defiles it thus in an instant Take the most glorious Angell in heaven and let one of the least sinnes seaze upon his heart he would in an instant fall downe from heaven stript of all his glory the ugliest creature that ever was beheld you would count that the strongest of all poysons that would poyson in an instant as Nero boiled a poison to that height that it killed Germanicus as soone as he received it now such an one is sinne Thirdly sinne defiles it totally it rests not in one member onely but beginning at the understanding eates into the will and affections soaks through all Those diseases we account strongest which seaze not on a joynt or a member onely but strikes rottennesse through the whole body Fourthly it defiles eternally it being aterna macula a staine which no nitre or sope or any creature can wash out Ier. 2. 21. There was once let in a deluge of water and the world was all overflow'd with it it washed away sinners indeed but not one sinne And the world shall be a fire again at the latter day and all that fire and these flames in hell that follow shall not purge out one sinne Thirdly it hath robbed the soule of the image of God deprived us of the glory of God Rom. 3. 23. the image of Gods holinesse which is his beauty and ours wee were beautifull and all glorious once within which though but an accident is more worth than all mens soules devoid of it it being a likenesse unto God a divine nature without which no man shall see God Though man in Innocency had all perfections united in him via eminentiae that are to be found in other creatures yet this was more worth than all for all the rest made him not like to God as this did without which all Paradise could not make Adam happy which when he had lost he was left naked though those his other perfections remained with him which is profitable for all things as the Apostle sayes The least dramme of which the whole world emballanced with would be found too light without which the glorious Angels would be damned devills the Saints in heaven damned ghosts this it hath robbed man of Fourthly it hath robbed man even of God himselfe Your sinnes separate sayes God betwixt you and me and therefore they are said to live without God in the world and in robbing a man of God it robs him of all things for all things are ours but so farre as God is ours of God whose face makes heaven he is all in all his loving kindnesse is better than life and containeth beauty honours riches all yea they are but a drop to him But its mischiefe hath not staid here but as the Leprosie of the Lepers in the old Law sometimes infected their houses garments so it hath hurld confusion over all the world brought a vanitie on the creature Rom. 8. 23. and a curse and had not Christ undertooke the shattered condition of the world to uphold it it had fallen about Adams cares And though the old walls and ruinous palace of the world stands to this day yet the beauty the glosse and glory of the hangings is soyled and marred with many imperfections cast upon every creature But as the house of the Leper was to be pulled downe and Traitors houses use to be made jakes so the world if Christ had not stept in had shrunke into its first nothing and you will say that is a strong carrion that retaines not onely infection in it selfe but infects all the aire about so this that not the soule the subject of it onely but all the world Lastly it was the first founder of hell and laid the first corner stone thereof sinne alone brought in and filled that bottomlesse gulfe with all the fire and brimstone and treasures of wrath which shall never be burnt and consumed And this crucified and pierced Christ himselfe poured on him his Fathers wrath the enduring of which for sinne was such as that all the Angels in heaven had crackt and sunke under it But yet this estimate is but taken from the effects of it the essence of it which is the cause of all these evills must needs have much more mischiefe in it Shall I speak the least evill I can say of it It conteins all evills als◠in it therefore Iames 1. 23. the Apostle calls it filthinesse and abundance of superfluitie or excrement as it were of naughtinesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As if so transcendent that if all evills were to have an excrement a scumme a superfluitie sinne is it as being the abstracted quintessence of all evill An evill which in the nature and essence of it virtually and eminently containes all evills of what kinde soever that are in the world Insomuch as in the Scriptures you shall finde that all the evills in the world serve but to answer for it and to give names to it Hence sinne it is called poyson and sinners serpents sinne is called a vomit sinners dogs sinne the stench of graves and they rotten sepulchres sinne mire sinners sowes and sinne darknesse blindnesse shame nakednesse folly madnesse death whatsoever is filthy defective infective painfull Now as the holy Ghost sayes of Nabal as is his name so is he so may wee say of sinne for if Adam gave names to all things according to their nature much more God who calls things as they are Surely God would not slander sinne though it be his onely enemie And besides there is reason for this for it is the cause of all evills God sowed nothing but good seed in the world He beheld and saw all things were very good It is sinne hath sowne the tares all those evills that have come up sorrowes and diseases both unto men and beasts Now whatsoever is in the effect is via eminentiae in the cause Surely therefore it is to the soule of man the miserable vessell and subject of it all that which poyson death and sicknesse is unto the other creatures and to the body and in that it is all these to the soule it is therefore more than all these to it for corruptio optimi pessima by how much the soule exceeds all other creatures by so much must sinne which is the corruption poyson death and sicknesse of it exceed all other evills But yet this is the least ill that can be said of it There is 2. some further transcendent peculiar mischiefe in it that is not to be found in all other evills as will appeare in many instances For first all other evills God proclaimes himselfe the author of and ownes them all though sinne be the meritorious cause of all yet God the efficient and disposing cause There is no evill in the City but I have done it He onely disclaimeth this Iam. 1. 13. as a bastard of some others breeding for he is the Father of lights ver 17. Secondly the utmost extremity of the evill of punishment
could not enjoy his Paramore All these as they live in their sins here and so are dead whilest they live and so are miserable making the greatest evill their chiefest good so when they come to die as we all must doe one day and how soone and how suddenly we know not wee carry our soules our precious soules as precious water in a brittle glasse soone cracked and then we are spilt like water which none can gather up againe or but as a candle in a paper lanthorne in clay walls full of cranyes often but a little cold comes in and blowes the candle out and then without a through change of heart before wrought from all sinne to all godlinesse they will die in their sinnes And all and the utmost of all miseries is spoken in that one word and therefore Christ when he would summe up all miseries in one expression tells the Pharisees they should die in their sins Iohn 8. 28. Vse 2. ANd let us consider further that if sin be thus above measure sinfull that Hell that followeth death is then likewise above measure fearful And so it is intimated to be a punishment without measure Ier. 30. 11. compared with Isa 27. Punish them as I punish thee sayes God to his owne but I will punish thee in measure And indeed sinne being committed against God the King of Kings it can never be punished enough But as the killing of a King is amongst men a crime so hainous that no tortures can exceed the desert of it we use to say all torments are too little any death too good for such a crime Now peccatum est Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I said before a destroying God as much as in us lies and therefore none but God himselfe can give it a full punishment therefore it is called a falling into Gods hands Heb. 10. 31. which as he sayes there is fearfull For if his breath blowes us to destruction Iob 4. 9. for we are but dust heaps yea his nod he nods to destruction Psal 80. 16. then what is the weight of his hands even of those hands which span the heavens and hold the earth in the hollow of them and if God take it into his hands to punish he will be sure to doe unto the full Sinne is mans worke and punishment is Gods and God will shew himselfe as perfect in his worke as man in his If sinne be malum catholicum as hath been said that containes all evils in it then the punishment God will inflict shall be malum catholicum also containing in it all miseries it is a cup full of mixture so called Psal 75. 8. as into which God hath strained the quintessence of all miseries and the wicked of the earth must drink the dregges of it though it be eternity unto the bottome And if one sin deserves a hell a punishment above measure what will millions of millions doe And we reade that every sinne shall receive a just recompence Heb. 2. 3. oh let us then take heed of dying in our sinnes and therefore of living in them for we shall lie in prison till we have paid the very utmost farthing And therefore if all this that I have said of it wil not engender answerable apprehensions of it in you this being but painting the toad which you can look upon and handle without affrightment I wish that if without danger you could but lay your eares to hell that standing as it were behind the skreene you might heare sinne spoken of in its owne dialect by the oldest sonnes of perdition there to heare what Cain sayes of murthering his brother Abel what Saul of his persecuting David and the Priests of Iehovah what Balaam and Achitophel say of their cursed counsels and policies what Ahab sayes of his oppression of Naboth what Iudas of treason and heare what expressions they have with what horrors yellings groanes distractions the least sin is there spoken of If God should take any mans soule here and as he rapt His into the third heavens where he saw grace in its fullest brightnesse so carry any ones soule into those chambers of death as Solomon calls them and leading him through all from chamber to chamber shew him the visions of darknesse and hee there heare all those bedlames cry out one of this sinne another of that and see sinne as it lookes in hell But there is one aggravation more of the evill and misery sinne brings upon men I have not spoken of yet that it blinds their eyes and hardens their hearts that they doe not see nor lament their misery till they be in hell and then it is too late Vse 3. BUt what doth sin so exceed in sinfulnesse and is the venome of it boyled up to such a height of mischiefe that there should be no name in heaven and earth able to grapple with it and destroy it Is there no antidote no balme in Gilead more soveraigne than it is deadly Surely yes God would never have suffered so potent and malicious an enemy to have set foot in his dominions but that he knew how to conquer it and that not by punishing of it onely in hell but by destroying it onely it is too potent for all the creatures to encounter with This victory is alone reserved for Christ it can die by no other hand that he may have the glory of it which therefore is the top of his glory as mediator and his highest title the memory of which he beares written in his name JESUS for he shall save his people from their sinnes Mat. 1. 21. And therefore the Apostle Paul his chiefest Herauld proclaimes this victory with a world of solemnity and triumph 1 Cor. 15. 36. Oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sinne the strength of sinne is the Law but thankes be to God that gives us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ which yet again addes to the Demonstration of the sinfulnesse of it for the strength of sinne was such that like Goliah it would have defied the whole host of heaven and earth It was not possible the blood of Bulls and goats should take away sinne Heb. 10. 4. nor would the riches of the world or the blood of men have beene a sufficient ransome Will the Lord be pleased with rivers of oyle shall I give my first borne for my transgression No sayes he there is no proportion for thy first borne is but the fruit of thy body and sinne is the sinne of thy soule Mich. 6. 7. it must cost more to redeeme a soule than so Psal 49. 9. No couldest thou bring rivers of teares in stead of rivers of oyle which if any thing were like to pacifie God yet are they but the excrements of thy braines but sinne is the sinne of thy heart yea all the righteousnesse that we could ever do cannot make amends for one sinne for suppose it perfect when as yet it is but
dung Mal. 2. 3. and a menstruom cloath yet thou owest it already as thou art a creature and one debt cannot pay another If then we should goe a begging to all the Angels who never sinned let them lay all their stock together it would begger them all to pay for one sinne no it is not the merit of Angels will doe it for sinne is the transgression the destruction of the Law Psal 109. 1. and the least 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more worth than heaven and all that is therein Onely though it be thus unconquerably sinfull by all created powers it hath not gone beyond the price that Christ hath paid for it the Apostle compares to this very purpose sinne and Christs righteousnesse together Rom. 5. 15 20. 'T is true sayes hee that sinne abounds and that one sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and instanceth in Adams sinne which staineth all mens natures to the end of the world yet sayes he the gift of righteousnesse by Christ abounds much more abounds to flowing over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes the Apostle 1 Tim. 1. 14. as the sea doth above mote-hills Malach. 7. 14. Though therefore it would undoe all the Angels yet Christs riches are unsearchable Eph. 3. 8. hee hath such riches of merit as are able to pay all thy debts the very first day of thy mariage with him though thou hadst beene a sinner millions of yeares afore the creation to this day and when that is done there is enough left to purchase thee more grace and glory than all the Angels have in heaven In a word he is able to save to the utmost all that come to God by him Heb. 7. 5. let their sins be what they will But then wee must come to him and to God by him and take him as our Lord and King and head and husband as he is freely tendered we must be made one with him and have our hearts divorced from all our sinnes for ever And why not now doe we yet look for another Christ and to allude to us as Naomi said to Ruth Is there yet any more sonnes in my wombe that they may be your husbands So say I Hath God any more such sonnes or is not this Christ good enough or are we afraid of being happy too soon in being married to him But yet if we will have Christ indeed without whom we are undone how shall we thou continue in sinne which is thus above measure sinfull no not in one The Apostle speaks there in the language of impossibility and inconsistencie Christ and the raigne of one sinne they cannot stand together And indeed wee will not so much as take Christ untill first wee have seene more or lesse this vission here and sinne appear to us as to him above measure sinfull naturally we slight it and make a mock of and account it precisenesse to stick and make conscience of it but if once sinne thus appeares to any but in its owne colours that man will looke upon the least sinne then as upon hell it selfe and like a man affrighted feare in all his wayes lest he should meet with sinne and starts at the very appearance of it he weepes if sinne doe but see him and hee doe but see it in himselfe and others and cryes out as Ioseph did How shall I doe this and sinne and then a man will make out for Christ as a condemned man for life as a man that can no longer live oh give me Christ or else I die and then if upon this Christ appeares to him and manifests himselfe as his promise is to thē that seek him Ioh. 14. 21. his heart thereupon will much more detest and loathe it he saw it evill afore Out then it comes to have a new tincture added which makes it infinitely more sinfull in his eyes for he then lookes upon every sinne as guilty of Christs bloud as dyed with it though covered by it the grace of God appearing teacheth us to deny all ungodlinesse and worldly lusts The love of Christ constraines him Thinkes he Shall I live in that for which Christ died shall that be my life which was his death did he that never knew sinne undergoe the torment for it and shall I be so unkinde as to enjoy the pleasure of it No but as David when hee was very thirstie and had water of the well of Bethleem brought him with the hazard of mens lives powred it on the ground for sayes hee It is the blood of these men So sayes he even when the cup of pleasures is at his very lips It cost the blood of Christ and so pours it upon the ground And as the love of Christ constraines him so the power of Christ doth change him Kings may pardon Traytors but they cannot change their hearts but Christ pardons none hee doth not make new creatures and all old things passe away because he makes them friends favourites to live with and delight in and if men put on Christ and have learned him as the truth is in Iesus they put off as concerning the former conversation the old man with the deceitfull lusts and he ceaseth from sinne that is from the course of any knowne sin they are the Apostles owne words which shall judge us and if we should expect salvation from him upon any other termes we are deceived for Christ is author of salvation to them onely that obey him Heb. 5. 9. AGGRAVATIONS OF SINNING AGAINST KNOWLEDGE BY THO GOODWIN B. D. LONDON Printed by M. F. for Iohn Rothwell 〈…〉 be sold at the Sun in Pauls Church 〈…〉 M DC XXXVII Contents of Aggravation of sinning against knowledge Doct. TO sinne against knowledge is the highest aggravation of sinning page 34 1. Demonstrations of the point by comparing it with other kinds of sinning 36 How much sins against knowledge doe transcend sins of ignorance 37 1. In sins of ignorance there may be a supposition if he had known it he would not have done it but not so in these ibid. 2. The vast difference between them appears in the repentance God accepts for each a generall repentance for the one not so for the other 39 3. Some kinds of sinning against knowledge exclude from mercy which done ignorantly leave a capacity of it 40 4. Sinning against knowledge is the highest but that of sinning against the holy Ghost 41 6. Reasons 1. Because knowledge is the greatest mercy 42 2. Knowledge is the immediate guide of men in all their waies a man sins against his guide 43 That knowledge is so proved in that an erroneous conscience binds 45 3. Reason Knowledge layeth a further obligation to obedience ibid. Lawes come in force when promulged 46 4. There is the more contempt cast on the law 47 5. In sins against knowledge the will of the sinner closeth more with sin as sin ibid. 6. In sinning against knowledge a man condemnes himselfe 48 Three things handled concerning sins against knowledge ibid.
more force and evidence Knowledge learnt by experience is the most efficacious Therefore Christ himselfe who knew all things already yet learnt in the schoole of experience by what he suffered A little of some knowledge distill'd out of a mans owne observation is most precious every drop of it therefore the Apostle urgeth it on Timothie 2 Tim. 3. 14. Continue in the things thou hast learned and beene assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them There is a two-fold motive and both emphaticall First he was assured in himselfe and secondly that which strengthned that assurance and was a meanes to worke it was the example of the holy Apostle and of his owne Parents Knowing of whom thou hast learned it And so ver 10. the Apostle againe urgeth his owne example Thou hast fully knowne my doctrine and manner of life and then also brings to his mind the education of those his godly Parents who instructed him Hence also Esay 26. 10. it is made an aggravation that in the land of uprightnesse men deale unjustly Thus light drawn from the observation of Gods judgements upon others it much aggravates it is laid to Belshazzars charge Dan. 5. 22. Thou knewest all this how God dealt with thy father Nebuchadonezer So some of you come here and live in a religious society and see sometimes one sometimes another of thy Colleagues turn to Christ yea haply chamber fellow converted from his evill courses and yet thou goest on this is sinning against a great light Fourthly the more vigorous strong powerfull the light is that is in thee and more stirring in thy heart and joyned with a taste the greater the sins committed against it are to be accounted The more thou hast tasted the bitternesse of sinne and Gods wrath and hast beene stung with it as with a Cockatrice the more thou hast tasted Gods goodnesse in prayer and in the ordinances the more of such a knowledge and yet sinnest the worse In the 5. of Iohn 35. Christ aggravates the Iewes unbeleefe in himselfe and their present hardnesse that Iohn was to them not only a shining but also a burning light that is they had such knowledge engendred by his ministery as wrought joy and heat as well as light therefore it is added they rejoyced therein for a season And thus their fall Heb. 6. is aggravated that it was such a light as had tasting with it For to explaine this you must know that between ordinary notionall light or that assenting to spirituall truths which is common with men from traditionall knowledge living in the Church that between it and true saving light or the light of life there is a middle kind of light which is more than the common conviction men have and lesse than saving light it is a light which leaves also some impression on the affections makes them feele the powers of heaven and hell and be affected with them Now the more of such light against a sinne be it drunkennesse or uncleannesse or oppression and yet fallest to it againe the worse For this is a further degree added to knowledg and not common to all wicked men And therefore as those Iewes who had not onely common meanes of knowledge but miracles also and yet beleeved not Iohn 12. 17. shall be more condemned so those who have such tasting knowledg set on by the holy Ghost which is as much as if a miracle were wrought for it is above nature a supernaturall worke of the Spirit And therefore to sinne against such light and such onely is that which makes a man in the next degree of fitnesse to sin against the Holy Ghost Fiftly to sin against professed knowledge is an aggravation also and an heavy one To sin against a mans owne principles which he teacheth others or reproves or censureth in others Titus 1. last Those that professe they know God and yet deny him these are most abominable of all others For these are lyars and so sinne against knowledge as lyars doe in the 1 Iohn 2. 4. such an one is called a lyar in a double respect both in that he sayes hee hath that knowledge he hath not it not being true and because also he denyes that in deed which he affirmes in word this is scandalous sinning So Rom. 2. 24. the Iewes beasting of the law and of having the forme of knowledge in their braines caused the Gentiles to blaspheme when they saw they lived cleane contrary thereunto and therefore a brother that walkes inordinately was to be delivered to Satan to learne what it was to blaspheme 1 Tim. 2. 20. That is to learne to know how evill and bitter a thing it is by the torments of an evill conscience to live in such a course as made God and his wayes evill spoken of as it befell David when he thus sinned Yea 2 Cor. 5. 10 11. though they might keep company with a heathen because hee was ignorant and professed not the knowledge of God yet if a brother one that professed and so was to walke by the same rules did sinne against those principles he professed then keepe him not company Thus did Saul sinne All the Religion he had and pretended to in his latter dayes was persecuting witches yet in the end he went against this his principle hee went to a witch in his great extremitie at last And thus God will deale with all that are hollow and sinne secretly against knowledge in the end Hee suffers them to goe against their most professed principles These are aggravations in generall applicable both to any act of sinning or going on in a known state of sinning USE NOw the use of all that hath been spoken what is it but to move all those that have knowledge to take heed more heed of sinning than other men and those of them that remaine in their naturall estate to turne speedily and effectually unto God For if sinning against knowledge be so great an aggravation of sinning then of all engagements to repentance knowledge is the greatest First thou who hast knowledge canst not sin so cheap as another who is ignorant Therefore if thou wilt be wicked thy wickednesse will cost thee ten times more than it would another Places of much knowledge and plentifull in the meanes of grace are dear places to live in sin in To be drunk and uncleane after enlightning and the motions of the Spirit and powerfull Sermons is more than twentie times afore thou mightest have committed ten to one and beene damned lesse This is condemnation sayes Christ that light came into the world Neither canst thou haue so much pleasure in thy sin as an ignorant person For the conscience puts forth a sting in the act when thou hast knowledge and does subject thee to bondage and the fear of death When a man knows how dearely he must pay for it there is an expectation of judgement embittereth all Therefore the Gentiles sinned with more pleasure than we
namely a waiting and expectation that men would come in and repent So Luke 13. 17. These three yeeres have I come seeking fruit but have found none There was an expectation a longing a desire it would bring forth fruit Oh when shall it once be sayes God Ier. 13. last In the last place that other attribute of long suffering which is the third is but as a further degree of patience but patience lengthened out farther that is when God hath beene thus patient hath forborne and waited for their comming in and that not for three yeeres but haply thirty forty yeeres and still they turne not his patience then begins as we would think to be as it were worne out and his anger begins to arise as if he could forbeare no longer as it was towards that tree Why cumbereth it the ground Cut it downe yet hee goes on to spare a man another yeere and many more yeares still after that and endureth with much long suffering as Rom. 9. 22. the vessels of wrath endures to wonderment above measure beyond all expectation all patience as it were this is long suffering The second generall head is that there are riches of this his goodnesse c. expended on us It is a rich goodnesse patience and long suffering Rich in themselves in regard of their abundance as they came from him and rich also in regard of their precious usefulnesse unto us as they may be improved by us First in themselves they are rich if wee consider what is expended all that while Hee layes out not simply his power to sustain and uphold all things and to maintaine us freely so to doe is nothing to him For whilst he doth but so nothing goes out of purse or is detracted from him as I may so speak he feeles not the expence either of power providence c. All this cost him but words For he upholds all creates all by the word of his power Hebr. 1. And thus to maintaine the Angels and to have maintained all mankinde before they fell had beene no more But my brethren when now he maintains us sinners not simply power goes forth from him but his glory is expended and taken from him and for the while wasted detracted from he loseth at present every day infinitely by us and he is sensible of it every sinne takes glory from him robs him as he himselfe complaines that he who made the world upholds it keeps it together as the hoops doe the barrell it would fall to pieces else to nothing in whom all live as fishes in the Sea yea upon whom all live that He should live unknown unthought of unserved yea disgraced dishonoured in the world and have this world lost to him as it were and sinne the Devill wicked men to have all the glory from him to be exalted to carry the whole world afore them This spends upon him he had need of Riches to doe this Secondly consider the multitude of sinners that thus spend and live upon these riches no lesse than all the world Hee had need of multitudes of patience in him He forbeares not one but all and every one We looke upon one man and seeing him very wicked wee wonder God cuts him not off we wonder at our selves that God did not cut us off before this when once our eyes are opened nay then cast your eyes over all the world and stand amazed at Gods forbearance towards it Take the richest man that ever was to have millions of men in his debt it would undoe him soone All the world are in Gods debt and run still in debt every day more and more and yet he breaks not nay breaks not them Nay thirdly to manifest this abundance yet more consider not onely the multitude hee forbeares but the time he hath done it to forbeare much and to forbeare it long he hath forborne and beene out of purse from the beginning of the world since men were upon the face of the earth five thousand yeeres and a halfe already and how long it is yet to the day of Judgement wee know not And yet ye see He is as patient and as bountifull now in the latter dayes of the world as he was at the first Did that greatest Convert that ever was that had not lived past thirty yeeres in his sinfull estate for he was young when he held the stoners clothes that stoned Stephen and yet was the chiefest of sinners did he yet as himselfe sayes thinke himselfe a patterne of long suffering 1 Tim. 1. 16. though it a great matter God should forbeare so long what is the whole world then if he being but one small poore vessell was so richly laden with the riches of Gods patience how is this great bark of the world then fraught that hath gone over so vast a gulfe of time how much of these his riches have been laden in it And then fourthly adde to this the expensive prodigality of all these sinners in all ages every sinner spends something and how lavish are men of oathes All the thoughts of mens hearts from their youth up they are evill and onely evill and continually and how much then hath every man spent him every sin is a debt In the second place this is a rich goodnesse and patience in regard of the preciousnesse and usefulnesse First precious in regard of what all these manifestations of his goodnesse and forbearance cost even the blood of his Sonne who as a Lord hath bought and purchased all wicked men their lives and their reprivall all that time that here they live and all the blessings and dispensations of goodnesse which here they do enjoy Christs mediation so far prevailes with God for all the world that it puts a stop to the present proceedings of justice which otherwise had said of all that day thou sinnest thou dyest So that as Christ may be called the wisdome and the power of God so also the patience and the long suffering of God For for his sake and through his meanes it is exercised God would not shew a drop of mercy but for his Sonne Which I take strongly and clearly intimated in that dealing of his with the Jewes Exod. 23. 20. compared with Exod. 33. 2 3 4 c. Immediately after God had given the Law by the rules and threatnings whereof God the Father in his government was to proceed and after they had transgressed it He there declares that he could not goe with them rested thee and told thee this world was no place for thee for hell is onely our owne place Acts 1. 25. thou shoulest have beene executed the first day And is not so much time of ease from punishment infinite mercy Cast but your thoughts upon the Angels that fell that have been in hell from the first moment of their sinning doe but thinke with your selves what they would give to have so much time cut out of that eternity they are to
hearts or lives upon the experience they have had of the riches of his mercy forbearing them in this world thinking to finde him the same in both With all such let me reason a little and from the riches of Gods goodnesse patience c. spent upon them at once expostulate with them for their impenitency and aggravate to them their sinfulnesse and also if possible prevail with them to goe on to despise it thus no longer And if there be any principle of common ingenuity any sparke I doe not say of grace but of goodnesse of nature left unextinguisht me thinkes it should affect you and doe some good on youere I have done And to that end consider a little and compare together Gods loving kindnesses towards you and your unkind dealings towards him To begin at the very beginning of thy being how much riches of goodnesse were there laid and buried in thy foundation when the first corner stone was laid when thou wert made a man besides the cost which hath beene spent upon this building since and cursed as thou art even that very foundation was laid in bloody iniquities in which thou wert conceived and the very materialls of soule and body thou consistest of being tempered with sinne like the stone in the wall and beame out of the timber cry out every moment to God against thee as Edom did Rase it rase it even to the very ground Consider how but the other day thou were meere nothing and when an infinite number that never were nor shall be were in as great a possibility of being as thou for when he made this world he could have laid it aside wholly and created millions of otherworlds yet he chose thee to have a roome in this but one world for he means to make no more and this world could have stood without thee and did before thou wert and shall doe when thou art gone yet he called thee forth out of nothing and by his Almighty power bade thee stand forth when there was no need of thee I say he chose thee to have a being for as there is an election of things that are to salvation so out of things that were not unto being And wretch that thou art if thou repentest not thou destroyest what God hath made and hadst better have kept nothing still and never have peept out or else to skulk into thy first nothing againe for thou art lost better never to have beene borne Secondly Consider yet more goodnesse Thou mightest have beene admitted into the lowest forme of creatures have beene a worme a flea a flye which we men fillip and crush to death at pleasure but to be made a Man created one of the States Barons Lords of the world the first houre admitted into the highest order crowned a King in the wombe as David sayes of man Psal 8. 5. made a little lower than the Angels but crowned with glory and honour made to have dominion over all the works of his hands The one halfe of thee is more worth than a whole world thy soule as Christ sayes that went to the price of soules upon which God hath bestowed an eternity of being and made it the picture of his face his Image when other creatures do weare but his footsteps And thy body the other peece and indeed but the Case the Sheath as Daniels phrase and the Chaldee hath it Dan. 7. 15. of thee what a curious workmanship is it wonderfully and fearfully made as David sayes Psalm 139. 15. curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth So there he calls the womb because as curious workmen when they have some choice piece in hand perfect it in private and then bring it forth to light for men to gaze at So God out of a teare a drop he hath limmed out the Epitome of the whole world the Index of all the creatures Sunne moone starres are to be found in thee And yet wretch as thou art thou art withall the Epitome of hell and broughtest into the world with thee the seeds and principles of all the villanies that have beene acted in the world and if thou repentest not thou hadst better have beene a toad or serpent the hatefullest of creatures and wouldst change thy condition with them one day Thirdly being a man hast thou all thy members that belong unto a man it is because hee wrote them all in his booke Psal 139. 16. if he had left out an eye in his common-place booke thou hadst wanted it is not that a mercy aske the blinde If thou hadst wanted those windows to looke out at thy body would have beene a dungeon the world a prison If a Tongue which is thy glory or an eare thou hadst lived among men as a beast among men And yet when God gave thee all these what did he but put weapons into an enemies hand for hast thou not used all these as weapons of unrighteousnesse Insomuch as the tongue but one member is called a world of iniquity by the Apostle and if thou repentest not thou hadst better as Christ sayes have entred into the world without an eye an care a tongue than with these goe for ever into hell Fourthly when thou wert taken out of the wombe where thou didst remaine but whilest thou wert a framing what a stately palace hath he brought thee into the world which thou findest prepared and ready furnisht with all things for thy maintenance as Canaan was to the Children of Israel a stately house thou buildest not trees thou plantedst not a rich Canopy spangled spread as a Curtaine over thy head he sets up a Taper for thee to work by the Sun till thou art weary Psal 104. 23. and then it goes down without thy bidding for it knows its going downe ver 19. and then he drawes a curtain over halfe the world that men may goe to rest thou causest darknesse and it is night ver 20. An house this world is so curiously contrived that to every roome of it even to every poore village springs doe comes as pipes to finde thee water So Psal 104. 10 11. The pavement of which house thou treadest on brings forth thy food ver 14. Bread for strength wine to cheere thy heart oyle to make thy face to shine ver 15. Which three are there synecdochically put for all things needfull to strength ornament and delight The very chambers of that house as David calls them drop fatnesse and water the earth ver 13. Hee wheeles the heavens about and so spins out time for thee every moment of which time brings forth some blessing or other and no one is barren Therefore Psal 65. 11. the yeere is said to be crowned with goodnesse a diadem of goodnesse encircles it round and yet thou hast filled this world thou thus art brought into with nothing but rebellions as hee hath done with blessings and hast piled up sins to heaven and thou hast pressed all
these armies of blessings thou findest the world filled with to fight against their Maker under the devills banner whom thy wickednesse sets up as the god of this world And as the yeere is crowned with goodnesse so thy yeeres with wickednesse and no moment is barren but all thy imaginations are evill continually Yea thou hast sinned against heaven and earth and subjected the whole creation unto vanity laden the earth and filled it so with wickednesse that it groanes the axeltree of it is even ready to crack under thee and the ground thou treadest on to spue thee out Fiftly since thou camest into the world what a long time hath God suffered thee to live in it hee hath not spared thee three yeares onely as he did the figtree but thirty forty And when thou first madest bold to thrust forth thy trayterous head into the world Death which thy sin brought into the world with it might have arrested but for one treason and though all that time of his reprivall he carryes and behaves himselfe never so obediently But unto thee this time hath beene more than a longer day of life and putting off the execution which for the guilt of that first rebellion should have been acted on thee in the womb it hath beene time to repent in And yet hath not this time of thy reprivall made thee so much the more rebellious and hast not thou spent all this time in making up the measure of thine iniquity full and hath it beene will ingnesse onely in God that thou shouldest not perish yea more joyned with waiting also when it should once be thinking the time long as longing and desiring that thou wouldst repent that he might pardon thee Thus Ierem. 13. last God expresseth himselfe when shall it once be yea and consider how many dayes of payment have been set and how many promises made and broken all by thee and yet still hee walteth unto wonderment Thou receiuedst presse money at thy Baptisme when thou didst promise to forsake the devill and all his workes and to begin to serve him when thou shouldst begin to discerne betweene good and evill But no sooner did the light of knowledge dawne in thy heart but thou beganst to fight against him and thy first thoughts to this day have beene onely and continually evill And then haply in thy younger yeares before thou hadst tasted of the pleasures of sinne he gave thee an inkling by meanes of thy education of his goodnesse towards thee and of that happinesse to be liad in him and thou hadst the first offer of him ere thy tender yeares were poysoned by the world and he hath dealt with thee againe and againe both by his Word and Spirit not waited onely but wooed thee and hath beene a suiter to thy heart long and I appeale to your hearts how many promises you have made him of turning from all your rebellions to him after such a Sermon which was brought powerfully home in such a sicknesse and in such a strait thy conscience knowes full well And still God hath made tryall of thee and given thee longer day and though thou hast broke with him againe and againe yet he hath forborne thee againe and againe and hath waited this twenty thirty forty fifty sixty years when thou shouldest come in and be as good as thy word and still thou hast failed him And yet behold and wonder and stand confounded at the riches of his long suffering that after so many yeares expence and promises broken by thee expectations failed in him and many mockeries of him after all this he is yet willing to accept of the remainder if thou wouldst spend the rest of the time left thee in the flesh according to his will as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 4. 3. even to lose principall use and all for what is past and requires but the same composition was propounded the first day yea and not onely so but with promise to become a debtor unto thee to bestow further riches on thee than ever yet thou sawest or art able to conceive yea and all this when he could have his penyworths out of thee another way and lose not one farthing by thee but by punishing thee in hell recover all to the utmost Neither seventhly hath it beene barely and simply an act of patience and forbearance though joyned with this willingnesse thou shouldst not perish or meerely a permissive act of suffering thee to live But God shewes forth yet more riches of goodnesse joyned with this long suffering in him ye live and move and have your being and dost thou live in him onely nay thou livest on him also upon his cost and charges I have hung upon thee sayes David from my mothers wombe And consider what thy life is that of so small a bottome he should spin out so long a thred had hee not drawne it out of his owne power as the spider doth her web out of her owne bowels it had beene at an end the second minute to maintaine that radicall moisture that oyle that feeds the lampe and light of thy life that radicale balsamum this is as great a miracle as the maintaining the oyle in the cruze of the poore famished widow And further yet hath he maintained thee onely Nay more hath he not defended thee tooke thy part protected thee tooke thee under his wing as the hen doth her chickens to shelter thee from those many dangers thy life hath been exposed unto Otherwise how many wayes ere this hadst thou been snatcht away out of the land of the living Is thy case the case of the figtree onely which before we mentioned that when God cryed Cut it downe another cryed spare it but there have beene many have cryed Cut thee downe and God hath cryed spare Thee there is never a minute but the devills would have had a blow at thy life as he longed to have had at Iohs That thou a poore lump of flesh shouldst walke through and in the midst of such an host of fierce and cruell enemies whose hearts are swelled with malice at thee and God should say to them all concerning thee as he did to Laban concerning Iacob Touch not this man And yet if thou wert not liable to their malice and power yet consider how many dangers and casualties besides thou hast beene kept in and from as falls drowning killing many wayes how often have the arrows of death come whisking by thee took away those next thee haply of thy kindred brother sister yoke-fellow of the same house family with thy selfe and yet have missed thee And if we look no farther than these dayes of mortality we have lived in two great plagues in this Kingdome how have the most of us all here survived and now the third is increasing and growing upon us To have our lives in such deare yeares of time when to have our life for a prey is mercy enough as Ieremy told Baruch that these arrows should
flye round about us over our heads and misse us that Gods arrests should seize upon men walking talking with us and spare us how often many other wayes hath thy neck been upon the block and the axe held over and yet hath fallen besides To goe no farther than thy own body the humours thereof if God should not restraine them would overflow and drowne it as the waters would the earth if God should not say to them stay your proud waves And when in a sicknesse they have been let out yet God hath kept a sluce that so much should break forth and no more which should purge and wash the body and make it more healthfull as the overflowing of Nilus doth And when then thy body hath been brought low and weake and like a crazy rotten ship in a storme taking in water on all sides so that all the Physitians in the world could not have stopt those Leakes yet hee hath rebuked wind and sea hath careened mended thee and launched thee into the world againe as whole as sound and strong as ever and God hath said as Iob. 33. that Thou shouldst not dye In a word if thou consider but what thy life is and the dangers it is subject to thou wilt acknowledge it as great a wonder to preserve it as to see a glasse that hath beene in continuall use gone through many hands and hath had many knocks and falls to be kept for forty fifty sixty yeeres whole and unbroken God hath carryed thy life in his hand as it were a candle in a paper lanthorn in a strong windy night and kept it from being extinct when as wee often see in many that a little cold comes but in at a little cranny and blowes their candle out as Iob speaks And eightly how have these yeeres and hours of thy time been filled up with goodnesse and with how many comforts For a Traytor to live though but upon bread and water all his dayes what favour is it and so hadst thou lived all this time never so miserably though all thy dayes thou hadst eaten thy bread in darknesse and hadst had much sorrow with thy sicknesse as Solomon speaks Some there are who as Iob speaks Iob 21. 15. dye in the bitternesse of their soules and never eate with pleasure scarce seeing a good day and if this had beene thy case yet this is infinite mercy Even whatsoever is on this side Hell is mercy Lam. 3. 22. say they in the worst estate the Church was ever on earth It is thy mercies not mercy onely but multitude of mercies are shewne us that we are not consumed because his mercies are renewed every morning If at the brink of hell and not in it is mercy But hath he not all this while filled thy heart with food and gladnesse as the Apostle speaks Acts 14. 17 It were infinite to goe over the particular kinds of common comforts which God vouchsafes men here not halfe the riches of his goodnesse is yet told It would require an age to make an Inventory of them Hast a house in the world to hide thy head in and keepe thee from the injuries of the weather which was more than Christ had God he is thy Landlord though it may be thou payest him no rent he it is that builds the house Psal 127. 1. Hast a bed to lye upon he makes it especially in thy sicknesse Psal 41. 3. Hast thou sleepe which is the nurse of nature the parenthesis of all thy cares and griefes he rocks thee asleep every night and as he gives thee a house so hee gives thee rest Psal 127. 2. It is God keeps off those gnatts of distracting cares and griefes and thoughts and terrors of conscience would buzze about a man and keepe one continually waking And when thou sleepest is thy sleepe pleasant to thee God makes it so Ier. 31. 26. Hast thou cloathes to cover thy nakednesse reade old Iacobs Indentures Gen. 28. 20. and thou shalt see by them whose finding they are at if Thou wilt give mer rayment that is one of his conditions mentioned Yea doe thy cloathes keepe thee warme even this is attributed to him Iob 37. 17. He fills thee feeds thee spreads thy table serves thee fills thy cup as David describes his goodnesse Psal 23. 5. and gives thee thy meat in due season and hath not failed thee a meales meat but thou hast had it at thy appointed time as Iob speaks And hast thou health which is the salt to all these blessings without which thou wouldst say thou hadst no pleasure in them He is the God of thy health and keeps off diseases Exod. 15. 26. I will put none of those diseases on thee I am the Lord who healeth thee that is preserve thee from them which else would seize on thee And these mercies hee vouchsafeth unto you that are the poorest and loades you with these and the like benefits every day But hast thou Riches added to these and abundance The blessing of God maketh rich Prov. 10. 22. Though thou hadst them by birth yet hee made those friends and parents of thine but feoffees in trust for thee they were no more it was God who bequeathed them Eccl. 2. last Or whether thou hast got them since by thine owne industry it is hee gives thee power to get wealth Deut. 8. 18. Prov. 12. 24. and out of a small estate maketh men great Iob 8. 7. It is hee by his providence hath stopt the secret issues and draynes of expence at which other mens estates runne out hath stopt that hole in the bottome of the bag as the Prophet speaks And with these riches hath he given thee a heart to use them This as it is a farther mercy Eccles 5. 19. and Chap. 6. 2. so also from him as it is noted there Or hast thou credit which is better than riches so sayes Solomon Prov. 22. 1. it is God who gives it not thy wisedome parts or worth Eccles 9. 11. favour is not alwaies to men of skill that is not acceptation of what they doe without a farther blessing from God Therefore besides the gift of wisdome he gave a further promise of honour also unto Solomon 2 Chron. 1. 11. It is God who fashions mens opinions The Apostle prayes to God his service might be accepted of the Saints though no service was like to be more acceptable for it was the gathering and bringing in of almes and reliefe to them It is he rules mens tongues bids men blesse as well as he bade Shimei curse and he hath kept thee from such grosse sinnes which as flyes would have putrifyed the oyntment of thy good name who also conceales those thou hast committed and hides thee from the strife of tongues Iob 5. 21. Hast thou friends or doe any love thee wherein much of the comfort of our lives consists and therefore David sayes of Ionathan