such a purchase which will make it at the last but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sweet Bitter like Iohns Roll which was sweet in the mouth but bitter in the belly like Claudius his mushrome pleasant but poison that will blast all the pleasures of sin and turn all the wages of iniquity in Aurum tholosanum into such gold as ever brought destruction to the owners of it It is said of Cm Seius that he had a goodly horse which had all the perfections that could be named for stature feature colour strength limmes comelinesse belonging to a horse but withall this miserie ever went along with him that whosoever became owner of him was sure to die an unhappy death This is the misery that alwayes accompanies the bargain of sin How pleasant how profitable how advantageous soever it may seem to be unto flesh and blood it hath alwayes calamity in the end it ever expires in a miserable death Honey is very sweet but it turns into the bitterest choler The valley of Sodom was one of the most delightfull places in the world but is now become a dead and a standing lake Let the life of a wicked man run on never so fluently it hath a mare mortuum at the dead end of it O then when thou art making a Covenant with sin say to thy soul as Boaz said to his kinsman Ruth 4. â— 5. At what time thou buyest it thou must have Ruth the Moabitesse with it If thou wilt have the pleasureâ— the rewards the wages of iniquitie thou must also have the curse and damnation that is entaild upon it and let thy soul answer which he there doth No I may not do it I shall marre and spoil a better Inheritance II. This may serve for an Instruction unto us touching the duties of solemne Humiliation and Repentance which is the scope of the Prophets direction in this place We must not think we have done enough when we have made generall Acknowledgements and confessions of sin and begg'd pardon and grace from God but we must withall further binde our selves fast unto God by engagements of new obedience as holy men in the Scripture have done in their more solemne addresses unto God Nehem. 9.38 Psal. 51.12 13 14 15. for without amendment of life prayers are but howlings and abominations Hose 7.14 Prov. 28.9 Quantum a praeceptis tantum ab auribus Dei longe sumus No obedience no audience A beast will roar when he is beaten but men when God punisheth should not onely cry but covenant Unto the performance whereof that we may the better apply our selves let us a little consider the nature of a Religious Covenant A Covenant is a mutuall stipulation or a giving and receiving of faith between two parties whereby they do unanimously agree in one inviolable sentence or resolution Such a covenant there is between God and true beleevers He giving himself as a Reward unto them and they giving themselves as servants unto him He willing and requiring the service and they â—illing and consenting to the Reward He promising to be their God and they to be His people Heb. 8.10 A notable expression of with joynt and mutuall stipulation we have Deut. 26.17 18. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in his wayes and to keep his statutes and his commandments and his judgements and to hearken unto his voice and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people as he hath promised thee and that thou shouldest keep all his Commandments And to make thee high above all Nations which hee hath made in praise and in name and in honour and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God as hee hath spoken Where wee have both the mutuall expressions of intimate relation one to another and the mutuall engagements unto universall obedience on the one side and unto high and precious benefits on the other growing out of that Relation For because God is mine I am bound to serve him and because I am his He hath bound himselfe to provide for me We are not now to consider that part of the Covenant which standeth in Gods promise to be our God which in generall importeth thus much Gods giving himself in Christ unto us and together with Christ All other goods things Benefits relative in justification from sin and Adoption unto sons Benefits Habituall A new nature by Regeneration A new heart and life by sanctification A quiet conscience by peace and comfort Benefits Temporall in the promises of this life Benefits eternall in the glory of the next Thus is Christ made of God unto us wisdom in our vocation converting us unto faith in him Righteousnes in our justification reconciling us unto his Father Sanctification in our conformity unto him in grace and Redemption from all evils or enemies which might hate us here and unto All Glory which may fill and everlastingly satisfie us hereafter 1 Cor. 1.30 But wee are now to consider of the other part of the Covenant which concerneth our engagement unto God wherein we promise both our selves and our abilities unto him to be His people and to do him service The materiall cause of this Covenant is whatsoever may be promised unto God and that is first our persons Secondly our service Our persons We are thine Isa. 63.19 Giving our own selves to the Lord. 2 Cor. 8.5 not esteeming our selves our own but his that boughâ— us 1 Cor. 6.19 and being willing that he which bought us should have the property in us and the possession of us and the dominion over us and the liberty to do what he pleaseth with us Being contented to be lost to our selves that wee may bee found in him Phil. 3.9 If sin or Satan call for our tongue or heart or hand or eye to answer these are not mine own Christ hath bought them the Lord hath set them apart for himselfe Psal. 4.3 They are vessels for the Masters use 2 Tim. 2.21 I am but the steward of my self and may not dispose of my Masters goods without much lesse against his own will and commands Our services which are matters of necessity matters of Expediencie and matters of praise All which may be made the materials of a Covenant 1 Matter of Dutie and necessitie As David by an oath bindes himselfe to keepe Gods righteous judgements Psal. 119.106 And the people in Nehemiah's time enter into a curse and an oath to walk in Gods Law and to observe and do all his commandments Nehem. 10.29 2 Matter of circumstantiall expediency which in Christian wisdome may be conducent unto the main end of a mans life or may fit him for any speciall condition which God calleth him unto So the Rechabites promised their Father Ionadab and held that promise obligatory in the sight of God not to drink wine nor to build houses c. Ier. 35.6 7. because by that
goodnes of God in forgiving giving saving honouring us is one of the principall foundations of sincere obedience Then the Soule will thinke nothing too good for God that hath shewed himselfe so good unto it What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits saith the Prophet David Psal. 116.12 and a little after it followes O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the Son of thine Handmaide that is an Home-borne servant thine from my mothers wombe It is an allusion to those who were borne of Servants in the House of their Masters and so were in a condition of Servants Paâ—tus sequitur ventâ—em If the mother be an Handmaide the childe is a Servant too and so the Scripture calleth them filios domus children of the house Gen. 14. 14 15 3 17 12. Lev. 22 11. Ecclesi 2.7 His heart being enlarged in thankfulnesse presently minded him of the deep ingagements that did bind him unto Service even from the wombe True filiall and Evangelicall obedience ariseth from faith and love Faith shewes us Gods love to us and therby worketh in us a Reciprocal love unto him We love him because he loved us first 1 John 4.19 This is the only thing wherein a Servant of God may answer him and may de simili mutuam rependere vicem as Bernaâ—d speakes returne back unto God what he gives unto him If he be angry with me I must not be angry again with him but feare and tremble and begge for pardon If he reprove me I must not reprove but justifie him If he judge me I must not judge but adore him But if he love me I must take the boldnes to love him againe for therefore he loves that he may be loved And this love of ours unto Christ makes us ready to do every thing which he requires of us because we know that he hath done much more for us then he requireth of us The love of Christ saith the Apostle constraineth us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead that is either dead in and with him in regard of the guilt and punishment of sin so as to be freed from the damnation of it or dead by way of conformity unto his death in dying unto sinne and crucifying the old man so as to shake off the power and strength of it And the fruite of all both his dying and our loving is this That we should not live unto our selves but unto him that dyed for us and rose again Thus love argues from the greater to the lesser from the greatnes of his work for us to the smalnes of ours unto him If he died to give us life then we must live to doe him Service Feare produceth onely servile unwilling performances as those fruites which grow in Winter or in cold Countries are sowre unsavoury and unconcocted but those which grow in Summer or in hotter Countries by the warmth and influence of the Sun are sweet and wholesome such is the difference between those fruits of obedience which feare and which love produceth The most formall principle of obedience is love and the first beginings of love in us unto God arise from his mercies unto us being thankfully remembred this teacheth the soule thus to argue God hath given deliverances unto me and should I breake his Commandements Ezra 13.14 Christ gave himselfe to redeeme me from all iniquity and to make me in a speciall manner his owne therefore I must be zealous of good workes Tit. 2.14 therefore I must shew forth the vertues of him that called me out of darkenes into his marvellous Light 1 Pet. 2.9 No more frequent more copious common place in all the Scriptures then this to call for obedience and to aggravate disobedience by the consideration of the great things that God hath done for us Deut. 13.20 21 11 7 8 29 32 6 7. Iosh. 24.2 14. 1 Sam. 12.24 Isay. 1 2. Ier. 2.5 6. Hos. 2.8 Mic. 6.3 5. In the Law a Ransomed man became the Servant of him that bought and delivered him and upon this argument the Apostle calls for obedience Ye are not your owne but you are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirits whâ—ch are Gods 1 Cor. 6.19 20. We have but the use of our selves the property is his and we may do nothing to violate that V. Ut instrumentum divinae gloriae As a meanes and instrument of publishing Gods praises There is an Emphasis in the word Lips Sometimes it is a diminutive word taking away from the duty performed as Matth. 15.8 This people honour me with their lips but their heart is far from me But here it is an Augmentative word that enlargeth the duty and makes it wider I will sacrifice unto thee saith Ionah with the voice of thanksgiving Jonah 2.9 God regardeth not the sacrifice if this be not the use that is made of it to publish and celebrate the glory of his name The outward ceremony is nothing without the thankfulnes of the heart and the thankfulnes of the heart is too little except it have a voice to proclaime it abroad that other may learn to glorifie and admire the works of the Lord too It is not enough to Sacrifice not enough to sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving except withal we declare his works with rejoycing psal 107.22 There is a private thankfulnes of the Soul within it self when meditating on the goodnesse of God it doth in secret returne the tribute of an humble and obedient heart back again unto him which is to praise God on the Bed and there is publick thanksgiving when men tell of the wondrous works of God in the great Congregation of his Saints Psal. 149.1.5 Psal. 26.7.12 Now here the Church promiseth this publick thanksgiving it shal not be the thankfulnesse of the heart onely but of the lips too As it is noted of the thankfull Leper that with a loud voice he glorified God Luke 17.15 The living the living shall praise thee saith Hezekiah but how should they doe it The fathers to the children shall make known thy truth Isay 38.19 There are some affections and motions of the heart that do stop the mouth are of a cold stupefactive and constringent nature as the sap staies and hides it selfe in the root while it is winter Such is fear and extremity of griefe Come saith the Prophet Let us enter into our defenced cities and let us be silent there for the Lord our God hath put us to silence Jer. 8.14 Isai. 10.14 Other affections open the mouth are of an expansive dilating nature know not how to be straitned or suppressed and of all these joy and sense of Gods mercy can least contain it self in the compasse of our narrow breast but will spread and communicate it selfe to others A godly Heart is in this like unto those flowers which shut when the Sun sets
proposed against sinners that are obstinate God doth reserve and proclaim Mercy unto sinners that are penitent When a Consumption is decreed yet a Remnant iâ— reserved to return Isa. 10.22 23. The Lord will keep his Vineyard when he will burn up the thorns and the bryars together Isai. 27.3 4. When a day of fierce anger is determined the meek of the earth are called upon to seek the Lord Zeph. 2.3 When the Lord is coming out of his place to punish the Inhabitants of the Earth for their iniquity he calls upon his people to hide themselves in their chambers until the indignation be overpast Isai. 26.20 21. The Angel which was sent to destroy Sodom had withall a Commission to deliver Lot Genes 19.15 God made full provision for those who mourned for publick abominations before he gave order to destroy the rest Ezek. 9.4 6. Men in their wrath will many times rather strike a friend then spare a foe But Gods proceedings are without disorder he will rather spare his foes then strike his servants as he shewed himself willing to have done in the case of Sodom Gen. 18.26 Moses stood in the gap and diverted Judgments from Israel Psa. 106.23 Yea God seeks for such Ezek. 22.30 and complains when they cannot be found Ezek. 13 5. And if he deliver others for them certainly he will not destroy them for others How ever it go with the world and with wicked men it shall go well with the righteous there shall be a Sanctuary for them when others stumble and they shall pass through the fire when others are consumed by it Isa. 3.10 11. Isai. 8.14 15 16. Zech. 13.8 9. Reasons hereof are Gods Iustice he will not punish the righteous with the wicked he will have it appear that there is a difference between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Gen. 18.23 Mal. 3.18 Gods love unto his people He hath a book of Remembrance written before him for them that fear him and think upon his Name And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I wil spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him Mal. 3.16 17. Here is a climax gradation of arguments drawn from Love In a great fire and devouring trouble such as is threatened there Chap. 4.1 property alone is a ground of care a man would willingly save and secure that which is his own and of any use unto him but if you add unto this preciousness that increaseth the care A man will make hard shift to deliver a rich Cabinet of Jewels though all his ordinary goods and utensils should perish But of all Jewels those which come out of the body are much more precious then those which onely adorn it Who would not snatch rather his childe then his casket or purse out of a flame Relation works not onely upon the affection but upon the bowels Ier. 3â— 20 And lastly the same excellency that the word jewel doth add unto the word mine the same excellency doth service add unto the word sonne A man hath much conflict in himself to take off his heart from an undutiful sonne Never a worse son then Absalom and yet how doth David give a charge to the Commanders to have him spared How inquisitive after his safety How passionately and unseasonably mournful upon the news of his death But if any child be more a jewel then another certainly it is a dutiful childe who hath not onely an interest in our love by Nature but by obedience All these grounds of care and protection for Gods people in trouble are here expressed property they are mine preciousness they are jewels treasures ornaments unto me Relation they are sons usefulness they are sons that serve none could look on a thing so many ways lovely with the same eye as upon a professed and provoking Enemy Lastly Gods name and glory He hath spared his people even in the midst of their provocations for his Names sake Deut. 33.26 27. Iosh. 7.9 How much more when they repent and seek his face He will never let it be said that any seek the Lord in vain Isa. 45.19 But it may be objected Doth not Solomon say that all things happen alike unto all and that no man can know love or hatred by that which is before him Eccles. 9.1 2. And is it not certain and common that in publick desolations good as well as bad do perish Doth not the Sword devour as well one as another It is true God doth not always difference his servants from wicked men by temporal deliverances Troubles commonly and promiscuously involve all sorts But there are these two things considerable in it 1. That many times the good suffer with the bad because they are together corrupted with them and when they joyn in the common provocations no wonder if they suffer in the common judgments Revel 18.4 Nay the sins of Gods people do especially in this case more provoke him unto outward judgments then the sins of his professed enemies Because they expose his name to the more contempt 2 Sam. 12.14 and are committed against the greater love Amos 3.2 and he hath future judgment for the wicked and therefore usually beginneth here at his own sanctuary Ezek. 9.6 1 Pet. 4.17 2. When good men who have preserved themselves from publick sins do yet fall by publick judgments yet there is a great difference in this seeming equality the same affliction having like the Pillar that went before Israel a light side towards Gods people and a dark side toward the Egyptians God usually recompencing the outward evils of his people with more plentiful evidences of inward and spiritual joy A good man may be in great darkness as well as a wicked man but in that case he hath the name of God to stay himself upon which no wicked man in the world hath Isa. 50 10. The metal and the dross go both into the fire together but the drosse is consumed the metal refined So is it with godly and wicked in their sufferings Zach. 13 9 Eccles. 8.12 13. This reproveth the folly of those who in time of trouble rely upon vain things which cannot help them and continue their sins still For Iudgments make no difference of any but penitent and impenitent Sickness doth not complement with an honorable person but useth him as coursely as the base Death knocks as well at a Princes palace as a poor mans cottage wise men dye as well as fools Yea poyson usually works more violently when tempered with wine then with some duller and baser material In times of trouble usually the greater the persons the closer the judgments When Ierusalem was taken the Nobles were slain but the poor of the Land had vineyards and fields given them Ier. 39.6 10. Therefore in troubles we should be more humbled for our sins then our sufferings because sin is the sting of suffering That mercies
Repentance before they can bring honour to the Author or comfort to the enjoyer of them When Christ overcometh Satan he taketh from him all his armour and divideth the spoiles Luk. 11.21 How doth he divide the spoiles surely he maketh use of that wit wealth power learning wisedome interests which Satan used against Christs Kingdome as instruments and orâ—â—ments unto the Gospel As when a Magazine in warre is taken the Generall makes use of those armes which were provided against him for his owne service And as sinne doth thus corrupt blessings so on the other side Repentance doth sweeten Judgements and can turne afflictions into matter of comfort As skarlet puls out the teeth of a Serpent so this takes away the sting of a Judgement As wine draweth a nourishing vertue from the flesh of Vipers as hot birds can feed upon Iron and purge their bodies with swallowing of stones so repentance though it should not remove a Judgement yet it can feed upon it and fetch meat out of the Eater and out of the strong sweetnesse There are two Evils in Afflictions Their thorne in the flesh as they are matter of paine and their snare to the Conscience as they are matter of Temptation As there are two things in a chain or fetter the heavinesse whereby it loads and the hardnesse whereby it gaules Now as a prisoner though he cannot make his chain lighter then it is yet by lining it with wooll or other soft things he can prevent the galling so Repentance though it take not away the paine of Affliction from the flesh yet by meekning and humbling the soule with silence and quietnesse to bear the indignation of the Lord and accept of the punishment of sin it removeth the temptation and malignitie of it from the Conscience And thus as Protagoras by his naturall dexteritie ordered the burden which he was to bear with more ease and advantage so Pietie makes Judgements by spirituall prudence more easie to be born and the light yoke of Christ as bladders in a deep water bears up the spirit of men from sinking and lightneth every other burthen And therefore as he in Plutarch said of the Scythians that though they had no musick nor Vines amongst them yet they had Gods so what ever other things may be wanting to a people yet if God be their God they are not destitute of any happinesse Yea as those Roses are usually sweetest which grow nearest unto stinking weeds so the comforts of Gods Spirit are strongest when a man is otherwise perplexed with the greater difficulties It was promised unto Iosiah that he should die in peace 2 Chron. 34.28 and yet we find that he was slaine in warre Chap. 35.24 His weeping and humiliation altered the very nature of trouble and made warre to be peace unto him Now for the Use and Application of this point This serveth first to instruct us how to deprecate Calamities when God shaketh his Rod over us There is nothing in all the world that God is angry with but sinne for all other things are his owne workes in the goodnesse of which he wrested with singular complacency and delight Sinne is that against which Gods arrowes are directed and as the arrow sticks in the Butt unto which the marke is fastned so the judgements which are shot at sinne must needs light upon us unto whom sinne cleaveth The way then to divert the arrow is to remove the marke It is true God doth sometimes bring afflictions without respect to the provocations of sin upon his best servants As if a man should shape out of a masse of gold some excellent vessell though the gold be never so pure yet it must passe through the fire and the hammer again But it is certain too that no affliction comes in Anger but with respect to sinne And the Anger of God is the bitterest thing in any Calamitie Now for diversion of this there is no way but to get sinne removed Take the bark from a tree and the sap can never find way to the boughs Sinne is the Vehiculum which carries shame and sorrow to the soule Take away that and a Judgement hath no Commission You may find an Error in it if you be not the same men that you were when it issued forth for God shootes no arrows to hurt the body of his Sonne It is true Iob complaines that Gods arrowes did stick in him Iob 6.4 But these were not for destruction but for triall as men shoot bullets against armour of proof not to hurt it but to praise it Iob in this case was brought forth not as a malefactor to suffer but as a Champion to triumph Let a man take what course he can to keep off Gods judgements and hide himselfe in the closest protection that humane power or policy can contrive so long as he keepes his sinne with him Gods arrows will get through at one joynt or other A naked man with Innocency is better armed then Goliah in brasse or Iron We are apt in our distresses to howl and repine to gnaw our tongues and teare our flesh in the anguish of our sufferings Like the silly Hart which runs mourning and bleeding but never thinks of getting out the fatall dart which sticks in his side We look upward to see whether help will drop into our mouthes and wee look downward to see whether humane succours will availe us But we looke not inward to finde out the plague of our own hearts that wee may bee rid of that And till this be done sinne doth as naturally draw and sucke judgements to it as the Loadstone doth iron or Turpentine fire Indefatigable have beene the paines of this High Court to make up the breaches that threaten us and to heale the Land Whence comes it that our distractions remaine unremoved Certainely our leakes are not stopped our sinnes are not thrown away wee labour at the pump to get the water out but we doe not take care to cure the passage at which it enters in wee are old bottles still and God will not put new wine into old bottles If men would spend their murmurings and reproaches rather upon their sinnes then upon their physicians the worke would bee sooner done When the Temple of God was to be new built and a publick restitution of the face of things unto glory and splendor was in agitation the Prophets call upon Gods people in speciall then to repent Impenitency puts obstructions to Gods mercy and to all noble enterprises So long as our lives are as bad as before how can wee expect that our condition should bee better in that case mercies themselves become no mercies as in the case of Repentance judgements would bee no judgements If we turne from our evill wayes God hath engaged himselfe by a solemne promise that he will doe us no harme Ier. 2â— 6 Otherwise to busie our selves in outward Ceremonies of
Repentance bodily fasting and verball praying is indeed but to flatter God and if we could to deceive him And God will answer such men not according to the prayer of their lips but according to the Idol of their hearts Ezek. 14.4 5 Secondly this teacheth us how to pray against sin It must be against all and in all respects In the Hebrew text there is a kind of unusuall transposiâ—ion of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word all is first Me thinkes it doth intimate an Intentnesse of the Church upon that point to have if it were possible all taken away at the very first If there bee one leak in a ship one gap in a wall one gate in a City unprovided for it is enough to sink a ship to drown a Countrey to betray a Citie One little boy thrust in at a window can unlock the doore for all the rest of the theeves It was but one Ionah that raised a tempest but one Achan that troubled a Camp and one sin generally unrepented of were enough to undo a Kingdome Do not say it is a little one and my soule shall live Even the· Philosopher telleth us that sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the smallest errors prove most dangerous How little soever it bee in its owne nature it becomes hainous by thy allowance It is as much treason to coin pence as twenty shilling pieces because the Royall authority is as much violated by the one as the other This then wee must first and principally remember to set our selves against all sin In Confession none to be dissembled in Supplication none to bee excepted in Conversion none to be reserved never give it over so long as any is left O Lord yet it works yet it lives yet it tempts yet it paines me Sin hath not done accusing of me let not thy mercy have done forgiving of sinne Sin hath not done rebelling in mee let not thy Grace have done subduing of sin When men kill Snakes or Vipers so long as they see them pant or offer to thrust out a sting they strike them still Sin like the thiefe on the Crosse when it is fast nailed and kept from its old tyrannie yet will as much as it can reviâ—e and spit out venome upon Christ. O therefore give it not over break the legs of it crucifie it clean through till it be quite dead None can pray or turne unto God in truth or hope to be delivered from judgements in Mercy so long as he holds fast any known sin Can any man looke to receive benefit by the bloud of Christ who hugs the villaine that shed it Is it not treason knowingly to harbour and entertainâ— a Traytor Whosoever loves and holds fast sinne lies unto God in every prayer that he makes This serveth to reprove and humble us for our hypocrisie and halvings with God in our conversions from sinne and confessions of it we are willing to pray for the pardon of them all wee would have none hurt us but when it comes to parting and taking all away this we cannot away with Some are fat delicate golden sinnes wee would faine spare these as Saul did Agag and hide them as Achan did his wedge Herod heareâ— Iohn gladly in many things but if hee restraine him of his Herodias hee must expect to be himself restrained Agrippa will be almost a Christian but altogether may chance bring a chaine with it Iehu will downe with Baal and his Priests but hee knowes not how to part with his Calves lest he venture his Kingdome Policy is ever entring Caveats against piety Thus men huck and stand upon abatements with Christ in the bargaine of Salvation not considering that the purchase of heaven is like the buying of the Sibyls Prophecie the longer wee stand off the dearer every day it will cost us the more tears the harder repentance the deeper sorrow the stronger cries These men know not the price of a soule nor the worth of a Saviour O if Christ should have served us so in dying for sinne as many of us doe serve him in turning from sin what a condition had our soules been in If he had dyed for some sinnes and not for others if he had been unwilling to save us to the uttermost as wee are to serve him to the uttermost if hee should have stopt before hee came to Consummatum est and left any one drop of that bitter Cup for us to drink after him would it not have caused our belly to swell and our thigh to rot and made us for ever uncapable of any other mercy then onely a lesse damnation Well beloved Christ expecteth that as hee dyed for all sin so we should die to all hee will be counted worthy of all acceptation before hee will bestow himself he will not suffer his Bloud and his Mercy to mingle with sin or to be a protection to it he cannot endure mingling of the holy seed with the prophane swearing by God and swearing by Malcham Samaritan Services to be for the Lord in one thing and for the world and flesh in another one step straight and another crooked one speech Ashdod and another Canaan to let our conversation be yea and nay a mungrill service In this I will do as you bid me but in that I wll not like the Jews that would buy Christs bloud with money but not take the money into the treasurie they were fearfull to defile their Chests but not to defile their Consciences This Christ cannot away with It is dangerous to say with the Pharisee This I am not and that I am not or with the young man This and that I have done and in the meane time to have one thing lacking to have one doore locked up still to keep Christ and salvation from us whosoever keeps a covetous heart for the world or a sensuall heart for the flesh or a proud heart for the Devill is unworthy of Heaven by his own Election and would not goe in thither if the doore were wide open he would not find there any fuell for these his lusts any Nabal or Cosbi or Diotrephes to converse withall And surely he that doth any one wickednesse with allowance in Gods construction is habitually guilty of all Iam. 2.10 Luk. 16.10 Ezeâ— 18.10.13 Therefore in this case as Samuel said to Iesse Are here all thy children If any be left wee will not sit down till he come So we must conceive in our confessions and abrenuntiations of sin that Christ asketh us Are here all If any be reserved I will not take possession till that be cast out there must not an hoof be left in Aegypt if God be to be served Gods Law as well as mans disallows Inmates in the same house he will not endure a divided heart he is heire of all things there lies no Writ of partition in his Inheritance
his Title is so good that he will never yeeld to a Composition hee will have all the heart or none 4. We should therefore be exhorted in time of trouble especially to set about this great worke to fall foule upon our sinnes to complaine against them to God as the Achans that trouble Israel as the corrupters and betrayers of our peace to set our selves in Gods eye and not to dare to lie unto his holy Spirit by falsenesse or hypocrisie as if wee could reserve any one sin unmortified which he should not know of But being in his sight to whom all things are naked and open to deale in all sincerity and to hate sin even as he hates it There are five notable duties which these three words Omnem tolle iniquitatem do lead us unto 1. Sense of sin as of an heavie burden as the Prophet David calls it Psal. 38.5 Such sense our Saviour requires in true penitents Come unto me all yee that are weary and heavy laden Mat. 11.28 To conceive them heavier then a Milstone Luke 17.2 Then the weight of a Mountain Luk. 23.30 O what apprehension had S. Peters converts of sin when they felt the nails wherewith they had crucified Christ sticking fast in their own hearts and piercing their spirits with torment and horror Acts 2.37 Oh what apprehensions had the poor Iaylor of his sins when he came as a prisoner before his owne prisoners springing in with monstrous amazement consternation of spirit beseeching them to tell him What he should do Acts 16.23.30 Consider it in its Nature an universall bruise and sicknesse like those diseases which Physicians say are Corruptio totius substantiae from head to foot Isa. 1.5 6. And who doth not feel such an Universall languor to be an heavie burden for a man that must needs labour to have weights hung at his hands that must needs walk to have clogs fastened to his feet how can he choose but cry out with the Apostle O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me Rom. 7.24 Consider it in the Curse that belongs unto it· A Roll written within and without with curses Look outward and behold a curse in the Creature Vanitie Emptinesse Vexation Disappointment every creature armed with a sting to revenge its Makers quarrell Look inward behold a curse in the conscience accusing witnessing condemning haling to the tribunall of vengeance first defiling with the allowance after terrifying with the remembrance of sin Look upward and behold a curse in the heavens the wrath of God revealed from thence upon all unrighteousnesse Looke downward and behold a curse in the earth Death ready to put a period to all the pleasures of sinne and like a trap-doore to let downe into Hell where nothing of sinne will remaine but the worm and the fire Look into the Scripture and see the curse there described an everlasting banishment from the glory of Gods presence an everlasting destruction by the glory of his power 2 Thes. 1.9 The Lord shewing the jealousie of his Iustice the unsearchablenesse of his severity the unconceiveablenesse of his strength the bottomless guilt and malignity of sin in the everlasting destruction of ungodly men and in the everlasting preserving of them to feele that destruction Who knoweth the power of thy anger saith Moses Even according to thy feare so is thy wrath It is impossible for the most trembling consciences or the most jealous fears of a guilty heart to looke beyond the wrath of God or to conceive more of it then indeed it is As in peace of conscience the mercy of God is revealed unto beleevers from faith to faith so in anguish of conscience the wrath of God is revealed from fear to fear A timorous man can fancy vast and terrible fears fire sword tempests wracks furnaces scalding lead boyling pitch running bell metall and being kept alive in all these to feele their torment But these come farre short of the wrath of God for first there are bounds set to the hurting power of a creature the fire can burn but it cannot drown the Serpent can sting but he cannot teare in pieces 2. The fears of the heart are bounded within those narrow apprehensions which it self can frame of the hurts which may be done But the wrath of God proceeds from an Infinite Justice and is executed by an omnipotent and unbounded power comprising all the terror of all other Creatures as the Sun doth all other light eminently and excessively in it It burns and drowns and tears and stings and bruises and consumes and can make nature feel much more then reason is able to comprehend O if we could lay these things seriously to heart and yet these are but lowe expressions of that which cannot be expressed and cometh as short of the truth it self as the picture of the Sun in a table doth of the greatnesse and brightnesse of it in its own Orbe should we not finde it necessary to cry out Take away all iniquitie this sicknesse out of my soul this sword this nayle this poysoned arrow out of my heart this Dagger of Ehud out of my belly this milstone this mountain from off my back these stings and terrors these flames and Furies out of my Conscience Lord my wounds stinke my lips quiver my knees tremble my belly rots I am feeble and broken and roar and languish thy wrath lyes hard upon me and thy waves go over my head O if we had but a view of sin as it is in its native foulnesse and did feel but a touch of that fury that God is readie to powre out upon it this would stain all the pride of man and soure all the pleasures of sin and make a man as fearfull to meddle with it as a guilty woman with the bitter water which caused the Curse Most true was that which Luther spake in this point If a man could perfectly see his own evils the sight thereof would be a perfect hell unto him and this God will bring wicked men unto Reprove them and set their sins in order before them Psal. 50.21 Make them take a view of their own hearts and lives fuller of sins then the Firmament of stars or a furnace of sparks O Consider this you that forget me saith the Lord lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you The second dutie is Confession for he that cries to have sin taken away acknowledgeth that it lyes upon him A full Confession not of many but of All sins either actually committed or habitually comprised in our body of sin As he in the Comoedian said that he had invited two guests to dinner Philocrates and Philocrates a single Man but a double Eater So in examination of our selves we shall every one finde sins enough in himself to denominate him a double and a â—â—eble sinner A free Confession not as Pharaohs extorted upon the wrack nor as that of Iudas
squeezed out with anguish and horror but ingenuous and penitent arising from the purpose of a pious heart that cometh like water out of a Spring with a voluntary freenesse not like water out of a Still which is forced with fire The third dutie is Wearinesse and detestation of all sin for we call not to have a thing removed till we be weary of it Thus we are taught in the Scripture to be ashâ—med and confounded to loath and abhor to judge and condemne our selves to throw sin away as a detestable thing though it be a golden or silver sin A Spirituall Judgement looks on all sin as filthy and stinking sheweth a man to himself as a vessell full of Dung Scum Excrements and makes him out of quiet till he be throughly purged For Hatred is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the whole kinde of that which we hate The fourth dutie is an acknowledgement of our own Impotencie to remove sin from our selves We have no more power then a slave in chains hath to get out of his bondage till another ransome him then a dead body in a grave till Christ raise it Our Iniquitie takes hold on us and keeps us down that we cannot hearken or be subject to the will of God If sin were not removed by a greater strength then our own it would most certainly sink us into Hell The last dutie is an Imploring of Gods mercie and grace that what we cannot do our selves he would be pleased to do for us In works of Art it is hard to build but easie to destroy But in works of sin though our weaknes is able to commit them yet none but Gods power is able to demolish them None but Christ is strong enough to overcome the strong Man His Person onely hath strength enough to â—eare the Curse of sin His Sacrifice onely Merit enough to make expiation for sin His Grace only vertue enough to remove the pollution of sin Though we should take Nitre and much Sope our sin would be marked still but he cometh with Refiners Fire and with Fullers Soape and can wash out all It was his onely businesse of coming into the world To destroy the works of the Devill Now the things which we pray for in this Petition are these three 1. For Remission that God would take away the condemnation of sin from us by not imputing the guilt thereof unto us but would cause it to passeover on Christ on whom he hath laid the Iniquitie of his people Such an expression the Holy Ghost useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord hath caused thy sin to passe over from thee to Christ 2 Sam. 12.13 which being obtained all other judgements are ipso facto removed to so far as they import proper and vindictive punishment Secondly for Sanctification That the vertue of Christs death and the grace of his Spirit may subdue the power of sin and cleanse and strengthen our consciences against the commands of it and temptations unto it Thirdly for continued Renovation that as in sanctification begun we have power against all kinds of sin so by the continuall supplies of the holy Spirit we may have further power against all degrees and remainders of sin That Christ would purifie our sin unto death as our sin did him and not give over mortifying it till his blood be revenged of it to the uttermost and our souls delivered from it to the uttermost I shall conclude the first part of the Petition with a short word of Exhortation unto this Honorable Assembly Those things which God worketh in us and bestoweth upon us by his Grace he also requireth of us by his Command Sometimes he promiseth to turn us sometimes he commandeth us to turn to him Sometimes he biddeth us put away sinne and sometimes he promiseth to take it away from us In the one shewing us what is our dutie and in the other where is our help And as this latter consideration calleth upon our Faith to pray so the former upon our obedience to work I shall therfore Right Honourable humbly offer a double Exhortation unto all of you First that every one of you would seriously endeavour to take away all iniquity from his own person And unto this there lyeth upon you a double Obligation one with relation to the safety of your own souls for whatever other honour wealth wisedome learning interest a man hath besides if sin have the predominancy they are but Satans Magazine and that man his servant to imploy them against God that gave them and the more mercies any man hath been trusted withal the heavier judgement will be poured out upon the breach of that trust Better be a wooden vessell to hold Wine then a silver vessell to hold Excrements better be a Beggar with the treasure of Gods grace then a Prince with the load of a mans own sins But there is a further tie upon you with relation unto the successe of that Honourable imployment whereunto you are called Ita nati estis ut bâ—na malaque vestra ad Rempub. pertineant God will be sanctified in all those that draw neâ—r unto him as well in civill as in sacred Administrations It is very hard for a person in whom sin rules to be constantly faithfull to any publique and honorable service For Grace onely establisheth the heart Hebr. 13.9 Achitophel a man of great wisdome fals from David Ionah a man of great valour fals from Solomon And admit he be faithfull yet the sin of his heart sends out a prohibition to the wisdom of his head and the labour of his hand he that will be a fit vessell for his Masters uses must first of all purge himself 2. Tim. 2.21 As we first cleanse a vessâ—ll before we use it When Ioshua was to negotiate a publique Reformation and to administer a publique service his filthy garment must be taken from him and he must be clothed with change of rayment Zach. 3.4 7. Let every one of you make his publique service one argument more then he had before for his necessary reformation and let the piety of your lives bear witnesse to the integrity of your honourable undertakings Secondly As you must take away sin from your selves so make it your principall work to take away iniquitie out of the Land Liberty Property Priviledges are sacred and pretious things not to be in the least manner betrayed yea in some sense we may look upon them as the Jews upon their Mossora tanquam legis pietatis sepem As a fence and mound unto Religion it self Arbitrary government would quickly be tampering in sacred things because corruption in the Church is marvellously subservient and advantagious to corruption in the State But the most Orient Pearl of this Kingdome is our Religion and the bitterest enemies unto that are our sins These are the snuffes that dim our Candlestick and threaten the removall of it these the
good one while and evill another but goodnesse is his proper and native operation he is not the author of sin that entred by the devil he is not the author of death that entred by sin but our destruction is of our selves And therefore though the Prophet say Is there any evil in the City which the Lord hath not done Yet he doth it not but onely as it is bonum justitiae good in order to his glory For it is just with God that they who run from the order of his Commands should fall under the order of his Providence and doing willingly what hee forbids should unwillingly suffer what he threatneth In one word God is the Author of All good by his grace working it the Permitter of all evill by his patience enduring it the Orderer and disposer of both by his mercy rewarding the one by his justice revenging the other and by his wisedome directing both to the ends of his eternal glory This serveth to discover the free and â—â—le working of Grace in our first conversion and the continued working of grace in our further sanctification whatsoever is good in us habitually as Grace inhering or actually as Grace working is from him alone as the Author of it For though it be certain that when we will and do our selves are agents yet it is still under and from him Certum est nos facere cum faciamus sed ille facit ut faciamus as the great champion of Grace speaketh by Grace we are that we are we do what we do in Gods service Vessels have no wine bags have no money in them but what the Merchant putteth in the bowls of the Candlesticks had no oyl but that which dropped from the Olive branches Other things which seek no higher perfection then is to be found within the compasse of their own nature may by the guidance and activity of the same nature attain thereunto but man aspiring to a divine happinesse can never attain thereunto but by a divine strength impossible it is for any man to enjoy God without God The truth of this point sheweth it in five gradations 1. By Grace our mindes are enlightened to know and beleeve him for Spirituall things are spiritually discerned 2. By Grace our hearts are inclined to love and obey him for spirituall things are spiritually approved He onely by his Almighty and ineffable operation worketh in us Et veras Revelationes et bonas voluntates 3. By Grace our lives are enabled to work what our hearts do love without which though we should will yet we cannot perform no more then the knife which hath a good edge is able actually to cut till moved by the hand 4. By Grace our good works are carried on unto perfection Adam wanting the Grace of perseverance fell from innocency it self It is not sufficient for us that he prevent and excite us to will that he co-operate assist us to work except he continually follow and supply us with a residue of spirit to perfect and finish what we set about All our works are begun continued and ended in him Lastly By Grace our perseverance is crowned for our best works could not endure the triall of justice if God should enter into judgement with us Grace enableth us to work and Grace rewardeth us for working Grace beginneth and Grace finisheth both our faith and salvation The work of holinesse is nothing but Grace and the reward of holinesse is nothing but Grace for Grace Secondly this teacheth us how to know Good from Evil in our selves what we look on as good we must see how we have derived it from God the more recourse we have had unto God by prayer and faith and study of his will in the procurement of it the more goodnesse we shall find in it A thing done may be good in the substance of the work and yet evill in the manner of doing it as the substance of a vessell may be silver but the use sordid Iehu his â—eal was rewarded as an act of Iustice quoad substantiam operis and it was punished too as an act of policy quoad mâ—dum for the perverse end A thing which I see in the night may shine and that shining proceed from nothing but rottennesse We must not measure our selves by the matter of things done for there may be Malum opus in bona materia Doeg prayes and Herod hears and Hypocrites fast and Pharisees preach but when wee would know the goodness of our works look to the fountain whether they proceed from the Father of lights by the spirit of love the grace of Christ from humble penitent filiall heavenly dispositions nothing will carry the soul unto God but that which cometh from him Our Communion with the Father and the Sonne is the triall and foundation of all our goodnesse Thirdly Thiâ— should exceedingly abase us in our own eyes and stain all the pride and cast down all the Plumes of flesh and blood when we seriously consider that in us as now degenerated from our originall there is no good to be found our wine become water our Silver dresse as our Saviour saith of the devil when he lies he speaks de suo of his own so when we do evil we work de nostro of our own and secundum hominem as the Apostle speaks According unto man 1 Cor. 3.3 Lusts are g our own our very members to that body of sin which the Apostle calleth the old man with which it is as impossible to do any good as for a Toad to spit Cordiâ—ls Men are apt to glory of their good hearts and intentions only because they cannot search them Ier. 17.11 And being carnal themselves to entertain none but carnal notions of Gods service But if they knew the purity and jealousie of God their own impotency to answer so holy a wil they would lay their hands upon their mouthes and with Iob abhor themselves and with Isaiah bewail the uncleannesse of their lips and with Moses fear and quake as not being able to endure the things that are commanded and with Ioshua acknowledge that they cannot serve God because he is holy they would then remember that the Law of God is a Law of fire Deut. 33.2 and the Tribunall of God a Tribunall of fire Ezek. 1.27 that the pleading of God with sinners are in flames of fire Isa. 66.15 16. that the triall of all our works shall be by fire 1 Cor. 3.13 that the God before whom we must appear is a consuming fire Hebr. 12.29 Goe now and bring thy straw and stubble thy drowsie and sluggish devotion thy fickle and flattering repentance thy formall and demure services into the fire to the Law to measure them to the Iudge to censure them nay now carry them to thine own conscience and tell me whether that wil not passe the
delight unto any good duty Naturally men are Reprobate or void of Iudgement unto any good work Tit. 1.16 Godlinesse is a mystery a spirituall skill trade there is learning and use and experience and much exercise required to be handsome and dextrous about it Tim. 3.16 Phil. 4.11 Heb. 5 13-14 To be sinners and to be without strength in the Apostles phrase is all one Rom. 5.6.8 And look how much flesh there is in any man so much disability is there to performe any thing that is good Rom. 7.18 Therefore the hands of sinners are said to hang downe and their knees to be feeble and their feete to be lame that cannot make straight pathes till they be healed Heb. 12.12 13. If they at any time upon naturall dictates or some suddaine strong conviction or pang of feare or stirrings of conscience doe offer at any good worke to pray to repent to beleeve to obey they bungle at it and are out of their element They are wise to doe evill but â—o doe good they have no knowledge They presently grow wearie of any essaies and offers at well doing and cannot hold out or persevere in them Thirdly Decay and consumption Sinne wasts and wears out the vigour of soule and body feedes upon all our time and strength and exhausts it in the services of lust Sicknes is a chargeable thing a consumption at once to the Person and to the Estate The poore woman in the Gospel which had an issue of blood spent all that she had on Physicians and was never the better Luke 8.43 So poore sinners emptie all the powers of soule of body of time of estate every thing within their reach upon their lusts and are as unsatisfied at last as at the first Eccles. 1.8 Like a Silke-worme which workes out his bowels into such a masse wherein himself is buried It wearieth them out and sucketh away the Radicall strength in the service of it and yet never giveth them over but as Pharaohs taskmasters exacted the brick when they had taken away the straw so lust doth consume and weaken naturall strength in the obedience of it and yet when nature is exhausted the strength of lust is as great and the Commands as tyrannous as ever before Isa 57.10 Ier. 2.25 We are to distinguish betweene the vitall force of the faculties and the Activity of lust which sets them on work that decayes and hastens to death but sinne retaines its strength and vigour still nothing kills that but the bloud of Christ the decay of nature ariseth out of the strength of sinne the more any man in any lust whatsoever makes himselfe a servant of sinne and the more busie and active he is in that service the more will it eate into him and consume him as the hotter the feaver is the sooner is the body wasted and dried up by it Fourthly Deformity Sicknesse withereth the beauty of the body maketh it of a glorious a ghastly and loathsome spectacle Come to the comliest person living after a long and pining sicknesse and you will not finde the man in his owne shape a wan countenance a shriveled flesh a leane visage a hollow and standing eye a trembling hand a stammering tongue abowed backe a feeble knee a swelled belly nothing left but the â—â—akes of the hedge and a few finewes to hold them together Behold here the picture of a sinner swelled with pride pined with envie bowed with earthlines wasted and eaten up with lust made as stinking and unsavoury as a dead Carcasse Psal. 14.3 Ezek. 16.4 When thou seest an unmercifull man that hath no compassion left in him thinke thou sawest Iudas or King Iehoram whose sore disease made his bowels fall out 2. Chron. 21.19 When thou seest a worldly man whose heart is glued to earthly things think upon the poore woman who was bowed together and could not lift up her selfe Luke 13.11 When thou seest an Hypocrite walking crooked and unevenly in the wayes of God think upon Mephibosheth or Asa lame halting diseased in their feet When thou seest a proud ambitious man thinke upon Herod eaten up with vermine O if the diseases of the soule could come forth shew themselves in the body and work such deformity there where it would not doe the thousandth part so much hurt as they doe within if a man could in the glasse of the word see the uglinesse of the one as plainly as in a materiall glasse the foulnesse of the other how would this make him crie out my head my head my bowels my bowels my leannesse my leannesse unclean unclean No man thinks any shape ugly enough to represent a divell by yet take him in his naturals and he was a most glorious Creature it is sinne that turns him into a Serpent or Dragon There is something of the monster in every sinne the belly or the feet set in the place of the head or heart sensuall and worldly lusts set up above Reason and corrupt Reason above Grace Now because the sicknesse here spoken of is a falling sicknes and that the worst kinde of Fall not forward in our way or race as every good man sometimes falls where a man hath the help of his knees and hands to break the blow to prevent or lessen the hurt and to make him to rise againe but old Elies fall a falling backward where a man can put forth no part to save the whole and so doth more dangerously breake and bruise himselfe thereby Therefore as it is a sicknes which requires curing so it is a wound which requires healing and binding The Ancients compare it to falling into a pit full of dirt and sâ—ones where a man doth not onely defile but miserably breake and bruise himselfe There is contritio solutio continui suppuratio sanies c. All the evils of a dangerous and mortall wound Adde to all this That in this diseased and wounded condition 1 A man hath no power to heale or to helpe himselfe but in that respect he must cry out with them in the prophet My wound is incurable and refuseth to be healed Jer. 15.18 Secondly he hath no desire no will no thought to enquire or send after a Physician who may heal him but is well contented rather to continue as he is then to be put to the paine and trouble of a cure and pleaseth himself in the goodnesse of his owne condition Rev. 3.17 Matth. 9.12 Thirdly He is in the hands of his cruell enemy who takes no pity on him but by flattery and tyranny and new temptations continually cherisheth the disease 2 Tim. 2.26 Fourthly when the true Physician comes he shuts the door against him refuseth his counsell rejecteth his receipts quarrels with his medicines they are too bitter or too strong and purging or too sharp and searching he will not be healed at all except it may be his own way Prov. 1.24 25. 2 Chron. 36.16 Ezek. 24.13 Matth. 23.37 Ier. 13.11
into kisses Gen. 33.4 and when Saul hath compassed David and his men round about and is most likely to take them he can even then take him off by a necessary diversion 1 Sam. 23.26 27 28. This is the comfort of Gods people That what ever men say except God say it too it shall come all to nothing He can restraine the wrath of men whensoever it pleaseth him and he will doe it when it hath proceeded so farre as to glorifie his power and to make way for the more notable manifestation of his goodnesse to his people Psal. 76.10 And thus farre of Gods answer to the Covenant of Ephraim They promised to renounce Idols and here God promiseth that they should renounce them Now there are two things more to be observed from this expression What have I to doe any more with Idols 1. That in true Conversion God maketh our speciall sinne to be the object of our greatest detestation which point hath beene opened before 2. From those words any more That the nature of true repentance is To break sin off as the expression is Dan. 4.27 and not to suffer a man to continue any longer in it Rom. 6.1 â— It makes a man esteeme the time past sufficient to have wrought the will of the Gentiles 1 Pet. 4.2 3. and is exceeding thrifty of the time to come so to redeeme it as that God may have all doth not linger nor delay nor make objections or stick at inconveniences or raise doubts whether it be seasonable to goe out of Egypt and Sodome or no Is not at the sluggards language modo modo a little more sleepe a little more slumber nor at Agrippas language almost thou perswadest me nor at Felix his language when I have a convenient season I will send for thee but immediately resolves with Paul not to conferre with flesh and bloud Gal. 1.16 and makes haste to flie from the wrath to come while it is yet to come before it overtake us Luk. 3.7 doth not make anxious or cavilling questions What shall I doe for the hundred talents How shall I maintaine my life my credit my family how shall I keep my friends how shall I preserve mine Interests or support mine estate but ventures the losse of all for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Matth. 13.46 Phil. 3.7 8. is contented to part with a skie-full of Starrs for one Sunne of Righteousnesse The Converts that returne to Christ come like Dromedaries like Doves like Ships no wings no sailes can carry them fast enough from their former courses unto him Esa. 60.6 7 8 9. Abraham is up betimes in the morning though it be to the sacrificing of a Son Gen. 22.3 David makes haste and delayes not when he is to keepe Gods Commandements Psal. 119.60 when Christ called his Diciples immediately they left their nets their Ship their Father and followed him Matth. 4.20 22. This is the mighty power of Repentance It doth not give dilatory answers It doth not say to Christ goe away now and come to morow then I will heare thee I am not yet old enough or rich enough I have not gotten yet pleasure or honour or profit or perferment enough by my sinnes but presently it heares and entertaines him I have sinned enough already to condemn to shame to slay me I have spent time and strength enough already upon it for such miserable wages as shame and death come to Therefore I will never any more have to doe with it This is the sweet and most ingenuous voyce of Repentance The thing which I see not Teach me and if I have done iniquity I will doe no more Iob 34.32 There is no sinne more contrary to repentance then Apostacie for godly sorrow worketh Repentance unto salvation which the soule never findes reason to repent of 2 Cor. 7.10 11 Let us therefore take heed of an evill heart of unbeliefe in departing from the living God Heb. 3.12 and of drawing back unto perdition Heb. 10.39 of dismissing our sinnes as the Jewes did their servants Ier. 34.16 and calling them back again for Satan usually returnes with seven more wicked spirits and maketh the last state of such a man worse then the first Luk. 11.26 Ground which hath been a long time laid downe from tillage unto pasture if afterwards it bee new broken will bring a much greater crop of corne then it did formerly when it was a common field And so the heart which hath been taken off from sinne if it returne to it againe will bee much more fruitfull then before As lean bodies have many times the strongest appeâ—iâ—e so lust when it hath beene kept leane returnes with greater hunger unto those objects that seed it A streame which hath beene stopped will runne more violently being once opened againe Therefore in Repentance wee must shake hands with sinne for ever and resolve never more to tamper with it Now in that the Lord saith I have heard him and observed him we learne hence First That God heareth and answereth the prayers only of penitents When a man resolves I will have no more to do with sinne then not till then doth his prayer finde way to God Impenitencie clogs the wing of devotion and stops its passage unto Heaven The person must be accepted before the petition Christ Iesus is the Priest that offereth and the Altar which sanctifieth all our services 1 Pet. 2.5 Esay 56.7 And Christ will not be their Advocate in Heaven who refuse to have him their King on earth The Scripture is in no point more expresse then in this If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not heare me Psal. 66.18 Prayer is a powring out of the heart if iniquity be harboured there prayer is obstructed and if it doe break out it will have the sent and savour of that iniquity upon it The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord Prov. 15.8 both because it is impure in it selfe and hath no Altar to sanctifie it He that turneth away his eare from hearing the Law even his prayer shall be an abomination Prov. 28.9 Great reason that God should refuse to heare him who refuseth to heare God that hee who will not let God beseech him as hee doth in his word 2 Cor. 5.20 should not be allowed to beseech God Prov. 1.24.28 Esay 1.15 His eare is not heavie that it cannot heare but iniquitie separates between us and him and hides his face that he will not heare Esay 59.1 2. Ezek. 8.18 God heareth not sinners Ioh. 9.31 the prevalency of prayer is this that it is the prayer of a righteous man Iam. 5.16 And indeed no wicked man can pray in the true and proper notion of prayer It is true there is a kinde of prayer of nature when men cry in their distresses unto the God and Author of nature for such good things as nature feeleth the want of which God in the way of his generall providence
belong principally to the Ministers of the Word yet God hath given unto all Belevers a Iudgement of discretion to try the spirits and to search the Scriptures whether the things which they heare be so or no 1 Ioh. 4.1 Act. 17.11 1 Thess. 5.21 for no man is to pinne his own soule and salvation by a blinde obedience upon the words of a man who may mislead him nay not upon the words of an Angel if it were possible for an Angel to deceive Gal. 1.8 1 Kings 13.18 21. but onely and immediately upon the Scripture except when the blind lead the blind the leader only should fall into the ditch and the other goe to heaven for his blind obedience in following his guides towards hell whereas our Saviour tels us both shall fall though but one be the leader Matth. 15.14 Matth. 23.15 Secondly Having proved all things to hold fast that which is good with all readinesse to receive the righteous ways of God and submit unto them how meane soever the Instrument be in our eyes how contrary soever his message be to our wills and lusts When God doth manifest his Spirit and Word in the mouths of his Ministers we are not to consider the vessell but the Treasure and to receive it as from Christ who to the end of the world in the dispensation of his Ordinances speaketh from heaven unto the Church 1 Thess. 2.13 â— Cor. 5.20 Heb. 12.25 Matth. 28.20 Fourthly In that it is said That the Iust wâ—ll walk in them we may observe Two things 1. That Obedience and walking in the right wayes of the Lord is the end of the ministry That the Saints might be perfected that the body of Christ might bee edified that men might grow up into Christ in all things Eph. 4.11.15 that their eyes might be opened and they turned from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God Act. 26.16 17 18. The Prophet concludeth that he hath laboured in vaine if Israel be not gathered Esay 49.4 5. Without this the Law is vaine the pen of the Scribe in vaine Ier. 8.8 better not know the way of Righteousnesse then having known it to turne from the holy Commandement which was delivered unto us 2. Pet. 2.21 We should esteeme it a great misery to be without Preaching without Ordinances and so indeed it is of all famine that of the Word of the Lord is the most dreadfull better be with Gods presence in a wildernesse then in Canaan without him Exod. 33.15 better bread of affliction and water of affliction then a famine of hearing the word to have our teachers removed Amos 8.11 Esay 30.20 this is mischiefe upon mischiefe when the Law perisheth from the Priest and there is no Vision Ezek. 7.26 and yet it is much better bee in this case without a Teaching Priest and without the Law then to enjoy them and not to walk answerably unto them where the Word is not a savour of life it is a savour of death unto death exceedingly multiplying the damnation of those that doe despise it 2 Cor. 2.15 Matt. 11.22 24. First it doth ripen those sinnes that it findes making them much more sinfull then in other men because committed against greater light and more mercy One and the same sinne in an Heathen is not so hainous and hatefull as in a Christian. Those trees on which the Sun constantly shines have their fruit grow riper and greater then those which grow in a shady and cold place The raine will hasten the growth as weell of weeds as of corne and make them ranker then in a dry and barren ground Ioh. 9.41 Ioh. 15.22.24 Secondly it doth superadde many more and greater for the greatest sinnes of all are those which are commited against light and grace Sinnes against the Law and Prophets greater then those which are committed against the glimmerings of nature Ezek. 2.5.3.6 7. and sinnes against Christ and the Gospel greater then those against the Law Heb. 2.2.10.28 29. Such are unbeliefe Impenitency Apostacy despising of salvation preferring death and sinne before Christ and mercy judging our selves unworthy of eternall life c. Thirdly it doth by these meanes both hasten and multiply judgments The sinnes of the Church are much sooner ripe for the fickle then the sinnes of Amorites they are neare unto cursing Heb. 6.8 Summer fruits sooner shaken off then others Amos. 8.1 Ier. 1.11 12. Christ comes quickly to remove his Candlestick from the abusers of it Rev. 2.5 The Word is a rich mercy in it selfe but nothing makes it effectually and in the event a mercy unto us but our walking in it 2. We learne from hence That we never make the Scriptures our Rule to live and walke according unto them till we be first justified and made righteous Our obedience to the Rule of the Law written in the Scriptures proceedeth from those suteable impressions of holinesse wrought in the soule by the Spirit of Regeneration which is called the writing of the Law in our hearts Ier. 31.33 2 Cor. 3.3 or the casting of the soule into the mould of the Word as the phrase of the Apostle seemeth to import Rom. 6.7 we are never fit to receive Gods Truth in the love and obedience of it till we repent and be renewed If God saith the Apostle will give repentance for the acknowledging of the truth 2 Tim. 25. The wise in heart that is those that are truly godly for none but such are the Scriptures wise men these will receive Commandements but a prating foole will fall Prov. 10.8 where by prating I understand cavilling contradicting taking exceptions making objections against the Commandement and so falling and stumbling at it according to that of the Apostle Iam. 1.19 20 21. Let every man bee swift to heare that is ready to learn the will of God and to receive the Commandement but slow to speak slow to wrath that is carefull that he suffer no pride and passion to rise up and speak against the things which are taught according as Iob sayes Teach me and I will hold my peace Iob 6.24 for the only reason why men fret and swell and speak against the truth of God is this because they will not work righteousnesse The wrath of man worketh not the righteousnesse of God therefore men are contentious because they love not to obey the truth Rom. 2.8 disobedience is the mother of gainsaying Rom. 10.21 when we once resolve to lay apart all filthinesse then wee will receive the Word with meeknesse and not before none heare Gods Words but they who are of God Ioh. 8.47 none hear the voyce of Christ but the sheep of Christ Ioh. 10.4 5. Christ preached is the power of God and the wisedome of God but it is onely to them that are called to others a stumbling block and foolishnesse 1 Cor. 1.24 We speak wisedome saith the Apostle but it is amongst them that are perfect 1 Cor. 2.6 He that is
it intrinsecally or in the nature of the thing impossible but accidentally and by reason of naturall corruption which is enmity against it a burthen may be very portable in it selfe which he who is a creeple is not able to beare the defect is not in the Law but in us Rom. 8.3 Secondly that of this Impossibility there may be made a most excellent use that being convinced of impotency in our selves we may have recourse to the perfect obedience and righteousnesse of Christ to pardon all our violations of it Gal. 3.21 24. Thirdly being regenerated and endued with the spirit of Christ the Law becomes Evangelically possible unto us againe yea not onely possibly but sweet and easie Rom. 7.22 1 Ioh. 5.2 Ma. 11.30 Though impossible to the purpose of Iustification and legall Covenant which requireth perfection of obedience under paine of the Curse Gal. 3.10 in which sense it is a yoake which cannot bee born Act. 15.10 A Commandement which cannot be endured Heb. 12.20 yet possible to the purpose of acceptation of our services done in the obedience of it The spirituall part of them being presented by the intercession and the carnall defects covered by the righteousnesse of Christ in whom the father is alwayes well pleased Fourthly if any wicked man presume to harden himselfe in the practice of sinnes under this pretence that it is impossible for him to avoid them because God hardneth whom he will Though the Apostolicall increpation be Answer sufficient Who art thou that replyest against God yet he must further know that he is not onely hardned judicially by the sentence of God but most willingly also by his owne stubborne love of sinne and giving himselfe over unto greedinesse in sinning and thereby doth actively bring upon himselfe those indispositions unto duty so that the Law being impossible to be performed by him is indeed no other then hee would himselfe have it to be as bearing an active enmity and antipathy unto it Sixthly The mercy and Free-grace of God in the promises is unto wicked men an occasion of stumbling while they turn it into lasciviousnesse and continue in sinne that grace may abound Rom. 6.1 Iud. ver 4. and venture to make work for the blood of Christ not being led by the goodnesse of God unto repentance but hardning themselves in impenitency because God is good Rom. 2.4 There is not any thing at which wicked men doe more ordinarily stumble then at mercy as gluttons surfet most upon the greatest dainties venturing upon this ground to goe on in sinne because they cannot out-sinne mercy and to put off repentance from day to day because they are still under the offers of mercy making mercy not a sanctuary unto which to fly from sinne but a sanctuary to protect and countenance sinne and so by profane and desperate presumption turning the very mercy of God into a judgement and savour of death unto themselves Deut. 29.19 20. Num. 15.30 pretending liberty from sinne that they may continue in it and abuse God by his owne gifts Lastly the threatnings of God set forth in his Word and executed in his judgements upon wicked men are great occasions of stumbling unto them when they are not thereby with Manasses humbled under Gods mighty hand but with Pharoah hardned the more in their stubbornnesse against him There is such desperate wickednesse in the hearts of some men that they can even sit down and rest in the resolutions of perishing resolving to enjoy the pleasures of sinne while they may To morrow we shall dye therefore in the meane time let us eat and drink 1 Cor. 5.32 This evill is of the Lord why should we wait for the Lord any longer 2 Kings 6.33 There are three men in the Scripture that have a speciall brand or marke of ignominy set upon them Cain Dathan and Ahaz The Lord set a mark upon Cain Gen. 4.15 This is that Dathan and this is that Ahaz Num. 26.9 2. Chron. 28.22 and if we examine the reasons we shall finde that the sinne of stubbornnesse had a speciall hand in it Cains Offering was not accepted upon this he grew wroth and sullen and stubborn against Gods gentle warning and slew his brother Dathan and his Companions sent for by Moses return a proud and stubborn answer we will not come up we will not come up Ahaz greatly distressed by the King of Syria by the Edomites by the Philistimes by the Assyrian and in the midst of all this distresse stubborn still and trespassing more against the Lord. It is one of the saddest symptomes in the World for a man or a Nation not to be humbled under the correcting hand of God but like an anvile to grow harder under blowes and a most sure argument that God will not give over but goe on to multiply his judgements still for he will overcome when hee judgeth and therefore will judge till he overcome In Musicall Notes there are but eight degrees and then the same returnes againe and Philosophers when they distinguish degrees in qualities doe usually make the eighth degree to be the highest but in the wrath of God against those who impenitently and stubbornly stand out against his judgements wee shall finde no fewer then eight and twenty degrees threatned by God himselfe I will punish seven times more and yet seven times more and againe seven time more and once more seven times more for your sinnes Levit. 26.18 21 24 28. thus wicked men doe not only stumble at the Word by way of scandall but also 2. By way of Ruine because they are sure in the conclusion to be destroyed by it for the rock stands still the ship only is broken that dasheth against it Gods Word is and will be too hard for the pride of men the more they resist it the mightier will it appeare in their condemnation The weak corn which yeelds to the wind is not harmed by it but the proud Oake which resists it is many times broken in pieces The soule which submits to the Word is saved by it the soule which rebels against it is sure to perish Therefore since the Word comes not to any man in vaine but returnes glory to God either in his conversion or in his hardning It greatly concerneth every man to come unto it with meek penitent docile tractable believing obedient resolutions and to consider how vaine and desperate a thing it is for a Potsherd to strive with a rod of Iron for the pride wrath of man to give a chalenge to the justice and power of God for briars and thornes to set themselves in battell against fire As our God is a consuming fire himselfe so his law is a fiery Law Deut. 33.2 his word in the mouths of his Ministers a fire Ier. 5.14.23.29 If we be gold it will purge us if thorns it will devour feed upon us This is the condemnation saith our Saviour That light is come
into the world and men loved darknesse rather then light Iob. 3.19 There was damnation in the world before while it lay in darknesse and in mischiefe and knew not whither it went but not so heavy damnation as that which groweth out of light When Physick which should remove the disease doth cooperate with it then death comes with the more paine and the more speed The stronger the conviction of sin is the deeper will bee the wrath against it if it be not by repentance avoyded No surfet more dangerous then that of bread no judgement more terrible then that which growes out of mercy known and despised The word which I have spoken saith Christ the same shall judge you at the last day Ioh. 12.48 Every principle of truth which is by the Word begotten in the hearts of disobedient sinners and is held down and suppressed by unrighteousnesse lies there like fire raked up under ashes which at that great day will kindle into an unquenchable flame The word can bring much of Hell upon the spirit of impenitent sinners here It can hew and cut and peirce and burn and torment and root out and pull down and destroy and strike with trembling and amazement the proudest and securest sinners Hos. 6.5 Act. 7.54 Heb. 4.12 Esay 49.2 Psal. 45.5 Revel 11.5 10. Ier. 1.10 2 Cor. 10.4 Act. 24.25 we need no messenger from the dead to tell us of the torments there All the Rhetorique in Hell cannot set forth Hell more to the life then Moses and the Prophets have done already Luk. 16.31 But O what a Hell will it be at last when the Word which warned us of it shall throw us into it when every offer of mercy which wee have refused and every threatning of wrath which we have despised shall accompany us unto the tribunall of Christ to testifie against us and into the fire of Hell to upbraid us with our owne perdition O the dolefull condition of impenitent sinners If they have not the Word they perish for the want and if they have it they perish doubly for the contempt of it O that men would consideâ— the terror of the Lord and bee perswaded and that they would learne so much wisedome as not to arm the very mercy of God against themselves A bridge is made to give us a safe passage over a dangerous river but he who stumbles on the bridge is in danger to fall into the river The Word is given as a meanes to carry us over Hell unto Heaven but he who stumbles and quarrels at this meanes shall fall in thither from whence otherwise he had been delivered by it FINIS Gen 35 22. Hos. 13.13 Gen. 32.24 Hos. 12.3 4. Isa. 26.17 18. Psal. 82.1 2 Cor. 2.14 Psalm 45.1 Isai. 26.8 9. Ephes. 6.19 Psal. 94 12 Mic. 6 9. a Gen 42 5â— Sect. 1. b Chap 8.7.9 2 6.16.10 18.11 6 c Ch. 9.11 14 d Isa 26.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato apud A. Gel. li. 6 c. 14. famosos la rones in his locis ubi grassati â—unt surca figendos compluribus placuit ut conspectu deterreantâ—r alii ab iisdem facinoribus ff de poenis l. 28. sect famosos unde in Brutis in rebus in aâ—imatis observata vindicta vid. Pet. Erod Decâ—et l. 2. Tit. 14. Zepper de legib l. 1. c. 11. Pl. l. 29 c. 4. Plut de fortun Ro. f Psal. 52.6 Luk 17.32 Act. 5.11 Luk. 13.1.7 Jer. 3.8 Dan. 5.18.21 Num. 16.38.40 Sect. 2. Sect. 3. g Isa. 26.11 h Rom. 10.3 Heb. 11.6 Non sunt bona quae non de radiâ—e bona procedunt Ea ipsa opera quae dicuntur ante fidem quamvis videantur hominibus lâ—uâ—abilia inaâ—â—â— sunt-ut magna vires curâ—us celeâ—â—â—mus praeter viam Aug. Enars in Pâ—al 3â— vide de Spirit hiâ— c. 20. 2â— 26. Coâ—tra duas Epist. Pelag l. 3. c. 7. ep 106. de side operâ—bus c. 14. contra Iulian lib. 4. cap. 3 i Nih lad ostentaâ—ionem omnia ad conscientiam refert Pâ— l. 1 epist. 22. Nil ilopinionis causa omnia conscientiae faciam Senec. de vita beata c 20 k Ier. 3.10 l Acts 26.23 m Ruth 1.14 n Exodus 8.8 Exodus 9. â—7 â—4 o Psal. 78.34 37 p Semisauciam hac arque hac versâ—re voluntatem Aug. confess l. 8. c. 8. plerique ipsâ—iâ— paenitentiae agunt Ambro. dâ— paenit l. 2. c. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alexiâ— 2. strom Irrisor est non paenitens qui adhuc agit quod paeniâ—er c. Isidor de summo â—ono Magnamrem puâ—a unum hominemagere praeter sapientem nemo unum agit Caetera multifoâ—mes sunt Senec. Ep 1â—0 Ambros. ofâ—ic lib. 2. c. 22. q Ioâ—l 2.12 Act. 11. 23. Psal. 57.7 Eph. 3.27 Psal. 86.11 Heb. 13.9 r Ioel 2.12 13. Isa. 55.6.7 â—er 31.18 Hos. 3.5 Psal. 130.4 Acts 2 38. Matth. 3.2 Isa. 64. â— Sect. 5. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Stro. l. 6. s Qui beneficiis noÌ„ intelligitur vel plagis intelligatur Cypr. in Demeâ—â—ia t Danâ— animum ad loquendum libere ultimae miseriae Liv. lib. 29. u.. Inops Senaâ—us Auxilii humani ad Deos populum vâ—ta ver it justi cuÌ„ conjugibus libeâ—ls supplicatum ire pacem expoâ—cere deuÌ„ Liv. l. 3. Cum stupeâ— caelum areâ—annus nudipedalia denunciaÌ„tur Magistratus puâ—pu â—as ponunt fasces retro aver tunt pâ—ecem indigiâ—ant hostiam instaurant Vide Tentuâ— adv physicos c. 16. Clem. Alex. stro l. 6.6 pag. 45.3 Edit Heins Sozom. l. 9. c. 6. Brisso de formul l. 1. x Perdidisti 〈◊〉 mala si nonduÌ„ misera est didicisti Sen. ad Helvidâ— perdidistis utilitateÌ„ calamitatis miserâ—imifacti estis pessim permansistis Aug. de civ Dei l. 1. c. 33. y Isa. 28.15 z 1 King 6.4 a Psal. 18.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. de seranumin vindicta b Vide Tertul. contra Maâ—â—ion l. 2. c 13. c Vossius Rhetor li. 5. ca. 12. sect 7. d Vide Gorraei definit medie Lauâ—eur Sect 6. e Plutarch Apophâ—hegm * Iosh. 23.19 Iohn 4.22 Eccles. 5.1 2. Gen. 35.2.3 1 Sam. 16.5 Isa. 1.15.61 f Quantum à praeceptis tantum ab auribus Dei longe sumus Tertul. de Orat. cap. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Illiad g 〈◊〉 Sacerdos 〈◊〉 fiatâ—um 〈◊〉 dicenâ—o suâ—sum corâ—â— Cyprian de Oratione i Isa. 64.7 h 1 Sam. 7.27 k Psal. 57.7.8 l Psal. 103.1 â—â—hrâ—â—â—0 19 m 1 Ioh. 5.14 n 2 Sam. 7.25 o Rom. 8.36 Zach. 2 1â— Iob 37.19 vide Aug. Epist 105. Et Epist. 121 ca 15. q Dei potentiam servi preces impediâ—â—ant Hiâ—â—on ad Gâ—udentium q Act. 16.25 26. r Act. 12.5.10 s 1 Kin. 18.41 Fuâ—men de Caelo precibus suis contra hostium machinâ— mentum 〈◊〉 suis pluvià Impeâ—ratâcum siti laborarent Iulius Capitoliâ— in Antonino vide Iustin. Martyr Apol. 2 Tertâ—l Apolog c. 5.39.40 Et ad