of this will not be sufficient to give us solid Content and Satisfaction at that time nor be a Foundation for our Faith to rest upon Those words that we have read that the Wages of Sin is Death will then run in our Minds and we shall be then ready to say Art thou come to call our Sins to remembrance Tho' Men in a hurry of Business do not now consider yet then assurance of Pardon of Sin will of all things be most satisfactory to our Minds and the want of it will be the most afflicting Consideration imaginable 2 dly Being well-resolv'd and assur'd of the Way that God will pardon Sin let us always have it in our eye and put it in practice Let us be sure that we heartily repent of our Sins turn to God make Application to him and come under the Terms of the Covenant of Grace that so our Faith and Hope may finally rest in God as the Apostle speaks All that is reveal'd to us concerning Christ and the Gospel is for this End and Purpose and there is nothing in the World that is so well secur'd as the Pardon of our Sins and Everlasting Safety in the way of the Faith of the Gospel For upon these Terms it hath Settlement from the Perfection of the Divine Nature who is the first and chiefest Goodness and who cannot fail to commiserate every compassionable Case And I declare to you that the Case of a Creature finite and fallible if he do repent and turn to God is sorry for what he hath done amiss and return to his Duty is compassionable And this we are assur'd of not only from the Nature of God but from the Revelation of his Mind and Will For as is his Nature such are the Resolutions of his Mind and Will That SIN is pardonable is the Foundation of all our Religion and Application to God Fundamental to Faith and to all Affiance Trust and Confidence in God For tho' the Act of a Creature may be aggravated in respect of the Person against whom it is committed yet in themselves they are but Acts of Weakness And I shall shew you that they are so in God's account and esteem and therefore God doth not charge us so deeply for them as he might nor so much aggravate the Affronts against his own Majesty but considers and allows for the Weakness of the Creature So Psalm 103. 14. For he knoweth our Frame and remembereth that we are Dust. Therefore God doth not so highten our Failings and Neglect of him as he might do from the Height and Excellency of his own Majesty but he doth look upon them as the Failings and Miscarriages of weak and frail Creatures So Isa. 57. 16. These places of Scripture show that God doth consider what we are and gives allowance for our Shortness Weakness and Infirmity being the Condition in which we were made He considers that we are but finite and fallible and consist of different Materials a Divine and Heavenly Spirit and a Gross Body He knows that we have a great Government the ruling of sundry Appetites and must subordinate all the Motions of Sense to the Dictates of Reason and Understanding which is the greatest Performance in the World Yet this Humane Nature is put upon and herein we have a greater Province to administer than even the Angels themselves they not having so gross a Body as we have nor expos'd to so much Evil as we are But God he knoweth our FRAME and upon that account is not extream to mark what is done amiss A Creature as a Creature is finite and fallible and yet we are not the most perfect of God's Creation Now for Fallible to fail is no more than for Frail to be broken and for Mortal to die Where there is Finite and Limited Perfection there is not only a Possibility but a Contingency to Fail to Err to be Mistaken not to know and to be deceiv'd And where the Agent is such there is place for Repentance Repentance is that which makes a Finite Being failing capable of Compassion If Repentance did not take effect it would be too hazardous for a Creature to come into Being If upon a Laps an Error or Mistake we should be undone to Eternity without all hope of Recovery Who would willingly enter upon this State These are Matters fit for Consideration and very satisfactory to considerate Minds and to awaken'd Consciences Then 3 dly Let us entertain right Notions and Apprehensions of God and conclude that he is of his own Nature placable and reconcileable It is consequent upon Sin to commit a further Evil to delight in it to love it and to live in it and from hence to fear and hate God who is offended by it For this is certain where Men are affraid they do not love and where they hate for their own Preservation if they could they would dissable such as are Formidable and in a Capacity to do them Harm Now if we look upon God as our Enemy as we shall do if we sin against him and do not repent we shall fear and dread him and so Hate him not Love and Delight in him For this is certain we always suspect that the wrong'd Person will revenge himself and take all advantage to do himself Right unless we make our Peace with him And were God like unto us there were just cause for this Suspicion But we may satisfie our selves from what God hath declar'd that there is no cause to fear in the way of Repentance and Faith for as much as God will perform the Terms of his own Gracious Dispensation which is to pardon all such as sincerely repent and believe the Gospel 4 thly It this be true that we cannot be rid of Sin save only by some Act of God then let us not do that which is so much to our own Prejudice upon such easie Terms as commonly * to offend since it is not in our power to undo it For Sin committed cannot be avoided unless by God's Pardon as well as our Repentance And our Repentance is but our Qualification for Pardon Pardon it self is the Act of God and depends upon the use of his Power God hath Power over his own Right and may abate of it what he pleaseth Now if a Man once sin farewel for ever the Righteousness of Innocency this is that which can never be attain'd for it can never be made that what hath been done was not done or that every sinful Act did not deserve Punishment In this State of Sin we are only made whole recover'd and restor'd and this Relief we have by the Divine Grace So that we cannot in any Reason allow our selves to commit Iniquity for the time to come or to return to Folly for this were to turn the Grace of God into Wantonness and to abuse the Divine Benignity and Compassion and to make void the Effect thereof and to do what in us lyes that the
according to the Difference of Good and Evil to do the one and to avoid the other Which are not positive and arbitrary Impositions but they arise from Conveniences and from Inconveniences of our Natures States and Relations So that the Sinner is a Person of violent Practice and one who doth unnatural Acts. And an Impenitent is one of a senceless and stupid Mind The Things that are the Bane of Mankind and that do alienate us from God are Sensuality Worldly-mindedness and Wickedness The two former of these do sink the Creation of God below it self so that it doth not continue the same that God made it A Man by these is render'd utterly unfit for Converse and Communication with God For by these he sinks himself below his Kind and makes himself equal to the Beast that perishes And by the latter * viz. Wickedness Man passeth into a clean contrary Nature becomes an Enemy to God and makes God an Enemy to him Against Sensuality and Worldliness I propose for Remedy the Application of the Principles of Reason and Vertue and the applying of our highest Faculties to their End and Object For while the Mind is employ'd in Heavenly Meditation or in extracting Spiritual Notions from material Things it is employ'd worthy of Intelectual Nature And our proper Business is to be thus employ'd By which the Concerns of the Body will be either laid aside or moderately engaged in and regarded Whereas this Power of our Souls is as it were lost where Men use themselves as if they had no Spirits but were altogether Body or as if the Body were the principal or governing Part. And in such a Condition are they who cannot understand what we mean when we bid them lift up their Hearts to God For the Candle of God's lighting within them whereby they are qualified to find God out in his Works and to follow him in his Ways either it burns so dim that they cannot see by it or it is quite put out For it is found by Experience that the Malignity of the Heart doth blind the Understanding And true Wisdom will never abide in a malicious and wicked Soul There are indeed Souls that are * so active and so well acquainted with Heavenly Meditation that they very well know what is the Food of Souls and have the fore-taste of the Delight and Pleasure of the other World And certainly these Men have the greatest Satisfaction in their Lives of any other Persons For there is more of Satisfaction in Meditation in Reading in Conference about Divine Things in Application to God by Prayer and other holy Exercises than in any bodily Pleasure whatsoever For all bodily Exercise comes off with disquiet of Spirit Whereas in the other Way there is Refreshment every Moment There is new Acquisition For if there be any thing like Infinite in the Creation under God it is in Invention and the Power of Thinking This is the Advantage of Intelectual Exercise above Bodily Exercise The one works inwardly is still on the getting hand and is still in use for what this Man gets he hath still in store and that which is got in this way of Intelectual Employment will still improve by Use and what we get we always keep for Knowledge is no burden Whereas in things of the Body Use and Want Spend and be ever after without But it is no wonder that they who never acquainted themselves with retiring from the World know not what these Things mean Who mind only Worldly Things and know no more than what belongs to the Animal Life But on the other side if a Man make Application to God he acts with all his Might he recollects himself and gathers himself into himself that he may receive from God what God hath to communicate And the Things that God hath and doth offer are so great and glorious that our narrow Vessels had need be wholly emptied to make room for them Therefore the Minds Substraction from the World is necessary by way of Preparation and holy Meditation to beget in us such a Disposition by which we may receive from God A Man that can enjoy himself alone by Consideration and exercising his Faculties may run through as it were all times For a Man may live before he lives and after in this way He may by Reading acquaint himself with what was in former Times and by what Things are he may guess what are to come If he reflect upon Things past and view Things that are present and take a Prospect of Things to come as the Effect of Causes that are in being in this way Rational Faculties have sufficient Employment Whereas they that are always drudging in the Affairs of the World and never enjoy themselves alone will find little Satisfaction in these Things It is the proper Work of Reason in Man to find God out in his Works and to follow him in his Ways It is the proper Employment of our intelectual Faculties to be conversant about God to conceive aright of him and then to resemble and imitate him Religion is an Obligation upon us to God The first Motion of Religion is to understand what is true of God And the second is to express it in our Lives and to copy it out in our Works The Former is our Wisdom And the Latter is our Goodness In these Two consist the Health and Pulchritude of our Minds For Health to the Body is not more than Vertue is to the Mind A deprav'd and vicious Mind is as really the Sickness and Deformity thereof as any foul and loathsome Disease is to the Body And as really as these tend to the Death and Dissolution of the Soul and Body so the Vices of the Mind tend to the Separation of God and the Soul What is short and inferior to Converse with God doth require a Recess from Worldly Business and Employment A Man can hardly compose an ordinary Poem without this But for the noblest Employment receiving from God and making Acknowledgment to him is a Man fit for this in the Hurry of Business and Confusion of Things It is also observed that this Life of Privacy and Retirement is either the best or the worst Life For in it we do as God doth or we imitate the Devil He who can be alone to his own Content in Measure and Degree is as God is For what other Employment had God from Eternity but satisfying himself in his own Goodness But as * this may be * the best so it may be the worst Life For a Man may be employ'd in contriving Mischief as the Devil is whose Work is said to be to bring Men into Condemnation If therefore * we are alone to ill Purposes and Designs then Solitariness and Retirement do make the worst Life * But if * Man be retired and alone and not intelectually employ'd then through Stupidity and Dulness he sinks down into the State of a Beast For take it for a certain Truth to be
an END Now we know that no more of a Mean is design'd than what is necessary for the End This is that which makes a Mean considerable the Relation it has unto the End A Medicine may be bitter and costly No Man takes Physick for Physick's sake but in order to his Health In a Mean we only look how far it is available to the End God therefore inflicts Punishment as a means to obtain an End that is better Therefore sometimes he brings a small Evil to prevent a greater and a present to prevent a future and suffering in time to prevent suffering hereafter and a harder Condition in this World which is but for a while that our Condition may be better secur'd in the othe World The Divine Goodness doth aim at two things in Punishments the Reformation of the Offender and the Information of the By-stander And those that are in Authority among us inflict Punishment not as an End of their own Invention not for Revenge upon the Party * as we observe even * as to those who are guilty of the greatest Crimes as Murderers and Highway-Men who must of necessity be condemn'd for the Publick Safety and Defence of the Law Yet how much Clemency do they shew towards them and what Pains do they take that their Souls may be saved and their Bodily Sufferings prove Sanatory to their Souls So that Punishment is for doing Good to the Offender and to the By-stander that they seeing the Evil that Sin brings upon Men may be better inform'd Therefore I take it for granted that where there is Wisdom and Goodness in the Agent all Punishment is for Instruction Reformation and bettering of the Offender or for Example to By-standers And I cannot tell what is Good in Punishment but these two So that Punishment hath the place of a Mean not of an End A Creature must not contradict the Divine Will and avow it as its Priviledge and stand to it as every one that is impenitent doth Whosoever commits a Sin against his Light Judgment and Conscience if he do not repent of it he contracts a Habit and interpretatively he commits the Sin over and over again and he lives in it For if he did not justifie it why doth he not disclaim it repent of it ask God's Forgiveness and more carefully withold his Consent for time to come It is not a thing credible that God will pardon Sin without Repentance To SIN and NOT TO REPENT is to speak Defiance against God and to usurp upon him to deny his Authority and make our selves Lawless and Arbitrary than which nothing can be a greater Affront to God 'T is of most dangerous and mischievous Consequence He that sins openly and doth not repent he doth invite nay in a sort warrant other Men to do the like and therefore for the Safety of others it is necessary to punish such It is not at all Compassionable There is an Incapacity in the Recipient tho' there be no want of Mercy in God For he is infinitely Merciful and Gracious but the Subject is altogether incapable And indeed no Man doth regard Pardon of that of which he doth not repent He slights any thing of this nature If a Man doth not repent he doth not care for God's Pardon Nay how can that be forgiven which the Committer doth undertake to warrant and to justifie Such an Act of Grace if it were offer'd would be despis'd A Creature therefore must not contradict the Creator's Will or controul the immutable and unalterable Law of everlasting Righteousness Goodness and Truth and avow it and stand to it For God's Righteousness engages him to controul the Lust of Sinning and taking Delight in Evil and it is natural for him so to do As God is the first and chiefest Goodness and as he is the Governour of the World it doth concern him to controul Evil and to maintain Right He is Supream and Soveraign therefore must not be affronted But if the Sinner leave off to sin and condemn himself then the Necessity of Punishment is taken away For that for which Punishment is made use of is obtain'd without Punishment And we never make use of a Mean if the End be obtain'd Punishment in the hand of God is either for the maintaining his Authority or for the Defence of Righteousness or for the Reformation of a Sinner or for an effectual Admonition to the By-stander Now Reformation and Amendment are better secur'd by Mens Repentance than by their Destruction And also the Defence of Righteousness is better secur'd by this way than any other For if Men suffer yea if they perish everlastingly they perish only on this account because they cannot avoid it And there may be in Hell those that blaspheme God as you read in the Revelations A Sinner's voluntary Submission to God and humble Acknowledgment hath more of Vertue in it and is more pleasing to God than either being turn'd out of Being or suffering Hell-Torments to Eternity For the one tends to mending the Mind which is a thing good in it self the other to Exasperation So Rev. 16. 9. Men were scorch'd with great Heat and blasphem'd God and they repented not to give him Glory Now if the Sinner repent you have his Consent and his whole Heart you have then gain'd his Mind and Soul and he doth then all that is in him to do Now it is a greater Excellency to win and reconcile by Gentleness and Fairness than to vanquish and overcome by Power and Force To win and overcome by fair Means by Reason and Argument by Courtesie and Gentleness these shew Wisdom and Goodness but to crush and subdue may be done by Power and Subtlety by Power because the Person cannot make defence by Subtlety because the Person was surpriz'd and taken at unawares The Creature 's suffering Punishment is a very sorry amends for Transgression For what doth God gain by it God is so far from being recompenc'd by the Suffering of contumacious Sinners that I dare say it is more satisfactory to God more according to his Mind that a Sinner should repent and humbly acknowledge his Offence in this State in which he is than * undergo the suffering of the Damn'd to Eternity For God gains nothing by the one but he hath the Heart of the Dequent by the other Now for Application In the first place since it is of such importance to us that we have Remission of Sin let us dwell long upon it by serious Meditation and Consideration till our Minds have Assurance and Satisfaction and till we come to a firm Resolution in it For this is fundamental to Faith and necessary to prevent our Despair when we come to die For then it will either be the poor Security which Sencelesness or stupid Ignorance works in us or else there will be Confusion of Thought and we shall not know what to do if this Knowledge by not confirm'd and settled in the Soul A National Apprehension