of it When we dislike and disapprove of others sins as well as our own we acknowledg the glory of the law that it is just holy and good and set our seal of approbation to it It justifies the holiness of the law in prohibiting sin the righteousness of the law in condemning sin It owns the soveraignty of God in commanding and the justice of God in punishing The law requires two things obedience to it and suffering for the transgression of it This frame of heart approves of the obedience the law requires of men as rational creatures and justifies the sufferings the law inflicts upon men as impenitent sinners Unless we mourn for the sins of others and thereby shew our distast we cannot give God the glory of his Judgments which he sends upon a people This disowning of sin is very acceptable to God because by it Men honour that law for whose violations they are so troubled and own Gods right of imposing a law upon his creatures and the creatures vileness in disgracing that Law 4. 'T is a sign of such a temper God hath evidenced himself in scripture much affected with 'T is a sign of a heart of flesh the noblest work of God in the creature A sign of a contrite heart the best sacrifice that can smoak upon his Altar next to that of his Son This he will not despise because it is a beam of glory dropped down from him and ascending in a sweet savour to him Psal 51.17 Without this we cannot have a sufficient evidence that we are truly broken-hearted We may mourn for our own sins for secret by-ends because they are against our worldly Interests and have reproaches treading upon the heels of them we may mourn for the sins of our friends out of a natural compassion to them and as they are the prognosticks of some approaching misery to them but in sorrowing for the sins of the world we have not so many and so affecting obligations to divert us from a sound aim in our sorrow To be affected with the dishonour of God by the sins of others is a distinguishing character of a spiritual constitution from a natural tenderness 'T is both our duty and God's pleasure No grief is sweeter to God nor more becoming us III. 'T is a means of preservation from publick Judgments Noah did not preach righteousness without a sensible reflection on that unrighteousness he preached against and he of all the world had the security of an Ark for him and his Family when all the rest struggled for life and sunk in the waters No meer man ever wore more black for the Funeral of God's honour than David nor was any blessed with more gracious deliverances The more zeal we have for God which is an affection made up of grief and anger the more protection we have from him * The steps of a man good man our translation renders it But the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a valiant man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way Psal 37.23 The more courage we have for God the more we may expect both his conduct and security If there be any hope in a time of actual or threatned Judgments 't is by laying our mouths in the dust Lam. 3.29 If there be any ground of hope it will shine forth when we are in such a posture There might be others in Jerusalem who had not complied with the Idolatry of that Age but none exempted from the stroke of the Six Destroyers but those whose mouths lay in the dust and whose cries against the common sin ascended to Heaven only the mourners among the good men are marked by the Angel for indemnity from the publick punishment 1. Sincerity always escapes best in common Judgments and this temper of mourning for publick sins is the greatest note of it This is the greatest note of sincerity We read of an Ahab who put on Sackcloth for his own sin and humbled himself before the Lord of a Judas sorrowing that he betrayed his Master Self-interest might broach their tears and force out their sorrow but never an Ahab or Judas or any other ungodly person in Scripture lamented the sins of others Nay they were all eminent for holiness that were noted for this frame whom we have mentioned before Moses a non-such for speaking with God face to face David who only had that honourable title of a man after God's own heart Isay who had the fullest prospect of Evangelical glory of all the Prophets Ezra a restorer of his Country Daniel a man greatly beloved Christ the Redeemer of the world and Paul the only Apostle rap't up in the third Heaven he was also humbled for the sins of the Corinthians 2 Corinth 12.21 Ezra hath a mighty Character Ezra 7.10 He prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel Statutes and Judgments And he both mourned for and prayed against the common sin Lot is not recorded for this without a glorious Epithete The Spirit of God over-looks those sins of his mentioned in Scripture and speaks not of him by his single name but Just Lot his righteous Soul 2 Pet. 2.7 8. A sincere Righteousness glittered in his vexation for the wronged Interest of God What a mark of honour doth the Holy-Ghost set upon this temper 'T is not drunken Lot or incestuous Lot with which sins he is taxed in Scripture This publickly religious spirit covered those temporary spots in his Scutcheon When all other signs of Righteousness may have their exceptions this temper is the utmost term which we cannot go beyond in our self-examination The utmost prospect David had of his sincerity when he was upon a diligent enquiry after it was his anger and grief for the sin of others when he had reached so far he was at a stand and knew not what more to add Psal 139.21 22 23 24. Am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine enemies Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me If there be any thing that better can evidence my sincerity than this Lord acquaint me with it know my heart i. e. make me to know it He whose sorrow is only for matter confin'd within his own breast or streams of it in his life has reason many times to question the truth of it But when a man cannot behold sin as sin in another without sensible regret 't is a sign he hath savingly felt the bitterness of it in his own Soul 'T is a high pitch and growth and a consent between the Spirit of God and the Soul of a Christian when he can lament those sins in others whereby the Spirit is grieved when he can rejoyce with the Spirit rejoycing and mourn with the Spirit mourning This is a clear testimony that we have not self-ends
mind Eph. 4.23 and he hath the Spirit of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1.7 His judgment is regulated by the Law of God he judges of sin as it is in its nature a transgression of the Law Can we imagine that a Man restored to a sound mind and that hath his natural madness and folly cured should act after this cure as much out of his wits as before If he hath his constant frenzies and madness as much as before where is his cure Can any Man in the world act always against his judgment though he may be overpowered by the importunity of others or over-ruled by a fit of passion to do something against his judgment can you expect always to find him in the road of crossing the dictates of his understanding An unregenerate Man hath a natural light in his Mind and Conscience and so a judgment of sin but he hath not a judgment of sin adequate to the object he doth not judge of sin in the whole latitude of it he hath not a settled judgment of the contrariety of his beloved sin to God He looks not upon it in the extent of it as malum injucundum inhonestum inutile if he looks upon sin as dishonest he regards it as profitable if neither as honest or profitable yet as pleasant so that the natural light which is in the understanding when it dictates right is mated and over-ruled by some other principle the pleasure or profit of it and swayed by the inherent habits of sin in the Will The Devil that works in them hath some principle to stir up or dim this natural light and cast a mist before the Eye and so they direct their course according to that particular judgment which is befriended in its vote by sense 2. 'T is against the nature of a renewed Will Grace is the law of God in the heart and is put in to inable us to walk in the ways of God and shall it endure such wilful pollutions in the Creature when it is the end of its being there to preserve from them The Spirit is given in the Heart 2 Cor. 1.22 sent into the Heart Gal. 4.6 the Law put into the Heart Heb. 10.16 Since therefore there is an habit of grace in the Will a Man cannot frequently and easily lanch into sin because he cannot do it habitually the remainders of sin being mated with a powerful habit which watches their motions to resist them Doth God put such a habit there such a seed an abiding seed to no purpose but to let the Soul be wounded by every temptation to be deserted in every time of need Grace is an habit superadded to that natural and moral strengrh which is in the Will Man by natures strength meerly or with the assistance of common grace hath power to avoid the acts of gross sins for he is master of his own actions though he is not of the motions tending to them the Devil cannot force a Mans Will And when grace a greater strength comes in shall there be no effects of this strength but the reins be as stiff in the hands of old lust and the Will as much captive to the sinful habit in it as before Grace being a new nature it is as absurd to think that a gracious man should wallow in a course of sin as it is to think that any creature should constantly and willingly do that which is against its nature A gracious man delights in the Law of God Psal 1.2 His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night if he delights in it can he delight to break it Do Men fling that which they delight in every day in the Durt and trample upon it or rather do they not keep it choicely in their Cabinets If it be also the Character of a good man to meditate in the Law of God he must have frequent exercises of faith reflections upon himself motions to God which cannot consist with a course of sin Grace doth essentially include a contrariety to sin and a love to God in the Will 'T is a principle of doing good and eschewing evil and these being essential properties of grace are essential to every regenerate man and in every one As a drop of Water or one spark of Fire hath the essential properties of a great mass of Water or a great quantity of Fire so every renewed man hath the same love to God and the same hatred of sin essentially as the most eminent Saint though not in degree yea which those in heaven have though not in the same degree As a spark of fire will burn a drop of water will moisten though not in so eminent a measure Now upon the whole consider whether is it possible to bare reason that a regenerate man should customarily do those things which are against the essential properties of that which is in him in his will and doth denominate him a new Creature 3. Proposition A regenerate man cannot have a fixt resolution to walk in such a way of sin were the impediments to it removed Though unregenerate men may actually as to the outward exercise abstain from some sins yet it is usually upon low and mean conditions If it were not for such or such an obstacle in the way I would do such and such an act This temper is not in a good man he cannot have a fixed and determinate resolution to commit such an act if such bars were taken away Such resolutions are Common in unregenerate men Jer. 44.25 We will surely perform our vows which we have vow'd to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and Isa 56.12 We will fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant we will have as merry a meeting as we had to day The same character is ascribed to such an one Psal 36.4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed He sets himself in a way that is not good He ahhorreth not evil He modells out his sinful designs with head and heart he settles himself as an army settles in their ground when they resolve to fight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He abhors not evil He starts not at such motions but by a Meiosis he huggs and caresseth them with a wonderful delight Regenerate men fear to sin wicked men contrive to sin One would starve it the other makes provision for it This temper cannot be in a Regenerate man 1. 'T is Diabolical And so falls under that in the text He cannot Commit sin as the Devil doth 'T is a stain of the Devil who is resolved in his way of malice to God and mischief to man but for the strait Chains God holds him in his resolution is fixed though the execution restrained He goes about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to drink at one draught Seeking both for an opportunity and permission Unwearied searches manifest fixed resolutions His
the Spirit of God There is a powerful voice behind him that brings him back when he turns either to the right hand or to the left from the ways of God Isa 30.21 By virtue of this seed within him and the Spirit of God exciting it that word which comes home to the Soul after a sin becomes efficaciously melting and raises up springs of penitential motions which could not arise so suddenly were the spiritual life wholly departed For a man that hath no habit of grace in him cannot so suddenly concur with Gods proposals and exercise a repentance In such an one we see first a stupefaction of mind and an unaptness to faith no motions of a true repentance though some preparation to it But with a regenerate man it is otherwise David being admonisht by Nathan was struck to the heart and Peter presently upon our Saviours look melted into tears Their grace like tinder took fire presently upon those small but powerful occasions though it did not act at the time of their sin yet it had an aptness to act upon the removal of the impediments Though Jonah seems to cast off all regard of God and his command yet upon the first occasion in the Whales Belly he brings forth excellent fruits of faith in a moment Jonah 2. Grace in an instant upon the first motion of the Spirit will rise up and take its place from whence it seems to be deposed As a natural man under some sting of Conscience and flash of a lightning conviction may be restrained from sin yet his natural inclination to it remains though suspended at the present and may be carried the quite contrary way as the stream of a river by the force of the Tide is turned against its natural current yet slides down its channel with its wonted calmness upon the removal of the force so a good man under the violence of some lust hath not his new nature changed though at present it is restrain'd by an extrinsick force so that as the one upon the taking off his conviction returns to his sin so the other upon the removal of his fetters returns to his holiness with a greater spirit and delight A wicked man may sometimes do a good action but he continues not in it As a Planet is sometimes retrograde but soon returns to its direct course When their Conscience pinches them they awake out of their trance So a good man may sin through infirmity but he will revoke it by repentance The seed of God remains in him as the Sap in the Root of a Tree that recovers the leaves the next return of the Sun at the spring He may sink by nature and rise again by grace but the Devil who sinned at the beginning fell and never rose more Vse of Examination If you find your selves in these cases in a course of known sin resolution to commit it were it not for such bars unwillingness to know Gods pleasure and injunction despising admonitions and reproofs a settled love to it a full consent of Will without any antecedent concomitant or consequent dissent tumbling in it without rising by repentance a circle of sinning and repenting without abhorrence of sin you may conclude your selves in an unregenerate state you sin like the Devil who sinned from the beginning A DISCOURSE OF The Pardon of Sin Psalm 32.1 2. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity THis Psalm as Grotius thinks was made to be sung upon the Annual day of the Jewish Expiation when a general confession of their sins was made 'T is one of David's poenitential Psalms supposed to be composed by him after the Murder of Vriah and the pronouncing of his pardon by Nathan v. 5. and rather a Psalm of Thanksgiving 'T is called Maschil a Psalm of understanding Maschil is translated eruditio intelligentia and notes some excellent Doctrine in the Psalm not known by the light of Nature Blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessednesses Ex omni parte beatus Three words there are to discover the nature of sin and three words to discover the nature of pardon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transgression Prevarication Some understand by it sins of omission commission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin Some understand those inward inclinations lusts and motions whereby the Soul swerves from the Law of God and which are the immediate causes of external sins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iniquity Notes original sin the root of all Three words that note pardon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levatus forgiven Eas'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to take away to bear to carry away Two words in Scripture are chiefly used to denote remission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to expiate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bear or carry away the one signifies the manner whereby it is done viz. atonement the other the effect of this expiation carrying away one notes the meritorious cause the other the consequent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Covered Alluding to the covering of the Aegyptians in the Red Sea Menochius thinks it alludes to the manner of writing among the Hebrews which he thinks to be the same with that of the Romans as writing with a Pencil upon wax spread upon Tables which when they would blot out they made the Wax plain and drawing it over the writing covered the former letters And so it is equivalent with that expression of blotting out sin as in the other allusion it is with casting sin into the depths of the Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Impute Not charging upon account As sin is a defection from the Law so it is forgiven as it is offensive to God's holiness so it is covered as it is a debt involving man in a debt of punishment so it is not imputed They all note the certainty and extent and perfection of pardon The three words expressing sin here being the same that are used by God in the declaration of his Name Exod. 34.7 Here are to be considered 1. The Nature of Pardon 2. The Author of it God 3. The Extent of it Transgression Sin Iniquity 4. The Manner of it implied by Faith in Christ The Apostle quoting this place Rom. 4.7 to prove Justification by Faith As sin is not imputed so something is imputed instead of it Covering implies something wherewith a thing is covered as well as the act whereby it is covered 5. The Effect of it Blessedness I shall not divide than into distinct Propositions but take the words in order as they lie I. The Nature of Pardon 1. Consider the words and what notes they will afford to us 1. Covering as it alludes to the manner of writing and so is the same with blotting out Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blots out thy transgression whereby is implied that sin is a debt and pardon is the remitting of it It notes 1. The nullity of the debt A crossed book will not
and charging others and thus his grace would rather be a mockery and derision of men Neither doth it consist with the end of pardon which is Salvation for to give an half pardon is to give no Salvation since if the least guilt remains unremitted it gives justice an unanswerable plea against us What profit would it be to have some forgiven and be damned for the remainder Had any one sin for which Christ was to have made a compensation remain'd unsatisfied the Redeemer could not have risen so if the smallest sin remains unblotted it will hinder our rising from the power of eternal death and make the pardon of all the rest as a nullity in Law But it is the glory of God to pass by all Prov. 19.31 It is his glory to pass over a transgression 'T is the glory of a man to pass by an offence 'T is a discovery of an inward principle or property which is an honour for a man to be known the master of If it be his glory to pass by a single and small injury then to pass by the more heinous and numerous offences is a more transcendent honour because it evidenceth this property to be in him in a more triumphant strength and power So that it is a clearer evidence of the illustrious vigor of mercy in God to pass by mountainous and heaped up transgressions than to forgive only some few iniquities of a lesser guilt Jer. 33.8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me and whereby they have transgrest against me Therefore when God tells the Jews that he would give them a general discharge in the fullest terms imaginable to remove all jealousie from men either because of the number or the aggravations of their sins he knew not how to leave expressing the delight he had in it and the honour which accrued to him by it It shall be to me a name of joy a praise and honour before all the nations of the earth He would get himself an honourable name by the large riches of his Clemency Mercy is as infinite as any other attribute as infinite as God himself And as his power can create incomprehensible multitudes of worlds and his justice kindle unconceiveable Hells so can his mercy remit innumerable sins 3. Perfect in respect of Duration Because the hand writing of ordinances is taken away Col. 2.14 15. Blotting out the hand writing of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross which was the Ceremonial Law wherein they did by their continual presenting Sacrifices and imposition of Hands upon them sign a Bill or Bond against themselves whereby a conscience of sin was retain'd Heb. 10.2 3. and a remembrance of sin renewed they could not settle the Conscience in any firm peace Heb. 9.9 they were compelled to do that every day whereby they did confess that sin did remain and want an expiation Hence is the Law called a ministration of condemnation 2 Cor. 3.9 because it puts them in mind of condemnation and compelled the people to do that which testified that the curse was yet to be abolished by virtue of a better Sacrifice This Hand writing which was so contrary to us was taken away nailed to his Cross torn in pieces wholly cancelled no more to be put in suit Whence in â—pposition to this continual remembrance of sin under the legal administâ—ation we read under the New Testament of Gods remembring sin no more Hâ—â— 10.3 17. Christ hath so compounded the business with Divine Justice that wâ— have the sins remitted never returning upon us and the renewal also of remissions upon daily sins if we truly repent For though there be a blacker Tincture in sins after conversion as being more deeply stain'd with ingratitude yet the Covenant of God stands firm and he will not take away his kindness Isa 54.9 10. And there is a greater affection in God to his Children than to his Enemies for these he loves before their Conversion with a love of benevolence but those with a love of complacency Will not God be as ready to continue his grace to those that are penitent as to offer it to offending Rebels Will he refuse it to his Friends when he intreats his Enemies Not that any should think that because of this duration they have liberty to sin and upon some trivial Repentance are restored to God's favour No where Christ is made Righteousness he is made Sanctification His Spirit and Merit go together A new Nature and a New State are Concomitants and he that sins upon presumption of the grand Sacrifice never had any share in it V. The Effect of Pardon That is Blessedness 1. The greatest evil is taken away sin and the dreadful consequents of it Other evils are temporal but those know no period in a doleful Eternity There is more evil in sin than good in all the creatures Sin stript the fallen Angels of their Excellency and dispossessed them of the Seat of Blessedness It fights against God it disparages all his Attributes it deforms and destroys the creature Rom. 7.13 Other evils may have some mixture of good to make them tolerable but sin being exceeding sinful without the mixture of any good engenders nothing but destruction and endless damnation Into what miseries afflictions sorrows hath that one sin of Adam hurl'd all his posterity what screechings wounds pangs horrours doth it make in troubled Consciences How did it deface the Beauty of the Son of God that created and upheld the World with sorrow in his Agonies and the stroak of Death on the Cross How many thousands millions of poor creatures have been damned for sin and are never like to cease roaring under an inevitable Justice Ask the damned and their groans yellings howlings will read thee a dreadful Lecture of sins sinfulness and the punishment of it And is it not then an inestimable blessedness to be delivered from that which hath wrought such deplorable Executions in the World 2. The greatest Blessings are conferred Pardon is God's Family-Blessing and the peculiar mercy of his choicest darlings He hands out other things to wicked men but he deals out this only to his Children 1. The Favour of God Sin makes thee Satan's Drudge but pardon makes thee God's Favourite We may be sick to death with Lazarus and be God's Friends sold to slavery with Joseph and yet be dear to him thrown into a Lions Den with Daniel and be greatly beloved poor with Lazarus who had only Doggs for Chirurgions to dress his Sores and yet have a Title to Abraham's bosom But we can never be beloved if we are unpardoned no share in his friendship his love his inheritance without a pardon All created evils cannot make us loathsom in a justified State nor all created goods make us lovely under guilt Sin is the
For the raising good thoughts 2. Preventing bad 3. Ordering bad when they do intrude 4. Ordering good when they appear in us 1. For raising good thoughts 1. Get renewed hearts The fountain must be cleansed which breeds the vermine Pure vapors can never ascend from a filthy quagmire What issue can there be of a vain heart 2 Cor. 5.17 Jer. 4.14 Wash thy heart from wickedness c. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee but vain imaginations Thoughts will not become new till a man is in Christ We must be holy before we can think holily Sanctification is necessary for the dislodging of vain thoughts and the introducing of good A sanctified reason would both discover and shame our natural follies As all animal operations so all the spiritual motions of our heads depend upon the life of our hearts * Prov. 4.23 as the principium originis As there is a law in our members to bring us into Captivity to the law of sin Rom. 7.23 so there must be a law in our minds to bring our thoughts to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 We must be renewed in the spirit of our minds Ephes 4.23 in our reasonings and thoughts which are the spirits whereby the understanding acts as the animal spirits are the instruments of corporeal motion Till the understanding be born of the spirit †John 3 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit it will delight in and think of nothing but things suitable to its fleshly original but when 't is spiritual it receives new impressions new reasonings and motions suitable to the Holy Ghost of whom it is born A stone if thrown upwards a thousand times will fall backward because 't is a forced motion but if the nature of this stone were changed into that of fire it would mount as naturally upward as before it sunk downward You may force some thoughts toward heaven sometimes but they will not be natural till nature be changed Grace only gives stability †Heb. 13.9 It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace and prevents fluctuation by fixing the soul upon God as its chief end and what is our end will not only be first in our intentions but most frequent in our considerations Hence a sanctified heart is called in Scripture a stedfast heart There must be an enmity against Satan put into our hearts according to the first promise before we can have an enmity against his imps or any thing that is like him 2. Study Scripture Original corruption stuffs us with bad thoughts and Scripture-knowledge would stock us with good ones for it proposeth things in such terms as exceedingly suit our imaginative faculty as well as strengthen our understanding Judicious knowledge would make us approve things that are excellent and where such things are approved Phil. 1.9 10. toys cannot be welcom Fulness is the cause of stedfastness The cause of an intent and piercing eye is the multitude of animal spirits Without this skill in the Word we shall have as foolish conceits of Divine things as ignorant men without the Rules of Art have of the Sun and Stars or things in other Countries which they never saw The Word is call'd a Lamp to our feet i. e. the affections a light to our eyes i. e the understanding Psa 119.105 Psal 19.8 enlightens the ey s. It will direct the glances of our minds and the motions of our affections It enlightens the eyes and makes us have a new prospect of things as a Scholar newly entred into Logick and studied the Predicaments c. looks upon every thing with a new eye and more rational thoughts and is mightily delighted with every thing he sees because he eyes them as clothed with those notions he hath newly studied The Devil had not his engines so ready to assault Christ as Christ from his knowledg had Scripture-precepts to oppose him Lectione assidua meditatione diuturna pectus suum bibliothecam Christi secerat Hierom Ep. 3. As our Saviour by this means stifled thoughts offered so by the same we may be able to smother thoughts arising in us Converse therefore often with the Scripture transcribe it in your heart and turn it in succum sanguinem whereby a vigor will be derived into every part of your soul as there is by what you eat to every member of your body Thus you will make your mind Christ's library as Hierom speaks of Nepotianus 3. Reflect often upon the frame of your mind at your first conversion None have more settled and more pleasant thoughts of divine things than new converts when they first clasp about Christ partly because of the novelty of their state and partly because God puts a full stock into them and diligent trades-men at their first setting up have their minds intent upon improving their stock Endeavour to put your mind in the same posture it was then Or if you cannot tell the time when you did first close with Christ recollect those seasons wherein you have found your affections most fervent your thoughts most united and your mind most elevated as when you renewed repentance upon any fall or had some notable chearings from God and consider what matter it was which carried your heart upward what employment you were engaged in when good thoughts did fill your soul and try the same experiment again Asaph would oppose God's ancient works to his murmuring thoughts he would remember his song in the night i. e. the matter of his song and read over the records of God's kindness * Psal 77.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. David too would never forget i. e. frequently renew the remembrance of those precepts whereby God had particularly quicken'd him †Psa 119.93 Yea he would reflect upon the places too where he had formerly conversed with God to rescue himself from dejecting thoughts therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill Missar ‖ Psal 42.6 Some elevations surely David had felt in those places the remembrance whereof would sweeten the sharpness of his present grief When our former sins visit our minds pleading to be speculatively reacted let us remember the holy dispositions we had in our repentance for them Luke 24.32 Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures and the thankful frames when God pardoned them The Disciples at Christ's second appearance reflected upon their own warm temper at his first discourse with them in a disguise to confirm their faith and expel their unbelieving conceits Strive to recollect truths precepts promises with the same affection which possest your Souls when they first appeared in their glory and sweetness to you 4. Ballast your heart with a Love to God David thought all the day of
mightily troubled at it 1. T is a high Testomony of Love to God The Nature of true Love is to wish all good to them we love to rejoyce when any good we wish doth arrive unto them to mourn when any evil afflicts them and that with a respect to the beloved object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Aristot Rhetor l. 1. c. 4. Where there is this love there is a rejoycing at one anothers happiness a grieving at one anothers misfortunes If it be a part of love to rejoyce at that whereby God is glorified 't is no less a part of love to mourn for that whereby God is vilified So strait is the union of affection between God and a righteous Soul that their blessings and injuries joys and sorrows are twisted together The increase of Gods glory is the greatest good that can happen to a Soul enamoured of him his dishonour then is the greatest misery A gracious Soul is like John Baptist content to decrease that Christ might encrease in the esteem of men He is like Jonathan that would rather have the Crown upon Davids head than his own as the words intimate 1 Sam. 23.17 v. thou shalt be King over Israel I shall be next unto thee And grieved more for his Fathers displeasure against David than against himself So doth a Christian grieve more for the wrongs of God than for those in his own liberty estate or life Joshua was more careful of the name of God than of the safety of the people singly considered Josh 7.9 What wilt thou do unto thy great name The glory of God is not dear to that man that can without any regret look upon his bespattered name What affection hath he to his friend who can see him torn in pieces by Dogs and stand unconcerned at his calamity God indeed is uncapable of suffering but what rending is to a creature that is sin to the Divine Majesty Can that man be said to love God who hath no reflection when he sees others tumbling God from his Throne and setting up the Devil in his stead Who can hear the tremendous name of God belcht out by polluted lips upon every vile occasion and made the sport of Stage and Stews without any inward resentment He only esteems God as his King who cannot see his laws broken without remorse How Loyally did Moses his affection to God work when he heard the name of God blasphemed and saw a calf usurp the adoration due to the God of Heaven And David felt the stroak of that sword in his own bowels which was directed against the heart of God Psal 139.20 21 22. The dearer Gods name is to any the more affected they are that God and Christ are loved and honoured less than they desire they should be 'T is hard sometimes to discern this Love to God when Gods interest and ours are joyned when we would mask our displeasure against some mens offences with a care of Gods honour which is nothing but a hatred of the Person sinning or revenge against him for some conceived injury to us The Apostles calling for fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans when they refused Christ Luke 9.53 54 55. might seem to be a generous concern for their masters honour but Christ knew it proceeded much from that natural enmity which the Jews bore to the Samaritans The best way to judg is when the interest is purely Gods and hath no fuel of our own discontents to boil up either grief or anger Such an affection cannot but be highly acceptable to God who is affected with the love of the creature and honours them that honour him as well as despises those that lightly concern themselves for him 2. Love to our Neighbours Nothing can evidence our love to man more than a sorrowful reflection upon that wickedness which is the ruine of his Soul the disturbance of humane society and unlocks the treasures of Gods judgments to fall upon mankind Sin is a reproach to a people Prov. 14.34 'T is always an act of Charity to mourn for the reproaches and ruine of a people 'T is a gross enmity to others to see them stab themselves to the heart jest with eternal flames wish their damnation at every word run merrily to the bottomless gulf and all this without bestowing a sigh upon them and pitying their madness the greater should be our grief by how much the further they are from any for their own destruction If Cain discovered both his enmity to God and also to his brother in grieving that his brothers works were so good Abel musts needs in the practice of the contrary duty manifest his love to Cain in grieving that his works were so bad Our Saviours tears for the Jews discovered no less a concern for their misery than for Gods dishonour Anger for sin may have something of revenge in it Grief for sin discovers an affection both to God and the sinner A duty which respects at once the substance of both the tables cannot but be pleasing to God 2. 'T is an imitating return for Gods affection How doth God resent the injuries done to his people as much as those done to himself Those sins that immediately strike at his glory are not accompanied with such quick judgments as those that grate upon his Servants Sharp persecutions that tear the people of God in pieces have fuller vials of judgments here than Vollies of others sins which rend the name of God When Cain affronted God by his Sacrifice God comes not to a reckoning with him till he had added the murther of his Brother to his former crimes against his maker A sweeter and more thankful return and a more affectionate imitation of God there cannot be than to resent the injuries done to God more than those done to our selves The pinching of his people doth most pierce his heart a stab to his honour in gratitude should most pierce theirs The four Kings that came against Sodom Gen. 14.9 c. sped well enough in their invasion gained the victory and had been in a fair way to have enjoyed the spoil had they not laid their hands upon Lot which was the occasion of their disgorging their prey As God ingaged himself in the recovery of Lot so Lot concerned himself in the honour of God Gods anger is stirred at the Captivity of Lot and Lots vexation is awakened at the injuries against God What troubles his Children raises sensible compassion in him to the sufferer and revenge upon the persecutor whatsoever doth blaspheme the name of God doth at the same time rack a sincere heart A persecutor cannot injure a believer but Christ records it as a wrong done to himself and Christ cannot be dishonoured by men but a righteous Soul doubles his grief Here is a mutual return of affection and aestimation which is highly pleasing 3. This temper justifies Gods Law and his justice David's grief being for mans forsaking the Law testified his choice valuation
in the service of God that we take not up Religion to serve a turn that God is our aim and Christ our beloved Now upright persons have special promises for protection Psal 37.18 19. The Lord knows the way of the upright they shall not be ashamed in an evil time they shall not be ashamed in it though they may be dasht by it they shall have a blessed inward security though they may not always have an outward when the wicked shall consume away as the fat of Lambs and exhale in the smoke God's Eyes are upon them in the worst of straits If ever he shew himself strong 't is for those that are perfect in heart before him This is the end of the rouling and running of his Eyes about the Earth 2 Chron. 16.9 To such he is both a Sun and a Shield a Sun to comfort them and a Shield to defend them that walk uprightly Psal 84.11 There may be an uprightness in the heart when there is an unknown or a negligent crookedness in some particular path and when men are negligent in reproving others for such sins as open the clouds of Judgments God may be a Sun to such to give them some comfort in a common calamity but scarce a Shield to defend them from it 2. This frame clears us from the guilt of common sins He that is not afflicted with them contracts a guilt of those insolencies against God by a tacit approbation or not hindering the torrent by his prayers tears endeavours Sin is not to be viewed without horror we share in the guilt if we manifest not our detestation of the practice The Corinthians had not approved themselves clear in the matter of the incestuous person till they had mourned for it 2 Cor. 7.11 Jacob was afraid he should be charged by God as a murtherer and thief as well as Simeon and Levi if he did not profess his loathing of it Gen. 49.6 Oh my Soul come not thou into their secrets unto their assembly mine honour be not thou united for in their anger they sâ—ew a man and in their self-will they digged down a wall His Soul should bear a testimony against their secrets he would count it his dishonour to give their sin any countenance before God or man David intimates Psal 101.3 that if he did not hate the works of those that turn aside the guilt of them would cleave to him If we can patiently bear the dishonour of God without marks of our displeasure we shall be reckoned in the common infection as one lump with the greatest sinners He that is not with Christ is against him he that is not on the side of God by a holy grief is on the side of sin by a silent consent A thorow distast of sins upon the account of their abomination to God frees us from the guilt of them in the sight of God To mourn for them and pray against them is a sign we would have prevented them if it had lain in our power and where we have contributed to them we by those acts revoke the crime When we cannot be Reformers all that we can do is to turn mourners and in our places admonishers and reprovers and God is righteous not to charge the guilt where it is not contracted or revoked But where any are infected with common sins they must expect to tast of some common Judgments * Lightfoot Olian on Exod. 6.13 The Israelites did partake of some of the Aegyptian sins and though God was upon their deliverance yet he inflicted upon them some of the Aegyptian Plagues the Plague of Lice which was the first God brought without being imitated by the Magicians was common upon the Israelites as well as the Aegyptians for God did not sever Goshen from Aegypt till the Plague of Flies Exod. 8.12 23. In that day will I sever the Land of Goshen I will put a division between my people and thy people And therefore in Psal 78. the Psalmist reckoning those Plagues never mentions the Lice because that was inflicted upon Israel as well as Aegypt This is a way to keep the Soul from common infection 'T is difficult for a Soul to defile it self with the sins of the times when tears are continually running down the eyes for them 'T is an Antidote against the sin against the Plague which follows at the heels of it If we look not upon them with grief we are in danger to be snar'd in the same temptation Besides not sorrowing for them is an implicit consent to them and by consenting to them we are little better than actors in them By grieving for them we enter our dissent pass our vote against them When any sin becomes national it is imputed to the body of the Nation as in some transgressions of the Law the whole body of the Nation of the Jews was involved and there is no way for any particular person to remove the guilt from him but by disowning it before God 3. A grief for common sins is an endeavour to repair the honour God has lost 'T is a paying to God that by Repentance as much as lies in a creature which is due from the worst sinner himself 't is to keep up some of God's glory when so much is trodden down And when the grief is accompanied with a more exact obedience it repairs the honour God hath lost by the miscarriage of others 'T is an endeavour to wipe off the stains from the Robe of the glory of God And those that bear up God's glory in the world shall find if need be the Creative Omnipotent Power of God stretched out for their defence in as eminent a manner as the cloud by day which preserved the Israelites from the scorching of the Sun or the flaming fire by night which prevented their wandring into by-ways and Precipices for upon all the glory shall be a defence Isa 4.5 i. e. upon those that bear the mark of his glorious Redemption and bear up his honour among the Sons of men When we concern our selves for God's honour God will concern himself for our protection God never was nor ever will be behind-hand with his creature in affection Moses was zealous for God's glory against the golden Calf and God concern'd himself for his honour against Aaron and Miriam Numb 12. and then against the tumults of the People 4. The mourners in Sion are humble and humility is preventive of Judgments To lie flat upon the ground is a means to avoid the stroke of a Cannon-bullet When men are cast down he shall save the humble person Job 22.29 They lie lowest in the dust before God who concern themselves not only with the weight of their own sins but with that of others Pride is a preparation for Judgment the higher the Tower aspires the fitter Tinder it is for lightning the bigger any thing swells the nearer it is to bursting the prouder any man is the plainer Butt he is for
of the Devil a corrupt Creature and an enemy to God the chief Lord of the World and so did deprave the order of the universe and endeavoured to frustrate the end of God and the end of all the Creatures 'T is very rational to think that tho God out of his infinite compassion would not lose his creature yet that he should set such a badge upon him that should make him sensible of a depravation he had wrought in the world 4. 'T is useful to magnify his love We should not be sensible of what our Saviour suffered nor how transcendently he lov'd us if the punishment of sin had been presently removed upon the first promise Nay how then could he have died in the fulness of time which was necessary to the demonstration of Gods love satisfaction of his justice and the security of the Creatures happiness God adds the threatning to the promise as a dark colour to set off and beautify the brighter As Christ suffered that he might have compassion on us so are we punished that we might have an estimation of him When Paul cries out of the body of death so when we cry out of the punishment of sin it should raise our thankfulness for redeeming love I thank God through Jesus Christ Rom. 7.24 25. We never know the worth of mercy till we feel the weight of misery The sharper the pains of sin the higher are our valuations of redeeming mercy In Isa 4.2 In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious In what day After great punishments v. 1. and in the foregoing chapter He appears most beautiful to us when we are under the lash for sin As sin continues in us that the justifying grace of Christs righteousness might more appear to us so punishment continues on us that redeeming love might be more prized by us 2. On our parts 'T is useful to us 1. To make us abhor our first defection and sin 'T was great and is not duly considered by us * Kellet Miscel This sin of Adam is the worst that ever was committed in the world Extensively though not Intensively worse than the sin of Judas or the sin against the holy Ghost In respect that those are but the effects of it and branches of that corrupt root Also because those sins hurt only the persons sinning but this drew down destruction upon the whole world and drove thousands into everlasting Fire and Brimstone 'T is not fit that this which was the murder of all Mankind the disorder of the Creation the disturbing of God's rest in the works of his Hands should be past over without a scar left upon us to make us sensible of the greatness of the evil Though the wounds be great upon our Souls yet they do not so much affect us as those strokes upon our Bodies This certainly was one main end of God in this to what purpose else did he after the promise of restauration and giving our first parents the comfort of hearing the head of their great seducer threatned to be bruised by the Seed of the Woman order this punishment but to put them in mind of the cause of it and stir up a standing abhorrency of it in all ages of the world Had not this been his intent he would never have usher'd it in by a promise but ipso facto have showered down a destroying judgment upon the world as he did upon Sodom without any comfortable word preceding God inflicts those punishments both to shew his own and excite our detestation of this sin He binds us in those fetters to shew us our work and our transgression wherein we have exceeded Job 36.8 9. 2. To make us fear to sin and to purge it out Sin hath riveted it self so deep that easy Medicines will not displace it It hath so much of our affections that gentle means will not divorce us from it We shall hate it most when we reap the punishment of it Punishment is inflicted as a guard to the law and the security of righteousness from the corrupt inclinations of the Creature So it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato calls punishment As death is continued for the destruction of sin in the Body so are the lesser punishments continued for the restraint of sin in our lives We need further conversions closer applications of our selves to God more quick walks to him and fixedness with him Gods smitings are to quicken our turnings As it was the fruit of Jacobs trouble to take away sin Isa 27.9 So it is a great end of God in those common punishments of mankind to weaken corruption in a believer by them Therefore when we have any more remarkable sense of those punishments let us see what wounds our sin gets thereby How our hatred of it is encreased If we find such gracious effects we shall have more reason to bless God for it than complain of it Oh happy troubles when they repair not ruine us when they pinch us and cure us like Thunder which though it trouble the Air disperses the infectious vapours mixed with it or the Tide which though turning the stream of the River against its natural course carries away much of the filth with it at its departure 3. To exercise Grace Punishments of themselves have no power to set any grace on work but rather excite our corruptions but the grace of God accompanying them makes them beneficial for such an end God hath to a believer altered the commission of such punishments they are to exercise our Faith improve our patience draw us nearer in acts of recumbency but he hath given them no order to impair our grace waste our faith or deaden our hopes 1. Faith and Trust 1. Tim. 5.5 She that is desolate trusts in God The lower the state the greater necessity and greater obligation to trust such exercises manifest that the condition we are in is sanctified to us As sin is suffered to dwell in a regenerate Man to occasion the exercise of Faith so is the punishment of sin continued for the same end The continuance of it is a mighty ground of our confidence in God We experiment the righteousness of God in his threatning and it is an evidence he will be the same in his promise When we bear the marks of his punitive justice it is an evidence that he will keep up the credit of his mercy in the promise as well as of his justice in the punishment both being pronounced at the same time the good of the one is as sure by God's grace to our faith as the smart of the other is by our desert to that sin The continuance therefore of those punishments may be used by a Believer as a means to fix a stronger confidence in God for if he were not true to the one we might suspect his truth in the other If God should be careless of maintaining the honour of his truth in his threatnings we should have
doth not commit sin nor cannot sin He commits it not Potiùs patitur quà m facit he gives not a full consent to it he hates it while he cannot escape it He is not such a committer of it as to be the servant of sin John 8.34 He that commits sin is the servant of sin because he serves with his mind the Law of God He bestows not all his thoughts and labour upon sin in making provision for the flesh Rom. 13.14 in being a Caterer for sin He yields not up his Members as Instruments of unrighteousness unto sin he doth not let sin reign in his mortal body nor yield a voluntary obedience to it in the lusts thereof Rom. 6.12 13. for being God's Son he cannot be sins Servant he cannot sin in such a manner and so absolutely as one of the Devil's Children one born of the Devil His Seed remains in him His refers to God or the person born of God God's Seed efficiently man's Seed subjectively Born of God Twice repeated In the first is chiefly intended the declaration of the State in the second the disposition or likeness to God Observe 1. The Description of a Christian Born of God 2. The Priviledge of this Birth or Effects of it 1. Inactivity to sin He doth not commit it 2. Inability to sin He cannot 3. The ground and reasons of those Priviledges 1. The inward Form or Principle whereby he is regenerate which makes him unactive 2. The Efficient Cause which makes him unable Born of God or likeness to God makes him unable 4. The latitude of them in regard of the Subject Whosoever every regenerate man I intend not to run thorow all the parts of this Text having only chose it as a bar to presumption which may be occasioned by the former Doctrine upon mens false suppositions of their having grace There needs not any Doctrine from the Text but if you please take this Doct. There is a mighty difference between the sining of a regenerate and a natural man A regenerate man doth not neither can commit sin in the same manner as an unregenerate man doth That I may not be mistaken observe when I use the word May sin I understand it of a May of possibility not a May of lawfulness And when I say a regenerate man cannot sin so or so understand it of a settled habitual frame distinguish between passion and surprise a sudden effort of nature and an habitual and deliberate determination The sense of this cannot I shall lay down in several Propositions 1. It is not meant exclusively of lesser sins or sins of infirmity There are sins of daily incursion and lighter skirmishes there are some open some secret assaults a multitude of secret faults Psal 19.12 undiscernable and unknown Every good man is like Jacob though he hath one thigh sound he hath another halting I do not find that ever God intended to free any in this life from the remainders of sin What he hath not evidenc'd to have done in any we may suppose he intended not to do 'T is a total Apostacy not a partial Fall that the Covenant provides against Christ in his last prayer prays for Believers preservation and gradual sanctification not for their present perfection The very Office of Advocacy erected in Heaven supposeth sins after regeneration and during our continuance in the world 1 John 2.1 My little Children I write unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father In many things we offend all James 3.2 Not only you that are the inferior sort of Christians but we Apostles We is extensive All offend in many things 'T is implyed in the Lord's Prayer the daily standing Pattern As we are to pray for our daily bread so for a daily pardon and against daily temptations which supposeth our being subject to the one and our commission of the other The brightest Sun hath its spots the clearest Moon her dark parts The Church in her highest comeliness in this world hath her blackness of sin as well as of affliction because though sin be dismounted from its Throne by grace it is not expelled out of its residence It dwells in us though it doth not rule over us Rom. 7.20 And it cannot but manifest it self by its fruits while it remains Yet those sins do not destroy our Adoption Christ in his Sermon on the Mount to his Disciples supposeth the inherency of sin with the continuance of the relation of Children Matth. 7.11 If then you being evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him He doth acknowledge them evil while he calls God their Father and gives them the title of Children To sin is to decline from that rectitude in an act which the Agent ought to observe In this respect we sin according to the tenour of the Law in every thing we do though not according to the tenour of the Gospel 2. A regenerate man cannot live in the customary practice of any known sin either of omission or commission 1. Not in a constant omission of known duties If a good man falls into a gross sin he doth not totally omit the performance of common duties to God Not that this attendance on God in his Ordinances doth of it self argue a man to be a good man for many that walk in a constant course of sin may from natural Conscience and Education be as constant in the performing external services as he is 'T is a proper note of an Hypocrite that he will not always delight himself in the Almighty nor always call upon God Job 27.10 i. e. not customarily Whence it follows that a delight in God in duties of Worship is a property of a regenerate man An act of sin may impair his liveliness in them but not cause him wholly to omit them We need not question but David in the time of his impenitency did go to the Tabernacle attend upon the Worship of God 'T is not likely that for ten months together he should wholly omit it though no doubt but he was dead-hearted in it which is intimated when he desires a free spirit Ps 51. prayes for quickening Psa 143.11 one of his Penitential Psalms A total neglect of Ordinances and Duties is a shrewd sign of a total Apostacy and that grace was never in such a mans heart especially a total omission of prayer this is an high contempt of God denying him to be the Author of our mercies depriving him of the prerogative of governing the world disowning any need of him any sufficiency in him declaring we can be our own Gods and subsist of our selves without him and that there is no need of his blessing Grace though sunk under a sin will more or less desire its proper nourishment the Milk of the Word and other Institutions of God Nature though opprest by a disease will
require food to keep it alive A good man in this case is like the Planets which though they be turned about daily from East to West by the motion of the primum mobile yet they still keep up their proper motion from West to East either slower or quicker 2. Not in a customary commission of any known sin To work iniquity is the proper character of natural men hence called workers of iniquity Psal 5.5 Thou hatest all workers of iniquity And by the same title are they called by Christ at the Day of Judgment Depart from me all you workers of iniquity that contrive lay the plat-form of it and work at it as at a Trade or as a curious piece of Art 'T is one thing to sin another to commit or do a sin Psal 119 3. They do not iniquity they walk in his ways their usual constant course is in the way of God they do not iniquity they settle not to it take not pleasure in it as their work and way of livelihood So it is the character of an ungodly man to walk in the ways of sin Walking according to the course of the world and fulfilling the desires of the flesh are one and the same thing Ephes 2.2 3. A good man may step into a way of sin but he walks not in it to make it either his business or recreation So walking in sin and living in sin are put together What is called walking after the flesh Rom. 8.1 is called living after the flesh v. 13. which is the same with committing sin in the Text So ways and doings are joyned together Zach. 1.6 To make sin our way or walk is when a man chuses it as a particular trade and way of living A good man in sin is out of his way a wicked man in sin is in his way a good man will not have so much as one way of sin a wicked hath many ways for he seeks out many inventions Not one Example of the gross fall of a good man in Scripture will countenance any pretence for a course in sin for either they were not in a course of sin or it was not a course of known sins Noah was drunk but once yet that was not a sin of the same hue with that among us He first found out the fruits of the Vine Gen. 9.20 knew nothing of the strength of the Grape and therefore might easily be overcome by an unusual liquor Lot's Incest was but twice and that unwillingly He knew not his Daughters lying down or rising neither time Gen. 19.33 35. And for his Daughters some think that they thought there was no man left upon the Earth but their Father but that is not clear for Lot had been in Zoar and departed thence to the Mountain where their fact was committed His drunkenness admits of some aggravations it was no fit season for him to swill after so sharp a Judgment upon Sodom so severe a remark of God upon his Wife and so great a deliverance to himself Yet this was not a course of sin you read no more of it There is difference between a mans being drunk and being a drunkard the one notes the act the other the habit and love of it Peter denied Christ yet but three times together not three times with considerable intervals for a full deliberation 'T is probable Peter's Faith was so stupified as well as the Faith of those Disciples that were going to Emmaus Luke 24.21 We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel who and indeed all the Disciples in several passages seem'd to expect a temporal Kingdom to be erected by him as therefore not to judge it fit to hazard himself for a person he thought himself so much mistaken in Howsoever it was it was not a course of sin and his Repentance over-rules the plea for any customary transgression And though the Corinthians were charged with Fornication and eating things sacrificed to Idols yet it seems to be out of a corrupt Judgment as appears by the Apostles disputing against the one 1 Cor. 6.13 14 15. and against the other 1 Cor. 8. And that neither of those were generally judged to be sins by the converted Gentiles as appears by the Decree of the Apostles Acts 15.28 29. where they determine against both these though this was a course of sin yet not a course of known sins and after they were informed by the Apostle of the sinfulness of them they abstain'd therefore in the second Epistle * The first Epistle was writ the 25th year after the death of Christ and 2d Epistle the 26th year according to Baronias writ the year after to them he charges them not with those former crimes but comforts them for their being so much cast down with sorrow David's sin though lying upon him for about ten or twelve months yet it was not a course of sin and we find a signal Repentance afterwards but of that after To walk in a road of known sins is the next step to committing sin as sin and manifests the habit of sin to have a strong and fixed dominion in the will I shall confirm this by some Reasons because upon this Proposition depend all the following 1. Regeneration gives not a man a dispensation from the Law of God As Christ came not to destroy the Law but to establish it so grace doth not dispense with the Law but confirms the Authority of it Habitual grace is not given us to assist us in the breaches of it but to enable us to the performance of it As the grace of God which hath appeared to all men teaches the Doctrine of Holiness so the grace of God in us enables us to walk in the way of holiness Grace in a Believer embraceth what the grace of God teaches The Moral Laws of God are indispensable in themselves and of eternal verity Therefore as no rational creature much less can a regenerate person be exempted from that obedience to the Law which as a rational creature he is bound to observe The grace of God justifying is never conferred without grace sanctifying 'T is certain where Christ is made righteousness he is made sanctification 'T is not congruous to the Divine Holiness to look upon a person as righteous who hath not a renewed principle in him no more than it is congruous to the Divine Justice and Holiness to look upon him as righteous meerly for this principle so imperfect 2. 'T is not for the honour of God to suffer a custom and course of sin in a renewed man 'T is true a renewed man should not voluntarily nor doth commit willingly even sins of lighter infirmities but God suffers those because they do not wound the honour of Christianity though they discover a remoteness from a state of perfection But they do not customarily fall into great sins for it seems not congruous to permit such courses commonly in any one which would disgrace Religion and make that
it Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If I have curiously and intently looked upon iniquity with pleasure in my heart 5. 'T is against the nature of Regeneration Regeneration is a change of nature and consequently of resolutions A Lyon chained up hath an inclination to ravage but a Lyon chang'd into the nature of a Lamb loses his inclinations with that change of his nature so that it is as impossible a regenerate man can have the fixed and determinate resolutions that a wicked man hath as it is impossible that a Lamb should have the ravenous disposition of a Lyon you know the Scripture makes the change as great How can any man resolve to do a thing against that law which at the same time he hath an habitual approbation of as holy just and good Against a law natural to him viz. The law of the heart If a delight in the Law of God be a constitutive part of Regeneration then any settled purpose to sin is inconsistent with Regeneration because such a purpose being a testimony of an inward delight in that which is contrary to the Law of God cannot consist with a delight in that which forbids what his heart is set upon 4. Proposition A regenerate man cannot walk in a way doubtful to him without inquiries whether it be a way of sin or a way of duty and without admitting of reproofs and admonitions according to his circumstances This consists of two parts 1. He cannot walk in a way doubtful to him without inquiries whether it be a way of sin or of duty If the nature of conversion be an inclination of the heart to keep Gods statutes always even to the end Psal 119.112 the natural result then will be an enquiry what are the statutes of God which the Soul is to keep A natural man for fear of being disturbed in his sinful pleasure refuseth to understand the way of the Lord and delights to be under the power of a willful darkness Job 21.14 15. We desire not the knowledge of thy ways what is the almighty that we should serve him and what profit should we have if we pray to him This unwillingness to know the ways of God arises from a contempt of the Almighty and his service They judged it not profitable to serve and worship God and therefore were loth to receive any instruction for fear any light should spring up in them by way of conviction to disturb them Men love sin and therefore hate any knowledge which may deprive them of the sweetness of it Prov. 1 22. The Scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledg They delight in sin and therefore hate any knowledg which may check their delight And this unwillingness to choose the fear of the Lord is the ground of their hating the knowledg of it v. 30. for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They are afraid to be convinced that the way of their delight is a way of sin they would have no gall in their Conscience to imbitter the hony of their lusts This hatred of knowledg is inconsistent with true conversion because conversion is an election or choice of the fear of God and therefore cannot resist any means tending to promote that which is chosen 'T is essential to true grace to inquire into the mind and will of God to understand what is pleasing to him Job 34.32 That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more Inform me in what I know not if I understand it is iniquity which I have walked ignorantly in I will do it no more He will not return to folly when he shall hear what God the Lord shall speak 'T is certainly incompatible to the new nature to act in a contrariety to God Grace is always attended with an universal desire to know his will and pleasure him in performing it hence will follow an inquiry what behaviour and what acts are most agreeable to him John 14.21 He that hath my Commandments and keeps them he it is that Loves me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Antithesis is He that hath no mind to have my Commandments because he would not keep them hath no love to me He it is Emphatically exclusively that is the man and none else that Loves me Now if a man be afraid of making inquiry into the lawfulness of a course he is wedded to for fear his beloved object should appear to be a sin 't is a sign he abstains from what he knows certainly to be a sin out of a servile fear not out of a generous Divine Love a Principle as essential to the new nature as fear is to an enlightned carnalist 2. A Regenerate man cannot despise admonitions and reproofs which would inform him and withdraw him from a sinful course If he be in the way of life that keeps instruction then he that refuseth reproof is in the way of death Pro. 10.17 He is in the way of life that keeps instruction but he that refuseth reproof erreth 'T is put in a milder expression but if you observe the opposition it amounts to the inference I make So Prov. 15.9 10. The Lord Loves them that follow after Righteousness correction is grievous unto them that forsake the way and he that hates reproof shall dye Here is a plain opposition made between them that follow after Righteousness which is the character of a regenerate man who is therefore the object of Gods Love and that person that accounts correction grievous and hates reproof he is not one that follows after Righteousness to pursue is to embrace it and therefore not the object of Gods Love but the mark of death So that it is impossible a righteous man should hate reproof Nay the hating of reproof whereby a man might be informed of his duty is a sign not of a bare unregeneracy but of one at the very bottom of it wallowing in the very dreggs and mud of it farthest from the Kingdom of Heaven one that scarce looks like a rational creature Prov. 12.1 whoso Loves instruction Loves knowledge but he that hates reproof is brutish Whereas Solomons wise man which is a Regenerate man will love the reprover for the reproofs sake and grow wiser by instruction Prov. 9.8 9. Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee rebuke a wise man and he will Love thee give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser teach a just man and he will encrease in learning Just men change their intentions upon a discovery of the sinfulness of their way And though it may not at the first assault of an admonition appear to be a sin yet it will check somewhat their violence in it But where sin hath a dominion every check and discovery of it doth rather enflame than quench it and the heart like a stream rises the higher for
the damm Judas had an admonition from Christ that informed him of what wickedness he was about and the danger of it Mark 14.21 He pronounceth a wo against him Compare this with Joh. 13.27 30. when he gives him the sop which was at the same time he informed him of the danger Satan entered into him and he went more roundly to work to accomplish it he went immediately out Observe by the way That the Spirit of God enters into a mans heart often upon admonitions from friends and the Devil also more powerfully upon the same occasions than at other times A good man cannot habitually hate the reprover There is one example of a good man dealing hardly with a Prophet for reproving him in the name of the Lord 2 Chron. 16.10 Then Asa was wroth with the Seer and put him into a Prison house for he was in a rage with him because of this thing And partly for the Judgment of war against him But the Scripture gives an allay to it For he was in a rage He was in a passion because of the threatning and the plainness of the speech thou hast done foolishly To say such a word to an inferior would ordinarily now a days swell many a professor to a fury much more a Prince This very Proposition will discover that there are many more pretenders to a Regenerate state than possessors of it so strangely is not only Humane Nature but the Christian Religion depraved among us 5 Propos A regenerate man cannot have a settled deliberate love to any one act of sin though he may fall into it Thus the Devil sins he loves what he doth Though a good man may fall into a sin even such a sin which he was much guilty of before his Conversion and which he hath repented of yet never into a love of it or the allowance of any one act of it For by Regeneration the Soul becomes like God in disposition and therefore cannot love any thing which he hates whose hatred and love being always just are unerring Rules to the love and hatred of every one of his Children He can never account a sin his ornament but his fetter never his delight but his grief I add this Proposition because there may be a love of an act of sin where there is not a constant course in it As a man that hath committed a murther out of revenge may love afterwards the very thoughts of that revenge though he never murther any more And a man that hath committed an act of Adultery may review it with pleasure though he never commit an act again But a good man cannot David is supposed to be inclined to the way of lying and dissembling though he might falter sometimes and look that way and perhaps fall into it yet never into a love of it therefore observe Psal 119.163 I hate and abhor lying but thy Law do I love A single hatred would not serve the turn but I hate and abhor I have not the least affection to this of any though I have the greatest natural inclination to it What was the reason Thy Law do I love There was another affection planted in his Soul which could not consist with a love to or allowance either of the habit or any one act of lying A good man hath yielded his Soul up to the government of Christ his affections are fully engaged he cannot see an equal amiableness in any other Object for he cannot lose his Eyes again his enlightened mind cannot be wholly blinded and deceived by Satan he walks not by the inveiglements of sense but by the unerring Rule of Faith so that though by some mists before his Eyes he may for a while be deluded yet as he cannot have a setled false Judgment so he cannot have a setled affection to any one act of sin 'T is one thing for a City to surrender it self to the Enemy out of affection and another thing to be forced by them Under a force they may retain their Loyalty to their lawful Prince There may be some passionate approbations of an act of sin Jonah was an Advocate for his own passion against God and made a very peremptory Apology for it Jonah 4.9 I do well to be angry even to the death Yet if we may judge by his former temper we cannot think he did afterwards defend it out of judgment as he did then out of passion for when the Lot fell upon him Jon. 2.9 12. he made no defence for his sin he very calmly wishes them to cast him into the Sea Where there is a passionate approbation it cannot be constant in a good man for when he returns to himself his abhorrences of the sin and of himself for it are greater as if by the greatness of his grief he would endeavour to make some recompence for the folly of his passion Observe by the way A good man may commit a sin with much eagerness and yet have a less affection to it in the very act than another who acts that sin more calmly because it may arise not from any particular inclination he hath in his temper to that sin but from the general violence of his natural temper which is common to him in that action This seems to be the case of Jonah both in this and the former act But if a man be more violent in that act of sin than he is in other things by his natural temper there is ground both for himself and others to think that sin hath got a great mastery over his affections Peter seems to be a man of great affections and of a forward natural temper he was very hasty to have Tabernacles built in the Mountain for his Master Moses and Elias and have resided there He hastily rebukes his Master he flung himself out of a Ship to meet our Saviour walking upon the water and after his Resurrection he leapt into the Sea to get to him So that Peter's denying his Master was not such an evidence of disaffection to him or love to the sinful act he was then surpriz'd by as it would have been in John or any other Disciple of a more sedate temper But this only by the way as a Rule both to judg your selves by and to moderate your Censures of others And consider That such acts of sin are not frequent The violence of a mans temper if godly cannot carry him out into a course of sin or a love to any one act As a wicked man may hit upon a good duty and perform it but not out of a settled love to God or habitual obedience to his Law so a good man may by surprize do an evil work not out of obedience to the Law of sin or any love to the sin it self What considerations may move a wicked man to a good duty may in some respect move a good man to a sinful act yet it is not to be called a duty in the one no more than it is to
be called a sin in the other of the same hue of the same hue I say with that in a natural man 6 Proposition A regenerate man cannot commit any sin with a full consent and bent of will A man may consent to that which he doth not love Hereby I distinguish it from the former Proposition I mean not that he cannot commit any sin wilfully as sin for so I believe no man doth it being against the nature of the creature to do evil as evil formaliter but under some other notion of it Some consent of the will I do acknowledg because the will as well as the other faculties is but in part regenerate as there is not a triumphant light in the understanding so neither is the grace of the will at present triumphant but militant yet it may be rather called the will of sin than a mans own will Sometimes a good man is by some sudden motion hurried on to sin before he can consult law and reason before he hath his wits well at liberty before he can compare the temptation or sin with the prohibition of it by the Divine Law But generally there is a resistance in him as well as a provocation in sin for the two contrary principles exert themselves in some measure Grace resists and sin provokes Whereas another that hath no grace sins with a full consent because he hath no spiritual resisting principle in him for he is flesh and not spirit and whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh and wholly flesh There is a resisting indeed in a natural man but it is a resistance of natural light not of grace a resistance not of the Will but of the Conscience the Will is bent to sin but natural Conscience puts rubs in the way Neither is this resistance in spiritual sins which is the greatest character I know whereby to distinguish a resistance of natural Conscience from a resistance by a principle of grace which natural Conscience doth not so much trouble it self about as not having light without a spiritual illumination to discern them but only in gross sins such as are condemned by common reason so that if he hath any resistance it is not in the will of the man but the will of his Interest will of his Credit or the will of his Conscience not in the rational will complying with and delighting in the will of God A regenerate man cannot commit any sin with 1. An habitual Consent because he hath a principle of grace within him which opposes that tide of nature which did forcibly carry him down before This opposite principle doth remain though the present opposition may not be discerned by reason of the prevalency of the temptation As in a Room warm'd by a fire in Winter there is a principle in the Air doth resist that heat and reduce it after the fire is out to its former rawness and coldness A renewed man being passed into another nature it cannot be supposed he can do any thing with an habitual bent of will against his nature Grace hath put a stop to that Paul distinguisheth himself from sin in the acts of it 'T is not I or my will but sin Rom. 7.20 Now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwells in me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to perfect and compleat a work to work industriously and politely Had I my will I should not do thus There is a divorce made between the will and sin so that sin acts upon a single score now 'T is no more I a divorce is made between my will and sin The Law of Sin is therefore called a Law in the members not of the members a Law found working there v. 21. I find a Law in my members I did not enact it I placed it not there I consent not to its being there but there I find it and know not how to be rid of it but it shall never have my will But the Law of grace is called a Law of the mind not in the mind a Law which is settled there by the consent of the Soul and to whose Soveraignty and Guidance it yields it self The Law of sin is in the members the vigor of it is seen in the inferiour faculties of the Soul not in the higher the mind and will 't is a Law imposed upon me not imbraced by me a Law of disturbance not of obedience a Law that troubles me doth not delight me v. 21 22. It resides as an Enemy warring but hath no intimacy with me as a friend v. 23. yet it is an Enemy driven to the out-works to the members So that where all this is you cannot suppose an habitual consent to sin when the will is formed into another nature As the will of the wicked is possessed by habits of sin under the restraints from it so the will of the godly is possessed by habits of grace even under the rape of a prevailing temptation 2. Nor an actual consent both antecedent and consequent The Interest of sin may seem to be actually higher and stronger in the Soul than the Interest of God though this latter is habitually stronger than the Interest of sin Though there may be an antecedent delight in the motion a present delight in the action yet there is not a permanent consequent delight after it yet the two first are rare 'T is seldom that a renewed Soul and sin do so friendly conspire together without any spiritual reluctancy Suppose he may have by the suspension of grace a whole actual consent of will to one particular sin upon some strong provocation yet he gives not up himself to the will or way of that sin He is only under a temporary not a perpetual power of it As a man in a fight may by a fall be under the power of his Enemy yet in the struggle get up again and reduce him to the same necessity Though there be not an express dissent at the motion nor in the action yet there is alwaies after for it is as much against the terms of the Covenant to have a perpetual delight in any sin committed as to commit it often because this delight in it is an approbation of it and every act of delight is a new act of approbation and consequently a recommission of it and a making a mans self a perpetual accessary to that first act 1. Sometimes he hath an antecedent dissent A renewed man is troubled and displeased at the first motion to a sin he is sometimes troubled that any sin should so much as ask him the question to have entertainment in him 'T is so many times with a natural man much more with a regenerate man yet afterwards that displicency abating the sin creeps upon him by degrees and ensnares him Paul had an act of will against that which he did before he did it he did that which was preceded by an act of his will nilling it
stand good in law because the crossing of the book implies the Satisfaction of the debt A debt may be read in our manner of writing in a crossed book but it cannot be pleaded God may after pardon read our sins in the book of his Omniscience but not charge them upon us at the bar of his Justice 2. Gods willingness to pardon Blots not razeth He engraves them not upon marble he writes them not with a pen of Iron or point of a diamond writing upon wax is easily made plain 3. The extent of it Blotting serves for a great debt as well as a small a thousand pound may as well and as soon be dasht out by a blot as a thousand pence 4. The quickness of it upon repentance It takes more time to write a debt in a book than to cross it out one blow would obliterate a great deal of writing upon wax Sins that have been contracting many years when God pardons he blots out in a moment 2. Covering as it alludes to the drowning the Aegpytians is exprest by casting into the depths of the Sea Micah 7.19 Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea This notes also 1. Gods willingness to pardon Casts them not lays them gently aside but flings them away with violence as things that he cannot endure the sight of and is resolved never to take notice of them more 2. Gods reality in pardon He will cast their sins as far as the arm of his omnipotency can reach If there be any place further than the depths of the Sea thither they shall be thrown out of the sight of his justice 3. The extent All their sins The Sea covered Aegyptian Princes as well as the people The mighty Lord as well as the Common Souldier sank like lead in those mighty waters 4. The Duration of it The Sea vomits up nothing that it takes into its lower bowels things cast into the depths of the Ocean never appear more Rivers may be turned and drain'd but who can lave out the Ocean 2. Not imputing Not putting upon account not charging the debt in a legal process To this is aequivalent the expression of not remembring Isa 43.25 I will not remember their sins An act of oblivion is past upon sin This notes 1. That God will not exact the debt of thee God doth not absolutely forget sin for what he knows never slips out of his knowledg So that his not remembring is rather an act of his will than a defect in his understanding As when an act of oblivion is passed the fact committed is not Physically forgotten but legally because the fear of punishment is removed God puts them out of the memory of his wrath though not out of the memory of his knowledge He doth remember them paternally to chastize thee for them though not judicially to condemn thee 2. Not upbraid thee Not with a scornful upbraiding mention them to cast thee off but with a merciful renewing the remembrance of them upon thy Conscience to excite thy repentance and keep thee with in the due bounds of humility and reverence More particularly the nature of pardon may be explained in these Propositions We must not think that these expressions as they denote pardon do intimate in this act the taking away of the being of sin nature of sin or demerit of sin 1. The being and inherency of sin is not taken away Though sin be not imputed to us yet it is inherent in us The being remains though the power be dethroned By pardon God takes away sin not as it is a pollution of the Soul but as it is an inducement to wrath Though remission and Sanctification are concomitants yet they are distinct acts and wrought in a distinct manner 2. The nature of sin is not taken away Justification is a relative change of the person not of the sin for though God will not by an act of his justice punish the person pardoned yet by his holiness he cannot but hate the sin because though it be pardoned it is still contrary to God and enmity against him 'T is not a change of the native malice of the sin but a non-imputation of it to the offender Though the person sinning be free from any indictment yet sin is not freed from its malitia and opposition to God For though the law doth not condemn a justified person because he is translated into another state yet it condemns the acts of sin though the guilt of those acts doth not redound upon the person to bring the wrath of God upon him Though David had the sins of murther and adultery pardon'd yet this pardon did not make David a righteous person in those acts for it was murther and adultery still and the change was not in his sin but in his Soul and state 3. The Demerit of sin is not taken away As pardon doth not alter sins nature so neither doth it alter sins demerit for to merit damnation belongs to the nature of it so that we may look upon our selves as deserving Hell though the sin whereby we deserve it be remitted Pardon frees us from actual condemnation but not as considered in our own persons from the desert of condemnation As when a King pardons a thief he doth not make the theft to become formally no theft or to be meritoriously no capital crime Upon those two grounds of the nature and demerit of sin a justified person is to bewail it and I question not but the consideration of this doth add to the triumph and Hallelujahs of the glorified Souls whose chief work being to praise God for redemption they cannot but think of the nature and demerit of that from which they were redeemed Rev. 5.13 4. The guilt of sin or obligation to punishment is taken away by pardon Sin committed doth presently by vertue of the law transgressed bind over the sinner to death but pardon makes void this obligation so that God no longer accounts us persons obnoxious to him Peccatum remitti non aliud est quam non imputari ad poenam * Durand lib. 4. dict 1. q. 7 For sin to be pardoned is nothing else but not to be imputed in order to punishment 'T is a revoking the sentence of the law against the sinner and God renouncing upon the account of the Satisfaction made by Christ to his justice any right to punish a believer doth actually discharge him upon his believing from that sentence of the law under which he lay in the state of unbelief and also as he parts with this right to punish so he confers a light upon a believer humbly to challenge it upon the account of the Satisfaction wrought by his surety God hath not only in his own mind and resolution parted with this right of punishing but also given an express declaration of his will 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself i. e. openly renouncing upon Christs account the right to
exaggerating man's defilement Wherein consider the Universality 1. Of the subject Every man 2. Of the act Every thought 3. Of the qualification of the act Only evil 4. Of the time continually The words thus opened afford us this Proposition That the thoughts and inward operations of the souls of men are naturally universally evil and highly provoking Some by cogitation mean not only the acts of the understanding but those of the will yea and the sense too But indeed that which we call cogitation or thought is the work of the mind Cartes Princip Pâ—ilos Part 1. Sect. 9. imagination of the fancy 'T is not properly thought till it be wrought by the understanding because the fancy was not a power designed for thinking but only to receive the images imprest upon the sense and concoct them that they might be fit matter for thoughts and so 't is the Exchequer wherein all the acquisitions of sense are deposited and from thence received by the intellective faculty So that thoughts are inchoativè in the fancy consummativè in the understanding terminativè in all the other faculties Thought first engenders opinion in the mind thought spurs the will to consent or dissent 't is thought also which Spirits the affections I will not spend time to acquaint you with the methods of their generation Every man knows he hath a thinking faculty and some inward conceptions which he calls thoughts he knows that he thinks and what he thinks though he be not able to describe the manner of their formation in the womb or remember it any more than the species of his own face in a glass In this discourse let us first see what kind of thoughts are sins 1. Negatively A simple apprehension of sin is not sinful Thoughts receive not a sinfulness barely from the object That may be unlawful to be acted which is not unlawful to be thought of Though the will cannot Will sin without guilt yet the understanding may apprehend sin without guilt for that doth no more contract a pollution by the bare apprehension than the eye doth by the reception of the species of a loathsome object Thoughts are morally evil when they have a bad principle want a due end and converse with the object in a wrong manner Angels cannot but understand the offence which displaced the Apostate Stars from heaven but they know not sin cognitione practicâ Glorified Saints may consider their former sins to enhance their admirations of pardoning mercy Christ himself must needs understand the matter of the Devils temptation yet Satan's suggestions to his thoughts were as the vapors of a jakes mixed with the Sun-beams without a defilement of them Yea God himself who is infinite purity knows the Object of his own acts which are conversant about sin as his holiness in forbidding it wisdom in permitting mercy in pardoning and justice in punishing But thoughts of sin in Christ Angels and glorified Saints are accompanied with an abhorrency of it without any combustible matter in them to be kindled by it As our thoughts of a divine object are not gracious unless we love and delight in it so a bare apprehension of sin is not positively criminal unless we delight in the object apprehended As a sinful obiect doth not render our thoughts evil so a divine object doth not render them good because we may think of it with undue circumstances as unseasonably coldly c. And thus there is an imperfection in the best thought a regenerate man hath for though I will suppose he may have a sudden ejaculation without the mixture of any positive impurity and a simple apprehension of sin with a detestation of it yet there is a defect in each of them because 't is not with that raised affection to God or intense abhorrency of sin as is due from us to such objects and whereof we were capable in our primitive state 2. Positively Our thoughts may be branched into first motions or such that are more voluntary 1. First motions Those unfleched thoughts and single threads before a multitude of them come to be twisted and woven into a discourse such as skip up from our natural corruption and sink down again as fish in a River These are sins though we consent not to them because though they are without our will they are not against our nature but spring from an inordinate frame of a different hue from what God implanted in us How can the first sprouts be good if the root be evil Not only the thought formed but the very formation or first imagination is evil Voluntariness is not necessary to the essence of a sin though it be to the aggravation of it 'T is not my Will or Knowledge Gen. 19.33 35. which doth make an act sinful but God's prohibition Lot's Incest was not ushered by any deliberate consent of his Will yet who will deny it to be a sin since he should have exercised a severer command over himself than to be overtaken with drunkenness which was the occasion of it Original sin is not effectivè voluntary in Infants because no act of the will is exerted in an infant about it Yet it is voluntary subjectivè because it doth inhaerere voluntati These motions may be said to be voluntary negatively because the Will doth not set bounds to them and exercise that soveraign dominion over the operations of the soul which it ought to do and wherewith it was at its first creation invested Besides though the Will doth not immediately consent to them yet it consents to the occasions which administer such motions and therefore according to the rule that causa causae est causa causati they may be justly charged upon our score 2. Voluntary thoughts which are the blossoms of these motions Such that have no lawful object no right end not governed by reason eccentrick disorderly in their motions and like the jarring strings of an untun'd Instrument The meanest of these floating phancies are sins because we act not in the production of them as rational creatures and what we do without reason we do against the law of our creation which appointed reason for our guide and the understanding to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the governing power in our souls These may be reduced to three heads 1. In regard of God 2. Of our selves 3. Of others I. In regard of God 1. Cold thoughts of God When no affection is raised in us by them When we delight not in God the object of those thoughts but in the thought it self and operation of our mind about Him consisting of some quaint notion of God of our own conceiving This is to delight in the act or manner of thinking not in the object thought of and thus these thoughts have a folly and vanity in them They are also sinful in a regenerate man in respect of the faintness of the understanding not acting with that vigor and spriteliness nor with those raised and spiritual
other of these thoughts But beside these there are a multitude of other volatile conceits like swarms of Gnats buzzing about us and preying upon us and as frequent in their successions as the curlings of the water upon a small breath of wind one following another close at the heels The mind is no more satisfied with thoughts than the first matter is with forms continually shifting one for another and many times the nobler for the baser as when upon the putrefaction of a human body part of the Matter is endued with the form of Vermin Such changeable things are our minds in leaving that which is good for that which is worse when they are enveigled by an active fancy and Bedlam affections This madness is in the hearts of men while they live Eccles 9.3 and starts a thousand frenzies in a day At the best our phancy is like a Carrier's bag stuffed with a world of Letters having no dependence upon one another some containing business and others nothing but froth In all these thoughts there is a further guilt in three respects viz. 1. Delight 2. Contrivance 3. Reacting 1. Delight in them The very tickling of our phancy by a sinful motion though without a formal consent is a sin because it is a degree of complacency in an unlawful object When the mind is pleased with the subject of the thought as it hath a tendency to some sensual pleasure not simply in the thought it self as it may enrich the understanding with some degree of knowledg The thought indeed of an evil thing may be without any delight in the evil of it as Philosophers delight in making experiments of poisonous Creatures without delighting in the poison as it is a noxious quality We may delightfully think of sin without guilt not delighting in it as sin but as God by his wise providential ordering extracts Glory to himself and good to his Creature In this case though a sinful act be the material object of this pleasure yet 't is not the formal object because the delight is not terminated in the sin but in God's ordering the event of it to his own glory But an Inclination to a sinful motion as it gratifies a corrupt affection is sin because every Inclination is a malignant tincture upon the affections including in its own nature an aversion from God and testifying sin to be an agreeable object And without question there can be no inclination to any thing without some degree of pleasure in it because it is impossible we can incline to that which we have a perfect abhorrency of Hence it follows that every inclination to a sinful motion is Consensus inchoatus or a Consent in Embryo though the act may prove abortive If we think of any unlawful thing with pleasure and imagine it either in fieri or facto esse it brings a guilt upon us as if it were really acted As when upon the consideration of such a man's being my enemy I phancy robbers rifling his goods and cutting his throat and rejoyce in this revengeful thought as if it were really done 't is a great sin because it testifies an approbation of such a butchery if any man had will and opportunity to commit it And though it be a supposition yet the act of the mind is really the same it would be if the sinfull act I think of were performed Or when a man conditionally thinks with himself I would steal such a man's goods or kill such a person if I could escape the punishment attending it it is as if he did rob and murder him because there is no impediment in his will to the commission of it but only in the outward circumstances Nay though it be a mere Ens intentionale or rationis which is the object of the thought yet the act of the mind is real and as significant of the inclination of the Soul as if the object were real too As if a man hath an unclean motion at the sight of a picture which is only a composition of well mixed and well ordered colours or at the appearance of the Idea of a beauty fram'd in his own phancy 't is as much uncleanness as if it were terminated in some suitable object the hinderance being not in the will but in the insufficiency of the object to concur in such an act Now as the more delight there is in any holy service the more precious it is in it self and more grateful to God so the more pleasure there is in any sinful motion the more malignity there is in it 2. Contrivance When the delight in the thought grows up to the contrivance of the act which is still the work of the thinking faculty When the mind doth brood upon a sinful motion to hatch it up and invents methods for performance which the wise man calls artificial Inventions So a learned man interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 15.19 Eccles 7.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dr. Hammond on Mat. 15.9 of contrivances of murder adultery c. And the word signifies properly reasonings When mens wits play the Devils in their souls in inventing sophistical reasons for the commission and justification of their crimes with a mighty jollity at their own craft Such plots are the trade of a wicked man's heart A covetous man will be working in his inward shop from morning till night to study new methods for gain * 2 Pet. 2.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a heart exercis'd in covetous practices and voluptuous and ambitious persons will draw schemes and models in their fancy of what they would outwardly accomplish They conceive mischief and bring forth vanity and their belly prepares deceit Job 15.35 Hence the thoughts are called the counsels †1 Cor. 4.5 and devices * Isa 32.7 8. of the heart when the heart summons the head and all the thoughts of it to sit in debate as a private Junto about a sinful motion 3. Re-acting sin after 't is outwardly committed Though the individual action be transient and cannot be committed again yet the Idea and Image of it remaining in the memory may by the help of an apish fancy be repeated a thousand times over with a rarified pleasure As both the features of our friends Kimchi in 66 Psal as quoted by Grotius in Mat. 5.20 Vt jam servaris bene corpus adultera mens est Nec custodiri ni velit ille potest Nec mentem servare potes licet omnia claudas Omnibus occlusis intus adulter erit Ovid. Amor. l. 3. Eleg. 3. v. 5 c. and the agreeable Conversations we have had with them may with a fresh relish be represented in our fancies though the persons were rotten many years ago Having thus declared the nature of our thoughts and the degrees of their guilt the next thing is to prove that they are sins The Jews did not acknowledg them to be sins unless they were blasphemous and immediately against God
external act * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Plutarch Moral p. mihi 500. Yea how many sinful thoughts are twisted together to produce one deliberate sinful word All which have a distinct guilt and if weigh'd together would outweigh the guilt of the action abstractedly considered How many repeated complacencies in the first motion degrees of consent resolved broodings secret plottings proposals of various methods smothering contrary checks vehement longings delightful hopes and forestalled pleasures in the design All which are but thoughts assenting or dissenting in order to the act intended Upon a dissection of all these secret motions by the critical power of the word we should find a more monstrous guilt than would be apparent in the single action for whose sake all these spirits were raised There may be no sin in a material act considered in it self when there is a provoking guilt in the mental motion A Hypocrite's Religious services are materially good but poisoned by the Imagination skulking in the heart that gave birth unto them 'T is the wicked mind or thought makes the Sacrifice a commanded duty much more an abomination to the Lord. Prov. 21.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a wicked thought Ezek. 23.3 19. Yet she multitiplied her whoredoms in calling to remembrance the days of her youth c. v. 21. the lewdness of her youth 2. Consequent acts When a man's phancy is pregnant with the delightful remembrance of the sin that is past he draws down a fresh guilt upon himself as they did in the Prophet in reviving the concurrence of the will to the act committed making the sensual pleasure to commence spiritual and if ever there were an aking heart for it revoking his former grief by a renewed approbation of his darling lust Thus the sin of thoughts is greater in regard of duration A man hath neither strength nor opportunity always to act but he may always think and imagination can supply the place of action Or if the mind be tired with sucking one object it can with the Bee presently fasten upon another Senses are weary till they have a new recruit of spirits as the poor horse may sink under his burden when the rider is as violent as ever Thus old men may change their outward profaneness into mental wickedness and as the Psalmist remembred his old songs Psal 77.5 6. so they their calcin'd sins in the night with an equal pleasure So that you see there may be a thousand thoughts as ushers and lacqueys to one act as numerous as the sparks of a new lighted fire 2. In regard of the Objects the mind is conversant about Such thoughts there are and attended with a heavy guilt which cannot probably no nor possibly descend into outward acts A man may in a complacent thought commit fornication with a woman in Spain in a covetous thought rob another in the Indies and in a revengeful thought stab a third in America and that while he is in this Congregation An unclean person may commit a mental folly with every beauty he meets A covetous man cannot plunder a whole kingdom but in one twinkling of a thought he may wish himself the possessor of all the estates in it A Timon a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot cut the throats of all the world but like Nero with one glance of his heart he may chop off the heads of all mankind at a blow An Ambitious man's practices are confined to a small spot of land but with a cast of his mind he may grasp an Empire as large as the four Monarchies A beggar cannot ascend a throne but in his thoughts he may pass the Guards murder his Prince and usurp the Government Nay further an Atheist may think there is no God Psal 14.1 i. e. as some interpret it wish there were no God and thus in thought undeifie God himself though he may sooner dash heaven and earth in pieces than accomplish it The body is confined to one object and that narrow and proportionable to its nature but the mind can wing it self to various objects in all parts of the earth Where it finds none it can make one for phancy can compact several objects together coyn an image colour a picture and commit folly with it when it hath done It can nestle it self in cobwebs spun out of its own bowels 3. In respect of Strength Imaginations of the heart are only i. e. purely evil The nearer any thing is in union with the root the more radical strength it hath The first ebullitions of light and heat from the Sun are more vigorous than the remoter beams and the steams of a dunghil more noysom next that putrified body than when they are dilated in the air Grace is stronger in the heart-operations than in the outward streams and sin more foul in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart than in the act In the Text the outward wickedness of the world is passed over with a short expression but the Holy Ghost dwells upon the description of the wicked Imagination because there lay the mass Mans * Psal 5.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inward part is very wickednesses a whole nest of vipers Thoughts are the immediate spawn of the original corruption and therefore partake more of the strength and nature of it Acts are more distant being the children of our thoughts but the Grand-children of our natural pravity Besides they lye nearest to that wickedness in the inward part sucking the breast of that poysonous dam that bred them The strength of our thoughts is also reinforced by being kept in for want of opportunity to act them as liquors in close glasses ferment and encrease their spriteliness Musing either carnal or spiritual makes the †Psal 39.3 fire burn the hotter as the fury of fire is doubled by being pent in a furnace Outward acts are but the sprouts the sap and juice lies in the wicked imagination or contrivance which hath a strength in it to produce a thousand fruits as poysonous as the former The members are the instruments or * Rom. 6.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weapons of unrighteousness now the whole strength which doth manage the weapon lyes in the arm that wields it the weapon of it self could do no hurt without a force imprest Let me add this too that sin in thoughts is more simply sin In acts there may be some occasional good to others for a good man will make use of the sight of sin committed by others to encrease his hatred of it but in our sinful thoughts there is no occasion of good to others they lying lock'd up from the view of man 4. In respect of Alliance In these we have the nearest communion with the Devil The understanding of man is so tainted that his †Jam. 3.15 wisdom the chiefest flower in it is not only earthly and sensual it were well if it were no worse but devillish too If the flower be so
them of when he subjected them to vanity Such a view of spiritual truths in sensible pictures would clear our knowledge purifie our fancies animate our affections encourage our graces disgrace our vices and both argue and shame us into duty and thus take away all the causes of our wild wandring thoughts at once And a frequent exercise of this method would beget and support a habit of thinking well and weaken if not expel a habit of thinking ill 2. The second sort of directions are for the preventing bad thoughts And to this purpose 1. Exercise frequent humiliations Pride exposeth us to impatient and disquieting thoughts Prov. 30.32 whereas humility clears up a calm and serenity in the Soul 'T is Agur's advice to be humbled particularly for evil thoughts Frequent humiliations will deaden the fire within and make the sparks the fewer The deeper the Plough sinks the more the weeds are killed and the ground fitted for good grain Men do not easily fall into those sins for which they have been deeply humbled Vain conceits love to reside most in jolly hearts but by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better Eccles 7.3 4. There is more of wisdom or wise consideration in a composed and graciously mournful spirit whereas carnal mirth and sports cause the heart to evaporate into lightness and folly The more we are humbled for them the more our hatred of them will be fomented and consequently the more prepared shall we be to give them a repulse upon any bold intrusion 2. Avoid entangling your selves with the world This clay will clog our minds and a dirty happiness will engender but dirty thoughts Lutea faelicitas Aug. de Civ Dei l. 10. Who were so foolish to have inward thoughts that their houses should continue for ever but those that trusted in their riches †Psal 49.6 11. 1 Tim. 6.9 If the world possess our Souls it will breed carking thoughts much business meets with crosses and then it breeds murmuring thoughts and sometimes it is crown'd with success and then it starts proud and self-applauding thoughts Those that will be rich fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts such lusts that make men fools and one part of folly is to have wild and sensless fancies Mists and fogs are in the lower Region near the Earth but reach not that next the Heavens Were we free from earthly affections these gross vapours could not so easily disturb our minds but if the World once settle in our hearts we shall never want the fumes of it to fill our heads And as covetous desires will stuff us with foolish imaginations so they will smother any good thought cast into us as the thorns of worldly cares choak'd the good seed and made it unfruitful Matth. 13.22 As we are to rejoyce in the World as though we rejoyced not so by the same reason we should think of the World as though we thought not Rom. 12.2 A conformity with the World in affection is inconsistent with a change of the frame of the mind 3. Avoid Idleness Serious Callings do naturally compose mens spirits but too much Recreation makes them blaze out in vanity Idle souls as well as idle persons will be ranging As Idleness in a State is both the Mother and Nurse of Faction and in the natural body gives birth and encrease to many diseases by enfeebling the natural heat so it both kindles and foments many light and unprofitable imaginations in the soul which would be sufficiently diverted if the active mind were kept intent upon some stated work So truly may that which was said of the servant Mat. 25 26. Tâ—ou wicked and slothful servant Mat. 13.25 be applied to our nobler part that it will be wicked if once it degenerates into slothfulness in its proper charge As empty minds are the fittest subjects for extravagant fooleries so vacant times are the fittest seasons While we sleep the importunate enemy within as well as the envious adversary without us will have a successful opportunity to sow the tares whereas a constant imployment frustrates the attempt and discourageth the Devil because he sees we are not at leisure Therefore when any sinful motion steps in double thy vigour about thy present business and the foolish impertinent will sneak out of thy heart at this discountenance So true is that in this case which Pharaoh falsly imagined in another that the more we labour the less we shall regard vain words †Exod. 5.9 As Satan is prevented by diligence in our Callings so sometimes the Spirit visits us and fills us with holy affections at such seasons as Christ appeared to Peter and other Disciples when they were a fishing †Joh. 21.3 4. and usually manifested his grace to men when they were engaged in their useful businesses or religious services But these motions as we may observe by the way which come from the Spirit are not to put us out of our way but to assist us in our walking in it and further us both in our attendance on and success in our duties To this end look upon the work of your Callings as the work of God which ought to be done in obedience to Him as He hath set you to be useful in the community Thus a holy exercise of our Callings would sanctifie our minds and by prepossessing them with solid business we should leave little room for any Spider to weave its Cobwebs 4. Awe your hearts with the thoughts of God's Omniscience especially the discovery of it at the last Judgment We are very much Atheists in the concern of this Attribute for though it be notionally believed yet for the most part it is practically deny'd God understands all our thoughts afar off †Psa 139.2 as He knew every creature which lay hid in the Chaos and undigested lump of matter God is in us all * Eph. 4.6 as much in us all as He is above us all yea in every creek and chink and point of our hearts Not an Atom in the spirits of all men in the world but is obvious to that All-seeing Eye which knows every one of those things that come into our minds †Ezek. 11.5 God knows both the order and confusion of them and can better tell their natures one by one than Adam named the creatures Fancy then that you hear the sound of the last Trumpet that you see God's Tribunal set and His Omniscience calling out singly all the secrets of your heart Would not the consideration of this allay the heat of all other imaginations If a foolish thought break in consider What if God who knows this should presently call me to Judgment for this sinful glance Say with the Church Shall not God search this out Is it fit either for God's glory or our interest Psal 44.21 that when he comes to make inquisition in us He should find such a nasty dunghil and swarms of Aegyptian
foundation There may be joy in a title as well as in possession 3. In contemplation The consideration and serious thoughts of heaven do affect a gracious heart and fill it with pleasure tho it self be as if in a wilderness The near appproach to a desired good doth much affect the heart Moses was surely more pleased with the sight of Canaan from Pisgah than with the hopes of it in the desert A travellers delight is more raised when he is nearest his journeys end and a hungry stomach hath a greater joy when he sees the meat approaching which must satisfy the appetite As the Union with the object is nearer so the delight is stronger Now this delight the Soul hath in duty is not a delight of fruition but of desire hope or contemplation Gaudium viae not patriae 1. We may consider delight as Active or Passive 1. Active which is an act of our Souls in our approaches to God When the heart like the Sun rouzeth up itself as a Gyant to run a spiritual race 2. Passive Which is Gods dispensation in approaches to us and often met with in our chearful addresses to God Isa 64.5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and works righteousness When we delightfully clasp about the Throne of grace God doth often cast his arms about our necks Especially when chearful prayer is accompanyed with a chearful obedience This joy is when Christ meets us in prayer with a be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thy request granted The active delight is the health of the Soul the passive is the good complexion of the Soul The one is mans duty the other Gods peculiar gift The one is the inseparable property of the new birth the other a separable priviledge There may be a joy in God when there is little joy from God There may be Gold in the Mine when no flowers on the surface 2. We may consider delight as setled or transient As Spiritual or Sensitive 1. A setled delight In strong and grown Christians when prayer proceeds out of a thankfulness to God a judicious knowledg and apprehension of God The nearer to God the more delight As the motion of a stone is most speedy when nearest its Center 2. A Sensitive delight As in persons troubled in mind there may be a kind of delight in prayer because there is some sense of ease in the very venting itself And in some because of the novelty of a duty they were not accustom'd to before Many prayers may be put up by persons in necessity without any Spiritual delight in them As crazy persons take more Physick than those that are healthful and observe the Spring and Fall yet they delight not in that Physick The Pharisee could pray longer and perhaps with some delight too but upon a sensual ground with a proud and a vaunting kind of chearfulness a delight in himself When the Publican had a more spiritual delight Though a humble sorrow in the consideration of his own vileness yet a delight in the consideration of Gods mercy This sensitive delight may be more sensible in a young than in a grown Christian There is a more sensible affection at the first meeting of friends though more solid after some converse As there is a love which is called the love of the espousals As it is in sorrow for sin so in this delight A young convert hath a greater torrent a grown Christian a more constant stream As at the first conversion of a sinner there is an overflowing joy among the Angels which we read not of after though without question there is a settled joy in them at the growth of a Christian An elder son may have a delight in his Fathers presence more rooted firm and rational than a younger child that clings more about him with affectionate expressions As sincerity is the Soul of all graces and duties so this delight is the lustre and embroydery of them Now this Delight in Prayer 1. 'T is an inward and hearty delight As to the subject of it it is seated in the heart A man in prayer may have a chearful countenance and a drowsy spirit The Spirit of God dwells in the heart and love and joy are the first-fruits of it Gal. 5.22 Love to duty and joy in it joy as a grace not as a meer comfort As God is hearty in offering mercy so is the Soul in petitioning for it There is a harmony between God and the heart Where there is delight there is great pains taken with the heart a gracious heart strikes it self again and again As Moses did the rock twice Those ends which God hath in giving are a Christians ends in asking Now the more of our hearts in the requests the more of Gods heart in the grants The Emphasis of mercy is Gods whole heart and whole Soul in it Jer. 22.41 So the Emphasis of duty is our whole Heart and whole Soul As without Gods chearful answering a gracious Soul would not rellish a mercy so without our hearty asking God doth not rellish our prayer 2. 'T is a delight in God who is the Object of Prayer The glory of God communion with him enjoyment of him is the great end of a believer in his Supplications That delight which is in prayer is chiefly in it as a means conducing to such an end and is but a spark of that delight which the Soul hath in the object of prayer God is the Center wherein the Soul rests and the end which the Soul aims at According to our apprehensions of God are our desires for him when we apprehend him as the chiefest good we shall desire him and delight in him as the chiefest good There must first be a delight in God before there can be a spiritual delight or a permanency in duty Job 27.10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty will he always call upon God Delight is a grace and as faith desire and love have God for their object so hath this And according to the strength of our delight in the object or end is the strength of our delight in the means of attainment When we delight in God as glorious we shall delight to honour him when we regard him as good we shall delight to pursue and enjoy him and delight in that which brings us to an intercourse with him He that rejoyces in God will rejoyce in every approach to him The joy of the Lord is our strength Neh. 8.10 The more joy in God the more strength to come to him The want of this is the reason of our Snail-like motion to him Men have no sweet thoughts of God and therefore no mind to converse with him We cannot judg our delight in prayer to be right if we have not a delight in God for natural men may have a delight in prayer when they have corrupt and selfish ends they may have a delight in a duty as it is a means according to their apprehensions to gain
an Arrow of God's wrath Pride lifts up it self against God's Laws and Soveraignty as much as this frame of spirit acknowledges and submits to him It was a temper contrary to this caused God to send Worms to banquet upon Herod Acts 12.23 He gave not God the glory He was not afflicted with the sin of the People nor reproved them for ascribing to him the honour of God A Soul-affliction for common sins is a bar to Judgments God revives the spirit of the humble Isa 57.15 They that share in the griefs of the Spirit shall not want the comforts of the Spirit God is concern'd in honour by virtue of his promise not to neglect those whom he hath promised to revive He dwells with the contrite spirit who more contrite than he that grieves for publick sins and Family sins and City sins as well as his own private Men do not use to fire their own houses much less God the house and heart which is dearer to him than either first or second Temple or local Heaven it self I might add 5. That such keep Covenant with God The Contract runs on God's part to be an Enemy to his Peoples Enemies Exod. 23.22 It must run on our parts to love that which God loves hate that which God hates grieve for that which grieves and dishonours him Who can do this by an unconcernedness Those that keep Covenant with God shall not fail of one tittle of it on God's part 7. Such also fear Gods Judgments and fear is a good means to prevent them The Old World feared not God's threatning of the Deluge and that came and swallowed them up The Sodomites feared not God's Judgments and that hastened the destroying Shower The Advice of the Angel upon the approach of Judgments is to fear God and give glory to him Rev. 14.7 And then follows another v. 8. with the news of Babylons fall Babylon is fallen is fallen The fall of Babylon is the preservation of his People 4. The Vse 1. Reproof for us Where is the man that hangs his harp upon the willows at the time the Temple of God is prophaned A head a Fountain of tears for Common sins is a commodity rare to be found even in hearts otherwise gracious The Mourners have been for number but a few like the gleanings of the Vintage but the Sinners in Sion for multitude like the weeds in fallow ground What multitudes of those that disparage God and trample upon his Soveraign Commands rend in pieces the very Law of Nature as well as the rights of Religion It were well if there were one to Six as was intimated in the beginning there might be in Jerusalem but we have reason to fear that one marker for the secret mourners would be too much for an hundred destroyers I do not question but there are some that sigh for the abominations they see and hear of that because they are dishonourable to God as well as injurious to themselves But who of us present here can say we have been deeply enough and graciously enough affected with them Certainly both you and I may bring a charge against our selves before the throne of God for this neglect that we have not been throwly humbled for frequently bewailed publick iniquities and spread them before God in secret If we are unconcern'd in common sins can we imagine God will leave us unconcern'd in common Judgments If we endeavour not to keep up the glory of God he will extract glory to himself out of our ashes If this frame be so little regarded among professors what shall we say to many others that have as little remorse for the stabs of Gods honour as they would have for the Tragedy of an East India Prince nay for the death of some inconsiderable fly that have resentments for wrongs done to themselves and sorrow at Command for any worldly loss but not one spark of regret for affronts offered to God In this cause their hearts are as dry as a heath in a parching Summer Who laments the tearing the name of God in pieces by execrable oaths Who bewails the impudent uncleanness boasted of by Concubines in the face of the Sun Who mourns for so many thousand foreheads bearing the mark of the beast and so many thousands more preparing to receive it It reproves then 1. Those that make a mock and sport of sin so far they are from mourning for it The wise man gives them the title of fools Prov. 14.9 fools make a mock at sin Which though it seems too low a Character for such abominable works yet in scripture it hath a greater import than in our Common discourse it signifies an Atheist Psal 14.1 Prodigious madness to make that our sport which is the dishonour of God the murderer of Christ the grief of the Spirit and the destruction of the Soul that which opens the flood-gates of wrath and brings famines plagues wars upon a people If mourning for others sins be an affection like that of Angels delighting in other sins is an affection like that of Devils He is at the greatest distance from Christ that looks pleasantly upon that which Christ could not regard without grief and anger God seems to seal up such to destruction as well as the mourners to preservation Isa 22.12 13. And in that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and mourning to baldness and girding with Sackcloth and behold joy and gladness slaying oxen and killing Sheep eating flesh and drinking wine let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you dye they were ranters instead of mourners and God passes this sentence on them their iniquity shall not be purged from them till they dye If we carry our selves jollily at the sins of others we evidence that the concerns of God are of little concern to us that we have slight thoughts of his glory and cast it at the heels of our own passions 2. Those that make others sins the matter of invectives rather than of lamentations and bespatter the man without bewailing the sin We should consider common sins with affection to God and pity to the offenders with a desire that they may restore by a true conversion the glory they have robb'd God of by an accursed Rebellion While we hate the sin we should evidence that we love the man * Non nunquam faeâ—itâ—â—i in câ—lpam saevimus in hominem Prosper We must never love the wickedness nor hate the person We pity a sick man though we loath his Disease Sinners are miserable enough without our hatred and by hating them we make our selves more miserable by committing a fault against reason and nature and do them no good The more wicked any man is the more worthy of pity by how much the more his crime is our hatred God who is infinite purity hates mens sins
because they are enemies to his holiness but he hath a common affection to their persons as they are the effects of his goodness and creative Power Our exclamations against common sins ought not to exceed lamentations for them There ought to be more grief in our hearts than fire in our tongues They break the whole Law that lament not the crime out of love to the Law-maker and grieve not for the Sinner out of love to their neighbour 3. Those who are imitators of common sins instead of being mourners for them As though others did not pilfer God's right fast enough and were too slow in pulling him from his Throne as if they grieved that others had got the start of them in wickedness 'T is a pious sadness and a blessed grief to be affected with common sins without being fetter'd by them to mourn for them without cleaving to them to be transported with sorrow for them without being drawn by a love to them 4. Those that fret against God instead of fretting against their own foolishness Prov. 19.3 The sins of good men are many times provocations to God to draw up the sluce from the hearts of wicked men and give liberty to their lusts for the chastening of others and therefore in grieving for the sins of others they implicitly grieve for their own 5. Those who are more transported against others sins as they are or may be occasions of hurt to them than as they are injuries to God How warm are we often in our own Cause and how cold in God's We partly satisfie our own discontent by such a carriage but not our duty 6. Those who are so far from mourning for common Sins that they never truly mournd for their own Who have yet the Treasures of wickedness after the rod of God hath been upon them Mich. 6.9 10. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked reflecting upon the Rod they had felt Common sins are but a Glass wherein we may see our common Nature The best men have the worst Sins in their Nature though by Grace they have them not in their Practice He that grieves not for other Mens Sins more or less never grieved truly for his own He that is not concerned for the dishonours of God by others is little concerned for the dishonour of God by himself Let us use our Eyes for those ends for which God hath given them they are instruments of sight and instruments of sorrow It is necessary for us to mourn for our own sins We can never mourn for others Sins unless we mourn for our own If we sorrow not for our own the sorrow we may pretend to have for others proceeds not from a right cause We have that one Sin of Adam in our Nature which subjected the whole world to an Anathema Let us not stay in generals every Man will lay the fault upon Sin in the bulk without reflecting on the sin in his own Bowels We can complain particularly of those sins that are common and why should we rest in generals when we come to our own Dolus versatur in universalibus 't is a deceitful sorrow that is for Sin in a heap Is there not perfidiousness to God coldness in his ways too much slighting the Gospel want of bowels and compassion incorrigibleness under judgments houses fir'd and pride not consumed falseness in resolutions like Oxen moving with the touch of the Goad and presently standing still deceitful bows letting the string slip after they have stood fully bent Hos 10.4 There may be Sins among us that may cause a storm that we little think of The Mariners little suspected Jonah to be the cause of the tempest till he discovered it himself He that never mourned for his own Sins cannot perform this duty so necessary for his preservation and therefore cannot expect the mark of God in a time of publick judgment He that would rightly mourn for the Corruptions of others must enquire whether he hath not the same in his own Bowels and fling the hardest stone at them Judah calls for Tamar to the flames for that crime which himself had been a partner and actor in so apt are we to be severe against others Sins and indulgent to our own The best have need to mourn for their own sins in relation to the publick The only good man in the Ship was Jonah and for his sin was the Storm sent and the rest like to be wrackt 2 Use Of Comfort to such as mourn for Common Sins All the carnal world hath not such a writ of protection to shew in the whole strength of Nature as the meanest mourner in Sion hath in his sighs and tears Christs mark is above all the Shields of the earth and those that are stampt with it have his wisdom to guard them against folly his power against weakness the everlasting Father against man whose breat his in his Nostrils We see that God doth not strike at random but reserves a sweetness for his Servants in the midst of his fury against his Enemies he hath his Messengers to mark as well as his Executioners to strike the issuing the resolute orders of his Fury hinders not those of his Grace and Compassion to his own He will have a care of his Balsom-trees that distil this precious Liquor no less than he commanded the Israelites in their sharpest wars to have a care of the fruitful trees of a Land Deut 20.19 God in the 6. v. following the Text gives the like charge to the executioners of his judgments as David did to the Army concerning Absolom 2 Sam. 18.5 Deal gently with the young man Ezek. 9.6 Come not near any Man upon whom is the mark He makes provision first for the security of those before he unsheaths his Sword against his Enemies The Deluge flows not from heaven till Noah be cased in the Ark nor is Sodom on Fire till Lot be lodged in the Mountain God will always have a Church in the world and suffer a generation of his own to inhabit the Earth Gods attributes shall not interfere one with another his truth remains firm notwithstanding the provocations of Men. When those people were ripe for judgments God had his mourners among the Idolaters which he marks for preservation when he had threatened great judgments Joel 2.30 31. the turning the Sun into Darkness and the Moon into Blood he promises a remnant in Jerusalem and Sion v. 32. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered for in mount Sion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the Lord hath said and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call Neither the fury of Men shall nor the judgments of God will extinguish the Church not the malice of Men because of Gods power nor God himself because of his truth The Lord hath said God will either preserve under judgments or take away in them to a
place of happiness 'T is thought by some that the reason Enoch was snatcht to Heaven in the midst of his life according to the rate of living in that age was because he was afflicted with the sins of those among whom he lived And indeed he could scarce walk with God without grieving that others disdained to walk with him and acted contrary to him God would take him from that affliction as well as from the danger of being corrupted by the age He will either have his Chambers wherein to hide them here till the indignation be over-past Isa 26.20 21. or his Mansions to lodge them in for ever with himself What hurt is it to any to be refused a hiding place here that he may be conducted to the possession of a glorious residence for ever That judgment that takes off the Fetters of a wicked Man for execution knocks off the Fetters of the godly for a Gaol delivery like Fire it consumes the Dross and refines the Gold The day of Gods wrath is a day of gloominess to the wicked Joel 2.2 but as the morning spread upon the Mountains to the godly mourners the dawning of comfort to them God out of the same Pillar of the cloud diffused light upon the Israelites and shot thunders and lightenings upon the Aegyptians to which perhaps the Prophet might here allude 3 Use Mourn for the sins of the time and place where you live 'T is the least dislike we can shew to them A flood of grief becomes us in a flood of sin How well would it be if we were as loud in crying for mercy as our sins at the present are in crying for vengeance While judgments march to seize our persons our grief should run to damp the judgments Moist Walls choak the Bullet 'T is far better to mourn for the cause of judgments than to mourn under them The jolly blades were the first prey to the Enemy Amos 6.1 2 3 to v. 7. They that chaunt to the sound of the Viol and drink wine in Bowls shall go captive with the first that go captive We of this City have most reason to mourn the Metropolis of a Nation is the Metropolis usually of sin and the fairest mark for the Arrows of Gods indignation The chief City of a Nation is usually threatned in Scripture Rabbah of the Ammonites Damascus of Syria Tyrus of Phoenicia Babylon of the Chaldean Empire Jerusalem of Judea and suitably why not London of England And let no Man think that mourning is a degenerate and effeminate disposition Doth Solomon ever imprint the same Character on mourning as he doth on laughter Eccles 2.2 Doth he ever vilifie that with a term of madness and call the mourners Bedlams How can any who hath not put off the Title and Nature of Man behold without amazement and grief Men so bold as to pull down the judgments of God upon them and force his indignation This temper is a pious embalming Christs crucified honour shall any Man that professeth Christ have so little love to him as not to bestow a groan upon him when he sees him freshly dishonoured and abused If we had not committed any sin in our whole life there is cause of mourning for the abominations of the world Christ had an unspotted innocence and an unexpressible grief for Jerusalems sins and misery Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thâ—e and thou wouldest not Never doth sorrow more appear in love than when it is more for what dishonours God than what pincheth us Men may pretend a grief for the sins of the times when it is only for themselves that they have not those pleasing opportunities of greatning themselves and that estimation in the world that stage for Pride and Covetousness to act upon which they desire Our mourning is then right when we grieve not so much that we as that God is a sufferer It should be proportionable where there are great breaches of Gods Law our grief should be as full as if possible to fill up the ditch that is digg'd the Septuagint in the Text implies it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paul and Barnabas tore their garments a sign of a great grief and indignation when the Heathens would have sacrificed to them as Gods Acts 14.13 they used not the same expressions in smaller sins but this was against the Nature of God and a multitude engaged in it The greater the sin the greater the sorrow I need not mention the sins among us the impudent Atheism contempt of the Gospel putrifying Lust barefac'd Pride rending Divisions many sins visible enough to be grieved for and too many to be spoken of The sorrow should be universal Not for one sin which may be against any Mans particular interest but for all even those that our carnal advantage is not concerned in God is dishonoured by one as well as by another and Christ is crucified by one as well as by another It must be attended with a more strict obedience 'T is the highest generosity to wear Christs Livery when others put it off and lay it aside as useless No doubt but Joseph of Arimathea mourned as well as the rest for the sufferings of our Saviour but he testified also an Heroick affection to him in going boldly to Pilate to beg the body of Jesus for an honourable burial when none of the other disciples sought after it but trusted more to the swiftness of their heels for their own security than concern'd themselves for the honour of their Master While others therefore are defiling the world with their abominations let us be washing it with our Tears and filling heaven with our cries that when God marcheth in his fury we may be secure by his acceptance of our humiliations Motives 1. This is a means to have great tokens of the love of God No question but Christ in his agony bewailed the sins of the world and then was an Angel sent to comfort him and assure him of an happy issue It was just after the testimony of his displeasure against Peter for disswading him from that death whereby he was to honour God and wash off the stain of sin and repair the violations of the Law whereby he manifested a concern for his fathers honour that he was transfigured and had therein the earnest of an heavenly glory and that transporting voice This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear you him Mat. 16.23 Mat. 17.1 2 c. 2. It is a means to prevent judgments Tears cleansed by the Blood of Christ are a good means to quench that justice which is a consuming Fire Sin puts a stop to the working of Gods Bowels and opens the Magazines of wrath grief for it disarms Gods hand of his Thunders and may divert his darts from our hearts No other defence is often left against the strength of judgments after sin hath made its entrance A holy seed in Jerusalem is the guard of it in the time
of Senacherib's Invasion Isa 6.13 The holy seed shall be the substance thereof Growth in sin ripens judgments turns Blossoms and Buds into Fruit Rods into Scorpions Grief for it turns scorpions into Rods lessens a judgment if not wholly prevents it The Water of repentance is the best way to quench the flames of sin and sparks of wrath If good Men fall under a common judgment it may be often for a defect in this temper This was Austins opinion * Aâ—gust de Civit. Dei ib. 1. Cap. 9. That many good men are taken away with the wicked in Common Judgments because though they do not Commit the same sins yet they connive at their iniquities and so are lasht with their rods temporally chastned but not eternally punished 3. It will sweeten Judgments Such may say of Judgment as Paul of death Oh Judgment where is thy sting 'T is a double burden to lye under the weight of common Judgments and the weight of common sins grief for them is a means to remove the guilt and thereby to ease thee of a Judgment If we are concerned in mourning for sin we shall be more fit to honour God if he makes us fall under his stroak A holy sorrow will bring us into a submissive frame Aaron had been without question humbled for his timorous compliance with the people in the making of the golden Calf and when God came to strike him near in his own Children he held his peace Levit. 10.3 No doubt but his former humiliation fitted him for his present patience 4. Our repentance for our own sins was never right unless we are of this temper Repentance is a justice towards God and therefore is conversant about other mens sins in a hatred of them 'T is for sin as sin and sin is sin in whatsoever subject it be and worthy of hatred according to right reason and therefore that grace whereby a Man hates it in his own person will engage him to hate it wheresoever it is and we alwaies grieve for the encrease of that which is the object of our hatred A truly just man hates the injury committed against another as well as that against himself That filthiness which displeaseth a penitent in his own act displeaseth him in anothers act there being the same adequate reason and sin being of the same nature against God in another as in himself 'T is All abominations in the text this is an argument of sincerity to mourn for one may be from self interest to mourn for all must be from a pure affection 5. 'T is an argument of a true affection to God To mourn for sin when it is rare though gross is not so much a sign of sincerity as to mourn for it when it is Epidemical when the Foundations of godliness are out of course and the graces contrary to those sins are generally discountenanced as it is a greater sign of sincerity to love the word when it is generally slighted than to love it when all admire it What a noble affection had that Lady in Samuel 1 Sam. 4.19 c. that grieved not so much for the loss of her Father Husband Friends but bewailed the departure of the glory of Israel and implicitely at least the sin that occasioned it How did her affection to God drown all carnal affections Her sorrow for the ark stifled the sorrow of her travel and the joy at the birth of her Son She regarded it not This is an evident token of affection when we mourn most for the sins which most dishonour God and the sins of those persons that seem to be nearer to God and cast most reproaches upon his name 6. Shall we be outstript by Idolaters The mourning for others sins was a custom kept up in Israel after their revolt from God unto Jeroboam When Naboth was put to death for a pretended crime of blasphemy a fast was proclaimed to lament his sin 1 Kings 21.12 and though with a wicked intention to palliate a murther with the cloak of religion yet it evidenceth this mourning for the gross sins of others to be a common sentiment among them and practised upon the like occasions 7. We have just fears of judgments We know not whence they will come from the North or from the South God sets up his warnings in the Heavens we behold him frowning and preparing his arrows and are we careless in what posture we shall meet him He hath Spit in our faces made us a by-word and reproach should we not be humbled Numb 12.14 If her Father had spit in her face should she not be ashamed God seems to be departing He hath as it were kept open market a long time he seems now to be putting up his wares removing his Candlestick withdrawing the power of his Ordinances recalling his Messengers the light is almost in the socket The voice of God is received with a deaf ear the reproofs and admonitions of God have not a kindly operation the signs of judgment amaze us and the amazement quite vanishes We start like a man in a dream and fall back upon our pillow and snort out our sleep Can we expect God to stay He seems to be upon the threshold of the Temple come down already from the Cherubims and is it not high time to bewail our own sins and the Common abominations that have so polluted the place of his habitation that we may say we cannot see how God can stay with honour to himself If we bewail the sins that provoke him to it God may stay if he will not let us at least shew this affection to him at parting This is not a thing unbecoming the highest Christian Doth not the Spirit grieve for the sins of others which play the wantons with the grace of God Eph. 4.30 Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God The holy Spirit hath no sins of his own to grieve for Shall we be above that which the Spirit of God thinks himself not above Shall we refuse mourning for that which goes to the heart of the Holy Ghost Let us therefore examine what are our own sins what are the abominations of the times and places wherein we live make inquisition for the one that we may drag them out before the Lord And in our places endeavour to stop and reform the other As the true fire of Love to God will melt us into tears so it will heat us into zeal He is no friend that will complain of a toads being in another's bosom but not strive to kill it It will shew either Cowardice or falseness That zeal is wild-fire that is not accompanied with an holy sorrow and that sorrow is crude which is not accompanied with a godly Zeal A DISCOURSE FOR The Comfort of Child-bearing Women 1 Tim. 2.15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in Child-bearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety I Shall not take my rise any higher than v. 12. where the Apostle
Sobriety Where the Apostle seems to oppose those to the first causes or ingredients of the defection 1. Faith opposed to Vnbelief of the precept of God and the threatning annext 2. Charity opposed to Disaffection to God As though God were an Enemy to their happiness and commanded a thing which did prejudice their happiness whereupon must arise ill surmises of God and an aversion from him 3. Sanctification In opposition to this Filthiness and Pollution brought upon the Soul by that first defection there must therefore be in them an aim and endeavour to attain that primitive integrity and purity they then lost 4. Sobriety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperance Because the giving the reins to sense and obeying the longings thereof was the cause of the fall Gen. 3.6 She saw that it was pleasant to the eye Original sin is called concupiscence and lusting and to this is opposed Sobriety 1. Faith This is put first because it is the Fundamental grace It is the employer of Charity for it works by it the root of Sanctification for by faith the heart is purified By Faith is chiefly meant the grace of Faith 1 Faith in the habit 2 Faith in the exercise 2. Charity The first sin was an enmity against God therefore there is now necessary a Love to God The first sin was virtually an enmity to all the posterity of man which were to come out of his loins therefore love to mankind is necessary And Faith alwaies infers Love to God and man 3. Sanctification is here added because by that both the truth of Faith and love appears to our selves and others And justification by Faith is thereby ratified James 2.24 By Sanctification is not here meant a particular holiness or chastity due to the marriage bed as some of the Papists assert but an universal sanctity of heart and life 4. Sobriety This is a natural means for Preservation Intemperance makes bodily distempers more dangerous in their assaults True Faith is accompanied with Temperance and Sobriety in the use of lawful comforts The Papists though without any good ground frame an argument from hence to prove marriage to be a Sacrament asserting that those graces of Faith and Charity c. are conferred upon the Woman by vertue of Marriage and ex vi institutionis How severe a Doctrine is it then to engage any in vows of a single life when they might have a readier way to attain grace with the Satisfaction of nature Are not the virtues mentioned here as necessary to the single as the married Christians Who ever heard that marriage was appointed to confer those Christian graces which are necessary for men and women in all Conditions Besides is it probable that that was instituted to confer Christian graces which was instituted in Paradise before Christianity was in being and had been valid if man had stood in innocency where there had been no need of a justifying Faith Observe 1. The Punishment of the woman In Child-bearing 2. The Comfort of the woman She shall be saved 3. The Condition of the Salvation If they continue Wherein is implyed an exhortation to continue in Faith c. Doct. Many Observations might be raised 1. The pain in child-bearing is a punishment inflicted upon the Woman for the first sin 2. The continuance of this punishment after Redemption by Christ doth not hinder the salvation of the Woman if there be the Gospel-conditions requisite 3. The exercise of Faith with other Christian graces is a peculiar means for the preservation of Believers under God's afflicting hand I shall sum them up into this one Doct. The continuance of the punishment inflicted upon the Woman for the first sin doth not prejudice her eternal salvation nor her preservation in child-bearing where there are the conditions of Faith and other graces Here I shall speak 1. Concerning the Punishment and the Cause of it 2. The Nature of it 3. It s not prejudicing Eternal Salvation 1. Concerning the Punishment Child-bearing it self is not the punishment but the pain in it For the blessing Increase and multiply was given in Innocency This punishment is peculiar to the Woman and superadded to that inflicted upon the Man wherein the Woman also hath her share though it lay heaviest upon Adam's shoulders And because this punishment is the greater it is disputed in the Schools whether Adam's or Eve's sin were the greater Various Opinions there are We may I think safely make these Conclusions 1. In regard of the kind of sin it was equal in both They both had an equal pride an equal aspiring to be like God For in all probability Eve gave not her Husband the fruit to eat without acquainting him with the reasons which mov'd her to eat it as also the advantage she expected from it And God chargeth this aspiring humour upon the man Gen. 3.22 The Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is become like one of us Both of them therefore embrac'd the temptation as it was directed and swallowed the fruit with an expectation to be like not the Angels as some think from Gen. 3.5 You shall be as Gods Elohim but like God himself as appears by v. 22. in that Ironical speech where the Lord God Jehovah saith The Man is become like one of us They both believed the Serpent both broke the command in eating the fruit both were guilty of this aspiring Ambition Some indeed think Eve ate twice of the fruit once before the Serpent and the other time when she gave her Husband Gen. 3.6 She did eat and gave to her Husband with her and he did eat * Mariana in loc But that is not so clear in the Text. 2. In regard of the first motion to this sin Eves sin was the greater She was the seducer of Adam which the Apostle expresseth in the verse before the Text. The Woman being deceived was in the transgression Where the Apostle intimates the Womans sin in that respect to be greater than the mans Adam was in it too but the Woman deeper 3. In regard of the Womans condition the sin was greater on Adam 's part * Estius in senten 1. Because he being the Man had more power to resist more strength to argue the case 2. Eve had a stronger and craftier Adversary to deal with the subtillest of all the beasts of the field Gen. 3.1 animated and inspired by a craftier Devil The stronger the Tempter the more excusable the sin Adam was tempted by Eve but Eve by the Serpent 3. Eve had the command of not eating immediately from her Husband which laid not altogether so strong a tye upon her as it did upon him who had it immediately from the mouth of God and therefore was more certain of the verity of the Precept 2. Of what nature is this Punishment 1. 'T is not a Punishment in a rigid sense nor continued as such 1. Because 't is not commensurate to the nature of the sin neither is it that penalty which
of the Devil 6. From the New Nature of a Christian which hinders him from sin v. 9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin c. Various expositions there are of this The greatest difficulty lies in those words Doth not commit sin and cannot sin 1. He ought not to sin Cannot indeed is sometimes taken for ought not as Acts 4.20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard They had a Physical ability to hold their peace but morally they could not because of Christ's Precept to them to publish those things What we cannot lawfully do we cannot do Non possumus quod non jure possumus what we cannot honourably do we are said not to be able to do Mark 6.5 He could there do no mighty work Christ had natural ability to do mighty works there but morally he could not honourably he could not because of their unbelief which was a moral hinderance and according to God's Methods there was no hope of doing any good among them their unbelief was so strong they gave him no opportunity to do any mighty work But this is not the meaning of cannot here ought not For an unrenewed man ought not to sin any more than a regenerate man But the Apostle attributes here something peculiar to the regenerate adding the reason because he is born of God Though it carry in it something of an obligation in a higher manner than upon a meer natural man He ought not to sin not only upon the general obligation which lies upon all men not to sin but upon the more special one of his state being a Son of God which ought to be counted a moral impossibility by a righteous man Regeneration gives a man no advantage to sin no external licence no internal liberty or ability to sin for the Apostle useth this as an argument to them as well as an establishment not to sin because they are born of God which was a more special obligation upon them not to sin than what they had by nature 2. He cannot sin so easily 'T is not impossible but difficult for him to sin because by receiving grace he receives a principle contrary to sin and so hath a principle of resistance against it Or because by that grace he is inclined not to sin and so there is inchoativè an impossibility of sinning which shall hereafter be perfected Not a simple impossibility but secundum quid He endeavours to work as one born of God and follows the motions of the Spirit against the sin to which he is tempted He cannot sin i. e. 't is a hard matter for him to sin for considering the efficacy of grace and the assistances attending it it is a difficult thing for a righteous man to be brought under the power of sin he may sin easily in respect of the frailty of the flesh but not so easily in regard of the abiding of the Seed in him which helps him to beware of sin Grace being a divine habit hath the nature of a habit which is to incline the person to acts proper to that habit and facilitate those acts as a man that hath the habit of an Art or Trade can with more ease work in it than any other 3. He cannot sin in sensu formali as he is regenerate or ex vi talis nativitatis Grace cannot sin because it can do nothing but what pertains to the nature of it as the heat cannot cool unrighteousness cannot do good Fire doth not moisten per se nor Water naturally heat But it is not said The Seed of God cannot sin but in the Concrete He that is born of God and he that hath the Seed remaining in him cannot sin A gracious man as a gracious man cannot sin for grace being a good habit is not capable of producing acts contrary to its nature Sin in a regenerate man proceeds not from his grace but from his corruption Grace cannot be the principle of evil But because his grace is imperfect dwelling among remainders of sin therefore a man sins though this principle in him keeps sin from attaining a full dominion and superiority Yet though he doth sin his sin is not the proper fruit of the form whereby he is regenerate 4. He cannot sin in sensu composito as long as he is regenerate as long as the Seed remains in him as long as he follows the motions of the Spirit and Grace which are able to overcome the motions of concupiscence but he may give up the grace As an impregnable Tower cannot be taken as long as it is defended by those within but they may fling away their Arms and deliver it up Grace quantum est ex parte sua renders a man impeccable as long as it continues in him as Innocency did render Adam immortal as long as he persisted in it But we may ex culpâ nostrâ lose it by mortal sin and so perish as Adam by his own will lost the integrity of his Nature and was thereby made subject to death This is founded upon a false Hypothesis viz. That Grace may be lost And the Text renders the being born of God and the Seed remaining in us to be the reason why we cannot sin not the condition of our not sinning for if it remains and we cannot sin therefore how can any sin come in to expel that which preserves us from it A man must cease according to what the Apostle here writes to be born of God before he can sin in that sense the Apostle means 5. He doth not commit sin and cannot sin i. e. Grave peccatum the mortal sin and persist in it The sin of unbelief which is called in Scripture by way of eminency Sin and the Sin 't is the chief sin the Spirit convinceth of 't is the sin that easily besets us Heb. 12.1 Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us i. e. especially unbelief Though this be true yet it is not the full meaning and sense of it 6. He doth not commit sin and cannot sin as the Devil doth or as one that is of a diabolical nature as one that is acted by the Devil which is clear by the Antithesis v. 8. He that commits sin is of the Devil for the Devil sins from the beginning He cannot set himself against Christ as the Devil doth as the Pharisees did in which respect our Saviour calls them the Children of the Devil for their remarkable and constant opposition to him He cannot make a practice of sin and persist in it as the Devil doth who began to sin presently after the Creation and continueth in it ever since He sins the present tence noting the continued act of the Devil Sin may be consider'd two ways viz. As to 1. The Act of sin Thus a Believer sins 2. The Habit of sin or custom in it When a man runs to sin freely willingly and is not displeased with it Thus a Believer
despicable in the eyes of the world which God hath designed in all Ages to honour Since he hath delivered his Son to death to preserve the honour of his Law it seems not to consist with his wisdom to let those who enjoy the fruits of his death walk in a customary contempt of his Law Neither can we think that God would permit that in a Believer which is against the very essence of grace though he may permit that which is against the beauty and accidental perfection of it 3. 'T is against the nature of the Covenant In the Covenant we are to take God for our God i. e. for our chief good and last end But a course of sin is an adoration of the sinful Object as the chief good and last end because a man prefers the creature before God and loves it supremely contrary to the will of God 'T is essential for one in Covenant with God to have an high valuation of God and his will But a custom of known sins evidenceth that there is not a worthy and practical esteem of God How can any condition of the covenant consist with a constant practice of sin How can there be faith where the precept is not believed How can there be love if the pleasure of God be not regarded How can there be fear if his authority be wilfully contemned How can there be a new heart when there is nothing but an old frame and a diabolical nature 'T is a renouncing those conditions upon which a right to heaven is founded For a worker of iniquity walks in those ways which are prohibited upon pain of not entring into that place of glory and so doth wilfully refuse the acceptance of the conditions on Gods part and the performance of the conditions on his own part which are necessary to Gods glory and his own interest 'T is an invasion of Gods right whereby he refuseth God for his God and Lord and sets up himself as his own governour an affecting vertually an equality with God and independency on him which in the common nature of sin is vertually the same with that of the Devil who sinned from the beginning and therefore a course in sin one that is born of God doth not continue in Perhaps the Apostle in the Text might have some such respect upon his opposing the Believers not committing sin to the sin of the Devil from the beginning viz. such a course of sin whereby a Man declares as the Devil did that he will be his own governour as indeed in every course of sin a Man doth practically declare 4. 'T is against the nature of our first repentance and conversion to God True repentance is a breaking off iniquity by righteousness Dan. 4.27 a turning from sin to holiness from our selves to God from our own Wills to the Will of God from every thing else as the chief good and last end to God as both these Now though a particular act of sin be against the watchfulness which attends repentance yet a course of sin is against the nature of it * Taylor of repentance pag. 188. the one is against the liveliness of Repentance the other against the life of it A delightful walking in any known sin though never so little is a defyance to God and therefore contrary to the nature of conversion and is a vertual embracing of all sin whatsoever because he that in his ordinary walk in sin hath no respect to the Will and pleasure of God though he knows it and will not be restrain'd from his delight by any such regard of God would be restrain'd from no other sin whatsoever if he did conceive them as pleasant advantageous and suitable to him as he doth that which is his darling As he that breaks one point of the Law is guilty of all James 2.10 because he shews thereby a Will and Disposition to break all if the same occasions were offer'd So he that commits one known sin wilfully much more he that walks in a course of sin is guilty of all sins vertually For he would boggle at no temptations upon a respect to God because if a regard to God doth not prevail upon him against a course in one kind it will not detain him from a course in all other kinds of sin if he come under the same circumstances for it Let me add this too If he that offends in one point of the Law be guilty of all i. e. as much delight and eagerness as he hath in the breach of that one it is to be supposed that he would have in the breach of all the rest upon the former reason can then such a disposition which is in every course of known sin be consistent with the nature of repentance and conversion 5. 'T is against the nature of habitual grace which is the principle and form of our Regeneration If he doth not commit sin because the seed of God remains in him then such a course of sin is against the nature of this seed inconsistent with the birth of God a crooked and perverse Spirit in sin is a sign of a putrified Soul a spot of a different nature from that of Gods Children Deut. 32.5 They have corrupted themselves their spot is not the spot of his Children they are a perverse and crooked Generation 't is a stain peculiar to the Children of the Devil not the Sons of God A Trade in sin is an evidence of a Diabolical Nature 1 John 3.8 He that commits sin is of the Devil 'T is not therefore consistent with grace which is a Divine Nature The reign of sin is inconsistent with the reign of grace though the rebellion of sin be not 'T is against the nature of Regeneration for sin to guide our Wills though it be not against the nature of it for sin to reside in our flesh To walk after the flesh Rom. 8.1 is an inseparable Character of a natural Man The Apostle Rom. 7. ult had been complaining of the Law of his Members the serving sin with his Flesh he comforts himself with this that he obeyed it not and that they were in Christ whose ordinary walk was as the Spirit led not as the Flesh allured * Amyrant in Joh. 8.9 And indeed every Tree brings forth fruit suitable to its nature A Vine brings not forth Thorns and he that hath the seed of God is under an impossibility of bringing forth the fruits of sin with delight since he hath a Root of righteousness planted in him 1. 'T is against the nature of a renewed understanding A Regenerate Man hath a new light in his mind whereby he hath a fairer prospect of God and a fouler of sin He was an enemy to God in his mind before Col. 1.21 He had dishonourable opinions and conceits of God and goodness and honourable thoughts of sin above its merit he thought ill of the one and well of the other But now he is renewed in the Spirit of his
throat is ready to swallow if he had a morsel for it 2. 'T is a sign of habitual sin a state of sin This temper manifests that the will is habituated in sin though the hand doth not outwardly act it The inherent power of sin must be great when a man is greedy to commit that to which he hath no outward allurements or when those allurements are ballanced with contrary considerations when he hath either no outward temptation to it or the cross impediments are as strong or stronger than the temptation When men in the midst of such bars long for a temptation it is such a kind of desire in one way as the Creature hath in an other for the manifestation of the the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 For the earnest expectation of the Creature waits for the manifestation 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a putting out the head to see if he can find any coming to knock off the fetters not of his sin but of his forced morality In this case take two men one Commits a great sin upon a temptation even as it were over-power'd by it and had no thoughts no inclinations before that temptation appear'd which began first to spirit him Another Commits a lighter sin or would fain Commit it upon a weak temptation and many bars lying in the way and his heart was hankering and thirsting for some opportunity to Commit it which do you think really is the greater offence in point of heart and affection The first appears blacker but it is an invasion the other is really blacker because it is an affection and shews sin to be rooted in the heart as its proper soil wherein sin delights to grow and the soil delights to nourish it The one shews sin to be a stranger and a thief which hath waylaid him the other evidenceth sin to be an inmate and intimate friend Such a man is not oblig'd to his will for his abstinence from sin but to the outward hindrances and the resolving act of the will to Commit it were those impediments remov'd is as real an act of sin in the sight of God as any outward act can be in the sight of man because God measures the greatness of sin by the proportion of the will allowed to it therefore many sins which may be little in our account may be greater in Gods account than the seemingly blacker sins of others because there may be a greater ingrediency of the heart and affection in them than in the other 3. 'T is against the nature of our repentance and first closing with God Repentance is a change of the purpose of the heart not to Commit the same iniquity again nor any other Job 34.32 If I have done iniquity I will do no more 'T is the property of converting grace to make the Soul cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart Act. 11.23 This is essential to it though there may be some startings out by passion and temptation A Pilots intention stands right for the port though by the violence of the wind he may be forced another way It alters not his purpose though it defer his performance This purpose is a perpetual intent Psal 119.112 v. I have inclined my heart to keep thy statutes alway even to the end It was an heart-purpose and inclination It regarded all Gods statutes not for a fit but perpetually which he manifests by two words alwaies even to the end to shew that the perpetuity of it doth difference it from the resolutions of wicked men who may indeed have some fits to do good but not a fixed purpose to cleave to the Lord these flashy purposes are like the flight of a bird which seems to touch Heaven and in a moment falls down to the earth as Saul resolved not to persecute David but we soon find him again upon his old game pursuit Where there is true grace there is hatred of all sin for hatred is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can a man be resolv'd to Commit what he hates No. For his inward aversion would secure him more against it than all outward obstacles As this inward purpose of a good man is against all sin so more particularly against that which doth so easily beset him David seems in several places to be naturally inclind to lying but he takes up a particular resolution against it Psal 17.3 I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have contrived to way-lay and intercept the sin of lying when it hath an occasion to approach me A good man hath not only purposes but he endeavours to fasten and strengthen those purposes by prayer So David v. 5. hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not He strengthens himself by stirring up a liveliness in duty and by avoiding occasions of sin v. 4. I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer Whereas a wicked man neither steps out of the way of a temptation nor steps up to God for strength against it Now if all this be true that in conversion the heart hath a fixed resolution for God and his ways and that perpetually against all sin and particularly against the sin of our natural inclination and all this backt with strong cries how can it have a fixed resolution to Commit it if the way were outwardly fair for it 4. 'T is absolutely against the terms of the Covenant God requires in that a giving up our selves to him to be his people with our whole heart and Soul as he gives himself to us with his whole heart He will not be a Sharer of the heart with sin much less an underling to it God will not indure a competitor in the affections To serve God and mammon are inconsistent by the infallible Axiom of our Saviour Luke 16.13 Now as God cannot be true to his Covenant if he had purposes against the articles of it on his part so neither can we be true to our covenanting with him if we have setled purposes of heart against the Conditions of it Therefore the instability in the Covenant ariseth only from the falseness of the heart Psal 78.37 Their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant The iniquity of our heels may compass us about and make us stumble in our walk yet our fears of being out with God may receive no establishment Psal 49.5 Wherefore should I fear when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about Whether he means by iniquity the sins of his ordinary walk or the punishment of them is all one But yet if purposes of iniquity settle their residence in the heart though we never act it by reason of obstacles 't is a sign we never sincerely closed with God in Covenant nor God with us The very regards of iniquity in the heart put a bar to the regards of God towards us It hinders all Covenant acts on Gods part because it is a manifest breach of
as there was an act of his will for the doing good preceding his not doing it Rom. 7.19 The good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do The act of his will was present v. 18. To will is present with me I have that standing in a readiness to do good but the executive power is at a distance I know not how to have it But how to perform that which is good I find not He speaks as a man that was searching for something which he had a great desire to find and could not meet with it Many times a good man is tyred out with the importunity of a temptation and is fain to fling down his weapons and sink under the oppression till he receive a new recruit of strength by exciting and assisting grace 2. Sometimes concomitant in the very commission of a sin Peter seems to have had some resistance in the very act of denying his Master The Spirit of God blew up some sparks of shame in him at that very time for after the very first denial he went out into the porch Mark 14.68 By his retirement he discovers some willingness to have avoided a further temptation There is many times an exercise of displeasure against it while a man cannot avoid it Rom. 7.15 That which I do I allow not that which I hate that I do I hate it even while I do it and my hatred is excited against it in the very act he means it of sins of infirmity The Seed of God in the heart cannot consent to sin but will many times in the very acting of it be shewing its displeasure weakly or strongly against it As a Needle touched with a Loadstone if it be disturbed in its standing to the North-pole will shake and tremble while the impediment is upon it * Smith oâ— the Creed Some demurrers were made in Peter's heart but fear over-ruled the plea and it is probable his heart was not wholly asleep even in the very act else it is not likely he should have been so suddenly rouzed There is a voice in him Grace speaks for God but it is over-ruled and opprest by a temptation there are some pull-backs some spiritual whisperers even when it presses hard Why art thou cast down my Soul Psal 43.5 There is the carnal part stirring in distrust Hope thou in God there is a spiritual part rising in Faith A neat person may by stumbling he bemir'd in a dirty hole but while he stumbles there is a natural impetus which endeavours to keep him upright and if he doth fall he struggles till he be delivered But when a Swine falls into a puddle he lies grunting with pleasure and grumbles at any that will drag him out Which leads me to a third thing 3. But there is always a consequent dissent after the fall He hath many rebukes in his Conscience whereas a natural mans sin is brought up and nurtur'd with him Eccles 5. â— They consider not that they do evil they lay it not to heart especially if it break not out in some foul and notorious manner A renewed man is displeased at the very first motion that clambered up into his heart to entice him to his sin not only the fruit but the root that bears it is odious to him Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity By the same reason that he directs his hatred to the sin of his Nature by the same reason he will do it to the first motion that immediately brought forth that bitter fruit which a natural man doth not 'T is the character of a wicked man to rejoyce that he hath done evil Prov. 2.14 which I think is never found in a renewed man for this is indeed to be under the power of Satan and like their Father the Devil But he condemns what he hath committed and the greater his delight in it the greater will his abhorrency be of it and the more earnest his cry to be rid of his burden When he comes to see what contrariety there was in his act to the Law of God it is impossible but his heart should smite him It cannot be but that delight in the Law of God which is a constitutive part of a regenerate man Rom. 7.22 must revive when the weights which did suspend it are removed and according to the degrees of his revived delight there will be suitable degrees of displeasure with what was contrary to the object of it for since a delight in the Law of God is essential to a renewed nature that delight must needs produce an aversion from every thing contrary to that Law otherwise it is not a delight If there be not such workings after a review of sin I dare pronounce that such a man is not regenerate But how long he may lie in a sin without acting consideration about it I cannot determine He must needs have torment in his Soul and a high disaffection to his sin and himself for it because upon a review he cannot but see how unlike to God it hath made him how much it hath defiled his Soul and impaired the Divine Image No disease can be more grievous to the body than a sin fallen into is to the new nature it grieves and pains the new creature which is restless till it be rid of the disease the new nature is a tender thing Though he be assured of its pardon he is in anxiety till he finds it purged Psal 51.7 Purge me with Hyssop and I shall be clean David had been assured of the pardon of his Sin by Nathan that would not quiet him as long as the filth remained he would not only have the guilt removed but the stain washed off as a man fallen in the dirt is desirous not only to be raised up but to be washed clean from any remainders of the mire A good man hath a disquietness in his heart and is as much troubled at his sin as at a stinking wound or a loathsom disease Psal 38.5 6 7 8. and his sorrow is continually before him v. 17. He is more displeased with that sin than he is pleased at present with all the grace he hath David's sin was ever before him Psal 51.3 Peter brought forth no other fruit immediately after the review of his sin but sorrow and exercised more grief for that than he did joy at the present for the not failing of his Faith as a man is more troubled with a pain of the Tooth or a fit of the Gout than pleased with all the health in his vital parts which is far greater than his pain Here then is a difference Regenerate men have pain in their sins natural men pleasure the one is ashamed of his sin the other at best but ashamed of his discredit he condemns himself for it with so much severity rips his heart open before God that if a wicked man should hear him praying in his Closet after some sin he would think
he did belye himself or else that he were the vilest Villain in the world He will study no excuses and present no pleas to God for his sin If he hath not strength to conquer it he hath a voice to cry against it Prayers are doubled one Messenger goes to Heaven upon the heels of another and so moderation which was in his requests before is turn'd to an unsatisfied importunity So that you see there is not a plenary consent of will but the dissent is habitual and actual if not antecedent or concomitant yet alwaies consequent What then doth the regenerate mans sin arise from It ariseth 1. Either from a strong passion which many times bears down the bars both of grace and reason That is not wholly voluntary which is done by the prevalency of passion which suspends the determination of the understanding and consequently the regular and free motion of the Will Such was the accusation of God in his Prophet which David was guilty of Psal 116.11 I said in my haste all men are liars I said 't is true all men are liars even the Prophet too but it was in my haste And in his haste he accuseth God of the breach of his promises Psal 31.22 I said in my haste I am cut off from before thy Eyes God hath either forgot his promise or changed his resolutions for not one of them will be made good unto me It was a passion in Moses which made him guilty of that act of unbelief that cost him his exclusion from the land of promise Num. 20.8 10 11 12. God commands him to use his Tongue not his Rod on the Rock but the passion the good man was in by the provocation of the people transported him beyond his bounds Peter's heart was not so full of courage as of Loyalty his Zeal was put out of countenance by his fear A strong fit of passion may make a man as good and meek as Moses fling away both the Tables of the Law which otherwise would be as dear to him as the Apple of his Eye 2. From inconsiderateness There cannot be a full consent of Will where a deliberate judgment doth not precede Many a man through an inconsiderate indulging his appetite eats that meat which foments his humors into some dangerous disease Sin creeps upon a good man when the liveliness and activity of his Spirit in former duties is in a slumber but another hath as great inclinations to sin when his understanding is in its strength Peter had the grace of faith but he fell into his sin for want of acting it upon his repentance it is said Luke 22.6 And Peter remembred the words of the Lord. He had forgot Christs words and that made him forget himself and his Master in that act of sin If our Saviour had cast his Eye upon Peter and excited his slumbering grace before the Maid had spoken to him he might have prevented Peter's fall as well as afterwards recovered him If God had sent Nathan with a message to David when his corruption began first to put on its Arms to have shewed him the vileness of his intentions and excited him to a stout resistance he might have prevented the loss of his innocency as well as restor'd him after it had lain in the dust so long David might have kept his standing and dismist those inclinations as he did his inconsiderate design of murdering Nabal and his family upon Abigail's admonition for which he blesseth God 1 Sam. 25.32 33. In short The motion of a regenerate man to sin is violent like a stone upward the motion of an unrenewed man is natural like a stone downwards The Godly are violently pursued but the wicked fottishly infatuated by a temptation * Greenham And certainly when the strength of the passion is abated and the free exercise of reason recovered there will be the exercise of grace again for it is not conceiveable that the habit of grace and repentance should be without the actual exercise of it when the impediments are removed and an occasion presented so that he that doth not recover himself to his former exercise never had this true seed of God infused into him 7 Proposition Though a regenerate man may fall and sin have a temporary dominion yet he recovers out of this state and for the most part returns to his former holiness and an increase of it though not always to his former comforts There are none whose sins are recorded in Scripture but there are some evidences of their repentance for it or the acting the contrary grace Davids sin was gross and his repentance remarkable he was more tender afterwards in point of Blood 2 Sam. 23.16 17. when he desired Water out of the Well of Bethlehem and it was brought him by three valiant men with the Jeopardy of their lives he would not drink it because it was the Blood of the men that ventured their lives to satisfy his curiosity Peters repentance is eminent his affection is hot for the truth of which he could appeal to his masters omnisciency John 21.17 Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee His courage is illustrious in asserting his Masters honour in the face of the greatest dangers in which exercise you find him the Foreman of that Jury of the 12 Apostles before every Assembly Acts 2.3.4.5 c. Though Abraham had discovered a distrust of God in Pharaohs and Abimelechs courts yet his faith afterward in his readiness to sacrifice Isaac was as glorious as his unbelief had been base which gave him the title of the Father of the faithful Noah who was drunk and thereby exposed to the derision of his Son could not so well have curst him had he not abhorred the sin as well as the reproach And Lot whose righteous Soul was vexed with the filthiness of others could not have a less vexation at his own when he came to know of it Those that affirm that mortal sins expel grace yet doubt whether they expel the gifts of the Spirit one end whereof say they is to render the Soul pliable and flexible to the motions of the Spirit * Suarez de Gratia lib. 11 c. 3. num 10 p. 415. If they do not expel the gifts I know not why they should expel the grace which is under the manutenency of the Spirit of God in a particular manner The Spirit lusts against the flesh as well as the flesh against the Spirit and the lusting of the Spirit will prevail as well as the lusting of the flesh and more Gal. 5.17 All natural things that are removed out of their proper place are restless till they are reduc'd to their right station A good man is as Water that though it be turned into a Mass of Ice wholly cold in the ways of God yet still there is a principle in him as there is in Ice to return to his former form figure and activity upon the warm eruptions of
have a continuance of pardon by his actual Sacrifice upon which the validity of all the former mediatory acts did depend Since now there is no more remembrance of Sin by the continuance of legal sacrifices his being so absolutely compleat Therefore God hath erected a standing Office of Advocacy for Christ 1 Joh. 2.1 in Heaven for the representing of his wounds and satisfaction and bespeaking a continuance of grace to us He is said to be the lamb that taketh away the sins of the world John 1.29 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath taken or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will take but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which notes actum perpetuum the constant effect of his death And since as I said before Christ hath an higher portion than others because he loved righteousness in this portion he hath a joy and gladness but his joy would certainly be sullied if pardon should not be continued to those for whom he purchased it 5. The worth of it That must be of incomparable value that was purchased at so great a price as the Blood of God Acts 20.28 So it is called by reason of the union of the divine nature with the humane constituting one person 'T is Blood which all the Gold and Silver and the Stones and Dust of the Earth turned into Pearls could not equal God understood the worth of it who in justice would require no more of his Son at least than the thing was worth not a drop of Blood more than the value of it Neither surely would Christ who could not be mistaken in the just price have parted with more than was necessary for the purchase of it It would have beggar'd the whole Creation to have paid a price for it The Prayers and Services of a gracious Soul though God delights in them could not be a sufficient recompence And the bare mercy of God without the concurrence of his provokt justice could not grant it though his Bowels naturally are troubled at the afflictions of his Creatures IV. Extensiveness fulness or perfectness of pardon 1. In the Act forgiving covering not imputing 2. In the Object iniquities transgressions and sins 1. Perfect in respect of state God retains no hatred against a pardoned person He never imputes sin formally because he no more remembers it though virtually he may to aggravate the offence a Believer hath fallen into after his justification So Job possessed the sins of his youth And Christ tacitly put Peter in remembrance of his denial of him The grant is compleat here though all the fruits of remission are not enjoyed till the day of judgment and therefore in Scripture sin is said then to be forgiven 'T is a question whether Believers sins will be mentioned at the day of judgment Some think they will because all men are to give an account Methinks there is some evidence to the contrary Our Saviour never mentioned the unworthy carriage of his Disciples to him in his sufferings and after his resurrection seems to have removed from him all remembrance of it 'T is not to be expected that a loving Husband will lay open the faults of his tender Spouse upon the day of the publick solemnization of the nuptials But if it be otherwise 't is not to upbraid them but to enhance their admirations of his grace He will discover their graces as well as their sin and unstop the Bottles of their tears as well as open the Book of their transgressions Our Saviour upon Maries anointing him applauds her affection but mentions not her former iniquity It must needs be perfect 1. All Gods Actions are suitable to his Nature What God doth he doth as a God And is he perfect in his other works and not in his Mercy which is the choicest flower in his Crown God sees blacker circumstances in our sins than an inraged Conscience or a malicious Devil can represent But God pardons not according to our apprehensions which though great in a tempestuous Conscience yet are not so high as Gods knowledge of it 2. The Cause of pardon is perfect Both the mercy of God and the merits of Christ are immutably perfect 'T is for his own glory his own mercies sake that he pardons He will not dimm the lustre of his own Crown by leaving the effect of his glory imperfect or satisfying the importunities of his mercy by halves The Saints in Heaven have not a more perfect righteousness whereby they continue their standing than those on Earth have for though inherent righteousness here is stain'd yet imputed upon which pardon is founded is altogether spotless A righteousness that being infinite in respect of the person hath a sufficiency for Devils had it a congruity but it hath both for us because manifested in our natures 2. In respect of the Objects Sinful nature sinful habits sinful dispositions pardon'd at once though never so heinous 1. For quality There was no limitation as to the deepness of the wounds caused by the Fiery Serpents in the Wilderness the precept of looking upon them extended to the cure of all let the sting reach never so deep the wound be never so wide or sharp and his sight be never so weak if he could but cast his Eye upon the Brazen one The Commission Christ gave to his disciples was to preach the Gospel to every Creature Mark 16.15 every Humane Creature the worst as well as the best though you meet with monstrous sinners in the likeness of Beasts and Devils except none from suing out a pardon in the court of mercy The Almightiness of his mercy doth as much transcend our highest iniquities as it doth our shallowest apprehensions Our sins as well as our substance are but as the Dust of the Ballance as easily to be blown away by his grace as the other puft into nothing by his power No sin is excepted in the Gospel but that against the holy Ghost because it doth not stand with the honour of God to pardon them who wilfully scorn the means and account the Redeemer no better than an Impostor No man can expect in reason he should be saved by mercy who by a wilful malice against the Son of God tramples upon the free offers of grace and provokes mercy it self to put on the deportment of justice and call in revenging wrath to its assistance for the vindication of its despised honour The infinite grace of God dissolves the greatest mists as well as the smallest exhalations and melts the thick clouds of sin as well as the little icicles 2. The Quantity Hath God ever put a restraint upon his grace and promise that we shall find mercy if we sin but to such a number and no more 'T is not agreeable to the greatness and majesty of Gods mercy to remit one part of the debt and to exact the other It consists not with the motive of pardon which is his own love to be both a friend and an enemy at the same time in pardoning some
fruit of his waiting 'T is the end of Christs exaltation whether it be meant of his being lifted up on the cross or his exaltation in Heaven 't is true of both that his end is to have mercy upon you 2. God will pardon the greatest sins His infinite compassion cannot exhaust it self by a frequent remiâ—â—ion Mercy holds proportion to Justice as his Justice punisheth little sins as well as great so doth mercy pass by great sins as well as little Your highest sins are the sins of men but the mercy offered is the mercy of a God The debt you owe is a vast debt but Christs Satisfaction is of a greater value and a Kings revenue may well pay a beggers debts though she owe many thousands the first day of marriage Multiplied sins upon repentance shall meet with multiplied pardons Isay 55.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abundantly pardon We cannot vie our sins with Gods mercy The grace of God and righteousness of Christ which are necessary for the remission of one sin are infinite and no more is requisite for the pardon of the greatest yea of the sins of the whole world if they were upon thy single score The grace conferred upon Paul was more than would suit his necessity 1 Tim. 1.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Superabound and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant enough to have pardoned a whole world as well as Paul like the Sun that emits as much heat in his beams upon one puddle as is enough not only to exhale the moisture of that but of a 100 more Suppose thou art the greatest sinner that ever was yet extant in the world do not think that God who hath snatcht so many firebrands of Hell out of the Devils hands will neglect such an opportunity to make his grace illustrious upon thy humble Soul If God hath given thee repentance it is a certain evidence he will follow it with a pardon though thy sins be of a deeper scarlet than ever yet was seen upon the earth for if he did not mean to bestow this he would never have bestowed upon thee the necessary condition of it Is there not a sinner can equal thee Then surely God is wiser than to lose the highest opportunity he yet had to evidence his superlative grace And therefore 1. Continue thy humiliations There must be a conformity between Christ and thee he was humbled when he purchased remission and you must be humbled when you receive it God will not part with that very cheap that cost his Son so dear though thou art not at the expence of the blood of thy Soul thou must be at the expence of the blood of thy Sins When a man comes to be deeply affected with his sin then God sends a message of peace Isay 6 6 7. Then flew one of the Seraphims and laid a live coal upon his mouth and said thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged When v. 5. he had cryed out woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips The way to have a debt forgiven is to acknowledge it Ps 32.5 I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin God stood as ready to forgive Davids unrighteousness as he was ready to confess it Mercy will not save a man without making him sensible of and humbled for his iniquity Put thy business therefore into Christs hands and submit to what terms he will impose upon thee 2. In thy Supplications plead his glory You find this the constant argument the people of God in the Scripture use for the prevailing with God for forgiveness That argument is most comfortably pleaded which God Loves most and whereunto he orders all his actions No stronger motive can be used to him to grant it than that whereby he excites himself to bestow it When thou beggest other things thou mayest dishonour God but God cannot be a loser of his glory in granting this Lord if thou turnest me into Hell where is the glory of thy mercy upon thy creature Nay where is the glory of thy justice my eternal torments not being able to compensate the injury done to thee by sin so much as the suffering of thy only Son whose death I desire to share in and whose terms I am willing to submit to 3. Exhortation to those that are pardoned 1. Admire this grace of God To pardon one sin is a greater thing than to create a world to pardon one sin is greater than to damn a world God can create a world without the death of a creature he can damn a world without the death of the Creator but in pardoning there must be the death of the Creator the Son of God 2. Serve God much Is the guilt of sin the cord that bound thee taken off It is fit that when thou art so unfettered thou should'st run the ways of Gods Commandments A sense of pardon of sin makes the Soul willing and ready to run upon Gods errands and to obey his Commands Isa 6.8 I heard the voice of the Lord saying Whom shall I send Then said I Here am I Then when he had received assurance that his iniquity was taken away v. 7. Gods pardon set thee upon a new stock and therefore he expects thou should'st be full of new clusters 3. Be more fearful of sin Dispute with thy self Hath God pardoned the guilt of sin that it shall not damn me and shall I wallow in the mire of sin to pollute my self Oh thy sins after pardon have a blacker circumstance than the sins of Devils or the sins of wicked men for theirs are not against pardoning mercy not against special Love Oh thaw thy heart every morning with a meditation on pardon and sin will not so easily freeze it in the day time When thou art tempted to sin consider what thoughts thou hadst when thou wert suing for pardon how earnest thou wert for it what promises and vows thou didst make and consider the Love God shewed thee in pardoning Do not blur thy pardon so easily wound thy Conscience or weaken thy faith 4. Be content with what God gives thee If he gives thee Heaven will he deny thee earth He that bestows upon thee the pardon of sin would surely pour into thy bosom the gold of both the Indies were it necessary for thee But thou hast got a greater happiness for it is not said blessed is he that wallows in wealth honour and a confluence of worldly prosperity but Blessed is he whose sin is forgiven and whose iniquity is covered FINIS THE INDEX OF THE Principal Matters contain'd in the Discourse of DIVINE PROVIDENCE A ACtions all under God's Providence page 9 10 11 Many can be ascribed to nothing else page 15 16 17 Affections of God to his Church page 69 v. Church Affections made subservient to Gods designs page 14 Of good Men impeach not Providence à page 21. ad 27 Make them not
miserable but better page 24 5 6 Better than the wickeds prosperity page 25 Stoutness under them a reflection on providence page 36 Thoughts of providence a cordial under them page 41. Angels not qualified to govern the world page 3 4 Good and bad the object of Gods providence page 7 8 Good how employ'd for the Churches good page 54 5 6 Subjected to Christ for this end page 56 Pray for the Church page 72 B Bad persons and things order'd for the Churches good à page 57 ad 59. Blessing not to seek it of God reflects on providence page 33 Boasting reflects on providence page 39 C Casual things ordered by providence page 15 Censuring God in dark providences to be avoided page 86 87 Changes sudden ones caused by God on mens Spirits page 15 Children of God the meanest taken notice of by him page 60 One of them more valued than all the world by him page 69 Should be esteemed by the World page 75 Thoughts of Gods providence a comfort to them in their meaness page 77 Christ the great object of God's providence page 7 All providences for the glorifying his grace in him page 62 Intercedes for his Church page 72 Church God hath given her his choicest things page 61 62 He will always have one page 72 Shall be protected in greatest exigencies page 73 Shall be victorious over all page 74 A folly to contend against her page 76 God's affection to her to be imitated page 93 Conceptions of God false the ground of a denial of providence page 31 Concourse of God to Sin what page 18 19 Blemishes not his holiness page 19 20 Conscience its gripes set men on the denial of providence page 31 Counsels of men infatuated by God page 16 Made subservient to ends contrary to Mens designs page 17 Creatures the meanest objects of providence page 7 8 9. Curses turn'd by God into blessings to his Church page 57 D Devils under providence page 8 Over-rul'd to promote the good of the church page 57. Direction not seeking it of God reflects on providence page 33 Distrust of God when there are no visible means reflects on it too page 36 Divisions turn'd to the churches good page 58 E Ends of God higher than Mens page 12 Several in the same action and remote Ib Attaind by contrary means page 17 God hath some in all his Actions page 50 His great one what Ib. Envy a denial of providence page 37 Events many can be ascribed only to Providence page 15 16 17 Experience gain'd by Afflictions page 25 Extremities providence a comfort under them page 78 The time God takes for deliverance and why à page 79 ad 84 F Faith supported by Studying former providences page 88 To be acted on providence page 90 91 Fancies by them God can ruine men page 17 Fear of the Churches enemies disswasions from it page 84 5 6 G Gifts of all men for the churches good page 53 4 Glory of every Providence to be given to God page 49 v. Instruments Of God discovered in the church page 66 Gospel furthered by the wicked page 58 Good things and persons all for the churches good à page 51 ad 57 Government of the World God's right to it page 3 Onely God qualified for it page 3 4 No reason why he should not manage it page 4 5 Actually managed by him and wherein page 5 6 His wisdom and goodness in it page 42 Put into Christs hands and managed by him for the Churches good page 63 4 5 Grace common in bad men for the Churches good page 53 54 H Histories advice in reading them page 53 I Impatience under Afflictions reflects on providence page 38 39 Inequality necessary to the good Government of the World page 23 Not so great as men Imagine page 23 Instruments to praise them more than God reflects on Providence page 34 5 This should not be page 49 v. Glory Praise Interest of God in the World is all in his people page 68 Interpretations wrong ones of providence affront it page 39 40. In his people God overlooks page 69 The rule of them page 47 87 Judging Gods proceedings presumption page 22 Judgments destroying ones ordered for the Churchs good page 57 The ground of most of them page 75 Gods providence a comfort in them page 77 Justice of God glorified by mens Sins page 21 K Knowledg of God extends to all things page 6 L Light natural discovers a providence page 30 Limiting providence reflects on it page 40 M Means God oft uses small contrary casual ones page 13 14 15. Vse of unlawful ones reflects on providence page 35 36 So doth distrust when none are visible page 36 To be used with trusting in God page 44 Onely lawful ones must be used page 44 God never wants page 73 Men good and bad objects of Providence page 7 8 40 Eying them in their actions rather than God reflects on providence page 39 Good the special objects of providence page 40 Mercies stoutness under them reflects on providence page 36 37 To the church preferred by God before justice on the Wicked page 59 60 Murmuring at providence should not be page 46 N Nations their interest order'd as may make most for the churches good page 52 Their interest is to countenance Gods people and worship page 74 Natural things their course and the alteration of it for the churches good page 52 Necessities of good men shall be supplied page 25 v. Wants O Oppression reflects on Providence page 39 P Patience of God no argument against Providence page 27 Persecution turned to the Churches good page 58 59 v. Sufferings Praise for the Churches mercies to be given to God page 93 v. Glory Instruments Prayer Omission of it reflects on Providence page 32 Should be made in all wants page 42 Of and for the Church pleasing to and prevalent with God page 70 71 72 Enlivened by studying former Providences page 89 To be made for the Church page 93 Presence of God in the Church her safety page 70 Preservation of all things by God page 6 7 Pride a ground of denial of Providence page 30 Prosperity of the wicked doth not impeach Providence page 21 ad 27 At the highest not very great page 23 24 Providence universal not a disparagement but an honour to God page 4 5 8 9 Vniversal à page 7 ad 11 Mysterious page 11 12 13 Proofs that there is one à page 13 ad 17 An Objection against it answered à page 17 ad 21 A second answered à page 21 ad 27 A third answered page 27 28 To deny it absurd and sinful page 28 29 30 The grounds of its denial page 30 31 32 How practically denied contemned abused à page 32 ad 40 Matter of comfort page 40 41 42 Every one designed for the Churches good à page 49 ad 62 Must needs be for that à page 62 ad 72 This a comfort to the Church page 76 Former ones to be
330 943.  9. 66  12. 1076. 8. 3. 1146. 10. 1. 336.  5 6. 60. 11 8. 630.  9. 1300. 12. 5. 23 † 6. 36 † 11. 1144. 13. 3. 737.  8. 910 911 1192. 14. 6. 40 † 19 20. 50 †15. 2. 488 40 † 8. 36. †19. 1 4 6. 23 † 13. 329 1091.  15. 694. 20. 9. 51 †21. 1. 40 † 3. 769 770.  5. 114.  16. 23 † 23. 489 497 770. 22. 1. 34 †THE INDEX A. ABel's Faith Page 601 1164. Abraham's Page 1164. Abstinence from sin may be without Mortification and the grounds of it Page 1317 8. Abuse of Mercy Dangerous Page 696. Acceptableness of Christs Death Page 883. How it was so Page 885 6. Demonstrated from Page 316. to 322 337 8 from 886 to 898 1087 1148. What made it so Page 882. a 899. ad 906. A Comfort to a Believer Page 323. 871 909. The fruits of it Page 317. ad 322. Acceptation of us and our services founded on that of Christ Page 322 897. Of Believers certain and perpetual Page 323 910. The matter of Christs Intercession Page 1146 7. Access to God Beleivers have with confidence delight and joy Page 366 7. In it God as Reconciled to be eyed Page 378. Studying the Death of Christ would animate us in it Page 844. Follows upon Pardon Page 110 †Vid. Prayer Accusations of Beleivers shall be answer'd Page 340. Of Sin and Satan the Death of Christ to be pleaded against them Page 753 4. 1103 1152. Activity of the New-Creature for God and of what kind a Page 88. ad 94. Essential Acts of the Soul not changed in Regeneration Page 73 4. Adam in Innocence how lie had a power to Believe and Repent Page 189. His first Sin what and how he fell Page 645 6. 730. Why not mentioned in 11. Heb. Page 646. His Faith in Christ Page 1165. What he knew of Christs sufferings Page 1170. Whose Sin greater his or Eves Page 78 †Adoption not without Regeneration Page 32. How they differ Page 72. How it differs from Reconciliation and Justification Page 244. How great a Mercy Page 1287. Thoughts of it a ground of confidence in Prayer Page 384. Advocate what Page 1111. Vide Intercessor Affections of the New-Creature for God unbounded Page 91. Of a Regenerate Man to the Law of God Page 99 100. Some sort of them may be raised in unrenewed Men. Page 109 110. Placed on God a mark of Regeneration Page 120. Follow sense Page 749. Inconstant ibid. Accompany a saving Knowledge Page 417. Corrupt a hindrance of Divine Knowledge Page 464. Sutable should accompany the Knowledge of God in Christ Page 519. Should accompany our Thoughts of God Page 3 †Afflictions the lot of all God's dearest Children Page 553 1286. We must not slight them nor be dejected under them Page 1282. All from God ibid. We should not be impatient under them Page 1282 1284 1289 1291. Their removal to be sought of God Page 1282. Sent on good Men by God as a Father Page 1282 1285. Effects of divine Love Page 1283 1289. Our carriage under them should be pleasing to God Page 1284. Should make us turn our Anger against sin ibid. The Wisdom of God in them to his Children above that of earthly Parents Page 1288. God to be loved for them Page 1289. The intention of God in them to be answered ibid. Grievous but profitable Page 1290. We should judge aright of them ibid. Faith necessary under them Page 1291. Vid. Faith Believers have assistance in them Page 1104. Sweetned by Pardon Page 111 †Great no sign of an unpardoned state Vid. Troubles Punishment Ambition a great hindrance of Conversion Page 2. A cause of unbelief Page 738. Angels could not have contrived mans Redemption Page 252. Nor effected it Page 860 937. Vid. Sacrifice Subjected to Christ Page 333 4. 1098. Not Redeemed Page 361 Good at peace with a Believer Page 364 5. Can 't know God perfectly Page 413. Their clearest knowledge of God is by Christ Page 495. How affected with mens sins Page 67 †Antiquity an unsafe rule Page 834. Apostacy unavoidable without growth in Knowledge Page 455. A folly Page 40 †Vid. Weak Grace and Perseverance Apostates are Unbelievers Page 729 730. Assurance how to be obtained Page 52 3. Of obtaining must not chill Prayer Page 384 Want of it not unbeleif Page 605 Often given at the Supper Page 762. Not necessary in a Communicant Page 783 4 And Faith how they differ Page 799. The more perfect our Mortification the clearer it is Page 1315. Possible Vid. Knowledge of a mans state Attendance on God our work in Heaven Page 39. Attributes of God some of them could not have been known without the fall Page 481 2. Others not so clearly Page 483. All manifested and glorified in Christ a Page 498. ad 512. 888 9. 906 941. A sense of them fix'd on the Soul in Conviction Page 575. All the object of Faith Page 1161. Faith to be acted on them Page 85 †B. BAptism shews the necessity of Regeneration Page 20. T is not Regeneration Page 75. No Converting Ordinance Page 792 Believers their Salvation certain Page 284 5. 911 1105 6. 1196. Their state better than Adams in innocency Page 371 2. 1356. Their Salvation the end of Christs Commission and Intercession Page 302 3. 1147 But few in all ages Page 671 714. Their happiness Page 701 2 3. a 909. ad 912. Christs possession Page 1328 9. His charge Page 1330 1 2 1359. Power given him for their good Page 1332 3 4. Vid. Exaltation His affections to them Page 1335 6 7. Blessings spiritual flow from the Father through Christ Page 258. Gods giving and accepting Christ an assurance none shall be denyed us Page 352 3. 369. 912. Christs acceptation the Foundation of them all Page 321. Blood of Christ cleansed from sins commited before it was shed Page 892. a 1187 ad 1192. Of perpetual vertue Page 893. Cleanseth morally Page 1186. From guilt and filth Page 1186 7. perfectly Page 1195 6 7. How a Page 1198. ad 1201. Comfort to those that are cleansed by it Page 1208 9. Vid. Death of Christ and Sacrifice Body prepared for Christ Page 275 6. Necessary for him Page 289. What kind of one Page 289 290. It s glory in Heaven Page 1093 4. Bodies of men shall be raised Page 1105. Boasting dangerous to a Renewed man Page 202. C. CALL of Christ to be our Redeemer by the Father a Page 266. ad 269. Cause of it self or any thing nobler than it self nothing can be Page 167 Ceremonies humane especially if abused not to be urged Page 747. Change a great one by Regeneration a Page 75. ad 84. 128. Goes with a saving knowledge Page 415 416. Christ may be esteemed by those that want saving Faith Page 2. Should be our end Page 66 The exemplar of the New Creature Page
Page 1375. Convincing discourses not legal Page 594. Corruptions comfort to Believers against them Page 116. 1152 3. 1361. sincere complaints of their strength a good sign of perseverance Page 117. wicked men insensible of them but not good men Page 123. will be stirring Page 1196. Reliques of them no argument of an unpardon'd state Page 115 †Vid. Perfection Sense of sin Covenant of Redemption asserted Page 270 1 2 3. how distinguisht from the Covenant of Grace Page 273 4. the matter of it a. Page 275. ad 284. firm Page 284. we should fly to it Page 286. Covenant of Grace its stability and the ground of it Page 321. 773. 1343. the last Page 678. renewed men only are in it Page 35 6. 782. renew'd in the Supper Page 758. the ancient Israelites under it Page 853. Covetousness a cause of unbelief Page 738. Creation old and new how they differ Page 151. of the World principally for Christ Page 260 1. Christ the medium of it Page 493. the raising a Church Gods great end in it Page 28 †Creatures all at peace with a Believer Page 365 6. can 't be comprehended by us Page 412 413. 484. God known by them a. Page 478. ad 481. not fully from them by man in innocence Page 483. much less since Page 483. all subject to Christ Page 1096 7 8. Spiritual inferences to be drawn from them Page 14 †all at God's command Page 44 †Crucifying Christ Spiritual and Corporal Page 630 1. 819. the Spiritual as bad as the other Page 631 632 3. nay worse a. Page 633. ad 640. Cup not to be denyed to the Laity Page 747. Curiosity hinders Divine Knowledge Page 466. sinful Page 4 †Custom in known sins a renew'd man can't be guilty of a. Page 89. ad 93. D. DAy of Grace may be shorter than that of Life Page 60. Death threatned to Adam not a corporal one Page 44. Regeneration and Reconciliation afford comfort against it Page 118. 370. the punishment of sin Page 143 Of a natural man in sin Page 143. Men scarce believe it Page 716. Death of Christ its end Page 66. by the command and appointment of the Father Page 275 6. 384 836 7. could not have been profitable to us without it Page 254 5 6. its ignominy and torment Page 306 311 837 8. 851. necessary it should be by the hands of men Page 639. Christ bruised in it by the Father immediately a Page 305 ad 314. no incredible thing Page 700. should be much studied Page 755 835 843. the fruits of it Page 317. a 838 ad 842. 852 864 a 894. ad 899. comfortable to a Believer Page 854. his meekness in it Page 849. the time of it Page 850. its value whence a Page 899 ad 906 1194. not for example only Page 870. sufficient for all men Page 894. predicted a Page 944 ad 947. typified a Page 947 ad 950. to be valued Page 952. not clearly known by the antient Believers Page 1170. Vid. Blood of Christ and Sacrifices acceptable Vid. Acceptable voluntary Vid. Voluntary necessary Vid. Necessity deserves our praise Page 298 305 842 854 952. Decays in Grace to be watcht against Page 126 7. render the Lords Supper necessary Page 773. Decrees of God the knowledge of them given to Christ Page 333. Delays of Conversion foolish and dangerous a Page 59. ad 62. 190. encouraged by the Patrons of Free-will Page 199 200. in checking sin dangerous Page 16 †of the Churches deliverance the reasons of them Page 47 8 9 †Delight in duty cannot be without Regeneration Page 25. unconceivable in heaven Page 43. of natural men only in secular things Page 67. of God in the New-creature Page 112. in God and his ways a mark of Regeneration Page 124. in God can't be without knowledge Page 407. great to be found in the knowledge of God and Christ Page 461 2. of Christ in a Believer and his Graces Page 1336 1360. in sin heinous Page 4 †several sorts of it Page 57 †in prayer wherein in consists Page 58 9 †in it in a good man whence Page 59 60 †without it no gracious answers Page 60 61 †They miserable that have none in it Page 61 †signs of it Page 61 †How to know whither it be of the right kind Page 62 †urged Page 62 †directions to obtain it Page 63 †Deliverance Vide Delays Desertion obedience must be preserv'd under it Page 1217. Desires by them we may know our Regeneration Page 119. for God cannot be without knowledge Page 406. To be acted in all duties especially at the Supper Page 812. How to try them Page 812 813. Despair the main cause of it Page 284. In an humble soul unreasonable Page 658. Believers should not because of sin Page 1114 Devil hath a great power over natural Men. Page 146 7. His first sin what a Page 640. ad 643. 740. Conquered by the Death of Christ Page 840 1. Vid. Enemies Disobedience to God very unworthy Page 354. Distrusters of Providence and the Promises of Christ are Unbelievers Page 727 8. Distrust forgetfulness of former mercies the cause of it Page 1311. Sometimes thence God takes occasion to do good Page 1157. Doctrines their tendency to Holiness a test to try them Page 106. Exalting God and humbling man another Page 201. Doubtings what are Unbelief what are not Page 605 609 728 9. Doubtful way a renewed man can't walk in without inquiries and bearing reproof Page 94 5 †Dulness in God's service sinful Page 1216 57 †Hinders success of Prayer Page 60 61. Duties none sinless Page 2. Multitude of external ones not sufficicient to Salvation Page 48. by our regard to inward and spiritual ones we may judge whether we are regenerate Page 121. the manner of them to be minded Page 821. consciencious performance of them a means of perseverance Page 1372 3. E. EArthly mindedness a hindrance of Divine Knowledge Page 465. Vid. World Easie God's ways are to a renewed man Page 92. Eternity of God known by the creatures Page 479. of punishment Vid. Punishment Education alone not sufficient to make men holy Page 10 222. often blest by God to that end Page 45. not to be rested on Page 222. Ejaculations good motions should be backt with them Page 18 †Elect not the object of God's delight before Regeneration Page 30. how loved and hated before it Page 247 248 249. Election the act of the father Page 259 260. its order and foundation ibid. of Christ to be Redeemer Page 262. ad 266. End self is the end of natural men Page 66. Christ alone should be ours Page 66. a change of it in Regeneration a Page 79 ad 82. the soul not fit for the service of God without a change of it Page 81. Envy the spring of the Churches calamity Page 666. how to check it Page 667. Enemies of Christ shall be subdued Page 336 340. 367 8. 1089. cannot hinder a
Believers happincss Page 353. Vid. Believers the Church preserved in the midst of them Page 26 †of the Church their folly Page 37 †44 †Gods promise to his Church a comfort against all their designs Page 39 †to the Church the fiercest who Page 43 †design her destruction Page 44 †the nearer her deliverance the fiercer God's judgements on them Page 44 †destroyed by the same means whereby the Church is preserved Page 44 †in what times God destroys them Page 44 45 46 †why in those times Page 47 8 9 †how then destroyed Page 49 50 51 †Enmity to God unworthy Page 354 Enoch's Faith in Christ Page 1164. Essence of God not communicated in Regeneration Page 101. Evidences should be cleared up why and how Page 52 3 4. Eve her Faith in Christ Page 1165 6. whose sin greatest Adam's or hers Page 78 †Exaltation of Christs divine Nature in what sense Page 329. 1090 1 2. of his humane Page 329 1092 1093 1094 1095. the act of the Father Page 330 386. the reward of his death a Page 331 ad 334 863. very fit and congruous Page 334. the ends of it a Page â—34 ad 337 386 1099 1118 1334. the manner and nature of it Page 337. an encouragement to Faith Page 338. Vid. Faith comfortable to Believers Page 340 1. a 1102. ad 1106. terrible to the wicked Page 341 2 1102. the greatness of it Page 386. 1096 1097 1098. whether merited by Christ Page 1074 1075 6. necessary Page 386. a 1077. ad 1098. to be meditated on and why Page 1106 7. Vid. Glory of Christ Self Examination pleasant to a renewed man Page 113 114. will quicken him to praise Page 126. in the power of a natural man Page 185. a necessary duty Page 825 6. diligence requisite in it Page 827 8 9. men backward to it and why Page 828. the neglect of it folly Page 830. urged ibid. directions for it Page 831 832 833. 1365 1366. a means to cast out evil thoughts Page 16 †Self Examination before the Supper universally necessary a Page 793. ad 796. the object of it Page 777. a 796. ad 813. Examples good discourage sin and promote holiness Page 132. Excommunicated persons not to be debarred from the word Page 792. Experience Vid. Mercies received of the new birth want of it makes it hard to be conceived Page 69. Extremities the time wherein God saves his people Page 27 †46 7 8 †of the Church often very great 44 †Exhortations Vid. Commands Eternity of Punishment Vid. Punishment Events ungrounded imaginations about them sinful 4 †F. FAith God gives sufficient grounds for it but forces none to it Page 1. implanted in Regeneration Page 78 9. man naturally an Enemy to it and all its attendants Page 144 714 715 716 718. how far it could be exercised by Adam in innocence Page 189. whether purchased by Christ Page 212. encouragements to it Page 298 315 323 339 655. necessary to Salvation Page 319 349 700. pleasing to God and Christ Page 319 350 624 629 673. its firm foundation Page 323 327. 338 339. 347 348. 672 673. 1088. its nature and adjuncts Page 349 671 2. a 798 ad 802. qualifies for reconciliation with God Page 372. a low and reasonable condition Page 374. can 't be without knowledge Page 405. its seat Page 428. accompanies a saving knowledge Page 428. and knowledge encrease one another Page 430. should be much exercised Page 596 7. 1373. the choicest Grace Page 604. 671 2. may be where there are interruptions of its acts and doubtings Page 605 6. why made the condition of the New Covenant Page 646. due to Gods revelations a dictate of Nature Page 647 8. the root of all other Graces Page 649. weak the patience of God towards it wonderful Page 653. means to engage us to seek it Page 662. to be prized and God blessed for it Page 664. that God only can work it no excuse for an Unbeliever Page 706. motives to seek it Page 708. 1108 1153. humane not true Faith Page 720. 1 2. purifies the heart Page 723 4. the Devil a great Enemy to it and why Page 740. we should examine whether we have it Page 741 2. should be prized and strengthned because 't is so rare Page 745. the design of all Gods actions to promote it Page 744. necessary in a communicant Page 781. to be enquired after before he receives Page 797 8. and acted by him when he receives Page 753. 802 3. direct acts of it when to be exercis'd Page 832. how establisht Page 844. 1107. to be exercis'd as oft as we sin Page 1114. what keeps Life in it Page 1177. not required of all in an equal degree Page 1179. to be exercis'd before and under Temporal evils Page 1291. 84 5 †without it no pardon Page 106 †tho' weak interests us in pardon Page 113 †Faith its object God in Christ Page 349 â—50 1159. God the principal Page 1160 1 2. Christ the immediate Page 373. 1163. Christ was of the ancient Believers tho' not so distinct as of ours Page 848. 1163. ad 1171. of old exprest by waiting and trusting Page 1169. is in his person Page 1171. as sent and commission'd by God Page 305. 1172. in all his Offices Page 342. 1173. 1182. as crucifyed the more immediate object of it Page 870. a. 1173. ad 1177. such a Faith urged Page 854. 872. 904. 913. 1210. only as eying that justifies Page 1210. as risen and exalted Page 67. 1177. to be examin'd by its object Page 1179. in Christ urg'd Page 1179 80. in him solely wholly always Page 1181 2. Faithfulness of Christ to his charge Page 1335. 1360. Fall made man unfit unwilling unable to good Page 10 11 175. sadly depraved him Page 44. 143. the misery of man by it Page 197. 754. sense of the corruption by it a means of the new birth Page 62 3 135. and of Mortification Page 1321. insensibleness of it the cause of unbelief Page 731 2. an occasion of the greater discovery of God Vid. Attributes since it man not able to know God by the Creatures as he ought Page 483. Fall into sin upon it how 't is with a renewed man Page 98 99 †of others Vid. Sins of others Familiarity with God causes delight in Prayer Page 60 †God the Father the Author of Reconciliation Page 251 2. a. 258. ad 262. necessary he should be so a. Page 252. ad 262. his Agency in Redemption a. Page 262. ad 338. his special love to Christ as Mediator Page 673. Favour of God lost by sin regain'd by Regeneration Page 29 30. the fruit of Christ's Death Vid. Death of Christ follows upon pardon Page 110 †Fear of God can't be without knowledge Page 407. what caused by the Spirit in Conviction Page 570. 577. a preservative from Judgments Page 71 †of sin a sign of Pardon Page 116 †the duty of a pardon'd
man Page 118 †Feasts of Love in the Primitive times no Divine institution Page 747. Fervency of the new Creature in the service of God Page 90. Vid. Dulness Fewness of new-Creatures Page 105. of Believers in all ages Page 671. 714. should make those that are good better Page 745. of sins doth not render a man safe Page 113 †Fitness of Christ to be a Redeemer a. Page 286. ad 298. Foreknowledge of God overthrown by the Patrons of free-will Page 158. of things that depend on the liberty of the Will its manner Page 158 9. 207. Forgetfulness of sin no argument of a pardon Page 114 †Forgiving others we should be ready to it Page 379. no pardon without it Page 116 †Free Agents God's wisdom in governing them Page 179 180. Foundations of the Church make it stable Page 35 6 †Fulness of Christ from the Father Page 287 8. 1333. Vid. Fitness Fundamentals whether not believing one of them be consistent with Faith Page 607. G. GLory of God and Salvation of Believers link't together Page 285. should be principally our aim Page 384. of God and Christ linked together Page 385. can 't be given him by those that know him not Page 40◠of God too great for man to bear the sight of Page 497 8. the Church the only seat of it Page 32 †to be pleaded in Prayer for pardon Page 117 †Glory of Christ-essential and Mediatory how they differ Page 328. 1095 6. too great for man to bear the sight of Page 1082. Vid. Exaltation God his happiness consists in the knowledge of himself Page 399. the most excellent object Page 458. Gospel the study of it a means of Regeneration Page 64. should be adorn'd by the Regenerate Page 128. men naturally Enemies to it Page 145. 154. 514 515. received by but a few Page 165 6. alone cannot regenerate Page 170. its power in changing men admirable Page 235 6. of Divine Authority Page 236. why so much oppos'd ib. how injurious to God they are that obstruct it Page 236. shall never be banisht out of the World Page 237. 1294. God hath some to beget where it is sent Page 237. 239. its propagation Page 303 4. how great a blessing Page 346 7. denyal of its truths and doubting its Doctrines are unbelief Page 608. a refusal to comply with its terms is unbelief Page 600. worthy credit Page 671. gives the clearest light Page 690. its contempt brings speedy misery Page 694 5. the instrument of Regeneration Page 231. Vid. Word study of it a means to divine knowledge Page 519. Vid. Scriptures the excellency of its state Page 504. indulges not sin Page 1114. difference between it and the Law Page 594. removed from particular Churches Page 1295 6 7. Vid. Church its removal a great judgment and to be feared Page 1297 8 9. shall never be totally taken from these Western parts Page 1300. sad presages of its eclips among us Page 1300 1 2. God to be praised for its continuance Page 1302 3. to be improved while enjoyed Page 1303. its removal how prevented Page 1303 4. Vid. Christian Religion Word Goodness of God known by the Creatures Page 479. by Christ Page 345. 501. ad 505. slighted by unbelief Page 618 19 20. wonderful towards total and partial unbelief Page 654 5. Vide Love of God Government of the World for the good of a Believer Page 386 7. Grace most opposes the most beloved sin Page 3. no natural priviledge gives a title to it Page 4. 139. the least degree of it matter of comfort Page 51. all seminally in a renew'd man Page 87. weak at first Page 88. 1358. predominant in the new-Creature Page 95. active in him Vid. Activity Superior to morality Page 107. given gradually Page 117. should be kept in its vigour Page 126. from God only Page 139. can 't be merited Page 149 50. man hath a subjective capacity of it Page 147. can 't be actuated or preserv'd by a mans own strength Page 174 5. common general or more particular Page 176. common what power men have by it Page 180. ad 187. Special God's denyal of it to men vindicated Page 190 91 92. 213. habitual not to be trusted in Page 202 3. of God and Christ's merit not inconsistent Page 255 6. promised to Christ for men Page 280. preserving strengthning encreasing quickning and perfecting from God only Page 223. to be expected from God in Christ Page 378 9. can 't be or continue without knowledge and encrease in knowledge a Page 404. ad 409. saving knowledge an evidence of it Page 448 9. to be examin'd and how Page 777 796 831. 1365. excited by self-examination Page 795. not to be rested on Page 832. fruit of Christs death Page 864 1328. doth not priviledge sin Page 1293. abounding in it a sign of mortification Page 1319. its operations may be interrupted Page 1348. the comfort of it may be lost Page 1349 opprest will recover Page 1350. should be laboured for Page 1365. to be admired Page 1366 7. 118 †all to be ascribed to it Page 1367 8 9. Vid. Regenerate to be much exercised Page 1373. Christ the author and pattern of it Page 1337 8. causes delight in Prayer Page 59 †Growth in Grace urged Page 127 8. will be where Grace is ibid. must be uniform Page 128. what necessary to it Page 223 409 410 455 761. a 1370. ad 1376. Christ intercedes for it Page 1343 4. Grace weak shall be victorious a Page 1324. ad 1348. Vid. Perseverance comfort to those in whom ' its weak Page 116 117 1358 9. not to be despised by men Page 1369. directions to preserve and encrease it a Page 1370 ad 1376. Graces Christ furnisht with them how by whom and why a Page 291. ad 298. 1333. Vid. Fulness of Christ eminently manifested in his death Page 312 313 903 4 5. H. HAbit good must be before good actions Page 21 22. 171. none in nature to be awaken'd Page 74. infused in Regeneration Page 85 6. of grace but one though it hath various names Page 86 87. evil innate in all Page 143. contracted Page 143. the cause of unbelief Page 739 740 Happiness some desires of it in all Page 55 56 648. the folly to neglect it seeing 't is necessary and possible Page 701. consists in the knowledge of God and Christ only Page 391. Head Christ a common one Page 275. Vid. Imputation Heart sense of Gods authority there a mark of Regeneration Page 119 120. none but God can work on it Page 208. Heathens saw the necessity of Regeneration Page 18 19. their unbelief negative and no sin Page 607 608 689. how the cause of their ruin Page 607 8. 676. shall be condemned for sins against the light of nature Page 689. 690. their notions of God worse than any in Christianity appear to be Page 656. Heaven no natural priviledge intitles to it Page 4. Regeneration necessary to an entrance into it
of what kind a Page 75. ad 84. 126 235 6. a vital principle Page 84 5. a habit a Page 85. ad 96. a law in the heart a Page 96. ad 100. a likeness to God Page 100. its rarity and whence Page 105 237 242. its trial Page 53. 118. ad 124. 217 237 8. 't is excellent Page 125. 130 133 209 223 227 237. honourable and pleasant Page 133 4. attainable by all Page 135. man not the author of it proved in general a Page 140. ad 147. more particularly a Page 147. ad 175. what man by common grace can do towards it a Page 174. ad 187. why then God commands it c. a Page 187. 197. not by moral suasion only Page 200 1. God the efficient of it Page 205 6 7. necessary he should be a Page 207. ad 210. what attributes of God manifest in it a Page 211. ad 217. what kind of work and low wrought a Page 217. ad 222. 234 5. to be ascribed only to God Page 198 222. the circumstances of it to be considered Page 227. founded on Reconciliation by Christ Page 245. depends on Christs Resurrection Page 326. a means to divine knowledge Page 471. a means to raise good thoughts Page 11 †the Word the instrument of it Vid. Word Regenerate their duty a Page 125. ad 132. 20â— 2 3. a 225. ad 228. 238. to be esteemed Page 111. their sins great Page 111. cannot sin how understood Page 88 9. they only fit to come to the Sacrament a Page 780. ad 784. they may receive it unworthily Page 817. difference between their sins and other mens great a Page 89. ad 100 †Religion the Christian its excellency above all others a Page 343. ad 346 515 648 657 1116 1218. its wonderful propagation Page 209 507 517 614. not to own it to be from God very irrational Page 656 7 8. 699 734. not to act according to it a madness Page 743. Repentance whether Adam in innocence had a power of it Page 189. a very low condition Page 374. not without knowledge Page 407. kept in life how Page 843. can 't satisfie or expiate sin Page 932 951. not right without mourning for others sins Page 75 †Vid. Godly Sorrow Reproach the friendship of Christ a comfort under it Page 1219. Reproof a good man can't despise it Page 95 †Resistance of grace by men Page 146. of sin must be continued Page 17 †Resolutions not to be made in our own strength Page 202 3. not to be trusted in Page 222. necessary in approaches to the Supper Page 752 3. should be oft renewed Page 1375. to sin were it not for hindrances a good man can't have Page 93 †Restraints differ from Regeneration Page 109. and mortification how they differ Page 1318. Resurrection of Christ for us Page 67 326 7 promised him Page 282. necessary Page 324. the act of the Father Page 325 comfortable to Believers Page 327. how pardon depended on it Page 106 †of our Bodies certain Page 1105. Vid. Exaltation of Christ Revelation by the Gospel not insufficient Page 142. its clearness aggravates unbelief Page 614. of God belief due to it a dictate of nature Page 647 8. Vid. Reason Revenge the chief object of it within Page 1314. Riches a cause of unbelief Page 738. Righteousness our own not to be trusted in Page 599 907 951 1181 2 Vid. Justification exploded by the spirit in conviction Page 576. must vail to Christ Page 669. S. SAbbath a probable reason of its change Page 853. Sacraments efficacious by the word Page 233. always thought needful by God Page 316. Sacrifices how acceptable to God Page 316. instituted by God Page 232. 646 855. 948. typical of Christs death Page 856 948 9. 1174. answered by Christ Page 857. of themselves could not expiate sin Page 858 838 9. of what necessary for man Page 859 c. not from the light of nature Page 947. were not and could not be the object of the Israelites Faith Page 1167 1191. they apprehended some mystery in them Page 1167 8. Sacrifice Christ only fit to be one Page 861 940. 941 2. Christ one in his humane nature Page 862. of Christ his value whence Page 862 899. all his sacerdotal acts depend on this Page 863. Christ one for us not himself Page 855 865. this matter of comfort to believers Page 871. to be laid hold on Page 872. of Christ perfect Page 906 7. Saints their company a part of the happiness of heaven Page 42. admiration of their gifts and graces make men slight Christ Page 666. love to them Vid. Love Salvation of Believers certain Page 284 703. Vid. Believers ours and God's glory link'd together Page 285. the end of Christ's commission and Exaltation intercession Page 302 336 1147. all things necessary for it in Christs hands Page 673. to be sought of Christ Page 674. Christ hath done his part towards it Page 704 5. no want of evidence of the way of it Page 705. only by Christ Page 922. Sanctification and Regeneration how they differ Page 72. a sign of pardon Page 116 †Vid. Holiness Regeneration Satisfaction necessary for sin Page 868 a 9. 3 ad 883. 932. not possible to be by any creature a Page 932. ad 942. of Christ declared to be full by his Exaltation Page 1089. Vid. Death of Christ Sacrifice Justice Popish ones to be rejected Page 907. Scriptures studying them a means of divine knowledge Page 468 519. they that never look into them Unbelievers Page 726. men unwilling to be guided by them Page 1â—93 studying them a means to raise good thoughts Page 11 †to be read by Women Page 76 †Seal of the Covenant the Supper is Page 758. Seasons for duty the fittest to be chosen Page 62 63 †Secret sins discovered by the Law in the hand of the Spirit Page 573. Security of the Churches enemies the forerunner of their ruin Page 46 †Seed of Christ who Page 102 3. promised him a Page 278. ad 281. Christ to take care of them Page 281. spirit given him for their sakes Page 297 8. Vid. Believers Self the chief end of a natural man Page 66. Christ died to take men off from it ibid. necessary we should be and no Regeneration till we are Page 66 7. Self-love the principles of it contradicted by Unbelievers Page 648. Self-fulness a conceit of it a cause of unbelief Page 736 7. Sense of sin meditation on that Christ had a means of conviction Page 599. of original sin Vid. Fall should be great in a Communicant Page 752. the want of it reproved Page 72 3 †no argument of an unpardon'd state Page 115 †Vid. Corruptions Sensuality Vid. Pleasures Service of God evangelical not without a new nature a Page 21. ad 29. not accepted from an unregenerate man Page 33 4. Renewed men always disposed for it how Page 87 8. industry and affection must be in it Page 377. of a
entertain them Page 10 †to be supprest Page 10 11 †good ones how to be raised a Page 11. ad 14 †bad ones how prevented a Page 14. ad 16 †evil ones how to be ordered when they intrudo Page 16 17 †good ones how to be ordered when they appear Page 17 18 †Time lost if not spent in getting Divine knowledge Page 463 4. Transubstantiation groundless Page 777. 815 6 7. 853. 1094. 11-10 Tree of Life no Type of Christ Page 730. Troubles Regeneration a comfort in them Page 115. and reconciliation Page 368. and saving knowledge Page 449. meditation on Christ's Exaltation would make us couragious under them Page 1107. Christ tender of his people in them Page 1156. Christ doth not remove but comfort under Page 1157. promise of the Churches stability a comfort in them Page 38 9 †sharp to be expected and provided for Page 53 †should not put us out of the way of duty Page 1217. 54 †56 †Vid. Afflictions Trust must be in God only Page 202 3. in God exercis'd by Christ Page 313. 904. the effect of saving knowledge Page 428. will be in God or something else Page 621. a strong ground for it in the Churches greatest miseries Page 37 †Truth of God overthrown by the Patrons of Free-will Page 159 160. appears in Regeneration Page 213. honoured in Christ Page 250 511. affronted by unbelief a Page 612. ad 616. the glory of God Page 613. highly valued by him Page 616. engaged for the safety of a believer Page 679. for the damnation of an Unbeleiver Page 702. rendred satisfaction by Christ necessary a Page 923. ad 926. the first object of Faith 1161. engaged for Sions stability Page 31 †Truths not believing some is not unbelief Page 606 7. those of Christ man an enemy to Page 714 15. Types of Christ things and persons that were so most largely spoken of in Scripture Page 261. of Christ's death a Page 947. ad 950. Vid. Sacrifices U. UNbelief how great a sin Page 298 284 304. an unworthy dealing with God and Christ Page 353 4. 655 spiritual apprehensions an antidote against it Page 554. the World understands it not to be a sin Page 558. the fountain of all sin Page 601 649. ad 652. the band of all sin Page 602 675. 6 7 8. t is the greatest sin proved in general a Page 602 ad 605. 908 9. what it is not a Page 605 ad 608. what is it Page 608 9 10. it affronts God in all his Attributes a Page 612. ad 623. its malignity against Christ a Page 624. ad 629 1149. and the spirit Page 629 630. as bad nay worse than the Jews crucifying Christ a Page 630. ad 640. like the Devils first sin nay worse a Page 640. ad 645 740. like Adam's sin nay worse Page 645 6 7. 730. a sin against the law of nature Page 647 8. 9. defiles the choicest faculties Page 652 3. most odious to God Page 653. the Patience of God where 't is total or partial great Page 653 4. 699. its blackness a motive to Faith Page 655. speculative irrational Page 656 7 8. 699. 734 5. 743. practical irrational Page 658 700 1. 699 700 1. 741. 743. ungrateful Page 659 687 8 9. inexcusable Page 659 689 690 1. what kind of misery follows it Page 659 695 6 7 8. all should be sensible of it and why Page 660 1 2. 743 4. watch against it Page 662 3. 744. endeavour to come out of a state of it Page 663 4. 742 3. praise due from those that are got out of it Page 664. eternal wrath unavoidably follows it Page 374 a 675. ad 686. 692 3 4. 908. 1201 2. why eternal wrath follows it a Page 686 ad 692. not the only sin that damns Page 675. Gods anger chiefly discovered against it Page 684 5 6. we should be sensible of the misery that attends it Page 703 4. and the justice of that misery a Page 704 ad 707. 't is just ibid. to be detested Page 707. common among professors Page 712 13. the sin of the old World Page 713 717. natural to man a Page 714. ad 719. its causes Page 284. a 730. ad 740. its frequency to be lamented Page 740 1. directions against it Page 742 3. Vnbelievers who are a Page 719. ad 730 786. Vnderstanding the first blot of sin was on it Page 153. of man its blindness Page 153 565. some notions left in it Page 179. Regeneration begins in it and how 't is wrought upon a Page 218 ad 220. 440 470. enlightned by the spirit in conviction Page 574. enlightned in a renewed man Page 92 †Vnregenerate their actions only seemingly good Page 22 3. their misery Page 49 50 51. 133. their condemnation whether simply for not being regenerate Page 178. conscience awakened accuses more for wilful sins than for being unregenerate Page 183. must not come to the Supper Page 777. a 780 ad 784. sin alive in them Page 1314. Vnion of the two natures fitted Christ to be a Redeemer Page 287 291. by the Holy Ghost Page 290. with God and Christ not without regeneration Page 31 2. of a believer with Christ the ground of imputation Page 869 1200. makes him happy Page 701. in the Lords Supper Page 762. explained Page 1339. by Faith Page 1200. the foundation of communion Page 1341 2. Vnworthy receiving the Sacrament what a Page 816. ad 819. its sinfulness Page 819. its danger Page 8â—0 to be examined and avoided Page 822. Voluntary services from a regenerate man and him only Page 24 89. Christs death was Page 384 837 877 918 106 †its voluntariness explained Page 877. 8 9. proved Page 880. necessary it should be Page 881. W. WAnts of believers shall be supplied Page 340. Watchfulness over our hearts a means of Mortification Page 1321. a means to pervert bad thoughts Page 15 †to be join'd with Prayer Page 17 †Weak Grace Vid. Grace Will those that are weak in Grace should see how that stands Page 117. naturally corrupt Page 143. 152. cannot regenerate it self a Page 144. ad 147 a 156. ad 174. cannot co-operate with God in Regeneration a Page 171 ad 174. its Liberty Vid. Liberty conceits of its freedom in spirituals groundless proud dangerous Page 198. ad 202. God only can work on Page 208. not left in indifferency in Regeneration Page 214 221 226. immediately wrought on in it Page 220 453. not compelled in it Page 221. subjecting Gods grace to it absurd Page 1353. of a renew'd man changed Page 92 †Vid. Regeneration Wilfulness the cause of mens ruin Page 705 6. Vid. Impotence Wisdom of God overthrown by the Patrons of free-will Page 157. in governing free agents Page 179. not disparaged in his commands and promises though special grace be denied Page 191. displayed in Regeneration Page 214. glorified in Christ Page 250 257 344 505. Christ filled with and why Page 295. 1133. known
you would do a spark of fire in a heap of straw We must not treat with them Paul's resolve is a good pattern His Annibal virtute non morâ frangitur not to confer with flesh and blood †Gal. 1.16 We do not debate whether we should shake a viper off our hands If it be plainly a sinful motion a treaty with it is a degree of disobedience for a putting it to the question whether we should suckle it is to question whether God should be obeyed or no. If it savour not of the things of God hear not its reasons and complement it with no less indignation than our Saviour did his officious Disciple upon his carnal advice Get thee behind me Satan Mat. 16.22 23. Excuse it not because 't is little Small vapours may compact themselves into great clouds and obstruct our sight of heaven a little poison may spread its venom through a great quantity of meat Ex hinc nota est infirmitas mea quia multo faciliùs irruunt abominandae phantasiae quam discedunt Kemp. de Imit Chr. lib. 3. cap. 20. We know not how big a small motion like a Crocodile's egg may grow and how ravenous the breed may prove it may if entertain'd force our Judgment drag our Will and make all our affections Bedlams Besides since the Fancy is that Power in us upon which the Devil can immediately imprint his suggestions and that we know not what army he hath to back any sinful motion if once the gate be set open let us crush the brat betimes and fling the head over the wall to discourage the party Well then let us be ashamed to cherish that in our thoughts which we should be ashamed should break out in our words or actions therefore as soon as you perceive it base spit it out with detestation as you do a thing you unexpectedly find ungrateful to your Palate 3. Improve them Poisons may be made medicinable Let the thoughts of old sins stir up a commotion of anger and hatred We feel shiverings in our spirits and a motion in our blood at the very thought of a bitter Potion we have formerly taken why may we not do that spiritually which the very frame and constitution of our bodies doth naturally upon the calling a lothsom thing to mind The Romans sins were transient but the shame was renewed every time they reflected on them †Rom. 6.21 Whereof you are now ashamed they reacted a detestation instead of the pleasure so should the revivings of old sins in our memories be entertain'd with our sighs rather than our joy We should also manage the opportunity so as to promote some further degrees of our conversion * Psal 119.59 I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies There is not the most hellish motion but we may strike some sparks from it to kindle our love to God renew our repentance raise our thankfulness or quicken our obedience Is it a blasphemous motion against God It gives you a just occasion thence to awe your heart into a deeper reverence of His Majesty Is it a lustful thought Open the floud-gates of your godly sorrow and groan for your original sin Is it a remembrance of your former sin Let it wind up your heart in the praises of him who delivered you from it Is it to tempt you from duty Endeavour to be more zealous in the performance of it Is it to set you at a distance from God Resolve to be a light shining the clearer in that darkness and let it excite you to a closer adherence to him Are they envious thoughts which steal upon you Let thankfulness be the product that you enjoy so much as you do and more than you deserve Let Satan's fiery darts enflame your love rather than your Lust and like a skilful Pilot make use of the violence of the winds and raging of the Sea to further you in your spiritual voyage This is to beat the Devil and our own hearts with their own weapons who will have little stomach to fight with those arms wherewith they see themselves wounded There is not a remembrance of the worst objects but may be improved to humility and thankfulness as St. Paul never thought of his old persecuting but he sank down in humiliation and mounted up in admirations of the riches of grace 4. Continue your resistance if they still importune thee and lay not down thy weapons till they wholly shrink from thee As the wise man speaks of a fool's words Eccles 10.13 so I may not only of our blacker but our more aerial phancies The beginning of them is foolishness but if suffered to gather strength they may end in mischievous madness therefore if they do continue or reassume their arms we must continue and reassume our shield * Eph. 6.16 Above all taking the shield of faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking up again Resistance makes the Devil and his imps fly but forbearance makes them impudent In a battel when one party faints and retreats it adds new spirits to the enemy that was almost broken before so will these motions be the more vigorous if they perceive we begin to flag That encouraging command Resist the Devil and he will flye from you †Jam. 4.7 implies not only the beginning a fight but continuance in it till he doth fly We must not leave the field till they cease their importunity nor encrease their courage by our own cowardise 5. Joyn Supplication with your opposition Watch and pray are sometimes linkt together * Mat. 26.41 The diligence and multitude of our enemies should urge us to watch that we be not surpriz'd and our own weakness and proneness to presumption should make us pray that we may be powerfully assisted Be as frequent in solliciting God as they are in solliciting you as they knock at your heart for entrance so do you knock at heaven for assistance And take this for your comfort As the Devil takes their parts so Christ will take yours at his Father's Throne he that pray'd that the Devil might not winnow Peter's faith will intercede that your own heart may not winnow yours If the waves come upon you and you are ready to sink cry out with Peter Master I perish and you shall feel his hand raising you and the winds and waves rebuked into obedience by him The very motion of your hearts heaven-ward at such a time is a refusal of the thought that presseth upon you and will be so put upon your account When any of these buzzing flies discompose you or more violent hurricanes shake your minds cry out with David Psa 86.11 12. Vnite my heart to fear thy Name and a powerful word will soon silence these disturbing enemies and settle your souls in a calm and a praising posture 4. A fourth sort of directions is concerning good motions whether they spring naturally from a gracious principle or
are peculiarly breath'd in by the spirit There are ordinary bubblings of grace in a renewed mind as there are of sins in an unregenerate heart for grace is as active a principle as any because 't is a participation of the divine nature But there are other thoughts darted in beyond the ordinary strain of thinking which like the beams of the Sun evidence both themselves and their original And as concerning these motions joyn'd together take these Directions in short 1. Welcom and entertain them As 't is our happiness as well as our duty to stifle evil motions so 't is our misery as well as our sin to extinguish heavenly Strange fire should be presently quench'd but that which descends from heaven upon the Altar of a holy soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polycarp Epist ad Phil. terms holy persons must be kept alive by quickning meditation When a holy thought lights suddenly upon you which hath no connexion with any antecedent business in your mind provided it be not unseasonable nor hinder you from any absolutely necessary duty either of religion or your calling receive it as a messenger from heaven and the rather because 't is a stranger You know not but you may entertain an Angel yea something greater than an Angel even the Holy Ghost Open all the powers of your souls like so many Organ-pipes to receive the breath of this Spirit when he blows upon you 'T is a sign of an agreeableness between the heart and heaven when we close with and preserve spiritual motions We need not stand long to examine them they are evident by their holiness sweetness and spirituality We may as easily discern them as we can exotick plants from those that grow naturally in our own soil or as a palate at the first tast can distinguish between a rich and generous wine and a rough water The thoughts instill'd by the Spirit of adoption are not violent tumultuous full of perturbation but like himself gentle and dove-like solicitings Gal. 5.22 warm and holy impulses and when cherished leave the soul in a more humble heavenly pure and believing temper than they found it 'T is a high aggravation of sin to resist the Holy Ghost Acts 7.51 Yet we may quench his motions by neglect as well as by opposition and by that means lose both the profit and pleasure which would have attended the entertainment Salvation came both to Zacheus his house and heart upon embracing the first motion our Saviour was pleased to make him Had he slighted that 't is uncertain whether another should have been bestowed upon him The more such sprouts are planted and nourished in us the less room will stinking weeds have to root themselves and disperse their influence And for thy own good thoughts feed them and keep them alive that they may not be like a blaze of straw which takes birth and expires the same minute Brood upon them and kill them not as some birds do their young ones by too often flying from their nests David kept up a staple of sound and good thoughts he would scarce else have desired God to try and know them Psal 139.23 Tâ—y me and know my thoughts had they been only some few weak flashes at uncertain times 2. Improve them for those ends to which they naturally tend 'T is not enough to give them a bare reception and forbear the smothering of them but we must consider what affections are proper to be rais'd by them either in the search of some truth or performance of some duty Those gleams with shoot into us on the sudden have some lesson seal'd up in them to be opened and learned by us When Peter upon the crowing of the cock call'd to mind his Master's admonition he thought thereon and wept †Mar. 14 72. he did not only receive the spark but kindled a suitable affection A choice graff though kept very carefully by us yet if not presently set will wither and disappoint our expectation of the desired fruit No man is without some secret whispers to disswade him from some alluring and busie sin †Job 33.14 17. God speaks once yea twice that he may withdraw man from his purpose as Cain had by an audible voice Gen. 4.7 which had he observed to the damping the revengeful motion against his brother he had prevented his brother's death his own despair and eternal ruin Have you any motion to seek God's face as David had Let your hearts reply Thy face Lord will I seek * Psal 27.8 The address will be most acceptable at such a time when your heart is tuned by One that searcheth the deep things of God †1 Cor. 2.10 and knows his mind and what airs are most delightful to Him Let our motion be quick in any duty which the Spirit doth suggest and while he heaves our hearts and oyls our wheels we shall do more in any religious service and that more pleasantly and successfully than at another time with all our own art and industry for his injections are like water poured into a pump to raise up more and as Satan's motions are not without a main body to second them so neither do the Spirit 's go unattended without a sufficient strength to assist the entertainers of them Well then lye not at anchor when a fresh gale would fill thy sails but lay hold of the present opportunity These seasons are often like those influences from certain conjunctions of the Planets which if not according to the Astrologer's opinion presently applied pass away and return not again in many ages So the Spirit 's breathings are often determined that if they be not entertained with suitable affections the time will be unregainable and the same gracious opportunities of a sweet entercourse may be for ever lost for God will not have his holy Spirit dishonoured in always striving with wilful man Gen. 6.3 When Judas neglected our Saviour's advertisement John 13.21 the Devil quickly enters and hurries him to the execution of his traiterous project v. 27. and he never meets with any motion afterwards but from his new Master and that eternally fatal both to his body and soul 3. Refer them if possible to assist your Morning Meditation that like little Brooks arising from several Springs they may meet in one channel and compose a more useful Stream What straggling good thoughts arise though they may owe their birth to several occasions and tend divers ways yet list them in the service of that truth to which you have committed the government of your mind that day As Constables in a time of necessary business for the King take up men that are going about their honest and lawful occasions and force them to joyn in one employ for the publick Service Many accidental glances as was observed before will serve both to fix and illustrate your Morning Proposition But if it be an extraordinary injection and cannot be referred to your