Gospel which you enjoy leads you to the Fountain of pardon and peace Iâ—a 53. 5. By his stripes we are healed The voice of the Gospel is peace peace to every one that believeth a rational peace founded upon the full satisfaction of Christ Ephes. 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace Here you see Justice and Mercy kissing each other God satisfied and the Sinner justified for Conscience demands as much to satisfie it as God demands to satisfie him if God be satisfied Conscience is satisfied O blessed are the people that hear this joyful sound Psal. 89. 15. And doubtless it is a joyful sound to every convinced humbled Soul Beautiful upon the Mountains are the Feet of them that bring good tydings that publish peace It is a Gospel worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1. 15. it brings with it a fulness of blessings among the People O England O Dartmouth Provoke not thy God to extinguish this blessed light Great is our wantonness and ominous is our barrenness and ingratitude Yet a little while the light is with you walk whilst ye have the light lest darkness come upon you for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth John 12. 35. Should God blow out this light whither will you go Who shall pour in Balm to your distressed bleeding Consciences ' II. Inference Hence in like manner it follows that the greatness heinousness of past sins is no bar to believing and accepting Christ upon Gospel terms Let no sinner be dismaid by the atrocity and heynousness of sins past from coming unto Jesus Christ for remission and peace I am awar what mischievous use Satan makes of former sins to discourage Souls from the work of Faith by heaping them together he raiseth up a Mountain betwixt Christ and the distressed Soul but behold this day Christ leaping over these Mountains and skiping over these Hills Could this objection be rouled out of the way sinners would go on in hope but certainly if God have given thee a broken Heart and a willing Mind the greatness of thy sin need not discourage thee from believing For 1. thou hast sufficient encouragement from the sufficiency of the causes of pardon whatever thy particular enormities have been there is a sufficiency in the impulsive cause the Free Grace and Mercy of God Exod. 34. 6 7. Micah 7. 18 19. Isa. 55. 7 8 9. It is well there is Mercy enough in God to heal and cover all and there is no less sufficiency in the meritorious cause of pardon the Blood of Jesus Christ which taketh away all sin 1 Iohn 1. 7. 1 Iohn 29. And it must needs be so because it is Divine Blood Acts 20. 28. Neither is there any defect in the applying cause the Spirit of God who hath already begun to work upon thy Heart and is able to break it and bow it and bring it home fully to Christ and to compleat the work of Faith upon thee with power thou complainest thou canst not mourn nor believe as thou wouldst but he wants no ability to supply all the defects of thy repentance and faith Well then if the mercy of God be sufficient to pardon the sin of a Creature if the Blood of Christ the Treasures and Revenues of a King be able to pay the debts of a Beggar if the Spirit of God who works by an Almighty Power be able to convince thee of righteousness as well as sin Iohn 16. 9. I say if all the three causes of forgiveness be sufficient every one in its kind the first to move the second to purchase and the third to apply what hinders but thy trembling Conscience should go to Christ and thy discouraged Soul move onward with hope in the way of believing whatever thy former enormities have been 2. If God raises glory to his Name out of the greatness of the sins he pardoneth then the greatness of sin can be no discouragement to believing but so God doth he raiseth the glory of his Name from the multitude and magnitude of the sins he pardoneth Ier. 33. 8 9. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against me And it shall be to me a name of joy a praise and an honour before all the Nations of the Earth which shall hear all the good I do unto them And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it As a cure performed upon a Man labouring under a desperate Disease it magnifies the Physitian and spreads his Name far and near The Devil envies God this glory and thy Soul this comfort and therefore scares thee off from Christ by the aggravations of thy sins David was willing to give God the glory of pardoning his great iniquities and with that very argument moves him for a pardon Psal. 25. 11. Pardon mine iniquitie for it is great You see there are strange ways of arguing in Scripture which are not in use among Men this is one Lord pardon my sin for it is great he doth not say Lord pardon it for it is but a small offence no but pardon it because it is great and the greater it is the greater Glory wilt thou have in pardoning it And then there is another way of arguing for pardon in Scripture which is peculiar and that is to argue from former pardons unto new pardons when Men beg their pardon one of another they use to say I never wronged you before and therefore forgive me now but here it is quite otherwise Lord thou hast signed thousand of pardons heretofore therefore pardon me again such is that plea Numb 14. 19. Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy and as thou hast forgiven them from Egypt even until now 3. As great sins as those that now stare in the Face of thy Conscience have been actually forgiven to Men upon their humiliation and closing with Christ. Poor sinners under trouble of Conscience are apt to think there is no sin like theirs God forbid I should diminish and extenuate sin but certain I am that Free Grace hath pardoned as great Sinners as thou art upon their repentance and faith What think you had you had a Hand in putting Christ to Death would not that sin have been as dreadful as any that now discourages you Yea certainly you would have thought that an unpardonable sin and yet behold that very sin was no bar to their pardon when once they were pricked at the Heart and made willing to come to Christ Acts 2. 36 37 38. 4. If it be the design and policy of Satan to object the greatness of your sins to prevent the pardoning of them then certainly 't is neither your duty nor interest
Adam which are as the Sand upon the Sea shore that not only so many persons but all that they have done must come into Judgment even the very thoughts of their Hearts which never came to the knowledge of Men their Consciences to be interrogated all other Witnesses fully heard and examined how great a day must this day of the Lord then be The Second Vse But the main Use of this Point will be for Exhortation that seeing all the offers of Christ are recorded and witnessed with respect to a day of account every one of you would therefore immediately embrace the present gracious tender of Christ in the Gospel as ever you expect to be acquitted and cleared in that great day take heed of denials nay of delays and demurs For if the word spoken by Angels were stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Heb. 2. 2 3. The question is put but no answer made How shall we escape The wisdom of Men and Angels cannot tell how to enforce this Exhortation I shall present you with Ten weighty Considerations upon the matter which the Lord follow home by the blessing of his Spirit upon all your Hearts I. CONSIDERATION Consider how invaluable a mercy it is that you are yet within the reach of offered Grace The mercies that stand in offer before you this day were never set before the Angels that fell no Mediator was ever appointed for them Oh astonishing mercy that those Vessels of Gold should be cast into everlasting Fire and such Clay Vessels as we are thus put into a capacity of greater happiness than ever they fell from Nay the mercy that stands before you is not only denied to the Angels that fell but to the greatest part of your fellow Creatures of the same rank and dignity with you Psal. 147. 19 20. He sheweth his Word to Jacob his Statutes and his Iudgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his Iudgments they have not known them praise ye the Lord. A mercy deservedly celebrated with a Joyful Allelujah What vast Tracts are there in the habitable World where the name of Christ is unknown T is your special mercy to be born in a Land of Bibles and Ministers where it is as difficult for you to avoid and shun the Light as it is for others to behold and enjoy it II. CONSIDERATION Consider the nature weight and worth of the mercies which are this day freely offered you Certainly they are mercies of the first Rank the most ponderous precious and necessary among all the mercies of God. Christ the first born of mercies and in him pardon peace and eternal Salvation are set before you it were astonishing to see a starving Man refusing offered bread or a condemned Man a gracious pardon Lord what compositions of sloath and stupidity are we that we should need so many intreaties to be happy III. CONSIDERATION Consider who it is that makes these gracious tenders of pardon peace and Salvation to you even that God whom you have so deeply wronged whose Laws you have violated whose mercies you have spurned and whose wrath you have justly incensed His patience groans under the burden of your daily provocations he loses nothing if you be damned and receives no benefit if you be saved yet the first motions of Mercy and Salvation to you freely arise out of his Grace and good pleasure God intreats you to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5. 20. The blessed Lord Jesus whose blood thy sins have shed now freely offers that blood for thy Reconciliation Justification and Salvation if thou wilt but sincerely accept him ere it be too late IV. CONSIDERATION Reflect seriously upon your own vileness to whom such gracious offers of Peace and Mercy are made Thy sins have set thee at as great a distance from the hopes and expectations of pardon as any sinner in the World. Consider Man what thou hast been what thou hast done and what vast heaps of guilt thou hast contracted by a life of sin and yet that unto thee Pardon and Peace should be offered in Christ after such a life of Rebellion how astonishing is the mercy The Lord is contented to pass by all thy former Rebellions thy deep died Transgressions and to sign an Act of Oblivion for all that is past if now at last thy Heart relent for Sin and thy Will bow in obedience to the grâ—at commands and call of the Gospel Isa. 55. 2. 1. 18. V. CONSIDERATION Consider how many offers of mercy you have already refused and that every refusal is recorded against you How long you have tried and even tired the patience of God already and that this may be the last overture of Grace that ever God will make to your Souls Certainly there is an offer that will be the last offer a striving of the Spirit which will be his last striving and after that no more offers without you no more motions or strivings within you for evermore The Treaty is then ended and your last neglect or rejection of Christ recorded against the day of your account and what if this should prove to be that last tender of Grace which must conclude the Treaty betwixt Christ and you what undone wretches must you then be with whom so gracious a Treaty breaks off upon such dreadful terms VI. CONSIDERATION Consider well the reasonable mild and gracious nature of the Gospel terms on which Life and Pardon are offered to you The Gospel requires nothing of you but Repentance and Faith Acts 20. 21. Can you think it hard when a Prince pardons a Rebel to require him to fall upon his Knees and stretch forth a willing and thankful Hand to receive his Pardon Your Repentance and Faith are much of the same nature Here is no legal satisfaction required at your Hands no reparation of the injured Law by your doings or sufferings but an hearty sorrow for sins committed sincere purposes and endeavours after new obedience and a hearty thankful acceptation of Christ your Saviour and for your encouragement herein his Spirit stands ready to furnish you with Powers and Abilities Prov. 1. 23. Turn ye at my reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you I will make known my Words unto you and Isa. 26. 20. Lord thou hast wrought all our Works in us VII CONSIDERATION Again consider how your way to Christ by Repentance and Faith is beaten before you by thousands of sinners for your encouragement You are not the first that ever adventured your Souls in this path multitudes are gone before you and that under as much guilt fear and discouragement as you that come after can pretend unto and not a man among them repulsed or discouraged here they have found rest and peace to their weary Souls Heb. 4. 3. Acts 13. 39. Here the greatest of sinners have been set forth for an ensample to you
a draught When they Shall flee as a Cloud and as the Doves to their Windows God now opens a door of opportunity beyond expectation Oh that the Hearts of Ministers and People were suitably enlarged and the People made willing in the day of his Power Fourth Inference Hence we also infer the great dignity of the ministerial Office and the suitable respect and honour due to all Christs faithful Ministers The Lord Jesus himself is represented by them they stand in his stead 2 Cor. 5. 20. his authority is clothed upon them the honours and dishonours given them redounds to the person of Christ Luke 10. 16. The Galathians received Paul as an Angel of Gold even as Christ Jesus Gal. 4. 14. Yet how have their Persons and Office been vilified and despised in this degenerate age How many Learned Pious Laborious Peaceful Ministers of Christ have in this age been hunted up and down the World as wild Beasts been made the filth and off-scouring of all things unto this day I Cor. 4. 13. The Word signifies that dirt and filth which Scavengers rake together in the Streets to be carried to the Dunghil No doubt but Satan drives a great design in this to invalidate their Ministry discourage their Labours and break their Hearts but Jesus Christ will support us under all these abuses wipe off the dirt thrown at us for his Name sake and reserve some of us for better days Fifth Inference Is Christ Present in his Ordinances what a strong engagement then lyes upon you all to attend and wait assiduously upon the Ministry of the Word and to bring all yours that are capable there to wait upon Christ with you We read in the days of Christs flesh when he performed his miraculous Cures upon the Sick what thronging there was after him how Parents brought their Children Masters their Servants pressing in multitudes untyling the House to let down their Sick to him Luke 12. 1. Ah shall Men be so earnest for a Cure for their Bodies and so indifferent for their Souls 'T is true the Spirit of Christ is not tied by any necessity to act always with the World he acts as an arbitrary Agent Iohn 13. 8. The Wind bloweth where it listeth but it is engagement enough to wait continually upon his Ordinances that he sometimes graciously and effectually concurreth with them 'T is good to lye in the way of the Spirit and there is a blessing pronounced upon them that wait continually at his Gates Prov. 8. 34. Oh therefore neglect no season within your reach who knows but that may be the season of Life to thy Soul Sixth Inference What an unspeakable loss is the loss of the Gospel seeing the Presence of Christ comes and goes with it When the Gospel departs the Spirit of Christ departs with it from among Men no more conversions in Gods ordinary way are then to be expected well therefore might the Lord say in Hosea 9. 12. Wo to them when I depart from them The Spirit may in some sense depart whilst the Ordinances are left standing for a time among the People but then expect no such blessings or benefits from them But when God takes away Ordinances and Spirit too wo indeed to that People and are there not Sins amongst us presaging such a Judgment Oh England reflect upon thy barrenness under it where be the fruits answerable to such precious means The Gospel is a golden Lamp the graces of the Spirit communicated by it are golden Oyl as in that stately vision Zach. 4. will God maintain such a lamp fed with such precious Oyl for men to trifle and play by And no less ominous and portentous is that bitter enmity to the Gospel and the serious professors of it which I cannot speak without horror is every where found among us this great hatred brings on the days of visitation and the days of recompence with a swift and dreadful motion upon any people Hosea 9. 7. Seventh Inference If Christ be present by way of Spirit and energy in his Ordinances then there is no reason to despair of the Conversion and Salvation of the greatest of sinners that yet lye dead under the Gospel What though their Hearts be hard their Understandings dark and their Wills never so perverse and obstinate all must give way and open in the day of Christs power when his Spirit joyns himself with the Word This makes it an irresistable Word 't is glorious to observe the hearts of Publicans and Harlots opening and yielding to the voice of Christ Matth. 21. 31. What were those three thousand persons prickt at the Heart by Peters Sermon Acts 2. 36. but the very Men that with wicked Hands had crucified the Lord Jesus And what were the converted Corinthians but Idolaters turned from dumb Idols 1 Cor. 12. 2. Whoremongers Adulterers Effeminate c. 1 Cor. 6. 11. God hath his elect among the vilest of Men The Gospel will find them out and draw them home to Christ when the Spirit of Christ animates and blesseth it Well might the Apostle therefore say that the Gospel preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven is an object worthy for Angels to behold with admiration 1 Pet. 1. 12. What though Satan have strongly fortified their Souls against Christ with ignorance prejudice and enmity yet the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God to pull down these strong holds Despair not therefore of your carnal and dead hearted relations bring them to the Gospel upon the encouragement of these words of Christ Ioh. 5. 25. The hour cometh yea and now is that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear it shall live Eighth Inference Is Christ Spiritually present in his Ordinances oh then what an indeared affection should every gracious Soul bear to the Ordinances of God! They are the walks of Christ and his Spirit the appointed times and places for your meeting and Communion with him there your Souls first met with Christ there you began your acquaintance with him there you have had many sweet converses with him since that day they were the seed of your regeneration 1 Pet. 1. 23. The bread of life by which your Souls have been sustained ever since and therefore to be more esteemed by you than your necessary food Iob 23. 12. Here you have found the richest Cordials to revive and recover your drooping Spirits when ready to sink away in a faint fit under sin within you and afflictions upon you Psal. 119. 50. No wonder Davids Soul even fainted for the Courts of God and that Hezekiah desired a sign on his sick bed that he should go up to the House of the Lord. Here are the choicest comforts of the Saints upon Earth all our fresh springs are in Zion Psal. 87. 7. What a dungeon what a barren Wilderness were this World without them Prize the Ordinances love the Ordinances wait assiduously upon the Ordinances and pray for the
the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live From hence the Eighth Observation will be this VIII DOCT. That no Mans Will savingly and effectually opens to receive Christ till the Spiritual quickning Voice of Christ be first heard by the Soul. Now touching this Almighty Spiritual voice of Christ by which the Hearts of sinners are effectually opened Six things must be opened in order 1. The divers sorts and kinds of Christs voice 2. The general Nature of this internal voice 3. The innate characters and special properties of it 4. The objects to whom it is directed 5. The motives inducing Christ to speak to one and not to another 6. The special effects wrought and sealed by it upon every Soul that hears it First We will speak of the divers sorts and kinds of Christs voices I am here only concerned about two viz. 1. His External 2. His Internal voice 1. There is an External voice of Christ which we may call his Ministerial voice in the Preaching of the Gospel the Scriptures are his Word and Ministers his Mouth Ier. 15. 19. He that heareth them heareth Christ. 2ly There is also an Internal energetical voice of Christ consisting not in sound but power And betwixt these two there are two remarkable differences 1. The External or Ministerial voice of Christ is but the Organ or Instrument of conveying his Internal and Efficacious voice to the Soul in the former he speaks to the Ear and in or by that â—ound conveys his Spiritual voice to the Heart 2ly The External voice is evermore ineffectual and successless when it is not animated by this Internal Spiritual voice it was marvellous to see the walls of Iericho falling to the ground at the sound of Rams-horns there was certainly more than the force of an external blast to produce such an effect but more marvellous it is to see at the sound of the Gospel not only the weapons of iniquity falling out of sinners Hands but the very enmity it self out of their Hearts Here you see is a voice in a voice an Internal efficacy in the External sound without which the Gospel makes no saving impression Secondly This Spiritual voice of Christ must be considered in its general Nature which implies two things in it 1. Almighty Efficacy 2. Great Facilty I. Almighty Efficacy to quicken and open the Heart with a word O what manner of voice is this which carries such a vital power along with it In all the mighty works of Christ his power was still put forth in some voice as at the Resurrection of Lazarus John 11. 43. He cryed with a loud voice Lazarus come forth and he that was dead came forth So in the curing of the deaf Man Mark 7. 34. He saith unto him Ephphathai and straight way his Ears were opened Thus in the exerting of his Almighty glorious power in quickning a Soul Spiritually dead and opening the Heart that was lockt up by ignorance and unbelief an Internal Almighty Efficacy passeth from Christ along with the voice of the Gospel to effect this glorious work upon the Soul an Emblem where of we have in Ezek. 37. 9 10. Then said he unto me Prophesie unto the wind prophesie Son of Man to the wind saith the Lord God Come from the four winds O breath and breath upon these slain that they may live So I prophesied as he commanded me and the breath came into them and they lived and stood up upon their Feet an exceeding great Army The animating vital breath which quickned the dead came in or with the four winds of Heaven as this Almighty power of Christ doth with the sound of the Gospel and before it the Heart opens the Will bows Psal. 110. 3. Man can no longer oppose the power of God Man and Man stand upon equal ground the power of Man can repel the power of a fellow creature but when the power of Christ comes along with the voice of Man there is no more power to resist This voice of Christ then of which the Text speaks is an Almighty impression made upon the Soul of a sinner from Heaven which is to that Soul in stead of a voice and as fully expressive of Gods mind concerning it as any Articulate voice in the World can be It is a beam of light shining immediately from the Spirit into the Soul of a sinner as plainly and evidently discovering both its danger and duty as if a voice from Heaven had declared them thus it is said Isa. 8. 11. The Lord spake to Isaiah with a strong Hand that is by a mighty impression upon the Prophets Spirit which was as a voice to him thus here the Lord not only directs a suitable word to a sinners condition but also impresses it with such a strong Hand upon his Heart as leaves no doubt behind it but that it was the Lord himself that spake to his Soul this is Christs way of speaking by his Spirit to the inner Spiritual Ear of the Soul not by Oraculous voices which I take to be but the suppositions of an overtroubled fancy but by an efficacious impression upon the Heart As to Oraculous voices we may sooner meet Satanical delusions than Divine illuminations in that way The Learned Gerson speaks of a good Man who being in Prayer seemed to hear such a voice as this I am come in person to visit thee for thou art worthy but he justly suspecting a delusion of Satan shut his Eyes and said Nolo hic videre Christum c. I will not see Christ here it shall suffice me to see him in glory I am sure Christs voice in the written Word is more sure than a voice from Heaven 2 Pet. l. 1. 9. This inward Spiritual impression is Christs effectual call from Heaven and it is a voice sine strepitu Syllabarum without sound or syllable II. As this voice of Christ implies Almighty efficacy so it implies in like manner the facility of conversion unto Christ he can do it easily with a word of his Mouth as in the bodily cures performed by him in the days of his flesh how suddainly and easily did Christ effect them Speak the word only said the Centurion and my servant shall be healed Thus let the Spirit but speak internally to the deadest Soul and it lives Elijah did but cast his mantle upon Elisha as he was plowing in the Field and he presently entreats the Prophet to give him leave to go home and bid his friends farewel and he would follow him thus it is here let a beam of saving light shine from the Spirit into a Mans Heart let an effectual impression be made upon his Soul and he is presently made willing to quit and give up his dearest lusts and interests and to imbrace Christ upon the severest terms of the Gospel Conversion is too difficult a work for Angels or Men to effect in their own strength but Christ can do it with a
this life 't is the love of the World that makes men warp from the Rules of their own Consciences 2 Tim. 4. 10 't is this that makes men strain hard to get loose from the ties and bonds of their own Consciences The young man was convinced but the world was too hard for his Convictions Luk. 18. 23. the degree of his Sorrow was according to the degree of his Love to the Creature 'T is not the having but the overloving of the world that ruins us 'T is a worldly Heart which makes men twist and turn shuffle and dissemble at that rate they do in time of Temptation Could you once dethrone this Idol how secure and safe would your Consciences be The Church is described Rev. 12. 1. as clothed with the Sun and the Moon under her Feet The most zealous Age of the Church was the Age of Poverty Try these few considerations upon your hearts to loose them from the inordinate love of the World. 1. What good will the World do you when you have lost your Integrity for its sake and peace is taken away from the inner man VVhat joy of the world had Iudas and what comfort had Spira If you part with your integrity for it God will blast it and it shall yield you no joy 2. Except you renounce the world you are renounced by Christ. Disclaim it or he will disclaim you Luke 14. 33. No man can be admitted into Christs Service but by fealing those Indentures with him 3. VVhat ever loss or dammage you shall sustain for Christ and Conscience sake he stands obliged to repair it to you and that with an infinite overplus Mark 10. 29. 30. 4. In a word all the Riches Pleasures Honours and Liberties in the world are not able to give you that Joy and heart-refreshing Comfort that the acquitting and chearing voice of your own Consciences can do Settle these things in your hearts as defensatives against this danger VII Direction Lastly Beg of God and labour to get more Christian Courage and Magnanimity for want of this Conscience is often overborn against its own Light and Conviction Christian magnanimity is Consciences security 'T is excellent and becoming a Christian to be able to face any thing but the frowns of God and his own Conscience All the famous Champions of Truth and VVitnesses for God that came victorious out of the Field of Temptation with safe and unwounded Consciences were men of Courage and Resolution see Dan. 3. 16. Heb. 11. 27. Acts 21. 13. and what is this Christian Courage but the fixed resolution of the Soul to Encounter all dangers all sufferings all reproaches pains and losses in the strength of assisting Grace that shall assault us in the ways of our duty and so it stands opposed in Scripture to the Spirit of Fear Heb. 11. 27. to Shame Mark 8. 38. to Apostacy Heb. 10. 39. He must neither be afraid nor ashamed nor lose one inch of ground for the sake of what dangers he meets with and that because he hath embraced Christianity upon those terms and was told of all this before Ioh. 16. 1. because there 's no retreating but to our own ruin Heb. 10. 38. because he owes all this and much more than this to Christ Phil. 1. 29. because he understands the value of his Soul above his Body and of Eternals above and beyond all temporals Matth. 10. 28 and in a word because he believes the Promises of Gods Assistance and rewards Heb 11. 25 26 27. O my Friends were our fears thus subdued and our Faith thus exalted how free and safe would Truth be in our Consciences He that owns any Truth to live upon it or accommodate a carnal Interest by it will disown that Truth when it comes to live upon him let Conscience plead and say what it will but he that hath agreed with Christ upon these Terms to be content to be miserable for ever if there be not enough in Christ to make him happy this man will be a steddy Christian and will rather lie in the worst of the Prisons than to imprison Gods known Truths in Unrighteousness The Conclusion I have now done my Message I have set before you the Lord Jesus in the glory of his Free Grace and condescending Love to Sinners Oh that I had skill and ability to have done it better I have woed and expostulated with you on Christs behalf I have laboured according to my little measure of strength to cast up and prepare the way by removing the stumbling Blocks and Discouragements out of it This hath been a time of Conviction to many of you some have not been able to hold their Convictions any longer under restraints but many I fear do so and therefore I have in the close of all handled this startling and awakening Scripture among you to shew you what an horrid evil it is to detain Gods Truths in Unrighteousness I have also in the Name and Authority of God demanded all the Lords Prisoners his suppressed and restrained Truths at your hands If you will unbind your Convictions this day cut as under the bonds of carnal fear shame c. with which you restrain them those Truths you shall so make free will make you free If not but you will still go on stifling and suppressing them in your own Bosomes remember that there are so many VVitnesses prepared to give evidence against you in the Great Day And Oh that whilst you delay this Duty the sound of this Text may never out of your ears nor suffer you to rest For the wrath â—f God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness FINIS â—act lib. 70. de divina praemio p. 578 579. Secundo Lact. de justitia l. 5. p. 382 383. Bernardi Sermo 33 in â—antic Casus Consc. lib. 3 p. 116. S. Ford. Ambitio Sac. Animalis homâ— Durham in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cornu sic fit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per syncoâ—en 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doct. â— â— Reason 2. Reason Mr. Anth. Burgesse on 1 Cor. 3. Object Answ. Object Sol. Isa. 48. 8 9. 1. Reas. Isa. 27. 4. 2. Reas. 3. Reas. 4. Reas. 5. Reas. Mr. Lockier in Colos. 1. Consid. 2. Consid. 3. Consid. 4. Consid. 1. Motive 2. Motive 3. Motive 4. Motive Ephes. 1. 7. 5. Motive 6. Motive 1. Obj. Answ. 2. Obj. Answ. 1. Demonst. 2. Demonst. 3. 〈◊〉 4. Demonst Isa. 44. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qualiscunque fuerit peccator Hypocrita qui diu obstitit Evangelio 7. Doct. Object Sol. â— Iâ—fer II. Infer III. Infer IV. Infer V. Infer VI. Infer Object Answ. 8. Doct. * Clamor hic est pulsatio significant cogitata a Deo injecta ad monendam peccatoris conscientiam id Deus aliquandiu facit non semper Pools Synops in loc Quest. Answ. 1. Sign 2. Sign 3. Sign 4. Sign 5. Sign 9. Doct. I. Infer Mr. Anthony Burges in his Spiritual Refining 2. Infer 4. Infer 10. Doct. Method of Grace p. 25 1. Reas. 2. Reas. 3. Reas. 4. Reas. 1. Infer 2. Infer Object Sol. 3. Infer 4. Infer 1. Plea. 2. Plea. 3. Plea. 4. Plea. 5. Plea. Quest. Answ. Dr. Iacom in Rom. 8. p. 69 84. 1. Evid 2. Evid 3 Evid 4 Evid 5 Evid 6 Evid 7 Evid 8 Evid 9 Evid 10 Evid Text. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉