires p. 912 914 Deliberation in sinning a great Aggravation of sin p. 21 Deliberate sin charg'd on David when many others were omitted p. 739 740 Delight in worldly things as our portion is a main branch of Covetousness p. 254 255 Delight in Gods word what it is why the word is so delightful p. 84 85 95 96 Delight in Gods Word the property of Saints p. 593 885 Delight in Gods Testimonies an evidence that we have made them our Choice p. 741. Trial whether we delight in his Testimonies p. 87 88 89 95. how we are to delight in them p 96. Reasons for delighting in them 96 97. Uses p. 98. Exhortation to it Means to get it p. 98 99 593. It puts us upon prayer for Grace and gives us hope to speed in our prayer p. 244 Delights spiritual and carnal distinguished p. 149 1084 150. Promises to be delighted in before fulfill'd p 10 Delight in Gods Commandements the Causes of it 1. Suitableness 2. Possession 3. A precedent love of the Object p. 885. What is necessary to delighting in Gods Commandements p. 245 Delight its effects 1. Enlarging the heart 2. It causeth thirsting after more p. 886 245 Delight spiritual it's Objects perfect p. 886. Examine whether we have this delight p. 886. 1. By the extent 2. Effects 3. It s perpetuity 4. By comparing these delights with those in sensible things ibid. Delight true only to be had in God p. 386 Deliverance to be sought for in Prayer p. 921 922 It engageth us to Gods Service p. 924 Demerits in the best of Saints p. 839 Deliverance from the power of sin as well as from guilt p. 913 Deliverance when pleaded for we must get 1. Right Principles 2. Right Ends what they are p. 860. It is lawful p. 970 Deliverance will come in due time p. 558 Natural to desire deliverance p. 1083 Deliverances apt to be forgotten when danger is over p. 791 Deliverance two ways p. 737 Denial we are to pray against denials and delays p. 914 Dependancies Carnal God weans his People from them p. 143 645 Dependance on God a condition of those that expect Counsel from him in straights p. 155 769 Dependance on God better than Carnal reaches p. 645 It is a great duty p. 324 1105 Dependance on God never disappointed p. 831 Dependance on God what it implies 1. Committing our selves to his Care 2. Submitting to his Will 3. Waiting his Leisure p. 346 347 Departure from God twofold p. 669. Reasons of it ibid. Desire its proper object Holiness p. 303. how to awaken them p. 309 Desire moderated towards earthly things by considering their Vanity p. 617 Desire of Holiness the Character of Saints and why p. 29 30 901. God will satisfie it ibid. 304 Strong desires a Cause why Saints press after Gods Word p. 901 Desire what it is p. 121 897 303 304 1087. It denotes the absence of the good desired p. 885 897 1087 Desires of the godly and the wicked distinguished-p 30 Unactive desires come to nothing p. 31 Desire of man either 1. after Truth or 2. Immortality p. 623. Several sorts of desires evil p. 305 Desires vehement sweeten enjoyment p. 912 Excellency of vehement desires after spirituals p. 898 901. How to get these desires p. 901 902 Desertion the kinds of it Reasons and Causes of it p. 48 49 925 It is either 1. in appearance or 2 in reality-p 925 Desertion the greatest of sufferings p. 148 Two special sins the Causes of Desertion 1. Too much liberty in Carnal things 2. Laziness in spiritual things p. 925 Design to do good out of Design is evil p. 1076 Despair in our selves not in God p. 29 Despised Christians are despised by Men when brought low by God p 869 Despising Christs little ones a great sin p. 519 520 Despised Saints are highly honoured by God p. 554 870 Despised the common Lot of Saints to be so p. 869 Despisers of Gods Word who they are p. 1001 Despondency an ordinary evil in sharp and tedious Afflictions p. 556 Despondency reproved p. 159 792 Destruction no Creature can desire its own Destruction p. 1095 1096 Determination an Act of the Judgment p. Devil works much on the Concupiscible and Irrascible faculty p. 1031 Devil a great Enemy to us in hearing the Word 1. By Diverting us 2. By raising prejudices 3. By furnishing us with excuses evasions delays c. p. 68 Devil not to be believed p. 411 Vid. Satan Devil seeks to weaken our opinion of Gods goodness p. 440 Devisers of Reproaches and Calumny p. 299. 300 Devices of the Heart of Man p. 759 Devoting our selves to God 1. Entitles us to the Comforts of the Gospel 2. Engages us to all the Duties of it p. 915 Difference of Judgment causeth discord p. 528 Difference between men and men ãâã free grace p. 647 Difference between the delights of the Godly and the wicked p. 149 Difference between the service of God and all other services p. 850 Different measures in them that are Converted p. 604 Difference made by God in Common judgments p. 805 Difference between good and evil is real p. 939 940 Difference in things call for different affections p. 85 Difference between carnal and regenerate and the regenerate and themselves p. 673 674. 689 Difficulties broken through by the Promises p. 880 Difficulties in Scripture though it be light yet no discoument to us in searching it p. 696 697 Dig a Pit what that expression imports p. 559 Diligence in obeying Gods Commandements required p. 26. Reasons of it p. 26 27 Diligence wherein it lies p. 27 28. 638 Diligence in Prayer makes it a business p. 920 Diligence 1. In observing 2. improving afflictions p. 487 Direction of God general and particular p. 31 Direction literal and effectual p. 32. 841. God must be depended on for Direction Reasons of it 1. The blindness of our minds 2. The forgetfulness of our Memories 3. The obstinacy of our hearts p. 32. 240 Direction 1. For general choise 2. Particular actions p. 692 693 Direction sufficient from Gods Word p. 40 41. 629. 690 691 692 Direction necessary from God to him that would keep in with God p. 152. 240 Direction how to carry our selves till deliverance comes a great mercy p. 842. Why p. 842 843 Direction An act of the Judgment p. 449 Disappointment of Wicked mens
462. Mortification pressed p. 280 It helps and is helped by Vivification p. 659 Necessary to walking with God p. 277 278 Murmuring against Providence 1. In entertaining crosses with anger 2. Blessings with disdain-p 519 Caution against it p 485 It makes afflictions sharp and long p. 555 It 's cured by thanksgiving p. 421. 445 Reproof of murmuring in Gods children p. 928 510 From consideration of Gods faithfulness in afflicting us p. 510. Mourning for sins of others a constant disposition to it necessary and occasions often given p. 930. Special seasons that call for it Ibid. Vid. Lamentation Multiplying of expressions in Scriptures to the same purpose is not in vain p. 338 Mutability of the creature p. 779 Mutability of man aggravated from the immutability of Gods Testimonies p. 957 958 Mutual engagement between God and man in the Covenant p. 608 Mysteries though deep in themselves are yet revealed in a plain and familiar style p. 888 N. NAmes of contempt and scorn put upon the best parts of Religion by carnal men 1. Seriousness called Melancholy 2 Self-denial folly 3. Zeal sury 4. Holy singularity faction 5. Conversing with God Enthusiasm 6. Heavenly Discourse cantting 7. Faith credulity 8. Humility stupidness 9. Exact walking preciseness p. 337 338 Name of God well studied the way to remember him p. 367. Name of essence and attributes Ibid. Name of God is that whereby he is made known-9 362 Name of God glorified byacknowledging his mercies 445 Name of God taken in vain by slighty prayer p. 905 Name of the Church Afflicted tossed with tempests 882 Name a good name to be highly prized p. 137 138 To rob a man of his good name is the worst kind of theft p. 140. Nature the course of nature stable and regular an embleme of the stability of Gods Promises p. 583 584 All natures have a propension unto their perfection p. 303 Nature more susceptible of evil than good p. 933 Natural light and strength cannot help us out of our misery p. 110. Natural conscience takes notice only of gross sins p. 859 Natural men are bound to pray p. 160 Natural blindness an obstinate disease p. 171 172 Natural Instinct p. 123. Spiritual Instinct p. 123 Natural and gracious expectations distinguished 1083 Natural changeableness of our spirits shews the necessity of actual assisting grace p. 779 Nearness to God calls for our Reverence and Dependance p. 953 954 Nearness of God what it imports p. 947. What it is and how brought about-948 949 950 951 952 953 Nearer to God the more hateful the sin p. 804 Necessaries ought first to be sought p. 403 Necessities put us upon secret prayer p. 922 Negative faith may be in the wicked and negative distrust in the godly p. 884 Negative holiness not sufficient p. 658 Necessity a reason of desire after Gods word 124. 602 Necessity of chusing Gods precepts p. 1073 Neglect of God damnable as well as profaneness p. 777 Neglect of Gods word the cause of it p. 603 Neglect of God in trouble a great evil p. 917 Negligence in duty dishonourable to God p. 27 New heart Gods gift and the principle of durable obedience p. 753 754 New heart and soft heart both of grace p. 177 New nature the spring of holy desires p. 304 New nature Gods Commandments are suitable to it 316. It carries the soul to God p. 926 New creature in order to new obedience p. 497 New Testament God trusts love under that despensation p. 1076 Qu. Why God does not state duty so exactly under the New Testament as under the Old p. 1076 Night a season for converse with God p. 932 Vid. Watches of the Night Novelty an itch to it a ground of Apostasy p. 213 O. OAth lawful in some cases necessary p. 699 700 Arguments for an Oath p. 700 701 God is invoked as a witness and as a Judg p. 701 In what cases an Oath is lawful 1. In lawful matters 2. Weighty necessary things p. 702 Oath to God must be performed why p. 704 705. Obedience to Gods Laws indispensable p. 497 It must be given without delay why p. 402 403 Without arguing p. 939 940 It must be 1. Sincere 2. Constant 3. Uniform-5 Such Obedience is 1. The beginning 2. The evidence of blessedness p. 5 In Obedience three things are considerable 1. The Principle 2. The matter 3. The manner of it-751 Obedience to God is 1. Reasonable 2. Profitable p. 21 It must flow from a principle of love p. 862 It must be free and unconstrain'd p. 317 How to bring our hearts to it p. 317 Obedience which is 1. Laborious 2. Costly 3. Dangerous is troublesome to the flesh p. 754 755 Whether we are to resolve for Obedience when uncertain of Gods assistance p. 222 Obedience a necessary qualification of those that would be taught of God p. 155 Obedience to God our great security p. 690 Difficulties in the way of obedience overcome by consideration of Gods testimonies p. 892 Qu. How far we may ascribe our comforts and blessings to our Obedience p. 380 Obedience can never be right without hope of Salvation and hope can never be true without obedience to the Commandments p. 1040. See Reasons of both 1040 1041. Object and end of Worship Christ p. 12 Objections against the Scripture answered p. 694 695 696 697 Obscene Discourses an abomination to God p. 1064 Observance of Gods Commandments must be 1. Universal 2. Serious and diligent 3. Setled 4. Constant and persevering 5. From principles of Faith and love 6. Directed to a right end p. 319 320 Vid. Obedience Observe God observes how we carry it in our troubles p. 871. Observation of what passeth between God and us conduceth much to the comforting and quickning of the soul p. 603 Obstinacy there is a holy Obstinacy to cleave to God when he seems to thrust us from him p. 901 Occasions of Thanksgiving p. 425 Occasions of sin to be shunned p. 662 Occasional Meditation what it is how to be improved p. 90. Taking occasion to employ our selves about holy things a sign of a gracious heart p. 931 932 Office of Christ to reduce straying sheep p. 1107 Offerings Gods people have their spiritual offerings p. 720 721. They must be free-will offerings p. 723 Old-age makes sinners more unfit for Gods service-405 1042. Omission sins of Omission damnable-p 22. 26 Omnipresence of God p. 948 Omniscience of God a motive to Obedience p. 26 Omniscience cannot be deceived nor mocked p. 322 Opening the eyes by God shews great wonders in the Word p. 112 Opening our condition before God under sorrow and sin urged p. 165 166 Though God knows our case yet there is need to open our case before him p. 166 Vid. Laying open our case Open profession of Religion necessary p. 206 Opinions about the chiefest good very many St. Austin reckons up p. 288. ââ¦87 Opportunity to sin trys our sincerity p. 817 818 Opposition increaseth true Zeal p. 856 It