for Spirituals he forbids us to Crave and Cark for Temporals O how should he then make us plow and sow for Temporals and not make us pluck our hands out of our Bosomes for Spirituals Of Hoping and Rejoycing in Hope of compleat Reconciliation the self-same is plainly seen How full is our Nature of Love Hope and Joy How Noble Affections are they and pleasant And for what were they put into us Very Children need little Information And very Blind they are that see not how ill it would reflect upon their Author should he require no use of such Talents And should he endure his Friends by the disuse of these to publish contempt of his Friendship For 't is a publick Declaration that we have made us another God when our Love doth not exercise it self in Hope and Joy toward the true Whereof it is more than this that we poor Creatures are capable I proclaim my extreme ignorance Graces all and Worship Natural and Instituted and Duties personal and relative are plainly enough comprehended Nor may I bestow time to light Candles in that Sun Lastly C. 3. The whole Generation of the Religious will vouch it that their Duty stands in this and no more No more unto any of them known Next to the Infallible Scriptures commend me to the common sense of Believers for the resolution of a Religious Case Reader go try a number of the best known unto thee Ask them seriously two things 1. Whether they do or dare in iheir daily walk to let fall any one of the particulars aforesaid sc Belief and Consideracy of the Purpose Purchase and Proof of Reconciliation unto God Prayer and Labor for the Possession Perswasion Practical Improvement Hope and Joy in the hope of its final Glorious Completement 2. What other Religious Exercises they have then of Faith with Meditation Prayer with painfulness of Means for things pray'd fer Hope with Joy Upon me be the shame if any other be found And if thou beest not told by all that if these Exercises do please thee there is nothing in Christian Religion to offend thee Blessed is the Man whosoever is not offended in one of these And who confines his Care only unto these The Italians have a saying Dangerous is the man that has but one Business to do But my God and the God of my Fathers grant that I and my dearest Friends may never have more to do than one And that one be our Reconciliation unto him Of the Vse of this Doctrine the one half cannot be told you within the space of a Sermon And of that which might be I shall wave much to press that which I think is needed most Come Reader and let me gain thy Attention to it and win thy Heart by it Read and every two or three Lines thou readest Lift up thy Soul to Heaven And put thy name into the number of the Reconciled now at this very Sermon Is Reconciliation unto God the Duty and whole Duty of every Man Believest thou this Thou wilt then among many others make these Inferences Inf. 1. God and Men are not as God and Divels Vnreconcilable It is true they are much the same as to certain Enmity An unconvert man is is truly at Enmity with God as any damned Angel is They are also very like as to the exceeding Difficulty of Reconciliation As much is to be done to reconcile God and an Vnconvert Soul as would be necessary to do to reconcile God and Beelzebub As great a price must be paid unto God for the one as the other As great a Change must be wrought in the one as in the other And as great a Power must go to the working of the Change in one as in the other Nevertheless though we are like Camels with like Bunches on our Back there is no comparison between us and them as to possibility of passing through the Needles Eye Infinite Power to which all things are possible and equal Goodness that shews it self in things wonderful hath made a wide difference The Condition of Devils is not more truly desperate than the Condition of Men is hopeful And of any men the Condition of those whom God is pressing and ever praying to be reconciled unto him The Reconciliation of Divels is impossible but the Reconciliation of such Men is more than possible even probable On Gods part probable for he is at work for it And upon Mens own part probable for they are or appear to be at work for it also Reader I beseech thee by the tender Mercies of God through which this is true and plain fix well this great Truth on thy Soul I am a Man that have somewhat to do with many poor dubious Souls Of most that come to me I do plainly see this It hath been unbelief of this truth that hath long kept them from seeking after God It is unbelief of it that now fills them with fears inordinate in seeking after him and makes them come crying to me day after day No hope no hope To the trouble of my soul and no small expence of my time But I forbear Let me add this only more although his Truth seem to be Believed by all bold Sinners among us it doth but seem so All indeed do grant it but very few do believe it And of them that do this must be said their Belief is a corrupt one and its Fruits are most abominable 'T is so that they believe God to be Reconciled as hence to be made Fear him much the less but Love him and seek his Peace never the more Could such Fruit rise from the Root of an intelligent and sound Faith It could not Briefly let me tell thee that this Truth is most fundamental And Disbelief of it is extream Blasphemy against the Truth Holiness and Faithfulness of the most high God It is true such as have sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost have the door of Mercy shut upon them for ever But to me it appears as true that who such Persons be is known unto God only Not discovered unto themselves or any other Men. I tell the worst Sinners that come to hear me They have as much ground to hope that God will accept them if they do Convert as ever Abraham Isaac or Jacob had before they did Convert Yea and because of our Gospel Sun-shine more then they had I. 2. Love indeed runs downward And incomparably greater is the Love of God to Man then the Love of Man unto God or unto himself This I gather from Gods beginning the Peace though Man began the Quarrel From his here so calling on us to accept it as speaks his forwardness to give and our backwardness to receive it From his amazing condescention even to pray and beseech us to receive it This Love is as much above that of Earthly Parents as the Heavens are above the Center of the Earth But what is our Love of God what is our Love of our selves I
what hath been said I cannot much doubt thy Belief But I find it still good to suppose the worst Some believed what the Apostles preached and some believed it not O thou that believest not what I have written this I desire from thee Or rather this God requires from thee sc That thou abstain from proud peremptory concluding that it must needs be false because thou art not presently perswaded that it is true And that thou admit it to be so much as doubtful if thou canst not yet think it certain Worthy of thy Enquiry if not of thy Faith I pray thee believe it possible that thou mayst mistake And that in this very matter wherein a mistake is as dangerous as any where it can be Consequently that it imports thee highly to go pray God to certifie thee of the Truth And in order to thy being certified to go to the best Friends thou hast and best Ministers that thou knowest and discourse them concerning it and hear what they have to offer to thee for or against it I sadly know that oftentimes it is but a Wind in the Bowels that is mistaken for a Child in the Womb It stirring and moving so augely like a Child I am as warie as I can But I do and my Conscience tells me I ought to speak comfortably to very Enquirers I have known some raw Enquirers become very credible Converts in a few weeks time And I wonder who ever knew our ignorant sort of people become such by bare Hearing without Enquiring and Consulting I take it for granted that they receive little or no good from me if before much time passes they do not come unto me 'T is Collocutory Preaching that God blesseth to such And when I have brought any of them unto that I cannot but hope God intends them a Blessing Reader if thou art an Vnbeliever I despair not of thee if thou beest but an Enquirer Doubting usually precedes Faith though Faith doth not always follow Doubting E. 2. Delay not to set to the work assoon as ever thou shalt believe the word of Reconciliation Dost thou already believe it Thou hast then begun thy business about it I hope Thou never dost rightly Believe till thou dost Act. O let thy Work come full speed after thy Faith Get ability to tell thy God above and his Vicegerent thy Conscience within thee that from thy first Understanding and Perswasion of the truth of this Doctrine thou didst as David Make hast and not delay to keep his Commandments foredeclared Do not rest or let thy Minister rest then one day or hour till thou knowest the Covenant of Grace and Reconciliation Enter thee into it solemnly Consult for thy preparation for the Lords Table there to confirm it For why Delay is worthy of the worst word I have given it in my Sermon on Eccl. 12.1 But now now an hours delay is in some respects worse then a years delay before Vnderstanding and Faith unimproved unto holy Practice are the most horrible aggravations of sinful Practice But a Man is in a fair way assoon as he has took but his first true step toward Reconciliation When he has but sinceroly uttered this word Lord Jesus I will never be my own while I breathe more I am thine upon thy Gospel terms for ever Be not afraid of the pain of this 'T is a short one and presently turns to Joy As the pleasures of sin be short and quickly turn to Plagues When that is but rightly said the wheels will run in all other work Hast hast my Reader If Physicians had given thee over for a dead Man wouldst then Delay The dying people I am called to be all for present Peace with God The most healthful of the Living have full as much reason to be for it O that I could not say I see them otherwise minded I have read of Indian Prisoners chained in golden setters And I see many English ones whose Estates on Earth allow them not leisure or liberty for Peace-making with Heaven I tell them in my plainess that the Dogs in Sicily cannot hunt because the sweet flowers in every field overcome the scent And that the sweets of this World in which they live do spoil their scent and savour of Spiritual things and keep them from following after their Peace with God And for poor people how little hast do all their hardships below provoke them to make for the Treasure above Rich and Poor are both in expectation as they tell us of Eternal Happiness Both believe Reconciliation hereto necessary But alas both do not hasten to get it made and therefore great is the misery of both upon them E. 3. Let the business of thy Reconciliation have all thy strength spent on it when thou hast set unto it Reader Heard I not thee saying erewhile Here begins my essay of Reconciliation unto my offended God Thou art at it art thou not If so the Father of Glory be thy good speed But as ever thou expectest him to be so spare for no pains therein O what does require or what will requite thy pains if Reconciliation unto God will not Tell me Man doth the Gospel bid thee play or work out thy Salvation And doth it account that to be a Play or a Work of thine wherein thou puttest not forth all thy strength All thy contriving and all thy executing strength Verily in Gods esteem it is idly done whatever thou hast not forelaid with best consideration and brought forth with thy utmost might Thou dost but trifle till it comes to that pass that thou mayst truly speak thus Of all things under the Sun my Vnderstanding doth consult most my Will doth command most my Practick Powers do put forth themselves most of all for my Reconciliation with God I Project nothing I Crave nothing I Labour for nothing comparably unto it or for any thing but reductively and subordinately unto it A weak Mind a weak Heart and weak Practick power I must own mine to be Weak in themselves and weak in comparison of many other Christians But my Heart in this thing reproaches me not I am throughout Predominantly for Reconciliation Nor doth my Mind plod and study nor my Heart chuse and crave nor my Hands more follow their work for any thing to be named than for this Reconciliation I am sure I do jealously watch my Heart daily And desire to expend my whole strength in the matter of my Reconcillation which is now my whole Business I do believe God's peace is attainable by a restless Devil as soon as by an idle Man And it is and is like to be my care all days of my Life that God may never henceforth call me wicked or shalthful Servant In this I will follow Calvin as Calvin followed Christ E. 4. Let a Strength greater than thy own be invoked while thou art spending thy own in the business of Reconciliation Reader know'st not thou how in all things to prosper
consider that Sinners Reconciliation unto God is a thing purposed by God purchased by Christ and proved to be so by the Holy Ghost I have shewn it to be so But O Man Vnderstandest thou what thou readest I have proved it by Authority of Sacred Scriptures but alas Believest thou the report of them It is scarce every hundredth Man of those who own them that doth in truth believe them So judg'd the great Calvin himself And the truth is if in any thing it be harder then other to credit Divine Scripture it is in its Testimony unto this great Truth Nevertheless so it is that its Testimony herein must be credited sincerely and considered of seriously before we can be qualified for Christianity That is for Jesus Christs reconciling and saving Religion For the embracing it with seriousness and sincerity unto our Reconciliation and Salvation Who can charge his Conscience with all respects to a Religion whose first Principles and very Foundations he is ignorant or doubtful of Who can pursue it whatever it costs him and give it the Government of his Life and Soul They who do any less do but dally with Religion they do not use it like it self And they who do so much need to be very well certified of the goodness of the grounds they go upon If not they must continually be like to Builders who doubt their Foundation is ill laid and therefore either by and by desist from their work or go on very heartlesly with it Thus therefore must thou do whoever thou art that desirest Reconciliation unto God With a solemnity suitable to the moment of the affair thou must go and enquire into these things Namely Whether thou hast Faith And if thou hast What a Faith it is that thou hast concerning the things foresaid Alas Sin is distractive And Minds sinfully distracted do conceit themselves to believe whatever they do not in words contradict Nor do they at all discern the difference between Moon-light and Sun-shine Though the former be cold and dispel no Vapours and ripen no Fruits as the latter doth by its equally useful and beautiful Beams They distinguish not between the Historical and worthless Faith of Divels and the operative saving Faith of the operation of God Though the difference be as plain as that of a painted Sun upon a rotten Sign-post from the true Sun in the middle Heaven In a word Thou must discourse thy self soundly concerning these things and admit no rest till thou feelest thy self more then almost perswaded Till thou canst say as the Doctor of the Gentiles I know and am perswaded and as the Doctor of the Jews I believe and I am sure Lord 1. There is a God 2. This God is Three distinct Persons as to manner of Being and of Working 3. Of these Divine Persons the First hath eternally Purposed the Second hath in time dearly Purchased the Reconciliation of lost Sinners and this the Third hath convincingly Proved 4. I perish for ever if this Reconciliation be not Purposed concerning me if it be not Purchased for me and if it be not Proved some way unto me 5. Until I have this Proof made unto me I cannot possibly have knowledge of the Purchase and Purpose touching me 6. Wherefore I ought I may and I will by Gods assistance seek diligently this said Proof unto my inmost Heart and Reins Hasten Man hasten thou go Read go Pray go Hear and go Consult the best Ministers and Christians Beseech them both to tell thee how they gat assurance and certainty hereof charge them to pray the same Spirit in the use of like means to give it unto thee But this caution take thou Never judge thy Belief right and valid until it discover it self to be so by these properties e. g. Till it do shame thee for former neglects of the Father Son and Spirit and their Purpose Purchase and Proof Making thy blushing Soul to exclaim O never had I one thought worth the thinking till now Miserable Fool I have lived like a bruit as if I had been born in the Field and bred among the Cattle therein I abhor my self and every breath of my past Life Again Till it do smart and pain thee and give thee grievous feelings of thy want of more acquaintance with the Divine Persons and these their actions Causing thee to esteem and desire acquaintance with the same above all the sensual delights under the Sun Likewise Till it become an effectual Goad to quicken thee to the use of all means for it and a Nail also to fasten thy Soul unto it Driving thee to this conclusion q. d. Whatever I shall henceforth propose to my self or prosecute in the World I will never so absolutely propose any thing Never so laboriously and incessantly pursue any thing as my acquaintance with the Divine Persons and these their foresaid Works In other things I will be less resolute and more moderate in this I will be peremptory and I will strain every Nerve of my Soul Lastly Till it do sweeten and make grateful and pleasant all thy Religious pains At least as the most imperfect certainty that Husbandmen have of Harvest doth impart a sweetness unto their perpetual motions Till thou canst truly say thus So much I know of the Divine Persons So far I do credit the Holy Spirits Testimony of their Works Such Faith I have of both that what Ordinances and Duties were heretofore burthensome or undelightful are now become of my chiefest joy And such as I could not live without And now Man now first beats thy Pulse This is the first breath of thy laudable Life The first step of thine toward God The first stroke of reconciling work This is the first hairs breadth thou hast stirred from thy self-ruining Enmity toward the way of Peace God speed thee onward For Secondly Thou must Pray and Labour for the actual possession the comfortable perswasion and the practical improvement of Reconciliation unto God Thou art now out of doubt there is a way to get possessed of the Reconciliation Purposed Purchased Proved But can thy blindness unassistedly find that way Or can thy halting Soul enter into and walk in it unassistedly Or if with much ado thou wer 't able wouldst thou go without infallible counsel and invincible aid And that for want of asking Or didst thou never hear of multitudes that perish in the very mouth of their way Stumbling unto perdition at the very threshold of the door of Salvation I do now suppose thee to have an Eye in thy Head And if so I nothing question but thou hast a Tongue in thy Head too The Eye of Faith and Mouth of Prayer were never yet known far asunder And indeed it would be a wonder if any seer of Reconciliation should not be straitway a wrestler for it However wot it well Divine Authority requires and Bounty invites and intreats thee to shew that with thy sight of Reconciliation thou hast received Praying Lips and
in Deo A Holy Man is never so like a Holy Angel as when he rejoyces in God Have thy set times for solemn Consideration of these things sc How God is Pleased and Honoured by Joy so Hallowed How he Praiseth it and Rewardeth it How much it honours him more than pining querulous Sorrow doth How certain it is that the most pious and penitent Sorrow is nothing but a Purge prescribed by him for cleansing us and making us to relish the fat things of the Feast that I speak of How excellently this Joy strengthens the Soul sweetens Duty lightens Trouble graceth Religion suits the Gospel and an adopted state Yea and serves to subdue the sins that most easily beset us and most extreamly pester us Even incomparably more than all the self-disquieting distraction that goes under the name of Humiliation In a word How desirable a temper the Apostles was As sorrowful yet always rejoycing 2 Cor. 6.10 Sorrowing alway yet never as men without hope 1. Thess 4.13 Reader I must hope if thou dost thus thy following Life shall be a perpetual labour for abiding and abounding Joy And that if Bodily Maladies and Satanical Illusions have made Grief and Fear a second nature to thee thou wilt be perswadable Perswadable to make so necessary a rupture and try to tear thy self from thy self for the possession of this under Heaven The God of Hope fill thee with all Joy and Peace in believing and expecting thy perfected published Reconciliation Amen My next undertaking is to evince the truth of my Doctrine thus explained To demonstrate that every Man hath this to do and no Man hath any more to do in the World but to believe and consider Gods Purpose Christs Purchase and the Holy Ghosts Proof of their purposed and purchased Reconciliation To Pray and Labour for the possession for the perswasion and for the practical improvement of it And to Hope and rejoyce in the Hope of the perfection and publication of it in the day of Jugment I dare not decline it knowing that many do need it Nor shall I be prolix in it They that cannot see by the Light of the one Sun in the Firmament would not see if there were a thousand shining thence Their Conviction I despair of whomsoever these three Considerations shall not convince But I propose them with an humble confidence that they shall be made Eye-salve unto some Souls And mighty through God against Infidelity as very Spittle and Clay as they shall appear in any wanton Eyes They are but three C. 1. The sure word of Prophesie sets us this to do and no more Acknowledge the Scripture to be Gods Word and a perfect Revelation of his Will and a compleat Rule of our Duty and you acknowledge the truth of my Doctrine I am content that no man believe it ever the more for my Ministry of it if I do not shew that the Scripture sets us to do all I say Or if it can be shewn that it sets us any one thing more than I say Reader Rouze up thy Soul and read not with ordinary care what follows I will not overwhelm thee with many Texts but be careful to set very plain and pertinent ones before thee The Belief and Consideration of Gods Love and Gracious Purpose to Reconcile Sinners is set us Psalm 130.4 There are forgivenesses with thee that thou mayst be feared That is q. d. Lord shouldst thou deal with the best Man alive according unto thy Laws strictness and his own Souls frequent fears Hell must have him But O thou hast Eternal and Unalterable Purposes of forgiving Sins and Reconciling Sinners unto thy self And this is believed and considered of by thy Blessed Command And if it were not there were no manner of foundation for Religion in the World All our encouragement to all our Worship of thee is taken from this Joh. 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes on him should not perish but have everlasting Life Who sees not here the Fountain of all good Gods Love that is his Eternal Will and Purpose to Reconcile Sinners This is set to be seen and considered first Then the Conduit through which all the good must flow from that Fountain even Christ the Purchaser of purposed Reconciliation Then the Vessels which must receive all good from the Fountain through the Conduit Namely Believers on Christ entire Consenters to be his in the Bond of the Gospel Covenant Then the streams of good by those Vessels to be received through the Conduit from the Fountain Even Deliverance from ruining Enmity and Possession of blessed Friendship with God for ever To name no more 2 Pet. 1.10 we are commanded to make our Election sure Our Election passively is Gods actively Gods eternal purpose to Reconeile us But how should this be made sure unto our hearts without their believing and considering that God has Eternal Purposes about that matter The Belief and Consideration of Christs Purchase of Reconcilement is set us 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners 'T is the true and great Fundamental Article of Christian Faith Worthy of all reception into Consideration and Improvement that Christ came to save Sinners from Enmity and reconcile them unto God Everlastingly Rom. 5.10 When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son When we did hate and were hated of God Jesus Christ paid a valuable or rather invaluable price to buy our Reconciliation and bought it leaving us as little need as we had ability to bring any Meritory price for it And how plainly do all the Texts that command our Faith in Christs Blood whereby it is Purchased suppose our Belief and Consideration of it to precede The Belief and Consideration of the Holy Ghosts proof of this is set us That it is in especial manner the work of the Glorious Spirit to Reveal and to Communicate all Purposed by the Father and all Purchased by the Son is foreshewn in this our Discourse well known to the Church of Christ and admirably well shewn by him whom I use to call John the Divine I mean our Learned Dr. Owen in his Pneumatologie or Discourse of the Holy Spirit worthy to be wrote in Cedar and Marble That we are required to believe and to consider his testimony of this matter this single Text would brightly evince if we had no other Mat. 12.31 The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto mer. Observe here our Saviour had Preached Gods Purpose and his Errand into the World to make a Purchase of the Reconciliation of Sinners The Proof hereof was made by many Testimonies of the Holy Ghost Principally by Miracles wrought by his Power which indeed are the utmost proofs possible These themselves some would not believe and consider unto due purpose No but as it is Mar. 3.30 They
know not a greater lover of his God in all this World then the Man that printeth these words My God knoweth that I even abhor and loath my self because I love and delight in him no more And in another place I can more easily forgive my self all my other sins then my loving God so little O what must others say Other Saints I mean of inferiour stature unto him And for Sinners that make light of all Gods Calls to Reconciliation and are inflexible by his very intreaties for whole Weeks Months and Years together who sees it not Their Life is a practical protest that they will bear the prison of Hell the torment of Fire and that for the space of Eternity rather than be friends with God So they love God so they love themselves 'T is true we cannot here perswade them but that they do truly love themselves and their God too But in utter darkness it self men will see better There they will see and say God was kind and made them good offers but they were themselves their own destroyers being by sin bewitch'd in heart to murder him and in act to murder themselves There they will understand the sense as well as feel the truth of Prov. 8.36 and 35. There they will know to their torment what it is for God to beseech and pray sinful Dust to come take Pardon and Peace and for them to lend him a deaf ear or give him a more reproachful repulse against convictions of Conscience Reader here stay a while Think and speak with thy self of the huge imports of this word As though God did beseech you by us How GOD beseech SOVERAIGNTY beg And that of both Creatures and Rebels too What meaneth this and what is it we are to learn by it God beseech The word astonishes me and filleth my mind with these thoughts above others First How pawerful is Love that makes Omnipotence stoop Secondly How Loveful is the Divine Majesty that thus condescendeth Thirdly How wonderful is this condescention whereunto God never stooped before and beyond which it is not to be thought possible that he should ever stoop Fallen Angels had nothing like it Fallen Men can have nothing beyond it God stoops he stoops low he stoops his lowest unto us The lowest that the nature and honour of his Government will admit God beseech I do believe Lord help my unbelief I do believe methinks I do see and hear the Heavenly King even thus addressing to his rebellious Subjects Miserable Creatures as I made you not miserable I am not pleased to see you so I have made a costly provision for your restoration to the Happiness I made you in And left you nothing to do for the same but to accept it in the way of my Gospel-Covenant I have taught you so to accept it I have commanded you and on no small penalty And finally I do beseech and pray you Sirs if ye love me accept of it If ye do not love your own Souls yet for my sake accept it I will take it as the greatest kindness unto my self and will reward you as though ye had profited me if ye accept it You give me my highest pleasure if ye accept it I will set Heaven ringing for joy thereof if ye accept it As long as I live and my Immortality will not dye in hast I will remember and requite you if ye will accept it If ye would not do your utmost against me and your selves ye must accept it If Grief could possibly sieze on Godhead ye would make me drown Heaven with my Tears if ye did not accept it And to repent that ever I made you So good a will do I truly bear you though Satan and your silly Hearts by him seduced tell you contrary stories Arguing wildly that because I drag you not to Grace and Glory against your wills therefore I have not any will that you should have either Reader again and again read this and cease not till thy astonished and trembling Soul take fire and flame forth in exclamations What manner of Love is this Stay me I am sick of Love The Love of God and Christ do constrain me O Lord I am thy servant I am thy Gospel Covenant servant I am thine Lord save me In great Letters I wish this Truth written upon thy Doors and Walls God delighteth more in Reconciling one penitent poor sinner than in Damning all the obstinate World I and the main revenue of his Crown lies in it Else he would not love Mercy above Sacrifice Nor could we holily desire to be saved Reader I cannot yet have done with thee I must say to thee as Ruth to her Mother in Law Intreat me not to leave thee or return from following after thee with this Inference I must insist a little more upon Gods so astonishing Intreaty And I would to God I could find or make words prevalent with thee to insist much hereon To be often musing what it is that Gods intreaty of sinners to be reconciled doth in good sober Truth import I beseech thee go and consult God himself in holy Prayer unto him Go consult his Ministers the best of them and such through whose Mouths he is most likely to speak his Heart unto thee Go consider and take advice whether it import not thus much To wit a real will of God without any design or unsincerity to have sinners reconciled unto him even as many of them as he sends his Gospel unto A will of complacence as of a thing that would be highly grateful unto him though not a Will efficacious and effective of it against all wilful and affected unfitness in sinners superadded unto their natural A Will that indeed doth not so overpower all things as to bring all sinners unto Reconciliation but yet one that leaves nothing but their own obstinate Wills to keep them from it And makes that all who live under the Gospel and who do seek it as they are directed by the Gospel may reasonably judge their obtainment of it most highly probable and conclude that if their labour for it be lost it will not be through failure on Gods part but their own 'T is very certain that such influences of the Holy Spirit were communicated under the Old Testament that of all that lived and dyed then unreconciled unto God the fault was laid at their own doors Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them Neh. 9.20 Turn ye at my reproof behold I will pour my spirit to you I will make known my words unto you Prov. 1.23 c. O how much more must we now conclude in the Gospel day that Mens destruction is of themselves That the Holy Spirit is always striving with sinners and perswading them to be reconciled until they do by very great provocations cause him to withdraw for ever from them By the Prophets of old the Holy Ghost never spake in the wondrously condescensive Language which he useth in the New Testament
Herein flows the Language of incomparable tenderness and such as put it beyond the most jealous suspicion that God is desirous of our Happiness in the said Reconciliation Herein the Majesty of Heaven even courts every vile Worm of us And in most compassionate manner assays to melt and overcome the perversest sinner Even thy self my Reader thy self in particular Stay therefore thy self and wonder and bless Throw aside my Book and go shut thee into thy Closet And there with humble affectionate and thankful sense of this Divine Love fall on thy Knees and say to this purpose Blessed God thy works are in themselves convincing Arguments of thy good Will unto Men. Thy innumerable Benefits conferred upon us Thy Temporal Judgments which in their own nature and in thy design are Medicinal and wholesome The Time thou allowest us in this World and in thy Church which we cannot justly take for a meer reprieve from torment but for a space to Repent in and to sue out our Pardon Above all thy giving thy Son to dye for our Reconciliation and thy Spirit to instruct and perswade us to be Reconciled After all it has seemed thee good to treat us in words of as wonderful Love as that which shines in thy works Words of Obsecration and Intreaty Such as the Potsheards of the Earth cannot afford unto their Inferiours very often no nor unto their Equals nor always unto very Superiours Thou great Judge of the whole Earth beseechest Malafactors most worthy of Hell to accept their Pardon And intreatest them to endure thee to save and glorifie them This thy Holy Angels admire at this the Divels envy But I Lord I a prodigy of stupidity what do I do Of a truth I desire to Praise and to Wonder From this Minute unto Eternal Ages uninterruptedly to Wonder and Praise I am fully convinced how justly I perish if indeed I perish after all this so superabundant Grace This thy Love and thy I know not what that is more then Love it self if more can be doth sweeten my thoughts of thee Never was my Natural Fear of thee so conquered never my Diabolical Enmity against thee so quenched as now I trust they are I am less a Divel since I considered this thy Love O my God! Experience hath now assured me Love begets Love as Fire kindles Fire I. 3. Mans Enmity unto God tho' it be strange t is true How else could Reconciliation be his Duty if his state were not of Enmity It is confessed Enmity unto God is a strange thing He is all Good and nothing but Good Our Nature reasonable can Love nothing but what appears Good and must and cannot but Love all that so appears Unto all Men if their Professions may be believed God doth appear as he is now said to be All and only Good Whence then should Hatred arise To be sure unto Angels and Men in their first holy state of Creation God did so appear and was verily and undoubtedly so believed O how could they ever break with God The particular manner is more curiously then profitably disputed by Men of argute wits It is very plain unto all thinking minds that Creatures as such are mutable things and defectible That continuation in any good is from the gift of the Creators Grace not from the strength of the Creatures Nature That God gave Angels and Men at first a stock of Holy Qualities to trade with and held both Probationers on tryal of their Faithfulness Some of the Angels and our Father Adam the infallible word assures us prov'd unfaithful Acted not up to what they had received Thereby forfeited and lost all all their foresaid Qualities of Wisdom and Goodness and consequently became full of Folly and Malice For as where Light and Heat depart Darkness and Cold must enter Where Wisdom and Goodness do cease Folly and Malice must begin to have place Now hence 't is that ever since that fatal forfeiture Devils and all unrenewed Men do do nothing but monstrously Nothing but with monstrous Folly and Malice Their Fall made them Monsters and all things must necessarily when they are not overpowered act according to their Natures let them be what they will Their depraved Natures both of them do carry them to things most unnatural To things that are and that they know to be most infinitely Vnreasonable in themselves and Injurious unto them As for example this of hating of God Men do much know and Divels do more know he is all Goodness and worthy of all Love That to hate him is to do the greatest hurt to themselves and that for which they have not the least cause from him but through the Folly and Malice that Divels hold remedilesly and unrenewed Men hold wilfully against all Divine Remedies this is most natural unto them As natural as for a poysonous Fountain to send forth poysonous Streams And alas how full is this World of this hatred of God which few in the World if any will own How less full is the Sea of water then unregenerate Souls are full of it Yea and their mouths and hands full of it Only Divels be fuller of it than Men By which means it is that only Hell is worse then this World we live in We see Mens Hands at work against God we hear their Tongues running against him in every place we discern hereby what the abundance of their Hearts is against him How passionately they wish an end put unto his Being We Instruct Perswade Intreat with tears and Beg them to let us endeavour their recovery to a better mind Nor is it above one of a hundred will regard what we say And yet must we be afraid if we will be pleasers of Men to tell them they hate God But here I publish it If I ever saw the Sun shine or the Fire burn or the Water flow I do see all unconvert Men Women and Children hate the Blessed God And whereas none that I meet with or hear of do deny but that they are sinners and do sin daily I assure them this is the soul and life of their sin And were this hatred of God but once expelled they would no longer be sinners Were that but mortifyed they would not be a minute longer impenitent or unpardoned sinners 'T is predominant hatred of God that is the ruine of every damned Man I. 4. The Gospel is a Jewel This I do argue from our common principle that it is the only directory and mean of our Reconciliation unto God If it be so and if Reconciliation be our only Duty it is surely inestimable It can be no less I trow whatever is the divinely appointed mean of our whole saving Duty Whatever is as the Gospel is and is named the Word of Reconciliation That whereby the way of making Peace with God is revealed that which is the very Charter and Grant of Christ the Peace-maker and all his benefits unto every one that will receive it If my
Doctrine be true the Blessed Gospel deserves a higher rate then the best of us all appear to put upon it Consider it as an History 't is one the Angels unto whom 't is but a History delight to pry into As an offer of Salvation 't is tidings of great even all Joy As a Rule of Life 't is a Royal Law of Liberty The truth of it is sealed by unparallell'd Miracles The Grace of it is it self the Miracle of Miracles In the miserable parts of the World where this Gospel shines not 't is ever Night Darkness and Death possess them Forlorn Souls as one speaks are there under a continual Massacre and be an easie conquest and prey to to the Fiends of Hell But the Places which the Gospel visits in our Saviours Language are said to be Lift up unto Heaven They are found like the World at first a Tohu and Bohu but are made by the Gospel divine Temples Of Stones Children are raised up unto Abraham by the Gospel What was our England but a howling Wilderness till the Gospel made it a Garden and the Paradise of the Earth Both for Heavenly and Earthly good things Indeed all the World is Egypt and there is no Goshen but of the Gospels making No other Star ever led a Soul to it's Saviour The Law damns all and single Natural Religion saves none The Gospel is like to the Archangels Trumpet by it Graves are made to open and dead Souls to come forth And the Masters of most refined Morality will one day find there is no other Ministration of the Spirit Are therefore tears of very Blood sufficient to Lament our Gospel-Contempt Contempt every where shewn in England in London it self every where In Houses where Bibles lie about as neglected as old Shoes In Churches where usually is less crowding and earnest listning than in Satan's Temples our Playhouses I would I might not add in very Pulpits too from whence too often soundeth a but Natural and Legal Religion with few if any Evangelical Note in it It is too truly said I fear that many Preach Adam Moses and at most John Baptist. Having little to say of Jesus Christ or of that Reconciliation by him through the Gospel-Covenant which they seem to think that their People have already or may do very well without it Save Lord save us from this Gospel-Atheism or we Perish O let not the richest of blessings thy Gospel-pearl be trampled under feet in England Whatever sinks Lord raise the price of the Gospel Inf. 5. Religion is no wrack It has a very good action of slander against every Reproacher Every Liar of the Legions that report it a dark and intricate a Knotty and difficult business For as it has been shewn it is no more as no less then Reconciliation unto God And an Exercise of our selves in the plain orderly particulars foresaid which are all our part and business O admirable Love and Grace of God that shine in it's Brevity and Plainness Our Life is short And our Bodies eat up much of our time in necessary cares for them But the Doctrine of Reconciliation is no tedious one What the old Friendship was between God and Man How the Quarrel rose and how far it ran How the Reconciliation is to be made on Gods part and ours by satisfying his Justice and subduing and removing our malice These things require shorter study than a body of Philosophy Nor are they by the Holy Spirit set forth obscurely And so as to require a very quick and subtle Wit to Understand them No a man may be wise unto Salvation without wit and acuteness enough to make a Disputer of this world Nor doth Divine Kindness less shew it self in the Sweetness and Agreeableness of the Christian Religion Such is it's Constitution we see that it employs us in nothing but most pleasant Exercises In Believing and Considering most excellent and important Truths Labouring and Praying together for the best Blessings here Hoping and Joying in the hope of most perfect Blessedness hereafter Is this a Slavery Sensualists is this an irksome Toil Is this what any thing besides affected Malignity can snarl at The Hebrews have a saying An hour in Heaven is more worth then a Life on Earth But I know those that tell me they have found more real solid Comfort in one hour of their Convert State on Earth then ever they had in all their former Life And 't is as certain that Religion is the best Pleasure in this world as that Heaven contains the best in the next world Inf. 6. Minister's only business is to make Peace Peace and Reconciliation between God and Men. Their business is but to promote Duty If then Reconciliation be all Duty all their Business must lie herein In this my Text they are called Ambassadors not Heralds to proclaim War but Embassadors to treat for Peace True they must in order to Peace declare the War and Hostility between God and Sinners It was a foolish Law the Lacedemonians made that no man should tell his Neighbour any ill and frightful News And they are be-lepered with ignorance and Error who would sow up Minister's Mouths and have them wholly silent of the Miseries of the Unreconciled State As though God's Peace were ever to be sought without Knowledge of his Wrath. Or as though they more dreaded to hear the Discourse than to feel the doom thereof Nevertheless so it is that the Word of God unto Ministers committed is the Word of Reconciliation And Reconciliation is the work they are sent for They are not to preach Wrath but in order to provoke you to fly from it I preach Hell said a late most Apostolical Preacher that you may never come there Reader I am full of wonder as I can hold Come hear and wonder with me Earthly Kings put out Laws and expect their Subjects all should without more ado of theirs observe them They do not send an Officer to every Town and House to inform and perswade the people to keep them Especially when the said Laws be for the Subjects own great good But O admirable Benignity the King of Heaven puts Parents in Families and Ministers in Congregations and makes it their business from one end of the Year to the other to Teach and Perswade his poor ignorant and obstinate Subjects to accept the Word of Reconciliation Though the gain be only and infinitely theirs not his But I return attend it oh Ministers attend it oh Parents 'T is the Peace of God that passes all Understanding save Gods infinite one that ye are Proposers Interpreters and Orators and Agents for Higher than at Reconciliation unto God you cannot aim Lower you should not dare to aim Holy Angels do not want it and Devils cannot have it But what think ye of your People and your Children Gods Peace and Love are the highest and all good his Wrath and Curse are the deepest Misery and there is no middle Condition Souls
or abate their degree of Religion but then when Satan can indeed present an appearance of gain by it I mean a gain of somewhat better or as good as Gods Love in their very own Thoughts And Secondly That when ever they have thought themselves to have seen profit coming by it and have by and by found their mistake That then they would acknowledge their horrid effascination and resolve never again to trust the spectacles through which they looked unto their cost I know that Lust does bewitch into Error and Error when it gets into the throne of the Heart fearfully plays the Tyrant Let Men but listen unto their Senses Fancies and Passions they shall take the most loathsome Lyes for self-evident Truths And when they have done they shall be as much governed by them They shall adore Dogs and Crocodiles scorning God and his Christ They shall dig for a Worms favour as for immortal Treasure and dye away for fear of its frown And all with unshaken Confidence as if God were nothing and Idols were all things As if the smiles of a mortal Man were really a richer good then Gods Heaven and a hard look from Caesar were more dreadful by far then Hell-fire But I do also know and I keep some stir to make others know it too Such is the admirable constitution of our Religion such is its perspicuity with its purity that Humane Minds are not presently so stupified as to be unsensible of its Glory or so distracted as to dream ought spoke against it to be true or so much as probable 'T is abundance of Opium you give your Reason before you make it dormant enough to let an ill thought of Religion into your Heart Before you are capable of your sweet Follies and dear Deceits Most commonly you that neglect Religion are fain to serve Satan without so much as any imagination of gain by it I and with many a fearful expectation of loss too And when your bewitched Eyes are drawn unto some imaginary recompence in any way of sin ye oftentimes soon afterward find the Proverbs truth Fraud and Frost end in dirt Well were it if then you would set your selves to verifie another as known a saying Burnt Children dread the fire In a word The day is coming that will reveal it The Religion instituted and taught by Jesus Christ is one that Men can bray and bark against as they do and as he foretold us that they would But they cannot argue against Without that quickness and subtlety and solidity which are the priviledges of very few heads its excellence and importance are the plainest of things unto all honest hearts And our Motives unto the severest Duty are ten thousand times stronger then our Temptations unto the sweetest Sin He has a very hard task who goes about to prove that I shall do better without Gods friendship then with it That I shall have more Light if I go further from the Sun I. 9. The Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink Christianity or Gospel saving Religion doth not consist in external Observances and little Opinions If it be Reconciliation or a new very Friendship with God it cannot stand in the poor despicable things wherein 't is placed by too many Ceremonialists I mean Ceremonialists of every Sect and Party among us Many of which seem to value themselves more by some peculiar dividing Ceremony then by common and universally professed Christianity Natural corruption disposes Men to allow God nothing at all of Subjection or Obedience By Gods inward and outward Calls of Conscience Parents Ministers they are brought quickly unto shame of that open malignity But Carnality and Sloth admit not any great liberality to him And Lust and Fancy and ill Example soon prescribe a narrow pittance He shall have outward Homage and Bodily service Presence at the places of his Worship and observation of all laudable gestures therein He shall have Lamps of Profession carried for him Oyl they cannot tend for Graces are mysterious things He shall have loud Cryes but as for intelligent and sincere Prayers they promise him not He shall have their Eyes lift up to Heaven but he must excuse them if their Affections be set on Earth He shall have their Company at every Sacramental Feast but they desire in this thing to be forgiven if they come having not on the Wedding-garment and unengaged in the cares of imputed inherent and practical Righteousness He shall have Zeal for the Religion they neither know nor practice I and it may be against the sins that they do love and live in They hope he will accept it from them without Integrity In short He shall have his Church obeyed and Gospel too as far as they themselves please But that reaches not unto the concerns of Regeneration Repentance Faith Love and Obedience principled from them Entering Covenant and keeping Covenant with him with all the Heart and Soul and Strength is that which they see no necessity of Miserable Creatures Do ye believe the blessed God to be a spirit or a dead stock Did ye ever read one Chapter of the Holy Bible Yea or of the Heathen Moralists Can ye in sober sadness think that our Blessed Redeemer was sent to raise dead sinners that he might make them unnatural and monstrous Flatterers Or that the Holy Spirit was sent by him to make painted Sepulchres of you Can ye really perswade your selves that God may be honoured and Satans Kingdom be demolished and your Souls be changed and qualified for Heaven by your Trifling and your Lying And without your Loving God as both your Benefactor and Ruler O shut not your eyes so very close till Vengeance open them for you Look out a little see my Doctrine and its Proof It shall possess you of other thoughts and rid you of these delusions It shall stop your scoffing at Spirituality as a thing imaginary At Vnion and Communion with God as though they were dreams or but lying pretensions of Hypocritical Men. At Gods Living in Men and their Living in God as though there were no such things It shall make you as confident as now you are ignorant that they are mad Men whom you hear Jearing at the Life of holy Love and Promising Heaven to ever so little washed swine Magna ista credimus quia nos parvi sumus Senec. It shall make you to own that had not your Sense been little you had never took any thing but very Friendship with God for honourable and great I. 10. True Religion is its own Reward It is so framed by God that in it there is great Reward besides what is prepared for it It is evidently so if as our Doctrine asserts it stands in Reconciliation and Friendship with God If it be not a meer Service but a very Friendship If as is most certain God admits all his convert Servants unto the relation of very Children and the dignity of Friends All and every of his Commands