reward Esay 45.13 but freely and without money here in the Text. Nor need we here fear another contradiction For the meaning is not that there was no price paid at all but that there was none paid by us we laid out nothing toward this great purchase there went none of our money to it But otherwise that there was a price paid the Scriptures are clear You are bought with a price saith St Paul 1 Cor 6. and he saith it over again Chap 7. He that paid it calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ransome that is as much as to say a price of redemption and his Apostle somewhat more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which implieth a just and satisfactory price full as much as the thing can be worth Yet not paid to Satan in whose possession we were for we have found already that he was but an Usurper and his title naught He had but bought of us and we by our sale could convey unto him no more right then we had our selves which was just none at all Our Redeemer therefore would not enter into any capitulation with him or offer to him any Termes of composition But thought good rather in pursuance of his own right to use his power And so he vindicated us from him by main strength With his own right hand and with his holy arm he got himself the victory and us liberty without any price or ransome paid him 34. But then unto Almighty God his father and our Lord under whose heavy Curse we lay and whose just vengeance would not be appeased towards us for our grievous presumption without a condign satisfaction to him I say there was a price paid by our Redeemer and that the greatest that ever was paid for any purchase since the world began Not silver and gold saith S. Peter which being corruptible things are not valuable against our immortall and incorruptible souls But even himself in whom are absconditi thesauri amassed and hidden all the treasures of the wisdom of God and even the whole riches of his grace treasure enough to redeem a whole world of sinners Take it collectively or distributively singula generum or genera singulorum this way or that way or which way you will in Christ there is copiosa redemptio redemption plenty and enough for all if they will but accept it Take all mankinde singly one by one He gave himself for me saith S. Paul in one place Take them altogether in the lump He gave himself a ransom for all in another 35. Now for a man to give himself what is it else but to give his soule for that is himself as we heard before and his life for vita in animâ the life is in the soule and these he gave He gave up his soule when thou shalt make his soule an offering for sin◠Esay 53.10 and he laid down his life the son of man came to give his life a ransom for many Mat. 10. More then this in love he could not give for what greater love then to lay down ones life And less then this in justice he might not give for Death by the Law being the wages of sin there could be no Redemption from death so as to satisfie the Law without the death of the Redeemer 36. Yea and it must be a bloody death too for anima in sanguine the life is in the blood and without shedding of blood there can be no remission no redemption All those bloody sacrifices of buls and goats and lambs in the old Testament all those frequent sprinklings of blood upon the door posts upon the book upon the people upon the tabernacle and upon all the vessels of ministry and all those legal purifications in which blood was used as almost all things are by the Law purged with blood Heb. 9. they were all but so many types and shaddows prefiguring this blood of sprinkling which speaketh so many good things for us pacifieth the fierce anger of God towards us purgeth us from all sins and redeemeth us from hell and damnation I mean the meritorious blood of the Cross the most precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish 1 Pet. 1.18 37. But can there be worth enough may some say in the blood of a Lamb of one single Lamb to be a valuable compensation for the sins of the whole world First this was agnus singularis a lamb of special note not such another in the whole flock All we like sheep have gone astray but so did this lamb never All of us like the encrease of Laban's flock speckled or ring-streaked but this lamb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if Momus himself were set to search he could not yet finde the least spot or blemish A cunninger searcher then he hath pried narrowly into every corner of his life who if there had been any thing amiss would have been sure to have spied it and proclaimed it but could finde nothing The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me That is something his Innocency But if that be not enough for the Angels also are innocent behold then more He is secondly Agnus Dei the Lamb of God that is the Lamb which God had appointed and set apart for this service by special designation so as either this party must do it or none There is no other name given under heaven no nor in heaven neither nor above by which we can be redeemed Him and him alone hath God the Father sealed and by vertue of that seal authoris'd and enabled to undertake this great work Or if you have not yet enough for it may be said what if it had been the pleasure of God to have sealed one of the Angels Behold then thirdly that which is beyond all exception and leaveth no place for cavil or scruple He is Agnus Deus This lamb is God the son of God very God of very God and so the blood of this Lamb is the very blood of God Act. 20. And it is this dignity of his nature especially and not his innocency only no nor yet his deputation too without this that setteth such a huge value upon his blood that it is an infinite price of infinite merit able to satisfie an infinite justice and to appease an infinite wrath 38. You will now confess I doubt not that this Redemption was not gratis came not for nothing in respect of him it cost him full dear even his dearest lives-blood But then in respect of us it was a most free and gracious redemption It was no charge at all to us we disburs'd not a mite not a doyt towards it Which is the very true reason why it is said in the Text Ye shall be redeemed without mony This work then is meerly an act of grace not a fruit of merit grace abundant grace on his part no merit not the least merit at all
pardoned ready upon every occasion to smite him and to gall him with some touch and remorse of his old presumption Like as a man that having gotten some sore bruise in his youth and by the help of Surgery and the strength of youth overworn it may yet carry a grudging of it in his bones or joynts by fits perhaps to his dying day And as for the most part such grudgings of an old bruise are aptest to recur upon some new distemper of body or upon change of weather so the grief of an old presumptuous sin is commonly most felt upon the committing of some new sin or the approach of some new affliction Do you think David had not in all those afflictions that after befel him and at the apprehension of every sinful oversight into which he fell a fresh remembrance withall of the matter of Vriah not without some grief and shame thereat As the distress Iosephs brethren met with in Egypt Gen. 42. brought to their remembrance their treacherous dealing with him which was by probable computation at the least twenty years after the thing was done Yea and after their fathers death which by the like probable computation was near upon twenty years more the remorse of the same sin wrought upon their consciences afresh perplexing their hearts with new fears and jealousies True it is the sinner once throughly purged of the sin by repentance hath no more conscience of that sin in that fearful degree ordinarily as to be a perpetual rack to his soul and to torment him with restless doubtings of his reconcilement even to despair yet can it not chuse but put some affrightment into him to remember into what a desperate estate he had before plunged himself by his own wilful disobedience if God had not been infinitely gracious to him therein Great presumptions will not suffer him that hath repented them for ever quite to forget them and he shall never be able to remember them without shame and horrour 33. Great cause then had David to pray so earnestly as we see here he doth against them and as great cause have the best of us to use our best care and endeavour to avoid them being they spring from such cursed root and are both so grievous to the holy spirit of God and of such bitter consequents to the guilty offender Our next business will be the sin and danger being so great to learn what is best to be done on our part for the avoiding and preventing both of sin and danger Now the means of prevention our third Discovery are First to seek help from the hand of God by praying with David here that the Lord would keep us back and then to put to our own helping hand by seconding our prayers with our best endeavours to keep our selves back from these presumptuous sins 34. A Iove Principium We have no stay nor command of our selves so masterful are our Wills and headstrong but that if God should leave us wholly to the wildness of our unruly nature and to take our own course we should soon run our selves upon our own ruine Like unto the horse and mule that have no understanding to guide themselves in a right and safe way but they must be holden in with bit and bridle put into their mouths else they will either do or finde mischief If we be not kept back with strong hand and no other hand but the hand of God is strong enough to keep us back we shall soon run into all extremities of evil with the greatest impetuousness that can be as the horse rusheth into the battle running into every excesse of riot as fast as any temptation is set before us and committing all manner of wickedness with all kinde of greediness David knew it full well and therefore durst not trust his own heart too far but being jealous over himself with a Godly jealousy evermore he made God his refuge If at any time he had been kept back from sinning when some opportunity did seem to tempt or provoke him thereunto he blessed God for it for he saw it was Gods doing more then his own Blessed be the Lord that hath kept his servant from evil in the the case of Nabal 1 Sam. 25. If at any time he desired to be kept back from sinning when Satan had laid a bait for him without sutable to some lust stirring within he sought to God for it for he knew that he must do it himself could not keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins here in the Text. Without his help and blessing all endeavours are in vain his help and blessing therefore must be sought for in the first place by Prayer 35. But we may not think when we have so done that we have done all that lieth upon us to do and so an end of the business It is Gods blessing I confess that doth the deed not our endeavours but we are vain if we expect Gods blessing without doing our endeavours Can we be so sensless as to imagine it should serve our turn to say Lord keep us back and yet our selves in the mean time thrust forward as fast as we can No if we will have our prayers effectual and in their efficacy is our chiefest hope and comfort we must second our faithful prayers with our faithful endeavours Oculus ad coelum manus ad clavum Then may we with confidence expect that God should do his part in keeping us back when we are duly careful to do our part also towards the keeping our selves back from presumptuous sins Against which sins the best and most soveraign preservatives I am yet able to prescribe are these four following It is every mans concernment and therefore I hope it shall be without offence if after the example of God himself in delivering the Law I speak to every mans soul as it were in particular 36. For the avoiding then of Presumptuous sins First be sure never to doe any thing against the clear light of thine own Conscience Every known sin hath a spice of wilfulness and presumption in it The very composure of Davids Prayer in the present passage implieth as much in passing immediately after the mention of his secret and unknown sins to the mentioning of these presumptuous Sins as if there were scarce any medium at all between them And every sin against conscience is a known sin A man hath not a heavier Foe then his own Conscience after he hath sinned nor before he sin a faster Friend O take heed of losing such a Friend or of making it of a Friend an Accuser If I should see one that I loved well fall into the company of a cheater or other crafty companion that would be sure to inveigle him in some ill bargain or draw him into some hurtful inconvenience if he should close with him of whom yet he had no suspicion I should but doe the part of a Friend to take him aside
Iob to comfort himself with it as we see he did in the day of his great distress The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caused the widows heart to sing for joy Job 29. 28. But say these poor ones should be so charitable as very seldom they be as not to curse us when we have despised them or so unthankful as seldom they are otherwise as not to bless us when we have relieved them yet the Lord who hath given every man a charge concerning his brother and committed the distresses of the poor to our care and trust will take district knowledge how we deal with them and unpartially recompense us thereafter Doth not he consider and shalt not he render to every man according to his works the last words of the Text. If therefore you have done your duty faithfully let it never discourage you that unrighteous and unthankful men forget it They do but their kinde the comfort is that yet God will both remember it and requite it God is not unrighteous to forget your work labour of love saith the Apostle Heb. 5. He will remember it you see And then saith David Psal. 41. Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble He will requite it too He that for Gods sake helpeth his poor brother to right that suffereth wrong he doth therein at once first an act of mercy because it is done in the behalf of a distressed man and an act secondly of justice because it is done in a righteous cause and thirdly being done for the Lords sake an act of Religion also Pure religion and undefiled before God even the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction Iames 1. And is it possible that God who delighteth in the exercise of every one of them singly should suffer an act to pass unrewarded wherein there is a happy concurrence of three such excellent vertues together as are Iustice Mercy and Religion The Prophet Ieremy to reprove Iehoâ—achins tyranny and oppression upbraideth him with his good father Iosiah's care and conscience to do justice and to shew mercy after this manner Did not thy father eat and drink and do judgement and justice and then it was well with him He judged the cause of the poor and needy then it was well with him was not this to know me saith the Lord But now on the contrary He shall have judgement without mercy that sheweth no mercy He that stoppeth his ears against the cry of the poor he shall also cry himself but shall noâ— be heard c. Many other like passages there are in the Scriptures to the same effect 29. Nay moreover the general neglect of this duty pulleth down the wrath of God not only upon those particular persons that neglect it but also upon the whole nation where it is in such general sort neglected O house of David thus saith the Lord execute judgment in the morning and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressour lest my fury go out like fire and burn that none can quench it because of the evil of your doings Ier. 21. Brethren we of this nation have cause to look to it in time against whom the Lord hath of late manifested his just wrath though tempered as we must all confess with much clemency yea and his hand is stretched out against us still in the heavie plagues both of dearth and death Though the land be full of all manner of sin and lewdness and so the Lord might have a controversy with us for any of them yet I am verily perswaded there are no other kinds of sins that have overspread the face of the whole land with such an universal contagion as it were of a Leprosie as the sins of Riot and Oppression have done Which two sins are not only the provoking causes as any kind of sinnes may be in regard of the justice of God but also the sensible instrumental causes in the eye of reason and experience of much penury and mortality among us 30. Surely then as to quench the fire we use to withdraw the fewel so to turn away the heavie wrath of God from us we should all put to our helping hands each in his place and calling but especially the Minister and the Magistrate the one to cry down the other to beat down as all sins in general so especially these of Ryot and Oppression Never think it will be well with us or that it will be much better with us then now it is or that it will not be rather every day much worse with us then it is never look that disorders in the Church distempers in the State distractions in our judgments diseases in our bodies should be remedied or removed and not rather more and more encreased if we hold on as we doe in pampering every man his own flesh and despising every man his poor brother So long as we think no pleasures too much for our selves no pressures too heavy for our brethren stretch our selves along and at ease upon our couches eat of the fat and drink of the sweet without any touch of compassion in our bowels for the afflictions of others we can expect no other but that the rod of God should abide upon us either in dearths or pestilences or if they be removed for God loveth sometimes to shift his rods in greater and heavier judgments in some other kinde 31. But as to the particular of Oppression for that of Ryot and Intemperance being beside the Text I shall no farther press my humble request to those that are in place of authority and all others that have any office or attendance about the Courts is this For the love of God and of your selves and your Country Be not so indulgent to your own appetites and affections either of Ease as to reject the complaints or of Partiality as to despise the persons or of filthy lucre as to betray the cause of the fatherlesse and friendlesse Suffer not when his cause is good a simple man to be circumvented by the wilinesse or a mean man to be overpowred by the greatnesse of a crafty or mighty adversary Favour not a known Sycophant nor open your lips to speak in a cause to pervert judgment or to procure favour for a mischievous person Turn not judgment into wormwod by making him that meant no hurt an offender for a word Wrangle not in the behalf of a contentious person to the prejudice of those that desire to live quiet in the land Devise not dilatory shifts to tug men on along in a tedious course of Law to their great charge and vexation but ripen their causes with all seasonable expedition for a speedy hearing In a word doe what lieth in your power to the utmost for the curbing of Sycophants and oppressours and the