is one of the Articles or Conditions of our peace with God Isai. 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God and he will abundantly pardon But it 's manifest in many of us that we are no enemies to sin we secretly indulge it what bad names soever we call it by we will commit ten sins to cover one we cannot endure the most serious faithful seasonable private tender and necessary reproofs of Sin but our hearts swell and rise at it sure we are not reconciled to God whilest we embrace sin his enemy in our bofoms 5. Evidence We love not the Children of God nor are reconciled to them that bear his Image and how then can we be reconciled 5. Evid to God 1 Joh. 5. 1. He that loveth him that begat loveth them also that are begotten what at peace with the father and at War with the children It cannot be do not some that hope they have made their peace with God hate revile and persecute the Children of God Surely in that day we are reconciled to the Lord we are reconciled to all his people we shall then love a Christian as a Christan and by this we know we are passed from death to life 6. Evidence Lastly How can any man think himself to be reconciled to God who never closed heartily with Jesus Christ by 6. Evid faith who is the only dayes-man and peace-maker the alone mediator of reconciliation betwixt God and man This is a sure truth that all whom God accepts into favour are made accepted in the beloved Eph. 1. 6. If any man will make peace with God he must take hold of his strength accept and close with Christ who is the power of God or he can never make peace Isai. 27. He must be made nigh by the blood of Christ Eph. 2. 13. But alas both Christ and faith are strangers to many souls who yet perswade themselves to be at peace with God O fatal mistake 3. Use of Exhortation Lastly This point deserves a close vigorous application 3. Use. in a threefold exhortation First To Christs Ambassadors who treat with Souls in order to their reconciliation with God Secondly To those that are yet in their enmity and unreconciled state Thirdly to those that have embraced the terms of peace and submitted to the Gospel overtures First To the Ambassadors of reconciliation God hath put a 1. great deal of honour upon you in this high and noble imployment great is the dignity of your office to some you are the savour of death unto death and to others the savour of life unto life and who is sufficient for these things 2 Cor. 2. 16. But yet the Duty is no less than the dignity O what manner of men should we be for judgement seriousness affections patience and exemplary holiness to whom the management of so great a Concern betwixt God and man is committed First for Judgment and prudence how necessary is it in so weighty and difficult a business as this He had need be a man of wisdom that is to inform the ignorant of the nature and necessity of this great work and win over their hearts to consent to the Articles of peace propounded in the Gospel that hath so many subtil temptations to answer and so many intricate cases of conscience to resolve There are many strong holds of Satan to be battered and many stout and obstinate resistances made by the hearts of sinners which must be overcome and he had need be no Novice in religion to whom so difficult a province is committed Secondly Let us be Serious in our work as well as judicious Remember O ye Ambassadors of Christ you bring a message from the God of heaven of everlasting consequence to the souls of men The eternal decrees are executed upon them in your Ministry to some you are the savour of life unto life and to some the savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2. 16. Heaven and hell are matters of most awful and solemn Consideration O what an account have we also shortly to give unto him that sent us These are matters of such deep Concernment as should swallow up our very spirits the least they can do is to compose our hearts unto seriousness in the management of them Thirdly Be filled with tender affections toward the souls Vide Bowles pastor Evang. p. 136. of men with whom you treat for reconciliation you had need be men of bowels as well as men of brains you see a multitude of poor souls upon the brink of eternal misery and they know it not but promise themselves peace and fill themselves with vain hopes of heaven and is there a more moving melting spectacle in the world than this O think with what bowels of Commiseration Moses and Paul were filled when the one desired rather to be blotted out of Gods Book and the other to be accursed from Christ than that Israel should not be saved Exod. 32. 33. and Rom. 9. 3. Think how the Bowels of Christ yearned over Jerusalem Matth. 23. 37. and over the multitude Matth. 9. 36. Let the same mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus Fourthly Be patient and long-suffering towards sinners such is the value of one soul that it 's worth waiting all our days to save it at last the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing them that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. 24 25. The Lord waits with patience upon sinners and well may you Consider your selves how long was God treating with you ere you were won to him Be not discouraged if success presently answer not expectation Fifthly and Lastly be sure to back your Exhortations with drawing examples else you may preach out your last breath before you gain one soul to God The Devil and the Carnal hearts of your hearers will put hinderances enough in the way of your labours don't you put the greatest of all your selves O study not only to preach exactly but to live exactly let the misplacing of one action in your lives trouble you more than the misplacing of words in your discourses this is the way to succeed in your Embassy and give up your account with joy Secondly The exhortation speaks to all those that are 2. yet in a state of enmity and unreconciled to God unto this day O that may words might prevail and that you would now be intreated to be reconciled to God! The Ambassadors of peace are yet with you the treaty is not yet ended the Master of the house is not yet risen up nor the door of mercy and hope finally shut hitherto God hath waited to be gracious O that the long-suffering of God might be your salvation a day is hasting when God will treat
design thus far And this actual application is the work of the Spirit by a singular appropriation Fourthly and Lastly This expression imports the suitableness of Christ to the necessities of Sinners What they want he is made to them and indeed as money answers all things and is convertible into meat drink rayment physick or what else our bodily necessities do require so Christ is virtually and eminently all that the necessities of our souls require bread to the hungry soul and cloathing to the naked soul. In a word God prepared and furnished him on purpose to answer all our wants which fully hits the Apostles sense when he saith Who of God is made unto us wisdome and righteousness sanctification and redemption The sum of all is Doct. Doct. That the Lord Jesus Christ with all his precious benefits becomes ours by Gods special and effectual Application There is a twofold Application of our redemption one Primary the other Secondary the former is the Act of God the Father applying it to Christ our Surety and virtually to us in him the later is the Act of the holy Spirit personally and actually applying it to us in the work of conversion the former hath the respect and relation of an example model or pattern to this and this is produced and wrought by the vertue of that What was done upon the person of Christ was not only virtually done upon us considered in him as a common publick representative person in which sense we are said to dye with him and live with him to be crucified with him and buryed with him but it was also intended for a platform or Idea of what is to be done by the Spirit actually upon our souls and bodies in our single persons As he dyed for sin so the Spirit applying his death to us in the work of mortification causes us to dye to sin by the vertue of his death and as he was quickned by the Spirit and raised unto life so the Spirit applying unto us the life of Christ causeth us to live by spiritual vivification Now this personal secondary and actual application of redemption to us by the Spirit in his sanctifying work is that which I am engaged here to discuss and open Which I shall do in these following Propositions Propos. 1. The Application of Christ to us is not only Comprehensive of our Justification but of all those works of the Spirit which are known Propos. 1. to us in Scripture by the names of regeneration vocation sanctification and conversion Though all these terms have some small respective differences among themselves yet they are all included in this general the applying and putting on of Christ Rom. 13. 14. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Regeneration expresses those supernatural divine new qualities infused by the Spirit into the Soul which are the principles of all holy actions Vocation expresseth the terms from which and to which the soul moves when the Spirit works savingly upon it under the Gospel call Sanctification notes that holy dedication of heart and life to God our becoming the Temples of the living God separate from all prophane sinful practices to the Lords only use and service Conversion denotes the great change it self which the Spirit causeth upon the soul turning it by a sweet irresistible efficacy from the power of Sin and Satan to God in Christ. Now all these are imported in and done by the Application of Christ to our souls for when once the efficacy of Christs death and the vertue of his resurrection come to take place upon the heart of any man he cannot but turn from Sin to God and become a new creature living and acting by new principles and rules So the Apostle observes 1 Thes. 1. 5 6. speaking of the effect of this work of the Spirit upon that people Our Gospel saith he came not to you in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost there was the effectual application of Christ to them And you became followers of us and of the Lord ver 6. there was their effectual call And ye turned from dumb Idols to serve the living and true God ver 9. there was their conversion So that ye were ensamples to all that believe ver 7. there was their life of Sanctification or dedication to God So that all these are comprehended in effectual application Propos. 2. The Application of Christ to the souls of men is that great project Propos. 2. and design of God in this world for the accomplishment whereof all the Ordinances and all the officers of the Gospel are appointed and continued in the world This the Gospel expressly declared to be its direct and great end and the great business of all its officers Eph. 4. 11 12. And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some pastors and teachers till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ i. e. the great aim and scope of all Christs Ordinances and officers is to bring men into Union with Christ and so build them up to perfection in him or to unite them to and confirm them in Christ and when it shall have finished this design then shall the whole frame of Gospel Ordinances be taken down and all its officers disbanded The Kingdom i. e. this present oeconomy manner and form of Government shall be delivered up 1 Cor. 15. 24. what are Ministers but the Bridegrooms friends Ambassadors for God to beseech men to be reconciled when therefore all the elect are brought home in a reconciled state to Christ when the marriage of the Lamb is come our work and office expire together Propos. 3. Such is the Importance and great concernment of the personal application of Christ to us by the Spirit that whatsoever the father hath Propos. 3. done in the contrivement or the Son hath done in the accomplishment of our Redemption is all inavailable and ineffectual to our Salvation without this It is confessedly true that Gods good pleasure appointing us from eternity to Salvation is in its kind a most full and sufficient Impulsive cause of our Salvation and every way able for so much as it is concerned to produce its effect And Christs humiliation and sufferings are a most compleat and sufficient meritorious cause of our Salvation to which nothing can be added to make it more apt and able to procure our Salvation than it already is yet neither the one or other can actually save any Soul without the Spirits application of Christ to it for where there are divers social causes or concauses necessary to produce one effect there the effect cannot be produced until the last cause have wrought thus it is here The Father hath elected and the Son hath redeemed but until the Spirit who is the last cause have wrought his part also we cannot be
hearts which have a strong aversation from God naturally in them to close with him according to the Articles of peace contained in the Gospel that thereby they may be capable to receive the mercies and benefits purchased by the death of Christ which they cannot receive in the state of enmity and alienation Secondly Their Capacity described they act in Christs stead as his Vicegerents He is no more in this world to treat personally with sinners as once he did in the dayes of nâ—…s flesh but yet he still continues the treaty with this lower world by his officers requiring men to look upon them and obey them as they would himself if he were Corporally present Luke 10. 16. He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me Thirdly The manner of their acting in that Capacity prescribed and that is by humble sweet and condescending intreaties and beseechings this best suits that meek and Lamb-like Saviour whom they represent Thus he dealt with poor sinners himself when he conversed among them he would not break a bruised reed nor quench smoaking flax Isa. 42. 3. This is the way to allure and win the souls of sinners to Christ. From hence the Note is Doct. That the preaching of the Gospel by Christs Ambassadors is the Doct. means appointed for the reconciling and bringing home of sinners to Christ. This is clear from Rom. 10. 14. 1 Cor. 1. 21. and many other Scriptures Here we shall take into Consideration these three things First what is implyed in Christs treating with sinners by his Ambassadors or Ministers Secondly What the great Concernment they are to treat with sinners about is Thirdly What and when is the Efficacy of preaching to bring sinners to Christ. First We will open what is implyed and imported in Christs treaty with sinners by his Ambassadors or Ministers And here we find these six things implied First it necessarily implies the defection and fall of man from his estate of favour and friendship with God if no war with heaven what need of Ambassadors of peace the very office of the Ministry is an argument of the fall Gospel Ordinances and Officers came in upon the fall and expire with the Mediators dispensatory Kingdom 1 Cor. 15. 24 25. Then shall he deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father thenceforth no more Ordinances no more Ministers what use can there be of them when the treaty is ended They have done and accomplished all they were ever intended and designed for when they shall have reconciled to God all the number of his Elect that lay dispersed among the lost and miserable posterity of Adam and have brought them home to Christ in a perfect state Eph. 4. 12. c. Secondly It implies the singular grace and admirable condescension of God to sinful man That God will admit any treaty with him at all is wonderful mercy it 's more than he would do for the Angles that fell Jude 6. they are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgement of the great day Christ took not on him their nature but suffered Myriads of them to perish and fills up their vacant places in glory with a number of sinful men and women to whom the Law a warded the same punishment But that God will not only treat but entreat and beseech sinful men to be reconciled is yet more wonderful Barely to propound the terms of peace had been an astonishing mercy but to wooe and beseech stubborn enemies to be at peace and accept their pardon Oh how unparallell'd as this condescension Thirdly It implyes the great dignity and honour of the Inter illos qui regi regum inserviunt â—…egatisumus Dei Christique personam gerimus â—…ullus unquam nos impuâ—…e despicatâ—… habuit quin in Deum Chriâ—…umque idem injurius Bowles prâ—…fat ad past Evang. Gospel ministry We are Ambassadors for Christ Ambassadors represent and personate the Prince that sends them and the honours or contempts done to them reflect upon and are reckon'd to the person of their Master Luke 10. 16. he that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me Neither their persons nor parts are the proper ground and reason of our respects to them but their office and Commission from Jesus Christ. We are fallen into the dreggs of time wherein a vile contempt is poured not only upon the persons but the very Office of the Ministry and I could heartily wish that Scripture Mal. 2. 7 8 9. were throughly considered by us possibly it might inform us of the true cause and reason of this sore judgement but surely Christs faithful Ministers deserve a better entertainment than they ordinarily find in the world and if we did but seriously bethink our selves in whose name they come and in whose stead they stand we should receive them as the Galatians did Paul Gal. 4. 14. as Angels of God even as Christ Jesus Fourthly Christs treating with sinners by his Ministers who are his Ambassadors implies the strict obligation they are under to be faithful in their Ministerial imployment Christ counts upon their faithfulness whom he puts into the Ministry 1 Tim. 1. 12. They are accountable to him for all acts of their office Heb. 13. 17. If they be silent they cannot be innocent necessity is laid upon them and wo to them if they preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 16. Yea necessity is not only laid upon them to preach but to keep close to their Commission in preaching the Gospel 1 Thes. 2. 3 4 5. Our Exhortation was not of deceit nor of uncleanness nor in guile but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel even so we speak not as pleasing men but God which trieth our hearts the word is not to be corrupted to please men 2 Cor. 2. 17. their business is not to make them their disciples but Christs not to seek theirs but them 2 Cor. 12. 14. to keep close to their instructions both in the matter manner end of their Ministry So did Christ himself the treasure of wisdom and knowledge yet being sent by God he saith Job 7. 16. my doctrine is not mine but his that sent me And so he expects and requires that his Ambassadors keep close to the Commission he hath given them and be according to their measure faithful to their trust as he was to his Paul is to deliver to the people that which he also received from the Lord 1 Cor. 11. And Timothy must keep that which was committed to him 2 Tim. 1. 14. Fifthly It implies the removal of the Gospel ministry to be a very great judgment to the people The remanding of Ambassadors presages an ensuing War If the reconciling of souls to God be the greatest work then the removal of the means and instruments thereof must be the forest Judgement Some account the falling of the Salt upon the Table ominous but surely the falling of them whom
of the power is of God and not of us as it follows in the next words To the same purpose speaks the same Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 7. So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase Not any thing what can be more diminutively spoken of the Gospel preachers but we must not understand these words in a simple and absolute but in a comparative and relative sence not as if they were not necessary and useful in their place but that how necessary soever they be and what excellent gifts soever God hath furnished them with yet it is neither in their power nor choice to make the word they preach effectual to men if it were then the damnation of all that hear us must needs lye at our door then also many thousands would have been reconciled to God which are yet in the state of enmity but the effect of the Gospel is not in our power Thirdly But whatever efficacy it hath to reconcile men to God it derives from the spirit of God whose Cooperation 3. and blessing which is arbitrarily dispensed gives it all the fruit it hath Ministers saith one * Mr. Anthony Burges are like Trumpets which make no sound if breath be not breathed into them Or like Ezekiels wheels which move not unless the spirit move them or like Elisha's servant whose presence doth no good except Elisha's spirit be there also for want of the spirit of God how many thousands of souls do find the Ministry to be nothing to them If it be something to the purpose to any soul it is the Lord that makes it so This spirit is not limited by mens gifts or parts he concurrs not only with their labours who have excellent gifts but ostentimes blesses mean despicable gifts with far greater success beautiful Rachel is barren and blear-ey'd Leah bears children Ex duobus aetate jam grandibus impiis cur iste ita vocetuâ—… ut vocantem sequatur ille autem non nolito judicare si non vis errare inscrutabilia sunt judica dei cujus vult misâ—…retur Aug. de bono persec Cap. 8. Suppose saith Austin there be two Conduits in a Town one very plain and homely the other built of polished marble and adorned with excellent Images as Eagles Lions Angels the water refreshes as it is water and not as it comes from such or such a Conduit 'T is the spirit that gives the word all that vertue it hath he is the Lord of all saving influences he hath dominion over the word over our souls over the times and seasons of conversion and if any poor Creature attend the Ministry without benefit if he go away as he came without fruit surely we may say in this case as Martha said to Christ in reference to her brother Lazarus Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not dy'd so Lord if thou hadst been in this prayer in this Sermon this poor soul had not gone dead and carnal from under it And now what remains but that we apply this truth in those uses that it gives us First Use of Information Infer 1. Is the Preaching of the Gospel by Christs Ambassadors the way which God takes to reconcile sinners to himself Then how inexcusable are all those that continue in their state of enmity though the Ambassadors of peace have been with them all their lives long wooing and beseeching them to be reconciled to God O invincible obstinate incurable disease which is aggravated by the only proper remedy hath God been wooing and beseeching you by his Ambassadours so many years to be reconciled to him and will you not yield to any intreaties must he be made to speak in vain to charm the deaf Adder well when the milder Attributre hath done with you the seveer Attribute will take you in hand The Lord hath kept an account of every year and day of his patience towards you Luke 13. 7. These three years I came seeking fruit on this Fig-tree and finde none and Jer. 25. 3. These three and twenty years have I spoken unto you rising early and speaking but ye have not hearkened Well be you assured that God hath both the glass of your time and the vials of his wrath by him and so much of his abused patience as runs out of one so much of his incensed wrath runs into the other there is a time when this Treaty of peace will end when the Master of the house will rise up and the doors be shut Luke 13. 25. Then will you be left without hope and without Apology We read indeed of some poor and ineffectual pleas that will be made by some at the last day so Matth. 7. 22. We have Prophesied in thy name c. These pleas will not avail but as for you what will you plead possibly many thousand Ideots or poor weak-headed persons may perish many young ones that had little or no time in the world to acquaint themselves with matters of religion or understand the way of salvation many Millions of heathens that never heard the name of Christ nor came within the sound of Salvation who will yet perish and that justly Now whatsoever Apologies any of these will make for themselves in the last day to be sure you can make none God hath given you a Capacity and competent understanding many of you are wise and subtil in all your other concernments and only shew your folly in the great concernments of your Salvation you cannot plead want of time some of you are grown gray-headed under the Gospel you cannot plead want of means and opportunities the Ordinances and Ministers of Christ have been with you all your life long to this day sure if you be Christless now you must also be speechless then Infer 2. Hence it also follows That the world owes better entertainment Infer 2. than it gives to the Ministers of Christ. Christs Ambassadors deserve a better welcome than they find among men Your respects to them is founded upon their office and imployment for you Heb. 13. 17. and 1 Thes. 5. 12. They watch for your souls dare any of you watch for their ruine They bring glad tydings shall they return with sad tydings to him that sent them They publish peace shall they be rewarded with trouble O ungrateful world We read in Eph. 6. 20. of an Ambassador in bonds and he no ordinary one neither we read also a strange Challenge made by another at his own death Acts 7. 52. Which of all the prophets have not your fathers persecuted And they have slain them which shewed before the coming of the Just one Some that break the bread of life to you might want bread to eat for any regard you have to them The office of the Ministry speaks the abundant love of God to you your Contempt and abuse of it speaks the abundant stupidity or malignity of your hearts towards God what a
sad protestation doth Jeremy make against his ungrateful people Jer. 18. 20. shall evil saith he be recompenced for good for they have digged a pit for my soul remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them and to turn away thy wrath from them Gods mercy is eminently discovered in the institution and Satans malice is eminently discovered in the opposition of the Ministerial office Satan is a great and jealous Prince and it is no wonder he should raise all the forces he can to oppose Mr. Gâ—…rnals Christian Armor the Ambassadors of Christ When saith one the Gospel comes into his dominions it doth as it were by sound of Trumpet and beat of drum proclaim liberty to all his slaves and vassals if they will quit that Tyrant that hath so long held their souls in bondage and come under the sweet and easy government of Christ and can the Devil endure this think you if Christ send forth Ambassadors no wonder if Satan send forth opposers he certainly owes them a spite that undermine his government in the world Infer 3. Hence it follows that it nearly concerns all Christs Ambassadors Infer 3. to see that they be in a state of reconciliation with God themselves Shall we stand in Christ's stead by office and yet not be in Christ by Union Shall we intreat men to be reconciled to God and yet be at enmity with him our selves O let us take heed lest after we have preached to others we our selves be as cast-awayes 1 Cor. 9. 27. Of all men living we are the most miserable if we be Christless and graceless our Consciences will make more terrible applications of our doctrine to us in hell than ever we made to the vilest of sinners on earth O it 's far easier to study and press a thousand truths upon others than to feel the power of one truth upon our own hearts to teach others facienda quà m faciendo duties to be done than duties by doing them They are sad Dilamma's with which a learned Writer poses Gildas Salv. p. 15 16. such graceless Ministers If Sin be evil why do you live in it If it be not why do you dissuade men from it If it be dangerous how dare you venture on it If it be not why do you tell men so If God 's threatenings be true why don't you fear them If they be false why do you trouble men needlesly with them and put them into such frights without a cause Take heed to your selves lest you should cry down sin and not overcome it lest while you seek to bring it down in others you bow to it and become its slaves your selves it 's easier to chide at sin than to overcome i. That is a smart question Rom. 2. 21. Thou that teachest another teachest thou not thy self A prophane Minister was Converted by reading that Text once but how many have read it as well as he who never trembled at the consideration of it as he did 2. Use for Conviction Is this the method God uses to reconcile men to himself O then examine your selves whether yet the preaching of the 2. Use. Gospel hath reconciled you to God It 's too manifest that many among us are in the state of enmity unto this day we may say with the Prophet Isaiah 53. 1. Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed We offer you peace upon Gospel terms and Articles but our peace returns to us again enemies you were to God and enemies you still continue The Evidence is undeniable for 1. Evidence Many of you were never Convinced to this day of your state 1. Evid of enmity against God and without Conviction of this reconciliation is impossible without repentance there can be no reconciliation and without Conviction there can be no repentance when we repent we lay down our Weapons Isai. 27. 4 5. But how few have been brought to this Alas if a few poor cold heartless ineffectual confessions of sin may pass for a due Conviction and serious repentance then have we been convinced then have we repented but you will find if ever the Lord intend to reconcile you to himself your Convictions and humiliations for sin will be other manner of things this will cost you more than a few cheap words against sin 2 Cor. 7. 11. In that ye sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves yea what indignation yea what fear yea what vehement desire yea what zeal yea what revenge 2. Evidence Many of us never treated seriously with the Lord about peace and how then are we reconciled to him What a 2. Evid peace without a treaty Reconciliation without any consideration about it it can never be When was the time and where was the place that you were found in secret upon your knees mourning over the sin of your Nature and the evils of your ways Certainly you must be brought to this you must with a broken heart bewail your sin and misery Friend that stony heart of thine must feel remorse and anguish for sin it will cost thee some sad days and sorrowful nights or ever thou canst have peace with God it will cost thee many a groan many a tear many a hearty cry to heaven if ever the peace be made betwixt God and thee thou must take with thee words and turn to the Lord saying Take away all iniquity and receive me graciously O for one smile one token of love one hint of favour The child of peace is not born without pangs and agonies of Soul 3. Evidence Many of us are not reconciled to the duties of religion and ways of holiness and how then is it possible we should 3. Evid be reconciled to God What reconciled to God and unreconciled to the ways of God By reconciliation we are made nigh in duties of Communion we draw nigh and can we be made nigh to God and have no heart to draw nigh to God it can never be Examine your hearts and say is not the way of strictness a bondage to you had you not rather be at liberty to fullfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind Could you not wish that the Scriptures had not made some things else your sins and other things your duties do you delight in the Law of God after the inner man and esteem his Judgments concerning all things to be right Do you love secret prayer and delight in duties of Communion with God or rather are they not an ungrateful burden and irksome imposition give Conscience leave to speak plain 4. Evidence Many of us are not Enemies to sin and how then are we reconciled to God what friends with God and our Lusts 4. Eivd too it cannot be Psal. 97. 10. Ye that love the Lord hate evil the same hour our reconciliation is made with God there is an everlasting breach made with sin this