in any condition or rank of men more than in any other Now being God so plainly threatens death eternal unto the impeitent and disobedient can there be any so great an errour as for these men to presume of pardon and to expect eternal life while they continue so to be The Gospel denounces death upon them they promise life unto themselves and is not then this promise of theirs expresly contrary to the Gospel The Gospel tells them that they must die they say no but we shall live and do they not contradict the Gospel The Gospel saith that they are under Gods displeasure but they presume they are in his favour and where do you think lies the truth in the Gospel or in their presumptions We must believe what the Gospel saith whatsoever it be that they presume and so the Apostle himself believed when he put this truth upon record 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad for what doth he add to these words Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men we labour to instruct the ignorant we labour to convince the obstinate we labour to awake the drowsy we strive to stir up every person to escape from the wrath which is to come by timely repentance and reformation we know the terrour of the Lord we do not guess but we are assured that it will overtake the impenitent when he shall return to judge the World and therefore use our utmost power to perswade repentance and reformation 5. And now because that impenitent persons even those that abide in wilful sin are wont to ground their hopes of pardon and life eternal on the death of Christ and the satisfaction made by him it will he sit in the last place to shew that his death and satisfaction is so far from giving any countenance to this errour that it doth utterly overthrow it nor need we any further argument to convince and perswade us that this is so than that the death of our blessed Lord is always used in the holy Scripture as a mighty motive to obedience For certainly that very same thing can be no motive unto obedience that gives any just and true encouragement for a man to continue in his sins yet so it is the death of Christ is always represented in Scripture as a mighty motive to obedience unto all obedience to the Gospel and so designed by Christ himself He gave himself for us says the Apostle that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 He bare our sins in his own body upon the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness 1 Pet. 2.24 He gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world that is from the lusts and corruptions of it Gal. 1.4 He gave himself for his Church or Body that he might sanctifie and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having a spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Eph. 5.25 c. And that you may see that he was really understood to design this in his dying for us and that his death tends effectually to this purpose with them that understand it aright hear what the Apostle himself speaks upon this point 2 Cor. 5.14 15. The love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again From whence observe that the death of Christ was so apprehended and understood by the primitive followers of our Lord that they took their very greatest motives their strongest arguments to obedience from it so far was it from giving them any grounds or reasons to cherish and indulge their sins If any man ask what then hath the death of Christ done for the remission of our sins My answer is that the satisfaction thereby made hath gained the pardon of all those sins we repent of not of those whereof we do not repent It operates to the remission of sin of all degrees and kinds of sin when we abandon and forsake them not while we cherish and indulge them and thus it becomes not an encouragement to live in them but to abandon and cast them off 3. Having thus shewed that for God to accept men in their sins to pardon them while they live in them is flatly contrary to his nature contrary to his own decree declared and published in the Gospel I may now very justly conclude the thing which I propounded at the first that a presumption of his pardon while a man continues in his sins is a very great and dangerous errour for so of necessity must that be which is so manifest a mistake both of the nature and will of God and that in a matter of no less moment than that of eternal life and happiness Add hereunto that this is an errour which makes men stupid and secure in the midst of the very greatest dangers lulls them asleep under Gods displeasures charms them with the hope of peace while it is far removed from them They speak peace unto themselves the Gospel speaks quite contrary they judge themselves in Gods favour the Gospel pronounces that they are not so they promise themselves remission of sins eternal happiness and Salvation the Gospel threatens death and judgment In the mean time having reconciled the hopes of Heaven to the fruition of their lusts they enjoy themselves they enjoy their sins without any fear of danger from them for such is the nature of this errour that it infatuates the mind it self removes the force and power of Conscience le ts the corruptions of nature loose leaves no restraint leaves no check at all upon them and so exposes them to destruction till it be discovered and removed 3. I have said enough of the propositions which are implyed in the words before us namely 1. that men may presume of Gods favour while they continue in their sins 2 That this presumption of theirs is a very great and dangerous errour and shall now conclude with what is expressed He that doth righteousness is righteous that is to say he that is hearty and sincere in the practice of all the several duties prescribed unto us in the Gospel he is acceptable unto God he is in grace and favour with him nor will God charge him with the guilt of such lapses and inadvertencies as flow from the frailty of humane nature And what is the use we should make of this It is to awake and excite our selves to all diligence to all sincerity in our duties And
Lord as the treasures of his own House and what was still more dishonourable to cut off the Gold from the Doors of the Temple and the Pillars which he himself had made v. 15 16. Yet such it should seem was Sennacheribs treachery and false dealing that having as was before related spoiled Hezekiah of his treasure he presently contrary to his promise sends up an Army towards Jerusalem the dread whereof filled that City with great amazement and confusions In these confusions had the Prophet Isaiah an intimation that God would exalt his mighty power in the deliverance of Hezekiah and of the City of Jerusalem from these so great and imminent dangers and also confirm the same deliverance and give secure and setled times The former whereof the Prophet declares v. 5. The Lord is exalted for he dwelleth on high he hath filled Sion with judgment and righteousness the latter in the following words And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times Stability signifies strength and settlement stability of times safe secure and certain times times not so lyable unto change as that the fear of domestick Troubles or foreign violence should either disquiet the minds of men or interrupt them in their duties to God or their neighbours or themselves And then that wisedom or that knowledge by which the times should be thus established is the knowledge of God and of his will and hearty obedience thereunto in the whole compass of his Laws as well of those which prescribe our duties to one another as of those that direct us in Gods worship I need not say that this is the sense wherein wisdom is frequently taken in the Scriptures for that 's a thing that all acknowledge who pretend to any skill in them nor need I labour much to prove that this is the sense of wisdom and knowledge in the words which I now insist upon for plain it is that what the Prophet stiles judgment and righteousness in the words immediately antecedent is here stiled wisdom and knowledge He hath filled Sion with judgment and righteousness So he speaks in the fifth verse and then immediately adds the effect those things should have under the name of 〈…〉 and knowledge for so it follows and wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times that is to say judgment and righteousness shall be so He varies the words but not the sense for then his discourse would not be coherent Add hereunto that what he had styled wisdom and knowledge in the beginning of the verse is immediately called the fear of the Lord wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times and strength of salvation the fear of the Lord is his treasure Where he suggests that although Sennacherib had spoiled Hezekiah of his treasures which are the usual nerves of War and the common instruments of defence yet that he had such a treasure still namely the fear of the true God as should give stability to his times For as much as this is the truest wisdom and such wisdom the firmest foundation of peace and settlement This reaches all the ends of wisdom and therefore justly bears its name So that the sense of the words in hand is the same with that of those before chap. 32. v. 17. The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever Now the words taken in this sense offer two things to our consideration 1. The former whereof is a blessing promised which is stability of the times setled quiet and easie days 2. The latter the proper means or terms whereby this blessing is procur'd which is obedience to Gods will in the whole extent of his holy Laws styled by the Prophet wisdom and knowledge For so he speaks to Hezekiah and in his person to the nation wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times I shall begin with the blessing promised which is stability in the times a singular blessing to a Nation being such as most effectually tends or is at the least wholly necessary to the producing of all others whether we consider it with relation 1. To the advantages of this World 2. Or those that concern a better life Of the former of these I should not speak being not so suitable to this place were it not proper for the occasion were it not seasonable in point of time and now if ever to be considered when the great Council of the Land is studying how to settle the Nation to confirm our Peace to establish true and firm foundations of future settlement and tranquillity and may expect to have an account of the usefulness of their undertakings opened and laid before the People But being these are our present circumstances I judge I may justly take occasion to insist a while upon those advantages which every Nation may expect from quiet certain and stable times 1. And first of all such times as these give ease of heart vigour of mind a free and chearful and active spirit take off the weights of fear and sorrow that troublesome times generally hang upon men's minds and so prepare and dispose to diligence and give incouragement thereunto by promising good success in it For in such times may every person duly hope to reap the fruits of his own Labours to gain advantage by his diligence to find an account in his undertakings he now believes that he serves himself or his posterity which he values equally with himself And this as it gives a great incouragement to his diligence So it sweetens the labours that attend it and makes him easie to himself as well as useful to publick ends It is not so in troublesome and distracted times In such times every man suspects that one may sow and another reap one may build and another inhabit one may plant and another probably gather the fruit as we have seen in our own age and many felt by sad experience And this is a very great discouragement to every man's diligence in his calling Where is the man that will toyle and labour weary his body or his mind where he cannot hope that he or his heirs shall find advantage by all his pains who will imploy and busie himself at all adventures build or plant or lay up treasure when he hath reason to suspect that he is labouring for a stranger or preparing rich and pleasant spoils for an enemy to feed his lusts upon And what 's the effect of these discouragements but a disconsolate useless sloath or else a diversion from those labours whereby he might profit himself and others to live by spoyl on other persons which when it once becomes common ends in general want and poverty and brings destruction upon a Nation So useful nay so wholly necessary are stable times to give encouragement to care and diligence in those labours whereby every man serves himself as the publick good is served by all 2. Stable and settled times give
as men besides themselves bereft of their reason and understandings so is this person represented Observe further that he no sooner came to himself as being now chastised and subdued by the miseries his sins had brought upon him but he resolves to return again to his Fathers house to confess his sins to implore pardon to abase himself before his Father and to submit to the meanest offices wherein he imployed his hired Servants So much regret and ingenuity so much humility and self-abasement so much sorrow for former sins such effectual purposes of reformation for time to come may the thoughts of our ways by the grace of God produce in us in consideration of the miseries which attend a vitious course of life Thirdly Especially seeing the same thoughts may also mind us of the vanity and emptiness of all those pleasures and enjoyments in fond indulgence whereunto we expose our selves to the dangers and miseries before mentioned which is the third of those particulars which the thoughts of our ways may suggest to us And here I shall not take the advantage either of repeating those miseries or of shewing the meanness of such enjoyments whether you call them profits or pleasures which the generality of men attain or can reasonably hope to attain unto by all their wit and power and interest I shall consider no allays wherewith the want of wealth and power or bodily health may dash the pleasures of this life but I shall give them all the advantage that can be wished considering them nakedly on themselves and shewing that even thus considered they are yet utterly insufficient to give satisfaction to our Souls And for the proof of this particular I shall not entangle your understandings with subtle and curious speculations but I shall exhibite it in a plain instance made in the great and glorious Solomon whose wisdom and splendour were so great that when our Saviour would give an account of his own wisdom he found no fitter a way to do it than to prefer it before Solomon's Matth. 12.42 And when he would livelily represent the glory of the Lilies of the Field tells us that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these Matth. 6.29 He was a Prince of infinite wealth his Herds and Flocks were so numerous that he offered twenty thousand Oxen and an hundred and twenty thousand Sheep and all these for Peace-offerings beside what he spent in Burnt-offerings at the dedication of the Temple 1 Kin. 8.63 64. The daily provision of his house were ten fat Oxen namely such as were fed in their Stalls and twenty Oxen out of the Pastures and an hundred Sheep besides Harts and Roe-bucks and Fallow Deer and fatted Fowl 1 Kings 4.23 The yearly income of his own Traffick over and above what was imported by the Merchants was six hundred threescore and six Talents of Gold 2 Chron. 9.14 And as for Silver he made it so plentiful in Jerusalem that it was nothing accounted of ver 20. of that Chapter it was but as Stones in his days as it follows in the 29th Verse His magnificence was equal to his wealth for his Throne was of Ivory covered with Gold and its Footstool was of the same Metal and so were all his drinking Vessels and all the Vessels of the house that stood in the Forest of Lebanon and many of his very Shields and Targets as you may see in the same Chapter 2 Chron. 9. His wisdom I have already mentioned He spake three thousand Proverbs and his Songs were a thousand and five He spake of Trees from the Cedar-Tree that is in Lebanon even to the Hyssop that springeth out of the Wall he spake also of Beasts and of Fowl and of creeping things and of Fishes 1 Kings 4.33 His oeconomical skill was such that when the Arabian Queen beheld the state and order of his Family She was amazed and astonished at it and had no spirit left in her 2 Chron. 9.4 From whence it appears he had skill enough so to apply and use his wealth as to create the highest pleasures that any thing in this World can afford by extracting the finest spirit of it Nor had he only skill sufficient so to do but he wholly applyed himself to do it He sought in his heart as himselfe tells us to apply himself unto wine yet still acquainting his heart with wisdom Eccl. 2.3 He made great works as it there follows he builded Houses planted Vineyards made Gardens and Orchards and planted Trees in them of all kinds of Fruits and made Pools of Water to render them fruitful He got him Men-Singers and Women-Singers and the delights of the Sons of men as musical Instruments and that of all sorts Eccl. 2. And that you may see how liberal he was to other inclinations he had seven hundred Wives Princesses and beside them three hundred Concubines who were as Wives excepting only that they were not solemnly espoused and endowed In short he denied himself no pleasure that the World could possibly afford unto him So he professes of himself Eccles 2.10 Whatsoever mine eyes desired I hept not from them I withheld not my heart from any joy Thus liberally did he indulge himself and that in the very Flower of his Age while he had youth and health and strength to taste and enjoy all the pleasures that wealth and power could minister to him and these attended with admirable skill to use and employ them to that purpose All this while he had nothing to interrupt his pleasures having perfect peace at home and abroad no seditions amongst his own Subjects no wars with any Neighbouring Princes no nor any thing of envy or animosity nothing but honour and admiration and what might serve to encrease his pleasures For all the Kings of the Earth sought his presence to hear his wisdom that God had put in his heart and they brought every man his Present Vessels of Silver and Vessels of Gold and Rayment Harness and Spices Horses and Mules at a rate year by year 2 Chron. 9.23 24. Now what an account of the joys and pleasures of this World may we expect from a glorious King flowing with wealth abounding in honour enjoying all the delights of the World and that in the very flower of his time and without any outward interruptions Would it not seem extreamly strange if he should not find his soul at ease and in full content and satisfaction Would it not seem much stranger still if he should express a dissatisfaction and discontent in the midst of all these secular pleasures Yet this very thing doth he express upon a serious review of them for so he concludes his own relation of what he had done and enjoyed in the World Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on all the labours that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit Eccles 2.11 See here the account that the wise and great