it is most probable to imagine that he intended he should smite the Rock with it as was before done at Rephidim Exod. 17.6 Thou shalt smite the Rock and there shall come Water out of it that the People may drink But here there is no Command of smiting therefore some think he should only have lifted up his Rod in the Eyes of the People as the Signal of former Miracles Others think his Error was in smiting twice when once had been enough to declare their Faith and Reliance on God's Promise But the Scripture doth seem to refer us to another cause their Disobedience and Unbelief not manifested in his smiting so much as in his speaking Psal. 106.32 33. They angred him also at the Waters of Strife so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes because they provoked his Spirit so that he spake unadvisedly with his Lips Therefore the Sin was Impatience mingled with Diffidence and this in the sight of all the People 1. He was in a great Passion more than was usual with him at other times as appeareth by the manner of his speaking Ye Rebels and also the doubling of his Stroke sheweth the Heat of his Anger Now the Wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God James 1.20 The Passion was in it self a fault but withal it disturbed him so that he could not discharge that Duty which was incumbent upon him in the manner that he ought to do it with Faith and Affiance in God or so as he might set out his Goodness Power and Truth He spake in a Provocation not as became a meek and faithful Servant of the Lord that desired to glorify him in the Eyes of the People 2. There was Unbelief and Distrust in it Must we fetch you Water out of this Rock A Speech that savoured of doubting which needed not considering what an express Promise they had from God Therefore God saith Numb 20.12 Because ye believed me not They spake as if it were impossible to fetch Water out of the Rock when God had assured them of the contrary or at least such an abundance for them all as might be sufficient for all the Multitude with their Beasts and Cattel Or if their Faith in God's Power was clear they might doubt of his Mercy that God would do such a thing for a murmuring and unthankful People 3. There was Scandal in it In this they did not endeavour as they ought to set forth God's Glory and Power in the Eyes of all the People They should have charged the Rock to yield forth Water and have given the People a good Example of believing and obeying God's Words in their greatest Straits ver 12. Ye believed me not to sanctify me in the Eyes of the Children of Israel That is they did not publickly before the People shew Affiance in God as became them Therefore the words are to be noted ver 13. This is the Water of Meribah because the Children of Israel strove with the Lord and he was sanctified in them Tho Moses and Aaron sanctified him not by Faith and Obedience yet God sanctified himself 1. Among the People by giving Water for their Thirst So it 's said Isa. 48.21 When he led them through the Deserts he caused the Waters to flow out of the Rock for them he clave the Rock also and the Waters gushed forth And as for them so for their Cattel yea the wild Beasts of the Wilderness had benefit by this Mercy of God to his People So Isa. 43.20 The Beasts of the Field shall honour me the Dragons and the Owls because I give Waters in the Wilderness and Rivers in the Desert to give Drink to my People my Chosen 2. He was sanctified in Moses and Aaron by punishing their Disobedience Thus it is taken Ezek. 38.16 That the Heathen may know me when I shall be sanctified in thee O Gog before their Eyes that is by punishing them for their Sins for thereby God makes himself known to be an holy and powerful God So Levit. 10.3 I will be sanctified in them that come nigh unto me and before all the People I will be glorified either by doing good to them that serve him aright or by punishing them that transgress his Precepts This is the History Now observe it in three things 1 st The State and Quality of the Persons 1. Moses was an eminent Servant of the Lord faithful in all his House Deut. 34.5 So Moses the Servant of the Lord died Tho Men be holy for the main yet it doth not justify their Failings or excuse their evil Actions as if they were not Sins nor hinder God's Wrath from breaking out upon them temporally tho they be exempted from eternal Condemnation For God is no Respecter of Persons Behold the Righteous shall be recompensed in the Earth much more the Wicked and the Sinner Prov. 11.31 If the Faults of the Righteous whom God loveth with a Fatherly Love in Christ be not without Chastisement surely the Wicked cannot escape Their Sins are not by design but by surprise not committed with a strong Will but out of Frailty and being commited they are retracted by Repentance As Moses often mentioneth this Sin and at his Death maketh here an acknowledgment of God's Justice against him for it that his Example might be a warning to all People not to disobey God's Commandments or disbelieve his Word Yet God will be known to be an holy God by the notable Inconveniences God's People often bring upon themselves here in the World This Truth is ushered in with an Ecce Behold the Righteous shall be recompensed in the Earth that is observe the just and most wise Government of our supream Lord Behold it it is a certain Truth and deserveth our most solemn Consideration Many Miseries we may have in our Pilgrimage for they are recompensed upon Earth and our Chastisements are confined only to the present Life 2. He was a very meek Man Numb 12.3 Now the Man Moses was very meek above all the Men that were upon the Face of the Earth This Commendation the Spirit of God giveth to Moses tho by Moses his own Pen. Now Meekness is a Vertue which keepeth a mean in Anger and avenging our selves when we are offended wronged and contemned Yet this meek Man could be thus angry Psal. 106.32 They angred him also at the Waters of Strife and ver 33. They provoked his Spirit In the holiest Men there are Relicks of Sin unmortified and such Weakness as they may readily fall into Sin in the hour of Temptation and such Sin as may cost them dear Who would have thought his Spirit should be so grieved and imbittered It is a dangerous Sin to mingle our Passions with God's publick Service or to go about the Work that he sets us to do with any carnal Perturbation Therefore we had need watch over our selves 3. He was a Man greatly provoked yet this doth not exempt him from Blame and Correction Tho Men
answer me speedily We must have a present Answer and shall God stand waiting when there 's danger of his dishonour Therefore now while it is to day turn unto God To Morrow is a very uncertain thing Besides if you were certain of to Morrow it is folly to lye under the Wrath of God any longer If really you are convinced of a Sinful State why do you not repent and return to God now In every Sinful Action thou art laying thy Soul at pawne and one Sin more may fill up the Measure of your Iniquity Besides every day will make you more unfit to turn to God and it is base self-love to think of indulging the Flesh longer provided at length you can be saved 3. The Scripture sheweth the profit of it 1. What a Remedy it is against Sin Ezek. 18.30 Repent and turn your selves from your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine Every Man is a Sinner but every Man shall not dy by Sin There is in Sin reatus culpa poena macula 1. Reatus the Guilt that is blotted out Acts 3.19 Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Sin is written in two Books one in Gods keeping the other in our own He doth not say that we may blot out our Sins out of Gods Book that is not the Debtors but the Creditors work to cross the Book Isa. 43.25 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins There is an hand-writing against us but it is blotted out when we repent Our own Book is the Book of Conscience Heb. 10.22 Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience The Worm of Conscience gnaws us till we repent then the Spirit blotteth it out of our hearts 2. Macula the stain the more a Man sinneth the more he is inclined to Sin as a brand that hath been once in the fire is apt to take fire again We lose tenderness by every act of Sin and the smart of Repentance is a means to kill the Sin as breaking up the fallow Ground doth destroy the Weeds Ier. 4.3 Break up your fallow ground and sow not among thorns 3. Culpa the Blame God will not upbraid us with former Sins Mark 16.7 Go tell my disciples and Peter It is judged in one Court already not a word of Peters miscarriage tell him I am risen 4. Poena the Punishment that is done away by Repentance we may look for days of Refreshment 2. The Comfort it will bring God hath Comforts for his Mourners Matth. 5.4 Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Never such sweet revivings as after Godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7.10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation never to be repented of Many have repented of their Carnal Mirth but never any of their Godly sorrow you will never curse the day of your new birth 4. The Scripture offereth Grace and help of God to work this in us Ezek. 11.19 20. I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirits within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them an heart of flesh That they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances and do them and they shall be my people and I will be their God Men will say they cannot repent come and wait upon God and he will give you to repent Acts 11.18 Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life God doth not only give occasions of Repentance time of Repentance means of Repentance but power to repent yea repentance it self Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins So that if we would turn wrangling into Prayer and bemoan our selves and say Ier. 31.18 Turn us O Lord and we shall be turned If we would follow him close we need not be discouraged 5. The Scripture layeth down powerful Arguments to quicken us to Repentance which have a marvelous tendency and influence that way I shall single out three The Death of Christ The Day of Judgment and the Torments of Hell 1. The Death of Christ. A serious Consideration of the Death of Christ will further Humiliation and Reformation 1. Humiliation 1. Here is the highest instance of the Love of God and the purest Fountain of Tears is Gods Love Mary wept much because much was forgiven her Nothing thaweth the Heart more than the warm beams of Mercy Wrath causeth Sorrow to flow like Water out of a Still by the force of Fire but Love gently melteth the Heart and causeth it to run out at the Eyes in a Flood and Stream of Tears Here is the highest instance of Gods Love Christ is the greatest gift that ever he gave the World when he gave us Life and Breath and all things though he gave them to us yet he gave us nothing from himself But now out of his bosome he gave us Christ that is Love Iohn 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son It cannot be told it can only be wondred at Rom. 5.8 But God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us So great a Person for such vile Creatures How can an ingenuous heart think of this I have sinned against God that gave his Christ I have grieved his Spirit that loved me and dyed for me Saul had an hard Heart and yet he wept when David told him how he had spared him when it was in his power to kill him 1 Sam. 24.16 Had God done no more for us but spared us that should melt us but he commended his Love that Christ dyed for us 2. Here is the truest spectacle of Sin for all that was done to Christ Sin did it What could Men or Devils do Men could do nothing Iohn 18.6 Assoon as he said unto them I am he they went backward and fell to the ground Poor Dust and Ashes swooned at the breath of his Mouth Not Devils he could cast them out with a Word Not Gods Justice that hath no place against Innocency No it was we not Iudas nor Pilate nor the Romans nor the Iews but we that have pierced him Zechar. 12.10 They shall look upon me whom they have pierced This will give us the truest spectacle of Sin The old World was a sad spectacle but that is no wonder a filthy World to be washed with a Deluge Sodom was another sad spectacle Hell was rained out of Heaven but it is no wonder to see combustible matter burn But Christ was a green Tree the Son of God Holy and Undefiled who was made Sin only by a voluntary susception but when he was made Sin God spared him not Now the hainousness of Sin appeareth 1. In the value of the Sacrifice 2. The Extremity of
Sleep and Pastime II. In Meats and Drinks and the necessary Supports of Humane Life III. In Pomp and Apparel IV. In the Cares of this World I st Branch Sobriety in Recreation The first Branch of Sobriety in Recreation in Sleep and Pastime and other the Delights of Humane Life For Sleep I need say but little it is a soft Enemy that steals away half our Time and should be reckoned among our Burdens and not our Pleasures as a thing to be born with Patience rather than to be taken with Delight It is our Unhappiness that so much of our Lives should be spent and not one Act of Love and Kindness should be shewed to God The Angels that are wholly spiritual are exempted from this Necessity Night and Day they are always praising God doing his Will and hearkning to the Voice of his Word Yea we may see many other Creatures are restless in their Motions and obey the Law of their Creation without weariness The Sun in a constant unwearied Course moves from East to West and from West to East and never ceaseth When thou liest upon thy Bed in the Morning thou mayest think of it how many thousand Miles the Sun hath travelled since thou wenest to rest the last Night that he might come again this Morning to give thee Light to go about thy Labour and Exercise and yet thou liest snorting upon thy Bed and turning hither and thither as Solomon saith like a Door upon the Hinges David contended with the Sun who should be up first as the Sun to represent God to the World so he to acknowledg God in his Prayers and Supplications Psal. 119.147 I prevented the dawning of the Morning and cried But of this I will speak no more Common Prudence and the Light of Nature will give us sufficient Direction But now for Sports and other the Delights of Humane Life accept of God's Indulgence with Thankfulness and use it with Moderation Adam in Innocency was placed in a Garden of Delight and since the Fall God hath provided not only for Necessity but Pleasure Certainly in Christ we have a great Liberty but we should not use it as an Occasion to the Flesh. To the Pure all things are pure Titus 1.15 Only let us take heed that we are pure in the use of these outward Comforts and Refreshments Now we need not fear the Uncleanness of Meats and Sports but let us fear the Uncleanness of Lusts. There is a double exercise of Sobriety in our Sports and Recreations and the Delights of the Humane Life to direct us in the Choice of them and in the Use of them 1. In the Choice of them that they be lawful not the Pleasures of Sin Heb. 11.25 There is a strange Perverseness in Man's Nature those Pleasures relish best that are seasoned with Sin as if we could not do Nature Right without Wrong to God and putting an Affront upon his Laws He that breaks the Hedg a Serpent shall bite him Eccles. 10.8 Now to prevent danger in this kind and that we may not break through the Hedg and the Restraints which God hath set us and so find Remorse upon our Death-Beds Conscience must be informed Generally we may observe that we offend God more in our Recreations than in any other Affairs of Life and are more guilty of unlawful Recreations than of unlawful ways of Gain and Traffick and therefore it is good to be wary and keep at a distance from Sin And because Recreations are not among things absolutely necessary but only convenient if they be questionable or of ill Fame it is better to forbear Phil. 4.8 Whatsoever things are of good report c. think of these things that we may be sure not to be guilty of any contempt of God and that we may not give offence to others As for Instance a Lusory Lot in Cards or Dice is very questionable therefore better to be forborn than used especially where they give offence And again because every thing is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer 1 Tim. 4.4 therefore we should seek to understand our Liberty by the Word and venture upon nothing in this kind but what we can commend to God in Prayer and upon which we can ask a Blessing Thus Sobriety directs you in the choice of Recreations 2. In the Use. Usually we offend in such things as are for the Matter lawful there the Soul is more secure as in the Gospel the Excuse is put in the handsomest terms Luke 14.20 I have married a Wife and therefore I cannot come For the understanding of it note Christ's Parables do put the Dispositions of Mens Hearts into Words Now the Sensualist or the Man that is addicted to Pleasures is there represented and mark he doth not urge dalliance with Harlots but I have married a Wife and therefore I cannot come implying that excess in lawful Pleasures keepeth many from Christ and from the things of Grace and therefore here is the Work of Sobriety to set bounds and limits to the use and exercise of our Liberty that it may not degenerate into Licentiousness Well but what Rules shall we observe In short then we offend in Sports when they waste our Estate rob us of our Time cheat us of opportunity of Privacy and Retirement with God and when they unfit the Heart for the Duties of Religion 1. When they waste their Estates You may not do with your Estates as you please you are Stewards and are to be accountable to God at the last Day for every Penny Why should a Prodigal have a greater Liberty and Dominion over his Estate than a covetous Man I will tell you for what reason I speak it Prodigals that waste their Substance with riotous Living as he described in Luke 15.13 when they are taxed for this they say It is my own and I may do with my own as I please We are not content to take such an Answer from a rich and covetous Man when you press him to Charity if he should say It is my own and I shall give what I please as Nabal said 1 Sam. 25.11 Shall I take my Bread and my Water and my Flesh that I have killed for my Shearers and give it unto Men whom I know not The truth is it is a mistake on both sides it is not theirs but God's he is the great Owner Therefore when Recreations are costly and waste your Estates you cannot give an account of it to God at the great Day you rob your Families at least the Poor Lust starves Charity and makes it a Beggar It is sad when a Lust can command thee to do more than the Love of God can when you can lavish away thus much upon your Pleasures and account nothing too dear for them and every Penny be begrudged that is for a Use truly good You are guilty of Sacrilege to God you rob him of his Tribute and you rob the Poor of their Support who are God's Receivers 2.
Desires till he come again in person to convey us into his Father's Bosom It is a mysterious Instrument and Means God hath found out to convey Comfort and Grace to the Soul to work out a Union between him and the Creature We do not only draw nigh to God but are united to him It is the Beginning and Antipast of Glory so much Christ intimates Mat. 26.29 I will not henceforth drink of the fruit of the Vine until the day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom It is a Taste of the new Wine we shall drink with Christ those spiritual Consolations we shall receive from him in his Kingdom 7. Keeping the Sabbath-day holy It is a sure mark of an ungodly Person to be a Sabbath-breaker as a conscionableness to celebrate it to God's Glory is both a mark and a work of Godliness It is the description of the godly Eunuch Isa. 56.4 Thus saith the Lord to the Eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths and choose the things that please me and take hold of my Covenant Mark it is one of the chiefest things that is taken notice of there the observation of God's own Day If you would exercise your selves to Godliness this is a great means Prophaning the Lord's Day is the cause of Prophaneness all the week after and so a careless keeping the Lord's Day is the cause of the Carelesness and Formality you are guilty of in the business of Religion God hath appointed this Day for a repose for the Soul that by a long uninterrupted continuance in Worship it might be more seasoned and fit to converse with God all the week after Dost thou love Christ then observe his Day Ignatius calls it the Queen of Days The primitive Christians were very careful of the Sabbath they would run all hazards rather than not keep the Sabbath-day When they were accused as guilty of Sabbath-violation they would answer I am a Christian how can I choose but love the Lord's Day This is the Day wherein we do most solemnly and publickly profess the Worship of God therefore it is to be celebrated with all care Thus much for the Description of Godliness from the Disposition of the Heart and the Duties about which it is conversant II. I am to speak of the Exercise of Godliness 1 Tim. 4.7 Exercise thy self to Godliness It must be exercised both in Worship and Conversation 2 Pet. 3.11 What manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness First In Worship What is the part and office of Godliness in Worship 1. There must be a care that it be right God will not be at the Creature 's carving his Honour is best kept up by his own Institutions and therefore he will accept nothing but what he requires The Woman of Samaria as soon as she was converted enquired after the right Worship Christ had convinced her of Lewdness and living in Adultery Iohn 4.18 The Man thou now hast is not thy Husband The great thing that troubled her was her present standing and the Superstition she was nuzled and brought up in ver 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this Mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the Place where Men ought to worship Assoon as Men are awakened that is the question they can no longer be content with their ignorant sensless careless ceremonial worshipping of God and say Thus our Fathers did this will not serve the Conscience when it is a little stirred It is said of the People of God Ier. 50.5 They shall ask the way to Sion with their Faces thitherward Sion was the place of God's Residence and solemn Worship and it is the disposition of his People still to be inquisitive after the way to Sion how God is worshipped I speak not this to unsettle Men and to draw them to Scepticism and Irresolution but partly that they might settle upon better grounds than Tradition publick Consent and the Example of Men. Cyprian observes that this is the reason Men are so fickle so inconstant so soon off and on they do not practise those things upon good grounds None so unconstant as they that practise things right and good but not upon Principles And partly that Men may not content themselves with a cheap Worship such as costs them nothing as when they do not enquire about the grounds and reasons of what they do or when they do but even as others do We should be still searching and proving what is acceptable unto the Lord Eph. 5.10 and seek for Knowledg as for Silver and search for her as for hid Treasures Prov. 3.4 It is a thing of great care and exactness to be a Christian to be right in God's Worship Usually Men serve God at random and at peradventure and if they be right it is but a happy Mistake they do not enquire and search and so miss of a great deal of Comfort Settlement and Experience in the Way of God 2. There is required Constancy and Zeal in the Profession of God's Worship This is Religion to be zealous for God's Institutions to contend for the Faith of the Saints and hate what is contrary to right Worship and sound Doctrine Psal. 119.104 Through thy Precepts I get Vnderstanding therefore I hate every false Way And ver 128. Therefore I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false Way This is the effect of the knowledg of the Truth to hate all Falshood Idolatry and Superstition as much as they love God's Institutions that they may not be entangled and so either deceive others or be deceived themselves by the Craft of them that lie in wait for such an Enterprize Whenever they hear or read any such Doctrines the Heart nauseateth them there is a rising of Heart not only against Corruptions of Manners but Falshood of Doctrine But if Men be indifferent come what may come Christ or Antichrist they care not greatly their Religion is worth nothing If you do not hate Heresy and corruption in Worship there is no true Religion or Godliness in you Hereticks and Men in a false way seldom hate one another tho they differ in Principles Why because they have not a love to Truth but those that love the Truth prize the Institutions of God there 's a keen displeasure in their Hearts against any false Way 3. There must be frequency in the practice of it God and their Souls must not grow strangers Things that are not used contract Rust as a Key seldom turned in the Lock turns with difficulty so it will not stand with your spiritual Welfare to omit Duty long Much spiritual Exercise keeps the Soul in Health and sweet as the oftner they drain the Well the sweeter the Water is By running and breathing your selves every day you are the fitter to run in a Race so the oftner you come into God's Presence the greater Confidence and Freedom and Enlargement it will bring The way to be fervent
us the more dreggy Delights oppress Reason wound Conscience and so make way for Sorrow 2. Or else it is called strong Consolation in comparison with it self with respect to less or more imperfect degrees of Comfort There is a Latitude in Comfort some have more and some less some have only weak Glimmerings and Drops others have strong Consolation Ioy unspeakable and full of Glory 1 Pet. 1.8 Now a Christian should aim at the highest Degree the stronger your Consolation the better is Christ pleased with it John 15.11 These things have I spoken unto you that my Ioy may remain in you and that your Ioy might be full This makes the Heart of Christ glad when our Counsels are more able to swallow up our Sorrow and revive the Soul in the midst of Trouble In some this Confidence is accompanied with more sensible Doubts Staggerings and Weaknesses though Comfort gets the upper hand in others it is more strong clear and lively and they act in the Ways of God with greater Encouragement 3. It may likewise be called Strong in regard of its Effects 1. It marreth Carnal Joy it puts the Soul quite out of taste with other things Men used Acorns till they found out the use of Bread We content our selves with Husks till we taste of the fatted Calf in our Father's House The Soul must have some Oblectation Love cannot lie idle we are taken with Garlick and Onions till we taste Manna When once we have tasted of the Love of God other things will not be so sweet Cant. 1.4 We will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy Love more than Wine 2. It is stronger than the Evil which it opposeth it swalloweth up all our Sorrows whatever they be Look as we say of Wine or of any Spirits it is very strong when a few Drops can change a great deal of Water into its own Nature So because it overcometh the greatest Evils Terrors of Conscience worldly Miseries and the greatest Anguish and Distress which may befal us therefore it is called strong Comfort A mighty Joy a sense of God's Love in Christ swalloweth up all our Sorrow whatever The Wrath of God is a dreadful thing we can hardly think of it without amazement The fear of Hell Death and Judgment to come these are wont to raise a great Storm in the Conscience but spiritual Joy can only allay it As a wounded Conscience can say there is no Sorrow like unto my Sorrow so a peaceable Conscience can say there is no Joy like unto my Joy Phil. 4.7 The Peace of God which passeth all Vnderstanding shall keep your Hearts and Minds through Iesus Christ. The strength of this Joy is seen by Experience rather than Expression In outward Troubles they can take pleasure in Infirmities 2 Cor. 12.10 Glory in Tribulation Rom. 5.3 The more the Devil seeks to trouble the Saints they have the more Joy and are more than Conquerors Rom. 8.37 and all by the Power of this Joy as the more we seek to wrest a Staff out of a Man's Hands he holds it the faster Tribulations Anguish Distress Fears Torments Difficulties they are all overpowred by this Joy II. How this strong Consolation ariseth from Assurance and Certainty To establish Joy and Comfort two things are necessary Excellency and Propriety The thing in which I rejoice it must be Good and it must be Mine Sutably here in the Text there is an assurance of excellent Privileges and then there is a Qualification annexed that we may understand our own Interest God by his Oath assures us of excellent Privileges in Christ and that 's a ground of strong Consolation Then he requireth a Duty of us that we fly for refuge to take hold of the Hope set before us 1. For the Excellency of our Privileges You know that which will minister solid Comfort to the Soul it had need be Excellent A small Matter though never so sure will not occasion a strong Consolation the Joy is according to the Object Now whether a Christian look backward or forward there is Matter of Rejoicing to the Heirs of Promise Backward there is the Immutability of his Counsel Forward there is a Hope set before us From one Eternity to another may a Believer walk and still find cause of rejoicing in God If he looks Backward there God reveals to him the unchangeable Purposes of Grace before the World was If he looks Forward there is an eternal Possession of Glory when the World shall be no more It is sweet to know what 's past and what 's to come there 's naturally a Curiosity in us which would be satisfied We know what God was doing before the World was and what he will do when the World shall be no more We may know for our comfort God was treating and dealing with Christ about our Salvation putting it into an unchangeable course and he hath for ever provided for the Comfort and Welfare of our Souls that we may enjoy him love him and delight in him for evermore Man out of a natural Curiosity hath a great delight both in History and Prophecy to read what is past and to fore-know what is to come especially what concerns his own Destiny Now God in condescension tells us under the assurance of an Oath what he has done for us what Thoughts of Love he had towards us from Eternity what he will do and how happy our Estate shall be for ever God doth not only satisfy the Curiosity of our Nature that desireth Knowledg but the bent of it that poiseth us to our own Happiness It is sweet to read our Names written in the Book of God's everlasting Decree Luke 10.20 Rejoice because your Names are written in Heaven That God hath set us down as Heirs of all that Grace and Mercy he hath dispensed in his Covenant It is sweet and pleasant to reflect upon his antient Purposes of Grace and by the Eye of Faith to read our Names written and recorded in the Rolls of Heaven When you hear any Offer in the Gospel to say this was God's Purpose and eternal Counsel to bestow this upon me before all Worlds he thought of me then And then there is an Hope set before us thy Lot is fallen to thee in a fair Ground O what Joy is this to Believers that their Souls are fully provided for for ever and ever and they shall have what infinite Mercy can bestow and what infinite Merit hath purchased 2. Another Cause of strong Comfort is Interest and Propriety Besides the Excellency of the Privilege there must be the Clearness of our Interest The Object of Joy is not only good in common but our Good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is a Man 's own is sweet to him It doth not enrich a Man to hear there are Pearls and Diamonds in the World and Mines of Gold in the Indies unless he had them in his own possession So it doth not fill us with
derivation from his fulness and as a Candle lighted at a Torch doth not diminish the Light of the Torch so God doth not lose by giving IV. VSE Let us Love God and love him above all things for he only is Good Goodness is that which is amiable and desirable so when God is said to be good we say he is of such an Essence as is most amiable and desirable Therefore let us Love God above all things with our chiefest love for he is most worthy of our Love and by preferring his Glory above all things that are dear to us being content for his sake to part with all which we have in the World and also to long and wait for that time when we shall fully enjoy him If the Object of Love be good there is none good but one which is God he is good of himself good in himself yea Goodness it self there is no Good above or besides or beyond him it is all from him if it be good 1. He is Primitively and Originally Good good of himself which nothing else is and therefore he is called the Fâ—untain of living waters Jer. 2.13 The Creatures are but dry Pits and broken Cisterns Other things what goodness they have is of Him therefore it is infinitely better and greater in him than in them 2. He is the chiefest Good Other things are good in Subordination to him All the Goodness that is in the Creature is but a spark of that Good which is in God If we find any good there it is not to detain our Affections but to lead us to a greater good not to hold us from him but to lead us to him as the Streams lead us to the Fountain and the steps of a Ladder are not to stand still upon but to lead us higher If the Prince should woo us by Messengers and we should leave him and cleave to the Messengers this were extream Folly and a great abuse and wrong to the Prince By the Goodness of the Creatures God's End is to draw us to himself as the chiefest Good Here is Goodness in the Creature but it is mixed with Imperfection the Goodness is to draw us to God the Imperfection to drive us from the Creatures 3. He is infinitely Good In choosing God for our Portion one hath not the less because another enjoyeth it with him here is a sharing without division and a partaking without the prejudice of Co-partners We streighten others in worldly things so much as we are enlarged our selves finite things cannot be divided but they must be lessened they are not large enough to be parted But this good is Infinite and sufficeth the whole World every one possesseth this Portion entire as the same Speech may be heard of all and yet no Man heareth the less because another hears it with him or as no Man hath the less Light because the Sun shineth to more than himself The Lord is all in all the more possess him the better As in a Quire of Voices every one is not only solaced with his own Voice but by the Harmony of those that sing in Consort with him Many a fair Stream is drawn dry or runneth low by being dispersed into several Channels but that which is Infinite cannot be lessened 4. He is Eternally Good Immutably Good and so the most durable Portion Psal. 73.26 God is the strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever The good things of this Life are perishing and of a short continuance We leave other good things when we begin to take possession of God At Death wicked Men perceive their Error when the good which they have chosen cometh to be taken from them but a Man that hath chosen God for his God entreth into the full possession of him Well then other good things may busie and vex us but they cannot satisfie us this alone sufficeth all it giveth Health and Peace and Honour and Glory Necessities that are not satisfied by him are Fancies and the Desires of them are not to be satisfied but mortified If we have not enough in God it is not the default of our Portion but the defect of our Capacity Secondly Good is Good as it implyeth his Bounty and Beneficence So he told Moses Exod. 33.19 I will make all my Goodness to pass before thee and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy So Exod. 34.6 7. The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth Keeping mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity and Transgression and Sin Bonum est primum potissimum nomen Dei Damascen Goodness is the first and chiefest Name of God We cannot conceive of him by any thing that concerneth us so much as by his Goodness by that we know him and for that we love him We admire him with Reverence for his other Titles but this doth first insinuate with us and Command our respect to him The first Temptation that ever was in the World was this to weaken the Conceit of his Goodness to the Creature the Devil would fain have perswaded Adam and Eve that God was not so good to them as they thought but that he envyed their Happiness The Heathens had a Conceit that the Godhead was envious harsh and sowr in his restraints Still the Children of God find it a great Temptation nothing withdraws their Heart from God so much as this when the Esteem of God's Goodness is lessened therefore the Psalmist cries out Truly God is good to Israel Psal. 73.1 Now this Goodness of Gods or his Bounty is twofold 1. Common and General to all Creatures especially to Mankind Psal. 145.9 The Lord is Good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works To all things to all Persons he bestoweth many common Blessings upon them as Natural Life and Being Health Wealth and the like Nay he is good to the Young Ravens Psal. 147.9 He giveth to the Beast his food and to the young Ravens which cry He is good to wicked Men Mat. 5.45 He maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Nay even to Idolaters Acts 14.17 He left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave them rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling their Hearts with food and gladness God might have testified his Godhead and Being by Acts of Vengeance but he would rather among the Heathens testifie it by Acts of Bounty thô they were a bad People yet they had a good God 2. His more especial Goodness towards his Church and faithful People whom he blesseth with Spiritual and Saving Benefits in Christ. So it is said Psal. 84.11 No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Lam. 3.25 The Lord is good unto them that
notable Temptation to a poor Woman who had heard so much of Christ's Power and Compassion towards all those that came to him for Relief He heard well enough what she asked but not a Word of Answer gets she from him I will shew you that though Christ love our Persons and dislikes not our Petitions but meaneth to grant them yet for a time he will seem to take no notice of them 1. That this is a sore Temptotion 2. That it should not yet weaken our Faith 1. That it is a sore Temptation appeareth by the Complaints of the Saints and Servants of God Lam. 3.8 When I cry and shout he shutteth out my Prayer As if God had locked up himself that their Prayers should not come at him or find access to him So Verse 44. Thou coverest thy self with a Cloud that our Prayer should not pass thorough as if God had wrapped up himself in a thick Cloud of Displeasure against our Sins that our Prayers could find no entrance So the Spouse Cant. 5.6 I sought him but I could not find him I called him but he gave me no Answer That God should refuse and reject our Prayers is a grievous Tryal to the Faithful who value Communion with God Nay this Delay may be so long till the Caâ—se seem hopeless Psal. 69.3 I am weary of my crying my Throat is dried mine Eyes fail while I wait for my God So Psal. 22.2 O my God! I cry in the Day-time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent And all this while God seemeth to forsake them nor to regard the Suit as if he had no respect to their hard Condition To lose our labour in Prayer is one of the saddest Disappointments that we can meet with when our loud and importunate Cries bring no Relief to us But 2 It should not weaken our Faith For God's Delay is for his own Glory and our Good 1. For his own Glory and the Beauty of his Providence We read Iohn 11.5 6. Iesus loved Martha and her Sister and Lazarus and when he heard he was sick even to Death he abode-still two days in the same place where he was There is little Love in that you will think to a sick Friend who was ready to die Martha expostulateth with him about it Verse 21. Lord if thou hadst been here my Brother had not died But Christ giveth the true Account of it Verse 40. Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the Glory of God It was more for the Glory of God to raise a dead Man than to cure a sick Man So when the Disciples were in a Storm Christ made a shew of passing by Mark 6 4â— He cometh unto them walking on the Sea side and would have passed by them So Christ delayeth the Woman as to Appearance and denieth her that the Glory and Greatness of her Faith might be more seen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysâ—â—â—â— that he might crown the Woman as a Notable Believer 2. For our Good and to exercise our Faith Patience Love and Desire 1. Our Faith to wait and depend upon God for things we see not For Faith is a dependance upon God for something that lieth out of sight This Woman was delayed but had at last that which she desired but first her great Faith was discovered 2. Our Patience in tarrying God's leisure His dearest Children are not admitted at the first knock David saith in three Verses I cryed I cryed I cryed Psal. 119.145 146 147. Our Lord Jesus prayed thrice before he got any Comfort in his Agony Matth. 26.44 And he left them and went away again and prayed the third time and then an Angel appeared to him from Heaven and strengthened him Luke 22.43 Elijah prayed thrice for the dead Child e're he got him to Life 1 Kings 17.21 And he stretched himself upon the Child three times and cryed unto the Lord and said O Lord my God! I pray thee let this Child's Soul return unto him again Paul prayed thrice 2 Cor. 12.8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me The Lord useth the like Dispensation to us that are their Followers Heb. 6.12 Be followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises We are told Lam. 3.26 It is good that a man should both hâ—pe and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord. It is Bonum honestum utile It is our Duty and it is our Profit Our times are always present with us Hungry Stomachs must have the Meat e're it be sodden or roasted We would have our Mercies too soon like the Foolish Husbandman who would reap his Corn and get it into the Barn before it be ripened 3. Our Love tho' we be not feasted with felt Comforts and present Delights or bribed with a sensible Dispensation or indulged with a ready condescention to our Requests God will try the Deportment of his Children whether we love him or his Benefits most Whether sensible Consolations especially external be more to us than a God in Covenant Isa. 26.8 Yea in the 〈◊〉 of thy Iudgments O Lord have we waited for thee A Child of God will love him for his Judgments and fear him for his Mercies God will try whether we can rejoyce in himself in our greatest Wants and Destitutions Heb. 3.17 18. Although the Fig-tree shall not blossom neither shall Fruit be in the Vines the labour of the Olive shall fail and the Fields shall yield no meat the Flocks shall be cut off from the Fold and there be no Heard in the Stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation A resolute dependance on an unseen God is the Power and Glory of Faith and a resolute Adherence to a withdrawn God is the Vigour of Love Lime the more Water you sprinkle upon it the more it burneth Many waters cannot quench Love neither can the Floods drown it Cant. 8.7 4. To enlarge our Desires and put greater Fervency into them A Sack that is stretched out holds the more Delay increaseth Importunity Matth. 7.7 Ask seek knock the Door is kept bolted that we may knock the harder The choicest Mercies come to us after great Wrestlings She prayeth but Christ keepeth Silence Silence is an Answer and speaketh thus much Pray on and continue your praying still though Christ loved the Supplicant and meaneth to grant the Petition yet at first he answereth her not a Word Secondly Her next Temptation was from the small Assistance she had from the Disciples Verse 23. Send her away for she crieth after us Interpreters dispute whether this was spoken out of Commiseration or Impatience I incline to the former and the Sence is Send her away by granting her Request do that for her that she desireth that she may be quiet But though it were Commiseration yet they spake too coldly as to her Distress and seem to have
have sealed it and made it sure So the Jaylor Acts 16.34 He rejoyced believing in God with all his house He was but newly Converted and recovered out of the Suburbs of Hell ready to kill himself just before so that a Man would have thought you might as easily fetch Water out of a Flint or a spark of Fire out of the bottom of the Sea yet he rejoyced when he was acquainted with Christ so that you see none reflect seriously on the Gospel but they find cause of Joy We cannot consider and believe the great things which Christ hath done and purchased for us with some hope of the enjoyment of them without Joy Secondly The Reasons of this Joy These must be considered with respect to the Object the Subject the Causes 1. The Excellency of the Object which is Jesus Christ and the incomparable Treasure of his Grace 1. He is excellent in Himself as being the Eternal Son of God Now when he will come down not only to visit but redeem a sinful World this should be matter of Joy to us He came down was not thrust down he came as the Pledge and Instance of the Father's Love Iohn 3.16 God so loved the VVorld that he gave his only begotten Son To make Divine Nature more Amiable that we might not fly from him as a condemning God but return to him as a pardoning God and willing to be reconciled to sinful Man 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their trespasses to them And in our Nature dyed for us Revel 1.5 Who hath loved us and washed us from our Sins in his own blood Christ would shew us a Love that passeth Knowledge and would surprize Men and Angels with an heap of Wonders in the whole business of our Deliverance from Sin and Misery And surely we bring down the price of these Wonders of Love if we entertain them with cold Thoughts and without some considerable Acts of Joy and Thankfulness 2. He is also Necessary for us Rom. 3.19 And all the World may become guilty before God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subject to the Judgment of God or obnoxious to his Wrath and Vengeance What could we have done without his Passion and Intercession If he had not dyed for Sinners what had we to answer to the Terrors of the Law or Accusations of Conscience or to appease the fears of Hell and approaching Damnation How could you look God in the Face or think a comfortable Thought of him or call upon his Name or pray to him in your Necessities In good sadness what could you do Would you bewail Sins past but what Recompence or Ransom for your Souls was there If you had wept your Eyes out it would not have been accepted without a Redeemer or some Satisfaction to Divine Justice Micah 6.6 7. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with Calves of a year old will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousand of rivers of Oyl shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my Body for the sin of my Soul Would you commit Sin no more or serve God for the future exactly If that had been possible with a sinning Nature yet payment of new Debts doth not quit old Scores or paying what we owe doth not make amends for what is stolen you might have lain in your Blood We could not find out a Ransom which God would accept Psal. 49.7 8. None of them can by any means redeem his Brother nor give to God a ransom for him for the redemption of their Soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever No it is the Lord's Mercy to find out a ransom for us Iob 33.24 Then he is gracious unto him and saith deliver him from going down to the Pit I have found a ransom 3. He is so beneficial to us We have cause to rejoyce if we consider the many Benefits we have by him 1 Cor. 1.30 31. But of him are ye in Christ Iesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption That according as it is written he that gloryeth let him glory in the Lord. Ignorance alienates from God Depraved Nature brings Doubts and Fears which always haunts us about Eternity and the way thither Now when God hath provided such a suitable and alsufficient Remedy should we not rejoyce and esteem him and delight in him and count all things but Dung and Dross in comparison of him that we may gain him and his Grace 2. The Subject 1. They are affected with their Misery for according as our sense of our Misery is so is our Entertainment of the Remedy Those that heal their Wounds slightly little care for the Physician A Doctrinal sight of Sin maketh way for a dead Opinion about Christ. It is they that are often in tears and groans thrô the feeling of Sin and fears of the Wrath of God who do most esteem Christ and rejoyce in him Matth. 9.13 I am not come to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Acts 2.37 And when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do A Saviour is welcome to them for he is to them a comfortable and suitable Remedy 2. They mind their End which is to return to God as their proper Happiness When the Soul seeth nothing better than God then nothing is sweeter than Christ Intention of the End maketh the Means acceptable Iohn 14.6 Iesus saith unto him I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me Heb. 7.25 VVherefore he is able to save to the uttermost all those that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Christ is of no use but where God is our chiefest Good for if we be indifferent as to the Favour of God why should we prize Christ 3. Their Heart is suited to Spiritual things To excite Delight and Complacency there are two things necessary The attractiveness of the Object and the Inclination of the Faculty Delight and Pleasure is Applicatio convenientis convenienti If the Object be never so lovely yet if the Faculty be not suited there is no delight We use to say One Man's Food is another Man's Poyson Rom. 8.5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Every Man's taste is according to his Constitution some are so lost and sunk in the dregs of Pleasures Honours and Profits that they have no relish for better things Tho' Christ be so excellent and so suitable and so Alsufficient to Soul-necessities yet Carnal Men cannot â—avour him This Excellency is only valued by a Spiritual Mind Scarlet maketh no more shew in the dark than a
must open the Nature of it The Hardness of Heart discovereth it self by two Properties it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an insensible Heart and an inflexible Heart 1. An insensible Heart as a brawny Substance or callous piece of Flesh like the Labourer's Hand and Traveller's Heel This the Apostle intimateth Ephes. 4.18 19. Having the Vnderstanding darkned being alienated from the Life of God through the Ignorance that is in them because of the Blindness of their Heart Who being pâ—st feeling c. In one Verse he chargeth them with Hardness of Heart and in the first Words of the next Verse with loss of Feeling Feeling of all Senses though it be not the most noble yet it is the most necessary there is no Life without it it is diffused throughout the whole Body and in what Member soever it is lost there is no more Intercourse of vital and animal Spirits and where 't is totally lost there is no more Life There may be Life when other Senses are wanting a Man may be deaf and yet live blind and yet live but if he utterly lose his Feeling he cannot live Such a dead sensless Heart is the hard Heart as appeareth in the Wicked by that great Security Ease and Quiet which they naturally have though lying under the Guilt of many and grievous Sins and though they be obnoxious to the Wrath of God yet they are never troubled nor affected with any sense of their Condition They can sin freely in Thought foully in Act without any Remorse and Shame Ab assuetis non fit Passio Men are not moved by such things as they are much used to As they that live by the fall of great Waters sleep quietly because they are accustomed to the Noise so Men that are accustomed to Sin can swear and be drunk and commit Filthiness or go on in some other Trade of Wickedness and are never troubled Mithridates through the Custom of drinking Poison made it so familiar to him that he drank it without danger Elementa non gravitant in suis locis Elements weigh not in their proper place A Fish in the Water feeleth no Weight Sin is not burdensom to wicked Men it is in its own place This Insensibleness is the greater where Men will not be awakened out of their Lethargick Fit by all the Means which God useth to them by the Threatnings of his Word or the Judgments of his Providence There is a Method in God's Dispensations he threatneth that he may not punish and punisheth now that he may not punish for ever Now the Children of God are startled at the Threatnings and tremble when they see a Storm in the Clouds before it falleth As Iosiah had a tender Heart and melted at the Threatning 2 Chron. 34.27 And they are said to tremble at the Word Isa. 66.2 and Ezra 9.4 But wicked Men think this is a vain Scarecrow and though they are most obnoxious to the Judgment and Wrath of God yet they have no sense and tender feeling of it Therefore God goeth on to his second Dispensation he punisheth now that he may not punish for ever As Absalom set Ioab's Barley-field on fire that he might draw him to come and speak with him so God seeketh to make Men serious to bring them to the Throne of Grace and sue out their Pardon by many temporal Judgments But still wicked Men start aside and will not turn to him that smiteth them Ier. 5.3 Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they have refused to receive Correction As the Anvil is smoothed into Hardness by many Blows and Strokes so are Men more insensible of their Condition and will not regard the meaning of God's Providences Well then an hard Heart is insensible of what they have done against God or what God hath or may do to them And so far as we lose our Sense and Tenderness so far is the Heart hardned 2. It is an inflexible Heart it is not easily bent to God's Purpose say he what he will Men are as light as vain as mindless of Heavenly Things as basely wedded to the Delights of the Flesh as ever and obstinately and against all Means to the contrary refuse the Counsel of God for their Good Though God hath the highest Reasons of his side and great Variety of powerful and alluring Motives to gain Souls to his Obedience and these represented not only to the Ear by his Messengers but to the Heart by his Spirit yet Men are so addicted to their own Wills and Lusts that they will not suffer themselves to be perswaded by him to accept of his Offers and rich Mercies in Christ they will not obey the sweet Directions of his Word nor regard the Motions and Strivings of his Spirit to let their beloved Lusts go and comply with the Will of God 1. They are inflexible to the Counsels of his Word where God interposeth in the way of the highest Authority straitly charging and commanding us under pain of his Displeasure and reasoneth with us in the most potent and strong way of Argumentation from the Excellency of his Commands and their Sutableness to us as we are reasonable Creatures from his great Love in Christ whom he hath given to die for us from the Danger if we refuse him which is no less than everlasting Torment from the Benefit and Happiness of complying with his Motions which is no less than eternal and compleat Blessedness both for our Bodies and Souls and all is bound upon us by a strict impartial Day of Accounts when we are to answer for our Neglects or else to receive the Reward of our Diligence But alas the hard Heart defeateth the End of this whole Contrivance Neither the Awe of God's Authority nor the Reasonableness of his Commands nor the wonderful Love of Christ nor the Joys of Heaven nor the Horrors of everlasting Darkness nor the Strictness of the last Day 's Account will work Man to a sense of his Duty or gain him to make serious Preparation for his own Happiness and everlasting Salvation Out of what Rock was the Heart of Man hewen What will work upon you if this Doctrine upon which God hath laid out all the Riches of his Wisdom and Grace will not work upon you Hath God another Son to die for you a better Heaven to bestow upon you or an hotter Hell to scare you withal Would you have the Day of Judgment more exact and severe or greater Obligations to all Holiness and Godliness of Conversation than those already propounded or more Charms and Perswasiveness added to the Gospel O no that cannot be Infinite Wisdom hath already stated these things Or would you have God save you against your Wills or thrust these things upon you without your Consent Surely it is Obstinacy plain Obstinacy and hardness of Heart that maketh you stand out against God Psal. 58.4 5. They are like the deaf Adder that stoppeth her Ear which
at Dothan they were in Samaria Ignorance because it is not always accompanied with gross Acts is little thought of but it is a bloody Sin If Men did know God and themselves more they could not be satisfied with their Condition Ignorance is the greatest cause of hardning 2 dly Love I do not consider it as a Grace but as an Argument to melt the Soul It is a forcible Argument and a kindly Argument 1. It is a forcible Argument Saul relented when David had an advantage against him and spared him in the Cave 1 Sam. 24.16 17. Saul lift up his Voice and wept and he said to David Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me Good whereas I have rewarded thee Evil. To make the Heart relent it is good to study God's Kindness not only how he hath spared us but how he hath blessed us 1. For temporal Mercies Creation and Providence For the Mercies of Creation We all condemn the Rebellion of Absolom for rising against his Father God made us out of nothing none so much a Father as God and yet we rebel against him If we had lost a Limb an Eye a Tooth or an Arm would we injure him that could restore us these things God gave them to us at first how should the Thoughts of this soften our Hearts Then for the Mercies of Providence Nathan mentions God's Mercies to David to humble him 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. I anointed thee King over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul And I gave thee thy Master's House and thy Master's Wives into thy Bosom and gave thee the House of Israel and of Judah and if that had been too little I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandment of the Lord to do Evil in his Sight It is God that feedeth and maintaineth you and preserveth you Men stand upon their Honour in the World to be true to their Interest not to be unthankful to their Preservers Now God giveth us Life and Breath and all things You value these things when they are given you by Men much more should you when they are given you by God Is Water the worse because it cometh from the Fountain and not from the Cistern Water is purer in the Fountain We have more Reason to value Mercies when they come from God that so great a Majesty should look after you Psal. 113.6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and in the Earth That God that standeth not in need of you as Man doth of the meanest that God whom you have offended whose Favour you are so much concerned about In a small Gift from a King the Favour is valued we are continually fed and maintained at the Expence and Care of his Providence 2. For spiritual Mercies they melt the Heart What great Love Christ shewed in the Business of our Salvation what he left what he suffered what he purchased 1. What he left That Love that is accompanied with Self-denial is accounted the highest how many Degrees did the Sun of Righteousness go back 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2.8 He humbled or emptied himself There was a Vail upon his Godhead when he was rich for our sakes he became poor 2 Cor. 8.9 In the Fulness of the Godhead he abstained from the Use of it Did Christ leave Heaven and wilt not thou leave thy Lusts Was he made the Son of Man and wilt not thou be made the Son of God It was his Abasement but it is our Advancement 2. What he suffered We are more affected with what Men suffer for us than with what they do for us Cubitum sin◠manu To shew the Stump of the Arm where the Hand was lost was an effectual Plea Zech. 12.10 They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only Son and be in Bitterness for him as one that is in Bitterness for his First-born Sin doth most affect the Heart when we consider the Wrong done to Christ by it Amor doloris causa the more a Man loveth another or apprehends that he is loved of him the more he is grieved that he hath any way injured him Your Sins strike at Christ and have pierced him shall not your Hearts be pierced when his Head was pierced with Thorns his Hands and Feet with Nails his Heart with Sorrows Can you look upon Golgotha with dry Eyes and a careless stupid Heart Think that you heard Christ say Behold is any Sorrow like to my Sorrow Will you still go on in your Rebellion against me Is all nothing all that I have done and suffered for you 3. What he purchased for us He gave himself a Ransom and Price a Ransom to free us from Death and Hell We would love a Man that should get a Pardon for our Lives when we are condemned to die 1 Thess. 1.10 Even Iesus who delivered us from the Wrath to come There was never any such Wrath past or present it is a thing to come when he shall stir up all his Wrath And a Price to purchase for us the Favour of God and our eternal Abode with him in Heaven Heaven is called the purchased Possession Ephes. 1.14 If we were to be annihilated or to spend our time in some obscure Place it were Mercy but to be for ever with the Lord and to be filled up with God who can express the Greatness of this Mercy And all this is freely offered to you in the Gospel Things that concern us affect us and therefore surely this should melt the Heart Rom. 12.1 I beseech you therefore Brethren by the Mercies of God What! shall not Mercy prevail Ioel 2.13 And rent your Heart and not your Garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to Anger and of great Kindness and repenteth him of the Evil. Surely God's Graciousness and Readiness to receive returning Sinners should work upon us An Hammer will easily break an hard Stone against a soft Bed but if it be laid on an hard solid Body that will not give way underneath strike as hard as you will it is kept from breaking so smite thy Soul on the Gospel Hell and Damnation may be the Hammer but then lay thy Soul upon the Gospel and Gospel-Considerations then it breaketh all to shatters Strike thy Soul with the Blows of God's Wrath against the Law and it resists still all doth but make us desperate but now remember the Mercies of the Lord how freely he inviteth returning Sinners and this breaks the Heart to pieces 2. It is a kindly Argument the Heart is not till then kindly humbled for Sin as Sin An apprehension of Wrath is one thing godly Sorrow is another thing the former is necessary but not enough 2 Kings 22.19 Because thine Heart was tender and thou hast humbled thy self before the Lord when thou heardest
Private Duties There is a greater engagement upon us than others because we have the help of Art and Education and have greater advantages than others and therefore we should not lose so sweet a Comfort It is strange that Papists confine it altogether to Spiritual Men as if it were not a Lay-Duty and usually we lay it aside as if Study would serve the turn and it did not belong to us V. My work is now to speak of the Object of Meditation which I am first to handle in general and then in special First In the General Consideration of the Object I am to speak 1. Of the Choice of the Object 2. The Manner how to work upon it 1. For the Choice of the Object I need not press you to choose that which is seasonable and what suiteth with your own case A Sermon worketh more forcibly when it is suitable so do Thoughts when they are seasonable and direct to the present Case of the Soul Psal. 94.19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul he meaneth sad thoughts then it was his advantage to exercise himself in seasonable comforts like a Shower of Rain on new Mowen Grass it would be burnt up with the drought which if Rain had come seasonably might have flourished and grown up with a fair Herbage so the Soul is parched with a Temptation if it be not watered with suitable thoughts We faint not saith the Apostle For we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are not seen 2 Cor. 4.16 18. viz. by reviving our Christian hopes And therefore the Exigencies of the Soul must be served Food in Thirst doth enrage rather than please It is not enough to consider what is good but what is seasonable things mis-timed and mis-placed lose their force and operation as the Blood when it is in Vessels is the Continent of Life but when it is out it breedeth Diseases so Truths out of their Order and Place do not nourish the Heart but oppress it as if you should talk of Hell and the Severity of Gods Judgment to those that are dejected this were to speak to the grief of those whom God hath wounded and when the back is ready to break to lay on more load I shall for the present having spoken largely in the general Directions give you but Two Rules 1. Choose that which is profitable There is a great deal of difference between the Objects of Meditation some are more speculative others altogether Practical There are matters speculative revealed in the Word which yet have their Use and Profit as the Fall of the Angels the Order of Providence c. yet out of these the Heart may distil Matter of Practical Use and Profit All the benefit we receive from these Truths lyeth in our Meditation of them But then there are others that are altogether Practical and these should chiefly be chosen The Mind of Man is the Mill of God not to grind Chaff but Wheat Matters Practical are there to be ground for Bread to the Soul they that hunt after Fanzies do but mis-employ their Thoughts and beat Chaff into Dust and do not grind good Corn for nourishment And that is the Reason why many times mean Christians excel those of the best gifts because they spend their time in subtle Inventions and Enquiries and whilst we strive to be more subtle they are more sincere Oh consider the Soul is diseased while it is only fed with Quails and fine Notions there is more Delicacy but less Nourishment Notions that are Airy tickle the fancy and move the lighter part of the Affections but those Considerations that are grave and masculine convince most soundly and work most deeply Wisdom entreth into the heart Prov. 2.10 Look as Wicked Men do not please themselves in abstractions of Sin they devise Wickedness to accomplish it so the Christian should not satisfie himself with nice Speculations but employ his thoughts about Practical Matters to promote Holyness in his Heart and Life 2. Chose Matters to Meditate upon in and orderly an apt Method But you will say Do you think this useful to confine the Soul to Method in Meditation to prescribe a set course to our selves Shall we not justle out seasonable thoughts I Answer 1. It is lawful and necessary to prescribe to our selves a Course and Method partly that we may know our Work and that we may not be to seek both of a Subject and how to work upon it therefore that you may keep your Religious Exercises together and know how to pass from one to another it is good to keep a set Course Partly Because things work with us according to Method it is the way of Knowledge and Affection the Soul finds it an Excellent Advantage when things are aptly suited and ranked in their Order God himself hath disposed all his works in order so should we ours You will find an Advantage when you take your Rise low and go on from Matters more plain and obvious to those that are more Mysterious There are Shallowes for the Lambs of God and there are deeps for those of an higher growth and stature You must pass from the most obvious Matter of Christianity to those that are of more sublime speculation The Rise of the Sun is first low and gildeth with its beams the Eastern parts and then riseth higher to the top of the Heavens so in your progress there are the Third Heavens to which you must ascend but first you must pass the first and second Heavens Before we search the depths of the Spirit it is good to search the depths of the Belly I compare Pauls Expression with Solomons to begin with the knowledge of our selves before we come to the knowledge of God Prius redi ad te quam rimari praesumas quae supra te is a Rule of Bernard who was of much Experience in these Exercises first return to our selves and by an orderly progress to go on from Examination of our selves before we soar up to the Contemplation of the Divine Glory You know what Christ saith Iohn 3.12 If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things They were Spiritual Matters he spake of Regeneration and Principles of Religion yet in comparison of deeper Mysteries of Religion and because he had set them out by Earthly Similitudes of Generation Water and the Wind he called them earthly things Christ trained up his own Disciples this way first he begins with plain Matters Iohn 16.12 I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them yet There were greater Mysteries above the reach and size of their present Capacity So the Apostle Paul speaketh of Wisdom for them that are perfect 1 Cor. 2.6 Howbeit we speak wisdom to them that are perfect that is for them that had made some progress in Religion perfect not absolutely but in
this makes Death to be dreadful and terrible to the Soul and keeps the Soul in Bondage Heb. 2.15 Through fear of death they were all their life-time subject to bondage But certainly it shall be at the day of Judgment then we shall see the folly of it Conscience shall then be extended and enlarged and the Sinner shall remember the wickedness of his past life You will then find the Devil that is now a Tempter will prove an Accuser Oh what kind of Apprehensions will you have when the Devil shall come forth and plead Lord Adjudge this Person to me I never dyed for him I never shed my Blood for him I could promise him no Heaven and Glory yet he easily hearkened to my Temptations Tuus esse noluit per gratiam sit meus per culpam ostende tales tuos munerarios O Christe He would not be thine for all the Grace and Kindness thou didst show him and all the Rewards thou didst propound and promise to him Then all disguises will be laid aside A little consideration and search and Prayer for Conviction for the present would help us to the same apprehensions If Conscience should be now extended as it will be then we should soon be weary of our Lives At least do not rest in your own Valuation and Account for then the Secrets of all Hearts shall be opened 3. The less Sin appeareth many times it is the greater Sins are not to be measured by the smalness of the matter of them but by the offence done to God The first Sin to a vulgar and common apprehension was but the eating of an Apple it seemed a small matter if we did not consider the offence against God It is an aggravation mentioned by the Prophet Amos 2.6 They sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes that is upon so small an occasion or for such a contemptible matter they would oppress the poor The lesser the occasion and temptation is the greater the Impudence the Imprudence and the Unkindness the greater the Impudence that they will dare God to his face for a trifle the greater is the Imprudence that we will hazard our Souls for a mean thing the greater is the unkindness that we will stand with God for a little Sins that are accounted small in the matter of them have been overtaken with the sad Revenges of God he that denyed a crum could not receive a drop of Water to cool his Tongue The contempt of God is the greater when we break with God for a small matter and transgress his Commandments upon every light occasion In short sin is in no case small but only in regard of Gods Mercy and Christs Merits 4. None are exempted from bewailing the evil of Sin Though the Children of God shall never feel it nor have the dregs of God's displeasure wrung out to them for it yet they must bewail the evil that there is in Sin The Death and Merit of Christ doth not change the Nature of Sin nor put less evil into it why should we look upon it with a different eye after Conversion than we did before Sin is still damning in its own Merit and Nature and it is still the violation of an Holy Righteous Law and an affront to the Holy God and an inconvenience to the precious Soul Sin is the same as it was before though the Person be not the same Nay the Children of God are not altogether exempted from the effects of Sin neither it is a Disease though not a Death and who would not groan under the heat of a burning feavour though he be assured of Life God hath still a bridle upon you to keep the Soul in awe And though the godly can never loose their right in the Covenant that doth remain yet they may loose the fruition of it and this is enough to make a Child of God mourn Notwithstanding all the Priviledges of Grace you may be branded though not executed and though the Lord hath made them Vessels of Mercy yet he doth not use and employ them as Vessels of Honour but they are set aside as useless Vessels Sin will still be inconvenient it will bring disgrace to Religion and discomfort to your Souls and furnish the Triumphs of Hell and make Satan rejoyce and Eclipse the Light of Gods Countenance and who can brook the loss of Gods Favour and of intimate Communion with him without sadness and bemoaning his case I may ask you that question Iob 15.11 Are the consolations of God small with thee Do you make so little reckoning of those rich Comforts of the Holy Ghost Though you cannot be damned for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Rom. 8.1 yet your Pilgrimage may be made very uncomfortable and he that prizeth Communion with God would not loose the Comfort of it for the least moment Besides if there were no inconvenience yet Love is motive enough to a gracious Person Where is your Love Christians You sin against Mercy the warm beams of Mercy should melt the heart Ezek. 36.31 Then shall ye remember your own evil wayes and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and for all your abominations As long as there is Love in the Heart you can never want an Argument to represent the odiousness of Sin Put the matter in a Temporal Case it would be ill reasoning for an Heir to say I know my Father will not disinherit me therefore I do not care how I offend him Where is your Love to God if you do not hate Sin Psam 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil Though your Right in the Covenant be safe yet you should still have the evil of your own doings in remembrance 5. Many speak much of the Evil of Sin in Prayers and Confessions yet loath it never the more yea the less What should be the Reason of it All their thoughts are spent in empty Declamations and forms of Satyr or Anger and these do not subdue Affections Or else it may be we only paint Sin in our Fancies and that worketh no more than a Picture or Image which doth not allure and draw Love so much as a Living Beauty it only pleases and tickles a little Things foul in their Nature are pleasant in their Picture and Description What more dreadful than War And yet what more pleasant than in a strain of Poetry or Rhetorick or in a lively Picture to describe the fury and heat of Battle What more uglâ— than a Toad And yet a Toad painted to the life pleaseth So when we meerly paint Sin by the help of the Imagination or Fancy it moves only the lighter part of the Soul It is good to be rational in our Considerations and where there is the less Art it leaveth the deeper stroak upon the Heart Imagination and Fancy is a great Instrument in the work of Mediation but still it must be
God converted Firmius Omnipotency needeth no outward advantage So in Publick Deliverances Gods Instruments are usually despicable a Straw is as good as a Spear in the hands of Omnipotence Most of the Iudges that rescued Israel were taken from the Plough and Sheepfold So for Judgments God by weak means punishes Sinners Egypt was plagued with Flies and Lice they were strong to execute Gods Word 3. By working with contrary means Christ used Clay and Spittle that one would think should put out the Eyes to restore sight to the blind Man Ioseph was first made a Slave and then a Favourite his Brethren first sell him and then worship him he is cast into the Dungeon to be preferred to Court There are strange Contrivances and Contrarieties in Providence the way seemeth contrary to the Aim and the Means disproportionable to the End When we see great Confusions in the World we wonder how this should tend to oGds Glory and the Churches good and are apt to say as Ioshua chap. 7.9 What wilt thou do unto thy great name And as the Prophet Amos 7.2 By whom shall Iacob arise for he is small We wonder how God means to save when Babylon destroyeth and how Confusion and Mischief can end in Order and Beauty But Gods knows the sufficiency of his own Power and is able to bring about these things to bring Light out of Darkness and one contrary out of another 2. The Acts of Providence they are three Conservation Gubernation and Ordination 1. Conservation Conserving and keeping all Creatures in their Being Therefore the Apostle saith Heb. 1.3 He upholdeth all things by the word of his power Isa. 22.23 24. I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place and he shall be for a glorious throne to his Fathers house And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his Fathers house If God should take away the shoulder of his Providence all things would return to their first nothing and vanish and disappear as a Seal upon the Waters the Impression is defaced assoon as the Seal is gone Providence is a continual Creation every thing that is kept in Working and Being is as it were newly born newly brought forth newly produced nay Chrysostome saith it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something greater than Creation as it is more to support a burden long in the Air than to raise it up from the Earth so it is more to keep all things from returning to nothing than to educe and bring them out of nothing That 's the Reason why the Holy Ghost speaks in the present Tense Psalm 104.2 Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain And Isa. 40.22 It is he that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in It is not in the future Tense because God is alwaies a stretching them out So our Saviour Iohn 5.17 My Father worketh hitherto and I work Though there be a cessation of work in regard of new kinds yet there is a continuation of work in regard of their Preservation and God's Providential Influence The Power which raised from nothing must still preserve from nothing Rom. 11.36 For of him and through him and to him are all things This Solomon intends when he saith Prov. 20.12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye the Lord hath made even both of them He doth not mean Spiritually but Naturally he doth not only give the Faculty but the Exercise as he gives the Eye so the seeing and as he gives the Ear so the Hearing This could not be done without new Acts of Providence Assistance and Supportation from God Therefore we read Hagar did not see the Well of Water till the Lord opened her Eyes Gen. 21.19 And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water So the Disciples Luke 24.31 And their eyes were opened and they saw him When the Lord suspended his influence the Fire could not burn the three Children God did not destroy the property of the Fire but only suspended the Efficacy of it No Creature can put forth it self in a way of Operation without a new Providential assistance from God 2. Gubernation or governing all things according to his Will and Pleasure All things keep their course for God sitteth at the Helm and steereth all Dan. 4.35 He doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What doest thou God doth all according to his pleasure he is not confined by any External Law nor straitned by the course of Nature but acts with a great deal of Soveraignty and Freedom and sometimes inverts the Order of Second Causes God's Will is sometimes called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Pleasure is all There are indeed some standing Ordinances of Nature as the Ordinances of Sun and Moon and the Covenant of Day and Night Ier. 31.35 Thus saith the Lord which giveth the sun for a light by day and the ordinances of moon and stars for a light by night And Gen. 8.22 While the earth remaineth seed-time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease God can alter the course of these as in Ioshua's time and at Christs Death there was three dayes darkness in Egypt Matth. 5.45 He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust There is nothing so casual but it is governed by God and falls under the Ordination of his wise Counsel It is said 1 Kings 22.34 And a certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote the King of Israel between the joynts of the harness It was a meer chance as to him but God directed it into the sides of the King So Exod 21.13 If a man lye not in wait but God deliver him into his hand compared with Deut. 19.5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to how wood and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree and the head slippeth from the helve and lighteth upon his neighbour that he dye God slew him There is nothing so casual but it is directed by the wise Ordination of God Prov. 16.33 The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposal thereof is of the Lord. There seems to be nothing so trivial and casual as the casting the Lot into the Lap yet it is over-ruled by him he doth not only permit but governe God governs all his Creatures in such a throng of Stars there is no interfering We wonder at strange Events when the great sway is discovered The Sea is higher than the Earth yet it doth not transgress its bounds and limits We live and breath as the Israelites did in the midst of the Red Sea this is a dayly Miracle 3. Ordination All things are over-ruled by Gods great sway it is
to see his Love in the Losses you have sustain'd and the Blessings you enjoy But were it worse with you as to outward Comforts yet the Foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And certainly there is more in God and a Covenant-Relation to him to support your Joy than there can be in any outward Affliction to cause Grief and Sorrow of Heart And a due sense of God's afflicting Hand is not inconsistent with a holy rejoicing in him Now that God would fill you more and more with the Joys and Comforts of his Holy Spirit and multiply his Blessings upon your self and those that have descended from you is the Prayer of Honoured Madam Your Ladiship 's most obliged and most humble Servant WILLIAM TAYLOR February 9. 1692 3. SERMONS Preached upon Several Occasions SERMON I. LUKE xvi 30 31. And he said Nay father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent And he said unto him If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead IT hath been a Question whether this is a Parable or an History A Parable surely for otherwise many incongruities would be asserted For it supposeth Body and Soul already in Hell ver 23. And in hell he lift up his eyes being in torment And it would suppose Charity and care of Conversion of others in Hell therefore it is not an History The scope of this Parable is to teach us three Lessons 1. To shew that the Godly-Poor are Blessed and the Unmerciful-Rich are in Everlasting Torments Desideravit guttam qui non dedit micam he desired a drop of Water that would not give a bit of Bread 2. The irreversible Estate of the Damned verse 26. Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence 3. That the Direction of the Holy Scriptures are the only Means to escape these Torments This latter is represented in a Dialogue between Dives and Abraham Dives would have one sent from the Dead to his Fathers House Supposing that would work on them to repent Christ's Parables do impersonate our Thoughts we alwaies dislike the present dispensation which God useth to reclaim us and would have extraordinary Means and then we presume we should believe and repent these are our thoughts But Abraham thinketh otherwise or rather Christ who is the Author of the Parable If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead By Moses and the Prophets are meant the whole Scriptures of the Old Testament and the New these are mentioned because these only were then written and received by the Iews and these include the rest the same Truth being carryed on in all the Books though more explicit in the latter Doct. That the word of God is a more conducible means to perswade us to Repentance than if one should come from the dead There are two wayes of Proof of this Doctrine And therefore let us see what may be said for and against one coming from the dead First If one coming from the dead be presumed to be a more Effectual Means to bring Men to Repentance and Conversion to God it must be either because he can bring a more necessary Doctrine or could urge better Arguments and more perswasively or propound these Truths with more certainty or could by his own strength convey a Power with his Words or rationally expect a greater concomitancy and co-operation of Grace than is ordinarily dispensed by the Word One or other of these things it must be or else the conceit is vain and frivolous But now proceeding from one consideration to another I shall shew you that the Word of God hath clearly the preheminence and is a far more accommodate instrument to work upon the hearts of Men than any extraordinary dispensation whatsoever 1. One coming from the Dead Angel or Man cannot bring a Doctrine more necessary there being in the Scriptures sufficient Direction about the way to true Happiness For which we have not only express Testimony but apparent reason and sensible experience 1. Express Testimony which should sway with Christians 2 Tim. 3.16 17. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness That the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works A Man of God or Minister of the Gospel thoroughly furnished hath from the Scriptures full out enough to guide Man to the injoyment of God nothing is wanting for Information as to Doctrine Conviction Arguments of Quickning or Exhortation for Instruction or Directions concerning the whole Duty of Man And 2. Apparent Reason if God be a sufficient Teacher of Divine things and if we suppose him willing to inform the Creatures neither of which can be denyed without blasphemy then surely supposing the Scriptures to be the Word of God as all Christians do and in this Debate it is fit we should suppose then certainly we have enough in the Scriptures and need not that the rest of the dead should be discomposed that there may be a fit Messenger found out to invite us to return to God If it need proof who can teach us the way to Blessedness more than the Blessed God Psal. 119.12 Blessed art thou O Lord Teach me thy statutes Who more willing to shew Man what is good then the good God Psalm 119.6.8 Thou art good and dost good teach me thy statutes The Blessed God needeth not to envy us the perfection of Knowledge as the Devil insinuated Gen. 3.5 God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil Wherein is his Happiness lessened by our perfection And the good God who is so full of goodness and love to Mankind would give us a sufficient Direction especially since his Son appeared in Humane Nature and became his Messenger Would God reveal himself to any one from the Dead yea to an Angel more than to his own Son Oor could he see feel or hear more than God hath made known to Christ Or be presumed to have a greater Charity to Mankind than the Lord hath whose Creatures they are no No no it cannot be he hath shewed thee O man what is good Micah 6.8 Abide by that and thou hast enough But let us confirm it Compare the Provisions of the Word with your own necessities What! Would you have a Rule And see if you have it not in the Holy Scriptures Titus 2.11 12. For the grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world By the grace of God is meant the Gospel and what
to them to bring the World to this pass and to recover the truths and interests of Christs Kingdom out of the common Apostacy Partly because it is unreasonable that should be lost in an instant that hath been so long a-gaining and wantonly thrown away which with so many years care hath been brought to this effect so that the work of Christ is set back in the world After the second Apostacy God doth by degrees bring down the Kingdom of Satan and recover the Kingdom of the Mediator Rev. 11.13 The tenth part of the City fell and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of Heaven Psalm 59.11 Slay them not lest my People forget scatter them in thy Power and bring them down To put Christ to do again what hath been done already is such a presuming on his providence as will cost dear Partly also because the present Age is a kind of Trustee for the next We are God's Witnesses to the present Age Isa. 43.10 Ye are my witnesses saith the Lord. And we are God's Trustees for future Generations and should take care we do not intail prejudices upon them and leave them to grapple with insuperable difficulties to find out their way to heaven Rom. 3.2 The Oracles of God were committed to the Iews So 2 Tim. 2.2 The things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also Now we must see that we be faithful in our trust And we are bound to this zeal if we remember our Ancestors or remember our Posterity Partly also because God severely threatneth them that play the wantons with Religion because they were not bitten with the inconveniencies unâ—er which former Generations smarted And therefore as Samuel dealt with the Israelites when they would cast off the Theocracy or God's Government under which they had been well and safely Governed that they might be like the Nations round about them Samuel telleth them by God's appointment The manner of the King that shall reign over them 1 Sam. 8.11 12 13. He shall take your Sons and appoint them for himself for his Chariots and to be his horsemen and some shall run before his Chariots and he will take your Daughters to be his Confectionaries and to be Cooks and Bakers c. So if such a wanton humour should possess us that we must have the Religion of the Nations round about us consider whom you receive Spiritually to reign over you One that will Lord it over your Consciences obtrude upon you his damnable errors and Pestilent Superstitions and bold Usurpations on the Authority of Christ Or else burn you with temporal fire or excommunicate you and cast out your Name as one that is to be condemned to that which is Eternal And then you will see the difference between the blessed Yoak of Christ and the Iron Yoak of Antichrist II. Reasons 1. It is ingratitude to build again what God hath destroyed as if his mercies were not worth the having God prefaces the Law Exod. 20.2 I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage Now God took it heinously when ever and anon they were making to themselves a Captain to return again to Egypt as if he had done them wrong to knock off their Shackles and to free them from the Brick kilns when their cry because of the anguish of their Souls came up to Heaven So in the new Testiment Gal. 5.1 Stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not intangled again with the Yoak of bondage The servility of legal observances was so great and so unprofitable that they could not be thankful enough for their liberty And therefore it should be dearer to us than to part with it for trifles or to take on the Yoak again when God hath freed us from it 2. It is an affront to the God of Heaven or a contempt of his power An entring into the List with the Almighty God as if we could keep up what he hath a mind to destroy It is not a simple sin to stand out against Christ and not to open the gates to him is a great evil If his anger be but kindled a little what can we do the greatest the wisest the most powerful amongst us Psal. 2.12 Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little But it is an aggravated sin to turn him out after he is entred Alass how horrible a contempt is that of Christ It is a vile scorn put upon the Majesty of God Better never have owned him than to be cold indifferent and negligent in his Interest If the business had been to introduce a Religion it had been another matter but this is to preserve what is already introduced 3. It is unbelief Such persons regard not the threatnings of God Lam. 1.9 She remembred not her last end therefore she came down wonderfully Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Mischief and ruine attendeth these attempts Hosea 13.1 When Ephraim offended in Baal he died But People little mind these things 4. How heinously God taketh this See how he declareth the cause Ier. 2.9.10 11 12 13. I will plead with you saith the Lord and with your Children's Children will I plead For pass over the Isles of Chittim and see and send unto Kedar and consider diligently and sâ—e if there be such a thing Hath a Nation changed their Gods which yet are no Gods But my People have changed their glory for that which doth not profit Be astonished Oh ye Heavens at this and be horribly afraid be ye very Desolate saith the Lord. For my People have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no water God will make you know and your Childrens Children know that it is the basest thing in the World that he should lose ground in your days and that People should set loose in matters of Religion not care much which end goeth forward when he hath done such great things for them But what is God's plea Let them produce any People in any part of the world then commonly known that had dealt with their Idols as they had done with him the true and living God Then vers 12. Be astonished O ye Heavens God would have the Son look pale on such a wickedness and the spheres to hurl out their Stars and all the Creatures to stand Amazed at such a Folly such Transcendent and Matchless Impiety Elsewhere God complaineth Isa. 43.22 Thou hast not called upon me O Jacob thou hast been weary of me O Israel To be weary of God is as great a charge as can be brought against a People Then it is just with God to take
should be broken off Alas whosoever readeth the carriage of this people in the Wilderness towards God he shall still find Grace striving with sin and the goodness of God overcoming the evil of Man and his fidelity prevailing above their unthankfulness and unfaithfulness And the character of this people in the Wilderness is just our own in travelling to Heaven how often do we forfeit the blessing of God's presence but he is not severe upon every failing and upon repentance he is willing to renew covenant with us and set us in joint again nothing hurteth us more than the sinful provocations of God's people have no hand in them or if you have been accessory to publick guilt bemoan it and humble your selves before God and be more awful and tender for the future and you will find God to be a merciful God III. Why such kind of Mercies should not be forgotten Here I will prove First That Man is apt to forget the great mercies of God especially national Mercies Secondly That yet these Mercies should not be forgotten both because of God's command and the profit of remembring them First That Man is marvellous apt to forget these benefits Therefore there are so many cautions that we forget them not In private mercies Psal. 103.2 Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits Deut. 8.11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his commandments and his judgments and his statutes which I command thee this day and verse 14. That thy heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt from the House of Bondage So we have many Precepts Deut. 8.2 Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years 1 Chron. 16.12 Remember his marvellous works which he hath done his wonders and the judgments of his Mouth And so many charges and complaints Jud. 8.34 The Children of Israel remembred not the Lord their God who had delivered them out of the hands of their Enemies on every side Psal. 78.11 they forgot his works and his wonders that he had shewed them and Psal. 106.13 They soon forgot his works And all this is no more than needeth for Man's memory is a bad friend to benefits Injuries are written in Marble but benefits in the Water Now as these cautions charges and accusations do respect all Mercies so especially more eminent Mercies for it is said He hath made his wonderful works to be remembred Psal. 111.4 The great miraculous works of his Providence should make such impression upon Men as never to be forgotten but recorded and reported for ever As for great deliverances God hath appointed Ordinances for a memorial such as the Passover or the Lord's Supper to remember our Redemption by Christ for by these works God maketh himself a name by doing great things for his people 2 Sam. 7.23 Redemption from the tyranny of Antichrist is not to be forgotten 2. That yet these mercies should not be forgotten partly because God hath commanded the contrary as we have seen It is not only a sin to forget his Word but his Works and partly also because of the profit 1. That we may be more deeply possessed of the goodness of God The Ear doth not affect the Heart so much as the Eye and what is felt leaveth a greater impression upon us than what is talked of for experience giveth us a more intimate perception of things The King of Syria said We have heard that the Kings of the House of Israel are merciful Kings 1 Kings 20.31 A rumour and report giveth incouragement but actual experience silenceth all contradiction when I can say I know God is not unmindful of his people but relieveth them in their great streights and watcheth over their welfare As the Apostle Acts. 10.34 Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons Psal. 140.12 I know that the Lord will maintain the right of the poor and the cause of the afflicted Unquestionably God will undertake the patronage of his distressed Servants when all other hopes fail them meaning when God did signally defend them and watch over them 2. To incourage us to walk in his ways It is our forgetfulness of God's goodness that maketh us so disobedient and unthankful to him Psal. 78.7 That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments Nothing breedeth a careful uniform obedience to his commands so much as a grateful remembrance of his Mercies Alass as our thankfulness is abated so is our obedience God's authority sways the Conscience but God's love inclines the Heart Therefore mercies should be remembred 3. To fortifie us against all oppositions and temptations Deut. 7.18 Thou shalt not be afraid of them but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt It is a great comfort to Faith to look back upon the former manifestations of God's power and good will towards his People We have manifold fears and infirmities upon us when we see the power or suspect the craft of our Enemies but let us remember former experiences and that will be an allay to them When we see the continuance of his judgments so many years and in so many forms frequently varied but still lying upon us we are filled with many sad thoughts and reasonings of unbelief but we may soon suppress and silence them by the thoughts of God's power and love heretofore and the evidences of his love and good will and fidelity to all that depend upon him Former dealings raise our hearts to the expectation of future mercies Vse is to press us to this remembrance 1. Of the great Christian Mercies that concern the whole common-wealth of Believers such as the Birth Death Resurrection and Ascension and Intercession of the Lord Jesus these are the standing Dishes at a Believer's Table the constant food for our Faith Mercies never out of season these are mercies so general and beneficial that they should never be forgotten but remembred before God we should always bless God for Jesus Christ and desire that the knowledge of these things may be perpetuated to after Ages Eph. 3.21 Vnto him be glory in the Church by Iesus Christ throughout all Ages World without end Amen 2. For National Mercies so far as they concern either the first planting or the restoring of Christs Religion or the maintenance of it against the eminent open attempts or secret plots of Antichristian Adversaries These should be remembred by us partly to awaken our zeal that religion thus owned may not die upon our hands partly to shew our esteem both of the Religion and the mercy of God in owning it partly that we may beg the continuance of it for every thanksgiving is an implicite prayer partly that we may embolden our selves against all the difficulties we may be exposed unto in owning the true profession
are Holy though sinners by nature yet dedicated to God and by vertue of the Parent 's Covenant accepted into the visible Church This agreeth with the exact rules of friendship to be a friend to us and our Families as David was to Mephibosheth for Ionathans sake 2 Sam 9.7 Fear not for I will shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy Fathers sake So Rom. 11.28 As concerning the Gospel they are Enemies for your sake but as touching the Election they are beloved for the Fathers sake For so many thousand years This is a friendship like God whose kindness is expressed in a way becoming himself Well then every Child is capable of dedication to God in the solemn way of an Ordinance 'T was a grief to Gehazi to have the Leprosie cleave to him and his Posterity it is a comfort to you that your Children are Holy Another Leper was born of him another Child is born to God of you More especially when the Covenant breaketh out then Children are a blessing indeed an Heritage from the Lord Gen. 9.25 26. Cursed be Canaan a servant of Servants shall he be to his Brethren And he said blessed be the Lord God of Shem. Ham is cursed in the person of Canaan whose progeny was excluded from the Grace of the Ordinances Instead of blessing Shem as he had cursed Cham Noah blesseth and praiseth God Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. God is his God that is happiness enough which is to be ascribed to his Grace But to return God hath implanted an affection in Parents to their Children he hath a Son himself and he knoweth how he loveth him and he loveth him for his holiness Heb. 1.9 Thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the Oil of gladness above thy fellows So many times in a condescention to good Parents he bestoweth this priviledge that they shall have Godly Children Look as to a Minister those whom he converts to God they are his Glory and his Ioy and his Crown of rejoicing at the day of the Lord 1 Thes. 2.19 20. So as to those whom we have been a means to bring into the World if they are in the Covenant of Grace it is a greater blessing than to see them Monarchs of the World 3. 'T is a gift and a blessing dispensed as a reward and heritage with respect to the obedience or disobedience of their Parents God would by all ways and means ingage us to godliness now because our temporal happiness or misery much dependeth upon our Relations and Children he would make this one motive to invite us to walk in his ways This is one way or means to let in happiness or trouble upon us Sometimes he promiseth Children and flourishing Children as a reward of piety and threateneth no Children or unhappy Children as a punishment of disobedience See Iob 5.4 compared with 25. Of the wicked it is said ver 4. His Children are far from safety they are crushed in the Gate and there is none to deliver them 'T is promised to the godly ver 25. Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great and thine off-spring shall be as the Grass of the Earth So the Second Commandment Exod. 20.5 6. I the Lord thy God am a Iealous God visiting the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate me and shewing Mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandments and many other places Though not all the Godly and only they have the gift of prosperity and a successful posterity yet God is pleased in express terms to adopt this blessing into the Covenant Wicked Parents are ordinarily great snares and plagues to their Children and the godly prove great blessings Because this is an argument often pressed in Scripture I shall a little state it how far wicked Parents may procure a judgement and godly Parents a blessing to their Children 1. How far wicked Parents may procure a Judgment to their Children Answ. Punishments are either Temporal or Eternal For Eternal no man is punished with Eternal punishment for anothers sins properly and directly there we stand upon our own personal account occasionally a Child may be punished eternally for his Father's sin as being deprived of the means of Grace by the Parent 's revolt from the true Religion As for external means the Parents who are a kind of Trustees may put away the means of Grace from their Families When God cometh to tender Grace to them he tendereth it to them in the name of their whole house Luk. 19.9 This day is salvation come to this House Forasmuch also as he is the Son of Abraham as a Believer he had an interest in Abraham's promises Gen. 17.7 I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and thy Seed after thee So Act. 16.31 Believe on the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be saved thou and thy House that is put in a way of Salvation If a Family reject the strictness of profession and give up themselves to cursing swearing uncleanness gaming hatred of reformation and of a lively Ministry the Children born in the Family may be justly left to be wicked by these examples and prejudiced against the ways of God 2. For Temporal Punishments These may be supposed to come both on those that continue in their wicked Parents Paths and Courses or on those who do break them off by repentance 1. If they continue in them then both Parents and Children are considered as one Body and Society Isa. 65.6 7. I will recompense even recompense into their bosom Your iniquities and the iniquities of your Fathers together There is a cup still filling and when we add more Water then it runneth over As by a figure added to a number already set the value is increased to a much greater sum than the single Figure would bear if it stood alone So the personal sins of the Child are made much more hainous by the foregoing offences of the Parents Or as a fire that is already kindled when it meeteth with more combustible matter the flame is the more increased so by the addition of the Childrens sins to their Ancestors the judgment is made more exemplary and remarkable nay it may be the judgment may begin with the Children when the Parents in this World do escape and go unpunished The Parents kindle the Fire and the Children come and cast in more Fuel and then no wonder if the burning be the greater 2. If they be godly The judgments may continue though they be sanctified to their holy posterity Thus God's quarrel for the sins of Manasseh continued in the days of good Iosiah 2 Kin. 23.26 The Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations
all at the last day In both these things the Angels are concerned in his conquests as Christ doth confound the wisdom of Men and Devils in maintaining and preserving his Church They are a part of Christ's Army and have a great respect to his Church Heb. 1.13 14. But to which of the Angels said he at any time Sit on my right hand until I make thine Enemies thy Footstool Are they not all Ministring Spirits sent forth to Minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation They are some of God's Messengers that help to restore and recover Man from the power of the Devil and disdain not the Service Christ appoints them for lost sinners but have a great respect to his Church and the Assemblies of his People 1 Cor. 11.10 For this cause ought the Woman to have power on her head because of the Angels 1 Tim. 5.21 I charge thee before God and the elect Angels For his Triumph with them Christ will appear at the end of the World when he hath won the Field and cometh in Triumph to confound his conquer'd Enemies 2 Thess. 1.7 The Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his Mighty Angels These things the Angels pry into so should we Secondly How 1. Accurately and Seriously Usually we content our selves with running cursory thoughts never sit and pause with our selves what manner of Saviour and Salvation this is what is required of them that would be partakers of it and so content our selves with a superficial view without an accurate inspection Slight and shallow apprehensions leave no impression on the Soul The Hen thaâ— often stragleth from her Nest suffereth her Eggs to chill We should dwell upon these things till they produce a clearer Knowledge a firmer Belief an higher Estimation a greater Admiration for this is to resemble Angels Eph 3.18 That we may comprehend with all Saints the depth and length and breadth and heighâ—h all which begets solid comforts when the mind is wholly taken up with other things the soundest Knowledge worketh not 2. Spiritually profitably practically Our business is not so much to know new truths about the Gospel as to know them in a more useful manner Let us pry into these things as the Angels do not to satisfie our curiosity with a little notional knowledge or out of pride that we may pertinently discourse of them or hold up an argument about them but that God may be glorified and admired in the Person of the Redeemer and our Souls delighted for our comfort and quickening and weaned from the vanities of the World ver 13. Wherefore gird up the Loins of your Mind be sober and hope to the end for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Iesus Christ. Thirdly Why 1. Because it is an honourable imployment to look into the mysteries of Salvation and to be much conversant about them It will be a great part of our happiness and work in Heaven to behold Christ's Glory Iohn 17.24 Father I will that those whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory All our Faith Hope and Labour tendeth to this The Queen of Sheba took a long journey to behold the Glory of Solomon which did so ravish her that her Spirit even fainted within her and yet that was but an Earthly Temporal Fading Glory But to behold the Majesty and Greatness which Christ our Redeemer hath at the Right Hand of God is the great work which we have to do to all Eternity Therefore now we should busie ourselves about these things that our Mouths may be filled with Praise and Thanksgiving 2. Because it is delightful to Gracious Hearts God findeth a delight in Christ and shall not we There is more in the Gospel than a vulgar Eye taketh notice of or our first apprehensions represent unto us shall Angels wonder at these things joy and delight in these things and shall we slight them Paul counted all things Dung in comparison of the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Phil. 3.8 and 1 Cor. 2.2 I determined to know nothing among you save Iesus Christ and Him Crucified Surely unless our thoughts are lawfully diverted or suspended we should think of no other thing Austin cast away Tully quia nomen Christi non erat ibi because the name of Christ was not in it 3. It is useful 1. That all created glory may wax dim and be more obscured in our Eyes their power is nothing their loveliness is nothing in comparison of Christ this should take up thy Soul and draw off thy observation from deluding vanities such as Riches and Honours and Pleasures As the light of a Candle is scarce seen when the Sun shineth brightly so all the tempting baits of the Flesh are nothing when the glories of Christ are considered by us See ver 13. Wherefore gird up the Loins of your Mind and be sober and hope to the end for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Iesus Christ. So for affrighting terrors what are Potentates and Powers to him All authorities and powers lawful or usurped must be subject to Christ 1 Pet. 3.22 Who is gone into Heaven and is at the right Hand of God Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him This promoteth the joy and constancy of Believers under sufferings 2. To draw out our Hearts after him Iohn 4.10 If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee Give me to drink thou wouldest have asked and he would have given thee living Water Looking after these things is in order to choice Mat. 13.45 46. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant Man seeking goodly Pearls who when he hath found one Pearl of great Price he went and sold all that he had and bought it What are all things in the World if set against Christ and his Salvation 3. That we should converse with him in holy duties with more reverence Heb. 12.25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth Much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him Now shall we scarce vouchsafe these things a serious thought The Angels are concerned in a way of duty not in a way of benefit It is their duty to worship Christ Heb. 1.6 And again when he brought his first begotten into the World he saith And let all the Angels of God Worship him but not by way of recovery and yet they desire to look into this Glorious Mystery A Sermon on GALATIANS V. 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of Righteousness by Faith IN the context the Apostle perswadeth the Galatians to stand fast in
Verse 8th The word is nigh thee even in thy Mouth and in thy Heart It 's in the Mouth to know it and speak of it it 's in the Heart as written there by the Spirit that we may do the duty it requireth of us with ease and sweetness 'T is in thy Mouth to Confess and in thy Heart to Believe and Practise VVhen the New Covenant is spoken of as opposite to the Covenant made with them when they came out of Egypt it is said sometimes to be put into the Mouth and sometimes in the Heart The words are Isa. 59.21 As for me This is my Covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my VVords which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart out of thy Mouth nor out of the Mouth of thy seed nor out of the Mouth of thy seed's seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever Meaning thereby That his Spirit and Word shall continue with them as a Church to direct them in all necessary things This for the Mouth Now for the Heart see another Promise Jer. 31.33 And this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their Hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my People Well then The Excellency of the Gospel-dispensation is set forth by Two things 1. It 's more easie to be known and understood and carried in the Memory for the Word is nigh thee even in thy Mouth The drift of Moses his Speech tendeth to shew that they should have a New Covenant the Tenour of which was known and easie to be expressed by all those who were acquainted with it 2. It 's more easie to be practised 'T is not in our Mouths onely but in our Hearts which are inclined by the Holy Spirit to obey it so that the New Creature may undertake the duty it requireth of us by the assistance of God and do it sincerely though not exactly Secondly The sense of what it saith 't is explained and exemplified 1. Explained Verse 8. This is the word which we preach namely the Doctrine of Repentance and Remission of sins by Jesus Christ. 2. Exemplified Verse 9th That if thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Confession with the Mouth there answers to the Word is in thy Mouth believe with thine heart that implieth Faith And Christ's being raised from the Dead is instanced in rather than any other Article of Faith because that proveth all the rest and is the great evidence of the truth of Christianity Doctrine That the way of acceptance with God or obtaining Salvation is so clearly stated in the Gospel that we need not be in doubtful suspence or seek out another Religion wherein to find it or other satisfaction than God hath given us in his Word The sense of this Point I shall give you in these Propositions First That it is the weightiest matter in the VVorld to know how to be accepted with God as to pardon and life Man being a guilty Creature needeth pardon and the Soul dying not with the Body we desire to know the way of life or what shall become of us when this frail life is at an end Certain it is that we are haunted with guilty fears for we are through the fear of death all our life-time subject to bondage Heb. 2.15 There are some troubles of Mind in all of us about our acceptance with God not always felt indeed but soon awakened Trembling Souls who know what God is and what themselves are and are conscious to former guilt and present unworthiness cannot easily settle in a confidence of God's Mercy to them especially when they come to die The fear of death raised our trouble before but when death cometh indeed these stings are increased 1 Cor. 15.56 The Sting of Death is sin and these stings of Conscience are justified by the highest reason which is the Law of God not occasioned by our melancholy conceits only It 's an Amazing consideration to us to think of entering into an unknown World and to stand before the righteous bar of an impartial Judge That it is very hard to undergo death with a steady confidence and to incourage our fearful and doubtful Minds to lanch out into Eternity common experience verifieth I pray consider Christians that our present condition is a state of darkness and fear and these fears are caused by sin and justified by the Law of God and revived by death and the thoughts of the other World And therefore there is not a weightier business than to establish our fearful and doubtful Minds in Peace that we may comfortably wait for the Mercy of God unto Eternal Life Secondly That is the best Religion which doth most provide for this Peace and Rest of Soul So that if a man were at liberty to choose and were consulting what Religion he should choose this Consideration must guide him where he can find true Peace and Rest for his Anxious Soul So the Prophet directeth them Ier. 6.16 Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and you shall find rest for your Souls And by this Argument Christ inviteth us to himself Mat. 11.28 29. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my yoak upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in Heart and ye shall find rest unto your Souls And the Apostle commendeth the Gospel upon this account Rom. 5.1 Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Iesus It is easie to lull Conscience asleep for a while either 1. By Carnal Pleasures Prov. 9.17 Stolen Waters are sweet and Bread eaten in secret is pleasant For a while they seem so but the vertue of that Opium is soon spent Or 2. By a false Religion but within a while we shall soon find that is so far from being our cure that it is a great part of our disease no false Religion is consistent with right Thoughts of God Therefore the Woman of Samaria assoon as she began to have an awakened Conscience enquires after the true Religion Iohn 4.20 Our Fathers worshipped in this Mountain and ye say in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship An awakened Conscience will be careful to lay the ground-work of Religion sure A false way of Religion always breedeth scruples and is accompanied with no sound Peace Or 3. In the superficial observances of a true Religion Mat. 19.20 All these things have I kept from my Youth up what lack I yet A false Righteousness will not give true quietness to the Conscience there is something lacking and the Soul sits uneasie Therefore nothing but coming under the Power of the
There it shall not Cease 1 Cor. 13.13 The Duties are other but the grace is the same 1. Use. Let me beseech you as Chrysostome did his hearers often to ruminate on this Description of Charity Remember it is a discriminating grace not an Arbitrary thing that we are speaking of The business is whether you are something in Religion or nothing They that cannot bridle their Passions but live in Enmity Malice Pride and Covetousness and have not Charity are nothing 2. What reason we have to deprecate God's strict Judgment and clear up the business of our sincerity Alas without an Evangelical Interpretation what would become of us 'T is true we break not into gross Enormities but how many Infirmities stick to us Though a Christian cannot wholly subdue them he must in some measure overcome them Anger will stir when we are provoked but by the ordinary assistance of GOD's Grace we may keep off from running out into furious Words and Actions or Cursing or Swearing or Striking or Reviling An envious thought may arise against our Brother because he is preferred before us but we hate it Labour to keep it under Chide our selves for it do not let our Envy break out into a Malignant detraction from their worth or blemishing their Gifts and Graces A Child of God may feel the ticklings of Pride yet he will not suffer it to break out into boasting Language some motions of Revenge but they do not break out into mischievous contradiction 3. What need there is of Constant Mortification how else can we exercise this Love we being so Covetous Proud Passionate and self-seeking The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Affections and Lusts must be both broken Gall. 5.24 They that are Christs have Crucified the Flesh with the affections and lusts thereof 4. What a Friend Christianity is to humane Society for how peaceable might we live together if this love did more rule in our Hearts 5. How perverse Man is who accounts this duty irksome when he will do much more for his Lusts and Ambition Verse 7. Beareth all things Believeth all things Hopeth all things Endureth all things Easily will Men bear this task for their Worldly ends 6. How much love in the Spirit differeth from ordinary love This is a fruit of love to God 1 Iohn 5 1. Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him and of faith in Christ. Iohn 15.12 This is my Commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you and hopes of Eternal Life in the Text. A Sermon on Psal. Lxxxiv 7 They go from strength to strength every one of them in Zion appeareth before God THIS Psalm was penned by David in his Exile as is most probable for therein he professeth his longing after the Courts of GOD or his wonted access to the Ark of the Covenant and publick Ordinances Being deprived of that benefit he expresseth his value of it Such priviledges are best understood carendo magis quam fruendo by want rather than enjoyment In which of his flights and persecutions it is not easie to determine whether those by Saul or by Absolon rather those by Absolon for then the Ark was upon Sion-Hill 2 Sam. 6.12 But in Saul's time the Ark was at Kirjath Iearim 1 Sam. 7.1 And when he fled from Absolom was his solemn parting from the Ark 2 Sam. 15.25 26. And the King said unto Zadock Carry back the Ark of God into the City if I shall find favour in the eyes of God he will bring me again and shew me both it and his habitation But if he say thus I have no delight in thee behold here I am let him do to me as seemeth good unto him In the Psalm I. He professeth his value and esteem of the publick Worship or injoying God in the Ordinances and means of Grace How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts Ver. 1. Then his earnest desire of this priviledge of free wonted access to the House of God ver 2. My Soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my Heart and my Flesh cryeth out for the living God There was Soul and Heart and Flesh in it as to extension and crying out longing fainting and all for the Courts of God as to intention II. He compareth his Condition 1 with the Swallows and Sparrows that had liberty of flying and building their Nests about the Altars of God It is a notable Poetical strain as passionate Lovers are wont to express themselves upon like occasions Ver. 3. Yea the Sparrow hath found an house and the Swallow a Nest for her self where she may lay her young even thine Altars Oh Lord of Hosts my King and my God 2. Then he compareth himself 1. with the Priests and Levites whose constant residence was in the Temple ver 4. Blessed are they that dwell in thy House they will be still praising thee Selah Those that are always in God's House constantly allowed the Priviledge of his solemn Service or Sacred Assemblies beholding the Symbols of his Presence the Ark of the Covenant upon which God sate and gave Answers of Grace Oh Blessed they indeed III. With the People that went up to worship three times of the year at Ierusalem to keep the Solemn Feasts according to the Ordinance of God Exod. 23.17 Three times in the year all thy Males shall appear before the Lord God They were to journey a foot to the Tabernacle there to appear before the Lord. Their condition was Blessed in comparison of David's who was now debarred of all access to God's Courts These are described 1. By their earnest Desire and Resolution to take this journey though they dwelt far off from the Tabernacle ver 5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee in whose heart are the ways of them Their Hearts were set upon the ways that led to the Courts of God 2. By their painful passage and yet some refreshments by the way ver 6. Who passing through the Valley of Baca make it a Well the Rain also filleth the Pools Their way to the Tabernacle now seated upon the Hill of Sion lay through dry and comfortless places through the Valley of Baca or of Mulberry-trees as the Margin readeth it that is through dry and sandy Desarts in which those Trees grow It may be the place mentioned 2 Sam. 5.23 24. The Valley of Rephaim where Mulberry-trees grew and where David smote the Philistins Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Valley of Tears The want of water in those hot Countries was very troublesom Where great multitudes with store of Cattle travailed towards Zion upon these solemn occasions they had their difficulties and discouragements by the way but their ardent Zeal and strong Affection overcame all And as they had their Difficulties so they had their Comforts sometimes they met with a Well and sometimes with a Pond filled with Rain sometimes with more sometimes with less
respect to our selves to raise our Faith in the Crucified Saviour For God hath set him forth to be a propitiation for our sins through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 We believe that by this means the Favour of God may be recovered his Image restored Eternal Life obtained and all the Mercy offered in the new Covenant bestowed upon us according to the Gracious terms thereof II. With respect to others We annunciate it as we make publick profession of this Faith that we are not ashamed of Christ Crucified but rather glory in it and in the Blessed Effects of his death Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should Glory save in the cross of our Lord Iesus Christ by whom the world is crucified to me and I unto the world We glory in this that we are his peculiar People distinguished from the perishing world as Goshen from Aegypt or those in the Ark from those who perished in the waters or as Gideon's Fleece wet with the Dew from all the rest of the ground or as Rahab's House from the rest of Iericho We own Christ and Christ will own us You will say What great matter is there in this profession where all are Christians among whom Christ's name is had in Honour and Esteem I Answer 1. Never was it so well with the World but that somewhat of Christ was called in question and so the profession of his intire Truth may be dangerous and costly Sometimes this Truth and sometimes that is contradicted and opposed And so it cometh to pass that Self-denial is a standing Rule never out of season And therefore we still fortifie our Selves by this Duty to own the present Truth how much soever it be spoken against Thus Paul Gloried in Christ in opposition to the carnal policy of the false Apostles who gloried in the flesh the riches pomp and favour of the World which ran of their side But we remember the Cross of Christ to deaden our Affections to the glory and applause of the world II. This profession must be not in Word only but Deed also We profess our selves to be a peculiar People redeemed from all iniquity by Christ to live to God and serve God Now if our conversation be not answerable we do not remember the Blood of the Covenant with Honour but spill it on the ground and trample it under our feet Heb. 10.29 and destroy our profession by our conversation As we destroy our profession of God Tit. 1.16 They profess that they know God but in works they deny him So of Christ 1 Tim. 5 8. If any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house he hath denied the faith and is worse than an Infidel A merciless Man hath denied the Faith And Ier. 9.25 26. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might let not the rich man glory in his riches But let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord So that our Lives must be an Hymn to Christ or a constant glorying in him Great things are expected of the peculiar people 1 Pet. 2.9 Ye are a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light Well then this annunciating the death of Christ before many witnesses is useful to us in times of trouble that we may be faithful to his Interest and in times of Peace that we may be the more bound to all Holy Conversation and Godliness III. We profess also our selves to be parrtakers of the benefits of Christ's death by a lively Faith For the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 10.21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of Devils Ye cannot be partakers of the Lords Table and of the Table of Devils In the Lord's Supper we profess to be partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ that is the benefits of his death And he had said before of the Iews ver 18. They which eat of the sacrifices are partakers of the Altar they Eat and Drink with God at the Altar So eating and drinking at the Lord's Table is a sign of communion with Christ and that we rejoyce in this that we are admitted into the participation of the benefits and efficacy of his death If we be unqualified and unprepared to Receive them we mock God and dishonor Christ. 3. We annunciate it to God This we do two ways 1. In a way of Prayer Pleading before him the value of this Sacrifice with Humility and Affiance expecting the benefits thereof Christ's Blood is pleaded by him in Heaven by his constant intercession and by us upon Earth in Prayer when we shew the Father that Sacrifice once made by him In which we trust and for which we expect Mercy and Grace to help us As the Apostle beggeth Grace through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant Heb. 13.20 21. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Iesus Christ that great shepheard of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant Make ye perfect in every work to do his Will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen And we sue out our Pardon and beg the Gift of the Spirit in the name of our Mediator and Advocate 2. In Thanksgiving and Praise to God for Jesus Christ and his benefits Eph. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Looking upon all Blessings as streaming to us in his Blood and the fruits of his Mediatorial Administration 2. With respect to the Properties and manner how it is to be annunciated 1. It must be serious In Spiritual things the Heart is not soon wrought upon or else the Sacred Impressions are easily defaced Glances have no Fruit and Efficacy to warm the Heart As Birds that often straggle from their Nests suffer their Eggs to grow chill and cold but when they sit long the Brood is hatched So by a constant Incubation we profit most and these things sink deeper into our Hearts It is true the things represented are great things and so force their way into our Minds whether we will or no but yet they are Spiritual and depend on Faith therefore some Entertainment and serious Consideration is necessary Heb. 3.1 Wherefore holy Brethren partakers of the heavenly Calling consider the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession Christ Iesus The Heart of Man catcheth like Tinder at every Spark when Sin is represented but it is otherwise in Holy and Heavenly Things They that do not use to command their Thoughts make less Earnings
judged by this Law the holiest and the humblest the most penitent and believing Soul and the Soul that most loveth God cannot abide the Tryal and were it not for this promise and its Fellows what could we look for but Eternal Ruine 2. As to the Sanction the Law saith The Soul that sinneth shall die Ezek. 18.4 Now this being the Sentence of God delivered in a Righteous Law how shall we escape it Surely it cannot fall to the Ground Unless some Provision be made it will eternally take place This should the more affect us because it is often verified in the course of God's Providence Rom. 1.18 For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness Heb. 2.2 For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward Now when others are punished and we are spared surely we ought to be affected with his Severity towards them but towards us Goodness 3. Our incapacity of appearing before God by reason of the multitude of our Sins There are none of God's Children but have a great and vast Debt upon them and if God should call them to an account and should not spare not one of them could stand or appear in Court Psal. 130.3 4. If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquity O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared There is not a Man to be found who hath not some fault and failing which would render him uncapable of God's favour If he should proceed in just severity against us who could stand Not who among the Wicked but who among the Regenerate or the People of God So many are the Frailties and slips of their Lives And Psal. 143.2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified It is impossible for such a frail sinful imperfect Creature as Man is to appear before God's exact Tribunal with any comfort and hope But he will not charge them on us with Severity but spare us with Mercy 4. The sense which Conscience hath of these Sins 1. Consider it in its old natural Bondage somewhat of which yet remaineth while Sin remaineth so Conscience accuseth of the Sins that are committed Rom. 2.15 Which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another And fears the Death threatned Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the Iudgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of Death Now can it be appeased unless the Lord spare or set up some way of Grace which alloweth pardon for our failings And if the Lord spare it should be as welcome to us as a Pardon to a Condemned Man 2. Consider it as it is inlightned and renewed by the Holy Spirit It is true it doth not produce such a fear of Wrath as before but a greater apprehension of the Evil of Sin because of the increase of light and love both which intender the Heart As their light and love increase so doth their trouble about sin Rom. 7.9 For I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came sin revived and I dyed and verse 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death They are ashamed of that folly and filthiness and unkindness that is in Sin and are grieved for the relicks of Corruption Ezek. 16.6 And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood Live So Rom. 6.21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is death Therefore if God will spare and not impute their trespasses to them they are more apprehensive of this mercy than possibly others can be None fee so many Sins and none see such hainousness in Sin and are more deeply affected with it In a clear Glass of Water the least Mote is espied They have a greater dread of God's Holiness a more sincere respect to his Law a greater reverence for the sentence of it a more firm belief of his threatnings a more earnest desire to please him and so a a greater grief for offending him Therefore if he will pardon and pass by their infirmities they are the more apprehensive of the privilege III. The grounds and reasons of this indulgence or sparing which God useth towards them 1. God's merciful nature which inclineth him to pass by the infirmities of his Saints This appeareth by the description of God given to Moses when the Lord proclaimed his name Exod. 34.6 The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth Since this is the description which God giveth of himself therefore it deserveth to be weighed by us The first notion is Merciful whereby God's Nature inclineth him to succour those that are in Misery by reason of Sin The next is Gracious which implieth his self-inclination to do good to his Creatures without any precedent obligation on their parts The third is Long Suffering or slowness to Anger he is not hasty to revenge the wrongs done him by the Creature He often pitieth wicked Men so far as to prevent the Temporal punishment and spareth them long when he might destroy them The Last is Abundant in goodness and truth that is expressing his kindness and bounteous nature many ways not at one time and in one sort only but upon all occasions and in all ways wherein we stand in need of his help and therefore will deal tenderly with his people Micah 7.8 Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy If we had a due sense of the nature of God we should have much relief against the Evil Merit of Sin and a greater hope that he will deal in a Fatherly manner with us He had told them of great things God would do for them now in the apprehension of the sensible Sinner it is Sin chiefly which standeth in the way of their Mercies Therefore God will pardon Sin in his people in such a wonderful way as shall exceed all their thoughts He will not call them to a strict account for them and though he beginneth to reckon with them yet he will spare them and moderate his Anger and be reconciled to them It shall not go on to Eternal Wrath nor over long Temporal Evils and all because of the pleasure which he taketh in shewing acts of Mercy rather than acts of Vengeance 2. The satisfaction of Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his
his Love mentioned in the former Verse God's Children incourage themselves with his hidden Favour though to appearance God covereth himself with wrath and frowns His present severity cannot perswade them that all his Mercy is lost and clean gone and forgotten They can see it in God's Heart though they see it not in his Hand and it be not visible to their own Sense Though they feel him as an Enemy yet they will trust him as a Friend They know he will spare them even then when he pursueth them with the strokes of his wrath For Articles of Faith are not to be laid aside because of the contradiction of Sense 2. There is some sparing even in his striking for if he bring one Evil to prevent a greater Evil to save us from Eternal Misery that is Mercy He striketh for a while that he may spare for ever 1 Cor. 11.32 For when we are judged we are Chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the World A Man would be pulled out of the deep Waters though it be by the Hair of his Head and his Arm broken in the Rescue If he take away any good thing from us to bestow some greater good we have no cause to complain for surely the greater should be preferred before the lesser and the felicity of the Soul in Grace and Glory should be preferred before the good of the Body God had neither spared nor saved any if he had not blasted their Worldly happiness Surely God doth not envy to us our Worldly Comforts but taketh them from us when they are likely to do us hurt 2. Use. To shew us the privilege of them that fear God or have a Son-like and Child-like affection to him He speaketh not here of the first Grace infused into the Penitent but of those that are already admitted into his Family Surely their Privilege is exceeding great 1. They need not be discouraged in their Duties though they be imperfect God will not call them to a strict account Christ when he Feasts with his Spouse he will eat the Honey with the Honey-comb Cant. 5.1 he accepts all heartily He that forgave all their Sins at first will excuse their infirmities They shall be tenderly dealt with all and their failings passed over as a Parent passeth over an Escape in an Obedient Son Alas if God did not spare us for our best Works and choicest Services who could stand Our Duties need a Pardon as well as those actions which are down right Sins for they are mixed with Sin 2. That he will spare us as to Afflictions and Judgments 1. Sometimes God may spare others for their sakes as he offereth to spare Sodom if there were Fifty Righteous Persons found in it Gen. 18.26 If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the City I will spare all the place for their sakes Afterwards the number was brought down to Ten vers 32. So God gave to Paul the lives of all that sailed with him in the Ship Acts 27.24 though in that Eminent danger for his sake 2. When he cometh to reckon with the Nation or the Community in which they live he many times spared them and they are not swept away in the common Judgment Isa. 3.10 Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with him God will put a difference between them and others not always but when he pleaseth God may protect them in calamitous Times The Lord knows how to do it how to make Distinctions 2 Pet. 2.9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of Temptation 3. If they are involved in the common Judgment as two dry Sticks may set a green on Fire they may see some Moderation and Glimpses of favour Habb 3.2 That in the midst of Wrath God remembers Mercy Either it is sanctified or they are supported under it or the Evil is mitigated 4. If the worst fall out yet they are spared because they are not cast into Hell If they are not exempted from Temporal Judgments yet they are delivered from Wrath to come and that should satisfy Christians Heb. 10.39 We believe to the saving of the Soul 1. Pet. 1.9 Receiving the end of your Faith even the Salvation of your Souls Though the Body and its Interests be endamaged yet the Soul is saved which is our great hope 3. Use is to Instruct us in our Duty with respect to this choice Privilege 1. Let us be affected with the Love of God that he will spare us as a Man spareth his own Son If God should deal with us according to the merit of our Sins and be strict upon us what would become of the best of us Surely God seeth all our Failings Heb. 4.12 All things are naked and open unto the Eyes of him with whom we have to do And doth disallow them and is displeased with them 2 Sam. 11.27 But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. If you deny the first you deny his being if you deny the second you debase his Holiness and Righteousness And his Law Condemneth them as worthy of punishnishment Gall. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Whence then cometh our safety From the New Covenant founded in Christ's Blood by which the Sentence of Condemnation is vacated Rom. 8.1 There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ. This Sentence is repealed by a new act of God's great Mercy and Favour in the New Covenant 2. Let us believe the certainty of it on the Grounds before-mentioned viz. the merciful Nature of God the design of the Gospel is to represent him Amiable to Man 1 Iohn 4.8 God is love The satisfaction of Christ 1 Iohn 4.10 God sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins His gracious Covenant Psal. 25.10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant His Fatherly Goodness Ier. 3.4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me My father thou art the guide of my youth 3. Keep your Qualification clear Besides the Ransom our Uprightness must be interpreted Iob 33.23 24. If there be a messenger with him an interpreter one among a thousand to shew unto man his uprightness then he is gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going down into the pit for I have found a ransom If we do not continue to fear God or abate our Reverence towards him we lose our Comfort Therefore if you would stand right in God's favour our Love and Fear must be increased towards this good God And if he will stand upon the exactness of his Law we must not stand upon our own Interests and the Gratifications of the Flesh. We should not spare any beloved Lust or Interest so we may please and glorifie God A Sermon on 2 TIM ii 19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And Let every
his covenant Psal. 9.10 They that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee To disappoint a Trust is accounted disingenuous among Men. No Age can give an Instance of this in God Obj. But his People complain of being forsaken Isa. 49.14 But Zion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me Yea Christ himself cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth. 27.46 Ans. 1. Many times the Saints complain without a cause Sense maketh Lyes of God Psal. 31.22 I said in my haste I am cut off from before thine eyes nevertheless thou heardest the Voice of my supplications But there was no such matter Psal. 77.10 This is my infirmity The Lord may seem to a perplexed Heart to cast off a Man and to suspend the course of his wonted savour so as they may seem to be without all hope and comfort of the Promises when there 's no such matter 2. Though a Child of God may be forsaken for a while yet not forsaken for ever Isa. 54.7 8. For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercies will I gather thee In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer There may be some short interruptions of a Christian's comfort All things here are subject to changes there will be Ebbs and Flows Nights and Days in our condition There will be Changes but it is but for a moment Mercy will not come out of season though Carnal Hopes may be spent Isa. 41.17 When the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst I the Lord will hear them I the God of Israel will not forsake them There are three kinds of forsaking 1. As to our outward and inward condition Outwardly God may reduce his People to great straights and yet not forsake them Every Condition is sweet where God is and he is with us in Dangers and Afflictions Isa. 43.2 When thou passest thorough the waters I will be with thee and thorough the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorough the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the fire kindle upon thee God preserves not only from Fire and Water but in Fire and Water He may exercise his People with trouble but he will not withdraw himself from them in trouble but will stay with them and bear them company Our worldly Comforts may be gone but God stayeth behind we may be forsaken outwardly but are preserved inwardly Persecuted but not forsaken 2 Cor. 4.9 He giveth support still Psal. 138.3 In the day when I cried thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. God affords sweet Refreshings to his People 2 Cor. 1.5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And gracious Visits and Experiences Rom. 5.3 4 5. And not only so but we glory in tribulation also knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy-ghost which is given unto us 2. Inward desertion is either in point of Comfort or in point of Grace Comfort may be withdrawn for the increase of Grace Rain is necessary as well as Sunshine We need many times our Thorn in the Flesh. Grace is the main thing we should desire though Comfort should not be despised We should be rather more humble and more diligent in a doubtful condition than in a settled 3. In point of Grace there is a total desertion and a partial desertion God's People may be deserted really but not utterly There is a Seed remaineth in them 1 Iohn 3.9 though they may lose much of their liveliness and alacrity in God's Service My loving kindness I will not take from them David had brutish Thoughts yet some Sustentation Psal. 73.23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast holden me by thy right hand He was kept from being utterly overcome by the temptation They have a secret Power to uphold them as long as they have any tenderness left with desires of former Enjoyments and sensibleness of their present Inconvenience The degrees of Grace may be lost when the Habit remaineth God's degrees of Presence with us should be observed as well as his degrees of Absence David bewaileth his Folly acknowledges Sustentation 4. The ends of this forsaking There are three 1. Sometimes to shew us our selves to our selves 2 Chron. 32.31 Howbeit in the business of the Ambassadors of the Princes of Babylon who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his heart While God is present comforting quickening and guiding us we do not know what Pride and Passion lieth hidden in our Hearts God doth shew the folly of our Wisdom the weakness of our Strength and the imperfection of our Graces by his forsaking us 2. How ready he is to help in an extremity Psal. 94.18 19. When I said my foot slippeth thy mercy O Lord held me up In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. When we are at the brink of Danger and full of Perplexities and dark Thoughts then doth Help appear 3. To quicken us to look after him and to draw us to nearer Communion with himself Hos. 5.15 I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face In their affliction they will seek me early When Afflictions press hard it puts an edge upon our Affections Surely God hath left something behind them when our Affections draw to him Dan. 9.3 All this evil is come upon us yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God To be dead and stupid then is a bad sign that we are deserted in point of sensible Comfort and Duty too The Use is to press you 1. To believe this Promise You see how emphatitically it is proposed The Flesh that loveth its own Ease will contradict and carnal Sense will bring Arguments against it therefore lay it up the more firmly Surely God will not forsake his People such tender Bowels such agreeable Love He that made the new Creature will not forsake it Will the Damm forsake her young ones and let them perish Christians he will let all the World perish rather than his Saints perish God may hide himself but never forsake them utterly It is a rare case to see them utterly destitute as to outward things Psal. 37.25 I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread David aged a Man of much Observation a great Student of Providence yet never saw it Ask the Beasts Fowls or Fishes Iob 12.7.8 Ask now
Profit and Pleasure that is in Adultery and Theft but shutteth the Eyes of his Mind against the Filthiness or Injustice that is in it and therefore he is like a Man that leapeth from an high place into the Water who first shutteth his Eyes and then casts himself into the Flood or Stream 3. Consequent Ignorance is after the Sin or Act of the Will either from the depraved Disposition of the Will Iohn 3.20 For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved Or from the just Judgment of God Iohn 9.39 For judgment I am come into the world that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind God inflicts a Judicial Blindness on Men that will not obey the Truth 3. Ignorance is either Invincible or Vincible 1. Invincible Ignorance is when there is not sufficient Revelation when it is a thing we should know but God hath not brought Light among us Thus the Heathens are punished for not glorifying God whom they knew by the Light of Nature Rom. 1.21 When they knew God they glorified him not as God Not because they believed not in Christ for he was not revealed unto them But Christians shall be punished for not obeying the Gospel 2 Thess. 1.8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ. 2. Vincible Ignorance is when there are plentiful Means and gross Helps to overcome it then is our Ignorance more culpable This is seen when either Ignorance is Voluntary and Pertinacious or when there is gross Negligence When it is Voluntary 2 Pet. 3.5 For this they are willingly ignorant of That they may Sin more freely and securely they will not know what may disturb or trouble their Sleep in Sin Iob 21.14 Therefore they say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways The Psalmist says of them Psal. 95.10 It is a people that do err in their hearts they have not known my ways They err in their Hearts as well as in their Minds when they do not desire to know what they should know this Ignorance is voluntary Or else it is bewrayed by gross Negligence when a Man doth a thing that if he were not grosly Negligent he might know to be Sin Eph. 3.15 16 17. See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Redeeming the time because the days are evil Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is A Christian is bound to use all holy Means to know all things that belong to his Duty and must bestow much time and diligence upon it If he is grosly ignorant it is a sign he hath a mind to put a cheat upon his Soul Use. Let us beware of Sin against Knowledge these Sins of all others are the most dangerous whether they be Sins of Omission to omit Duties that we know to be Duties this is very dangerous Iames 4.17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Or Sins of Commission to commit Sins that we know to be Sins Rom. 2.21 22. Thou therefore which teachest another teachest thou not thy self Thou that preachest a man should not steal dost thou steal Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery dost thou commit adultery Thou that abhorrest idols dost thou commit sacriledge To commit Sins that we know to be Sins is to involve our selves in Wrath and Vengeance Have a care then of these Sins if you are guilty of them it cannot be pleaded for you Father forgive them they know not what they do A Sermon on JOHN xix 30. He said It is finished and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost THIS is one of the seven Words which Christ uttered upon the Cross the last save one for before his bowing of the Head and giving up the Ghost those Words must come in which are mentioned Luke 23.46 Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus he gave up the ghost To make way for these Words we need go no farther back than the 28th Verse it is said there After this Iesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the Scripture might be fulfilled said I thirst Where we may observe 1. The exact knowledge which Christ had of all his Sufferings He knew that all things were accomplished namely all the preparative Sufferings which were to usher in his Death All these bitter Sorrows were numbred out to him by the Divine Decrees and praesignified in the Prophesies Jesus knew all the exact Tale and account of them A Circumstance that doth much commend his Love to us Christ knew how dear the bargain of Souls would be to him and yet he would shew his Obedience to the Father and his Love to Mankind He long since sate down and counted the Charges and yet he came to do his Father's Will When a Business proveth hazardous and inconvenient we are apt to say If I had known it would have cost me so much I should never have undertaken it Christ went not to the Cross blindfold he knew the Work of our Redemption would be troublesom and painful that he was to give his Back to the Smiters and his Cheeks to the Nippers that he was to be hurried from the Garden to the Courts of Men from the Courts of Men to the Cross and there to endure acute Pains and Torments Jesus knew that all these things were to be fulfilled 2. Observe It is said he knew they were accomplished Christ had a lively feeling of every part of his Sorrows and his Senses remained in full vigour to the last and without any stupefaction He knew what Hour the Clock of the Divine Decree would next strike or what was the next Circumstance whereby he was to discover himself to be the true Messiah David saith Died Abner as a fool dieth 2 Sam. 3.32 We may say so Died the Lord Jesus as a Fool dieth in a stupid sensless way Or as one merely passive Extremity of Pain had now surprized the Thieves which were crucified with him we hear no more of them but Christ's Reason and Senses are still exercised and his Sorrows made more active by his own apprehension 3. Observe That the Scriptures might be fulfilled he said I thirst By fulfilling another Prophecy God discovereth another Note whereby the Messiah might be known All the Passages of Christ's Death were appointed with infinite Wisdom and Love either they were such as were necessary parts of Redemption or some Indications whereby the Messiah fore-prophesied of might be discovered Here is another Prophecy fulfilled in Christ's Thirst. The Prophesies alluded to are two one is Psal. 22.15 My strength is dried up like a potsheard and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws thou hast brought me to the dust of death The other Prophesie hinteth the
And more and more interest our selves in his cleansing 5. Because the Application is a difficult Work Besides the Purchase of the Gift of the Spirit Christ hath instituted the Help of the Word and Sacraments to bring us into Possession of this Benefit Ephes. 5.26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of VVater by the VVord The Merit of his Death falleth upon these means that we may use them with the more Confidence Iohn 15.3 Now are ye clean through the VVord which I have spoken unto you The Word is the Glass wherein to see Corruption which sets a-work to seek Purging By that our Sense of our natural Impurity is revived the Means and Causes of our cleansing set down that we may with deep Humiliation confess our Sin humbly sue out the Grace offered and wait for it in the conscionable Use of all the means of Grace And for the Sacraments As the Word containeth the Charter and Grant of Christ and all his Benefits to those that will receive him so this is the Seal of the Grant Rom. 4.11 He received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith whereby we are more confirmed in waiting for the Spirit and excited to look for this Benefit from Christ. Well then we must still lie at the Pool of the Word and Sacraments And now you have my second Argument Why Jesus Christ should be honoured lauded and praised by all the Saints because he hath done so great an Office of Love and procured so great a Benefit for us as the washing away of our Sins in his Blood that we might be admitted to Communion with God III. The Fruits and Benefits that we have thereby He hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and to his Father This doth oblige us the more to ascribe and give Glory and Dominion to him for ever and ever since he hath brought us into Communion with God and set us apart as consecrated Persons such as Kings and Priests were of old to perform daily Service to God In this third Thing 1 st Observe the Order We must be washed from our Sins before we can be Kings and Priests or minister before the Lord. Aaron and his Sons though they were formerly designed to be Priests yet they could not officiate and act as Priests before they were consecrated So must we be consecrated and made Priests to God and that by the Blood of Christ. They were seven days in consecrating This whole Life is the time of our Consecration which goeth on by degrees and will be made compleat both for Body and Soul upon the Resurrection when we shall be fit to approach the Throne of Glory and serve our God in a perfect manner in the eternal Temple of Heaven For this Life though our Consecration be not finished yet here we are stiled an Holy Priesthood to minister before the Throne of Grace though not before the Throne of Glory Now if we be washed from our Sins in the Laver of Regeneration we may draw near to God as the Priests under the Law were washed in the Laver and then came to the Altar It holdeth good both in this Life and in the Life to come that none but the Washed can come so near to God either before the Throne of Grace or Throne of Glory The Throne of Grace Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a true Heart in full assurance of Faith having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our Bodies washed with pure Water So Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God purge your Conscience from dead Works to serve the living God In the State of Glory Rev. 7.14 15. These are they which came out of great Tribulation and have washed their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him Day and Night in his Temple The persecuted Saints who came out of great Tribulation they first washed their Robes in the Blood of the Lamb before they were admitted as Priests to stand before the Throne of God to serve him Day and Night in his Temple Sanctification must go before Consecration and the more sanctified the more consecrated when our Sanctification is finished then our Consecration is consummate And then we shall have a full Communion with our God a clear Vision of his eternal Beauty and as great a Fruition of his Godhead as we shall be capable of in a State of full Contentment Joy and Blessedness 2 dly The Privileges are exceeding great to be consecrated to so high a Dignity That we should be consecrated or set apart for God to be Objects of his special Grace and Instruments of his Glory and Service Much more that we should be advanced to so great a Dignity as to be Kings and Priests to God We share in Christ's own Dignity He was a King and a Priest so are we He had an Unction so have we He was Christ we are Christians By virtue of our Union with him we are Partakers of his Kingdom and Priesthood The Church of Israel was called a Kingdom of Priests Exod. 19.6 And Believers in the New-Testament are called a Royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 Not to disturb Civil Kings or the Order God hath instituted in the Church for it is Kings and Priests to God not to the World Let us consider these Privileges asunder 1. Kings King is a Name of Honour Power and ample Possession 1. Here we reign spiritually as we vanquish the Devil the World and the Flesh in any measure It is a Princely Thing to be above these inferiour Things and to trample them under our Feet in an holy and heavenly Pride An Heathen could say Rex est qui metuit nihil Rex est qui cupit nihil He is a King that fears nothing and desires nothing He that is above the Hopes and Fears of the World he that hath his Heart in Heaven and is above temporal Accidents the ups and downs of the World the World is beneath his Heart and Affections this Man is of a Kingly Spirit Christ's Kingdom is not of this World neither is a Believer's Rev. 5.10 Thou hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign on the Earth viz. in a Spiritual Way It is a beastly thing to serve our Lusts but kingly to have our Conversations in Heaven and vanquish the World 1 Iohn 5.4 5. Whosoever is born of God overcometh the World and this is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith Who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Iesus is the Son of God To live up to our Faith and Love with a Noble Royal Spirit 2. Hereafter we shall reign visibly and gloriously when we shall sit upon Thrones with Christ at his last coming to judg the World and Angels themselves Matth. 19.28 Verily I
Reproof is prescribed for two Reasons 1. Because there is a Supposition of Wrong done that is when any Man hath wronged us in any thing let him not nourish Hatred or Anger in his Bosom lest by abiding there long it sowreth into Malice and Revenge rather go and shew them the Evil that they have done to bring them to Repentance It is said of Absalom 2 Sam. 13.22 That Absalom spake unto his Brother Amnon neither good nor bad for Absalom hated Amnon because he had forced his Sister Tamar Amnon did the wrong but Absalom reproved him not because he hated him Implacable Malice and Desire of Revenge is hid under Silence and Dissimulation he spake neither good nor bad to Amnon to wit of that Subject of the Rape committed upon his Sister he reproved not the Fact that so he might conceal his Malice till he found occasion to put the same in Execution And this is the Fashion of all that regard the wrong done to themselves but not the Offence done to God Well then since Hatred begets close and cunning Dissimulation till it have a full Advantage to put forth it self it is opposite to Reproof It is as Fire raked under Ashes and reserved till another Day The Historian Tacitus observeth it in Tiberius who being offended by some Words spoken in the Senate by Haterius and Scanrus In Haterium statim invectus Scaâ—rum cui implacabilis irascebatur silentio transmittit The one he rebuked the other whom he implacably hated he passed by with Silence Therefore God well knowing the Disposition of Man giveth this Direction by his Servant Moses Hate not thy Brother in thy Heart but rebuke him in any wise So that you see it is meant of Hatred rising of Offences principally wherefore rebuke him hate him not for such things Sutable to this is the Law of Christ Luke 17.3 Take heed to your selves if thy Brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him Do your utmost to reduce any that offendeth though it be by injuring thee do not desire Revenge but seek an Opportunity to pardon him upon his Reformation Matth. 18.15 If thy Brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his Fault between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother that is thy Charity must be sure to put off all Thoughts of Revenge against him yea it will oblige thee to use all prudent Methods to bring him to a Sense of his Fault and the most discreet and gentile ways are first to be essayed That is the first Reason 2. He that doth not rebuke his Brother when he doth any thing amiss doth indeed hate him not love him There are two things which put us upon Reproof Zeal for God's Glory and Love to our Neighbours Soul There is a Defect in our Zeal if we do not seek to repair God's Honour when it is wounded by others Psal. 69.9 The Zeal of thine House hath eaten me up and the Reproaches of them that reproached thee have faln upon me Injuries done to God and Religion affect us no less nearly than personal Wrongs done to our selves So there is a Defect in our Love and Charity to others to let them alone in Soul-Dangers and therefore Reproof as it is opposed to Hatred so it is opposed also to Flattery which is false and corrupt Love Prov. 28.23 He that rebuketh a Man afterwards shall find more Favour than he that flattereth with his Tongue When we are about to reprove others for their Faults we are afraid we shall offend them and that all Friendship will be broken off between us and them and so are tempted to connive at others sinful Courses for fear of a Rupture and Breach with them Alas at length though the Party be displeased a little for the present when he recovereth and cometh to himself again he will see that you shewed him the true Friendship whereas others that connived at or flattered him in his Sins however they sought to please his Humour hated his Soul and they will love you the better for it because you awaken them out of their Sins that would have been their eternal Ruin It is possible you may inrage a wicked and haughty Scorner but then you have discharged your Duty and freed your own Soul But for others you get the more Favour and Thanks because you have done a true Office of Love So that that which you are afraid will be an Occasion of breaking off Friendship will prove a means to nourish Love Prov. 9.8 Reprove not a Scorner lest he hate thee rebuke a wise Man and he will love thee Gain him to a Sense of his Duty and he will bless God for thee while he hath a Day to live So Prov. 27.5 6. Open Rebuke is better than secret Love Faithful are the Wounds of a Friend but the Kisses of an Enemy are deceitful Open Rebuke is when we plainly and sometimes sharply convince Men of their Errors or Sins they lie in this is better than hidden Love for that is of no Use and Profit to us He that reduceth me into the way when I go astray and plucketh me out of the Fire and Water when I am in Danger to be drowned or burned though he break an Arm or Leg he that cureth my Disease though by a sharp and troublesome Medicine doth me a greater Benefit than he that professeth great Love to me and lets me alone to perish and will not reach an Hand to pluck me out out of Tenderness as loth to trouble me That is called hidden Love that doth not make it self known by the Offices of Love and Friendship or for fear of Offence will not warn a Man of his Danger it is indeed true Hatred The next Verse is to the same Purpose It may be my Friend wounds me as the Physician lets me Blood to cure my Feaver he doth it in Faithfulness A sharp Reproof is there called a Wound but it is the Faithfulness of my Friend not done out of Rancour or Malice with a Desire to shame and reproach me it is intended for my Good but the Kisses of an Enemy or one that hateth me and my Soul are deceitful By Kisses are meant the Pretences of great Love to us as Ioab kissed Amasa and stab'd him 2 Sam. 20.9 10. And Iudas kissed Christ and betrayed him Mat. 26.48 49. Alas this Love is but deceitful whilst it betrayeth your Souls That this is true Love appeareth also because thus God dealeth himself with his own Children Prov. 3.12 For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth even as a Father the Son in whom he delighteth God loveth his Children dearly but yet will not let them perish in their Sins therefore sometimes he useth a smart Discipline towards them Satan seeketh to lull thee asleep by the Delights of the Flesh but God awakeneth them by the sharp Corrections and Rebukes of his Providence I will but add David's Expression which sheweth what
Desires of his holy Soul concerning our Salvation Iohn 17.24 Father I will that those whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am and so he appears in our Names as well as in our Nature Partly by some Acts of Adoration of the Sovereign Majesty of God some Address to God there is Iohn 14.16 I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever He doth not only ask the Enlargement of his own Kingdom Psal. 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession but the Pardon Comfort Peace and Supply of particular Persons 1 Iohn 2.1 If any man sin we have an advocate with the father Iesus Christ the righteous Partly in his presenting our Prayers and Supplications Rev. 8.3 And another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne and therefore he is called A minister of the sanctuary Heb. 8.2 This is the nature of Christ's Intercession 6. The success of Christ's Intercession Father forgive them Was he heard in this Yes this Prayer converts the Centurion and those Acts 2.41 above three thousand and presently after five thousand more Acts 4.4 In the compass of a few days above eight thousand of his Enemies were converted Christ is good at Interceding his Prayers are always heard Iohn 11.42 I knew that thou hearest me always And therefore let us seek no other Mediator God cannot deny his own Son Jesus Christ the righteous intercedes for us let us put all our Requests into his hands II. I come now to the Argument used They know not what they do But you will say Christ elsewhere complaineth of his Enemies that they know him and refused him out of malice Iohn 15.24 Now they have both seen and hated both me and my father and therefore he saith They had no Cloak for their Sin but were utterly without Excuse for they could not plead Ignorance Answ. 1. This is not spoken of all but of some only The greatest part were moved with the Command Authority and Perswasion of the Priests or blinded with a false Zeal to preserve their old Religion and so thought they did God service in crucifying Christ. Those that sinned out of malice Christ had told them their Doom before Mat. 12.32 Whosoever speaketh against the Holy-Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world neither in the world to come 2. They knew him to be a just Man though they knew him not to be the Lord of Glory and that he did many Signs which the Prophets foretold should be done by the Mâ—ssias and therefore at least that he was a great Prophet and as such they should have reverenced and received him so that they had the less cloak for their Sin 3. Christ excused not a toto but a tanâ—o not altogether but only sheweth that they were capable of Pardon because of their Ignorance Christ excuseth the Sin of his Enemies in that manner that he could excuse them he could not altogether excuse the Injustice of Pilate nor the Cruelty of the Soldiers nor the Envy of the Chief Priests nor the Folly and Unthankfulness of the People nor the Perjury of the false Witnesses all that he could plead was some ignorance of the Dignity of his Person 1 Cor. 2.8 Which none of the princes of this world knew for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory The chief Men of the Iews did not understand the Mystery of Redemption and many were ignorant not only of the Divinity of Christ but his Innocency also They know not what they do Doctr. There is a difference between Sinners and it is a more dangerous thing to sin against Knowledge than out of Ignorance 1. Some sin wittingly and wilfully as Cain Saul Iudas c. who against the apparent Light of their Consciences venture upon the foulest Actions 2. Others sin out of Ignorance either they do not certainly know what they do to be Sin or do not expresly consider it So Paul in persecuting the Church of God 1 Tim. 1.13 Who was before a persecutor and a blasphemer and injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief 3. Some sin knowingly indeed but out of Infirmity either arising from some great fear of Danger and present Death as Peter denied his Master it is done with a troubled Mind These may be recovered to God but with difficulty Or else they are hurried to Evil by the baits of the Flesh and pleasing Temptations Iames 1.12 Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed Now their Case cannot easily be spoken to for it needs much discussion It may be by surprizal and that for one Act and none of the grossest Gal. 6.1 Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye that are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness The Devil many times leaveth no time for deliberation and bringeth his tempting Baits not to the fore-door of Reason but to the back-door of Sensual Appetite which being in a rage blindeth the Mind But if they sin with a strong Will their Case is more dangerous especially if they live and lie in Sin after many Experiences of the Evil of it their Condition is deplorable This Foundation being laid let us see how far Ignorance excuseth from Sin 1. Whatever Sin we commit it is Sin and of it self deserveth Damnation Sin is not determined to be Sin by its being voluntary or involuntary but by its contrariety to the Law of God 1 Iohn 3.4 Sin is the transgression of the Law Therefore the causal Particle For in the Text doth not shew the Reason of Pardon but the capableness of Pardon So Paul's Ignorance was not the cause of God's Mercy for Sin cannot be the cause of Mercy but only the occasion of it The Nature of Sin is not determined by the Voluntariness of it but only the Degree of it 2. Ignorance is either Antecedent Concomitant or Consequent 1. Antecedent going before the Act as in the generality of the Iews Acts 3.17 And now brethren I wâ—t that through ignorance ye did it as did also your Rulers Out of Ignorance and blind Zeal they Crucified him whom God did make both Lord and Christ. 2. Concomitant a Man hath Knowledge but useth it not for the present It is one thing to sin with Knowledge and another thing to sin against Knowledge He that hath Knowledge but for the present may be binded by his Lusts and Carnal Affections sinneth not against Knowledge directly but collaterally only as he that stealeth or committeth Adultery doth not this for Sin 's sake for none can will Evil as Evil but he only attendeth to the