blessings or by his judgments yet if we seek him he will be found Let us have as much feeling as the Cedars of Libanus which are shaken with his voice Let us seek him for there may be more wrath yet left in his vials let us seek him that he poure it not forth that our gold become not dim Lam. 4. that the pretious sons of Sion become not as earthen pitchers that the tongue of the suckling cleave not to the roof of his mouth for thirst that they amongst us who are brought up in scarlet embrace not the dunghils that our Jerusalem be not made a heap of stones And therefore let us with one heart and mind make a covenant to seek the Lord 2 Chron. 15.12 who now seemeth to stand behind the cloud and hide himself from us This is a Holy League a blessed Covenant indeed and we never yet read of any other Let those who have lost him by pride bow and seek him by humility those who have lost him by luxury seek him by temperance and severe discipline those who have lost him by profaneness seek him by reverence and devotion Let all seek him that he may be found of all and return to the many thousands of his Israel that we may be found in him in peace without spot and blameless and he may be found to us as light shining upon our Tabernacles but as a consuming fire devouring the adversary that the tryal of our faith which is much more pretious then gold that perisheth though it be tryed with fire may be found unto praise and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.7 and he may be found to us our exceeding great and everlasting reward The Twentieth SERMON PART I. MATTH VI. 12. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors BEing to prepare you for a feast even the Supper of the Lamb there to partake of the body and bloud of Christ of all those benefits which issued from him with his bloud and are the effects of his love I could not invite your thoughts or call your meditations to a fitter and more proper object then this the Mercy of God covering your sins and at once working Mercy in you towards your brethren his Grace and Pardon and the Condition required to make it ours And here we have them both in this Petition God shining upon us with the bright beams of his mercy that it may reflect from us upon others Christ's bloud distilling upon our souls to melt them that as he was merciful we may be merciful as he forgiveth us our debts we may forgive our debtors In which Petition there are two parts or members which evidently shew themselves In the first is comprehended that which we desire in the second the cause or manner S. Cyprian calleth it the Law by which we put it up Forgive us our debts SICUT as we forgive our debtors God is ready if we be well qualified but if we forgive not then he shutteth his ears and is deaf to our petition For with what measure we mete he will measure to us again If we take our brother by the throat he will deliver us to the goaler If we will not forgive our brother an hundred pence a disgrace some injury some debt something which would be nothing if we were merciful he hath no reason to forgive us all Secundum nostram sententiam judicabimur He will pass no other sentence upon us then that which we have subsribed to in this Petition We beg for pardon on this condition SICUT ET NOS If or As we forgive our debtors And if we make not good our condition we do but prompt the Judge to the severity of a denial and ex ore nostro are condemned already out of our own mouth Let us then take a view of them both both of what we desire Forgiveness of our debts and what we bind our selves to in this request Forgiveness of others In the first we shall consider 1. Why Sins are called debts 2. What Remission of sin is What it is we desire when we pray for forgiveness of sins And this will fill up our first part In the second part 1. Who these Debtors are we must forgive 2. What Debts or Trespasses they be 3. In what the parity or similitude consisteth what extent the SICUT hath and how far our forgiveness must answer and resemble God's And of these we shall speak in their order First our Sins are compared to pecuniary Debts And they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is a kind of analogy and proportion betwixt them For what S. Matthew here calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 debts S. Luke calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sins And we may contemplate the wisdom of the holy Ghost in making choice of this resemblance in fashioning himself to the natural affections of men and bringing us to a sight of the deformity of our sins by that which is familiar to our eyes When we say that Sin is a transgression of the Law we are bold to ask whether it be a Substance and real thing or a Defect whether it be a Privation or Positive act We talk of the Act of sin and the Habit of sin and the Guilt of sin And we give it divers names according to its several effects and operations We call it a stain because it defaceth the image of God a pollution because of that contagion with which it doth infect the soul a prevarication because it is a kind of collusion and defeat of the command a crime because it deserveth to be brought to the bar and accused wickedness and abomination because it is injurious to the Majesty of the Highest But none of these appellations do express Sin so lively to the very sense as when we call it a debt Those names many times flie about us like atomes in the air shew themselves to the understanding and straight vanish away or if they enter they make no deep impression but this word is a goad cum ictu quodam auditur we hear it with a kind of smart Rem invisibilem per visibilis rei formam describit It conveyeth unto us that which is in its own nature invisible for who ever handled Wickedness who ever saw the wrath of God by the forms of things that are visible and familiar to us that we may more deeply apprehend and more firmly remember them And as in many places of Scripture God draweth reasons from outward blessings making our love to them a motive to bring us to himself so here he applieth himself to our infirmity and to drive us from sin calleth it by that name we love not to hear as mothers use to fright their froward children with the names of Hags and Spirits and Hobgoblins And this is the wisdom of the holy Ghost to take us by craft To win us to Wisdom by calling it a bracelet or ornament to bring the ambitious to him by telling
For a Debt and a Forfeiture may be paid at last and if the debtor be not able to pay he may give his service his body some satisfaction and some satisfaction is better then none But he that committeth Sin is the servant of sin for ever and can never redeem it if for no other reason yet for this alone that he did commit it For not a myriad of vertues can satisfie for any one breach of our obligation and no hand but that of Mercy can cancell and make it void If we be in debt with God nothing can quit us but forgiveness And therefore we pray Forgive us our debts And so we fall upon our next part What is meant by Remission of sins or Forgiveness of debts And here we lie prostrate before the throne of God and desire forgiveness And what that is we cannot be to seek if we consider those judicial terms which the Scripture useth For we read of a a 1 Cor. 4.4 Judge of a b 2 Cor. 5.10 judgment seat of a c Rom. 2.15 witness of a d Rom. 3.19 conviction of a e Col. 2.14 hand-writing of an f 1 John 2.1 Advocate and in this Petition our sins are delivered in the notion of debts So that when we pray for the forgiveness of our sins we do as it were stand at the bar of God's justice and plead for mercy acknowledge the hand-writing but beseech him to cancel it confess our sins but sue out our pardon that we may be justified from those things from which by the Law we could not and though we are not yet for his sake who is our Surety and Advocate to count us righteous and pronounce us innocent This is all we learn in Scripture concerning Remission of sins Et quicquid à Deo discitur totum est as the Father speaketh That which we learn from God is all we can learn But as the Philosophers agreed there was a chief good and happiness which man might attain unto but could not agree what it was so it hath fallen out with Christians They all consent that there is mercy with God that we may be saved they make Remission of sins an article of their Creed but then they rest not here but to the covering of their sins require a garment of righteousness of their own thread and spinning to the blotting out of their sins some bloud and some virtue of their own and to the purging them out some infused habit of herent righteousness and so by their interpretations and additions and glosses they leave this Article in a cloud then which the day it self is not clearer As Astronomers when a new star appeareth in their Hemisphere dispute and altercate till that star go out and remove it self out of their sight so have we disputed and talked Justification and Remission of sins almost out of sight For there is nothing more plain and even without rub or difficulty nothing more open to the eye and yet nothing at which the quickest apprehensions have been more dazled Not to speak of the heathen who counted it a folly to believe there were any such thing and could not see how he that killed a man should not be a homicide or he no adulterer who had defiled a woman quibus melius fide quam ratione respondetur whom we may give leave to reason whilest we believe It hath been the fault of Christians when the truth lay in their way to pass it by or leap over it and to follow some phansies and imaginations of their own How many combates had S. Paul with the false brethren who would bring in the observation of the Ceremonial and Moral Law as sufficient to salvation How did he travel in birth again of the Galatians that Christ might be truly formed in them And yet how many afterwards did Galaticari as Tertullian speaketh were as foolish as the Galatians How many made no better use of it then to open a gap and make a way to let in all licentiousness and profaneness of life nay went so far as to think it most necessary as if Remission of sins were not a medicine to purge but a provocative to inerease sin Nor was this doctrine onely blemished by those monsters of men who sate down and consulted and did deliberately give sentence against the Truth but received some blot and stain from their hands who were the stoutest champions for it who though they saw the Truth and did acknowledge it yet let that fall from their pens which posterity after took up to obscure this doctrine and would not rest content with that which is as much as we can desire and more then we can deserve Remission of sins Hence it was that we were taught in the Schools That Justification is a change from a state of unrighteousness to a state of righteousness That as in every motion there is a leaving of one term to acquire another so in Justification there is expulsion of sin and infusion of grace Which is most true in the concrete but not in the abstract in the Justified person but not in Justification which is an act of God alone From hence those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those unsavoury and undigested conclusions of the Church of Rome That to justifie a sinner is not to pronounce but to make him just That the formal cause of Justification is inherent sanctity That our righteousness before God consisteth not onely in remission of sins That we may redeem our sins as well as Christ we from temporal as he from eternal pain And then this Petition must run thus FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES that is Make us so just that we may need no forgiveness Forgive us the breach of the Law because we have kept the Law Forgive us our sins for our good works Forgive me my intemperance for my often fasting my incontinency for my zeal my oppression for my alms my murther for the Abby and Hospital which I built my fraud my malice my oppression for the many Sermons I have heard A conceit which I fear findeth room and friendly enterteinment in those hearts which are soon hot at the very mery mention of Popery or Merit In a word they say and unsay sometimes bring in Remission of sins and sometimes their own Satisfaction and so set S. Paul and their Church at such a distance that neither St. Peter himself nor all the Angels and Saints she prayeth to will be able to reconcile them and make his Gratis and their Merits meet in one It is true every good act doth justifie a man so far as it is good and God so far esteemeth them holy and good and taketh notice of his graces in his â—â—â—ldren he registereth the Patience of Job the Zeal of Phinehas the Devotion of David not a cup of cold water not a mite flung into the Treasury but shall have its reward But yet all the works of all the Saints in the world cannot satisfie
that of the Asp 1037. Death is the wages of Sin 445. It is the nature of S. to dig a pit for it self 931. It resembleth Hell and naturally tendeth to it 932. Sinners wilfully run into hell 932. We should not sin though we might gain heaven by it 378. Though thou have but one sin turn from it for it is of a monstrous aspect 378. Though but one it is fruitful and may beget another 379. Though but one it deserveth and may pull down temporal punishment 379. Though but one if not forsaken God will punish thee eternally in hell for it 380. 610. And thy punishment shall be the greater there by reason of the sins of others whom thy example shall have made to sin 380. Sinners oft escape mens laws 233. but Christ's they shall not 233 The sinner is most fo to himself 119. Sinful lusts drown and darken the mind 97. quite transform a man 125. Little difference betwixt a Devil and an obstinate Sinner 722. Better to suffer then sin 126 131. There is a proportion between Sin and Punishment 929. 931. Punishment of Sin manifesteth the Justice of the Providence of God 930. and conduceth to the good of the Universe 930. ¶ How Sin gaineth strength by delay and groweth upon us 357. 414. 793. 922. 983. If we give way to one Sin we are likely to give way to more 1120 1121. Sins of Omission lead to sins of Commission 456 What an empire Sin hath and exerciseth 358. 741. 767. Sin the worst Tyrant 741. 1098. How old men act over their sins in their age 357. How bold men make nothing of Sin 923. ¶ Divers names that Sin hath in Scripture 805. None expresseth it so lively as Debts 805. A fourfold analogy between Sins and Debts 805 c. An account of the wofull gain we make by Sin 807 808. The penalty of Sin 808. The fearful gashes and torments that Sin maketh in the heart of a sinner 809. 1097. What miserable remedies Sinners use to appease their unquiet consciences 946. v. Conscience It is far easier to avoid Sin then to get rid of it 809 810. One difference between Sins and Debts 810. What we do when we pray Forgive us our trespasses 811. v. Remission God when he forgiveth doth not make that to be no sin which was a sin 871. All the virtues in the world cannot wash off the guilt of one unrepented sin 375 376. 378. 812. 813. Mortall Sins will not be blotted-out by Martyrdome 707. What S. Christ will bear with what not 319. God's pardoning of former Sins maketh those we commit afterwards more grievous 380. 612 613. Sins after reconcilement revive those that Repentance had covered 381. 613 614. ¶ Original Sin alledged to excuse actual more then is fitting 427 428. 446. Our being bidden daily to beg pardon implieth not a Necessity of sinning 110 111. 604. v. Vice Some call their obstinate perseverance in sin Infirmity and Weakness 456 457. Men are wont to cloke their Sins with honest names 499. For none so much a Sinner as to be willing to be accounted so 500. Some say that the foulest Sins advantage rather then endanger the Elect 755. Many applaud themselves that they abstein from some Sins they observe in others 601. God's Permission of Sin how understood by some 407 c. How God permitteth Sin since he hateth it 410 584 c. Other apologies that men use to shift-off their Sin 432 c. as I. Want of help and assistance against it 433. 447. II. Ignorance 436. c. 447. v. Ignorance III. Checks of Conscience Remorse and Unwillingness 439. 447. The different way of Sinning of the Righteous and the Wicked 439. The Godly when they have sinned cannot plead that they have sinned against their will 440. Sin against Conscience is exceedingly the more sinful 441. IV. A Good meaning cannot palliate Sin 443. 447 448. How men are wont to excuse their Sins 171. 499. 1034 c. That which can be excused is not a Sin 1029. Excuse aggravateth Sin 1029. 1040. To seek to hide our Sin is far worse then to commit it 933. Sinners either despair or deny or lessen or confess or excuse their Sins whereof Confession is good the rest naught Excusing worst 1035 1036. To excuse Sin is natural 1036. more natural then to commit it 1038. ¶ Every man is not equally inclined to every Sin 376 377. 601. 1038. Every man hath his beloved Sin 378. What sins be inconsistent with the Covenant of Grace 603. How far a Saint may abstein from Sin 603. A little Sin may become a great one 603. How it cometh to pass that lesser Sins have more power over us then greater 607 608. Many content themselves with avoyding great and gross Sins 607 610. We must watch and fight against the least Sin 610. It is easier not to tast Sin at first then to forbear it afterwards 614 Men will revile Sin and pray against it and yet not leave it 787. Many are forward censurers of the Sins of others and take no notice of their own 377. We must not so shun one Sin as to dash upon another 374. Sick and aged persons do not so much forsake Sin as it forsaketh them 592 593. All Sins must be forsaken 600. Sin is most sinful in a Christian 417 418. ¶ Tentations to Sin how to be overcome 270. Sin appeareth ugly even by the light of Nature 325. 330. Sin must be known before it can be left 329. We do know many Sins and might know more 330. Many Sins are secret and not taken notice of 331. but these we must fear and hate and beg pardon of 331. Secrecy is the nurse of Sin 167. Men study to conceal it 167. We must search and find out our Sins of what sort soever 483 484. It is an easy thing to see Sin but hard to leave it 484 485. Affliction bringeth Sin to remembrance 567 568. All punishments suppose Sin 586. Fear bringeth us to the sight of our Sins 387 388. Fear curbeth us from sinning 390. Prosperity maketh Sin not appear 610. Sin cannot be sufficiently curbed prevented by humane Laws 168. nor by checks of Conscience 169. Many condemn Sin in others and practice it themselves 169. Hard-hearted sinners nothing will work upon 253. Causes of mens growing resolute in sinning 90. ¶ The way to get rid of our Sins is penitently to confess them 1040 1041. David thought to have gone rather too far in confessing his sins 1040. Saul's Sin and David's compared 1030. Whether one in the state of some mortal Sin can perform a good action 375. 601. Many men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sin and repent and sin again 383. Relapses make us more inclinable to Sin and backward to Piety 614. To sin without shame is to be like the Devil 1038. v. Shame Every wilfull Sin a step to Apostasie 1121. To have sin what in St. John 602. Sinners themselves cannot but think well of Virtue 89 90. v. Piety
I had pity on thee This is the natural and most necessary inference that can be drawn from these premisses What a sick soul then is that which when Mercy overshadoweth her bringeth forth a monster breathing forth hail stones and coals of fire even that cruelty which devoureth those she should foster This is the most false illation can be made For God freely profereth remission of sins to work in us the like mind and affection and pardoneth all by proclamation that we may forgive one another To conclude this It is with this great example of God's Goodness to us as it is with his Word and Spirit and other benefits They are powerful to work miracles to heal the sick to give eyes to the blind to give life to the dead to remove mountains any difficulty whatsoever but they do not necessarily produce these effects because there still remaineth an indifferency in the will of man and a possibility to resist It is the office of the Spirit to seal us to the day of our redemption and he is powerful to do it but he doth not seal a stone which will take no impression or water which will hold no figure His Word is his hammer but it doth not batter nor soften every heart How often is his Word in their mouth how often do they publish his mercies his wonderful mercies to the world whose very mercy notwithstanding is cruelty His Benefits are lively in themselves but dead and buried in an ungrateful breast Therefore to make his Mercy efficacious to let it work what it is very apt to work let us not onely hear God when he speaketh to us by it and go out to meet him when he cometh towards us by his exemplary goodness put off our shooes from our feet at the appearance of this great light to wit all our turbulent motions beat down all the contradictions of our mind and take the veil from before our eyes that we may discern his Mercy as it is working remission of sins but withall planting that love in our hearts which must grow up to shadow all the trespasses of our brethren And this power and influence the Mercy of God hath to work in us the like softness and tenderness of heart to others if we hinder it not if Covetousness and the Love of the world and that False love of our selves and other vile affections stand not up and oppose it We must now in the next place weigh the Force and Power which our forgiveness of our brethren hath to move God to shew mercy unto us And indeed it may seem to have some causality in it For as I told you the SICUT in S. Matthew is ETENIM in S. Luke as we forgive saith the one for we forgive saith the other But indeed they are both one and ETENIM is no more then SICUT And it is observed that this conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though it carry with it the appearance of a Causal yet both in the New Testament and in humane Authours serves sometimes for nothing else but to make up the connexion For take Compassion and all the vertues which are commended to our practice take that Charity which is the fulfilling of the Law yet all will not make up a Cause either efficient or formal Rom. 3.24 of Remission of sins which is the free gift of God But because our Saviour hath told us that if we forgive men their trespasses our heavenly Father will forgive us we may say it is a Cause a cause so far as without it there is no remission of sins For though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains though I give my bread to the poor and my body to be burnt yet if I have not charity if I do not forgive my enemies there is no hope of remission Or it is as I told you causa removens prohibens a cause in this respect that it removeth that hindrance that obstacle that mountain which standeth between us and the Mercy-seat For God's Goodness is larger then his Beneficence He doth not do what good he can he doth not do what good he would because we are uncapable He doth not shine in full beauty upon us because we are nothing but deformity We will not suffer him to be good we will not suffer him to be merciful we will not suffer him to wipe out our sins by forgiveness we set up our rampiers and bulworks against him and our Malice is strong against his Mercy But so far it is a cause and may be said to produce it as the effect is commonly attributed to such causes which though they have not any positive causality yet without them the effect cannot be accomplished Thus Blessedness is placed as a title and inscription upon every vertue Blessed are the poor in spirit Blessed are the merciful Every vertue maketh us blessed but not every vertue without all So naked and destitute is every vertue if it be not accompanied with all nor is any vertue truly a vertue if it do not savour and relish of the rest For it is universal obedience that God requireth at our hands And though forgiveness of sins go as it were hand in hand with every vertue yet it is so in every vertue that we cannot find it but in all We are baptized for remission of sins We believe to remission of sins We forgive that our sins may be forgiven Yet none of these are available alone not Baptism without Faith nor Faith without Love The profession of Christianity taketh in all that is praise-worthy all vertues whatsoever As the Oratour telleth us that to his art of Oratory not onely Wit and Pronunciation and Command of language but also the Knowledge of all the arts are necessary quae etiam aliud agentes ornat ubi minimè credas excellit which adorneth our speech when we do not intend it and is a grace which sheweth it self in every limme and part of it and is very eminent where we do not see it So though the habits of Vertues be as distinct as their names yet they all meet in that general Obedience and Sanctity of life which denominateth a Christian And there is not any vertue but hath some appearance and is in part visible in every one My Christian Fortitude sheweth it self in my Temperance my Temperance in my Bounty my Faith in my Charity and my Charity in my Hope And as in an army of men though the Captain and Leader be commonly entitled to the victory yet was it vvrought out by the several and particular hands of every common souldier and by the united force of the vvhole battalion so that vve truly say All did overcome and Every one did overcome So vve may attribute Remission of sins to every vertue vvhich vve can never obtain but by the embracement and practice of them all Our Saviour's words then If ye forgive ye
the wayes of righteousness and yet drooped how many have fainted even in their Saviours arms when his Mercies did compass them in on every side how many have been in the greatest agony when they were nearest to their exaltation how many have condemned themselves to hell who now sit crowned in the highest heavens I know nothing by my self 1 Cor. 4.4 saith S. Paul yet am not thereby justified Hoc dicit Dialogo adv Pelagium nè forte quid per ignorantiam deliquisset saith S. Hierom Though he knew nothing yet something he might have done amiss which he did not know Though our conscience accuse us not of greater crimes yet our conscience may tell us we may have committed many sins of which she could give us no information And this may cast a mist about him who walketh as in the day Rom. 13.13 In a word a man may doubt and yet be saved and a man may assure himself and yet perish A man may have a groundless hope and a man may have a groundless fear And when we see two thus contrarily elemented the one drooping the other cheerful the one rejoycing in the Lord whom he offendeth the other trembling before him whom he loveth we may be ready to pity the one and bless the condition of the other cast away the elect and chuse the reprobate Therefore we must not be too rash to judge but leave the judgment to him who is Judge both of the quick and dead and will neither condemn the innocent for his fear nor justifie the man that goeth on in his sin for his assurance Take comfort then thou disconsolate soul Psal 44.19 which art strucken down into the place of dragons and art in terrour and anguish of heart This fear of thine is but a cloud and it will drop down and distill in blessings upon thy head This agony will bring down an Angel This sorrow will be turned into joy this doubt be answered this despair vanish that Hope may take its proper place again the heart of a penitent Thy fear is better then other mens confidence thy anxiety more comfortable then their security thy doubting more favoured then their assurance Timor tuus securitas tua Thy fear of death will end in the firm expectation of eternal life Though thou art tost on a tumultuous sea thy mast spent and thy tackling torn yet thou shalt at last strike in to shore when those proud Saylers shall shipwrack in a calm Misinterpret not this thy dejection of spirit thy sad and pensive thoughts nor seek too suddenly to remove them An afflicted conscience in the time of health is the most hopeful and soveraign Physick that is Thy fear of death is a certain symptome and an infallible sign of life There is no horrour of the grave to him that lieth in it Death onely is terrible to the living And then there can be no stronger argument that thou art alive then this that thou doubtest thou art dead already And lift up thy head too thou despairing and almost desperate sinner whom not thy many sins but thy unwillingness to leave them hath brought to the dust of death who first blasphemest God Psal 22.15 and then drawest the punishment nearer to thee then he would have it and art thy own hangman and executioner not that pardon is denyed but that thou wilt not sue it out Look about thee and thou mayest see Hope coming towards thee and many arguments to bring it in An argument from thy Soul which is not quite lost till it be in hell and if thou wilt possess it it shall not be lost An argument from thy Will which is free and mutable and may turn to good as well as evil An argument from the very habit of Sin that presseth thee down which though it be strong yet is it not stronger then the Grace of God and the activity of thy Will It is very difficult indeed but the Christian mans work is to overcome difficulties An argument from those sholes and multitudes of Offenders who have wrought themselves out of the power of death and the state of damnation from many who have committed as many sins as thou but this one of Despair from those Publicanes and sinners who have entred into the kingdome of heaven An argument from thy own Argument which thou so unskilfully turnest against thy self It is no argument it is but a weak peremptory Conclusion held up without any Premisses or Reason that can enforce it For Despair is but Petitio principii proveth and concludeth the same by the same maketh our Sins greater then Gods Mercies because they are so and Repentance impossible because it is so Though the Soul be not quite lost till it be lost for ever though the Will be free and Grace offereth it self though the voice of God be Turn though multitudes have turned and that which hath been done may be done again though the argument be no argument yet Despair doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against what reason soever hold up the Conclusion Thou sayest that God cannot forgive thee If he cannot then he is not merciful neither is he just and so he is not God and then what needest thou despair We begin in sin proceed to blasphemy and so end in despair But a God he is and merciful But thy sins are greater then his mercies which is another blasphemy and bringeth in something more infinite then God taketh Gods office from him dispenseth his Mercies of which he alone is Lord shutteth up his rich treasury of Goodness when he is ready and willing to lay it open and so ruineth us in despite of God But thou sayest thou canst not repent which is thy greatest errour and the main cause of thy despair For when the heart is thus hard it beateth off all succours that are offered all those means that might be as oyl to supple it Thou canst not is not true Thou shouldst say Thou wilt not repent for if thou wilt thou mayest For thou canst not tell whether thou canst repent or no because thou never yet didst put it to the tryal but being in the pit didst shut the mouth of it upon thy self and stop it up with a false opinion of God and of thy self with dark notions and worthless conceits of impossibilities Behold God calleth after thee again and again His Grace as a devout Writer speaketh is most officious to take thee out his Mercy ready to embrace thee if thou do not stubbornly cast her off Behold a multitude of Penitents who having escaped the wrath to come becken to thee by their example to follow after them and retire from these hellish thoughts and conclusions unto the same shadow and shelter where they are sale from those false suggestions and fiery darts of the enemy And if this will not move thee then behold the blood of an immaculate Lamb streaming down to wash away thy sins and with them thy despair
to shun the least suspicion of offense Hitr. ad Pammach Marcel nè quod fortuitò fecit consultò facere videretur lest what might formerly be imputed to chance or infirmity may now seem to proceed from wilfulness So when we turn and God is pleased so far to condescend as to take us to his favour and of enemies not onely make us his servants but call us his friends it will then especially concern us to abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thess 5.22 to suspect every object as the Devil's lurking-place in which he lieth in wait to betray us lest we may seem to have begged pardon of our sins not out of hatred but out of love unto them and to have left our sins for a time to commit them afresh We are bound now not onely in a bond of common duty but of gratitude For God's free favour is numella as a clog or yoke to chain and fetter and restrain us from sin that we commit not that every day for which we must beg pardon every day A reason of this we may draw from the very Love of God For the Anger of God in a manner is the effect and product of his Love He is angry if we sin because he loved us he is displeased when we yield to temptations because he loved us and his Anger is the hotter because his Love was excessive As the Husband who most affectionately loveth the wife of his youth Prov. 5.19 and would have her be as the loving hinde and pleasant roe but to himself alone will not allow so much love from her as may be conveyed in a look or glance of an eye is jealous of her very looks of her deportment of her garments and will have her to behave her self with that modesty and strangeness ut quisquis videat metuat accedere that no man may be so bold as to come so near as to ask the question or make mention of love and all because he most affectionately loveth her So much nay far greater is the love of God to our souls which he hath married unto himself in whom he desireth to dwell and take delight and so dearly he loveth them that he will not divide with the World and the Flesh but is straight in passion if we cast but a favourable look upon that sin by which we first offended him if we come but near to that which hath the shew of a rival or adversary But if we let our desires loose and fall from him and embrace the next temptation which wooeth us then he counteth us guilty of spiritual whoredome and adultery his jealousie is cruel as the grave Cant. 8.4 and his jealousie which is an effect of his Love shall smoke against us First it was Love and Jealousie lest we might tender our service to strange Gods cast our affections upon false Riches and deceitful Pleasures and now we have left Life for Death preferred that which first wounded us before him that cured us it is Anger and Indignation that he should lose us whom he so loved that we should fling him off who so loved us that he should create and then lose us and afterwards purchase and redeem us and make us his again and we should have no understanding but run back again from him into captivity For in the Second place as our sins are greater after reconcilement so if they do not cancel the former pardon as some are unwilling to grant yet they call those sins to remembrance which God cast behind his back For as good works are destroyed by Sin and revive again by Repentance so our evils which are covered by Repentance revive again by Sin Not onely my Almes are devoured by my Oppression my Chastity defloured by my Uncleanness my Fasting lost in my Luxury but my former sins which were scattered as a mist before the Sun return again and are a thick cloud between me and the bright and shining mercy of God Not that there is any mutability in God No God doth not repent of his gifts but we may of our Repentance and after pardon sin again and so bring a new guilt upon our souls and not onely that but vengeance upon our heads for the contempt of God's Mercy and slighting of his former pardon For nothing can provoke God to anger more then the abuse of his goodness and mercy nor doth his wrath burn most violently then when it is first quencht and allaid with the tears of a sinner and afterwards kindled again by his sin Then he that was well pleased to be reconciled will question and condemn us and yet make good his promise he that forgat our sins will impute our sins and yet be Truth it self For remission of sins is a continued act and is and remaineth whilst the condition which is required remaineth but when we fail in that the door of Mercy which before was wide open unto us is shut against us For should God justifie and forgive him who breaketh his Obligation and returneth to the same place where he stood out against God and fought against him Shall he be reconciled to him who will be again his enemy Ezek. 18.21 2◠If the righteous relapse his righteousness shall not be mentioned nor shall the wickedness of the wicked be mentioned if he repent The change is not in God but in our selves Aliter aliter judicat de homine aliter aliter disposito He speaketh in mercy to the penitent but in anger to the relapsed sinner The rule of Gods actions is constant and like himself And in this particular this is the rule this his decree To forgive the penitent and punish the relapsed sinner So he forgiveth the sinner when he repenteth and punisheth him when he falleth away And why should it be put to the question Whether God revoke his first Pardon Quid prodest esse quod esse non prodest as Tertullian speaketh If we think he did it not or cannot do it yet what profit is it that that should remain which doth not profit nay which doth aggravate our sin Or what Pardon is that which may remain firm when he to whom it was given for his revolt may be turned into hell Matth 18. When the servant falleth down the Lord is moved with compassion and looseth him and forgiveth him the debt But when he taketh his fellow-servant by the throat he delivereth him to the tormenters till he pay the utmost farthing God is ever like unto himself constant to his rule and he forgiveth and punisheth for this reason because he is so and cannot change As we beg pardon upon promise so doth God grant it upon supposition of perseverance He doth not pardon us our sin that we should sin again If we break our promise we our selves make a nullity of the Pardon make it of as little virtue and power as if it had never been The Schools tell us that the Sacraments are
and casteth us on the ground and maketh us fome at our mouths fome out our own shame it casteth us into the fire and water burneth and drowneth us in our lusts And if it bid us Do this we do it We are perjured to save our goods beat down a Church to build us a banquetting-house take the vessels of the Sanctuary to quaff in fling away eternity to retain life and are greater devils that we may be the greater men Whilest Sin reigneth in our mortal bodies the curse of Canaan is upon us we are servi servorum the slaves of slaves And if we will judge aright there is no other slavery but this Now empti estis By the power of Christ these chains are struck off For he therefore bought us with a price that we should no longer be servants unto Sin but be a peculiar people unto himself full of good works which are the ensigns and flags of liberty which they carry about with them whose feet are enlarged to run the wayes of God's commandments Again there is a double Dominion of Sin a dominion to Death and a dominion to Difficulty a power to slay us and a power to hold us that we shall not easily escape And first if we touch the forbidden fruit we dye if we sin our sin lieth at the door ready to devour us For he saith our Saviour that committeth sin is the servant of sin obnoxious to all those penalties which are due to sin under the sentence of death His head is forfeited and he must lay it down Ye are dead saith S. Paul in trespasses and sins not onely dead as having no life no principle of spiritual motion not able to lift up an eye to heaven but dead as we say in Law having no right nor title but to death we may say heirs of damnation And then Sin may hold us and so enslave us that we shall love our chains and have no mind to sue for liberty that it will be very difficult which sometimes is called in Scripture Impossibility to shake off our fetters Sin gaining more power by its longer abode in us first binding us with it self and then with that delight and profit which it bringeth as golden chains to tye us faster to it self and then with its continuance with its long reign which is the strongest chain of all But yet empti estis Christ hath laid down the price and bought us and freed us from this dominion hath taken away the strength of Sin that it can neither kill us nor detain us as its slaves and prisoners There is a power proceedeth from him which if we make use of as we may neither Death nor Sin shall have any dominion over us a power by which we may break those chains of darkness asunder Look up upon him with that faith of which he was the authour and finisher and the victory is ours Bow to his Sceptre and the Kingdom of Sin and Death is at an end For though he hath bought us with a price yet he put it not into the hands of those fools who have no heart but laied it down for those who will with it sue out their freedom in this world For that which we call liberty is bondage and that which we call bondage is freedom Rom. 6.20 When we were the servants of sin we were free from righteousness and we thought it a glorious liberty But this Liberty did enslave us Prov. 10.24 For that which the wicked feared shall come upon him They that built the tower of Babel did it that they might not be scattered and they were scattered say the Rabbies in this world and in the world to come So whilest men pursue their unlawful desires that they may be free by pursuing them they are enslaved enslaved in this world and in the world to come But let us follow the Apostle But now being made free from sin Rom. 6.22 you are servants unto God See here a service which is liberty and liberty which is bondage the same word having divers significations as it is placed And let us sue out Liberty in its best sense in foro misericordiae in the Court of Mercy Behold here is the price the bloud of Christ And you have your Charter ready drawn If the Son make you free John 8.36 Acts 16. that is buy you with a price ye shall be free indeed Which words are like that great earthquake when Paul and Sylas prayed and sung Psalms At the very hearing of them the foundation of Hell shaketh and every mans chains are loosed For every man challengeth an interest in the Son and so layeth claim to this freedom Every man is a Christian and so every man free The price is laid down and we may walk at liberty It fareth with us as with men who like the Athenians hearken after news Whilest we make it better we make it worse and lose our Charter by enlarging it But if we will view the Text we may observe there is one word there which will much lessen this number and point out to them as in chains who talk and boast so much of freedom And it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye shall be free indeed not in shew or persuasion For Opinion and Phansie will never strike off these chains but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 really substantially free and indeed not free 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in appearance or in a dream which they may be whose damnation sleepeth not Many persuade themselves into an opinion they call it an Assurance of freedom when they have sold themselves Many sleep as S. Peter did between the two souldiers bound with these chains Many thousands perish in a dream build up to themselves an assurance which they call their Rock and from this rock they are cast down into the bottomless pit and that which is proposed as the price of their liberty hath been made a great occasion to detain them in servitude and captivity which is the more heavy and dangerous because they call it Freedom Therefore we must once more look back upon that place of S. John and there we shall find that they shall be free whom the Son maketh free So that the reality and truth of our freedom dependeth wholly upon his making us free If he make us free if we come out of his hand formed by his Word and transformed by the virtue of the price he gave for us then we shall be free indeed If we have been turned upon his wheel we shall be vessels of honour And now it will concern us to know aright what the meaning of his buying is and the manner how he maketh us free 1 Cor. 7.23 By Purchase by buying us with a price and so it is here Col. 2.14 By Taking away the hand-writing which was against us and nailing it to his cross Eph. 5.2 By Satisfaction being made a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God for us But then also
fitted for such a Lord such a Captain such a King For as one well sayeth the Sacraments are nothing else but protestationes fidei the publick protestations of our Faith They who come to the Lord's Table by their very coming do publickly profess that they believe not onely every Article of their Faith but also this Divine promise and institution by which Christ will renew and strengthen and establish his Covenant to every worthy receiver Leave then thy wavering thy inconstancy thy diffidence thy formality thy hypocrisie thy malice before thou approch For wilt thou come to the Feast of the Lamb with the teeth of a Lion Wilt thou come to him in whom there was no guile found with a deceitful heart Wilt thou come to a meek Saviour with a heart on fire Wilt thou come to him who forbiddeth a wandring look with a stews about thee Wilt thou bring the love of the world along with thee to him that overcame the world Wilt thou come to the Son of God with the subtilty and malice of a Devil Thy coming is thy protestation not onely of thy Faith but of thy Repentance and if thou thus defeat and contradict thy own protestation I will not say what manner of Protestant thou art but the world affordeth many such at this day And how darest thou meet thy Saviour in this ugly disguise carrying about with thee a world of wickedness under protestation The Canonist will tell us Sacramentum mortis articulus aequiparantur that we are considered at the Sacrament as on our Death-bed And on our death-bed we are likelier to be attempted with thoughts of dejection then of presumption Here we lay down our malice here we loath our lust here vve fall out with Mammon here vve look down upon Honour here vve go out of the vvorld here vve are meek and humble and tractable here vve are commonly vvhat we should be in our health Consider thy self then at this Table as on thy Death-bed and here lay aside every weight and every sin that doth beset us lay them down not as sick men sometimes do to take them up again in health but drown them in the bloud and nail them to the cross of thy Saviour never to look back upon them but vvith sorrow and disdain Here shake off all inclination to them as far as is possible and take up a firm resolution never to entertein them again and then thou art fit to come to Christ and feed at his Table then as he is brought into the vvorld and hath brought himself into the Sacrament and vvill be so far present as to exhibite himself and all his love and favour in them so he vvill bring himself into thy soul and fill it vvith all joy The One and Twentieth SERMON PART II. MATTH VI. 12. As we forgive our debtors HEre we have the Condition or the Cause or the Manner or as St. Cyprian calleth it the Law by which we put up the foregoing Petition Forgive us our debts SICUT as we forgive our debtours If we perform the Condition then Remission of our sins as the promise of it is Yea and Amen But if we perform it not to us it is but a promise And though it be not kept it is not broke because we made not good the condition And these two the Promise of reward and the Duty or Condition mutually look upon each other the Reward upon the Duty to facilitate and make it easie and the Duty upon the Reward to draw it on And as we find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Relatives they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God's Mercy is operative â—n us and our forgiveness is operative upon God His is powerful to produce the like goodness in us and ours is powerful to sheath his sword as having the promise of Remission of sins God doth forgive our debts that we may forgive our debtors and we forgive our debtors that he may be reconciled to us Heaven speaketh to Earth and Earth to Heaven The influence of God's mercy melteth our hearts and they being melted are capable of mercy The lines by which we are to pass are these 1. We must see what these Debts are which we must forgive 2. The manner how we must forgive them or the Extent and Force of this SICUT In what the parity and similitude consisteth and how far our Forgiveness of our brother's debts must answer the Remission of our sins 3. The Dependance which is between these two God's forgiveness and ours What power and influence God's Mercy should have upon us to work in us the like tenderness and softness towards our brethren and what force our Forgiveness hath to make God merciful to us to draw his hand to seal us and to seal to us the Remission of our sins against the great day of our Redemption Of these we shall speak plainly and in their order As we forgive our debtours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our debtours saith S. Matthew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Luke every one that is indebted to us So that this duty is of large extent This royal and heavenly disposition which is required of a Christian hath no bounds no limits neither in respect of time nor place nor person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle Let your softness your tenderness your moderation be known unto all men to Jew and Pagan to good and evil Nemini malum pro malo Render to no man evil for evil For as the grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men so must our Charity enlarge it self and like the Sun non uni aut alteri sed statim omnibus in commune proferri display its beams universally on all on every man that is a brother and a Neighbour And now under the Gospel every man is so He is my neighbour and brother who loveth me and he is my neighbour and brother who hateth me He is my neighbour who bindeth up my wounds and he is my neighbour who gave me those wounds He is my neighbour who taketh care of me and he is my neigbour who passeth by me on the other side And my goodness must open and manifest it self to all men must be as catholick as the Church nay as the World it self Whosoever maketh himself our debtour maketh himself also the object of our mercy and whatsoever the debt is Forgiveness must wipe it out and cancel it Every debtour then must be forgiven And that we may better understand the condition here required we must consider what the debts are For commonly we call those debts alone which are pecuniary and esteem them our debtours whose names are in tabulis kalendario in our Bonds and Obligations But the word is of larger extent and the Civilians will tell us that he is not a debtour alone who hath sealed a Bond and standeth engaged for a sum of money but Debitor est cum quo agi potest He is a debtour against whom I
way for our desires which otherwise we could not once dare to confess and tender For should we sue for mercy with our hands full of bloud Can he that draggeth his brother to the prison dare to look back upon the mercy-seat Can we fall down for pardon with a full resolution to revenge Or can we hope to be heard in oratorio in the chappel or oratorie when we have left our brother in carcere in prison or that our devotion will be louder then the noise of his chains Take both expressions and you have both a similitude and a cause declared which though it be not causal to force yet it carrieth with it a strong motive to perswade a grant Our blessed Saviour implyeth thus much in those words which immediately follow the AMEN and conclusion of this Prayer Vers 14 15. For if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you But if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses Which is a plain commentary and exposition of this Condition and a reason why it is annexed to the Petition And here we cannot but make a stand and conceive that some reason there was which moved our Saviour thus to re-inforce the duty which was fully comprehended in the Condition before He was not content to joyn it to that Petition which containeth all the hope and expectation of a Christian to make it a Condition without which there can be no remission of sins but he often repeateth and taketh it up again and again first here and that in appearance against all Grammar and method there being placed between not onely an entire Petition consisting of two parts or as some will have it two several Petitions but also the clause or conclusion of the whole Prayer and again Matth. 18. in the parable of the King calling his servants to account And indeed though in strictness of Grammar and method that re-inforcement of this duty of Forgiveness v. 14 15. cannot be referred to any Petition but this and is as a seal to the Condition to make it more authentick yet Christ's method is de schola coeli taken from no school but that of heaven nec unam sequitur orbitam nor is tied to one path alone and it is drawn many times not from the nature of the things themselves but from the temper and disposition of men now cometh fairly towards them and by and by pauseth or steppeth aside and then returneth to make a deeper impression that it may fasten the Divine precepts in our memory and that we may digest them and turn them into Nourishment And if you consider the multitude to which he spake he may seem to have used singular art For the Oratour observeth that to the common and ignorant people sparsa compositis sunt numerosiora those things which seem disorderly scattered are of more force then those which are bound within a certain method As a sword maketh way into the body so do good precepts into the mind morâ magis quà m ictu more by pauses and intervalls and often repetitions then by force and strength Having now laid down before you first what these Debts are which we must forgive secondly the Manner how we must forgive them or the Extent and Force of the Sicut in what the parity or similitude consisteth and how far our Forgiveness of our brother must answer the Remission of our sins we will lead you on forward to what remaineth the Dependance and Relation which is betwixt these two God's Forgiveness and ours and shew you first what power and influence God's Mercy should have on us to work the like tenderness and softness in our hearts towards our brethren and last of all vvhat force our Forgiveness hath to make God merciful to us to draw his hand to seal to us the Remission of our sins First God's Mercy though it be essential to him yet is one of those virtues vvhich are in a manner communicable diffused and poured on us to make us like him and vvhich by vvay of analogy and some degree of proportion must be found in the sons of men Who is great besides our God and vvho is Everlasting but the Lord What hath our Mixture of his Uncompoundedness or our Bounds and Limits of his Immensity What hath our Span of his Eternity Or what do these attributes work in the creature which carrieth any likeness or resemblance to them But his Truth his Justice his Mercy as they shine in God in perfection of beauty so do they cast their beams upon men and kindle in them that truth that justice and mercy which we may consider as so many reflexions from him He that loveth is born of God saith S. John He that is just is like unto him and he that is merciful is his child And therefore the Schools call them virtutes exemplares no otherwise vertues in God but as they are exemplary because those Divine vertues which are essential to him must be looked upon by us as patterns and copies We must be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful For he is thus pleased to set up himself as a copy of that Goodness which he will exact at our hands so that those patterns of holiness which we are bound to follow are to be taken not onely from his bare commandment but from the object of his will revealed I mean those constant practices in which he manifesteth himself to his creature every day which are so many express proofs and invincible arguments that his will is alwayes holy and just in those perfections whereof our general duties are the imperfect representations He that biddeth us forgive our enemies hath mercy in store for them He that commandeth us to bless our persecutors doth tender his blessings to them that persecute him He that biddeth us be loving to our neighbour is the Father and God of love And those vertues which he worketh in us he maketh good upon us He maketh us even see and feel and handle his mercy that we may be active in those duties of love which we owe unto our brethren As he hath made himself a great example of mercy so he hath made us capable of it made us as waxe on which his image and superscription may be wrote and which may receive those impressions which his gracious operation upon us doth naturally work He hath given us Understandings to behold and observe him in those wayes in which he maketh himself in a manner visible to us He hath given us a Will which is the mistress of our actions and must apply it self to the will of God revealed in his word and not to those actions which are nothing else but real contradictions to his and as so many spots and defacings of his image in us Now the Philosopher will tell us Simile generat sibi simile Naturally every thing produceth that which is like unto it as Fire turneth all
shall be forgiven must be interpreted by other places For the whole Scripture is as it were but one copulative proposition saith the devout Schoolman knitting and uniting all parts together and confirming and expounding one by another And therefore vve must not take every proposition as it lieth and in that sense it first representeth but compare one part with another He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved saith our Saviour Hence saith S. Augustine some vvere ready to collect that Faith in Baptism was abundantly sufficient to remission of sins although it vvere naked and alone and destitute of all other vertues Others upon this Forgive and ye shall be forgiven inferred that to forgive others vvas enough Others upon that of our Saviour Luke 11.41 Give alms of such things as ye have and behold all things are clean unto you concluded that to open our hands was to vvash them that alms vvere enough But this is to be vâ—ise against the Scriptures vvhich is the greatest folly in the vvorld This is to be too familiar and bold vvith the Scripture vvhose language vve knovv not This is to vvalk in darkness vvith a light in our hands and make that a stone of offence vvhich should be our foundation to build on For this manner of expression is common in Scripture simply to attribute the effect to that thing which cannot produce it alone but is very prevalent to help it forward So If ye shall forgive your Father will forgive you doth not shew what is sufficient but what is necessarily required to the expiation of sin And when Christ telleth the Pharisees that if they give alms all shall be clean unto them we cannot conceive that Alms is a sufficient cause in it self to make them clean who give them since it is very possible that a man may give alms even all he hath which peradventure Christ meaneth by Alms in that place and yet notwithstanding be dead in those trespasses and sins which make him unclean and consequently make all things unclean unto him Tit. 1.15 Dan. 4.27 as the Apostle speaketh For as our Saviour bespeaketh the Pharisees so doth Daniel the great King Nebuchadnezzar that he should redimere peccata eleemosynis or as it is rendred out of the Fountain abrumpere abscindere redeem that is break and cut off his sins by shewing mercy to the poor Not that these acts of mercy taken by themselves can break off sins although they have some force and power to forward the work But our Saviour speaketh to the hypocritical Pharisees who have this mark set upon them in Scripture to be Covetous and Cruel and the Prophet to an oppressing Tyrant And what could Christ more properly oppose to their outward washings then Alms or the Prophet to his cruelty then Mercy Give alms was a precept shot home to the mark and rightly directed to them both to strike the Corban out of the Pharisees mouth and as fitly to the Assyrian Tyrant who did eat up God's people as he did eat bread For a general receipt will never work a particular cure Non curamuâ— hominem sed Socratem saith the Philosopher All cures are done upon particulars and the Physician tempereth his potion to the constitution of his patient If we will do a cure upon the Pharisee we must bespeak him to break off his sins by alms If we will purge his soul we must teach him to empty his purse because his disease is Covetousness If we will reclaim the wanton we must forbid him to look upon a woman If we will quiet the revenger we must tell him that Forgiveness is the price with which he may purchase heaven And we attribute to every one the act of all because it standeth in opposition and fighteth against that sin which hath the largest power and kingdom in him What profit then hath Mercy and Compassion and what doth it avail I may answer with the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Much every manner of way For it is that vertue in respect of which we come nearest to God and most resemble him who is a God that blotteth out transgressions and therefore it worketh a kind of complacency in him When we are angry and discontented when our countenance falleth and we push as it were with the horn I know not what we are We are not Men we are driven on as it were by a Fury and are Furies our selves and blast every one that cometh near us We are the children of that father who was a murtherer from the beginning We have eyes and see not ears and hear not understandings and will not understand but Malice is as our form or soul and actuateth us biddeth us go and we go do this and we do it Or rather it is that dumb spirit that teareth us and maketh us wallow fome and gnash with the teeth The mildest censure can be past upon us is that we are like to the beasts that perish But when we condescend to our brother's infirmity and lift him up when our Mercy is alwaies awake and cannot be so surprized with injury as to keep it back when we are more troubled at the sin our brother committeth then at the wrong he doth and so at once forgive and pray for him we are as God unto him For Majesty sheweth it self more gloriously in love then in power yea it is most powerful in love There peradventure it layeth an enemy at our feet here it maketh an enemy a friend There it destroyeth a body here it conquereth a soul There it beateth down a man here a strong imagination There it is managed by a mad passion here it followeth the wisdom of God There it beateth back a few injuries here it covereth a multitude of sins That maketh men as beasts this maketh them Gods one to another Last of all this Christian-like disposition by which we forgive one another is seldom I may say never alone For we must pass through more tentations then Mithras Priests did torments before we can attain to this heavenly perfection We pass through the glory of the world and slight it the persuasions of the flesh and deny them the grudgings of the mind and silence them we must learn to be poor to be contemned to be diminshed a lesson which we can never take out till the flesh be subdued to the spirit till the world be conquered and all those our spiritual enemies trode under foot For can he that thinketh he hath never enough suffer himself to be spoiled can he that doteth on honour put up a disgrace can he who is immersed in pleasure bear with any thing that sowreth it Will covetousness lose a penny can Ambition spare a leg can Pride receive a check can Luxury endure a restraint Castigat qui dissentit Not onely he that standeth in my way to honour or wealth or that crosseth me in my pleasure but also he that casteth not his lot in with me troubleth me
heart can make lawful for us unless we will conclude that the Law can make us perfect and that which is so weak and unprofitable bring us to the kingdom of God Hebr. 7.18 There is a third kind of Righteousness mentioned in Sc ipture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees the learnedest amongst the Jews and those who were most famous for sanctity and strictness of life Christ himself speaketh of their Righteousness and the Righteousness of some of them was true according to the Law Matth. 5.20 For where our Saviour telleth us that except our righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees we shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven he meaneth not hypocritical but real righteousness saith Chrysostom Otherwise he had compared not Righteousness with Righteousness but Righteousness with Hypocrisie which is the greatest unrighteousness And yet all this will not reach home nor make up that which the Christian is to seek For even these wise and righteous persons did come short of true wisdom and righteousness The sons of Levi who did purifie others were to be purified themselves that they might offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness Mal. 3.3 S. Paul himself who was a Pharisee and had sate at the feet of Gâ—maliel where he learned the Law telleth us That he was unblameable Phil. 3.6 but touching the righteousness which is by the Law And what Seneca speaketh is true in this case also Angusta est innocentia ad legem bonum esse That righteousness is but of a narrow compass which looketh no further then the Laws which restraineth no more then the outward man Therefore the Apostle in many places calleth the Law the Law of works not onely in opposition to the Law of faith but to that better and more perfect Law which doth not onely bind the hand but the thought The Righteousness which was by the Law was indeed justifiable but before men and had no other reward but of the Basket of temporal blessings And in plain terms we read of none else But the Righteousness which hath the promise of this life and of that which is to come whose reward is eternity of bliss is more spiritual and offereth up no other sacrifice then the man himself is busie in purging and cleansing the soul in rooting out those evils which are visible and naked to God though the eye of flesh cannot behold them in curing those diseases which neither Jew nor Gentile were sensible of but rejoyced in them as in health it self For this is it with which Christ and his blessed servant S. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans upbraid the Jews that they would not yield their necks to Christ's yoke though it were easie nor put their shoulders to his burthen though it were light that they would not be obedient to the righteousness of God which is spiritual but set up and established and gloried in one of their own The Righteousness then neither of the Heathen nor of the Jew in general nor of the strictest Sect of them the Scribes and Pharisees is meant here in this place nor indeed doth it deserve that name There is then a fourth kind justitia Christianorum the Righteousness of Christians Which was revealed by the most exact Master that ever was and commanded by that Majesty which pierceth the very heart and reins and which cannot be contemned Now even Christians themselves do not agree about this Righteousness but have made and left the word ambiguous Some stand much upon an Imputed Righteousness and it is true which they say if they understood themselves and upon Christ's righteousness imputed to us which might be true also if they did not interpret what they say For this in a pleasing phrase they call to appear in our elder Brother's robes and apparel that as Jacob did we may steal away the blessing Thus the adulterer may say I am chast with Christ's chastity the intemperate I am sober with Christ's temperance the covetous I am poor with Christ's poverty the revenger I am quiet with Christ's meekness And if he please every wicked person may say that with Christ he is crucified dead and buried and that though he did nothing yet he did it though he did ill yet he did well because Christ did it For no better use can be drawn out of such doctrines as do not offer themselves unto us but are forced out of the word of God We have a story in Seneca of one Calvisius Sabinus who thought he did himself what any servant of his did Putabat se scire quod quisquam in domo suâ sciret Such an opinion possest him that he thought himself skilled in that which any of his family knew If his servant were a good Poet he was so too if his servant were well limbed he could wrastle if his servant were a good Grammarian he could play the Critick Now Christ we know took upon him the form of a servant he came not to be served but to serve and some men are we I content to be of Sabinus his mind to think that whatsoever Christ did they do also or at least that they may be said to do it If he fasted forty dayes and forty nights they fast as long though they never abstained from a meal If he overcame the Devil when he tempted him they are also victorious though they never resist him If Christ was as a sheep which opened not his mouth they also are sheep though they open theirs as a sepulchre Therefore what the Stoick speaketh of that man Nunquam vidi hominem beatum indecentiùs I never saw man whose happiness did less become him will fit and apply it self to these men This Righteousness if they have no other doth but ill become them because it had no artificer but the phansie to make it For that Christ's Righteousness is thus imputed to any we do not read no not so much as that it is imputed though in some sense the phrase may be admitted For what is done cannot be undone no not by Omnipotency it self for it implyeth a contradiction Deo qui omnia potest hoc impossibile saith Hierom God who can do all things cannot restore a lost virginity or make that to be no sin which was a sin He may forgive it blot it out bury it not impute it account of it as if it had never been but a sin it was We read indeed Rom. 4.3 that Faith was imputed to Abraham for righteousness And the Apostle interpreteth himself out of the 32. Psalm Blessed is the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works that is as followeth whose sins are forgiven to whom the Lord imputeth no sin And Abraham believed God Gal. 3.6 2 Cor. 5.21 and it was imputed to him for righteousness And We are made the righteousness of God in him that is we are counted righteous for his sake And it is more
then evident that it is one thing to say that Christ's righteousness is imputed to us another that faith is imputed for righteousness or which is the very same our sins are not imputed unto us Which two Imputation of faith for righteousness and Not-imputation of sin make up that which we call the Justification of a sinner For therefore are our sins blotted out by the hand of God because we believe in Christ and Christ in God 1 Cor. 1.30 That place where we are told that Christ of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification is not such a pillar of Christ's Imputed righteousness in that sense which they take it as they phansied when they first set it up For the sense of the Apostle is plain and can be no more then this That Christ by the will of God was the onely cause of our righteousness and justification and that for his sake God will justifie and absolve us from all our sins and will reckon or account us holy and just and wise not that he who hath loved the error of his life is wise or he that hath been unjust is righteous in that wherein he was unjust or he that was impure in that he was impure is holy because Christ was so but because God will for Christ's sake accept receive and embrace us as if we were so Unless we shall say that as we are wise with Christ and holy and righteous so with Christ also we do redeem our selves For he who is said to be our righteousness is said also to be our redemption in the next words I would not once have thought this worth so much as a salute by the way but because I see many understand not what they speak so confidently and many more and those the worst are too ready to misapply it are will be every thing in Christ when they are not in him and well content he should fight it out in his own gore then they though they fall under the enemy in him may be styled conquerours Why should not we content our selves with the language of the Holy Ghost That certainly is enough to quiet any troubled conscience unless you will say it is not enough for a sinner to be forgiven not enough to be justified not enough to be made heir of the kingdom of heaven But yet I am not so out of love with the phrase as utterly to cast it out but wish rather that it might either be laid aside or not so grosly misapplied as it is many times by those presumptuous sinners who die in their sins If any eye can pierce further into the letter and find more then Imputation of faith for righteousness and Not imputation of sins for Christ's righteousness sake let him follow it as he please to the glory but not to the dishonour of Christ let him attribute what he will unto Christ so that by his unseasonable piety he lose not his Saviour so that he neglect not his own soul because Christ was innocent nor take no care to bring so much as a mite into the Treasury because Christ hath flung in that talent which at the great day of accounts shall be reckoned as his So that men be wary of those dangerous consequences which may issue from such a conceit quisque abundet sensu suo let every man think and speak as he please and add this Imputation of Christ's righteousness to this which I am sure is enough and which is all we find in Scripture Forgiveness and Not-imputation of sins and the Imputation of faith for righteousness I pass then to this Righteousness the Righteousness of Faith which indeed is properly called Evangelical Righteousness because Christ who was the publisher of the Gospel was also authour and finisher of our Faith And here we may sit down and not move any further and call all eyes to behold it and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is it Nec curiositate opus est post Jesum Christum When Christ hath spoken and told us what it is our curiosity need not make any further search The Righteousness of faith is that which justifieth a sinner Rom. 1.17 For the just shall live by faith or as some render it the just by faith shall live Mar. 9.23 If thou canst believe saith our Saviour and Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Acts 16.31 and thou shalt be saved and thy houshould saith S. Paul to the Gaoler Isa 55.1 Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to these waters yea come buy wine and milk without money or money-worth I doubt not but every man is ready to come every man is ready to say I believe Lord help my unbelief But here it fareth with many men as it doth with those who first hear of some great place fallen unto them but afterwards find it is as painful as great The later part of the news sowreth and deadeth the joy of the former and the trouble taketh off the glory and dignity Believe and be saved is a messuage of joy but Believe and repent or Repent and believe is a bitter pill But we must joyn them together nor is it possible to separate them they both must meet and kiss each other in that Righteousness which is the way to the Kingdom of God It is true Faith is imputed for righteousness but it is imputed to those who forsake all unrighteousness Faith justifieth a sinner but a repentant sinner It must be vera fides quae hoc quod verbis dicit moribus non contradicit a faith which leaveth not our manners and actions as so many contradictions to that which we profess Faith is the cause and original of good actions and naturally will produce them and if we hinder not its casuality in this respect it will have its proper effect which is to Justifie a sinner This effect I say is proper to Faith alone and it hath this royal prerogative by the ordinance of God but it hath not this operation but in subjecto capaci in a subject which is capable of it In a word it is the Righteousness of a sinner but not of a sinner who continueth in his sin It is a soveraign medicine but will not cure his wounds who resolveth to bleed to death For to conceive otherwise were to entitle God to all the uncleanness and sins of our life past to make him a lover of iniquity and the justifier not of the sinner but of our sins Christ was the Lamb of God which took away our sins John 1.29 And he took them away not onely by a plaister but also by a purge not onely by forgiveness but also by restraint of sin He suffered those unknown pains that we should be forgiven and sin no more not that we should sin again and be forgiven He fulfilled the Law but not to the end that we should take the more heart break it at pleasure and adde rebâ—â—lion to rebellion because
the priest denieth him not Matth. 12.7 Hos 6.6 and our Saviour in the Gospel acquitteth him out of the Prophet I will have mercy and not sacrifice Better all Ceremony should fall to the ground then any one Hungry soul should starve for bread But the laws given to the sons of men as a rule of life are not ceremonial and temporary but reall and eternal nor can those sins vvhich break them receive any cover or palliation And to plead excuse or dispensation against these is to turn mercy into sacrifice to plead for Baal to cover and boulster up and justifie sin vvhich is the greatest sin of all When Sacrifices were omitted or the Sabbath for some reasons not observed vve do not find that God doth complain and Christ maketh it lawful nay necessary in some particulars a sin not to do that which otherwise would be a sin not to neglect the Sabbath to save the life of a man nay of an ass What Ceremony almost can we name vvhich hath not at some time upon just occasion been omitted But vvhen the Moral Law is broken when God's people fall into Idolatry or follow lies vvhen they are murderers or oppressors then he hath a controversie with them and pleadeth against them Here no cover vvill fit no paint nor pargetting vvill serve all the excuses in the vvorld vvill not keep off the sentence of death To imagine that God vvill admit of excuse for the breach of such a Law as is eternal and bindeth all men and at all times vvere as the Father saith to make God Circumscriptorem suae sententiae by a kind of fraud to avoid and defeat his own decree This vvere to make his goodness imaginary his severity a phansie his commands nothing but security for offenders This vvere to turn his justice into iniquity and his vvisdom into folly So to cover our sin is but to make it greater and increase the punishments He that covereth it shall not prosper To urge this reason taken from God further yet We find the two attributes of God his Wisdom and his Power the highest attributes which he hath As his Power is unlimited so he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wisdom above all wisdom whatsoever In his actions ad extrà these two alwayes concur As by his Power the creatures were created Psal 104.24 so in wisdom hath he made them all Psal 104.24 saith the Psalmist Yet his Power seemeth to be subordinate to and receive direction from his Wisdom And therefore though all the attributes of God be infinite and consequently equal yet his Wisdom seemeth to have the precedency the first and highest place It is so we see in his creature Man Ingenii damna majora sunt quà m pecuniae He that disparageth our Wisdom hath laid upon us the bitterest imputation he can We can hear with patience many times that others are richer or stronger then our selves No man is vexed within himself that he is not a Milo or an Hercules or a Croesus But he that detracteth from our Wisdom is an enemy indeed Nulla contumeliosiùs fit injuria He doth us the greatest injury in the world that calleth us fools Qui velit ingenio cedere rarus erit We cannot wonder then if we observe the same in God if we see and read him more jealous of his Wisdom then of his Power that his indignation should wax hotter against the Excuse then the Sin For he that committeth sin dallieth with his Power but he that covereth and palliateth sin playeth with his Wisdom trieth whether he can per fraudem obrepere fraudulently circumvent and abuse God He that sinneth would be stronger then God but he that covereth his sin striveth as it were to put out his all-seeing eye and to be wiser then he potior Jupiter quà m ipse Jupiter as he in the Comedy saith a wiser Jupiter then Jupiter Himself which no impiety can equal And therefore we may observe that God forgiveth the greatest sins when they are laid open and confessed but casteth an angry look and layeth an heavy hand upon those sins which would hide and cover themselves with excuses 1 Sam. 15. 2. Sam. 12. We have a notable instance of this in David and Saul Take but the pains to compare them both and you will at the first view be soon perswaded that the heavy sentence which Samuel denounced against Saul should have passed upon David that of the two David more deserved to have had the Kingdom rent from him the Sceptre torn out of his hands For bring their sins to the balance and compare them both Saul spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen And what errour was here but only that the commandment was broken For when he spared the oxen and the sheep who was the worse Quid meruistis oves what sin was it to be merciful to the dumb and innocent creature Besides his end and pretense was good He did it to sacrifice them to the Lord. But to the sin of David no oratory is equal Who can express the hainousness of it Saul offendeth against but one command and that a positive one and which was only for the present and with which God did often dispense but David against an eternal Law written in his Heart with which God never did never will dispense Again Saul's sin was but one but David's was peccatum complicatissimum a sin carrying a train with it of which the least in appearance was greater then that of Saul's first Adultery then an Attempt to make Uriah drunk then Murder not only of Uriah himself whose bed he had defiled but also of all those who fell with him And to this we may add his long continuance in sin even a whole year without any sense or feeling of it It will not be easie to find out a parallel hereunto either in Divine or Humane story either amongst the Israelites or amongst aliens from the commonwealth of Israel I would not rip up the bowels of this Saint or shew you the full horrour of his sinne but to this end to discover and shew you withall this most necessary truth the danger of covering a sin We see David easily reconciled to God but Saul cast off eternally without possibility of pardon Yet Saul confesseth his sin thought it were late I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and Samuel prayeth for Saul Vers 24. and yet nothing prevaileth Now the reason of this may be plainly gathered out of the Text. Nathan no sooner cometh to David and sheweth him his fault but he presently without any ambages or circumstance confesseth it and upon confession receiveth pardon which followed the confession as close as an Echo doth the sound 2 Sam. 12.13 I have sinned is answered with The Lord hath put away thy sin But with Saul it was otherwise For he denyeth and then wipeth his mouth and receiveth the Prophet with a complement Blessed be thou of
then our Conscience and seeth more of us then we do when we are most impartial to our selves and see most if we thus dally and trifle with Wisdome it self Mercy which tryumpheth over Justice will yield to Wisdome and if we cover our sins 1 Joh. 1.9 and not lay them open by Confession we shall find God just and faithful but not to forgive us our sins not to cleanse us from all unrighteousness We might here inlarge But we pass from the danger in respect of God to that in respect of our selves There is no one sin to which our Nature more strongly inclineth us then this of covering and excusing our sin So pleasing is excuse to our disposition so inseperable from Sin that cum ipso scelere nascitur soror filia it is both the daughter and sister of Sin We travel with Sin and Excuse as Thamar did with twins Excuse is not the first for Sin first maketh the breach and then calleth for Excuse but though it be not the first yet it followeth close at the Heels Now to give a reason for this First it is the very nature of Sin not onely to infect the soul but to bewitch it that it shall either not feel it or not be willing to evaporate and expel it It is compared to a Serpent and the poyson thereof is much like unto that of the Aspick which Cleopatra put to her arm It casteth us into a kind of sweet and pleasant slumber and killeth us without pain We are smitten and we feel it not we are stricken Prov. 23 35. and are not sick we are in the very mouth of Hell and yet secure It is called a burden and yet we feel it not nor doth it burden or lye heavy upon us But as it is with those who lye under the water they feel no weight though whole seas run over them fo is it with those who are overwhelmed and drowned in sin they feel no weight or if they do they soon relieve and ease themselves I say a burden it is and we are careful to cast it from us but not that way which God prescribeth but after a method forged and beaten out by our own irregular fancy we do not cast it away by loathing it and loathing our selves for it by resolving against it by fearing the return of it as we would the fall of a mountain upon our heads but we cast it upon our own Weakness and Infirmity which will not bear it upon God's Long-suffering and Mercy and presume to continue in it upon Christ Jesus and crucifie him again upon Excuse which is but sand and cannot bear that which pressed the Son of God himself to death Soli filii irae iram Dei non sentiunt They onely are insensible of the Anger of God who are the children of Wrath. Secondly though God hath set up a tribunal in our hearts and made every man a judge of his own actions yet there is no tribunal on earth so much corrupted and swayed from its power and jurisdiction as this No man is so partial a judge in another mans cause as in his own No man is so well pleased with any cheat as that which he putteth upon himself Though God hath placed a Conscience in us Exod. 28.30 as he put the Urim and the Thummim in the breast-plate of judgment by which he might give answer unto us what we are to do and what not to do what we have done well and what amiss as the High-priest by viewing his breast-plate saw whether the people might go up to War or not go up yet when we have once defiled our Conscience we care not much for looking upon it or if we do it giveth no certain answer but we lose the use of it in our slavery under sin as the Jews lost the use of their Urim and Thummim at the Captivity of Babylon as appeareth Ezr. 2.63 Neh. 7 65. The use of it I say which is to (a) Rom. 2.15 accuse to (b) 1 John 3.20 condemn to (c) Wisd 17.10 torment to make us have (d) Deut. 28.65 a trembling heart and (e) Levit. 26.36 a faint heart For it doth none of these offices neither accuse nor convince nor condemn nor afflict nor strike with fear At best it doth but shew the whip and then put it up again It changeth and altereth its complexion as our sins and hath as many names as there be evil dispositions in men Our conscience checketh us and we silence it Sin appeareth and we cover it Our conscience would speak more plainly if we did not teach it that broken and imperfect language to pronounce Sibboleth for Shibboleth to leave out some letter some aspiration some circumstance in sin Or rather to speak truth the Conscience cannot but speak out to the offender and tell him he hath broken the Law but as we will not hearken to Reason when she would restrain us from sin so we slight her when she checketh us for committing it We will neither give ear to her counsel and not sin nor yet hearken to her reproof when we have finned neither observe her as a Counseller nor as a Judge neither obey her as a friend nor as an enemy Hence it cometh to pass that at last in a manner it forgetteth its office and is negligent in its very property is a Conscience and yet knoweth nothing a Register yet recordeth nothing or if it do in so dark and obscure a character as is not legible a Glass and reflecteth nothing but a Saint for a man of Belial a Book of remembrance but containeth not our deceit and oppression and sacrilege but the number of Sermons we have heard the Fasts we have kept though for bloud the many good words we have spoke though from a hollow and unsanctified hart from our indignation against the world which hath nothing worse init then ourselves And this is the most miserable condition a sinner can fall into Rom. 1.18 This is saith St. Paul to hold the truth in unrighteousness by an habitual course of sin to depress and keep under the very principles of Goodness and Honesty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hold and have full possession of the Truth Luk. 19. but make no use of it to hide and bury it as the bad servant did his pound in a Napkin bury it in the loathsome sepulchre of a rotten and corrupt soul as if having a medicine about me I should chuse to take down poison having plenty starve my self to death having Honey and Manna lay it by till it stink and feed on Husks having a Conscience not keep it suborn my Counsellour to be my Parasite be endued with Reason and use it only to make me more unreasonable neglect and slight it when it bids me not do this and when I have done it paint and disguise it that I may not know the work of mine own hands nor see that sin which
Pulpit-flatterers 506. Flattering Preachers are vvorse then Judas 510 511. The root of Flattery is Covetousness 507 c. How apt vve are to flatter our selves 442. 480. 742. 875. v. Assurance Presumtion Security Flesh v. Body Flesh and Spirit contrary 175. 562. 767. ever contending one vvith another 312. Florimundus Raimundus 556. Folly Whence all the Folly that so aboundeth in the vvorld 689 690. Fools and Mad-men vvhat to be thought of 96. None such Fools as they vvho think themselves vvise 500 501. Forgetfulness of the World reproved 1116. Forgiveness How short our Forgiveness cometh of God's 817. God's F. is free and voluntary and so must ours be 818. Whether we are bound to forgive an injury before acknowledgment made 818. God forgiveth fully and so must vve not onely forgive but forget 819. By this vve become like unto God 820. Though vve must forgive yet is not the office of the Judge or going to Law unlawful 821. God's F. is not the less free because it engageth us to forgive 824. What force our F. hath to obtain F. of God 824 825 830 c. What influence God's F. should have on us 826 c. How it cometh to pass that it doth not alwayes vvork in us the likeness of it self 827 828. That we may forgive our Brother vve must oft call to mind and meditate upon the Mercy of God 828 829. and apply it aright 829. What vve must do to get our sins forgiven 833. Grace to forgive one another is never single but accompanied vvith other graces 833. Form A Form of godliness nothing worth vvithout the power thereof 663. yet it deceiveth many 77. 79. and contenteth them 74 c. 303 304. 487. and vvorketh confidence and security in their hearts 74. 76. 1127 1128. and they conceit that God himself also is much taken vvith such pageantry 82. 108 109. Indeed the Form is accepted vvhen the power is not wanting 79 80. otherwise not 487 488. Why a bare Form vvithout substance is so hateful to God 75-79 It hath the same motive with our greatest sins 76. It is mere mockery 80. 877. It is as pleasing to the Devil as it is odious to God 77. v. Hearing Piety Worship Formality v. Outward Duties It is compared to motions by vvater-works 845. Formalities are easy essential duties difficult 1057. Formal repentance is the grossest hypocrisie 372. Fornication eloquently and excellently declaimed against 750 752. Excuses for it answered 750. It dishonoureth the body and defileth the soul 750. It maketh the members of Christ the members of an harlot 750. It is of all sins the most carnal 750. It effeminateth both mind and body 751. It is the Devil's net to catch two at once 751. How strictly Christ forbiddeth it 751. What presumtions there are of its abounding in this Age 751 752. That the very Heathen thought it foul appeareth from their custome of bathing after it 751. Frailty Of humane Frailty 535 c. Friendship obligeth to duty 105. No Friendship is lasting that is not built upon Virtue 371. A wise Friend will shun the least suspicion of offense 380. 612. Fundamentals of Protestants Religion 285 Fundamental and necessary points are plain and evident in Script 1084 1085. Funeral rites at the death of a Romane Emperour 423. Future events unknown to us 250. 1043. v. Time G. GAin v. Profit How greedily and basely pursued not onely by Heathens but by many Christians also 131 132. The gainfullest use of riches 143. Gal. ii 20. 521. ¶ v. 21. 375. ¶ vi 12. 501. Galene's helps in the pursuit of knowledge 66. Gallant The profane Gallant a despicable wretch 528. Gen. iii. 19. In the sweat of thy brows thou shalt eat thy bread a command as well as a curse 218. ¶ 22. 158. 630 631. ¶ vi 3. 795. ¶ xlii 21 22. 387. ¶ Gen. xlvi 27 28. handsomely applied 321. Gentleman No Gentleman hath a licence to be idle 222. GHOST The HOLY GHOST a distinct Person 53. Several titles of his and operations 54. Why called the Spirit of truth 54. 57. Though sent by the Father and the Son yet is his coming voluntary 56. The end of Christ's coming and of the H. Ghost's 52. 760. The H. Ghost though not so solemnly as of old yet still cometh effectually upon the faithful 52. 760. He is ever consonant to himself 55. He is our chief our sole Instructour 760. 772. Though the Church and the Word and Discipline be our Teachers yet the H. Ghost may be truly called our sole Teacher 778. How he is said to teach us all truth 58. How he teacheth us 773. Means must be used for the obteining the gifts of the H. Ghost 61. 67 68. Into what posture we must put our selves if we will receive him 779. We must be careful not to disquiet and grieve him 773 774. Many pretend to be led by the H. Ghost when their design is to oppose him 62. 64. Which is a sin perhaps more dangerous then flatly to deny him 63. 774. Whence it is that so few follow his guidance 65. He hath worse enemies nowadayes then the Eunomians and Sabellians 774. What horrible wickedness some in this Age entitle him to 774. But because some mistake and abuse the Spirit we must not thence conclude that none are taught by him 775. He not onely taught the Church in the Apostles times but teacheth it still in all ages 776. His operations indeed are not easily perceived 775. but that he hath wrought we may find 776. How we may prove the Spirit 780 781. and discern his instructions from the suggestions of Satan and the dreams of fanaticks 64. 66. 777. 780. Glorifying of God what 744 c. 748. 754. 1009. We must glorifie God in soul and in body 744 c. Whether an actual intention of God's glory perpetually in our mind be necessary 745. More is required of us then to glorifie God verbally 754. God's Glory must be the first mover of our obedience 1008. It is not so resplendent in a Starre nor in the Sun as in the New creature 1009. If we glorifie God here we shall glorifie him to eternity 747. Gnosticks 167. GOD cannot be spoken of with too much reverence 7. 409. He is a most simple Essence 78. incomprehensible 165. Bold and curious searching of him unlawful 164 165. He is to be seen by faith not curiously gazed upon 729. Though he be invisible yet we may see Him by the light that shineth in his Works in our Conscience and in his Word 784 c. ¶ God delighteth in his Wisdome more then in any other of his Attributes 326. 1029. Of his Omnipresence and Omniscience 164. Errours concerning God's Presence 165. Belief of God's Presence the greatest curb of sin 164. 167 c 258. God's Wisdome drew his Justice and Mercy together and reconciled them in Christ's Satisfaction and ours 327. Counsels which some men fasten upon God contrary to his Wisdome and Goodness 326. 407