at God's dealings sometimes in such cases as if God could not be so gracious to such offenders as if it stood not with his holiness and especially if they be soon comforted and pretend to great peace and joy in their death having done and committed some hainous offences as Adultery Murther Felony c. They are apt to suspect they are but deluded persons and Satan that inticed and deceived them to commit such sins hath again deceived them to make them think God is merciful to them and forgives and accepts them To whom I would say It 's possible for Satan to delude souls after that manner as to make them presume of mercy without serious and hearty repentance of their sins as Agag who said Surely the bitterness of Death was past with him when he was gâ—â—ing to his execution 1 Sam. 15.32 and I wish many do not so delude themselves I am afraid it is so But yet it 's not good to either abridge the mercies of God towards nor the merits of Christ for the souls of greatest sinners so as to despair that such may be converted heartily and received again certainly and sometimes suddainly or to judge their repentance and consolations when there is no manifest appearing ground for so doing much less when there are appearing evidences of the contrary That God may both convert and forgive upon conversion greatest offenders many things may evince as the Parable also implies as 1. It is but suitable to God's oath who hath sworn that he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that he turn and live Ezek. 33 11. as we noted before and to his calling the worst of sinners the simple scorners and fools that hate knowledge Prov. 1.22 23. And those that are compared to the Princes of Sodom and the people of Gomorrha Isa 1.10 15 16. c. promsing forgiveness to such upon their repentance yea and back sliders that have come toward him and gone back again promising to heal their back slidings Jer. 3.12 14 22. Hos 14.4 2. It is suitable to the end of Christ's coming who came into the world to save sinners even chief of sinners even such as are Murtherers of Fathers Murtherers of Mothers Menkillers Whoremongers Defilers of themselves with Mankind Man stealers Lyers Perjured persons yea and those that by the Apostle are counted nothing inferior to but rather greater than these zealous Pharasees that set up their own righteousness against God's in Christ and out of false zeal persecute Christ in his truth and members for upon that account he afterward after mention of such notorious offenders stiles himself the chief of sinners though a Pharasee and one of the strictest sect for Religion among the Jews and far from those gross fleshly abominations 1 Tim. 1.9 10 13 14 15 16. indeed nothing but the blood of Christ and the grace of God in him will make such sinners or any sinners else to be Saints or cleanse them from their fins that will as appears in 1 Cor. 6 9 10 11. where such horrid offenders that had been such are said to be washed to be justified to be sanctified which what is it but to be made Saints in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of God no sorrows tears or humiliations of ours can do it without purging with hysop Psal 51.7 that is with the blood and by the spirit of Christ and that will 3. Otherwise we must exclude from heaven those that the Scripture enrols among the Saints if we think God cannot convert and forgive great sinners or never doth What was David but a great sinner being guilty of acting adultery and murther and yet I hope he was a Saint Indeed he found many ready to say of him there was no help for him in God when God began to call him to account for his sin as appears Psal 3.1 2. the title whereof is a Psalm of David when he fled from Absolon his Son but yet he found it otherwise so as to rejoyce and glory in God vers 3. Thou art my shield my glory and the lifter up of my head Though Absolon's rising up against him was a punishment for his sin and a remembrance of it yet God was so therein with him having repented to shew the reality of his repentance and truth of God's acceptance of him that he was helped to carry that punishment of his sin with much magnanimity God lifted up his head when many thought as some Pharasaical Saints are apt yet to think of great sinners especially if brought to shameful sufferings for their sins as he then was surely he must be lamentably distressed and dejected in his spirit and hang down his head He lay him down and slept in the midst of his troubles for God sustained him and he would not be afraid of ten thousand of people that had set themselves against him round about ver 5.6 See what a saint-like spirit yea even under their sufferings for their sins God sometimes endues great sinners with upon their repentance and surely we may not say they were deluded and therefore neither may we conclude that others are so if having been great and notorious offenders they upon turning to God find him comforting them yea and filling them with expressions of confidence of his favour towards them and of their salvation For indeed 4. Christ therefore suffered like a sinner and malefactour that sinners yea such sinners as deserve and have shame and punishment here even the Crosse or Gallows for their just reward might through him be called and brought to repentance and dye like Saints and be Saints in their dying that is have hope and joy in him and in his salvation and this was evidenced in the Crosse and at the death of Christ For Christ himself though the Son of God and the most just person that ever was in the world yet he dyed like a Sinner Malefactour Thief or Murtherer not onely in that he suffered such a death as such offenders used to be put to by men the death of the Crosse but also in his dying as to the manner of it in respect of grief sorrow agonies that did accompany it yet not without evidences of his righteousness and hope in God his Father For did not he sweat through the violence of his agonies as it were great drops of blood trickling down to the ground And did he not cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me As bearing upon himself the punishment of such capital offences though upon our account not his own that such as are guilty of such offences and deserve such sorrows agonies and rejections of God might through him have hope and comfort in God in their dyings though of violent deaths by legal punishments as was seen in the Malefactor that suffering with him dyed like a Saint We finde no such matter testified of him no agonies nor exclamations as his sins deserved but on the contrary
hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. 6.7 8 15. 2. They that maintain those premises as true yet approve not thy inferences either therefore thou inferrest groundlesly or else the premises themselves be very faulty that will bear such inferences as the owners of the premises be almost all ashamed of Sure as no lye is of the truth so that cannot be sound doctrine that will support shameful and vitious inferences 3. Thy conceptions of the business of election to life are evidently gross mistakes while thou supposest that any such as thou art may possibly be of God's Elect in their present unconverted state for the Elect in Scripture language have such characters and descriptions as agree not to thee or to any unconverted sinful livers For to instance they are such as 1. Cry night and day to God Luc. 18.7 so as neither thou nor any such as thou doth 2. They can scarcely if possibly be deceived by the most subtle seducers Mat. 24.24 but thou and all unconverted sinners are actually under the power of the deceits of sin and Satan and any of the Libertines that would intice thee to sin saying it cannot hinder thee of salvation may soon deceive thee being in such principles already snared 3. The Elect are such as none can lay any thing to the charge of or condemn being justified of God and Christ's death resurrection ascension and intercession being prevalent with God to present them acceptable to him Rom. 8.33 34. which is the priviledge of such as are in Christ Jesus not walking after the flesh as thou and unregenerate sinners do but after the spirit and not of any walking after the flesh Rom. 8.1 13 14. for God doth and men with his allowance may lay sin to the charge of such and so to thee and condemn both thee and them For he that believeth not in the Name of the Son of God is condemned already because he hath not believed on him Joh. 3.18 19. Yea and 4. The Election hath obtained namely to righteousness when others are hardned or blinded Rom. 11.7 with 9.30 31. but thou and all unconverted impenitent sinners are short of righteousness and have not obtained it 5. The Elect and Chosen to salvation are chosen to it in or through the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth saith 2 Thess 2.13 and in or by the sanctification of the Spirit to obedience and sprinkling of the bloud of Jesus Christ saith 1 Pet. 1.2 But thou that art an unconverted sinner art a stranger to all those things being not sanctified in thy spirit by God's Spirit but an unbeliever of and disobedient to the truth and therefore also unsprinkled in thy mind and conscience with the precious blood of Christ These things shew that thy supposition of being possibly one of the elect is very groundless nor yet do I conclude thee a reprobate and one that mayst not in repenting be saved for though no ungodly one can be called an Elect one yet for ungodly ones Christ hath dyed Rom. 5.6 and God calls such to repentance and such repenting have been saved Isa 55.7 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. 4. I might adde with Luther Deus huic curiositati occurrit dicens Ego tibi praedestinationem egregiè manifestabo c. God meets with thy curiosity saying I will excellently manifest to thee the mystery of my Election but not in that way of reason and fleshly wisdom which thou imaginest but thus I will do of a God unrevealed I will become a God revealed and yet I will abide the same God still I will be incarnate I will send my Son who shall dye for thy sins and rise again and so I will fullfil thy desire Lo this is my beloved Son hear him behold him lying in the Manger or in his Mothers Lap and hanging on the Crosse mind what he hath done and said there thou mayst behold me if thou hearest and lovest him then thou art predestinate to life other ways of reason slay thou because God detests them Let this be thy business to receive the Son of God let him be pleasing in thy heart in his Nativity Miracles and Crosse for there is the Book of Life in which mens names be written Thus Luther excellently on Gen. 26. To which let me adde 5. It is good for us to know the truth as it is in Jesus and there we may rightly discern Election and Reprobation both in Decree and Execution the eternal purpose and grace given us in Christ before the agey times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being now made manifest by the coming of Christ c 2 Tim. 1.9 10. and so certain it is 1. That God of mere favour and grace chose the seed of Abraham of Isaac of Jacob of David even Jesus of Nazareth made of their seed according to the flesh to be the Saviour of the world and the heir and inheritor even in the manhood of all the fulness of the grace spirit blessing and glory of God so as by him and him only they may be communicated to others also and in all this to be the seed in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed see Isa 42.1 Gal. 3.16 17. 1 Pet. 2 4. 2. With respect to Christ he chose Abraham and his seed after him to excellent honour and priviledges above all other people yet not all his seed nor any merely upon that account but him in whom his seed even Christ should be called that is Isaac Gen. 21.12 Rom. 9.7 whereas Ishmaell also was his seed after the flesh And of Isaac before his two children were born or had done any good or evil that his purpose of Election might stand not of works but of him that calleth he chose Jacob to be the progenitor of Christ and to have the choise knowledge of God and his Oracles deposited with him and he took or adopted all his children to be brought up as his houshold-servants or children under the nurture and instruction of the same and so to have the preheminence therein even above Esau and his posterity whom he destinated Nationally to be servants to them see Gen. 25.23 Mal 1.1 2. which as it is an act of less love may be called hatred as less love is in the Scripture so called Gen. 29.30 31. Luc. 14.26 though it is not said He hated Esau till it 's said too and he laid waste his Mountains not before the two children were born but in Malachies time Mal. 1.2 with Rom. 9.13 yet so as the blessing in Jacob's seed that is Christ should be for all the Nations or Families of the earth Gen. 28.13 out of which number Esaus could not be excluded in submitting to and serving him but the honour to have the blessing to spring out of his seed and so that salvation should be of them and they to be as his children or houshold-servants a people near to him in respect of whom others were to be as Subjects
they would undertake the care and labour of seeking one filly Sheep and seek while they finde it and not be weary with seeking it yea and would bear the burthen of its weight in bringing it home when found that they so might bring it the safelier home and would make such mirth with cost for it when it s brought home as to invite their Friends and Neighbours to make merry with them for it What reason had they to be angry at his Charity to the precious Souls of a multitude every one of which is of a greater value then all their flock of Sheep an hundred times multiplied when as also his fetching them up exposes not others to any hazzard of their being wronged or lost in the interim whatever pains labour or cost it might put upon him to seek them up or what ever burthen to sustain and bring them home when found by him when as too though they were causlesly offended yet those who were far their betters and before them in hatred of sin and love of holiness were highly pleased For applying the Parable he addes Verse 7. I say unto you that even so there will be joy in heaven over one Sinner that repenteth more then over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance Not that heaven is not glad for just persons keeping their way and not offending so as to lose themselves but as their Charity in a sort leads them to be sorry for the evil and danger a sinner brings himself into so answerable to that sorrow for that is their joy the greater when that danger is over and the object of their Charity hath escaped or recovered it Even as a loving Father or indulgent Mother having many Children is more exercised for one of them wen sick and in danger to dye or to be lost and answerably is more glad when that danger is escaped then for all the rest about whom they were not so exercised And if there be such joy in heaven for one sinner that repenteth sure then it is a good work to seek and endeavour their repentance And what is it leads any here on earth then to hinder yea or grudge at any good endeavour to that purpose or the chearful entertainment of such in their converting into fellowship with them it cannot be their holiness or hatred of sin for that is found more abundantly in heaven then in any here therefore it must be their Ignorance Pride or Uncharitableness c. 2. The second Parable is of a Woman having ten pieces of Silver and losing one ver 8. Or what Woman having ten pieces of silver if she lose one of them lighteth not a candle and sweeps the house and seeks diligently till she findes it ver 9. And finding it she calls together her friends and neighbours saying Rejoyce with me for I have found the piece that I had lost But why doth our Saviour bring this similitude or parable from the custom of their women I suppose his opposers and such as murmured at his gracious carriage towards sinners were of both Sexes for so we finde the Apostles afterward met with opposers and persecutors from amongst both upon the like account In Acts 13.50 we finde that when the Apostles Paul and Barnabas had preached to the Gentiles the Grace of God and the Gentiles were as loathsome to the Jews as the Publicans and Harlots to the Pharisees The Jews stirred up devout and honourable women or as Dr. Hammond reads it worshipping women of good quality and the chief men of the City and raised persecution against them and expelled them out of their Coasts Devout or worshipping women such as were zealous of the Law and of the Traditions of the Elders and old Customes of their Fore-fathers These seeing Paul and Barnabas like Mechanicks labouring often with their own hands and not of their licensed Preachers Rabbies and Doctors and preaching Doctrine also differing from what such taught and derogating from their Jewish Superstitions and Customs and extending the mercy of God to the Gentiles they were easily stirred up in the first place and likely were Instruments of stirring up the chief men of the City to raise persecution against them Women are usually full of affection and passion and if acted and ordered by Principles of Truth and by right Judgment are very useful helpers forward of Christs Cause and Doctrine As we read of divers that were helpers with the Apostles but if byassed by corrupt Judgment and Affection if superstitiously and ignorantly zealous they are as fit as any to raise up mischief And its likely our Lord had some murmurings at him from that Sex also and therefore in this Parable he meets with them appealing to them that if they or any of them having but ten Groats or pieces of Silver in the Greek Drachma or a Dram after one account in value * Attick about 7d ob after †Aegurean 1s ob another about a shilling or something better in our Coin lose one of them whether they if they be good Housewifes especially and mindeful of worldly livelihood would not light a Candle and sweep the House and look into every corner of it diligently to finde it again not contenting themselves that they have nine of those pieces still beside in their purse not giving over seeking it while they have hope to finde it and if they finde it though it should be in the sink or in the dirt they will scarce cry faugh it stinks and throw it quite away but rather wiping or washing it clean put it again in their purse and calling their Friends and Neighbors about them wish them to be glad with them for they have found what was lost And yet they would not have our Lord and his Servants value a soul so much as they do a six pence or a shilling so as to use all means as by bringing the light of the word and thereby discovering and removing their evil doings to seek it up and save it and chear and comfort it or rejoyce over it when found and recovered Oh what pitteous Creatures are we both men and women that value such small things better then the souls of sinners And sure if a woman would do thus for a sixpence what would she not do for sixpound or any greater summe And is not a poor sinful soul much more many far more to be prized surely yes and had they wisdom to their affection they would do so too for their Superiours and betters do so Our Saviour adding Verse 10. So I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth 3. The third and last parable is this of a part whereof I have chosen to treat Verse 11. A certain man had two sons Men will not willingly lose one sheep of an hundred if they can by seeking for it finde it nor a woman one piece of Silver out of ten What would any man