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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	believe_v	faith_n	justify_v	5,380	5	8.8463	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86549	Salvation from sinne by Jesus Christ: or, The doctrine of sanctification (which is the greater part of our salvation) founded upon Christ, who is both the meritorious, and and efficient cause of sanctifying grace, purchasing it for, working & perfecting it in his people. Applied (as it was specially intended) for the better information of our judgements, and quickning of our affections in holiness, wherein our everlasting our everlasting happiness chiefly consisteth. / Preached in the weekly lecture at Evesham in the county of Worcester, by George Hopkins, M.A. minister of the Gospel there.; Salvation from sinne by Jesus Christ	Hopkins, George, 1620-1666.	1655 (1655)	Wing H2743; Thomason E1608_1; ESTC R208454	135,124	325

heart that God especially calls for Prov. 23.26 My Son give me thy heart With the head man assenteth to the truth of God but with the heart man consenting believeth unto righteousnesse Rom. 10.10 that is justifying faith is seated chiefly in the heart I doe not exclude the understanding The head inventeth words but the heart inditeth matter for prayer and praise My heart is inditing a good matter saith David Psal 45.1 The head may dictate to the tongue but grace frameth and fixeth the heart for duty Psal 57.7 My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed Here the heart leadeth the way to the outward service calling upon awakening the tongue Psaltery and Harp ver 8. Awake my glory that is my tongue which is therefore called our glory because it is the instrument wherewith man glorifies God compare Psal 16.9 with Acts 2.26 and you shall finde that that which the Psalmist calleth the glory the Apostle translateth the tongue in quoting that text Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad 2. True Grace is also much in the feet of a Christian I mean the exercise of grace is in the course of life and conversation not excluding the inward exercise which is called our way wherein we are to walk according to the Word of God Thus also in the new Covenant God promiseth as to write his lawes in the hearts of his people so to cause them to walk in his statutes Ezek. 36.27 Psal 119.59 I thought on my waies and turned my feet unto thy testimonies ver 101. I have refrained my feet from every evil way ver 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Walking is an act of continuance and imports the constant course of life in such Scripture-phrases as these Thus saith David Psal 119.1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord yea Grace causeth not onely to walk but also to run in the waies of God Thus likewise saith David Psal 119.32 I will run the way of thy commandements Thus Paul I therefore so run not as uncertainly 1 Cor 9.26 and he exhorteth us v. 24. So run that ye may obtain Gifts have been and are still much abused but Grace cannot be misimplied The strivings hot contendings fearfull schismes and factions in the Church of Corinth were made through the pride and vainglory of the gifted men among them There were so many tongues and so many speakers puffed up with self-conceit that those gifts which were given them for edification were abused to ostentation and confusion in their solemn meetings which Paul corrects as we read at large 1 Cor. 14. What is the cause of our sad divisions and the great disorder that we are grown into but this that men play the wantons with the gifts that God hath given them Scripture tells us knowledge puffs up 1 Cor 8.2 And when men are swoln with pride 't is no mervaile if they break out into contention for saith Solomon Onely by pride cometh contention Prov. 13.10 Let then the most humble peaceable selfe-denying serious Christian be accounted the best and let grace be ever preferred before gifts Lastly if Christs great work be the saving of his people from their sins this informes us that a soule given up to a state of sin is in a most sad condition No judgement like that of being given up to a reprobate sense and vile affections Had we stood with Abraham and seen Sodom flaming and smoking with fire and brimstone and so terrible wrath from Heaven consuming her inhabitants would not our hearts have aked within us at so dreadfull a sight But that which righteous Lot saw while he lived among them which vexed his soul from day to day even their filthy and unlawfull deeds was in itself a sight far more grievous to behold Men are apt to judge that God is highly displeased with those that fall under some remarkable temporall judgement but little regard his wrath in giving up soules to sinne yea a seeming judgement sometimes begets an hasty and rash censure When the Viper fastned upon Pauls hand no doubt said the Barbarians this man is a murtherer whom though he hath escaped the Sea yet vengeance suffereth not to live Acts 28.4 And had Job lived in our daies we should have had many ready to charge him in the depth of his misery with wickedness and hypocrisie as his friends did But beloved there is a sort of vengeance from heaven that lies upon the greatest part of the world and upon many among us which is little regarded and that is Gods leaving men up to their own hearts lusts Rom. 1.24 26. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleannesse through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonour their bodies betweene themselves and ver 26. For this cause God gave them up to vile affections To the like purpose speaketh Solomon Prov. 22.14 The mouth of strange women is a deep pit he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein And 't is well reckoned by the Psalmist among the heavy judgements upon Israel in the Wilderness that when they lusted exceedingly tempted God he gave them their request but sent leannesse into their souls Ps 106.14 16. Ps 81.11 12. But my people would not hearken unto my voice I rael would none of me so I gave them up unto their owne hearts lusts they walked in their own counsels the judgement upon evil men seduce is that they shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived 2 Tim. 3.13 And were it well considered we might observe the remarkable judgement of God upon many in these times How many of those that waxed wanton and despised the precious Truths and Ordinances of God are now given up to swearing drunkennesse whoredome and such like abominable wickednesse Had these men been smitten with lightning and thunderbolts from heaven for their departure from the waies of righteousnesse we should have been ready to say this is the finger of God Certainely God hath already pointed them out more sadly by the heaviest plagues in that they have been given up to hellish blasphemies and to work wickednesse with greedinesse and his hand in this is more heavy upon them than if we had seen them fall dead in our streets As it is the Saints happinesse that their little grace shall be improved so is it the misery of a multitude of seared Sinners that their filthy and vile affections shall be still increased as it is written Revel 22.11 He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he which is filthy let him be filthy still and he that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still CHAP. IV. IF the great work of Christ our Saviour be the saving of his people from their sins Use of Reproof then this reproves those that do what in them lies to hinder this

in his Lusts which caused him sadly to bewaile his sinne and pray earnestly Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation Psal 51.12 Were we but as sensible of spirituall as we are of bodily injury our sinnes we fall into would be unto our Soules as so many wounds and bruises are to our bodies causing pain and griefe But the remainder of corruption in the best of Gods Servants doth much dull their spirituall senses whereby they are not so clearly exercised to discerne between good and evill yet the faithfull Servants of God have so much spirituall sense of the evill of sinne at leastwise after some time of recollection that they feel their foule miscarriages paining them to the purpose They are unto them like so many putrified wounds broken bones or bones out of joynt as David complains Psal 38.3 5. There is no soundnesse in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sinne My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishnesse Blessed are the pure in heart saith Christ for they shall see God Mat. 5.8 to wit comfortably here as well as joyfully hereafter if purity qualifies the Soule so as that it may the more cleerly see God then impurity of Heart and Life must be as a thick cloud interposing betwixt the Soule and the light of Gods countenance so that it cannot be refreshed with the beames of his favour as formerly till by serious repentance the cloud be removed 3. This will likewise informe us whether we may in the avoiding of evill and doing of good propose the escaping of Hell and obtaining salvation as the end of so doing Our sins dishonour God by our sanctification we glorifie him and he commands us to read hear pray c. for the subduing of sin and increase of grace and must we not presse on still forwards towards perfection continually growing in grace till we come to glory which is the highest degree of grace This is our salvation to be saved from sinne and towards this all the means of grace and duties of piety tend the Word that we hear is the sword of the Spirit for the slaying of sinne we pray against sinne watch against sinne strive against sinne and may we not doe it to be saved from sinne nay can we rightly or rationally use the meanes without minding this end Doth not Heavens happinesse consist in the enjoyment of God in holinesse and is not God most glorified by us when his glorious Image is compleated in us And may we not make this state the end of our endeavours May we not make the escaping of Hell also the end of our duties if we doe but in any measure understand what Hell is without being Legallists That Hell is a place of intollerable torment I doubt not for it is set forth by fire brimstone and unquenchable fire in Scripture and 't is called outer darknesse where the worm never dies the fire never goes out And Rev. 14.10 11. 'T is said of those who worship the Beast and his Image and whosoever receive the marke of his name which shall be the condition of all the damned The same shall drinke of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation they shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoake of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night But certainly as the torment is there the greatest so sinne there is at the highest where the damned never cease to blaspheme God Can Gods honour be deare unto us and we not fear to blaspheme him can we make Gods glory our end without solicitous care to avoid that state wherein we should never cease with the Devil and his Angels to blaspheme the most High When men have framed a Heaven and Hell according to the modell of their owne braine no mervaile if they deduce strange consequences from it 4. This likewise informes us that Christ died not alike for all men m See Ball of the Covenant of Grace from pag. 203. to pag. 264. under this head Christ the Mediatour of the New Testament for whom he died and rose again For he came to save his people from their sins all are not his people as I have shewed you before neither are all saved or to be saved from their sinnes The Doctors of the Doctrine of equall Universall Redemption tell us that Christ dyed and dyed alike for all men as much for Cain Esau Judas c. as for Abel Jacob Peter or any of the glorified Saints And this they boast of as the onely way to exalt the riches of Grace One of them publickly excepted against a godly Minister now with the Lord because he onely invited sinners to repent and believe that they might be saved and did not tell them that Christ dyed intentionally to save all This Objector called it clipt truth as if if it had been a detracting from the truth of Christ Egregiam verò landem A rare commendation indeed of the grace of Christ that teacheth that Christ hath no more for the glorified in Heaven than for the damned in Hell that Abel Jacob Peter are no more beholding to Christ than Cain Esau Judas which must needs follow if he did no more for the one than the other And that when the Apostle asketh 1 Cor. 4.7 who made thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou hast not received The Believer must answer I have made my self to differ Christ hath done no more for me than for the vilest reprobate he died and did alike for all men and put all mankinde in a like capacity for salvation and wherein I differ from the worst of sinners it is onely from my self This is plainly the sense of their doctrine This they boast of also as the onely way to comfort afflicted consciences and call the contrary uncomfortable doctrine Do but well consider it and it will prove about as comfortable to a troubled Soule as it is honourable to the riches of Christs grace The perplexed soule cries out I have sinned grievously against the Almighty and just God he hath set my sins in order before me my conscience is more than a thousand witnesses against me I see my self to be a damned wretch divine vengeance hangs over my head This Comforter answers Be of good cheer Christ died as much for thee as for any How doth that appear He died for every man alike therefore as much for thee as for any To whom the troubled soule may easily reply If he died for all men alike then no more for me than for Cain Esau Judas and the rest of the damned in hell And how shall I be assured that I shall be priviledged above them for I cannot believe What this miserable Comforter can answer

instance in one or two of them First that Pelagian Heresie that denies the propagation of Originall sinne They say we derive sinne from our parents onely by imitation How shall that enemy be destroyed that is concealed and denied How shall a man labour to mortifie this body of sin when he denies that we beare any such body about us Surely Rahabs hiding the Spies was not more effectual to their preservation and the ruine of the city Jericho than this Pelagian doctrine is to the saving of sin and the utter ruin of the soul Whoso covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Prov. 28.13 2. The Antinomians teach that no man ought to doubt of Gods love but immediatly believe that his sins were eternally pardoned and himself justified and that whatever he doth he need not be in care or doubt God sees his sin no more the Lord takes no notice of the sins of his servants say they abusing that Scripture to that end Numb 23.21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob neither hath he seen perversenesse in Israel And repentance they affirm to be the voice of the Law not of the Gospel Is not this the very way of the carnal multitude to sin without godly sorrow and yet perswade themselves of an interest in Gods saving mercy What is this but to turn Faith into a meere phantasie And whither doth this tend but to make sinners secure in the midst of the greatest misery O how many soules are this day poysoned in England with this damnable doctrine and how sad will the account be of those that have so grosly deluded them to deny the doctrine of repentance to be Gospel-doctrine is no lesse dangerous and destructive to soules than that Popish doctrine that denies Justification by Faith in the alone merits of Jesus Christ I will not now stand to confute this presumptuous doctrine it being improper in a use of reproof and it hath been well done already by other n By Mr. Gataker Mr. Anth Burgess others hands But I shall leave a few texts of Scripture to your consideration which you may peruse at your leisure for a sufficient confutation Exod. 4.14 2. Sam. 11.27 ch 12. to v. 13. Psal 51.2 Sam. 24. 1 Kings 11.29 2 Chron. 32.25 26. Luke 13.3.5 Romans 2.4 5. Acts 17.30 And here I cannot but take notice by the way of a tenent much applauded by some in these parts which carries all other errors in the belly of it and it is this That it is better that a hundred errors should be preached than one truth be lost To which I shall give answer First this supposeth that those who ordinarily preach Errors have some speciall truth to reveale that others are ignorant of But that is strange that a truth of God should be hid from all godly able and Orthodox Ministers of the Gospel and revealed to such as ordinarily maintain a multitude of errors When the Apostle 1 John 4.1 bids Try the spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world he intimates that seducing spirits are not of God that those that preach gross Errors are of the false Prophets that are gone forth Now that God should reveale his extraordinary secrets to such as these and hide them from his servants the Prophets is a secret indeed such I believe as was never heard of Secondly If this position be true the Jesuite may come in and plead for a childs part in this toleration for he will preach some truths with lesse than a hundred errors Thirdly This is a very strange way to preserve one Truth from being lost for if a hundred Errors be preached with one Truth it is most like that the hearers receive many of the Errors and lose the Truth that can scarcely be discerned in so great a crowd of falshood especially considering how ignorant the multitude is and how prone we are by nature to erre And a stranger way this is to nourish souls Truth is as wholsome food Error of a poysoning nature and if you cut and set before a child a hundred bits of poyson and but one bit of wholsome food and bid him eat t is a hundred to one but he poysons himself Fourthly When a Preacher preacheth Truth and Error mixed together he presseth all upon the hearers for truth Suppose then a hundred Errors and one Truth should be received by the people they lose a hundred truths for the gaining of one for in every error received there is a truth lost to him that receiveth the error because every error is contradictory to some truth Verily he that should lose five pounds to gain a shilling would at last be forced to cry Fie on the winning Lastly A hundred errors such as are in our daies were enough to make another Gospel or rather to pervert the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then tell me what meanes that saying Galat. 1.8 There be some that trouble you and would pervert the Gospel of Christ But though we or an Angel from heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed Consider also that saying Rom. 16.17 Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them I might instance in divers other corrupt tenents tending to root out the power of godlinesse and that which makes the temptation the more strong and dangerous is that all manner of corrupt and rotten tenents go under the name of higher attainments True piety is accounted but old formality and the most wanton Opinionists are reputed for precious Saints But when Sathan transformes himself into an Angel of light and his Ministers into Ministers of the Gospel no marvail if a vizour of holinesse be put upon many strange faces even Familists and Ranters will be re-baptized by the name of Saints and Arius Pelagius Socinus c. must be canonized Doubtlesse his Holinesse the Pope hath much hopes of a great harvest amongst us for by this time he may be perswaded that many of those that were so hot against a few Ceremonies calling them the rags and remnants of Popery were offended with the rags because they were but rags and rejected the remnants of Popery because they had a minde to receive it by the whole piece What are the Doctrines of Arminius but pieces of Popery a little more finely dressed that they may be the more handsomely worne or a Popish dish more finely cooked to please the palate and so go the more easily down 'T is not long since this assertion that God did choose his Elect for some excellency that he foresaw to be in them was presented to some of you at a private meeting in a Lordly dish o By an Officer of the Army who quartered in town Surely Papists are glad to see us relish so many of

composed wherein we have an Encomium of their happy condition If it was Jerusalems happinesse then to be so united is it not her misery to be so divided If it were a lovely sight then to see the tribes of the Lord going up together to give thanks to the Lord how sad a sight is it now to see the Tribes going some one way some another building Temple against Temple and rearing Altar against Altar The Souldiers that parted the Garment of Christ would rather cast lots than divide his seamlesse Coat but those that cause division and contention in the Church spare not to rend not the coat but the mysticall body of Christ The Jews that crucified pierced Christ his hands and his feet but those that cause divisions in the Church set him upon the rack to rend limb from limb and member from member as is intimated in the words of Paul to the Church of Corinth when they were full of factions and schismes 1 Cor. 1.13 Is Christ divided If Christ cried out Saul Saul why persecutest thou me when he persecuted his Church and made havock of it and accounted it as an intolerable injury done unto himself not onely because he hath a sympathising affection with his Church but also because his Church is his Body and is called Christ to wit Christ mysticall 1 Cor. 12.12 Verily Christ might take up a greater complaint against those who by their divisions subdivisions would teare him limb-meale and if Paul were smitten down unto the earth when he heard the voice of Christ from heaven methinks those that are Dividers in the Church should be pierced to the heart if they did but consider and minde the many affectionate calls of Christ in his Word for unity and peace and the sad complaints by reason of divisions and contentions and his judgements threatned against the authors and promoters of them Consider but that one threatning Rom. 2.8 9 But to them that are contentious indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish We live in times wherein we have great expectation of the fulfilling of glorious Gospell-prophecies and promises and I doubt not but those that concerne the unity and peace of the Church are to be numbred amongst them Zeph. 3.9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent Jer 32.39 And I will give them one heart and one way that they may feare me for ever Neither will these be esteeemed the meanest Gospel-mercies for it is said in the latter end of that verse For the good of them and their children after them But how farre are we from the accomplishment of these things yea what probability is there of it in our daies q O miseram Christi Ecclesiam quae subinde veteribus optimis patribus ac doctoribus orbatur ae novis verō imperitis ac furiosis hominibus invaditur dilaniatur Zanch. ep ad Bulling If one heart and one way be for the good of a people and their children after them as that fore-mentioned text tells us then our heart-divisions and different waies are to be looked upon as a sore evil both to us and our children after us And 't is much to be feared that the children that are yet unborne will fare the worse for our present breaches Think not that the dislike of any one party alone or sinister respects lead me to speak thus much against dividing practises Judge not my reproof and complaint to be superfluous neither plead for this as Lot did for Zoar say not 't is a little one but heare a little besides what is already spoken what further aggravations of this evill are found in Scripture 1. Consider how plain are the words of Paul Rom 16.17 18. Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their owne belly and by good words and faire speeches deceive the hearts of the simple When the Apostle bids us mark and avoid them doth he not rank them with profane and grosse sinners we are commanded to withdraw from every brother that walks disorderly 2 Thes 3.6 And saith Paul 1 Cor. 5 11. If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such an one eate not If the command of withdrawing from such and the prohibition of eating with such is because they are scandalous the argument is of force to prove Church dividers to be scandalous also for the Apostle enjoyns us to avoid them as he commands us to avoid fornicators c. therefore are Church-dividers equall yea I might adde and justly too more dangerous sinners Fornicators Swearers Drunkards and such like are accounted grosse Sinners and so they are and unfit for Christian communion because their abiding within unreformed tends to the ruine of the Church but how is it that they that are of rending and dividing principles and practises are not esteemed scandalous also when Scripture speaks so much against them and their practises tend more immediately to the Churches overthrow Breaches in the roof and walls of an house by which raine beats in and rots the timber-work will cause a decay and ruine of the whole in time if not repaired But pulling beam from beam post from post and rafter from rafter is the most speedy way to ruine the house Godly persons are or ought to be carefull to avoid communion with grosse sinners and some judge it necessarily infectious if they communicate at the Lords table with a scandalous person Whosoever is of that minde and judgement should be as fearfull to receive the Sacrament with a wilfull Church-divider as with a common Drunkard But when the Apostle saith Obj. marke them that cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine ye have learned and avoid them we must understand it of those that divide by some hereticall and false doctrine onely and not of those that dissent in some smaller matters about Discipline or the like Answ 1. Whatever the Apostle particularly intended I am sure the doctrine of Unity Peace and Love is none of the least of what our Saviour Christ and his Apostles taught and those then that cause divisions and offences teach and act expresly contrary to so great a truth and a most necessary duty 2. If there be an unity in the truth with those from whom they divide how will they justifie their practice when they make a causelesse breach Nay will it not aggravate their sinne Impium enim sacrilegum est divortium quo in Christi veritate consentiunt distrahere For it is a wicked and sacrilegious divorce to pull those asunder who consent in the truth of Christ r Scismaticos facit non diversa fides sed communionis disrupta societas Aug.

man hates feares and carefully shuns as evil he is sorrowfull for if it fall upon him and it is contrary to the nature of the rationall soule to doe otherwise A man that loves riches desires them seeks after them and rejoyceth in the midst of abundance Luke 12.16 17 18 19. but if he be undone by crosse Providences and poverty befalleth him he is grieved and troubled as we see by experience When the evill that a man feared is fallen upon him it maketh him sad Thus it is with those that are godly in the spirituall estate A godly man rejoyceth in all the good the Lord worketh in him and by him Thus Paul 2. Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoycing the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisedome but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to you-wards A godly man is truely grieved for all the evill he doth commit so farre as he cometh to the knowledge of it Thus David makes a sad confession of his sin Psal 51.3 4 5 6. Thus it is said 2 Sam. 24.10 Davids heart smote him after he had numbred the people and Dav●d said unto the Lord I have sinned greatly in that I have done Thus Peter went forth and wept bitterly after he had denied Christ Luke 22.62 And this sorrow is not meerly for grosse sinnes but for lesser also such as the world never sees A godly man as he hateth so he grieveth for vain thoughts It must be either a carnall or bruitish frame of spirit for a man not to be grieved for sin Let the Antinomian stop his mouth and say no more that a child of God ought not to be troubled for any sinne whatever he commits b Tunc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ista erit quando peccatum in homine nullum erit Borro si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illa dicend● est quum animum contingere omnino non potest ullus affectus quis hunc sluporem non omnibus vitiis judicet esse pejorem Potest ergo non absurde dici perfectam beatitudinem sine stimulo timoris sine ullae tristitiae futuram Si autem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illa est ubi nec metus ullus exterret nec angit dolor aversanda est in hac vita si recte hoc est secundum Deum vivere volumus Aug. de civ Dei l. 14. c. 9. Apud nos autem juxta Scripturas Sacras Sacramque doctrinam Cives Sanctae civitatis Dei in hujus vitae peregrinatione secundum Deum viventes metuunt cupiuntque dolent gaudentque Et quia rectus est amor eorum istas omnes affectiones rectas habent Metuunt peccare cupiunt perseverare dolent in peccatis gaudent in operibus bonis c. Aug. ibid. those that are removed to heaven being wholly free from sin have no more cause to grieve for sin But whosoever it is that lives upon earth that being subject to daily offences and sometimes to great miscarriages yet is not grieved for them I will be bold to say that he is no child of God although he may conceit himself that his sins were all pardoned long since There is no medium between grieving for sin and rejoycing in sin in some degree while sin remains in us And whether he that rejoiceth in iniquity without any remorse or sorrow at all for it be in a good condition let any man judge who understandeth any thing of the Word of God See 2 Thes 2.11 12. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse Jerem. 8.5 6. Luke 13.3 5. Well whatever vain mindes may fancy to themselves the old Divinity will prove the soundest whosoever he is that is in a state of salvation doth truly and sincerely grieve for sin and delight in that which is good more than in all worldly prosperity I do not say more passionately but more solidly that if it were put to his choice he would not change grace for all the gold in the Indies Psal 119.14 I have rejoyced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches Psal 19.8 10. The statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the commandement of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes more to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than the honey and the honey comb Exh. 4. Whosoever thou art that fearest God and upon examination findest thy self to be delivered from a state of sin rouze up thy heart and take unto thee words of praise and thanksgiving to God thy Saviour And to the end thy heart may be raised 1. Consider what thou wast 2 Tim. 2.26 Tit. 3.3 Col. 1.21 Joh. 8.44 c. 3.18.36 Tit. 3.4 Isa 61.1 2 3. Luc. 4.18 Col. 1.13 Rom. 8.16 17 18. 1 Pet. 2.9 and what thou art How sad was thy condition when thou wast a wretched bond-slave of Satan led captive by him at his will serving divers lusts running with the wicked of the world to the same excesse of riot with them an enemy to God through evil works a child of the Devil and heir apparent of Gods eternall vengeance prepared for the Devil and his Angels But now since the love of God thy Saviour towards thee appeared thou art delivered from the bondage wherein thou wast held the Lord hath opened the prison doores knocked off thy chaines and fetters led thee forth and translated thee into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God and made thee heire apparent of everlasting heavenly glory And all this is done that thou shouldst shew forth the praises of him who hath called thee out of such horrid darknesse into his mervailous light 2. Consider how many thousands there are in the world that live in the midst of carnal security contentedly abiding in the bondage of sin vassallage of Satan how very few there are that shall be saved in comparison of the multitude that shall be eternally destroyed Now that God should call thee to be one of that little flock and that when there is but as it were one of a family and two of a tribe thou shouldst be singled out from the rest and chosen when they are left what meer grace and astonishing distinguishing mercy is this Who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou hast not received 3. How many more rich more honourable more wise than thy self and many lesse sinners and of better natural dispositions and inclinations are left in a state of sin to perish eternally yet God hath reformed thy crooked perverse spirit and continually pardons thy daily miscarriages and leads thee and guides thee by his gracious spirit in the way to perfect glory Hast thou not cause to say This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that